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The steady rhythmic pattern of feet hitting the floor was currently the only sound in the training room. Those who had finished their morning run were watching from the sidelines as those who were being punished finished their extra laps. Prowl stood alongside the other officers with his arms crossed and a neutral expression on his face. He gave no indication that he even noticed the glare Sunstreaker aimed at him every time the warrior jogged past.
Sunstreaker was of the opinion that an extra thirty-five laps was a bit excessive. All those involved or even suspected of being involved in the ‘incident’ had been sentenced to this exercise from the Pits. And that was in addition to the hours it had already taken them to scrub the playroom clean, after what had already come to be known as the “Clash of the Pranksters”.
His frown deepened as he lapped Ratbat yet again. Poor kid was already a couple of laps behind the rest of them and was obviously struggling to keep up. Sunstreaker didn’t think it was really fair as he was pretty sure the sparkling had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Having no more involvement then being a lookout for his older twin brothers. He’d already helped them with the cleanup and shouldn’t have been assigned as harsh of a punishment as the rest of them, who were guilty.
Three laps later, as Sunny was coming up on Ratbat once more, he remembered Prowl’s exact wording when doling out this punishment and a grin pulled at the corners of his mouth. He slowed his pace a bit as he drew even with the sparkling and then waited until they were within earshot of the watching officers.
“You know kid, Prowl just said we had to do an extra thirty-five laps, never specified it had to be under our own power.” Sunstreaker said holding out his hand. “Hop on.”
The exhausted Ratbat glanced up at him and his face suddenly broke into a huge grateful smile as he instantly took the Autobot up on his offer.
Sunny, without breaking stride, grabbed the giggling sparkling and swung him up onto his back. Ratbat snuggled against him and held on comfortably as Sunstreaker returned to his former pace; the kid hardly weighed anything.
As they jogged past an equally exhausted looking Skywarp, Ratbat couldn’t help giving him a little wave.
“Hey, No Fair!” Skywarp whined. But then with a mischievous grin he darted forward and jumped on Sideswipe’s back. Then pointing over the Autobot’s shoulder he yelled. “Follow that Lamborghini!”
With a whoop from Skywarp and a maniacal grin on Sideswipe’s face, they took off after Sunstreaker and Ratbat.
Ratbat, glancing over his shoulder, saw them coming and yelled back. “My Lamborghini’s faster.” He then stuck out his tongue before snuggling back against Sunny to enjoy the ride.
And the race was on, both brothers trying to get ahead of the other.
Not one to be left out, Frenzy, after scanning those standing on the sidelines, made a beeline for and then a running leap onto Barricade’s back yelling. “Speeders, get ‘em Cade-Cade!”
Barricade paused for a moment, but then with an exaggerated sigh and a barely suppressed grin, he took off after the speeding Lambos with Frenzy shrieking an impressive imitation of a police siren.
Skywarp and Ratbat’s heads both whipped around at the sound. “Frag, it’s the cops. Step on it.” Skywarp said bouncing a little.
Both Sunstreaker and Sideswipe poured on extra speed as Barricade quickly narrowed the distance between them.
Just as Frenzy’s twin was coming up on where the officers were standing and watching the spectacle with various levels of amusement on their faces. Rumble, not wanting to be left out either, saw Jazz grin and motion towards the other police cruiser. Taking that as permission and grinning madly at his own daring and the silent urging from Frenzy, Rumble jumped Prowl and yelled. “Police in high speed pursuit, they need back up. Let’s bust those Lamborghinis!”
Then to everyone’s surprise and Jazz’s delight, Prowl and Rumble joined the chase.
“The fugitives ain’t pullin’ over. Buzz – Beaky, we need air support.” Frenzy called as they whipped by.
The eagle twins looked at each other, usually not ones for such antics, they nevertheless found themselves swept up in the spirit of play and the exhilaration radiating off their brothers. It only took a slight encouraging nudge from their creator to participate, not to mention Ratbat’s hopeful pleas, for them to join in.
With silent nods of agreement, Buzzsaw approached Thundercracker, who bent down for the youngling to climb on his back. As soon as he was settled TC took off, straight for Skywarp, who was clinging just a little too provocatively to Sideswipe.
Laserbeak paused, glancing first at Starscream, but the seeker wasn’t quite back to full strength yet. He almost yelped in surprise when a giggling Fireflight bounded forward and he was unceremoniously swung up onto the Aerialbot’s back. Flight barely gave him a second to settle in and grab on before the two joined in the chase. They were quickly followed by Bumblebee and the rest of the Aerials.
Utter pandemonium then ensued amongst a cacophony of people yelling, cheering and laughing. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker still trying to out race each other well simultaneously out maneuvering their pursuers.
Sides pulled off an impressive kind of midstride pirouette and just barely managed to slip between Fireflight and Bumblebee, causing them to nearly collide with each other. Bumblebee’s fast reflexes kept them on their feet and saved the happily giggling Flight from deflecting off him to crash face first into the wall.
Sunstreaker, thanks to a warning shout from Ratbat, managed to evade Silverbolt’s surprisingly graceful lunge for them, well the rest of the Arialbots ended up chasing each other after Skydive tripped into Slingshot and they both took out AirRaid.
The high speed pursuit only lasted a few more laps and a couple of close calls before coming to a jumbled chaotic conclusion when the speeders were suddenly apprehended. The Lamborghini twins had tried to get away by cutting across the mats in the middle of the room in order to out maneuvered Prowl’s ambush, only to fall into his trap and get sideswiped from both sides.
After being tackled, Sideswipe by Thundercracker and Sunstreaker by Barricade and a madly cackling Frenzy, both lambos were too busy sprawled out in a tangled heap on the floor and trying to catch their breath between laughing fits, to resist arrest.
“Pileup! Ratchet, we need an ambulance.” Sideswipe called out, gasping as he held his aching side. “And the Jaws of Life,” He added, laughing harder as Thundercracker unsuccessfully attempted to pull the limp clinging form of Skywarp off him.
Those laughs however turned to groans, when they looked up to see Prowl standing over them with an evil, triumphant gleam in his eyes. “I do believe you miscreants still have five laps to go.”