The Autobot Files

File #010 - Brothers

Ratchet looked up from the repair work he was conducting on his own arm when he heard someone plop themselves on one of his examining tables. He frowned when he saw the familiar red body hunched over on his side with his back facing out.

"Again, Sideswipe?" Ratchet demanded as he closed his arm panel and approached.

"I don't feel well," Sideswipe said softly. "I just want to lay here for a moment."

Ratchet watched him, hands on his hips. Sideswipe didn't move. He had been doing this periodically for some time now and it was starting to get on the medic's nerves. Not that Sideswipe was taking up any of his time. All he would do was lay there for as long as it suited him and then quietly leave, but his visits were starting to become a concern. Physically, Sideswipe was in top condition. That meant the problem was coming from a different place, which was unusual for the red Autobot. Anyone who knew Sideswipe knew nothing got that bot down for long. Nothing. Whatever this problem was, it was something considerable.

But with it not being a physical problem, Sideswipe had no reason to be in the med bay. And sitting in the dark moping about it certainly wasn't going to help.

"Really Sideswipe, you'd rather be laying around in here than out there having fun with your comrades?" Ratchet tried.

His response was something plaintive, but inaudible. Like a pouting child not wanting to get out of bed.

Ratchet folded his arms, processing what he could do about the situation. His conclusion: he climbed onto the table with him.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Sideswipe sat up, offended that his personal space had been violated.

"Well," Ratchet rationalized. "You keep coming in here, but you're not sick. It must mean that you just want to spend time with me. So, here I am."

He reached for the younger Autobot and Sideswipe flew off the table faster than the medic had ever seen him move before. He retreated to the doorway before turning to jab an accusatory finger in Ratchet's direction.

"You perverted old quack! I'm going to tell Optimus you tried to molest me!"

With wide optics, Sideswipe fled the area.

Ratchet grinned, remaining where he was on the table, on his side, chin propped up on his palm. His smiled disappeared, however, when Trailbreaker walked in and eyed him.

"Damnit Ratchet, I told you before. You will not seduce me," the dark Autobot said flatly.

Ratchet sighed as he sat up. He wondered if it was even worth trying to explain.


.

Sunstreaker struggled to keep his head up. It was a battle he was losing.

"I really have to go recharge," he told Crystal. "I can't put it off any longer. Think you'll be okay for a couple of hours? Or do I need to get a replacement to keep you company?"

Crystal looked him over. She wouldn't have guessed one could see fatigue on a metal face, but she could definitely see it. Sunstreaker hadn't gone down for proper recharge since Ultra Magnus had arrived, which was five days ago. He looked like he could use the rest.

"Nah, I'll be fine. It will give me some time to myself. You just go get some rest."

Sunstreaker stood and stretched out his back. "I'll just make sure someone checks on you while I'm out. Last I heard, Magnus has been wandering the base so don't leave the artillery closet, okay?"

"Yeah," Crystal sighed.

"Hey, only two more days after this one, right? We're getting there."

"We'll make it," she agreed. "I'll see you later."

Sunstreaker gave her an encouraging smile back and shut the door behind him.

It was only about ten minutes later when it opened again. Crystal was about to remark that she didn't need someone to check up on her that often when she saw an Autobot she didn't recognize.

"Well, hello," Smokescreen greeted. "I was hoping I would be able to catch some time to speak with you. My name is Smokescreen."

Crystal sat up and pressed herself against the wall, not sure what this Autobot wanted. He was giving off a vibe she didn't trust.

"You're not supposed to know—"

"About you?" Smokescreen finished as he sat himself casually against the opposite wall. "You'll find there's very little that I don't know. It's my job after all." When Crystal had nothing to say about that, he went on. "So, you're human. Or, you used to be. I find that very, very interesting."

Crystal drew her knees up guardedly. "Why?"

"What do you mean why? How can that not be interesting?" Smokescreen demanded. "What I want to know is how you were chosen to do this and what the Autobots plan to gain from it."

"I wasn't chosen," Crystal shot back, forgetting some of her earlier timidness. "They weren't looking for some candidate to experiment on. They did it to save my life."

"Oh please," the Autobot waved her off. "Humans die all the time." He started crawling towards her. "What I want to know is why they were interested in letting you live. More importantly, why Prowl has shown interest in you."

Crystal started backing up again. "Why do you care what Prowl does?"

"Because, like any good guardian, I like knowing what my dear baby brother enjoys doing with his time."

"Wait, your Prowl and Bluestreak's older brother?"

Smokescreen's confident expression instantly fell into a dark cloud.

"Who told you that?"

Crystal looked confused. "But you just said—"

"Did Bluestreak tell you he's Prowl's brother?"

"No, but—"

"You listen to me, human," Smokescreen said lowly. "Our creator only made two of us and neither one of them was that little gray rust bucket. He can look like Prowl all he wants, but I was the one who was there when Prowl was sparked. I pulled him out of the spark chamber. I was the only one there in his first waking moments. No one else. He has one brother and it's me."

Crystal had no comment to that.

"You don't know anything, do you?" He snorted in disgust as he stood. "Useless..." He started for the door. "I can see why they've been keeping you in here."

Crystal's jaw fell as she finally found the sense to be insulted. "Hey, what are you—"

Smokescreen had already shut the door behind him. Crystal jumped to her feet to give the blue and red Autobot a piece of her mind, but the door was locked.

"HEY! You ass! Let me out!"

She pounded on the door only a few times. There was no point raising a ruckus. She was supposed to be hiding and someone would check on her soon enough. It just made her mad. She bumped her forehead against the door in frustration. That Smokescreen, she didn't like him one bit.

Then, Crystal suddenly felt the sensation she wasn't alone. She spun around and flipped on all the lights. The artillery closet was revealed to the back corner, which wasn't too far away. The place was completely bare and there was no one else inside. All was silent. What was that? She was confident she didn't imagine it. She would have blamed Mirage, but he was on Cybertron.

The room stayed still and empty and Crystal let it drop. Maybe she was just imagining things. Or maybe she heard someone in another room or the Dinobots digging or something.

She heard whispering in her audial, as if someone was standing right next to her. Crystal spun around again, her fuel pump pounding. There was no one else in the room with her. She ran for the door again, but it was still locked. She turned around, back pressed to the door. In the empty room, the voices grew louder.


.

Red Alert had resigned himself to the surveillance room and had not left since the shuttle had been stolen by the Decepticons the day before. He had gone from being afraid to do anything to attempting to do everything himself. And even though it was the direction Inferno was pushing his friend to go, he wasn't quite happy with the results.

"It wasn't your fault Red," he insisted from a chair nearby. "If you had worked a shift that day it doesn't mean we may have detected the Decpticons sooner."

"You don't know that!" Red Alert snapped back. "Hound was working my shift. I was the one who was supposed to be supervising surveillance in Prowl's absence. I'm the expert in that field. I may have been able to buy us more time if only I were here doing my job instead of hiding and feeling sorry for myself."

Inferno set his jaw, praying for Primus to give him strength

"Red, come on, no one is blaming you. Stop beating yourself up about it."

"Easy for you to say," Red Alert huffed. "You don't have anything to prove down here. I do. No matter who's fault you say it was, I screwed up the last time I was on Earth and I will have to work hard to gain everyone's trust again. It's not going to come easy, Inferno and you know it just as well as I do."

"Take it easy Red. You can prove yourself without overloading your motherboard. If Prowl comes backs seeing you wound this tight, he'll pull you off shift himself."

"Well—"

"I said EXCUSE ME!" a shrill voice screamed from the floor.

The two Autobots stopped and stared at the human female standing on their floor, tapping her foot.

"Well it's about time! I could hardly get in a word with the two of you bickering like a married couple!"

Both recognized the human by her tone alone. It had been several years since they had seen her and she had grown older. But there was no mistaking that human for any other. Estoria Carlton Ritz.

"Would you two be so kind as to inform me where I can find Powerglide?" Her sentence started sweet and quickly gained anger until she was practically growling out the Autobot's name.

Both pointed the way down the hall toward the rec room.

"Thank you very much," Estoria said sweetly and then stalked off down the direction provided.

It was silent for a moment.

"Don't you beat yourself up over that either," Inferno warned. "I don't think there's anything an Autobot can do to prevent that."

Red Alert nodded in agreement.


.

Ultra Magnus leaned against the door frame of the rec room, watching the Autobots within. He liked this place and these Autobots. They were growing on him. Despite being on Earth for the past several years, they felt like the old Cybertron. They also had a way of making someone like him feel at home in their tiny base. These were very fine Autobots indeed. He could see why Optimus Prime chose them to come with him.

"Hey you! Move your big fat foot!"

Ultra Magnus looked down and nearly jumped out of the way as if the small human were a deadly snake.

"Thank you," Estoria nodded. Now with Ultra Magnus not blocking the door, she could stalk inside and up to a table where a certain red Autobot was laughing with his friends.

"Powerglide!"

The laughter instantly stopped and the two good friends Powerglide was talking with—Bumblebee and Hound—were now ex good friends and gone like the wind. Powerglide was left alone to face the untold wrath alone.

"Why didn't you tell me you came back to Earth?"

"Estoria, I'm sorry," Powerglide said as he stumbled to his feet.

"I gave you like six different ways to contact me when you were transferred back!"

"I know. Give me a break, would ya? I just barely got here?"

Estoria leveled her gaze on him. "Just barely got back today?"

"Well, no..."

"What then? Was it late last night?"

Powerglide fidgeted. "Not exactly..."

"So then what? What is your excuse that you could not have taken a few seconds to send me some kind of notice?"

"Well, I...uh..."

Powerglide suddenly sprinted out of the room, nearly running into Ultra Magnus in his haste. The Autobot leader moved got out of the way as Estoria was quick to follow.

"Powerglide! Get back here!"

Ultra Magnus watched the two go, looking confused and then turned to Ironhide who was standing next to him. "Don't we have some kind of restrictions on humans in the base?"

"Sure do. Have been ever since Spike got married. No humans within the parameter without prior notice."

"So then...should someone inform Optimus about this?"

Ironhide started down the hall. "Ya can if ya want, but he don't like getting yelled at by her neither."


.

Sunstreaker awoke from recharge when someone manually overrode his timer. He lifted the lid of the recharge berth and glared at the guilty party.

"What do ya want?" he demanded. "I need recharge."

Bluestreak's concerned face looked down at him. "Who's watching Crystal? I can't find anyone who can give me an answer."

Sunstreaker groaned. "I forgot."

He had meant to find an Autobot to take his place while he was recharging, but he had been so tired and Sideswipe had distracted him by ranting something about being attacked by Ratchet it had completely slipped his processor.

"Can you do it, Blue?"

His expression brightened. "I sure can! I don't mind at all! In fact—"

"Yeah that's fine," Sunstreaker cut him off. "But don't be a bother to her, okay? Just check on her, that's it."

Bluestreak ducked back behind the berth a bit at the mention of him possibly being a nuisance. "Oh I won't bother her, Sunstreaker, I promise. I'll just poke my head in and see how she is doing. I won't stay if she doesn't want me to and I'll try not to talk to much and—"

"Sounds good." Sunstreaker didn't wait for him to finish. Bluestreak was still talking as he closed the lid and hit a button on the inside to start up the recharge process again.

With Sunstreaker back in recharge, Bluestreak went to Crystal's new hiding place, the artillery closet at the back of the base. He was a bit confused to find it had been locked from the outside. Why did Sunstreaker lock it? Maybe he was just tired and didn't realize what he was doing. Either way, that wouldn't do. Poor Crystal wouldn't be able to get out if she needed to.

He opened the door and poked his head inside to find the room completely lit. He thought that was odd. Usually the one bulb by the door was sufficient light. Having the others on was just a waste of energy. Bluestreak didn't see Crystal immediately and took a step inside. He looked around and found her curled up in the corner to his left, knees pulled up to her chest and her hands over her audios.

"Hey, are you okay?" Bluestreak asked.

Crystal's head shot up and for a moment, hope on her face at the familiar silhouette. But then her expression dropped when she realized it wasn't the Autobot she thought it was. That look was not lost on Bluestreak.

"Hi, I thought I'd check see how you were doing. But um...I don't have to stay if you don't want me to."

Crystal quickly stood, anxious to keep him there. "No, you can stay. Please do. I mean—I can't go anywhere else?"

Bluestreak stepped all the way in, closing the door behind him. "Sorry, Ultra Magnus is really making rounds today. It's best to stay in here."

Crystal looked down at her hands, obviously not liking that news. Bluestreak felt bad.

"I'm sorry, you're probably really claustrophobic in here. Especially since Sunstreaker accidentally locked you in. I'm sure he didn't do it on purpose. He was just really tired and—"

"It wasn't Sunstreaker

Bluestreak looked confused. "Who did it?"

Crystal instantly clammed up and looked down at her hands again. Bluestreak stepped forward and dipped his head to try and meet her gaze.

"Hey," he said gently. "Who locked the door on you?"

Crystal frowned and tried to look away. She hated being treated like she was someone who was easily victimized by something so trivial. She could take care of herself. She didn't need doting Autobots to fuss over every little thing.

Bluestreak shrugged when he didn't get an answer. "Okay, that's fine. We'll I just came to check on you. I'll be going now."

"No!" Crystal actually lunged forward and grabbed his arm. She had to say something to make him stay. She couldn't be left alone in this room again. "It was Smokescreen. He was the one who locked the door."

Bluestreak stared at her, his optics wide and round. The hand on his arm was shaking. Crystal instantly regretted her desperate response and pulled back, horrified at herself for losing control.

"Smokescreen was in here? What did he say to you? He didn't...scare you or anything, did he?"

"No..." Now she felt really stupid. "He got a bit mad at me. That's why he locked the door. It's not that big of a deal, really."

"Mad about what?"

If robots could blush, she would have. "I think I said something stupid to him. I thought Sunstreaker said that you and Prowl were brothers, but I guess I heard wrong."

"Ah." A look of understanding covered Bluestreak's face and he smiled at her. "I've got a story for you, do you want to hear it?"

Crystal nodded. Anything to keep him there. And in truth, she was curious to hear what it was.

Bluestreak found himself a comfortable place against the wall and Crystal situated herself next to him.

"Back at the beginning of the war," Bluestreak began. "Not everyone had heard of the Decepticons. Even those that had, didn't believe they existed. Not until they began their massive assaults on city after city. My home town was one of the very first attacked. I worked on the energon docks back then. They were Megatron's main target as he tried to gather energy for his growing army. No one saw it coming when he attacked."

"Were you hurt?" Crystal asked softly.

The smile on his face seemed sadder and a bit forced now. "Yeah," he whispered. "They tore through everyone that stood in their way, took what they wanted and left the workers for dead. Luckily, help came and they relocated those that survived, including me, to a shelter where there were medics to help us. However, they weren't able to help too many before Megatron came back to attack the shelter."

Crystal frowned. "Why would he do that? That doesn't help him any."

Bluestreak tipped his head, trying to recall a long ago past. "I'm not quite sure. I remember, the place belonged to some old bot and he had quite a bit of technology—weapon schematics or something. It's hard to recall. I just remember the slaughter. The medics, the injured. Megatron didn't care if they couldn't fight back, he destroyed anything that could look at him." The gray Autobot shook a bit at the recollection. "I remember the screams, the dying. I remember how hot that fusion cannon was. I remember how bad it hurt and I remember wishing I could die faster so it would be all over."

He had to look away for a moment to gather himself and then returned his gaze, a smile creeping in.

"But Prowl was there. He led a group to chase the Decepticons out. He found me still alive and stayed with me until the medics came. I was out of it most of the time, but they told me later all my outer shell had been torn off. They couldn't even recognize my design anymore. They used Prowl's schematics to rebuild me. When I was repaired, I asked to go with him. I didn't have anything left to go back to. Prowl really saved my life in more ways than one.

"Prowl and I—we're not really brothers. I'm what you would call...what's the English word... adopted, I guess. Prowl sees me as his brother, but Smokescreen..." Bluestreak made a small laugh. "He doesn't really like me much."

"Smokescreen sounds like an idiot to me," Crystal informed him.

Bluestreak chuckled. "I can't blame him. Prowl is his only family. I'm sure he just doesn't want to lose him. We both love him as our brother. And that is why I want to keep watching out for you."

"For me?" Crystal was with him right until the end, but that last turn she didn't follow.

"Of course," he insisted. "I care about Prowl and I care about what he cares about, and he cares about you."

Crystal didn't try to hide the sad expression that made itself known on her face. All this talk about Prowl, she suddenly missed him. She didn't think she would. He was only going to be gone for three weeks. And it wasn't like he was around much when he was there because of his responsibilities to the base. But without warning, she suddenly longed to see him.

Yet, she couldn't help but feel she had a little piece of him with her with the presence of this Autobot, whether they were related or not. And she found herself starting to care about what Prowl cared about as well.

"So anyway," Bluestreak continued in the silence. "I'm here for you if you need me. Anything you want, just let me know, okay?"

He was a bit at a loss when Crystal curled up next to him and hugged his arm. "Would you mind telling me another story?"


.

On Cybertron, in the Autobot capitol city of Iacon, the general mood around the base had been high ever since the return of the Atharian prince. That had been four days ago and the Atharians had been singing praises to the Autobots ever since. Several political and financial ventures were currently in the works between the two cultures and many on both ends were very happy about it.

Several Autobots had tried to get Prowl involved in the processes, but he declined them all and merely asked for a progress report afterwards. He was a bot who knew his strengths, and political savvy was not one of them. He was better at leading troops, not dancing around politicians and making business deals.

All he was interested in were the final numbers and reports, which he was perusing on a small, portable data pad as he crossed a large open space between two of the base's facilities. The area was known for troops to race and play games in when they were not on shift, but Prowl paid no mind to this until an Autobot crashed at his feet.

Prowl paused and inspected his foot. "Jazz."

"I'm... going to beat him... one of these days... just you wait..." Jazz managed to say. His air vents heaved as he tried to get his overheated systems down to normal.

"Yeah, I wouldn't count on that," Springer said after having watched the fifth race in a row. "Blurr can go all day without even slowing down. You're fast, Jazz, but he's in a league by himself."

Jazz growled and Prowl almost had to smile. He knew his friend hated few things more than being told what he couldn't do.

"Prowl!" He attention was taken yet again as an excited Wheeljack ran up to him. He cradled some sort of device in his arms. "You won't believe how much equipment I found. We need to get it all boarded into Omega Supreme."

"I want a full inventory of it first," Prowl insisted and nodded to the device in his arms. "What's that?"

"Oh, this!" Wheeljack might as well had been a kid on Christmas morning. "I found it in my lab. It's a sub-posatronic generator and it still works!"

"And is that for...you know who?" Prowl wondered.

Wheeljack clutched it protectively to his chest. "Heck no! It's for me!"

The second's door panels drooped a bit. "Just get me that list before you load anything and the current condition of each item. We're not paying to cart fixer uppers all the way to Earth. And you," he pointed his stylus at Jazz. "No more racing."

Prowl then left, glancing behind him in time to see Wheeljack running off and Jazz setting up another race with Blurr. He ignored it all and walked inside, continuing on until he came to his destination. Research and information was on the second level, and Prowl sat himself at a consul and began typing. He spent a few minutes engrossed in his work until he realized there was someone standing behind him and he stopped what he was doing.

"Researching battle computers, huh?" Kup commented. "Interesting topic."

"It is," Prowl responded.

"It appears you're not the only one who thinks so."

Prowl didn't look up, nor did he give away anything he was thinking.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I caught First Aid in here doing research on the exact same thing. He said you scheduled an appointment with him to repair your battle computer. Which I think is very intriguing, you want to know why?"

Prowl didn't respond.

Kup turned a chair backwards and sat down, leaning his arms on the back rest. "Because I know that gizmo didn't break while you were out here. Which means it wasn't working while you were on Earth."

Prowl still made no move to respond.

"Now, an intelligent bot like yourself," Kup continued, "certainly wouldn't go on a space voyage with faulty equipment. It's practical to make sure all your slag is working before you get on the ship. But since you didn't, that means your medic wouldn't fix it for you. Why is that?"

Prowl shut down his research. "I don't believe I am required to give you that information."

"No, you're not," Kup agreed. "I'm just curious why a bot of your stature would need his repaired. They're a bit passed my time, but I remember we used them on the younger recruits. There were two different reasons one could get an order to have a battle computer installed.

"One was for the new blood. If they didn't have the experience, we would jump-start some military programs into them to help them on the battlefield. The second we put into existing soldiers who had been so traumatized they couldn't function anymore. So we installed a personality stabilizer and memory suppressants so the soldier could still do his duty until we could find a replacement for them."

Prowl was silent and Kup watched him closely. "But a smart kid like you, with all your natural talents, I bet you were tough to replace. Maybe near impossible. And I know your type. You don't like to quit. You don't like the thought of someone else doing your job because you know they would never do it as good as you. Sound about right?"

Prowl finally moved. He discarded his earlier statement of not needing to offer information and turned his head to give Kup an icy stare.

"There was no time for a vacation. We were in a middle of a war and the Decepticons were winning. I was second-in-command of the entire Autobot army and it was solely my job to make sure the Decepticons did not gain any ground. Many lives were at stake and I know no one else could have held them at bay as long as I did."

Kup rested his chin on his arms. "Aye lad, perhaps that's true. But that part of the war has been over for a very, very long time, hasn't it?"

Prowl looked away again, his twitching door panels the only things giving away his agitation.

Kup wheeled his chair closer to the second so they were sitting next to each other.

"There was a reason those things were meant to be temporary. It doesn't work to try and forget your problems. It's bad enough that we made soldiers block their memories so they could continue to fight, but they can't be put off forever. I've seen a lot of slag in my life, but I can't pretend it didn't happen. That's no way to live; that's no way to gain strength from life.

"Sorry for saying so Prowl, but you're the reason we never left those computers in for too long. Otherwise, you get used to having them. You forget what it's like to feel normal. And now that yours has finally run down, you're panicking. You don't want to think about whatever you tried to block out. You don't want to be like the rest of us, governed not only by our processors, but by our emotions. You don't want to see what kind of bot you are when there's nothing holding you back."

Prowl's mouth twitched. Kup could see the programming had been slowly breaking down for a while.

"I need it fixed," Prowl insisted. "I need to be able to do my job. I save lives."

This time, Kup stood up and clapped his hand on the black and white's shoulder. "Time to save your own now. Let it run its course and then let it go. Take care of whatever you are running from. The things that happen to us are meant to shape us into what we can be. Face them, grow from them, and then move on. Your experience, your intelligence, your passion for keeping your fellow Autobots safe will still be there when you're ready to move on again."

Prowl, again, sat there silently. Then he nodded his head. "Thank you for your advice, Kup. I will take it into consideration."

"Good lad. I'm sure you'll make the right decision. I'll leave you to it, then."

Prowl nodded and waited for the security officer to leave. Then he returned to his monitor and continued his research.


.

It had been a long day, but a good one. Ultra Magnus had enjoyed his time spent around the Ark. All the previous days had been a heavy information dump of Earth, its life forms and their relationship with the Autobots. Today, however, Ultra Magnus was given time to learn more about the members of the Ark itself and it was a day of fellow-shipping the Earth Autobots. He had tested his caliber against some of the best sure shots in the base. (Except for an Autobot named Bluestreak who was supposed to be the best. But he was nowhere to be found during the impromptu tournament and no one else had a problem with that. According to them, it was about time someone else got a chance to win.)

Later on in the day, Trailbreaker and Hound asked Ultra Magnus to come "off-roading" with them. He had no idea what that meant so he agreed. Then he regretted that decision. Optimus Prime himself caught him limping back, picking out sticks and weeds from his gears.

After cleaning himself up, Ultra Magnus was looking forward to some quiet time in his office. His solitude, however, was denied in the form of Smokescreen, who was already in there, sitting at Prowl's borrowed desk He was slumped in the chair, grimly going through Prowl's files. There were no lights on except the computer screen, which cast a lighter hue on the dark blue Autobot.

"Isn't it impolite to go through someone's personal files when they're not around?" Ultra Magnus said.

"Meh, Prowl expects it of me. Which is why he doesn't leave things he doesn't want me to find out where I can see them."

"Then what are you hoping to find on there?"

"With Prowl, it is the information that he doesn't give you that often speaks the loudest."

Ultra Magnus let that go. Those two and their odd relationship. He wasn't going to get in the middle of it.

"Speaking of finding things, do you have any new information for me?"

Smokescreen didn't even pause as he rifled through a new folder. "Nope."

Ultra Magnus gave him a calculating gaze. "Someone already got to you, didn't they?"

Smokescreen made no move to confirm or deny. Ultra Magnus was not impressed. This Autobot had a talent for getting underground information no one else could get. But Ultra Magnus had a talent, too. He had a talent for reading others. Even someone as secretive as Smokescreen. They had worked together long enough that the information Smokescreen didn't give also spoke the loudest.

"Who was it?" he pressed. "Did Optimus Prime talk to you?"

A minute smirk from Smokescreen.

"Oh no," Ultra Magnus insisted. "You're not doing this for Prowl. There's no way he contacted you. He's on Cybertron."

The smirk only grew bigger and Smokescreen stopped looking at his monitor to give Ultra Magnus his attention.

"As I told you before, Mags, sometimes it's the things Prowl doesn't say that have the most information."

"Oh, come on," Ultra Magnus insisted. "Why are you doing this for him? The two of you don't even get along!"

The blue Datsun just shrugged. "Can't help it, Mags. He's still my brother. I protect what he protects. That's all there is to it."

Smokescreen went back to rifling through Prowl's files, but Ultra Magnus wasn't done. He heard how the tone changed in his voice and saw the small frown etching itself on Smokescreen's face.

"You look disappointed, Smokescreen. You're not happy with what you found, are you?"

"Sorry, I'm still not going to tell you what it is. But don't worry, it's no big deal, trust me."

Ultra Magnus leaned against the wall, arms folded over his chest. "Is that why you're going through Prowl's files? You want to know what he's thinking. You're trying to understand him."

Smokescreen slouched back into his chair as he resumed his quest. "I've been spending my entire life trying to understand him. Today is no different."


.

After his recharging session, Sunstreaker returned to the artillery closet at the back of the Ark. After glancing around to make sure no one was watching, he eased the door open and looked inside. Laughter met his audials and he saw Bluestreak sitting cross legged on the ground talking in an animated fashion. Crystal was sitting across from him, her back to the door, laughing Bluestreak entertained her with stories about Jazz and Prowl in their younger days.

The gray Datsun made a nod in Sunstreaker's direction, acknowledging his presence without missing a beat of his story. Sunstreaker nodded back and then left the room. They seemed fine on their own and it would give him some time to himself. Also time to hunt down his brother and see what Sideswipe had been up to lately.

Unfortunately, the red Lamborghini was nowhere to be found. Whatever Sideswipe had his gears bent about had scared him completely off the grid. No doubt he was out speeding around somewhere Both of them liked to take off for the long, dusty desert freeways of Nevada when they really needed some time to unwind. Especially with all the roads being frozen up here, it was nice to head down south in the winter. Strange, usually Sideswipe liked company when he went and hardly ever left based without someone.

Oh well.

Sunstreaker wandered outside and stopped to admire the sunset, hands on his hips. One more day gone by. Only two more days of hiding left.

"Hey Streaker," a calm voice called to him. "Nice night, isn't it?"

The yellow Autobot turned to find Tracks sitting at the side of the volcano, hands folded behind his helm and gazing at the sky. His dark blue paint was a stark contrast to the snow around him.

"Yup," he agreed as he sat next to his friend and copied his pose. "Not bad at all."

"Are you getting sick of security detail yet?"

Sunstreaker shrugged a little. "Meh, it's okay. It's not really that hard. Just have to stay on your toes."

"And you have to put up with that human 24/7," Tracks reminded. "I don't think I could do it. She would drive me crazy by day one. Hour one."

"Crys? Nah, she's cool. I don't mind her too much. But it is nice to have a break."

Tracks frowned as Sunstreaker stretched his long legs.

"I find her base and uninteresting."

Sunstreaker smirked without looking at him. "You find everyone base and uninteresting, including me."

"Sideswipe doesn't seem to care for her either, I've noticed."

A small shadow of a frown appeared on Sunstreaker's face plates at the mention of his brother.

"I wouldn't say dislike, but there's definitely something going on there. It seems almost like he's scared of her or something."

Tracks chuckled. "So he has a fear of femmes?"

"I don't think so. I've dated some real nut jobs back in the day and he held his own against them. It's gotta be something else. Maybe it's cuz she's human. Maybe that freaks him out."

"You mean you don't know? I thought Sideswipe tells you everything."

"Usually does. Can't get him to shut up otherwise, but when I ask about this, he just clams up and bails on me. I honestly don't know what his deal is."

"Strange."

"Yeah, if there ever was a word that described Swipes, that would be it." Sunstreaker watched the darkening sky as the winter moon came out. "He's hiding something, or maybe... protecting it." The yellow Autobot stared for a while and then shrugged. "Either way, it will come out sooner or later. I can wait."

"Really." Tracks fought to keep the incredulity out of his voice. "That's uncharacteristically patient of you."

"Yeah well, that's part of having a brother. Love what he loves and protect what he protects and all that."

Tracks let it go and they continued to watch the full moon whose light, both Autobots had to agree, made their paint jobs look stunning.

Close File #010 Brothers: Bluestreak and Smokescreen