"SLAGGERS!" Mudflap screamed at the sports cars speeding around at the top of the cliff and leaving them in the dust. "Skids! You alright?" Mudflap stumbled over the rocky terrain to come to his twin's side. Skids landed hard against the cliff's rock wall and felt agonizing pain, but only briefly. Skids didn't move or respond to Mudflap's calls. The fall totaled his alt mode and crushed his legs. So if he wasn't in pain, one could imagine the confused daze he was lost in. Finally, Mudflap was able to bring him back to reality. "Hey, look ah me!" Skids focused in. "You look like ya got knocked silly! What's wrong wit' ya?" Mudflap said.

'Well fo' one thing, I jus' got shoved ova a cliff! What's yur excuse, ugly?' Skids thought bitterly, but soon regretted it when he realized how happy he was to see his brother. Mudflap noticed the wound before Skids even had to say "My legs got smashed." Carefully considering the circumstances, Mudflap gave Skids his hand. He would carry his twin back to base, which was only a few miles away. Skids could stand on his less damaged leg and lean on Mudflap for support. Unfortunately, circumstances were not that well considered. Mudflap heaved at his brother's arm, Skids stood up, and... "OW! Ow ow ow!" Skids cried. Mudflap quickly laid Skids back down. Skids obviously couldn't put enough weight on either of his legs to walk. Mudflap paced, trying to figure another way to carry Skids. Possibly cradling him in his arms or piggy-backing him. But both ideas were impossible. There was no way Mudflap could carry the equivalent of his full body weight on his back or in his arms over the distance ahead of them. And Skids was in no condition for that kind of traveling anyway. So what could they do? Mudflap sat down beside Skids, who was curled in a ball on his side massaging his left leg.

"Does it hurt?" Mudflap asked.

"Nah. I can't feel either of 'em." Skids paused. Realization slowly dawned on the twins.

"You can't feel dis?" Mudflap nudged Skids' lower thigh with his knuckles.

"No."

"Well den what were ya whinin' fo'? When ya stood up, what hurt?" Mudflap took a better look at where his brother was massaging his leg. He took Skids' hand and lifted it from the wound. Skids' left leg was hanging from the rest of him only by wires! His right leg was also in a similar but less severe condition at the hip joint. It was a miracle that neither legs were soaked in leaking energon. Skids couldn't stay in this condition for long. "Primus, we gotta get you help, bro!" Mudflap gasped.

"No way!" Skids pleaded. "You call fo' help an' you know who'll answer!" Skids was right. Most of the Autobots were gone from the base at classified coordinates, awaiting the arrival of another group of Autobots. If the twins called base for help, they'd hear from the two meches there, who they hated the most. The Twins, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker! Sideswipe wasn't so bad when he first came to Earth. He mostly kept to himself, and Skids and Mudflap didn't mind him. But that all changed the instant Sideswipe and Sunstreaker reunited. At first there was surprise. Seeing another set of twins appear out of no where was quite a surprise, since Skids and Mudflap had met so few other twins in their lives. Then there was envy. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker did everything better than Skids and Mudflap. They even stole their sub group name. Whenever someone referred to "The Twins", Skids and Mudflap didn't even look up anymore. They already knew which twins they were talking about. What they meant to say was "The Better Twins". Ever since Sunstreaker showed up and Sideswipe stopped sulking in the corner, they were the new "Twins". And Skids and Mudflap were the old news, "Other Twins". Worst of all was the hate. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker knew they were better and they knew Skids and Mudflap felt replaced. So they rubbed it in their faces every chance they got. Sideswipe, not so much. He easily grew tired of taunting the other twins. But Sunstreaker never stopped. He loved that they hated them, and he loved the fact that they wouldn't retaliate even more. Skids and Mudflap worked hard to gain a little respect around the other Autobots. And they vowed never to destroy whatever good reputation they had over starting a fight. So the lower rank twins avoided the higher rank twins at all cost and showed as little amount of violence as possible when cornered by the higher rank twins. To ask for their help was a lost cause if Sideswipe and Sunstreaker didn't accept and a suicide mission if they did!

"You can't stay like dis fo'eva!" Mudflap protested. Though he hated to admit it, they had no other choice but to call for Sideswipe's and Sunstreaker's help. Mudflap sent NEST's main computer a transmission through his com link on a frequency that both Autobots and humans called in case of an emergency. He didn't speak at first. Instead he sent three tones that any Autobot or human would recognize as an S.O.S signal. Almost immediately there was an answer.

"This is Autobot Sideswipe, combat instructor and warrior." Sideswipe addressed, as all Autobots were trained to do when answering NEST's hotline. "State your name and emergency."

"Autobot Mudflap." He didn't have to say anything else. He knew what was coming.

"What do you want, twerp?" Sideswipe grumbled.

"Save it blockhead! Skids got hurt! He can't walk or transform an' I can't carry 'im!"

"Wow, sounds like you guys could really use some help." Sideswipe said sarcastically without care.

"IT AINT FUNNY SIDESWIPE! You hear me? Skids needs medical help ASAP!" Mudflap shouted. No response. Except for a light chuckle from Sideswipe. "YOU WOULDN'T BE LAUGHING IF YO TWIN GOT HURT! YOU WOULDN'T BE LAUGHING IF YO TWIN A'MOST LOST HIS LEGS! YOU'D BE HERE ALREADY!" Silence. Sideswipe was astonished by Mudflap's words. He couldn't think of anything else to say because it was true. Sideswipe loved his brother and he'd do anything for him. He never stopped to think about the other pair of twins' relationship. He only noticed them when they got in the way, which made him see the worst in them. But they were twins too. They shared the same psychic bond that he shared with Sunstreaker. And when you share thoughts and emotions with someone else, you feel them twice as strong. Sideswipe regretted every time he, Sunstreaker, Skids, and Mudflap went head to head. He regretted starting senseless violence against fellow Autobots. The Twins (both sets) fought against each other because deep down they had a lot more things in common than they realized. If opposites attract, then this was an example of similarities repel. Sideswipe thought about the fear for Skids that Mudflap must be feeling, multiplied by Skids' own fear. Sideswipe couldn't let that slide by. If there were ever a perfect opportunity to make a truce between the sets of twins, now was the time.

Between the anger and despair Mudflap felt in the suspenseful silence, he felt like he was about to explode. What would it take for his friend enemy to show a little kindness or mercy? Just then, Mudflap heard Sideswipe's voice again. It sounded different. "You're right." Sideswipe said in a mournful tone. Mudflap had to wonder, was he apologizing? "Tell me your location."

"Uh yeah, we fell ova da edge of da road a mile o' two from NEST's security check point."

"Understood. We'll be there right away."

"Thanks Sideswipe." Mudflap sighed, relieved that he got through to Sideswipe. The transmission ended and Mudflap looked back at Skids. He seemed okay despite the condition his legs were in. Mudflap scooted in closer to Skids and took his hand away from where he was still rubbing at the splitting wires. Skids scowled at him.

"Hey!"

"Don't do dat anymo'. Yo leg'll fall off."

"It really hurts man!" Skids cried.

"Ya said you couldn't feel no pain." Mudflap said in confusion.

"Not ma legs." Both twins looked down at Skids' hip joint. Just where the left leg used to be fully attached, energon was finally leaking out. It came in small drips, but that still worried Mudflap. If Skids made one wrong move, the wound on his hip could turn into an energon sprinkler.

"Hurry up Sideswipe." Mudflap thought. He didn't mean for Skids to hear that, but he did.

"You talk ta Sideswipe?" Skids whined.

"He said he'd come." Mudflap said plainly. "An' he ment it too." Meanwhile at Autobot HQ...

"Sunny?" Sunstreaker looked up from his sketch pad. Sideswipe looked worried.

"What's up bro?" Sunstreaker asked casually.

"C'mon. Get up and let's go." Sideswipe gently punched Sunstreaker's shoulder to influence him to stand.

"And where are we off to in such a hurry?" The unmoved stubborn twin questioned.

"Rescue mission." Sideswipe replied while transforming.

"Well why didn't ya just say so in the..?" Sunstreaker started to say. But he was cut off by Sideswipe's roaring engine and squealing tires, already racing out the door. "Hey, wait up!" Within seconds Sunstreaker was transformed as well and flooring it to catch up to Sideswipe. Sunstreaker quickly realized how his twin played with his curiosity to get him to do what he wanted. But he didn't complain. He needed to get out and spin his wheels. Sideswipe honked as a hi and bye salutation to the human guards at NEST's security check point. The humans let them pass and some saluted back to them. (Maybe if they had slowed down a bit and got a better look at the humans, the twins would have seen what was terribly wrong with the situation. But neither of them noticed a thing out of the ordinary, and kept driving.) They were officially off NEST property. "Okay Sides." Sunstreaker nagged through the twin bond. "You got me out here. Now what are we doing?"

"I told you. We're on search and rescue duty right now."

"Yes well," Sunstreaker snarled. "I don't know if you realized, but you may have left out a couple tiny, major important, details!"

"Alright, alright! Geeze, don't blow a gasket! Promise, I'll tell you everything."

"Okay. Now where are we going?"

"The road's cliff drop off, two miles ahead."

"And who are we rescuing?" Sideswipe knew this question was coming. Oh well. Sunstreaker would just have to accept that they were willingly helping their twin competition out of a sticky situation. It's not like he could turn around now, right? He'd just have to come out and say it. Who were they rescuing...?

"Skids and Mudflap." Sideswipe said confidently. Sunstreaker instantly halted!

"WHO NOW?" Sunstreaker exclaimed. Sideswipe shifted into reverse to drive up to his seemingly paralyzed brother.

"Just keep it together Drama Queen, and the deed will be done and over with in no time." Sideswipe teased. He revved his engine a few times. "Now c'mon. We got a job to do." Just as Sideswipe started driving forward, Sunstreaker's engine roared to life. Sunstreaker suddenly swerved in front of Sideswipe and blocked his path.

"WELL WHY?" Sunstreaker screamed out loud.

"Sunny!" Sideswipe slammed on his breaks, narrowly avoiding an accidental collision with Sunstreaker's door.

"Why do we have to help out those useless slabs? Did Prime send us or what?"

"No!" Sideswipe snapped. "Mudflap called for help on the emergency hotline. If they had the time to wait then I'm sure they would have called Prime and they would have waited for him to come and save them. But that's not the case, is it? Don't you get it? They're in trouble, they're short on time, and they're desperate! We have to go help them!"

"Since when do you give scrap about those glitch heads?"

"Since I got a desperate call from two Cybertronian twins, one injured and the other not even thinking about leaving his brother's side, all alone with no one else to turn to." A memory of Sideswipe and himself in a similar situation back on Cybertron came to Sunstreaker's memory. But he quickly shooed it away, and Sideswipe noticed. Sideswipe transformed and walked around Sunstreaker, disgusted with his brother. He looked back. "We don't fight them because we're better than them. We don't have to try to prove that to anyone. We fight them because they fight us, and vice versa. Its competition! When are you going to see that they're just like us?" Sunstreaker couldn't transform and meet Sideswipe optic to optic. He felt too embarrassed to do or say anything else. Sideswipe took a few more steps before transforming back into vehicle mode and driving away. "Don't be shy. You can still come with if you want to." Sideswipe added. Sunstreaker turned around, but he didn't follow. He just stayed right there idling and watching his nobler twin drive away.