AN: Credit goes to Karategal and TheMoonlessNight for letting me borrow some of their ideas.
Narrative
Rebooting hurt. The pain was still there, Mirage could dimly remember coming online before…he'd heard Ratchet and Ironhide-he'd tried to say something, but all he could get out was a name…
Shock…wave…
A massive form of purple leering up over him, no face at all save for one hideous eye set right in the center of its head, one hand reaching out for him as the other arm lifted up, revealing a gun…
You are no longer deemed necessary.
And then all of a sudden, colored spots started to dance in front of his optics as all his systems onlined at once, and Mirage opened his mouthplates to scream, still caught in memory/nightmare. But a hand slammed down on him, cutting off the scream before it began…
"Calm down! Mirage, come out of it!" In his panic, the white and blue Autobot thrashed around. "Mirage! It's me, Ratchet!" The familiar name was enough to jolt Mirage's processors, and as his logic center took over, he saw the Autobot CMO leaning over him, a worried expression on his faceplates.
"Ratchet? I…" Another memory hit, he had to warn Optimus! "Ratchet! Optimus! I need to-"
"Relax." Ratchet snarled, shoving the sniper back down onto the recharge bed. "You woke up long enough to babble Shockwave's name to us, so we have the idea that something's not right. Now if you keep thrashing around I'm going to deactivate you myself, understand?!" Mirage's frame sagged in relief.
"Uhhggghh." Leaning back, he closed his optics…but then they flew open again. "Chromia!"
"With Ironhide someplace. Now shut up, you'll wake up the sparkling!" Another shudder from Mirage, and Ratchet softened his tone somewhat. "You've been out for several orns. Just take it easy, you're still in recovery."
"Mmm…huh?!" The medic bit back the urge to shove Mirage back down as he flew up again. "Sparkling?"
"Yes. There." Ratchet pointed to the snoozing Nightfire. "Keep it shut. She got active after the sun set and didn't settle down until very late last night." Mirage felt his lower jaw joint drop as he stared at the dark-blue paintjob.
"Who…wha…"
"Ironhide and Chromia. Family unit. Femme sparkling. Enough said."
"Ironhide and Chromia Nightfire twitched at the volume, before releasing a squeak of content and snuggling even deeper into her pillow. To this Ratchet gave in to his baser instincts, and slammed Mirage on the head with a wrench. The muffled bellow of pain was music to his audio receptors.
"My aft, my aft, ow." Prowl bit back a grin at the sight of Sideswipe holding his rear. "I can't move!"
"Serves you right." Sunstreaker grunted. The security officer raised one eye ridge at the sight of the yellow Twin reading a holo-book. "When do we bust out this fraggin joint?"
"Another cycle." Was the response.
"My aft."
"Stop bitching." A grumpy retort from Jazz. "This is all your fault anyway."
"How is this my fault?!" At this both the Special Ops officer and the yellow Twin sat up, and Prowl found it prudent to clear his vocalizer.
"Settle down."
"Why did those two get to leave before us?"
"Because they needed to take care of Nightfire. And they apologized as well for fritzing out."
"I must have revenge for my aft!"
"Primus! Chromia didn't hit you that hard!"
"You wanna bet! Come look at it!"
"Why the Pit would I want to look at your aft?" A grin was on Sunstreaker's face, he was enjoying baiting his twin.
"Ratchet didn't even treat it!"
"Hatchet would have ripped you a new exhaust hole." Was the response from Jazz. "The dent would have been the least of your worries." Choked laughter from Sunstreaker, and even Prowl felt his mouthplates twitch.
"Stop it." He ordered.
"Frag you!"
"No no, frag YOU." Jazz replied. A sharp report had all three 'bots jumping, Prowl had fired his gun at the ceiling.
"Shut it, all of you." He resumed his seat. "Sideswipe, Ratchet will see you when you're out of the bay. So take it like a 'bot until then."
"I don't want to!"
"Shut UP already!"
"I don't want to!"
"Primus! How'd I get sparked with you?!"
"I ask myself that same question every orn!"
"I ask myself how the Pit did I get stuck with you two!"
"Shut it Jazz!" Before Prowl could open his mouth again, a flashing light on his board had him pressing it.
"Shut up! Yes?"
Release them all out of the brig and get up to the medical bay. Came the voice of Optimus. Mirage is awake.
Chromia came over to the recharge bed, offering Mirage a canister of Energon.
"How are you feeling?" Gratefully Mirage took the can, turning it around and around in his hands.
"Honestly? I guess I missed quite a bit." He replied. Ratchet had given him a brief summary of what happened a year ago at Mission City. "Wow. It's…going to take some getting used to."
"Optimus didn't have a choice."
"No, I know he didn't have a choice. And it was the right call. As long as the AllSpark existed, the war was never going to stop." Mirage answered. Like many of the Autobots, he'd had a hard time adjusting to living the life of a warrior, and an even harder time adjusting to the fact that he wasn't living among the 'upper-class' of Cybertronian society. But eventually he'd found his niche, often teaming up with Hound for missions.
"It's a lot to process, I know." Chromia murmured. "It took me a while too. But despite all the organics here, Earth is a very good place. And…I found Ironhide again. I wouldn't give my life up here for anything in the galaxy. "
"I heard congratulations were in order." The femme smiled at this, her optics glancing over to check on the sleeping sparkling.
"Thank you."
"Rich 'bot!" Jazz boomed as he bounced into the bay, and then winced as Chromia shot him a glare. "Sorry, sorry, won't wake 'Fire." The rest of the Autobots trailed in after the silver 'bot, giving Mirage cheerful greetings or coming over to his beside. The last was Optimus.
"Mirage."
"Optimus." The sniper answered. "It's good to see you again."
"It is good to see you too, old friend. You had us worried there." At this Mirage chuckled bashfully, putting a hand behind his head.
"Sorry."
"What happened to you?" Wheeljack asked.
"That's what I want to know." Optimus rumbled. "Ratchet says you're fit to at least talk to us, you muttering Shockwave's name has had us all wondering what is going on." The sniper nodded, straightening.
"My team joined up with Arcee's own a while back." He began. "We were doing much the same thing you were, looking for the AllSpark from world to world. Considering that Starscream had followed your team Prime, we thought we had a good chance of finding the AllSpark without any Decepticon interference. But then we had a run-in with Soundwave's own team, and well…" He gestured. "Things went downhill very quickly.""We spent half the time running from Starscream and the other half trying to recon without the buggers finding us." Ironhide grunted. "What I want to know is how did Shockwave get into the whole mess?"
"Cybertron." Mirage answered. Dead silence filled the bay.
"…What does Cybertron have to do with Shockwave?" Hound finally ventured.
"Everything." Mirage answered. His optics were filled with worry as he looked at his friends. "Cybertron…I don't know how to say it, but…the planet's moving."
"What?!" Optimus was quick to hold up a hand to stall off the rising amount of noise.
"Mirage, explain yourself." He ordered. "How can our mother planet move? It's stationary, and has no equipment to just go…'floating around' the galaxy."
"I know it sounds crazy sir, but it's the truth." The sniper responded. "I have recordings of it and the data to prove it, Ratchet downloaded it from me today-"
"And I'm still putting it back together. That virus was doing a number on your systems." The CMO replied.
"Alright, alright. You found out Cybertron is moving." Chromia interrupted. "Then what?"
"We went to investigate, but things only got stranger."
The last time he'd seen the surface of his homeworld, it had been littered with the fallen bodies of the dead, blast holes gorged into the surface, and buildings no more than blackened husks. But now…
"What is going on here?" Arcee whispered; her optics wide. She, Mirage, Ultra Magnus and Hoist were standing on the outskirts of Cybertropolis. Once one of the largest cities on Cybertron, it had been completely destroyed during the Great War. But before their stunned optics, Cybertropolis was being rebuilt, even at the distance they were at, it was possible to see the large lumbering form of the Guardian Robots clearing debris, removing corpses, and beginning construction on new buildings. "Primus…"
Decepticons, maybe?" Hoist asked. "Mirage? What are you seeing through your scope?"
"Pretty much the same thing you're looking at." The sniper responded. "Those are defiantly the Guardian Robots alright. What the Pit they're doing is beyond me."
"I thought everyone had left Cybertron." Magnus said.
"Apparently not." Mirage replied. "If anything, those Guardians are under someone's control."
Autobots maybe?"
"Or 'Cons."Arcee responded. "Ultra Magnus, what should we do?"
"Mirage, you're the best one we have for recon right now." The Autobot responded. "Head in, see what you can find out, and get out. We'll meet back here in five cycles."
"Right." Mirage said, subspacing his rifle and activating his electro-disrupter.
"It was unsettling." Mirage murmured. "Just…to walk though and see the city being rebuilt from the ground up, and not knowing who was behind it."
"I can imagine." Wheeljack said.
"Did you get any clues?" Prowl asked.
"Whoever rebuilt and reprogrammed the Guardian Robots had given them the order to work on Cybertropolis for a while prior to our arrival. Nearly all the debris was gone and a good number of buildings had been finished."
"How much of the city?" First Aid asked.
"I'd say…" Mirage paused. "45 percent." This elected several low whistles from his listeners.
"That's almost half the city!" Bumblebee exclaimed.
"What happened next?" Sunstreaker wanted to know.
It was taking every ounce of self-control Mirage possessed to not turn tailpipe and haul out as if the Pit itself was after him. The Guardian Robots weren't aware of his presence, but to just walk though what had been a ghost town for vorns and vorns…to see it being rebuilt and not have any idea of who or why...and even more unsettling, the air about the place. The sniper couldn't help it, he shuddered. It felt as if time was standing still, a bad memory that could never be erased, despite the brand new buildings and the fresh coats of paint that were going up/being placed.
"Primus…" He muttered to himself. A cycle into his explorations had revealed that the bodies and other debris were being carted out of the city, more than likely towards some disposal unit. Residential sectors looked as if they had been getting the attention first, many of them already finished and awaiting furnishings. The transit system was already done, the Guardians were using it to ferry supplies back and forth.
"The others are never going to believe this." Lucky for him he'd activated his recorders, not that they hadn't been turned on, ever since he and his team had encountered Cybertron floating it's normal orbit, everyone had been recording everything they saw. So involved was he in his reconnaissance that he didn't notice the looming shadow behind him…
And then everything had gone to Pit.
"There was a large explosion outside the city. Trying to track it, I realized that it had come from where I'd left Arcee and the others. I didn't think, I just immediately activated my communicator…"
"And Shockwave was all over you." Sideswipe said. Mirage nodded.
"Right. I had no idea how he'd been able to trail me, and I know it was dumb of me to open my com-link like that but I thought I was safe with my disruptor on." He lifted one hand to his side. "He slammed a blade into me, I guess that was how he uploaded the virus. I also remember getting into a fight with him…afterwards I can dimly recall Magnus yelling over the radio for us to get off-planet. Everything else is a blur until I landed here." He looked at Optimus. "I know it sounds crazy…but you believe me, don't you?"
"Of course." Prime rumbled. "Without hesitation, Mirage! Your story sounds 'out there' in truth, but we all know you well enough that you wouldn't make up such a lie."
"Yeah, you don't have the CPU processors for it." Jazz cracked, and then ducked as Mirage threw an empty Energon can at him.
"From what I've seen so far, the data does back up his story." Ratchet said. "But like I said, it got affected by the virus, so it's going to take me a while to do full recovery."
"That's fine." Mirage said earnestly. "Just…thank you. Thank you ever so much." Prime smiled, going over to his friend and putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Rest, Mirage. You've earned it."
AN: My plans for Ironhide got upstaged by Mirage's bit. But have no fear, there will be humilation. And yes, I am mangling ideas from Teletran-1 again.