Side Order
HUGE Thank you to all who reviewed the last chapter!
Sorry I haven't updated lately but I've started working on another fic that has completely absorbed my brain and hogged all my time.
In case anyone missed it, its called, "The Aby of Darkness" and itfeatures Sunstreaker, though the fic is rated "M"…. for good reason. Its been nagging me, filling my days with constant note taking, and has been more demanding than an In Law.
Yeah. That much fun. Though Admittedly, its turned out better than I hoped.
Anyhoo, reviews would be cherished and adored and may get my muse to change focus.
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"Sideswipe, you need attention," Prowl observed as he watched the frontliner grab the sparse trees and lean them in haphazard fashion across the mouth of the cave.
"Not now, Prowl," Sideswipe said without acknowledging the Second in Command standing a few steps away. "I'm busy."
"Busy or not, you need medical attention," Prowl reiterated, looking at the busted knee joint that had the warrior limping.
"I've had a lot worse," Sideswipe continued, pulling up a tree and placing it with the scrubby verge to conceal the entrance. "It's nothing."
"It's not nothing," Prowl pressed, finally dragging his own injured body to the carmine Lamborghini and grabbing his arm, halting his progress. "You have a busted joint. Let Ratchet take a look at it and see if he can help."
"I took care of it myself," Sideswipe answered, pulling his arm free of his commanding officer.
"Sideswipe, you duct taped a Con's arm to your leg," Prowl growled, his optics flashing with a mixture of concern and anger.
"He wasn't needing it," Sideswipe retorted, pulling up a thorny thicket. "I needed a quick fix and it was just laying there. Problem solved."
Sideswipe threw the thicket to the front of his defensive verge and turned to glare at the Second. "Now I suggest you get back in the cave and let me get back to work."
Prowl's argument died in his throat. His vision swam and for a moment he thought he was going to topple forward, but ruby arms encased him and held him steady until he could recalibrate his equilibrium.
"No argument," Sideswipe said in Prowl's audio. "You're injured far worse than myself. You're an officer. I'm just a soldier. My injuries are mainly structural, and can wait. Now get your aft back into that cave and have Ratchet to take a look at you."
"What about you and Sunstreaker?" Prowl asked, feeling his dizziness subside to a more tolerable level.
"My knee is busted, but my hands still work. Sunstreaker has a shattered windshield and several burns, but nothing that's life threatening. We can still fight. You can't," Sideswipe said, raising his arm to point at the darkness inside the cave. "Now get your aft in there and try to keep everyone calm."
Prowl nodded mutely, shuffling back into the cave. Sunstreaker emerged from around the hillside, several thin trees clutched in his shaking limbs. Sideswipe took them from his brother and nodded toward the entrance, placing the foliage in a pattern for good concealment, but allowing observation from the inside. When he got the approval of his twin, he too was swallowed by the dark.
"Erase our tracks?" Sideswipe asked, hearing the sounds of someone struggling further into the cave.
"Spread the energon around, made several sets of false tracks, and left behind some pieces of Cons, just in case they need visual reminders of why they shouldn't mess with us," Sunstreaker answered, settling in for a long wait.
Sideswipe nodded, seating himself next to his brother. Without a word both twins opened ports along their forearms and connected two data wires.
"Wake me if you see something," Sideswipe muttered, already starting to power down into recharge mode.
Sunstreaker merely nodded, letting his affirmation trickle through the connection. He felt his brother slip into stasis and turned his sensors outward, keeping watch for potential threats. Actively scanning the horizon, Sunstreaker thought back to that morning, remembering his comment on how uneventful the Cons had been lately. Midmorning came and his world literally became one nightmare after another.
His paints were detained in customs for another week. Red Alert managed to video some rather unflattering footage of the warrior covered in dirt and broadcasted it throughout the Ark. Sideswipe collided with his twin and left a nasty black mark on the perfect plating. Then the alarm sounded for a Decepticon attack.
He really should learn to keep his vocalizer shut!
The Autobots had rolled out according to plan, finding the site of devastation and engaging the enemy. Neither twin knew what happened, but before they knew it, Prime, Ratchet, Prowl, Windcharger, Bluestreak and themselves were teleported several hundred miles away. Disoriented from the warp, the Autobots were easy targets, getting their afts handed to them before escaping into a heavily forested area.
And now, as twilight fast approached, the Autobots remained sequestered inside a cave on the outskirts of the wood, hoping the Decepticon's had lost their tracks. Prowl had ordered all communications be halted in case Soundwave triangulated their location, and with the warriors in various states of distress, they'd be easy pickings.
Sunstreaker kept vigil, his brother's systems hooked into his own for easier monitoring. Both were fairing rather badly, but if the need arose, they were the more apt to fight. He was pulled out of his passive scanning by the sounds of a wounded Autobot. Muffled screams echoed from the darkness. Sunstreaker cast his optics to the dark, narrowing them into slits as he continued to hear the noise. He growled a low oath, knowing that at any moment, a Con could hear the noise and investigate. They all would die because someone couldn't keep their vocalizer shut.
Hands balling into fists, his anger bled through to his twin. Sideswipe jerked away, his battle instincts kicking in due to the response he was receiving from his twin via their connection.
"Cons?" Sideswipe whispered, his scanners employed to their fullest extent.
"No, but if that racquet doesn't stop, the Cons will find us in no time," Sunstreaker muttered, snarling toward the back of the cave where the sounds of pain were beginning to subside. "Fragger's going to get us all killed."
Sideswipe said nothing, but focused his attention to the forest. Several long minutes went by, the voices lowering into silence. Both brothers relaxed, until they heard the soft footfalls of Cybertronian feet. They turned to see the flashing white panels of Prowl, who was now limping and using the wall as a supportive guide.
"Casualties?" Sunstreaker asked when he drew near, ignoring the injuries the black and white sported.
"None," Prowl said, limping closer to the pair, his optics staring out at the veiled landscape. "Ratchet has put Prime into stasis. His spark chamber was scorched."
"He'll pull through," Sideswipe said, almost dismissively, but there wasn't a lot of vigor behind his words. Spark chamber damage was serious business. If not properly attended to, the mech could perish in a slow, agonizing way. It wasn't something they considered their leader going through. "What else?"
"Bluestreak has lost a doorwing," Prowl said, and his tone sent chills into the twin sparks. "Ratchet had to sedate him until it can be reattached. Windcharger has a busted drive train, effectively keeping him immobile, while Ratchet has a cracked windshield, crushed pede, and can't engage the medical tools of his left hand."
"What about you?" Sunstreaker asked, noting the tactician had conveniently left himself off the injury list.
Prowl seemed to mull it over, not wanting the twins to know the extent of his injuries, but if they needed back up and he couldn't perform to standard, then not only would he let them down, but would probably end up terminating the entire team.
"My equilibrium calibrations are off due to cranial trauma, but Ratchet assures me that it can be repaired," Prowl started, hoping the twins didn't joke about his weakness. "I have also sustained a rather annoying injury to my left leg that has relieved me of energon and strength."
"Go back inside," Sideswipe said, motioning for Prowl to join the others.
"I can take a shift, if necessary," Prowl started, but Sideswipe gave a curt shake of his head.
"You are in no shape to defend us if we're attacked," Sideswipe countered.
"I can do more than you seem to realize," Prowl said, feeling affronted that his skills were being questioned. He was the Second in Command of the Autobot army for Primus sake!
Prowl's anger disappeared in a flash as Sideswipe grabbed his arm, jerking the tactician toward him. Prowl emitted a painful keen, overbalancing and crashing head first into Sideswipe's chest. His vision swam, and for a moment, all he could discern was the color of rubies. He didn't need Sideswipe to tell him that he was too injured to be of any good. Though the look the frontliner was giving him would haunt his memory for a long time. He wasn't going to live it down anytime in the near future.
"Go. Keep everyone quiet and we'll keep everyone safe," Sideswipe said sternly.
Prowl nodded without comment, feeling his helm pound in time with his spark. He was in no condition to ward off attackers. Begrudgingly he made his way back to Ratchet, hoping the medic could stabilize the world before it spun so fast he'd fly off of it. It was sometime later that Prowl riled, realizing Sideswipe had given him an order, and he had complied without hesitation. That was twice the frontliner had overstepped his boundaries.
Prowl vowed it would never happen again.
"I'm going to have a look," Sideswipe muttered to his twin, easing some of the verge away from their hiding spot.
"What if a Con sees you?" Sunstreaker countered.
"Then I'll have to politely ask to not reveal my location," Sideswipe sniped, slipping out of the cave.
"You're too injured. I should go," Sunstreaker volunteered.
"I have a better chance at blending into the environment than you, Sunshine," Sideswipe grinned before disappearing into the night and leaving his twin staring after him.
Half an hour later, Sideswipe sent a familiar nudge through the bond he shared with his twin before manifesting out of the dark. He crept back inside, half heartedly pulling the concealing hedge along with him.
"Well?" Sunstreaker prodded.
"There are approximately eleven deer within a half mile of this location, and all are grazing peacefully," Sideswipe said, settling down with a groan from his busted knee. He pulled the roll of duct tape out from his subspace and began to retape the pieces that had come loose during his trek.
"What the slag do animals have to do with a Con report?" Sunstreaker snapped, wanting so much to rip into his twin.
"Because, Daft Daffodil, if there were any Cons around, surely the animals wouldn't be so peaceful," Sideswipe ground out as he taped a particularly nasty piece of his knee back into place. Sideswipe's rational argument made Sunstreaker's scowl deepen, but the citrine twin decided not to let his emotions bleed through the bond and give Sideswipe incentive praise to his sudden flash of intelligence. "They'd be running scared or left as smears on the ground. Besides, I hunted for spark signatures and didn't receive a reply, Daffie."
"They could be in hiding or learned to mask their signal, like us," Sunstreaker argued, his energon running hot at the nickname. He hated to have his name mutilated. He was designated as Sunstreaker and he would appreciate it if everyone used his full designation instead of their shortened, and unflattering, nicknames. He couldn't seem to get the idea across to his twin.
"Doubtful," Sideswipe gave a shrug that was punctuated by a grind of gears. "I started randomly tossing out Autobot frequencies and didn't encounter a block."
"Idiot," Sunstreaker hissed, shaking his head and wanting so badly to throttle his processorless twin.
"I contacted base," Sideswipe added, earning a searing white hot glare. "I told them what happened and Blaster said he'd send Skyfire in the morning."
"Sons of the Pit, we're all dead," Sunstreaker snarled, taking a threatening step toward his twin.
"I took precautions," Sideswipe growled, puffing up his chest in defiance. He wasn't about to back down from Sunstreaker. "We exchanged pass codes to make sure each was who they said they were. And Blaster used the new officer's code to tell me when and where Skyfire would pick us up."
Sunstreaker relaxed marginally, but still glared daggers at his brother.
"Prowl won't happy about this," Sunstreaker muttered, looking out between the suppressive verge.
"He can order me to the brig again," Sideswipe offered a little shrug. "Doesn't really matter to me either way. I made a judgment call and hopefully, we'll be able to get everyone safely back to base. Surely Prowl could understand that."
"I don't know. You know how he is with punishments," Sunstreaker said, giving his brother a look in the dark. "Don't think he likes the idea of you taking charge."
"No, don't think he's into submission," Sideswipe snickered, earning a grinding snort from Sunstreaker as he tried and failed to hide his mirth. "Get some rest. Skyfire will be here in three hours."
"Do I look like I like taking the submissive role?" Sunstreaker shot back, though his tone lacked aggression.
"You enjoy it a little too much, I'm afraid," Sideswipe smiled innocently and added with a sickening sweet tone, "Now get some recharge before I knock your aft out."
Sunstreaker sneered but settled against the wall of the cave, his optics gleaming to near white. "You wait until later. You'll get what's coming to you."
"Promises, promises," Sideswipe singsonged, sending a wave of giddiness, just to annoy his twin.
Sunstreaker's protest died in his vocalizer as he slipped into recharge, his processor working overtime in formulating retribution against his twin. Sometimes, the citrine twin wished he was on an only child.
Dawn broke, and with it came the roaring engines of Skyfire. As several Autobots took defensive positions, the battle weary mechs exited the cave, the twins casting a fond farewell to their temporary sanctuary. Ratchet ordered everyone to med bay where they endured their turn of repairs while Ratchet worked extensively on Prime. Wheeljack and Perceptor assisted the medic, attending to the injuries in record time. When Ratchet was finished replacing Sunstreaker's windshield, he dismissed the twins with strict orders to refrain from physical activity and get plenty of rest while their repairs healed. His orders were punctuated by falling into recharge on his feet, swaying dangerously until Wheeljack caught him and with Perceptor's help, placed the medic on a berth.
Ratchet's restriction lasted a full two hours before being disobeyed and Sunstreaker was seen stalking down the hall to his studio, which was situated on the other side of the base in a partially destroyed cargo bay.
The next morning Prowl knocked on the door to the twins' room, a datapad clutched in his hand. A muffled noise came from the opposite side before a voice called out.
"Get in here," Sideswipe called roughly.
Prowl ignored the rough command and opened the door. He was momentarily surprised to see the room looking so neat and orderly. He stepped back into the hall, searching the corridor for proper identification and with a confused look, realized he had the designated room. He stepped inside to see Sideswipe polishing something that looked suspiciously like Sunstreaker's favorite mirror. Sideswipe jumped when he saw his visitor, placing the mirror on the desk and giving the Second a look that clearly stated 'I'm-doing-something-I-shouldn't.'
Then Prowl remembered the 'Sideswipe equations' that Jazz had invented. He mentally scrolled through the list to find the proper notation.
Boredom+Sideswipe= Destruction, usually of other's property
Guilt+Sideswipe= Lots of high grade until unconscious
Happiness+Sideswipe= Stupidity of epic proportions, videoed
Anger+Sideswipe= Someone will be missing limbs
Guile+Sideswipe= Obsessive clean freak
Prowl gave an indiscernible twitch, realizing Sideswipe was cleaning as he plotted. It was a dangerous combination. The last time Prowl assigned cleaning duty to the frontliner, it had ended up with the entire Ark booby-trapped and many mechs ready to dismember and scatter the ruby parts to places unknown.
"Prowl? What do you want?" Sideswipe asked, surprise still clear on his face.
Prowl stepped into the room, earning a brief look of panic from Sideswipe before ignoring the frontliner's demeanor and stating the reason for his impromptu visit.
"I wish to extend my gratitude for your actions," Prowl started, displaying a datapad and offering it to Sideswipe. "When Prime and myself were incapacitated, you stepped in and took control."
"Just did my job," Sideswipe said, his surprise giving way to embarrassment as he accepted the datapad.
"No, you did my job," Prowl corrected without any hint of anger. "You assumed command when I was compromised and performed admirably. You followed protocol and displayed attributes worthy of an officer. I have written a detailed report and intend on giving it to Prime with the recommendation that you receive an award for your actions."
Sideswipe looked at the datapad, glancing over the detailed script displayed in Prowl's perfect scrawl. He handed the pad back as if afraid it would attack him and stared dumbfounded at the Second. He was silent for a moment, unable to formulate his thoughts into any cohesive understanding.
"I don't deserve an award," Sideswipe managed to say.
"That decision is up to Prime," Prowl said, a hint of pride shining in his optics. "You went above and beyond the call of duty and kept a level head, something of which I did not believe you capable of, and you ensured everyone returned safely. Those actions should be acknowledged and rewarded."
Not one to engage in emotional displays or unnecessary interactions, Prowl offered a nod before turning on his heel to leave.
"Wait!" Sideswipe yelled, but it was too late.
Prowl's foot triggered the trap and out of no where a projectile went sailing through the air. A great splattering sound echoed around the room, followed by Sideswipe's low groan.
Prowl stood frozen in place, a piece of the prank sliding over his armor and landing with a little splash on the floor, his vision completely obscured by thick, dripping brilliant neon purple paint, the perfect color to clash hideously with Sunstreaker's gorgeous armor. Prowl stood statuesque, his doorwings starting to vibrate with his building anger.
Sideswipe cringed and hung his head, knowing his fate was sealed.
"Side… swipe," Prowl managed to grind out in a hiss.
"I know, I know," Sideswipe sighed, stalking past the purple, white and black officer. "To the brig." He made it as far as the doorway, before turning and asking, "Does this mean I don't get the reward?"
A splattered datapad to the olfactory sensor was his reply.
000000-oooooo-000000-oooooo-000000
What can I say? Sideswipe DOES have the intelligence to plan and strategize, he just uses his gifts in the wrong way.
Hope you enjoyed and feel free to leave me a review!
Don't forget to check out…..
The Aby of Darkness
PJ
