Chapter 25: First time for everything
Galvatron was there when Cliffjumper stepped into the old building, leaning against the wall with a small smirk on his faceplate. That sexy smile suddenly seemed more conniving and cruel. Cliff almost turned around right there. But he hardened his features and gripped the data pad in one of his fists, stomping forward until he was halfway across the room. This had to be the dumbest this he had ever done. Confronting the leader of the Decepticons over his lies? He was probably going to end up dead! …But he couldn't just leave this unfinished.
"Hey cutie" greeted the taller mech, pushing himself off the wall and striding to wrap his minibot in a strong hug and drown him in a kiss like he usually did, but Cliff stepped backwards as he got closer, moving out of his reach, making Galvatron stop short and stare at the red bot in confusion.
"Been waiting long…Galvatron?" the smaller mech gritted out, small fists clenching at his sides, one nearly breaking the data pad.
The utterance of his real name from his lover's lips wasn't at all what Galvatron expected it to be like. Instead of filling his spark with warmth it choked it with ice, freezing his systems and making him go statue still, leaving only his optics alive and glowing in shock as he looked onto the minibot's increasingly angry features.
This couldn't really be happening could it? All of his fears, the worries he had forced himself to put off and forget, had come crashing back. He really had been a fool to think Cliffjumper would just be OK with it. His spark twisted inside his chassis. He was going to lose Cliffjumper…. The thought haunted him, made him feel sick. No, no he couldn't let that happen!
Never taking his optics off the Decepticon, Cliffjumper clicked the data pad on, holding it to let Galvatron read the bio and see the image. "Finally got a picture for that profile of yours CON!" he snarled. No mercy. Galvatron messed with his spark, Cliffjumper would be damned if he went easy on the liar, no matter how much his spark was crying against it.
Swallowing thickly, Galvatron shuddered back to life. But as he took a step forward Cliff took two more back and settled into a defensive position, making the larger mech's spark clench. To see his lover flinch away from him like an opponent on the field made that loneliness he felt before he met Cliff return and fester darker than before. Stilling, he held his hands out in appeasement, "please…let me explain Cliff"
"Oh let me guess!" Cliff barked sarcastically, "let's play with the little security-bot, no better way to get information then pillow talk after spark sex, huh!?" Cliffjumper's yells echoed in the hull of the empty building.
"…I- I admit that was it at first b-BUT!" Galvatron pleaded as he grabbed onto Cliffjumper's arm when he turned to leave, "BUT things changed once I got to know you! I stopped caring about information a long time ago! All those nights weren't a lie Cliff!" the large purple servo tightened desperately on the smaller arm. His grip was the only thing keeping Cliff from leaving. Galvatron counted the nano-kliks of silence that passed with growing agitation. Cliffjumper didn't even want to look at him. The Autobot's entire body was turned away from the newly revealed Decepticon, but he could feel the angry tremors quaking through the minibot's frame "…I really do love you Cliffjumper…."
Growling, Cliffjumper tore himself away from Galvatron's grip and spun to glare at him, optics burning so furiously it was a surprise they didn't turn red. The one thing he wanted to hear hurt worse than he imagined. He shook the pad at Galvatron angrily, "Then why didn't you tell me the truth!" he accused, "This pad tells me more about you then you ever did…!"
Galvatron stared at his picture and Cliff through the pad, slowly processing everything, before hanging his head shamefully to stare at his peds, no longer able to look the minibot in the optics. His servos, thick and strong enough to crush an opponent's limbs, began fidgeting with themselves like they hadn't done since he was a youngling. To think, he, the mighty leader of the Decepticons, was reduced to a nervous mech by a minibot.
"Where you ever even going to tell me…?" Cliff whispered, breaking the stretching silence, voice cracking. Looking at the mech standing before him, he was surprised. The mech he honestly thought he knew and loved for the past several months didn't seem to be a complete lie, because here he was, fidgeting in front of him. But who was Galvatron really? Was this just more of the act? Was there even a point to keeping it up now? He was honestly expecting the dictator, the tyrant…the Decepticon. But Axle was still there…his spark hoped more than his processor. His spark desperately wanted to believe the purple bot….
Gathering himself Galvatron faced Cliffjumper, "I want to say yes…but I don't know. I never planned for this Cliff…I never planned to actually fall for you…it was never supposed to go this far…" he trailed off, but didn't look away, silently begging the minibot to believe him.
"…what am I supposed to do now Galvatron?" Cliffjumper whimpered as he broke optic contact and shrank into himself, crouching down and hugging his knees to his chassis. Too much was happening all at once and it felt like he was being crushed under the pressure. "What am I supposed to do?" he asked out loud again, but mostly to himself. Should he cut it off there and make due on his own? Should he beat the slag out of him? Maybe…he should overexert himself and make the sparkling reabsorb…? That option sent him trembling. He couldn't snuff this life out! It didn't do anything wrong. He was the one that brought it on himself. Should he tell Galvatron the whole truth? He didn't know what it would accomplish, but the mech at least had the right to know what he had done...didn't he?
Galvatron looked on at the shrinking red mass, shoulders slumping lower, unable to provide his small lover with an answer. Silence filled the building, wafting throughout the empty rooms and halls, making everything seem heavy and the air thick. The short space between them felt like an enormous pit, and Galvatron did not know if he could fly across.
Then a whisper came that seemed to tear down the very building around him. "…I'm carrying"
Galvatron's optics brightened till they were nearly white. For a moment he thought his spark stopped. As his world continued to shudder he forced himself to stay standing on limp peds. "…what?" he rasped, his throat suddenly dry.
Cliffjumper remained curled into a ball as he answered, "There is a sparkling growing inside my body and it's half your fault afthead." Cliffjumper bore half the blame as well. He'd opened his spark and trusted a stranger. He'd put everyone he knew in danger…the sting in his spark didn't feel like a hard enough punishment for that.
For the second time that evening, Galvatron was torn between joy and despair. The very idea of Cliffjumper carrying his heir…made him feel like flying through the stars…but then it actually hit him. Cliffjumper, an Autobot, was carrying his heir. He, the leader of the Decepticon's heir! His processor desperately started swarming for solutions, ways to keep both his mate and child. "Come back with me" he suddenly blurted out.
Cliffjumper suddenly looked up at him, brow draw in confusion, "What?"
"Join the Decepticons" Galvatron pleaded, crouching down on one knee extending his hand for Cliffjumper to take, "come with me"
Cliff stared back at him, optics wide, before they contorted into slits and he uncurled himself, standing taller than the Decepticon for a moment as he growled out, "you really are out of your mind if you think I'll ever be a Con."
Spark falling with the announcement, Galvatron's processor frenzied for another plan, hands curling into tense fists. There had to be a solution, an excuse, a scapegoat—a crime! His mind rushed back to the friend Cliffjumper had been so concerned for months back, the one that had gotten raped by his cons. No one questioned that bot…no one blamed him…he got all the help they could give. His spark stopped cold at his new plan, but the more he ran it over in his head, the more it seemed…perfect. "Lie." Galvatron said, standing tall again, "Tell them I force-faced you to try and get information. Tell them it was rape. Tell them you couldn't stop me-" with every word he took a step closer to Cliffjumper, who was slowly moving back into a wall.
"w-what will that do?" Cliffjumper stuttered as his back touched the wall. Truth be told, this was more along the lines of what he expected Galvatron to be like. The Decepticon pressed his arms out on either side of him, keeping him pinned. Only unlike the any other times he had been trapped by those arms, the mech staring down at him was…frightening. The dim lighting cast shadows over his face, making his optics glow and his face was settling into the detached frown he held in the bio photo.
"At the very least, it will keep you and our sparkling alive and out of the stockades" he growled darkly, enormous claws gripping the steel wall behind the minibot, making the metal creak from the pressure.
Flinching at the loud noise, Cliffjumper wrapped his servos around one of Galvatron's arms, a silent request to stop. This bot scared him. He wanted Axle, the funny perverted slaghead that he was. But Cliff knew Axle wasn't real…at least not without Galvatron's anger. Besides, he could see the bot's reasoning. It would be a lie to say he hadn't feared that reaction to the sparkling as well. After all, an Autobot sparked by a Decepticon was unheard of. They could call him a traitor. They could kill him and the sparkling both. He didn't know… but this couldn't work. Galvatron was mostly a mystery to the Autobots and he suddenly attacks one the day his bio gets a photo? "You may be a jerk and a pervert Galvatron…" Cliffjumper said, optics downcast, "but you're not a rapist. Everyone knows that."
As Galvatron stared down as the minibot, taking in the soft disheartened features, his downcast optics, and the way he softly rubbed his arm, his resolution solidified. He could NOT let this bot fall because of him. Slowly, he cupped the minibot's helmet and leaned forward, placing a soft kiss on the minibot's derma plating. Keeping his optics open, Galvatron watched Cliff's optics glow white for a moment in shock before slowly closing, his face plate turning a soft pink as he returned the kiss softly. Galvatron desperately deepened the kiss, hugging the minibot closer, almost crushing the smaller bot's armor, trying to take as much of Cliff as he could. As he felt Cliff struggle for air, he pulled away with a final peck and took in the sight of a red faced and panting Cliffjumper.
"Ax—Galvatron?" Cliffjumper asked breathlessly as he was picked up and carried out of the entrance and into the open. That kiss had been Axle's. Closing his optics it had felt like Axle too. Galvatron, Axle, Axle, Galvatron…was there so much of a difference in a name …or a brand…? Cliffjumper couldn't think as he searched the taller bot's face for an explanation. The taller bot still hadn't put him down. On his refined faceplate, all he could recognize was sadness… and the cold spark of resolve.
"...there is a first time for everything Cliffjumper" Galvatron whispered softly before lifting suddenly into the sky. Cliffjumper's voice short circuited the instant as the roar of thrusters filled his audios. He was a mini-bot, a ground-pounder, he was NOT meant to fly! For a moment, all of the stories of Decepticon flyers dropping Autobots to their deaths flew through his processor, making him whimper as he shut his optics and braced himself for impact, while trying not to lose his lunch. Noticing the smaller bot's discomfort, Galvatron tried to fly a bit smoother.
Luckily the flight was a short one. Galvatron landed on the edges of Cliffjumper's base, near the spot he had once helped Cliffjumper get home after drinking strong energon. Finding the cameras he tensed, needing to time this perfectly.
Though he had placed the Autobot softly on his peds, Cliff's knees wobbled and gave out, making him crash to his knees in relief. Thank primus he was on the ground again!
As his systems recalibrated themselves, Galvatron suddenly moved, swiftly grabbing the minibot and hurling him over one of the base's shorter outer walls, officially tossing him into Autobot territory. Cliffjumper rolled with his hard landing, trying to lessen its damage on his frame while he worked to make his processor stop rolling around in his helm.
Before he had a chance to completely stand up, Galvatron burst through the wall he was just thrown over, emerging swiftly through the sudden concrete dust to grab him and throw him back against a stone wall, cracking it and making his systems go crazy all over again.
"What are you doing!?" Cliffjumper grunted as he gripped the servo clawing at his throat, cracked vision going red with warning signs. "Stop it!" he gasped out, "You're going to hurt the sparkling!"
The statement ringed in Galvatron's audios, stilling his hand from gripping any harder around the minibot's neck. But then his mask returned. Galvatron, not Axle, took over. Leaning down slowly, Galvatron growled lowly in Cliffjumper's audios, "Save yourself some pain AUTOBOT and tell me your patrol rounds."
"You CANNOT be serious!" Cliffjumper shouted as he overrode the damage signals and glared incredulously at the Decepticon.
"If you will not tell me willingly, I will simply have to …take the information from you" Galvatron replied, other servo sliding over the clasps of Cliff's chassis, claws tracing the seams.
Stilling for a moment, Cliffjumper stared back at Galvatron, finally figuring out his plan and recognizing the area around them, as well as the locations of the cameras in the walls now focused on them, "you wouldn't…" he whispered desperately, praying to Primus for another way. But in the Decepticon's red optics only stone resolve existed and as the claw dug deeper, Cliff's spark jump started. "LET ME GO!" he yelled as he twisted away from the claw, kicking his short legs and trying to twist his tiny chassis out of the purple mech's grip. "This isn't going to work SLAG IT! PUT ME DOWN! I DON'T WANT THIS!"
"TELL ME WHAT I WANT TO KNOW!" Galvatron shouted, gripping the bot harder and breaking one of the clasps that held him shut. This would be the last time Galvatron would be able to touch Cliffjumper, the last time they would be so close and it couldn't even be a happy goodbye…
"STOP IT!" Cliff cried out, blunt fingers clawing at the servo, scratching paint. A gasp escaped him as claws dug through his armor, ripping wires and yanking his chassis to shreds. He could feel the energon flowing down his sides while stone chips stabbed into his back. Gripping the claw on his neck, optics shut tight, a weak whimper escaped him, "…please…! Please don't do this…!"
The arm he gripped stiffened, but the claws continued to rip at his plates, tearing the last clasp away, and bathing both of them in the soft blue glow of his frantically beating spark. The click of Galvatron's opening chassis flittered through his ringing audios, before everything simply burned.
Fire rushed through his systems. The Decepticon's spark seemed to be trying to smother his, crush it inside his chassis. Screams erupted from his vocalizer as the spark energy flooded through his circuits. Even then, in the back of his mind, he could hear Galvatron's whispers through his spark, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! This has to be done! I'm sorry!"
Galvatron forced himself to swallow the bile that rose in his throat as Cliffjumper's pained screamed burst out of his vocalizer. He made himself go deeper, pushing his spark harder into the mini-bot's, desperate for the warm energy that he had come to know over their time together, but only the cold erratic beating of the smaller bot's frantic spark existed. Where was the appeal in this, he wondered. Why did people do this to others? He, at least, had a reason. He did this to keep the bot he cared most about and his sparkling safe…If Primus had any spark he would help him.
An alarm started blaring overhead. Someone must have finally looked at the monitors in this sector. Sending another final hot pulse into the mini, Galvatron watched as Cliff's eyes blazed with the power, and then dimmed grey as he went limp in his hold. Pulling away slowly, he let the bot fall in a heap of energon, rubble and broken armor. The sound of tires was coming closer. A small team swerved around the corner towards him. Spotting a medic in the group, he took to the skies, dodging the laser fire of the bots as they transformed and covered the medic that went to Cliffjumper's side.
"Goodbye, my Cliffjumper…" he said softly as he took off, back to his base and his people…without his minibot…
End chapter 25