Please Read!
Okay, to avoid confusion, I think I'd better clear this up. Partners is meant to function as a single... file, if you will, for me to post all of my little Cliff/Arcee oneshots that are too weak to be posted as individual stories or the like, rather than a chronological set of related oneshots. As such, when you read, it's best to just assume that each chapter is totally AU from the other unless I specify otherwise. For instance, this little beauty here is going to be a two parter, with the later half being posted when it's completed.
(I'm doing this mostly to keep my profile uncluttered, not that I dislike random and short one shots, they're just not my style of writing.)
So without further ado, enjoy the first part a rather violent and emotional little tidbit that quite literally came out of nowhere!
Energon, hot with life and glowing faintly in the dim light, gushed from the open wound that had been torn into the center of Arcee's chest panels. Optics going wide in pain and terror, the femme covered the gash with her servos, struggling in vain to stem the flow and completely abandoning her battle with the vehicon who had just inflicted the injury. Taking advantage of his adversaries weakness, the Con didn't hesitate to level the Autobot with a powerful blow to her midsection, sending her flying backward. With jarring force, the femme landed on her back, sending waves of agony from her injury as she settled, unable to move in her pain as it racked her systems. Still clutching the open and bleeding injury, she struggled to gain some control of her badly beaten hull, but the rapid loss of energon was making her delirious. The treetops seemed to spin around her in a dizzying display, and she was barely able to register the thudding footsteps of the approaching Vehicon. In a display that was as cruel as it was unnecessary, the con planted his pede on her chest to pin her, digging deep to agitate the wound. Crying out with pain, Arcee looked on with half online optics as the enemy drew his weapon. Struggling, she managed a defiant glare at her soon to be murderer, looking straight into the barrel as it charged.
"Any last words, Autobot?" The con sneered as the weapon reached full power, it's high ringing signaling it's readiness to fire. Gritting her dentals as she stifled the urge to cough up energon, the fading femme rasped out a response.
"G-go... fra-ag... yours-self..." Snorting in contempt, the Con aimed his weapon, preparing to fire a point blank shot. Unable to even hold her helm aloft, the femme went limp on the soft forest floor, trying to ignore the feel of her own energon pooling around her as she waited for the shot.
But it never came.
A roaring battle cry ripped through the silence, along with the sound of crushing and snapping timbers as Cliffjumper tore into the clearing. His own front stained with the energon of a recently scrapped con, the mech wasted no time ploughing down his foe, using his full weight to take the enemy to the ground. The Vehicons weapon discharged harmlessly onto the air, and he was unable to defend himself as the much larger Autobot pinned him down. Cliff, his normally confident features contorted into a snarl of rage, immediately began to pound the Con into scrap.
"GET. AWAY. FROM. MY. PARTNER!" He roared, emphasizing each word with a devastating blow to the Decepticons upper body. The Vehicon held up it's servos in a futile attempt at self defense, enduring the hits as his faceplate was pounded into scrap.
"Mer-er-cy!" He managed to choke out, gargling energon and sparking from several open wounds. Optics going livid in blinding rage, Cliffjumper took the con by his throat, crushing his voice box and forcing more energon to gurgle up from his throat.
"MERCY? Like the mercy you showed her?" Cliff accused, and all the Vehicon could do was crackle out a static laden and incomprehensible response. With a final roar, the mech pounded his fist deep into the Cons chest plate, grabbing hold of the circular spark chamber. Yanking hard, he lifted the still vibrating organ from the enemies chest cavity, holding it just before the dying cons optics. Sputtering in pain and horror, the Vehicon attempted in vain to lift his servos to stop Cliff as he crushed the device just before him, spattering fresh energon over them both. The enemy went limp, spasming only once before his optics went dark. Breathing deeply as his fans struggled to cool his overworking insides, Cliff stood up, hard optics looking over the unrecognizable mess of metal and energon that had once been the Vehicon. With a gasp, the fury fell from his optics, and he abandoned the lifeless husk to rush to his partners side. Arcee lay motionless, a pool of her own energon surrounding her battered frame. Kneeling, the mech lifted her into his servos, cradling her helm as he tried to urge her to respond.
"Cee... Come on, wake up... I'm right here, you're safe now. Come on, please, open your optics..." There was no response, and he held her closer, desperation seeking into his voice. "Stay with me soldier, you've been through worse, please..." I shouldn't have split us up... He told himself, his frame trembling with growing horror and grief. We should have expected scouts... It's my fault... We could have taken them together, I'm sorry... A painful cough broke through his thoughts, and he watched with disbelief as the femme opened her optics, coughing up energon in alarming amounts.
"C... Cl... Cliff..." Her voice rasped, dim optics focusing on his faceplate. Further words were cut off as another bout of coughing racked her injured frame, energon leaking from her chest wound even faster than before. A sense of relief unlike anything he'd ever known swept over his spark, but he forced himself to focus. She was alive, but even he could tell she was critical, and needed help immediately. As gently as he could, he shushed her, speaking softly to keep her calm.
"Shhh... Just stay still, I'm getting you out of here. Hold on..." Activating his comm, he was relieved to find the signal that had been jamming it was gone, likely due to the termination of the Decepticons who had been transmitting it. "Ratchet? Docbot? Come on, Ratchet!" There was still some static, but a response came in quickly.
"Cliffjumper? You and Arcee are not scheduled to report in for another four hours, has something-"
"Need a bridge doc, and get your medical kit ready. Arcee's hurt, bad." Not a moment after the mech had finished speaking did the femme have another spasm of coughing, and Cliff became horrifically aware of the fact that his front was now covered in fresh energon, her energon. And she was only losing more... "Hurry..."
"I'm locking onto your coordinates now." The medic responded, voice tense but even. "Keep her awake." Cliff nodded, looking down at the barely conscious femme and assuring himself as much as her.
"Hang on a little longer partner, help's on the way." He encouraged the semi-conscious femme, though the thought brought little comfort to either one of them. The femme was now barely aware, and fading fast, her normally bright blue optics going dim and grey. He bit his lip, struggling to keep his own emotion in check for her sake, "Just hang on..."
"Cliff..." She whispered, frame shaking in a textbook sign of heavy energon loss. "C-Cliff... I..." A powerful series of coughs rattled her frame, and she was unable to complete her sentence. The struggle was clear on her weakened features, she wanted to say something, just in case, but she couldn't in her current state. The much larger mech cradled her closer, feeling her frame growing cold. She couldn't waste energy on words, no matter how important they may have been. Cupping the side of her face, he urged her to look at him, encouraging her gently but firmly.
"Just keep your optics open, partner. I'm right here. You can tell me everything later, alright? We're getting you out of here..." A sharp hum momentarily precluded the flash of green from the ground bridge as it whirled into existence in front of them, lighting up the forest with a cyan glow. Ratchet appeared not a moment later with his medical kit in hand, with Optimus following just behind, blasters open and held aloft in a defensive pose.
"By the Allspark..." The medic was by the femmes side in nanokliks, his trained optics scanning her frame with precision.
"Ambush." Cliff said to Prime, who stood beside Ratchet, his weapons still drawn but his stoic optics focused solely in the femme. "We were split up, and they scrambled our signals. Looks like they were scouting the same signal as us." Optimus nodded gravely, and it did not take long for Ratchet to finish his brief examination. Without a word, the medic took a needle from his bag, adjusting the femmes head to allow him better access to her wound. Cliff watched as he skillfully inserted the needle under her chest armor, finding his intended target and administering the dose within moments. No sooner had he removed the needle than did the femme react, jerking awake and opening her optics wide in panicked delirium. For a moment, Cliff worried that her reaction might have been out of pain, but Ratchet quickly explained.
"Stimulants to keep her conscious, they won't last long. Get her back into the base." Following the medics order, Cliff stood, cradling the femme in his servos as he stepped through the bridge, with Optimus guarding them from behind. Ratchet walked in step beside Cliff, applying pressure to the wound and somewhat stemming the flow of energon. "As soon as we're through, take her to the med bay. Optimus? Contact Bumblebee and Bulkhead, we don't need any more injuries."
"Understood." Came their leaders response as they stepped into the base at last, and Cliffjumper immediately followed Ratchets lead. Leaving their leader to call in the other Autobots, they moved quickly to the medical bay, and Cliff looked with worry at his partner. The stimulants were clearly already wearing off, as Arcee was already beginning to fade once more, her optics dimming even with the aid of the medic. Just hang in there partner... He willed silently. We're almost there... Stepping into the medical bay, Ratchet removed his hand from the wound, giving orders with experienced coolness.
"Set her down on the berth there, Cliffjumper. Mind her injury... Yes, like that. Now stay here, I'm going to need assistance." Settling her wounded frame into the berth, Cliffs optics went wide at the final command.
"Doc, I'm not a medic-"
"You are now. Just do what I tell you and it'll be fine." Though he was terrified that he could easily do more harm than good, Cliff nodded. If there was some way he could help, he had to try, no matter how unlikely that seemed. "I need to get a better look at the internal damage, see if you can angle her upper body for me." Biting his lip, the mech slipped his servos beneath the femme, lifting her upper torso gingerly off the berth. Arcee let out a brief whimper of pain at the motion, though Cliff made himself ignore her discomfort to follow the medics command. Wiping off the energon staining the wound with a sterile cloth, Ratchet narrowed his optics in concern. The injury was one long, clean, semi-vertical gash that began the right side of her neck and stretched down to the bottom left of her chest armor. Even now, energon pumped from the previously clean opening, though all Cliff was able to focus on was the pain it caused the femme.
"It's deep, probably a severed energon wire. I'll need to open her up to repair it and stop the leaking." In spite of everything, Cliff felt his faceplate flush with embarrassment at the suggestion.
"You don't mean..." He trailed off, and Ratchet snapped back with annoyance. He didn't have the time or patience for such objections.
"Yes, Cliffjumper. You're going to see her spark. Now mech up and keep her still for me..." Biting back further protest for Arcee's sake, Cliff watched silently as the medic attempted to gain her attention, though his faceplate glowed a faint blue in embarrassment. He had seen spark chambers before, sure, but this wasn't just some femme spending the night in his quarters. This was Arcee, his partner, and the thought that he would be seeing her... like that, made him feel like he was betraying her.
"Arcee? Arcee, can you hear me?" The medic attempted to gain her attention, though Arcee seemed to have finally slipped into a blissful unconsciousness. "Arcee, if you can hear me, I need you to give me some kind of sign. Please, you need to stay awake for me..." A faint cough issued from the femme, and her optics opened a crack. The medic took the side of her helm in his hand, focusing her field of vision entirely on him. "I'm going to try and fix you, but I need you to open your chest panels for me, alright? Can you do that?" Arcee could only look back in confusion for the longest time, her narrowed optics showing the effort it was taking just to stay conscious, let alone process thought. Finally, her frame clenching in effort, the femme forced her mangled chest panels to shift, revealing her internal components. Cliff felt his own spark skip a beat at the sight. Gears, cogs, wires, tubes, and various components all hummed and clicked with smooth efficiency. And, vibrating in the center of it all, her spark chamber. The sacred orb containing her life force, meant only to be viewed by bondmates and medics, and he was seeing it. He felt like he was betraying all of their trust just by being there... These thoughts were pushed aside when he spotted the gashed metal pipe, nearly split in two, that was currently leaking energon through and over her frame.
"That's it." The medic declared, transforming his servo into a welder. "Hold her still while I stop the leaking." He quickly went in, taking hold of the severed wire to temporarily stop the flow and, with surprising nimbleness, setting it to the controlled flame. The femmes reaction was instantaneous, her optics going wide in pain as the heat burned at the most sensitive components in her entire body. Acting on instinct, the femme brought out one of her arm blades, and Cliff was barely able to restrain her with his free servo, taking her much smaller hand in his. He angled her so he could hold her still more effectively, though she was not able to put up much of a fight after her initial move. I'm sorry... He apologized, watching as her face pinched tight in pain. I'm so sorry... "Almost got it..." Ratchet assured them all, working with efficiency, as he knew all too well the pain he was causing the femme. "I only need a temporary seal" The welder at last closed the gap, stemming the tide of energon at last. "Got it! It'll hold until I can replace the damaged tube." He looked over the vital stats read out on his arm, brows furrowing in concern. "Right now she needs processed energon, her levels are critical. There's no time to prepare a solution from our supplies, she needs a transfusion. Get Op-"
"Take mine." Cliffjumper said without hesitation. Ratchet looked with surprise at the younger mech, optics glancing over the energon staining his front. He had assumed that the mech had been slightly injured, but could all of that energon just be from a combination of battle and cradling the injured femme? Years of dealing with injuries had taught him how to recognize different patterns of energon spatter, and now that he truly looked, he saw that most of it had come from high velocity impacts, clearly during battle. Regardless, he had a willing and capable donor before him, and he would not waste that.
"Set her down, gently. I'll get the equipment ready." With a nod, Cliff lowered her onto the berth, settling her down as comfortably as he could. His optics shifted to her still open chest cavity, meaning to look over the damaged pipe but instead settling on her spark chamber. Looking away immediately, he berated himself, feeling twisted guilt well it's way into his own spark. He had failed to stop her from getting hurt, and now he was further violating her privacy. Hopefully, giving some of his own supply of energon would allow him some kind of redemption, at least in her optics, perhaps.
"Lie down." The medic instructed as he prepared his equipment, gesturing to another open berth just beside Arcee's. Without, Cliff obeyed the order, lying down and waiting for further instructions. He'd met bots who had done energon transfusions before, and from what he'd been told, it was not pleasant. Still, he doubted any of the discomfort the process would cause him could even compare to what Arcee was going through, who now appeared to have fallen into a fitful unconsciousness. Ratchet quickly prepped the necessary tools for the transfusion, which appeared to consist only of a long clear tube that ended with differently shaped syringes on both sides. He prepared Arcee first, sticking the smaller needle meant for the recipient into the armor gap at her elbow joint, and even though she was subconscious she winced at the pain. Making sure the needle was secure, Ratchet moved quickly over to Cliff, and the younger mech couldn't stop a wince of his own as the larger needle dug into his vein.
"Lie still, she's going to need a lot, and I need you to remain conscious." Cliff nodded, watching with awe as the energon pumped from his own servo and into the clear tube, glowing faintly as it moved to the waiting recipient. As soon as the much needed energon hit her veins, the femme seemed to relax, letting out a faint sigh as her frame settled. The fact that he was finally able to help his partner allowed Cliff to somewhat ignore the unpleasant feeling of dizziness that the energon loss was causing him, though it was much harder to ignore as the sensation grew more intense. Settling the palm of his free servo over his helm, he closed his optics tight as the feeling grew worse, even to the point where his own spark began to ache at the loss of much needed energon.
"There, that's enough." Ratchet declared, having been keeping a close optic on both of their vital statistics. He removed the needle from Cliffs vein, closing the wound with a metallic gauze and going to Arcee to do the same. "Both of your energon levels are functioning, but far below optimal. I'd recommend that you get some rest." He turned back, wrapping up the cord and setting it to the side for sterilization later. Cliff shook his helm, trying to sit up and recalling the medics previous statement that Arcee would need more repairs.
"Nah, I feel fine doc... Besides, Cee... needs more repairs..." He was pushed back firmly but gently onto the berth.
"Arcee will need further repairs after she has rested, but you've done more than enough for her already. The best thing you can do for your partner now, is rest." Ratchet admonished, sounding notably less grumpy than normal. He quickly returned to his previous gruffness, taking on the stern tone that they were far more accustomed to. "Because the last thing I need is another injury to patch up."
"Rest... Great, yeah..." The mech repeated after a long pause, too woozy to further argue the rather pleasant sounding suggestion. Settling back on the berth, he lolled his head in the direction of Arcee. As the berth was optic level and adjacent to the femme, he was able to take one last look at her before dozing off, feeling somewhat at peace with himself knowing that he had done all he could for her.
That's what a partner was for, after all.
Hm... I'm sorta happy with this one, it's kinda... outside of my usual style, but I like it. Hence why I'll be adding part 2 pretty soon. Expect more one shots soon, I've been full of inspiration lately!
Thanks for reading!
