Chapter Twenty Eight
23rd December
0430hrs
"How the hell can humans call this waste fuel?"
"I dunno, bro, I try not to think about it, but the mini ones seem to like it a lot, especially the ones that come in those packs with the toys".
"Its gross, Sides, just gross. Look at it, its put grease all over my fingers and its not even a good sort of grease".
Sunstreaker flung the hand full of "burgers" at the wall of the human fuelling station. Most of them sticking to it and then each slowly, at their own time, flopping down to the floor. They had certainly made a rather large mess.
"Hahah, just think, Magnus would blow a tonne of gaskets out his aft if he saw the mess we're making".
Sideswipe chuckled as he wrote a Cybertronian profanity into the sauce he'd poured on the counter.
"Oh yeah!! Hahahah!"
The golden twin laughed loudly as he stood slowly from the floor, knocking over a few tables and chairs as he did.
"What are we going to do, Sides? That hippy bitch has taken off, the Autobots are hunting us, and offline sparks or something, I dunno know, and I know you sure as hell don't know, are haunting us!"
Sunstreaker said it with a hint of seriousness which was oftentimes foreign to him outside of the confines of the battlefield.
"Let's kidnap Percy".
Sideswipe said, purely as a joke.
Sunstreaker looked at him for a moment, his right optic ridge slowly rising.
"That's not such a bad idea".
"What?!! I was joking, bro!! And even if I wasn't, we can't exactly just walk back into Autobot City; something tells me they've cancelled our subscription".
"Oh bullshit, as the blobs say, they wouldn't dare, they need us, once this is all sorted out they'll have us back on the battlefield blasting holes through Cons and generally doing all that crap none of those arrogant brass bastards will admit we do! Now, let's nab Percy and hope like the pit he can figure it out before that slaggin' mutt Magnus figures it all out".
Sunstreaker spoke with a true vehemence.
His brother sighed, and realised that he better just accept his smart aft remark was now going to be their plan. He'd learnt that many times, that once his brother got something in his mind nothing was going to change it. And it sounded like they were going to kidnap the Autobot scientist. Of course, it wasn't exactly going to be a hard job.
0629hrs
The fact Perceptor hadn't been in his lab had riled up Sunstreaker like no bodies' business. He roared out a string of foul words then fired his laser into a shelf full of digipads before he leapt up on the table and started kicking off scientific equipment. His brother just sighed. Again.
"Sun, we gotta get out of here; you're making so much noise that Unicron will be able to hear it from beyond the gr…"
Sideswipe stopped before he could mention the fact, it was just too odd and oh so creepy to even think about the afterlife, especially given their recent experiences. He knew what they were dealing with were ghosts. The ghosts of who or what he didn't know and didn't want to know, he just wanted them to leave him alone.
"Where the slag would he go? Its not like he has a femme or a life, he's just a looser, a looser with no life and no chance of getting 'faced!!"
Sunstreaker roared. Sideswipe reached up and punched his brother in the back of the knee, causing the golden twin to fall forward and onto the floor.
"Get up and hurry up, we're leaving".
"And do what?"
"Go check out a few of that geek bot's hau… ah..."
Sideswipe wasn't able to get out his replacement word.
"You two!! Big trouble!"
The big green triple changer stood in the door of the now messy laboratory.
"Bring it on BITCH!!"
Sunstreaker screamed and jumped over the table at him.
"SUNSTREAKER! NOOO!"
Sideswipe squealed, a little to girlishly for his liking, but thankfully the other two were too busy engaged in their fisty cuffs to notice. IT wasn't that Sideswipe was concerned the green mech could damage his brother, it was just more to the fact that it was going to be a loud skirmish that would grab attentions and next thing they'd know they'd be getting strapped into a defragger and lo and behold no more memory files.
He did what was becoming an annoying habit, but one which seemed required to hang around with his twin, he sighed, then ran into the fray.
Sunstreaker was busy getting his abdomen smacked by Springer's large left fist, while the green mech's right arm was wrapped around the twin's neck. Sunstreaker had ignored any sort of honour code and was punching Springer in the crotch, attempting to get the plating off with intent of really doing some damage. Arcee would be pissed if he succeeded, but he had better things to concern himself with then that stuck up bitch's skanky exploits. Sideswipe jumped up onto the triple changer's shoulders and started slapping the sides of his head.
"Seriously?"
The target asked with a chuckle as he shrugged his shoulders flicking the red twin back several metres and he slammed into the wall. Sideswipe groaned with annoyance and then got back up and ran straight at the mech. Sunstreaker had changed his tactics and was now punching Springer in the side of the arm that was holding his neck.
Sideswipe dived onto the ground and slid along the floor until he slammed his fists into the backs of Springer's knees. The mech lost his balance, his grip on Sunstreaker and went down. He turned with intent to get back into it, when he received a shattering blow from both of Sunstreaker's fists interlocked into a huge ball of power and rage. It wasn't enough to knock the mech out, but it did throw him back off balance and sent him sprawling onto the floor.
"You little slags! Big, big trouble!"
He pointed at them from the ground with a thick finger and then was about to get back up, but found he had a slight difficulty with his equilibrium. The twins both tackled him and started pummelling at his face.
"Come on bro, we gotta knock him out!"
Sideswipe yelled, more from desperation then any real need to do malice to their fellow Autobot.
"On it!"
Sunstreaker stood up and the bought his foot down on triple changer's face.
It took eight such blows and a multitude of punches from Sideswipe to Springer's arms in an attempt to keep them from being automatically thrown up to stop Sunny's foot, to knock the Aerial commander into temporary status.
"Oh Primus".
Sideswipe slumped back on his hands and aft and just sat there staring at the unconscious mech.
"We are in so much trouble".
He added.
"Whatever".
Sunstreaker just grumbled as he wiped a string of energon from his lip components and along his chin.
"Now what?"
"We go find the geek".
"I mean, with him".
"We leave him here".
"Sunny!"
"Well what do you want me to say? That we take Springer along with us, and when he wakes up we have a nice girly chat and he understands, forgives us for the pummelling and then comes with us to convince Percy to help us? Yeah, I can see all that happening according to plan and without compromise".
"No need to be sarcastic".
"Look, if you wanna drag him along, fine, but that guy weighs a heap!"
"Well, if we leave him he'll wake up and confirm to the brass that it was us, and then they'll offline us for sure. If we take him with us, well, he might wake up, but we can just get Percy to short him until we have what we need to convince everyone we're not insane".
"Honestly, Sides, do you listen to yourself when you speak? Do you think things through before you activate your vocaliser? Cos sometimes, Sides, I have to wonder. Don't strain your linkage".
He turned and walked out of the lab.
Sideswipe reached down and grabbed a green limb and started pulling. His brother wasn't kidding, Springer was heavy.
0803hrs
Sideswipe had managed to trip Springer's circuits into Transform, a useful skill he'd learnt on the battlefield from an older warrior, now with the Matrix, who said it was easier to get your comrades out of there while they were rolling. It certainly worked for comrades you had knocked out with a decent beating and were now kidnapping to then go find and kidnap another comrade.
Oh, all of this was not going well. Sideswipe thought as he accelerated onto the motorway towards a base Perceptor was known to frequent when he needed to get away. It was once a Decepticon stronghold, but they abandoned it once they had their undersea base, and it was certainly not going to be used of late by any con. It as just logistically non-viable for them since the undersea base. It'd take a good three hours drive to get there, and he hoped with every second they wouldn't be picked up on radar or seen by any Autobot. Sunstreaker had attempted to reassure the red twin that this wouldn't happen as he'd made sure their signals would be masked as human signals and so the new Teletran's radar would not pick them up. Sideswipe had made a comment about Springer's signal and Sunstreaker shrugged, saying he would probably be believed to be off shagging some cheap whore bot. What about Arcee, Sides had followed up with? Who do you think I meant? Was the reply from his golden brother.
1156hrs
Springer came round.
He found his arms held above his head by rather staunch looking chains.
He was on his knees and they were a little sore… on that note, his shoulder struts gave a little protest, but neither protest was as loud, or as sore to him to the party of agony that danced across his face plates.
"slag".
It sounded louder and more forceful, even a tad humorous, in his head. Outside his mouth, however, it was quiet and feeble and didn't grab the attention of his captors.
He tried to think how he ended up here. The large Decepticon insignia on the wall was a giant clue as to his location, but it looked faded, and in fact, as his optics began to stabilise he was able to notice that the purple face was faded and in parts chipped, and some portions had even fallen away to make an untidy little pile on the floor below. Galvatron was gone. He was no concern to them, and even if he did come back, he wasn't strong enough, his forces not strong or organised enough to start up back on earth. No, this place was old and had been empty of Cons for some time.
Upon turning his head to the left he saw his captors. Those bastard twins.
"Stop punching yourself! Stop punching yourself! Why are you punching yourself? Don't be mean to yourself, Perce, stop punching yourself".
The scientist was certainly not punching himself. Sunstreaker had firmly grasped the wrist of the sometimes apparently feeble intellect and was forcing it into Perceptor's face, essentially making him hit himself. It was childish really.
"What the pit are you slags doing?"
Springer was surprised, pleasantly so, at how strong his voice came out, especially after being so meek just a few moments before.
"Oh, sleeping beauty awakes!"
Sunstreaker walked over to him and looked down at him.
"Now, are you going to shut your yap, or am I going to have knocked you back into stasis again?"
Springer just glared at the Twin.
"Sunny".
Sideswipe said softly.
"Let's go do that thing…"
He said it kinda hushed.
The two looked at their "guests" and then left.
"We'll be right outside, and there's only one exit, so make sure you don't' try anything cos if you do… POW!"
The golden twin poked his head back in through the doorway and growled at them before disappearing. It was then Springer noticed that Perceptor was welded to the floor, and rather crudely at that.
"Perceptor, what the slag is going on?"
"The twins believe they are being haunted by ghosts".
"Ghosts? What? That's insane!!"
"No, Springer, its not".
Perceptor was of course unable to face the triple changer, but Springer could see that Perceptor was working with something.
"What do you mean its not?"
He asked, wondering about how hard the scientist had to be whacked to get him here.
"I believe them. There are ghosts at Autobot City. There are ghosts haunting the Twins. There are ghosts everywhere Springer! EH HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
