AN: Gah, I'm sorry for the delay. Easter just did not sit with me and writing for some reason.

Then I got my account on AO3 and things started looking up. I'll be crossposting all my stories there in due time if anyone prefers that site over this one.

Here is chapter 8, an entire month late, and no inspiration from other media for this chapter except quiet and a distinct lack of internet.

When Sunstreaker got back to the Ark and found his brother missing, his already foul mood plummeted considerably. His paintjob had already been scratched to the pits and back today, he didn't have the time to go looking for his wayward, sulking brother on top of fixing his paint before debrief came along.

So he had to choose. Find his missing brother who had a possibly terminal condition (and worry always flared up again when he thought of it that way) or fix his appearance, something deemed of second importance only to Sideswipe.

Well that settled it, didn't it? His brother was most important, ergo his brother had to be found first. It had nothing to do with the fact that Ratchet had told him to find Sideswipe and get his idiotic brother prepped for a check-up after Ratchet fixed the worst of the battle-damage.

Sunstreaker concentrated on the bond, trying to find his twin's general location only to find that he couldn't, for some reason, sense Sideswipe properly. That meant his twin was either blocking him, or worse, lay somewhere unconscious.

Briefly, he panicked.

If Sideswipe was lying somewhere in the dust, unable to contact anyone, what would Sunstreaker be able to do about it? With the bond inactive he couldn't track down the wayward twin unless he was really nearby. Maybe he could convince Red Alert to send out the Sky Spy-

Sunstreaker then realised he was panicking and forced it down. He didn't know anything yet; his brother could be blocking him.

Maybe he should ask Red Alert for Sideswipe's whereabouts anyway.

An hour later and Sideswipe still hadn't been found. Sunstreaker had excused himself from debrief and was going into a full-blown panic. Red Alert had told him that Sideswipe had left the Ark when the battle was still in progress and had been tracked going off in the opposite direction. After it had become clear to the security director that the wayward twin was not going to barge into battle and was more likely heading off into a sulk he didn't bother tracking him; the battle and base security was more important.

He was racing in the direction Sideswipe had last been known to be heading. Prowl must have alerted the authorities to the very worried speeding Autobot since there were no patrol cars attempting to flag him down.

Instead, with the rumble of all-too-familiar engines, it seemed as though there were two Seekers preparing themselves for a strafe. Well Sunstreaker's paintjob was already scratched to the pits and back so it wasn't like he wouldn't have do redo it anyway.

Sunstreaker slammed on the brakes and transformed during the resulting skid, quickly turning around to face the oncoming threat. Then he waited for his moment.

Instead of going in for a strafing run, however, the two slowed down and circled above him before transforming into their root modes and hovering in the air facing Sunstreaker with identical smirks. They had been absent from the earlier battle and it showed it their gleaming paintjobs. Sunstreaker with his recent battle-scars felt decidedly scruffy next to them and it only made him angrier.

Someone would have to pay for his terrible day and the Seekers had just become convenient targets. He would have to ask Ironhide score him, based on

But before Sunstreaker could do anything, Thundercracker held up his hands and said, "You might not want to do that today Autobot."

That completely threw Sunstreaker. When had those two bolt-brained Seekers ever stopped themselves from getting into a fight with him? Especially when they had the (probable) upper hand?

"Why the frag shouldn't I shoot you two pigeons?", Sunstreaker bit out.

The Seekers didn't react to the taunt, except for Skywarp's stifled snigger, which was making this situation doubly unusual. Comparing a Seeker to an organic bird was normally an invocation for Seeker tempers.

"Isn't there a human saying which goes 'don't shoot the messenger'? We have a message for you from Megatron himself," said Thundercracker, "So don't shoot us."

Sunstreaker didn't care for any messages Megatron had for him, and was about to tell the flyboys exactly that when the unwelcome question of how they had known to find him here popped up. Sunstreaker didn't usually leave the Ark after a battle; no Autobot who had participated did unless there was a real need for it. How had they known that Sunstreaker would leave and that he would take this particular route?

Suddenly the lack of Sideswipe's responses took on an entirely new light. He wouldn't be able to respond if he had been knocked out.

Although that was a big if and there was little to no evidence for it. Megatron's message could just be for the first Autobot the Seekers came across. Why wouldn't he contact the Ark directly then.

Sunstreaker's internal debate took a few seconds, and although he kept his face in the same wary expression, some of his thoughts or more accurately, fears, must have shown on his face because Skywarp chimed in saying, "Don't you want to know what happened to your brother?"

Sunstreaker's world stopped then, stopped to focus only on two things; the Seekers in front of him and the bond with his brother. He'd been denying his earlier realisation, trying to put off the thoughts of Sideswipe is captured, Sideswipe might die, Sideswipe, Sideswipe, Sideswipe! Now there was no escaping it and he had to know what had happened.

"Where is he?" Sunstreaker asked in his most menacing tone.

To their credit, no matter how much he didn't want to give it, they didn't react with so much as a twitch of a wingtip to his tone and their smirks never left their faces.

Thundercracker spoke again this time, "Oh, you know the deal. Lord Megatron told us all about his deficit, we kidnapped him and you're going to come with us if you want him to not spend the rest of his life in agony."

Sunstreaker hated the cold, sinking feeling he got in his spark when he heard that; his guess had been correct, no matter how much he wanted to deny it.

And no one at the Ark would know what had happened, they'd all think he had turned traitor. Cliffjumper especially would be overjoyed that his predictions of the twins one day becoming Decepticons would turn out to be true.

Unexpectedly, Skywarp spoke again while Sunstreaker was still recovering from having his being shattered, "Oh and by Lord Megatron's mercy you have a day to say goodbye to that hideous lump of metal you call a base. You can't tell anyone, just do it in your head or something. We'll be watching! Meet you here tomorrow Sunny!"

The Seekers transformed and roared off, leaving Sunstreaker to pick up the pieces of himself as the cold feeling in his spark took over him.

AN: I've just realised how terribly irritating the formatting on this site is.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed/faved/followed so far. We're now halfway through and I have to wonder how I ever got this far.

Eli