From Within The Sand (Sunstreaker and Sideswipe Bayverse)

Chapter 19

The hanger is in chaos when I walk in. Soldiers shouting, Autobots storming about. I stop just before I'm about to enter, debating if it's even smart to walk in. Not sure, I want to know what's going on. Unfortunately, I am spotted before I can turn around.

"Hart! Welcome to the party." Sideswipe calls out in a very sarcastic tone.

He skates over to me as I slowly walk out. A forced smile rest upon his face. I can see he is just as stressed out as Sunstreaker.

"Sunny with you?" he asks as he glides next to me, looking around for his brother.

"He's hiding." I reply, glancing up at him.

"I figured. He can only handle so much of humans and bots being around. I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did." He admits.

"You should be proud of him." I stop walking and tilt my head up to look at him better. "He's trying."

He falls to one knee, face getting closer to mine. "Hey, I am extremely proud of my brother. He is doing way more than he used to. He's even being nicer, too. That I'm not sure I like, honestly." He says the last part with a smile.

There is a pause, but before I can answer he starts speaking again.

"You look cute trying to defend him though." He winks, then gets up and skates away.

"I am not cute." I grumble to no one.

I make my way through the chaos. I dodge around bots and push past soldiers. Trying hard to keep myself together. The closer I get to my desk, the more anxious I become. I've dealt with crowds from the soldiers before. When they are getting ready for missions. Everyone rushing about, barely looking where they were going. This type of chaos always wears me out. It's the closet to being tired I feel. After tonight, I will definitely have to go to the cliff. I'm not at my desk more than a minute and Major Lennox is standing over me.

"We found an article on an orb from 20 years ago, but nothing on it since. I had the file sent to you." He explains.

I'm a little confused about what he wants me to do. They could have easily gotten a location from it and gone to check it out. "Even through it was from 20 years ago, did you send someone out to the spot to see if it was still there? Sir." I ask carefully, not wanting to undermine him.

"Open the file." I do as he says and he continues, "We looked up the place. Anything we could and if you read this article, it says the home vanished. Gone without a trace."

I read over the words quickly. The people who had found it along with their home vanished within days of the original article. Along with the orb. There is nothing on them reappearing anywhere.

"Looks like we are back to square one. But I still suggest looking in the area. Maybe the orb turned them invisible or something." I suggest.

"For 20 years." Lennox looks skeptical.

"I don't know, but it's the best chance we got sir." I push.

"Optimus" He calls for the leader, then pats me on the back and walks away.

I internally groan. It wasn't a hard pat, but enough that I'm glad I held myself together.

"Find something?" I hear Prime say behind me.

"No, but when will Ratchet and Wheeljack have those devices ready?" Lennox asks.