A PAST FULL OF MEMORIES

Just the tidbits and pieces of the puzzle that have made our bots from the Stealthblade series just who and what they are today. It explains what they've been through, by going back through time and following them through the most influential stages of their lives, whether it be for better of for worse.

Do not read if you are unfamiliar with my story Stealthblade and its sequal Divided. It will make more sense (and have greater meaning) to already loyal readers. You can find the stories on my profile. Thank you!

And now, onto our first bot's past!!!

Doubleedge/Torrent

Cycling his intakes deeply, Doubleedge couldn't help but grin to himself triumphantly. Here he was, out on his own for his first lone mission, stellar cycles before any of his fellow teammates would even meet his qualifications. He had even surpassed his trainer, Ironhide, just before departing the asteroid base.

His Autobot insignia gleamed proudly on his armor, still shiny and new compared to the mechs he had sparred against. Doubleedge didn't like to think himself a proud mech, but at the moment, he couldn't help but swell with pride.

He had graduated from the Autobot academy not only at the top of the top, but having learned directly from Optimus Prime himself. It was rare that a trainee even got to see the great and mighty leader, much less speak, or be spoken to by him. His friends had admitted their jealousy of his tutorage early on, but Doubleedge had never let it get to him. Jealousy after all was just a selfish form of admiration, and he'd take whatever admiration was given.

Adjusting his flight pattern, he sat back in his fair sized ship, cleverly disguised as nothing more than a light cargo transport, though actually containing quite a bit of energon.

His mission was simple enough; take the energon cubes to an Autobot outpost located on one of Jupiter's moons. Easy but filled with hidden dangers if one wasn't careful.

I could probably get in some recharge now… Doubleedge mulled over the option for only a moment.

After ensuring that his autopilot ship wasn't going to meet any dangerous obstacles along its way, Doubleedge got up and set himself up in a recharge pod, setting a timer so he could manually fly through a trickier part of the asteroid field. A joor would do him some good.

Can't believe my first solo mission is this easy. Doubleedge smirked lightly to himself, and then shut off his optics and fell into recharge.

*****

Alarms rattled Doubleedge's dental plates as he came to. He sat up quickly, only to bonk his head against the glass of his pod. Hissing out a low stream of cybertronian curses, the inexperienced Autobot pried open his pod and quickly scanned around for the source of all the commotion.

The white and black mech quickly locked onto a huge asteroid approaching fast on his ship's grid, and couldn't help but drop his jaw open in horror. He spun to his alarm, only to see that it was frozen, having broken while he was recharging.

"Unreliable fragging piece of slag!" Doubleedge growled, and quickly jumped behind the controls, switching off the autopilot and performing a tricky dive to avoid colliding with the huge floating rock outside his ship.

Energon cubes tumbled out of their safety nets, a few even striking the struggling 'bot. He flinched a lavender optic as a sharp cube's corner sliced an exposed energon tube in his wrist.

Out of instinct he retracted his limb, but only succeeded on placing too much stress on his right arm. Unable to pull out of his dive fast enough, his ship's hull scrapped deep into another asteroid, and rattled him out of his chair.

Doubleedge sprawled out onto the cold floor, momentarily stunned. He shook his head after a pause, attempting to regain his senses. He flipped into emergency mode, flipping down his clear visor in front of his optics for protection, and to better analyze what he had to do.

Energon cubes were everywhere, and Doubleedge cursed the fact that he hadn't been allowed to store them in subspace packs due to a shortage of the convenient devices. The Autobot's were always running short on something it seemed, just like the ones at his destination were short on energon.

Why do cubes have to have such sharp corners? Doubleedge griped mentally, before snapping himself back to the reality of how desperate his situation really was.

He didn't have time to complain about anything, he had to act, and fast. Springing back over to the controls, he tried again to regain control over the spiraling vehicle with only one arm, his damaged wrist leaving his left hand completely useless for the time being.

With a mighty heave he wrenched the ship back out so it was flying smoothly once again. He cycled out a sigh of relief, and fell limp into his seat. Now more composed, he straightened back up to analyze the damage.

Nothing too critical had been broken, and all the energon cubes were still more or less intact, just sprawled out across the floor now instead of stacked up neatly behind safety nets. He sighed, knowing he'd have to clean everything up before reaching the base.

Doubleedge returned his optics to the controls, and was just about to lift up his visor when a warning once again flashed across the panel.

"Great, what now?" He mumbled irritably to himself.

A blip flashed across the screen, revealing an iron filled asteroid was spinning painfully fast directly for his ship. Doubleedge let out a gasp of dismay, knowing the ship didn't have the time or maneuverability to avoid the speeding object. He glanced around for a possible place to crash, and found a nearby moon. Locking onto it, he changed direction, right as the hull was impaled. The small asteroid ripped through the ship, leaving a gaping hole, which all the air quickly leaked out of.

Dissolved gases within Doubleedge's energon quickly sizzled and bubbled out, trying to escape into the now surrounding vacuum. He let out a strangled pained cry, but it lasted only seconds, all air leaving and rendering him mute.

The ship rolled around and around, until it tumbled down into the moon's surface, with Doubleedge thrown like a rag doll from inside.

*****

Doubleedge moaned as he came to, and quickly ran a self diagnostic over his throbbing body. Everything was basically intact, only a few scrapes and missing armor patches here and there. Confirming he would not further damage himself if he moved, the mech crawled slowly to his feet, and found he couldn't stand completely upright without hitting his head on the top, or in this case the bottom, of his ship.

He winced as he scanned around the ship's interior, most of it completely unrecognizable, and thick fuchsia energon spattering most of everything. He attempted to click up his visor, but found the movement was impossible, and that he was stuck with it down until he either repaired it himself, or found a medic.

Carefully Doubleedge picked his way through the wreckage, and to the mangled door. Frowning, he heaved a strong kick, only to fall back on his aft and hiss in pain. So much for kicking the door down.

At least most of the energon's intact. He sighed, looking at the remainder of the cubes.

They were scattered everywhere, some of them empty, but most full and still glowing brightly. Heaving another sigh, the lone mech began to pick up the surviving cubes and piled them up neatly, discarding the broken and empty cubes in a different corner. Once that was finished, he activated his comm. and sent out a distress signal. Just like he expected, there was no immediate reply. He kept his signal up for a bit longer, before finally shutting it off due to risk of attracting the wrong type of bots.

He returned to the jammed upside down door, and carefully looked over the edges, seeing the folds in the metal that kept it sealed tight. He morphed out one of his long swords, and gently eased the blade into the cracked metal, and tried to wedge the pieces apart. With a sudden bang the door flew open, but flying in instead of out.

Doubleedge gasped and ducked, barely missing the flying piece of metal. It clattered to the 'floor' behind him, and then went still, becoming a harmless piece scrap once more.

That…was too close. If his head had been but an inch higher, he'd have lost the top of his helm.

Breathing out a relaxing breathe, Doubleedge found pleasure that he was actually able to do so. It was never fun getting stranded on a moon or planet that lacked an atmosphere, not only because of the inability to cycle the intakes, but also because of the harsh exposure to the surrounding space and solar radiation. Doubleedge had seen a good many veterans with corroded paint and physical problems from over exposure. It was not a path he wanted to go down any time soon.

He sampled the thin air, and was surprised to discover a very thin oxygen content, just barely enough to burn something. Doubleedge glanced up at the sky, and saw a huge gas giant, that would one day come to be known as Jupiter by humans. The species however did not exist yet.

Doubleedge guessed he was on the planet's largest moon, seeing that it appeared to possess its own magnetic field, which he knew for fact all the other moons lacked. He surveyed his terrain, only to find light rocky ground everywhere, with high ridges jutting out in erratic patches, along with deep grooves covered in ice that would be disastrous to fall into.

According to my data banks, there shouldn't be any life forms here, unless they're illegally stationed aliens. He clicked through all the information he could remember about the moon he was located on.

"Great, I'm going to be stuck here awhile." Doubleedge usually didn't talk to himself, but he had no one else at the moment.

He ducked back inside his ship, and quickly programmed a probe to search the area for him. He wasn't positive he was in the best state to be exploring himself, especially if help came sooner than expected. Doubleedge also however didn't want to miss out on finding some form of help to kick start his departure from this moon.

Doubleedge felt like it was vorns before the tiny probe returned, though it really wasn't even a full cycle. The tiny floating device returned, brimming with information.

Doubleedge scrolled through the footage it had obtained, but gasped when he spotted something out of the ordinary on the recordings. It appeared to be buildings; though built more like shacks; and bipedal life forms were moving about, weaving around the buildings in a calm day to day fashion. As the probe had gone nearer, Doubleedge could now see that these were indeed transformers, and neutrals at that.

His jaw hung open in shock for a few moments, before suddenly regaining composure.

These neutrals aren't allowed here, Optimus never granted permission to settle this moon. He frowned suddenly.

Recently neutrals had been growing scarce, not because of death, but because they'd gone into hiding, trying to avoid the Autobot and Decepticon conflict at all costs. Thousands of undocumented and illegal settlements were being discovered every day, and Doubleedge had now discovered a completely new population.

He quickly judged from the size of the buildings that no more than thirty bots inhabited the area, and supplies seemed to be scarce due to the poor structure of the buildings. These transformers were living on the edge, just to keep out of a war they deemed pointless.

I suppose I'll have to report this to Prime. He wondered how the great leader would react.

Optimus Prime hated relocating neutrals, or even finding their hidden camps and towns. It seemed at times that the leader even avoided certain planets just incase an illegal settlement had sprung up on it, so the neutrals there would have a chance to live peacefully. Doubleedge knew it wasn't the Autobot's intentions of bringing the neutrals into their conflict and war, but they were different from other outside life forms; they were transformers, and thus had a duty to their kind.

Nothing but a group of cowards, all of them. They don't deserve our protection. Doubleedge grumbled lowly.

Optimus Prime had stated that it was their duty to protect and serve, which included the constantly fleeing neutrals, and it was the only ideal that Doubleedge couldn't agree on. He'd gladly defend an unsuspecting alien, or a fellow Autobot, but neutrals just made his engines rev. If they cared about their home, they'd have stayed and fought to protect it, not disappeared to the dark reaches of space.

I'll go talk with them myself, give them a little something to stress about. It would do them some good. Doubleedge smirked.

The cowards wouldn't be arrested for their illegal settlement no, not since Optimus Prime declared all hiding neutrals would receive automatic amnesty for their actions as long as they came back under Autobot surveillance, but of course their was also the chance of them resisting. If they did so, then Doubleedge would have every right to arrest them, and force them to come out of hiding.

He clamped the leak in his wrist, adjusted the placement of his armor, and transformed, heading straight to where his probe had gone. The weak gravity was uncomfortable to maneuver on, but after a few minutes of adjusting, Doubleedge sped along just fine.

He arrived at the site sooner than he had anticipated, and stopped short, surveying the area before entering, just like his training told him to. As far as he could tell, the neutrals weren't aware of his presence yet, or just weren't concerned about it.

Doubleedge transformed, wincing though as some of his damaged plating grated together as his gears shifted. A few neutrals now took notice, freezing where they stood. Some lowered visors in front of their optics, using the zoom on them to locate his Autobot insignia.

Suddenly they all scattered, running to their homes and locking up their doors tight, though Doubleedge was certain he could break them down if he really needed to.

Pathetic bots. He sneered and walked forward, entering the grungy place, which seemed more like an elaborate camp ground than a town.

He strode to the center, where a tall metal pole stood, with anti war artwork completely covering it. The pole was nearly as wide as the lone Autobot, but its purpose seemed pointless.

"What's your business here, Autobot?" A mech's voice demanded from behind.

Doubleedge turned around slowly, only to come face to face with an opal white bot with grayish blue highlights and bright fuchsia optics, the exact same color as energon. His expression was hard and distrustful, and a surprising amount of burns and scratches riddled his frame. Doubleedge quickly came to the conclusion that this mech was accustomed to fights, and had probably assigned himself to protecting all the neutrals.

"The real question is, what are so many neutrals doing on a restricted moon?" the black and white mech challenged.

"Trying to keep out of your Autobots' fights obviously." He snarled.

Doubleedge examined this mech further, and estimated they were of equal height, but this neutral lacking the more powerful battle armor that he possessed. His frame however was loaded with illegal upgrades, such as heavy weaponry that was not permitted on any neutral. How the mech had even gained possession of such weaponry was a mystery to Doubleedge, much less how he had managed to find someone to install them for him. Judging by his frame's plating, Doubleedge guessed he had four guns installed in his sides, two larger ones under his shoulders, and most likely side guns installed into the side of his forearms.

"If you're trying to avoid fights, why do you have so many unauthorized upgrades?" Doubleedge challenged.

The mech just growled lower, and his fuchsia optics flashed to a far building, where another neutral was lurking and watching the situation unfold. He frowned and walked over, towering over the other two bots.

Tall, but meek. Doubleedge quickly determined as he scanned over the tall mech.

He was a dark navy blue with bright orange highlights, and even an orange faceplate. His optics were a surprisingly gentle green, that seemed to both disapprove of and pity Doubleedge at the same time. Doubleedge could tell by the upgrades to his frame he was a medic.

"I apologize for my friend's brashness Autobot, but we really don't wish for any trouble. My name is Remcast, and I am the medic for these neutrals." He offered Doubleedge a gentle smile.

"My designation is Doubleedge, and I must apologize Remcast, but you and your fellow neutrals are stationed here illegally, and cannot be permitted to stay." He recited the words he had been told to say over a thousands times.

"I don't give a flying frag about what we are and aren't permitted to…" The opal white mech started to exclaim.

"Calm down Torrent, fighting isn't going to help the situation." Remcast tried to sooth his irritated companion.

"Oh sure, and let this Autobot contact his 'buddies' and remove us? No 'cons know we live here much less survived their last attack! We're actually safe for once, and this 'bot is going to blow it all!" Torrent would not be controlled.

"Under Optimus Prime's direct orders, all neutrals found on an unauthorized celestial object are free to come to an approved settlement under Autobot supervision and suffer no consequences. Any who resist however will immediately receive an arrest warrant, and be contained until trial can be arranged." Doubleedge stated mechanically, not liking Torrent one bit.

Technically I could arrest him now just for his upgrades. He debated whether taking action so soon would benefit his situation or not.

His ship was still damaged after all, and he had no where to keep a prisoner, especially a well armed one like Torrent.

"There's no slaggin' way I'll let my people get crushed under Autobot control. It's just as bad as getting fragged by cons." Torrent was adamant, and Remcast seemed at a loss.

"So…who upgraded you?" Doubleedge smirked, gaining sudden leverage over the riley mech.

Torrent's optics widened, and barely flickered over to Remcast. That was all Doubleedge needed.

"Well seeing that you are an armed and dangerous mech interfering with Autobot business, I have no choice but to place you under arrest."

"No fragging way I'm…"

"And as for those upgrades of yours…" Doubleedge let it hang.

Torrent's faceplate twisted through a series of emotions, from rage, to realization, to grudging defeat.

"Okay then, Doubleedge, I offer you a challenge." Torrent spoke bitterly, "you and me face off one on one, no tricks and no extra help. If I win, I and my fellow neutrals get to remain here, like none of this ever happened, and you go on your way."

"And if I win?" Doubleedge scowled.

"Then I come freely and my people will be placed under Autobot control. But I am the only neutral resisting, so only I can receive arrest." Torrent's scowl was almost better then Doubleedge's own.

This is pointless, I've got all the cards here; he shouldn't be making any demands. Doubleedge sneered inwardly. But…he probably won't come quietly either way, and this challenge can make things easier on me… His competitive side was for once agreeing with his logic.

"All right Torrent, you've got yourself a deal." Doubleedge scoffed.

The opal white mech extended a hand to shake on it, and the Autobot was surprised by the gesture. It almost seemed like a trick, but he took the hand anyways. Nothing happened.

"Tomorrow, you and me, meet on the outskirts of town." Doubleedge declared, wanting to have control over at least one thing.

"Agreed, but if our battle grows out of hand and threatens any not involved, we are to stop immediately and postpone the fight to the following day." Torrent's tone was low with warning.

"Fine." Doubleedge snapped, and then turned and began his walk back to his ship, fuming over how Torrent had still bested him.

"You sure about this Torrent?" he heard Remcast asked the fuchsia opticed mech.

"Certain."

*****

Five long days had passed, and still neither Torrent nor Doubleedge could get the upper hand during their battles. Torrent was good; Doubleedge had to give him that, considering he was up against a top of the line graduate with qualifications to even become a member of Optimus Prime's own private team.

He was a gunner in everyway, having many different guns and blasters stored within his subspace as well as in his body, ready for use at any moment during his and Doubleedge's clashes.

Doubleedge himself preferred his twin swords, elegant yet sturdy. He was forced to use his own blaster as well in order to get in close to the mech, but often times when this happened, their fire would grow too great, and bystanders would start taking hits. Then they'd both immediately break off, and go back their separate ways and wait for the following day, nursing any wounds they had received fighting.

Thanks to Doubleedge's heavier armor, he had a better chance of winning in the long run. If Torrent ever won the upper hand even once though, Doubleedge wasn't certain he could defeat the rogue neutral.

Doubleedge finished reattaching the door to his ship, having turned the vehicle back right side up after giving it some thought and hard work. He now had a place to hold Torrent until the other Autobots arrived to pick him up.

Course, that's if they're even coming for me. Doubleedge frowned, growing discouraged by his train of thought. There's always the chance Decepticons blocked my signal. He sighed, for once feeling weary.

It was the beginning of his sixth day, and he had to go out and challenge Torrent once more. Doubleedge rolled his shoulders to loosen himself up. He had to win today, because he didn't have the strength to last him until tomorrow.

He began his trudge over, not transforming due to an injury he had received just the day before. He was sure the Autobot medics were going to love the condition he was in.

They'll probably send me to Ratchet. He managed a smirk as he walked.

He froze though when he saw the neutral's camp, his jaw dropping open in surprise. Swiftly he dove behind a nearby boulder, only to carefully peer around and observe.

Smoke was billowing out of most of the shacks, and neutrals where darting around in terror as seekers fired down from the skies above. Doubleedge couldn't believe he didn't detect the 'cons sooner. Immediately he searched for Torrent, but saw no sign of the protector. A different familiar bot however caught his optic.

Remcast was cornered, and about to be shot down by a particularly nasty seeker. Doubleedge sprang towards the Decepticon, and quickly sliced his arm clean off with a decisive blow. The seeker let out a howl, but Doubleedge cut up into his spark chamber, just beneath his chest plate which was every transformer's weak spot. The seeker's once vibrant colors faded to a cold gray, and the lifeless husk fell back, freeing itself from Doubleedge's sword in the process.

"Remcast, are you all right?" Doubleedge turned down to the fallen medic.

The navy and orange mech nodded, wincing as he stood back up to his full height. His green optics darted around, grimly looking over the chaos around them.

"Where's Torrent?" Doubleedge quickly demanded.

Remcast's orange faceplate skewed with thought for a moment, before suddenly tensing in alarm.

"Quickly follow me, Torrent was tied to the center pole to be made an example of!" Remcast darted off, with Doubleedge hot on his heels.

They both skidded to a stop when they came across the center pole, which indeed had Torrent tied tightly to it, his feet just barely suspended off the ground.

"Torrent!" Remcast exclaimed.

"Nah-ah-ah, he's going nowhere." A large seeker touched down, separating the two bots from Torrent.

This seeker was larger than his brethren, with wicked red optics and a very sleekly shaped maroon helm. His underplating was a deep midnight blue, and striking yellow designs flecked his armor, even trailing across his faceplate. In particular two stripes ran down the front of his helm, and two shadowed vertically beneath his optics. The seeker flexed an arm, showing off two long and cruelly hooked talon like spears attached to that limb. They were already coated with energon, and as far as Doubleedge could tell, that energon belonged to Torrent.

"What are you doing here Decepticon? Can't you see these neutrals have nothing?" Doubleedge demanded.

"Oh quite the contrary. These neutrals have all have energon, and my fellow seekers and I are in need of it." He grinned, and displayed long fangs.

Doubleedge felt his processor stall as it tried to comprehend this new information.

A group of vampire seekers? I thought they were nothing but a myth! His logic center frizzled from effort.

"Oh don't get yourself stuck in a stall, it's no fun drinking energon from an unconscious victim." The mech laughed.

"Vile beasts." Remcast growled from beside Doubleedge.

"Ha, that's what Megatron said. Poor chap doesn't trust us," the con laughed harder. "Oh well, his loss, not mine."

"Wait, then who is your leader?" Doubleedge was still trying to wrap his mind around the first bit of information.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" The seeker's voice rose in volume. "I won't honor my next meal with the important information, but I will tell you the name of your killer. I am Psychedine."

Okay, vampire con, check, neutral in distress, check, painful fight going down in about five astroseconds, check. Doubleedge morphed out both his swords, and twisted them expertly in his wrists.

Psychedine extended his talons and grinned, rearing for a good fight. Doubleedge brought it, fast and precise. He darted up towards the taller seeker, aiming for his spark. Psychedine caught both of his swords, one with a bare clawed hand, the other with his hooked talons.

"Don't tell me that's the best you can do little Autobot." The vampire Decepticon taunted with a cruel laugh.

"Believe me, I can do better." Still having his pride, Doubleedge couldn't help but spit back at the larger mech.

Psychedine only shook his head, and flung Doubleedge up over his head, sending him flying into the pole above Torrent's head. His swords fell free from his hands, one managing to lodge itself into the lock fastening Torrent's chains in place. Doubleedge clattered to the ground and tried not to groan, knowing that was just what the con wanted.

He scrabbled to grab his fallen sword, but Psychedine's heavy foot stepped on the blade, rendering Doubleedge's struggling futile. He glared up at the seeker as he raised his talons to strike him down.

Suddenly an opal white flash collided into him, sending him staggering to the side, trying to keep on his feet. Torrent landed smoothly, right over top of Doubleedge's weapon with his other sword in his hand.

The two made optic contact, and Doubleedge froze, not knowing what the neutral would do while he was so vulnerable.

"Get up and show me what you got Autobot." Torrent suddenly smiled, and passed Doubleedge his sword.

He took it quickly, as well as scooped up his blade on the ground.

I can't believe this. Not only was he fighting against a vampire bot, but now he was about to battle alongside a neutral. What is this universe coming to?

They stood side by side, both wielding their weapons in a similar fashion despite their different purposes. Torrent switched to an offensive stance, while Doubleedge pulled back to a defensive one so he could better watch the attacking neutral's back. They twisted and turned around Psychedine, moving so fluidly with the other it was almost a dance; a very deadly dance.

Thanks to the two battling each other so fiercely, they knew all the other's moves, and knew exactly what move the other was about to perform, as well as how to twist to compensate for it. Psychedine frowned as he began to realize he was losing against the two's combined powers.

"Play time's over. Corevoid, separate them." The con suddenly called up to a hovering ally, that seemed content just watching over the battle from above.

He growled with displeasure, and Doubleedge could sense a bitterness between the two. Corevoid also had fangs, but they were smaller, and didn't seem as well suited to puncturing thick main energon tubes as Psychedine's.

He came hurtling down in a sudden flash, and collided with Torrent, ripping him away from Doubleedge's side and crashing into an unstable shack. Doubleedge didn't have time to worry about the neutral though as Psychedine took another swipe for his head.

He flipped back, barely avoiding Psychedine's newly focused strikes. Pants issued out from his intakes as his body struggled to keep its internal components cool. Already weakened from his past few days of battling Torrent, Doubleedge realized he wasn't going to win.

Slag, who'd have thought a simple transport mission would kill me? He snarled, trying not to let Psychedine see into his head. It helped that the sun glinting off his visor concealed his optics for the moment.

"I'm waiting." Psychedine challenged, laughing like this was a game.

Doubleedge charged, brandishing one sword ahead of him, and the other tucked close along his side. He suddenly fell to his knees and skidded across the ground to close the distance, intent on using his momentum to his advantage. Psychedine though wasn't alarmed by his move, and sprang forward, meeting him before he could react. The seeker's talons reached out, and collided against Doubleedge's visor.

The resistant glass was only fractured, glancing the blow down to the lower part of his faceplate, cutting up just underneath his optics, and digging in deep. The wicked hooks tore down his faceplate in two equal lines, pulling back out just before reaching his chin.

Doubleedge fell back, the rest of his skid turning into an out of control tumble, and only stopping after colliding against a far building.

Owe…Primus this hurts. I think he…nicked my processor… Doubleedge felt his world slipping away. Still can't believe I'm…I'm going to die like…this.

He could vaguely make out Remcast shouting for someone, but it sounded distant and unimportant to Doubleedge at the moment. All the Autobot could do was weakly lift his head and stare up at a confident Psychedine, who was striding over at a victorious pace.

Pain coursed further within the fallen soldier's processor, making any clear thoughts impossible to form. His optics flickered in and out, and a hazy white blob seemed to be rapidly approaching Psychedine from behind, but he couldn't be certain.

Then silently Doubleedge's optics extinguished, and the chaos around him muted into blissful darkness.

*****

Jumbled noises and slurred sounds slowly awakened the injured Autobot, and it took him a moment to remember how to activate his optics. He blinked them on weakly, only to stare up at a gray ceiling of a dully lit room. Confused, he shifted his head to look around, and saw he was within a neutral's home. Judging by the guns hanging on a far wall, it belonged to Torrent.

"Wha…" Doubleedge attempted to straighten up in order to better understand his change in surroundings.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A familiar voice spoke from the foot of the berth the Autobot rested on.

He inclined his head only to see Remcast walk over to his side, and begin scanning over his frame carefully.

"How did I…what happened to…is everyone all right?" Doubleedge's jumbled thoughts splurged out all at once.

"After you had passed out Torrent ran over and saved you from Psychedine, destroying his spark in the process. The other seekers then fled like the true cowards they are. Torrent then dragged you to his home and stabilized you until I could repair you. You've been out for an orn." Remcast explained.

"A whole orn…?" Doubleedge couldn't believe it.

And no Autobots have shown up searching for me. He frowned, but winced as he did so.

"I'm afraid any facial expressions are going to cause you some discomfort for another orn or so." Remcast shrugged apologetically.

"Erm…thank you." Doubleedge felt awkward as he said the words.

"Don't thank me, Torrent's the one that's been watching over you." Remcast smiled.

As if it were a queue, that very neutral walked in, but froze upon seeing Doubleedge, alert and talking. He suddenly morphed out a gun in his arm, aiming it at Doubleedge with every intention of shooting.

"You aren't taking me in Autobot." Torrent growled, still believing Doubleedge intended on arresting him.

Arrest him, or give him a new offer? He did save me, and he is a talented fighter. Doubleedge frowned.

"As a soldier, I am inclined to uphold my duty and do what is right," he began, and Torrent tensed even further, ready to fight, "but as a bot, I need to listen to my spark. I wouldn't be showing much gratitude for you saving my life by arresting you, now would I?"

Torrent was stumped, just staring at Doubleedge like he had gone insane.

"However, I still can't disobey the law, but I can try to bend it in this case. If you join the Autobots as a soldier, I'm sure Optimus Prime will grant you amnesty for your upgrades. He can also relocate your people now that it is mostly cinders as well, and you wouldn't have to worry about protecting them." He explained, hoping this option would better appeal to Torrent, because it sure appealed more to him than their constant fighting.

The opal white mech crossed his arms in thought. To Doubleedge Torrent's silence felt like an eternity. Remcast was the one to break the silence.

"Torrent, I don't think you'll ever get a better offer. We need the Autobot's help now, and Doubleedge can give this to us."

He still seemed reluctant, and his optics quickly narrowed.

"All right, I'll accept this deal under one condition, Autobot." Torrent glared. "You and me are never to fight again, clear?"

"Sure thing." He nodded.

Torrent however still didn't look convinced, and Doubleedge rolled his optics. They settled on a bucket of fresh red paint, and an idea suddenly sprang into his head.

"You want insurance on that promise? Okay." He slowly stood, careful not to strain himself, and then dipped his fingers into the paint.

Torrent stared at him in confusion as he drew two red lines vertically below his optics, over top of where Psychedine had struck him.

"There, it's a permanent reminder to what transpired here." He managed a true smile, which fit his faceplate surprisingly well.

Torrent cocked his head, and suddenly nabbed his own bucket of paint, this one containing the color gold. He dipped his fingers into it and then made two lines on his helm, one on each side in the fashion Psychedine had decorated his own helm. Doubleedge recalled the mech having gotten struck there, and couldn't help but chuckle.

"This way, we'll both remember." Torrent managed a slick smile.

Doubleedge extended a hand, and the other took it, giving a firm and meaningful shake. Remcast watched from a distance, and warm smile growing on his warm faceplate the whole time.

"Doubleedge, thi' is Ironhide, do ya read?" A voice suddenly broke through his comm.

"Loud and clear old timer." He smiled.

"What in th' pit's name happen'd to ya!?!" Ironhide exclaimed loudly, and getting Torrent to laugh.

"Well…you'll see when you get here. It's kinda a long story." Doubleedge admitted, only making the older bot fume more.

Torrent indicated towards the door, and Doubleedge nodded and followed him out. The talented neutral paused and looked at the central post, like he was in deep contemplation. His optics suddenly tore away from it, only to gaze up into the space above.

Doubleedge squinted up as well, just barely making out a large Autobot ship coming down for a landing. He shook his head, smiling broadly to himself.

Looks like things are going to be a bit different from now on.

It's funny to think that Torrent's and Double's personalities basically flipped flopped after this :)