A darkly-clad figure slipped quietly through the corridors of Autobot City like a sullen shadow. Head bowed, its entire form obscured by the midnight black hooded cloak that it wore, it made its way quickly to its destination. Once there, the figure pressed its hand on the door controls, and when the door opened, stepped through into the darkened room on the other side.

"Safe," the figure said to himself as the door closed behind him. "No one saw me." The figure pressed a button on a small wall panel and the room was instantly, if dimly, illuminated. After doing a quick sensor sweep of the room to see if any cameras or other bugs had been planted, and finding it safe, the figure removed his cloak and tossed it onto his recharge bed.

"And with luck," said Sunstreaker, "no one ever will."

Sunstreaker sighed and looked around his quarters. The walls were practically covered with posters and photos from his modeling days. Some were of him displaying various trendy paint jobs of the day. Others were advertisements for things like polish, sporting events, or various energon restaurants. All showed a handsome young bot of medium height and build.

"That used to be me," he lamented, "but now. . . ."

His voice trailed off as he looked at his reflection in the area of one wall he had polished to a mirror-like shine, and shuddered. He then sat down on the recharge bed, pushing the cloak to one side. From a niche in the wall, he pulled a small hologram projector and switched it on. He watched as the device projected a three dimensional image of the robot on the posters being questioned by reporters, having pictures taken of him, and signing autographs for a crowd of his adoring fans.

That was the premiere of my last holo-vid "The Spires of Deltacron." he thought. This is where it all started to go wrong. . . .

Sunstreaker walked toward the office of his employer, Rotorbolt, President of Holo-mark Studios.

"What is it, boss?" he asked as he entered and took a seat across from his employer. "Why'd you call me up here? Is there a new script you want me to look at?"

"No, Sunstreaker," Rotorbolt said, "it's not that. Just the opposite, in fact. I'm afraid the studio board has voted to cancel your contract, effective immediately."

"WHAT?!" the shocked Sunstreaker exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "Why?"

"Although your first two holo-vids, 'Two Moons Over Iacon' and 'The Femme I Left Behind', were quite successful, your latest one, 'The Spires of Deltacron,' has received only marginal interest from the general populace. Reports indicate that a large number of of young roots, fresh off the assembly line and ready to be entertained, find your vids of little interest. They want action and excitement, not romance like you do. We feel we should set our sights on this appealing to this younger audience."

"I can do action! Just let me try it out. Gimmie a chance!"

"We're very sorry, but our decision is final." Rotorbolt stood up and reached across his desk to shake Sunstreaker's hand. "Good luck to you, though."

Sunstreaker angrily slapped the proffered hand away and stormed out of the office. . . .
 

The holographic image changed to the inside of an auditorium. The room was filled with photographers and onlookers as, one by one, mechs and femmes paraded across the stage, each displaying a stylish and colorful paint job. One mech in particular was the focus of all Sunstreaker's attention, though. It was the mech on the posters. It was a few Earth months after I got fired from Holo-mark., Sunstreaker thought bitterly. I remember what happened after that show...
 

Hey, Talus, what's up?" Sunstreaker asked his manager. "Great show tonight, huh?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, Streaks." the slightly smaller mech responded. "I don't know how to tell you this, but the company called today, said our new designs should b geared towards young bots. Their enthusiasm, willingness to try new things, and fun loving attitudes are to be the focus of our new line. To further exemplify the theme of fun and excitement, we've hired some new, younger models. Practically plucked them right off the assembly line, we did."

"What does this have to do with me?" Sunstreaker asked warily. He didn't like the direction this conversation was going.

"Well . . . uummm . . . in order to make room for these new models, we have to get rid of a few of the older ones." Sunstreaker got a sinking feeling in his fuel tank at this. Talus then said sadly, "Hate to do this to ya, Streaks, but . . . you're fired."

Talus's words hit the other like a fusion-cannon blast, and to Sunstreaker, they were no less painful. "I'm sorry, Streaks, I really am. . . ."

"Save your sympathy," growled Sunstreaker, "cuz I ain't gonna need it! You'll see! You'll all see! In a few orns I'll be back on top, and then you'll be sorry you got ridda me!"

But it didn't turn out that way, did it Streaks? he recalled bitterly. After that, I couldn’t get a job modeling for anyone. They all said pretty much what Talus said, that they needed fresh, new, younger faces. Then, one by one, the sponsors stopped calling me. They all knew. They all saw what a hideous creature I had become, what a hideous creature Talus, Rotorbolt, and the others made me. But they paid for what they had done to me . . . they paid dearly indeed. An evil smile crossed his face as he remembered.

I removed myself from the public optic. I couldn't let them see me as the monstrosity that I had become. I trained in secret, learned to use darkness and stealth to my advantage, developed my smoke grenades to further enhance my stealth capabilities, I even studied Metalikato for a short time. Then, when I was fully prepared to do so, I donned my cloak, hunted them down one by one, and destroyed them. Sunstreaker took grim satisfaction in the fact that the last thing that Talus and the others had seen was the monstrous form they had helped create.

Not long after that, Sideswipe informed me that the Autobot army was looking for recruits, and the rest, as they say, is history.

"Wha-?" he exclaimed as he was startled out of his reverie by a figure that suddenly rushed into his room.

OH NO! Sunstreaker though as the intruder rushed in. They'll see me! I can't let them! Out of his subspace pocket came a smoke grenade which he hurled at the intruder. He then grabbed his cloak and whipped it around himself. The entire sequence of events took less than a second.

"Hey, what the-?!" exclaimed the intruder as the smoke grenade exploded at his feet. Sunstreaker recognized the voice.

"Cliffjumper, you slaggin' idiot!" yelled Sunstreaker. "@#$%! Gimmie a little warning next time, why don'tcha?!"

The smoke cleared to reveal the red minibot standing with his arms crossed across his chest and a smirk on his face.

"Whatever." he said dismissively. "Just came here ta tell ya we got a mission, Streaks. Some 'Cons got the bright idea of tryin ta free some human slaves at a factory in Sector 65, and we're on the team that's supposed ta go kick their turbochargers. You wanna tell Prowl to stuff it, be my guest, but me, I'm goin'. Don't wanna miss all the fun, heh-heh-heh."

The evil grin that crossed Cliffjumper's face said what he meant by "fun" as he turned and rushed back out into the hallway. Finally, an excuse to go scrap some 'Cons, and maybe a few fleshies, too! Heh-heh-heh, look out humans!

"Nnng . . . blasted youth element," grumbled Sunstreaker as he finished fastening his cloak. "But the little punk's right. Last thing I need is Prowl on my case." He then followed Cliffjumper to where the rest of the team had gathered, then took to the air with his jetpack and followed them to the factory.

"C'mon, girl!",the human-sized purple robot said to her as he helped her to her feet. "We're blowin' this place!"

"Literally!",called another, larger robot with a face like a knight's helmet. He was fiddling with some sort of device not to far away. These must be those Decepticons I've heard about. the girl thought.

"Thanks, uhh.."

"Name's Rumble," the purple robot said. "In a few minutes this place is gonna be turned into a plie a' scrap, an I don't wanna see you get turned ta scrap with it, so ya should probably follow your friends' example," he gestured toward the slaves who were hightailing it out of the factory and to the waiting transport ship, "and get outta here!"

"You get no argument from me!" she said and joined the other newly liberated slaves in running like heck for the ship. These Decepticons might be robots, but anybody who can get me outta this pit is OK in my book!

Just then, a laser blast hit the ground a few yards behind her, knocking her to her knees and spraying dirt and debris everywhere. A moment later, a huge, dark figure appeared before her. It was wearing a black, hooded cloak and all she could make out of it's face was a pair of icy blue optics. The figure reminded her of nothing more than the grim reaper, death himself.

Oh no! she thought. She recognized this figure from the descriptions given by a few other slaves. It's that Autobot everybody calls "The Black Sun"! I don't have a snowball's chance in a blast furnace of getting outta here alive now!

Sunstreaker looked down at the young human female cowering before him.

"P-please....n-n-no!", she begged, seemingly more to herself than to him. "I'm too young to die!"

Her pleas fell on deaf audio's however. Sunstreaker just aimed his gun at her and said, "Hmph! Trust me, girly, you're never too beautiful, and you're never too young." He was just about to pull the trigger when a large object smashed into his side, sending him flying and sending his shot harmlessly off into the air.

The girl looked down the barrel of the gun, as the figure before her scoffed at her pleas and thought, This is it; I'm toast.

She squinched her eyes shut and waited for the shot to come. She heard a loud crash, a cry of surprise from the cloaked figure, and then the shot.

Huh? I'm still alive!

She opened her eyes to see the cloaked robot grappling with another of the Deceptions. The other Decepticon was mostly silver and had wings on his back. It took a second for the shock of still being alive to wear off, but when it did, she realized, I gotta get outta here! She got to her feet again and ran as fast as she could to the ship. When she got there, she was helped inside by a Decepticon who looked similar to the one that saved her except that he was purple and black.

Taking a guess that these two probably knew each other, she said to the robot, "Hey, tell your silver friend back there I said thanks for saving me."

"Sure," said the robot, "I'll tell him." Then he yelled to the ship's pilot, a robot that looked similar to Rumble except that he was red and black, "That's the last of 'em! Take off!" and pressed the button to close the door.

Starscream surveyed the battle below.

Amazing, he thought, we're winning for once. But then his gaze fell on a human girl who was staring down the barrel of a laser rifle held by darkly clad robot.

Oh, slag! She'll be killed for sure! I gotta stop that guy! He went into a dive and leveled off at the last second to slam into the cloaked robot with a flying tackle.

"Ooof!" the cloaked robot grunted as he was sent flying. His shot went wild, completely missing anything. The cloaked robot recovered quickly, though, and tackled Starscream right back. Starscream punched him in the face, and they both got to their feet. He then got into a grappling match with the cloaked 'Bot, each of them trying to push the other one over in order to move in for the kill. Starscream risked a glance quick glance over his shoulder and saw the girl running for the ship.

Good, she got away, thought the silver Seeker. His glance had cost him though. The cloaked robot used that instant to pres his advantage and knocked Starscream flat on his back. Too bad I can't say the same for me, the Decepticon thought as the cloaked 'Bot recovered his laser rifle and aimed it at the seeker's head.

Sunstreaker's evil grin was hidden by his hood as he looked down at the Decepticon he was about to destroy.

He snickered and then said, "You stupid 'Con. Your foolish concern for that fleshling is what's-AUGH!"

His gloating was cut short by two laser blasts to the side. He fell and before he could recover, a strong pair of arms grabbed him and pinned his arms behind him. He looked over his shoulder and saw the purple and black Seeker that held him. Another Seeker, this one light blue and black was helping the silver Seeker to his feet.

"Thanks for the assist, guys," said the silver Seeker.

"No, problem, Screamer," the light blue and black one said. "But what's say we get outta here. Our mission is accomplished, and this place is gonna blow sky high in a few minutes!"

"Just a minute, TC," said the silver one."I wanna see who our mystery 'Bot here really is."

"Oh, no! Please, Primus, NO!" Sunstreaker yelled in horror as the silver Seeker moved toward him. He frantically struggled against the purple Seeker's grasp but to no avail.

The silver Seeker ignored his plea ad yanked off his cloak, revealing his monstrous form to the universe.

"NOOOOOOOO!" he screamed and broke the purple Seeker's grip with one final desperate twist. He then fell to his knees and curled up in fetal position, trying desperately to hide his hideous visage from their eyes. He started sobbing and whimpering "Please...no! Please.. don't look at me! Oh please, Primus, no!"

He lay there trembling and crying until the silver one tossed his cloak back over him and the three flew away. Then, still sobbing, he pulled his cloak tightly around himself and ran as fast as he could after his fellow Autobots who were already fleeing the scene as the factory behind them exploded into an enormous fireball.

As the three Seekers flew to join their fellow Deceptions, Skywarp relayed the girl's message to his commander. Starscream smiled. It wasn't often that things like this happened, but when he thought of the young human free and safe, it reminded him why they were fighting in the first place.

"Ya know, Screamer," Skywarp said after a minute, "I think I recognized that 'Bot."

"Yeah, me too," said Thundercracker. "I remember him from back on Cybertron, before the war. His name's Sunstreaker. He was a big holo-vid star, and a model to boot. But Primus, he acted like we'd turn ta stone or something if we looked at him! I wonder why. He's still just as good lookin' as he ever was."

"But he can't see that any more.", replied Starscream almost sadly. "All he sees are the flaws."