Crack in the Pavement
Chapter 12
On my way to Bot Con! Hope I run into some other Bot slashers!
Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers; I'm just prostituting it for my amusement.
Summary: Megatron uses Ironhide to get his revenge on Prime. Multiple minor side pairings, see list in fic.
Warning: Graphic rape. Torture. M/M robot slash consensual as well as NON-CON
Pairings: Non-con Megatron/ Ironhide, Con Optimus/ Ironhide. Established Jazz/ Prowl, Twins/ Ratchet, Mirage/ Cliffjumper
Optimus rarely left Ironhide alone. He should have chafed under the attention but Ironhide actually relished in it. Despite what Megatron had said, Optimus did care for him, and indeed more as a mere friend. The way Optimus held him was not like a friend. It gave him hope.
He did chafe at being in the medbay. Ratchet gave him space, to a point, but Ironhide felt like a prisoner. His strength and energy had returned a few days ago but Ratchet wouldn't release him. Ironhide guessed that Ratchet didn't want him to be alone. His body was fully repaired and functional but his processor, he was never going to entirely the same again. He felt jumpy. When someone opened the door, when Ratchet dropped a tool, Ironhide had to stop himself from cringing. Optimus seemed to have realized this, and when something startled Ironhide, he took his servo and talked to him. It calmed him instantly. The Ark was a noisy place, the world outside of it was worse, Ironhide forced himself to be both optimistic and patient. He would relax as he got more comfortable. It would take time but he would.
Patience had never been one of his virtues. Hence why he bristled at remaining locked up in the medbay, he wanted to get out and start easing his way back into his life. He needed to start interacting with the other Autobots again. But he had to convince Ratchet of that first.
"You gonna keep me in here forever?" Ironhide asked while Ratchet checked his inventory.
"You're..." Ratchet started to to argue.
"I'm fully functional," Ironhide interrupted. "I need to get back to my life, Ratch."
"'Hide," Ratchet said and gave Ironhide a long look. He took air through into his intakes and frowned, then vented. "You're right. I just don't want you on your own."
"No one's alone on the Ark," Ironhide replied. "I get it Ratch. I'm jumpy. I've memory fluxes most times I offline my optics. It ain't a picnic. But if I don't get back to living soon, I'm going to forget how."
Ratchet vented again; he looked tired.
"Most 'Bots here don't know what happened, and I aim to keep it that way," Ironhide said. "I'm not askin' for you to let be back to work. But sittin' around here I just feel like a victim and it ain't helpin'."
"You haven't been able to talk to either Prowl or Jazz," Ratchet reminded him.
"That's cause they know," Ironhide said. Ratchet had told him who'd seen the video. It was too humiliating to even look at Prowl and Jazz, good friends of his, let alone talk. Thankfully, they seemed to understand. "I'm working on it."
"Alright, okay," Ratchet said, admitting defeat. "Optimus will be back soon, when he is he can escort you wherever you want to go, to your own quarters, the common room, whatever. Stay away from the training room. Stay inside for now."
"Deal," Ironhide said. This was good, he could start taking some control back over his life.
Optimus returned to the medbay only a few minutes later. He met Ironhide's release with a mixture of happiness and nervousness. Ironhide stepped out into the hall for the first time since his return. His spark pulsed wildly in it's casing. Part of him wanted to run back into the medbay; part of him wanted to offline. The larger part of him was bull-headed and raring to get on with it. They walked a few steps down the hall; Optimus kept one servo against the centre of Ironhide's back. At the moment, the hall was empty except for them.
"Where do you want to go?" Optimus asked; he attempted to conceal his anxiety from Ironhide.
It was a good question. The common room had a certain draw. Odds are there would be a friend or two there. This time of day, there could be a lot of 'Bots there and that held Ironhide back. He wasn't sure how he'd react to a unruly crowd. And if he couldn't hack it, there would be a whole lot of witnesses. Ironhide felt his faceplates burn at the prospective humiliation. No, he'd try that later, when he could be more certain that most 'Bots would be on duty. He'd start with fewer 'Bots and wean himself up to more of them. At some point in there he'd swallow his pride and try and talk to Prowl and Jazz. With pride being the only thing he had left, Ironhide found it hard to put it aside. Pride was the only thing keeping him together. Pride and Optimus.
"Just my room for now," Ironhide said. It made sense to go there. It was his space.
"Would you mind some company?" Optimus asked, cautiously. The tone put a smile on Ironhide's faceplates. As if he could ever turn Optimus away.
"Nah, yer always welcome," Ironhide replied. They walked leisurely down the halls. With each step, Ironhide's confidence grew. They passed Trailbreaker, he smiled at Ironhide, nodded and continued on his way. Ironhide's spark fluttered. That was nothing. He vented the intake he'd been holding; he smiled when he caught Optimus smiling at him. It was a small victory but Ironhide hadn't even felt the urge to jump when he'd heard Trailbreaker coming. Maybe he wasn't as broken as he'd thought.
Once in Ironhide's quarters they sat together on his berth. Optimus took the remote Ironhide had left on his berth side table and turned on the Ironhide's personal TV. It turned on to a soap opera. The channel played them nearly continuously throughout the day. Optimus looked at Ironhide from the corner of his optics. Ironhide scowled.
"Not a word," Ironhide said. He settle back against the wall his berth was set against. Optimus relaxed as well. Their knees touched.
"Don't you have work to do?" Ironhide asked.
"Not right now," Optimus replied. There was always some work to be done but Optimus couldn't feel guilty about leaving today's work to Prowl. He owed it to Ironhide to help him settle in. More importantly, he wanted to spend time with Ironhide, outside of the medbay. It was normal.
Hours passed. At some point they changed channels. Characters flashed across the screen trying to extricate themselves from dramas of their own making. Ironhide and Optimus leaned against each other, laughed together, enjoyed each other's company. When it grew late, or at least late for the hours they had been keeping, Optimus suggested Ironhide try and recharge.
Ironhide felt his systems heat up. He needed to recharge, still this would be the first time he would be trying to recharge out of the medbay, and on his own since he'd woken up in the medbay. Some how he betrayed his unease because Optimus sat down on the floor in front, against Ironhide's berth.
"I'll stay here until you're recharging," Optimus said. Ironhide smiled, slightly embarrassed but too grateful to refuse.
Sometime in the night, Ironhide woke from his recharge. A memory flux had jerked him awake; he rolled onto his side, away from the wall as coolant cycled through his circuits. He sucked air through his intakes and willed his spark to pulse slower. Ironhide onlined his optics, what he saw had Ironhide sitting up quickly. Grumbling unintelligibly, Ironhide reached down and jerked Optimus by the shoulder. Optimus onlined his own optics, they were dim from lack of recharge.
"Get on the slaggin' berth," Ironhide ordered. Optimus seemed to waver. Ironhide glowered at him, caught his wrist and hauled him upright.
Ironhide slid back on his berth, making room for Optimus. The berth wasn't especially large, and Optimus was a larger mech but they managed to fit together, back to chassis. Unconsciously, Optimus wrapped one arm around Ironhide's waist, while he tucked the other under his head. As he allowed himself to recharge again, Ironhide rested his servo over Optimus's.
Normally, Mirage's patrols were always during the day. Prowl wanted him to take a night patrol covering the vector immediately in front of the Ark. Decepticons were less active at night. Cliffjumper had not been happy with the shift change. They were on opposite shifts. It would make it difficult to spend any time together but it was only temporary. Truth be told, Mirage wasn't happy with the change either. He liked spending quiet nights with Cliffjumper. Their evening rations were often disturb by one of the other minibots, often Gears or Powerglide. They were still actively hostile towards Mirage, Gears more than Powerglide so it never made for a pleasant meal. In their own quarters, no one disturbed them and it was possible for Cliffjumper and he to actually enjoy their relationship.
Cliffjumper should be recharging by now. They'd only had a few moments together before Mirage had gone off on his patrol. They were recharging at exact opposite times, so they recharged alone. Mirage disliked that the most. He liked nothing more than just to recharge entwined with Cliffjumper. But there was no use in complaining; Mirage didn't relish the thought of being ambushed again and if this kept him safe, he and Cliffjumper would have to live with it.
The desert floor was barely compacted around the Ark and Mt St Hillary. Mirage kicked up a dust storm as he drove. His ability would have been almost useless in these conditions the sand would show his tracks, leading anyone right to him, invisible or not. He rounded a rock out cropping; he was only now outside of the range of Red Alert's security system. Apparently, the Decepticons knew this too.
Dirt and rock exploded next to Mirage's back left wheel and he swerved wildly to the left to avoid the next shot that came from his right. This was not good. He couldn't fight in this form and if he stopped to transform he'd be an easy target. Mirage needed to find cover and to find the Decepticons attacking him so he could mount a reasonable defence. Shots rained down from above him, he swerved to hard and rolled. As he did, he transformed. The dust cloud blocked him from the helicopter's, Vortex's view for a few seconds. Mirage pressed himself up close to a particularly large rock, went invisible and opened fire on Vortex.
He didn't watch to see if the shots connected with anything, but ran for another formation. The rock he had been standing next to exploded. Mirage covered his face with his arms. Vortex rained down another battery of charges and Mirage ran for his life. He spared a brief second and saw Onslaught launching another missile in his direction. Even in his robot form, the dust he raised revealed his location to his attackers despite his being invisible. The ground just a metre or so behind Mirage exploded. Metal shrapnel pierced his back and he stumbled, falling to his hands and knees. He gritted his teeth and transformed. The transformation hurt but Mirage ignored the alarms and drove as fast as he could. He zigzagged in the hope of out manoeuvring the Decepticons.
The combiners worked together seamlessly. Mirage felt himself being herded but felt powerless to to avoid it. This was not good. Vortex kept him driving in a straight line. Onslaughts missiles were coming closer and closer. It was impossible for Mirage not to feel panicked.
A barrage of laser fire flew over Mirage. One shot hit home, blowing out Vortex's tail rotors. The helicopter faltered. Free from the air attack, Mirage swerved around and across the path. Another missile exploded on the path, but able to veer, Mirage avoided the shrapnel. Another barrage of laser fire shot over Mirage. Onslaught fell back.
Mirage crossed into range of the Ark's defences. Cliffjumper stepped into view; Mirage transformed again and nearly fell over himself as he reached Cliffjumper. The smaller mech pulled him down and shielded Mirage's head as one final missile explode just into the Autobot defensive zone. No shrapnel came close to the pair. Cliffjumper didn't move himself off of Mirage for several minutes after the last missile exploded. He pulled back slowly, and fussed over Mirage when he realized that he'd been laying over shrapnel wounds across Mirage's shoulders.
"I'm alright, Cliffjumper," Mirage said, trying to soothe Cliffjumper. "Thanks to you. What are you doing here?"
"Had a feeling," Cliffjumper said. He looked over Mirage, seeing no serious injuries he relaxed. "Good thing I listened to my gut. I'm not letting you out of my sight again."
"Are you two alright?" Inferno asked. He was the first Autobot, after Cliffjumper, to arrive. Naturally, Red Alert's cameras had seen the missile fired into their range. The Twins and Ratchet arrived next.
"Out of my way," Ratchet said, moving around Inferno. He knelt next to Mirage and Cliffjumper. "Let me see."
Cliffjumper watched Ratchet poke and prod. The medic looked harried. Both Inferno and Cliffjumper noticed the dents in the cables along Ratchet's neck, and both thought it better not to say anything. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe kept armed watch in case the Decepticons tried to come any closer.
"Nothing too terrible," Ratchet said. "You transformed after you were hit and that dislodged the shrapnel but you also opened the cuts a bit more. Let's get back inside and I'll patch you up."
Prowl was waiting for them in the medbay. He waited for Ratchet to patch and weld the cuts shut. When Ratchet allowed Mirage to sit up, Prowl vented and shook his head.
"You're off patrols as of now," Prowl said. "They're out for your head and nothing short of keeping you out of sight will stop them."
"I'm not taking my optics off of him again," Cliffjumper said. Prowl nodded.
"I'll let Optimus know in the morning," Prowl said. "Both of you, you're on leave tomorrow. Get some rest and find me in the evening for your knew assignments."
"Me too?" Cliffjumper asked.
"Mirage needs a bodyguard," Prowl said. "Who better than you?"
"No one," Cliffjumper agreed. Mirage nodded. Cliffjumper was one of the best warriors in the Autobots. Mirage wasn't ashamed to admit he was nowhere near as good a fighter."
"I'd like it if you didn't show up with any new injuries for a while," Ratchet said to Mirage. "Well, go. We all need to recharge."
Sunstreaker and Sideswipe smirked at each other. There would be time to recharge later. Now, they wanted to get Ratchet back to his, now their room and pick up where they left off.
End Chapter 12