Title: Decepticon
Continuity: G1-ish
Character(s): Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Darkflame (OC)

Summary: "It's The End of the World As We Know It"

Rated: T
Warnings: violence, rape, torture, character deaths

Prologue

Somewhere on Cybertron, in a lab a mech screams continuously, only stopping when his vocalizer gives out and the sound chokes into static; before the self-repair fixes it up again so the screaming picks up – the cycle repeating itself for orns. His spark stutters, fluctuates, jerking around in the chamber kept open by force, like a trapped animal trying to escape – but it can't. A single optic watches it impassively, the servo adjusting a dial sometimes, the optic watching the monitors connected to the screaming mech's spark-chamber. He is not disturbed by the screams, neither is he moved by them. They are inconsequential.

Arriving

The five mechs stepped off the space bridge platform in a loose group, looking around curiously in the cold, early morning of Earth's sunrise. None of them has seen direct sunlight since Cybertron was pushed out of its orbit and started its lone wandering in the darkness of space. None of them was a space explorer either to see other systems' Suns shining on planetside or on their moons, so the bright morning light came as a surprise to them after the ever-present gloom of their home. The group was a motley one, from the smaller minibots and the specialist medic till the tallest mech, obviously a warrior-build; visibly not belonging to the same unit, if the mistrust that they looked at each other was any indication. Not that actual, visible trust was an oft seen commodity in the Decepticon ranks.

The Space Bridge operator, who was Swindle in this shift, waved them off the platform at once to make space for the cargo arriving after them, and considering it more important than the mechs. He also told them to report to the Decepticon Headquarters at once, but his attention was already on his merchandise – some that did not officially comprised part of today's cargo which was handled by Shockwave's drones. The outgoing group, the Constructicons that Shockwave requested temporarily on Cybertron were waiting until the boxes and bales were downloaded, then going through the portal.

The mechs moved on as ordered, still mostly looking around to see more of the organic planet, so different in every detail from Cybertron; but none seemed to show a particular liking for it. They heard quite enough unpleasant details and rumours about the planet and its inhabitants that they were vary of it; not of the afraid kind of wary but rather a disgusted one. Organic life is quite low on the scale of things among Decepticons in general. Still, the bright, warming light made the planet far more welcoming than the gloomy half-darkness and cold that permeated the ruins of Cybertron's long-gone cities these orns.

Once in the base and identified by the security system, they were ordered to the Command Center for briefing. In the spacious room with all the monitors by the walls, manned by Soundwave and a sleepy-looking Seeker at the time, they genuflected respectfully before Megatron who was sitting on his throne bored; as their rank dictated the warriors in front, the medic and the minibots behind them. Soundwave stood up from his monitoring station to move beside his leader and supplied the names and specifics of the newly arrived group on a datapad. Expectably the warlord was only interested in the warriors, barely glancing at the replacement medic for Hook and completely ignored the minibots, whom the telepath ordered out immediately. Megatron watched the remaining trio, and with a flicker of his servo sent the medic too on his way, concentrating on the two warrior types.

"You are Blackjack?"

"Yes, Lord Megatron" – the smaller, dark green and grey coloured mech answered respectfully; only a bit afraid and trying to hide it from his voice.

"What is your specialty?" – he could have read the datapad of course, but he much preferred to see and hear mechs how they reacted to him.

"I am a sniper, my Lord."

"For your sake I hope that you are good at it."

"Yes Lord Megatron! I was the best in Commander Shockwave's squadron! I will serve you faithfully!"

"Of course you will. Or you die, like all traitors."

Why did they always flinch at that statement, he never understood. Traitors deserved to be offlined, it was obvious; but it was never an accusation when he said that, as he didn't accuse mechs, but gathered proof or absolution and acted on those as it was fit.

"Darkflame?"

"That would be me, Lord Megatron. I am a melee warrior mainly." – the other mech answered with a far bolder tone than his partner; his strong, black frame was adorned with tiny red-gold flames, the reddish visor and battle-mask hiding most of his face. The respectful pose didn't hide his strength and the feline-like fluidity of his movements that promised great battle-prowess and Megatron silently approved it; the mech was similar to himself and even familiar a tiny bit.

"Mainly? What else?"

"I dabbled a bit with spec ops too. Sabotage, counter-espionage, demolition… all sorts of things. But I prefer servo-to-servo fighting."

"You are built for battle, I can see that. Why spec ops?"

"Shockwave saw it fit to utilize my talents." – a short, unperturbed shrug accompanied the sentence, with little audible respect for the usually feared Commander's name. Megatron was even more interested; most of Shockwave's troops were at least uneasy with him, and he found it quite unexpected that the black warrior apparently wasn't so.

"I find it refreshing that you do not cower before me."

"Were I afraid, I wouldn't show it. Gladiators learn that early."

"So you were a gladiator… in Kaon?"

"Yes. We met a few times in the Arena too… I remember more of course, you were a famous one by then."

"And you a young one in training… yes. So you survived it… good for you. Just don't expect any favours because of it."

"I rarely have need of favors Lord Megatron… and I never expect them."

"Wise choice."

The audience ended there and although nobody expected the warlord give any favors for the black warrior, the ones who heard about the conversation in the command center respected Darkflame for what he apparently was just a bit more than a personnel file would have them so. He was soon feared too by many, after the rumor-mill spread his experience with spec ops under Shockwave; strength, training and shared past with commanders was a potentially very dangerous mix and Decepticons survived by knowing whom they had to fear, whom had any clout with higher-ups and avoiding any with those combinations.

The new fighters got the vacated quarters of the Constructicons, although their former lab was closed down and not to be used until their return. Both of them got used to the way of life in the base easily, finding Soundwave a good superior, even as his cassettes were not that easy to get along with; Frenzy and Rumble seem to have taken a dislike to Darkflame and pranked him mercilessly – the cassettes obviously trusted their master to be on their side if caught. Nobody could say that he took any kind of revenge on the annoying little slaggers, but interestingly, after a time they seemed to come to fear him; and not even Soundwave could find out exactly what transpired among them.

Darkflame also got off a bad start with the Seekers, who usually ignored the grounders, but accidentally knocking Skywarp off his feet was apparently enough for him to take umbrage, even though it was the flier suddenly and somewhat randomly teleporting in front of him. Not backing off when he felt right also meant the black and purple Seeker's mate, the usually placid Thundercracker also picking on him, and Starscream joined his trine-mates on general principles. But it didn't matter. He was integrating to the army, becoming trusted on the battlefields, known by the command staff and to his surprise trusted by Soundwave – and that was all what mattered. As the orns came and went he even got used to the organic planet too, even if never liking it much; and even less the local organic sentients who invariably sided with the Autobots.

Battle

They were on lookout for the Autobots who were sure to arrive sooner or later; and when that happened they would have to provide cover for the minibots, gathering the energon in the plant. The Seekers were also around and although they would surely be the first to notice the approaching Bots, Blackjack didn't really trusted them to provide ample cover. After all, they have heard how treacherous Starscream was, how often he tried to plot against Megatron; no wonder their orders included keeping an optic on him too, and if he did anything funny deal with him, and his Trine too depending on where they stood. It was quite incomprehensible to him how the screeching Seeker kept his position as SIC with such an attitude; he much preferred Soundwave's command, as at least it was clear where he stood, even as he was distinctly creepy for some reason. They were all staying low behind some buildings, waiting for orders, when the Prime's distinctive colours appeared over the low ridge by the river, and they saw his colourful crew around him, taking their positions.

"Decepticons, wait" – their comm erupted in a general frequency, Starscream's scratchy voice clearly recognizable – "The main force is coming from downriver. These are just holograms."

"Right wing: move towards river. Left wing: withdraw." – It was Soundwave's calm order, in response to the Air Commander's information, accompanied by a databurst. – "Target area: marked. Snipers: ready. Seekers: may begin attack."

Megatron of course didn't hide, as it was not in his nature to do so; he called out his challenge to the Prime whether he was behind the holograms or coming from the other side, marking, as always the center of the battlefield. The Seekers flew over the river, strafing what looked to be empty area, until the hits connected; then the dissipating fields revealed the Autobots, trying to ambush them but failing due to the Seekers seeing through the deceit. Instead they got into the crossfire from the Trines and the snipers stationed in the upper levels of the plant, as they had to close their ranks to hide behind the forcefields – and with the ensuing melee the battle proper started in the Cons' favor, having taken a few Bots already out of commission. As the frontlines clashed just outside the plant, the snipers had a field day, picking out Bots one by one until they too got under fire from the cannons of the enraged Ironhide, half collapsing their lookout building and making the sharpshooters withdraw.

In the battle proper, it was going to their way too, as most of the Bots were busy with the ground troops closing in on them and the strong fire from above; the failed tactic prevented the Twins from trying Jet Judo on the Seekers and so they were free to harass them as they saw fit. Indeed as the battle was looking to be theirs comfortably, the energon collecting was also successful and nearing completion; and just as the success made them careless a bit, the teroror-twins broke through the front ranks scattering the Stunticons and entering the plant itself, intent on preventing the Con minibots trying to get away with the energon that they packed into Astrotrain. But they were confronted with Motormaster and the red twin was careless enough to fall heavily damaged from his attack; his brother, tied up with the returning Stunticons was unable to help him. Megatron, seeing the collected amount of energon ordered the triplechanger to take off and carry the cargo to the base, while they retreated orderly, leaving the Autobots to clear up the mess that they left of the plant.

Darkflame, nearing the center from the wing he was stationed, saw the laughing Wildrider and the intent Drag Strip entertaining the steadily deteriorating yellow twin, while the other was unmoving on the floor; the other Bots nearby trying to get to them to help but still held back by Megatron and the Prime having their usual scuffle at the entrance. He run through the empty space between the main building and their former position, heard Soundwave ordering the two stunt-cars out at the back after they incapacitated the yellow Lamborghini too; going the same way, he moved up to the red Bot, recognized the mangled body, and stopping for just a second looked down at him, cannon pointing at the broken chest-plate. He was alive and conscious but barely; by the expression in the blue optics, he apparently expected the black Con to give him a final shot. But after a second of pause Darkflame retracted his weapon, stepped over the red body without further ado and not looking back joined to the rest of the retreating army. They had a lot to celebrate the end of the cycle and even Megatron looked sufficiently content with the victory to break out some high-grade.

Back to the Autobot base the mood was far less happy with almost a dozen Bots still in med-bay, some seriously injured; not to mention the death toll among their human allies. Injured including the red twin, who was dug out from under the rubble by his slightly less damaged brother, who was already complaining about the state of his armour – meaning recovered enough to do so. It took Ratchet and First Aid a full joor to weld the red warrior together enough to even pronounce him stable so that the latter could work on the others too and throw Sunstreaker out to get some rest in their quarters.

But even after leaving med-bay, Sideswipe was unusually thoughtful, almost like he was thinking out a new, complicated prank. He was nagging his twin about the last, disastrous battle in which they both got slagged up so much that Ratchet didn't even curse them; Sideswipe was very nearly a goner by the time the medic could get to him in the midst of the destroyed building. Still he didn't mention anyone that he felt a Con stopping over him and didn't finish the work what the others started; only to his brother, who apparently didn't think much of it.

"I swear Sunny he did it deliberately. It was… I don't know, queer. Like he took pity or something."

"He must have thought you offline already. And don't call me that."

"But I also felt something... like he was familiar or something…"

"Familiar? Show me."

But even the visual capture failed to bring anything to Sunstreaker's mind; his only comment was that the mech had style in armour and colouring – a rare compliment from the vain frontliner. It sufficiently pissed off Sideswipe to forget the accident. Not forever though…

Escape

Okay, going on patrol with Bumblebee and deliberately losing him on the nighttime and therefore pleasantly empty freeway for some forbidden speeding was a distinct mistake. But then one could say that pairing a vain Lamborghini and a battered VW to patrol the highway was a mistake in the first place. Not that Sunstreaker had anything against Bumblebee, no. Just his alt-mode, his colour and his all-too-often annoying, far too cheerful mouth that he shut only marginally more than Bluestreak. Still, he would have appreciated someone comming the base for reinforcements when those damn Seekers came by to play with him. Had the yellow bug been near, they could have stood the attack better until the cavalry came, but alone he had no such luck. Out on the flat surface of the empty road there was precious little he could do against three Seekers and they knew it; he was shot, battered, shot again, toyed with and at the end they decided to take him back to the Decepticon base for further 'play'.

"You will rust here Autobot, you know that? Nobody will come and save you. We will play with you until you are offlined."

Sunstreaker was rather hoping that it wouldn't come to that, but he had to admit that his chances were not very good – but besides growling back at them, he could do not a slagging thing about it. This base was something that Cons finished not long ago and he heard from Bumblebee that they had yet to find the ways in and out of it; and if it took too long he might not see the rescue. That he could not escape he was sure; the first thing they did was to crush both his lower legs so he couldn't even stand, much less walk out. The fact that he was chained in a brig cell with energized bars also didn't help a lot.

The worst thing was that they didn't even want him to tell secrets – they knew that he had nothing of the kind to tell so he couldn't even be heroically silent. So he was just an… amusement to whichever Con felt like kicking him around, trying out some sort of a torture device, or just take an interest in him for a 'face. The Seekers certainly wanted to get all the revenge for the Jet Judos that he used to pull on them. Mostly it was Starscream, but Skywarp also came down to the cell often to cackle around the chained and battered mech and pound new dents and scratches into his chassis; cheerfully mocking the vain warrior for the state he was in, knowing it to be equal to any torture in his mind.

He noticed an interesting, and in his opinion quite sick thing in how the Cons worked; whoever was the guard in duty of the brig area had the authority to let the others in the cell, and they sort of… bartered for the torture-time with him like it was a usual kind of business. He took note of it when the newly arrived, black one was on duty, the warrior that Sideswipe noticed in the last battle, and the mech refused all such offers from the other Cons, only backing down to rank when Starscream demanded to be let in. Maybe Sides was right and he had a softer spark than the rest of them? Not that he did anything else for him while on duty down there, but it was still significant.

The next orn though when Darkflame was on duty again in the brig and it was night cycle, there weren't any other Cons coming by. Sunstreaker was by then half-offline most of the time, pain, injuries and lack of fuel taking their toll heavily on him, contemplating only the surely imminent offlining. He didn't notice Darkflame moving silently into his cell, and didn't come online when the black mech picked the lock on the handcuffs and lifted the limp, energon-streaked, by this time barely yellow body in his arms.

Sunstreaker did notice some time later that he was in fresh air with actual wind blowing around him and although it was not pleasant on his injuries, its cold caused him to come online shivering. The black mech held his chassis up while the rest of him lay on a rocky surface, and noticing that he was around, silently offered a cube of energon. He drank the fuel eagerly and it made his processor wake up a bit more, recognizing his rescuer with a surprise – he thought he would see Mirage or even Jazz leaning over him as rescuers, and most definitely not a Con. But the mech beat him to speaking; the deep, rumbling voice was surprisingly calm and almost sympathetic in his audials.

"I fixed your comm, you can call your friends now."

"Why…? Who are you…?" – he surprised even himself by being able to whisper.

"Designation is Darkflame, but I must go back now. Dirge is on monitors and he always falls asleep but I must get back before Soundwave sends a cassette to check on him."

"Why did you save…?"

A long look from behind a visor, hiding his secrets… and the mech stood up, moving away until Sunstreaker, falling to the ground couldn't see him. The deep voice floating back to him might have been just a figment of his imagination…

"Humans would say than blood is thicker than water…"

But he was able to comm to the Ark and was picked up a few breems later by a distraught Ratchet, Ironhide, Prime and a half-mad Sideswipe; carried to the med-bay and put back together in an orn or so by the worrying medic who didn't even threw wrenches this time and let his red twin stay in med-bay. They were all worried by his captivity and that the Decepticons made no demands for him, didn't even answer to their tries to contact; and after almost five orns their hopes were down to almost zero. They only knew that he was alive but from Sideswipe's condition they pretty much guessed his own too – and it gave them even more to worry about.

After being released from med-bay and recharging for almost a full orn good measure, he asked the officers and the Prime to hear him and his twin out about the complications of his escape; they too knew that he couldn't have escaped on his own but waited him to tell exactly who helped him. After recounting Sideswipe's earlier case and his story with the black warrior Prime looked thoughtful, while Prowl was expectedly dubious; Jazz was apparently trying to glean more information about Darkflame from Teletraan. It wasn't all that often to find a Decepticon who actually helped an Autobot without anything to gain for it.

"Ah'm sure heard that designation somewhere…"

"He was stationed on Earth only recently. Info tells he was on of Shockwave's mechs on Cybertron."

"Gotcha summat… hmmm, mech was a gladiator before the war."

"I was sure I'd seen him before… so that must have been it." – they all knew the twins' history in the Kaon gladiator Pits; what made so many not trusting them. Sideswipe didn't actually remember the black mech from the Pit, but he was sure that he felt familiar from somewhere.

"But what about that human saying? It'd indicate actual relationship between him and the two of you. Is it possible?"

"Since we know absolutely nothing of our creator or family… anything is possible."

Sunstreaker looked acutely uncomfortable and if it weren't in the company of all the officers he would have been outright angry. That past was not something they often dwelt on and he liked recalling to it even less than his red twin. There wasn't much good or even tolerable in their past. Certainly nothing they could call family. To have one unknowingly was certainly possible, and he too, like his brother felt something in his spark when Darkflame held him during the rescue; nothing like the bond between themselves, but some kind of a… familiar frequency, as he put it. All in all, they agreed that the matter was definitely worth gaining more information about.