Sideswipe POV

The red frontliner had been searching the town for a week. Every time he had left the town a ping from his bond had him rushing back. It had been far too long for him to be awake without his brother. Sure for them it hadn't been that long but Sideswipe hadn't been away from his brothers for so long without being able to talk to him, or see him, or at least properly feel him. The fact that he couldn't was causing him to walk a fine line in his mind. He felt like he was going out of his processors. Sideswipe knew he brother was close but he couldn't find him.

Even if he couldn't talk to him, Sideswipe would have been okay if he could just physically touch his brother. Or at least been able to see him. He was sure that Sunny was alive, but just in stasis with his systems trying to heal naturally.

A light blue rusty truck past him, with a familiar energy signature… Sunstreaker's signature. The frontliner hit his breaks, screeching to a halt. Sunstreaker would not pick an alt mode like that. His sensor must have been on the fritz. He quickly ran a self diagnostic only to find there were no new problems. He knew it wasn't his brother but his spark was screaming at him to get to his brother's signature just to calm him down. Just because it felt like him and he needed Sunstreaker with him.

The mere thought that it could be his brother had him keeping pace with the older truck as pulled into a 'WalMart' and as if Sideswipe needed any more convincing that this was not his brother, two humans, one of which had on an oily jumpsuit, stepped out of each of the doors.

Sides drove past the truck, no longer getting pinged that this was his brother. He knew the sensor he had must be busted...no...it was letting him know that Sunstreaker was near him but not this truck. He felt around gingerly for the ping till his sensors wrapped around one of the humans who had been in the truck.

She was a shorter woman with long black hair that curled slightly. She was smiling softly at the woman next to her but Sideswipe didn't pay her much attention. He was focused on the one that his sensors were trying to say was his brother.

The woman had a soft field around her, not letting much emotion slip out and she wore clothes that his vain twin would never in a million vorns touch. However, she had to pick up Sunstreaker's signature somewhere.

He pondered what his next move should be as he waited for the human female to exit the store. He had to know if she was aware of his brothers or where he could be.

All Sideswipe knew for sure was that he was going to have to get her alone and explain to her something that would make her tell him where Sunstreaker was. For now though he would follow her and with any luck she would lead him right to her.

So he waited and watched the woman. For the most part in the next week to come she mainly stayed at this 'Drop Shop' which he learned was a repair station for the humans automotives. Honestly, she would make a great ally if he could persuade her to his side. She might just be the next best thing to a cybertronian medic. If Sunstreaker still wasn't awake by now it meant that he was hurt far worse than Sides had first feared.

But the woman never left the shop or accompanying houses in the back. She dealt with the repair of vehicles and became filthy while she was at it. Oil and grease were always covering her face and hands while she had sand and mud in her hair from the undercarriages of the cars.

Sides listened to her speak to the other two organics that were always at the repair shop as well. He learned their designations, their purposes, and a little of their personalities. Or at least their attitudes towards each other and other people.

The woman who registered as Sunstreaker was named Ari or Princess. He was sure which or if both were nicknames. Regardless she didn't interact too much with the 'customers' and she was curt, but polite to them.

She was nicer to the females that came by but even then there was a slight tension to her frame. He wondered what had put her on edge around these strangers. Regardless there was a detached air around her when she dealt with these people. He knew this because she was completely different around the older male and the female that worked the shop with her.

Still he had heard no mention of his brother but he knew he was here somewhere. He could almost feel him on his sensors. Something just out of reach.

However being semi-close to both Sunstreaker and this organic that felt like him did wonders for his processors and spark. He had waited on the second night for the organics to go to bed and snuck over the fencing. He had found his brother in the garage next to the human dwelling in the back.

Primus did he look bad though. Clear weld lines across his doors and hood was marked in a way that clearly had been beaten in and his paint. It had been completely stripped off leaving only the silvery grey color of the armor's metal.

Sunny would be furious if anyone ever saw him like this and if Sideswipe were honest with himself he felt the fury in him before he reined it in. The girl may have stripped his paint but she had fixed most of his armor and he was still alive with heavy damage. So something the woman was doing was working.

He may just owe this woman his brother's life. The two of them had been sure that they weren't gonna wake from this stasis. Sides despite being stabbed in the chassis didn't actually receive that much damage. Thought that would have been different if Sunstreaker wasn't there. The Decipticons would have finished him off or worse brought him back to Shockwave.

As much as the red frontliner wanted to take his brother away he knew he couldn't. Sunny needed medical attention but without Ratchet or any other cybertronian, the next best person was this little squishy.

He needed to get in contact with her in some way, to explain to her he needed his twin online as soon as she could possibly make it happen. But to do that he would have to explain to her who and what Sunny was. From watching her he was fairly certain that she would acquiesce to his request rather quickly. After the initial shock of course.

The only real fear he had was if she would call her government and cause them to be exposed before the autobots were able to locate the All Spark. It shouldn't be a problem though. All he had to do was plan it right.