Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I just landed on Earth. I would really appreciate it if you could tell me where the local Autobot base is, before the ‘Cons find me.”

There were some confusing signals here. On one hand the red Cybertronian down on one knee in front of them, smiling an easy, friendly smile, had a high, young, feminine voice, thin waist, and wide hips.

But on the other, their facial features weren’t altogether fitting for a female, and their shoulders were broad. It was a confusing dichotomy, when so far all the mecha they’d met had fallen pretty easily in one of two camps: mech, or femme.

Male or female, as it was.

This one—Sideswipe, they’d introduced themselves—broke the norm set by everyone else, and Jack felt a lot like he shouldn’t even try to fit them to a specific box because really, gender was a complicated thing and not everything fit into neat boxes–

“You don’t have the Autobot insignia,” Raf pointed out, pushing his glasses higher up on his nose. Jack focused back on the rest of it at that and quickly scanned the red mech’s frame.

And it was true, there was no insignia to be found anywhere on her (his?) frame, only an empty space at the center of her chest that looked like it should’ve held an insignia. That was… A little odd.

The femme glanced away at that, shifting uneasily. “There were some… Circumstances that forced me to get rid of it. You know, to save my skin,” she shrugged.

“What kind of circumstances?” Miko asked, taking a step closer. There was challenge in her voice, demanding answers, an explanation.

“It’s war out there,” Sideswipe sighed in response, looking weary despite her youthful voice. “And you’re not always in the position to fight. I had to pass off as a Neutral for a while, so… Bye bye markings of the faction I actually belong to.”

Seemed… Reasonable enough, at least to Jack’s very lacking knowledge of what interstellar politics were like. Or was it intergalactic? He wasn’t quite sure how far their friends had actually come from. Miko frowned, but she didn’t have too much of an argument either. Other concerns existed, though.

“How do we know you’re actually an Autobot?” Raf asked. To their surprise, Sideswipe outright laughed at that.

It was a pretty pleasant sound. “What else would I be?” she asked, giving them a lopsided smile. And it was true, her biolights and optics were blue, like Autobots’ were, and like Decepticons’ really weren’t.

Jack shared a glance with Raf and Miko. They’d still need to talk to their ‘Bots before they could just tell a stranger where the base was, but–

A sudden roar of engines was followed by the sounds of three different transformation sequences. “Jack! Raf! Miko! Get away from him!” Bulkhead’s voice rang out behind them and they all turned to look to see their guardians running towards them. Urgent, almost… Fearful?

Him? Sideswipe?

A soft hiss of pistons had them glancing back at the red mech, who rose back to his pedes. And it was only now that they could really appreciate how tall he was. He towered over Arcee, even over Bumblebee. Only Bulkhead could match his height.

All of this… Probably meant Sideswipe wasn’t an Autobot after all. That suspicion was confirmed when the color of his optics suddenly changed, bleeding from blue, to purple, to red. Starting from his helm the color drained along his biolights, blue slowly fading to give way to devilish red.

This was bad. “Run. Run!” Jack yelled at his two human friends, urging them both into motion ahead of himself, and together they bolted towards their guardians.

And then behind them, coming to a stop only when Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead were all securely between them and Sideswipe.

But the red mech didn’t even try to pursue them, merely straightened himself… Lifted his chin.

A smile was playing on his lips, and he looked utterly unconcerned with the fact he was outnumbered three to one.

“Ha! Sideswipe doesn’t stand a chance! Better run, ‘Con!” Miko whooped.

Jack wasn’t so sure, and from the look on his face, neither was Raf.

“What are you doing here, Sideswipe?” Arcee asked, snarling.

Sideswipe shrugged, closing his optics demurely. “I heard Megatron was here on Earth. Figured the action would be with him.”

“Well, you’re not welcome here,” Bulkhead growled, and it was really, really getting to Jack how relaxed Sideswipe remained. He had no right to be in the face of three warriors as skilled as their guardians were. They kicked ‘Con aft on the regular!

“That’s just rude,” Sideswipe sighed, deigning to look at the lot of them again. “I think Megatron would disagree.”

Three engines revved before the Autobots on the scene attacked. Arms transformed into blasters; Bulkhead went to close the distance for some good old melee pummeling.

Sideswipe’s smile never wavered.

And yeah, Sideswipe was as tall as Bulkhead was, but he was considerably lighter built. He was no Breakdown.

Despite that, the red mech moved to meet Bulkhead’s charge, and…

Swords began to extend from his arms.

And kept extending.

And kept extending.

And kept extending until they almost brushed the ground. It wasn’t the quick shink that the swords or blades of ones like Optimus and Arcee came to play with. This was slow, methodical—for show, almost.

Sideswipe deftly avoided the blaster fire aimed at him, reached Bulkhead, and then they clashed. Except, it wasn’t the epic smashdown it was supposed to be. It wasn’t two titans coming to blows. Bulkhead undoubtedly had brute strength on his side, but Sideswipe moved like quicksilver, always staying two steps ahead of Bulkhead’s attacks, always evading every crippling blow he should have taken. And those swords he had… Slag, you’d have thought their length would be a problem, make them unwieldy.

But their slow introduction into the battle was nothing but show, he was sure of that much now. Sideswipe proved well enough that he could both extend and retract them in seconds by doing just that. Every time his swords should’ve gotten in the way, they suddenly disappeared, only to reappear a moment later.

And more often than not, that ended with cuts on Bulkhead that the green mech couldn’t block because of the unpredictability and sheer speed Sideswipe employed.

Arcee joined the fray, and that should have tipped the scales. Arcee was a fast fighter too, and together her and Bulkhead should have had well enough destructive prowess to bring down any common ‘Con.

Except Sideswipe wasn’t common, was he? He was like a dancer when he moved between Arcee and Bulkhead, smooth in every motion—blocking, moving out of the way, attacking to a devastating effect. Bumblebee couldn’t get shots in without risking hitting his comrades, so he went melee also.

Three on one. For real, in close quarters.

And it never stopped looking like Sideswipe had the upper hand. How was he that fast anyway? It looked almost unnatural—until Jack noticed the bit of heated air that accompanied every particularly fast motion.

Could a mech have jets built into them to enhance their movement speed..?

Sideswipe never once lost his smile, despite cutting bleeding gashes into their guardians with his blades that appeared and retracted at a punishing pace.

Bumblebee’s leg was almost severed.

Arcee got a deep cut across her abdomen.

Bulkhead was littered with wounds even his armor couldn’t protect him from.

Miko didn’t look so confident anymore. In fact, he was pretty sure horror was reflected on all their faces as they watched the slow obliteration of their friends. He wasn’t… Slag, he wasn’t even sure Sideswipe was all that serious. He made it all look so effortless, like he wasn’t even trying.

Jack was seriously getting worried they were about to watch their guardians get killed, or at the very least, severely incapacitated, but then, a space bridge opened behind them. They glanced over their shoulders to see Optimus walk through the spinning portal, and relief flushed his veins.

There was no way even Sideswipe could stand up against Optimus Prime. Right?

“Sideswipe,” Optimus rumbled with a clear note of displeasure. The fight broke off, their injured friends retreating a few steps away as the Prime approached.

Sideswipe didn’t try to continue the fight and straightened back to his full height, carelessly flicking some energon off the end of his left hand sword. “Optimus. Long time no see,” he smiled, and could he not freaking stop smiling?

“Does Megatron know you’re here?” Optimus asked, coming to stand beside his comrades.

The red mech just shrugged, glancing away and rocking on his heels—not answering. What did that mean? That the Decepticons didn’t know about him?

Could that mean he could be captured without the ‘Cons being any wiser to it? Or killed, even?

“Sideswipe, I cannot let you harm my soldiers, or the humans,” Optimus said. “I believe you are a threat if left be.”

Sideswipe made an amused sound. “Can’t really disagree with that,” he said with a wry grin, and now Jack could get a good look of his fangs.

Definitely a Decepticon through and through. How had they gotten fooled even momentarily?

“But,” the red mech continued, inspecting his swords, “I can’t just go quietly, can I?”

A shiver ran up Jack’s spine at the words. Sideswipe lifted one of his arms, pointing his sword at Optimus.

The threat was clear as day.

Did that mean Sideswipe was powerful enough to challenge even Optimus? No, not just Optimus, but Optimus, Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee? That couldn’t be. There was no way that could be.

And maybe it wasn’t, because a vortex opened up behind Sideswipe too, and–

Through walked a mech with near identical frame design, only this one was colored in bright gold. “I’m not late, am I?” he asked, and if Sideswipe’s voice was high, the new mech’s was deep, rough, traveling to his core and all but shaking it.

“There’s two of them?!” Miko whispered urgently, and Jack knew what they all were thinking.

If this new arrival was as strong as Sideswipe was appearing...

“Not late at all, Sunny,” Sideswipe smiled, glancing at his near-copy when he came next to him. “Not late at all.”

Chapter Text

“Autobots, retreat,” came Optimus’ order almost immediately. Jack glanced at him in surprise, though he wondered if he really should be surprised at all. They’d just seen what Sideswipe could do against three skilled warriors. And now this ‘Sunny’ had joined the scene. Their friends were already injured aside from Optimus himself, but could Optimus alone hold his own against the two of them?

How much could Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Arcee be of help anymore?

They didn’t question the order, though, not even Arcee. That probably said something about the severity of the situation. 

Their guardians took a few steps back before they turned on their heels to come for them. Optimus didn’t follow immediately, keeping all of his attention on the two Decepticons, likely to make sure they wouldn’t try anything.

But Jack wasn’t sure if any of them saw coming what ‘Sunny’ did then. His knees bent a little, and that was all the warning there was before the golden mech had launched himself into a jump that shouldn’t have been possible–

If it wasn’t for what Jack was almost certain now were small jets in his legs. Maybe his back too.

The Decepticon vaulted over all of the Autobots only to land behind him, Raf, and Miko, blocking their route. “Going so soon?” ‘Sunny’ asked in a purr, straightening and turning to face the Autobots again.

That was when he seemed to take notice of them, his optics flitting down on them before his face lit up with some amusement. “Ah, so it is true. You do keep these vermin as pets.”

“I’ll show you vermin, you filthy ‘Con!” Miko threatened, taking a few steps closer before Jack could stop her. Sideswipe had seemed easygoing enough even though he’d turned out a villain in the end.

He got entirely different vibes from ‘Sunny’.

Even Miko froze at the deep growl that rose from the golden mech’s frame at her words, his lip lifting in a snarl. Before he could do worse than kick dirt and rocks at them, though, their guardians had set in motion. “Leave them alone, Sunstreaker!”

Sunstreaker. He looked back to the Autobots at the words, just in time for Arcee to reach him. Jack feared the worst, and his concerns weren’t much alleviated even when it looked like Arcee could force Sunstreaker on the defensive with her blades. Sunstreaker didn’t extend swords of his own like Sideswipe had, but he dodged every attack with barely inches to spare. His face was entirely neutral, not at all the expression of someone who was struggling.

And when Bulkhead and Bumblebee reached him, Jack could see why Sunstreaker hadn’t seemed at all concerned. He merely put a hand in the way of Arcee’s blade, and that was all he needed to block it, seemingly without any damage to him whatsoever.

Then he closed his hand around Arcee’s arm and yanked it up just when Bulkhead brought his wrecking ball down. Where their guardians would have normally known how to fight around each other, together as a team without damaging each other, Sunstreaker now forced Arcee on the way of Bulkhead’s attack.

Raf cried out in horror and Miko lurched in some desire to go help when Bulkhead smashed through Arcee’s arm. Arcee couldn’t stop her scream of pain when her limb was crushed and bent out of shape into a twisted wreck.

And Sunstreaker’s expression didn’t so much as flicker.

Arcee stumbled off to the side, but Bumblebee and Bulkhead couldn’t take the time to apologize or go help her, because Sunstreaker chose that moment to go on the offensive. Still he didn’t bring out swords like Sideswipe’s, and merely closed the distance until he could go hand to hand.

Except that didn’t turn out to be true either. As soon as he was within grappling distance, Sunstreaker caught Bumblebee and his right arm transformed into a blaster that he used without hesitation. Bumblebee could barely angle himself away enough that he didn’t have a hole blown straight through him, the shot from the cannon instead tearing his side.

Bulkhead tried to intervene, but again Sunstreaker used their comrades against one another and simply pulled Bumblebee between himself and Bulkhead. Bulkhead was forced to divert his attack, and already Bumblebee was thrown to the side and Sunstreaker went after Bulkhead next. 

Jack tore his optics away from that scene to look back at Optimus and Sideswipe at a loud screech of metal. The two were squaring off, Sideswipe clearly keeping Optimus from going to help the other Autobots.

But Sideswipe was paying for it. He was still smiling an easy smile, but there were wounds on his frame too now. Clearly Optimus could match him, but at a cost, because Optimus too was gaining injuries.

The screech of metal was Sideswipe’s claws digging into Optimus’ side and gouging ugly grooves through his plating.

Optimus could handle himself, but it wasn’t enough to get Sideswipe off of him enough to aid their guardians.

And Sunstreaker made sure they really could have used the help. At this point Jack was pretty sure he didn’t have swords, but the cannons he had in both of his arms were plenty dangerous enough, at least in close range like this. Sunstreaker wouldn’t let it become a ranged fight, either. He was no slower than Sideswipe was, and used his speed to bolt after Arcee and Bumblebee every time they tried to gain enough space to safely use their blasters. Arcee only even had one anymore, and Bumblebee had to work to stay half a step ahead of Sunstreaker’s attacks.

Did Sunstreaker lack enough that he couldn’t quite get Bumblebee?

Or was he toying with them?

Bulkhead was hesitant to get close to Bumblebee and Arcee when Sunstreaker was harassing them, in fear of being used against his friends again, but he had to try anyway.

“What do we do?” Miko asked, as tense as Jack felt. He felt so… Helpless, watching all of this. This wasn’t like fighting the ‘Cons on the usual. Usually their guardians could hold their own just fine, with only a few ‘Cons who could truly test them.

Well, those few ‘Cons had just had their numbers increased by two.

“Get out of here!” Arcee answered Miko’s question for them, her injured arm hanging limp at her side. Jack’s jaw clenched at the sight of it, and not just because it was physically painful to look at.

“We can’t just leave you!” he exclaimed back at her, only to notice Sunstreaker had his attention on them now. That couldn’t be good.

“There’s nothing you can do. Go!”

Nothing they could do. Because they were small and squishy and nothing like their warforged friends. More often than not they could still help, but right now Jack didn’t see a lot of ways to do that. 

As a distraction at most.

“No!” Miko still refused, but now it was certain they had Sunstreaker’s attention. The golden mech suddenly flashed back, and Jack’s gaze dropped to his heels. Wheeled heels. He rolled on them fluidly like a roller skater, his optics rapt on them.

“You should listen,” Sunstreaker commented, but as much as Jack hoped his distraction would give the Autobots a chance to get him, it didn’t look like that was going to happen. Sunstreaker was retreating, but only to come closer to them, and he still stayed out of Bulkhead’s reach and Bumblebee and Arcee couldn’t get in any good hits with their blasters. “Or do you want me to stop playing?”

“You’re just bluffing!” Miko yelled at him. “You’re a step away from getting your tailpipe kicked and you know it!”

Sunstreaker’s optics flashed. “Am I?”

Jack was sure Miko would have so many regrets after this, because Sunstreaker shifted his attention away from them and stopped evading. He turned the tables around in one violent motion and charged Bulkhead. Jack felt like his heart was fit to stop when Sunstreaker, by all appearances, stopped playing.  

Bulkhead couldn’t keep up with it. Sunstreaker moved around him like a dancer, just like Sideswipe had, but where Sideswipe let his swords do the work, Sunstreaker used his claws to get Bulkhead where he wanted him, then fired with his cannon, point blank. Round and round they went, with Sunstreaker switching which arm was a servo and which a cannon at an unpredictable pace that left no hope of keeping up with it. Jack was sure he could have never read the intent of a warrior enough to predict where and how Sunstreaker would hit next, but it looked a lot like not even Bulkhead could do that.

He took so many hits, the first blast charing his thick armor, the next one on the same spot caving it in, the third one breaking through until he bled.

And Sunstreaker very well hit the same spots over and over again until Bulkhead was bleeding from a number of wounds. Arcee and Bumblebee struggled to get aim without risking hitting Bulkhead and adding to his injuries, and that had to be according to Sunstreaker’s plan too.

He was just showing off at this point.

Then, all of a sudden, he transformed his cannons away entirely, and… Balled his servos into fists. That should have put him and Bulkhead on a more even footing, maybe even given Bulkhead the upper hand, but he was already injured so badly.

Jack watched with ever increasing horror as Sunstreaker practically turned Bulkhead into his personal punching bag. He targeted the areas he’d already damaged, and there it was again, that shimmer of heated air every time he hit.

And he hit hard, no doubt assisted by what had to be jets built into his arms too. Bulkhead did his best, but he couldn’t block even half of Sunstreaker’s attacks, and could barely land any of his own. Even as solidly built as he was, it looked like he was barely keeping on his pedes under the strength of Sunstreaker’s attacks.

Bumblebee charged into the fray, but Sunstreaker took notice of him and… Shot his fist upward, delivering a resounding uppercut to Bulkhead’s chin.

Miko cried out in horror when Bulkhead fell back and collapsed onto the ground. Sunstreaker turned his attention to Bumblebee.

“We get it! We get it, you’re not playing!” Jack yelled before Sunstreaker could deliver the same amount of hurt on Raf’s guardian. Raf didn’t need to see any more of this. This was already too much. Tears were running from the young boy’s eyes.

A heavy slam of metal had him sending a quick glance in the direction of Optimus and Sideswipe again, just in time to see Sideswipe landing on his pedes a good distance away from Optimus, a deep dent on his chest. Optimus himself had turned to run back to the other Autobots.

He was injured. So was Sideswipe, and while Sideswipe looked to be worse off than Optimus, Optimus wasn’t exactly doing too well himself. “Sunstreaker!” he boomed, drawing the golden mech’s attention to him.

Sunstreaker smiled. It wasn’t the relaxed, almost friendly expression Sideswipe was sporting.

This one was full of malice.

Optimus clashed with Sunstreaker next. Sunstreaker didn’t even try to get out of the way, meeting the fist aimed at him with an open palm, again that heated air behind the motion, until the resounding crash was like a thunder strike. Both Optimus and Sunstreaker stumbled back from the impact, just in time for Sideswipe to reach them. Optimus could barely dodge out of his way, and then he had the attention of both of the Decepticons on him. 

Arcee’s good servo briefly visited her audial and Jack could only guess she called Ratchet, because in the next moment a ground bridge opened just a few steps away from them. “Go!” he caught Miko by the arm to force her along. Raf took off running when both Arcee and Bumblebee did the same.

Bulkhead didn’t get up. Jack had to drag Miko away. She put up a fight every step of the way until Bumblebee came to them and scooped her up, ignoring her screaming and continuing to the bridge vortex.

It closed behind them as soon as they were safely back in base, leaving Optimus with… Sunstreaker and Sideswipe.

Bulkhead too.

“What happened?” Ratched asked in horror after taking one look at them.

“The twins,” Arcee snarled in answer.

Ratchet looked even more taken aback before his expression smoothed out. “Optimus and Bulkhead?” he asked, significantly more quietly. 

“Sunstreaker scrapped Bulkhead. Optimus engaged them both to give us a chance to get away,” Arcee responded, hanging her head. 

“Did he kill him?” Miko demanded as Bumblebee set her down. She glared at him, but Jack could see she was fighting back tears, as much as she was trying to hide it. 

Arcee shook her head. “No. Bulkhead was still alive.”

“Who were they?” Raf asked, slowly climbing the stairs to their human platform. “I mean, I know they’re Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, but obviously you guys already knew them.”

Ratchet huffed, but it was Arcee who answered, snarling again, “They used to be Autobots.”

“They’re traitors?” Miko hissed as she followed Raf. Jack trailed after them both, looking back at Arcee as her and Bumblebee made their way to Ratchet’s repair area.

Before anyone could answer her, Ratchet was already hurrying to open the bridge back up. They all turned to the portal that came to life, just in time to see Optimus and Bulkhead limp through. Bulkhead had one arm slung along Optimus’ shoulder, and the Prime was supporting him as they made their way through the bridge.

“Bulkhead!” Miko ran right back down the stairs, taking two at a time until she reached the floor level. Optimus guided Bulkhead to the repair area too, and Ratchet walked after them with a brisk step, ready to triage everyone’s injuries. “What happened to them?” Miko went on to ask.

Bulkhead laughed, though the sound lacked all amusement. “Optimus fought them off. Then they said Megatron would want to deliver the killing blow anyway, and left.”  

Jack had a good look at Optimus, and honestly he looked terrible. As well as the sword marks clearly left on him by Sideswipe, he was now littered with additional cannon wounds and claw rends, no doubt left on him by Sunstreaker.

But he had fought them both off. That spoke volumes of how strong the Prime was.

Although, how seriously had these twins fought? And out of all the twins there could be, it was enough to say the twins, and everyone knew who was being discussed? “Who are they?” he asked the same question Raf had already asked. 

“Ex-Autobots,” Bulkhead said, then continued, “Ex-gladiators.”

Gladiators. Jack frowned. “Like Megatron.”

“Yeah, exactly like Megatron.”

“Does that mean they knew him? Back then?” Raf asked.

“No one knew when they first came to the Autobots,” Arcee was the one to answer this time. 

“They just seemed to hate him. A lot,” Bulkhead piped in. “A good quality for Autobots to have, you’d think.”

“And maybe at one point they did,” Arcee frowned, then growled again, “but it turns out they and Megatron had a lot of history behind them.”

“Yeah,” Bulkhead snorted, “turns out Megatron had Shockwave build them their frames.”

Jack blinked in surprise. Raf spoke up again, his voice shivering. “Shockwave? Is that why they’re so powerful?”

“Sure is,” Bulkhead confirmed. “No one knew that much when they joined the Autobots, but they were designed to be supersoldiers on Megatron’s side.”

“Supersoldiers?” Miko asked from where she had gone to pet Bulkhead’s leg. Jack expected she was trying to calm herself as much as she was trying to comfort Bulkhead. “Isn’t that movie stuff?”

“Not when Shockwave’s involved,” Arcee shrugged. “The details are still fuzzy, but the twins and Megatron had a falling out of some kind that had them defecting after they’d gotten retrofitted with Shockwave’s modifications. If only we’d known all that when they joined up.”

“They sound kind of… Infamous,” Jack said.

Ratchet had stayed quiet, his expression tense as he worked on patching up the worst of the other Autobots’ leaks, but he spoke now.

He sounded a little bitter, almost. “They’re some of the most powerful soldiers on either side of the war. Their resume is long and violent. Practically everyone has heard of them, if they haven’t had the displeasure of running into them personally.”

Miko was frowning. “So they started as ‘Cons, but then defected to the ‘Bots, and then defected back to the ‘Cons?”

“Yeah, not too long ago either. I don’t know what Megatron did to lure them back, but they’re…” Bulkhead trailed off.

Arcee picked up where he left off. “Devastating, fighting for him.”

Bulkhead sighed. “I really could have done without them coming to Earth.”

“This complicates things. Badly,” Arcee agreed.

Optimus’ expression was severe, as much as he didn’t say anything. Jack could understand his visible concern. Just two Decepticons had slagged all of the Autobots here on Earth.

The power balance was bound to shift drastically now, and not in the Autobots’ favor.