The Beginning Of The End Of The War.
Chapter 2.
About 10 minutes later, Optimus was interrupted in his "discussions" with Thundercracker by Hook, who tapped him on the shoulder, and then said "Excuse me?"
"Oh may I be of some assistance?" He asked, recalling that there were a few solitary Decepticons on the battlefield, who did not seem to have paired up. At first, he had been concerned that these three wallflowers might cause trouble by wanting to continue to fight, but Hook had been concentrating on his patient, and Thrust and Mixmaster, after looking around at all the couplings, had shrugged their shoulders and sat down, apparently to wait the mass pairing out.
"Mirage is patched up as best as I can make him in the field, but with access to tools, fuel, and recharge chambers, I can effect better and faster repair. While he is still injured, I have a twitchy, overprotective Seeker breathing down my neck plating, which is never a good thing, but when it's Skywarp, is very much a bad thing. Your medical facility, is, I suspect, better equipped with everything I have mentioned, plus I think Mirage himself would be more comfortable recovering in the Ark, rather than our undersea Base."
"Agreed," Optimus said, thinking it likely that most of the Autobots would have the same preference if injured. He managed to catch the optics of Skyfire, Bumblebee, and Sideswipe, and asked if they - and their respective partners - would like to accompany him back to the Ark. He also asked if Skyfire would transport Mirage and Hook back, as it was Hook's opinion that Mirage still didn't look up to the trek back, and Hook, as the medic, would want to accompany his patient.
"What about me? I want to go with him, he's my partner!" Skywarp said, looking like he might alternatively fight for the right or burst into tears at refusal.
"Well, it's not much more effort to transport twenty than two, so I'll carry anyone else who wants a lift back as well," Skyfire said, the placid mech preferring compromise to any risk of conflict.
"Mind if I come with you?" asked Mixmaster?"
"Yeah, me too, kinda feeling a bit like a voyeur at the moment," Thrust said.
Optimus did, for a moment, think of refusing, but then decided that taking the unpaired mechs with him might be more conducive to preserving the peace. Teletraan-1 would be more than capable of tracking the pair and making sure they wouldn't go places that they shouldn't.
"Anybody who wishes to accompany us is welcome, come aboard," he said.
Skyfire and Ramjet landed, Skyfire in his cargo-jet alt-form, and Ramjet in robot form, and all of the 'bots and 'Cons planning to travel went aboard, with the exception of Thundercracker and Ramjet.
"Not coming?" Optimus asked them both, trying to hide his disappointment.
"Oh yes, we're coming, but under our own power," Ramjet explained. "We are still capable of flight, you know."
"I'd offer to carry you myself, but with the similarity in size, that might not be such a good idea, I might be too tired for anything else later, if you know what I mean", Thundercracker said, giving Optimus a saucy shutter-wink.
Mirage was the only mech who did not walk on himself, under his own power.
"I can walk this short distance, you know, you don't need to carry me!" He protested, as Skywarp carried him in, cradled in his arms.
"Yes I do, for my peace of mind, you're better than you were, thank you Hook, but you, my Spark, are still injured," Skywarp replied. "Now shut your pretty little mouth, or I'll have to kiss you again to keep you quiet."
"That sounds more like an incentive than a threat, Skywarp," Hook pointed out, with an amused tone in his voice.
"It's not a threat, Hook, it's a promise, but I have a million better reasons to kiss him than to shut him up, and until he's fixed, I daren't go any further, and that's why he might comply."
Once everyone was aboard who wanted to go, Skyfire closed up his hatch and took off, and Thundercracker and Ramjet followed suit, Thundercracker taking point up ahead, and Ramjet bringing up the rear.
It did not take them long to get back to the Ark, and once they had arrived, everybody quickly disembarked, (including Skywarp while carrying Mirage again) so Skyfire could go back into his robot form. Optimus quickly moved to the front of the line as Thundercracker landed elegantly beside him and grabbed and held one of his hands. Optimus did not shake him loose, but did nothing to encourage him either, leading everyone to the medical bay, and Thundercracker realised that Optimus was having to be Prime at the moment, and take care of everyone else with him. He dropped the hand and dropped back a step behind.
Ratchet didn't turn from his console as Optimus came in, but did speak.
"Prime, I've just received the oddest message from Jazz, would you mind telling him to lay off the high grade till he's back next time?" Then he turned, saw the assorted Autobots and Decepticons as they all filed in, and did a double-take. His optics flickered briefly over Hook, and then zeroed in on Mirage, clasped in Skywarp's arms.
"So Jazz was serious," he murmured almost to himself. Then he raised his voice to slightly above conversational norm.
"Okay, Skywarp, if you could lay him down here?" he said, indicating his worktable. "Hook, your assistance would be appreciated, if you would? I'll call Wheeljack to help, he's the only one who knows my parts inventory as well as I do, he can fetch and carry parts for me."
Hook moved over to assist as requested, and the two ceased speaking aloud, optics flashing as they held an intense commed conversation, Hook apparently pointing out to Ratchet what he'd done, and what he thought still needed doing.
Wheeljack came down as Ratchet reached behind Mirage's neck to tweak two wires in what looked like a well-practiced move, and Mirage went offline. With Mirage unable to move or feel anything, Ratchet began unsnapping his plating and checking the damage underneath that still needed to be repaired.
Optimus opened his own comm link to Teletraan-1.
'Please keep watch on our Decepticon guests, Teletraan, and make sure they do not get 'lost' and end up somewhere they should not be.'
Optimus suggested they leave Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Hook to their work on Mirage. Skywarp became so fretful at the suggestion that Ratchet said "Okay, you can stay, but don't hover around Mirage, and don't get in the way!" Skywarp moved to stand at Mirage's feet, his anxious red optics never leaving his beloved's face. The others went through to the main room and viewscreen, the Decepticons unintentionally giving Sparkplug and Spike a scare, until Optimus told them that the Autobots and Decepticons were at ceasefire.
As they walked in, Inferno looked up from where he had been monitoring. "Prime, what's going on? The battle seemed to break up, and everyone seems to know what's going on except me!" At that moment, Thrust walked over to him, and picked him up around the waist, seating him on the console.
"Looks like you and I were not the only ones keeping secrets," he said. Inferno was about to ask more questions when Thrust began allowing his hands to roam over the Autobot's body, and Inferno's attempts at questions degenerated into pleasured moans.
Optimus and Thundercracker sat down to draft a more formal ceasefire document, with the help of input from the others around them. Formalising it in a hard copy document would make it more official, and give them something to present to the humans, who would, eventually, have to be told. By the time they had agreed on format and wording, Ratchet, Hook, and Wheeljack had finished working on Mirage.
As the medics, the inventor, the Seeker and the spy walked in, Mixmaster called out "Are you all done yet?"
"We are," Ratchet said.
"Good, because I'm getting sick of waiting," Mixmaster said, going over to Wheeljack and gazing at him expectantly without a word, as Ratchet looked on, seeming to get more and more confused.
"Can somebody please tell me what is going on, in a coherent manner?" he asked, and was obliged by Hook, who put a hand on one shoulder.
"Looks like we were all curious about each other. It seems almost every Decepticon has taken an Autobot lover, or vice verse, if you prefer, except that I think there are a few more of you then there are of us, so you possibly have a few single Autobots around." He looked at Optimus.
"Now, as there are no further injuries to see to, I believe Ratchet and I have a few - investigations - to perform on each other." As Spike and Sparkplug worked out what they meant, their mouths dropped open, but Hook and Ratchet either didn't notice or didn't react as they walked out, putting one arm around each other as they did so.
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Megatron looked up from Cliffjumper's ministrations long enough to notice some of his and the Autobot's forces were no longer on the former battlefield, and he sat up, clasping the smaller mech to him with one arm and hand, while caressing him with the other hand to assure him that nothing was wrong.
"Where have half my Air Force gone?" he asked.
"Off with some of the Autobots," Dirge, who was on the ground now, but with Blaster still twined about him, told him. "Ramjet said Hook took Mirage to the Autobot HQ to get repaired, and some of the others, from both sides, went with him."
"I guess it makes sense not to hang around where we can be seen," Megatron said. "May I suggest that everyone work out where they are going, and then go there for some time?" Once he was sure that everyone around was doing just that, he tightened his arms around Cliffjumper, and, launching himself skywards with a powerful leap, he took off.
"What are you doing?" Cliffjumper asked, slightly alarmed; although he took to flight well enough to have his own jet pack, he preferred to fly under his own power, and didn't know Megatron's intentions.
"Taking you back with me to our underwater Base," Megatron replied. "Yours may be a bit crowded at the moment, and I thought you might like to visit ours as my guest."
At the speed Megatron could travel through the air, it wasn't long before they reached their destination, in a featureless part of the Pacific ocean. Megatron must have sent a message to either someone in the Base or it must have been automated, for the tower rose up and a hatch lowered, which Megatron touched down on without so much as a muffled thud. He put his smaller red partner down on his own two pedes, spreading one of his large hands tenderly over Cliffjumper's back.
He gave him almost a full tour of their Base, excluding anywhere of tactical or military significance, which Cliffjumper expected. They finished up in front of a large featureless grey door, with no stencils or signs informing where it led. He looked at Cliffjumper, and waited for him to speak. Cliffjumper did not, in this respect, disappoint.
"Where is this? Where does it go?" He asked. Megatron used one hand to palm open the door, using a cunningly hidden plate next to it, dropping the other from Cliffjumper's back so the smaller mech could, if he wished, back away. Megatron did not want the Deception's reputation for duplicity to endanger this relationship they could now openly pursue. He gave him a small smile and a wink before answering.
"Why, the most important room in the Base for both of us, I suspect," Megatron stated. "This is my room, and I can assure you that it has a nice big berth, more than suitable for one larger and one smaller mech to share. Care to take a closer look?" He stood to one side, sweeping one hand towards the room in invitation, but also leaving room for Cliffjumper to move away from the room if he felt too intimidated by Megatron's sudden invitation and the thinly-veiled suggestiveness of it.
He needn't have worried: Cliffjumper eagerly moved forwards in the direction the arm had suggested, needing no further encouragement.
A/N: So, looks like this will end up with three, or maybe even four chapters, beyond expectations. So what do you want to see? What do you thing so far? Thoughts? Opinions? Leave them as a review, or PM me!
