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Sideswipe tuned out the lecture he was receiving from Strongarm, who keeps insisting he needs to listen to orders more.
“Sideswipe!” Strongarm's stern voice hits him like a splash of cold water, causing Sideswipe to jump slightly, busting him from his thoughts. Sideswipe groans, looking at the police car with mock-innocence.
“Yes~?” He says sweetly, already knowing he’s about to get even more lectured.
“What did I just say?” Is the response the cop gives as she gives Sideswipe a stern look, Sideswipe rolls his optics, he’s gotten that line from her more times than he cares to admit.
“You said, ‘Sideswipe, you need to listen more! One day you disobedience will lead to you or someone you care for hurt!’” Sideswipe says, doing a poor imitation of Strongarm. Sideswipe cocks an eyebrow when he sees the surprise in Strongarms optics
“That's…actually right, for once” Strongarm says with surprise lacing her voice, even Sideswipe is surprised for a moment before his natural grin takes over his face.
“Strongarm, Sideswipe! Bee is calling you!” A deep voice cuts through the scrapyard and Sideswipe internally groans knowing they must’ve found another decepticon signal, or Steeljaw's pack. Strongarm nods her helm and heads to the center of the scrapyard where the others are probably waiting. Sideswipe stands up too, but pauses for a moment when he sees a piece of red and blue metal sticking out of a scrap pile. The memories slap him in the face. His adoptive sire had had a paint job similar to the sheet of scrap. Sideswipe wills himself not to cry and steels himself before heading to the center.
The center is filled with the residents of Team Bee and their human friends. Bumblebee is talking about how Fix-it has found Steeljaw's pack signals.
“...Fix-it has found Steeljaws pack but there seems to be three new members of his group.” The entire scrapyard goes quiet at Bee’s words until Fix-it breaks the silence,
“They seem to be preparing something big and we must act immediately” Drift nods in agreement while Grimlock punches his fists together, ready to beat some ‘con aft and Sideswipe can’t help but feel the same way.
“Well? What are we waiting for? An invitation?” Sideswipe says impatiently earning a nice sideways glare from Drift, primus he’s about as strict as Strongarm, if not more.
The team transforms into their alt-modes and drives out into the city.
The city is quiet as the drive silently, giving Sideswipe time to think about his adoptive family, the one he thought would be his forever home, but because of the war, which is over now, his family had split and he hasn’t seen any of them ever sense.
He follows the team as they pull over and transform back into their robot forms. Sideswipe could tell Bumblebee was scanning the area diligently, scanning for any signs of Steeljaw or his pack. The entire team is so quiet you could hear a pin drop that is until something tackles Bumblebee from behind.
“Bee!” Grimlock shouts before getting tackled himself, it doesn’t take long until the entire team is being held down by shadowed figures.
“Took you long enough” A familiar voice rings in the audio-receptors of team Bee.
“Steeljaw.” Bumblebee manages from where his face is pressed into the concrete. Steeljaw sits above him, legs on either side of him, one hand holding his arms behind his back, the other keeping his face in the concrete.
Sideswipe's captor is kind enough to let him look around and what he sees doesn’t surprise him, Underbite has Grimlock pinned down, Clampdown has Strongarm, Thunderhoof has him, but Drift…wait…
“Where's Drift?!” Sideswipe shouts at Thunderhoof, who chuckles from above.
“Oh, don’t worry, he’s being taken care of.” As soon as the words leave Thunderhoof lip plates a loud Thump! rings across the alleyway.
“Drift!” Strongarm shouts as soon as they see his knocked-out form, Clampdown, true to his name, clamps one of his giant crab pincers over Strongarm's mouth. A new voice starts speaking from the shadows, one Sideswipe feels like he knows,
“How nice of you to join us,” the voice says, almost sweetly “we’ve been waiting for you, all of you.” Sideswipe optics narrow before Thunderhoof shoves his face harshly into the concrete.
“Never thought we’d finally have team Bee at our mercy” Underbite says, his grin showing off his pointed teeth. The figure walks out of the shadows, revealing dark purple plating, a light purple faceplate, piercing red optics, and the iconic Decepticon symbol on his arm.
“Fracture.” Bumblebee growls out before his face is shoved back into the concrete by Steeljaw. Fracture grins, sitting down on Drift's back as the samurai stays out cold.
Sideswipes optics narrow before he grins, throwing his helm back against Thunderhoof’s grip, nailing the Decepticon in the faceplate. Thunderhoof cries out in pain losing his grip on Sideswipe, letting him break free. Grabbing Thunderhoof’s arm, he throws the Decepticon into Steeljaw, the direct impact sends a painful Clang! all over the alleyway. Bumblebee gets up and kicks Clampdown off of Strongarm, letting her up as well. Sideswipe watches as Grimlock smashes Underbite into a wall, cracking it. Sideswipe turns to look at Fracture
“You’re outnumbered, bounty hunter.” Sideswipe says, gesturing to Steeljaw's pack trying to get back on their feet. Fractures optics narrow, the anger filling them making his optics flare brighter than before. But, said flare is short-lived as a new figure kicks Fracture in the side, sending him right into the pile of Steeljaw and Thunderhoof. Underbite stands up slowly and throws the rest of the pack onto his back, retreating from the fight. Strongarm slowly looks at the still shadowed figure, Sideswipe can tell she’s suspicious, yet grateful for the help. Bumblebee, however, seems ready to get to the point.
“Who are you? Why did you help us?” the bot chuckles at Bumblebee’s continuous questions.
“Am I not allowed to help an old friend, Bee?” The figure questions with a chuckle, Sideswipe watches as Bumblebee’s optics widen into the size of saucers.
“There’s no way…” Bumblebee mumbles quietly “Smokescreen?” Sideswipe stills at the name, the fact that this mech seems to have the exact same name as one of his adoptive older brothers, he was the youngest after all, can’t be a coincidence. The figure slowly emerges revealing a mech with mostly white plating, with some blue and red plating thrown in, his cyan optics shining gently in the darkness of the alleyway. Bumblebee smiles brightly, but Sideswipe freezes. It can’t be, right?
Sideswipe decides to test his luck, what does he have to lose anyway?
“Smokes?” Sideswipe says quietly, his spark pulsing brightly with hope. The mech, Smokescreen, stills before his optics land on Sideswipe. Sideswipe dares to let himself hope as he looks at Smokescreen.
“Sides…? Is that you?” is the answer Sideswipe receives that causes the dam to break. It’s him, it’s really him. Sideswipe doesn’t hesitate and throws himself into the others arms in a pile of sobs, hiccups, and cries. Smokescreen catches him and holds him close, letting the red mech bury himself into his chest.
“Shh… I’m here Sides, I’m here.” He gently comforts, ignoring the others' confused looks.
“I-I’d never thought I’d see you again,” Sideswipe mumbles, his voice hard to hear since it’s still pressed in Smokescreens chest. He slowly pulls away, just enough to look over the white mech,
“When I saw the elite guard training list, I didn’t know what to think…I didn’t want to participate in the war and I was worried for you.” Sideswipe says gently, still looking over Smokescreen.
“Sorry to have worried you, little bro.” Smokescreen responds, letting Sideswipe lean more into him.
“LITTLE BRO?!” The entire team, besides Sideswipe, shouts in surprise, making Smokescreen let out a gentle chuckle.
“How much do they know?” he asks his younger adoptive brother. Bumblebee starts stuttering and when he starts speaking it sounds like when he didn’t have his voice box, cybertronian tricode,
“:hold up, you and Sideswipe are brothers?:” he asks, before realizing how he’s speaking. Everyone looks at the team leader until Bumblebee resets his voice box.
“yes…Sideswipe is my younger brother,” that earns a lot of surprised glances from the team so Smokescreen continues, “adopted” team bee nods in understanding. A sudden groan makes them all turn to Drift, who seems to be starting to come back to consciousness.
“Morning sunshine!” Sideswipe says teasingly, earning a glare from, Drift, Bumblebee, and Strongarm. Smokescreen chuckles softly and gently elbows his brother in the abdomen,
“Sides! Don’t be like that.” That causes Bumblebee to raise an optic ridge at Smokescreen.
“Oh please Smokescreen, don’t like you weren’t just like Sideswipe while we were on team prime.” The yellow and black mech says, a grin spreading across his lip plates.
“We should head back to the scrap yard, recoup a little bit.” Strongarm says, changing the conversation entirely. Bumblebee nods, transforming into his alt mode, racing away with Strongarm, Drift, and Grimlock following him. Sideswipe stays behind with Smokescreen, letting his thoughts grab a hold of him. The thoughts, this time, are memories of his kid life before the war, instead of hard and rough, it’s soft and somber.
~
Sideswipe laughed as he ran through the small house his sire owned. His brother, Smokescreen, chased after him. Sideswipe smiled before he changed course and tackled his big brother in a hug, knocking Smokescreen over.
“Careful there, little ones.” A new voice gently cuts through the brother's hug, Sideswipe and Smokescreens carrier scooped them up into his arms, holding them to his chest.
“Okay carrier!” Smokescreen responds happily, the sparkling's looking up into their carrier's crystal blue optics as they cast a soft glow onto the sparkling's frames.
~
“SIDES!?” Smokescreens panicked voice slices the memory with a knife. It causes Sideswipe to flinch, his old foster families would always yell at him for the slightest issue with him.
“Sides…we should head to the…scrapyard?” Smokescreen says gently, putting a hand on Sideswipes shoulder. Sideswipe nods slowly, speaking softly,
“Y-yeah… follow me…” He transforms and races off, Smokescreen close behind.
The scrapyard is quiet when they arrive, Bumblebee waits for them by the entrance.
“Smokescreen, are you going to stay?” Bumblebee asks gently, Sideswipe hopes, hopes, HOPES, that answer is a yes.
“Well…it seems like you can handle the Decepticons here just fine,” Smokescreen says, Sideswipes spark sinks down to his stomach. “I don’t see the point of me staying here if you don’t need my help.” Sideswipe sparks falls even deeper, from his stomach to his pedes, of course Smokescreen wouldn’t stay. Bumblebee’s optics are sad but he doesn’t object. Sideswipe, however, lets his tears leave his optics.
“Big bro… please don’t go… I can’t lose you again.” He mumbles to the white mech, his servos twitch, fighting the urge to cling to him. Smokescreen turns to look at the red mech and pulls him into a hug, Sideswipe clings to the white mech, hoping his answer will change.
“Alright then Sides, I’ll stay.” Sideswipes brother says, Sideswipe smiles brightly and looks at Bumblebee again. Bumblebee smiles slightly and says gently,
“Alright, I’ll let the team know we have a new member staying with us.” Sideswipe can’t fight the urge to cheer, pumping his fist into the air with a Whoop! best day ever!
Nighttime at the scrap yard is as Sideswipe expected, Denny and Russel playing music while the team tries to guess the songs. Fix-it was keeping score, the score is as follows;
- Bumblebee: 12
2.Sideswipe: 9
3.Slipstream, Jetstorm, and Fix-it: 7
4.Smokescreen: 6
5.Strongarm: 4
6.Grimlock: 2
Drift had decided not to play, even with Slipstream and Jetstorms pleas, which isn't unusual. Denny started playing a new song, Sideswipe recognized it easily, Brother, by Kodaline. He didn’t realize he started humming it until everyone was looking at him.
“One point for Sideswipe” Fix-it says, adding a tally to the chalk scoreboard. That brought him up to ten, sweet. Denny let the song continue playing and over time, Sideswipe saw Smokescreen start swaying along, his hum syncing with the red mechs. Though, it seems as Smokescreen wanted to take it a step further as he started singing it,
“When we were young, we were the ones, the kings and queens, oh yeah, we ruled the world,” he sings gently, causing Bumblebee's optics to widen in shock at Smokescreens singing voice. “We smoked cigarettes, man no regrets, wish I could relive every single word…we’ve taken different paths and traveled different roads, I knew we’d always end up on the same when we were old…and when you're in trenches and you’re under fire, I will cover you…” Sideswipe lets his optics tear up slightly, knowing every single word that was said was true. The red mech decides to do the only logical thing.
“If I was dying on my knees, you would be the one to rescue me…” he sings gently, looking into his brother's optics “and if you would drown at sea, I’d give you my lungs so you could breathe…” Smokescreens voice soon joins Sideswipes as they sing the next verse
“I’ve got you brother…I’ve got you brother…” Sideswipe could’ve sworn he heard the voice of his other brother singing but it could just be his imagination. Sideswipe opens his optics to see all of the team bee staring at them with wide optics.
“What? Is it not normal to sing that with your sibling?” Sideswipe says, raising an optic ridge. Bumblebee shakes his helm and smiles as Denny says,
“I think it’s time to call it a night.” Fix-it nods, the orange mini-bot saying,
“Alright then, the winner is Bumblebee, with Sideswipe in close second.” Sideswipe grins and high-fives Bumblebee.
“No surprise there, he’s spent the most time on earth.” Smokescreen says, putting a servo on his hip. Sideswipe rolls his optics and heads to his little nook in the scrapyard. Here’s to hope, the nightmares leave him alone tonight.
~
Sideswipes optics open to see smoke, grim, soot, debris, and ash. His optics widen when he sees the familiar red and blue plating under a pile of debris, soot has started collecting everywhere on the plating.
“Sire!” Sideswipe calls out, knowing it was too late. Tears sting his optics as he coughs up energon from the fire. He wishes he had his family… he needs them right about now.
~
Sideswipe awakes with a jolt and a barely silenced scream and/or gasp. His internal chronometer tells him it’s 3 am. The rustle of scrap metal catches his attention, his optics narrow and he silently creeps towards the sound. His optics meet his big brothers
“Sides? What are you doing up at this ungodly hour?” Smokescreen asks, concern leaking into his voice.
“I could ask you the same question” Sideswipe responds, his arms crossing over his chassis. Smokescreen doesn’t respond, just looks at him. They stare at each other for a few moments before another voice cuts through their silence.
“Sideswipe? Smokescreen? What are you guys doing?” The voice asks, a minicon walking out of the shadows.
“Slipstream? Why are you awake?” Sideswipe asks, turning to look at the red and black minicon. Slipstream stays quiet before mumbling a reply,
“I’m going to visit someone…” Slipstream's face is full of guilt, probably from sneaking out, but he keeps quiet as if waiting for some form of punishment.
“Who is this bot?” Sideswipe says, Slipstream pauses for a moment before shaking his head.
“They have asked me to keep them anonymous,” Slipstream says softly “however, if you would like to meet them they wouldn’t be opposed to it.” As Sideswipe looks over to Smokescreen, who looks as if he’s considering it, he feels the familiar feeling of gut. His gut is telling him, yelling at him, to go with Slipstream to see that bot.
“I’ll go with you.” Sideswipe says, Smokescreen nods as well. Slipstream looks surprised for a moment before nodding.
“Follow me. I know a shortcut out of the scrapyard.” Slipstream says, already speed walking out of the junkyard. Sideswipe is quick to follow, and they end up with Smokescreen bringing up the rear.
The walk is quiet as they exit the junkyard, Sideswipe and Smokescreen follow behind Slipstream until they make it to a cave in a mountain.
“So, this is where the bot is hiding?” Smokescreen says, inspecting the cave. Slipstream nods silently, his expression a mix of excitement and nervousness. How those two emotions go together, Sideswipe does not know, what he does know however is there’s a figure inside the cave. He can hear movement coming from it.
“Hello? Optimus? I have brought some bots who would like to meet you.” Slipstream says, his voice echoing into the cave. Sideswipe stays quiet, waiting for a reply.
“Ah…I see Slipstream,” A deep voice sounds from the cave. “Please, come in.” Slipstream is the first to go in, Smokescreen follows shortly after, and Sideswipe slowly steps in after a few more seconds of hesitation.