Note: 'Vos' is a city. 'Metra' is a unit of length that I made up (Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are about 1.6 metras tall).

03. Silly

Backwards Time Skip - Cybertron

For a good, long moment Sunstreaker just stares. There isn't much else he can do. The scene before him—or above, actually—is almost beyond his capacity to process. He can't even think of anything to say.

"Hey! Who is that?"

He'd been sent by some sub-commander or another to retrieve his brother, last seen clutching the back of a Decepticon Seeker screaming something about a "jet judo" as he disappeared over the ruins of Vos. That was a half of a joor ago. Sunstreaker had been looking for four breems, alone, until he came across one of the last standing buildings, confused as his systems told him that he should be standing right on top of his target. And then he'd looked up.

"Hello?"

Sunstreaker actually has to bite back a bark of laughter.

Almost ten metras up the face of the shattered building are a set of silver and black legs. They're kicking back and forth and he can hear a muffled thumping coming from within. Sideswipe's front half is inside the building. And he appears to be stuck.

"Seriously, who's out there?"

Sunstreaker can't bring himself to answer. He hears a loud whump and Sideswipe's legs lift up and thrash around. A few nano-kliks later and the scuffling noises stop and the legs fall back to dangle in the air.

"Okay, look. I don't care who you are. Can you just help me out of here?"

He supposes he should radio for assistance. It looks like they're going to have to cut through the wall to get Sideswipe out without taking off a limb. Several mechs back at base camp have tools that will get the job done. But as he stands there, staring, a horrible idea begins to form in his processor.

By the time they make it back to base the story has already spread. As they pass by a group of sentries, the Autobots nudge each other and snicker. For once, it's Sideswipe who scowls and threatens dismemberment while Sunstreaker walks along behind him, expression blank.

"Gossiping little rusted piles of slag," Sideswipe mutters and Sunstreaker watches him shift uncomfortably.

He doesn't respond.

"I swear, the next one to say anything is going to get a mouthful of pain," Sideswipe continues.

From Sunstreaker's position, the silver marks don't look like anything in particular; just a few squiggled lines on Sideswipe's back-side. The full effect can only be enjoyed from a further distance, as a new burst of laughter from behind demonstrates. Sideswipe half-turns, optics glowing almost white, and raises one arm in mid-transformation to his beloved pile-driver.

"All right, who was that?!"

Sunstreaker, struggling to keep his customary scowl on his face, reaches up and grabs his brother's arm, pushing it back down as he steers him forward.

"Just get to the slagging medic," he says.

Sideswipe grumbles but shifts his arm back and resumes trudging. Sunstreaker waits a moment, lets Sideswipe pull ahead just enough so he can catch a full glimpse of his handiwork. It's been smudged a little—Sideswipe had spent his first few breems of freedom cursing and trying to wipe it off—but the binding agent smeared on still looks like a face with some stupid grin. Which Sunstreaker had promptly said looked a lot like Sideswipe's own stupid grin and almost got his head taken off.

"When I find that Decepticon fragger I'm going to rip his arm off and make him eat it," Sideswipe says as they pass by a team of Autobots who start laughing so hard that one of them drops his end of a shipping container. "How did that slag-face get up there, anyway?"

Sunstreaker shrugs.

"You said he was already on the ground when you got there?" Sideswipe says.

"Yeah."

Sideswipe starts cursing again.

A large, white 'bot to their right cheers and says, "Hey, that's a nice look for you 'sides!"

"'Sides" glares and mutters, "I'm going to beat him."

Sunstreaker's just glad he walking behind his brother so Sideswipe doesn't see him twitching.

The field medic is set up on the other side of base camp, past the fortifications, past the transport landing pads, and past the refuel stations. It's a long way to go in a bustling battle-camp with your aft sporting graffiti and Sunstreaker is going to make sure that everyone gets an opportunity to admire his work.

"I'm going to kill that slagger," Sideswipe says.

Thanks go out to Elita One, Sunstreaker, and Fanatical-Chick for their awesome-sauce reviews.