Title: In a glass, darkly
By: mmouse15
Rating: T
Warnings: injuries, minor mech on mech action.
Disclaimer: No, they're not mine. HasTak owns them, gives out the rights, and won't talk to me. I just borrow them…
Author's Notes: I struggled mightily with this one. The prompt was:
Pairing wanted: G1 AND/OR 2007 movie: Prime/Mirage
Rating wanted: PG or higher
Scenario wanted: "What if" there was no 'dead-man' switch on Mirage's invisibility? Even if he's unconscious and wounded it stays on.
Three things you'd like to see in your story: Worried Hound is worried, established relationships, no-one is 'invisible' to Prime.
Three things you don't want to see in your story: no deathfic, no bonding/monogamy, no weepy/wimpy Mirage.
This is not easy! Especially since I couldn't get this to flow. I finally broke the log jam of my brain, and I hope this will satisfy the requestor.
Yet another rare pairing story! This was done for the Sept 08 challenge.
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"First Aid, you must release me from medical leave – I can't let the Autobots fight without me!"
The Protectobot pushed Mirage back down on the medbay berth, stating mildly, "Perhaps, but sending you out without your generator is akin to allowing you to commit suicide."
Mirage huffed at him. "I am not that bad a warrior, First Aid. I do not require the use of the electo-disruptor to shoot effectively."
"No, but you're used to having it now, and I would hate to send you out handicapped. Give me just a few moments here to remount it…" The ambulance bent over the fuming blue and white mech, his fingers flying over the connectors, "There. That should do it. It's not completely attached, but you can use it."
Mirage swung his legs over the edge of the berth and scooped up his rifle, running out the door with a "Thank you!"
First Aid shook his head, saying to himself, "Say what you will, the nobles certainly have good manners." He turned back to the workbench, where Tracks' lower leg lay in a cradle, half-way to being rebuilt.
Mirage flung himself into his transformation sequence as soon as he'd cleared the portal of the Ark. He honed in on the one reliable signal he knew, the spark-signature of Hound. With every revolution of his wheels, his processor thrummed at him 'faster, faster' and he poured on the highest speed of his alt-form. The battle being fought was still miles away, and he wouldn't be able to get all the way there in vehicle mode, but he could get close and use his unexpected appearance to the Autobot's advantage. Reaching the nearest road point, he flipped into his anthro-form while he was still moving, using the momentum to propel himself up the slope of the hill. He ran easily to the crest, then paused, cautiously peering over the top of the hill to the fighting going on below. Engaging his electro-disruptor to invisibility, he moved to a prone position and sighted his rifle on Devastator, who was struggling with Grimlock. Slag was charging, aiming for one of Devastator's legs (Mirage thought it might be Scrapper, but it could have been Mixmaster, given Slag's aiming ability). Mirage carefully sighted the join between Long Haul and Hook, which had been shown to be a weak point when Devastator was bending. His rifle spat out a round, his aim true. Mirage quickly moved his target to the join between Scrapper and Long Haul as Devastator roared and began seeking the source of his pain. Mirage's second shot was also true, but his third shot spattered harmlessly against the torso armor. Snarling soundlessly, he picked up and moved, attempting to get to a better position as Devastator moved away from the unseen source of his pain.
"'Raj?"
"Hound."
"You are here! Be careful. I don't know what this new weapon of Megatron's is, but the 'Cons have been fighting longer than I thought they would."
"Thanks. You be careful, too. You're not invisible."
Hound dodged a punch from a grounded Thundercracker and Mirage lost track of him as he lined up another shot against Devastator. The gestalt finally focused on the unseen noble-mech and fired his energy beam rifle. Mirage had time to think that he was glad Devastator was a lousy shot and had missed him before the world went dark.
Ratchet finished the hurried repairs to Hound's frame and motioned for the scout to be loaded into Optimus' trailer. He glanced around the battlefield, looking for any remaining mechs as he wearily gathered equipment. Not seeing anything that required his attention, he told Optimus that he'd meet everyone back at the Ark. Ironhide and Wheeljack watched him carefully as he folded himself into his alt-mode for the long trip back.
The medbay was mostly cleared many hours later. Wheeljack had been sent out for energon while Perceptor finished with minor wounds and Ratchet and First Aid finished the last major repairs.
"Here, 'Aid, put this over on the bench. We'll fix it after we get Mirage's generator repaired."
The silence that followed had Ratchet lifting his head to look at his apprentice, who had a horror-stricken look on his faceplates.
"What?! First Aid, what did you do?"
"I didn't…I mean, I did, but it wasn't meant…"
"WHAT DID YOU DO?" roared the medic.
"Um…I put Mirage's generator back on and sent him out to the battle?" First Aid replied meekly.
Ratchet stared at him, then spoke quietly. "Where is he, 'Aid? Where is Mirage?"
"Didn't he come back with you?" The Protectobot was shivering, wrapping his arms around himself.
"No, he didn't." Ratchet was scarier like this, First Aid thought to himself, quiet and controlled. He'd almost rather that Ratchet were yelling and throwing things, because that would be a normal crisis level. This stillness was not something he'd ever seen before, and his internal workings felt as if they were sinking to the bottom of his frame. "Ratchet, I'm sorry."
The medic seemed to gather himself, "Were you able to install it completely?"
"No, just get the basic wires attached."
"So the disrupter works, Mirage can use it, but the safe-guards were not turned on?"
"Correct."
Wheeljack entered the medbay, cubes of swirling energon held in his arms. He froze just inside the doorway, the tension thick enough for him to notice. He glanced over at Perceptor, who gave a tiny shake of his head. Without a word, Wheeljack handed the scientist a cube, then moved and put the rest on a bench against the far wall. He took one of the cubes himself and sipped at it, optics on Ratchet.
Ratchet was not moving, obviously using internal comms to talk to someone. First Aid seemed smaller, hunched and miserable against the wall.
The medic shook himself and looked around. "Right. First Aid, you need energon and recharge. 'Jack, you're in charge of the medbay. Perceptor, we'll need some of your scientific tools – detectors, geiger counters, whatever you think will work to help find Mirage. 'Jack, work on Hound. The sooner we can get him out of stasis and helping us, the better off we'll be. I'll be available on comm, but I'd rather you didn't need me." He swept out of the medbay, pausing only to grab his biggest kit. Perceptor was on his heels and turned the other direction toward his lab. The doors swooshed shut.
Wheeljack looked over at the ambulance and asked, "What the Pit did I miss?"
First Aid let loose a sough of air and began to explain.
Ratchet quickly explained the situation to the collection of mechs crowded around the Ark's entrance. Jazz was there, of course, worried about one of his own, as was Bumblebee. Trailbreaker, Smokescreen, Blades, Streetwise, Gears, Beachcomber and Skydive joined Optimus Prime and prepared to head out. Ironhide was being left behind due to injuries, and Prowl was in charge of the Ark in Prime's absence. Optimus and Ratchet had chosen mechs with abilities that would help them in the search for the missing noble-mech. Hound would have been a great addition to the team, but he was currently stasis-locked in the medbay while his internal repair systems finished fixing the damage caused by a kick from Devastator.
"Optimus, we don't have much chance of finding him." Ratchet was quiet and watchful, his optics on his leader.
Optimus bowed his head slightly, "Whatever chance there is, we will take advantage of it. Autobots don't abandon their own."
Ratchet nodded and folded himself into vehicle mode for the drive to the battlefield.
Mirage irised his optics open, then quickly shut them. It was completely dark for one thing, and for another, the pain that stabbed at his CPU from his optics was almost enough to reverse his energon pump and purge it. He started a diagnostic running, but he could already tell that he had major problems with his lower limbs. Leaks seemed to have sealed themselves, but he was trapped and couldn't move very far. He attempted to open a comm channel, but got only static from his audio receivers and since this made him ache more, he quickly terminated the request. Mirage tried to get his CPU working, but it felt sluggish and unresponsive. He lay back and let his systems work while he puzzled out his next move.
Ratchet skidded to a stop as Jazz transformed in front of him and landed in a crouched position, hand to his audio. "What in the Pit was that?" Around him, other 'bots unfolded themselves.
Jazz shushed him, curling even tighter. After a few moments, he stood. "Mirage is alive. He just opened a comm channel, but closed it again. We're heading in the right direction." With that, he folded into his vehicle mode and continued. Ratchet followed.
They finally arrived at the scene of the battle. Jazz and Bumblebee immediately split up and moved to the tops of the hills, followed by Trailbreaker, Smokescreen and Beachcomber. Trailbreaker and Smokescreen got to the top of a hill and stood there, looking around and figuring out the most likely approach to the battle. Jazz and Bumblebee were using their Special Ops comm lines to try to communicate with Mirage. Blades was circling the battle area and radioing details to Gears and Streetwise. Skywise was on another hilltop, analyzing the battle from his perspective. Beachcomber was running scans over the area, looking for anomalies. Optimus stood looking at his men for a few moments, then moved off behind a cluster of hills. Ratchet stayed in the center of the battlefield, attempting to coordinate the search efforts. He did ask Blades, the only one still in the air, to keep a lookout for any Decepticons, but mostly he replayed the battle and tried to figure out where Mirage had been.
Optimus strode back to the road, then turned and looked back toward the battlefield. If he were Mirage, he would have gone to the top of that hill and surveyed the situation before throwing himself into the battle. Prime moved to the top of the hill and there was an imprint on the soft dirt topping the hill, looking just like Mirage's chest plates. He looked down and saw Ratchet, then returned to figuring out when Mirage had shown up.
Ratchet looked up onto one hill set away from the others and noticed Optimus up there, standing tall and quiet. He sent a quick query, but Optimus waved him away. Ratchet turned his attention to the rest of the group, moving to head off a squabble between Smokescreen and Skydive.
Optimus sank deeper into his processor, accessing the deep pathways that were tied to the Matrix, opening himself to the knowledge of the Matrix. Ah! The unclaimed shots on Devastator were the key. They had come from this direction, from a rifle that shot LNG darts and was aimed by someone that knew what they were doing. Mirage fit the bill admirably. There had been two shots that had hurt the combiner, followed by a missed third shot. The unknown mech had then moved ithis way/i and fired again on Devastator and the gestalt team had fired back…
Prime surveyed the area of Devastator's shot – the ground was plowed up, with rocks melted and cooled into abstract forms and sand melted into glass. If Mirage had been directly in the line of fire, he would have melted. Jazz had indicated that Mirage had been on the comm line, so he must have been alive just a short time ago. Optimus cautiously moved around the crater, his attention focused inward on the Matrix knowledge slipping into his own processor.
If Mirage hadn't been in the direct line of fire, he must have been to one side. Still hurt, but not gone. Optimus continued to follow the lip of the bowl and reached the opposite side, looking around. The knowledge of past Primes finally came up with an idea – Mirage's electro-disrupter would still broadcast in the electromagnetic spectrum, it was just a matter of the frequency of the waves. The disrupter worked on the visible portion of the spectrum, fooling both eyes and optics into believing Mirage was where he wasn't, or diffusing the visible light in such a way that he appeared to be invisible. But the noble-mech still generated heat, visible in the longer waves of the spectrum. Optimus brought up his rifle, cycling the sights to an infrared setting and scanning the edges of the crater. He slowed in an area beyond the edge of the crater where large boulders had been thrown in a heap. He peered over the sights of the rifle and marked the area, moving toward the suspect area cautiously.
Arriving at the spot, Optimus crouched and examined the pile of large boulders carefully, moving around them and using the sight of his rifle to peer into the spaces between the huge rocks. He finally decided that there must have been a ridge of more resistant material, and the rocks had piled up against that ridge before spilling over the top.
Optimus stood, moving to the boulders on the downhill side of the outcrop, and pushed on the top boulder, heaving it off the pile and down into the slagged crated below. He then moved to the next boulder at the top of the heap, and pushed it off. He continued until he reached boulders that had been fused together from the heat of Devastator's weapon. Once again using the rifle sight, he looked into the rock pile.
Yes! There, against the rock face was a heat signature! Optimus looked up in glee, hoping to share the news, then realized that the rest of the group was nowhere in sight. Feeling that he had to deal with the situation in front of him rather than worrying about an unknown situation that he hadn't been commed about, Optimus moved around the much smaller pile of rocks to a place where the boulders had landed in such a way that they formed a gate-like structure. Prime wriggled his way between the boulders and was able to touch where he'd sighted the heat signature. He carefully moved his hand over the frame that he couldn't see, and felt the edge of the helm. Mirage's face-framing vents were distinctive and unusual, and Prime breathed a poem of thanksgiving that he had found the missing mech.
Mirage had drifted in and out of stasis, unable to interpret the results of his diagnostic scan. The pain, however, he understood and sought reprieve in the blessed nothingness of stasis. His internal chronometer was not working properly, so he had no concept of the amount of time he had been out here, Primus knew where, lost on this stinking mudball of a planet that only Hound and Beachcomber could appreciate. At the thought of Hound, Mirage felt better, warmer and happier. The good feelings quickly faded under the impetus of the pain, and he continued to drift.
Optimus carefully felt along the invisible mech checking for damage. The upper torso seemed fine, although there seemed to be a very large dent in Mirage's helm, but as Optimus moved down the torso it became apparent that one boulder had landed on Mirage's legs and had melted the dermal plating. This seemed to be a job that required more than one mech, so Optimus opened a comm channel to Ratchet.
"Ratchet, this is Optimus."
"Prime, I can't talk right now. Skywarp and Thundercracker decided to make an appearance, and we're just able to hold them off!"
"But, Ratchet…"
"Later!"
Optimus sat back on his heels. He felt that he should go help stave off the attack from the two Seekers, but he'd found Mirage. A groan solved his dilemma and he turned his attention to the trapped mech in front of him.
"Mirage?"
Staticky noises answered him, and he continued, "You've been injured. I am attempting to release you from the rocks you are trapped beneath, and I will do my best to not cause you pain." He waited for a response, but received none. Standing, he once again looked over the pile of rocks. He noted the loose rocks, analyzed the weak points and began to move the boulders blocking him from Mirage. He had to break some of the boulders into smaller rocks, but he finally got to a very small pile of rocks against the outcrop of rock that Mirage was tucked against. Able to reach further this time, he continued his explorations of the invisible mech and discovered that the boulder resting on Mirage's left leg had indeed fused itself to his plating. The right leg, however, was merely trapped between two boulders at an awkward angle.
"Optimus?"
"Mirage."
"Hurts."
"Yes, I believe it does."
Mirage seemed to drift as Optimus worked on freeing his right leg. Once he'd managed that, Prime worked on further definition of Mirage's left leg.
"Optimus…"
"Can you turn off your electro-disruptor?"
Mirage seemed to struggle for a moment, then, "No."
"Hm…that's going to make this harder, but not impossible. How does this feel?" Prime rocked the boulder slightly, and with a garbled screech, Mirage once again off-lined.
Optimus took advantage of the noble-mech's stasis and pulling out his energon axe, proceeded to hack the boulder to pieces. He sliced off the rock as close to Mirage's leg as he felt comfortable doing, then moved the mech to a more comfortable position and waited.
Mirage on-lined feeling like the tail end of a three-day bender gone bad. He hurt everywhere, he still couldn't open his optics, and his leg hurt like it had been dipped in the Pit. Groaning at the pain, he raised a hand to his helm, then started and opened his optics anyway. He was no longer in darkness, and Optimus was crouched just before him.
"Where…?"
"Still at the battlefield. We didn't know you were out here until well after the battle, so we came back to find you."
"Hound knew I was here." Mirage informed him.
"Ah, yes, but…"
Prime didn't need to finish the sentence. Mirage knew. Hound was still in stasis and couldn't tell them about Mirage being at the battle. Fumbling at his shoulder, he finally managed to grip the wires leading to his generator and rip them out, abruptly appearing before Optimus' optics.
Optimus kept his reactions under control. The faceplate helped, but he must have reacted to Mirage's sudden appearance, because the noble-mech gave him the beginnings of a tight smile before the expression slid off his face-plates. Mirage was a wreck. His left leg would have to be rebuilt, he was dusty, dirty, and dented, his helm appeared lop-sided from a massive blow, and bits and pieces of his armour were missing. Prime carefully reached around him to pick him up, but the cry of pain stopped him. Between them, they tried to arrange Mirage in such a way that Optimus could carry him, but the pain was too much and every attempt failed.
"I am open to suggestions at this point." Optimus told him, dismayed at the amount of pain that Mirage must be coping with.
Mirage laughed weakly. "I don't think you're open to my favorite method of pain control."
Prime shrugged. "Anything to be able to move you at this point is something I'm open to hearing."
The noble-mech shrugged, "Hound interfaces me and I don't feel pain."
A silence, finally broken by, "I'm not Hound."
"You don't have to be."
Optimus rocked back on his heels, astounded at the…offer? He remember back to when he'd first become Prime and had Mirage come to him, offering his services to the Autobots and their cause. He remembered feeling unworthy to be around such a refined mech and was intimidated internally by the ease of the noble-mech in less-than stellar surroundings. Mirage seemed to carry an invisible cloak of entitlement and refinement with him. Now, Optimus knew better. Although Mirage still seemed above almost every other mech in his army, the blue and white mech had proven his loyalty to the Autobot cause time and again and was a valued member of Jazz's Special Ops team, a loyal friend to Hound and a couple of other mechs, and a tough adversary to the Decepticons. No, Optimus no longer thought of Mirage as above him, but he'd never considered the noble-mech as a lover, either.
"Optimus, you don't have to. I'll just grit my plates and make it through. I'll…"
Prime interrupted with, "How long does the pain recede?"
Mirage was taken aback, but slowly answered, "About three breems."
Optimus nodded and moved next to Mirage, angling his legs away from the blue. He propped one arm over Mirage's legs and leaned against that hand, while the other one came up to Mirage's shoulder and rested there.
"Have I ever told you what crossed my mind when I first saw you?" Prime murmured to Mirage, who did not have his optics open.
"No, you haven't."
"I thought you were sent from Primus himself to give me guidance. You were so far above everything I'd ever known, and I was in awe at your beauty and your bearing. You're gorgeous, Mirage, you always have been. Your colouring suits you, makes you even more beautiful and elegant." Prime continued his murmuring, relaxing the noble-mech with his rumbling voice and soothing strokes against the battered chassis. Mirage relaxed, and his overload was almost an after thought, a further relaxing of his battered body. He slipped into stasis immediately after the energy finished crackling across his chest plates, and Optimus took advantage of his stasis and pulled the blue mech into his arms, standing and heading for the roadway.
He was soon joined by the remainder of his small band after comming Ratchet. The Seekers had been trying to retrieve Starscream, who had been abandoned on the battlefield by Megatron. Once both sides recognized that they were after the same thing, they'd called a truce and retreated from the skirmish. Optimus handed a limp Mirage to Ratchet, then transformed and allowed them to load the blue mech into his trailer for the drive back to the Ark.
Once they arrived, the medic unloaded the noble-mech and Optimus transformed, taking the limp form from Ratchet and following him back to the medbay. Jazz went with them to the medbay, and the other mechs scattered to spread the gossip through the rest of the Ark. The sight that met their optics was one that would be talked about for months to follow. Hound was strapped to a berth, most of his armour off, while First Aid yelled back at him. Wheeljack was rolling on the floor clutching his sides and laughing, while Perceptor didn't seem to know if he should look shocked or should laugh. Hound was cursing First Aid's abilities, his ancestry, his future self, his past self, and especially his present self.
"Yeah, but you don't seem to understand or want to understand that Mirage means the world to me! I need to find him!"
"No, you don't! A very able team has been dispatched to find Mirage, and you don't have enough armour left to protect a turbo-fox, much less a mech of your size!"
"I don't care!" howled Hound, heaving against the bindings.
First Aid snarled back, "Maybe not, but I care! I'm Primus-damned if I'll let you leave the medbay in your state, much less the Ark!"
Ratchet was fighting to keep the smirk off his face plates, came into the medbay saying, "Boys, boys! There is no need for this fighting."
Hound growled at him, answering, "If this…apprentice…would let me up, I could find my mate and I would be a much happier mech."
Ratchet patted him on the head and responded, "Ah, lucky for you the Prime takes the well-being of every mech in the Ark to his own Spark, and he has already found your mate for you."
Hound craned his neck around until he could see Prime, who moved forward and placed Mirage on the berth next to the scout.
Ratchet pointed to the berth. "You stay. Stay out of my way, stay out of my circuits, stay put. Or I'll use your plating to repair Sunstreaker."
Hound lay back, his optics on Mirage and answered, "Never in a million years, Ratchet. He wouldn't accept them, I'm not pretty enough. That's a good threat to use against Tracks, but not me."
The medic hmphed at him and turned back to his work on the noble-mech.
A couple of days later, Optimus came across Hound in the hallway and asked after Mirage.
"He's doing fine, Optimus. Thank you for finding him and for rescuing him."
Optimus shifted uncomfortably, "There's really no need to thank me, Hound. I would do that for anyone."
Hound bent a knowing smile on him. "Yes, I know, but Mirage is something special."
Prime nodded, "You are a lucky mech."
"Yes, I am. I'm glad you got to see why."
Optimus jerked his optics to Hound's, unsure of how to respond. Hound patted his arm. "Mirage is almost impossible to say 'no' to, and so I don't have any worries. Besides, it's an excellent method of temporary pain control."
Prime chuckled. "Yes, it is. Take care of yourself and your mate, Hound."
"Later, Optimus. Later."
The End.