Other Side of the Door

Yes, I'm back. Nobody panic! *sneak peek of another chapter if you know where that's from*

IE hates this site, so I'm having to do ALL interactions by using Firefox.

THANK YOU Grace for the reviews. I do strive to flex my writing muscles and try a little bit of everything. I have about 30 pages of one shots and ideas of my own to use, with a little smattering of requests left over from the last time I allowed them. Until my own thoughts/ideas get dwindled down, I'm not opening up the requests because I have such a time trying to think of something for someone else that sometimes I miss the focus of the story/idea.

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"And when they least expect it, I will initiate my nefarious plan and take over the world!" Sideswipe cackled, holding up his fist in triumph.

Red Alert happened to be walking by the door at the moment and overheard the statement. With wide, fearful optics, he leaned against the door, his audios tuned in to catch more of the conversation. He always knew the twins were no good. And now, after millennia of wondering, he was finally going to get the goods and have them terminated.

"And if it doesn't work?" Sunstreaker asked.

"I have a back up plan," Sideswipe said, his optics shining with happiness at his own ingenuity. "To conquer the world, one must have the properly laid plans."

Red Alert commed Prowl, demanding his immediate action against the twins. With annoyance that wasn't usually found in the SIC's emotional range, Prowl left his station and stalked toward the private quarters.

"Well, corniness aside, and the fact that the Decepticons have been trying such a thing for hundreds of vorns, what makes you think that you, of all mechs, will do the impossible?" Sunstreaker asked, reclining in his chair.

"Ah, there is a small thing the Cons lack," Sideswipe said, a knowing look in his optics that made Sunstreaker roll his. "They lack patience."

"And you're abundant on patience?" Sunstreaker asked with skepticism.

"I possess more than the entire Decepticon forces," Sideswipe said proudly.

Prowl appeared around the corner, finding Red Alert plastered against the door like Sideswipe's last magnetizing prank. Red Alert's optics were wide as he motioned with a frantic servo for the SIC to come listen. Prowl did as commanded, his audios picking up the last of the conversation.

"… strategically placed ammo and the right sprinkling of chaos is all that is needed," Sideswipe was saying.

Prowl's audios weren't as attuned so it was difficult to make out the words.

"And you're sure this will work?" Sunstreaker asked, dubiously.

"I will rule the world!" Sideswipe declared, punching the armrest to emphasize his point. "None will be spared my wrath!"

Red Alert jerked on Prowl's arm, his optics wide in an expression of 'see, what did I tell you?', a spark flying from his helm.

Red Alert stared at Prowl, expected him to do something, but the SIC merely stood, helm cocked, listening. Well, if Prowl wasn't going to do his duty, then he would just have to do it for him. Without invitation Red Alert grabbed the door handle and forced the door open.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were sitting in lounge chairs. When the door was forced open both jumped from their seats, their bodies tense, ready for action. They noticed Prowl and relaxed slightly.

"What is going on here?" Red Alert asked in a stern tone.

"Nothing," Sideswipe said, looking to the SIC with a confused expression.

"I heard you talking," Red Alert said, cornering the mechs with their lie. "What are your intentions toward the humans?"

"Intentions?" Sideswipe asked, looking to his brother who scowled at the Security mech in hostility. Sunstreaker didn't like his personal space to be invaded by uninvited guests.

"Do you intend on harming humans and taking over their planet?" Prowl asked, hoping to assuage Red Alert's curiosity before the situation got out of hand. Just as a precaution, he kept his comms open so all mechs could hear over the frequencies. If the twins decided to terminate either one of them, and he had no doubts as to their ability, then he at least wanted others to know who had committed the murder.

"Were you listening at the door?" Sunstreaker asked in a low, modulated voice that meant he was pissed.

"We were rehearsing," Sideswipe said, drawing Prowl's attention to himself. "There's a local channel that's looking for someone to do late night interviews. Like with celebrities."

"And you just happened to practice by citing your desires to rule the world?" Prowl asked, optic ridge cocking. The whole thing sounded ludicrous. Which fit perfectly with the twins.

Jazz was laughing over comms.

"It was a practice run," Sideswipe said with a smile. He pointed to the corner where a video camera was poised. "We haven't started to roll film yet. We wanted to get comfortable and I thought I could pretend to be a super villain."

Prowl noted the camera pointed to the two lounge chairs and to his utter amazement, the wall behind was painted in a scene of old Cybertron. It did resemble a make shift studio for late night interviewers.

"Hey, maybe we should film this and send it to the Cons!" Sideswipe said, looking to Sunstreaker with jubilant expectation. "That way they can see how stupid they look and sound. Especially Meggy!"

Red Alert stood in the door way, his frame vibrating with built up fury.

"They're lying!" Red Alert snapped.

Sunstreaker's frame became even tenser, his optics boring into the spastic face of the Security mech. Sideswipe took the initiative and stood in front of his twin, his expression going to laughable jocularity to seriousness in a spark beat.

"We were rehearsing for an audition," Sideswipe said, his tone deep, rumbling, borderline threatening. His optics were boring into Red Alert's. "You had no right to listen in to our conversation, barge into our quarters uninvited, or make accusations that are not only unfounded, but insulting. While we are in our quarters we are free to play whatever games we so desire, and if you open your vocalizer with such vile accusations, you will regret it."

"They threatened me!" Red Alert squawked, looking to Prowl and pointing to the twins. "You heard them! They threatened me!"

"But they are correct," Prowl said, feeling an acid churn up from his tank from the absurdity that the twins were in the right. For once. "You are violating their personal quarters and making unfounded accusations."

"But, you heard them!" Red Alert cried, another spark erupting from his helm.

"Do you honestly think that if they planned on overthrowing a planet they would be stupid enough to video tape it?" Prowl asked, giving the Security mech an exasperated look. He kept his own thoughts on the matter to himself.

"They could!" Red Alert argued. He didn't see Sunstreaker's sudden lurch in his direction, nor the arrest in momentum by Sideswipe's bracing frame.

"Get out," Sideswipe said, looking directly at Red Alert. "And if you come in here again, I'll have you brought up on charges."

"You… you c… you can't do that!" Red Alert sputtered.

"Sideswipe is correct," Prowl said, wanting to purge. This must be what the humans referred to as tasting bile. It was very unpleasant. "They are off duty and in their personal quarters. They are protected from potential harassment like any other mech during their off hours."

Red Alert made to protest but Prowl grabbed him and steered him toward the door.

"I suggest you have Ratchet to check your systems," Prowl said, pushing Red Alert through the door. "I believe you are about to have a systems crash and it would be wise to have Ratchet prepare a sedative."

Without looking back, Prowl escorted Red Alert to med bay. Sideswipe shut the door behind the two officers, turning to share a look at his twin. Sunstreaker was still fuming, so to vent the anger, Sideswipe allowed his twin to be the raving lunatic in the interview.

As Red Alert was helped to med bay, he grasped Prowl's arm, looking into the serene face of his commanding officer.

"They're up to something,' Red Alert panted, another spark dancing around his helm. "I just know it. They are up to something and when we lest expect it, they'll terminate us all!"

"I will keep an optic on them" Prowl said, omitting the fact that he already kept an optic on the two. He had a private uplink to Red's security feeds but he didn't need to worry the mech over it right now. He'd have a full system's glitch. Then Ratchet would beat Prowl's aft into the floor. And make it look like an accident. Again.

"You will?" Red Alert asked in a faint voice, his optics dimming. He was fading fast.

"You have my promise," Prowl said, helping the white Lamborghini into the med bay, where Ratchet was already in full temper over Wheeljack having melted a telephone to his chest plates.

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Prowl took to wandering around the ARK, his attention partially engrossed in a datapad. He ventured down the corridors, pretended to check systems and access panels, his attention as ever consumed by the datapad. No one guessed his true intent. On the fifth day since Red Alert's latest glitch, Prowl was wandering down the corridor to the private quarters when he heard voices from inside the twins' room. Both were off duty, by request, so Prowl pretended to search for an access panel near their door. It was hard to make out the words, but he was able to follow along.

"Will you hold still?" Sunstreaker snapped in irritable fashion.

"I'm trying! Hurry up already!" Sideswipe griped, sounding strained.

"This takes timing and careful coordination!"

"Only because you're so anal!"

"I am not!"

"Fact!" Sideswipe snapped. "Now hurry up. I'm getting a cramp!"

"Cramp all you want, I'm going as fast as I can!"

"Next time, we're doing this my way!"

"Frag no! Last time we did it your way, I got stuck and thought for sure you were going to dent my armor!" Sunstreaker retorted.

"I wasn't that rough, you big baby!"

"I limped for a week!"

"Only because you don't exercise proper control and flexibility to prepare." Sideswipe taunted in a sing song voice.

"I'll show you control and flexibility!" Sunstreaker snarled.

There was the ensuing tussle, which lead to a desk being smashed, several cubes of high grade exploding from the impact of a falling lamp. Shouts, thumps, bangs, and a plethora of curses that would have made Ratchet grab a notepad.

Prowl opened the door to find the twins in a tangle of limbs, fists punching so fast they were primary colored comets. Legs kicked in a matching blur.

"What is going on here?" Prowl demanded. A wide sheet was displayed on the floor with multicolors and indicators for hands and feet that was quickly pulled into the tornado and ripped into shreds. His inquiry was met with violent threats from the two oblivious mechs. Prowl sighed and closed the door, vowing to have a talk with the miscreants. Whenever they got released from med bay.

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The next week Prowl pretended to be checking the ventilation systems with Jazz for possible incursion. He was measuring all ducts and calculating possible strategic placement of such ductwork and where it may lead. Several lead into the juncture of Prime's personal quarters and though Prowl meant it as a reason to patrol around the twins' room, he did make legitimate notations about correcting the problem. On his third pass by the twins' door, he heard their voices. He paused, leaning closer. He knew Red Alert was probably watching and perceived him to be keeping true to his word. So, Prowl wouldn't be ratted out by the paranoid mech. Jazz came around the corner and saw the other black and white entranced by the solid orange door that bore many dents. None of them resultant of the crash. Jazz walked up, earning a shushing gesture from Prowl as he listened in. With a shrug Jazz adopted the same posture, listening to the conversation behind the door.

"This isn't going to work." Sideswipe singsonged.

"Sure it will."

"It's not going to fit. The parts don't match."

"Then I'll make them match."

"I painfully decline the offer," Sideswipe said, sounding fearful.

"You don't have a choice." Sunstreaker pointed out.

"Shut up and get to it already." Sideswipe whined.

"I have to go slow. I don't want to damage you." Sunstreaker said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You're already killing me. Just put it in and be quick about it."

"And if I get hurt in the process?" Sunstreaker asked.

"That would be a bonus."

"You fragger!"

The sound of tumbling mechs echoed down the corridor. Prowl paused, exchanging a curious look with Jazz, who only shrugged. Sighing in exasperation, Prowl opened the door to the twins' quarters and found the duo pummeling each other into oblivion.

The floor was littered with model cars and acrylic paints. As the twins rolled around in their assorted collections, pieces glued themselves to the unfortunate bodies, adhering in a macabre pattern of disassembled body parts. A perfect duplicate of Sideswipe's Lamborghini Countach alt mode met an unfortunate end thanks to Sunstreaker's aft smashing it into a thousand shards.

Prowl sent a comm. to Ratchet and closed the door on the bedlam, knowing he'd be dealing with the fallout when the twins recovered. Jazz was shaking his head at the antics behind the closed door and started his detailed report on the numerous ways he could infiltrate the inner workings of the ARK.

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Two weeks of conflicting shifts and Prowl rotated the assignments in a very precise order to where the twins wouldn't be off duty without him. Then he was found roaming the halls, now using the excuse that it was Ratchet's orders he vacate his office else he be put on medical leave for exhaustion. Ratchet had found it suspicious, knowing that even when he did put Prowl on medical leave, the Praxian was still found with work filled datapads in his quarters. It was odd Prowl was now active around the base, but as he started to leave his office to attend maintenance issues, Ratchet couldn't complain.

Prowl glanced to his datapad, noting that the main cooling system ran parallel with the twins' quarters. He was silently thanking Primus that Wheeljack's quarters were on the other side of the ship, when he heard voices coming from behind the infamous door.

"This sucks." Sideswipe pouted.

"It wouldn't if you held still."

"Why did I let you talk me into this again?"

"Because I promised to get you overenergized later." Sunstreaker said, staring with an artistic eye at the scene before him.

"Oh, right." Sideswipe said, smiling and allowing a lecherous grin to spread across his face.

"Lush."

"Slagging right."

"Don't move or it will fall off." Sunstreaker warned.

"I think I crimped a wire."

"Suffer through it. You're a big mech."

"True."

Prowl opened the door to find Sideswipe posing on a chaise, his body lax and inviting, a Lamborghini logo resting in a suggestive place. When he noticed Prowl, he jolted, knocking his logo askew and nearly falling off the velvet covered chaise. He clutched a strip of velvet to his chest, staring with wide optics to the intruder as if he was just caught doing something embarrassing.

Sunstreaker was standing behind a camera, rolls of film littering the floor and an ad for a local car dealership offering a year's free detailing for the best picture. Sunstreaker stood up, turning in exasperation to stare at the person who barged in and ruined his shot.

"Problem?" Sunstreaker asked upon seeing Prowl's dumbfounded expression.

"Carry…. Carry on," Prowl said, closing the door with a snap. He should stop doing that. He was becoming more and more scarred.

But he just couldn't seem to help himself.

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A week later Prowl was joining Ironhide on a survey of the halls, searching for compromised sections.

"Oh, Chet!" a shrill voice came from the twins' quarters.

"No, Esmeralda, you have betrayed me!" came a deep rumbling voice.

Ironhide paused mid-step, his helm slow to turn toward the closed door. A crease of worry etched its way across his face in slow motion. Prowl didn't bother to pause. Instead, he grasped the door and threw it open, revealing the twins in full glory.

Sideswipe was standing with a wide purple cape draped across his shoulders. A blonde wig hung to his shoulders and was accented with a circlet of gold that caught the overhead light. Numerous badges and medals hung from his decorated chest plates. His olfactory sensor was turned to the ceiling in a perfect imitation of Mirage.

"But, my love!" Sunstreaker crooned, reading from a book.

Sunstreaker looked up from the pages and instantly stilled. A long gossamer gown of blood red flowed to his ankles. A wealth of black hair adorned his head, a circlet of silver resting among the fake strands.

Without breaking the atmosphere, Sideswipe looked down his olfactory sensor to the two officers standing in the door and said, "Do you mind? We're right in the middle of rehearsals."

Prowl offered a nod before muttering, "Carry on," and shut the door.

Ironhide turned to Prowl as they returned to their hunt for compromised sections of bulkhead. "What the slag goes on in this place when no one's looking?"

"Better left to the imagination, Ironhide," Prowl deadpanned, feeling a twitch to a doorwing that meant a crash would be in Prowl's future.

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The meeting was called for all personnel to attend. It was spur of the moment and made bots wonder why such a call was made, disrupting schedules. The twins exited their quarters, Sunstreaker taking the rare lead. He looked angrier than normal. It was apparent why when the duo entered the command center. Sunstreaker stomped to the opposite side and leaned against the bulkhead, arms crossed, face set in defiant lines.

"I called you all here to announce that the humans are planning an unexpected visit this afternoon," Prime said, looking around to his assembled mechs.

"Why didn't they say something earlier?" Jazz grumbled, having just set up a poker game for the morning shift. His gaze drifted around his fellow Autobots until his gaze fell on Sideswipe. Then it froze.

"Apparently it is a last minute change in itinerary of foreign diplomats," Prime said, his gaze traveling over the disheartened faces to land on Jazz's statuesque form. Finding it curious that Jazz was holding still so long without a system's lock up, Prime followed the saboteurs gaze. And stared.

Several mechs noticed their leader's drifting attention and followed his gaze. They stepped back, putting distance between themselves and Sideswipe, who was copying his brother's pose from the opposite side of the room. His face was just as dark and violent as his twin's.

Prowl took it upon himself to break the spell.

"Sideswipe, why do you have feathers sticking out of your aft?" Prowl asked, feeling a burning along his circuits.

Sideswipe turned, displaying the dozen or so feather dusters that were wedged, glued, and taped to his aft, giving him a downy bottom.

"I was feeling broody," Sideswipe deadpanned, giving his aft a little wiggle. He was delighted when none of the dusters came free.

"Well, human dignitaries are making a visit this afternoon, so go pluck yourself," Prowl said, motioning toward the door in dismissal.

"Alright," Sideswipe said, pushing off from the bulkhead and turning to give Prowl a good view of his aft as he grinned over his shoulder, "You wanna watch?"

"Do you want to spend time in the brig?" Prowl asked, finger pointing at the door.

"Don't you mean the coop?" Sideswipe taunted before disappearing through the door. Sunstreaker followed a few seconds later.

It took a moment for the mechs to gather their wits and continue the discussion on getting the ARK ready for human visitors. It was voted unanimously that the twins should remain in their quarters, especially if Sideswipe couldn't get all the feather dusters from his aft. That would be too difficult to explain and the Autobots didn't think it was wise to show the humans how defective a processor can be. They didn't want to mentally scar the humans. Too bad most of the bots were already suffering from processor glitches and mental breakdowns courtesy of their teammates.

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The SIC was still prowling the halls and thanks to his constant fussing and sudden interest in base design, security, and efficiency, the base was better protected than Red Alert's multiple suggestions. Not to mention the power drain had been cut by thirty percent and the officer's quarters were now secured by a ninety eight percent effective defense system.

Every afternoon, and no one noticed the correlation of when the twins were scheduled off shift together, but Prowl was found ambling through the base. His datapads were always in hand and twice he found errors that had escaped his previous exam.

He was glaring at the screen when he turned the corner for his familiar path around the halls when voices caught his attention. He paused, stepping toward the all too familiar door and listened.

"Hold still."

"I'm trying but it itches." Sideswipe whined.

"You'll get used to it."

"I hate to itch."

"Don't scratch!" Sunstreaker snapped, sounding ready to beat his brother.

"I can't help it!" Sideswipe shouted back, his anger coloring his voice. "It itches!"

"Stop touching it or it will fall off."

"You've said that before."

"And you didn't listen then, either." Sunstreaker reminded his twin.

Prowl frowned. The twins were up to something and he had to find out. If he didn't, there would be repercussions later. He was going to catch the twins at their plotting. It had been over a month since Sideswipe had pulled a scheme and he was long overdue. Prowl grabbed the doorknob and threw open the door.

Sideswipe was standing on the desk, a green sheet draped around his body toga style. His left arm held a datapad while his right hand held a flashlight. A circlet of green spikes was upon his head.

Sunstreaker looked up from his tailoring of the toga and turned to give a death glare to the one who interrupted Sideswipe's costume fitting. The mech was difficult to pin down, let alone made to stand for hours on end while his brother fixed the costume he was going to wear for this year's Halloween party with the humans.

Prowl frowned and closed the door, leaving the twins in silence. He promptly scheduled himself for a full medical and psychological evaluation with Ratchet and Smokescreen.

"Why does he keep doing that?" Sideswipe asked, staring at the place where the black and white officer had stood framed in their doorway.

Sunstreaker offered a shrug before answering.

"Beats me. The mech is weird."

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Gosh! Does anyone else realize that this story is near 1500 reviews?! Dude! I never thought I'd get so many! Well, never thought I'd have sooo many ideas out of just a random mention via comms and now, I've written so many of these little shorts, I'm just STUNNED at not only the quantity produced (half I don't even remember!) but just the overwhelming positive responses I've received.

so, THANK YOU to all who read and enjoy my drivels. I hope you continue to stick with me through my madness. :D