17. Stuck Like Glue
Now that Allison was faced with the opportunity to entertain a very eager Sideswipe, she found herself completely at a loss for ideas. She hadn't exactly thought anything through beforehand, only intending to go for a walk and see where her feet take her. Considering this sentient space robot had traveled the stars, she found herself preoccupied with the idea that he would find a stroll incredibly boring and uneventful. He genuinely seemed interested, as if he needed it for some reason, but now Allison felt an extreme amount of pressure to be entertaining, or even interesting. After all, this was likely someone who was having their very first one-on-one experience with a human, and she felt compelled to make it a good one.
"I… was just going to go for a walk if you're okay…" Allison didn't even finish her sentence before the Autobot gave her what was possibly one of the most disarming, charming grins she had ever seen on a robot's face before, and her file of references was incredibly small.
"Whatever you want," Sideswipe shrugged, standing to once again dwarf her in his shadow. Allison wasn't sure why it felt just a tiny bit more threatening when they were looming above her so golem-like. "You know, you don't have to hang too close to the base. Not with me around…" he said, jabbing a thumb at the Autobot symbol at the upper planes of his chest. He was nothing if not confident now. Her acceptance of his company blasted away any prior uncertainties of her intent it would seem.
"Hah, okay," Allison said, eyeing the path she'd already followed Bumblebee down trying to make a decision. She believed Sideswipe, but Wheeljack seemed to indicate the opposite and admittedly she trusted his good sense more than the former. It wasn't that she thought Sideswipe was being intentionally irresponsible, but there was a flippancy to his behavior that was giving her pause. "I guess a bear or a wolf would have no interest in chewing on you. Plus you've already saved me once." Despite her reservations, a little bit of an adventure around the area couldn't hurt. Other than a Decepticon, she supposed that was the only possible threat out there that would most definitely leave her alone if she was accompanied by a heavily armed robot.
"What's that?" Sideswipe asked, breaking Allison's train of thought as she whipped her head back around to look at him in surprise. He was rubbing at the back of his head, clearly unfamiliar with what she was talking about. She shouldn't have been surprised. "Uhm, what are those, I mean."
"Uh, big dangerous animals that eat humans like me," Allison said, turning towards the once-trodden path but not without glancing over her shoulder to see if the Autobot was following her. "I mean, they're not like evil or anything but they'd definitely consider it if they're starving. Though I have a feeling they won't want to come anywhere near you, which means they have better survival senses than I do…" She said, hoping her joke landed the way she intended. She heard Sideswipe chuckle behind her, his footsteps loud as he followed on her heels. Somehow, the laugh sounded… cocky.
"There are many perks to hanging out with me, Allison," She detected a smile from his words alone, and while she definitely felt a blush creep in, she didn't want to give Sideswipe the satisfaction of acknowledging his confidence. He needed to earn that. She did however, fail to stop the breathy, slightly embarrassed laugh from escaping her. This seemed to be enough for the Autobot because he did not elaborate further. Maybe that was a bad sign and she'd regret it later.
Surprisingly Sideswipe grew quiet after a moment, perhaps nerves from the novelty of their interaction finally wearing down on the barriers of poise he'd constructed out of nowhere. Allison used the opportunity to choose her path carefully, intent on avoiding the sheer drop Bumblebee had warned her about. Her goal was to move past the clearing of wildflowers and follow the hillside, curious to see what was further out. With the little information she had about their exact whereabouts, she knew there was a small town somewhere in the area. It wasn't close enough that there would be the immediate threat of human interaction, but near enough that there may be some interesting relics that had been forgotten.
Walking with Sideswipe was already proving to be different to what she imagined, because the vibe was a contrast from his overall demeanor from earlier. For one thing he followed her around much like an overly eager golden retriever would follow their human on a much-anticipated walk. He also hadn't said a word, and it was starting to become clear that neither of them knew how to open up the doors of conversation now that the hanging out was actually happening. Eventually Allison decided it was going to have to be her to break the ice or nothing was going to be learned that day.
"Can I ask you something?" Allison finally ventured, hoping to ease him into conversation by starting off simple. They were walking through uncharted territory now, figuratively and literally, with the dense forest growth becoming thick and murky with age. The air was so clear it was almost like the burst of fresh oxygen was giving her newfound confidence.
"Yeah?" If anything he was very eager to reciprocate but there was a thread of hesitation in his voice as if he dreaded what she was about to ask him. Allison finally stopped walking, her eyes trained on her feet where her shoes sunk into years of shed pine needles and undergrowth. There was a crisp, sharp scent of earth here, made all the more present with the loud clank of a very heavy Sideswipe stopping behind her.
"If this isn't too personal… How are you and Sunstreaker twins?" You call that simple?! Allison berated herself mentally for opening up with something that was the casual equivalent of 'tell me how your biology works,' but she was having a hard time getting her head around this concept.
"Oh." Sideswipe almost sounded relieved, which made Allison incredibly suspicious, and maybe a little bit intrigued to know what he was actually expecting her to ask him. She turned and craned her neck back to look up at him, just in time to see him tap at his chest with a fist. The sound was loud and heavy sounding, revealing the sheer mass underneath all the plating. They weren't hollow, that was for certain. "We share a split spark."
Allison remembered hearing Wheeljack say something about his spark before. "So… what is that, like a power source?" Allison thought back to when she perceived what Wheeljack called his spark. She remembered a distinct, rhythmic pattern, like a thumping internally and there was only one thing she could compare it to. "...like a heart?"
Sideswipe looked… fiendish, and Allison immediately feared she'd overstepped. "That fleshy pump of yours hold any kinds of memories? Your hopes and dreams? Your impeccable charm?" It was impossible to tell now if he was being sarcastic just to poke fun, but he was pointing down at her. Allison looked around, suddenly feeling exposed and uncomfortable. She almost welcomed a bear gobbling her up on the spot.
"I… well no. Fair enough I guess it was an insensitive question…"
"I'm just messing with you," Sideswipe said, shrugging as if to dismiss the entire cloud of discomfort that was festering around Allison's head. He placed his hand against the flat panels of his chest, his expression now contemplative as if thinking of what to say. "I'm uh, not really the best at answering that kind of stuff. That's what Ratchet is for. But it kinda does both. It keeps us functioning and it's… well, us."
"So kind of like a soul," Allison offered tentatively. She didn't really believe in the metaphysical concept of a soul existing, but that seemed like the best way to understand what Sideswipe was trying to say. "A soul is just a concept for humans, like a complete package of our life experiences and who we are, but you can also say all that stuff is up here." She tapped on her temple. "Our hearts just pump blood." And also stop when under a tremendous amount of stress and strain, much like she was at that very moment. As if to emphasize its own displeasure, her heart thumped hard against her rib cage like a trapped bird; trapped and trying to find a way out of this conversation thread.
"Don't feel bad. Your little squishy ball is still important even if it just pumps blood. Our sparks well…" He stopped, as if only just catching up to the fact that he still didn't quite know how to explain it. "Well, it makes sure energon pumps, I guess." Sideswipe tapped his chest again and then pointed his hand towards Allison, seeming to brighten. "So..we're the same?"
"That works, I guess. Sure." She laughed, turning to resume the walk. "We like to talk about the heart in a poetic sense though, kind of like it's the center of who we are. I guess it's more romantic sounding than the wrinkly organ in our heads." Squinting ahead, Allison thought she could make out something odd in the distance, but it was partially obscured by heavy brush and hanging branches.
"Romantic, huh?" Allison narrowed her eyes for a different reason, wondering if Sideswipe was doing this on purpose. "Lots of romance for—"
"—I get it, fleshy pump." Allison shook her head, but admittedly it was kind of funny. " And you said your spark was split? As in…physically?"It sounded similar to how organic embryos might split and form twins. That was taking her a bit further into the weeds of the big question that was where do you come from, which wasn't something she was in the mood to begin discussing. She could only keep up with so many major alien concepts at once.
Sideswipe laughed behind her, and it was an unsure sound, lacking his confidence from earlier. "Yeah, though to be honest, I don't really know how that works any more than you do. Might be more of a Ratchet question. Or Wheeljack. It happened before my bro and I even existed."
Allison was trying not to think too hard about the reproductive possibilities of biomechanical aliens, because now she had a lot of questions that maybe strayed too far outside the realm of appropriateness. "You'd be surprised how many humans have no idea how their own bodies work—what is that?" Allison stopped again, pointing. All her previous questions vanished as they found themselves in the shadow of a building. It wouldn't have mattered if she'd been by herself, but with Sideswipe next to her, the only thing she could think of right now was staying out of sight.
"What's the hold up, A-Girl?" Sideswipe's sudden question over her shoulder made her jump, the volume of his voice louder than it should have been.
"It's a building…and that's going to mean people." She paused, her train of thought derailing completely as she had to reverse several steps backwards. "What did you just call me?"
"Don't worry about it. Let's go see," Impulsively, Sideswipe stepped past her and began to approach the unknown oddity with no trace of apprehension whatsoever as a spark of fear ripped through Allison's body. Was he really not concerned that it was actually, well, inhabited by someone; someone that would potentially see him?
" — Wait!" Allison interjected to no avail. She was starting to understand why Ratchet had insisted that she go nowhere near Sideswipe and his brother the first time she had been a temporary visitor. There was no stopping the Autobot as he crashed through the treeline and underbrush with her very flustered self following behind him. Best case scenario maybe she could intervene and talk some sense into whoever was around.
Except, it became immediately obvious that whatever this small structure had once been, it was now very old and very abandoned. What remained was little more than a concrete shack with a door, but looks were deceiving. An old, weathered and dirt-caked sign had the distinct outline of a mountainous shape with an artist's rendition of what could only be described as a large cloud plume lifting from the top. This wasn't just some old shack, this was an evacuation shelter for a volcanic eruption.
A slightly newer sign had been screwed into the door, still slightly dirtied from the elements, but this one was somehow more ominous: Property of the U.S. Government, No Trespassing.
"That's not good," Allison muttered, pointing at the sign. "That means the government is around here, maybe closer than you think." They were maybe a 30 minutes walk away from the entrance of their ship; 20 if you were not hindered by a human with a smaller gait. "You know about this?"
Sideswipe made a noise that sounded like a scoff. "Pretty sure Teletraan-1 would know if any of you humans have been snooping around. Except for you of course." Allison pretended not to notice his comment. "I thought your government was bigger," he observed inanely. Allison rolled her eyes, unable to comprehend if he was serious or not. "Can you really fit all of your planet's leaders into that one tiny building?" She looked at him sideways and it was nigh impossible to tell if he was intentionally coming off as ridiculous, except for the fact that he was looking at her as if to gauge her reaction.
"This isn't the United Nations you idiot." Allison gestured at the base of the door. "There's more building underground. It's a volcano shelter. Looks like the government repurposed it at some point." She paused, startled, realizing something she'd said. "I'm sorry I called you an idiot just now."
"It's okay, I am one. Also, what's a volcano shelter?"
"You do know that this area is a hotbed of volcanic activity?" Allison had been trying not to give it too much thought herself, but this very real reminder was staring her in the face.
"You need shelter from a volcano?"
"Not the volcano, but the eruption. Very powerful and very deadly. Anything caught too close to the epicenter of that would get incinerated into its base components. You have any idea how hot and destructive something like that is?"
Sideswipe shrugged, "Hotter than Unicron's aft seam?"
Allison blinked. "I have no idea what you're talking about but I assume that's very hot."
The Autobot's small laugh sounded just slightly nervous when he looked down at her. "Eh, don't worry I'm pretty sure you'll never have to worry about that." It was hard to tell if it was a trick of the light coming from his eyes, but it almost looked like he winked at her.
Maybe it was a need to remove herself from Sideswipe's very amused gaze, or the desire to get herself out from under his looming shadow, but something compelled Allison to bridge the distance to the door of the shelter. "You know what? Fine. I'm probably already violating some kind of international law just talking to you anyway." Her hand touched the old metal handle, and it was freezing cold. She hated the way the texture felt against her palm, but she powered through it and tested the latch. To her mortified surprise, the handle clicked smoothly and the door opened.
The heavy metal door swung inward, revealing the beginnings of a stairway leading down into nothing but darkness.
"It's… unlocked." Allison commented, stating the obvious as if it was necessary for her to believe it. "Why is it unlocked?" She didn't expect an answer but Sideswipe responded from behind her anyway. She could tell he was crouched now, maybe to get a better look.
"No wonder we were able to just land on your planet. You humans seem to like leaving doors unlocked."
Allison scowled with her back still turned. "Have you tried breaking into many doors?"
"I will not comment on that at this time."
Allison sighed, refocusing towards the darkness below. She didn't know exactly how far down the stairs went, but she could see the faintest outline of the bottom. It looked like there was another door after a small landing. The mountain air echoed and bounced around the tight passageway, almost sounding like whispers in the silence and Allison's skin started to crawl.
"I dare you to go inside." Sideswipe's peer pressure-inducing encouragement broke her out of her trance. She shook her head, gooseflesh raising on her arms and tingling as she took a step backwards.
"You must be out of your damn mind. You couldn't pay me to—" A loud clunk reverberated somewhere below, like something heavy had just fallen onto a concrete floor beyond whatever barrier was at the bottom of the stairs. The sound bounced around the stairwell and nearly knocked the breath right out of Allison's lungs with a sudden jolt of adrenaline and fear. Without thinking she threw the door closed and turned to run, retreating to the only logical place that made sense: a very startled looking Sideswipe who appeared torn between leaping to his feet and staying low as if she was about to leap into his arms for safety and he needed to catch her.
"What is it?! A bear?! A wolf?!" Bless him, Sideswipe actually sounded kind of scared, his head whipping around to follow Allison's retreat as she flew past him.
"No, worse. People." Most likely, Allison reminded herself. "We should go." She hissed through gritted teeth. With how loudly the door slammed shut it was definitely going to draw attention. She didn't even realize she was running until she was already moving, the ground shuddering beneath her feet with the fast, heavy footfalls of Sideswipe running after her. Running her down was more accurate, gaining alarmingly fast, and there was a fleeting moment of animal fear that quickly ignited from the darkest recesses of her ancestral DNA. She had been chased before, but Sideswipe was a fair amount bigger and heavier than Soundwave's minions so it felt comparable to a mouse being overrun by a bear. Before she fully slipped into a panic, the logic core of her brain took over and she slammed the breaks. That same millisecond Sideswipe had finally caught up to her, skidding past her to leave an impressively deep ravine in his wake as the earth slowed his momentum. His eyes probably hadn't left her the entire time, so there had been nothing to fear. That's what she told herself anyway.
"That was fun!" Allison would have glared at Sideswipe if she weren't doubled over trying to wrestle back her breath from lungs that were doing their damnedest to stab their way through her insides. Finally glancing over her shoulder to see if any suspicious characters were following them, she felt Sideswipe shift near her close to the ground. "...You're fun." His voice suddenly got quiet, like he was surprised at his own admission. Allison froze, brain cells computing this new information and she wasn't sure what to say. When she finally gathered the courage to face him, he looked genuinely earnest, his eyes holding a mirthful warmth that could only come from raw, unfiltered honesty.
It made Allison… sad. There was a resonance of loneliness underneath Sideswipe's comment that maybe not even he was aware of. If all they'd ever known was conflict, warfare and survival, the smallest thread of something new and... not that was basically a vacation.
"I can confidently say you're the first person to ever say that to me," Allison said with a quiet warmth. The glowing sheen was on his face again, and she realized with confidence that yes, this was the Cybertronian equivalent of a blush. Averting her eyes, she made a show of looking over her shoulder once more to check for any pursuing humans or ursines. She really didn't know what to do with that kind of declaration. The Autobots were nothing if not honest she was starting to learn, and maybe that was just a Cybertronian thing. Not even Wheeljack had been dishonest with her, even when he was doing his damndest to push her away. it wasn't something she was used to from her fellow homo sapiens. Her dad was probably the only person who had ever been honest with her.
Sideswipe frowned, and he looked thoughtful. "You know if Sunny were here he'd think so too…" It really sounded like he believed it.
Allison started to feel hot, growing uncomfortable with the weight of expectation. "I admire your faith," she laughed, though it sounded nervous to her own ears. "So… shouldn't we tell someone?" Desperately trying to change the subject, she returned back to the very alarming topic of the possibility of a U.S. government installation just a pleasant jaunt from the very secret Autobot stronghold.
Sideswipe's eyes narrowed and he grew quiet, and Allison could almost see the gears in his head turning as he formulated… something. A small little half-smile suddenly graced the slight planes of his mouth, and Allison wasn't sure what to make of that.
"Yeah, yeah, sure, but first I want to show you something."
The doors to the maintenance room opened with a woosh, and Sunstreaker did not bother to hide his annoyance at getting called away from his berth. He'd just gotten comfortable after the last, excruciatingly long patrol with Sideswipe (double-duty, with Bumblebee being in recovery after all) and had been looking forward to getting a quick recharge. Someone had other ideas apparently, and Sunstreaker had learned long ago that ignoring messages from his brother was a bad idea.
His optics scanned the room as he made his way past the machinery that lined the main walkway. Various spare parts of the ship hung from chains. Others were haphazardly lying in various corners or on benches and shelves, obviously having been set aside to be looked at later, rather than sooner. It wasn't like they were going anywhere any time soon, so there wasn't much point in engine repairs.
Eventually Sunstreaker's optics landed on his target; Sideswipe, standing next to one of the maintenance elevators looking devastatingly casual for someone who had just been called to do more manual labor after a day's work. "Why are we here?" Sunstreaker asked dryly, not bothering with pleasantries.
Sideswipe's optics brightened, straightening at his brother's approach. "You read Ratchet's orders. Gotta fix this baby." His hand slapped the elevator, the loud clang echoing up through the rafters in the large, cavernous room. Sunstreaker's gaze followed, his face beset with a scowl. The elevator consisted of a tall set of twin metal support pillars, with a flat slab anchored between them on a rotation belt that could be used to place oversized mechanical parts.
"Yes, but I mean why us? Why isn't Wheeljack doing this?"
Sideswipe shrugged. "He's busy, what with the energon problems and all that."
"How convenient," Sunstreaker said, his voice slow and pointed. He was aware that there were two distinct energon problems the engineer was currently dealing with, but one seemed infinitely less their problem than the other. In fact, the source of such problem finally caught Sunstreaker's notice as he glanced down at the floor near his brother's pedes. "Why is the human still out?" He frowned, folding his arms across his chassis. This was no place for a small, fleshy, frail little creature to be, especially one as infuriatingly meddlesome as this one.
Sunstreaker's attention turned back to his brother, searching for some kind of explanation on his face where none was to be found. Of course Sideswipe would immediately want to coo at the novel little squishy in their midst, eager to find increasingly clever ways to get into trouble. He'd always thrived more on chaos than Sunstreaker had, which made it very difficult to keep him unharmed and alive. Eventually, Sunstreaker pointed down at the human—he knew her name, but he didn't care much for sentimentality towards a species so easily prone to an early death—who looked very much like she wanted to be anywhere else at the moment. She was avoiding his optics, perhaps not wanting to invite his ire, which was probably smart. He was annoyed enough that day to say something he knew Sideswipe wouldn't like.
"She's on maintenance duty too?" The question was unserious, and laced with annoyance. Sideswipe did not seem to care. A noise made him glance down to see the human had backed away slightly to obscure herself behind Sideswipe's leg. Aww, adorable, like a little pet. Sunstreaker would have gagged, but he'd run the risk of purging his tanks when their energon stores were as low as they were.
"Oh, no I just thought it might be fun to show her our exciting life, you know? Autobots doing Autobot things."
Sunstreaker vented a disbelieving huff. "Whatever." He'd rather get the work done and back to his berth for that sought after snooze. Reaching out, he took a hold of a chain that was dangling from an open panel just on the underside of the platform. He gave it a tug. It held firm. "So what's wrong with it?"
"Apparently it's getting stuck, not going up all the way." Sideswipe said, tapping his chin thoughtfully.
"So put some grease on it." Why was his time being wasted on this?
"That's what I told Ratchet but he said grease supplies are running low."
Sunstreaker let go of the chain and side eyed his brother. "We're running out of grease?"
"Yeah I know, weird. Anyway, he thinks there's something going on with the maintenance brake mechanism, though I'm not sure where that is."
Sunstreaker gave Sideswipe a long look before turning to the elevator. "Let me show you." He only knew about this because there had been a time stellar cycles ago where he actually cared about this stuff. Wheeljack had shown him around some of the simpler machinery tasks in an effort to allow Sunstreaker to feel more useful. That enthusiasm died long ago, replaced only with the fervent desire to be bothered as little as possible so that he could rust away on this backwater planet and be done with it. They were never leaving, so what did it matter?
"Can you do it? My arm is still a little cramped from having Frenzy chewing all over my paneling." Sunstreaker looked at his brother dubiously, faintly aware that he was up to something, but he just couldn't figure out what. "I'll man the controls." Sideswipe waved the small control module in front of him, before pressing the lift button. The elevator started to raise on its tracks, before an errant squeal of metal assaulted their audials as the elevator shuddered to a stop.
Sunstreaker huffed, but at least this might be easy. "Yeah, looks like the safety is kicking in too early." He knew this. The elevator had a manual safety brake for maintenance purposes, preventing it from being moved while it was being worked on. Problem was, the handle was on the underside, buried beneath cables. He looked down at the dirty floor with distaste, and then back at Sideswipe. "You really want me to get under that thing?" He had just finished washing himself off and now he was about to get dirty again.
"Unless you want to tell Ratchet why you didn't want to follow his orders," Sideswipe reminded him. The human made a noise at his pedes, and when Sunstreaker spared her a glance he was surprised to see the confusion etched on her face as she peered up at his brother.
Eventually Sunstreaker relented with a sigh. His berth was calling to him. "Fine. Just try not to crush me." He ducked underneath the elevator platform to get a better look at the open hatch underneath. There, he could see coils of spilled wires and crammed gears. The maintenance lever was deeper inside, past the cabling bundles and he'd need to reach in and grab it.
"You need to to pull the maintenance lever down to release it," Sideswipe's voice floated up to him and he winced.
"I know, I know." Sunstreaker paused. "I thought you didn't know where it was?"
"Uh, I just remembered. Sorry bro, it's just that my arm really hurts— "
"Shut up," Sunstreaker barked. "Primus, you're annoying sometimes." He lifted up an arm and pushed his fist deep into the cavernous belly of the hatch. His fingers felt around, fumbling for something that felt like a switch. Eventually, he found it, wrapping his hand around it and grimacing as he felt eons of accumulated grease and grime squelching between his fingers. "Does Wheeljack clean anything?" He grunted, pulling the lever down to release the lock, his fingers now feeling thick and gummy. "Ratchet really asked us to come in here and pull a damn lever?"
"Listen, Sunny. When Ratchet asks, we deliver. No exceptions." Sunstreaker winced, his brother's insisted nickname for him irksome on a good day, but right now it was downright loathsome. Sideswipe sounded way too cheerful for having been roped into a monotonous and exceptionally easy task that literally anyone could have done. That even Ratchet could have done himself—
"What did you do." The sudden fury, wrapped in a mild panic boiled within Sunstreaker as he tried, unsuccessfully, to disentangle his hand from around the lever. The caked, gelatinous greasy substance had solidified fast. To Sunstreaker's great displeasure that meant it hardened perfectly around his fingers and the entire mechanism, effectively gluing him in place. Glue. Glue.
Sideswipe glued him to the maintenance elevator.
Sideswipe glued him to the maintenance elevator.
"What do you mean?" His brother's innocent query sent a flare of heat and rage through Sunstreaker's frame, and a snarl bubbled up through his vocalizer as he yanked desperately to free his own arm. It wasn't going to budge. He was stuck. The latch itself, so caked now with whatever hazardous mess Sideswipe had thrown together to ruin his day, was cemented in place; effectively useless, which did not bode well for Sunstreaker.
"Very funny, Sideswipe. You know exactly what you've done. Now get me out of here so I can throttle you." His voice was low, dangerously calm, offsetting the not-so-veiled threat he promised.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Sideswipe leaned down, his expression deceptive enough that were Sunstreaker not adept at acknowledging his brother's mastery of trickery, he would be fooled into believing him. That was not the case, and Sunstreaker knew the glint in Sideswipe's optics all too well. "Also, that's not exactly an enticing offer." Now his expression slipped, the corner of his mouth tugged into an impish smirk to signify that he knew the jig was up. Sunstreaker jolted, his free arm shooting forward to grab his brother by the collar seam but Sideswipe reared back out of reach, having the advantage of distance; and freedom.
"We should check that the elevator is working, just to make sure!" Realization hit Sunstreaker like a Cybertronian freighter, a murderous snarl bordered with stress-induced static unfurling as he watched Sideswipe make a show of holding the remote aloft.
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" The metal thrum of the elevator was not enough to drown out Sunstreaker's fury as the mechanisms came to life with a steady whir. Allison was frozen in steadfast horror as she watched the yellow Autobot become airborne, tailing below the platform of the elevator as it gently rose. The contrast was almost obscene: the rather large, clearly pissed off Autobot flailing from the arm as he attempted to free himself, while the slow, ponderous ascent of the machinery he was affixed to moved at a snail's pace as if to make a show of his predicament for everyone to see.
The fact that this was insanely dangerous was not lost on Allison as she fretfully glanced between Sideswipe and his now very panicked brother, who had begun the futile effort of trying to gain leverage with his free hand to pull his arm loose.
Allison was about to voice her dissent (she was, after all, complicit in this little endeavor as far as Sunstreaker knew, and this would not charm the prickly Autobot into liking her anymore than a sledgehammer to the face), her gaze flicking back up to Sideswipe just in time to see him press the button again. "Hmm, now it won't stop." There was a crackling of what sounded like worry on the recesses of this statement, and a ball of dread settled itself heavily in Allison's throat, stoppering any protest she had. "That's weird." He pressed the button again to no avail. Oh no, now it's worse… it seemed Sideswipe hadn't accounted for the elevator actually breaking.
"As soon as I'm down there…" Sunstreaker's voice went dangerously low, the threat apparent in that statement alone making Allison step back involuntarily. To say that she was… annoyed with Sideswipe at this point was the understatement of the century. He'd said he wanted to show her something, vague and elusive as he was, but it had been a ruse to pull her into a prank at Sunstreaker's expense. She should have known better when she saw Sideswipe messing with the very same compartment Sunstreaker was now hanging from; the one he said he knew nothing about. Did he actually think this was going to help? Sunstreaker had been an asshole to her so far, a really big one in fact, but Allison found herself feeling bad for him. This had to be humiliating. "I'm going to beat— "
The elevator mechanism shuddered to a stop, jostling the unwilling Autobot passenger enough that the follow-up to his threat bled out into a garbled snarl. Allison had already heard them make unusual noises before—rumbles, growls, huffs, snarls, etc that seemed to come from within them as much as a true vocalization—but not quite as lethal sounding to her puny organic existence as what she just heard come out of Sunstreaker.
An eerily calm silence hung in the room, while Allison looked between the two Autobot occupants vaguely wondering if she should run for her life. Sideswipe was completely unaffected when the sudden SLAM from Sunstreaker balling his unstuck fist and bashing it into the bottom of the platform erupted through the room like an explosion.
"Well if the elevator wasn't actually broken before it is now," Sideswipe muttered under his breath.
Allison jolted at the sudden noise, unable to stop the small gasp that escaped her, which unfortunately drew Sunstreaker's attention squarely on her.
His blazing, bordering on white, eyes swiveled in her direction, and his face contorted with rage. If looks really could kill Allison knew she'd be a cindered husk on the spot.
"Did you put him up to this?" The query was almost too casual, defeated even, but Allison knew better than to assume it wouldn't still manifest later into something more sinister. She had half a mind to flee and take her chances in the woods.
"W-what? No, I didn't—" Now she was really annoyed at Sideswipe. Maybe even angry. The fact that Sunstreaker would even assume she was that… vindictive was distressing. She'd shared maybe a dozen words with him so far, so to think that this would be her best attempt at breaking the metaphorical ice between them was beyond questionable.
"Relax bro, this was all me, she's just here for moral support," Sideswipe said, his candor not entirely helpful considering Sunstreaker probably now loathed her by association.
"That's not exactly how I'd describe it," Allison said, glaring up at him. She wished he had clued her in on what they were getting into, because if she'd known, she would have told him this was a very bad idea.
"If I get you back on the ground, promise not to thrash me?" Sideswipe asked eventually, his query coming in at the heels of another of Sunstreaker's attempts to yank his arm free through the power of gravity. It failed, and he expelled an aggravated huff of exhausted air.
"I. Promise." It sounded like Sunstreaker uttered each syllable through gritted teeth. He was definitely, obviously lying.
Sideswipe, clearly not fearing the approaching violence that had his name on it, pressed a second button on the remote to zero effect. "Hmm." He actually sounded worried.
"What do you mean 'hmm'?" The concern Allison felt was pressing down on her sternum making it hard to breathe.
"Yes, Sideswipe. What do you mean hmm?!" Sunstreaker parroted her exact words, though with quite a few more decibels.
The button was pressed again with the same result. "Heh. It's not working. I guess it really is broken."
"ARE YOU SERIOUS I'M GOING TO KILL YOU AS SOON AS I—"
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF PRIMUS IS GOING ON HERE?!" Ratchet's voice shot through the room like a thunderclap, appearing in the doorway with all the quiet fury of a hurricane. When his gaze was immediately drawn to the commotion in the room, he stormed forward with the appropriate rhythm of muted rage. The ground rattled underneath Allison's feet with each step, matching the thudding rhythm of her heart in her throat as she tried to make herself small. Sideswipe looked like he wanted to bolt, his posture that of a cat getting ready to spring up into the trees for safety and Allison imparted a smoldering don't you dare through glare alone.
Ratchet's stare was fixed solely on Sideswipe, a fluorescent blue of carefully controlled emotion that could only come from generations of being one of the only adults in the room. "The entire ship can hear the infernal racket you two are making. Now can someone please…" He stopped suddenly when he got close to the elevator lift, his eyes flicking from Sideswipe, then up to Sunstreaker who had finally gone limp like a wet dishrag from repeated exertions. Ratchet's face pinched in a scowl, frowning in that way Allison had seen directed at Wheeljack several times already: absolutely out of patience. "Sunstreaker, you appear to be stuck in the elevator."
"I hadn't noticed." Came the Autobot's dulled reply.
Allison shrunk back a little behind Sideswipe's leg, suddenly wanting to be anywhere but where she was currently standing, her shoulders collapsing forward as if that would free her from the misery of this moment. All of the bravado from a masterfully executed prank had ejected from Sideswipe's body under Ratchet's looming presence. "I just found him like this…" he said, finally, though Allison thought she heard the crackle of a laugh at the end.
"That's a damn lie!" Sunstreaker jolted, finding a second wind as if anger alone fueled him. This was apparently serious enough to warrant a human expletive, because it was the first time Allison heard any of them use one. "This is his fault!" He pointed down with his free hand, the motion making him swing precariously over the collected crowd in the room. The elevator creaked under his massive weight, and Allison wondered if that should have been making all of them nervous but no one else reacted.
Sideswipe was a terrible liar. If Allison could tell, there was no hope of hiding it from Ratchet. "Wasn't me," he gestured across the broad plane of his chest with an X shape of his arms. "Allison and I just walked in and found him stuck up there." No! Don't mention me! Now she really wished an actual bear had eaten her up in the woods, because that was preferable to having everyone's attention back on her.
As if only just noticing Allison's presence in the room, Ratchet's eyes moved downwards, landing on her with an expression that was withering. He was disappointed, and dammit that was somehow more upsetting than watching all of Sunstreaker's pride get snuffed out in the blink of an eye. She opened her mouth to offer a protest by way of an actual explanation, when Ratchet's face suddenly flickered with a light of realization, as if he knew exactly what had happened. Now there was something apologetic with the way the hard line of his frown softened, slightly, until he returned his attention back to Sideswipe.
Ratchet held out his hand expectedly. "A likely story. Now give me that." As if suddenly realizing he was unwilling to wait for the delinquent in front of him to give up the game, he snatched the remote out of Sideswipe's hands. "And I know what you did. This is exactly why you two weren't supposed to find out in the first place." Allison was all too familiar with what Ratchet was saying, without really saying it. If things had panned out differently they were never supposed to know she existed, and she was never supposed to meet them. There was an unspoken regret in that implication as if Ratchet resented the fact it had needed to come to that at all; that Allison had to be rescued from their sworn enemies. The figurative minefield she was now in was not just filled with the explosive destruction of Decepticons, but whatever else came with being under their watch too.
Apparently, very dangerous, and highly irresponsible pranks were part of that package.
Allison was starting to wish she'd called in sick to work the day before; maybe for the next year even. Perhaps that would have been enough time for Rumble to have gotten bored and left, and she would never have to suffer this quiet moment of indignity.
Ratchet was pressing the button, heaving a sigh as the elevator remained obstinate and refused to move, leaving Sunstreaker an unwilling decorative fixture like a hanging plant. "Why isn't it working, Sideswipe?"
"I told you, it wasn't me!" Ratchet was incredibly, perceptively aware, that this did not in fact answer his question.
"He's lying!" Sunstreaker wailed, all pretense of anger now evaporated to make way for sullen acceptance of his broken ego. Now Allison felt really bad for him, dickhead or not. "He broke it with all the fragging glue he jammed in here just to get me stuck!" Sunstreaker thrashed again, violently, and the elevator mechanisms groaned under the strain. If he kept that up, it was obviously going to bring the whole thing down, and when Allison looked between the two standing Autobots above her it was obvious that they were aware. Sideswipe in particular knew that he definitely needed to be out of his brother's reach as soon a possible. "SIDESWIPE!"
"Heh, thank Primus you're here Ratchet!" Sideswipe's eyes kept darting down towards Allison in a way she very much did not like, like he was making mental calculations in his head beyond her ability to anticipate. She didn't know how she knew, but she knew she needed to brace herself for something very uncomfortable. "Let me know when Sunstreaker is free—" Suddenly he swooped down, and no amount of mental or physical preparation would have prepared her for literally being swept off the ground. Her startled, fearful—embarrassing—shriek of protest was nearly drowned out by Ratchet's furious reprimand.
/