Yay! I updated as promised! :D It's actually a day early, 'cause tomorrow I leave home at 7am and won't get back 'till 11pm. I've got awards night for school, and because I'm in the Jazz band, rehearsal is early in the morning... so not looking forward to it.
Four reviews for one chapter, I'm quite happy, actually! Thanks for those who reviewed!
xxx
Noella50881: Why thank-you :) he's not blowing up in this chapter- I'm saving it for when they do something really stupid, but it's gonna be really good when he does
MissShelz: of course they are, it's what makes them the loveable twins we all know. I love reading about them too...but I guess you would already know that considering this fic is about them :)
annea101: Thanks for your review! And I will try to keep them in-character as possible, but considering they are human, they'll probably a tinsy but different
The Rose Angel: Yes. Yes I did. ;D BTW, how did try-outs for MYO go?
xxx
Once again, thanks for the reviews! Now I present to thee: the next chapter of 'A Twisted Tale'
Listening to: Robot Boy, Linkin Park
Once they were safely on the highway Ironhide spoke up. "What the slag did you two do this time?" the truck asked. Sunstreaker flicked the chair while scowling and Sideswipe just grinned.
"Oh, it's nice to see you too, 'Hide. Yeah my day was good, glad that you had a good day too. No, we got no homework and yes we did our family genealogy report…somewhat," Sideswipe said cheerfully while Ironhide tightened his seatbelts in warning. "Geez, 'Hide. I know you're not one for joking around but c'mon!"
"Don't make us regret the gift we have planned for you," Ironhide grumbled. He was used to their antics, and though he wouldn't admit it, he enjoyed their pranks to an extent. He didn't enjoy it when he was their target but he couldn't help but laugh when it was aimed at another bot. He was just thankful that the twins had never met Prowl. The damage it would do to the poor bot (and Ratchet)...
"Aw 'Hide, we love you too," said Sideswipe teasingly. "But seriously, did anything interesting happen today?" Over the past few weeks, the Autobots had been distracted, and when the twins finally asked what was going on, Optimus had explained to them that they may had found a lead to the Allspark.
The truck seemed to pick up speed and the engine made a happy little whirr. "Bumblebee is following one of the main leads right now. It could be a long term assignment, but that's only if the cons don't do anything, which I seriously doubt. That base in Qatar? Definitely one of their doing," Ironhide said gruffly. The twins looked at each other, an expression confirming that they had already figured that out.
They spent the rest of the ride in silence, which was a feat seeing as Sideswipe looked like he was about to burst with words. They pulled up at an abandoned warehouse which happened to be the autobots' home on planet Earth. "Go the back way to your rooms. Your gifts are just about done, you can see them when we call you," Ironhide said sternly. The twins groaned, the back way consisted of a four-storey flight of stairs.
Gears started clicking, so they quickly made their way out of the cab before Ironhide made true on a previous promise to squash them. The twins ran to the stairs and started the inevitable hike. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe lived in the loft of the warehouse, well more of a balcony than a loft. A massive balcony at the top, near the roof. It extended only a quarter of the space of the structure, but it was still quite large. The drop-off was only behind flimsy wire railings, so if one were to lean over, they could see what was going on beneath them. Posters and painting adorned the three walls, ones of cars, bands and for some strange reason: circuitry. Sunstreaker's impressive artwork was also seen, alongside Sideswipe's photos of his larger-scale pranks.
"So…what do you think this mystery 'gift' is?" Sideswipe asked, once he was down on his bed. His twin sent him an are-you-stupid look.
"What's the one thing we've always wanted?" Sunstreaker said, trying to point his naïve twin in the right direction.
"To find out the jerk who left us to die in that trash can?" was the sarcastic reply. Sunny rolled his eyes. While Sideswipe could be cunning, he could also be extremely dense. "But anyway, do ya wanna hang at the lake later? Perhaps we can hitch a ride."
Sunstreaker shrugged. If the gift was what he thought it was, then perhaps they mightn't need to hitch a ride with one of the bots. This train of thought, however, was interrupted by the sound of a truck pulling into the warehouse and then the sound of that said truck transforming into the leader of the Autobots. "Honey, I'm home!" Sideswipe whispered to his twin and started chuckling. Indeed, the mental picture of the regal Optimus Prime uttering that phrase was quite comical.
"Sunstreaker? Sideswipe? You can come down now," the deep baritone of Optimus' voice called to them. Surprise time. Optimus lifted a hand to the edge of their balcony and the twins quickly jumped off their bunks, across the room and over the railing. The first time the twins had done that with any transformer –Ironhide, they remember- Ratchet just about had the Cybertronian equivalent of a heart-attack. Spark-attack, perhaps? Nowadays, he was unfazed by it, used to the twins' leaping and stunts.
They were lowered to the ground and made their way to where Ironhide, Ratchet and Jazz were standing. Behind them was something- make that two somethings- large covered with a sheet. Ratchet and Ironhide smirked at them and Jazz gave them a big grin and lifted the sheet off with a flourish. "Ta-da!" Sunstreaker and Sideswipe distantly felt their jaws drop. They were unaware of anything around them –slag, even decepticons could've attacked and they wouldn't notice- because their whole attention was fixed on the red and Yellow Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4's.
"We made a few modifications here and there: added an Autobot com-link, autobot signal and increased the engine power and made it more fuel efficient…" Ratchet rambled on, unaware that the twins weren't even hearing him because they were so busy drooling. The twins were automatically drawn to their vehicles: Sideswipe red, Sunstreaker yellow. Sunstreaker ran his fingers softly against his glossy and bright paint job, while Sideswipe popped the back open and drooled all over the engine.
"Sides?"
"Yeah?"
"I could die right now, and I'd be happy."
"I know what you mean."
Sideswipe closed the back and stood back to admire his new vehicle. He noticed that where the Lamborghini badging was supposed to be, there were Autobot symbols and where it was supposed to say Gallardo LP560-4, was his name in silver cursive badging. On further inspection, Sunstreaker realised that this was also the same for him. The twins turned to the Cybertronians who had big grins on their faces.
"Thank-you so, so much!" They said in unison.
Ratchet half-smiled, Ironhide smirked, Optimus had a gentle grin and Jazz was grinning like the cat who ate the canary. "Go on ya Glitches. Hit da road," the silver saboteur prompted and nudged each gently with his foot.
The twins grinned at each other. "First one to the lake gets bragging rights! Go!" they said in unison and hopped in and started their engines at exactly the same time. They were off and out of the warehouse in the next second.
"Prime, are you sure this was a good idea?" Ironhide asked gruffly. "They are old enough to understand, even if they don't act like it."
The noble leader hid a frown. "War is not a place for children, especially them. If the decepticons find out about their relationship with us, who knows what they'll be put through." Ratchet, Jazz and Ironhide didn't like it, but they saw the truth in his statement. They just didn't like hiding things from the twins they had come to love so much.
Everyone at the lake was startled out of what they were doing at the sound of two powerful engines. The body of said engines flashed past at incredible speeds and then stopped neck and neck in a parking space. Trent felt his jaw drop and Sam looked like he was going to faint. Mikaela was just itching to get under one of those hoods.
Too say the brightly coloured Lamborghinis attracted attention was a massive understatement. The drivers' doors opened and the twins stepped out and scowled at each other.
"I won!"
"No, you dumb-aft, I did! That was a cheap move you pulled back at that intersection. You almost scratched my paint!"
"Live a little Sunny! How about we just call it a draw?"
"But you said that baout yesterday's race as well!"
"I guess we're forever doomed to come in a draw every race."
"Fine...but I will win one day..." (the last part was muttered).
The spectators watched on in confusion. Those who didn't go to school with the twins were utterly astounded, but Trent and his goons were outright furious. Trent was supposed to have the coolest car! Not those two idiots! Mikaela started towards the car and just about to touch Sunstreaker's bright yellow ride, but someone slapped her hand away. "Watch the paint-job!"
Sideswipe rolled his eyes. "Don't mind Sunshine here, since we've only had these cars for twenty-four hours, he's extremely overprotective."
"Well I would be too if I had a car like that," Sam said, drawing the twins' attention to him and his car. It was a different model than what they were used to, but the paint-job…
"Yo Sunny?"
"Sides?"
"Is that…"
"No fragging way!"
"Hey, Sam, when did you get that car?" Sideswipe asked. He was curious and started towards the yellow and black vehicle.
Sam shifted a little, seeming embarrassed. "Uh, yesterday... you can touch it if you want, ya know."
Sunstreaker also left his position in front of his car and stepped over to look at Sam's ride. He peered into the glass and felt his eyes widen. On the steering wheel, was a very familiar symbol. Sideswipe, quickly reaching the same conclusion as his twin, ran his fingers lightly between the cracks of the door. The car seemed to shudder slightly. The twins looked up at each other and grinned identically.
"Take very good care of this car, Sam," Sunstreaker said sternly.
Sideswipe nodded in agreement. Sam just looked a little unnerved and confused as to why the twins were so interested in his car. "Uh…I will?" Sam said it more like a question.
In the background, they could hear Mikaela and Trent arguing about something. It was about Trent being the sexist pig that he was. The twins couldn't help but wonder why a nice girl like Mikaela could stand to be around such a jerk like Trent, let alone date him. You see, despite being hated by the whole football team, the twins could still manage to be popular without trying. Before Mikaela started dating Trent, she and the twins would get up to all kinds of mischief together, sometimes even trying to fix cars. But ever since she started dating the jerk, they had been drifting farther and farther apart.
Sam mumbled something about driving Mikaela home and proceeded to kick Miles out of his car. To say Miles was unhappy about this arrangement was a massive understatement. Just before Sam drove off, Sideswipe called out something that had the other's scratching their heads in bemusement.
"Give 'im hell for us, Bee!" Sunstreaker whacked his twin upside the head quite hard and Sideswipe started grumbling and rubbing at the spot.
"Idiot," Sunstreaker hissed. The immature twin just shrugged. So what if he wanted to have a little fun?
Trent had finally come around ten minutes later, when his tiny mind processed that he had lost the girl. Of course, him being Trent decided to take his anger out on the two closest people who weren't his 'friends'. "You know, my father is the police chief of Tranquillity. I'm sure he'd be interested in your little bout of street racing. So much so, that maybe next time you go over the limit by one mile, he might just happen to have to remove your licences and impound your cars," he said smugly.
But instead of getting fear like he expected, he got an amused glance from Sideswipe and a death glare from Sunstreaker. Sideswipe paused and picked up a stick about a meter and a half long and started twirling it in his hand. "Jealousy is a very petty thing, my fellow classmate," 'Xan' said, almost snickering.
'Zac' gave Trent a withering glance before adding his own two cents. At that time, Sideswipe was now using the stick like a sword and was attacking an invisible enemy. "Yes, and your father may also be interested in seeing a certain video of mine if that is the case. A certain incident involving your house, a party, you drunk and of course your father's car somehow ending up in a ditch. And he's always wanted the answer to that particular question." Trent had paled considerably but Sunstreaker hadn't noticed, because his twin had decided he wanted a real enemy to spar with. He had tried to take him by surprise by using an underhand blow, but Sunstreaker had parried it using the stick he had picked up and no one had noticed. Sideswipe was put off guard by his excellent defence but was thrust back into reality when he sensed his brother's 'sword' coming at him overhead.
It quickly turned into a full-out sparring match. Dull clunks were heard as the pieces of wood met time and time again. The twins were seemingly unaware of the gathering crowd because they were so focussed on trying to get one up on each other. But that was an almost impossible task, because when one blow was about to hit, it was suddenly blocked and the opening was gone. This was why the twins' were always so grumpy after sparring matches: sure, it was fun while it lasted, but it seemingly always ended up as a tie.
Because the twins were so agile they were able to pull some pretty spectacular moves and soon a crowd had gathered to watch them. There was a moment that Sideswipe thought he was going win, where he had pulled a move that involved a series of flips, dodges and a handstand. When he was once again up the right way, he had another 'sword' in his hand. He grinned and attacked his twin with renewed strength. Just as all hope seemed lost for Sunny, the vain twin had managed to pull out another stick from nowhere. Now they were both fighting with two 'blades' and it had made the spectacle a whole lot more interesting.
Of course, their spectacular match had to come to an end, but the two didn't seem to realise it. Trent, seeing the perfect opportunity, motioned to his goons who all grabbed sticks and crept up on the duelling couple. But unbeknownst to them, the twins were very much aware of their surroundings, so when Trent leapt out of nowhere, the twins immediately stopped attacking each other and went back-to-back. The goons realised their cue and tried attacking the two, but the twins' teamwork and coordination had them on the ground within minutes. Trent was soon the only one left, but being the idiot that he was, thought he could take the two on alone.
He tried whacking Sunstreaker over the head with a blow that if hit, could give him a serious concussion, but Sideswipe had his back and blocked the blow from overhead. Meanwhile, Sunstreaker used one of his sticks to swipe out Trent's legs from under him. The jock had landed with an 'oomph' as the wind was knocked out of him.
Sideswipe chucked his sticks to the side –and didn't notice when two obsessed girls grabbed one each- and bent over to study Trent. Even during the fight with his brother, Sideswipe had barely raised a sweat. "Yeah, don't ever try that again," the red tipped twin told the jock. He straightened up and dusted the dirt from his jeans before turning around to walk to his car.
Trent was furious that he was humiliated in front of everyone! He felt like grabbing the twins and then knocking their heads together until they were out cold. Sunstreaker glared at him a second longer before turning around to follow his twin. Trent stood up slowly, trying to be as quiet as he could. He grabbed the stick that he had dropped and crept up Sunny's back. He raised his arm and before someone had time to yell out a warning, he brought it down as hard as he could.
Thunk!
The blow was blocked the stick was knocked out of his hand. Trent received a glare that had him wetting his pants. Sunstreaker gave him a look that said 'do I look that stupid?' He calmly told Trent "To quote my brother: yeah, don't ever try that again."
With that he had disappeared in the crowd and soon, the roars of the Lamborghinis were heard as the twins left the lake.
As the twins drove away, an observer chuckled slightly and made a mental note to tell Ironhide of this incident, and perhaps convince Ratchet and Optimus of his idea. He knew Ironhide would be right on board with his plan.
Jazz turned his holoform off, smirking slightly when the rest of his consciousness came back to his alt form. The holoform was a new experiment Ratchet had recently perfected. They were like holograms, except solid and could actually feel and use touch and pick stuff up. It was dead useful. Of course, the twins hadn't been informed of this new development. Who knew what those two would do once they found out. Jazz made a mental note to destroy all blackmail regarding him… if he could find it.
Of course, there was another feature to these holoforms, one that Jazz hoped he would never have to test out. But as it could very well save his aft from offlining, he wasn't so quick to dismiss the idea. He was quite surprised when Ratchet hadn't figured out this particular feature, and he was hesitant to tell him, in fear that it wouldn't work.
But then again, he wasn't about to go and try and face Megatron alone. He knew that was suicidal.
Listening to: Beat it, Michael Jackson
*drools* I want their cars... Keep in mind, the reason I didn't choose the Corvette Stingray or a Lamborghini Reventon was because this is currently set in 2007, and even though I know the Gallardo wasn't out yet, I have to leave room for upgrades ;)
Anyway, once again, thanks for the reviews! Keep reviewing, pretty please! I love reviews, like all authors :D
This is me, Greentree Frog, signing out.