Chapter Five: The Streets
The job of the house is the protect you from the world and the job of the home is to show you your place in it – unknown
It was cold. That was the first thing Sunstreaker noticed. It was unimaginably cold.
He hadn't realized how freezing nights on Cybertron truly were and he'd never so desperately wished for a berth to once again share with his twin.
The second thing he noticed about nights on Cybertron, was that they were loud. Even if it was warmer, he didn't think he'd ever be able to recharge with all the CONSTANT sound of the city.
So, almost every night he and Sideswipe would sit and they would wait. They would find an alleyway, or an abandoned mine or sometimes if they were really desperate, street drains, and they would wait for the sun to rise.
The nights were so dreaded and so cold that it often felt as though the day was a couple astroseconds and the nights practically vorns of their life dragging by.
They longed for the warmth and comfort of their complex. Their sparks screamed in the absence of their carrier, and their processors would freeze up in fear anytime they felt a twitch in their bond with their sire.
It had already been several very long cycles since their lives were destroyed.
After escaping that pit-spawned alley and promptly shutting down, they had awoken to find themselves on the outskirts of Kaon.
They weren't sure how, but they had been raked in with shipments of garbage on its way to the smelting pits.
Then, again not knowing how, they'd managed to escape that fate and wind up on some scrappy streets where bots had just . . . ignored them.
It wasn't uncommon to find abandoned sparklings in Kaon. Most bots felt there was nothing to be done about the little pests except leave them on the streets and hope they would soon perish.
But they had not perished.
For some reason, despite the cold dragging on their systems, the lack of energon in their lines, they refused to offline.
The third and final thing Sunstreaker noticed about nights on Cybertron was the fact that they were dangerous.
Which was why he and Sideswipe were currently running, or more like tripping, through a rusty street with vicious cyberhounds snapping at their scampering peds.
"We're not gonna make it!" Sideswipe shrieked at him, clutching the blue cube of energon as close to his chassis as he could.
The cube was comically too big for the poor mech and his neck cables were strained as much as they could to see over the top of it.
Sunstreaker found himself in a worse position with his own cube being the smaller of the two.
"They won't follow us past the boundary," Sunstreaker replied determinedly.
"I know that slaghead! I'm saying we ain't making it that far!" Sideswipe yelled again. After the first day out here, the pair of them had mouths about as clean as rusty gears.
"Keep running," Sunstreaker demanded. He could feel his twin's annoyance over the bond. It wasn't like they had any other options than to run at the moment.
One of the truths about living on the streets of Kaon was that energon wasn't free. There was no plan in place for the unsheltered or the poor.
If they wanted to live, they stole.
However, the getting away with it was the part they had a bit of trouble with.
"Real great idea by the way Sunny," Sideswipe hissed as they leapt over broken crates of old bolts.
"I said let's not steal from the mines, but you don't ever like to listen to me." His twin complained profusely.
Sunstreaker felt himself briefly think of Cable as his twin rambled about not stealing from the mines anymore.
"You glitch, were you trying to spot Sire?" Sideswipe realized. Sunstreaker cursed to himself. The slagging bond gave him away more times than he liked to admit.
"Frag off," Sunstreaker answered and threw up a quick wall over the bond. He felt Sideswipe glare at him.
His twin hated it when he put up walls. Especially since Sideswipe would always find out everything anyway.
Sunstreaker couldn't help it though. In place of his bond with Starlander was this weird bitterness that made him block his twin.
He hated the idea that any bot know how destroyed it was in there. Even if that bot was Sideswipe. No, especially if that bot was Sideswipe.
A howl snapped him out of his thoughts and he looked back. Behind him the three cyberhounds were still snarling like the animals they were.
He looked ahead. The border to the Kaon outskirts was a quarter klik away.
The cyberhounds collars had special trackers that would shock them if they left the Kaon borders. It was to ensure they couldn't get lost any further than the city limits.
"Primus I wish we could transform. Would certainly get these pit-spawned mutts of our afts," Sideswipe whined. Sunstreaker let his wall fall so his twin could feel his agreement.
Both mechs were long overdue for their youngling upgrade.
Their matured processors no longer fit with their tiny sparkling bodies and the benefit of transforming was greatly missed even if they'd never experienced it before.
"Slide the energon," Sunstreaker ordered. Sideswipe, as always, didn't question his twin. In blind faith he slide the cube as hard as he could against the metal road and Sunstreaker followed suit.
Their stolen cubes slid all the way down the road the rest of the way across the border.
"Nice call," Sideswipe cheered. Sunstreaker smirked. Now being able to see where they were going, they sprinted towards the border at full force.
As they neared the border, both twins leaped servos first toward it, planning on crashing down next to their stolen goods.
Just as they were almost across, a cyberhound clamped down on Sunstreaker's ped.
Sideswipe flew safely across, righting himself quickly. He turned back to see his twin being violently dragged away.
"Sunny!" He cried and began sprinting towards his captured brother.
"Sideswipe stop!" Sunstreaker screamed at him, loud enough to make even the cyberhounds stop growling for a nanoklik.
Sideswipe stopped, again in blind faith, but it was only for a fraction of time before he started moving towards his brother.
"Sides I mean it!" Sunstreaker yelled, violently trying to kick the cyberhound off of him.
"But-"
"Do not cross that border," Sunstreaker ordered as the hound began diving for his helm. Sideswipe was frozen but his servo itched to jump in and help his twin.
Sunstreaker took one servo and grabbed the hounds lower jaw as it came in for a bite. Then, ignoring the fresh cut energon lines in his digits, threw the mutt as hard as he could.
The cyberhound was now off his chassis but it was barely phased.
"Sunny!" Sideswipe cried as the hound got back up.
"Stay there Sides!" Sunstreaker kept ordering. Sideswipe nearly always listened to his twin. Sunstreaker was the one in charge.
Sideswipe wasn't exactly sure why, but he knew that from the moment they ran out of that alley, Sunstreaker was the one calling the shots.
Perhaps it was because before, Sideswipe was afraid. He didn't know what to do when they first struck out on their own.
Sunstreaker didn't care about anything except his twin. He didn't give two slags about other bots. That was why is was easy for Sunstreaker to see so clearly out here.
There was just one goal. Protect Sideswipe. The only thing he really had to hang onto.
But right now, the shock of losing his friends, not going to the education center anymore or playing sports, was wearing off for Sideswipe.
As he too began to realize that the only thing that mattered anymore was the mech he called brother, he realized that he wasn't going to listen to his twin.
With a yell, he charged back across the border to stand in front of a bleeding Sunstreaker.
"I thought I told you to stay put," Sunstreaker growled as he got to his peds.
"You did," Sideswipe answered nonchalant.
"And you didn't listen," Sunstreaker growled.
"I'm not letting you get slagged," Sideswipe argued.
"Well I'm not letting you get slagged either," Sunstreaker retorted.
"Great. We're both in agreement," Sideswipe replied.
A low growl cut through their spark chatter.
"Well. He's not in agreement," Sideswipe decided, nodding at the hound.
"Guess no one told him majority rules," Sunstreaker answered.
Sideswipe grinned and they both pulled sharp pieces of scrap they'd scrounged up out of subspace.
The last thing that Sunstreaker noticed about nights on Cybertron. If you kill something or Primus forbid, someone, no bot ever really seemed to care.
Heya, sorry for the short chapter but my brain is moving slow on ideas. Hope you enjoy! Please review it's super helpful! I mean really, i eat that shit up.
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