Basis: G1
Pairings: ~nada~ ^.^
Rain. Pouring, with thunder and lightning. In the desert.
*Spike was right*, Mirage thought. *Global Warming really is affecting the Earth.*
That didn't matter to him now though. Where was Hound? He was supposed to be back four cycles ago... Mirage was really starting to worry. He already talked to Optimus about it; they of course tried every way possible to reach their scout.
No answer, every time.
"I'm sure he's fine, Mirage. The rain is probably just interfering with his comm. link."
"Yeah... I guess," he'd say, knowing inside they were just saying things to get him to not worry.
How could he not worry?
They'd found his life signal, alive and ticking, near the Decepticon base two cycles ago. Right where he was supposed to be. Optimus sent out several mechs his and Cliffjumper's way as a search-and-rescue mission if needed. But if they still had his life signal, it could be very well just the rain interference, they thought.
Mirage stood in the entrance of the Ark as he looked out into the raining blackness, continuously wondering if Hound was alright. He gently swayed back and forth as he held his sparkling, Glazer cooing peacefully from time to time in her creator's warm embrace.
He looked down at her as she started to whine, softly stroking her helm. "It'll be okay, honey," he said soothingly, smiling at her. "Hound will be back soon." The thunder only made her whimper again, choking as a sign of starting to cry.
Mirage held her close, shushing her comfortingly as she broke out in tears after the continuous lightning flashes. He gently bounced on his pedes up and down, rocking her, backing away from the entrance a little as she calmed down and weakly clenched her servos, barely touching his chassis.
"Don't cry, honey, you're alright," he whispered to her, swaying her slightly. "You're okay, it's just rain."
He returned to the entrance after a while when she was back to her peaceful self, holding her lovingly, knowing she was mainly tired and probably hungry again.
"Mirage!" he heard from the rec room behind him, turning around and seeing Trailbreaker, the twins, Blaster, and Tracks all sitting at a booth playing some card game with what looked like strong highgrade by their servos. Blaster gestured with his helm for the noble to come sit with them, waving the hand of cards soberly.
Mirage looked back at the entrance, wishing Hound would pop up in the darkness but knowing he wouldn't. He turned back, giving once last glance before smiling down at his sparkling again, walking slowly towards the five in the rec room.
"Hey, 'Raj," they greeted, Trailbreaker and Tracks scooting over to make room for the noble and the sparkling.
"Hello," he sighed, shifting Glazer in his arms and adjusting her blanket.
"'Grade?" Blaster offered him. "Sideswipe actually made it pretty good this time."
Sideswipe reached over his twin to smack the boombox upside the helm. "Thanks," he mumbled.
"No problem."
"No, I'm good guys, thanks..."
Mirage tried to figure out what game they were playing as Tracks set a card down on top of Sunstreaker's. "What about the sparkling? Would she like some?" the corvette joked.
Everyone giggled, about half of them drunken. "I think she'll pass," Mirage teased back.
"Hey, cheer up, Mirage," Blaster spoke up after the noble went back to quietly stroking the sparkling. "Hound'll be back soon... Prime's mission team should report first thing in the mornin'."
"I know... I just have to worry all night, and Glazer's already upset."
Suddenly everyone except Trailbreaker peered over to look at the sweet little femme still cooing with dull optics. "I heard her cryin' a couple times, but maybe she's just tired."
"Yeah, she is, I'm going to put her down in a klik or so... I'm trying to wait to the last minute for word from Hound..."
"Don't worry, 'Raj," Sunstreaker spoke. "If something was wrong, his signal would be all jumpy and broken."
"...I know..."
Mirage ignored the laughter and shouting returning to the five mechs as he thought more about Hound. "Hey, hey!" he heard someone call. "Glazer's offline! Shut up!"
Mirage slightly smiled as he looked down again. Glazer's small lips were slightly parted as her optics were dull and flickered down, cycling chokey breaths here and there as the noble stroked her into recharge to get her to not be as upset.
"That's alright," he said to whoever tried to defend the tired sparkling. "I'm gonna go... She needs recharge."
They shared their goodbyes as Mirage stood up and left the rec room, the sparkling crying once again as she was jerked out of her peaceful state.
Day 10
Nemesis Grounds
Hound wearily trudged through the cold, dark hallways as Dirge and Thundercracker shoved him forward. "Keep walking," they shouted at him as he turned to look into each passing brig cell, hoping unsuccessfully to find his partner.
They reached the end of the hallway, and still no Cliffjumper. Hound then found himself thrown into an empty cell, hitting the metal flooring hard. He immediately tried to sit up, struggling with his servos still handcuffed behind him as the two Seekers locked the gate and left, laughing.
Hound slowly turned his panting into normal cycling breaths, offlining his optics as he thumped his helm against the wall. He immediately thought about Mirage... his sparkling, that he'd left alone back at base due to his and Cliff's stupidity...
He pressed his lips together as he thought about them. He would get out of here, he knew. He would see them again.
After a long moment of dark silence, Hound heard a clanging across the hall. He onlined, ready to fight as defenseless as he was, adjusting his optics to see more clearly in the open darkness.
His scowl merely flipped to a smile, however, when a small red figure glared back at him with dull blue optics.
"Cliff!" he whispered, crawling over to the metal bars. "Are you okay?"
Hound could barely hear the spy panting over in his own brig cell. He saw him nod very slightly, not moving but trying his hardest to focus on the scout.
"It'll be okay, Cliff," he said, hearing his whimper as he shifted. "I know what they did... are you still bleeding? Excessively?"
Cliffjumper slowly looked down at himself, straining, shaking his helm at the scout. "No..." he rasped.
"Good..." he said to himself. "That's good... Do you still have your comm. link?"
"No... Megatron... *grunt* destroyed it..."
Hound sighed as he sat back against the wall and tried using his shoulder to press his own comm. link. "This is... Hound... C-Come in, please," he rasped, vocals a little weak from Megatron's grasps.
...
Back outside, Optimus and his mission team were nearing the Nemesis. They'd discovered Hound's and Cliffjumper's life signals had grown weaker, their spy's especially.
Optimus ordered everyone to stop as the scout's voice cracked statically in his audio.
"Hound!" he exclaimed. "Are you alright? Where are you?"
"We're okay," he hoarsed. "Cliffjumper and I have been help captive... he's far worse than I am, Prime. He needs Ratchet."
Luckily Ratchet had been one of the few mechs Optimus had chosen to come along on their 'search-and-rescue'. "How bad is he, Hound?"
"Uhm... well, his chassis has some deep gashes, he's almost bled to death in some areas, his arms are severely cut..."
Suddenly Hound quit talking. Ratchet transformed the same time Optimus did, wondering what was happening. "Hound?" Ratchet pressed to his comm. link. "Hound, what's wrong?"
"Hound, come in..."
"Oh, Primus..." they heard him whisper with such fear that is sent chills down their own backstruts.
"What? Hound, what is it?" Ratchet chirped.
"It's... Cliff..."
"What about Cliff? Is he okay?"
"He... his arm... He doesn't have an arm..."
At that point everyone transformed and froze with shock. "What do you mean he doesn't have an arm?"
"I- It's gone! I- It's... just a bare socket... I can make out energon still oozing out of it..."
Ratchet huffed as he pressed into his optics with his digits. "Alright... is he complaining of any pain?"
Hound flickered his wide gaze from Cliffjumper's bare shoulder socket back up to the spy's tired faceplate. Cliffjumper shook his helm, hearing their comm. link through the cells.
"No, he said no..."
Ratchet swore under his breath. "Alright, try to keep him online. Whatever you do, do NOT let him offline, or he more than likely won't come back to us. He's lost so much energon in his most vital places that he's probably numb; he's very weak..."
"Well th-that's not all," Hound spoke weakly himself. "He's been... his spike is still cut up, and I saw myself how some of them raped him, continuously..."
Swearing more colorfully, Ratchet transformed and drove off towards the Nemesis. "Alright, Hound, we're on our way," Optimus said before he cut the line.
"Hey, Mirage," Jazz greeted softly as he strolled into the rec room.
"Hi, Jazz."
Jazz sat down across from the mech, watching as the little femme slurped at her bottle quietly. "How is she?" he asked.
"She's good," he replied. "I got her to settle down last night around 0200 hours after waiting for Hound... She kept crying in the middle of the night, so I basically just sat up with her, dozing off myself whenever she wasn't crying."
"Oh, I'm sorry about that..."
"It's alright... I couldn't recharge anyway worrying about Hound. Have you heard anything?"
Jazz shook his helm. "I know they reached their base at dawn this morning, and I think they got a hold o' Hound - "
"Well what did he say?"
"I don't know, Mirage. I'm not a part o' the mission."
Mirage sighed as he looked down at the sparkling again, shifting as she almost finished her bottle. "I know, I'm sorry... I'm just worried."
"Well I know that he's okay. Cliffjumper might be a little fried, but he's alive for the most part."
Mirage slowly took the bottle away as Glazer sucked out the last drop.
"But hey," Jazz went on after a moment. "I found something you might like ta' have." He pulled out a toy from his subspace compartment, smiling slightly as he turned it over in his servos and handed it over the noble.
"I found it in my drawer," he whispered as Mirage took it in his own servos, examining it as Glazer giggled in his arms. "I think Spinner played with it... I can't find Site's."
Glazer was already practically reaching out her tiny servos for the rattle. Mirage shook it once, smiling as he teased it in front of Glazer's faceplate, making his little femme giggle even harder. "Well, thank you Jazz. I love it."
Jazz said nothing as he watched the femme play with the blue metal rattle. He tried to do what Prowl told him: think of happy memories... like how the same rattle made his own little mech giggle like that. Mirage watched her as she shook the rattle, using her weak little servos to grab onto something for the first time. She really didn't so much; she held it, moving it from there to there, smiling as she heard the little metal beads shake within it.
"I thought it would keep her happy... occupied for sure," he said.
The two stayed silent for a while, watching the sparkling's attention focus only on this blue thing in her servo that made noise.
"So have you thought about what I told you?" Mirage broke the long silence.
"Hm?"
"When we were talking in your quarters... Have you thought about what I said?"
"...About trust..."
"About why I asked if you trusted me."
Jazz focused his visor on the noble, remembering their conversation. "Oh... Of course I have, 'Raj... 'course I have," he said quietly.
"Jazz, I know it pains you to think about this... but think about what I've told you..."
"What about what I've told you? I don't want a sparkling if... What if I just want to abuse it...?"
"Jazz, you know you're stronger than that. That's just fear taking over your processor. I know you want another sparkling... I know you'll care for him and love him just like you did your twins."
Jazz sighed aloud as propped his helm up with his servo. "I'm too scared, 'Raj... What if something happens to them again...? I couldn't live with myself," he eventually whispered.
"Then that's a chance you have to be willing to take."
Jazz looked up again, then back down to the sparkling. "I take it that's what you mean by trust?"
Mirage simply smiled as Glazer cooed, gnawing on the handle.
Jazz huffed again. "I dunno, Mirage... it's a big step for me..."
"I know. I'm not forcing you to do anything. I'm just trying to help."
Jazz smiled as he announced he had a shift, Glazer giggling again as he left.
Nemesis Grounds
Hound had successfully given Optimus a clear description of where his and Cliffjumper's brig cells were located. Bumblebee, Ironhide, and Optimus himself made their way underwater around the base, until they had both their life signals directly under them.
Ratchet and Smokescreen waited on land for when the three returned with Hound and Cliffjumper, setting up sensors to check for any Decepticons in their surrounding area.
"Alright Hound," Ironhide spoke up through his comm. link once they were inside the base. "We picked up your signal..."
"Well be careful," he responded. "I got caught by simply kicking the wall... Those Seekers are everywhere."
He faintly heard Bumblebee and Ironhide snicker through the link, ignoring it and focusing back on Cliffjumper. "You awake little buddy?"
He weakly nodded a single nod, optics so dull you'd think he was offline.
Optimus took the lead as they sneaked around the hallways. "Watch your step," he warned with a whisper, pointing at more severed pipes along the flooring.
The three carefully worked their way around the corners, thankfully not running into any 'Cons.
Until Megatron made Optimus jump out of his frame, that is.
"Optimus!" he chuckled. "What a pleasure seeing you here! Tell me, what brings you and your posse to my ship?"
"Out of my way, Megatron..." he scowled, transforming his servo into his glowing axe.
"And why would I do that?" he laughed louder. "So you can rescue your own feeble underlings? I'm afraid - "
Megatron paused as he looked over Optimus' shoulder towards his minions, only to see they weren't there. "Where did they go?" he shouted, turning his helm just in time as Optimus punched him in the faceplate, the warlord falling to the ground.
As Megatron got back on his pedes, he lunged for Optimus, the two tackling each other as Ironhide and Bumblebee ran the back way towards Hound's signal.
"We're almost there, Hound," Bumblebee called. "We had a slight situation... how's Cliffjumper?"
"He's okay... What happened?"
"We'll explain once we get there."
Just then a shot was fired behind him, Ironhide ducking just in time to miss it. He lunged for Bumblebee as Dirge fired again, knocking them both out of the way as they turned the last corner.
"Hound!" Ironhide called as Bumblebee got back on his pedes and followed.
"We're at the end!" he called back, making sure Cliffjumper was still online.
Of course he wasn't.
"Ughhh..." he made out nervously, yelling at them to run faster.
"We are! Dirge is right behind us!"
At last they reached the cells, Bumblebee seeing the keys on a hook and unlocking Hound's as Ironhide unlocked Cliffjumper's. Bumblebee unlatched the handcuffs and helped him to his pedes, fast, Ironhide picking up the offlined spy and slinging him over his shoulder.
"Watch out!" Bumblebee called, everyone ducking as Dirge, and Starscream, unleashed rapid fire upon them.
...
Optimus grunted as he struggled out of Megatron's helmlock. He eventually managed to flip and kick his backstrut, tumbling them both to the ground and causing Megatron to shoot the ceiling, making more debris and water poor down inside after they'd just patched up the last hole.
Optimus tackled Megatron off guard, pinning him against the wall, bringing up his axe to stab his chassis when Megatron helm-butted him hard.
The semi fell backwards, Megatron aiming his missile launcher at the Autobot leader, only to have Optimus flip over and roll on the floor as he dodged another hit.
...
Ironhide cried out as several bullets caught him in the shoulder and arm as he raised his liquid nitrogen launcher at the two Seekers. Bumblebee and Hound ducked as the white liquid covered the whole hallway, freezing the two jets in the act as it covered them from helm to pede.
Panting slightly, Ironhide stood up, slinging Cliffjumper back over his shoulder. Bumblebee slowly stood up, helping Hound, making sure he was alright.
Ironhide suddenly keened as his knees gave way, catching himself before he collapsed on the ground. He regained his balance on his wobbly pedes, checking everyone to make sure they were alright.
"Are we all okay?"
Bumblebee and Hound nodded. "I think so..." the scout said quietly.
"Then let's get outta here... Ratchet's waiting for us up top."
The three made their way fast through the hallways, searching for Optimus so they could get back before Cliffjumper permanently went offline. It didn't take long to hear the shouting and clanging of metal on metal, let alone the missile shots.
Hound offered to take Cliffjumper, weakly slinging him over his shoulder and leading Bumblebee back the way he came the joor before. Ironhide crept around the corner, thankful Megatron had his back to him while Optimus surprisingly caught his optic.
He waved for him to come on, knowing he couldn't. He ducked when he flipped Megatron's rifle that shot at the corner, using the action to pounce the warlord so Optimus would have a clear shot.
"This was a one-on-one battle, Optimus!" he shouted, struggling out of Ironhide's strong grip. "If I wanted, I could have called in my mechs, and you would've been dead already!"
"Then it looks like I win," he said coolly, aiming his weapon, and was just about to fire when Megatron made one last jerk and freed himself, shooting his launcher right at Optimus as the semi took his axe and knocked the aim out of his servos.
The missile hit the corner between the ceiling and the wall, water gushing in at contact and filling the hallway. Megatron pushed Ironhide to the ground just as the warrior was about to leap on him again, Optimus ducking his punch, kicking him in the groin and throwing him to the wet wall.
Optimus grabbed Ironhide's servo and pulled him up as he ran, the warrior stumblingly following him as they waded through the halls.
"Where are the others?" he called as he shot at two more Seekers heading their way, alarms blaring through the entire base.
"Hound led them back his way up top."
Optimus led them back to where the mission team had entered, helping Ironhide up through the shafts, then himself. Ironhide pushed himself out the Nemesis into the cold water, Optimus right behind him as they swam up to land to meet the others.
The two surprisingly weren't far behind the other three, as they had to run to the other end of the Nemesis to exit and then swim around the entire base to get to Ratchet.
Ratchet ran straight to Hound as they trudged up onto the shore. "He's offline," Hound gurgled weakly as he set him down on the grass. "I can't get him back online..."
Ratchet just huffed as he worked away on his circuitry. After a while he sighed in relief as he maintained his equilibrium chips from his damaged CPU and got him stabilized, knowing he was online and cycling but just unconscious.
"I think he'll be okay," he said as Optimus and Ironhide ran up. He examined his armless socket, energon still bleeding out of the torn seems and exposed wires, running his digits finely across the rim. "Wheeljack and I can fix him up."
Ironhide soon broke the silence as he noticed Bumblebee wasn't there. "Um, where is Bumblebee?"
Everyone looked at him, looking around to tell him "he's right there!". But the yellow spy was nowhere in sight.
Ratchet stood up to scan the whole perimeter.
"Maybe he's still inside?" Smokescreen offered.
"No, he was right behind us when we left," Hound replied.
Optimus turned around, scanning the water, giving a second take as he spotted bubbled emerging from the water. Without word he jumped in the water towards the bubbles.
He did not, however, plan on rescuing Rumble.
Rumble had Bumblebee's pede, pulling him down further into the water as the minibot kicked wildly and struggled to swim upwards. Optimus shot a missile towards the 'Con, finally getting him to let go, giving Bumblebee just enough time to swim upwards for Optimus to wrap his arms around his midriff and pull him up.
He fired again as Rumble shot towards them, forcing the minicon down under the current as he swam up with Bumblebee in his arms.
Optimus ran out of the water with Bumblebee laying in both servos. He gently lowered him down on the grass as Ratchet ran over to him, the leader and medic sitting him up as he coughed up the excess unfiltered water in his cycling chambers.
"Are you alright?" Ratchet asked him, receiving a strained nod and more water out his mouth.
Ratchet sighed wearily and returned to Cliffjumper, examining his abused valve and spike, gently touching the cut marks and determining if it was still useable. He ever so slightly put little pressure on the recess guards and retracted the small spike, working the panel out of its forced position and closing it.
"Let's get them back to med bay," he said, standing up and transforming as the fit the little spy in his ambulance form, Bumblebee being transported in Optimus' trailer.