A/N: An offer for your forgiveness for almost being late...

Sideswipe froze in front of the cluster of huge buildings. "Woah. This is your home?"

Bluestreak glanced back at the red mech as he glanced at the huge building from under a street light. "This is part of my home. I live in the building at the center of all the other ones. You'll be staying there as well until morning."

Hound watched Bluestreak with wide optics. "Not high caste my aft! This is bigger than my home!"

"Glad you like it!" Synchro strutted out from the main road. "Welcome to my home. I am Synchro." Synchro glared at Hound. "And you touched my youngling wrong!"

Hound jumped. "I-I didn't mean to!"

Jazz snorted. "Chill! Synchro's just ki-"

"Jazz, do not lie to the mech." Prowl walked up behind Synchro. "Synchro is pissed."

Bluestreak frowned. "He didn't really know any better."

Synchro raised an optic ridge. "I doubt that. He seems innocent from a distance, but then when you get locked in a room with him, he becomes some kind of rapist!"

"Shut your scrap eating mouth plates, Synchro."

Synchro jumped. "Striker! You're here!" A smile spread across his face.

Bluestreak turned around. Sure enough. There stood the black and red mech. The mech stared at Bluestreak for a moment before turning back to Synchro. "I'm here because you called me."

Synchro smiled. "I did. I did. We have to wait for everybody else before that though! Prowl, take Striker to his room please!"

Prowl nodded. "Of course."

Bluestreak turned back to Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. "Sire, these are Sunstreaker and S-"

"I know." Synchro nodded. "Sliver and Scatter Frost told me about them. Welcome." Synchro turned. "Jazz take them to their rooms. Bluestreak, with me."

Bluestreak frowned. "Sire, I-"

"With me." Synchro walked forward. "It's important."

Bluestreak nodded "Jazz, take Hound to my quarters. We have to write a report later."

Jazz nodded. "Sure. Ya want the twins in the same room?"

"Whatever they want." Bluestreak ran off after Synchro.

Prowl walked in front of Striker. Striker stared at Prowl up and down. He had grown into a fine mech. Many bots would be interested in him. Too bad the mech was a walking computer. Disgusting. It was shaming to know that this was his grand-creation.

Prowl paused. "I would prefer it if you would not stare at me like that."

Striker glared. "I don't think you have any preferences."

Prowl turned to Striker. "I do not know what you have against me, but I will tell you now. I am not concerned about it."

Striker smirked. "Then why are you bringing it up? You're not concerned about it, yet you bring it up out of the thin air."

Prowl glanced away. "I see. You are correct. I am slightly concerned about it. You are Bluestreak's carrier. I feel a kind of pressure to earn your respect. At least I think that is what I feel." Prowl pulled out a data pad, and began writing. "I apologize. I shall take you to your room."

"You're creators. Do you know them?"

Prowl turned back. "I do."

"There was only one. There used to be two. I knew them." Striker leaned up against the wall. "They were twisted. Disgusting. There is only one thing mechs like that can bring into the world, and that is something so ugly, it takes the light away from the world. That's you."

Prowl stared at Striker, and nodded. "I understand."

"No, you don't. That is an insult. You should be offended and upset. Yet you just say 'I understand.' There is nothing to understand there."

"But it is true. I take the light out of everything. I am a mech with a stick up his aft. I am strictly professional, and I do not understand the emotions others feel."

Striker glared at the black and white mech. "Are you being sarcastic?"

Prowl turned his helm to the side. A small smile fell across his features. "I am. I believe you are the scum that takes the light from the world. You are disgusting, and are corrupting our city. If you were not here then I believe Bluestreak and I would still be living in that apartment. We would not have dragged into this life, and Bluestreak would not be as unstable as he is."

Striker glared. "No, If I was not here, Bluestreak would not be alive! You would be stuck with that psychopath, and I would regret nothing. I would not feel a single thing about it!"

Prowl and Striker stared heatedly at each other. Prowl finally nodded. "I see. Your room is here. Please. Have a wonderful time."

Striker stared at Prowl as he walked down the hall. He turned to the door and stared. ::Synchro, You're grand-creation failed to give me the code to my room::

::I don't think he failed. I think you pissed him off.::

Striker frowned. ::How am I supposed to get into my room?::

::You don't, Sweet spark::

Striker growled. ::Do not mess with me, Synchro::

::You messed with Prowl. It's your own fault. Everybody knows not to mess with the evil fragger. I trained him well.::

::Synchro!::

::Call me sexy, and I'll tell!::

::I'll recharge in the hall::

After Hound was safely in Bluestreak's quarters Jazz skipped down the huge halls as the twins stared at all the details, and other obvious show of wealth. "Wow." Sideswipe smiled. "This is amazing!"

Sunstreaker glared at Sideswipe. "Shut up. How do you think these people came up with the credits to buy this scrap!"

Jazz glanced back. "Well, we lend credits to mechs, we sale different. . . things."

Sideswipe frowned. "What things?"

"You know. Things like parts, surgeries, energon, high grade. We gather rent from the surrounding buildings. We ensure the people living here that caste doesn't matter."

"Woah, woah, woah!" Sunstreaker glared. "Parts?"

Jazz smirked. "Yeah." Jazz shrugged. "Bots donate parts after they offline, and Ratchet does the installments."

"Donate?"

"They sign a form, Mech. Calm down!" Jazz laughed.

Sideswipe smirked. "Yeah, calm down, Bro!"

Sunstreaker growled. "You never know about these slagging places, Sideswipe!"

Jazz nodded. "Ya thinkin' 'bout Striker. Not a very good mech. So! You guys want a room together or-"

"Yes." Sunstreaker answered.

Jazz glanced back. "Ya know, there's a set of twins here already. They're identical though. Split spark."

"So are we!" Sideswipe yelled. "We don't look the same cause we fight in the pits. Well, we used to."

Sunstreaker glared at Sideswipe. "Where are the twins you were talking about?"

"They're off gathering mechs for a meeting or something. The usual." Jazz stopped in front of a room. "Here ya go! Best room in the place. Well, besides everybody else's. "

"What the frag is that suppose to mean. We're not good enough?" Sunstreaker glared.

"Naw! It means the other good rooms are taken!" Jazz snorted.

"Jazz."

Jazz glanced around. Prowl stood glaring at him. "Prowler!"

Prowl sighed as he turned to the twins. "All the rooms are quite equal. That room looks exactly like the room next door to it."

"Who stays next door to it?" Sunstreaker asked.

"I do." Prowl nodded to Jazz. "Red Alert insists you were sneaking around in the vents again."

"Ah was."

"Thank you for being honest. Go fix all the cameras you turned upside down."

Jazz frowned. "Ah didn't do that."

"96% chance you are lying."

"This statement is false." Jazz smirked as Prowls optics widened before he went stalk still. "Wait for it." Jazz sang. Prowl frame shuttered before it fell to the ground. "Why did I ever want to do that when I was a youngling?"

The twins stared in shock as Jazz smiled at them. "The code is 5458. Ah'm gonna run before Hatchet finds out." With that, Jazz sprinted down the hall as fast as he could.

Sideswipe looked down at the frame. "What do we do?"

Sunstreaker turned to his door, and typed in the code. "Nothing."

Bluestreak followed Synchro down the hall and into his office. "What's going on?" He asked as sat down in his usual place.

Synchro sat down at his desk with a sigh. "I'm tired."

Bluestreak groaned. "You did not call me here to complain."

"No. I called you here to talk to you about the appropriate courting method!" Synchro glared. "I obviously cannot take this Hound guy out, but I-"

"Where is Charger?"

Synchro stopped. "Excuse me?"

"Where's Charger? Now that I think about it, I haven't seen Crypt either. Or Sliver and Scatter Frost." Bluestreak frowned. "Where did you put them?"

Synchro snorted. "Sneaky fragger. I know you're not changing the subject. They are off on important duties. Now, as I was saying –"

"What kind of duties. The last time this place was so quiet was when I was a youngling. I wasn't allowed to leave my room for three orns."

Synchro frowned. "The other underground members are coming down from all over the planet. The major ones anyways. We are having a meeting to discuss the sides we should choose for the war."

Bluestreak nodded. "Your side is already chosen right?"

"Yes, but others' aren't. I have to try and persuade them. Unfortunately the new Prime does not have that much lean way against Megatron. In fact, it would be safe to say that the new Prime would be crushed unless he gets us on his side."

Bluestreak frowned. "I see. I hope you're successful."

Synchro leaned back. "I'm not the one doing it. Prowl is."

Bluestreak jumped. "What? Prowl?"

"He is taking over." Synchro sighed. "He'll have to deal with Striker. That bot is going to be a hard one to persuade."

"So what are you going to do?" Bluestreak frowned. "I don't want Praxus to be split in the war. That would be awful."

Synchro leaned back. "I told you, Prowl is doing it."

"Well, why tell me then?"

"I thought you might want to know." Synchro sighed as rubbed his chest.

"Are you... Okay?"

"I'm always in some sort of pain these days. I can't say that I'm okay. I'm surviving." Synchro frowned at Bluestreak. "It's nothing to worry ab-"

"Nothing? You're going to offline!"

"Well, ye-"

"And that's nothing?"

"Blu-"

"No! I don't care. I know what you're going to say, and I don't want to hear it."

Synchro nodded. "Alright. You've been gone for almost a Decacycle. How are you doing?"

"Hound and I get along really well. We missed our tour of the base, but I think we'll learn our way around. Chromia got us a map. I just got back from Kaon to recruit."

"Is that all you're doing?"

"I start training bots when I get back. Hound is signed up to be scout. He knows all about that kind of stuff. I'm impressed. He told me a couple of orns ago that his friend is signing up as well. He said it surprised him cause he's such a high caste."

Synchro smiled. "I see."

"When I first got there I thought Hound was in recharge cause the lights didn't come on, but it turned out he wasn't even there the whole time." Bluestreak let out a laugh. "I felt really stupid. I was kind of nervous, and I thought that he might be really mean, but he didn't turn out like that at all." Bluestreak glanced down, and started playing with his servos. "I was also hoping he wasn't really nice cause then we'd never choose who got what in the room. I mean it's not really like here. We have to share a lot, and I don't mind that, but It-"

"Bluestreak." Synchro frowned.

Bluestreak sniffed. "I'm sorry."

Synchro stood up and walked over to Bluestreak. "Come on." He pulled Bluestreak out of his chair, and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "I'll take you to talk to Prowl, alright? He's kind of upset right now."

Bluestreak wiped his face. "I cry a lot."

"Nonsense." Synchro squeezed Bluestreak's shoulder. "You're perfect. You don't do anything too much." He slowly began leading Bluestreak out of his office, allowing the mech to lead the coversation.

"I decided to try and stop drinking."

"I didn't know you had a problem with that. I've only caught you twice."

"I used to drink a lot. I had Node keep it a secret from you. At first I only did it when I did something bad, but then I did it when I felt lonely." Bluestreak rubbed the back of his helm. "I'm always kind of lonely."

Synchro frowned. "You shouldn't be."

"Sire, have you ever been bonded?"

"I have been pre-bonded twice." Synchro answered. "It's not as intimate as a bond, but it gives you and the bot just the right kind of connection. Why?"

"How did you know you wanted to spend the rest of your life with that bot?"

Synchro frowned. "NO. You and Hound are not getting bonded!"

"Sire! No! I was just wondering. Is it like a shock in your spark, or-"

"I'll tell you one thing." Synchro sighed. "You don't know until you get to know the bot. There's no such thing as a true spark mate like you see in stories and stuff. Every couple has their problems. There's no just knowing. You don't feel it in your spark. You feel it in your being. You know when you start to get close. If you start fighting all the time, and find you don't take offense to anything they say, cause you know in your being that they are just trying to fool themselves. Wh-"

"Shut up."

Bluestreak and Synchro turned around.

Striker was standing against the wall. "There's no such thing as that kind of romance, Idiot."

Synchro smiled. "Really?"

"Yeah."

Synchro smiled as he released Bluestreak. "I see." Synchro walked up to Striker. "Did you know that Bluestreak joined the Autobots?"

Striker's optics darted to Bluestreak. "Why?"

Bluestreak frowned. He felt like a youngling being questioned by one of their creators. One wrong move and it could cost his freedom of choice. "I- I wa-" Bluestreak narrowed his optics. What was he doing? He's not a youngling and his creator was Synchro, not Striker. "I want to help people! I know that Optimus Prime is bot I want to follow. He knows Megatron, and he knows what he's planning. I don't want a horrible mech like Megatron rising up!"

Striker nodded. "I see."

Synchro smirked. "Who are you backing, Striker?"

"Against popular belief I as well back Optimus Prime."

Synchro frowned. "No!"

Striker punched Synchro. "Shut up! I don't want a low being like Megatron thinking that he can just destroy everything in his path so he can get what he wants."

The hall was silent as Bluestreak and Synchro stared at Striker. "Um, Striker. I think you're a hypocrite."

"Fine. He took over my dark energon mining site. Nobody takes what belongs to me."

Synchro frowned. "He did what?"

"You heard me."

"You let him get a hold of that?!"

Striker glared at Synchro. "I did not LET him do scrap! He offlined five of my mechs!"

Synchro growled. "Bluestreak, go see Prowl. I have things to take care of."

Bluestreak frowned. "Alright. Comm me if you need anything."

Synchro nodded. "I will."