Author's Note: Thanks for reviewing my last chapter! No I have not abandoned this story even though I was away for a long time. I never leave my stories unfinished so please review! Also, I know that I said last chapter was 16 but meant to say 15…this chapter is really 16 lol.
Chapter 16
The twins by now knew something was very wrong when they awoke to hear warning sirens out in the hallway, not to mention Optimus was gone. Sides tried to open the door but discovered it had been locked. Only Optimus Prime's special unlock code could open it now.
"What's going on out there?" Sunny questioned a little nervously from where he was crouched on the recharge berth.
"Something bad if Optimus left" Sides answered casually as he climbed up beside his twin.
The red youngling wasn't as worried about what was happening since he had great faith in the Autobot leader. The ship shook as if something big had just collided with it. If the twins had been standing up, they would have been knocked down by the impact. The shrill blaring of the red alert alarm outside gave the younglings a sense of foreboding doom.
"I want Optimus…" Sunny whimpered beside his brother.
"I do too. Maybe he will come back soon."
The twins cowered together when they heard the frightened shouts of Jazz and Mirage outside of the door followed by an angry roar. Blaster fire erupted out in the hallway and the twins could barely make out who was fighting outside of their room. At one point they heard Ironhide bellow something like, "Eat this, you decepticon slagger!" before a loud shriek echoed further down the hall when something, most likely a grenade, exploded next to an enemy.
"Who do you think is winning?"
"Ironhide silly, don't you hear him out there?"
Not long after, the sounds of battle faded out as the warriors took their fight elsewhere.
"I think they're gone," Sides declared from where he had one audio pressed against the door.
"Hey…look what I found!"
Sunny was standing next to the small desk in the corner of the room. A small panel was down and Sides could see buttons next to a small screen.
"Is that a communications device?"
Sides crossed the room to join his brother and the twins both investigated their find.
"I think so."
"Does it even work?"
"Let's find out"
Sunny pushed the power button and the screen flickered to life.
"Now what?"
An automated voice answered him.
"I am the ARK's automated directory system. How may I assist you today?"
"We need to speak to Optimus Prime!"
"Now dialing Optimus Prime"
The ship's AI dialed the Autobot leader's personal com-link system. The twins watched the blinking word that said "connecting" on the screen, eagerly waiting to see the "answered" symbol pop up. Sides jerked his head away from the screen when he heard something by the door. A familiar sounding voice filtered through, followed by another.
"What's this?"
"A locked door, what's it look like stupid?"
"Yeah but why is this one the only locked door in this hallway?"
Where had they heard those voices before? Sides turned to look at Sunny to see a shocked expression on his twin's face.
"What is it Sunny?"
"It's them Sides, we gotta hide!" Sunny whispered frantically as he looked around the room for a suitable hiding place. Sunny grabbed his brother's arm and pulled him under the recharge berth until they were both huddling in the back corner. They still heard the voices of those two decepticon jets outside their door.
"Megatron wants the younglings so we have to search the entire ship until we find them!"
"Break the door down then!"
Loud banging filled the room as the door was slowly broken into. The twins failed to see the comm screen flash a green light as the word "answered" appeared. The door was kicked violently down and two sets of large feet entered the room. The twins remained perfectly still and silent from where they hid beneath the recharge berth.
"I don't see the little fraggers, do you Warp?"
"No, just these cute little blankets over here"
Skywarp was currently admiring the two soft, fuzzy, warm red and yellow blankets on top of the recharge berth.
"Looks like, someone was trying to call for help. The little cretins must still be in this room!"
A brief tone filled the silence as someone switched the com-link off.
"Come out little ones…we promise we won't hurt you…" cooed the voice of Skywarp as he began to search the room for them.
"…much…" Thundercracker finished for his brother with a wicked smirk as he helped look beneath the desk.
The twins were shivering from fright by the time the two seekers stood right next to their chosen hiding spot. The entire room had practically been turned upside down and both seekers were sharing a grin when they figured out where the younglings were hiding. Sunny and Sides nearly vented a sigh of relief when they saw and heard both Decepticons exit the room. Right as Sunny was about to tell his brother it was safe to leave their hiding place, a rather frighteningly happy face appeared right in front of them, eliciting shrill shrieks from the two younglings.
They tried to evade the seeking hands of the Decepticon Skywarp but Sunny was the first to get dragged out by one of his little legs. He was pulled out, dangling upside down in front of the amused face of the seeker while his brother was fighting off the eager hands of Thundercracker. In a last act of desperation, Sides did the only thing that came to his processor.
A startled, pain-filled cry startled Skywarp as he turned to see his brother snarling and swearing as he held his hand.
"That little pit spawn BIT me!"
Now extremely angry, Thundercracker roughly pulled the second youngling out and completely ignored the little beast's cries of pain as he handled him none too gently.
"That's what you get for biting me, you little fool!"
The red youngling glared at him and had the audacity to actually hiss in Thundercracker's face.
The seeker practically threw the second youngling at his brother before marching out of the door in rage. Skywarp couldn't help but cuddle the younglings as he held them. They were so cute! He wondered if Megatron would let him keep them…
They were so small and their feisty attitudes were adorable in his opinion. He couldn't forget how the yellow one had tried to punch him in the face from where he had been dangling upside down a few moments ago. It was funny and most entertaining!
"Alright little ones, just be good for uncle Skywarp and I promise I won't let my brother hurt you."
Sunny and Sides shared a skeptical look with one another as they were hauled out of the room by the seeker, both younglings unsure of what to do now that they were captured. It was a little confusing that this one Decepticon was actually being nice to them. Weren't all Decepticons mean, like Optimus said?
They didn't have long to ponder it when a booming voice came from somewhere nearby.
"Put the younglings down!"
Thundercracker and Skywarp froze in their tracks when they turned to see the Autobot leader aiming his gun right at them. Thundercracker sneered at the Autobot and gave him a defiant glare.
"You wouldn't dare fire on us while we have the younglings in our possession!"
"Release them and I will let you go without consequence. Fail to surrender them to me and I will terminate you," Optimus's voice lowered as he narrowed icy blue optics threateningly at his foes.
"If you want them, come and get them!"
With those words, Thundercracker and Skywarp turned around and fled with the two younglings shrieking shrilly for Optimus to save them. Prime was in hot pursuit with determination blazing in his eyes. He was going to save them and those two seekers were going to regret their failure to heed his words. Why did Decepticons always have to do things the hard way?
Optimus was quite pleased to see that the two seekers had managed to hit a dead end when they came across a locked door, preventing them from rejoining their comrades on the other side. Ironhide, Mirage, and Jazz had guns trained on the two seekers. Ironhide was grinning widely now as he approached Skywarp. He took Sunny and sides from him, keeping his gun trained on the enemy the entire time.
"Here Optimus," Ironhide gave his leader the twins and then took his position near their captives.
"So nice of you both to join us in our humble home, now if you would be so kind, as to follow me," Mirage gave Thundercracker an encouraging nudge with his gun to get them moving.
They followed behind Ironhide and the Autobots led them further into their ship until they found the detention level. Ratchet and Wheeljack were loading the last of the Decepticon bodies onto the boarding vessel and were just about to launch it back into space as a funeral pod.
"We got us a couple of prisoners Ratchet. They tried to take the twins!"
Ratchet turned and glared at the two seekers and gestured for his comrades to shove them into the nearest cell where the energy bars activated once they were inside.
"Now, if you would be so kind as to tell us why you were after the younglings?"
"We aren't telling you anything!" Thundercracker snarled.
Ratchet activated his saw and sent his most chilling death glare in their direction. Skywarp was the first to crack.
"Megatron wants them for new recruits!"
"YOU IDIOT!"
Thundercracker turned and punched his brother who quickly retaliated. Both bots scuffled, rolling around on the floor trying to get the upper hand. A loud gunshot shut the two bickering bots up immediately and Skywarp and his brother stopped fighting to look up at a growling Ironhide.
"Just tell us what we need to know and we will set you free."
"LIARS," Thundercracker hissed with narrowed eyes as he took in each of the Autobots.
"We are very truthful unlike you Decepticons. When we say we will set you free…we mean it."
"Starscream told Megatron that the two younglings were good Decepticon material and that the yellow one in particular is the stronger of the two. He wants more recruits for his army and told us to capture them. That's all we know," Skywarp spilled not at all concerned about the death glare his older brother was shooting him.
"Alright, you're free to go."
Jazz deactivated the cell's energy bars so that Mirage and Ironhide could escort their two prisoners out.
"Wait, we can't go back without the younglings, Megatron will terminate us for sure!" Skywarp wailed pitifully as they were shoved along.
"That's not our problem," Ironhide grunted in reply.
"Maybe you should join the Autobots Skywarp. We don't terminate each other!" Jazz suggested as they escorted them off ship.
"The day my brother joins you stinking Autobots is the day that hell freezes over!" Thundercracker growled dangerously as he and his brother were shoved into the boarding craft that they had arrived on. Some other Decepticons were rounded up, Optimus making sure that every Decepticon caught their scheduled flight off ship.
"You can tell Megatron that if any of you attempts another attack or tries to steal our younglings again, we will shoot to kill next time. Consider yourselves warned!"
With those final words, Optimus Prime closed up the hatch and launched the boarding craft back into space. The Autobots had attached a flight guidance system to the ship so that Prowl could remote control its flight pattern as he guided the ship back to the Nemesis. Megatron would most likely be unhappy to find that his troops had been most unsuccessful in their kidnapping ploy. What would make him even grouchier was the sight of the Autobot ship warping to another system, carrying the younglings far from his grasp.
Optimus smiled behind his battle mask as he watched the stars streak past the viewport. He walked back up to the bridge to see how Prowl was faring, both younglings content to be in his arms.
"I think it's high time that you both began your training. You are close enough to the training age to begin, what do you say?"
"Awesome!"
"I want to kick Decepticon aft too!"
"Language," Optimus looked sternly at Sunny who gave him a guilty smile.
"Ironhide said he'd teach us!"
"I can't wait!"
The very next day, the twins began their training and learned their basic combat skills from Ironhide and basic strategy tactics from Prowl for the next few orns. Both twins caught on very well and soaked in all of the knowledge like eager little sponges as their elders taught them what they needed to know.
Optimus knew it would be beneficial for all involved, especially if the Decepticons tried to take them away again. Optimus knew Megatron enough to know that the evil, old codger was quite persistent when it came to getting something he was after. He would never stop until he had the twins in his wicked clutches. Hopefully, the twins would surprise the Decepticons the day they displayed what they learned.
The twins were going to be a force to be reckoned with, that much was certain.
TO BE CONTINUED WITH THE CONCLUDING CHAPTER!