"Primus, I still can't believe this is happening…" Mirage vented, looking guiltily over at Cliffjumper, who glared.
"What are you complaining about, Towers?" he snarled. "I'm the one suffering! I swear, if I wasn't carrying, I'd-"
" Cliffjumper." Ratchet warned. " That's enough. Try not to stress."
" Try not to stress! " Cliffjumper cried. " How can I not stress ! This wasn't supposed to happen! Especially not like this!"
" You think this is what I wanted, you pint sized -!"
" Shut off!" Ratchet yelled. " Both of you!"
" I'm sorry." Mirage groaned, holding his helm. He turned away.
" I'm not." Cliffjumper fumed, lying back on the berth.
" Look…" Ratchet vented " Scrap happens. Neither of you wanted this…I have no idea why you two ever sparked in the first place, but-"
" Me neither, Ratchet…" Mirage vented " We were both overcharged…."
" Well, either way, you've got a protoform on your hands." Ratchet finished. " Now… you have a few options here…I can abort the carrying process, thus killing it -"
" No!" Both Mirage and Cliffjumper shouted.
Ratchet smiled weakly and nodded.
" Glad you agree. That narrows it down some… You only have one other option. Wait for it. Assemble it, and raise it."
They were quiet for a long while.
" I'll do it." Mirage said slowly.
" Cliffjumper?" Ratchet asked.
" I…" Cliffjumper frowned " I need to think…about it."
" Take your time." Ratchet nodded.
" Wh-What would you do, Ratchet?"
" I'd raise it…" he vented. " But, I'm not you."
Cliffjumper looked from Ratchet to Mirage and vented heavily.
" I…I'll raise it."
Ratchet nodded.
"Good choice."
The three were silent once more, longer now.
" Primus hates me." Cliffjumper sighed, burying his helm in his hands. "This is not how it should be! I should be out there right now on guard duty! Last night shouldn't have happened!…Slag it! Why wasn't Mirage the carrier!"
Ratchet frowned, looking at the two mechs, both of them looking utterly depressed.
" There are no words to describe how much I hate you !" Cliffjumper screamed at Mirage. Mirage turned away and braced himself against a neighbouring berth, he looked like he was going to purge his tanks.
" Mirage?" Ratchet asked, " Are you alright?"
Mirage nodded slowly.
" Why don't you go lay down ?"
Mirage made a noise, turning invisible, Ratchet heard him run from the room.
" Coward!" Cliffjumper called after him.
"Cliffjumper," Ratchet warned " You'll be sorry for treating him like that."
" I don't think so, Doc." Cliffjumper growled " I hate him. I hate everything about him. I always have, I always will. Even more so now."
" Why?" Ratchet asked, sitting down on the edge of the berth.
" None of your business." Cliffjumper`s optics glowed.
" Yes it is." Ratchet argued. " I'm a med-bot. It's in my programming to make sure you're healthy. Both physically and mentally."
" Slag off. " Cliffjumper snarled.
" Fine, be that way." Ratchet vented. " Of course, talking about it would probably relieve an enormous amount of stress from your system, which would not only benefit you, but the protoform as well…but, what do I know…I'm only a slagging med-bot."
" Alright! " Cliffjumper said in exasperation. " Primus, If you want to be nosy about it, I'll talk about it!"
" Good." Ratchet half smiled. " Now lets try this again. Cliffjumper, why do you hate Mirage?"
" He's a fragger."
Ratchet frowned.
" Why do you say that?"
" I don't trust him."
" Why not ?"
" Because I don't."
" Please, Cliffjumper, try to cooperate with me."
" Alright…but you'll just side with him, like everyone else does! He's a slagging traitor, I know he is!"
" You're so sure?" Ratchet frowned.
" Of course I am! " Cliffjumper snorted. " Either that or he's a spy! And this…" he indicated his midriff, where his carrying chamber was. " This is his idea of punishment! I'm the only one that knows about him! He knew full well what he was doing to me last night! "
Ratchet stared at the minibot.
" An interesting theory."
" It's not a theory! it's -"
" But, there's a few flaws in it. Tell me, Cliffjumper…if he thought interfacing with you would turn out like this, then explain his behaviour just now. "
" He's a slagging good actor." Cliffjumper vented.
" Why would he risk becoming a carrier just to punish you?"
" He probably blocked his ports somehow, so my cables couldn't interface properly."
" That's medically impossible." Ratchet shook his helm. " In order for a protoform to form, both creators must be plugged into each other fully. The first one to overload becomes the carrier. If what you're saying is true, Mirage took a very big chance. He could have reached overload at any time during interfacing. "
" Really?" Cliffjumper stared, dumbstruck at the medic.
" Of course, Primus, Cliffjumper…younglings younger than Bumblebee know that!" Ratchet paused. " Cliffjumper, if you don't mind me asking, how much education have you had?"
" Enough." he said, looking away. " The Decepticons shut down my school and turned it into a base when I was pretty young, but I learned enough."
" What did you learn about…"
" I learned slag all about interfacing." Cliffjumper answered. " We didn't get that far in school. My creators were always too busy fighting the Decepticons to talk about it…then they died…But, of course I picked up on how to do it. "
" So you learned nothing about what it meant to carry a protoform…"
" No…Primus, I'd never expected to be carrying one…"
" The last problem with your theory, Cliffjumper…In order for a protoform to form, the creators also need to spark. Do you know that that means, Cliffjumper ?"
Cliffjumper shook his helm.
" I've heard the term before…I'm guessing it has something to do with sparks touching? You're saying Mirage and I did that? "
" Yes. It only happens when your body decides it's found it's perfect match. "
" Mirage and I ? Perfect matches! Slag! How is that even possible!"
" I don't know. Ask yourself, it's your body after all. Anyway, each of the creators give half their spark to their partner."
" Half my spark is gone!" Cliffjumper cried.
" Not gone gone. " Ratchet reassured him. " It's in Mirage's spark and half of his spark is in yours."
Cliffjumper looked down at his chest, where his spark chamber was located.
" You can interface all you want, but, only spark with one cybertronian in your whole life, Cliffjumper. That one cybertronian is called your bondmate. Mirage is your bondmate. "
" Slag…this is worse than I thought…" Cliffjumper shivered " The only protoform I'll ever have…is his?"
"The only protoform you'll ever have…that is if you decide not to spark with him again. "
"Slag…" he held his helm.
" Now, I ask you, if Mirage was sober last night, why would he sacrifice such an important thing and take such a big risk all to punish you? Even if that was his plan he would have no idea that you two where compatible enough to spark. It doesn't sit right with your logic circuits, does it?"
" Okay, so we were both overcharged…but that doesn't mean he's not a traitor."
"Believe what you want, Cliffjumper. But, you're his bondmate. As the bond grows older, stronger, you'll start to feel what he feels. Pain, pleasure, happiness, sadness…whatever he's feeling, you'll feel it too. Think about it next time you call him a traitor."
" Ratchet…if what you just told me about protoforms is true…then the Dinobots..…then you and Wheeljack-"
Ratchet's optics glowed.
" I think it's time we discussed your dietary needs while carrying." he interrupted, changing the subject." You're only going to be refuelling on mid-grade energon for now. Strictly no high-grade or low-grade until the protoform is out, only mid-grade or med-grade is okay. Alright, now that were clear on that, I have to go find Mirage. Goodbye." he waved hastily and ran out of the room.