The base was brimming with energy as humans and bots alike were scrambling to prepare for Ironhide and his team to come back from a Decepticon hunt. They picked up a signal of energon just outside of the city of Washington DC where they had set up their base. The hope was that the Decepticon could lead them to Megatron or at least someone higher in command.
"They had contact, have Ratchet get the medbay ready for any wounded." Epps shouts over to a small group of men, all of whom saluted him and did as he had requested. He let out a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. So far there were minimal casualties and thankfully there was little property damage. However, even with the Decepticon attacks now being few and far between, he couldn't help but feel like they were testing them. It wasn't like a few years ago where they were searching for the Energon Harvester and the Matrix. Now it felt like they were egging them on.
"You seem exhausted." A deep baritone voice said, snapping Epps out of his thoughts. "Hey man, that's rude." He joked with the Autobot leader, "How would you like it if I said you looked tired?" Optimus let out what sounded like the Cybertronian equivalent of a snort, "From what I have heard, a majority of you already do comment on my physical appearance." Epps looked somewhat shocked, but mostly amused, "If I had known your hearing was that good, I would've kept my mouth shut." Optimus shakes his helm, "It is alright, my friend."
It is silent between the two as they waited for their friends and comrades to return. Optimus broke the silence first, "The atmosphere around here will be different once you retire." "Is that your way of saying goodbye?" Epps raised an eyebrow. Optimus hummed, "I mean to say… I will miss your humor. And your honesty." "Thanks, big guy. That means a lot. Make sure Will doesn't work himself to death. And take a day or two off yourself, alright?"
Optimus chuckles at the humans comment, "I will see what I can do. But with the threat of Decepticons still on the planet, I fear I will have little time for a 'day off'." Epps gave him a skeptical look, "We're a team for a reason. We got your back and I am sure we can handle at least a night. You need to take care of yourself." Optimus knew he wasn't going to win this argument so he simply nodded his helm , "Thank you, Robert." "You're welcome." Epps, brought his fist up and extended it towards the Autobot leader. Optimus tilted his helm, raising an optic ridge before putting his servo into a fist and bringing it up to Epps. The human closed the distance, completing their fistbump, the contact making a little 'tink' noise.
The team had arrived with Ironhide in the lead, Bee and Dino as well as two fully loaded jeeps filled with fellow NEST members following behind him. As he pulled into the base, he screeched to a halt and the driver's side door opened with Lennox hopping out. The medics rushed over to the convoy to help any injured over to the medbay, while Bee helped Dino to see Ratchet.
"Scrappy little bastard." Ironhide rumbled before transforming into his bipedal form. "Got a few lucky hits on us but he didn't stand a chance."
"Just the one. Didn't seem too special either." Lennox chimed in, running up the platform Epps is standing on to get a better view of the two bots, greeting his friend as he got up.
"Sure you want to leave, you'll miss all the fun." Lennox poked fun at Epps, who in turn laughed, "Nah, I'm good. I've had my fun." Lennox clapped him on the shoulder before turning to Optimus, "Sorry big guy, nothing on Megatron." Upon receiving that news Optimus hummed in acknowledgment but seemed to grow more distant. He brought his servo under his chin in thought, "He has to be planning something."
They stood silent for a moment, the bustle of the base around them. Epps turned to Lennox giving him a 'here we go' look, while Ironhide gave an irritated vent. Lennox, feeling like he missed something, looked at Epps for help, "Did I…" "No sign of her either Prime…" Ironhide grunted, cutting Will off and snapping Optimus from his thoughts. At that moment, Lennox was on the same page as the other two, opting to just close his mouth.
The Prime looked confused for a moment before shaking his helm, "No. I know she is of no concern to us." Ironhide gave a half-hearted huff in agreement before the Prime gave them a small wave goodbye and took his leave, his processor clearly concerned with something else.
"He's distracted." Lennox said, feeling awkward. "He's pining!" Ironhide huffed. Epps hushed them both, "He has really good hearing! We should have this conversation somewhere else."
"What?" Lennox questioned. "He knows about us saying that he looks tired." Ironhide laughed, "We've been saying that for years, that is old news. This…" He points to the Prime, now standing in front of a collection of monitors clearly lost in his own thoughts, "This is a problem…"
The three were quiet for a moment with Lennox letting out a frustrated sigh, "And it's about Mercy?" "No shit." "Hey!" He half scolded his friend.
"How he explained it, he was crushin' on her real hard." Epps said, trying to at least stick up for the Prime. "Crushing?" Ironhide asks, unfamiliar with humans' manner of speaking. Epps shook his head, "He has a lot of feelings for her."
Ironhide rolled his optics, but still lowered his vocalizer, "He loves her… and he is trying to throw himself into his work."
"You're surprisingly insightful." Lennox commented and Ironhide looked slightly offended, "What is that supposed to mean?" Epps and Lennox shared an awkward look, "Well…" Lennox started before Epps chimed in, "You seem like the big dude who just likes to shoot things."
Ironhide looked genuinely insulted, "All this time, and I am just the bot with the cannons?" He crossed his arms turning his helm away from them with a pout, "That's just mean. I mean part of it is true, but still."
Epps snorted and Lennox huffed, putting his hands up in a sort of surrender, "Alright sorry, sorry. Please continue oh wise one." "Watch it." Ironhide huffed.
The group turned to look at the distracted Prime. "He hasn't left the base since the incident." Lennox refers to the event where Mercy exposed her and the Prime after she awoke from her medically induced coma.
"Only for missions and even then he never leaves on his own. He's pent up." Epps offers. "He's punishing himself." Ironhide grunts, "Feels like he betrayed our trust, which... he did, and now he is trying to make up for that. He wants us to trust him again while trying to forget about his feelings."
Lennox turns to the bot, "So were you like a couples therapist back on Cybertron, or…" "Shut up." Ironhide huffs.
Lennox chuckled before turning back to look at the Autobot Leader. He leans against the railing of the platform and let's his head hang down, "I trust him. I never stopped trusting him. He never gave her any information about us. Just out of all the… what do you call women on your planet?" "Femmes." "Yeah that, out of all of the femmes, he fell for her. I want to sympathize with him, but I can't make sense of it. And I know they have a history, but the shit she has done on this planet alone is monstrous."
"I think he just wants to know if she is safe." Epps suggests. "Excuse me?" Lennox picks his head up to look at him.
"She has no back up anymore. No home, she is completely alone. Maybe he just wants to know if she is alive and safe." "What are you suggesting?" Lennox stands up straight, quite concerned. "Maybe, we should let the big guy have the night off, and if he could send her a message or commlink or whatever you guys use."
Ironhide spoke up first, "Are you out of your fragging mind?" "He doesn't have to see her in person." Epps tries to defend himself but even Lennox opposed the idea, "Absolutely fucking not."
Epps rolls his eyes but tries to keep his cool, "Look, he just wants some confirmation. I am not saying they have to actually meet up or anything. I am just saying, let him get some air and maybe, if she even picks up, let him get some kind of relief."
Ironhide and Lennox turn to each other, both mulling over the idea. "She could kill him." Ironhide grunts. Epps shrugs, "That would probably piss Megatron off more. He wants to kill Optimus himself." Shit, he was right about that. The two gave a displeased sigh, "We'll run it by him." Lennox reluctantly agrees.
It took them several weeks to try and convince the Autobot leader to take a night to himself. For that first week, it was shot down due to the Decepticon attack, which was fair. However the more they tried to convince him, the more he ran out of excuses. Then Ironhide brought up his 'pinning', and he immediately refuted those claims. Epps and Lennox tried to reason with him but the Prime promised them, his current distracted state was not because of Mercy.
"Oh bull…" "Hey now." Lennox cut off Epps. Epps backed off but him and Ironhide mirrored each other with their arms crossed and looking at him in disbelief. "Look, we don't care what you do, but we are just worried. You need to get out and clear your head. Maybe it will help in your search for Megatron. You know, taking a break." Lennox offered him. Optimus contemplated it for a moment before he thanked them but rejected the offer.
So he kept working and working, even pulling all nighters. Your mind can't torment you if you're kept busy right? Wrong, whether he stayed up working or stayed up laying around trying to go into recharge, his doubts and worries plagued him. He tried to keep himself calm around his friends and comrades but Lennox, Epps and Ironhide knew. Hell, Ratchet was well aware and ready to kick him out of the base for the night.
However, one particularly frustrating evening, with a failed scouting mission and constant bickering between the Autobots, almost made him lose it. He found Lennox and told him he was going to take him up on that offer for a night off. Lennox let him know he would inform the others not to bother him.
Now here he was and the night air against his frame was actually quite refreshing. The moon was full and lit up the lightless road before him, as well as much of his other surroundings. The last time Optimus had left the base was for a mission and even that was months ago at this point. The further he drove down the road with open plains around him, the more his regret for taking personal time melted away. Then, the thoughts for her came creeping up.
He had told his friends that Mercy was the furthest thing from his mind, except she absolutely wasn't. He worried for her wellbeing and wondered if she found a place to lay low. He wondered if the Decepticons thought her still to be dead, or more-so, hoped they believed she was dead in the first place. One of the main motivations for finding Megatron was so he couldn't get his servos on her. In no way was Megatron ever going to forgive her, she was useless to the Decepticon cause now. Yet, she refused to join the Autobots.
There was a range of things he wanted to ask her, and things he wanted to do to her, but he settled with just hearing her voice if it would ease the ache in his spark. He kept driving and decided it was either now or never. Even though it felt like a futile effort, he tried to ping her commlink. He held out hope but as the minutes ticked by he felt his spark sink deeper and deeper. 10 minutes, 25 minutes, 45 minutes, almost an hour went by and still nothing. He shouldn't be surprised but some part of him couldn't help it.
Mercy blamed him entirely for why she was tortured and left for dead, why she had no help or allies anymore. She would want nothing to do with him and if she did, he wouldn't put it past her to get revenge. At this point though, that would just anger Megatron more, who wanted to kill the Prime himself so that option was off the table. She was also too prideful to grovel before the Decepticon leader like some others that followed his every beck and call.
Almost an hour after he tried to ping her comms, he considered doing it again before he finally got something back from her. He stopped dead in his tracks, coming to a screeching halt on the lone road. It was almost childish how he was acting and he scolded himself for it. His spark hummed happily as he realized she was still very much alive.
Coordinates? She sent him coordinates? He mulled over his options. It could very much be a trap, that was not ruled out yet. Or she could genuinely want to see him. He checked the coordinates, it was about two hours in the direction he was already driving, a forest. It was against his better judgment, but then again so was everything else he had done with Mercy up until this point. He shifted back into gear and took off in the direction of his new destination.
The drive to the forest was a mixed bag. The thought of what Mercy wanted with him was nerve-racking and he was very much on edge for the majority of the drive. However, the way the moon covered the land around him in a silver glow was quite aesthetically pleasing. It was a strange feeling of being tense for the coming encounter but enjoying just how gorgeous this planet was. Once he actually arrived at the forest he was able to transform to navigate the terrain and it was bright enough where he could keep his own lights off to try and sneak through as best he could.
The further he walked into the forest, however, the more paranoid he became. His chassis started to ache above his spark, where Megatron had run him through with his blade, effectively ending his life. He realized this was the first time he had been in a forest since that incident. His vents became more shallow as he continued to follow the coordinates, hoping to clear the distance faster so he wasn't alone in the forest.
He has to stop. He rests his servo against a tree and tries to calm his venting. His spark aching now for two reasons, his feelings as he is about to see Mercy again and the anxiety that has stopped his legs from working. Was this all part of her plan, did she know this would happen to him? No… Even he was unaware of this newly developed fear.
He hears something on his side and when he turns to look for the source of the noise he damn near jumps out of his plating, letting out a particularly loud and startled gasp. He was greeted by a pair of blue, feline optics, peeking out from a tree. He follows them as they jump down a few branches to get helm-level with him. He saw the form of Mercy's cyber cat, Pounce, illuminated by the moonlight and he let out a sigh of relief.
Without hesitation, he brought up a servo and scratched behind his ears. Pounce closes his optics and leans into the touch, purring instantly. "Hello little one, did you miss me?" The cat meows as if to answer him, leaning up to rub his little helm against the plating of the Prime's cheek. He chuckles, "Indeed, I have missed you as well."
Optimus puts his hand out and lets the cat run up his arm and up to the plating on his shoulder. The cat lays across the back of his neck, settling in comfortably. "Are you going to accompany me there?" The cat chirps at him and he brings a servo up to scratch behind his ears again. The cat continues to purr against his audials as Optimus starts a much calmer pace through the forest.
This was a bad idea. She had spent the last few months laying low, making sure to stay out of the sight of Decepticons and avoiding the new Energon detectors the humans were putting up around their cities. Now here she was, waiting for Optimus to meet her in the middle of this forest. She could've just sent him a message to never bother her again. Granted, she thought their last conversation gave him that impression already.
As soon as she left the base in DC, she found her beasts with ease, hiding not too far from the city itself. Since they had been reunited they helped her to keep watch. Until tonight, staying hidden was going as well as it could for her but she wasn't going to get ahead of herself. She would hide in smaller towns in her alt mode. Once night time came about, she would drive out and travel in her bipedal mode along forests and through hills and plains, trying not to risk any humans spotting her. She also figured part of her luck came from the fact that Megatron was still wounded and not moving around much yet.
She started to curse herself. She should've left the Eastern coast of this continent sooner. She could've been on the West Coast or not even in this country. She sighs aloud. Who was she kidding, for the first few months she was still healing from her injuries. The medically induced coma helped, and Ratchet was a damn good medic but dhee still needed to rest. Furthermore, her animal companions were not letting her travel long distances. Only recently did they ease up on how long she could travel. Which prompted her to make plans to leave.
She planned to stay in the forest for the night and was going to clear out the second the sun starts to rise. She wasn't sure where she was going, but she wanted to stay as far away from Optimus and his little gang of humans. She had everything she needed, which wasn't much, and then, the last thing she possibly expected to happen did. She got the message from him.
Why she accepted it was still lost to her. He probably wanted to convince her to join his side again, or maybe he just wanted to know she was alive. Or was the reason more… personal? 'No.' She thought to herself, very matter-of-factly. She pushed that thought out immediately. She tried to focus on what she was working on before the message came to her.
She inspected her bow, looking at the carving that she was in the middle of. Her mind flashed to her lost wolf, Sparks. The last memory with the beast was a tragic one, with Megatron snuffing out his Spark, in front of her, trying to get her to break. It didn't break her, but it was damn close. Her oldest companion is gone, and she can't even bury him. She gritted her denta and kept carving the Cyberglyphic of his name into the side of her bow, right underneath the grip.
'You could have prevented it.' She rolled her optics, her thoughts were getting away from her. 'He is the cause of it. He caught feelings and he is the reason you got caught and cast out from the Decepticons.' Her servos started to shake, 'You lost everything because of him.' She threw her bow down with a disgruntled sigh. She puts her helm in her servos trying to get her processor to shut up. She shouldn't have answered, let the bastard think she had died.
She hears a rustle to her left and glances over in that direction with a glare. Thanks to the light of the moon she can easily see Optimus frame as he freezes in place. He sighs himself, "You invited me…" She huffs and puts her helm back in her servos, "I am starting to regret it." He lets out a groan, he hasn't even been here for five minutes, "You did not need to send coordinates." "And you didn't need to message me."
Optimus sighs as he turns to Pounce, perch on a branch by his helm. The Prime scratches the cat's helm before beckoning him to leave the two of them alone. Pounce nuzzles against his servo and with a meow, kicks off the branch and back into the forest.
She doesn't even look up at him as he moves to sit across from her in the small clearing. As he gets as comfortable as he can he looks over her form. He can tell how stressed she is. Her shoulders sagged and her whole frame even looked tense, a complete contrast from the carefree attitude she had when she was a part of the Decepticons. He had never seen this side of her even on Cybertron, pre-war.
He had to stop himself from asking her to join the Autobots again. He let his optics roam over her form again as she hid her face in her servos. He is the first to break the silence, "How are you doing?"
He can see her shoulders tense even more, her servos start to clench as she pulls her helm up, the glare from earlier still affixed to her plates. He braces himself for her anger.
But it doesn't come.
She just glares at him, wanting to say everything that he has done to wrong her, yet wanting to say nothing to him at all. She looks over his form just as he did to her earlier. She never got a particularly good once over of him during their brief time at the NEST base back in DC. She almost couldn't tell that he was a mech who came back from the dead almost a year ago.
Her mind flashes to when his body fell after Megatron snuffed out his spark and her own spark begins to ache. This is not a completely unfamiliar feeling. She wasn't quite sure what it meant, just that the feeling settled in her spark since he died and every time she thinks of that memory.
He breaks the silence again, "You appear to have recovered from your wounds." She rolls her optics and looks away, "I guess we have Ratchet to thank for that…" She doesn't even try to hide the venom in her vocalizer.
She continues to look away from him, "What do you want Prime?"
It takes a moment for Optimus to answer, picking his next words carefully. "My comrades claim I am distracted and needed time away from the base." She snorts, "What could be distracting the great Optimus Prime?"
He doesn't even hesitate to answer her, "You." Her taunting attitude stops and she turns to look at him with wide optics. "I told them that you were not an issue. But they know as well as I that that is not true. I fear that something might happen to you."
His gaze is intense, not angry, but intense and it forces her to look away again, "I can take care of myself." "Mercy…" "I'll be fine." She practically growls at him.
"You have no allies." "And whose fault is that?" She shouts, standing to her full height, glaring daggers at him. "Not. Mine." He says, his voice dangerously low as he stands to his full height, a good two feet taller than her.
"If you had kept your 'feelings' to yourself." She shoots back at him, their glares matching each other. Neither one backing down.
"You were the one who fled and was found out." Optimus retorts, causing Mercy's chassis to puff up. Optimus regretted his words the moment he said them, but he was not going to be blamed for something that was not his fault.
"Fuck you." Her answer causes him to scoff. He closes the distance between the two of them, both of them not breaking optic contact. He does his best to tower over her given there is so little height difference. He isn't quite sure where this taunting side of his own came from, "I know you can do better than that."
The air between them is thick as a silence looms over them. Cerulean optics clashing with ruby ones as their glares never falter. She searches his optics trying to guess his next move and he does the same to her.
Neither of them are sure who moved first, but their lips were on each other in a fierce and needy kiss. He pulled her frame flush against his own, digging his digits into her sides. She pushes against his frame trying to make him fall back onto the forest floor, but he stands his ground.
He pushes against her and overpowers her, causing her to fall back with him following right after. When her back hits the ground, they break their kiss as they both grunt, a cloud of dust and dirt coming up at their impact.
Mercy grinds her hips into him and wastes no time as her interface panels click and slide open. Optimus adjusts himself between her legs, his own panels opening as he lines his spike up with her valve.
She clings to him, digging her digits into his back as he rubs his shaft along her lips, coating his spike in her fluids. She brings him into another needy kiss but he breaks it, wanting to hear her moan as he enters her. He opts to kiss along her neck as he thrusts up and into her, hilting himself.
He lets out a low groan as she lets out a high-pitched and needy moan. "Move you bastard." She demands of him and he does as she wishes, setting a steady pace with his hips.
He pushes up from the ground, breaking her grip on his back. She lets her servos fall to the ground, trying to find some kind of purchase in the dirt. Her helm lulls to the side as moans spill from her lips, rolling her hips in time to his thrusts.
He grips both sides of her hips as he moves her along his spike, low grunts and groans leaving him. He lets his optics roam her frame as she looks away from him.
This was a bad idea and not at all what he planned to do if they met. But he could not deny how much he enjoyed the feeling of her valve clenched around his spike. He pushes the doubts he had away as he noticed how the light of the moon cast a beautiful glow over her frame.
She awoke from recharge before he did, as always, just as the sun was barely peeking over the horizon. She cracked in optic, glaring at the sun and how bright it already was. Granted, she was also annoyed because she should have been gone by now, but last night's activities wore her out.
As her systems come back online, she notices the Prime who is resting behind her, his arm wrapped around her midsection, holding her against his frame. She has to fight not to make a noise of disgust. This is the third time she has woken up in his embrace. Whether he did it on purpose or when he was in recharge didn't matter to her. She hated it either way.
She carefully squirms her way out of his grasp, freezing as he shifts and moves to lay on his back. She slowly moves her helm to see if he is still sleeping. His vents steady and optics still offline, she is in the clear.
She pushes up from the ground and stands to her full height, dusting herself off. She glances down at the sleeping Prime and a very dark thought crosses her mind.
She could end it right now.
He is unguarded and oh so vulnerable. She could kill him, like she should've so many times before. If she brings the helm of Optimus to Megatron she could be a Decepticon once more.
She pulls her hunting knife out, holstered on her side, twirling it in her servo as she contemplates her options. Her ruby optics sweep over his resting form.
She leans down, kneeling before his form, tossing the knife up and catching the handle in her servo. She carefully straddles his hips and brings the knife to his throat.
Should she wait for him to wake, or do it while he sleeps. The thought of seeing the fear in his optics sent a rush of adrenaline through her system. Hell, she could make it quick and painless… or she could make him suffer.
"Will you do it?" She gasps as she is snapped out of her thoughts by his deep baritone voice. She moves her focus from the knife to his optics, fully online and glancing up at her without an ounce of fear in them. He sure knew how to take the fun out of things.
"Can you do it?" He questions, resting his servos on her hips. There was no hesitation in his voice and no sense of urgency. And it pissed her off. She pushed the blade into his neck, nicking one of the cables, causing some energon to spill.
"You took everything from me." She growled at him and for a split second she could see fear in his eyes. She grinned and licked her lips.
"Do you really believe that?" His voice showed no signs of wavering. "I bring your helm to Megatron and…" "And what? He welcomes you with open arms? You know as well as I, he wants to kill me himself."
Mercy's grip on the blade weakens, "Then I bring you to him." Optimus runs his servos along her sides, "He would kill you before you can witness my execution."
Mercy grimaces, "Shut up."
"Someone like Starscream, he expects to betray him, but you…" "Stop." "He trusted you and you shattered that trust."
She moved the blade from his neck and brought it above her head, ready to bare down on his helm, "I said shut up!"
She brings the weapon down and slams it down next to his helm, in the dirt. Optimus doesn't even flinch. He looks up at her as the impact kicks up more dirt into his face.
Mercy vents are hard and fast. She pushes off of him and stands, "Dammit!" Optimus is not quite sure what is going through her processor, or what emotions she is feeling, as she faces away from him. Her servos clenched as she tries to calm her vents.
He leans up on his elbow, watching her intently. She brings a servo to her mouth and lets out a sharp whistle, calling her beasts to her.
There is silence for a moment before she looks over her shoulder, a glare plastered on her face. "Don't ever contact me again. And stay the hell away from me."
She starts walking in the opposite direction Optimus came into the clearing and he makes no move to follow her. Pounce lands next to him, startling him slightly. The cat brushes up against his helm and his spark sinks.
He instructs the cat to follow his owner and watch over her, just like last time. The cat nuzzles against his helm one last time before meowing as if to answer him and following after Mercy.
He finally stands to his pedes and looks in the direction Mercy went before turning away and sending a message to NEST that he was heading back to base.