Another longer chapter ahead, because I know how much you like to read longer chapters! The premiere of AOE is today, on the 26th of June 2014! Can't wait to see it!

Chapter 21: Golden Savior

Four mega-cycles later…

"We're low on energon."

"I know." He replied.

"I'm cold."

"I am too."

"What if they forgot about us?"

"They wouldn't forget."

"You're right, they wouldn't." I sighed out as I pressed closer to his frame. Sometimes we would get along, other times we would curse at each other in agitation and anger. Right now, we were getting along and our situation was worsening significantly. We were getting lower on energon, it was getting colder and Sunstreaker's engine was failing. That, and neither one of us could access our bonds with our siblings. Help wasn't on the way.

In that moment, his engine decided to falter, ceasing to work for an astrosecond. Sunstreaker cringed as the engine started up again and continued to tick with struggle.

"You can't endure this any longer."

"I can and I will."

"It's too dangerous, Sunstreaker."

"I'll live."

"That's the problem, you won't." I told him as I sat up by his side with difficulty, as he was still leaning on the wall. "This is hurting you. Let me help you."

"I don't need-ARGH!" He yelled in pain and grabbed his chest plates as his engine ceased to work. He punched his chest as the engine started up again, coughing until it ignited, working with the ticks getting louder each and every time.

I sighed. "You can't do this any longer."

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do."

"I will, because I know I can save you and I don't care if you don't want me to. Lie down on your back."

"I'm not moving."

"You want to do this the easy or the hard way?" I threatened. "Because I can turn you over right now and pin you to the ground, no questions asked." I added a glare as well. He glared back at me, but sublimed, slowly lying on his back. "Watch the leg."

"I know." He groaned as he lied down on the ground. "It's so filthy here."

"Stop complaining." I said, sitting down by his chest. "I need you to open the chest plates."

"What are you, Ratchet now?"

"I'm everything you need me to be." I softly said as his chest plates slowly moved out of the way and he reluctantly gave me access to his inner circuitry. Usually, us Cybertronians only showed inner circuitry to medics or our significant others, perhaps even bots we had strong relations with. For Sunstreaker to open up to me, in the literal way, was more than just a test of trust and faith.

"How poetic."

"I'll leave you to offline if you don't shut it." I removed some of the security induced platings that would automatically rise when the chest plates were taken off. I worked my way past them as I reached the engine.

"Not if I offline you first."

"I'd like to see you try." I absently said as I opened my subspace and reached for a tool. I brought the tool to his engine, just barely touching it before the chest plates closed in on me, trapping my hand in his chest. "Sunstreaker, what the-"

"You said you wanted to see me try." He smirked.

I unsubspaced another tool, and hit him on the head with it. "You arrogant glitch, let go!" I smacked him once more, more out of fun than with the intention to really hurt him. Then as I did that, his optics powered off and his engine stopped working. The chest plates retracted and opened once more as my hand was free, but his system was shut off. "Oh frag no." I found myself muttering as I quickly worked into unclogging the cylinder, or what would seem cylinders as I saw that energon piled up in almost every cylinder of his powerful engine, suffocating him from the inside. I knew that if I hit him on the head it wouldn't offline him, but I felt fear running through my energon lines now, I had to be fast.

Quickly, with my other tool that reminded of a spade, I took out the energon that piled up and disposed of it to the side. After I had quickly done that, knowing that I didn't have much time before his body went into stasis, I put everything back into place, each screw and each plate, before I crawled to his head, putting it into my lap as I sat on my aft. "Don't die on me." I took the only remaining cube from my compartment and checked my own energon status.

6% of energon left.

No, Sunstreaker has to survive.

I brought his head up a little as I opened the cube's lid and brought it to his mouth plates. "Come on, Sunny, work with me here." My throat began to hurt as he wasn't opening his mouth. I had to do it for him and diligently sip the energon into his mouth.

I waited for a little while, but heard nothing. I poured some more and realized that the energon was stuck in his throat, not moving down to his tanks. There was an obstruction, another safety precaution. I examined his throat and found a screw that connected to the obstruction. I had been trained under Perceptor and First Aid and had above average medical knowledge that warriors carried and I knew exactly where and what to look for.

As I unscrewed the screw, the energon moved into his systems, immediately powering him up. I put the screw back in as I held his head in my hands on my lap, waiting for him to start up.

His engine started up immediately, this time running soundlessly, no ticking and no sputtering in its sounding. His optics powered up, brighter than I had seen them in these four mega-cycles we had been trapped down here. They looked around until they fell on mine.

"Good morning, Sunshine." I smiled as I held his head in my lap, smirking at his scowl on the nickname. I rested my back on the wall behind me, relaxing. "You're alright. Gave me quite a scare while I was fixing you."

"You asked for it."

"I did, didn't I?" I looked up as little sunlight entered the hole we were in.

"But I thank you." He seemed a little uneasy about saying this, but didn't stop. "You saved my life."

"It's alright." I gently moved my hand to make him more comfortable on my lap. "I don't have any more energon."

"That cube you had in your compartment, use it."

I sighed, but I didn't regret that I had given it to him. "I gave it to you."

"When? And why?"

"You needed it to start up."

"All of it?"

"Yes." I nodded.

"Hold on." He said as he suddenly opened his subspace, rummaging through it blindly, trying to grapple something from his lied down position. "Here." He said as he took out a bright blue cube from the subspace just before it closed. "Take it."

"It's okay." I shook my head as I politely declined. "I'll be alright." I was going to get into stasis if I didn't refuel, but I had to take care of Sunny now and me and my needs could wait. He was in critical condition. I had to severe his wounds on his leg to prevent him from bleeding to death.

"Take it." He urged, putting the cube on his abdomen, too lazy to give it to me.

I did as told and took the cube, opening it. "Thank you." I slowly started sipping on it, the delicate and wonderful taste of a high quality energon batch slipping through my throat and into my abdomen, powering me up effectively. "This is really good energon."

"I know." He said. "I know I won't be able to fully thank you, unless I do likewise."

"It takes a lot of trust to open up to somebody, just like that." I praised and noted, taking another sip of precious energon.

"It's not like you gave me a choice. Although, I would have done what you asked anyway."

"You didn't sound like that."

"Just because I didn't say it doesn't mean I didn't mean it."

"And how should I know what you mean if you don't say it?"

"Soothsay?"

"No." I smiled. "I'm just glad you're okay." I looked down at him.

As silence prevailed, I thought about how Sunny and I were starting to open up to each other. Spending time alone, although forced, gave you no other choice but to talk to the bot you were stuck with. After some silence as I drank my energon, Sunny spoke up once more. "I knew a lot of femmes." He said, looking up into the sky that was so out of reach. "None of them cared."

"What do you mean?" I said, looking at his optics while he kept gazing at the sky.

"Those femmes, none of them cared for me. It was all just... frag, why am I even telling you this?"

"I don't know, why are you?" I gently said, watching his expressions.

"Forget it." He shut his optics. "I hope those fragging superiors find us or I'm filing a complaint." He swiftly changed the subject.

"Make that two complaints." I said as I heard him chuckle, something that was rare and beautiful. "I don't understand what's taking them so long."

"Me neither." He shrugged, but cringed at the movement. He was far more hurt than he led on.

"Don't move, it's hurting you."

"Will you stop caring so much?"

I frowned. "I beg your pardon?"

"You're being too nice, too caring. It's… weird."

"You're glitching."

"No, I believe I'm quite sane."

"You don't sound sane. Go get some rest and let's hope that someone will find us."

He didn't say anything as I felt him relax on my thighs. I took one last look at his strong frame and then I leaned my head back, shutting my optics.

During these four mega-cycles, I knew that I had seen the purple optic mechanoid fall into the hole with us, but what confused me greatly was the fact that he wasn't in the hole. I had crawled from one wall to the other, looking for the mechanoid, but I couldn't find him. That had been about two mega-cycles ago and if the superiors don't find us any time soon, I'm not sure Sunny and I will be able to survive any longer.

Primus, help us.

XxXxXxXxX

"I don't care, we need to find those younglings."

"Video footage shows an attack."

"Attack?" The chorus of shocked voices resounded through the surveillance room.

"Red Alert, where was the attack stationed?" Prowl came over to him, querying on the way.

Red Alert searched through the video surveillance as he and Prowl talked about it, while on the other side of the surveillance room, the other commanding officers spoke to each other. "I thought this base was supposed to be safe." Ironhide spoke.

"It's the safest we got. The whole of Cybertron is under attack."

"It's not a Decepticon." Prowl said, looking over the video footage.

"Then what is it?" Elita asked, coming by his side as she monitored the video footage of two warriors fighting against a flying menace. "It looks like a Seeker to me."

"It's not, frame build and optic coloration denies it. Optics are purple and Seekers are taller and leaner in frame. This is most definitely not a Decepticon. It looks more like a Neutral to me." Prowl answered as they looked over the footage repeatedly.

"What would a Neutral be doing here?" Ironhide questioned as he came to the crowd and watched the video footage.

"This is Caveblow, he's a wanted Neutral." Red Alert said, already finding Caveblow's profile among the citizens of Cybertron. "He is considered extremely dangerous because of his mercurial attitude. His body is here." He pointed to another footage. "He got caught up in the security electrical shock defenses. He is fried to the core."

Ironhide watched the footage as he saw a certain move done by Sunstreaker and Goldstreak using their combined strengths to perform. "Ah, Theta position 3. We taught these academics good." He proudly added. "At least someone is using their knowledge."

"I'm intrigued by all of this." Prowl said. "Where did Sunstreaker learn those moves, not including Theta position 3? They weren't part of the program here. And where did he obtain the swords? Those are not the dummy ones we use here."

"I think those are his swords." Ironhide said as Red Alert went over Sunstreaker's skilled moves repeatedly.

"Why hasn't he reported his weapons then?" Elita asked.

"Beats me." Ironhide shrugged. "Both of the younglings are talented, although Sunstreaker would seem to be more skilled. What are his origins?"

"We have no information on them." Prowl answered as he tapped on the keyboard, zooming in on Sunstreaker.

"Them? I thought Goldstreak came from your camp."

"I wasn't referring to Goldstreak, I was referring to Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. The twins have no origin, no place of birth, no date of birth, no residential address, no creators. It's like they didn't exist before all of this."

"I can have Jazz check them out. He has his agents." Ironhide offered, giving Sunstreaker a curious optic.

"No, they haven't done anything wrong yet. If anything, he displayed acts of immense courage. I'm irritated by the fact that we can't find them. Red Alert, do the other cameras display another point of view?"

"No Prowl, they are all in blind spots. But based on the blueprints, there's a large hole there in the polygon, in the middle of these two walls." He pointed on the screen.

"You think they fell into that hole? It's secured by a net." Ironhide contributed to the conversation once more.

"We have to check it out." Prowl answered. "Ironhide, summon Ratchet to meet me near the hole in three kliks. The rest, bring ropes for we may need to evacuate if there is something to be found there."

XxXxXxXxX

"Primus, this is taking too long." Sunny complained.

"Tell me about it." I huffed as I had felt my legs grow stiff from not moving them, but Sunstreaker's comfort was more important to me now. He had really taken the blow and I remember that before we crashed down, he somewhat cushioned my fall. "I'm glad we're even online."

"If you hadn't held onto the ledge, you wouldn't be here."

"If I wasn't here then you would be offline."

"True." He said, nodding once. "And because you saved my life, I realized that you can be trusted." After hearing this, I honestly felt flattered. I earned his trust. He lowered his voice, as if to say something quietly. "Now, you can call me by that dreaded nickname."

"Really?" I gaped at him.

"Yes, really."

"…Thank you."

"Good." He said, relaxing into my thighs. "I can't wait to get the frag out of here."

"Me neither, it's been too long."

"At least we agree on something."

"True." I replied, craning my neck from one side to the other, hearing my cords crack with satisfaction.

"Will you not do that? Every time you do that I think you're going to fall apart."

"And you wouldn't want that, now would you?" I smirked.

"I… You know what, don't even ask." He rolled his optics. "I am growing fragging stiff being in the same position for cycles. I want to sit up."

"You will lay there until help comes."

"Why?"

"Do you want to clog your cylinders again?"

"It's not like I did it."

"Doesn't matter, let the energon flow uninterruptedly through your frame, there will be plenty of times where you'll be walking your legs off." Then I realized he really had a leg off. I regretted saying that immediately. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to offend you."

"None taken." He simply said. "Why don't you recharge?"

It was a good question. My energy levels were dangerously low. I hadn't recharged in a little over four mega-cycles and my body was slowly starting to crash on me. "I have more pressing matters at hand."

"Like?"

"You." I looked into his optics. He looked back. "I have to take care of you, first."

"You've been attending to my every need for the past fragging four mega-cycles, your help isn't needed anymore. Go recharge."

"No can do, Sunny." I said, waiting a scowl, groan or curse to come at me, but it didn't. Then I remembered that he told me that I could call him that.

"I said, go recharge."

"I don't care what you say." I bluntly told him. "I'm glad I have your trust, as you have mine now." I let the words sink in and perhaps I felt his frame relax on my lap. "But I'm staying awake and that's final."

"I'm the older one here and I say when it's final."

"You are paraplegic."

"One leg is still working." He said as he lifted his right leg slightly, his abs sticking out from the use of muscle.

"I see that." I said. "That's good." I praised him, because I knew exactly how to feed his big ego. Although, in the end it really was good that his only leg worked. "You're not going to panic, are you? I mean, you are missing a limb and-"

"Does it look like I'm going to panic?" He looked at me like I was an idiot.

"You never know, even the mighty Sunstreaker might fall into the great perils of panic some time."

"Not happening." He retorted immediately.

After another silence, I spoke up. "I am so bored out of my head."

"You ain't the only one. We might as well offline in here for all they care about."

"Don't say that, they'll find us."

He snorted. "It doesn't take five mega-cycles to find two missing bots. Not in this area where everything is so secure as they put it."

"You have doubt in the system?"

"I have doubt in the bots here."

"Don't. Don't go there."

"It's the truth."

"There's still time."

"Yeah, on their side and what about us? Are we gonna bleed to death, rust to death? Primus, I don't even know how I survived without a limb so far."

"I severed the wound on your leg and used what I had of metal sheets to patch your wounds. Ratchet will have to repair everything when we get out of here. I did the best I could, but it's not pretty."

"What about you? You still have open wounds." He said as he suddenly touched a tender spot on my forearm. I hissed as I moved the arm away.

"Yes, I know I have injuries, but-"

"Why did you use it all on me?"

What kind of a question is that? I didn't know what to reply with, so I bluntly answered. "You're my friend."

That didn't seem to be enough of an answer for him. "Why would you be so selfless and give everything you have for another?"

"I've been raised that way. Besides, you know the moral code. Never leave a bot behind and always help when needed. You needed help and I gave it to you."

"But in doing so you have nothing left for yourself." He said it in a way like I was an idiot for doing so. But I knew I did the right thing and I didn't need his approval. Had I not done the things I did, he would be deactivated, so anything else no longer mattered, and that included me.

"I don't matter, Sunny." I shook my head. "You had a limb missing and you cushioned my fall. It was the least I could do."

"I'll have to tell you something later." He suddenly said, as if he had a thought in his mind, but didn't want to say it out loud just yet. "And where is my leg?" He queried, displeased at the fact that he would have to go to Ratchet after everything that had just happened.

"In the corner." I turned on my one headlight, as dim as it was, and showed him where his energon covered leg was, all mangled and looking honestly disgusting.

"I didn't need to see that."

"You wanted to know."

"I didn't want you to show me."

"You asked where it was."

A warning on my HUD told me that my energy levels were on 3%. "...n't and you just… Gold? You're dozing off."

"Sorry, sorry." I pinched myself, but I didn't feel any pain. It's the first time I hadn't felt pain because of the pain toleration trainings when I wanted to feel pain. Pain would keep me awake and I couldn't go to recharge now. Sunstreaker needed me, although he would never admit it.

"Go recharge, you need it."

I desperately needed it.

"Nap. I'll just take a five klik nap and that's it." I said as I raised a single finger up.

"Five kliks won't do you any good."

"I can't have you awake while I'm recharging."

"Then I'll recharge alongside you."

I might as well make a compromise. "Sounds good to me." I said as I gently moved away from him, lying beside him on the filthy and stinking ground.

As I felt the warmth of his frame near me, I let myself fall into recharge, but firstly checking silently that he was initiating recharge as well. Seeing as he did his part, I did mine and let myself fall into peaceful recharge.

XxXxXxXxX

"They're in there alright. I have two faint energy signatures down below."

"Alright Ratchet, how many bots do you need?"

"I need only one. Ironhide come with me. Prowl, Elita, Jazz, you hold the ropes and be ready to descend us down there."

"Roger that, Ratchet." Elita said, grabbing the rope that connected to a bedding that would descend Ironhide and Ratchet and would be used later to ascend Sunstreaker and Goldstreak. "Let's go."

Ratchet and Ironhide sat into the bedding, slowly being lowered into the depths of the hole. They were silent as they made their descent to the bottom and once they had reached the ground, the upper bots stopped lowering the bedding.

Ironhide and Ratchet turned on their headlights, looking over their frames. "Primus, the frag have these younglings been through?"

Ratchet looked up. "Not only were they defending each other, they took a fall together." He brought up his scanner and scanned their frames. "It's a miracle they survived such a large drop."

"They are one of the top three academics here. I think they will even make the team that Optimus is searching for. He needs the most talented academics and these two make the list."

Ratchet gave no form of acknowledgement, and instead, he kept on muttering to himself. "I would expect them to have each other's bond keep them strong, hence why they're still online, but I can detect no bond between them. Peculiar. They're in stasis."

"Should we get them into the bedding?"

"Yes, at once. Take Sunstreaker first, he is most injured." Ironhide didn't bother nod as he came to the mech, taking him into his arms. "Be careful with him, they are both in stasis and his energy levels are faint."

"He doesn't feel too warm either. We have to hurry."

"Go, get him out of here, I'll take care of Goldstreak." Ratchet urged as Ironhide set Sunstreaker into the bedding. Via comlink, he told the bots up on the surface to bring them up, while Ratchet was left alone with Goldstreak.

He looked around, his flashlights and headlights scanning the whole area. He had found Sunstreaker's missing leg and by the looks of it, it was covered in energon and could be repaired, if a certain amount of time was taken out and dedicated to rebuilding the circuitry and platings.

He sighed to himself as he turned to Goldstreak. "Primus youngling, you've been through too much already." He spoke to her, but she didn't hear him in her stasis. "First your incident in Praxus, then the destruction of your hometown, now this…" He sighed once more, taking her and Sunstreaker's leg into his arms as the bedding was lowered down to pick him up. "I hope all of this was worth it."

And with that, he told Prowl, Jazz and Elita to pull him back up.

Written:

29.05.2014.