Sex, Lies, and the Autobot Leader
(or The Crush)
by Phantom
Author's note: BEWARE: this fic is extremely rated, full of vulgar language as well as explicit sexual description and innuendo.
//Notice: I've chosen to resurrect Ratchet for my own purposes. If Optimus could be resurrected, perhaps the funeral barge containing the others could be salvaged and the other deceased Autobots restored. That is the one element that I've changed from the cartoon storyline.//
Chapter Nineteen
rating: non-sexual
"This way!" Optimus called out to Alita, following the sputtering trail of fuel that Crystal had left behind. "Please, Primus, let her be okay!" he murmured to himself, unable to shake the feeling of foreboding that had settled in his belly like a lead weight. He had the dreadful sense that they were already too late.
"NO! By the deities, this can't be!" Prime exclaimed, a hand coming up to cover his once-again masked face. From the doorway he could see Crystal's crumpled figure lying on the observation balcony, a puddle of fuel forming underneath her. He activated his radio, calling out, "Ratchet! Medical emergency, observation deck!"
"Oh, lord, what happened?!" Alita cried, coming up behind Optimus and catching a glimpse of Crystal's body.
"We have to help her!" Optimus exclaimed, hastening over to the fallen femme. He wiped away the fuel that smeared her chassis as best as he could, choking in horror and revulsion when the full damage was revealed. Fuel lines had burst, slowly but surely draining her of her life fluids, but Optimus had seen that before and knew how to deal with it. What he *didn't* know how to handle was the spark case, crushed almost beyond recognition, with deep finger grooves along the sides. He turned aside, feeling vertigo swamping him, causing the room to spin sickeningly.
"Careful!" Crystal cried, hurrying over to prop up her mate. "You've got to keep it together and tell me what's wrong. What happened to her?"
"She -- she crushed her own spark casing! She hated her life so much that she wanted to tear it out of her body!" Optimus choked, powering down his optics in sorrow. He would have gladly spent the rest of his life with Crystal to spare her this agony. He couldn't help but feel responsible for what happened to her.
Alita, who in a way was more inured to the hardships of war than her mate, who had spent most of the war protected in a fortified base, peeked around the male's shuddering body. A glint caught her optic. "Optimus..." she said slowly, not wanting to get her love's hopes up. "I think I see something."
Optimus straightened up and turned back to the corpse, pushing his grief and guilt aside. There would be plenty of time for that later. This time he saw it too -- a definite sparkle. "Could it be?!" he asked, scarcely daring to hope. He knelt down and cautiously brushed the leaking fuel off of the spark casing. He cried out in relief. Her spark still glowed! Its hue was grayish and very faint, but it was still online.
"We still have a chance!" Optimus exclaimed, wrenching open a panel in his leg and withdrawing a medical kit. He, like most Transformers, had some medical schooling and knew how to stop minor leaks. While the damage before him was quite serious, he was confident that he could repair at least some of it before Ratchet arrived. "Help me, Lita," he beseeched her, staring into her optics and handing her a fistful of bandage plates. She nodded back wordlessly, moved by her mate's determination. Both of them bent over the broken body, Alita suppressing a shudder as they gently picked up one burst fuel line after another and wrapped the bandage plates around them, the polymers quickly sealing the breaks.
Optimus lifted his head and smiled wearily behind his mask as he heard the squeal of tires approaching, and the loud wail of a siren. Help had arrived.
"Optimus! What happened here?" a voice called as the ambulance transformed, running over.
"She tried to take her own life," Optimus said softly, looking down at the femme cradled in his arms.
"Crystal! It can't be!" Ratchet exclaimed, kneeling down by the injured femme. He had known her for a long time, and had been one of the very few mechs who had resisted her advances. He had found her to be very charming and attractive, but there was a dark side to her that worried him. Still, they had come to be casual friends, joking around as he repaired her wounds time after time. Though it hurt to see her this way, a part of him was not surprised. He had known that she was heading down a very dark road, and yet he had only been able to watch helplessly, unsure of what to say or do to relieve the femme's burdens.
Ratchet pulled out a cylindrical scanner and took Crystal's readings. "She's very low on fuel. You two did an excellent patching job, but it will all be for nothing unless we get some fuel into her immediately. Her fuel pump is starting to fail already. Her spark casing will have to be replaced as well, for it's putting incredible pressure on her spark, but that will have to wait. If we don't get her more fuel, she'll die!"
Optimus looked at the body in his arms, then at his best friends. "I volunteer to be a donor," he said quietly. Since all Transformers had the same type of fuel, there was no worry about compatibility.
"Excellent. Let's get started," Ratchet said, clapping his hands together. Optimus opened up a small hatch on his side, attaching a tube that Ratchet handed him to a similar hatch on Crystal's body. "Be careful," the medic warned. "Start the flow slowly, or you may send her systems into shock. You also don't want to drain yourself too quickly."
"Will do," Optimus said, sounding a bit strained as he allowed the fuel transfer to start. The life-giving fluid began to flow from the Autobot leader into his patient, revitalizing her systems bit by bit. Ratchet watched the readings on his scanner grimly, breathing a silent sigh of relief as they gradually crept out of the critical range. As Optimus continued to refuel the femme, Ratchet took a closer look at the spark casing, shaking his head. It took some kind of misery to want to do such a painful thing to yourself. Despite the grisly nature of the wound, a part of him had to hand it to Crystal. She always had a flair for the dramatic.
Optimus reeled a bit as his energy level began to sag dangerously low. "Okay, that's enough from you!" Ratchet declared, jumping up to disconnect the feed. "We can't have you going offline as well."
"But it's not enough!" Optimus exclaimed. "She needs much more!"
"You've done enough," Ratchet said gently, taking Prime's hand in his own and squeezing gently. "Draining yourself dry won't take away the guilt you feel. Right now she needs all of us to stand by her, and to be strong for her. I don't want to risk moving Crystal to medbay until her vital systems have more fuel to run on, but Alita can finish the fuel transfer. Is that okay with you, Alita?"
"Of--of course," Alita stammered, surprised by the request. She took Prime's place and allowed Ratchet to attach the transfer tube. Ratchet obviously didn't know about her scuffle with Crystal, but she was sure that he *did* know about their longtime rivalry and understood that she felt a large measure of guilt herself. For the first time, Alita allowed her anger to drain away, and what she saw was a femme to be pitied, not hated. And although her logic circuitry told her that Crystal's attempt to take her life was not her fault, that the femme's emotional problems were due to many factors, she couldn't shake the crushing weight of blame that rested on her head. She had been the last to see Crystal, and she had said some very cruel things and had actually picked a fight with her. "I'm sorry!" she wailed suddenly, curling forward, hiding her head in her arms, sobs wracking her chassis. "I'm so sorry!"
Optimus hastened to console her. "Don't cry," he murmured, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tight. "We all bear part of the blame for what has happened, but we've been given a chance to make it better. Crystal needs us to be strong."
With all the raw emotion surrounding him, Ratchet felt himself getting choked up as well. "Please come back to us," he whispered, gently squeezing Crystal's hand. "There are people here who care about you. You have to pull through this!"
"Is there anything else we can do?" Optimus asked worriedly, still holding his beloved mate.
"Now I have to secure her spark," Ratchet replied. "I'll need to complete the transfer of her spark to a new casing in medbay, but for now I'll have to brace it so it is not extinguished when she is moved. Hold her still while I install a brace."
Optimus and Alita nodded solemnly, positioning themselves around the wounded femme and holding her body still while Ratchet pulled out an adjustable metal brace. After carefully adjusting it to fit, he slowly inserted it in the gaping hole, wrapping it around the twisted spark casing, and attaching several extensions to the undamaged sections of her torso, which would keep the casing still. "There," he said with great finality. "Now there's only one more thing that needs to be done." //Ratchet to First Aid,// he radioed.
//Uhh, First Aid here,// came the hazy reply.
//Sorry to wake you, but we've got a trauma on our hands. I need you to prep the medbay for surgery and stand by to receive a patient. She's in very bad condition, and if we don't act soon, she may not survive.//
//Will do,// First Aid replied, sounding fully alert. Both he and Ratchet were used to snatching a few odd hours of recharge here and there, and even though one of them was supposed to be able to get some rest during the other's shift, occasionally a patient would be so badly damaged that he or she required both of their skills. Both medics had developed the fine art of recharging under the worst conditions, coming fully awake at a moment's notice. //I'm on my way.//
//I'll meet you there. Ratchet out.// Once communications had been severed, Ratchet transformed into his ambulance mode and opened his rear door. "Load her in very gently," he instructed.
"You get her shoulders, I'll get her legs," Optimus ordered. Alita gingerly picked up the femme, trying hard not to jostle her. She held her steady as Optimus scooped up her legs, then the two of them carried her to the ambulance and cautiously placed her inside. Their fluid movements, in concert, spoke of their tight partnership and ability to anticipate each other's motion.
"Good, very good," the ambulance spoke. "Now strap her down so she doesn't move."
Optimus reached in and fastened the metal buckles over the femme, being careful to avoid the damaged areas. "She's ready to go."
"Excellent. Thank you for your help. I'll take her to medbay now. First Aid should have an operating berth ready for her. I'm afraid I can't allow you into the medbay during surgery. I'll notify you as soon as we're done."
"Please do, Ratchet," Optimus said gravely. "Take good care of Crystal for us."
"I will," the medic vowed. With that, he drove off slowly, taking his patient off to surgery.
As if an unspoken command had been uttered, Optimus and Alita each whirled and threw themselves into a tight embrace, each seeking solace from the other. 'How ironic that it took such a disaster to bring us back together,' Optimus thought miserably. He didn't want Crystal's life to be the price of their reunion. "Please, please, please let her be alright!" Alita murmured like a mantra. "I couldn't live with myself if she didn't survive!"
"We have to have faith, Alita," Optimus said softly, caressing her back soothingly. "The fact that she's still alive is a gift from Primus. We have to take it the rest of the way and show her how much we want her to stay. We'll go to visit her as soon as she's stable. Until then, all we can do is hope and pray."
end of Chapter Nineteen
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