I stated, when I finished TSOT: Afterwords… I would begin this story. A story based on 'Living with the Twins: A Guideline'…

And I did not lie.

So here it is; the first chapter of 'Guardians of Danger'… the story behind the guideline, and the reason why the guideline was needed.

So enjoy! It is a time for learning, and a time for laughter.

~.~ ~.~

It was a long battle… a long hard, vicious battle in which no bot was left unscathed. And no human in the area was left. Those that had been captured in the battlefield were quickly killed by Megatron and his troops. All those lives were lost to a sparkles mech who enjoyed killing, and power.

That day contained the most casualties… but none of them Cybertronian. All the lives destroyed had been human, because Megatron had finally discovered how to cause the most pain among the Autobots.

Destroy those whom the Autobots had sworn to protect.

Most of the humans did not blame the Autobots, they blamed the Decepticons. But there were those who did blame the Autobots… those who believed that—if the Autobots had never arrived—Earth would not have been pulled into the war of the Cybertronian race.

It was also on this day that a bond was formed. A bond unexplainable, but so strong nothing could sever it. A bond between two mechs, and one human girl that was no older than five. However, that bond was not going to be discovered for several years to come.

But, I digress; this human girl was the only survivor of what the humans would come to call 'Bloodbath.' A day in the history of Humanity that the organic inhabitants of Earth were reminded of how fragile their lives really were.

The scene is one of a battle raged city. The characters: Optimus Prime of the Autobots, Autobot SIC Prowl, Autobot TIC Jazz, and Autobot frontliners Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. Megatron of the Decepticons, Decepticon SIC Starscream, Decepticon TIC Soundwave, and Decepticon Seekers Thundercracker and Skywarp.

And one small, fragile female human child; age of five, bearing the name Chi Star… her last name lost with her parents and the city.

And here, dear friends, is where our story begins, amid the ruins of Serenity, a small insignificant town in Oklahoma… and the town of 'Bloodbath.'

~.~

Megatron had just finished demolishing a building full of humans… a building that had once been called 'Serenity Hospital.'

It had been a children's hospital.

"Megatron!" Optimus Prime roared, fully prepared to destroy his enemy with no mercy this time.

"Come Prime… I thought you protected these organic wastes. Or have you realized that they are beneath your protection?" Megatron cackled; he was enjoying himself immensely. After all, he was killing humans and angering his nemeses.

"Megatron, you have gone too far this time." Optimus rumbled.

"Have I truly, Prime, or have I just finally hit a nerve with you?" Megatron asked, aiming his fusion cannon at the Autobot leader.

Optimus stood with his fists clenched, shaking in pure rage. He had vowed to protect the humans… but he had failed. Megatron had not only hit a nerve… he had crossed a line. This was low… even for Megatron.

"You will pay, Megatron… you will pay." Optimus suddenly crouched, getting ready to attack his opponent.

And then, without warning, the cries of a child could be heard. Those that battled around the two leaders froze, audios pinpointing the source of that sound; the sound of a survivor, the last piece of hope that the Autobots hadn't failed the humans.

The cries were closest to a pair of Autobots—one red, the other yellow—and two the two Decepticons that had been fighting against these Autobots.

"Don't just stand there you fragging fools!" A high pitched voice shrieked at the two seekers from where the owner of it stood in a grapple hold with the second in command of the Autobots. "Find that organic and destroy it!"

The seekers jumped to obey the orders.

"Sunstreaker, Sideswipe!" A voice yelled from the opposite direction of the Decepticon, designation Starscream, which had given the order. "You gotta stop them!"

"On it Jazz!" The red Autobot replied as he and his brother charged after the seekers.

The seekers got to the area first and lifted the chunk of building that had covered the child. It was a small human female with hair the color of the sun and deep blue eyes. She immediately fell silent and stared up at the seekers.

"Why…" The small being asked with tears streaming down her face. "Why?"

"Because kid… we wanted to." Skywarp cackled, while Thundercracker leveled his gun at the human girl.

The child, no older than five, stared up at the gun… and then looked into the owner's optics.

"You wanted to kill my mommy?" She asked, her voice wavering. "Mommy didn't hurt you… why did you want to kill her?"

"Because fleshy, we don't like humans…" Thundercracker sneered at her. "Your 'mommy' just so happened to be a human… and so are you."

The girl looked down and shook her head.

"Your just meanies… all of you 'cons…" She looked back up at them. "That's what mommy said."

"To each their own." Thundercracker shrugged with indifference. "Now you get to die just like your pathetic 'mommy'… how does that make you feel squishy?"

The girl didn't answer, just closed her eyes and waited for the shot that never came. What happened next was the two Seekers being tackled by two very angry Autobots.

"Fragging 'cons!" The yellow one roared. "Sideswipe, get her out of here!"

Sideswipe jumped to his feet and ran over to the human girl. "Hey, you okay?"

Her blue eyes pinned the red mech with a surprised look, and then she gave a small nod. "Are you… an Auto-bot?"

"That I am, so is my brother over there." Sideswipe lowered his hand to her. "Come on, let's get you out of here."

The girl stared at him for several seconds, and then slowly climbed onto his hand. "What is your name?"

"They call me Sideswipe, and the yellow one over there is Sunstreaker." Sideswipe brought his hand to his chestplates and shielded her with his arm. "What's your name kiddo?"

She sniffled and looked up at him with sad eyes. "Chi… Chi Star."

"So… Star is your last name?" He asked, taking off toward Ratchet in a jog.

Now she shook her head. "I can't say my last name… and I don't know how to spell it either."

"Okay, Chi, Do you have any family that doesn't live around here?"

"No… it was just me and mommy. Daddy died when I was two, and I don't have any aunts or uncles." She sniffled again. "And Grandma died last year… I don't have any other grandparents."

Sideswipe's lip components settled into a grim line, this girl was a true orphan.

"Sides! Watch out!" Sunstreaker suddenly yelled.

The warning came a second to late; he felt a blast land on his back and knew without a doubt that one of the seekers had gotten away from Sunstreaker.

"Slaggit!" The red twin yelled as he flew forward from the force of the seeker's hit. "Hold on Chi!"

The human girl was surprisingly silent, though he could feel her body trembling with fear. With slight difficulty he flipped around and landed on his back.

"Chi, do you see that mech over there… the white one with the red?"

She nodded, her eyes wide with fear.

"His name is Ratchet, I need you to run to him. Can you do that?"

"I can… but what about you?" She asked, not too excited about leaving the only being she saw as safe at the moment.

"I'll be fine, but you need to get to Ratchet. Okay?"

She gave a small, but firm nod. "Be careful Sideswipe."

The red twin stared down at her for a split second, and then gave her a nod of his own. With gentleness that was rarely shown, he sat her on the ground just above his head.

"Go, you'll be okay." He stated, standing up and turning to face the seeker.

He heard her barely audible okay, and then the sound of her running toward the medic.

"Come on Skywarp… you'll have to get through me to get to her."

"You really are a stupid Autobot, aren't you?" Skywarp smirked, and then started to fade out. "I don't have to go through you… I can warp there instead."

And the seeker disappeared, with the sound of a warp and Sideswipe heard the human girl let out a shriek of fear.

Suddenly, something inside of him clicked. Without warning he and his brother—who had heard Chi's scream as well—fell into their gladiator programming. It had been a long time since anything like that had happened, and no mech actually knew about their gladiator history. So when both of them froze for only a few seconds and then suddenly became lethal fighters no mech knew what had happened.

Skywarp only knew that he had been staring down the barrel of his gun at the human girl for all of three seconds, and then he was flying backward because of a piece of concrete. He hadn't even known about the weak spot just to the left of his spark that would cause him to immediately begin going into stasis if it was hit.

But the red frontliner had somehow known.

Thundercracker had been unaware that the yellow frontliner had the skill and precision to not only knock him back, but land several blows to main energon lines and important circuits at the same time. Before he could even register the movement, the seeker found the sky in his vision and warnings appearing in his HUD about ruptured energon lines and circuits that had been disconnected. The final thing he saw was the message that he was falling into stasis lock because of the damage.

How the yellow frontliner had done that in less time than it takes for a human to blink, he would never know.

Megatron actually stopped in his grapple with Optimus Prime to watch the Autobot twins. He had been a gladiator before he had been a war lord… and had never, in his entire existence, known that these two were gladiators. But he could tell the programming when he saw it… and then he recognized them.

They had gone by different designations in the gladiatorial pits… but he knew them.

"Decepticons! Retreat!" Megatron roared, the twins were in gladiator mode now… and any that did not share their mark was an enemy to be destroyed.

The Decepticons took off, most of them had been gladiators as well, and they could most definitely tell when mechs were in 'gladiator mode'. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker watched as the Decepticons retreated with cold optics, they knew that they had won… for now.

"What…" Jazz muttered, and then studied the way the twins were now standing near the human girl protectively. "Aw… slag."

The cold optics of predators landed on Jazz as he slowly approached the twins. He had only seen an actual gladiator match once… but once was enough for him to know the difference.

"Hey mechs… It's me, Jazz." He held up his hands to show that he was weaponless. "I'm not gonna hurt her, okay? I just want to make sure she's alright."

He froze when Sunstreaker let out a threatening rumble.

"C'mon mechs… you know me." He motioned to the Autobot symbol on his chasis. "And I'm wearing the same mark."

The other mechs on the field were watching with rapt attention. Not sure why Jazz was acting the way he was toward the twins. Ratchet was running scans from a distance, not wanting to get near the now hostile twins.

Optimus studied the way the twins were standing, and then turned to Prowl.

"Do you know what is happening?"

Prowl was silent for several seconds, and then his optics lit up with realization. "I believe, Prime, that we are glimpsing a part of their past. From the data I do know, they are in a stance most commonly taken by gladiators while that specific programming is active. However, they are standing guard over the human girl… which leads me to believe that gladiator programming—of which we had no idea about— is seemingly driving their need to protect the child."

Optimus nodded. "How do we get them out of it?"

"They would need a… figure that carries the same mark as they do and is one they respect as a leader to have them stand down." Prowl muttered. "Optimus… go up and talk to them. You are the only one they truly respect as a leader."

Optimus gave Prowl a look, but did as he was told… cautiously.

"Sunstreaker, Sideswipe…"

Both sets of optics landed on the Prime, they had already dismissed Jazz as a threat to them and their charge.

"Stand down. You are safe now… and so is the one you are protecting." Optimus held up his hands, palms toward them. "I give you my word that she is safe."

The two of them glanced at each other, and then back at the Prime.

"You give the word on your life?" Sideswipe asked, only it wasn't really him. It was a cold question, a question that carried more depth and meaning than the red twin had ever had.

"I give you my word on my spark." Optimus replied quietly.

"As you command warrior head." Sunstreaker stated with no hint of arrogance in his voice, only compliance.

Just as quickly as they had gone into their 'gladiator mode' they came out of it, Sideswipe's optics flickered in confusion for only a few seconds… and then he cursed. Sunstreaker actually offlined his optics and covered his faceplates with one hand.

"Never actually wanted you guys to know about that…" Sideswipe muttered, and then turned around to the human girl. "Hey, you okay?"

She stared up at him, and then gave a slow nod. "You beat the meanies…"

"Yeah, that's what we do kid." Sunstreaker stated, kneeling down to get a better look at her. "You sure you're okay?"

She only nodded in reply, exhaustion suddenly coming over her. "I'm sleepy…"

The yawn after that one statement only proved the fact, Ratchet was just suddenly there and giving the twins a scrutinizing look after scanning the human girl.

"The two of you have a lot of explaining to do." He stated, and then bent down to pick up the human girl.

"Autobots… get the injured back to the base. Prowl, contact human authorities, and you two…" Optimus fixed them with a contemplative look. "Good job today, go back to base and get some rest."

They nodded and turned to leave.

"Wait!"

Both twins paused and glanced back at the human girl.

"Thank you!" She called, though her words were slightly slurred with pure exhaustion, and then she fell asleep.

They stared at her for several seconds… not sure what to make of the fact that she seemed important to them, and then turned around and made their way to the base without another word.

~.~ ~.~

And that, is the first chapter of 'Guardians of Danger', in the next chapter it is several years later and we get to actually meet a Chi who is more the age that she is in the guideline.

Hope you guys enjoyed it. Review please! XD

Until all are one,

Chistarpax