From Different Sides of the Track
AN: Sorry guys, forgot all about this week's update until I was literally crawling into bed. I had to buff up something I had been working on, off and on, just to get an update this week. Sorry if it isn't up to par. I'm just really busy at the moment working on several projects and functioning on 2-4 hours of sleep a night.
HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed. Those who were signed in, check your inboxes. :D
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"Don't move," Sunstreaker said softly into the audio pressed near his lip plates.
A tremor went through the body held in his arms, a little whine escaping as the two shifted together.
"Just a little more," Sunstreaker whispered, wincing from the backlash of pain. "Stop moving."
The frame front of him twitched again, causing him to tighten his hold in response
"Hold still," Sunstreaker muttered against the trembling, overheating frame. Thin, elegant digits curled his plating, holding on for dear life. The grip faltered with waning strength. "It's okay. I have you. Just, hold still and don't fight me."
Bombs exploded, death fell as rain, acidic and burning and filling the air with a choking ash. The screams had died down along ago. Residual eruptions and fires broke out. There was the occasional shout that was soon followed by weapons fire. All in all, it was a horrible cycle and the twins wanted nothing more than to get back to base. Preferably in two pieces. At least the war wasn't directly overhead anymore. Now the battle front had moved on. The eye of the deathly hurricane had passed and now it was residual violence and mayhem left in its wake.
A wall crumbled, its death throes rumbling deep in the shifting plates of the planets metallic mantle, sounding like a giant groan of gears and protesting joints. Laser fire added a falsetto to the bass drumline of crumbling foundations and succumbing structures.
The twins had jumped into the fray as normal, all bellowing rage and infrared vision of attack. The Autobots were holding strong, until the Decepticons found a weak point and advanced. The Autobots were able to recover and push the Decepticons back but it had come at a price. Several mechs had been terminated; the one now held in Sunstreaker's arms a near casualty.
An errant ricochet had struck an invisible Mirage at just the right angle, knocking out his cloaking devise. Unfortunately he was dead center in the Decepticons territory and had been set upon by several mechs intent on killing him. They nearly had. Both of Mirage's legs had been severed below the knees and a blade had sliced neatly into his left side, shearing away half of his body. Had the blade went a couple inches to the right and it would have breached his spark chamber. Right now the only thing protecting the precious chamber was Sunstreaker's servo, which was lying protectively across the delicate systems.
Mirage twitched and jerked in Sunstreaker's arms, causing the golden mech to adjust his hold to prevent further injury.
"Relax, Mirage," Sunstreaker said softly in the Tower mechs audios. There was a chance he was already nearing a form of hyper stasis due to the shock of having his systems compromised so severely. Or it could be residual echoes from plating that was no longer attached and systems that were firing random bursts in the attempts to reawaken numbed areas. Or it could be that Mirage just wanted to dislodge his lifeline and terminate.
Sunstreaker couldn't tell.
He had lost his vision in an explosion, one optic was shattered, the other retained seventeen percent of visual acuity. Sunstreaker's only view of the outside world was through his brother's optics, which was on the opposite side of Mirage. Sideswipe was curled against the Tower mech's back; his own arm protecting Sunstreaker's that sheltered Mirage's exposed spark chamber. Sideswipe sported burns and torn plating, several circuits exposed due to the tears in the metal. His right shoulder was slagged, rendering him unable to hold a weapon. Now the only thing the duo could do was wait for the Autobots to advance and come looking for survivors.
The three had holed up in a jumbled mess of burnt building. The city had been evacuated when the Decepticons had dropped down in the middle of the town square while another unit set up in the nuclear facility on the edge of town. The humans scrambled for cover while the military attempted to keep them occupied until the Autobots arrived. The Decepticons had anticipated the Autobot maneuvers, holding strong to a nuclear power plant, knowing the Autobots didn't want to damage the sensitive structure.
Mirage shifted again as if trying to remove his two protectors, but the twins held on tight. Mirage's spark had started to falter, probably due to the damage and the inability to effect repairs and immediate shut down protocols. The twins did the only thing they knew. Sunstreaker, being an unfit lookout, grafted his lines to the Tower mech. Energon was controlled with a steady measure, Sunstreaker's systems calibrated to take on the physical strain of sustaining another life. Pressure lines were kept to acceptable parameters until help could arrive. The only probably was, Mirage kept moving, causing the patched joining to become loosened.
Since there was no way for Mirage to control his own spark signature, the faltering systems sending out random flares that could alert the enemy to their presence, the twins situated themselves on either side of the tower brat. Sunstreaker patched into his physical state while Sideswipe hooked a hardline connection into Mirage's access ports and working in perfect synchronization, they poised Mirage between them. The pulse of their shared sparks was enough to stabilize the wild fluxes, allowing the twins to extend their own energy field and dampen Mirage's signal as well as their own. If the Decepticons didn't look too closely, they'd miss the three hiding Autobots.
"Steady,' Sideswipe murmured against the back of Mirage's helm and through the link he shared.
Mirage wasn't able to formulate coherent thought, his body screaming for an immediate shut down it was unable to complete. Sideswipe wanted to help but not being a medic, he didn't know the codes to give the mech some peace. The only thing he could do was link to the Mirage's mind and share in his pain. It wasn't so bad when there was someone to share it.
Mirage fell lax in the arms that encased him. A pitiful whine issued from his frame, sounding like a sparkling who was in pain and wanted it to stop.
"Just a little longer," Sunstreaker said, hoping that something would signal their friends were near and it was safe to call out for help.
Leave it to Sideswipe to take it upon himself.
'Ratchet?' Sideswipe called over the comms.
Sunstreaker sent annoyance over the bond but it didn't do any good. The twins had Ratchet's own private comm. frequency. If they needed him, he was only a yell away. When no answer was forthcoming they resigned themselves to the fact that the cavalry had yet to arrive and they were stuck in their hellish tomb.
The trio remained silent for a long time, the sounds of war falling away. Mirage fidgeted, not being used to having two people, especially strangers, so close to him And the way their sparks thrummed in a taboo against his own was very off putting. It didn't feel right, but then again the sensation of razors dancing along his plating on the left side weren't normal either. Nor the cool air that caressed his exposed spark chamber. The intimate touch sent shivers through his frame but the two encasing him in their arms made sure he remained steadfast.
Mirage jerked, his spark faltering as systems shut down to conserve what reserves he had remaining. Sunstreaker fell into a lethargy, his attention centered on maintaining Mirage's systems. He was so immersed it took a few moments for him to realize the happy sensation filtering through the link he shared with Sideswipe. Mirage must have felt it too. He shifted, causing one of the connection hubs to break away from Sunstreaker.
"Slag it, you Tower brat!" Sunstreaker snarled in Mirage's audio, his servos abandoning their protective shelter over his spark to find the gushing lines and reconnect their life support. "Slagging, ungrateful, psychotic bratling!"
Sideswipe sent calm through the link he shared with Mirage, hoping to get him to settle down and allow Sunstreaker the chance to reconnect their systems.
"Sunny's just expressing how much he cares," Sideswipe said, grinning at his brother's blank snarl. "Ratchet's on his way, Mirage. Just, hold still and let Sunny connect."
The words worked their way into Mirage's tortured meta. With a sigh he relaxed in Sideswipe's arms, his body cold, numb, feeling ghosting touches that he assumed were Sunstreaker's attempts to reconnect their systems.
Sunstreaker grumbled, his servos able to find the disconnected tubes and with practiced intention, reestablished a link with Mirage. With a grunt Sunstreaker fell against the Noble, his systems taking the brunt of the firing signals. Several systems jockeyed for position, trying to stabilize pressure and lines in both bodies. Sunstreaker tensed, his arm draping over his brother's that had taken over protecting Mirage's exposed spark chamber.
"Easy," Sideswipe said, more to Sunstreaker than to Mirage. He could feel his brother's struggles to reestablish an even level to the damaged systems. It wasn't easy to sustain another's life.
'Where are you idiots?' came Ratchet's voice over his own private frequency.
The twins felt a wave of gratitude. They always tapped into the frequency, knowing when Ratchet really needed to find them, he would call out, knowing they were always listening for him. They may not listen to him, but they did monitor for him.
Sideswipe sent out a distress beacon, relieved when Ratchet grumbled about a short ETA as he picked his way through the destroyed battle zone. When Ratchet found them he cursed fluently, earning a reprimand through the comms frequency as he realized he had broadcasted his thoughts upon finding the twins holding a severely damaged Mirage. Ratchet ignored the rebukes, shutting out the voices that either berated him or offered congratulations on a well rounded education.
"Keep him still!" Ratchet commanded, suturing along the edges of destroyed circuitry. He hardwired into Mirage's systems, sending out the shut down protocols to induce stasis. Mirage's consciousness gratefully brushed against Ratchet's meta before darkness claimed him.
Once Mirage was unconscious, Sideswipe removed two of his hardline connections, feeling as if he just emerged from a sweltering, choking pit filled with fire and ash. He sat back, his fans whirling on high to dispel heat that wasn't really there.
"You did good," Ratchet said without looking at Sideswipe. "You took enough of the pain to keep Mirage lucid and not suffer a damaged psyche."
Sideswipe nodded, trying to ward off the oppression that had lingered along his plating. He didn't realize how much torture he was enduring for the sake of saving Mirage's sanity. Had the Noble been forced to endure the suffering alone, there was a chance he never would have survived.
Sunstreaker opened his damaged optics, the one good one sensing a blob of white nearby that belonged to one of his all time nemeses. He could sense the pressure in Mirage's lines stabilizing, taking the burden off of his taxed systems and relieving some of the strain.
"You've done well, Sunstreaker," Ratchet said, removing a piece of heavy duty armor from his subspace to weld over the gaping hole in Mirage's side. "I just need you to hold still and keep Mirage stable until a transport gets here. He can't survive on his own while his systems are so weakened."
"I have him." Sunstreaker confirmed, finding his own HUD to be reading the stabilization of their dual systems. Warnings started to flicker out of existence as Mirage's systems started to operate on their own, forcing Sunstreaker's systems to return to their regular configuration.
When Mirage was transferred to a hoverberth for emergency transport, Sunstreaker was placed right beside of him. He grumbled at the mechs handling him and threatened them if they scratched his paint, unknowing that most of his body was covered in ash and blended with his primer. He was loathed to imagine the looks on the other Autobot faces as he was transported off, his arms wrapped around Mirage like a long lost lover. He would have to physically educate the gossiping slaggers lest the rumors spiral out of control.
Back at base, Sunstreaker was finally disengaged from the now unconscious form of Mirage. With a junior medic's assistance he was guided to a berth to await repairs to restore his vision. He lay on the berth, listening to the chatter around and allowed it to lull him into a deep charge.
The next time Sunstreaker onlined his optics it's to find his twin seated beside of him, his attention engrossed in a datapad. Sideswipe's outline was crisp, his plating pristine and shining to Sunstreaker's newly restored optics.
"How long this time?" Sunstreaker resisted the urge to lay his arm over his optics in resignation. He refused to look at his chronometer.
"Three days." Came the immediate answer, though Sideswipe didn't remove his attention from the datapad. "Ratchet patched you up right."
"How's Mirage?" Sunstreaker asked. It felt good not to sustain another mech's life.
"Stable and awaiting medical supplies to finish the repairs to his spark chamber." Sideswipe's optics remained focused on the screen.
"What are you doing?" Sunstreaker asked as he ran a full systems check. Just like every time after Ratchet's merciful care, he had a few unknown dents but a healthy operating system.
"I'm awaiting medical supplies as well, and as I can't move my right arm more than few degrees, I have been assigned menial paperwork," Sideswipe said, pushing the button to turn off the pad and look to his brother. "I'm Prowl's message-mech and I'm one more order away from ripping off his doorwings and gluing them on him as aft plates."
"That would improve his mood." Sunstreaker snorted. He got the mental image of Prowl twitching his new doorwing/aft plates in agitation. He actually snickered before schooling his features into a scowl in case someone witnessed his mirth.
Ratchet thundered into view, all spouting obscenities and professional bedside manners. He clocked Sunstreaker on the helm then graced Sideswipe with the same treatment before grasping Sunstreaker's chin to steady his helm while he shone a light in his optics.
"Slagger," Ratchet said as he checked the newly installed crystals and shutters. "Leave it to you to have specialized parts that require me to go out of my way to replace. The humans are stingy with their medical supples. You know that!"
"You look and sound like Ratchet." Sunstreaker's voice was confused. "But you're… green."
"Slagging figures," Ratchet muttered, retracting a tool from his forefinger.
"I think it's the envy." Sunstreaker deadpanned, halting Ratchet's progress.
"You're healed. Get your worthless chassis out of my med bay." Ratchet growled.
Sunstreaker offered a cheeky look as he rose, hopping off the berth. He ran his servos over his face, checking to see if there was any cosmetic damage. Luckily he was his normal, beautiful self. Though the scratches along his forearms would need attention.
"You'd be surprised what my chassis is worth." Sunstreaker called over his shoulder as he led the way to the exit.
"I don't have to guess." Ratchet snorted through his vents. "I'm responsible for the inventory and acquisition of parts for you ingrates."
"You love us and you know it." Sideswipe scoffed before he disappeared out the door. He missed Ratchet's rude gesture.
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Two days later, there was a beep at the door, signaling a visitor. Sunstreaker grumbled as he went to the door. With a swish, Mirage was revealed framed in the doorway.
"What do you want?" Came the curt response.
"I wished to express my gratitude,' Mirage said, his voice as ever, cultured and measured.
"Forget it," Sunstreaker said, making a move to close the door but Mirage jumped, placing his hand on the edge, preventing its protraction.
"Wait!" Mirage shouted, surprising Sunstreaker. Remembering Sunstreaker's temper, and hoping to dispel it before it erupted, he continued. "I have something for you!"
Sunstreaker paused, his optics narrowing.
Mirage subspaced a can of wax and held it out. "I had Jazz pick this up for you. I know its not Iacon Electrum Elite, but it's all I could get."
Sunstreaker glanced to the can. It wasn't his usual brand. That was ordered through a dealership and reserved for the sleek masterpieces.
"Please?" Mirage's voice was low, contrite. "It's the least I could do."
Sunstreaker took the offered wax against his better judgment. But it wasn't like he couldn't use the wax. He did have a perfect reputation to uphold.
"Thank you," Mirage said, gaining a little confidence. It seemed unnatural for him to be so meek. "For saving my life. Ratchet explained if you and Sideswipe had not linked to my systems, I would have never survived."
"We do it for everyone," Sunstreaker said, now feeling uncomfortable. "It's not like you're special." Hoping to regain his normal surly disposition, he gave the former Tower mech a brief scan. "You know had this happened on Cybertron, you would owe me a huge amount of credits."
Mirage's expression went slack, ghosts forming in his optics. "The financial structure was slagged during the war and it's doubtful it will return to its once glorified existence."
"Not so glorious for some of us," Sunstreaker said with a scoff. His optics shone with deadly intent. "Had the roles been reversed, you wouldn't have done scrap to help me."
"At one time, you are correct." Mirage, ever the diplomat, looked greatly wounded. His face was grieved when he looked into Sunstreaker's optics. "But not anymore. With the fall of our home world and the decimation of our financial infrastructure, I am now ranked as any other. The power and influence I once held is now buried in ash."
"Not so easy when you weren't sparked in a shiny tower, is it?" Sunstreaker jeered. There had been many things he wanted to say to the simpering former tower brat. Now that they were alone and Mirage was in a passive mood, Sunstreaker wanted to strike another blow in the mech's pompous attitude and remind him how their lives had changed so drastically. With Sideswipe's wise investments, the twins had a rather hefty human credit account. "You never would have helped me or Sideswipe if he had fallen, thinking we were beneath you. And now, our roles are reversed. I have access to credits and you are left relying on others."
Mirage looked away, shame burning his face plates. "It is true. I would have allowed you and your brother to terminate because I did not deem you worthy of an existence." He closed his optics, holding back the memories but in the darkness of his thoughts, he could see them more clearly. He opened his optics to look into Sunstreaker's unwavering stare. "Now, I see mechs. All the same. All suffering. All built equally." He tensed his jaw, a somber look etching upon the former Noble's cheeks. "Now, all I see are…. People."
Sunstreaker stood frozen on his doorstep, unable to process what he was seeing and hearing. Before he could say anything else, Mirage offered a formal dip of his helm in polite dismissal and left, leaving behind a stunned Sunstreaker who was at a complete loss of words.
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