"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"But it's really nice outside."
"I said no."
"Why not? Streeeeeeeetwise." Blades whined.
"..."
"Fine." Blades relented. But then, instead of getting up and leaving, he sprawled out on top of his brother's berth even more. "We can still have fun inside." The helicopter wiggled his rotors suggestively. Streetwise immediately pulled away with a flat,
"No."
Blades made a face. "Oh come on, I know you feel it too. We haven't merged in ages!"
"No."
Streetwise scooted back, much to his disappointment. He knew he could feel the strain in their bond, how Defensor called to them. Their gestalt hadn't merged in almost three weeks and he'd rather read? Get out of here.
"What, playing hard to get?" Blades smiled, wondering what this new game was, and sat up.
"No. Go away, Blades."
"See, that's exactly what you'd say if you were."
"I'm serious."
Still grinning, Blades snickered, "So am I."
He pounced with a whoop. Annoying his brothers was always fun, especially when it led to a fight. Groove and First Aid were no fun in that department, but Streetwise was always good for a tussle.
"Get off!" Streetwise howled, kicking him in the face. Hey! That was a cheap shot! The two rolled around on the floor, a tangle of yelling voices and swinging limbs, until the mustang broke free and made a run for it.
Laughing, Blades gave chase.
...
Despite being a lighter weight, Blades was far bulkier than someone with a sports car for an alt-mode. He caught up to Streetwise and threw him over his shoulder like a sack of bolts.
"The frag? Blades, put me down!"
"No thanks!" Blades cackled. Ignoring his cursing captive, he internally commed Hot Spot and the rest of the gang to meet them outside. They were totally doing a merge.
Most of the mechs they passed in the halls laughed, smiled knowingly, or in Sideswipe's case, took a picture, and Streetwise felt his energon positively boil in embarrassment. But Blades didn't stop. Not even when he felt sunlight strike his back. Where were they going? Was Blades gonna throw him off the friggin mountain?
Finally, mercifully, his brother put him down. Instantly Streetwise made to attack, but before he could, a familiar voice told him to stop.
Frag.
Blades' smug grin said it all. Turning around, Streetwise saw Hot Spot, Groove, and First Aid standing there as well. It suddenly made sense why they were outside.
"No."
"No?" Hot Spot repeated. No what? He hadn't said anything. Blades gave Streetwise an offended look.
"But I won!"
"I wasn't playing." Streetwise sputtered, before looking back at Hot Spot. "You can't make me."
"What...is going on?" First Aid asked.
Groove hazarded, "So are we forming Defensor, or...?"
"Yes." "No."
Blades scowled. "Stop being weird and transform already!"
Streetwise pushed him. "Frag off!"
Blades shoved back. "You mean you seriously don't want to merge?"
"No!"
Push.
"Liar!"
Shove.
"Enough!" Hot Spot shouted. He got in between them before Blades could throttle the mustang like he clearly wanted to. "Look, I know we haven't seen any action in a couple of weeks, but that's no reason to pick pointless fights Blades."
"You're taking his side?!"
Hot Spot ignored him, now focused on Streetwise. "You know," he said, "it has been a while."
"No no please, Hot Spot, I-" Streetwise stuttered, moving backwards, but Blades stepped forward to sandwich him between them.
"What is your malfunction? We've done this a hundred times!"
Hot Spot found himself nodding in agreement. Clearly, not merging for so long wasn't good for them if Streetwise was this nervous about it. In fact, now that he thought about it, this was the longest they'd gone without forming Defensor. He could fix that.
"Protectobots!" He started. "Merge and form int-"
"NO!" Streetwise exploded, covering his audios. When Hot Spot gave the word, he had to do it. Everyone knew that. But if he never heard the order….
Abruptly Streetwise transformed and gunned it back into the Ark. He knew he was breaking base law but he didn't care, right now he'd rather face a million Prowls than his gestalt. He didn't know where he was going, just away, and so was equally surprised when he mowed down the door to the aerialbot hanger in his panic. Five sets of guns and optics instantly trained on him.
"Streetwise?" Silverbolt said, while nearby Air Raid swore. Oops. Almost shot one of the 'protectos.
"What's going on?" Slingshot demanded. Fireflight subspaced his firearm and waved.
"Hey Streetwise!"
Silverbolt awkwardly patted the mech holding onto him. "Err, Streetwise?"
"They're gonna make me!"
"What?" Silverbolt frowned.
"They're gonna make me merge!"
On the couch, Slingshot and Fireflight shared a blank look. "And...that's a bad thing?" Slingshot joked, only to receive a nasty look for it. "What?!"
Silverbolt glared at Slingshot, the aft, though his words were directed at Streetwise when he spoke. "Hot Spot wanted to form Defensor?" He guessed.
A nod.
"Did you tell him no?"
Another nod.
Silverbolt would have face palmed, if his hands were free. Unbelievable. Instead he said,
"Skydive, Keep an optic on him. I'll sort this out."
"Why me?"
"Because Slingshot's retarded and I'm taking Air Raid with me. I'll be right back." Silverbolt promised, and pried Streetwise off. Mech had a death grip. "Come on, Air Raid."
Air Raid mimed a volcano blowing up behind his leader's back. They were five years older than the protectobots, and their gestalt bond had grown sensitive in that time. Along it, Silverbolt's annoyance was palpable.
"Ten credits says he puts them all in the brig." Slingshot snickered, while Skydive poked Streetwise towards the couch.
"You're a glitch." Skydive said. "Scoot over."
Skydive smooshed the grounder between him and Fireflight, who would honestly snuggle with anything and so had no qualms about his pillow being replaced.
Slingshot unpaused his movie.
"That was awesome!" Blades laughed. He certainly wasn't expecting that. Hot Spot rounded on him.
"This isn't funny! Blades, what is going on?!"
"Hey, don't ask me, 'Streets' is the one being stupid." Blades said, still chuckling. After realizing Streetwise was avoiding them, he'd felt like his brother needed some tough love. Literally. Streetwise was just being a sore loser.
"So are we gonna go get him, or….?" Groove said, pointing to the trail of skid marks that no doubt led to their racer. Hot Spot sighed.
"Yeah. Let's go get him."
First Aid remained quiet while they trailed the skid marks as a group. Oh, Prowl was gonna be so mad when he saw those. Hot Spot and Blades lead the way, unaware of the nearly unholy wrath following the trail to them. Silverbolt and Air Raid rounded the corner up ahead.
"Hey 'Raid, have you seen Streetwise? He made these." Blades sniggered. But his mirth died at the look on Silverbolt's face. Oh boy.
But Death Incarnate marched past him, coming for Hot Spot instead. "You're all to report to the brig for the next two days or Primus help me, I'll have Ratchet put you in there for two weeks."
"What?!"
"Is merging a game to you guys?"
"Of course not!" Hot Spot said, not understanding. "What did we do?"
Silverbolt gave each of them a look fit to peel paint. "You know when we merge we share everything, down to our most private thoughts. How could you force someone to give that up? Especially your brother?"
The protectobots didn't know what to say. They hadn't thought about it like that.
"Hot Spot, you severely violated Streetwise's trust and privacy. He said no and you gave the order anyway."
"I'm really sorry Silverbolt." Hot Spot said, sounding par the course.
"I'm not the one you have to apologize to." Silverbolt told him. He knew Hot Spot looked up to him, which made doing this kind of suck. He offered a small smile. "Trust me, this is a lot lighter than what Ratchet or Wheeljack would do. You'll understand when you're older. Now, go to the brig."
"Yes Sir." Hot Spot shakily saluted him. Once they were all gone, Silverbolt turned around to see Air Raid frowning.
"What?"
"That was pretty harsh. Two days? They're not even a year old."
"Age is relative to us, you know that. They're mature enough to know better." Silverbolt replied, stalking past him.
Air Raid caught up. "So I take it we're keeping an eye on junior until Ratchet starts wondering where First Aid went?"
"Of course. Anything making him refuse a merge can't be good. You remember when Fireflight hit those birds."
"Glitch still has nightmares about it." Air Raid shuddered. When they got back they saw that Streetwise had been sucked into watching Top Gun. Slingshot twisted to look at them, and commed:
/::Did they cry?::/
/::Could you not?::/
/::Chill, he can't hear me.::/
/::That doesn't excuse your inappropriate comment earlier.::/ Silverbolt said.
Slingshot looked to the ceiling as if appealing to the heavens. /::It was a joke!::/
/::Learn when to keep it in your head, bro::/ Air Raid said, but he wasn't actually mad, and moved to take the transformer-sized bean bag next to the couch. It was a birthday gift that Spike insisted wasn't actually filled with beans. Streetwise shifted in his seat.
"Where's Hot Spot?" He asked, curious. He'd figured Silverbolt had gone to go talk to him.
"Brig." Air Raid answered automatically. Whoops.
"What!"
/::You're as bad as he is::/ Silverbolt growled, referring to Slingshot. He addressed Streetwise.
"Not for too long."
"But I didn't mean to-"
"What they did is never okay and I want them to learn that. No harm done." Silverbolt reassured him. Streetwise didn't like that outcome one bit, but it wasn't like he could change it, and he was invested in the movie at this point so he stayed where he was.
He couldn't help but worry what would happen when they got out.
Please leave a review if you like it! I love getting feedback, and the protectobots are my favorite characters.
