TF - Alpha

Fishtail could easily say it was a rarity to have a set of twins in any Outpost, much less his, but today had tested even that reality; Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were visiting from Outpost Alpha, which had both pros and cons to it. Pacemaker was the twin to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker’s sire, so of course the Outpost’s medic was overjoyed to see his nephews after so many vorns.

The remainder of Fishtail’s crew, while they were often wary of visitors from Prime’s base, were also fairly enthusiastic about meeting the brothers. For their age, they were hailed as quite the fighters, always ready with another weapon a Decepticon wouldn’t see coming.

Two among them were an exception. As soon as he’d heard their designations, Ignition had pulled Blowtorch aside. Fishtail had seen Ignition furiously whispering to the SIC perhaps a joor after they’d received the news of the twins’ imminent arrival. Fishtail was puzzled that Ignition hadn’t just come to him if he’d had a concern. From what he was overhearing—emphasized words such as ‘unpredictable’, ‘warning ahead of time’, and ‘caution’—reputations had preceded them.

The second wary mech had been Engarde, who had materialized outside Fishtail’s room late that night. “Shall I make security preparations with Screwloose?” he asked, almost sounding hopeful.

“What for?” Fishtail had asked, willing his spark pulse to calm as he turned to face the guardian.

“Our upcoming emissaries.” Engarde’s optics were dim with contemplation and something else Fishtail couldn’t quite name. “None of us have fought alongside them, not even Pacemaker.”

Sighing, Fishtail ran a hand down his face. “Engarde, has Ignition been talking to you?” The other mech said nothing for or against it, so Fishtail continued, “I appreciate what you’re trying to do and I’m sure the others would appreciate it too, but I’m going to quote Pacemaker now. ‘I try not to judge before a Bot proves the color of their spark, especially if that spark is shared.’ We’ve heard rumors about miss-clocked Bots before; I’m recalling the instance when our very own comm. officer Screwloose wasn’t an exception.”

Engarde blinked, the only movement interrupting his intent gaze. “Nor was I.”

“Exactly,” Fishtail confirmed, though he had been reluctant to mention that. “I hope you won’t fall into the same rut as others and give Sideswipe and Sunstreaker a chance.”

That had been the end of the conversation. Now, seeing them in person, Fishtail could admit he was impressed. They were only a head shorter than Pacemaker, but their height only seemed to give them more fluidity as they moved, as did their wheeled feet and the assortment of weapons concealed on their persons, the most blatant of which were the swords folded into their forearms.

Unfortunately, other rumors about them were also proven true: their attention span was lacking, so their interest in reminiscing with Pacemaker hadn’t lasted long. Hardly five minutes after introductions of the officers were made, Sunstreaker had wandered toward the door, leaning against its frame and silently observing the room. Meanwhile Sideswipe had taken notice of the resident twins.

“Thanks for letting us come, Commander. Prime will want an update on—” Sideswipe stopped mid-sentence when he saw the green mech and his blue companion, just entering the common room. Fishtail glanced between them, watching Sideswipe’s optics track the more brightly colored of the two.

“Oh! It’s about time they got here,” Spotlight called as greeting, halting beside Fishtail and nodding courteously to Sideswipe, who responded by leaning into Spotlight’s personal space at the same time he gestured to his left at Freezeframe, who was now sitting close to the wall, hunched over a piece of machinery he had settled on his knees.

“The pair of you are brothers,” the red twin prompted eagerly, his vocals going up by the slightest note at the end, making it more of a question.

“Twins,” Spotlight stated, his usual easygoing smile widening. He appeared completely unfazed by the fact that Sideswipe had deduced it from nothing.

A subfolder in Fishtail’s processor reminded him that it was said twins had a sense of each other, that they could see a connection between two complete strangers if it was there. Unless it was an incredibly lucky guess, Fishtail could consider this theory true. He stepped back so as not to crowd in on their conversation, sharing a glance with Blowtorch, who shrugged and nodded, his processor obviously on the same route.

Sideswipe’s optics lit up at the word of confirmation. “Forged together or spark-split?” he demanded, much to the surprise of the others. They had, of course, known there were two types of twins, but why it was important was beyond them.

“Does it make a difference?” Spotlight voiced their thoughts, folding his arms and chuckling somewhat incredulously. “Spark-split, just like you.”

“Ah-ah, not quite like us, I think,” Sideswipe laughed, rolling small inches back and forth on his wheels like a sparkling shifting its weight in excitement. Crouching into a defensive position, he revved his engine lightly. “Care to prove your bond? Fancy a match?”

Was he questioning the authenticity of their spark bond? Fishtail glanced around to gauge the reactions of the others. Freezeframe hadn’t looked up from his work, but Fishtail had a feeling he was listening to every word. Blowtorch had straightened, folding his arms but otherwise still unmoving. Ignition had an air of wary expectation around him, optics narrowed almost as though Sideswipe had just accused him of falsehood.

Fishtail expected Spotlight to react in one of two ways: he would either rise to the challenge and lunge or burst out laughing. Amazingly enough, he did neither, managing to look both confident and polite as he held up a hand to wave him off.

“Our bond doesn’t need to be proved,” he assured, apparently not taking offense at the insinuation. “And neither does yours. We’re more than willing to spar, but not for that!” He paused, half-glancing at Freezeframe. Fishtail suspected the engineer had said something contrary through their bond, but whatever the reason, Sideswipe took advantage of the distraction, his blade unfolding faster than any of them had expected.

Fishtail’s mouth opened in utter disbelief, much like many of the others. His optics were sharp, certainly, but all he could see next was a green blur as Spotlight narrowly dodged the swing, unsheathing the void swords stored in the undersides of his forearms.

Ignition and Engarde made up for the lack of reaction from Freezeframe and Sunstreaker, both starting forward, only to be halted by a muttered word from Blowtorch. Fishtail momentarily considered overriding the command, but it was clear that his SIC thought the twins needed this.

Sideswipe was using only one of his swords to combat Spotlight’s two, but the latter was remaining on the defensive. For several minutes, the sparring match continued this way, until Spotlight abruptly sidestepped and swept his two blades up, trapping Sideswipe’s left arm between them. The red mech laughed, extending his right hand sword with a powerful swing.

“Is that all you’ve got? You’re holding back on me!” Sideswipe taunted even as a flurry of blows from Spotlight backed him into a corner. He maneuvered out of it only a nanoklik later, searing a clean cut across Spotlight’s back with a shriek of metal on metal. Even across the room, Fishtail saw Pacemaker cringe, but Blowtorch’s order kept him at bay from either aiding or stopping his nephew. Not far from the medic, Freezeframe looked up.

The fighters were spinning and whirling, light flashing along the edges of their blades like swinging orb lanterns. They were both scoring mild wounds, but neither of them seemed to be tiring. So far they had managed to keep their movement to the middle of the room, but Spotlight was pressing hard and edging Sideswipe toward Sunstreaker. After a miss by bare inches, Sunstreaker abruptly rose to full height, armor flaring.

“Back off a’ the spoiler! I’m not involved!” he snarled, swords sliding into his hands and dealing identical gashes to his brother’s back and Spotlight’s arm.

Sideswipe pouted as he retreated from his brother, rolling his shoulders as he felt energon leak down his backstrut. “Sunny, you know better than to draw them if you don’t want to be involved!” With that phrase, he threw a jab of his leftward weapon directly at his twin. At the look of horror Pacemaker adopted, Fishtail could surmise this was unheard of.

The action also took Spotlight off guard, which was exactly what Sideswipe had wanted, as Sunstreaker ducked past his sword and calculated his options. Apparently he was being forced to slag someone, his brother or the stranger, and it wasn’t going to be his brother when they weren’t at their own base with the best medics to repair them.

With the addition of Sunstreaker, the sparring match had graduated to a two-one battle. Blowtorch growled, extending an arm for his battleax, but Freezeframe abruptly slid into his path, quickly enough that Fishtail was sure he saw an afterimage of a blue blur.

“Don’t, you’ll make it worse,” Freezeframe appealed to his superior even as his optics darkened and his hands tightened on the tools he’d been employing at the start of this scene. “I don’t think you’ll mind,” he added in Pacemaker’s general direction before he dove into the fight, brandishing a welder in one hand and a pry bar in the opposite.

Fishtail wished he could compare this fight to another he’d seen before, but he couldn’t think of a remotely similar instance. The quartet almost looked like they were dancing, though Spotlight and Freezeframe a bit more erratically, a wash of red, gold, blue, and green. Sometimes a combatant would still just enough for an onlooker to latch onto their identity and then they would blend back into the fray. Sparks and droplets of energon were spraying from their armor amidst the blades meeting and the flaming arc of Freezeframe’s welder, burning whatever it could touch.

As it turned out, that was what brought on the end of the clash. As Sideswipe knocked Spotlight onto one knee, Freezeframe rolled over his brother and swiped the welder over Sunstreaker’s armor, rewarded with a screech of revulsion. Sunstreaker halted altogether and Freezeframe balanced his pry bar, stern and ready. Sideswipe in return poised his sword at the hollow of Spotlight’s throat.

“You—slag you, you singed it!” Sunstreaker hissed, pressing a hand over his blackened waist.

“If wielded properly, that’s what a welder does,” Freezeframe shot back bluntly, motioning with his chin at Sideswipe. “Would you and your other half care for more?”

Fishtail tried to keep his venting even as Sunstreaker studied his arms in dismay, wiping gingerly at the leaks marring his paint. “No, I’m done,” the golden mech admitted, sheathing his swords and stepping back.

Sideswipe had similar wounds, dozens of them scattered across his frame, but still he smirked down at Spotlight, who remained completely motionless with the sword supporting his chin while his cooling fans worked. After what seemed an endless amount of time, the smirk fled Sideswipe’s face and he stood down, withdrawing his weapons.

“Maybe if you’re fortunate, you’ll be good enough for a rematch someday,” he commented coolly as Freezeframe lifted Spotlight off the ground.

Glowering, Spotlight snaked an arm around Freezeframe’s shoulder for support and with his free hand wiped at the energon seeping from his mouth, smearing it across his chin. Gently knocking the side of his head against Freezeframe’s, he muttered, “Right back at you.”