Author's NB: I had the idea for this story months ago but was going to wait till I finished my current Twins adventure, but I've had writer's block for that one and this one was gnawing away inside my grey matter. Anyway, it'll get more amusing as time goes on and it probably doesn't take much intelligence to figure out where I'm going to take this!!
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7th December, 2005.
He lay on his berth, staring up at the ceiling his annoying brother, or someone, had plastered glow in the dark stickers of fairies and other mythological human creatures used to soothe their offspring. It was night. Darkness had descended quickly, the time of the year humans called "Winter" had begun just a week or so ago, and with it darkness seemed to settle swiftly. He hadn't been able to effectively re-charge since that day. The day when Autobot society changed for ever. Optimus Prime was dead. There was a new leader, a young mech who seemed to come up out of no where. There was a raft of new Autobots in the days of construction and now there seemed to be even more with the recent events. Now, there was a huge repair mission going on, specialists in construction were working overtime, round the clock shifts to get at least the rudimentary defences up and running in case of a follow up attack.
The Decepticons, they too had lost their leader, but Megatron was replaced by a Con no one had seen before, there were rumours that he was Megatron, that Unicron had given him a new form. Of course, that Decepticon was now missing, the Decepticons had retreated to Primus only knew where, and the Autobots and Earth were picking up the pieces.
He'd over heard Spike telling First Aid that the human death toll was in the thousands. That there was a great deal of damage done by the Decepticon attack on the city. Pollution caused by the massive spills of energon and fuels, not to mention smoke had killed a lot of animals and destroyed a lot of vegetation surrounding.
But to him and his brother, there was perhaps a closer tragedy. Their sparring partner, for lack of a better term, Ratchet, was dead.
Sunstreaker wasn't there, but he'd seen the body, the surgeon had gone down fighting, he'd gone down bravely, he'd gone down as an Autobot. The giant crypt they'd constructed for the resting place of their felled kin had been launched a few days ago, amazingly without the knowledge of the humans. Rodimus said they needed to grieve free of human cultural interference, and something told him that they needed their own space. There were human reporters and celebrities and politicians spouting in the media that however many "robots" died, it didn't come close to the value of one human life, that these "machines" had bought it on themselves and they deserved whatever fate they suffered.
Spike had taken off with his life partner and offspring to some other part of the planet just to get away from the massive throng of death that lay splayed about the landscape. He'd told First Aid that Daniel was having serious problems dealing with Prime's death and the things he'd seen over the worst time of the attack had seriously dented his mental health.
The golden painted robot yawned, an action he'd picked up from the organics and rolled onto his side, attempting to get a better position on his berth. Recharge was fleeting and it didn't seem to want to embrace him. It was starting to piss him off. It was as he rubbed his optics that he was aware he was being watched.
"Fuck off, Sides, I don't have time for your bullshit!"
He growled as he rolled to face the wall, making sure his aft plates slipped slightly too partially "moon" his twin.
There was no response, but the sensation of being watched continued.
"For Primus' sake! Sides, get in your berth and go to recharge, I'm in no fucking mood…."
He repositioned himself on to his back and scratched his shoulder.
Silence.
"Seriously, Sides, I need my recharge, do you have any idea what dim optics are going to do for my appearance?"
He sat up, activated the lights and found himself staring into an empty quarter.
"What the Pit?"
He stood from the berth and walked to the door, it was locked, the sensor indicated no one had entered since he had.
He shrugged it off as his sensors flickering from lack of recharge, he decided to go nag First Aid for something to force his systems into recharge – Ratchet would never have yielded such a narcotic, but First Aid was a bit of a soft pumped pussy and it didn't take much to twist his struts into giving up something.
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The corridors near his quarters had once been busy at this time of night, bustling with soldiers, officers and other such Mechs going about their business, heading to shifts, to duties, to patrols, but now, it was freakishly empty. The majority of his neighbours on this floor were now recharging forever in that big monstrosity they blasted into the cold depths of space. Ironhide and Brawn shared the quarters straight across from him, Prowl was to the right of Ironhide, and had a corner room. It was Wheeljack who had the quarters to the right of him and on the left was Windcharger and Beachcomber. Trailbreaker had the smallest room on the floor which was by the entrance, next to his was Smokescreen. Bluestreak's quarters been opposite Trail's but he'd been missing since the attack and was presumed dead. It was this corridor in the living compound that had suffered the most fatalities and now sadly the majority of its rooms stood empty, in fact, despite it being several months since their deaths, their rooms had still not been cleared out or re-inhabited. It was actually only Sunstreaker and his brother who still remained here. There were other rooms in other parts of the living compound which were empty due to death that were in more "lively" areas, but the twins had decided against moving into rooms of those who had died that they had fought with, not of any fear of the supernatural, but out of respect.
The twins were the ones in the Autobot ranks who did the missions so many of their fellows refused to do either because of the danger involved or that any hint of morality or principals they held had to be ignored in order to get the job done. So really, neither of them were too worried about living off a corridor that once bustled with the lively antics of their fellows. It was war. Soldiers died in war. That was how it worked.
So, it was a strange feeling to him when he was sure he was being followed down the hall. He'd turned twice to view the hall behind him, but it was empty. All the rooms that had belonged to the deceased were locked securely; no one could get into them unless they had priority one clearance.
"Seriously, Sides, piss off!"
He barked into the hall as he reached the doors that would lead out into the main communal section. There was no response, he shook his head and then exited.
--
"Yo, doc?!"
He bellowed as he marched into the repair bay.
First Aid was a very different doctor to Ratchet; for starters, Aid wouldn't kill you if you touched his medical stuff. He ran a med bay Autobots were happy to go to after any battle, and certainly after any self-inflicted injuries caused by unruly shenanigans. Aid was compassionate, caring, calm and gentle. Completely opposite to the previous surgeon. And there was nothing scary about Aid.
"Hey, DOC!!"
He screamed at the top of his vocaliser.
Suddenly hurried footsteps echoed through the large room. The doctor appeared from out of a passageway that led into a storage room.
"Yes! I'm here! What's the emergency?"
"No emergency doc, just after something to knock me into recharge".
"You haven't been recharging?"
First Aid replied.
"Yeah, hence the need for a charge pill".
"How long have you been unable to recharge efficiently?"
"I'm not here for a check up, doc, I just want something to help me sleep".
"Yes, tonight of course, but what about tomorrow, and the next night and the cycle after? IF we can find out the reason for your inability to settle into recharge then you won't end up relying on a recharge initiator".
"You're not going to let this go, are you?"
"I wouldn't be much of a physician if I did".
"Okay, alright, I guess it can't be much of a nuisance, I'm awake anyway".
"Alright, come into the examination bay".
It was rather creepy to see just how empty the facility was of patients – primarily because so many had come in from the major battle with fatal injuries that there weren't any who needed long term care.
First Aid, of course, was nervous and tended to underestimate his skill given his mentor was dead and he was thrust into Autobot medicine's top job, so while some were happy to head over to Aid's bay for compassion, there was always trepidation at his ability to patch up the worst injuries.
Sunstreaker sat on the examination berth while the doctor picked up some complicated looking scanner.
"Now, just relax, this won't hurt a bit, though some patients report a tingling in their audio scanners".
The young doctor began the scan but something didn't seem right.
"What's the matter, doc?"
Sunstreaker asked.
"Hmm, nothing major, the power cell in this scanner is spent; I'll just go get another".
The medic left.
Sunstreaker leant back on his left hand and noticed a scuff on his right thigh.
"Oh, typical! Wonder how long its been there?"
He grumbled as he picked up a small cloth on the side bench and began to buff the scratch.
BANG.
Sunstreaker turned abruptly thinking it was the young doctor returning, he wasn't there, but a large tray laid on the floor a few metres from where he sat.
"What was that?"
First Aid came back into the room with the scanner in one hand and an unopened power cell in the other.
"Dunno, that tray just fell on the floor".
Sunny pointed, the cloth still in his hand.
"That's odd, I mustn't have placed it correctly on the table, it's got an edge, it should have stayed put".
There was a hint of disbelief in the medic's voice, and Sunstreaker got the feeling that the doctor had probably been informed of the twins' antics by his former mentor.
"Well, never mind".
The medic shrugged as he inserted the power cell into the scanner. He held it up to the twin's head and began the scan.
"Hmmm… interesting".
"What?"
"This one is working, but there's a lot of back ground interference".
"I thought the med bay was insulated against background interference".
"Its supposed to be, but I guess with all the construction going on someone may have inadvertently deactivated the insulators or something".
"Look, doc, can I just get something to knock me out, I'll put up with your dodgy scanners some other time".
First Aid looked patiently at the twin and nodded sympathetically.
"Of course, I'll go get something".
The medic shuffled out quickly.
The twin was left alone in the room. But again that sense of being watched came over him. There was no other way into this room except through the door he'd just come through. No one was in here. Perhaps knowing First Aid was just in the next room was mudding his scanners. The medic returned before the twin could fuss over any other concerns.
"Now, is there anything else I can do for you?"
He asked as he handed the twin the small box.
"Actually, doc…"
The twin started, not sure if he should say anything.
"I've been getting feelings lately that someone's watching me".
"Oh, that's quite usual for someone who hasn't recharged correctly for a few cycles. Now, when you get back to your berth, slip this into a cup of energon and drink it down. You should begin recharge shut down within three clicks, so be near your berth! If you're still having trouble recharging in a few days or your senses are playing tricks on you, come back and I'll do a full systems scan. Chances are once you get one good recharge, you'll be fine".
"Alright… thanks doc".
The twin replied taking the small box from the medic.
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