The twins had returned to the base in quite a sheepish state; neither one daring to look any other Autobot in the face as they made their way through to their room.
The next day Ratchet called them both into his med-bay; everyone on the ark had become rather concerned about the twins, but no one had had the courage to go ask them what was wrong, what with the twin's reputation and all. So Ratchet had volunteered to talk to them, to see if he could get to the bottom of their personality glitch. He had made it seem like he was only doing this so that everyone would stop worrying about the twins, but really he was just as, if not more, concerned for them himself. Once he had them secured in his med-bay, seated on one of the repair berths, he leaned against one of the cabinets nearby, folded his arms across his chest and looked them straight in the optics; or as straight as he could get with their heads bent down.
"Okay, what's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing," Sunstreaker replied, still not making optic contact with the medic.
"Sideswipe?"
Sideswipe looked up at the CMO slightly, but soon returned to his former position.
Ratchet sighed and rubbed his optics; this was going to take a while.
"Ratchet," came a voice from outside the med-bay.
"What?" the CMO almost growled.
"Mind if I come in?"
"Sure; perhaps you could get a word out of these two."
The doors to the med-bay opened and in stepped Prowl with a copy of the daily newspaper in his hand.
"I don't think we'll need to get a word out of them," Prowl said, walking up to the medic.
"Why?" Ratchet asked, slightly puzzled by the second-in-command's statement.
"I believe the phrase is, 'a picture is worth a thousand words'," he replied, holding the newspaper out for Ratchet to see what was on the front page.
"Oh! I see what you mean." Ratchet took the paper and held it closer to his face so that he could see the picture better. There, on the front cover, was a picture of the twins hanging from a telephone wire over some dust road, no doubt close to the base; Sunstreaker hanging by his shoulders and Sideswipe by his ankles.
"Autobot Pranksters get hung out to dry," Ratchet read.
Ratchet and Prowl looked at the twins for an explanation.
"Guess the base has seen that already," said Sideswipe.
"No; I was in town when I saw them delivering the papers. When I saw two familiar figures on the front page I confiscated the whole truck load; thought that would help you two save face for a few more hours," explained Prowl.
"Didn't know you cared," said Sunstreaker, as he and Sideswipe raised their heads to look at the CMO and second-in-command.
"What happened?" Prowl asked taking a position next to Ratchet.
The twins looked at each other for a moment as if silently debating with each other whether or not to tell the tale.
"Well?" asked Ratchet.
"We were just driving down to town when all of a sudden," Sideswipe made a sort of whistling noise, "Sunny and I find ourselves hanging by our rear wheels," he explained.
"Transforming just made it worse," added Sunstreaker.
"We had to call for Spike and Sparkplug to come get us down."
"Why didn't you just call for Autobot assistance?" asked Prowl.
"Like we wanted everyone on base to know that the twins got 'hung out to dry'?" asked Sunstreaker.
Ratchet and Prowl looked at the twins understandingly.
"So, who did this?" Ratchet asked.
"Some humans," Sunstreaker replied.
"Humans?"
"Yeah."
"Another reason for the sheepishness I suppose."
The twins looked away from Ratchet.
"Look, it's not that bad," Ratchet said, trying to make the twins feel better.
The twins looked at Ratchet like he had blown a circuit.
"Yes it is," Sunstreaker scoffed.
"How so?" asked Prowl.
"Being pranked back by our prankee's we can handle; being pranked by another Autobot or even a Decepticon we can handle, but being pranked by a human…," started Sideswipe.
"I still don't see the problem."
"We can't prank a human back!" The twins exclaimed in unison, taking Prowl and Ratchet by surprise.
"And why not?" asked Ratchet.
"You've seen our brand of pranks, Ratchet," said Sunstreaker.
"Yeah, they're too rough to play on humans," added Sideswipe.
"Aah, I see, and you know that if you harm a human…," started Ratchet.
"You ain't exactly going to be able to weld him back together like you would one of our own."
"And you know what kind of trouble you would get into if you did harm someone irreversibly," added Prowl.
The twins nodded.
"Guess they're smarter than we figured," Ratchet whispered to Prowl.
"Indeed," smiled Prowl, secretly proud of the twins for their choice of action.
"Well, don't worry about it. I'm sure within a few days everyone will have forgotten about it. Dismissed."
The twins nodded and made their way out of the med-bay.
Unfortunately, it didn't last just one week; it lasted a whole month. The twins were getting close to breaking point with all the 'what you gonna do ta get them back?' for the first week or so and then all the 'I think the twins have been bested' behind their backs for the remaining weeks. Eventually they resigned to their fate of being 'bested'; not an Autobot was pranked, smart mouthed or in danger of any kind of mischief from the twins.
"I'm worried about those two," Prowl confided to Ratchet.
"Tell me about it. I hate to say this, Prowl, but… I miss yelling at them and being positively frustrated just about 24/7. We've got to fix the problem," replied Ratchet.
"I know, but how?"
"I'll ask around; see if anyone knows who did this."
"I'll get Red Alert and Mirage on it as well; maybe they can track the perps down on the net."
"Right. Good luck."
"Same to you."
With that the two mechs went their separate ways.
It wasn't too many hours later that Ratchet walked into the common room and caught sight of Prowl by the energon dispensers; Prowl looked up just in time to see Ratchet enter. The medic mouthed: 'got 'em'.
Prowl nodded and began to walk towards the medic; Ratchet turned on his heels and walked out of the common room with the second-in-command close behind.
Once they were in Ratchet's office, Ratchet closed the door and made sure no one would disturb them.
"Well?" asked Prowl.
The medic walked over to his desk, picked up two data-pads and handed them to Prowl.
"Here's what we've been able to get," Ratchet replied, as Prowl opened the files and began to read them.
"I see," Prowl said, reading alternate pieces of info.
"Motivation?" Prowl asked.
"Seems the twins have been doing a bit of 'off-the-light' racing," Ratchet replied.
"And a bit of gloating from the twins can cut deep."
"You got it. Guess these two figured if they could beat Sunny-boy and Siders at their own game they could call it even."
"Just one problem there."
"What?"
"No one messes with our boys."
Ratchet smiled knowingly.
"You got a plan?" he asked.
"I'm a tactician; I always have a plan," replied Prowl, closing the data-pads.
"Right; so, what do we do?"
Prowl smiled; this was going to be, he supposed what others would call, fun.
Later that night, two 'bots, one red and one yellow, snuck out of the ark and into town; their prey none the wiser of their intentions. After setting the trap they set themselves as the bait.
"When should they be coming this way?" asked the red one, his arms folded across his chest.
"Soon; they come this way every evening apparently," replied the yellow.
Just then two shadowy figures came walking down the sidewalk.
"Well, well, well, if it ain't Sunny-side-up and Apple-sider," grinned one of the lads.
"Finally come out of hiding," added the other.
The two figures just stood and stared at the two humans.
"We've been waiting for you two to show your mugs around he-RE-RE!" exclaimed the one, as he was yanked off of his feet, along with his partner in crime, into the air. Within seconds the pair found themselves wrapped like silkworms from a telephone line.
"Hey!" they protest, while their pranksters laugh their heads off.
"Guess you were waiting for that!" chortled the red one.
The two humans growled.
"We'll get you for this!" shouted the one.
The yellow one waved off the threat and turned to leave.
"Hang on, 'Sunny'; lemme just get this pic," said the red one.
A flash blinded the two bound humans; they blinked their eyes to clear their vision. Once they could see again they found that their pranksters had disappeared. The next morning they were found and returned to the ground, but not before the daily newspaper had hit the stands.
Back at the Autobot base, Optimus was up to his audio receptors in complaints from the citizens of Portland.
"Sunstreaker! Sideswipe! Get your skid plates down here now!" he roared over the intercom system.
Within a few moments, the twins entered Optimus' office.
"Sir?" they asked in a confused and rather frightened state.
"What were you two thinking?!" Optimus asked, temper frayed by the non stop calls he was getting; he was one ring away from smashing something and at the moment Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were considered something that was incredibly expendable.
"Okay, for once you're not making any sense, Optimus," said Sunstreaker.
"This!" Optimus hissed thrusting a copy of the newspaper in Sunstreaker's direction.
Sunstreaker took the paper and held it so that he could see the front page; Sideswipe stretched his neck to get a look at the paper. What the twins saw was something quite surprising.
"'Pranksters left high and dry'?" the twins asked in unison.
"Yes," Optimus replied, trying not to explode.
"But we didn't do this."
"Really? Says right there that several people saw you and they clearly identified the pair of you."
Sunstreaker quickly read the article.
"B-but, Optimus, we really didn't do it," Sideswipe said.
"I don't want to hear any more, Sideswipe; you, your brother, Prowl, Ratchet and myself will be going down to town hall for a public apology to those two young men. Let's go," said Optimus, as he stood up from his desk.
"But sir…," the twins started in unison.
"That's an order! Hoof it!"
The twins shrank away from Optimus as he walked out from behind his desk and past them on his way to the door.
"Well, you two coming or will I have to drag you out of there?" Optimus asked.
The twins looked at each other; contemplating their chances of making a run for it, but their plans were cut short by Prowl and Ratchet poking their heads into the office.
"Come on; let's get this over with," said Ratchet.
When the twins refused to move, Ratchet and Prowl sighed in unison, walked in and began to push the twins out.
The drive down to city hall was a painfully short one for the twins; as they drew near, with Prowl and Ratchet behind them just to make sure they didn't make a run for it, they caught sight of their previous prankers along with a whole crowd of angry citizens.
"Prime," said the mayor, he was in as foul a mood as Prime was.
"Mayor," said Optimus, as he transformed and stood in front of the mayor.
The other Autobots soon transformed with Prowl and Ratchet keeping a close watch on the twins.
"This them?" the mayor asked the previous prankers and their witnesses.
"Yeah, that's 'em," the group replied.
"Right. Sideswipe, Sunstreaker," said Optimus.
"But…," started Sideswipe.
Optimus held up a hand to silence Sideswipe.
"I don't want to hear it, Sideswipe!" he said, trying to keep his temper under control in front of the citizens.
"Just say that you're sorry and that it won't happen again," said Ratchet.
"But we didn't…," started Sunstreaker.
"Just say it," said Prowl.
The twins sighed in unison; they knew they were beat. They walked forward a few paces, knelt down and looked their prankers in the eye.
"We're sorry," they said in unison.
"And?" asked Optimus, his arms folded over his chest and his foot tapping expectantly.
"And it won't happen again," the twins recited.
"Good."
"Apology accepted," the two young lads smiled.
The twins nodded graciously as they stood up.
"All right, everyone. You've seen it with your own eyes; they've apologized; so, please, kindly leave," said the mayor.
With that the crowd in front of city hall began to disperse.
"Non stop calls?" Optimus asked the mayor quietly.
"Yeah; you?" asked the mayor.
"Oh yeah."
The twins were just standing to one side waiting for the okay to leave when they felt something tap them against their legs. They looked down and saw their previous pranksters.
"What?" Sunstreaker asked moodily.
"That was a great prank; just so you know," said one of the lads.
The twins just kept quiet they didn't want to have more discipline than necessary by denying the deed; even though they hadn't done it.
"See you guys 'round?" asked the other young man.
The twins looked at each other, shrugged and smiled slightly.
"Suppose so," said Sideswipe.
"Cool. I guess it was true what we had heard; you two are the kings of pranks," smiled the young man, as he and his friend began to leave.
The twins smiled at the comment as they watched their pranksters disappear into a nearby crowd.
"Let's head home, Autobots," said Optimus.
The twins, Prowl and Ratchet nodded in agreement; they transformed and began to head back home.
The weeks that followed were chaos at the ark with equal amounts of shouting, threats, shrieks of terror, yelps of surprise and shouts of 'Sideswipe!' and 'Sunstreaker!'; the twins had a lot of catching up to do. Prowl and Ratchet had gapped it into Ratchet's med-bay to escape the day's set of pranks.
"You know, even though they're causing more damage than usual at the moment… I wouldn't change a thing," smiled Prowl.
"Me neither; they've been sent to me more times and in more pieces than I cared to imagine this week and… I share your sentiments, Prowl," smiled Ratchet.
"The base is going to be super clean for the next few weeks at least."
"Yeah, we were running a bit low on criminal activities to punish when those two were 'out of order' so to speak."
Prowl snorted and smiled.
Just then First Aid came in, dragging a pair of wheezing Lamborghinis.
"What now?" asked Ratchet.
"The inhabitants of the ark have asked for you to deactivate the twins for a bit," First Aid replied.
"Tell them that the sooner the twins are allowed to get everything out of their systems the sooner everything will be back to normal."
"But…"
"No 'but's, First Aid." Ratchet pointed to the door.
First Aid sighed dejectedly and nodded.
"Yes boss," he said, as he turned on his heels and walked out of the med-bay, but not before Sunstreaker had tripped him up.
"Would you two give it a rest already?" Ratchet asked, as the twins started laughing again at First Aid's expense.
"Aww, come on, Ratch," grinned Sideswipe.
Ratchet and Prowl would never admit it to anyone, but they were glad to see Sideswipe's mischievous smile again.
"Oh! We almost forgot; thank you," said Sunstreaker, as he and Sideswipe began to help each other up.
"'Thank you'?" asked Prowl.
"For what?" asked Ratchet.
Sunstreaker walked up to them and pointed to a spot of red paint on Ratchet's neck and a spot of yellow paint on Prowl's door wing. The pair quickly covered the paint spots.
"How anyone could mistake you two for us is truly something," smiled Sideswipe.
"How did you two find out?" asked Ratchet, still gripping his paint spot.
"The net; someone uploaded a picture of 'us' the night 'we' pranked those two guys."
"A bit of work and, boom, uncovered," smiled Sunstreaker.
Ratchet and Prowl just smiled; their secret was out.
"How'd you pull it off?" asked Sideswipe.
"Like we're going to give you two any ideas," smiled Ratchet.
The twins chuckled at the response.
"Suppose so. Thanks again though," Sideswipe smiled.
"No problem," smiled Prowl.
"Didn't know you two cared so much," said Sunstreaker.
"No one messes with our boys," said Ratchet.
The twins smiled at their two superiors.
"And you if repeat that to anyone," Ratchet started seriously.
"We'll deny it," finished Prowl.
"Repeat what? What were we talking about again?" asked Sideswipe.
"Exactly," Ratchet smiled amusedly.
"Well, we better not hang around here too much longer," said Sunstreaker.
"Yeah. 'Bots to prank and stuff, y'know," smiled Sideswipe, as he and Sunstreaker began to head for the door.
"You do know that I'm going to have to punish you for all of this," said Prowl.
The twins smiled back at the second-in-command.
"Wouldn't have it any other way, Prowlie-boy," smiled Sideswipe.
Prowl smiled and nodded just as the twins walked out of the med-bay. Prowl sighed and looked at Ratchet.
"Who hasn't been pranked yet?" Prowl asked.
"Uh… I think the minibots, Dinobots, aerial 'bots and us," replied Ratchet.
"Right."
They paused for a moment before saying in unison, "Three, two, one."
Suddenly there was a screech from Bumblebee as he came face to face with one of the twin's pranks.
"Sideswipe! Sunstreaker! Just wait until I…," started the little yellow minibot.
"I better go rescue him," said Prowl, as he prepared to leave.
"If it's anything to do with paint I don't want to know; I've got my own problem with it at the moment," said Ratchet.
"You're not the only one." With that Prowl left the safety of the med-bay and entered the battlefield which was their base. It was good to have the twins back to normal.