Introduction: This happens during the first half of Many Voices chapter 72, not too long before Jazz shows up.

Ratchet woke to someone banging on the door. Not the entry request—someone knocking. What the pit? He sat up, feeling groggy, and checked his chronometer. It was the middle of the off-cycle. Wonderful. Maybe someone else would get the door. Would they hear it, though, from all the way upstairs?

What if it was the enforcers?

It didn't sound like that, though.

What if it was someone who needed help? Sometimes sick or injured mecha showed up asking him to repair them. He knew some of the others didn't like him using Autobot's precious resources to hand out free medical care, but Autobot was about helping other mecha, and by Primus, he was going to help them.

He moaned as he got up and stumbled through Perceptor's dark house. He turned on lights as he went, grumbling to himself. "Can't mecha slagging need our help during normal business joors? I'm never going to catch up on recharge like this…." But the thought of waking up the next orn to find some poor mech offline on the front steps… as unlikely as it was, Ratchet couldn't shake the idea from his processor.

He got to the front door and opened it. "What in the pits of Kaon do you want?"

"Please…" the mech standing on the front porch said. "Is this…"

"Oh, Primus…" Ratchet said. "Inside!"

The mech's arm ended in a dripping stump, and he seemed barely able to stand up. Ratchet analyzed him for more injuries and found several deep-looking dents in various places and a gash on his leg that was also leaking. He was moving like he had internal injuries too. Primus, what had happened to this mech?"

The mech stumbled in the door and braced himself against the wall with his one remaining hand. From the expression on his faceplate he was in a lot of pain, but his optics were focused and steady. "There's a medic here, right? And you have a groundbridge?"

"What?"

"The medic," the mech said. "I need the medic and the groundbridge."

"I'm the medic," Ratchet said. "Come on, I'll fix your arm, what the frag did you do to it?"

"No, no," the mech shook his helm. "No, I'm ok, it's not me."

"What?" Ratchet snapped.

-a few joors earlier-

"It did not cost that much to enter last time," Sideswipe said. "If you keep trying to cheat us we'll take our skills elsewhere."

"I'm sorry," the mech said. "If you would like to sign a contract with us, then there wouldn't be an entrance fee."

So that's what this was about. This mech wanted them to sign away their souls.

"We're not signing a contract," Sunstreaker said. "We already told you that. Like my brother said, we can find some other way to make credit."

"Well, this is the way it goes," the mech said. "You pay the entrance fee, you fight. If you win, you still get more than ten times the credit you paid to enter. Unless you sign a contract, and then you fight for free, and we provide you with as much credit as you need, as well as free housing, medical care, and various other things. If you don't want to sign a contract, you have to pay the entrance fee. If you don't want to do either, then feel free to leave, like you've threatened. There are plenty of mecha lining up to fight."

Not very many of them had been offered contracts, though. They only offered you a contract if you were really good. Of course, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had no intention of signing a contract. It wouldn't just mean the end of paying entrance fees, it would mean the end of freedom. They would have to be gladiators for the duration of the contract—which was usually something like twenty vorns. And considering the average life span of gladiators was significantly less than that… something like three quarters of a vorn from the time you signed up…

In any case, a contract was a life sentence. Or a death sentence, depending on how you looked at it.

Sideswipe looked at Sunstreaker, and his brother met his gaze with an uneasy expression on his faceplate. Sideswipe could tell that Sunny wanted to back out. But they were getting too close to running out of credit. Their last windfall had been almost a quartex ago when Sunny had sold a painting. They needed more for energon and for transportation. They had to keep moving, because they were pretty sure Quantum was still looking for them, even after all this time.

"Ok," Sideswipe said. "We'll pay the stupid fee."

He handed over a data chip which the mech inserted into his datapad, then pulled out again. "There you are. Wait in room 5. We'll call you out when it's time."

Sideswipe nodded. They'd been here enough times that they knew their way around pretty well. They walked to the smallish room to wait. Sideswipe stretched. So far, they'd had pretty good luck, and they'd managed to win all of their fights. They were pretty much unstoppable. Of course, this wasn't a real gladiator ring, where they only had contracted mecha. Part of Sideswipe wanted to try to get into something a little more intense, but he knew it wasn't a good idea. And they could make enough credit to live off of if they just came here every few quartexes.

"I don't like this," Sunstreaker said.

"Yeah?"

"He was looking at us weird."

"You think everyone's looking at you weird," Sideswipe said. Sunstreaker was ridiculous. He spent so much time polishing and painting and perfecting himself, and then he got all defensive when he thought mecha were staring at him.

"No, I mean it," Sunstreaker said. "Something's not right."

Sideswipe sighed. "We already paid the fee… so we're practically broke…and I don't think he'll give us a refund…but if you really think something's up, we can back out."

"No," Sunstreaker said. "I would have earlier, but it's too late now. Just be careful."

Sideswipe nodded.

The mech they were up against was big and fast. He had a long, hooked blade, and another weapon—a spiked club with spinning parts—like a cross between a mace and a chainsaw.

But there was only one of him. One opponent was no match for the twins. Sideswipe dodged under the club and shot the mech in the side, while Sunstreaker came in from the other side.

The mech's armor absorbed Sideswipe's blast, and he parried Sunstreaker's blade with his own. But it was only a matter of time.

Only a matter of time.

The fight continued. The mech kept ahead of them, barely dodging. Sideswipe managed to get a nasty cut on his leg, which the crowd cheered for.

He knew most of them were probably rooting for the other mech. His weapons looked custom-made—he was probably a contracted gladiator.

The fight dragged on. The twins got in a few lucky hits, but nothing that really weakened their opponent. Of course, he didn't manage to injure the twins much either, though his club glanced off of Sunstreaker's shoulder once. Sideswipe could tell it was painful, but Sunstreaker didn't seem to care. He was definitely still worried about something, though.

After a little while longer, Sideswipe realized what was wrong. Their opponent wasn't fighting on the offensive. He was just defending, using as little energy as possible.

And the twins were wasting all their strength attacking this mech, who seemed to have no trouble blocking them.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker backed away at the same time, and stood across the arena from their opponent. The crowd shouted their disappointment. This fight hadn't been gory enough. They wanted more energon on the ground.

Sideswipe didn't take his optics off of their opponent, but he was pretty sure Sunstreaker was thinking the same thing he was. They needed to take this mech down quickly, or they were going to get tired and start making mistakes.

They couldn't lose. They needed the credit.

They attacked.

This time, the other mech didn't defend. He attacked too. His club transformed into a heavier, but smooth weapon, and he swung. Sideswipe went flying. He hit the wall of the arena and fell to his knees as all his systems reset.

He looked up just in time to see Sunstreaker go down. The mech's blade pinned him to the ground and then the club swung in, now back to the spinning spikes mode.

The grinding sound it made when it met the yellow twin's frame was drowned out after a moment by Sunstreaker's scream.

No.

Sideswipe felt it like the club was tearing into his own chassis.

He cried out as some force of rage and desperation sent him sprinting back toward the fight. He scooped his fallen brother's blade from the ground and with another scream, he charged and swung. The other mech raised his blade to block Sideswipe's but Sideswipe's blade hit the mech's arm instead and severed his hand.

The other gladiator cried out and stumbled back, leaving his hooked blade on the ground. Sideswipe picked it up in his free hand and stood between his opponent and his brother.

Sunstreaker was leaking heavily, and barely conscious. Sideswipe felt the darkness of stasis tugging on him too, but protective protocols overpowered it.

The other mech charged at him, club swinging. Sideswipe stood his ground. His processor was clear. He waited. He needed to take his opponent by surprise again.

At the last second, he dropped both swords and attacked. He blocked the mace with one hand, ignoring the pain as it shredded his fingers, and shifted his other hand into a gun, which he brought to his opponent's helm and fired.

The mech screamed as part of his faceplate was blown away, and they crashed to the ground with Sideswipe on top.

Sideswipe got up and backed away, gun still trained on the mech in case he got up again.

But he didn't. They had won.

Sideswipe turned and hurried over to kneel in the pool of energon that was spreading around his brother. Sunstreaker was still conscious—barely.

"Sides…."

"You're going to be ok," Sideswipe said. "We'll find you a medic, come on…" He reached under his brother, trying to ignore the pain from his shredded, useless hand.

"Don't forget…" Sunstreaker said. "The credit."

They'd come back and demand it after Sideswipe was satisfied that Sunstreaker wasn't going to offline. He glanced at his brother's sword on his way out of the arena—but there was no way he could pick it up. Sunny would just have to forgive him about that.

The door opened and mecha flowed in to go tend to the twins' opponent. They'd probably be able to save him too, though he might have some processor damage. Sideswipe didn't care.

Out in the hallway, Sunstreaker's optics shuttered and Sideswipe felt stasis closing in for both of them.

"Hang in there," he said. "Sunny, you're going to knock me out. Wake up."

Sideswipe stumbled and Sunstreaker's optics shot open again. "Sorry…" he gasped.

Sideswipe stood. There were three mechs blocking their way. Two security guards and the mech who they'd talked to before the fight.

"Oh, hey," Sideswipe said. "Well, it looks like we won. I'm going to have to come back for the credit, though. Mind getting out of the way?"

The mech smiled.

The guards stepped past him.

Sideswipe took a step backward and someone grabbed him from behind. He cried out as they pulled Sunstreaker away from him, and then pinned him against the wall.

"What are you doing!" he demanded.

"Bring them," the mech said.

"You can't do this! Let us go!"

"I'll let you go," the mech said. "Don't worry."

Sideswipe struggled, but he was injured and weakened.

They were taken to an empty room. They stasis-cuffed Sideswipe to the wall by his shredded hand and dumped Sunstreaker on the floor next to the opposite wall.

Sideswipe glared at the smug-looking mech standing in the doorway. "What is this!" he demanded.

"It's really too bad your brother was injured," the mech said. "Isn't it?"

"Let us go."

"You know, if you sign a contract with us, we can get him some medical attention."

Sideswipe just stared at him for an astrosecond, as he realized what was going on. "You…" he said. "You fragging cheater! You set this up! You…"

"I don't know what you're talking about," the mech said. "I'm just making you an offer. You're free to go if you want. I'll even leave the door unlocked for you…"

"I'm chained to the fragging wall!" Sideswipe said.

The mech ignored him and unsubspaced a datapad. "I will leave this here for you. If you sign the contract, I'll be notified and, as soon as everything's agreed and legalized, we'll let you see a medic. The process can be a little lengthy, so I wouldn't wait too long to get started." He set the datapad down in Sideswipe's reach and turned to leave.

"Hey wait!" Sideswipe pulled out the data chip that he'd used to pay the mech earlier. "We won! You owe us!"

The mech snorted, but sent the guards in to take the chip from Sideswipe and bring it to him. He plugged it into his personal datapad, then tossed it back at Sideswipe. "Contracted mecha make a lot more, you know," he said, and left. The guards followed and the door closed behind them. Sideswipe scooped up the data chip and checked to see that the credit was on it.

Then he reached for Sunstreaker, but his brother was too far away, and the stasis cuffs pulled on his shredded hand. He sank to his knees, venting hard, trying to ignore the pain.

The datapad lay on the floor. The mech's words echoed in his audios. Sign a contract. Sell themselves as slaves. Spend the rest of their lives fighting for their lives.

But Sunstreaker was going to die if Sideswipe didn't do it.

The yellow mech's engine whined, and Sunstreaker gasped and coughed, then lay still and tense, venting in quick, shallow gasps.

Sideswipe needed to get to him. He reached out again, but the pain from his hand brought him up short. He couldn't reach anyway.

"Sunny!"

"Aaarrgh! Don't…. call me that."

Sideswipe took in a deep vent to calm himself and tried to think. There had to be a way out of this somehow. There had to be a way out. Signing that contract was still a death sentence, just a more distant one.

Sideswipe reached into subspace with his good hand and brought out a small knife. At least they hadn't taken away his weapons. He pressed his bad hand to the wall. It was kind of awkward because of the stasis cuffs, and it hurt like pit, but he just gritted his denta and focused on what he had to do. His other hand gripped the knife so hard it was denting the inside of his fingers a little. He took one more deep vent and slammed the blade into his wrist.

It took three tries, but then he was free. He stumbled across the room, leaving his mangled hand by the wall, and fell to his knees beside Sunstreaker.

His brother looked up at him. "Going to sign the contract?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know," Sideswipe said. "If I can get out of here and bring back a medic..."

Sunstreaker panicked and tried to sit up, but Sideswipe pushed him down forcefully. "Don't do that!"

"Don't leave."

Sideswipe shuttered his optics.

There was a rebellion in Iacon. One of their leaders was a former gladiator, who'd escaped slavery. They had a medic, he'd heard. A mech who was willing to help anyone. And they had a groundbridge.

"Mech, if I sign that contract, we're still going to offline, eventually, after we've made those pit spawns lots of credit. I can… I can bring back a medic."

"Don't leave," Sunstreaker gasped. "Please…"

"Calm down," Sideswipe said. "Just calm down. You need to go into stasis. Stop fighting it."

Sunstreaker's faceplate contorted into a mask of pain. "What if it knocks you out too?" he whispered.

"Well, then we're fragged," Sideswipe said. "But you'll live longer in stasis. I need time."

"Don't leave."

"I'm right here."

"Promise me."

"Frag it, Sunny, I have to go find you a medic. It's that or sign the contract. I am not going to sell us into slavery."

Sunstreaker shuttered his optics, trembling.

"Stop fighting it!"

Sideswipe felt blackness closing in. He let it, knowing that if he resisted, he'd keep his brother awake too. His processor warned him that shutdown was imminent, but he just shuttered his optics and waited.

Sunstreaker slipped into stasis, and Sideswipe's helm cleared again.

Relieved, Sideswipe sat up. Now he had to get to Iacon. It was the middle of the off-cycle, but the groundbridge station would still be open. And Sideswipe had enough credit. He wished he could take Sunny with him, but he couldn't sneak out if he was carrying his brother.

And if Sunstreaker died, Sideswipe would too. In situations like this, that was actually comforting to know. Even death wouldn't separate them. If there was an afterlife, they'd go there together. "It's gonna be ok," he said, to his unconscious brother, but also to himself. He didn't know what being halfway across the planet from Sunstreaker would do to him, but he had a suspicion it wouldn't be pleasant. He just hoped the trauma wouldn't be enough to kill them.

"I can't just use the groundbridge for something like that!"

"Please," the mech said. "Please, he's dying."

Ratchet looked down. He couldn't just turn this mech away… but they had to be careful. "There has to be some other way to get to him."

"But we'd have to fight our way out of there," the red mech looked up at Ratchet. "And there's not enough time to get there. Please. If you don't help me we're both going to offline."

Part of him didn't want to believe this mech… but he had to. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't help.

"There's no one else I can go to! Please, I'll pay you anything you want!"

There was a hopeless desperation in his flickering golden optics.

Ratchet sighed. "Fine, I'll help you."

"What do you want in return?"

"Nothing!" Ratchet snapped. "Come on!"

The mech stumbled after him as he made his way down the basement stairs.

Then, as Ratchet got the groubdridge ready, he leaned against the wall, shuttering his optics. Ratchet's core filled with pity… and anger. Stupid fools deserved to offline. It wasn't as if they'd been forced into their situation.

"Give me the coordinates."

The mech started reciting coordinates, and Ratchet put them into the bridge. "All right," he said once everything was ready. "Here's what we do. We'll go in there and grab your brother and bring him back here so I can repair him."

The other mech nodded mutely. He was shaking, and seemed to be in more pain than his injuries ought to be causing. His twin must be very badly hurt.

Ratchet opened the bridge and stepped through.

Sideswipe followed Ratchet through the groundbridge into the room Sunstreaker was in—and froze.

They weren't alone. The mech who'd tried to trick them into signing a contract, as well as the two guards, were back.

"Groundbridge…" the mech said, frowning.

"Pit!" Ratchet said, putting a hand to his helm like he was sending a comm.

"Don't move!" the contract mech said, and the guards raised their weapons.

Sunstreaker was just past them, lying motionless on the floor. If Sideswipe could... but even if he reached his brother, he wouldn't be able to carry him past the guards and into the bridge.

"Well, this is interesting," the contract mech said. "You managed to find someone with an illegal groundbridge somehow. I'm sure the enforcers will be happy to speak with you and your friend about that,"

"Don't let them through the bridge," Ratchet muttered, getting into a fighting stance.

Sideswipe stared at him.

"There'll be no need for any sort of conflict," the contract mech said, transforming his hand into an elegant gun and pointing it at Sunstreaker. "Step away from that bridge, or I'll shoot this mech."

Pit.

"As a bonus," the mech said. "If you sign the contract, Sideswipe, we won't turn you over to enforcement for using an illegal groundbridge."

They didn't say they wouldn't turn Ratchet in, though.

The groundbridge closed.

Ratchet let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Sideswipe transformed his good hand into a gun. "I don't think so," he growled. "Get away from my brother."

The mech powered up his gun, scowling. "I will kill him."

And by extension, kill Sideswipe. They probably didn't know about the unstable bond… but that didn't matter. What could he do?

"You have three astroseconds… one…"

Sideswipe lowered his gun and put it away.

The guards converged on him and shoved him back into the wall, where the groundbridge had been just moments ago. He cried out as one of them grabbed the tattered stump at the end of his arm.

Sunstreaker twitched and his engine coughed. He was coming back online. No…

Ratchet shot Sideswipe an annoyed look and advanced on the other mech, but one of the guards left Sideswipe to grab him. The smaller mech twisted free from the guard's grip. "Let me go! I'm a medic."

"Stasis-cuff them both and bring them. We'll leave the yellow one here."

Ratchet dodged the guard again. "Hand us over to the enforcers? I'll hand you over to the enforcers, you slagging criminal! Gladiator fights are illegal!"

The room stilled as Ratchet faced off with the contract mech.

Sideswipe struggled, but it was no use. They were doomed. They were going to offline. He had to do something.

"I'll give you one warning," the medic said, and Sideswipe looked up. Ratchet didn't look scared, just angry. "Get out of my way."

The other mech snorted. "Take them and let's—"

He didn't finish his sentence because something flew and hit him in the faceplate with a loud clang. The guard charged the medic, but the little orange mech tripped him and grabbed the energon prod he was carrying, which he slammed into the mech's helm, knocking him unconscious.

Then he turned to look at Sideswipe and the other guard.

"Well, don't just stand there!" he said.

Oh. Right.

Sideswipe shoved the shocked guard away from himself and shot him in the helm. He went down. Probably wasn't getting up again.

Silence fell. Sunstreaker groaned. Sideswipe went to kneel by him, but Ratchet rushed over to the mech Sideswipe had shot.

"Hey!" Sideswipe said.

"I came here to fix mecha, not offline them!" Ratchet snapped. "Pick your brother up. This building must be shielded, because my comm. isn't working now that we don't have the groundbridge here. We'll have to get outside." He reached into the injured guard's helm.

Sideswipe worked his arms under his brother again and picked him up. This time, he was weak enough that he could barely carry him. Sunstreaker shifted again, but didn't un-shutter his optics.

Sideswipe had to stand and wait while the medic worked on the mech he had shot. "Is this really necessary?"

"You're the one who shot him," Ratchet said. "Was that necessary? There… he'll live." He went and retrieved something from the floor—a large wrench—and then walked toward the door. "Let's go. I don't know my way around, but you should probably stay behind me. Just tell me which way to go to get out of here. Ready?"

"Yes."

He opened the door and they ran out into the hallway.

"Left!" Sideswipe called at the first intersection. Then "Straight!"

They ran into a few guards. The medic took them out neatly with the energon prod he'd taken from the first guard he'd knocked out. Sideswipe had never seen a medic who could fight, but he figured he'd better stay focused and just chalk it up to good fortune for now.

They ran from the building into the starlit off-cycle of the city.

"Ok," the medic said, and dropped the energon prod.

A groundbridge opened up in front of them and they stepped through it back into the room, where there were now five or six mecha there, watching anxiously.

"Out of my way!" the medic said. Sideswipe followed him.

"Ratchet!" one of them said. "What the slag! Do you realize—"

"Not now!" Ratchet called over his shoulder.

"What in all of Cybertron?"

"Oh, Primus…"

"Who are they?"

Sideswipe just followed Ratchet until they got to a small room crowded with medical equipment. Sideswipe put his brother down on a berth, and watched as the medic started frantically working on him. Another mech poked his helm in the door, but Ratchet shouted at him to go away and he retreated.

"Shut the door," Ratchet muttered. "Lock it. I don't want anyone bothering me."

Sideswipe obediently got up and shut the door. He wasn't quite sure how to lock it, though, so he just walked back to where he'd been sitting. "Is he going to be ok?"

"Yes."

Sunstreaker was back in stasis. Sideswipe was exhausted too, but he couldn't shutter his optics or let himself slip into recharge until he knew that this mech wasn't lying to him, and that his brother would be all right. "You're pretty good with that wrench."

"Shut up."

Sideswipe looked down at the stump where his arm ended. "Thank you."

Ratchet snorted. "Do you know what would have happened if I'd been arrested? The whole resistance would have been compromised! I know practically everyone here, and the location of the base, and the locations of all the back-up bases... You nearly got hundreds of mecha offlined!"

Sideswipe looked up again, processing that information. This mech had risked a lot to come and save his brother.

"And this is your fault," Ratchet said. "No one asked you to go fight in the gladiator ring. You did that to yourselves!"

And that was also true.

"Fragging idiots. You have an unstable bond, too, don't you? I haven't scanned for it yet, but the signs are all there."

"Yeah," Sideswipe said. "We were separated as sparklings."

"Well, you almost got separated again, permanently," Ratchet growled. "Gladiators, gah. Offlining each other for credit. It makes me sick."

He kept up a steady rant as he worked. Sideswipe just watched. This was the strangest medic he'd ever met. But he'd saved their lives, at great risk to himself, and Sideswipe would never be able to repay him.

"… and if you ever do something like this again, don't come crying to me, because I'm not going to help you a second time…" Ratchet stood back with a sigh, and looked down at his work. Sunstreaker was doing better. Sideswipe could feel it over the bond. "Well, I'll want to keep him here for the rest of the off-cycle. Maybe all of next orn too. And then after that, he should rest for at least two decaorns. Those were substantial injuries." He went to a sink and washed and dried his hands. "Your turn now. Sit on the other berth."

Sideswipe got up and went to look at his brother. The hole in Sunstreaker's torso still gaped open, but he wasn't leaking anymore, and his internals weren't the shredded mess they'd been before. "He's not finished."

"No, but he's fine. I'll finalize his repairs after I've stopped your arm from leaking and also done something about your leg. Sit on the berth. Now."

Sideswipe sat down on the berth. Ratchet came up behind him and accessed the control panel on the back of his neck. The pain from Sideswipe's arm diminished, and he couldn't even feel his leg injury. The medic came around the front.

"Arm."

Sideswipe held out his injured stump. Ratchet quickly tied off energon lines and cleaned out the wound. He was efficient, but also gentle, and the only time it really hurt was when he had to fish out some shrapnel that was lodged in some cables.

When he'd finished cleaning out Sideswipe's arm, he moved down to the leg. "I don't have the materials to replace your hand," Ratchet said. "And I'll just have to use temp plating to cover that gaping hole in your brother. But if you come back in a few decaorns, I'll have had time to get some replacement parts for both of you. Your leg will be fine, if you don't walk on it too much. Don't walk on it, by the way, not until you leave at the end of next orn."

Ratchet finished his leg and told him to recharge, then went back to working on Sunstreaker. Sideswipe lay back on the berth as the feeling slowly came back into his arm and leg. The pain wasn't enough to stop him from slipping into unconsciousness. Despite the fact that he and his brother were injured, he hadn't felt this safe for a very long time.

Ratchet stumbled out of his office and to the kitchen. His chronometer said it was two or three joors past dawn. He got a cube of energon out of the closet and sat down at the table, across from Soundwave. He was almost too exhausted to drink it.

Soundwave watched him passively.

Ratchet shuttered his optics and put his helm down on the table. "I just saved the lives of two slagging idiots."

Soundwave was silent.

"The scum of society." He looked up to see his friend nod. "They're probably criminals."

"Yes." Soundwave said.

Ratchet sighed and sipped his energon. "Well, make sure they don't steal anything from my office while I'm recharging. Ungrateful pitspawns."

Soundwave tilted his helm to the side slightly.

Ratchet sat up and downed the rest of the cube. "Actually, come wake me if the yellow one comes out of stasis. I need to make sure all of his systems are functioning properly." He left the empty energon cube on the table and trudged to his room, where he collapsed onto his berth. Of course, as much as he complained, he'd never turn anyone away. Not if they were the most despicable mecha on the planet. No one. Never.

His systems shut down and he slipped into recharge.