"Sunny? Are you awake?" Sideswipe whispered. The other half of Sideswipe's cell was quiet. Sunstreaker didn't move. Sideswipe reached one wheeled foot as far across the cell as he could to nudge at Sunstreaker. His wheel didn't reach Sunstreaker. Sideswipe couldn't stretch out far enough from the wall. His hands were linked together in stasis cuffs and they were suspended above his head by a metal bar sticking out of the wall. He could have lifted his arms farther and taken them off the bar, but as long as his waist was chained to the wall, he was unable to stand up. So Sideswipe stayed pinned up to the wall opposite of Sunstreaker.

Sideswipe wasn't afraid of being a captive. He was bored with the situation actually. Sideswipe was even a little angry with Sunstreaker for falling into recharge shortly after their brutal arrival to the Decepticon ship's brig. Sideswipe groaned, wishing he had someone to talk to. He had not even considered how much Sunstreaker needed his rest after being clubbed in the head upon their arrival. While Sunstreaker's internal healing processors went to work, Sideswipe quietly stared at the dark purple walls of their cell. They were tainted with dents and splatters of dried energon everywhere. Judging by the appearance of the room, Sideswipe could imagine scenarios in his head of how each splatter of energon came to be on the wall. He imagined Decepticons throwing Autobots against the wall, kicking them to the floor, pounding them to scrap metal... Yet Sideswipe still wasn't afraid. He became wearier, the more his imagination ran wild. But he still kept his faith strong in the Autobots. They would come and rescue him and his brother. They would come.

After an hour had passed, Sideswipe found himself dozing off with Sunstreaker. Suddenly heavy footsteps came stomping into the brig. Sideswipe shook himself awake and prepared himself for whoever he might see. Sunstreaker became alert as well. He franticly scanned his surroundings. When his optics met Sideswipe's, he leaned his head back against the wall and groaned at the ceiling.

"Yeah. We're still here." Sideswipe confirmed over their private twin bond. The bronze Decepticon wasted no time in coming straight to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. He unlocked the plasma bars from the outside, and came into the cell. Sideswipe trembled under the massive Decepticon's shadow. But not for long. As soon as the Decepticon's shadow cast over Sideswipe, the giant bulky Decepticon changed his route and locked his gaze on Sunstreaker. Sideswipe felt uneasy. He knew Sunstreaker was potentially in danger, but he just couldn't find the words to say to the 'Con that would protect Sunstreaker. There was nothing Sideswipe could do with the 'Cons in control.

"What are you looking at, slag-sucker?" Sunstreaker taunted. The Decepticon showed no emotion and ejected a long energon sword out of his left arm. Sideswipe flinched. But Sunstreaker just continued to stare down the Decepticon. The Decepticon raised his sword over his head. His pose suggested he was about to slice Sunstreaker in half. The sword came down and missed Sunstreaker's chest by an inch. It sliced the chains off Sunstreaker's waist without leaving a scratch on him. Neither twin had time to sigh in relief. The 'Con hoisted Sunstreaker to his feet and unhooked him from the metal bar suspending his arms. The 'Con forced Sunstreaker's arms behind him in the wrong direction. Lucky for him, Autobots were far more flexible than humans.

Sideswipe watched carefully as Sunstreaker was roughly led out of the cell. Sunstreaker didn't look back at Sideswipe or show any resistance to the Decepticon. He walked forward when ordered, and tried not to stare at the energon sword that the 'Con held close to the golden mech's side. As Sunstreaker walked, he refused to look down at the floor. He held back any sign of weakness at all cost. Though Sunstreaker's mind was set on slagging Megatron at the first chance he got, Sideswipe was already starting to lose control. Watching Sunstreaker walk away with an energon sword at his side triggered Sideswipe's fears. He would officially admit that he was afraid. Sideswipe felt afraid of the loneliness and the unknown. Where were they taking Sunstreaker? What could Megatron's intent for keeping them alive possibly be?

The bronze colored Decepticon pushed Sunstreaker along into the ship's med bay (or rather a room that looked like a chop shop to Sunstreaker). The moment he stepped inside, he met optics with a face he hadn't seen in a long time. The Decepticon medic, Doctor Scalpel, met Sunstreaker's gaze and snapped an insult at him in his own twisted language. Then Sunstreaker realized whose shoulder Scalpel was perched on. Megatron himself. The Decepticon behind Sunstreaker shoved him down to his knees in front of Megatron. The Decepticon overlord revealed his fangs in an amused, evil grin.

"All hail Megatron." Megatron mocked his prisoner. Sunstreaker dared to growl at him, before the bronze Decepticon took Sunstreaker by the head, and pulled his head down until Sunstreaker could almost kiss the floor. Even with the large Decepticon holding him down to bow against his will, Sunstreaker's body trembled in an effort to sit straight up. Megatron admired Sunstreaker's perseverance. He took note that Sunstreaker would be a challenge to break... for the first couple of breams! "We're all so pleased to have you here, Autobot." Megatron said. The strain on Sunstreaker's head was lifted, and he slowly sat up to look at Megatron. Sunstreaker still wore a bitter scowl on his face plate.

"Yeah? What's the occasion?" Sunstreaker grunted. The look on Megatron's face gave Sunstreaker the impression that he'd asked the wrong question.

"Two mechs are joining our ranks tonight." Megatron answered. Sunstreaker's tank felt like it was about to flip. He didn't understand what was going on, but he didn't need anybody to tell him something was very wrong. Suddenly Sunstreaker was seized by two Decepticons. They each grabbed an arm, and pulled Sunstreaker up and backwards. Sunstreaker's feet slipped out from under him. The stasis cuffs kept him powerless and stiff in the Decepticons' grasp, but that didn't mean Sunstreaker was going down without a fight. He shouted, kicked, and jerked back and forth. He didn't realize it at first, but the two Decepticons didn't even fight him. They just held onto him and watched him struggle. Megatron was not as entertained as the two Decepticons, and ordered that the Autobot should be contained and muted immediately. As Megatron commanded, Sunstreaker was dragged onto a medical berth and strapped down against it. Scalpel quickly crawled down Megatron's arm and leapt on top of Sunstreaker's head. He tried to shake the doctor off, but Scalpel was too fast. He leapt over Sunstreaker's mouth and threatened in rapid chattering, to melt his mouth shut. "Wait one moment." Megatron said calmly as he scooted Scalpel away from Sunstreaker's mouth. Megatron instantly had Sunstreaker's full attention. "Tell me Autobot. What would you think of devoting yourself to me, as your leader?" Megatron sneered.

"Never." Sunstreaker gasped, feeling the doctor start to pick at him again.

"And what would you say if I told you, putting a Decepticon insignia right there..." Megatron outlined Sunstreaker's Autobot insignia with a single claw. "...is the only way to save your brother?" Megatron finished. Sunstreaker was shocked at the hints Megatron was letting out. He couldn't say anything. "Interesting." Megatron concluded, and stepped away from Sunstreaker's berth. "Proceed Scalpel." Megatron said. The tiny medic leapt back to Sunstroke's face and began sealing his lips together. Sunstreaker shrieked when a flaming tool hit his lips and pressed them together till Sunstreaker's shrieks couldn't be heard anymore.

Sideswipe had been accompanied by a Decepticon guard, who watched him from the other side of the plasma bars since Sunstreaker left. Sideswipe tried to start a conversation with the guard occasionally (which never worked because all he could think to say to the guard were insults). Suddenly Sideswipe's metallic lips felt as if they were pressed to fire. He screeched from the unexpected pain. His head jolted upward. 'Mercy Primus! Please not again!' Sideswipe prayed. He remembered all too well, loosing his sanity to a point of hallucinating living nightmares of a Decepticon femme with fire for hands. Although that episode was only a hallucination, this fire that Sideswipe felt on his lips was very real. Sideswipe yanked down on the bar above his head. He didn't think about breaking the bar or breaking the stasis cuffs. His body was just responding to the natural instinct of putting his hand over his burning mouth. Both bar and stasis cuffs stayed strong and unbent. Sideswipe continued looking upward with his jaw hanging wide open. He tried to inhale cool air. The cell was already uncomfortably cold. The cool air passed Sideswipe's seemingly torched lips, but it made no difference. He tried gently licking the inside of his lips with his glossa, but his lips remained boiling hot. Outside the cell, the Decepticon guard laughed at the sight of Sideswipe panting. Sideswipe turned his head towards the guard, suddenly realizing something.

"What the frag are they doing to him?" Sideswipe gasped. He winced every time his lips met in that sentence. The guard didn't give Sideswipe an answer, and continued staring.

Inside the med bay, Sunstreaker's mouth was sealed shut. But he wasn't completely out of it yet. He still clearly processed everything that was happening around him. His optics followed Scalpel all over his body. Sunstreaker's hate for the doctor grew stronger with every tiny scratch the doctor's servos left on his paint job. Scalpel tightened Sunstreaker's restraints, and deactivated Sunstreaker's arms and legs for good measure, before he began operating. Once he was confident there would be no distractions from Sunstreaker, Scalpel climbed over Sunstreaker's chest. Sunstreaker's first concern was his spark, but that wasn't what Scalpel was after. One servo from the doctor transformed into a long scraping tool. Scalpel stabbed the tool into Sunstreaker's chest deep enough to penetrate the first layer of metal. To Sunstreaker's relief, Scalpel didn't reach his spark. Then the pain really set in. Sunstreaker was shocked with waves of pain from the center of his chest. Scalpel moved the tool up and down and cut a line around Sunstreaker's Autobot insignia like carving a Jack-o-lantern. Sunstreaker tried to scream. He was muted as Megatron commanded. What he really couldn't stand was not being able to move. It was one thing to be tied down, but at least then he could kick under his restraints. In this case, there was absolutely no release for his agony.

Due to stress overload, Sunstreaker fell into stasis. He was completely oblivious to the rest of the operation, but the pain was still transferred to Sideswipe over their twin bond. For hours Sideswipe screamed and thrashed against the wall. First his mouth, then his chest. The jolts of pain were so random; Sideswipe couldn't even guess what was happening to Sunstreaker. The next pain came from Sideswipe's arms. He didn't know it, but at the same moment Scalpel was sawing open Sunstreaker's arms and murdering his combat weapons. After that, Sideswipe suffered through the feeling of his armor plating being ripped from his legs. Which is exactly what was happening to Sunstreaker. But the worst part was when Scalpel attacked Sunstreaker's processor. He literally crawled half way inside his head after drilling a hole in his audio receptor. Scalpel wasn't able to delete any memories. Instead, he locked them away in inaccessible files. Sunstreaker's whole identity was simply blocked. And it would stay blocked until Sunstreaker could recall on his own, who he was. Once Scalpel blocked Sunstreaker's identity, he installed a silver Decepticon insignia over the gap in Sunstreaker's chest. If Sustreaker couldn't recognize himself on the outside, there would be no chance of him recognizing himself on the inside.

As Sunstreaker's reprogramming took place, Sideswipe couldn't think straight. He felt like he was in a hazy dream. He kept banging his head against the wall, trying to break free from the trance he was in. Finally Sunstreaker's ordeal hit Sideswipe one more time. Scalpel moved back to Sunstreaker's processor. He had been informed of the discoveries Flatline, another Decepticon medic, had made with a different set of twins on Cybertron. With that knowledge, Scalpel was able to close off the twin bond between Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Sunstreaker's end of the bond and all knowledge of having a twin was also stowed away in inaccessible files. Sideswipe didn't feel any physical pain. It was mental pain that made him panic. Sideswipe felt shocked when Sunstreaker's presence suddenly disappeared from him. Not only was Sunstreaker not responding to Sideswipe's desperate calls, but now he was nonexistent to Sideswipe. The feeling of loosing Sunstreaker into thin air like that was too much. Sideswipe had always felt Sunstreaker beside him since the day they came online. This was the first time the twins were completely separated. Sideswipe couldn't take it.

"SUNNY! SUNNNNNYY!" Sideswipe cried. Sunstreaker gave no response. Then Sideswipe really lost it. He threw himself back against the wall with a loud thud and screamed for all he was worth. "SUNSTREAKER! SUNSTREAKER!" Sideswipe carried on like that for ten minutes, constantly calling for his brother. Eventually he gave up and was still. He bowed his head and coughed out a defeated cry. "Sunny..."

By morning, Sunstreaker was a new mech. His golden armor had all been replaced with shining black armor. He had all new weapons installed, and of course his silver Decepticon insignia was new too. Megatron observed the recharging mech, and gazed at his new red optics which were dimmed due to recharging. Megatron nodded approvingly.

"He will make an excellent Decepticon." Megatron hissed.