Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: I sorry this is so late but there's been a death in my family recently and we've all been busy.

WARNINGS: Hints of human slash, which if you have a problem with you can go burn in hell because if you got this far without a problem two kids looking lovingly into each other's eyes shouldn't bother you.

Chapter 9

Spindle stopped dead as he set foot on his ship. Something was wrong. No one was in the hanger waiting for him. Where were his men? He'd left specific orders for someone to be here when he arrived so they could take Sideswipe to his quarters and stand guard while Spindle discussed things with the pilot.

"Where did those idiots get off to?" he growled pulling Sideswipe along behind him as he went in search of somebody he could yell at.

Sideswipe looked dubiously at his surroundings. Something about this whole thing felt familiar. There was a familiar presence near by that was pretty much screaming at him to get his skidplate moving before…

"AHHHHH!" a scream echoed in the depths of the ship.

Spindle froze, recognizing the voice as one of his men. "What the hell?"

Sideswipe let a slow smile spread over his face as realization dawned. "Somebody lied to you Spin," he chuckled.

"What?" Spindle hissed, tightening his grip on Sideswipe's arm. Sideswipe just continued to grin.

"Guess who's here," he laughed.

Spindle glared, wondering if Sideswipe had finally lost it.

Smack! Sideswipe fell back at the force of Spindle's slap. Usually he'd be upset or at least dazed for a moment after Spindle hit him, but this wasn't most days.

That day he'd finally called it quits to his relationship to Spindle he'd purposely waited to call Sunstreaker till he knew Spindle was going to be away for a while, not because he was afraid of Spindle but because he didn't want Sunny to kill him. Some time had passed since then, and Spindle had done very little to endear himself to Sideswipe. The targeting of his friends finally destroyed whatever residual feelings Sideswipe may have had for the mech.

So needless to say he had no problem with allowing Spindle to be maimed and or slaughtered by a ghost from the past.

"Jetfire, do you have those coordinates yet?" Optimus demanded.

"Just about… one sec…GOT EM'!" Jetfire announced proudly.

"Well type them in this thing goddamnit!" Carlos yelled at him. Optimus and Jetfire stared at him for a second.

"Carlos, I know you're worried about Rad but cussing at us isn't going to help," Optimus said calmingly.

"How about you go check on, Hot Shot," Jetfire suggested.

"Do you really want me to check on him or are you going to take off to go after Spindle as soon as I leave?" Carlos asked suspicious.

"What makes you think we'd do something like that?" Jetfire asked.

Carlos' eyes narrow. "Because it's a convenient way to get rid of me for the few minutes it would take you to activate the warp gate to go after them."

Anime sweat drops appeared on both Optimus and Jetfire's heads. "Have I ever deceived you?" Optimus asked.

"No."

"Have I ever done anything to make myself seem untrustworthy?"

"No."

"Then why don't you trust me and go check on Hot Shot?" Optimus said. Carlos looked between him and Jetfire with suspicion clearly showing in his eye before he relented and left the room presumably to go to the infirmary.

After the door shut behind him, Jetfire turned to Optimus "Should I activate the warp gate now?"

Optimus glared at his second in command " Would you rather wait till he gets back?" the usually somber Autobot asked with much sarcasm.

Blurr followed the stranger who had introduced himself as Sideswipe's twin brother down the hall. Occasionally one of Spindle's crew would show up out of nowhere and get torn apart by Sunstreaker. How this guy could possibly be related to Sideswipe was beyond Blurr. While Sideswipe was stronger than he let on some times, he was still a rookie and lacking in the fighting department. Sunstreaker was either very seasoned or a natural fighter. The ferocity he used when taking out one of the Mechs that tried to get in his way spoke volumes about Sunstreaker's personality.

'I wonder if he's the evil twin,' Blurr wondered.

"Try to keep up you stupid squishy," Sunstreaker called back, dragging Blurr's attention to Rad who was falling behind.

"Not all of us were gifted with long legs," Rad called back, out of breath.

"Weak organics," Sunstreaker muttered.

"You know I can hear you, right?" Rad asked.

"Whatever. I should have just left you in that cell," Sunstreaker growled.

"Least then I wouldn't have to look at that ugly paint job," Rad said dryly.

"Hey! What's wrong with my paint job?"

"It's yellow."

"What's wrong with yellow?"

"It's bright and cheery."

"No it's not!"

"Yes it is."

"No it's not."

"What are you? A toddler?"

"What's a toddler?" Sunstreaker asked, tilting his head to the side, the expression on his identical to the one Sideswipe wore when he was confused.

Rad stared at Sunstreaker for a minute. " 'Toddler: noun, a young child who is learning to walk'" Rad quoted.

"YOU'RE CALLING ME A BABY!" Sunstreaker yelled.

"You want to yell a little louder, I don't think Megatron heard you at the Moon Base," Rad deadpanned. Sunstreaker sent him one final glare before moving off to chase down the next poor idiot to cross his path.

'Stupid kid' Blurr thought to himself. The boy should know better than to bait a ticked off Mech. It was definitely a way to shorten his life span. He missed Rad's slight grin.

After years of dodging questions on why he was limping or where he got all the bruises from, Rad learned quickly how to get people to focus on things other than his injuries. Whether it was changing the subject or getting someone so riled up they forgot what they were originally talking about.

"Damnit Carlos," Jetfire complained trying to pull the boy off his leg.

"I knew you guys were going to leave me behind!" Carlos accused.

"Carlos, I know you want to find Rad but hopping on a already warping object is never a good idea. Your molecules could have been scattered throughout the solar system," Optimus admonished. Carlos stared back at him, obviously rethinking ever using the warp gate again.

"Optimus?" Blurr asked turning a corner with a yellow version Sideswipe.

"Blurr, may I ask what the pit you were thinking taking off like that—"

"Screw that! Where the hell is…" Carlos let his question trail off as Rad limped around the corner. He'd been so afraid the past few days that he'd never see his best friend/secret crush again. Now seeing Rad's trademark smile that could light up an entire whatever the hell the were in—from a room to undersea palace—Carlos just let all the stress fade away. It didn't matter anymore to him. All that mattered was that the light in Rad's beautiful blue eyes was still there, shining as brightly as ever.

AN: I know this chapter is crap but like I said there was a death in the family and I just got back from the viewing.