Another chapter for you! Man we are having a blast with this! Who knew Bitty!Twins could be so cute and fun! Rhetorical question :P As for some of you, you were wondering what DS was in the end notes at the bottom of the last chapter. It just stood for my coauthor's name which was Daenerys Starcatcher. She's awesome, btw. Check out her stuff!
Disclaimer: Still not ours, but we shall see... maybe. Not likely.
Hope you have as much fun reading as we did writing :}
Enjoy~
"Halfers..." Skywarp growled quietly, watching the Twins nap on Starscream's berth. "They're Halfers...!"
"It would appear so." Starscream said softly.
"How did they slip through! If their genitors died then someone else in Vos would have taken them in!" Skywarp was seething. Just as with any Seeker, his programming was screaming at him. They protected sparklings, cherished them, sheltered them... And they never let their own suffer.
"They didn't say their genitors died." Thundercracker replied, just as soft as Starscream although by the stiff posture of his wings and the way they twitched it was obvious he was furious. "They said they were taken away."
"Taken by who?" Starscream wondered aloud, consciously keeping his voice soft, because the twins really didn't need to hear this conversation. "If they didn't live in Vos, then maybe they wouldn't have known. Being halfers, their other genitor may not have been a flier at all."
All three of them knew of the prejudice mixed couples faced in old Vos. Those who were involved were virtually shunned by society, called perverts and worse for daring to love a groundpounder. Most of those couples quietly packed up and vanished to another city, where their lives would be untainted by the harshness of stuck-up Vosians.
"We won't know their altforms for awhile yet, their frames are too immature for them to even think of shifting form." Thundercracker said, sitting on Skywarp's berth with a sigh.
He looked at the two little forms, Sideswipe with his arms wrapped around his twin and Sunstreaker with the first two fingers of his left hand shoved in his mouth and his right arm wrapped just as tightly around Sideswipe. Without thinking, he took an image capture of the moment. He sighed.
"What about upgrades? Can we give 'em flier upgrades?" Skywarp piped up. "At least better propulsion systems for Sides' jetpack."
Protective instincts flared and Starscream gave his trinemate a sharp look. "No jet packs."
"Why not? I'd keep him from falling out of the sky." Skywarp said, flicking his wings proudly.
"NO JETPACKS." Both of his trinemates insisted simultaneously, making Sky's wingtips droop slightly. He flopped hard onto his berth, almost shoving Thundercracker off of it. "Fine, whatever." he grumbled.
"They may feel an occasional need for the sky, though." Starscream mused aloud. "In that case, we take them up with us."
"That'll be fun!" Skywarp brightened at that, smiling over at the recharging twins. "Say, what are we doin' now?"
"I have bridge duty." Starscream said. "You two have twin duty. Kindly don't frag it up, because I promised the overblown fool that they wouldn't interfere with our normal duties more than necessary."
Thundercracker nodded and said, "We'll figure something out. They should be waking soon."
Starscream nodded and stood, sparing one glance back for the twins before leaving.
Skywarp faux-shrieked as a little red streak of energy 'tackled' him to the floor where it proceeded to crawl on his back and 'tickle' him. Skywarp wriggled and crowed as the sparkling on him giggled and held on for dear life.
Sunstreaker watched with seeming disinterest from his perch on Thundercracker's lap where the blue Seeker was showing him how to use a datapad to write words. Sunsteaker didn't know any words even though Thundercracker knew he should know at least a few convoluted sentences by now. It didn't help that the golden brat was keener on trying to doodle Skywarp then he was on actually paying attention.
"Sunstreaker. If you will practice these words, then I shall allow you a short time to draw." Thundercracker said, a hint of irritation cropping up in his voice. Sideswipe was next for this, and he had a feeling that pinning the red mechling down long enough was going to be damned near impossible.
"Draw first, words after." Sunstreaker's tone was firm. He knew he had some of the power here; he could refuse to write anything at all.
TC knew it, too. "Fine." He gave the twin a stylus and tapped the datapad, clearing it for his use.
"Watch the wings, the wings!" Skywarp crowed loudly, even though Sides really was watching for them, not pulling hard at all. He poked Skywarp in the cockpit glass, making the dark Seeker giggle like he himself was a sparkling. Then Skywarp flopped on his back, his glossa hanging out. His optics offlined, but on his face was a little smile.
"Sky, wake up." Sides poked the Seeker. Skywarp didn't move. "Sky, please wake up?" He poked harder, and Skywarp still didn't move, but his grin grew.
Distress began edging into the little mechs voice and he shook the mech's cockpit. "Sky-eeeeeek!"
"GOTCHA!" Skywarp cackled, grabbing the small frame and holding him upside down, venting against his belly and making Sideswipe howl in laughter. Sunstreaker glanced up in confusion and then back down, feet swinging lightly as he erased and started over. They had moved fraggit.
It was to this scene that Starscream walked in with a scowl, wings held high and aggravated. He paused in the door however, staring at his black trinemate wrestling with a sparkling.
A smile touched his lips, but he quickly hid it. "Have you done anything productive today, or have you been playing Lord of the Tower all afternoon?" Starscream asked in a relatively pleasant tone. His trinemates knew that he was torqued about something, but they didn't know what.
"Star." Sunny waved his datapad. "Come see." He thought for a moment. "Please."
Starscream came over to look, and on the datapad was a surprisingly good sketch of Skywarp and Sideswipe. For someone so young, it was almost amazingly good. "Excellent work, Sunny. Can you finish that for me?"
Sunny scowled. "Maybe. If the fraggers stop rollin' around." He clapped his hand over his mouth, mindful of the ongoing cleanser threat. "Oops."
Thundercracker shook his head. "Just try, Sunstreaker. It doesn't sound right for you to speak that way."
Sideswipe had Skywarp "pinned" to the floor, sitting on him as if he'd conquered him. "Sideswipe, the champion!" he cried, smiling widely.
"Sideswipe, the scholar; for it is time for your lessons in a moment. Sunstreaker, you may finish your drawing after you practice your words." Thundercracker said firmly, holding out his hand for the datapad containing the sketch. "I will save it, and give you a new one to work on."
Sunstreaker looked sad and downcast, but handed it over, watching to make sure TC didn't erase it or something.
As soon as the picture had been archived, Thundercracker returned it to their lesson. "Okay, Sunny, write this line here."
Sunstreaker nodded, helm bending over the datapad, little glossa poking out from between his lips as he concentrated on mimicking the words. This was hard. But he was sure Sideswipe could do it. Sideswipe was better and remembering and copying than he was.
Sunny's lettering was awful, TC decided, and his spelling even worse. He would need to work with Sunstreaker closely just to get him up to standards for his age-group level, and he inwardly shrugged at this. He'd bribe him with art time. Nothing wrong with that.
When Sunstreaker finished, he held out his hand immediately. TC was confused as to what Sunny wanted until he remembered the datapad. He handed it over, loading up the unfinished sketch, and handed him the stylus. He immediately sprawled on his front on Starscream's berth to finish the picture.
"Playtime's over, Sides, gotta work." Skywarp reminded him.
"Awwwwww~" he whined. "Don't wanna!"
"Whether you 'wanna' or not, you're going to." Starscream said, looking through his own datapad. He was looking up old census records from Vos, before its destruction.
Sideswipe frowned and sat on TC's lap, looking down at the words with a deep sigh.
A few sentences in and it was obvious that Sideswipe had a better knack for letters and even numbers than Sunstreaker did. He was rather crafty too, the little slagger, wheedling his way out of the full lesson halfway through. Thundercracker hadn't realized that Sideswipe's 'It's too hard' and 'It's makin' my helm hurt' were ploys. They'd been said so seriously without a whine in there.
Skywarp had laughed. Starscream had made Sideswipe return to finish the lesson although there was a calculating glint in his optics.
Skywarp had to leave for a flight patrol and he did so reluctantly, pretending to try to sneak Sideswipe and Sunstreaker with him until he had been whacked on the helm by both his Trinemates.
"You are not, I repeat, NOT, taking the younglings out on a patrol. What if the Autobots saw you?" Thundercracker said.
"What's an Autobot?" Sideswipe asked, eternally curious.
Starscream took a deep breath. How to explain. "They're another group, like we're Decepticons. They are our enemies. They want to take everyone's freedom, and make them do what they want them to do."
"They're bad?" Sideswipe asked his optics wide.
Starscream nodded reluctantly. "They try and...Hurt us. Just because we need fuel." The particulars were something that they didn't need to know right now, and just talking about this was making his tanks roil.
"Don't go on patrol then, Sky!" Sunstreaker said. "They'll hurt you and make you dead, an' then we won't see you again!"
"No way!" Skywarp's wings flared proudly. "Can't catch me! I'm too good!"
Sunstreaker looked far from convinced, but Sideswipe was staring at the big seeker in awe. "Really? Are you fast? Can you go really fast? I like going fast, take me too!"
"Can't, Little Red. Star said no..." Skywarp grinned, tapping the mechlet's nose. "Maybe we'll take you flying later."
"Promise?"
"Cross my spark and hope to - OW! What was that for TC?"
Thundercracker gave his trinemate a look. :: No talk of dying. ::
Skywarp looked sheepish.
"Okay, okay." Skywarp scowled at TC. "Cross my spark and pinkie promise. Ever heard of that?"
Sideswipe shook his helm, optics wide. "Nope."
Skywarp knelt down, so that he was closer to Sides' level. He stuck out his pinkie on his right hand. "See, whatcha do is take your littlest finger and stick it out, and then link it with mine. When you make a promise an' do that at the same time, it means you /really/ mean it, and will do what you said."
Sunstreaker watched this, not believing it for a second, but by the look in his twin's optics, Sideswipe certainly did. He immediately stuck out his little finger and linked it with Warp's nodding as seriously as a mechling could.
"Okay, Sky. You promised. An' stay safe. Away from 'Bots!" he said.
Skywarp's smile softened for just a bit and he knocked the sparkling on the helm. Sideswipe yelped indignantly, clutching at the offended area. The teleporter stood, ignoring both his mates and patting Sunstreaker's helm on the way out. The golden sparkling swatted at him with an irritated huff.
The door closed and Sunstreaker went back to his sketch and Sideswipe amused himself with looking around the room while the two Seekers' talked.
"So what happened to get you in such a huff?" Thundercracker asked quietly, watching Sideswipe carefully in case he got into something he shouldn't.
"The Autobots are looking for the..." He glanced significantly toward the twins, and TC got what he was trying to say instantly.
"We can't let them have them." Thundercracker said insistently. "For one, my programming would go fragging haywire, knowing that they had them and were teaching them to hate us."
"Are we really any better, Thundercracker?" Starscream asked, being oddly introspective for once. "In an ideal world, one would teach their young to accept the differences in others, not to hate them. Unfortunately, we don't live in an ideal world." Starscream finished, somewhat bitterly.
Sunstreaker was listening closely to their conversation. He didn't understand most of it, but he'd figured out a long time ago that listening to what adults said was a smart idea. It saved them more than once.
Sideswipe found something jammed underneath Skywarp's bed. It was a small stuffed Seeker, faded and worn. Sideswipe grinned and hugged it.
Thundercracker's mouth twisted. He couldn't really refute what Starscream was saying as he watched the twins. Sunstreaker seemed enthralled with his sketch and Sideswipe had... Huh. He thought Skywarp had gotten rid of that old thing.
He watched them now, and he imagined just what they had to go through now compared to what they had learned. Now, they would be artificially encouraged to grow at a fast pace to become the perfect Decepticon warriors. Never getting a chance to have a childhood. Again. He fought the urge to hit something.
"So what are we going to do about the... the growing? Bucket head gave you a year. An Earth year to find an experimental," His voice quieted there. "Way to stimulate their growth to train into warriors. That or they're..." He made a disgusted slashing motion across his neck.
Sunstreaker tensed slightly. He'd seen that motion before. He knew what it meant even if the Seekers didn't say anything. He looked quickly at his brother and fear curled in his spark. He knew these Seekers were bad...
Sunny just stared mistrustfully, and Sideswipe wandered over to him, still clutching the toy.
"Lookit what I found, Sunny!" He holds out the stuffed Seeker with a grin.
Sunstreaker scowled and pushed it away from him, not wanting it near him right now. "Don't want it!"
Sides gazed at his twin. "'S wrong?" He set the Seeker toy down and sat next to Sunny, arms wrapped around his knees.
"They're bad." Sunny said softly, pointing at the two Seekers who were still talking. "Said bad things, and I don't like it. Need to get out of here." he said firmly, his optics fading into an icy blue that looked eerie on someone so young.
"But Sunny, Skywarp promised. He isn't bad. And Star sings to us." Sideswipe argued, not wanting to believe that the Seekers were really bad!
"He," Sunstreaker stabbed a small golden digit at Thundercracker. "Was talking about us and did this." He slashed his fingers across his neck. "Told you..." His voice got quiet and somewhat sad. "All 'dults lie..."
"Not Sky. Not." Sideswipe shook his head, tiny drops of coolant forming in his optics. "Said he would take me to fly. Not...not that."
"Fly, then drop you." Sunny said sagely, with all the experience that a younger brother could have. "Go splat on the ground."
"NO I WOULDN'T. Take that back, aft!" Sideswipe was crying a little now, and he punched Sunny in the chest, absolutely furious.
Sunstreaker cried out in pain, giving his brother an absolute hurt look, complete with tears and trembling lower lip. But as a frightened and hurt youngling was wont to do, he covered his fear and pain with anger. "Not an aft, stupid!" He shouted back, tackling the red youngling. "Not an aft! You stupid!"
Thundercracker and Starscream both were across the room in the next moment, pulling the quarreling younglings apart.
"Just what is going on here!" Starscream demanded, having grabbed Sunstreaker and gave him a small shake when the golden youngling struggled.
"Don't touch me, fragging aftshaft!" Sunstreaker yelled, trembling in anger. "You're bad!"
"IS NOT!" Sides screamed, his cheeks wet with tears. "Sunny's being a stupid aft!"
"QUIET!" Thundercracker bellowed. Both twins fell almost completely silent, looking at TC with round wide optics, the only sounds Sunny's fast intake of air and the faint sniffling noise from Sideswipe's tears.
"What exactly happened, here?" Starscream asked quietly, looking from one twin to the other. Sunstreaker pressed his lips closed tightly, and defiantly looked away. Sideswipe glared at his twin and pointed at him. "He did it. He said Sky would drop me and I'd splat on the ground and that you guys were bad and that we need to go away!"
Starscream looked down at the tightlipped Sunstreaker, wholly insulted for his trinemate, but also aware that he was dealing with a sparkling used to not depending on anyone but himself and his brother.
"Why would you think that, Sunstreaker?" He asked, setting the sparkling on his pedes. "We wouldn't do that to you." He placed his hands on Sunstreaker's trembling shoulders. "We only want to protect you and -"
"Liar!" Sunstreaker growled, slapping Starscream's hands away. "Yer a liar and so's he!" He jabbed a finger at Thundercracker again. "I heard you! You were talkin' 'bout us! You - you said that you were gonna 'speriment on us and -and - k-kill - AAAAAAHHHH!"
The sparkling couldn't finish, breaking into loud hiccupping sobs that seemed to echo in the room.
Thundercracker wanted to smack himself; he knew exactly what Sunstreaker was referring to. He wasn't about to tell Sunny what they were really meaning, because...they wouldn't understand. Thundercracker himself didn't understand. All he could do was damage control.
Starscream looked stunned and hurt, and he took the golden yellow twin in his arms, disregarding the kicks, punches, and squirming to get free.
"Listen to me. LISTEN to me, Sunstreaker." Starscream insisted, moving his chin up so he could look Sunny in the optics. The youngling tried desperately to hold the Seeker's gaze, even through the gasping sobs.
"We are not going to harm you in any way. I swear it on my wings, on my spark." Star said, very serious. "I know you don't yet believe me, because people have hurt you in the past, even when they said they wouldn't. You and Sides fighting like that is not acceptable, though, and neither is you accusing Skywarp of wanting to harm your brother. He would not do that."
"Liar." Sunny whispered.
"Then we will just have to prove you wrong." Starscream said firmly, but gently. He swiped at the youngling's wet faceplates. He hugged the now limp Sunstreaker to him and rocked him, giving Thundercracker a Look over his helm.
Sideswipe clung to Thundercracker as the blue Seeker looked back, optics slightly pained.
Sunstreaker firmly took his optics offline, refusing to look at the Seeker who was rocking him. He'd never admit it, but it felt kinda nice, and Star was warm, and the faint sound of his engines was soothing in a way he didn't quite understand.
He still didn't trust them, though. No matter how much they held him.
Sideswipe stared into TC's optics, looking for truth in them. "So you won't hurt us, ever?"
"No." Thundercracker said, his tone slightly bitter. He'd throw himself in between the little ones and danger, even if it was Megatron...but he knew he'd lose.
Sideswipe continued to search before he reached up, littlest finger extended. "Promise."
Thundercracker looked at him with an odd expression on his face, but he linked his finger with the mechling's. Sideswipe nodded his helm, satisfied. "Kay, you promised."
Thundercracker chuckled in that rumbling way of his. "I did."
Wheeljack stood in front of Optimus Prime with a sad expression in his optics. Hi shelm fins flickered slowly with a sickly shade of pink.
"'M sorry, Prime, but I don't know if the effect'll reverse itself or not. They're not here for me to check."
"Th' Seekers have 'em." Ironhide said, not at all happy with that. For all their annoying natures, he cared about the twins almost as if they were his younger brothers.
Optimus Prime sighed deeply, and shook his head. "I will try to negotiate for their return with Megatron, but...I don't know how successful I will be. They are only sparklings, after all, and thus not as useful as prisoners."
"Wh-what if they've already..." Red Alert made a slashing motion across his neck and several of the officers flinched.
"Not likely." Ratchet sighed. "I don't know much, but I do know Seekers have an innate need to protect and care for sparklings of any frame type. Which means good luck even getting them back. Two Trines on Earth. Between the six of them, we'll be lucky to even see them on the vidscreen let alone get them back."
Ironhide snorted. "You mean t'tell me that Starscream and that glitched up teleporter's gonna be huggin' 'em and tuckin' 'em in at night?" he demanded. "That's th' stupidest thing I have EVER heard."
"Coding is coding. You ought to know that. Guardian of the Prime, remember?" Ratchet reminded Ironhide. The red mech snorted, but didn't argue it anymore.
"I am still going to try it." Prime said, looking at his officers. "The twins belong /here/, sparklings or not. Not with the Decepticons."
Ratchet folded his arms. "I agree, Prime. And you're very welcome to try it your way. I'm just saying be prepared to have a contingency plan... Or three."
"Ah agree with Ratch." Jazz spoke up, having stayed uncharacteristically quiet throughout most of this meeting. "Ah'm not sayin' don't try to negotiate, Prahm." He quickly ammended. "Ah'm jus' sayin' that the likelyhood of us gettin' the twins back, if they haven't already been taken care of..." He ignored the flinches. "That we need a plan of attack. Or rather, a way to sneak in and out quietly."
"I also back this, Prime." Prowl said, adding his own two cents in. "The likelihood of our retrieving the Twins on negotiating terms if this coding does indeed exist is likely to be 20% or lower. We stand a better chance if we launch a retrieval mission."
It was silent, the room weighing heavily on all there. Finally, Optimus leaned forward. "Wheeljack." The inventor looked up, helm fins flashing weakly. "What is the chance that once we have the twins back you can build something to reverse the situation?"
Wheeljack shook his helm. "I couldn't tell you Prime. Like I said before, I would need them here to study the effects. And that's if it even is reversible."
"Or if we even get them back." Blaster added.
"We will get them back." Optimus said firmly. This he promised himself. He shuddered to think what could be happening to the Twins in the Decepticons' clutches.
The little red mech squealed in delight as he was tossed into the air. "Higher, Sky, higher!"
Skywarp ginned widely, more widely than Starscream could remember in vorns. "Sure thing, Little Red! Up you go!" Skywarp tossed the mechling up high, then rose up just a bit on his thrusters to catch him safely, laughing with Sideswipe the whole time.
Sunstreaker just watched, feeling both wary...and left out. It did look fun, but...what if he dropped them? Sunny didn't want to go splat! It would mess up his pretty colors!
Starscream knelt nearby, handing Sunny a special datapad that he'd programmed just for him. It had a larger array of colors, a thinner stylus, and a larger memory than the one he had been using. Sunstreaker took it and tapped the stylus on it- there, right in front, was the half-done sketch of his brother playing with Skywarp.
Despite himself, he smiled hesitantly, then more widely at Starscream and his gift.
Starscream had already figured out that Sunstreaker needed a slower approach than his twin brother. Which spoke alot about how far their adult personalities had transcended time. The golden halfer preferred quiet over loud, and had his own way of letting you know when you were crossing lines. Mostly by shooting you wary looks.
So Starscream sat quietly and watched with his own smile as Sunstreaker continued his sketch with the complete concentration only a sparkling could have. Thundercracker sat at their terminal, filing reports and continuing through the census that Starscream had abandoned after Sunstreaker's fit. He wasn't making much headway. It turned out there were /a lot/ of Grounder/Seeker units. Far more than he had been expecting.
Thundercracker rubbed at his forehead for a moment; he'd never thought that it was /that/ common. The census records didn't have anything as obvious as coloring included, and it wasn't new enough that the twins would have been listed during that time.
Sideswipe was starting to tire of his own 'flight', and he looked up at Skywarp. "I'm hungry." he said quietly.
Sunstreaker looked up and hissed, "We don't say that!"
"But Sunny-"
"No!" he said, putting his drawing tablet down.
Thundercracker had already gotten up to retrieve their evening rations; Skywarp had gotten them on his way back from his shift, and he set the five cubes on a table- the same three large ones, and two smaller.
Sunstreaker's optics widened almost comically. So they DID tell the truth there, twice in one day!
Sideswipe almost bounced, rushing over to the table to sit on it, because the chair was far too low to the ground for him to use it properly. "Sunnnnnnny." he said. "Get UP here. It's yummy!"
Something within Starscream melted, and something else wanted to find whoever had abandoned them as younglings and beat the slag out of them, again and again and again.
He reached out to Sunstreaker, just a single hand, and the little golden halfer just looked at it for a moment before taking it, allowing Starscream to lift him onto the table next to his twin.
Hesitantly, he drank at his cube , taking small sips as if it were the last cube he expected to get for a long time. And for all they knew, that was exactly what Sunstreaker was thinking. Sideswipe, on the other hand, was more than happy to guzzle down his own energon, chirping contently when he was finished.
Skywarp snatched both sparklings, Sideswipe clicking in delight and Sunstreaker squawking indignantly, still drinking at his own fuel. Skywarp just grinned widely. "So, what're we gonna do about cycle when we're all on duty? Bucket head ain't gonna let us have them following around like little Seekerlets."
"What's a buckethead?" Sideswipe asked innocently, causing Skywarp to erupt in giggles and even TC cracked a smile. Starscream grinned, and said, "It's our commander."
"Commander Buckethead?" Sideswipe said, somewhat doubtfully.
Sunstreaker tried very, very hard not to laugh. He sipped at his cube and tried not to picture a leader, with a bucket for a head...and he started chuckling softly, revealing a beautiful smile.
Thundercracker, being the mosrt composed of the three, gave two options. "We could leave them with Soundwave. It's his off-shift then, and Primus knowns he has experience with younglings, having five cassettes. Or we let Dirge, Ramjet, and Thrust have the turn they've been whining about."
"The Coneheads?" Skywarp screeched indignantly, almost sounding like Starscream. Sideswipe slapped his servos to his audials and Sunstreaker's slats closed tight. "You want to let the Coneheads watch them? And you call me stupid, TC!"
Thundercracker glared at his wingmate. "They won't shut up until we do."
"They'll step on them!" Skywarp continued, oblivious to his blue trinemate. "Or drop them just trying to pick them up! They're morons!"
"No, they won't." Starscream said calmly. "They are under the same strictures that we are...plus, they know that I will personally slag them to Unicron's Pit and back if they harm so much as a nanometer of their plating." He smiled down at Sunstreaker, trying to be reassuring. It didn't work well; his sensors were still ringing from Skywarp's screech and he shook his head, trying to forget the sound.
"What's a Conehead?" Sideswipe asked. Thundercracker wondered where all the questions came from...this one was full of questions, all the time.
"They're Seekers, like us, but a lot uglier." Skywarp said, earning a snicker from Starscream.
"Oh." Sideswipe paused. "What's an ugly Seeker look like?"
"Oh, you'll see." Starscream grinned, plucking the disoriented Sunstreaker away from a suddenly pouty Skywarp who stared at the golden sparkling like a favorite toy he'd just got taken away. "For now, though, it's time to wash. Skywarp, grab the little devil and come with me. Since someone broke our own 'racks, we have to use the communal ones." He turned to Thundercracker. "Keep looking through those records. I don't know how old the twins are, but there can't be that many Grounder/Seeker units with Twins."
"Why do have to take him." Skywarp whined, causing Sides to look up at Skywarp sadly.
"Dontcha like me anymore?"
Skywarp felt like a first-class aft. "Course I do, Little Red. Are you gonna let Sky scrub you down in the 'racks?"
"Don't like baths!" Sideswipe said firmly. "Solvent stinks, and I don't like it."
Sunstreaker perked up at the mention of washracks. He hoped that it was nice and hot, and that there was a soft cloth in here to shine with... His smile was as wide as it had been when his second ration had been produced. "Star, wanna go to the racks." he said softly, and Starscream lifted Sunny up to carry him there.
Skywarp quickly was left behind, because Sides refused to budge. "No bath! No racks!" he said loudly. "I'm clean, I'm clean, and you just wiped me down last night!"
Skywarp groaned inwardly. "You're gonna cause a scene, aren't you."
And sparing no time to answer, he plucked up the small grounder and hefted him in his arms amongst shouts and denials and complaints. When Sideswipe realized he wasn't getting down, he opened his mouth...
Old Buckethead had nothing on the little runt.
His voice was much bigger than he was, TC noted. Skywarp winced, and quietly snickered at the litany of words that were mixed in with the yells, noticing that even though the youngling was less than a tenth his age, he knew almost as many curses.
Thundercracker called out as he followed them with the census records, "Wash his mouth while you're at it, Skywarp."
Sky shook his head disgustedly; didn't they understand it was one way for 'em to get out their frustration? He didn't mind it, and he was the one in charge of Sides, so he just marched them to the communal racks, where Sunstreaker and Starscream already were. Sunny was standing under hot spray with every indication of pleasure, carefully wiping himself with a soft cloth that Starscream had gotten for him, while Starscream himself was scrubbing down, trying to reach a difficult spot between his wings.
"Noooo!" Sideswipe squealed as Skywarp marched beside his wingmate, flicked the water on and shoved Sideswipe under it. The red sparkling spluttered as the black and purple seeker snagged a cloth, wetted it and began scrubbing the squirming bitlet to the best of his ability.
Sunstreaker watched, wide optic'd and surprised as his brother continued with his diatribe and stream of curses even as he had to spit out mouthfuls of water and sometimes solvent. Which only made him curse more.
He giggled, not catching the look Starscream was giving the red twin.
"Please tell me that isn't where Sunstreaker has learned to speak like that."
"May have been, don't know." Skywarp said, scrubbing the squirming youngling's plating with difficulty. "Could be, cuz Little Red here knows almost ALL the words."
"Shut the frag up." A voice said. Starscream stiffened slightly. That sounded like Drag Strip. The last thing they needed was irate Stunticons around still-sensitive younglings. Starscream turned to Sunstreaker. "Try and finish up, we need to go soon."
"But I'm not done!" Sunny said a slight whine in his tone. "Still gotta do my legs!" He couldn't recall the last time he'd had proper hot water AND cleanser AND soft cloths, and slaggit, he was going to make the most of it. Even at his age he wanted to shine.
Drag Strip, accompanied by Wildrider, stepped into the racks, right next to the trine and the twins. Wildrider stared at the twins, not really sure what to make of them. His glitched synaptic relays were probably insisting they weren't really there, for all Starscream knew.
Drag Strip, on the other hand, knew. "What the frag you got those twins in here for, Screamer?" Drag Strip demanded. He wasn't a flier; he didn't give a frag about an Air Commander. He took orders from Motormaster first and Megatron second, and frag anyone else.
"Does that small processor of yours let you look over the obvious?" Skywarp said drolly. "We're getting them clean."
Sideswipe and fallen silent and was staring at the strangers with a mixture of fear and curiosity. These mechs didn't feel like the Seekers. They didn't even feel like Hook and while he had been intimidating, these ones were scary.
Sunstreaker had no curiosity whatsoever and was hiding behind Starscream's legs, cloth forgotten on the floor. He peered from between the white and blue thrusters, little ice blue optics narrowed as he tried to seem tougher and bigger than he actually was.
Drag Strip scowled. "I sees that, but what're they doin' here? S'our 'racks!"
Wildrider in the meanwhile had crouched and approached the quiet Sideswipe with ill curiosity. Sideswipe huddled in Skywarp's arms and Skywarp's wings flared in warning.
"Back off, glitch, and I won't send your aft to Hook in a pile." Skywarp said, his voice trembling a bit under the imperatives running through his processor.
"Don't wanna hurt him, just wanna look." Wildrider insisted, poking at Sideswipe, who jumped visibly and tried to climb up Skywarp's arms to his shoulder. Skywarp's ruby optics narrowed and he hissed, "Last chance, aftshaft- back the frag off."
Sunstreaker just peeked from behind Starscream, and Thundercracker folded his arms over his larger frame and stared at the two Stunticons with great suspicion.
"Give 'im here, he's like a little doll!" Wildrider crowed, grabbing for Sideswipe with both hands.
That was the biggest mistake that 'Rider had made in his short existence.
Instantly, Sideswipe was shoved into Starscream's arms and Sunstreaker was scooped up in the same instant. Two big Seekers were on the Stunticon with vicious intent, Wildrider howling in pain and anger as he did his best to fend them off. Drag Strip stood there stunned, watching with wide optics. He'd never seen the Seekers react to anything like this before.
Starscream, now dealing with two sparklings who were shaking like leaves in the wind and trying to burrow into Starscream's plating, whistled sharply twice and his wingmates backed off, claws curled, denta bared and wings held stiff and high. Glowing energon blood stained their claws where they had ripped into Wildrider's plating, the Stunticon now missing an arm and his left optic. Drag Strip snarled, moving to advance, only to freeze when triple glares turned on him.
"Do not EVER touch our sparklings." Starscream said menacingly, holding the silently crying and distressed younglings closer. "Understood."
Drag Strip nodded and stood stiff as a pole as the Seekers stalked past him, Thundercracker first, followed by Starscream and the younglings, then Skywarp who gnashed his denta at the Stunticon.
"Fragging insane." Drag Strip snarled, dragging his now-injured gestaltmate out of the 'racks, undoubtedly to get his arm put back on. He saw the Seekers going in one direction, so he prudently went in the other, not wanting the same treatment Wildrider had gotten.
Sideswipe was torn. What Skywarp had done was cool, he'd kicked that mech's aft hard, but it was also kinda scary. Nice Skywarp had that aft's energon on his hands, still glowing faintly. He wasn't sure what to make of that. Sunny had had energon, another mech's energon, on his hands before. It had been a bigger mechling, not too much older than they were. He'd tried to take Sides' last ration, and Sunny had beaten him down. He'd gottem dented up some in the process, but Sunny had won. It was like he'd gone away and become someone else for a little while.
Sideswipe wondered if Skywarp did that too. So he asked. "Sky?"
"What is it, Little Red?" His voice sounded tired.
"Do you go away when you hurt people?" Sides asked.
"I...I'm not sure what you mean, little guy." He looked at his hands, and noticed that the fluid still stained them. He felt bad about doing it in front of them, but not about doing it. They must be protected, especially from glitches like Wildrider.
"You know... Are you not Sky anymore, when you get all scary like that?" Sideswipe's voice was small, trembling.
Sunstreaker had yet to pull his face from Starscream's shoulder or ceased to tremble.
Skywarp turned to meet the little cobalt optics of the red twin. "I don't know." He said honestly.
Sideswipe kept quiet, not sure what to make of it. He didn't like it when adults said they didn't know. 'Cause adults were always supposed to know. Even if they were mean adults.
Starscream suddenly hissed, making Sunstreaker curl more into himself and Sideswipe look at him warily. "We've been called to the Command Center to discuss our conduct in the washwracks. Hook called in."
Skywarp hit the wall in frustration, cursing loudly. His command of unsavory words far outstripped the youngling's, and he proved his inventive nature by cursing Hook, Wildrider, Drag Strip, both gestalts, and several unrelated mechs' personal habits, probable prowess in battle as well as other areas, and likely parentage.
Sideswipe's optics were wider than even when he'd gotten his second cube of energon and he turned to Starscream, asking, "What's a valve?"
Starscream kicked his purple trinemate, earning a scowl. "Something you're still too young to know about." He told Sideswipe resolutely. Then he sighed. "He wants all three of us."
"We can't take them up there." Thundercracker growled, wings flaring even wider at the thought of the younglings surrounded by so many Decepticons at once.
"You don't mean...?" Skywarp began with a scowl.
"Yes." Starscream cut him off, hefting the sparklings into a more comfortable position in his arms. "Ramjet and his band of misfits get their turn sooner than we anticipated."
"And I swear to you Conehead, if there is even one scratch on either of their skidplates, I will make you regret ever having been sparked." Starscream hissed threateningly in Ramjet's face after handing a curious Sideswipe and fearfully quiet Sunstreaker to Dirge and Thrust.
Ramjet held up his servos, attempting to look more sincere than his faceplates really allowed. "Promise, Commander. Not a scratch."
The Command Trine left the twins with the Coneheads, muttering imprecations and threats the entire way. They headed toward the command deck, where Megatron waited to hear what had happened in the washracks.
"So that's why you guys are called Coneheads." Sideswipe said, pointing at Thrust's head. "You sure look funny, not like Seekers."
"We are Seekers, Sunny." Thrust said.
"'M Sideswipe, not Sunny." Sides corrected, looking disgusted with the name swap.
Sunstreaker just glared, looking around the much smaller room. The entrance was behind him, and there were three narrow berths in the room, two of which were shoved together. Other than that, there was a vidscreen, a smallish work console...and nothing else. Sunny wished that he'd brought his drawing tablet. This was gonna be boring, because he had no intention of talking to any of them.
"All right, Sideswipe. What do you want to do?" Ramjet said shakily. He had no fragging clue what he was doing; he'd never been this close to a youngling, and this one was as smartaft as it got. The other one just stared at people, and Ramjet wondered if he had a glitch or something.
Sideswipe's optics lit up with almost sudden realization. A small grin curved his little face and had he still been an adult, it would have been the frin that had Prowl preparing his cell in the brig.
"Ummm... What's that?" He asked innocently, pointing at the console.
"That's our terminal." Ramjet said. "We do our reports on there."
"Oh. What's that?"
"This is a waxing tin."
"What's wax?"
Thrust looked surprised. "Wax is, well... That is to say... Er..." How did one explain wax to a sparkling?
Dirge, standing off to the side after setting Sunstreaker down stared at his trinemates and shook his helm with a long suffering sigh. 'I'm surrounded by idiots.' He bemoaned to himself. He glanced down to make sure the yellow sparkling wasn't getting into trouble only to find the ice blue optics staring up at him in a wide optic'd way. He stared back, unblinking.
Dear Primus, did Sideswipe's questions never end? Ramjet and Thrust were losing patience rather quickly with the curious little thing, no matter how endearing it seemed.
"What's that?" Sideswipe asked, pointing to a slat cover in the corner of the room on the ground.
"What, that? That's a vent." Ramjet snorted. It should have been obvious. Was this sparkling slow? He wouldn't be surprised. "It leads into the ship and goes all over the place." He quickly explained before Sideswipe could ask.
Thrust groaned and glanced at his other trinemate to see how he was fairing... and had to blink. They were just... staring at each other. The little yellow thing was standing, helm tilted all the way back to stare up at his trinemate. Dirge was staring back, just as intently.
Thrust felt a shiver crawl up his spine.
"What is wrong with that youngling, Dirge?" Thrust asked. He was feeling very...weirded out, to use a human term. Nothing that small and that young should be able to hold a gaze for that long.
Sunstreaker's face was impassive, though something within him wanted so badly to laugh. The Conehead was starting to crack, he just knew it! So his optics flared slightly, paling just a bit.
Dirge set his lips. He wasn't gonna lose to a bitlet. No way in Pit.
A smile did creep up on Sideswipe's face. The vents went places? They must be like the tunnels back home, and he'd always been good at finding his way through tunnels. He looked around the room and climbed up to an open bin of things, rummaging through it before Ramjet could stop him. Sides found what he'd been looking for- a small light that one could magnetically stick to their helm. He stuck it on there and gave Ramjet his most innocent expression. "I'm a miner! Whee!"
The Conehead bought it, hook, line, and sinker.
Sunstreaker started to wiggle a little, but his head didn't move- those icy optics remained locked onto Dirge's, and finally Thrust cried out.
"That kid is WEIRD, I am OUT of here!" He exited their quarters, for points unknown. Dirge automatically turned his head to see where his trinemate has went, and Sunny allowed himself a fierce smile, a smile that remained when Dirge looked back. The Conehead shook his head, disgusted.
"Nap time!" Ramjet declared, having quickly decided that a quiet youngling was his favorite kind of youngling. Sideswipe pouted, but allowed the Conehead to pick him up and place him on the single berth. Sunstreaker finally moved from where he was, letting himself also be placed on the berth. He lay down without a fuss, Sideswipe sticking his glossa out before flopping beside his brother, and turning his back to the Coneheads.
Just wait until they weren't looking. He and Sunny would be halfway done exploring the ship by the time they realized anything.
After a short time, the two Seekers who remained in the room went over to their vidscreen, watching something or another. It was the twins' excellent luck that the Coneheads' vidscreen was on the opposite side of the room from the vent opening, which was near the floor by their berth.
Sides concentrated really hard, because he knew they needed to not talk out loud. ::Sunny. Let's go see stuff!::
Sunstreaker still didn't like talking that way so he just nodded firmly, slipping off the side of the berth so that Sideswipe could get down next. They studied the vent covering, and several of the bolts were missing.
Sides shrugged and slipped his fingers under the spot where there were no bolts, opening it just enough for his twin to get through. Sunny held it from the inside while Sides me through, and they both released it slowly, so it wouldn't slam, like metal tended to do.
It was dark further down, but Sideswipe had taken that light so that his younger brother wouldn't be scared. He turned it on, a bright white light shining from the top of his helm. Sunny sighed in relief.
"Where're we goin'?" Sunny asked.
"Dunno." Sideswipe said, speaking softly. "Explorin'. Ya scared?"
Sunstreaker's faceplates screwed up in indignation. "Nu-uh! Braver 'n you!"
"We'll see Sunny."
The two younglings were just barely small enough that they could stand in the vent, helms not quite, but almost touching the top. Sunstreaker clung to Sideswipe as they walked softly through the airways.
The twins could see areas of faint light, presumably where rooms were. They slowly and quietly crept up to each one, so that they could see what was on the other side.
This room was empty, or so it seemed; only a dim light was on, and Sideswipe could see a bunch of cushions on the floor, along with an odd-looking glass screen thing and something with cords trailing from it.
"'S that, Sides?" Sunny asked, pointing.
"Dunno, but it looks weird. Look, there's a lyraharp over there!" Indeed, it was; a large floor model, even, and this one looked well-maintained. Sideswipe still remembered some of the notes he'd been taught from Before, and always loved the chance to mess with instruments.
"I see it..." Sunstreaker said, staring. It was a bigger room than the Coneheads' and maybe just a little smaller than their caretakers'. Other than the area in front of the glass screen, everything else was completely tidy. Almost too tidy for Sideswipe's liking. But he really wanted to get at the lyraharp. He jiggled at the bar vents, frowning a little when they hardly moved.
"Shhhhh. Don't be loud!" Sunny hissed, scowling.
"I wanna play it-" Sides whined.
"You can't get in. Ask Skywarp, your new best friend." Yes, Sunstreaker was jealous that Sideswipe had grown so fond of the Seeker.
Sideswipe missed the note of jealously, and nodded vigorously. "Yeah! Think I will! Thanks for thinkin' of that, Sunny!"
Sunstreaker muttered under his breath, "Dumbaft." They moved on, looking into the next lighted area.
And so it went, the Twins moving steadily through the airways, looking into each opening they found with curiosity and interest, snickering quietly over certain things or retreating quietly when a mech was on the other side. It was only when the light on Sideswipe's helm started flickering that Sunstreaker looked back and realized that they were lost.
"Uh..." His voice seemed to echo in the darkness behind him and he seized his brother's hand. "Sides..."
Sideswipe took the magnetic light off his helm and tried slapping it hard; sometimes that made things work (hey, it worked with Sunny sometimes!) It flickered even MORE, and Sides could see Sunstreaker's optics start to widen as the light grew dimmer.
"C'mon, Sunny, let's go to a room. Any room." Sunny bit his lip and nodded, taking his older twin's hand and following him through the gloom to the nearest light source, a room where nobody had been heard when they first went past it. Sideswipe pushed on the vent, but it wouldn't budge. He frowned and looked at his brother.
"Help me, Sunny!"
Before the words were completely out, Sunstreaker had began pushing on the vent as well, shoving with all his strength. The cover popped off with a loud crash, admitting the twins into the room.
A huge black mech lay resting on an equally huge berth...and his violet optics slowly opened, lit with more than a touch of annoyance at the interruption of his recharge cycle.
Sunstreaker shook his helm, clearing it from the sudden tumble and looked to check over his brother. Sometimes Sideswipe got hurt without even trying. Sideswipe was fine, however and even stood up and pretended to dust himself off, looking at his scuffed and dusty plating with a giggle.
So much for Skywarp's bath.
Both twins paused when the shadow fell over them and they paused, their helms tilting up and up to stare at the mech who was bigger than Thundercracker. Angry, violet optics glared down at them, set in a scowling, angry face.
The sparklings froze like deer in headlights.
"Who the frag are you?" Motormaster growled, and the twins jumped. Their optics were wide and terrified-looking, and Sideswipe's knees literally shook at the tone.
"Um. We got lost?" Sunstreaker ventured.
"Lost. Lost in my room, fragging with what little recharge I manage to get. I'll pound you two little bugs into scrap!" Motormaster lunged, but fast reflexes born of practice had the twins almost immediately back in the vents, running like Unicron himself was after them.
A roar of rage followed them, a large arm chasing after them and reaching as far as it could, managing to snag Sideswipe's ankle and starting to pull pack when Sunstreaker stomped on the servo as hard as he could. Curses followed the loosened grip and both sparklings ran for the next lighted area, fear carrying their little bodies faster than they knew they could run.
They ran and ran, sometimes even hearing confused exclamations from rooms they ran past, their pedes making a lot of noise. Eventually, they stopped to cycle cooler air and cool their heated engines and calm their racing sparks. They had stopped outside a vent, brighter light filtering in than most of the other ones. Sunstreaker was sniffling, trying to keep from crying again and Sideswipe swiped at his optics to clear them of coolant.
"S'okay, Sunny..." He murmured, reaching for his brother and pulling him into a tight hug.
"W-want St-star!" Sunstreaker sobbed softly, trembling.
Sideswipe nodded, leaning back to slide down the wall. Only he wasn't leaning against the wall, but another vent... Which fell open under them, tumbling them into the brighter area.
They looked up, glancing around fearfully, sparks pounding but the area was empty. It was a hallway, doors lining the opposite wall.
"Shhh. Not dark here." Sideswipe said, holding on to Sunny's hand tightly. "Maybe we can find them."
"Don't wanna find that MEAN one. He'll slag us for sure!" Sunstreaker pronounced sagely. Sides nodded fearfully, as if he expected the big black semi to just appear from nowhere, his engines roaring.
They walked down the hallway, keeping to the sides so maybe they wouldn't be noticed. Red and yellow do stick out, though, and they both failed to take that into account in their explorations.
There were palmpads at many of the doors, just high enough that they couldn't reach, not even standing on each other like they'd tried before. Sunstreaker was starting to get crankier and crankier, speaking very little except to say stubbornly, "Want Star. Now."
"We'll find him." Sideswipe snapped back, not faring much better. His own fear and trepidation was beginning to wear on him as he pulled his brother with him, determined to find one of their caretakers. He turned a corner, tugging Sunstreaker after him and ran into something solid and metal.
He grunted, little red frame rebounding off the object and into his twin, both sparklings tumbling to the floor.
"Well, hey!" Sunstreaker and Sideswipe's helms snapped up again. "What do we have here?"
In front of them stood two mechs, a tan and purple one with big violet optics that glowed with intense interest and a big grey, blue and purplish one with a red visor, odd flared protrusions on his back and a grin that sent terrified shivers through the mechlings.
"Ummmmm..." Sideswipe stopped dead, not sure what to make of these two. They hadn't done anything to them yet, but that bigger one was just SCARY, just by being there!
Sunstreaker swallowed his fear and stood between his twin and the two strange mechs. "Nothin'. Go away, afts." His expression was as fierce as he could make it...but the coolant tearstreaks down his cheeks didnt really help matters.
"Got a mouth on him, Swin." the bigger one remarked, cracking his knuckles. Sides decided he didn't like that mech. "Yeah! Go away, fragging aftlicking afthead!"
The one previously called Swin laughed long and hard at that. "Vortex, I do believe those are the younglings everyone's been talking about."
"Younglings? What younglings? There are no younglings!" Vortex said, not believing a word of what Swindle was saying, despite very concrete proof in front of him.
Swindle raised an optical ridge at his companion. "Really? Then what I am seeing must be an optical illusion. Perhaps we should find out what energon we drank to cause it." He rolled his optics. "Because I am seeing two red and yellow younglings. Both of which know some interesting swears."
The jeep bent down quickly, snagging Sunstreaker by his scruff bar and hefting him into the air. "Rather puny, ain't ya?"
Sunstreaker stared wide optic'd at the jeep, before he twisted ineffectually in the grip. "Leggo!"
Sideswipe also was not one bit pleased with this. "Yeah! Put my brother down slagface!" He kicked at the tan shinguard to make his point.
Swindle chuckled. "Feel pretty real to me, too."
Vortex rolled his optics behind his visor. 'Fine. So there's younglings. What do you want me to do about it, throw a fragging party? Sheesh, they're more trouble than they're worth. Can't do nothin' with 'em, they break too easy, and all they do is scream and cry when you try and play with 'em."
Swindle looked down at the mechling who was currently gnawing on his leg. "Stop that, or I'll let Vortex have you as a toy. You wouldn't like that. He breaks his toys." Sideswipe's optics grew even bigger at that, and he reached up with both arms, wailing in a high, thin voice. "Gimme! Gimme Sunny! My brother! Nononononono!"
Sunstreaker took up the chant. "Nonononononono!"
Swindle and Vortex both flinched, the former holding the yellow sparkling at arm's length as if he had cosmic rust.
Vortex covered his audials, scowl on his faceplates. "Fragging make it stop, Swin! That's more annoying than Brawl trying to get Onlsaught to play a game with him!"
His gestalt mate had to agree and the Combaticon gave Sunstreaker a good shake, snapping an irritable, "Stop that or I'll drop you!"
Both twins mouths snapped shut, optics wide. Swindle snorted. "Better. Fragging useless is what you are. Bet you'd make me more money as parts than whole."
Sunstreaker couldn't take it anymore. The poor little mechling was tired, he was scared, and this afthead was threatening to make spare parts out of him. He thrashed as hard as he could, kicking and screaming and biting with every movement. Sideswipe looked afraid; this was like that one time, when Sunstreaker had beaten up the youngling that was twice his size. But these mechs were way bigger than that, so Sides was scared for his twin, suddenly very, very scared. His screech could have woken the dead, and footsteps came rushing up the hallway, revealing two small figures around the same size as the twins, and a catlike figure that growled loudly at the Combaticons.
"Hey! Afthead! Pick on someone yer own size!" The bluish small mech shouted, waving a fist in the air. The black, beast bot slunk foward still growling and occasionally hissing at the two.
"Or what, runt?" Vortex cackled. "You'll jump and try to hit my face?"
Swindle snickered beside him, giving Sunstreaker another good shake. The yellow mechling whimpered, staring wide optic'd at the floor that seemed so far down. Sideswipe stared up at his brother.
"No. I'll do this!" And the cassette launched himself at the jeep with a war whoop, servo transforming into a pile driver and slamming down on his foot.
Swindle howled in pain, releasing Sunstreaker who screeched in fear as he plunged towards the ground. He never hit it, instead being met with an 'oof' and solid arms under his back and legs. He immediately clung to the presence, the black and red cassette backing out of reach of the bigger mechs.
Vortex was laughing at his gestaltmate's predicament; anyone who got their aft kicked by one of Soundwave's brats deserved whatever he got. He was annoyed by the screeching, though, and his longer reach and greater speed allowed him to reach of the little red one, his hand moving far too fast for most mechs to intercept.
Most mechs except one modeled after a feral cat, that is. Ravage swiped out with one of her paws, ripping the plating on Vortex's hand, and grabbed the youngling by the collar fairing in her mouth, dragging him back. Swindle was still shrieking from the pain in his foot; it was literally flattened in places, as those pile drivers were strong.
"Frag you and your fragged up gestalt, anyway." Rumble said. "Or Ravage'll rip you a new intake, except it'll be where your aft USED to be."
Sideswipe laughed weakly at this; the mental image was kinda funny.
"This is all well 'n good, but c'mon Rumble! Let's book it!" Frenzy hollered, still holding Sunstreaker in his arms. For his size, Sunstreaker was surprisingly heavy.
Rumble snorted, slamming his pile driver on Swindle's foot once more and then racing after his twin, cackling. Ravage seized Sideswipe's collar fairing again and lifted him, the mechling curling into a ball in surprise and fear at the enraged howling that followed their quick escape down the hall.
The cassette twins and Ravage knew where they were headed, and they made it in record time, the door opening almost as soon as they approached it. They walked inside and deposited the twins on the floor, and Sideswipe looked around curiously. He saw the instrument from before in here!
Sunstreaker was still trembling in his anger, though, his emotional state still out of control. He turned on Frenzy as if he were about to hit him, but Sideswipe grabbed his hand and concentrated.
::Sunny. SUNNY. Is okay. They're no bigger'n us. Safe. Calm down, please. Calm down for me. You're gonna hurt somethin'. Please Sunny.::
Icy optics slid over Sideswipe, making him shiver just a little...and the color began to return. Sunstreaker flopped on the floor, almost strutlessly, utterly exhausted.
Rumble snickered and Frenzy elbowed him hard. "What?" He asked incredulously.
Ravage glared at both her brothers, huffing a bit before slinking to the twins, nudging Sunstreaker until the mechlet stood with a whine. She then nudged a confused Sideswipe closer to his brother before she herded both of them to the pillows on the floor and encouraged them to climb in. Sunstreaker curled on his side against the soft surface, Sideswipe settling next to his brother.
"Who're you?" He asked, voice edging into static with his exhaustion.
"Rumble and Frenzy, and the furball's Ravage." Ravage growled at the furball comment. "We're twins, like you, and you're at our house. Recharge here for right now. When 'Wave gets home, he'll know what to do." Frenzy explained.
Sideswipe hardly heard anything past their names, Sunstreaker already deep in recharge and in no time at all, he was too, lulled by the sound of his brother's systems.
And there ya go! Reviews will keep us happy. And happy authors = Safe twins!