Hops, Skip, and A Streak

AN: Thank you Grace. Yes, the twins are a handful but that's why we love them. :D

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This one is a little longer. Broken finger is doing much better. Thank you to everyone who has sent well wishing and inquiries. Its still a little sore from time to time but now, its getting more difficult to keep up with everything. I'm currently working on a book to be published and hope to have it done by the end of November. It's a lot of work, folks. I get approximately 2-4 hours of sleep a night.

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"I'm glad no one can see us," Sideswipe said with an exasperated sigh. "This is humiliating."

"Think it's amusing from our perspective?" Starscream asked. "If my null ray was a little a faster, I could have ended this confrontation."

"With your tailpipes between your thrusters?" Sunstreaker taunted, wanting so badly to throttle the two seekers.

"Could this be any worse?" Sideswipe groaned.

"Shut up, jinx!" Sunstreaker snapped. He sent a glare to the white body in front of him that served as a surrogate for his brother.

"Huh?" Skywarp asked, looking at Sideswipe curiously. "What are you talking about?"

"Big mouth over there has a tendency to say slag that will come true to some extent," Sunstreaker said, looking away from Starscream's form. Against Sunstreaker's back and much to his hissing chagrin, Skywarp pressed.

"This was all your fault you idiot seeker!" Sunstreaker snarled toward his shoulder.

Skywarp growled in warning but his situation prevented retaliation. In fact, no one could move. All four were held completely immobile. Starscream hung his head from where he was stationed in front, pinned into place by a catwalk through his arm, pointing his null ray to the ceiling. The other null ray was pointed away and stuck inside a large, squat metal silo. There was a collection of walkways that bisected his body and one pede was implanted in the concrete floor. He knew from everyone else's frozen position that they were victimized as well.

Sunstreaker's pede was pressed against the back of Starscream's thigh. He was in the process of throttling the white seeker when Skywarp and Sideswipe collided with the two and the errant warp had sent them to this unknown destination. A tall piece of strange machinery was embedded in Sunstreaker's left side, his elbow bent to crown the top of the coppery cylinder with a conglomeration of tubes and pipes sticking out of it. It reminded Sunstreaker of a broiler he saw at a human establishment once. But that was much smaller than the monstrosity that kept him powerless from attacking two of his most hated enemies.

Skywarp had his back pressed against Sunstreaker, his right arm pointed downward and hidden somewhere inside the broiler type machine. His left leg was suspended in a metal network of pipes that ended in a short, silver looking tub that fitted his pede like an open top shoe.

Sideswipe had his hand and arm sticking out the other side of the wall behind him, the other hand was on Skywarp's waist as he had been trying to get a good squeeze hold on the enemy when he transformed. Sideswipe's fingers twitched, waving to the outside world that was beyond the stone wall behind him. He felt as if he was waving at traffic, if there were any. His audios hadn't detected any noise since their impromptu implantation. Near their waists, a metal mesh 'ceiling' was installed, preventing an accidental tumble if someone fell off the upper scaffolding of the catwalk system. Every mech was just relieved the embedded walkways were mid thigh and not in their interface panels. That could have been very uncomfortable. The crisscrossing catwalks bisected their upper torsos, forcing them all to pose in various positions, lest the metal grate on raw circuits and damage sensitive internals. All four were lucky Skywarp's warp field didn't reintegrate them with their spark chambers being pierced by any one of the lengths of metal surrounding them.

"If you two stupid Autobots hadn't ran into me, none of this would have happened," Skywarp griped, wanting to move but finding his body uncooperative.

"I wish my servos were free," Sideswipe said, glaring at the seeker. If Sideswipe drew back a couple of inches, he could slam his helm into Skywarp's chin. But he quickly squashed that idea. He wasn't in favor having a processor ache. "What exactly did you do anyway?" Sideswipe asked, struggling to get a better view of his surroundings. He couldn't see much past the seekers broad wingspan, but he knew his twin was on the other side.

"I figured out Earth's magnetic poles can give me a warp boost," Skywarp said, sighing in resignation. All four were secured and not going anywhere of their own accord. "I figured out that if I did several small skip jumps, it allowed my warp field to expand and the poles give me a little extra distance for one big jump."

"That's... ingenious,' Sideswipe said, giving the Con an appreciative look.

Skywarp felt himself smile but quickly morphed his expression into annoyance. "It's not like I was trying to impress you."

"So…. where are we?" Sunstreaker asked, looking around the facility as much as his predicament would allow. With Starscream fanned out in front of him, his wide white wings blocking out a good portion of Sunstreaker's vision, and with Skywarp pressed against his back, adding his black wings to the opposite side, Sunstreaker was effectively wearing blinders.

"I don't know," Skywarp admitted, looking around and finding his head limited to move due to a narrow catwalk that narrowly missed being embedded into his helm. His intakes had not been so lucky.

"Food storage or preparation, maybe?" Sideswipe guessed.

"It's not one of those places that stores that corn stuff, is it?" Skywarp asked.

"That's in silos," Sideswipe said, looking at the piece of machinery that sat dormant in the corner. Its operation was foreign to Sideswipe's knowledge.

"Good," Skywarp muttered. He seemed very unconformable. "I don't like those eye things looking at me."

Sideswipe arched a brow ridge. "What eye things?"

"On corn," Skywarp said, his lip curling in distaste.

"Corn doesn't have eyes," Sideswipe said, blinking at the seeker who looked genuinely terrified for organic plant material. "It's potatoes that have eyes. Corn comes with ears."

"Ears, eyes… what kind of planet grows body parts in the soil?" Skywarp asked, giving a shiver of disgust that was ruined by the dividing wall, floor, and crisscrossing catwalks that were immobilizing the four Cybertronian bodies.

"Why would you be afraid of corn?" Sideswipe asked, frowning at the seeker.

"I'm not afraid of anything on Earth, you Autobot dolt!" Skywarp countered.

"Then why don't you like corn?" Sideswipe tried. "You know they make fuel out of it, right?"

Skywarp sputtered, his optics going wide as he stared into Sideswipe's optics. "What?"

"Oh, brilliant, grounder!" Starscream yelled from the opposite side of Sunstreaker. "Make him more paranoid!"

"I'm not paranoid!" Skywarp snapped, trying to turn around to berate his wing mate but the catwalk entrenched in his shoulder vent, preventing movement.

"He's afraid of popcorn!" Starscream snapped, then felt annoyance through the trinelink. Apparently that was information Skywarp didn't think needed to be shared with the enemy. Which was nonsense.

"Say again," Sunstreaker said, giving Starscream's back a cocked brow ridge. He hated having a conversation with someone's back, but it wasn't like either could sit down properly and have a conversation.

"Seekers can suffer from fuel bubbles in their systems," Starscream said, knowing the golden mech was ignorant to seeker biology. Starscream wasn't about to disappoint an uneducated mech. "When a certain type of injury is sustained, a seeker can emit noises that sound like popping corn."

"It means your sparks about to explode," Skywarp whispered, sounding scared.

Sideswipe grinned and emitted a series of pops and sizzles.

"It's nothing to joke about," Skywarp growled, his optics darkening from a painful memory.

"Sorry," Sideswipe said. It didn't occur to him he was comforting the enemy. Right now they were just four mechs. Stuck in a building, immobilized by structures and machinery and all due to an errant warper. Something seemed to become clear and Sideswipe looked to Skywarp, asking, "How would you know what popcorn sounds like? I thought Cons didn't interact with humans."

"Drive in theaters," Skywarp admitted. "I enjoy old human entertainment."

"Noirs," Starscream slurred the word like it was vulgar.

"I like them," Skywarp said defensively. He scowled, looking past Sideswipe's frozen form to see a collection of papers that had fallen from the wall that was laden with announcements. He frowned, zeroing in to the top papers, his expression confused as he asked, "What's a…. union?"

"Well, when two people really love each other…" Sideswipe started, earning an angered thrum from his twin that was counteracted by the sense of amusement.

"Knock it off you slagging moron," Sunstreaker growled. The vibration traveled along Skywarp's wings and made him shudder against the golden mech's back. Sunstreaker scowled, having to remember the audible anomaly for future reference.

Sideswipe snickered, which made Skywarp join in. Sunstreaker sighed in exasperation and glared sullenly at the broad expanse of white body and wings in front of him.

Starscream was turned, exposing his right side to Sunstreaker. Sunstreaker's artistic optic caught the hints of scars, much like the ones that adorned Sunstreaker's own protoform. But the small sigil upon the underside of the fuselage is what spoke volumes about the aerial commander.

"What is that, Starscream?" Sunstreaker asked, the pattern archaic but very beautiful. It mesmerized the artist.

"What, you dolt?" Starscream griped from where he hung suspended between human factory equipment.

"The mark, there under your right arm, where the fuselage joins to your wing," Sunstreaker said his optics zeroing in on the sigil. It wasn't noticeable unless you were right on top of it, Starscream's paint thick and hiding the ridges.

"None of your business!" Starscream shouted. His thrusters rumbled in agitation as he struggled to remove himself from the ironwork in which his trinemate had implanted them.

Realization hit Sunstreaker like an impact.

"It's a slave mark," Sunstreaker said, hearing Starscream hiss through his vents in anger. Skywarp made a gasp of surprise, his wing scratching Sunstreaker's back with the minimal movement. "That's what the sigil is. You had a master who branded you."

"Keep mocking me and you will regret it," Starscream growled, his voice low and threatening. It surprised the twins.

"You aren't the Wing Lord of Vos," Sunstreaker said, looking to the sigil and running a program. A similar pattern came up but it wasn't exactly the same. But close enough. "You were a slave to the Winglord, not his descendant."

"If you must know, no, I am not a descendant of the Winglord. He was terminated by my own hand at the start of the war, so I took his vacated position." Starscream snapped. "Go ahead and laugh, Autobot. Get it out of your systems for when I get out of here, I will slag you to the Pit!"

Both twins remained silent. Starscream berated himself at telling the two Autobots his darkest secret. But what could they do with the information that he was a former slave? After another minute, Sunstreaker spoke.

"Spark chambers."

"What?" Starscream asked, wishing he could turn and face his enemy instead of staring at the strange metal drums that lined the corner of the large establishment. "What about spark chambers?"

"The slaver who bought us, branded his designation on our spark chambers," Sunstreaker said, feeling shame and pain flood the link from his twin. Those long days of recovery had been the most painful they could recall. "We still bear his mark."

It was Starscream's turn for silence. He stared at the metal drums, trying to muster up something snide to say but nothing came to mind. It didn't seem right for one slave to berate another. They all had suffered at the hands of masters. The twins unruly nature made more sense now that Starscream thought about it. He himself was rather unruly, earning many a punishment from Megatron. Sunstreaker's voice drew him from his thoughts.

"I wish we had been able to terminate our master," Sunstreaker said with a dark scowl. "Slagger escaped off world when his own debts got too high and he ran like a tin chicken so he wouldn't be enslaved."

"Slagger," Starscream muttered.

Sideswipe grumbled something on the other side of Skywarp but no one could discern what it was. Skywarp, surprisingly, remained quiet.

"Do you know if he still functions?" Starscream asked. Normally he wouldn't care but it wasn't like he was going anywhere and he could at least keep a decent conversation going.

"No idea," Sunstreaker sighed. "But I would love to find out he functions, just so I can rip out his spark chamber."

"I'd rather reformat him as a femme and toss him to the Cons," Sideswipe laughed.

"Slag, that would be entertaining," Skywarp said, looking wistful.

"Or, I could just strip him of all armor and let him hang out at Wheeljack's lab," Sideswipe offered a lopsided grin. "Better yet, dress him like a drone and let Ironhide take a few shots at him. Or disable his vocalizer and give him to Bluestreak to talk to. Or come to think of it, Warpath needs to recalibrate his targeting system after I hacked him the last time. He didn't like the glitter, or the stickers."

"Enough, Sideswipe!" Sunstreaker snapped. Sometimes his brother wandered off topic. Sunstreaker vaguely wondered if they weren't related to Bluestreak in that aspect. Sideswipe was easily distracted.

"You are such a killjoy," Sideswipe sneered, sticking out his glossa toward Skywarp's chassis. Skywarp was grinning manically at his Autobot counterpart.

"You have to put up with pranks as well?" Starscream asked. He was getting tired of looking at the barrels and felt that he was having a conversation with them.

"Primus, yes," Sunstreaker said with a sigh of exasperation. "The things my idiot brother gets into. I'm surprised they haven't kicked us out of the Autobots!"

"Warp's come close a few times as well," Starscream laughed. "The beatings I've endured so Megatron doesn't send him to med bay…" Starscream halted, feeling his cheek plates flush.

Silence fell again.

Until Skywarp asked, hesitant, fearful. "What do you mean, the beatings you've endured?"

"Nothing," Starscream said. "Forget I said anything."

"The slag I will!" Skywarp thundered. Sideswipe flinched at the jet's violent outburst. "Who beat you? Megatron? Why would he do such a thing?"

"Let it go, Skywarp! That is an order!" Starscream snarled.

"Autobot, can you hit him?" Skywarp shouted, making Sideswipe wince.

"No," Sunstreaker said, having his entire body as immobile as the other three.

"Slag it! You wait until we're out of here," Skywarp threatened. "I'm going to get answers, Screamer!

"Stop calling me that!" Starscream snapped, sounding furious and annoyed.

Sunstreaker sighed, "You get stuck with horrible nicknames, too?" A jittery sensation was filtering from his twin, who wasn't used to being still for extended periods of time. Sideswipe was a mech of movement and motion. Stagnation grinded his gears, which in turn, made Sunstreaker surly. Sunstreaker hoped to distract both from their gnawing predictament.

"Obviously," Starscream grumbled, wanting desperately to move.

"Hey, Sunny," Sideswipe called, that cheeky look lighting up his optics.

As expected, Sunstreaker bristled, sending violent stabs through their bond. It only enticed Sideswipe further.

"I'm going to rip out your vocalizer!" Sunstreaker snapped vehemently. The tone and heated air vented from his systems washed over Starscream, making him shiver and in turn, made the catwalk system vibrate.

"I love you, Sunflower!" Sideswipe crowed, giving Skywarp a triumphant look.

The black jet was grinning like a fool, his excitement over finding someone just as devious as himself leaking over the trinelink and causing Starscream to sigh in exasperation.

"When we get out of here, you are terminated!" Sunstreaker yelled, his back grinding against Skywarp's and transferring their paint. Which only made Sunstreaker's ire quadruple.

Sideswipe flinched from the burning sensation in his spark chamber, wincing when Sunstreaker sent a powerful burst of annoyance. He forgot that Sunstreaker was just as adept at manipulating the bond as himself. If he got him too riled up, they'd give each other a spark attack.

"Settle down, Sunny," Sideswipe groaned, his vents cycling on high to dispel the boiling anger that was taking over his system.

"You okay?" Skywarp asked, concerned over his enemy's change in attitude.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Sideswipe grumped, looking away. He didn't like to admit weakness and having one of his most favorite enemy's see him at such a vulnerable time grated on his nerve circuits.

"Is it true you two share a spark bond?" Skywarp asked, oblivious to the fact that such a topic was rather taboo. He never seemed to understand the subtleties though.

"Split spark and before you say its abnormal, we already know," Sideswipe said, wishing he could rub the plating over his spark chamber. The neural net was twitching like mad. "We've heard it all and quite frankly, its boring."

"I think it's cool," Skywarp offered, shuddering the catwalks when he tried to shrug. His vents gave a sickening screech as the metal they were sharing started to protest the movement.

Sideswipe offered a half smile. It was beyond weird to be having such a normal conversation with the seekers.

"I hear something," Skywarp said, looking past Sideswipe to the brick wall beyond. "It sounds like engines."

"Oh, thank Primus!" Sunstreaker hooted. "Ratchet can get us out of here and make sure my parts didn't get damaged!"

"How do you know it's Autobots and not Decepticons?" Starscream asked. He could hear a faint rumbling but it was still too far away to discern faction.

"Do either of you activate your homing beacons?" Sunstreaker asked, suddenly feeling very superior.

"No," Starscream answered.

"As soon as we ended up here, we initiated ours so our friends can find us," Sunstreaker said smugly.

"We did?" Sideswipe asked. He gave Skywarp a look that clearly meant he had been unaware of such a thing.

Sunstreaker sighed at his brother's idiocy. He really was going to terminate him one of these days. But right now the engines were getting closer.

"Grounders," Skywarp said, discerning the engine noise.

"Doubtful Megatron would send any of his forces to come and look for you," Sunstreaker said. "He rarely contacts us when you've been captured, so there's a slim chance for him to care now."

Starscream scowled but didn't offer a retort. He knew the Lamborghini was right. If it were up to Megatron, the command trine would have been slagged many times over. He wouldn't have batted an optic. That was another reason to hate the warlord.

There was the sound of transformation outside and after a minute, the wall crumbled behind the metal vat to reveal a black and white chassis.

"Why am I not surprised that the two of you ended up in a brewery?" Jazz asked, pushing against the wall. It toppled into pieces, the bricks clanging off the metal tubs. Obviously it had sustained damage in the past and had been abandoned for safety reasons.

"Is that what this place is?" Sunstreaker asked, looking at the squat tubs and barrels.

"Any CPUs or spark chambers compromised?" Jazz asked the four mechs.

All four answered negative, which was received with a caustic relief.

"No severe damage? I am shocked!" Ratchet barked, having Ironhide to punch a hole into the brick wall where Sideswipe's arm poked out. "You wait until you fragging morons get a clean bill of health. You're going to wish you had ended up slagged!"

"Is he always like that?" Starscream muttered so only Sunstreaker could hear him

"Yeah, he always knocking some sense into us," Sunstreaker answered with a sigh, feeling a flood of elation and giddiness over the bond that meant Sideswipe was close to be freed from his state of immobility. "It never works though. We never learn."

"I'm starting with the red idiot first and I'll work my way in," Ratchet barked, withdrawing an arc welder and cutting through the intricate network that speared Sideswipe's frame. "No one move or I may slip and melt something off."

"Please, Ratchet! Not my favorite part!" Sideswipe wailed like a child being denied a toy.

There was a resounding clang that was instantly drown out as Ratchet returned to work, Sideswipe dazedly staring off into space. Skywarp watched with fearful amusement, hoping the medic could extract him without beating him. He knew from years of battle that the Autobots had a tendency to be smacked around by their medic. This encounter was just one of many such incidents. There was a chance he'd earned a few smacks with the assorted tools.

Sideswipe was freed and escorted to Perceptor, who had tagged along to run integrity scans on frames to assess the level they were compromised.

"Alright you warping slagger," Ratchet said, brandishing a wrench like a sadistic demon. "You try anything while you and Starscream are still integrated and I will shove this wrench in a very uncomfortable place."

"It's okay!" Sideswipe yelled, waving to Skywarp. "No big deal! You can walk in a day or two."

Ratchet sent a glare to the Lamborghini which instantly quailed him.

"Am I going to have any problems with you?" Ratchet asked like a stern caretaker to a disruptive youngling.

Skywarp meekly looked down. "No. I've learned my lesson."

"We shall see," Ratchet groused as he started to work extracting the jet.

When Skywarp was free, Sideswipe waved him over to where Jazz, Huffer, and Ironhide were standing by, weapons drawn as a precaution. Skywarp bounded over to the Lamborghini and placed himself on the ground indicated and held still while Perceptor ran his scans.

"Ratchet, do you have a tarp or something to drape over me so no one can see the scratches that insane black jet put on me?" Sunstreaker asked as Ratchet set to work.

"No, and you're not hiding like a celebrity," Ratchet said, carefully cutting around Sunstreaker's helm fin. "And all of you are not to transform until I'm able to remove all the embedded metal from your frames."

"Then how are we supposed to get home?" Sunstreaker gasped, aghast that anyone could see him looking less than gorgeous.

"Prime's on his way," Ratchet said, unperturbed by the sputtering Lamborghini. "And all of you are riding in his trailer until I'm sure you can transform without damaging yourselves." He glanced over Sunstreaker's shoulder to Starscream's back. "And that includes you seekers. I'm not sending you back to a place that probably won't care if you have abrasive metals integrated into your systems, and will more than likely refuse to assist you in the process of removal."

"You are correct," Starscream said. He had been strangely quiet while the other's had been extracted.

Sunstreaker frowned at the docile seeker. Usually the "Great Screamer" would be abusing everyone's audios but he had barely spoken.

Sunstreaker was released and immediately pulled out a polishing clothe and set to work removing the scratches he could reach. He'd get his twin to do his back before he murdered him.

"You going to cause any trouble?" Ratchet asked, his hand going to the middle of Starscream's back to alert the jet to his proximity. They may be enemies but Ratchet still remembered protocol when it came to approaching a jet from behind. As a subspecies they were very skittish and could become paranoid.

"Not currently," Starscream said evasively.

Ratchet frowned but started to work anyway. Like with Skywarp, he made sure to cut a wide enough swatch around the wings to prevent damage to the sensitive appendages. When he extracted the metal framework, the seekers would be unconscious, their sensors turned off to allow Ratchet to work in peace. He knew seekers were notorious for struggling when something potentially dangerous was near their wings.

When Starscream was extracted he walked from the brewery, his wings held high though there were three sections of a catwalk sticking out from the white plating. Skywarp motioned to his trine leader to join him with Perceptor for an integral scan, but Starscream bypassed the timid microscope and approached Prime, who had arrived with Tracks, Trailblazer, Bluestreak, and Huffer as back up in case the Decepticons came looking for their jets.

"Prime! Do you honor the code of conduct of the Senate?" Starscream asked, stomping up to the surprised semi. He studiously ignored all the weapons trained at his body.

"Some, but I do not agree with all," Prime said slowly, trying to gauge where this conversation was headed.

Starscream's optics narrowed, his ever brilliant mind running variables and calculations that could give Prowl a run for his credits. After a minute of silent scrutiny, Starscream spoke.

"Would you honor a request for asylum and provide sanctuary to those who no longer wish to fight?"

No one spoke.

Skywarp's mouth was hanging open. Both twins stopped their polishing to stare dumbstruck at the audacious jet.

"I would," Prime said after a long moment. His optics were narrowed suspiciously. "But first I must ask the reason to the sudden change of spark."

"I've come to realize the war is now moot," Starscream said, crossing arms over his chassis and flinching when he encountered a metal mesh that still hung out of his plating. "We joined Megatron's campaign to evict those in power and create a more balanced caste system. That has been accomplished with the termination of your predecessor. Now, Megatron only wishes to rule an empire and he has no inclination to share such a position."

Sideswipe frowned. Sunstreaker returned to his polishing.

"Previous history has proven that Megatron holds no value toward our existence," Starscream said, nodding toward his trinemate. His processor was filled the numerous times he had been beaten because Skywarp played a practical joke. Or when Megatron simply needed to blow off steam and employed his favorite pastime of trouncing his Air Commander. "Why should we remain loyal to someone who obviously thinks so little of our worth?"

Skywarp rose to his pedes, making several of the Autobots start. They trained their weapons between the two seekers but it was obvious, both were intent on each other and their enemies were long forgotten. Prime held up his hand to stave off any Autobot intervention. This was something that had to be worked out between trine members. Skywarp walked slowly to his trine leader, his expression unreadable. "How many times has Megatron beat you for what I have done?"

Starscream narrowed his optics but quickly lost his back strut. He looked away, ashamed. "Enough, Skywarp. It's in the past."

The Autobots exchanged raised brow platings and open mouthed gasps at the announcement. There were not privy to the conversation held prior to their arrival.

"Answer me!" Skywarp demanded. His voice rolled through the air in a perfect imitation of Thundercracker's signature move. "I didn't forget what you said when we were stuck in that building. Tell me, Starscream," he accented his leader's full name to reiterate his point, "how many times have you taken punishments that were intended for me?"

"Now is not..." Starscream started but Skywarp had gained his side and grabbed his shoulder vents, jerking the white jet toward him to where their faces were hovering inches.

Skywarp's optics were blazing as hellfire as he snarled, "How many times?!"

"Hundreds," Starscream gasp in shock and pain. Skywarp's fingers had found a sensitive place that had been compromised by the metal framework of the brewery.

"Hun... hundreds?" Skywarp repeated, sounding aghast.

Starscream offered a partial shrug that was reigned in by Skywarp's hands that still gripped his shoulders.

"Why would you do such a thing?" Skywarp asked softly. Suddenly all the times Starscream had crawled into their quarters, beaten, broken, bloody, and thoroughly defeated, all came rushing back. Why did he not see it before? How could he have been so blind to his trine mate's suffering at the hands of the mech he considered such a great leader?

"I am trine leader," Starscream said simply. "It is my job to ensure that you and Thundercracker are safe."

Skywarp stood agape, unsure what to say. His processor was having a hard time reconciling what had been done unknowingly to his leader and that he himself had been the cause of a lot of pain.

"Starscream?" Prime interrupted. He waited until Starscream locked gazes before continuing, "If you wish to defect, I will honor your request of asylum."

"Great," Sunstreaker groaned, rapidly polishing his lower back to remove the scratches from Skywarp.

"Awesome!" Sideswipe crowed, jumping up and looking excitedly to Skywarp. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that the two were going to join forces and terrorize the base. One could see the ruby demon scheming from the end of the universe!

"No sudden movements you numb nuts!" Ratchet barked, striking Sideswipe on the back of the helm with a well placed wrench. Sideswipe's optics crossed before he collapsed to the ground in a chirping heap.

"I promise not to physically reprimand any of you," Prime put in with a sigh. His expression quickly turned apologetic. "I can not, however, make the same promise of my medic."

Ratchet stood triumphant over Sideswipe's inert form, his optics gleaming at the two seekers. Sideswipe may have found a pranking brother in arms but Ratchet had set his sights on two more potential pains in his aft. He didn't count Thundercracker as he seemed to be the only one of the trine who functioned with all his mental capacity. Starscream and Skywarp? They were trouble and chaos. Just like a certain Lamborghini pair. Ratchet knew his workload was going to double. Again.

"I doubt your medic could inflict the damage Megatron could unleash," Starscream said. He meant it to be a variable comparison but Skywarp felt the words like a barb to his spark. He sent a pulse of affection toward Starscream and vowed to himself to never endanger his trine leader again.

"Alright, enough yapping," Ratchet snapped, jerking his head toward Prime's awaiting trailer. "Everyone get inside and try not to be careful with your added ornaments. Unless you want internal damage, then by all means, make my work even harder to save your slagging lives."

Ratchet wandered away from the assembled mechs still grousing in his usual surly manner. Sunstreaker sighed, grasped his unconscious brother by the scruff bar and dragged him into Prime's trailer.

"What of Thundercracker?" Skywarp asked as Prime escorted the two jets to the oblong transport.

"I have already contacted him via the trinelink," Starscream said, glancing to Prime and adding, "He will be waiting for us one mile from the ARK."

Prime nodded, grateful that Starscream had the incentive to contact his wing mate and have him wait at a safe enough distance from the base so Red Alert wouldn't pitch a fit.

"That was most wise," Prime put in, earning a strange look from Starscream.

Reluctantly the two jets entered the cargo hauler, their wings twitching as they realized the size of space they were to be confined in. Sunstreaker turned on a small set of lights that were set inside the walls. The seekers relaxed but only marginally. It was going to be a long ride. Hoping to dispel their anxieties, Sunstreaker took a page from his brother's prank book.

"Do you know what would be really funny?" he asked his two companions to distract them from the fact that the back of the trailer closed and Prime was preparing to move out.

"What?" Starscream asked, his voice lacking any sarcasm. He could feel the trailer shift and Prime pick up speed.

"I think it would be hilarious if my brother woke up in the arms of a seeker." Sunstreaker looked between the two, then to his still unconscious twin.

Skywarp cottoned on faster than what one would have expected. Giddily he grinned and scooted over to Sideswipe's unconscious form and pulled the red Lamborghini into his arms. He cradled Sideswipe to him like a child. Sunstreaker had to take several stills, fully intent on torturing his brother with the evidence later.

Halfway to base, Sideswipe was roused from his forced charge. His optics shuttered several times, the lenses focusing in the dim lighting. He felt a body pressed against him and a spark skipping happily near his audio. He frowned when he noticed the erratic pattern, thinking his brother was going to need a merge to stabilize his spark again. He opened his optics to find Skywarp's face above him.

Skywarp smiled in a way that said he was a sated, happy jet, his engine rumbling in a purr when he noticed Sideswipe's return to consciousness. He traced Sideswipe's cheek with a tender touch, his optics half shuddered, his voice low and sensual.

"Good morning, Beautiful."

Disoriented thanks to Ratchet's heavy wrench, Sideswipe let out a scream and flew from the seeker's arms. He scrambled in the semi-darkness, trying to get away from the black jet who had his arms open wide, and a lecherous grin on his face.

"Come on, baby, give me a kiss," Skywarp purred suggestively, advancing on the now terrified Lamborghini who started to peel paint with his vocabulary.

Prime grunted, trying to keep the trailer on the road with a squalling Lamborghini and amorous jet rocking the trailer violently in an effort to upstage the other. He pulled over in time for Ratchet to come along side and transform, prepared to do his own damage to whoever was causing the violent ruckus in the trailer. He paused when he heard Skywarp declare his undying love for the sexy sports car and Sideswipe screaming for the jet to not bring his lip components anywhere near him. The sounds of Starscream and Sunstreaker laughing brought the situation into focus and with a sigh, Ratchet transformed and lead the way back to base.

"Primus, why me?" he grumbled as Prime tried to keep pace with a constantly rocking trailer swaying behind.

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So, what do you think? Different or has it been done before? Entertaining or am I grasping at straws?

Thoughts?