A/N: Here's the third chap! We hope you like it. I know I had told a reviewer that there would be no sticky, but I lied, and I do apologise for that. The plot wouldn't have worked without it.
Warnings: Sparksex, sticky, some violence.
Feeling Forgiveness – Chapter 3 – Feeling worried
Hound sighed in contentment, his arms winding firmer around his spy's waist, tugging him closer. Hands roamed along seams and plating, making the Ligier squirm.
"Hound!" Mirage cried, grabbing at his lover's hands with his own. "Come on! I need to get up!"
Hound hid his smirk in Mirage's shoulder. "Mmmm..."
"That was not an agreement," Mirage pointed out in exasperation.
"Mmmm..."
"Hound, please! I need to see Jazz again-"
Hound propped himself up, hands remaining on his lover's plating, but all playfulness gone. He looked at Mirage with a seriousness that belied his turmoil inside. "Shockwave?"
"We don't know," Mirage sighed, grateful that he'd derailed Hound's obvious plans for the moment. "We can't get a fix on any Decepticon activity."
Denta worried a bottom lip as the tracker asked, "But, I thought those plans-?"
"Seems like he changed them. Security's still tight around Ratchet's quarters, but there is a real problem. Jazz isn't himself when we meet and that's even more worrisome. We don't know and it's killing us," Mirage cut in. It was times like these where he detested reality, seeing Hound's face just as worried as his own.
Maybe the distraction had been a good idea...
"Aw, fraggit. Bet it's eating Hatchet up inside," swore Hound, pulling the noble closer to him in comfort.
Nodding, Mirage replied, "It is. I've heard that the triplet's haven't left their quarters ever since I came back a few days ago."
"Poor sparklings," remarked the green mech.
They laid there in silence for a few moments. Mirage took that time to think. The past few days had also given him much to think about since their passionate love-making when he came back. About...bonding.
Maybe he shouldn't have written it off so hastily as he did. After all, Hound did have a point: Jazz was bonded, and it never really was a big thing. The times that Jazz had, on occasion, gotten tortured, Prowl had displayed nothing but a steely determination. He didn't fall to pieces. Maybe he and Hound could be like that?
Uncertainty must of shown on his expression, for his lover nudged him and asked, "Anything else bothering you, sweetspark?"
Mirage opened his mouth to say something, but wavered. And came to the conclusion that now probably was not the best time. "Nothing," he said, with a small smile, "It's not important right now."
"Okay," Hound replied carefully, sitting up completely now. "I don't want to keep you. I know you guys are working a lot on this." He pecked Mirage's lips affectionately. "And I know you'll figure it out."
Mirage sighed, hoping that Hound was right. "What are you doing today?"
"I'm assigned to room guard in Hatchet's room with Sideswipe. They need Ratchet in the medbay, and Sideswipe asked if I would hang out. Mostly because the triplets like the 'funny pictures' I can make."
That made the spy chuckle. "Funny pictures, hmm?"
Hound laughed as well and supplied, "I go through little mini-adventures with them. I scanned their forms, so through my projector, I show them on Cybertron, on different places on Earth, or I show them the Twins doing successful jet judo, which they then try to copy."
Mirage laughed freely now, so amused by the thought of the sparklings tackling each other. No doubt they would wrestle like he had seen the Tower' sparklings do...before they were told that it wasn't proper for nobles to 'brawl.' Sitting up, he turned back to Hound with a teasing expression. "I've said it before, I'll say it again. You. Are. A. Sap."
"And you love it," the tracker teased back, also getting up and stretching, knowing Mirage's optics were on him.
"Tease," he heard the blue mech mutter, and he smirked. He knew Mirage couldn't resist the sight of him stretching.
"Well, better get going. Can't deprive those triplets of some semblance of normal life," said Hound, coming around the berth and pressing a light kiss on his lover's helm before leaving with a wave and receiving one in return.
"Thanks for coming, Hound," Sideswipe huffed in relief, setting his wailing daughter down next to an irate Speedlight. Jumpstart was sniffling quietly in the corner of the room. "I can't get them to calm down."
Hound smiled in sympathy for the red warrior as he waited for the last of Red Alert's system to come down and admit him entrance. Once it did, he stepped through and listened as each defence came back to life and the door shut and locked on its own. "Anytime, Sideswipe. They don't look too happy today."
"Carrier isn't here," Sideswipe muttered, "They freaked after Ratchet left."
"Oh my," Hound said, moving to kneel in front of the couch and the two sitting sparklings. Jumpstart had moved make grabby hands at his father, indicating he wanted comfort from Sideswipe. The red warrior complied with a sigh. "Well then it's a good thing I came along, huh kids? Did you know... I was thinking that I needed some brave little adventurers to help me gather science today."
Brightspark, who's cries had quieted down, sniffed pathetically. "S'ence? Like Unca Jack?"
Hound's smile became big. "Just like Uncle Jack!"
"How you gonna do that?" Speedlight asked. Sure, Hound had does this sort of things before, but every time it was just like magic and almost unbelievable.
The tracker gifted the yellow Sideswipe look alike with a smaller, but more honest smile. "I'm going to use my projector to show you the time Skyfire and I went to Africa to look at these wonderful geodes, but found something even cooler, okay?"
All three little faces lost their frowns and became intrigued. Hound's adventures were always interesting or fun.
Sideswipe breathed a sigh of relief, settling behind his sparklings, Jumpstart looking forward eagerly in his lap as the green mech's projector hummed, and instead of the white and taupe walls of their quarters, the triplets looked around in awe at the black, slightly glittering cave around them.
"Ohh..." cooed Brightspark, optics instantly drawn to the small rubies and diamonds peeking out from the Earth.
"I know, pretty, huh?" Hound said, smiling at them.
"You always get the cool missions, Hound," Sideswipe groaned, pouting.
"Luck of the draw, mech." Hound chuckled.
"Wat's dat?" The tiny voice belonged to Jumpstart and it was always such a treat considering the second oldest hardly ever spoke. Hound looked to where he was pointing to one of the few sparkling blue gems near his father's pede.
"That, my little friend, is what humans call a sapphire. There are green ones that aren't here that are called emeralds. 'Raj has one or two that I'm sure he wouldn't mind showing you if you asked real nice next time you see him."
"But where's S'ence?" Speedlight frowned. He liked the pretty lights and the strange rocks, but he wanted to see the things Uncle Jack did all the time.
Hound laughed and stood, turning around to walk to the nearest corner of the 'cave' and point to a small set up of glass tubes that he remembered Skyfire had brought along. The three little bots all stood, Brightspark grabbing Jumpstart's hand to pull him along and make sure he came.
"See these?" he asked in repressed excitement, seeing the little ones' nods. "These make science."
"What, three little rocks in a tube?" Sideswipe asked jokingly.
"That was some of the metals that Skyfire and I found that would enable Wheeljack to develop those new solar panels he's just set up so we can convert it to energon. These metals have some of the best conductivity on the planet. It's not on their periodic table yet, and so we called it Solarillum. This other tube," Hound pointed to another tube in the next rack, "shows organisms that have lived in these caves with no sunlight. We studied how they produced their energy."
And then pointing to the last tube, the tracker went on, "These small bits of metal, however, go 'boom' when you put a drop of water on them."
"Like Unca Jack!" crowed Speedlight, waving his arms in the air happily.
Hound caught Sideswipe's optics and they grinned. Speedlight was going to be a little hellion like his creator's.
"Show us go 'boom'?" Jumpstart asked softly.
"Of course," agreed Hound, setting up his projector to simulate what had happened when Skyfire had put a drop of water on the metal.
A little silver particle came out, hovered in their air in the space between them, and exploded, bright, flickering flame lighting the three sparkling's excited and smiling faceplates.
"Again, again!" cried out Speedlight, while Brightspark and Jumpstart looked on eagerly.
Hound grinned widely and settled himself on the ground to replay the small explosion. While at the time, it had singed Skyfire's armour to black and left the small cave filled with smoke, here in the quarters under the safety of a hologram projector, there was no danger.
While Brightspark and Speedlight were still enthralled with the explosion, Jumpstart's attention had returned to the only closed off tube that had shining little... things in them. they looked like tiny squiggly lines. He patted Hound's leg for the tracker's attention.
"What those?" he demanded.
"Those? Humans call them glow worms. They live on roofs of caves, and hang upside down..."
"Ah just don't get it," Jazz growled, dropping back into his seat with an irritated clang. "We've been through every likely action and reaction and it still don't make sense!"
Mirage continued to stare at the display wearily. He'd already memorized the 'Cons base underwater. But it still managed to churn his tanks to think that they couldn't get IN anymore. Further attempts had been met with no success whatsoever.
"They want the sparklin's, that much is obvious. But why? There's somethin' bigger and Ah ain't findin' it. What does Shockwave need 'em for? They've got plenty of drones, so they don't really need the sparklings for Con's, and he might want to look at 'em, but how are they interestin' to 'im?" the saboteur went on, leaning forward, staring intently through his visor at the display.
Bumblebee was also frowning, poking at the display. "They must really want us not to find out," he remarked.
"Nice, Captain Obvious," Mirage commented, raking through his own processor. Jazz was right, it DIDN'T make sense."
This morning's thoughts floated through his processor about bonding. Why would that come back to him? it was completely unrelated...
Wait a moment. Bonds. Everyone knew twin bonds and that they existed. But triplet bonds?
"Jazz," Mirage started with a slight look of alarm on his face. "Are these the first triplet's to ever be sparked?"
Both Bumblebee and Jazz looked sharply at him. "Well, yeah, probably, why?" the black and white asked, tone cautious and tight.
"Maybe...maybe that's why Shockwave wants to 'examine' them."
"Frag!" Jazz hissed. "Frag it all, and it was so fragging obvious!"
"Might I correct you..." Prowl said where he was sitting at the head of the table. He'd been allowed in on this meeting for the tactical advantage and because if anybot could speak logic like Shockwave, it was the Autobot Second in Command. "That no, these are not the first triplets to ever be sparked. They are, however, the first to be sparked and survive."
"That still don't mean it wasn't obvious," Jazz huffed, running a hand over his helm. "Okay, so we know the who's and we know the potential whys. That still don't explain the how's."
"Well, not all of the who's..." Mirage muttered. When he received a curious look he sighed. "I didn't want to say it with any possibility of the Twins hearing. And considering the last three meetings have all been command meetings, it was inopportune. They're after Ratchet as well. Also, no whys, but my suspicion is because, A) He sparked them and B) the sparklings are more likely to be less pains if they have their carrier around."
Prowl's optics narrowed and all in the room could see the cogs in his processor working. "Even if they are after Ratchet as well as the triplets, then how do they think they are to accomplish the feat? Surely they know that we would have increased our security, like they have theirs," said Prowl.
'It's all suspicious, Prowler. Ah don't like it one bit," Jazz said, running a frustrated hand over a seam in his hip where Mirage knew a bomb was.
"None of us do. Until then, we hope that we will not make any mistakes in our protection of this base. The sparklings must be protected." All four bots went silent, knowing that the words were not merely stated. It was a promise.
That night
"Something is wrong with the night," Hound murmured, spooned against the Ligier's back.
They were both wide awake, none of them being able to recharge. Mirage shifted and turned so that they were chest to chest, faces level.
"I can feel it too. It's the Decepticon's, I know it. I am worried, Hound, there's no denying," Mirage replied, drawing close to the comforting warmth of his lover's body.
"Why though? I don't understand why they want the triplet's so badly," the Jeep mused aloud.
Mirage bit his lip to keep from answering. He couldn't tell Hound, the information needed to be kept under wraps, as far as Special Ops was concerned.
As if to alleviate his own fears, Mirage comm'd Red Alert. :-Red, are the triplets and Ratchet in their quarters?-:
He received an affirmative ping and then the lines went silent. Mirage still felt like something was going to happen. Not to mention, he'd been thinking all day about bonding. All throughout the meeting, he had observed Jazz and Prowl, seeing how they drew comfort from one another. A small touch here, a light comment there... And then how the Twins kept Ratchet calm when he had come by with the requested emeralds for the triplets to look at. He had never been struck with such... longing before.
It made him feel more like an aft what with how he had so brashly denied Hound that comfort. And himself.
"Hey...Hound..."
As his lover answered with an affirmative hum, the noble found the words stuck in his vocaliser. How could he introduce the matter when he had locked it so firmly closed a few days ago? Perhaps actions, more than words, would benefit him here. Leaning up, he pressed his lips in a soft caress over Hound's, feeling the slightly surprised reply.
The kiss deepened, Mirage rolling on top of his lover and letting his glossa flick teasingly over a bottom lip.
"Raj...what?"
"We missed out this morning, so I thought we'd make up for it tonight," the blue mech crooned, the half-truth falling easily as he dipped back down to latch his lip's onto the other's.
"Well, I'm certainly not complaining," murmured Hound, nibbling on Mirage's bottom lip, feathering his lips over his jaw line for a moment before returning to the sweet lips and feeding the love between them.
Hound's servos moulded their way down the Ligier's sides and down his perfect, white sculpted thighs. Gently, he tugged them apart so that Mirage was not simply laying on him, but straddling him, knees pulled up until they were level with the very edge of his pelvic span.
Mirage gave a small huff of affection at his lover's forwardness and pressed down with his chassis, bringing them into tighter contact, his glossa playing inside Hound's mouth before taunting Hound's into his own. Hound groaned his appreciation, hands tightening minutely on the thighs in his grasp.
"Mmm... You're so handsome like this Hound," Mirage smirked after he had pulled away from the kiss.
The scout met the smirk with a grin of his own. "And you're sexy."
"Moi? The stuffy noble?" the slimmer mech mocked self-depreciatingly, although the smile he shot Hound told him that he wasn't serious about it. So he chuckled and stroked and massaged the thighs, hearing the hum of approval from Mirage.
"Beautiful," Hound whispered adoringly.
Slender hands moved to his bumper and caressed around his headlights, lips smoothing down his jaw to nip lightly at neck cables.
"You call me a sap, and I say in return you have a fascination with my neck," Hound joked, pressing the flat of his hands over the shiny blue aft possessively.
Mirage chuckled and murmured, "Because it's sexy and all mine," before continuing to nibble at the sensitive wires and cables, finding all the places he knew so intimately. Plus, it was doing wonders for his nerves - gave him something to focus on.
"Well this..." Hound squeezed Mirage's aft, hard enough to elicit a surprised squeak from the spy. "Is all mine."
Mirage squirmed under Hound's ministrations to the sensitive plating on his aft. He retaliated with a sharp nip to the equally sensitive cabling on his lover's shoulder. Hound groaned and arched up, grinding their pelvises together.
The spy smirked. "Want something, lover?"
A needy glint shone in deep blue optics and a low growl issued forth out of the larger mechs mouth. "Oh, you know what I want."
"Hmm, I'm actually not sure. Can you show me?" Mirage asked, fluttering his optics coquettishly, making them both smirk.
There was a click and the green mech's interface panel slid open, revealing his slowly arousing components. Mirage shared another smirk, sitting up and grinding his own panel down over the bared components, a few sparks flying from the friction. Hound looked up with a firm resolve to have his partner squirming and begging to be filled. In a swift movement, he sat up, gripping the aft of his lover in his hand and grinding down hard again. Simultaneously, he brought his mouth to the electro disrupter, finding the seam at the base that was oh so sensitive and laved over it, making the noble release an undignified squeak.
"Oooh, yes," Mirage gasped as the broad glossa wormed into the seam and skilfully traced over his nodes, sending fire through his circuits.
"Wanna make you beg," murmured Hound, nuzzling into the warm shoulder, feeling his spike - still in its housing - begin to go hard and rigid.
"Not too hard to convince me," replied the spy, arching back into the larger, knowing hands, warm on his aft and lower back.
Hound gave no verbal reply, moving his helm down to suck and kiss over the centre seam of Mirage's chestplates. Mirage's intakes stalled for a moment as he grasped, perhaps for the first time, the implication of that motion. Hound was getting as close to something that he thought that he couldn't have. And to think he'd done that so many times before when they'd interfaced...
Trying very hard not to think about it and doing everything but looking directly into Hound's face even as his own heated in nervous embarrassment, Mirage released the catches on his chest armour, the seam splitting apart ever so slightly.
He felt Hound stiffen in surprise, and the pull back to stare at him, even though the noble was focused on his own chassis.
"Raj..."
"I... I've been thinking about this... since we talked a few days back..." the formula racing car began nervously.
His nervousness wasn't helped by the dumbfounded look on the green mech's face. He went on, "And...and I began to see things differently. I've been a bit up in knots about it, because we had that talk and now I'm doing a 180. But I want it. I do. I think you were right: I'd rather live one day bonded to you, rather than live one thousand having never touched my spark to yours."
The tender smile Hound graced him with, so full of hope, melted the noble, and he leaned in for another kiss, more passionate than before, more intense than before, plundering each other's mouths, Hound's spike sliding, erect, in between their bodies.
"You sure?" Hound asked seriously, pulling away, hoping that he had not got his expectations up.
"Definitely. If this war never ends, then at least I have you here," murmured the spy, touching a hand to the slightly parted chestplates, the glow of the hidden spark shining through the gap.
A low purr rumbled from the Jeep's chest as he murmured, "I want you. I want to be inside you in all senses of the word."
A shiver shot down Mirage's backstruts. As his panel slid open, revealing the slickening port, he whispered, "Have me."
Almost without preamble, two thick digits slid up into the valve with a sharp twist, the spy's backstruts bowing as his cry was swallowed by an eager mouth. Thrown off balance by the sudden attack, Mirage could do nothing but cling to Hound's shoulders as he ground onto those delightful digits that were stimulating his channel, the walls quickly coating with more lubricant, allowing a third finger to push in.
"Frag 'Raj!" the tracker growled in his audio, his fingers twisting even as they pumped in and out. "You're always so tight..."
"Noble...ah!...make," the noble reminded, golden optics narrowing to crescents as those broad digits stimulated the nodes in the walls of his valve. He couldn't wait until they were replaced with something longer and thicker.
Hound smirked in satisfaction. Perfect.
So gorgeous was Mirage when being pleasured to the point where he almost lost his words.
Curling his fingers upward, he was rewarded by a keen and a pleading buck of the hips, signalling the desperation. He couldn't help but tease, "Ready already?"
"It's you," said Mirage, rocking his hips back and forth to get more surface area in his valve to be stroked and touched by those fingers within, arousal heating his frame and making his spark pulse, the silver and blue just visible through the crack showing. "You do this to me every time." He practically felt the satisfied smugness radiating from Hound as the fingers withdrew, dripping, only for something thicker to nudge against the quivering rim of his valve.
"Can't wait to feel you," hummed the bulker mech, lining himself up and easily penetrating the slimmer mech in one easy, fluid slicked slide.
What followed the slide was a long, high moan that set Hound's sensor net on edge. He answered it by bracing his pedes against the berth, drawing out, and then thrusting back in so that he was completely hilted in the tight clamp of the noble mech's valve.
"Hooound..." Mirage cried, his entire backstrut arching exotically, his optics flaring as they stared down at the mech pleasuring him and the crack in his chest armour opening just that much more, the sparklight now more than just a faint sliver.
"Primus," Hound growled, one arm winding its way around his lover's back and yanking him down into a claiming kiss. "Love it when you say my name like that."
'Ooohh," moaned Mirage, feeling every inch of that thickness within, loving the sensation, the same sensation that never failed to send his circuits into a tizzy and make need flood his processor. He rolled the muscle cables within in a trick that provoked a low gasp from his lover, and rocked back. Hound got the message and planted his pedes more firmly on the berth and rocked up, in and out of the noble's valve.
While one arm was preoccupied with holding the slimmer, graceful body to him, the green mech reached the other down to where they were moving together in friction filled, slick slides, and rubbed the outer valve lining, the platelets, stretched with his spike, quivering under his touch.
"So beautiful," the tracker murmured once more, bucking up firmly and going slightly faster.
Mirage could only pant and nod, mindless with pleasure coursing through him.
Hound loved the reactions he was getting, the spark pulsing, shining it's silver and blue light through the gap, the tinged, flushed faceplates, optics bright with pleasure and mouth open and gasping. The slim frame was hot on his own, body heat cultivating and shared and so pliant with him. They always clicked perfectly.
"More," Mirage demanded shakily, tightening his valve down, stimulating both his sensors and Hound's as well.
Hound complied, shifting his grip to Mirage's waist. Mirage, although nearly strutless with pleasure, was determined to give as good as he was getting, his own servos tracing up his tracker's sides, pushing firmly against all well known hot spots until they were hovering at the edges of where his and Hound's chassis were pressed firmly together. The friction in his valve was making it difficult to concentrate, but need drove him on and he pushed himself up so that he was sitting, the new angle allowing Hound's spike to slide deeper within him. Mirage stilled, keening when that deliciously thick spike pressed firmly against that one cluster of nodes that always made him see stars.
Digits convulsively curled where they were for a few moments before they slid meaningfully over the seam in Hound's chestplates.
"Please?" Mirage whispered, staring down at his soon-to-be-mate imploringly.
Hound gritted his denta and slowed their pace to a stop, hilting himself within and then let his chestplates break apart at the seams, a deep blue light shining through. Mirage's golden optics widened when the chestplates completely retracted and let him view his lover's spark behind the crystal of the housing. It was shining bright, a lovely deep blue - calm, like Hound usually was - and pulsing as if to call his name.
Curious fingers reached forward and stroked over the inner lines and cables leading to the casing reverently. Gasping "Mirage!" Hound pressed his chest up into the contact, shivering at the feel of smooth fingers now caressing his spark casing fondly.
"Look at me," Mirage whispered.
Once the lust-filled, needy, and hopeful optics turned to his own, Mirage parted and retracted his own chestplates, displaying the brilliance of his own silver and blue spark, light reaching from the crystal case to reach out towards the prone mech, looking at the spark with joy.
Hound lifted a hand from the spy's waist and, like Mirage had done to him, touched the casing lightly, choking back a reverent gasp at the sensation from the warmth of the blue mech's soul.
"I want you forever," breathed Hound, leaning up to kiss the crystal, then drawing back.
Smiling softly, the noble replied, "Then have me." The multi-faceted crystal slid away to the sides, and the spark was bare, naked, for the first time in its life.
In almost instant reply, Hound felt his own casing splitting and revealing his own spark. He could feel the tenseness in the noble's frame and his servos stroked along his thighs to soothe him.
"I'm here 'Raj," he murmured, rolling so that he was hovering above the spy, the tendrils of their sparks reaching for each other.
Hound pulled his spike slowly from the slick heat of Mirage's valve and then he lowered himself slowly, feeling and delighting in the tremors that wracked the noble's frame. He wound his arms around the slim waist, arching Mirage off the bed as he thrust back in at the same moment that he pushed their sparks together.
A long low moan rolled through his frame, vibrating his plating and an answering keen met his audios as he was filled with everything that was Mirage. Wantneedmorelovefearneedlove bombarded him with each new memory and experience.
Judging by the gasps and the desperate way Mirage clung to him, the noble was going through the same thing.
"Slow, sweetspark, I want to feel you," Hound encouraged, moaning as he sank into perfect heat around his sensitive member, Mirage's valve squeezing in reply.
Mirage panted heavily, trying to focus, his spark tendrils spiralling around Hound's and linking together in an irrevocable hold. Focussing on showing clarity, he transmitted the memory of when he had limped back to the Ark on that dark, lonely night, to have Hound hold him, sobbing, and tell him he forgave him. It seemed to have worked, for Hound's optics shone down at him in affection as he received it. He suddenly hissed as his lover ground against him, nodes in the depths of the valve singing with pleasure.
Hound gasped abruptly, and said, "So that's how it feels for me to be within you."
"You...you can feel that?" the noble asked breathlessly. The tracker nodded.
Clear emotions and memories began to bleed through their connection now. It wasn't a jumbled mess, it was a stream flowing through them.
"Loved you for so long," breathed the green mech, knowing that he was so close to overload, the sensations so intense and wonderful, like a nice warm bath after a long dirty day with Mirage, but a million times better.
"Love you too," replied Mirage, giving his all through the bond, letting Hound see his hurt over the nobles who he had thought had loved him, only to be used as a collector's item, showing his pain at the Tower's destruction, and his despair at being called a traitor. He showed Hound the times they were together, the love they made, their simple kisses that made him feel cherished each time, and their friends, laughing and joking with them.
"You're mine forever now. I'll be there...I'll protect you," murmured the green mech.
"I know," whispered Mirage, spark-felt admission tapering off to a moan as heat raced through him, pleasure setting his wires on fire.
Hound flooded their link with love, and it was like something clicked.
Mirage seemed to have felt it too, his entire body writhing underneath Hound's, his arms winding tighter, holding the tracker impossibly close. He gave an ecstatic sob as overload tore through him, Hound thrusting in as deep as he could go, once more pressing up against that one cluster.
The tight clench of Mirage's valve pulled Hound into his own overload, the sensation tripled as their sparks flared together and they both received echoes of the other's release.
After the initial shock had worn off, Hound's tense form sagged onto Mirage's strutless one, bodies still joined, though their sparks had retreated back behind now closed plating. Even so, Hound could still feel his lover and now bondmate despite the lack of physical contact. And Mirage was extremely adorable when he was dazed and exhausted.
"Am not," the noble mech muttered, and Hound felt the wave of keen embarrassment. He grinned.
"Are too." He swooped in for a brief kiss. "Always so fraggin cute, 'Raj."
Mirage pouted, but then his faceplates morphed into one of quiet contentment, looking into Hound's. Through their bond, he felt Hound's love for him. Never had it been so tangible as it was now, filling his very soul and lifting him up. 'I can't believe we're bonded,' he whispered through their bond, relishing in the awe that filled his bondmate's facial expression when the words transmitted without really speaking.
'Primus. This is going to take some adjusting to,' Hound replied. 'And believe it, Raj. Together forever now.'
'I don't regret it at all, risks or not,' the noble replied, getting his mate snuggling into him, arms still wrapped around the tracker and rolling so that they were on their sides, face to face.
They each groaned a bit as the movement pulled Hound's spent spike from Mirage's valve, but the small stirrings of desire were muted by their exhaustion.
But still. "Something still doesn't feel right..."
Hound felt the worry through their bond and he echoed it with his own agreement before sending a wave of reassurance. "Whatever it is, Jazz will let us know as soon as he knows. Rest."
Mirage complied, his optics off-lining as he pushed away the unease that permeated the night and fell into an exhausted, but restless recharge.
Ratchet stared up into the ceiling, stress keeping him from recharge. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker cocooned him, one either side, in recharge themselves. Something wasn't right. Making a decision, the medic carefully disentangled himself from his twins, crossing to the living room, substituting for the triplet's berth room while the paint dried in the new room in their quarters. Going to the berth, Ratchet found his spark relaxing slightly just by looking at his three precious creations. Brightspark was in the middle, her brothers on either side and cuddling up to her.
Sensing her carrier was there, Brightspark stirred, optics coming open and looking at him curiously.
"Back to recharge, Brightspark. All is well," Ratchet assured, running a finger over her helm fin.
She shook her head and mumbled, "Not good tonight."
So his sparkling felt it too.
"Don't worry. I'll always be here."
"Yes...you will...because we need you to keep the brats calm."
Ratchet barely had time to turn around to view his attacker before something was injected into his shoulder and a fist caught him about the head, knocking him to the ground. His sparklings shrill screams before they were abruptly cut off was the last thing he heard before all went black.
"How'd this happen?" Prime asked quietly, looking at the Twins who were both in stasis in the medical bay, First Aid and Swoop watching over them diligently. Both looked scrapped to the pits, having fought off two unknown 'Cons on their own before an alarm was even raised. By the time he had gotten a frantic call from Inferno saying Red had been knocked offline in the monitor room, it was too late. Mirage and Hound had been first on the scene, and if they had hesitated, there was a good chance that either Sunstreaker or Sideswipe would not have made it.
"Two 'Cons. One unknown, and one Ah'd hoped to never meet again," Jazz replied over comms. He and Prowl were going over video surveillance that had still been running even if Red Alert had not been awake to view it.
"Elaborate, please." Optimus Prime's voice was thick with tension. Three sparklings and his CMO; a long time good friend had been nabbed from under their olfactory sensors. His spark felt heavy with worry, fear and guilt.
"One Jazz has recognized as a formal neutral bounty hunter gone 'Con." Prowl said, his voice not even wavering, but still thinned with frustration. "Designation; Shadetamer."
"Shadetamer?"
"Yeah." Jazz this time, his voice filled with something dark. "Mech's insane. Well, as close to insane as you can get and still be able to function on yer own. Craves our life energon, and 'as no issue tearin' a mech limb from limb. Met 'im once on a job. Watched tear into one of 'is own teammates jus' fer the fun of it. But past the insanity... Frag it Prime, they couldn't 'ave sent a better mech if they wanted this job pulled while we were on our guard!"
"We have out suspicions that it was this mech that... well, left Sideswipe and Susntreaker in such a state," Prowl continued.
Prime's spark clenched. And it was in this mech's servos that the sparklings had fallen. "And the other?"
"We have a name. But Ah don't know 'im and there isn't much to go on other than he's a frontline warrior that's been wit' Shockwave on Cybertron. They both were actually. Teammates. P'rbly the only mech Shadetamer 'asn't torn into. Designation; Backtrack. He's a big mech, Prime," Jazz growled, watching as a large dark blue mech stepped out of the Twins and Ratchet's quarters, the CMO flung over his shoulder and three wailing sparklings in an energy grid – like caged animals. He followed Shadetamer, whose black and silver armour was spattered with energon and he was grinning manically.
A/N: And we leave you with a cliff-hanger. PLEASE REVIEW! (Holy Primus did this chapter fight us both!) Also, in terms of size of the two OC Con's, think of Knock-Out and Breakdown from Tf:Prime.