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Deviation Actions
Literature Text
Chapter 41: Chapter 41
The Diego Diaries: "In praise of yellow aft slaggers"
=0=Medbay, midafternoon the next day
"Ratchet."
"I'm busy."
"Ratchet?"
"What?"
"I want to talk to you. I want to see your pretty optics when I speak."
Pause.
"Ratchet?"
Silence.
/...slag.../ "RATCHET! I HAVE A Y A TERRIBLE PAIN!"
The sound of peds running and a yellow streak bursting from around the corner broke the silence of Medbay and when Ratchet stopped before Ironhide, optics surging with fright Ironhide had the good grace to feel bad.
Then he had a pain.
"You punched me!"
"You deserved it, you slagger! What the FRAG are you doing saying something like that to me when I pasted your carcass back together twice in less than a month? I should give you something worse to whine about but then I'D HAVE TO PUT YOU BACK TOGETHER AGAIN!"
A huffing yellow aft medico mumbling to himself left the room and Ironhide rubbing his servo from where he was rapped lay his helm back and stared at the ceiling.
"Ratchet."
The sound of peds marching down the corridor and walking into Medbay only put a small crimp in his audacity. Ironhide had the time and opportunity to be a spectacular aft and he was determined to use them. Anything was fair in love and war and he wanted out of the Medbay. Ratchet marched to the medberth, parked his servos on his hip assemblies and glared. He glared that glare that Dared Not Speak Its Name. "WHAT!"
Ironhide, quashing a comedic retort smiled. "How about finishing up those negotiations? I've got the time."
"You think I do?" Ratchet said relaxing a tiny bit and crossing his arms over his chassis.
"Why not? You run this place. Delegate."
Ratchet felt a smirk forming on his faceplates. He quashed it ruthlessly moving to lean against the medberth. He reached out and traced the glyphs along Ironhide's arm, the ones that spoke about his family and his home in Praxus, a home that no longer existed. "So, you want to negotiate?"
Ironhide looked at Ratchet wariness in every molecule of his being. "You want an end to the war. I want one. You need a good 'face. I sure need one."
"You saying I'm what? Cranky?" Hard blue optics peered down into his.
"I'm saying ..." /... what the slag am I saying?.../ "I just think it's about time you and I made peace."
"And then what, Ironhide?" Ratchet said leaning down to nuzzle Ironhide's chin. He kissed a line along Ironhide's jaw and then rose tracing a digit along Ironhide's finials.
The flow of sensations that hit Ironhide in the place where Nothing Has Been Happening For A While made him swallow. "I thought that you and I could Y get intimate."
Something in Ratchet purred, something that was weak willed and benevolent took those words and hugged them like the fuzzy kittens they were. Something in him wanted to throw Ironhide down and have its way. Then the something that was polished into a hardness that even diamonds couldn't trump, that part of him that had sparred with Ironhide for a zillion years asserted itself. "What are you going to give me?"
A smirk formed on Ironhide's lips and his optics glowed with humor. "A damned fine shag."
pause. access. shag, verb. download. access terminated.
Ratchet grinned at Ironhide. "You've been hanging out with Graham too much."
"And you look tense. I think I have the cure for that," Ironhide said kissing Ratchet's servo. He kissed up Ratchet's arm and then back down again, his twinkling optics and waggling optic ridges almost, ALMOST making the medic laugh aloud. He merely redirected the outburst to a file in his cybertronic brain stem. Somewhere in Ratchet's helm a good laugh was going on but it never reached his lip plates.
"You broke a lot of superstructure. You aren't in any shape for a shag or a frag or any other combination thereof."
"I'm a danger mech, Ratchet. We take a lickin' and keep on tickin'."
pause. Access. lickin', tickin'. download. access terminated.
Ratchet smirked. "Is that so."
"Damned straight."
Nothing.
"Hoo-ah?"
Nothing.
"Oh please, Ratchet. Have some mercy here. I'm going off my processor."
Ratchet leaned down and kissed Ironhide stilling his whining. He stood back up glancing at the screens above Ironhide. "You are such a little sparkling."
Silence.
"I never said I didn't want a sparkling. We even decided on it being a mech. And the color. Don't forget he's black."
"You said red."
"I had a dream once, Ratchet, that I was a red van and talked like a Y" access. Regional accents, US. acquire. access terminated. "Like a dumb aft."
"A red van?" Ratchet said looking disgusted. "I don't think I would have dated you if you were a van, Ironhide. I have my image to think of."
"You were in the dream and you were a really sexy medic. White with red servos and a grey chevron on your helm. You had red crosses on your chassis and I thought you were one sexy alt vehicle."
"You saw this in a dream? Were you over-energized?"
"Sober as Prime," Ironhide said.
"Did we 'face? In your dream? In that alt mode? I mean, Ironhide, a van? Was it a mini van?" Rachet said folding his arms and leaning against the medberth.
"Do you really think this chassis can form a mini-van?" Ironhide said with a frown.
"I don't know. I'm not arroused by a mom car."
"You had to see it. I was a mech's mech," Ironhide said smiling. "You thought I was sexy."
"I did?" Ratchet said smiling. "What the frag was wrong with me?" He chuckled. "You know I like my mechs on the big side."
Ironhide smirked. "And they don't come bigger than me, Ratch."
"Prime," Ratchet began. "Then there's Springer, Ultra Magnus and you can't forget Omega Supreme."
Ironhide frowned faking extreme upset. "Here I am pouring out my dreams to you and you're slagging me."
"Ah," Ratchet said faking sympathy, patting Ironhide's servos. "There, there. I'm not bonded with them, although they are pretty sexy."
"Prime and Magnus are only three feet taller than me and I'm the same height as Springer."
"He is rather sexy, Springer," Ratchet said smirking. "He is after all called Y Springer."
Ironhide couldn't hide his consternation. "So, you're looking at other mechs are ya?"
"I'm bonded, Ironhide. Not dead," Ratchet said leaning down and kissing Ironhide's pouty lips. "You don't look at other mechs or femmes? Even in your dream?"
"I think I was having an affair with Chromia. And Arcee too maybe. I can't remember," Ironhide said frowning slightly.
"You're a femme chaser then," Ratchet said moving to sit on the edge of the berth.
"In my dreams," Ironhide said, "but I spent a lot of time with you. I think you were really good lookin', Ratchet. White looks good on you."
"I'll remember that next time I'm in your dreams," Ratchet said, smirking.
They looked at each other content to sit together.
"You're not going to let me out of here."
"No."
"I'll raise the wrath of Unicron if you don't."
"I have a new wrench."
"You are one violent old fragger."
"I learned from the master."
"You did. Ratchet?"
"Yes, Ironhide?"
He glanced here and there, then he looked at Ratchet. "I love you."
Ratchet looked at him feeling the surge of his love and appreciation rising through their bond. His spark squeezed and he surged back to Ironhide. "I love you back, Ironhide."
It was silent a moment.
"Ratchet?"
"What, Ironhide?"
"When I get out of here?"
"Yes?"
"Do I get to sleep on the berth with ya?"
Long pause. Smirk and a shake of the helm. "We'll see."
Ratchet got up and walked to the lab leaving Ironhide alone. He lay on the berth, a smirk growing on his faceplates. /... putty in my hands Y you yellow aft slagger.../
=0=
TBC 2010 (11)
Chapter 42: Chapter 42
The Diego Diaries: The Investigation
=0=Epps and Lennox
They gave their testimony explaining that they were walking between the hangars and had a clear view of the SUV as it careened around the corner, turning hard and throwing a spray of dirt into the air. They paused watching as the three men inside hooted and hollered. Then they saw it accelerate and drive off at top speed careening around the corner again and back across the tarmac in front of the Autobot HQ. They ran, hurrying to the corner, dread in their heart for the challenge it obviously was to the Autobots themselves. As they ran they had almost reached the corner when the collision rang out, the sound echoing all over the area.
They were able to ascertain the following facts:
a. They did not see the actual collision but they did see Ironhide fall on his back, arms flung out and Springer sliding in to catch his helm.
b. They did not see the car spin in the air but saw it land in a bouncing heap, the mercs inside flying around due to the event.
c. They said they saw Ironhide raise up roaring with rage and then fall back again, Springer holding him down with a servo. They said that everyone froze for a moment and then everyone ran outside including more than 20 Autobots arms drawn circling Ironhide.
They saw the scene both during and after the wreckage and injured were pulled away. There were no skid marks, no indication in physical evidence that the driver tried to stop or swerve. Ironhide had the right of way at the moment and the driver ignored a pedestrian crossing an open space with pedestrian regulations for drivers well posted and observed base wide.
e. It was their belief that the driver and passengers appeared to be impaired and that they were acting in an irresponsible manner behind the wheel of a vehicle that was unique in design and use therefore making it even more imperative that care be taken in operating it.
They had separate depositions and left walking outside to stand in the midafternoon sun together. Graham, who had not been in Diego at the time turned staring at the flight line near by. Parked in their usual spaces recharging, he thought about the Aerialbots. "Do you suppose the Aerialbots saw what happened?"
Lennox looked down the common area to the field beyond where jets were parked close to each other and nodded. "Silverbolt wasn't here but the other three Y they had a straight on shot of the whole thing."
They stood a moment then started toward them. The sun was glinting off their alt forms and they were lethal and beautiful. They stood a moment uncertain and then Epps walked up to one of the two F-15 Strike Eagles and tapped on the gear strut. Nothing happened. Then he did it again. As they waited, a transformational sound occurred and they turned seeing a large Autobot kneeling down staring at them. It was huge, black, red, white and staring at them curiously. "May I be of help?" it asked.
They looked at him, then the jet they were trying to awaken and then back again. Lennox swallowed. "This jet is Y uh, just a jet isn't it."
The Aerialbot smiled. "Yes."
They stared at each other feeling slightly foolish and then they turned and looked up at the bot before him. "I am Will Lennox and this is Bobby Epps and Niall Graham."
The bot nodded. "You are N.E.S.T soldiers."
They nodded.
"You are the ones that aren't idiots. Like those humans that drove into Ironhide," he said.
"You saw that?" Epps asked.
"We saw it. I saw it the best," the bot said. "I am Sky Dive."
They nodded. "I was wondering if you could tell what you saw to the investigators," Graham asked. "We think the more individuals that can say what happened the less likely the company they work for will be able to make trouble here."
"If Prime wants me to I will," Sky Dive said. He considered them. "Why did he do that?"
Epps shrugged. "Because he was a fool and had no respect."
Sky Dive nodded. "I will tell Prime that you asked."
They nodded and the big bot rose turning and walking toward the Autobot complex.
"It never gets old," Epps said staring at the retreating figure. The others only nodded.
=0=Medbay
He stood holding up one leg. Ratchet squatted on his peds his optics staring intently at Ironhide's rear locking clamp.
"Say when, Ratchet."
"I will."
"Now?" he asked hopefully.
"No."
=0=Jazz and Mirage
"Look at this," Jazz said pulling up a number of e-mails. "It appears that our mole is a soldier and they work in the Administrative building."
Mirage nodded. "Should I go eavesdrop?"
"I think it would be a good idea," Jazz said scrolling through a long list of e-mails. Mirage was almost to the door when Jazz called out for him to come back. He did and sat again, waiting. "Look at this, Mirage."
He read the e-mail and smiled. "High-Flyer," he said, shaking his head. "Our mole is corresponding with High-Flyer directly now."
=0=Medbay
"Can I go now?"
"No."
=0=Mirage and Jazz
A screen showing the routing of electronic correspondence glowed with a red line tracing the path of the mole's emails through any number of servers, ending up at the First-Strike-Warriors bulletin board at the HQ of Intel-Martin. It also showed an anonymous emailer who was using a web-based temp account with a disposable email. A search of that server showed that High-Flyer was using it as their primary account sending emails to the bulletin board and now Jazz found directly to the mole by a convoluted but essentially untraceable ghost account at Intel-Martin.
"Screamer has changed his tactic. He isn't waiting for the mole to post on the bulletin board. He's using direct contact to get what he wants."
"Who would write to an anonymous emailer if you were a deep down mole in an organization with rules against such activity like the U.S. Military?" Mirage mused.
"An anonymous emailer who was using someone else's account and posing as them," Jazz replied grinning. "Check out who Starscream is posing as."
Mirage followed the line from Intel-Martin where it began and when it deadended into the anonymous account the name brought a smile. "William Kent, President and CEO of Intel-Martin."
"Screamer is accessing his account to ghost messages out through the Intel-Martin servers but he has an intercept on any incoming from the mole so that it reaches his anonymous account and never shows up in the Intel-Martin logins and databases," Jazz said. "With this system, as high tech as they think it is, it didn't take much for Starscream to re-route his own messages and the replies. Kent wouldn't know it was happening and there would be no traceable evidence left behind. At least as far as their level of technology will detect."
"Let's open his account and check it out," Mirage said. "Of course, you can hack it so Starscream won't know," he asked glancing at Jazz pointedly.
"Piece of cake," Jazz said with a chuckle.
=0=Medbay
"Sit down."
"I have. For orns."
"A breem or two more won't hurt."
"It will."
"Big sparkling."
"Let me outa here, you slagger. I have to be free."
"Big femme."
"You can't keep me cooped up. I was born to be wild."
"You were born to be wild? Since when?"
Pause. "Well, I was before I bonded with you, you yellow aft slagger."
"Bonding with me was the best thing you ever did, you big heap of slag."
"Don't confuse the issue. You know you got the best of the deal when I agreed to bond with you, Ratchet."
"Oh really. How did that come to your addled processor? Who else would put up with you, you big aft?"
Pause.
"Well?"
"I'm thinking."
=0=Wheeljack and Perceptor
"There are no skid marks. There is no attempt to try to stop. They aimed at him and they hit him."
"I've been doing research, 'Jack, on collisions and impairment by artificial means is a big factor in the greatest percentage of crashes and fatalities."
"They were drunk," Wheeljack said smiling at his more precise and more scholarly friend. "Prime told me about a game called 'chicken'."
"I will look that up."
"Thank you, Perceptor. Now take a look at the construction of this vehicle. It has a steel shell that fits over the entire body of the vehicle. It has a 382 horsepower engine and can exceed 200 miles per hour. It was designed to protect the passengers and so getaway speed is essential. Mercedes Benz builds fast acceleration and speed into their cars as a stock item. This car was boosted in all areas.
"It has firewalls and the capacity to defeat anti-personnel grenades and high powered rifle fire earning it a 'full metal jacket' rating, apparently the highest for armored cars. It is hardened both above and below, armored in the wheel wells, roof and floor. There are side-bars which aid in protection but also add weight and brace the frame when it hits something. Everything is protected from fuel tanks, batteries and glass. All-in-all, it is a weapon used in the right manner. And it weighs nearly eight tons with its adapted features."
"It was going at least 100 miles per hour and perhaps more," Perceptor said. "It is difficult to be precise because there were no road marks to use in calculations but I would say 100-110 miles per hour at collision. Megatron weighs nearly six tons. This truck weighed more than Megatron at nearly eight. It was a fortuitous set of circumstances that toppled Ironhide.
Interesting."
"Indeed," Wheeljack said in agreement.
=0=Medbay
"Well?"
"I'm still thinking."
Ratchet grinned looking at Ironhide as he so cutely grasped at straws. "You are the biggest sparkling I ever saw."
"You letting me out of here?" he asked grinning in spite of himself.
"I should leave you here for the entertainment value but I will let you out. However Y you are off duty for a decaorn and I won't be swayed."
"Not even by the sexy?" Ironhide said rising and grinning as he pulled Ratchet into his arms.
Ratchet smirked slipping his arms around Ironhide's shoulders. "You think you're a real lothario."
pause. access. lothario, noun. aquire. acess terminated.
"Good enough term if a little stupid sounding to me," he said leaning in and nibbling on Ratchet's neck.
Ratchet let him, the attention long overdue and then he pushed back grinning at Ironhide. "Negotiations are not complete. There are also the penalties to be exacted for getting paint all over me and breaking the rules of no 'facing during wartime. And I suppose I can think of a few other things if I try."
"Go ahead. You know I win in the end."
"Says you?"
"Says me," he said leaning in and kissing Ratchet hard on the mouth. "I'm going out there and cut a wide swath. See ya later." With that he turned and swaggered toward the door.
Ratchet watched him and then called out. "Hey, lothario."
"What?" he asked pausing in the doorway and looking back a grin of great triumph on his faceplates.
"No one is allowed out of the building. Prime's orders."
"Slag."
=0=
TBC 2010 (11)
Chapter 43: Chapter 43
The Diego Diaries: "Home is Y over there."
=0=In the conference room off Ops Center later that afternoon
They stood huddled around the table looking at the plans that Prime had laid out. He had called the senior Autobots to the meeting finally deciding in light of all that was happening that it was time to discuss what he had come to see as the only solution to their tenuous residence on Earth.
Perceptor and Wheeljack were speechless standing together as they perused the schematics of Prime's dream. Prowl stood beside Prime watching and waiting for questions. He had been over the entire format three times that morning alone and he was ready with counter arguments if there were any.
There wasn't.
Ironhide musing over the step by step process involved glanced at Prime who was sitting in a chair silently watching. "You are going to need a few scouting parties. I think a review of sites is in order. Even though you picked some good places no one has been there to look things over yet."
Prime agreed. "We will send out scientific teams with security to explore the feasibility of the sites I have chosen. If they don't meet our needs we can then go from there."
"Then we better get going," Wheeljack said smiling at Prime. "This is going to be a real challenge. Our people will have a place to come. We can be a people again."
The comment gave everyone pause and then they bent their heads together working out the plan for exploration, site identification for resources they could use and the effort they would have to expend to make sure no humans got even an accidental heads up on what they were going to do.
=0=Medbay, a little later
"And that is what Prime wants to do," Ironhide explained.
Ratchet unable to go to the meeting due to a taped deposition about Ironhide's injuries nodded. "That would be almost too much to hope for, Ironhide. Think of it. Our sparkling could be the first sparkling born there. You would make the history books."
Ironhide snorted. "I see you're still in your delusional phase."
"A mech can try." Ratchet smiled and crossed his arms looking at Ironhide with a calculating expression. "You know, you haven't 'faced for more than 60 cycles. Two months as the humans say. How's that working out for you?"
"I'm managing." Ironhide smirked. "You know I've gone longer than that during the fall of Iacon."
"We need to hold negotiations tonight."
"You're wearing down?" Ironhide asked with a snort.
"No," Ratchet said moving closer to Ironhide giving him a smoldering optic. "Prime's plans change everything."
For a moment Ironhide basked in Ratchet's smoldering optic and then he stepped back wary as ever. "You can give me your gimlet eye, Ratchet, but it won't change a thing."
pause. Access. Gimlet, ?. Beep. Warning... access shutting down...
"Okay, give me a clue here. Gimlet as in a drink? As in surface-to-air missile? Or am I to take it that you just referred to my optic as a drill that makes tiny little holes?"
Ironhide, his own optics twirling paused. "I heard a soldier refer to someone as having a gimlet eye."
"A gimlet eye," Ratchet referred quashing a smirk. "You hang out with the soldiers too much."
"Well, considering you put a padlock on your privates it makes it hard to hang out with you."
"So you only want me for my chassis?" Ratchet said, feigning hurt and casting a gimlet optic at his big hulking Only One.
"And a few other parts too," Ironhide said with a smirk. "Not that I can really remember them. Maybe I better borrow one of your medpads and catch up on such things."
"I would prefer to show you," Ratchet said slipping his arms around Ironhide's neck and leaning in for a kiss. They kissed a moment, Ironhide moving forward and pressing Ratchet into the wall.
"I would too," He said giving Ratchet his own gimlet optic. "How about you and me making the sexy and calling it a good faith gesture to future negotiations?"
"How about you and me making a sparkling. Now."
Ironhide paused, looking closely at Ratchet's faceplates looking for the tel. "Now?"
"Now."
"Negotiations..."
"Can be had afterward."
Pause.
"Ratchet, I have to ask something."
"Ask." Kiss.
"Well, you have this idea..."
"Yes?" Kiss. Kiss.
"That I would carry."
Pause.
"Continue."
"I don't mind carrying..."
"WHAT!" Two BIG gimlet optics fixed on two optics that suddenly lost the will to live.
"Ratchet!" Ironhide's voice disappeared under a nearly five ton yellow hug as Ratchet grabbed him and squeezed so hard he could almost feel the impressions of the digits on his helm. Ratchet kissed him deeply and smiled. "I'll get the berth ready. Come right away, Ironhide."
With that Ratchet turned and ran out the door of the Medbay. Ironhide mentally counting his fingers turned and looked at the door, the one that led to 'he who must be avoided at all cost now' and finally finished his sentence. "... a sparkling after you have it."
He shuddered. Life had taken a nosedive and he was being dragged by a ped directly into the Pit.
"Slag."
=0=On the way to his quarters
"Hey, Ironhide!"
He turned and waited as Jazz caught up with him. "What's up with Ratchet?"
A wary optic fastened on Jazz. "What do you mean?"
"He was Y bounding Y hopping and saying 'I win! I win!" Jazz smiled. "What exactly did he win?"
Ironhide shifting from ped to ped stared at him with optics as big as dinner plates. "Nothing. I don't know. Don't ask me. I don't know nothing about bond mates. I don't know nothing about nothing." Then he turned and walked as fast as he could to his quarters.
=0=In the rec room
"I saw Ratchet practically doing cartwheels down the hallway just now," Jazz said sitting with the twins and Hound.
"I don't know what it means," Hound said shaking his head. "Sometimes those two scare me."
=0=In the hallway to the arsenal
"Did you hear about Ratchet? He ran to his room screaming. I think he's lost his mind at last. Ironhide would do that to a mech."
"Really? I thought they were crazy for each other."
"I think they're just crazy."
=0=Near the hangar door to the complex
"Here's your energon. Did you hear that Ironhide made Ratchet cry? He ran down to their quarters."
"What? I don't believe that."
"Believe it. Someone who saw him said they saw it. Real tears."
=0=In the Ops Center
"What?"
"Yes."
"Oh no. Ironhide is going to die? I thought his injuries weren't that awful."
"Ratchet was crying. He ran through the hall and barricaded himself into his quarters. Prime is as low as it gets."
=0=Outside Ops Center
"I'm sorry, sir."
"Sorry?" –Prime
"Yes. My condolences. I just found out."
"Found out? Condolences?" –Prime
I have to go. I can't talk."
"What?" –Prime
=0=In the hallway near to the indoor workout space
"I don't know what we're going to do. When a bondmate goes the other follows."
"This is terrible. Think about it. No doctor, no weapons specialist."
"I wonder what that means to the seniority list?"
=0=In Prowl's office
"I don't know. I was just told. What are they talking about?" –Prime
"I don't know. I'll ask." –Prowl
=0=In the hallway
"Jazz, what is going on?"
"What?"
=0=Ironhide, outside Ironhide and Ratchet's quarters
"Hide? I'm so sorry?"
"About what?" –Ironhide
"Yeah. We didn't know. I don't know what to say. But I want you to know you aren't alone."
"What?" –Ironhide
"I won't keep you. I understand that time is short. But remember, you will never be forgotten."
"What?" -Ironhide.
=0=Walking to the rec room
"I don't understand a thing today." –Prime
"I am sure there's a logical reason for all of this." –Prowl
=0=Outside Ironhide and Ratchet's quarters
He paused fearing to open the door and fearing not too. The crazy was as deep outside as he was sure it was inside. He had no home to go to no matter which direction he turned. And he turned. At the end of the corridor standing in a quiet knot five Autobots stared at him their faceplates betraying intense emotion. One of them raised his servo and waved gently at him. He paused and then raised his own servo waving back. For a moment he was immobile and then without a backward glance, his processor spinning, he opened the door and stepped inside preferring the Doom of Ratchet to the dumb outside the door.
=0=
TB c2010 (11)
Chapter 44: Chapter 44
The Diego Diaries: "So... what about it?"
=0=In Prowl's Office
Prime sat on Prowl's chair staring at the door. Prowl had gone ahead seeking clarification to the wild rumors of Ratchet's insanity and Ironhide's impending death. It had made his processor spin and so as not to receive any more condolences for the imminent passing of his oldest friend he sat in the chair in a quiet room during a peaceful moment in an otherwise crazy day.
Outside, a world that needed them buzzed hot and cold on their presence. His people were trapped inside a building that was their only home ground so far. He was gathering more and more to their protection and the networks in space beyond were passing word. Prime and our soldiers have been found. They have been found. Prime will show us the way now.
He had found the burden exhausting before when he had shouldered it alone. But now he had Prowl. That had made the complete difference. He was happy at last even if things were hard, difficult and even stupid. He had survived worse experiences than billionaires who liked to play soldier boys and xenophobes who spewed their opinions on cable tv.
He had a idea and enough resources and expertise among his soldiers to make a plan for their safety and prosperity elsewhere while at the same time being able to protect the Earth and her people. After all, as far as he could ascertain even with pretensions, no one on Earth truly owned Mars.
The door opened and Prowl entered closing it behind him. He shook his head. "Do you want the whole convoluted story or just the cliff notes."
pause. access. cliff notes, noun. acquired. download. access terminated.
"Which ever one has the most laughs," he said holding out his hand.
Prowl took it and leaned down kissing Optimus softly. "They both do."
Prime smiled.
=0=Ironhide and Ratchet's quarters
It was dark inside and he switched to night vision. Sitting in a chair sipping a glass of high grade Ratchet sat waiting. He paused uncertain what to do and then walked over taking a seat across from his Only One. "It's dark and you're drinking. You confound me."
Ratchet grinned and sat the glass down pushing it over to Ironhide. Ironhide took it and finished it off. They sat together looking at each other with night vision. Then Ratchet leaned forward. "I know something."
Ironhide considered the potential of the statement and decided you only die once. "What do you know, Ratchet?"
"I know that you would never do this thing," Ratchet said. He grinned. "I know it isn't you."
Ironhide nodded. "I would give you my right arm, Ratchet."
"You have. A couple of times."
They both snorted. Ratchet grinned at him. "You're the best old mech I know."
Ironhide smiled and reached out squeezing Ratchet's servo. "You know how I feel about you. I'm not the best with words. I hope you know by what I do."
"I do," Ratchet said warmly, squeezing him back. "I just need to know if you want this too. And if you do would you do it now or wait some more."
Ironhide looked at Ratchet a long time and then he leaned forward taking Ratchet's servo in his own. "I want this too. I also don't want anything to happen to you if we do. We're not younglings."
"But we're not old either, not really. I looked it up."
Ironhide snorted laughing for a moment. "Your datapads?"
"Among other things," Ratchet said nodding.
Ironhide sat back regarding Ratchet with warm optics. "You are the best thing I ever did for myself. I have never laughed as much or loved as much except with you. How could I ever want that to be put into danger."
"It won't happen."
"How can you know?"
"Because I say so," Ratchet said smirking. "Even the Pit would spit me back out."
"But the Matrix would take you," Ironhide said.
It was silent a moment. "When you were laying there in the snow in Denver, I thought you were dead. I felt such a tearing in my spark that I knew you were on your way. You stayed. I knew that it could always be that way for us. We're soldiers. But I don't have to like it and we don't have to let it rule us. I want a part of you running around with a part of me tearing up the world and showing the universe that Ironhide and Ratchet were here."
He sat regarding Ratchet, thinking how beautiful he truly was. There was nothing about Ratchet that he didn't love and when he came to their quarters and Ratchet wasn't there Ironhide didn't stay. It felt empty and cold, that spark, that comfort wasn't there. It was wherever Ratchet was. He had been separated many times from the gangling medico but never in his spark. They would always be one. He nodded. "I do too."
Ratchet smiled and rose holding out his servo. Ironhide rose and gripped it pulling Ratchet into his arms. They stood together swaying in the dark using night vision.
"Ratchet?"
"Hmm."
"Why the dark?"
"Romantic."
"Oh." Silence. "Wanna frag?"
"Thought you would never ask."
"I'm askin'.
=0
rowl's office
"This place is nuts."
"I think you should relax the house rules," Prowl said smiling. "I think getting the mechs out to the beach and obstacle course would be a reasonable concession."
"You're right. Buddy system."
Prowl nodded.
"Come sit on my lap a moment, buddy," Prime said grinning.
"Thought you would never ask."
=0=Ironhide and Ratchet's quarters five minutes later
Ironhide was out cold as a wedge. Buried under his bulk was a very much awake Ratchet. Nearly four tons of black metallic Autobot lay splayed over nearly five tons of yellow.
"Ironhide?"
Silence.
"Ironhide."
Silence.
"Frag."
=0=Over the Comm system internal and external
"The obstacle course and the beach will be open to general use starting now and until further notices. You must observe the buddy system at all times. The rules about fraternization with the human population are still in effect. There will be no confrontations. Any possibility of one arising you are ordered to walk away and report the incident to the officer of the day. Any further questions can be directed to Senior Autobot Officers. Prowl out."
"Well, that's an improvement." Sideswipe rose turning to the door. "I'm going for a spin. You coming?"
Sunstreaker finished his energon and rose. "Coming."
Hound and Trailbreaker sitting and declining watched them go. "I hope nothing happens. Sunny is still angry," Hound said.
"They slagged Bluestreak. I'd be angry too," Trailbreaker said relaxing his peds on Sideswipe's chair.
Hound nodded.
=0=Ironhide and Ratchet's quarters
"Ironhide?"
A groan came from the general direction of Ironhide's helm and Ratchet reached down and found the correct wire. He pinched it and Ironhide roused looking at Ratchet with a bleary optic. "What? What did you do that for?"
"You weigh a ton," Ratchet said irritated. "Can you move over a moment?"
Ironhide rolled over and relaxed on his back intensely glad to be back on the berth again. He glanced at Ratchet who was lying with his back to him facing the wall. Rolling on his side propping himself up on an elbow he stared down. "Ratchet?"
"Ironhide."
"What?"
"You finished the race without me, you big slagger."
"Oops," Ironhide said. "Uh, Ratchet Y it's been a while."
=0=Outside rolling to the beach
Sunstreaker and Sideswipe skated toward the tarmac where the jets were parked. Small vehicles drove here and there going about the business of running a military base. Here and there sitting out in the sun on their off time soldiers and airmen watched snapping pictures of them as they rolled along. Among them was a soldier who took lots pictures and checked them after the two had passed. He would be sending them to a new friend, Intel-Martin C.E.O. Kent.
There was a high paying future in store for him he thought. All it took was a bit of luck and he would have a career in security that actually paid a living wage. He leaned back on his deck chair and relaxed.
=0=Ironhide and Ratchet's quarters
"I'm sorry, Ratchet."
Silence.
"How about we try it again?"
Ratchet shifted and Ironhide smiled. "That's my best old mech."
Ratchet's arm flopped over laying nearly over his helm. He gripped it and held it up something tickling his nasal structure. It was an interface cord from a panel on Ratchet's wrist.
"Uh, Ratchet? I was hoping for something more substantial."
=0=At the beach
Sunstreaker and Sideswipe roared down the beach skating in a race to a pile of big boulders far down the length of the sandy expanse. The wind whistled past their audials as they tore up the sand flying at nearly 150 miles per hour.
The sun glinted on the ocean an almost incomprehensible sight to them when they first arrived. There were no expanses of water of any consequence on Cybertron. It took some getting used to. The beaches, they were fun to race on and they often would come and do it together.
They pulled up, Sunstreaker barely acing out Sideswipe and then turned and roared back again. They played and sparred, fencing and talking, being together as friends and brothers. They didn't see someone with a high-powered camera sitting on a hill top some distance away taking pictures and short videos of their antics. They were just two youngling soldiers having a good time together.
=0=Ironhide and Ratchet's quarters
"Uh, Ratchet? I was hoping for something more substantial."
Silence.
Then Ratchet plopped a leg over Ironhide. Ironhide glancing down and spotting Ratchet's yellow appendage smiled. "You know, if you throw a few more things over I can re-assemble you on this side."
Even Ratchet had to laugh.
=0=
TBC 2010 (11)
Chapter 45: Chapter 45
Note: On a number of occasions both in print and film, Autobots have discussed how good it is that they don't need to breathe air to live. Bumblebee has said it before in the cartoon. Mars has a thin atmosphere that will serve their needs reasonably well. And that is the position of the story. -The management
=0=And now back to the story in progress
The Diego Diaries: "One small step for mechs..."
=0=Late that night
They walked out quietly as if to stroll around the airfield for the night visiting with the Aerialbots and Cosmos who were parked for the night. In ones and twos they walked together, Wheeljack and Perceptor, Beachcomber, who had come a week earlier at the request of Prime, Ironhide, Sunstreaker and Prime himself.
They walked about the jets just like it was any other night and one by one they walked to Cosmos ducking inside. Silverbolt, scheduled to fly around the North Pole at the request of NASA was resting between the tower and Cosmos giving him cover with his bulk. When they were all on board Cosmos closed his hatch and lifted off ostensibly on his way to space for a reconn mission around the outer edge of the inner planetary ring.
Sitting together happily discussing the future of the new world they would be exploring for the next ten orns and the potential it could have to be the new home of their tragic people Prime sat back and felt a delight he hadn't felt in ages.
=0=Ratchet
He sat on the bench in front of the Autobot HQ and considered the future as he watched Cosmos lift off and fade away into the night sky. Above him shown the stars of the uinverse and some place faraway was the planet that had been his home and the location of all their memories, history and culture. He wondered upon it tonight. How was it on Cybertron? Was anyone still there? Would they ever be able to figure out a way to make the fading space bridges work again? Would someday from Mars, their New Cybertron, would they be able to go back and forth and have Cybertron be theirs once more as well? He didn't know. He just looked at the scanner in his servo.
Nothing.
They hadn't sparked.
Coolant pooled in his optics as he thought about the moment when they both could see that it hadn't happened.
-0-Earlier
They sat together in Ratchet's office, Ironhide watching the dejection on Ratchet's face. When the prank war began he knew Ratchet was serious and he knew that the idea of a sparkling wasn't a random thing. They had talked before, sometimes he thought because it was a way of talking a future into existence. They had been so close to the brink so many times that sometimes all they had were dreams and hopes.
But now they had some leeway and even though Ironhide wasn't convinced that things were safe enough to have sparklings around he knew as well that day might never truly come. So he was happy with the final decision. Ratchet would do the honors. All they had to do was make it happen.
And it hadn't.
He wondered what it was like to know better, to have no leeway to kid yourself. Ratchet was the best mechanical doctor Cybertron had ever produced. He could read the data and know. They had failed. He reached over and took Ratchet's servo. They sat together a long time without saying a word and when the call from Prime came he had arisen and they hugged tightly. He wanted to stay but he had to go and Ratchet knew it too. They had walked together parting at the hangar door.
Ironhide never looked back. Ever. It was too hard. He just walked forward moving toward a project that could possibly provide the first home they would have since the fall of Cybertron. And as he did he imagined sparklings playing there, his sparkling among them.
-0-Ratchet now
He drew back his disappointment as he considered his home world. Cybertron was barren and so was he. Then he gathered himself together and thought about it. First times among the younger set had not been so common. In fact, he tried to remember when he last saw or cared for a sparked genitor.
Another dagger in their collective hearts, the faded memories he recalled.
It pained him that it was so long ago. It was so far into the past that the youngling couples among them weren't even that interested in sparking their own. Hound and Trailblazer should have had sparklings of their own by now in a perfect world. On some world somewhere where it was perfect there should be a flock of sparklings ranging around in a healthy population this size. He felt his spark squeeze for his people.
Then he made up his mind that he would be the one and it would let the others see what they were missing. He would be the trailblazer, he and Ironhide. He resolved that. He looked up and wondered again. For Cybertron, for their people, for the youngling mechs surrounding him he would spark somehow.
Even if it killed Ironhide.
He smiled warmed at last.
=0=Far away, under the same stars
Starscream lay in recharge, the night sky above him shining with countless stars and galaxies. He was far from the skies of his home world and for a moment he let it circulate through him, the homesickness he felt. Then he pushed it aside considering the pictures he received from Diego Garcia. He smiled. Those horrendous twins were playing as if the threat wasn't still there for them. He didn't mind that they were lulled into laxness. It worked for him that they might think they could let down and relax.
He would try and ship weapons again leaving them with an intermediary arms dealer that was going to be in Alaska. He would try again to make trouble between the humans and the Autobots. It wasn't hard. Humans were hysterical and seemed to find fear a more natural state than reason.
He had made enough contacts and spread enough money around to find himself a hook into the paranoid world of neocon warmongerers and talking heads. He was now a welcomed addition to a number of exclusive listservs and mailing lists, his growing fortune finding entrance into the world of delusional theorists and the power elites. That he had merely 'transferred' money in dormant accounts in banks and investment houses all over the world into his own accounts with little trouble was of almost no consequence to him. He wanted what it brought, not the thing itself.
Starscream smirked shifting on his berth to allow more comfort to his wings. He knew that if the ones he courted had enough flattery and cash from him he could get them to embrace Unicron. Perhaps they already had. They were all weak, all stupid and all his.
Kent.
Daniels.
Galloway.
None of them would know who they were really dealing with until it was too late. By then he would have enough money from arms deals and drugs to make inroads into the real power, politics. Manipulate a lackey corporate owned media, buy enough politicians and find the appropriate public face for his machinations and the Autobots would be without a home on their benighted mud ball.
It comforted Starscream as he lay in repose watching the Milky Way turn on its axis as it floated silently through the universe.
=0=Mars
They circled the planet, Prime going over assignments with his team and Cosmos. There would be a host of things to do for the short time they would be here. They were landing in the Tharsis Volcanic Province, a place of great volcanic upheaval and the general area of the greatest volcanos on the planet including Olympus Mons, a shield volcano that lay at the western edge.
They were going to be looking for raw materials that would allow them to make structures and equipment as well as provide a source of energy for nuitrition. The technology to make other forms of energy into energon they had themselves. They just needed a place with the space and raw materials to make it in the quantities they would need to support their refugee populations all of whom waited for help in places all over the galaxy.
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with but a first step," Prime said looking at his mechs. "We have to do our best to find the best location to begin a colony. The volcanic regions are rife with raw materials. That is our goal, find the necessities of life and then work our afts off to make it happen."
They nodded and Prime rapped the bulkhead. Cosmos acknowledging began to descend toward the planet below. They sat and watched as the rusty red soil of Mars got closer and closer. When Cosmos settled the door opened and they stepped out, Prime first. He stood a moment looking out at the barely hospitable plain before himself. Then he stepped down, the surface dust pillowing around his ped like talcum powder.
Sunstreaker put a ped down sneering with distaste. "I never thought I would be homesick for Earth. At least you stand on ground when you walk. Usually."
"Mech up, youngling," Ironhide said stepping out and looking around. "This looks promising. I can see iron laying on the surface."
Prime bent down and picked up a meteor which was laying on the surface like a big stone. He raised it and hefted it in his hand. "Good start," he said with a smile. Looking around he shook his head. "You'll have to use your imagination a little for now."
=0=
TBC c2010 (11)
Chapter 46: Chapter 46
The Diego Diaries: "... one giant leap for Mechkind."
=0=Mars
They scouted the plain finding on the ground in some places necessary minerals and raw materials to work into the endless necessities that living in an off world colony with eventually a civilian population would entail. The effects of endless eons of wind erosion had polished the ground and hills exposing a basalt basic structure and endless masses of ores.
They had gathered together listening to the first impressions Beachcomber could supply without a more detailed analysis. The geologist was impressed. "We won't have to excavate a lot of what we need to fabricate shelters and gun installations. We can scoop it up and take it to a smelter with minimal effort."
Prime nodded looking around the endless plain to the massive form of Olympus Mons in the distance. "Then we need to mark off an area in which we're going to lay down the initial settlement. We have to make the area safe for us before we can risk anyone else. We need to put out sensors on the mountains, spread them all around the planet and link them together. We also need to build underground first. If the Decepticons are going to attack us and they will we need to be in a more hardened condition than we would be above ground for now."
They split up in teams working out the logistics of moving a refinery to the site, how they would dig downward and how they would defend their territory against invaders from space. By the time they had to leave their plans were set. It would take stealth on their part and endless effort as well to make it happen and keep it secret.
The ride back on Cosmos was sobering. But there wasn't a mech that wasn't ready for a home of their own at last.
=0
iego Garcia
They wandered back ones and twos making their way to the HQ drawing no attention to themselves as they walked in. Sunstreaker tapped his brother and jerked his head toward the living areas, Sideswipe jumping up and following him. Prime went to Ops Center to catch up and spend a moment or two with Prowl. The scientists walked together talking softly as they made their way to Wheeljack's lab a happy Beachcomber in tow.
Ironhide watched them go and walked onward, Medbay looming in his optics. When he left Ratchet they had been sad and Ratchet was very low. He hadn't looked back as he walked to the jet. He never did or he couldn't go. He wondered as he walked to the door of Medbay what shape Ratchet would be. Stepping inside, afraid to open his bond for fear of what he might find he spotted First Aid. "Psst."
First Aid working on some samples of viruses that humans wanted to have help with startled. He juggled a petrie dish in his servos until he caught it turning and seeing Ironhide in the doorway. He felt the walls closing in as he considered what form of madness would befall him now. "What, Ironhide."
"Shh." Ironhide gestured for him to come to the doorway.
"Ratchet isn't here."
Ironhide paused, frowning. "He isn't?
"No."
Ironhide walked inside and pulled up a chair next to First Aid ignoring how nervous the younger mech became.
"You aren't going to draw me into your crazy are you? he asked.
Ironhide shook his head. "We have a truce."
"Oh."
"I want to know how Ratchet is?"
First Aid frowned. "You don't know?"
"I just got back," Ironhide said.
"You should know. Open your bond up," First Aid began.
"I would but I don't want to disturb Ratchet for a moment," Ironhide said knowing it sounded lame to him too but it was the best he had at the moment.
"You're still prank warring and you're afraid to go home."
"We have a truce and I'm Y uh, I'm just getting intel. Tell me how Ratchet was today and why he's not here. His shift isn't over is it?"
"No," First Aid said shaking his helm. "He was quiet and didn't say much like he was depressed." He paused. "You two aren't Y?"
"What?" Ironhide asked sitting up straighter.
"You know Y?"
"No. I don't know. What have you heard?" Ironhide asked slightly offended.
"That you're both certifiable," First Aid retorted.
"Besides that."
"Nothing. What have you heard?" First Aid asked nervously.
"Nothing. That's why I'm asking you," Ironhide replied earnestly.
"I don't know nothing. You shouldn't ask me. No one tells me nothing. I am the last one to know anything. Ask me."
"I just did, First Aid. I asked you what you heard and you said nothing."
"See?" First Aid concluded.
They sat staring at each other and then Ironhide arose nodding as he walked to the door and outside. First Aid watched him go and shook his helm. "Those two are going to kill me."
Ironhide walked up the hallway toward the quarters section of the facility. /... there's a screw loose in that one Y can't get a straight word out of him Y don't know how Ratchet does it.../ He paused in front of his door opening up the bond in the most minute manner and waited. He didn't feel a thing beyond a warmth that was always part of Ratchet. He squared his shoulders, rose his full 25 feet and opened the door.
A yellow hand reached out gripped his arm and he vanished inside. Down the hallway carrying his gear and chatting with Sideswipe Sunstreaker paused. "Did you see what I saw?"
Sideswipe glanced at him and then down the hallway. "No. What did you see?"
"An arm. A yellow arm reached out of Ironhide's quarters and grabbed him. He got yanked off his peds. His peds actually left the ground."
They stood staring down the hallway and then Sideswipe smiled. "I wonder what they're doing in there."
Sunstreaker choked and looked at his brother with a wicked optic. "You worry me, Sideswipe. Sometimes you really do."
Sideswipe snorted and shoved his brother forward. "Look who's talking." They continued down the hallway.
=0=Ops Center
Prime entered the command center pausing and looking for Prowl. He was standing by Jazz leaning forward one servo propped on the console while listening. His body was curved, an elegant pose and the long line of his leg was entrancing. His door wings were held at normal height, a slight flutter in their movement told him of Prowl's attitude and attentiveness. He hadn't sensed Prime yet and so he opened the bond catching the shining expression on Prowl's face as he straightened and turned looking at Prime.
A small smile for him alone graced Prowl's face and Prime felt a warmth in his spark that he had come to count upon. Prowl walked toward him inevitable datapad in hand and paused grinning up at him. "You look dusty."
"You look beautiful," Prime replied smiling.
Prowl smiled a small intimate thing and squeezed Prime's servo. "How was it?"
"We have a layout and we're going to dig the underground habitations next."
Prowl nodded. "You'll have to fill me in so I can help you."
"You do," Prime said whispering. "In every way."
Prowl smiled an altogether beautiful thing.
"I'm going to the wash racks. I'll see you shortly," Prime said squeezing Prowl's servo.
Prowl nodded and watched him turn walking out of the door. He stood a moment savoring the joy of his life and then turned walking back to Teletraan II once more.
=0=Ironhide v Ratchet
He lay on his back, a big yellow medico leaning over him straddling his chassis kissing him with gusto. He stared into Ratchet's optics. They were closed and absorbed in the moment. He decided it would be churlish of himself not to join in and so he off-lined his optics gripping Ratchet's aft. When Ratchet broke the kiss he looked at Ironhide with a slightly feral gleam in his optics. "Glad to see you, Ironhide."
He swallowed.
=0=At Medbay
First Aid sat pondering the vagaries of the world as he knew it. The saga of Ironhide and Ratchet was one of those things. How he had managed to live through the previous prank wars he didn't know. They didn't come very often but they seldom lasted this long. This one was collecting collateral damage himself included and he wondered how it would end.
Ratchet had been quiet and withdrawn in the morning but then he had changed gathering himself together. The old Ratchet had spent the next few hours doing his job scattering goof offs with his acerbic commentary and generally being himself. A half a joor before Cosmos landed he had left. Where, First Aid could only guess. And only guess is what he wanted. One could get hurt in the blow back of Ratchet v Ironhide. With a shudder, he bent to his work again.
=0=Ironhide v Ratchet
"Ah ha!"
Ratchet lay on his back, his servos pinned by his Only One and he considered his options. He could arch up and by his greater bulk, er, design advantages he could bound Ironhide into the wall and then straddle HIS chassis for dominance. He grinned, a deeply frightening sight to Ironhide who straddled Ratchet after a very short and deeply contested struggle. "You're giving me a gimlet eye, Ratchet."
Ratchet snorted grinning broadly. "I can give you a number of other things, Ironhide. Let me show you."
Ironhide stared into Ratchet's optics, the 'windows to the spark' or some such slag according to Cosmopolitan Magazine. His forays through the vagaries of human sexual manipulation had nothing on the sheer slap and tickle of Ratchet. Yes, subtlety wasn't a strong suit of either one of them he considered with a grin. "Let me show you a few things, ba-bee," he said chuckling, leaning down and nibbling on Ratchet's neck.
Ratchet relaxed allowing Ironhide to lower his guard. Then Ironhide bounded off the wall as Ratchet arched up throwing him sideways. Ratchet rolled off the berth allowing Ironhide to face plant himself and then leaped landing on him pressing him down. "You never learn, ba-bee."
Ironhide grinning peered up at Ratchet who straddled him, his digits tracing soothing lines down Ironhide's back plates. "You win round one. But the game is not over."
"No," Ratchet said smiling. He leaned down and slipped his fingers into the seams of Ironhide's armor generating a small burst of electrical energy.
Ironhide's arm twitched involuntarily and he grinned. "You wench."
pause. access. wench, noun. download. access terminated.
"Wench."
"Seemed reasonable."
Ratchet grinned. "Was Mars good?"
"Better than good. Prime is a wonder. We just might have a new home, Ratchet."
"Then we need new mechs. We need a sparkling."
"We do," Ironhide said feeling himself drifting in a sea of electrically charged pleasure where there weren't any problems or pressures.
Then Ratchet leaned down on him. "Now."
He smiled anyway.
=0=
TBC 2010 (11)
The Diego Diaries: "In praise of yellow aft slaggers"
=0=Medbay, midafternoon the next day
"Ratchet."
"I'm busy."
"Ratchet?"
"What?"
"I want to talk to you. I want to see your pretty optics when I speak."
Pause.
"Ratchet?"
Silence.
/...slag.../ "RATCHET! I HAVE A Y A TERRIBLE PAIN!"
The sound of peds running and a yellow streak bursting from around the corner broke the silence of Medbay and when Ratchet stopped before Ironhide, optics surging with fright Ironhide had the good grace to feel bad.
Then he had a pain.
"You punched me!"
"You deserved it, you slagger! What the FRAG are you doing saying something like that to me when I pasted your carcass back together twice in less than a month? I should give you something worse to whine about but then I'D HAVE TO PUT YOU BACK TOGETHER AGAIN!"
A huffing yellow aft medico mumbling to himself left the room and Ironhide rubbing his servo from where he was rapped lay his helm back and stared at the ceiling.
"Ratchet."
The sound of peds marching down the corridor and walking into Medbay only put a small crimp in his audacity. Ironhide had the time and opportunity to be a spectacular aft and he was determined to use them. Anything was fair in love and war and he wanted out of the Medbay. Ratchet marched to the medberth, parked his servos on his hip assemblies and glared. He glared that glare that Dared Not Speak Its Name. "WHAT!"
Ironhide, quashing a comedic retort smiled. "How about finishing up those negotiations? I've got the time."
"You think I do?" Ratchet said relaxing a tiny bit and crossing his arms over his chassis.
"Why not? You run this place. Delegate."
Ratchet felt a smirk forming on his faceplates. He quashed it ruthlessly moving to lean against the medberth. He reached out and traced the glyphs along Ironhide's arm, the ones that spoke about his family and his home in Praxus, a home that no longer existed. "So, you want to negotiate?"
Ironhide looked at Ratchet wariness in every molecule of his being. "You want an end to the war. I want one. You need a good 'face. I sure need one."
"You saying I'm what? Cranky?" Hard blue optics peered down into his.
"I'm saying ..." /... what the slag am I saying?.../ "I just think it's about time you and I made peace."
"And then what, Ironhide?" Ratchet said leaning down to nuzzle Ironhide's chin. He kissed a line along Ironhide's jaw and then rose tracing a digit along Ironhide's finials.
The flow of sensations that hit Ironhide in the place where Nothing Has Been Happening For A While made him swallow. "I thought that you and I could Y get intimate."
Something in Ratchet purred, something that was weak willed and benevolent took those words and hugged them like the fuzzy kittens they were. Something in him wanted to throw Ironhide down and have its way. Then the something that was polished into a hardness that even diamonds couldn't trump, that part of him that had sparred with Ironhide for a zillion years asserted itself. "What are you going to give me?"
A smirk formed on Ironhide's lips and his optics glowed with humor. "A damned fine shag."
pause. access. shag, verb. download. access terminated.
Ratchet grinned at Ironhide. "You've been hanging out with Graham too much."
"And you look tense. I think I have the cure for that," Ironhide said kissing Ratchet's servo. He kissed up Ratchet's arm and then back down again, his twinkling optics and waggling optic ridges almost, ALMOST making the medic laugh aloud. He merely redirected the outburst to a file in his cybertronic brain stem. Somewhere in Ratchet's helm a good laugh was going on but it never reached his lip plates.
"You broke a lot of superstructure. You aren't in any shape for a shag or a frag or any other combination thereof."
"I'm a danger mech, Ratchet. We take a lickin' and keep on tickin'."
pause. Access. lickin', tickin'. download. access terminated.
Ratchet smirked. "Is that so."
"Damned straight."
Nothing.
"Hoo-ah?"
Nothing.
"Oh please, Ratchet. Have some mercy here. I'm going off my processor."
Ratchet leaned down and kissed Ironhide stilling his whining. He stood back up glancing at the screens above Ironhide. "You are such a little sparkling."
Silence.
"I never said I didn't want a sparkling. We even decided on it being a mech. And the color. Don't forget he's black."
"You said red."
"I had a dream once, Ratchet, that I was a red van and talked like a Y" access. Regional accents, US. acquire. access terminated. "Like a dumb aft."
"A red van?" Ratchet said looking disgusted. "I don't think I would have dated you if you were a van, Ironhide. I have my image to think of."
"You were in the dream and you were a really sexy medic. White with red servos and a grey chevron on your helm. You had red crosses on your chassis and I thought you were one sexy alt vehicle."
"You saw this in a dream? Were you over-energized?"
"Sober as Prime," Ironhide said.
"Did we 'face? In your dream? In that alt mode? I mean, Ironhide, a van? Was it a mini van?" Rachet said folding his arms and leaning against the medberth.
"Do you really think this chassis can form a mini-van?" Ironhide said with a frown.
"I don't know. I'm not arroused by a mom car."
"You had to see it. I was a mech's mech," Ironhide said smiling. "You thought I was sexy."
"I did?" Ratchet said smiling. "What the frag was wrong with me?" He chuckled. "You know I like my mechs on the big side."
Ironhide smirked. "And they don't come bigger than me, Ratch."
"Prime," Ratchet began. "Then there's Springer, Ultra Magnus and you can't forget Omega Supreme."
Ironhide frowned faking extreme upset. "Here I am pouring out my dreams to you and you're slagging me."
"Ah," Ratchet said faking sympathy, patting Ironhide's servos. "There, there. I'm not bonded with them, although they are pretty sexy."
"Prime and Magnus are only three feet taller than me and I'm the same height as Springer."
"He is rather sexy, Springer," Ratchet said smirking. "He is after all called Y Springer."
Ironhide couldn't hide his consternation. "So, you're looking at other mechs are ya?"
"I'm bonded, Ironhide. Not dead," Ratchet said leaning down and kissing Ironhide's pouty lips. "You don't look at other mechs or femmes? Even in your dream?"
"I think I was having an affair with Chromia. And Arcee too maybe. I can't remember," Ironhide said frowning slightly.
"You're a femme chaser then," Ratchet said moving to sit on the edge of the berth.
"In my dreams," Ironhide said, "but I spent a lot of time with you. I think you were really good lookin', Ratchet. White looks good on you."
"I'll remember that next time I'm in your dreams," Ratchet said, smirking.
They looked at each other content to sit together.
"You're not going to let me out of here."
"No."
"I'll raise the wrath of Unicron if you don't."
"I have a new wrench."
"You are one violent old fragger."
"I learned from the master."
"You did. Ratchet?"
"Yes, Ironhide?"
He glanced here and there, then he looked at Ratchet. "I love you."
Ratchet looked at him feeling the surge of his love and appreciation rising through their bond. His spark squeezed and he surged back to Ironhide. "I love you back, Ironhide."
It was silent a moment.
"Ratchet?"
"What, Ironhide?"
"When I get out of here?"
"Yes?"
"Do I get to sleep on the berth with ya?"
Long pause. Smirk and a shake of the helm. "We'll see."
Ratchet got up and walked to the lab leaving Ironhide alone. He lay on the berth, a smirk growing on his faceplates. /... putty in my hands Y you yellow aft slagger.../
=0=
TBC 2010 (11)
Chapter 42: Chapter 42
The Diego Diaries: The Investigation
=0=Epps and Lennox
They gave their testimony explaining that they were walking between the hangars and had a clear view of the SUV as it careened around the corner, turning hard and throwing a spray of dirt into the air. They paused watching as the three men inside hooted and hollered. Then they saw it accelerate and drive off at top speed careening around the corner again and back across the tarmac in front of the Autobot HQ. They ran, hurrying to the corner, dread in their heart for the challenge it obviously was to the Autobots themselves. As they ran they had almost reached the corner when the collision rang out, the sound echoing all over the area.
They were able to ascertain the following facts:
a. They did not see the actual collision but they did see Ironhide fall on his back, arms flung out and Springer sliding in to catch his helm.
b. They did not see the car spin in the air but saw it land in a bouncing heap, the mercs inside flying around due to the event.
c. They said they saw Ironhide raise up roaring with rage and then fall back again, Springer holding him down with a servo. They said that everyone froze for a moment and then everyone ran outside including more than 20 Autobots arms drawn circling Ironhide.
They saw the scene both during and after the wreckage and injured were pulled away. There were no skid marks, no indication in physical evidence that the driver tried to stop or swerve. Ironhide had the right of way at the moment and the driver ignored a pedestrian crossing an open space with pedestrian regulations for drivers well posted and observed base wide.
e. It was their belief that the driver and passengers appeared to be impaired and that they were acting in an irresponsible manner behind the wheel of a vehicle that was unique in design and use therefore making it even more imperative that care be taken in operating it.
They had separate depositions and left walking outside to stand in the midafternoon sun together. Graham, who had not been in Diego at the time turned staring at the flight line near by. Parked in their usual spaces recharging, he thought about the Aerialbots. "Do you suppose the Aerialbots saw what happened?"
Lennox looked down the common area to the field beyond where jets were parked close to each other and nodded. "Silverbolt wasn't here but the other three Y they had a straight on shot of the whole thing."
They stood a moment then started toward them. The sun was glinting off their alt forms and they were lethal and beautiful. They stood a moment uncertain and then Epps walked up to one of the two F-15 Strike Eagles and tapped on the gear strut. Nothing happened. Then he did it again. As they waited, a transformational sound occurred and they turned seeing a large Autobot kneeling down staring at them. It was huge, black, red, white and staring at them curiously. "May I be of help?" it asked.
They looked at him, then the jet they were trying to awaken and then back again. Lennox swallowed. "This jet is Y uh, just a jet isn't it."
The Aerialbot smiled. "Yes."
They stared at each other feeling slightly foolish and then they turned and looked up at the bot before him. "I am Will Lennox and this is Bobby Epps and Niall Graham."
The bot nodded. "You are N.E.S.T soldiers."
They nodded.
"You are the ones that aren't idiots. Like those humans that drove into Ironhide," he said.
"You saw that?" Epps asked.
"We saw it. I saw it the best," the bot said. "I am Sky Dive."
They nodded. "I was wondering if you could tell what you saw to the investigators," Graham asked. "We think the more individuals that can say what happened the less likely the company they work for will be able to make trouble here."
"If Prime wants me to I will," Sky Dive said. He considered them. "Why did he do that?"
Epps shrugged. "Because he was a fool and had no respect."
Sky Dive nodded. "I will tell Prime that you asked."
They nodded and the big bot rose turning and walking toward the Autobot complex.
"It never gets old," Epps said staring at the retreating figure. The others only nodded.
=0=Medbay
He stood holding up one leg. Ratchet squatted on his peds his optics staring intently at Ironhide's rear locking clamp.
"Say when, Ratchet."
"I will."
"Now?" he asked hopefully.
"No."
=0=Jazz and Mirage
"Look at this," Jazz said pulling up a number of e-mails. "It appears that our mole is a soldier and they work in the Administrative building."
Mirage nodded. "Should I go eavesdrop?"
"I think it would be a good idea," Jazz said scrolling through a long list of e-mails. Mirage was almost to the door when Jazz called out for him to come back. He did and sat again, waiting. "Look at this, Mirage."
He read the e-mail and smiled. "High-Flyer," he said, shaking his head. "Our mole is corresponding with High-Flyer directly now."
=0=Medbay
"Can I go now?"
"No."
=0=Mirage and Jazz
A screen showing the routing of electronic correspondence glowed with a red line tracing the path of the mole's emails through any number of servers, ending up at the First-Strike-Warriors bulletin board at the HQ of Intel-Martin. It also showed an anonymous emailer who was using a web-based temp account with a disposable email. A search of that server showed that High-Flyer was using it as their primary account sending emails to the bulletin board and now Jazz found directly to the mole by a convoluted but essentially untraceable ghost account at Intel-Martin.
"Screamer has changed his tactic. He isn't waiting for the mole to post on the bulletin board. He's using direct contact to get what he wants."
"Who would write to an anonymous emailer if you were a deep down mole in an organization with rules against such activity like the U.S. Military?" Mirage mused.
"An anonymous emailer who was using someone else's account and posing as them," Jazz replied grinning. "Check out who Starscream is posing as."
Mirage followed the line from Intel-Martin where it began and when it deadended into the anonymous account the name brought a smile. "William Kent, President and CEO of Intel-Martin."
"Screamer is accessing his account to ghost messages out through the Intel-Martin servers but he has an intercept on any incoming from the mole so that it reaches his anonymous account and never shows up in the Intel-Martin logins and databases," Jazz said. "With this system, as high tech as they think it is, it didn't take much for Starscream to re-route his own messages and the replies. Kent wouldn't know it was happening and there would be no traceable evidence left behind. At least as far as their level of technology will detect."
"Let's open his account and check it out," Mirage said. "Of course, you can hack it so Starscream won't know," he asked glancing at Jazz pointedly.
"Piece of cake," Jazz said with a chuckle.
=0=Medbay
"Sit down."
"I have. For orns."
"A breem or two more won't hurt."
"It will."
"Big sparkling."
"Let me outa here, you slagger. I have to be free."
"Big femme."
"You can't keep me cooped up. I was born to be wild."
"You were born to be wild? Since when?"
Pause. "Well, I was before I bonded with you, you yellow aft slagger."
"Bonding with me was the best thing you ever did, you big heap of slag."
"Don't confuse the issue. You know you got the best of the deal when I agreed to bond with you, Ratchet."
"Oh really. How did that come to your addled processor? Who else would put up with you, you big aft?"
Pause.
"Well?"
"I'm thinking."
=0=Wheeljack and Perceptor
"There are no skid marks. There is no attempt to try to stop. They aimed at him and they hit him."
"I've been doing research, 'Jack, on collisions and impairment by artificial means is a big factor in the greatest percentage of crashes and fatalities."
"They were drunk," Wheeljack said smiling at his more precise and more scholarly friend. "Prime told me about a game called 'chicken'."
"I will look that up."
"Thank you, Perceptor. Now take a look at the construction of this vehicle. It has a steel shell that fits over the entire body of the vehicle. It has a 382 horsepower engine and can exceed 200 miles per hour. It was designed to protect the passengers and so getaway speed is essential. Mercedes Benz builds fast acceleration and speed into their cars as a stock item. This car was boosted in all areas.
"It has firewalls and the capacity to defeat anti-personnel grenades and high powered rifle fire earning it a 'full metal jacket' rating, apparently the highest for armored cars. It is hardened both above and below, armored in the wheel wells, roof and floor. There are side-bars which aid in protection but also add weight and brace the frame when it hits something. Everything is protected from fuel tanks, batteries and glass. All-in-all, it is a weapon used in the right manner. And it weighs nearly eight tons with its adapted features."
"It was going at least 100 miles per hour and perhaps more," Perceptor said. "It is difficult to be precise because there were no road marks to use in calculations but I would say 100-110 miles per hour at collision. Megatron weighs nearly six tons. This truck weighed more than Megatron at nearly eight. It was a fortuitous set of circumstances that toppled Ironhide.
Interesting."
"Indeed," Wheeljack said in agreement.
=0=Medbay
"Well?"
"I'm still thinking."
Ratchet grinned looking at Ironhide as he so cutely grasped at straws. "You are the biggest sparkling I ever saw."
"You letting me out of here?" he asked grinning in spite of himself.
"I should leave you here for the entertainment value but I will let you out. However Y you are off duty for a decaorn and I won't be swayed."
"Not even by the sexy?" Ironhide said rising and grinning as he pulled Ratchet into his arms.
Ratchet smirked slipping his arms around Ironhide's shoulders. "You think you're a real lothario."
pause. access. lothario, noun. aquire. acess terminated.
"Good enough term if a little stupid sounding to me," he said leaning in and nibbling on Ratchet's neck.
Ratchet let him, the attention long overdue and then he pushed back grinning at Ironhide. "Negotiations are not complete. There are also the penalties to be exacted for getting paint all over me and breaking the rules of no 'facing during wartime. And I suppose I can think of a few other things if I try."
"Go ahead. You know I win in the end."
"Says you?"
"Says me," he said leaning in and kissing Ratchet hard on the mouth. "I'm going out there and cut a wide swath. See ya later." With that he turned and swaggered toward the door.
Ratchet watched him and then called out. "Hey, lothario."
"What?" he asked pausing in the doorway and looking back a grin of great triumph on his faceplates.
"No one is allowed out of the building. Prime's orders."
"Slag."
=0=
TBC 2010 (11)
Chapter 43: Chapter 43
The Diego Diaries: "Home is Y over there."
=0=In the conference room off Ops Center later that afternoon
They stood huddled around the table looking at the plans that Prime had laid out. He had called the senior Autobots to the meeting finally deciding in light of all that was happening that it was time to discuss what he had come to see as the only solution to their tenuous residence on Earth.
Perceptor and Wheeljack were speechless standing together as they perused the schematics of Prime's dream. Prowl stood beside Prime watching and waiting for questions. He had been over the entire format three times that morning alone and he was ready with counter arguments if there were any.
There wasn't.
Ironhide musing over the step by step process involved glanced at Prime who was sitting in a chair silently watching. "You are going to need a few scouting parties. I think a review of sites is in order. Even though you picked some good places no one has been there to look things over yet."
Prime agreed. "We will send out scientific teams with security to explore the feasibility of the sites I have chosen. If they don't meet our needs we can then go from there."
"Then we better get going," Wheeljack said smiling at Prime. "This is going to be a real challenge. Our people will have a place to come. We can be a people again."
The comment gave everyone pause and then they bent their heads together working out the plan for exploration, site identification for resources they could use and the effort they would have to expend to make sure no humans got even an accidental heads up on what they were going to do.
=0=Medbay, a little later
"And that is what Prime wants to do," Ironhide explained.
Ratchet unable to go to the meeting due to a taped deposition about Ironhide's injuries nodded. "That would be almost too much to hope for, Ironhide. Think of it. Our sparkling could be the first sparkling born there. You would make the history books."
Ironhide snorted. "I see you're still in your delusional phase."
"A mech can try." Ratchet smiled and crossed his arms looking at Ironhide with a calculating expression. "You know, you haven't 'faced for more than 60 cycles. Two months as the humans say. How's that working out for you?"
"I'm managing." Ironhide smirked. "You know I've gone longer than that during the fall of Iacon."
"We need to hold negotiations tonight."
"You're wearing down?" Ironhide asked with a snort.
"No," Ratchet said moving closer to Ironhide giving him a smoldering optic. "Prime's plans change everything."
For a moment Ironhide basked in Ratchet's smoldering optic and then he stepped back wary as ever. "You can give me your gimlet eye, Ratchet, but it won't change a thing."
pause. Access. Gimlet, ?. Beep. Warning... access shutting down...
"Okay, give me a clue here. Gimlet as in a drink? As in surface-to-air missile? Or am I to take it that you just referred to my optic as a drill that makes tiny little holes?"
Ironhide, his own optics twirling paused. "I heard a soldier refer to someone as having a gimlet eye."
"A gimlet eye," Ratchet referred quashing a smirk. "You hang out with the soldiers too much."
"Well, considering you put a padlock on your privates it makes it hard to hang out with you."
"So you only want me for my chassis?" Ratchet said, feigning hurt and casting a gimlet optic at his big hulking Only One.
"And a few other parts too," Ironhide said with a smirk. "Not that I can really remember them. Maybe I better borrow one of your medpads and catch up on such things."
"I would prefer to show you," Ratchet said slipping his arms around Ironhide's neck and leaning in for a kiss. They kissed a moment, Ironhide moving forward and pressing Ratchet into the wall.
"I would too," He said giving Ratchet his own gimlet optic. "How about you and me making the sexy and calling it a good faith gesture to future negotiations?"
"How about you and me making a sparkling. Now."
Ironhide paused, looking closely at Ratchet's faceplates looking for the tel. "Now?"
"Now."
"Negotiations..."
"Can be had afterward."
Pause.
"Ratchet, I have to ask something."
"Ask." Kiss.
"Well, you have this idea..."
"Yes?" Kiss. Kiss.
"That I would carry."
Pause.
"Continue."
"I don't mind carrying..."
"WHAT!" Two BIG gimlet optics fixed on two optics that suddenly lost the will to live.
"Ratchet!" Ironhide's voice disappeared under a nearly five ton yellow hug as Ratchet grabbed him and squeezed so hard he could almost feel the impressions of the digits on his helm. Ratchet kissed him deeply and smiled. "I'll get the berth ready. Come right away, Ironhide."
With that Ratchet turned and ran out the door of the Medbay. Ironhide mentally counting his fingers turned and looked at the door, the one that led to 'he who must be avoided at all cost now' and finally finished his sentence. "... a sparkling after you have it."
He shuddered. Life had taken a nosedive and he was being dragged by a ped directly into the Pit.
"Slag."
=0=On the way to his quarters
"Hey, Ironhide!"
He turned and waited as Jazz caught up with him. "What's up with Ratchet?"
A wary optic fastened on Jazz. "What do you mean?"
"He was Y bounding Y hopping and saying 'I win! I win!" Jazz smiled. "What exactly did he win?"
Ironhide shifting from ped to ped stared at him with optics as big as dinner plates. "Nothing. I don't know. Don't ask me. I don't know nothing about bond mates. I don't know nothing about nothing." Then he turned and walked as fast as he could to his quarters.
=0=In the rec room
"I saw Ratchet practically doing cartwheels down the hallway just now," Jazz said sitting with the twins and Hound.
"I don't know what it means," Hound said shaking his head. "Sometimes those two scare me."
=0=In the hallway to the arsenal
"Did you hear about Ratchet? He ran to his room screaming. I think he's lost his mind at last. Ironhide would do that to a mech."
"Really? I thought they were crazy for each other."
"I think they're just crazy."
=0=Near the hangar door to the complex
"Here's your energon. Did you hear that Ironhide made Ratchet cry? He ran down to their quarters."
"What? I don't believe that."
"Believe it. Someone who saw him said they saw it. Real tears."
=0=In the Ops Center
"What?"
"Yes."
"Oh no. Ironhide is going to die? I thought his injuries weren't that awful."
"Ratchet was crying. He ran through the hall and barricaded himself into his quarters. Prime is as low as it gets."
=0=Outside Ops Center
"I'm sorry, sir."
"Sorry?" –Prime
"Yes. My condolences. I just found out."
"Found out? Condolences?" –Prime
I have to go. I can't talk."
"What?" –Prime
=0=In the hallway near to the indoor workout space
"I don't know what we're going to do. When a bondmate goes the other follows."
"This is terrible. Think about it. No doctor, no weapons specialist."
"I wonder what that means to the seniority list?"
=0=In Prowl's office
"I don't know. I was just told. What are they talking about?" –Prime
"I don't know. I'll ask." –Prowl
=0=In the hallway
"Jazz, what is going on?"
"What?"
=0=Ironhide, outside Ironhide and Ratchet's quarters
"Hide? I'm so sorry?"
"About what?" –Ironhide
"Yeah. We didn't know. I don't know what to say. But I want you to know you aren't alone."
"What?" –Ironhide
"I won't keep you. I understand that time is short. But remember, you will never be forgotten."
"What?" -Ironhide.
=0=Walking to the rec room
"I don't understand a thing today." –Prime
"I am sure there's a logical reason for all of this." –Prowl
=0=Outside Ironhide and Ratchet's quarters
He paused fearing to open the door and fearing not too. The crazy was as deep outside as he was sure it was inside. He had no home to go to no matter which direction he turned. And he turned. At the end of the corridor standing in a quiet knot five Autobots stared at him their faceplates betraying intense emotion. One of them raised his servo and waved gently at him. He paused and then raised his own servo waving back. For a moment he was immobile and then without a backward glance, his processor spinning, he opened the door and stepped inside preferring the Doom of Ratchet to the dumb outside the door.
=0=
TB c2010 (11)
Chapter 44: Chapter 44
The Diego Diaries: "So... what about it?"
=0=In Prowl's Office
Prime sat on Prowl's chair staring at the door. Prowl had gone ahead seeking clarification to the wild rumors of Ratchet's insanity and Ironhide's impending death. It had made his processor spin and so as not to receive any more condolences for the imminent passing of his oldest friend he sat in the chair in a quiet room during a peaceful moment in an otherwise crazy day.
Outside, a world that needed them buzzed hot and cold on their presence. His people were trapped inside a building that was their only home ground so far. He was gathering more and more to their protection and the networks in space beyond were passing word. Prime and our soldiers have been found. They have been found. Prime will show us the way now.
He had found the burden exhausting before when he had shouldered it alone. But now he had Prowl. That had made the complete difference. He was happy at last even if things were hard, difficult and even stupid. He had survived worse experiences than billionaires who liked to play soldier boys and xenophobes who spewed their opinions on cable tv.
He had a idea and enough resources and expertise among his soldiers to make a plan for their safety and prosperity elsewhere while at the same time being able to protect the Earth and her people. After all, as far as he could ascertain even with pretensions, no one on Earth truly owned Mars.
The door opened and Prowl entered closing it behind him. He shook his head. "Do you want the whole convoluted story or just the cliff notes."
pause. access. cliff notes, noun. acquired. download. access terminated.
"Which ever one has the most laughs," he said holding out his hand.
Prowl took it and leaned down kissing Optimus softly. "They both do."
Prime smiled.
=0=Ironhide and Ratchet's quarters
It was dark inside and he switched to night vision. Sitting in a chair sipping a glass of high grade Ratchet sat waiting. He paused uncertain what to do and then walked over taking a seat across from his Only One. "It's dark and you're drinking. You confound me."
Ratchet grinned and sat the glass down pushing it over to Ironhide. Ironhide took it and finished it off. They sat together looking at each other with night vision. Then Ratchet leaned forward. "I know something."
Ironhide considered the potential of the statement and decided you only die once. "What do you know, Ratchet?"
"I know that you would never do this thing," Ratchet said. He grinned. "I know it isn't you."
Ironhide nodded. "I would give you my right arm, Ratchet."
"You have. A couple of times."
They both snorted. Ratchet grinned at him. "You're the best old mech I know."
Ironhide smiled and reached out squeezing Ratchet's servo. "You know how I feel about you. I'm not the best with words. I hope you know by what I do."
"I do," Ratchet said warmly, squeezing him back. "I just need to know if you want this too. And if you do would you do it now or wait some more."
Ironhide looked at Ratchet a long time and then he leaned forward taking Ratchet's servo in his own. "I want this too. I also don't want anything to happen to you if we do. We're not younglings."
"But we're not old either, not really. I looked it up."
Ironhide snorted laughing for a moment. "Your datapads?"
"Among other things," Ratchet said nodding.
Ironhide sat back regarding Ratchet with warm optics. "You are the best thing I ever did for myself. I have never laughed as much or loved as much except with you. How could I ever want that to be put into danger."
"It won't happen."
"How can you know?"
"Because I say so," Ratchet said smirking. "Even the Pit would spit me back out."
"But the Matrix would take you," Ironhide said.
It was silent a moment. "When you were laying there in the snow in Denver, I thought you were dead. I felt such a tearing in my spark that I knew you were on your way. You stayed. I knew that it could always be that way for us. We're soldiers. But I don't have to like it and we don't have to let it rule us. I want a part of you running around with a part of me tearing up the world and showing the universe that Ironhide and Ratchet were here."
He sat regarding Ratchet, thinking how beautiful he truly was. There was nothing about Ratchet that he didn't love and when he came to their quarters and Ratchet wasn't there Ironhide didn't stay. It felt empty and cold, that spark, that comfort wasn't there. It was wherever Ratchet was. He had been separated many times from the gangling medico but never in his spark. They would always be one. He nodded. "I do too."
Ratchet smiled and rose holding out his servo. Ironhide rose and gripped it pulling Ratchet into his arms. They stood together swaying in the dark using night vision.
"Ratchet?"
"Hmm."
"Why the dark?"
"Romantic."
"Oh." Silence. "Wanna frag?"
"Thought you would never ask."
"I'm askin'.
=0
rowl's office"This place is nuts."
"I think you should relax the house rules," Prowl said smiling. "I think getting the mechs out to the beach and obstacle course would be a reasonable concession."
"You're right. Buddy system."
Prowl nodded.
"Come sit on my lap a moment, buddy," Prime said grinning.
"Thought you would never ask."
=0=Ironhide and Ratchet's quarters five minutes later
Ironhide was out cold as a wedge. Buried under his bulk was a very much awake Ratchet. Nearly four tons of black metallic Autobot lay splayed over nearly five tons of yellow.
"Ironhide?"
Silence.
"Ironhide."
Silence.
"Frag."
=0=Over the Comm system internal and external
"The obstacle course and the beach will be open to general use starting now and until further notices. You must observe the buddy system at all times. The rules about fraternization with the human population are still in effect. There will be no confrontations. Any possibility of one arising you are ordered to walk away and report the incident to the officer of the day. Any further questions can be directed to Senior Autobot Officers. Prowl out."
"Well, that's an improvement." Sideswipe rose turning to the door. "I'm going for a spin. You coming?"
Sunstreaker finished his energon and rose. "Coming."
Hound and Trailbreaker sitting and declining watched them go. "I hope nothing happens. Sunny is still angry," Hound said.
"They slagged Bluestreak. I'd be angry too," Trailbreaker said relaxing his peds on Sideswipe's chair.
Hound nodded.
=0=Ironhide and Ratchet's quarters
"Ironhide?"
A groan came from the general direction of Ironhide's helm and Ratchet reached down and found the correct wire. He pinched it and Ironhide roused looking at Ratchet with a bleary optic. "What? What did you do that for?"
"You weigh a ton," Ratchet said irritated. "Can you move over a moment?"
Ironhide rolled over and relaxed on his back intensely glad to be back on the berth again. He glanced at Ratchet who was lying with his back to him facing the wall. Rolling on his side propping himself up on an elbow he stared down. "Ratchet?"
"Ironhide."
"What?"
"You finished the race without me, you big slagger."
"Oops," Ironhide said. "Uh, Ratchet Y it's been a while."
=0=Outside rolling to the beach
Sunstreaker and Sideswipe skated toward the tarmac where the jets were parked. Small vehicles drove here and there going about the business of running a military base. Here and there sitting out in the sun on their off time soldiers and airmen watched snapping pictures of them as they rolled along. Among them was a soldier who took lots pictures and checked them after the two had passed. He would be sending them to a new friend, Intel-Martin C.E.O. Kent.
There was a high paying future in store for him he thought. All it took was a bit of luck and he would have a career in security that actually paid a living wage. He leaned back on his deck chair and relaxed.
=0=Ironhide and Ratchet's quarters
"I'm sorry, Ratchet."
Silence.
"How about we try it again?"
Ratchet shifted and Ironhide smiled. "That's my best old mech."
Ratchet's arm flopped over laying nearly over his helm. He gripped it and held it up something tickling his nasal structure. It was an interface cord from a panel on Ratchet's wrist.
"Uh, Ratchet? I was hoping for something more substantial."
=0=At the beach
Sunstreaker and Sideswipe roared down the beach skating in a race to a pile of big boulders far down the length of the sandy expanse. The wind whistled past their audials as they tore up the sand flying at nearly 150 miles per hour.
The sun glinted on the ocean an almost incomprehensible sight to them when they first arrived. There were no expanses of water of any consequence on Cybertron. It took some getting used to. The beaches, they were fun to race on and they often would come and do it together.
They pulled up, Sunstreaker barely acing out Sideswipe and then turned and roared back again. They played and sparred, fencing and talking, being together as friends and brothers. They didn't see someone with a high-powered camera sitting on a hill top some distance away taking pictures and short videos of their antics. They were just two youngling soldiers having a good time together.
=0=Ironhide and Ratchet's quarters
"Uh, Ratchet? I was hoping for something more substantial."
Silence.
Then Ratchet plopped a leg over Ironhide. Ironhide glancing down and spotting Ratchet's yellow appendage smiled. "You know, if you throw a few more things over I can re-assemble you on this side."
Even Ratchet had to laugh.
=0=
TBC 2010 (11)
Chapter 45: Chapter 45
Note: On a number of occasions both in print and film, Autobots have discussed how good it is that they don't need to breathe air to live. Bumblebee has said it before in the cartoon. Mars has a thin atmosphere that will serve their needs reasonably well. And that is the position of the story. -The management
=0=And now back to the story in progress
The Diego Diaries: "One small step for mechs..."
=0=Late that night
They walked out quietly as if to stroll around the airfield for the night visiting with the Aerialbots and Cosmos who were parked for the night. In ones and twos they walked together, Wheeljack and Perceptor, Beachcomber, who had come a week earlier at the request of Prime, Ironhide, Sunstreaker and Prime himself.
They walked about the jets just like it was any other night and one by one they walked to Cosmos ducking inside. Silverbolt, scheduled to fly around the North Pole at the request of NASA was resting between the tower and Cosmos giving him cover with his bulk. When they were all on board Cosmos closed his hatch and lifted off ostensibly on his way to space for a reconn mission around the outer edge of the inner planetary ring.
Sitting together happily discussing the future of the new world they would be exploring for the next ten orns and the potential it could have to be the new home of their tragic people Prime sat back and felt a delight he hadn't felt in ages.
=0=Ratchet
He sat on the bench in front of the Autobot HQ and considered the future as he watched Cosmos lift off and fade away into the night sky. Above him shown the stars of the uinverse and some place faraway was the planet that had been his home and the location of all their memories, history and culture. He wondered upon it tonight. How was it on Cybertron? Was anyone still there? Would they ever be able to figure out a way to make the fading space bridges work again? Would someday from Mars, their New Cybertron, would they be able to go back and forth and have Cybertron be theirs once more as well? He didn't know. He just looked at the scanner in his servo.
Nothing.
They hadn't sparked.
Coolant pooled in his optics as he thought about the moment when they both could see that it hadn't happened.
-0-Earlier
They sat together in Ratchet's office, Ironhide watching the dejection on Ratchet's face. When the prank war began he knew Ratchet was serious and he knew that the idea of a sparkling wasn't a random thing. They had talked before, sometimes he thought because it was a way of talking a future into existence. They had been so close to the brink so many times that sometimes all they had were dreams and hopes.
But now they had some leeway and even though Ironhide wasn't convinced that things were safe enough to have sparklings around he knew as well that day might never truly come. So he was happy with the final decision. Ratchet would do the honors. All they had to do was make it happen.
And it hadn't.
He wondered what it was like to know better, to have no leeway to kid yourself. Ratchet was the best mechanical doctor Cybertron had ever produced. He could read the data and know. They had failed. He reached over and took Ratchet's servo. They sat together a long time without saying a word and when the call from Prime came he had arisen and they hugged tightly. He wanted to stay but he had to go and Ratchet knew it too. They had walked together parting at the hangar door.
Ironhide never looked back. Ever. It was too hard. He just walked forward moving toward a project that could possibly provide the first home they would have since the fall of Cybertron. And as he did he imagined sparklings playing there, his sparkling among them.
-0-Ratchet now
He drew back his disappointment as he considered his home world. Cybertron was barren and so was he. Then he gathered himself together and thought about it. First times among the younger set had not been so common. In fact, he tried to remember when he last saw or cared for a sparked genitor.
Another dagger in their collective hearts, the faded memories he recalled.
It pained him that it was so long ago. It was so far into the past that the youngling couples among them weren't even that interested in sparking their own. Hound and Trailblazer should have had sparklings of their own by now in a perfect world. On some world somewhere where it was perfect there should be a flock of sparklings ranging around in a healthy population this size. He felt his spark squeeze for his people.
Then he made up his mind that he would be the one and it would let the others see what they were missing. He would be the trailblazer, he and Ironhide. He resolved that. He looked up and wondered again. For Cybertron, for their people, for the youngling mechs surrounding him he would spark somehow.
Even if it killed Ironhide.
He smiled warmed at last.
=0=Far away, under the same stars
Starscream lay in recharge, the night sky above him shining with countless stars and galaxies. He was far from the skies of his home world and for a moment he let it circulate through him, the homesickness he felt. Then he pushed it aside considering the pictures he received from Diego Garcia. He smiled. Those horrendous twins were playing as if the threat wasn't still there for them. He didn't mind that they were lulled into laxness. It worked for him that they might think they could let down and relax.
He would try and ship weapons again leaving them with an intermediary arms dealer that was going to be in Alaska. He would try again to make trouble between the humans and the Autobots. It wasn't hard. Humans were hysterical and seemed to find fear a more natural state than reason.
He had made enough contacts and spread enough money around to find himself a hook into the paranoid world of neocon warmongerers and talking heads. He was now a welcomed addition to a number of exclusive listservs and mailing lists, his growing fortune finding entrance into the world of delusional theorists and the power elites. That he had merely 'transferred' money in dormant accounts in banks and investment houses all over the world into his own accounts with little trouble was of almost no consequence to him. He wanted what it brought, not the thing itself.
Starscream smirked shifting on his berth to allow more comfort to his wings. He knew that if the ones he courted had enough flattery and cash from him he could get them to embrace Unicron. Perhaps they already had. They were all weak, all stupid and all his.
Kent.
Daniels.
Galloway.
None of them would know who they were really dealing with until it was too late. By then he would have enough money from arms deals and drugs to make inroads into the real power, politics. Manipulate a lackey corporate owned media, buy enough politicians and find the appropriate public face for his machinations and the Autobots would be without a home on their benighted mud ball.
It comforted Starscream as he lay in repose watching the Milky Way turn on its axis as it floated silently through the universe.
=0=Mars
They circled the planet, Prime going over assignments with his team and Cosmos. There would be a host of things to do for the short time they would be here. They were landing in the Tharsis Volcanic Province, a place of great volcanic upheaval and the general area of the greatest volcanos on the planet including Olympus Mons, a shield volcano that lay at the western edge.
They were going to be looking for raw materials that would allow them to make structures and equipment as well as provide a source of energy for nuitrition. The technology to make other forms of energy into energon they had themselves. They just needed a place with the space and raw materials to make it in the quantities they would need to support their refugee populations all of whom waited for help in places all over the galaxy.
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with but a first step," Prime said looking at his mechs. "We have to do our best to find the best location to begin a colony. The volcanic regions are rife with raw materials. That is our goal, find the necessities of life and then work our afts off to make it happen."
They nodded and Prime rapped the bulkhead. Cosmos acknowledging began to descend toward the planet below. They sat and watched as the rusty red soil of Mars got closer and closer. When Cosmos settled the door opened and they stepped out, Prime first. He stood a moment looking out at the barely hospitable plain before himself. Then he stepped down, the surface dust pillowing around his ped like talcum powder.
Sunstreaker put a ped down sneering with distaste. "I never thought I would be homesick for Earth. At least you stand on ground when you walk. Usually."
"Mech up, youngling," Ironhide said stepping out and looking around. "This looks promising. I can see iron laying on the surface."
Prime bent down and picked up a meteor which was laying on the surface like a big stone. He raised it and hefted it in his hand. "Good start," he said with a smile. Looking around he shook his head. "You'll have to use your imagination a little for now."
=0=
TBC c2010 (11)
Chapter 46: Chapter 46
The Diego Diaries: "... one giant leap for Mechkind."
=0=Mars
They scouted the plain finding on the ground in some places necessary minerals and raw materials to work into the endless necessities that living in an off world colony with eventually a civilian population would entail. The effects of endless eons of wind erosion had polished the ground and hills exposing a basalt basic structure and endless masses of ores.
They had gathered together listening to the first impressions Beachcomber could supply without a more detailed analysis. The geologist was impressed. "We won't have to excavate a lot of what we need to fabricate shelters and gun installations. We can scoop it up and take it to a smelter with minimal effort."
Prime nodded looking around the endless plain to the massive form of Olympus Mons in the distance. "Then we need to mark off an area in which we're going to lay down the initial settlement. We have to make the area safe for us before we can risk anyone else. We need to put out sensors on the mountains, spread them all around the planet and link them together. We also need to build underground first. If the Decepticons are going to attack us and they will we need to be in a more hardened condition than we would be above ground for now."
They split up in teams working out the logistics of moving a refinery to the site, how they would dig downward and how they would defend their territory against invaders from space. By the time they had to leave their plans were set. It would take stealth on their part and endless effort as well to make it happen and keep it secret.
The ride back on Cosmos was sobering. But there wasn't a mech that wasn't ready for a home of their own at last.
=0
iego GarciaThey wandered back ones and twos making their way to the HQ drawing no attention to themselves as they walked in. Sunstreaker tapped his brother and jerked his head toward the living areas, Sideswipe jumping up and following him. Prime went to Ops Center to catch up and spend a moment or two with Prowl. The scientists walked together talking softly as they made their way to Wheeljack's lab a happy Beachcomber in tow.
Ironhide watched them go and walked onward, Medbay looming in his optics. When he left Ratchet they had been sad and Ratchet was very low. He hadn't looked back as he walked to the jet. He never did or he couldn't go. He wondered as he walked to the door of Medbay what shape Ratchet would be. Stepping inside, afraid to open his bond for fear of what he might find he spotted First Aid. "Psst."
First Aid working on some samples of viruses that humans wanted to have help with startled. He juggled a petrie dish in his servos until he caught it turning and seeing Ironhide in the doorway. He felt the walls closing in as he considered what form of madness would befall him now. "What, Ironhide."
"Shh." Ironhide gestured for him to come to the doorway.
"Ratchet isn't here."
Ironhide paused, frowning. "He isn't?
"No."
Ironhide walked inside and pulled up a chair next to First Aid ignoring how nervous the younger mech became.
"You aren't going to draw me into your crazy are you? he asked.
Ironhide shook his head. "We have a truce."
"Oh."
"I want to know how Ratchet is?"
First Aid frowned. "You don't know?"
"I just got back," Ironhide said.
"You should know. Open your bond up," First Aid began.
"I would but I don't want to disturb Ratchet for a moment," Ironhide said knowing it sounded lame to him too but it was the best he had at the moment.
"You're still prank warring and you're afraid to go home."
"We have a truce and I'm Y uh, I'm just getting intel. Tell me how Ratchet was today and why he's not here. His shift isn't over is it?"
"No," First Aid said shaking his helm. "He was quiet and didn't say much like he was depressed." He paused. "You two aren't Y?"
"What?" Ironhide asked sitting up straighter.
"You know Y?"
"No. I don't know. What have you heard?" Ironhide asked slightly offended.
"That you're both certifiable," First Aid retorted.
"Besides that."
"Nothing. What have you heard?" First Aid asked nervously.
"Nothing. That's why I'm asking you," Ironhide replied earnestly.
"I don't know nothing. You shouldn't ask me. No one tells me nothing. I am the last one to know anything. Ask me."
"I just did, First Aid. I asked you what you heard and you said nothing."
"See?" First Aid concluded.
They sat staring at each other and then Ironhide arose nodding as he walked to the door and outside. First Aid watched him go and shook his helm. "Those two are going to kill me."
Ironhide walked up the hallway toward the quarters section of the facility. /... there's a screw loose in that one Y can't get a straight word out of him Y don't know how Ratchet does it.../ He paused in front of his door opening up the bond in the most minute manner and waited. He didn't feel a thing beyond a warmth that was always part of Ratchet. He squared his shoulders, rose his full 25 feet and opened the door.
A yellow hand reached out gripped his arm and he vanished inside. Down the hallway carrying his gear and chatting with Sideswipe Sunstreaker paused. "Did you see what I saw?"
Sideswipe glanced at him and then down the hallway. "No. What did you see?"
"An arm. A yellow arm reached out of Ironhide's quarters and grabbed him. He got yanked off his peds. His peds actually left the ground."
They stood staring down the hallway and then Sideswipe smiled. "I wonder what they're doing in there."
Sunstreaker choked and looked at his brother with a wicked optic. "You worry me, Sideswipe. Sometimes you really do."
Sideswipe snorted and shoved his brother forward. "Look who's talking." They continued down the hallway.
=0=Ops Center
Prime entered the command center pausing and looking for Prowl. He was standing by Jazz leaning forward one servo propped on the console while listening. His body was curved, an elegant pose and the long line of his leg was entrancing. His door wings were held at normal height, a slight flutter in their movement told him of Prowl's attitude and attentiveness. He hadn't sensed Prime yet and so he opened the bond catching the shining expression on Prowl's face as he straightened and turned looking at Prime.
A small smile for him alone graced Prowl's face and Prime felt a warmth in his spark that he had come to count upon. Prowl walked toward him inevitable datapad in hand and paused grinning up at him. "You look dusty."
"You look beautiful," Prime replied smiling.
Prowl smiled a small intimate thing and squeezed Prime's servo. "How was it?"
"We have a layout and we're going to dig the underground habitations next."
Prowl nodded. "You'll have to fill me in so I can help you."
"You do," Prime said whispering. "In every way."
Prowl smiled an altogether beautiful thing.
"I'm going to the wash racks. I'll see you shortly," Prime said squeezing Prowl's servo.
Prowl nodded and watched him turn walking out of the door. He stood a moment savoring the joy of his life and then turned walking back to Teletraan II once more.
=0=Ironhide v Ratchet
He lay on his back, a big yellow medico leaning over him straddling his chassis kissing him with gusto. He stared into Ratchet's optics. They were closed and absorbed in the moment. He decided it would be churlish of himself not to join in and so he off-lined his optics gripping Ratchet's aft. When Ratchet broke the kiss he looked at Ironhide with a slightly feral gleam in his optics. "Glad to see you, Ironhide."
He swallowed.
=0=At Medbay
First Aid sat pondering the vagaries of the world as he knew it. The saga of Ironhide and Ratchet was one of those things. How he had managed to live through the previous prank wars he didn't know. They didn't come very often but they seldom lasted this long. This one was collecting collateral damage himself included and he wondered how it would end.
Ratchet had been quiet and withdrawn in the morning but then he had changed gathering himself together. The old Ratchet had spent the next few hours doing his job scattering goof offs with his acerbic commentary and generally being himself. A half a joor before Cosmos landed he had left. Where, First Aid could only guess. And only guess is what he wanted. One could get hurt in the blow back of Ratchet v Ironhide. With a shudder, he bent to his work again.
=0=Ironhide v Ratchet
"Ah ha!"
Ratchet lay on his back, his servos pinned by his Only One and he considered his options. He could arch up and by his greater bulk, er, design advantages he could bound Ironhide into the wall and then straddle HIS chassis for dominance. He grinned, a deeply frightening sight to Ironhide who straddled Ratchet after a very short and deeply contested struggle. "You're giving me a gimlet eye, Ratchet."
Ratchet snorted grinning broadly. "I can give you a number of other things, Ironhide. Let me show you."
Ironhide stared into Ratchet's optics, the 'windows to the spark' or some such slag according to Cosmopolitan Magazine. His forays through the vagaries of human sexual manipulation had nothing on the sheer slap and tickle of Ratchet. Yes, subtlety wasn't a strong suit of either one of them he considered with a grin. "Let me show you a few things, ba-bee," he said chuckling, leaning down and nibbling on Ratchet's neck.
Ratchet relaxed allowing Ironhide to lower his guard. Then Ironhide bounded off the wall as Ratchet arched up throwing him sideways. Ratchet rolled off the berth allowing Ironhide to face plant himself and then leaped landing on him pressing him down. "You never learn, ba-bee."
Ironhide grinning peered up at Ratchet who straddled him, his digits tracing soothing lines down Ironhide's back plates. "You win round one. But the game is not over."
"No," Ratchet said smiling. He leaned down and slipped his fingers into the seams of Ironhide's armor generating a small burst of electrical energy.
Ironhide's arm twitched involuntarily and he grinned. "You wench."
pause. access. wench, noun. download. access terminated.
"Wench."
"Seemed reasonable."
Ratchet grinned. "Was Mars good?"
"Better than good. Prime is a wonder. We just might have a new home, Ratchet."
"Then we need new mechs. We need a sparkling."
"We do," Ironhide said feeling himself drifting in a sea of electrically charged pleasure where there weren't any problems or pressures.
Then Ratchet leaned down on him. "Now."
He smiled anyway.
=0=
TBC 2010 (11)
Literature
Tinman: Chapter 13
Tinman
"Chapter 13: Trouble Brewing"
By Leah Wood
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PMD-E BIOS: Vincent and Louie
Name: Vincent
Species: Magnemite
Nature: Modest
Proud of his power
Moveset: Thunderbolt, Magnet Rise, Magnet Bomb, Lock-On (In case of Double Team)
Backstory: Being from an unknown place of origin, Vincent has been with Louie as long as he could remember. Both him and Louie plan on becoming Rescuers soon. Not much else is known.
Motto: "Vincent da magnemite, at yer service.
Name: Louie
Species: Voltorb
Nature: Brave
Often thrashes about
Moveset: Rollout, Metal Sound, Thunderbolt, Explosion
Backstory: Much like Vincent, he cant remember his past, only remembering he was friends with Vince for quite some time. He's not much differen
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