Sideswipe slowly woke up with a killer migraine. Can bots even get migraines?

Yes, yes they can…

He pulled himself into an upright position and instantly regretted it. His tank wanted to rebel and Sideswipe was tempted to let it do what it wanted to do.

"Hey Sideswipe, you awake?"

Sideswipe flinched at the loud noise and turned to glare at the fragging aft who was making noise.

Jetstorm just looked amused at the glare he was being treated too by the clearly unhappy mech.

"I'll take that glare at a maybe and go to the next question. Do you feel ok?"

Sideswipe grumbled, "I feel like I'm going to toss my Energon all over the place."
Jetstorm just nodded, "That's a normal reaction to the sedative, I'll get a tank-soother for you."
Sedative? What in the Pit was he… oh…

Slag.

Sideswipe buried his helm in his servos and hoped that he can get out quick enough to avoid all the questions that they were going to have as the memories of the last day played out in his memory core. He would have to probably get past Jetstorm, Drift, Windblade, Slipstream and Optimus and he didn't know the terrain but he was also counting on the fact the others didn't as well.

Before Sideswipe could put his plan into action, Jetstorm came back with a needle and he quickly injected into the IV that Sideswipe hadn't noticed before and was frankly impressed hadn't been ripped out in the chaos that had taken place yesterday.

"Here, it'll take a minute but the soother should help," Jetstorm stated as Sideswipe started to feel the affects. He felt his tank slowly loose the nauseous feel and Sideswipe slowly relaxed. He turned to scan the area and got a face full of light blue optics staring at him.

Four of them.

Sideswipe yelped and fell out of the berth.

"What the Pit?! What in Primus's name are you doing?!" Sideswipe yelled. Jetstorm turned around and saw the gaggle of four staring at Sideswipe… who was on the floor.

"Are you ok?" Optimus said as Sideswipe climbed back up onto the berth.

"Other than the oh so wonderful spark attack you lot just gave me?" Sideswipe bit back sarcastically.

"Yep," Windblade said.

Sideswipe just gave her the stink optic. Everyone just looked at him, waiting him out.

Sideswipe sighed and turned to look at Jetstorm, "How much longer?"

"Until you are better or they stop staring?"

"Both."
Jetstorm chuckled, "You have a couple more days until you are well enough to travel. The staring is until they are satisfied."
Sideswipe groaned, "Great. I'm stuck with a pack of warp owls watching my every move. I'm going back to bed."

Sideswipe laid back down but he still felt everybot staring at him even when he turned his backstrut to them.

He managed to ignore them for all of three kliks.

"GAH! ENOUGH!" He yelled, flipping back over and glaring at everyone, "WHAT DO YOU WANT?!"

Everybot looked at him nervously and Drift was elbowed with a couple of joints.

"Do you want to talk about anything?" Drift asked. Sideswipe saw Jetstorm face-palm.

"Do you have any questions?" Sideswipe asked back.

Slipstream face-palmed.

"Who's Daybreaker?" Windblade asked. Sideswipe jolted like he was punched in the face-plates. And a sad look filled his optics.

"You'll need the whole story for me to answer that," He said softly, "I hope you have no plans."

Everybot quickly settled around for what they assumed was a horrific tale.

Sideswipe watched the others get settled and slowly took an intake of air, hoping to stall for a few more kliks for his sake if no one else's. He tried to reign in his composure but his chassis felt tight and his spark chamber felt like it was going to leap right out of his chassis.

That's probably why it was so tight.

"I never had any real Creator's or Carrier's to care for me. I was abandoned on the streets of Iacon for some strange reason when I was old enough to walk and talk; I don't even know if I have brother's or sister's. I spent a few years in the alleys and tunnels; living off the kindness of the other bots' n the streets. My luck ended when the slavers came."

Everyone froze, not a breath was taken.

"Slavers?" Drift whispered with barely suppressed rage. If there was one kind of scoundrel that Drift hated the most, it was slavers.

There was a special place in the Pits for them.

Sideswipe flinched and Drift felt like the Unmaker himself when he saw that.

"I was captured when I freed Quicksilver- a speed gifted Felioid that loved to play with the others her age- from a snare trap that had caught her left back paw. She got away but I was hit instead by whatever weapon they were armed with. I was promptly sold to the Jade Cube, a high-end brothel that catered to the wealthy Neutrals of Cybertrons' elite. I was ten human years old at the time; I think I spent the next five human years as 'Crimson Streak', one of the Jade Cube's best seller," The sarcasm when he said 'best seller' was sharp enough to slice a servo, "I had lost all hope for a better life when I met him."

Windblade looked at the scarlet mech, "Who did you meet?"

Sideswipe smiled at the others and this smile was both beautiful and spark breaking, "Starburst."

The confused look on the other's faceplates would be hilarious if this was a different situation, "Yes; when I first met him, he bought me for the night and-,"

"Wait! Bought?!: Optimus asked, horror in his voice.

This wasn't the Cybertron he had died for.

Not at all.

"Yes, pay attention," Sideswipe said, "He had bought me for the night and my spirit was at the lowest it has ever been. I didn't even fight and I spread my legs all too willingly," Sideswipe laughed softly, it was nothing like his usual abrasive laugh, "He took my legs and closed them, holding my ankles with one servo and my knee joints with another; he looked at me like I was drunk off High Grade and asked as much. I asked him if he was going to do business with me and Starburst just smiled and said no," Sideswipe shook his helm, "That was when I found out that he was not an elite Neutral but an member of the special victim's unit of the Elite Guard. I agreed to become his informant and he bought me every night for the next six months."
"That simple?" Slipstream asked.

Sideswipe smiled at the Minicon with a soft smile, "Yes, that simple."

Sideswipe took an intake to sooth his poor nerves and he quickly forged on before he decided it would be a good idea to quit, "That slice of happiness ended when the Council gave him a task."

"What task?" Jetstorm asked softly.

Sideswipe took a shuddering intake, "They had asked him to locate some off-world Cybertronian artefacts and he took his half-brother Sabrehorn with him. He came back with coolant in the corners of his optics and I had asked him what was wrong; when he told me what the Council had asked him to do, I begged for one night between us and he gave it to me."

"A night between you two?" Windblade asked with a slightly teasing tone.

Sideswipe's faceplates flushed, "Shut up."

"Just saying," Windblade said. Sideswipe puffed his cheeks at her, causing the team to chuckle.

"Anyway," He started, "Something happened that night-and I am not talking about the interfacing- and I ended up pregnant. I didn't know I was pregnant until I got sick all over one of my handlers. They sent me to Sunwolf, a Lupioid medic that the brothel employed but what they don't know was that Sunwolf was a double agent that worked for the Elite Guard. Once he realized I was Carrying, he sent me through a trap door and told me to run to Altihex. I don't know what happened to him but he's the reason I'm free today."

Sideswipe waited for somebot to say something but he continued when no bot said anything, leaning forward to rest his elbow joints on his knee joints, "I travelled to the Altihex Center for Carrier's Care just like Sunwolf had told me too and it was there that I met a mech that would be my support."

Optimus looked at the slender scarlet mech, "Who was this mech?"

Sideswipe looked at the Prime with serious French Blue optics, "Knockout."