Crack in the Pavement
Chapter 17
This fic should illustrate why a tactician I am not.
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
The Twins were perched halfway up the mountaintop, waiting. Sunstreaker was a little farther up the mountain and left of Sideswipe. As the battle progressed the Decepticon grounders were slowly progressing closer to the treeline that Optimus had set up as the front. They'd worked their way up from the front knowing that what they did best required higher ground. This was the only time either of them exercised real patience. It shouldn't have worked, not if the Seekers ever actually learned from previous battles but they hadn't yet. Now all that they had to do was wait for one of Seekers to get close enough to set the trap.
Skywarp came into range first. He was oblivious to them, and focusing his attacks on the Aerialbots. The way he was flying, he was mostly out of range of Optimus's ground troops. Except, of course. for the Twins. Both brothers opened fire on Skywarp, in unison. Laser fire cut across the surface of his wing and he howled. Thundercracker heard the sound and broke off his attack against Silverbot, transformed into his jet alt mode and banked right to attack Sideswipe, the red Lamborghini standing out against the brown and white rock face. He didn't see Sunstreaker who had take cover the second Thundercracker and turned towards them.
Thundercracker swooped low, almost grazing the side of the mountain. The shot he wanted to make, he didn't want to miss. He wanted to fry the slagging Lamborghini and he was going to fight him head on to do it. Wait. One Lamborghini. There was never just one. Sunstreaker leapt from his hiding place and landed right over Thundercracker's cockpit. Slagging Twins, Thundercracker rolled, trying to throw his unwanted passenger but Sunstreaker held on tight. Thundercracker rolled again, reprimanding himself for being as empty-headed as Skywarp. But that was his mate and slag if he couldn't tolerate any Autobot damaging him. Skywarp's battle cry ripped through the mountain, he flew at Thundercracker in the hope of forcing Sunstreaker to jump off Thundercracker. He flew too close to the mountain, where Sideswipe was waiting. Sideswipe landed with one ped on the laser burnt surface of Skywarp's wing. Skywarp howled again and as he rolled, he disappeared.
Sunstreaker dug his digits into Thundercracker's wings and tried to steer him aloft. He needed to see where his brother was. Thundercracker shot straight into the sky. It wasn't Sunstreaker steering him though, Thundercracker was in control. When the 'Cons and 'Bots locked in battle were mere specks below them, Thundercracker threw himself into a steep dive. Sunstreaker felt the G-forces trying to throw him off Thundercracker's aerodynamic surface but Sunstreaker gritted his denta and held on. Skywarp hadn't reappeared, and even though Sunstreaker knew that Sideswipe was still unharmed, knew it in his spark, that didn't stop anger and dread from running rough shod over his circuits.
'Sunny!' Sides called over the their relay. 'You've got to get over here!'
Sideswipe showed Sunstreaker what he saw through his optics. Hook and another Constructicon fighting with Tracks. Hook. Oh yes, Sunstreaker needed to get over there. Skywarp reappeared on the horizon, and shot towards Thundercracker and his unwanted passenger. Sunstreaker pressed his gun into Thundercracker's cockpit, immediately over his spark.
"Take me to where you left Sides or I slag Thundercracker right now," Sunstreaker called. "Roll again 'Con and I slag you."
Skywarp slowed his approach; he didn't reply to Sunstreaker's threat in words but he flew towards Thundercracker slow enough and close enough to allow Sunstreaker to jump from Thundercracker onto him. Nearly instantly, they were flying over an entirely different part of the battlefield, close, but not quite at the treeline. Sunstreaker saw Sideswipe already tearing into Hook. He didn't have to say anything to Skywarp, the Seeker rolled Sunstreaker fell as much as he jumped and joined his brother in exacting long sought after revenge.
"Slagging idiots!" Ironhide swore as he watched the Twins' little stunt from the village.
"I'll slagging kill them!" Ratchet roared. He was helpless to do anything at the moment though. No casualties had even made it down to the triage so Ratchet couldn't even distract himself from the battle with a patient. Neither Ironhide or Ratchet could see exactly what the Twins were up too.
Ironhide placed a servo on Ratchet's shoulder. He felt through Ratchet's armour the speed at which the medic's spark was pulsing, and he felt Ratchet heat up as his circuits heated with anger and fear. Taking hold of both of Ratchet's shoulders, he turned the medic around, turned him away from the battle.
"They're two of the best fighters we have," Ironhide said. "They'll come out of this fine and then you can kill them."
Ratchet shuttered his optics and hung his head for a brief second. He shook of the malaise and looked over at the triage unit he had prepared. Ironhide let go of him, and let Ratchet busy himself looking over his equipment. Helpless, Ratchet must have felt that often, felt it during every battle. More so now that he was involved with the Twins, two of the most suicidally stupid fighters Ironhide had ever seen. They seemed to come out of most battles with minimal injuries but Ironhide thought that was as much luck as anything else. It certainly wasn't for lack of trying. Jumping on Seekers and jumping into the middle of a fire fight, how'd those two manage not to get themselves slagged time and time again?
He couldn't get a good shot at Megatron and it enraged him. Optimus fired at whatever Decepticons came into range but the Decepticon he wanted eluded him. His rage demanded Megatron's blood, or rather his energon but the Decepticon kept himself behind the cover of rocks or other Decepticons and Optimus simply couldn't land a killing blow. Oh he'd managed to get him in the arm, but that didn't satisfy Optimus's blood lust whatsoever. The Decepticons he properly hit weren't getting up. Their damages were either severe or they were deactivated for good. Optimus hoped for the latter. Prowl inched over to Optimus and pulled his attention from the fire fight.
"The charges have been set," Prowl said. Jazz had broken the communication silence to deliver the report to Prowl. "The team is making its way down the mountain and Wheeljack and Trailbreaker are in place. We need to start falling back or we may get caught in the ensuing avalanche."
"The charges are set to go off in five minutes?" Optimus asked for confirmation.
"Yes," Prowl replied.
"It doesn't give them much time to get out of the way of the avalanche," Optimus said. His anxiety over the real objective of this attack was beginning to build.
"They're looping around the mountain first," Prowl explained. "That side seems less prone to avalanches and Skyfire is waiting to mount a rescue if need be."
"Autobots, fall back!" Optimus ordered and the Autobots fell back into the tree line. They fired at the Decepticons as they gave chase but never stopped the planned retreat.
A violent explosion rocked the mountain. The Decepticons turned around to see the base they had been protecting explode into chunks of rock and metal. The debris hung in the air as Trailbreaker's force field surrounded it and held it in place. An avalanche of snow roared down the mountain. Megatron roared with outrage and turned to savagely assault the first Autobot he could reach.
"What is the point, Lord Megatron?" Starscream's shrill voice echoed down the mountain. "The base is destroyed, there is nothing left here to protect."
Megatron snarled and shot at his SIC. Starscream flew easily out of the way of the shot; he circled Megatron. Enraged, Megatron fired several volleys at Starscream. The Seeker easily dodged each shot, showing off his flying skills to both the Decepticons and Autobots watching.
"I mean no disrespect, Oh Mighty Megatron," Starscream snivelled. So far none of the shots had connected with him but he had heard a familiar voice gasp in pain and he knew one Autobot had gotten in the way of Megatron's attack. He didn't look to see where Skyfire had been struck; Starscream pretended as though he hadn't heard the gasp. "Your forces are damaged, and need repairs. Hook is in pieces, according to his fellow Constructicons. Your Decepticons will only incur more damages if we remain."
"Retreat, my Decepticons," Megatron called, hating to accept defeat, but knowing Starscream, that snivelling worm, was right. Soundwave called is Casseticons back, the Constructicons gathered up their demolished comrade and the Decepticons fled.
Their retreat was bathed in a brilliant flash of light as Wheeljack's machine activated and began to melt the rock and metal into a solid mass. Trailbreaker's force field flickered and than faded. New avalanches raced down the mountain from below the explosion. Then the mountain was still.
"Casualties," Optimus called for a report of the damaged.
Primus had been kind, the Autobot casualties were minimal and there were no fatalities. Within minutes of the last avalanche, Jazz reported that his team was safe and they were descending the mountain and would return to the Ark by an alternate route. It was fortunate that they were undamaged and not buried in the snow. Megatron's blast had torn a hole through Skyfire's wings and he was in no shape to fly a rescue mission. The Twins called in after several minutes without contact to announce that they had dug themselves out of the snow and were coming down. The worst news came from Wheeljack just moments after the Twins called in.
"Trailbreaker's offline," Wheeljack reported. "He's not in stasis but he's not coming back online."
"When did he crash?" Ratchet asked, trying to gauge Trailbreaker's damage.
"Just after my device activated," Wheeljack said. "He didn't turn off his force field generator. He turned off."
"Skyfire's damaged," Ratchet informed Wheeljack, the flyer in question sat on the ground, rather than one of the portable berths. None of them could hold his weight. "He won't be fit for an evac until I can make some repairs."
"The mountain's not stable," Wheeljack replied. "There isn't a place for Skyfire to land up here anyway. Have one of the Aerialbots drop down some energon and a diagnostic scanner and I take care of Trailbreaker until he's fit to make the trek down."
"Will do," Ratchet said. "Silverbolt take three cubes and this scanner to Wheeljack. Don't land, just drop them down to Wheeljack."
"On my way," Silverbolt replied.
Ratchet turned his attention back to Skyfire. The hole in his wing was clean, no vital structures had been damaged. It required a patch job more than anything else. He knew it hurt though, that was obvious and Ratchet ordered Skyfire to let down his firewalls so Ratchet could disable the sensors in his wing, and basically make the wing numb. Skyfire obeyed. Some mechs were wonderfully cooperative patients.
The Twins didn't appear in the village until Ratchet was already putting the finishing touches on Skyfire's repairs. First Aid and Swoop were taking care of the less specialized repairs. Ratchet looked up from Skyfire's wing to see the Twins, armour dinged and dented, smiling at him. His first reaction was to stare. They were okay, sure they'd said they were but seeing them, Ratchet felt incredible relief flood through his spark.
"You slagging bastards," Ratchet swore. "What were you thinking?"
"Hook," Sunstreaker said nonchalantly. "Sideswipe saw him."
"Hook," Ratchet said. The name made his plating crawl and this digits twitch.
"We slagged him," Sideswipe added, a little giddy. "Didn't get the chance to deactivate him permanently, slagging avalanche, but he won't be putting his servos on anyone for a while."
"You put yourselves in that much slagging danger for Hook?" Ratchet asked, his voice a little higher. Oh he was glad to hear that Hook had gotten his due but the Twins... They could have died just for a little vengeance. "I want you two alive more than I want him dead, understand? Don't ever to anything that slagging stupid again!"
"They won't," Ironhide said from behind the Twins. "Nice stunt you glitches pulled there. Almost got yourselves buried in an avalanche. You don't think, do you? Not with your processor anyway. You've been gettin' stupid while I've been restin'. As of the second we return to the Ark, we three are goin' to be spendin' lots of time together in the training' room. Let's see if we can put that creativity of yours to good use."
"Eep," Sideswipe replied. Sunstreaker winced. Ironhide grinned malevolently.
Optimus was grateful that Ironhide didn't see him standing just within the triage tent. He wouldn't have appreciated the broad smile that crossed Optimus's faceplates. As much as Optimus wanted to keep Ironhide safe and away from all this violence, he couldn't help but feel incredible relief seeing Ironhide behaving truly as himself. This was Ironhide, reprimanding the Twins for their foolish stunt, promising hard training as a consequence for it. He was certain that Ironhide was just as satisfied with the knowledge that the mech who had tortured Ratchet had been trampled on but at the same time they needed to follow orders, as every Autobot did, and they hadn't. And they could have been deactivated for their trouble. That suicidal drive of theirs needed to be trained out and Ironhide was the mech for the job.
Ironhide left them be and Optimus turned away and looked up at the mountain. He didn't want Ironhide to know he'd been watching him. The mountain peak had been irreparably changed but at least the humans would be safe from the 'Cons and able to enjoy their mountain again. This low on the mountain, Optimus had no way to see where Wheeljack was holed up with Trailbreaker. The inventor was keeping in regular contact with Ratchet so if Trailbreaker's condition worsened they could launch a rescue if there was no other choice. So far, it would appear that this attack hadn't really managed to come off as a success with costing any Autobot lives. It was an unbelievable relief. Though Optimus was not fully satisfied knowing that Megatron had gotten away with barely a scratch, the base where Megatron had taken and raped Ironhide was destroyed for good. That knowledge brought Optimus a little comfort and he wondered if it brought Ironhide any.
"Most of the 'Bot are clearing out and headin' back home," Ironhide informed Optimus as he came up beside him and linked their digits together. "Ratchet's stayin' here, obviously. I'm lettin' the Twins stay with him. Prowl agreed. First Aid and Swoop are going to finish up any remainin' minor repairs back at the Ark. Trailbreaker's not goin' to be able to get home under his own steam so I know yer stayin'. I'm stayin' with you."
"Of course you are," Optimus replied with a hint of humour. Ironhide smiled, taking this as a victory. He leaned into Optimus and looked up at the mountain. It was one less thing to haunt his memory.
End Chapter 17
A/N I really hate it when my favourite stories get deleted by their writers. It hasn't happened often but the fact that "Becoming a Team" was deleted has really put me in a mood. There isn't a lot of Optimus/ Ironhide out there and when one excellent fic is lost, well that's one less thing for me to read. I don't like that. I realize when I delete all my SPN stuff, I could be doing the same to someone else. But I've left warning in my Profile and will save the poorly written crap on my computer just in case. Beside, that garbage is still on my LJ. I wouldn't delete it all if I didn't hate the show and the fandom so much now. But I loathe it all and want to put it behind me. Still. Having no way to get Becoming a Team back really depresses me.
Anyway, still only have 28 chapters of this written. There's a different plot in my head right now, one for a different verse. I don't have a name for the verse yet but it's another telling of how Prowl and Jazz met and got together, as well as the other couples. I've written one chapter and am working on the second. Don't know when I'll post it. I usually like to have a few chapters written before I start posting.