8. Excited

Backwards Time Skip - Kaon, Cybertron

The air stunk of spilled energon. Down below on the first floor, two mechs faced off, both of them leaking, both of them limping from earlier wounds. Sideswipe sat in the second tier trying not to grimace as the mechs behind him kicked the ground and yelled. One of the fighters lunged in, swiping at his opponent with a glowing vibro-ax. The second fighter took a step to the side, spun around, and brought the heel of his own weapon—a large hammer—against Ax-Mech's helm. Ax stumbled and fell to his knees just before he could topple out of the ring. Hammer was right behind him and Ax had to drop and roll across the debris-ridden floor, narrowly avoiding getting his face crunched in.

Down below, at the railing, Sunstreaker was shouting. Sideswipe had never seen him so worked-up before. Pleased, yes; happy, yes; smug, slag yes. But never had he seen his twin acting with such wild abandon. Sunny was on his feet with both arms raised, fists clenched, screaming at his maximum capacity.

Sideswipe was baffled.

Ax got to his feet. Hammer charged forward, weapon raised high. Sideswipe could see Ax tense in preparation to gut his opponent. Sunstreaker could see it too; he lowered his arms and clutched the railing and leaned out so far Sideswipe was afraid for a moment that he would slip over the edge. At the last nano-klik Hammer folded in on himself. Ax swung, the glowing blade just missing Hammer's backside. Hammer rolled and came up right behind his opponent. Ax had no chance. Even before he could raise his arm to defend himself, Hammer's hammer smashed into his midsection. Small pieces and energon spattered the crowd. Ax staggered and Hammer struck again, the thick metal catching Ax on the side of the head so hard it spun the mech almost completely around. Ax's weapon fell from lifeless fingers as he crashed to the floor in a pool of his own fluids.

The crowd roared. Sunstreaker went crazy, all but hopping up onto the railing and waving his arms over his head. Hammer walked over to Ax, nudged the limp carcass with his foot, and then raised his weapon and slowly pivoted.

"KILL! KILL! KILL!" the crowd chanted and Sideswipe could hear Sunny's voice above the others.

Hammer bowed.

"Yeah!" Sunny crowed.

After it was over and the drones set out to clear the dead parts away, Sunny came striding up the benches and plopped down next to Sideswipe.

"That was amazing!" he said, fingers hooking into claws, a huge grin on his face.

"Nnn," Sideswipe said.

"I mean, I thought for sure that Maul was going to take down 'Crusher but then he gets up and," at which point Sunny lost all articulation and fell to full-body gestures and sound effects. Sideswipe watched him mime the killing chop and felt a twinge of unease.

"Yeah," he said.

"You think I could do that? I think I could do that."

"Sure thing," Sideswipe said, standing up. Sunstreaker rose to follow him as he made his way towards the aisle.

"It's not like it's hard. And I know how to take care of myself."

"Uh huh," Sideswipe said.

"I heard they're going to have tryouts soon."

Sideswipe had only been paying half-attention to Sunstreaker's excited rambling, but that sentence stopped him cold and he turned on the stairs.

"What?" he said.

In the dim lighting, Sunny's optics glowed a bright, pale blue.

"Next quarter. They haven't set a date yet, but I've heard there's going to be some sort of recruitment meeting," Sunny said. Sideswipe frowned. Sunstreaker, misinterpreting the gesture, said, "Oh, come on. I wasn't going to leave you behind."

He pushed past him and continued his descent down to street-level.

"Yeah. Sure," Sideswipe said.

Sunny kept going, oblivious to his brother's hesitation. Sideswipe watched him for a moment, unable to shake the cold feeling around his spark and then shook his head and started after him.

Just in case anyone reading this doesn't know the IDW-verse, Megatron started off fighting in illegal gladiator rings. Using this, he launched what would become the Decepticon army. Thank you so much Sunstreaker, Elita One, and blood shifter for your continued reviews. I can't say how much I appreciate it. And to Thing With No Talent, that's a damn good insight and helped fix something that's been bothering me. Thanks.