The doctor had faced many feral children in his days working in the fight ring, but these two boys seemed different somehow. It worried him. They relied heavily on one another, which would be an easy weakness for Vic to exploit. That and the necklaces they'd been vehement on keeping with them. He pinched the bridge of his nose and stared at the boys, who glared back with sharp blue eyes. It was interesting to see such a strong sibling bond. Even siblings within the rings had never relied on each other as much as these two, and that was without the addition of telepathy and odd visions of alien robots. Ian still wasn't sure if he could believe them about that. Children often made up stories in order to deal with any traumatic incident, which by the sounds of it, was another fight ring. He studied the way the boys were intertwined, arms through each others and shoulders pressed tightly together. Alex wore a grimace on his pale face while his brother looked a little sickly.

"Gabe...are you alright?" the doctor asked hesitantly, having just heard the wild story come from the boy in question. Gabe looked at him slowly, shrugging.

"You tell me doc, am I okay?" Ian sighed and glanced at his watch.

"Shit." Alex tensed at the doctor's sudden concern.

"What is it?"

"Vic will be here soon to check up on you." the doctor swallowed, eyes going to the door. "And if he sees me trying to talk to you…"

"We get it." Alex said quickly, his voice cold and serious. "Take me back to my room and pretend we're still hurt or something."

"He's not hurt." Ian countered, gesturing to Gabe. "So he'll want to take him." the apologetic tone did nothing to keep Alex from wanted to strangle the man.

"Then let me go with him. I won't be separated from him."

"You know Vic will just use that against you." Ian said softly and Gabe gripped his brother's arm a little harder. Alex felt sick, both from the pulsing fear that came from his twin and his own, mixed with the pain of his head injury.

"We won't let him." he choked out, a hand going to his head. Ian came forward and slung an arm around the tall boy's shoulders, leading him back toward his first med-bay.

"I won't let you go anywhere like this. You have a concussion." Ian said sternly and Alex fought the man's grip.

"No! I can't let him take Sides!" Ian bit his lip to keep from telling him "no" once more, he didn't want the kid even more upset. That and he felt bad for him.

"He won't." the doctor promised, though he wasn't confident he could keep it. Gabe hovered at their heels, fingers playing with his necklace anxiously. He hated that his brother was hurting and that he couldn't fix it. He hated that he was in another fighting ring, this time without any chance of escape. Where was Optimus Prime when you needed him? Or Ratchet. Ratchet was the one to find them after all... Gabe closed his eyes, chiding himself for comparing his life to that of Sideswipe. The alien wasn't real. The Autobots weren't real. And no one was coming to save them. He watched as the doctor laid Alex down and forced him to keep still as he looked at the injury once more. It had stopped bleeding, and it wasn't even that major of a cut.

"If he takes me away...I'll be okay Sunny," Gabe whispered to his brother while the doctor was busy at one of the counters measuring medicine. Alex scowled.

"I don't want him to take you away. And I have no idea if you'll be okay." Gabe leaned into his brother, his head resting against his twin's broad chest. He listened to the steady beat of his heart and wished that instead, he could feel the gentle pulse of a spark, one that matched his own and that called to him in a comforting way. Gabe squeezed his eyes shut and mentally kicked himself for once again thinking of the autobots. They aren't real. He screamed and Alex's hand went to his hair.

"Stop worrying yourself over them." his voice made Gabe want to cry. His brother didn't know whether or not to believe the visions either. His brother didn't know how to console him this time.

"Here, take this." Ian gently pulled Gabe aside and helped Alex sit up. Alex snarled and grabbed the medicine cup, drinking it quickly and shoving it roughly back into the doctor's hand.

"There. Am I good now?" Ian shook his head.

"Not even close, you'll have to wait for a couple of days until-"

"Ah! There you all are." Vic's voice slithered into the room, and the twins clenched their fists at the sight of him.

"They're not ready to-" Ian tried but the man waved his hand, peering intensely at the twins.

"I think they're plenty ready. In fact, tonight's show could use a few new faces...and since these two were the only ones picked up recently…"

"Vic! He still has a concussion!" Ian yelled and the man's expression darkened. He stalked over to the doctor and squeezed a hand around the man's throat.

"Do I look like I care? You're only here to patch 'em up and I think he's plenty patched up." Ian's eyes were wide and sputtering sounds came from his lips.

"Leave him alone! We'll fucking go with you!" Gabe shouted and Vic smiled, throwing the doctor against the wall, where he slumped down holding his now bruised throat.

"There's a good boy," he said and took the boys by the arms. "And…" he threatened. "Next time you fight me...I won't be so generous in sparing your lives." Gabe swallowed and looked at Alex, whose eyes were narrowed and mind swirling with rage as the man led them to the cages.