MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! In this most wonderful time of year, in this very dismal year, I want to give you all something to cheer you up. Okay it's not as heartwarming as last years entry but I hope that you enjoy it.

So deck yourselves with holly, and sit down and prepare for the next Christmas classic...alongside "The 13th day of Christmas", by .

Transformers Animated is owned by Hasbro/Takara, I own nothing.

There was only so much a femme could take ya know? Slipstream thought that she was a reasonable bot, letting those two knuckle heads crash with her. They helped her with whatever she needed and they weren't shot in return.

She stayed in her private quarters, a stack of boxes that separated her from the main area, and they had their space. Most of it furnished from things the COnstructions had left behind when they were "evicted"

Her tolerance was waning as Reverb once again shouted his all too familiar catchphrase.

"Gunbarrel ol boy this is going to be our greatest heist!"

In their short time living with her, Slipstream had been witness to several "grand heists." First they'd mistaken a sewage treatment plant for something of value. That's how they discovered that Slipstream didn't tolerate smelliness, as well as what it was like to sleep outside.

The next heist was completely unrelated, with the goal being to steal all the air freshener products and soap they could get their hands on. In this instance they'd been successful and so Slipstream let them back in.

Their next attempt to strike it rich was when they came across the legend of the "Red Dwarf." Reverb came up with the brilliant plan to try and capture the beast. His goal was then to sell it to "a traveling space circus that had a rocket biker."

For once in her life Sipstream had been at a loss for words. Suffice to say their little gnome expedition yielded few results, though Gunbarrel insists he'd made friends with the thing.

Most recently the pair had stumbled across a collection of children's books and discovered the "Goose that laid the golden egg." To say that Slipstream had trouble dealing with the amount of geese they'd stolen was putting it lightly.

Slipstream was considering locking them up and forbidding them from viewing any form of media. Unfortunately this idea came too late as was evident from Reverbs "battle cry. "

"Our greatest plan ever, and this one shall be an instant success!" He declared, pulling his partner to his feet. "Just imagine, a bad that can hold anything and everything!"

"We can fit cannons in there right?"

"Yes Gunbarrel, we can fit cannons in there, by the thousands!" Reverb placed his arm around his companion's shoulder.

"All we have to do is take out a fat human and it will be ours!"

Oh no...they're not. Slipstream stole a glance at a calendar on her wall. She then checked her internal chronometer, part of basic cybertronian biology...that Starscream had left her without. Lucky for her Gunbarrel didn't seem to miss it.

Her face fell when she realized what month it was. December, the month of Christmas. Slipstream didn't mind this holiday, she figured that the earth holidays and her had an understanding. They didn't bother her….and she didn't annihilate everything related to them that she could get her servos on. Maybe out of curiosity she'd looked into them and discovered some folklore.

Which is how she knew what the next words to come out of Reverbs mouth were,

"Gunbarrel we are going to steal the sack of Santa Claus!"

"You've got to be kidding me."

"But how, he lives at the top of the world, the documentary said so." Gunbarrel gestured to the TV.

Reverb smiled and visions of burglary danced in his head.

"My dear friend it'll be simply, I can fly." he said before walking out into the warehouse. "This is a rather small planet after all so it shouldn't be too long."

"Are you really sure that this place is that small?" Gunbarrel.

"Of course the humans made a model of their planet, I can show you." Reverbed started rummaging around the place. The Constructicons had been an oddly assorted lot that had left most of the places furnishings.

"Aha!" He declared and walked over, holding up a tiny globe. He flopped down onto the makeshift couch and held the globe up near Gunbarrels optics.

"With this model of this planet we can triangulate our location!" Reverb smiled before she peered in closely at the globe.

"How can we do that when it's so tiny?"

"It's like reading a book written for Minicons, can't be too hard."

It was hard. Reverb struggled for ten minutes before he finally located the United States. However they'd flunked geography, in Reverbs case he never took it, and they could figure out what state they were in.

"Slipstream, what state do we live in?" Gunbarrel called out.

"I live in Michigan, but you two are clearly in some state of denial!" Reverb and Gunbarrel listened to her words and then peekded at the glove.

"I don't see a state called denial anywhere near Michigan." Reverb commented drly.

"Sorry Slipstream but that's not a real state!" Slipstreams groan of frustration echoed through the building. Reverb ignored that and he quickly managed to locate Michigan.

"Okay so, we're somewhere in this area and if we just go up this way we'll hit the North Pole in no time!"

"Wow, you were right Reverb it's not far at all!"

"That's what happens when you know a lot my friend and if we leave now we'll make it by this evening!" It was at that point Slipstream had enough of their ramblings and stuck her head out.

"You do realize that the globe is a miniature model of the planet right, Earth's a little bit bigger than that!" She declared, holding up her forefinger and thumb. Despite part of her screaming to leave them to their fates, she knew that if they left it'd be a bit boring. That and there wasn't anyone else she could use as cover or send on errands.

Reverb placed a hand on his chin for a small moment. Finally he snapped his fingers and turned to Gunbarrel.

"She's right it is farther than we realize, we must pack snacks at once!"

For what felt like the 100th time that day, Slipstream could only facepalm.

It came to pass that Slipstream was correct in her predictions, Gunbarrel and Reverb arrived back less than two hours after they started their "journey"

To her amazement however, their words were not of sadness but of confusion.

"Why are there so many?" Gunbarrel asked, a plethora of noises indicating his haul.

"That fat old coot must have known we were coming for his magical sack." Reverb scowled, clenching his fist. "Don't worry though, we've got his precious "North Pole" so he'll answer the ransom!"

Daring to look, Slipstream peeked out of her "room" and saw Reverb carrying sixty long metal poles attached to signs. Reverb however had a rather large, and inflatable, North Pole holiday Decoration.

"But what if that's not the right one either?" Inquired Gunbarrel.

"In case of that, we use one of the others that you stole." Reverb said as if it was an everyday thing.

"As long as the real Santa Claus shows up we should be fine."

"Maybe he won't be a fake like the ones we talked to out on the street." Gunbarrel said, dropping all the signs with a loud "Clang!"

"Imagine the nerve, dressing up and pretending to be Santa Clause when two respectful Decepticons are looking for him!" Gunbarrel grumbled. Reverb opened his cockpit and started rummaging around.

"Buck up, at least I secured you a battle helmet from the one with the bell." Reverb withdrew a donation bucket and held it up to Gunbarrel.

Gunbarrel smiled broadly and accepted the present. He happily flipped it over and placed it on his head. He either didn't notice, or didn't care about all the spare change that rushed out and onto his shoulders. The bucket didn't even cover a quarter of his head, but he wore it proudly.

Left unsure if she wanted to either shoot them both or laugh at their stupidly, Slipstream shook her head and entered the main room. Both Reverb and Gunbarrel snapped to attention almost immediately.

"Greetings commander Slipstream, me and Gunbarrel were just-"

"Acting like idiots, as usual" Slipstream grumbled. She strode over to the giant inflatable. Reverb quickly slid in front of it, blocking her path.

"Woah, this is our big ticket to the greatest crime ever pulled off by bot!" He said defensively. "You may be our commander but we need this to lure Santa to our position."

Slipstream placed her hands on her hips before sneering. Walking forward, she harshly shoved Reverb aside and marched to the inflatable.

"Did at any point in bringing this home you notice how light it was?" Slipstream asked.

"Everything on this planet is light!" Reverb stated.

As she rolled her optics Slipstream shoved her hand through the inflatable. With a loud "BANG" it popped and air rushed out of its side. Gunbarrel and Reverb stared on as it crumpled on the ground.

"Sorry to burst your bubble but that was even faker than those street signs." Informed Slipstream.

The response this this information was silent glaring from Gunbarrel and Reverb. Gunbarrel looked almost ready to burst into tears.

"They lied to us again!?" Reverb scowled and shook with rage. Slipstream stepped back in alarm at his anger.

"Yep, sorry boys." Slipstream said nonchalantly.

"This is unacceptable and will not stand!" Reverb shouted, slamming his fist into the other poles Gunbarrel picked up. Half of them broke upon impact, parts of them scattering all over the room.

"Better listen up fat red man, because when I'm find you, I'll take the sack and beat you with it!" He shouted to the roof.

"That's nice, just keep it down." Slipstream said and turned on her heel.

"Yes lady Slipstream." Both crooks replied.

"Stop calling me that!"

It had been two days since the "North Pole Fiasco" and both Gunbarrel and Reverb had been stewing in their anger.

Well Reverb had, he was fed up with humanity and their constant undermining. First it'd been with that girl that ran with the Autobots. Then Ernesto had betrayed him, and he'd looked like his most promising heir! Following that the same robot girl attacked him, but this time with fire.

Yes Reverb was now nursing a major grudge against humanity. As such he'd poured over dozens upon dozens of "Documentaries" to figure out how to not only steal Santa's sack, but to actually keep it.

So far there wasn't that much luck, all plans that he could have come up with here already done by the people in the documentaries. Reverb was getting more and more frustrated.

"How am I supposed to come up with a plan when that fat Red guy's ready for them all?" he shouted angrily

"Maybe we should come up with an original plan?" .Gunbarrel asked. "What if we tried to grab him while he was out flying."

"Even if we could catch up to his sleigh, those reindeer of his might kick us in the face!" Reverb scowled.

"Yeah, those reindeer must be powerful if they can pull around a sleigh in one night." Gunbarrel commented. Reverb sat down and pacled his hand on his chin.

"Santa's probably outfitted them with lightspeed technology."

"But aren't reindeer organic?"

"Well maybe they're secretly androits!"

"Do you think they have cannons?"

"I wouldn't surprise me given how well he's fortified his other means of finding him."

"Sending him a letter seems to work, he always replies to the little children."

"Yes but I don't think he can read Cybertronian, and even then we're not children in human sense."

"I'm a child on the inside, he gets letters from kids across the planet and he's able to read them all."

Reverb sighed and placed his head in his hands. His companion was right in all of his arguments, things just weren't making sense with this Santa guy. How was he able to deliver presents in one night if he was organic? How did he read all those languages? Did he ever even pay his elves?

What they needed to do was to hit Santa where it counted. They must strike at a time when he wasn't with his reindeer and at his weakest. If he didn't have the sack then they could ransom the elves for it.

As this questions ran circles in his processor, Gunbarrel decided to absentmindedly flip the TV's channels. As the channel changed an announcer's voice burst from the speakers.

"Welcome back to Detroit's annual downtown Christmas Parade!" Gunbarrel yelped in surprise and proceeded to flip himself over the couch.

"Here live from our news station, the annual Christmas parade has just begun!" The TV focused in on the face of a news bot. "The first floats are coming and what a sight!"

The screen changed to show a wide array of floats coming down the streets. Reverb stared at some of the bizarre vehicles.

"They call you ridiculous and yet that's street legal?" Reverb decried. Gunbarrel got back up and looked at the TV.

"Organic hypocrisy." He grumbled.

As the floats traveled along, as well as a marching band and some other events, one float caught their eye.

"Ho Ho Ho everyone, Santa Claus has come and he's on a Sumdac Systems float!"

Both Gunbarrel and Reverbs jaws dropped as the Sumdac Systems flat rolled across the it was the usual you'd expect from a float. A large Sumdac systems logo, decked out win Christmas lights and tinsel.

Two young organics stood on the float, recognizable immediately to Reverb as Sari Sumdac. AKA, "The girl who set my rear on fire." She red version of her usual outfit, with added belt, fur lined boots and a santa hat. Standing next to her was a young african american boy dressed as an elf. The two of them were throwing out candy from twin bags.

But what really got their attention was the man sitting atop a small platform. Isaac Sumdac was dressed to the nines as Santa Claus himself. A large red sack dangled from the platform as he reached in to toss out candy.

"Merry Christmas everyone!" He called out. Reverb and Gunbarrel stared at the screen as the float rolled on past. As soon as it was off camera Reverb stood up.

"So, ol St Nick thought that because the Autobots pet was protecting him that he could go out?" He seethed.

"You mean the Autobots have been protecting Santa this whole time?" Gunbarrel asked in shock.

"It appears so, but we're going to teach the Autobots what happens when you hog all the goods!" Reverb spun around and pointed dramatically at Gunbarrel.

"Break out the cannons, by tonight we will have the sack of Santa Claus no matter the cost!"

"Hooray, cannons!"

It didn't take very long for them to track down the parade route and location. Gunbarrel took a few "shortcuts" to make it there in time. Mostly through some, hopefully, abandoned buildings.

Reverb hovered overhead, trying to to attract too much attention. He'd strapped a large banner to his tail in the hopes that no one would recognize him. The banner read, "Merry Christmas organic beings, tidings of figgy pudding to all!"

Staring down at the parade, Reverb tried to pick up the Sumdac float. From his current altitude however he couldn't tell one float from another.

"Have you spotted the sack?" Gunbarrel asked over the com link.

"Bah, all these squishes and their ridiculous vehicles look the same!"

"Tell me about it, I've hit the same car twice now. Though the second one had more human food waste within it."

"We must stop this parade so I can get a look, think you could provide a distraction ol boy?"

"You got it Reverb, one blast show coming up!"

"Wait Gunbarrel don't-"

Reverbs pleading hit deaf audios as Gunbarrel swiveled his turret towards the parade procession. Not even stopping to take aim correctly he fired off his twin cannons. Reverb felt his fuel tank drop as he heard them roar.

A small volley of shots flew through the air and slammed into an around one of the parade floats. The float belonged to a dairy company that put out eggnog, their mascot had been Humpty Dumpty. The result was inevitable.

As humans scrambled to escape the float as it tipped to the side and crashed. The giant Humpty Dumpty fell and shattered. A sunned puppeteer crawled his way out. The float behind them barely managed to make it to a stop. Like dominos the rest of the parade ground to a halt.

Reverb hovered above in stunned silence, it didn't last long though as he laughed.

"Excellent, excellent work Gunbarrel, you'll be getting a bigger cut for this!"

"WHOOPIE!"

Now to find that santa float. Reverb thought to himself as he scanned the line below.

He soon spotted Prof Sumdac sitting on his platform and with a cackle he began to dive in lower.

On the float below, the group remained unaware of exactly what had transpired. One minute they were moving alone and the next they'd stopped.

"So did somebody set off the fireworks early?" Bumblebee asked.

"We don't shoot off fireworks at Christmas dear." Sari said, tossing some candy out to try and calm down the children.

"Okay so, think it's an accident?"

As this was asked a semi truck covered in light pulled up next to the float. Bee and Sari didn't even need to spare a second glance to recognize that it was Optimus.

"Are Christmas parades supposed to stop and have fireworks?"

"According to Sari, no they are not." Bumblebee said, tugging at his elf ears. "Think we can call it quits?"

"I don't think so dear, you offered to be here so you're going to stay for the long haul." Sari said.

Optimus looked ahead, noticing smoke rising from the distance. He'd hoped that the Autobots could have a peaceful holiday season, as opposed to last years. But it seemed that fate had other plans in store for them.

He was just about to transform and fly up when a voice called down from above.

"ALRIGHT FAT MAN, HAND OVER THE SACK!"

Everyone glanced up as Reverb swooped in and transformed. He crashed down right behind Professor Sumdac and grabbed him.

"Well well well, thought you could evade us by hiding in plain sight?" He hissed. "It's going to take a lot more than that to fool ol Reverb!"

"What are you talking about?" Professor Sumdac asked.

"Don't play dumb with me Santa, you've tricked me and my companion long enough, now hand over your sack before things get messy!" Sumdac could only stare as Reverb's arms opened up and a laser pointed itself towards him.

People in the crowd began to panic and scream at the sight of Reverb. Reverb payed them no heed as he pressed the barrel closer to Sumdac.

Had Reverb paid more attention, he might have noticed that Bee's holoform was gone. He would have also noticed as the float suddenly split in two as Bumblebee jumped out of it. Like a yellow jack-in-a-box Bee flew out and crashed into Reverb.

The people manning the float behind them scattered as they landed. Professor Sumdac rolled out of Reverbs grip as Bee aimed his stinger at Reverbs face. Despite this Reverb was unwavering as he stared Bee down.

"So my suspicion have been confirmed, ol St Nick has enlisted your help to try and prevent the theft of his sack."

Bumblebee, Sari and Optimus, who had also transformed, with lights still wrapped around his frame, stared at Reverb in confusion. A collective thought crossed all three of their minds.

"What?"

"Don't play dumb with me!" Reverb said, shoving Bumblebee off.

"I think that you do a good enough job by yourself." Bee muttered.

"Since he knows if all the kids in the world are good or bad then he must have known about myself and Gunbarrels plot!" Reverb rated. "So after his plans to trick us with his fake North Poles failed he enlisted your help to stop us!"

So that's why Fanzone was complaining about missing street signs. Thought Optimus.

"Which leads us to right here and right now, You'll either hand over the sack or I'll turn Santa into jelly!" Reverb turned to reach for the fleeing Sumdac, only for Bee to zap his hand.

"First off, we've had no contact with Santa, secondly that's professor Sumdac in a santa suit." Optimus tried to explain.

Reverb sneered in response and turned his weapon toward Prime. He hissed something about Autobot lies before Sari shot him in the chest with a small burst of fire. Quickly grabbing some snow, Reverb threw it at his cockpit and glared.

"Do you know how long it took me to repair myself after the last time you did that!?"

"No but it clearly wasn't long enough."

"You won't be getting away this time either." Optimus said, stepping toward Reverb. "I think a few stellar cycles in the cyber stockade will do you good."

"Oh no, I've never been successfully put in a prison before, and I shan't be now!" Reverb declared.

He raised his arm to fire his laser at the duo when Optimus ran forward and sprayed his face with fire foam. Reverb screamed and grabbed ahold of his face. He thrust his head forward, striking Optimus in the chest. Optimus fell back as Reverb swung his arms and decked him.

"Augh my servo, you fiends!" Reverb shouted and then placed his fist near his mouth.

"Is it me or did he get sillier?" Bumblebee asked no one in particular.

"I don't care if he and his partner are a comedy act they..wait..has anyone seen Gunbarrel?" Optimus asked.

"I have, I'm right here!" Optimus, Bee and Sari turned as Gunbarrel ran up to them with a giant grin on his face.

"Don't worry everyone I am here!" Gunbarrel struck a heroic pose and grinned. The three Autobots all looked from each other to Gunbarrels several times.

"That's nice" Sari said calmly.

"Gunbarrel blast these Autobots to scrap!" Reverb ordered.

"YAY FOR BLASTING!" Gunbarrel cried, raised his arms, and opened fire.

Optimus and Bumblebee were struck with four shots which sent them flying . Optimus crashed into a nearby store and Bumblebee into a float.

"Wow boys, when did you get that powerful?" Gunbarrel asked his cannons. His cannons declined to answer him. "Oh you guys are so modest!"

At that moment Sari decided to transform and shot into the air. She made a bird like screech and engulfed her fist in fire. There was zero time for Gunbarrel to react before his world flashed red.

"Reverb, my face is on fire again!" Gunbarrel screamed.

"You guys have really sunk to a new low." Sari said and gestured to the crowd and floats. "Attacking when there's kids around, and trying to steal from Santa?"

"What we do is none of your business!" Reverb said defensively.

"Right, well you made it our business when you attacked my friends and father!" .

By this time Optimus had recovered. Silently he shot out his grappling hook and wrapped it around Reverbs legs. He yanked his arm and retracted the cable and before Reverb knew it he was airborne. Though he decided not to go down without a fight and pointed his head towards Optimus.

The next thing Optimus knew Reverb's noggin had smashed into his chin and stunned him. Reverb fell back and landed on his rear. As Optimus rubbed his head Reverb transformed, shredding the cable.

"Looks like we're just too much of a match for you!" Reverb said.

"I admit that while you two have thick skulls-"

"Why thank you."

"I..um...what?"

Optimus was so confused by Reverbs thanks that he didn't realize Gunbarrel was about to tackle him till too late. Reverb laughed with glee as Optimus went down but it was cut short when Sar threw some fire at his tail rotor.

"Not again, not again!" Reverb lost control and crashed down into the street.

Bumblebee and Sari raced over, Bee feeling like he'd just gone a round with Lugnut. They stopped short,watching Reverb pick himself up and Optimus struggling with Gunbarrel.

"Oh why can't these two just stay down?" Sari stamped her foot.

"If this were a show I'd say that they were comic relief that won't go away." Mused Bumblebee.

"Yeah? Well time to fire them!" Sari shouted and soared toward the fight. Bumblebee stared after her and blinked for a second.

"I know that was bad but it wasn't intentional!" Sari called back. Bee jumped back to attention and raced in to help.

When she woke up from her stasis, Slipstream felt great. A full recharge, no rude awakenings, and she felt very rested. This immediately made her suspicious and she strode out into the living area. Despite wanting to please her at every moment, Reverb and Gunbarrel had the unfortunate habit of waking her up every recharge. Sometimes It was by accident and other times it was because of things like a wombat infestation.

The silence had been nice but at the same time It made Slipstream cautious. She half wondered if either they'd left without telling her, but knowing those two that was a physical impossibility. She looked around as she went to the TV. In any other circumstance she would have assumed that they meant to prank her but that was something else she ruled out. They feared her anger way too much to do that.

Another thought that had crossed her mind was that the Autobots had finally found them. The thought was quickly ruled out when she saw no signs of a scuffle. Not only that but the Autobots would have probably arrested her in her sleep.

Part of her just wanted to say that they were out on another wild goose chase and they hadn't told her in a rush. But a small part of her nagged that something could be legitimately wrong.

The TV interrupted her thoughts as Reverbs voice boomed out of it.

"I am warning you, come any closer and this very stiff reindeer gets it!"

FWOOSH

"Augh, why is it on fire!?"

Glancing over, Slipstream managed to see Reverb hurling the flaming hunk of plastic at the Autobots.

The part that had been nagging about the two's fate was assuaged almost instantly relieved. The rest of her, not so much. The two of them were getting very close to being captured by the Autobots. Despite this, Gunbarrel and Reverb refused to show the Autobots their fear. On the contrary they were fighting for their lives.

As Jazz rushed in to join the fight, Gunbarrel had kicked a float into his midsection. Reverb was still trying to make use of his rotors and blow the Autobots away with wind. It might have worked had he been careful, his blades ended up smacking into the pavement and tearing in half.

She'd never heard Reverbs voice reach that pitch, and she hoped to never hear it again. Seeing him in pain, Bumblebee made an attempt to arrest Reverb, only for Gunbarrel to attack him. Gunbarrels weapon of choice had been a figgy pudding vending bot and an eggnog bot. They were strange but effective as he beat the Autobot back with them. The battleground however was now covered in pudding and eggnog.

Gunbarrel finished off his attack by throwing the pudding bot at Optimus Prime, it broke apart and splattered him with the substance. But the victory was short lived as Arcee dropped down and wrapped him up in tinsel.

It was like watching what the humans would call a "trainwreck." It was something so bizarre that Slipstream couldn't bear to watch anymore, but at the same time found herself wanting to keep watching. Soon though things had taken a downhill turn for the duo. It wasn't long before the rest of the Autobots had shown up and there were only so many eggnog carts to throw.

Slipstream bit her lip a little as she watched them getting backed into a corner. As much as she wanted to leave them to their fate a part of her cared about the pair. In more ways than just pawns and cannon fodder. She knew there wasn't that much time for self debate before the Autobots finally pounced so she quickly made up her mind.

Sighing reluctantly Slipstream ran for the doors. The larger part of her kept screaming about leaving them but she transformed and took to the sky anyway. She soared across the Detroit Skyline until she got to the Parade route.

Peering down, she could see the situation her compatriots were trapped in.

"Gunbarrel ol boy, you won't happen to have any firepower left would you?"

"Nope, I used it all up on the tinsel."

"Blast, i knew that sparkly string would bring about our doom."

Their resources exhausted, their weapons out of energy, and their options limited, Gunbarrel and Reverb found themselves to Reverb beating back the Autobots with a candy cane they'd gotten the sack but the Autobots had backed them into a corner.

"Alright you two, this time you won't get away." Optimus stated.

"You're going to jail and staying there!" Ratchet snapped.

"I hope it's not too late to hope for a Christmas miracle." Gunbarrel muttered.

Luckily for them, it wasn't as Slipstream streaked in from the sky. Her blasters screamed as they blasted the ground around the Autobots. Arcee, Optimus, and Sari were thrown off their feet as she swooped in.

She transformed and landed in front of the group, aiming her blasters towards them. The Autobots all looked toward her in shock.

"Oh great, now we've got Starscream's female clone to make things worse." Bumblebee grumbled.

"She has a name you know!" Reverb shouted.

"Hi Slipstream!" Gunbarrel called out.

Slipstream smiled a little and then looked back at the pair. The damages done to them weren't severe but they needed time to escape.

"Alright boys, play times over so go home." She ordered.

To their credit they didn't have to be told twice. Gunbarrel grabbed Reverb like a football and started to run like heck. Slipstream and the Autobots stared after them. Slipstream noticed Jazz attempting to move forward but she blasted the ground in front of him.

"Stay back nunchuck." She said.

The Autobots all began staring at her now, and Slipstream turned back toward them as well. A long pause settled over the area. No one could think of what to say, or even what to do. Something however clicked inside of Sari and boldly she stepped forward.

"What's the catch "Slipstream?" She asked.

"Catch?" Slipstream lowered one of her arms, coked her head to the side and blinked.

"If there's one thing I know about Starscream from all our battles, it's that he was a self serving egomaniac." Sari explained. "So why help those two lunatics get away."

All optics turned towards Slipstream and for once she found herself at a loss for words. Truth be told she had no idea why she'd done this. She thought that there had been a reason but evidently it fell short of expectations.

While her mind raced to come up with an answer, she heard Reverb suddenly shout from across the rooftops,

"Slipstream, we've managed to escape, let's head back to home base!" Everyone's head whipped in that direction and they blinked. Slipstream quickly opened a com link channel to Reverb.

"Care to explain why you just shouted across the city like that?" She asked.

"I forgot how com links worked in my panic." Reverb defended. Slipstreams answer was a frustrated face palm before she rocketed into the the Autobots could even attempt to give chance, she was gone in a flash.

All of the Autobots stood there confused and stunned into silence. All except Sari who's mind was racing. Slipstream was altered from an Autobot protoform by Starscream and by all accounts shouldn't have any compassion. Yet she;d shown up to save Gunbarrel and Reverb without a selfish reason.

As the Autobots set up to clean up, and Sari located her stunned father she kept thinking on that subject. Silently she wished that Prowl was there because odds are, hed know exactly what to do.

"We've finally made it big!"

Slipstream smirked as she leaned on the back of the couch. A week had passed since the parade fiasco and Gunbarrel and Reverb's injuries still weren't fully repaired. Reverb however had been dead set on testing out the sack and started stuffing things into it. Which lead to it tearing open and causing further damage to his foot. While there was some disappointment, the news that they'd received was most uplifting.

To Gunbarrel and Reverb anyway, it just amused Slipstream. The news story had broken out that Gunbarrel and Reverb were being considered top priority by the DPD for their actions. Apparently taking weapons near children and disrupting holiday parades were a big deal.

As Optimus Prime droned on about what they knew of the two, Gunbarrel and Reverb exchanged high fives.

"We're wanted mechs!"

"Not just wanted, the MOST wanted in this city!"

"It's a Christmas miracle!" Gunbarrel declared.

Slipstream just shook her head lightly and smiled a little. While her mind was still a bit tangled, she felt a little happy for her house mates. Thought she still didn't know why. As she prepared to go back to her room, Gunbarrels voice echoed out.

"Excuse me Slipstream but...well me and Reverb thought that you deserve something."

She turned and blinked, seeing Reverb offering her what appeared to be a hastily wrapped. She could tell right away what it was. Evidently the two of them thought that she needed, what she knew to be leg warmers.

"Um thanks guys..." She said, taking it from Gunbarrel. Once in her hands the wrapping paper instantly fell apart.

"You can put them over your blasters so they stay nice and warm." Gunbarrel said happily.

The half of Slipstream that she was most familiar with told her to burn the legwarmer sand throw the ashes in Gunbarrels face. But...these two had been pushed around by her, mocked, and used as target practice and they still felt the need to get her something. It almost hurt when it clicked with her that despite all of her nastiest she might have been the one who treated them the nicest.

With a small smile she reached out and patted Gunbarrel on the shoulder.

"Thanks, and..Merry Christmas."

A bit of a rushed ending but this isn't meant to be much.

But it does show something, whether or not you're a prince or a pauper, a Scrooge or a Fred, someone out there loves, or has loved you.

With this I say to you Merry Christmas, I know that 2016 was rough but we managed to get through it and I have no doubt that we'll amke it through next year too.