Author's NB: Whoops, I made a mistake and put a different chapter in place of 19, but I caught the boo boo quick enough and changed it. If you noticed it, go back and read 19 again cos now chapter 19 is chapter 19 and not chapter 9 like I think it was for about 5 minutes. But FF lags sometimes so it might have taken 30 minutes to sort its shit out.
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Chapter Twenty
21st December
2017hrs
He'd been thrown back from the source of the explosion and impacted violently against the spongy wall and thus, knocked out for a few of the human minutes. When he regained awareness he was slumped up against the wall, an unpleasant ache in his head and a burning sensation on his front. Looking down, he wished he hadn't, noticing the singed, peeling flakes that had once been his front finish. He growled out a string of profanities in his native tongue and then simply pushed himself up and examined the hole in the wall that he'd be responsible for. The once nicely yellowed mech climbed out the hole and into the corridor.
BANG BANG BANG!
Given his recent experiences, it caused him to jump, and a squeal actually passed his lip components, something he realised suddenly was actually very embarrassing and hoped no one was around to hear.
"HEY! LET ME OUTTA HERE!"
The banging continued and was punctuated by the yells from his brother.
"Sides?"
He called out.
"YO! Sunny, get me out, bro!"
"Okay! Hang on Sides!"
Sunstreaker forgot his current aesthetic condition and ran over to the cell his brother was languishing in. He banged on the door a few times until he noticed the control panel and decided to try it the easy way. He punched in a security code he'd once seen on Prowl's desk and was surprised that it worked. The door swished open and his brother sprawled out into his arms as he was in the middle of another door whack. The two clanged to the floor and looked at each other, their optics wide with surprise and relief that they were free.
"We better get the Pit out of here, bro".
Sideswipe said as he climbed off the blackened yellow twin.
The red twin reached the door leading out of the brig's corridor and suddenly he was given a swift whack to the back of the head.
"Hey!"
He spun around and glared at his twin.
"What the Pit bro, what the pit??"
"What are you talking about you ninny?"
"Why did you hit me?"
"You think I have time to hit you?"
"Well who the hell else would?"
"If you don't get your aft through that door I'll hit you!"
Sunstreaker growled irritably. Sideswipe gave him a rather evil glance and turned back to attempting to get the door open.
He received a kick in the backside.
"HEY!!"
Sideswipe spun around and smacked his brother in the face with a hit that was more akin to a slap.
"You slapped me? Why did you slap me! Only femmes slap!"
Sunstreaker bellowed in a rather stunned tone.
"Well, you kicked me in the aft!"
"The Pit I did!"
"Well, who the fuck would kick me?"
"Maybe you farted so loud that vibrated the air around you that it felt like a kick!"
"Only fleshies fart!"
"Oh, so you're saying you're a fleshy now?"
"NO! I'M SAYING YOU KICKED ME!"
Sideswipe screamed.
Sunstreaker then punched his twin square in the face plates, the force knocking him back into the door he was attempting to open, which, strangely, without interference of the control panel, it did. The red twin sprawled out into the corridor, sliding along a few metres before coming to a halt.
"Get up, numb nuts; we don't have time for your paranoia".
Of course, you know its not paranoia, don't you?
"Shut up".
He whispered under his breath, his twin caught the fact he had spoken, but unable to identify what had been mentioned.
"Let's go, let's just get the hell out of here".
Sunstreaker reached down and pulled his twin up by the shoulder.
2030hrs
It was quite a good fluke of luck that their escape had been so relatively easy. There was no throng of guards, no lock down, no surly Magnus standing there with his firm vocals barking out orders of cessation. But it was a creepy situation to be in none the less. The halls seemed so empty and quiet, and it didn't take long to escape the stench of the smoke and the sounds of the flames burning slowly through the strong metal.
"So… ah… Sunny?"
Sideswipe wasn't sure if this was the time or the place, or even if it was sane enough to ask.
"What the hell was that?"
He wasn't talking about the slap to the back of the head, or the kick to the aft, and Sunstreaker knew that.
"Not now".
He grumbled as he led the way along the long tapering corridor towards a rarely used exit that he and a few others knew.
"Well, we gotta have the conversation, Suns, for Primus' sake, I've seen some creepy stuff, you had a total tanty*, we got locked up down here like 'con POW, that nurse First Aid gave us the "how are you feeling?" crap and that great big geek bot Percy was all over us like flyborgs on shit. Something the hell is going totally FUBAR!"
Sunstreaker ignored his brother and actually hastened his pace.
"SUNSTREAKER!!"
He stood there and squealed.
His twin ignored him.
"Right, you've left me no choice, three… two… assuming position… ONE".
He dropped to the ground and began to make a howling noise similar to what a cat might make if their tail was caught in the mouth of a dog that was covered in killer bees.
"Oh for frag's sake, now who's having the tanty?!"
Sunstreaker stood over his brother and put his singed hands on his hips.
"Works for Danny".
"Danny is an immature blob offspring belonging to corrupt and biologically inferior species that not only sheds their little skin cells all over my upholstery but has a…"
He went silent for a moment and turned to look behind him from where he thought something had rattled.
Sideswipe was about to make a comment until he too was aware of it and sat himself up.
And then they saw.
They turned.
They ran.
Screaming.
The thing that took to their pursuit was something they'd never seen before, something that had not tormented them prior and had certainly not existed in even their worst nightmares. It was pitch black and its very nature seemed to pull every speck of light that dare exist near it. It had a vaguely familiar form of arms and its torso passed down into a twisted mangled mess that could have been legs, almost as if it wore a long dress. Its eyes, well, they were two large red dots that sat within the black sphere that passed as its head. Its entire form, its entire body, everything about it was cold, chilling and frankly, quite evil. They glowed brightly, but with no life, no hope and certainly no concern for anything other then its twisted mutated self. It tore down the hallway towards them, a scream so ethereal and disjointed that it would reduce even the most staunchest of mechs to their knees to weep with a self pity and fear so deep that it could only have been sourced from the spark as it fractured with terror.
It easily made up the ground between itself and the two mechs, still screaming. Sideswipe made the mistake of having to be looking in the wrong direction at the wrong time and he saw deep into its soulless eyes, seeing deep into a pit of darkness that was nothing but a tormented hell. He could feel a part of him being pulled into it. Sunstreaker, had tripped and fallen just as it passed over them, and even though he was face into the floor he felt it. He felt its bitter presence caress him; it was a repugnant and selfish touch, more akin to what a rapist would dish out upon a weeping femme as he used her for his own pleasure. The icy chill it left upon the golden twin was drenched with a resent few living could express.
Expanding, it engulfed them, it seemed to suck all the life from the air around them, but they remained living, it seemed to suck the very warmth from the air around them, but they remained at an even internal body temperature, it seemed to suck from the air around them every hope, every dream, every memory they held, yet they maintained the events within their minds that made them who they were. It was an absolutely violating sensation, one which no matter how long their cycles continued, they would never forget.
Somewhere in their sparks, and while they would never admit to it, they felt all hope and joy leave them, and in its place, a desolation filled their souls. Sideswipe dropped to his knees, curling his form into a foetal position and he wept, he openly wept, with no concern for whatever his brother might think of this sudden wimpy outburst. But Sunstreaker, he continued to lie face down and placing his hands over the back of his head he shuddered before he did something he hadn't done since their creator had pushed it on him, he prayed. Sunstreaker was not a fan of Primus, and certainly not one who adhered to any faith that placed Primus at the top rung. Sunstreaker, was by and by, an atheist, so for him to pray, well… it was bad.
The creature of whatever form and whatever origin left them, but not before it relished in their despair, its final gift, for the time being at least, was a physical alignment that had them languishing on the cold floor, both now weeping like little girls.
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* Tanty – Tantrum.