I winced with pain.

"Quit squirming, I'm almost done." Knockout scolded me while he welded a deep cut across my chassis.

"There, finished. Now scram, I've got a long line waiting. The sooner I get this done, the sooner I can start studying that energon." The doctor mumbled the last part to himself. I left without a word, glancing at the other vehicons outside the doctor's office.

We had just come back from another confrontation with the Autobots, or more specifically their medic. I believe his designation was Ratchet? Rumor has it that he thought he could fight Megatron. I mentally scoffed at the thought of our leader getting beat by an old medic. I've only seen two mechs able to go toe-to-toe with Megatron: Optimus Prime and Soundwave. You'd think that, as a former Second in Command, Starscream would be able to stand up to Megatron as well.

Yeah right.

The seeker's a coward and begs for mercy instead of fighting back. We've all seen it at least once. Starscream gets Lord Megatron angry and then whines like the sparking he is. It's not like I could say that to his faceplates though. Being a vehicon, I'd probably get blasted and no 'bot would care.

Well... that's not true. Only the higher ups don't care. The vehicons on the other servo? They'd probably scold me for saying something like that to the mech, but only because they were worried. The higher ups don't know this, but we vehicons treat one another like - uh - what was that term the flesh bags used? 'Family' I think it was. Yeah, we were like one large family. Whenever one of us was offlined, we'd mourn and provide the best burial we could for them. I don't know how it hasn't been brought up yet during the meetings the higher ups have. We thought that Soundwave would have discovered what we did with the husks of our fallen comrades. Either he doesn't know or he just doesn't care enough to inform Megatron. The latter being the most likely.

I was so deep in thought that I didn't even realize I had ended up in the energon refuel room. I went over to grab a cube, taking notice of the other three Vehicons here. What surprised me most, however, was seeing Lord Megatron here, along with Soundwave and Arachnid. They were discussing something, until Megatron kneeled suddenly, clutching his helm in the process. 'Is he in pain?' I shook my head and quickly joined the other vehicons with helping our master to his pedes, only to get shoved away.

"Get off of me!" Megatron growled in protest. We took a step back, but I was more preoccupied with Megatron's optic color. Usually, his optics are red, but for some reason, they seemed to be purple. I wasn't the only one who saw that, right?

They returned to normal as swiftly as they came.

"Lord Megatron?" The new Second in Command, Arachnid, questioned with false worry.

Megatron glanced at us vehicons. "Let us continue our talk elsewhere," was the only response the mech gave. The warlord and his commanding officers left the room, leaving us Vehicons confused.

"What was that about?" P12-24 slid up his visor us as he broke the awkward silence between us remaining four in the room.

We too slid up our masks, since we were the only ones in the room. It was considered disobedience if we did so in front of the higher-ups, however. Our faceplates were the only thing Megatron allowed us to keep, and we were thankful for it.

"It seemed like Lord Megatron was in pain." Another, designated M4R–14, replied curiously. When we had tried to escape, we mechs prioritized the safety of the femmes and sparklings. M4R-14 was one of the few that didn't make it.

"Well no duh." 5C0–TT crossed his arms in a huff, receiving a glare from the femme, to which he replied with a smirk.

"Well did you guys see his optics? Or was that obvious too?" P12-24 asked the group, though that last part was more aimed towards 5C0–TT than M4R–14 and I.

"No." 5C0–TT paused. "Was something wrong with them?" His tone held annoyance towards the other mech.

"Yeah, they were purple. And not just any shade of purple, I mean 'Dark Energon' shade of purple." M4R-14's words confirmed to me that I wasn't just seeing things.

"Well, he did stab himself with a Dark Energon crystal."

"Yeah, but his optics were always red, even after that."

5C0–TT scoffed at the femme. "Does it really matter?" He received a smack to his helm.

"Of course it does, you idiot!" The femme snarled at him.

"No it doesn't," 5C0–TT paused to rub the new dent in his helm while P12-24 snickered. "Galen, back me up here!" He looked at me.

When we had discovered that our labels were similar to that of human names, or objects or other things, we found it easier to refer to each other as such instead of saying each individual letter or number. Yet the same rule applies to our names as it does with our masks. We never refer to our made up designations while in the presence of the higher-ups.

"Actually," I walked over to the femme, "I agree with Maria on this one."

"Oh come on!" 5C0–TT threw his servos into the air, accompanied by laughter from P12-24 and M4R-14.

We finished our discussion over our cubes of energon, occasionally others would join in, and then we went to complete whatever duties were assigned to us. I was happy though, as I had been assigned to guard a mine where my brother, D4R-3K, was. We weren't able to interact often due to me being a flyer while he was a grounder. Luckily, we were given the same recharge schedule, so we had some time to talk to each other.

I reached the group of vehicons I was to be bridged with. As soon as we were all here, Lieutenant Soundwave opened a vortex and we marched through. I entered the mine and immediately scanned the cave for my brother.

I spotted him, not too far from my current position either. He was talking with a miner, who was cutting through a large energon crystal when I walked over. He looked up at me and I immediately felt relief wash over me through our twin bond. He lightly jabbed my arm.

"By the AllSpark, Galen, you scared the slag out of me." He was a lot more talkative and social than I. "I couldn't believe my audio receivers when I was told the Autobot medic attacked you. Their medic!"

"Trust me, brother, I thought my optics were playing tricks on me when I saw it."

He chuckled softly before returning to his patrol cycle.

I started patrolling around as well, sometimes greeting other vehicons, but I never strayed too far from my brother. We always wanted to be close enough to aid the other should something happen.

Primus smiled down upon us that day because, fortunately, nothing happened.

No Autobots attacked our mine or any mine as a matter of fact. I guess after having their medic nearly offlined, not to mention gaining a lot of energon, they aren't too eager to attack us again.

It's not like I'm complaining though.

The following three Earth days were the most peaceful three days that we've had for a long time. With no fights between Autobots and Decepticons, us vehicons got a long overdue break, and we relished every second of it.

A/N

I want to thank Secret1618 and DaLadyofSouls for their comments on the first chapter. I'm really glad you guys enjoyed it.

I'm still debating many important aspects of this story, such as the vehicons and where I want this story to go, so I may end up rewriting at least a few chapters if not the whole story at some point in the future. I'm also kinda writing a few other stories at the same time because my mind is currently spewing ideas like a fountain, and I want to write them all down before I forget them.

Also, school started up again for me... *sarcasm* yippee... So chapter posting will be very slow, so just a heads up for those who want to see more of this story.

(And yes, the vehicon's names were Scott, Maria, and Pizza, if you couldn't guess. Believe me when I say that I have a lot of fun coming up with these names.)