wildernesstales | Title: Love Conquers All (Reply)

Rating: PG-13
Series: G1
Pairings: Sideswipe/Ratchet/Sunstreaker
Summary: Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are trapped and Ratchet will do anything to get to them.
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: As per usual, the good things in life are not mine to have, but belong to someone else... in this case Hasbro, Takara and IDW and anyone else I’ve forgotten…
Authors Notes: Written for the twins_x_ratch October Challenge, Week 2. Prompt was Crawl.
Feedback makes friends. Flames dealt with by the masters of paranoia and fire, Red Alert and Inferno.

He hadn’t been expecting this. He’d know that getting into a relationship with the frontline twins would be dangerous. But he hadn’t been expecting the fear that encompassed his spark. Watching the buildings crash down around them scared him more than he cared to admit.

Inferno held him back, strong arms wrapped around his chestplating, stopping him from his mad dash towards the rubble.
“Now hold on there Ratchet.” He drawled. “Can’t let ya go in there jus’ yet.” Ratchet struggled futilely, but Inferno held firm. “Ya gotta let Grapple an’ Hoist there figure out the best way in. Last thing we all want is you getting hurt too.”
“Fraggit, I need to get to them!” They were injured; they had to be. Even they were not lucky enough to survive buildings falling on them without damage.
“O’course Ratchet. We just gotta make sure it’s safe fer ya too.”

“Ratchet…” Prime’s tone was soft, and that did more to calm Ratchet down than anything. He slumped against Inferno, ignoring the way the fire truck’s systems slowed in relief.
“I know you are worried, Ratchet, but we need to make sure there is no more danger to you or the others.” Worried was an understatement, but Ratchet wasn’t going to correct him. He just wanted… needed to get to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker.

“I’ve got something.” Blaster had been called upon to get a comm signal through the debris. There was something in there that was shielding most frequencies, so they’d been unable to contact Sunstreaker or Sideswipe to check their status.

“We’re stuck in a pocket, got just enough space for us both. Sunstreaker’s injured badly. How soon can you get us out?” Sideswipe’s voice was faint, which was enough for Ratchet to know that he was injured just as badly as Sunstreaker, if not worse.
“We’ll get you out as soon as we can.” Optimus replied. “Hold on.”
“I’m coming for you.” Ratchet added. He could almost hear the smile on Sideswipe’s face as the red mech replied.
“Wouldn’t expect anything less, Ratch’. You’re drawn to us like a magnet.”
“Oh shush you.” Ratchet hushed him, feeling his faceplates heat a little at such a public display of affection. The others, however, were more grateful that Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were still functioning. Blaster kept Sideswipe talking as Grapple moved over to let them know what they had found.

“There’s a small tunnel, just wide enough for a mech to fit through. It’s convoluted, but it seems the safest way through to them at the moment.”
“How do we get them out?” Ratchet’s first concern was for his patients, and there was no way that he could drag Sunstreaker, or Sideswipe come to that, back through a tunnel if they were badly injured.
“We can remove the debris, but it’s going to take time.” Hoist came over to join them as he spoke.
“How long?”
“I’m not sure. Providing there are no problems, a couple of hours.” Grapple hesitated over his answer, which was enough to make Ratchet’s energon run cold.
“I need to get to them.” He stated, striding over to the debris. Hoist and Grapple trailed him, knowing they wouldn’t be able to talk him out of it.

“It’ll be tight.” Hoist warned, but Ratchet waved off his concern. His only concern was to get to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker.
“I can manage it.” He could overcome anything to get to his lovers. And he hoped they wouldn’t realise that, because he would likely be teased mercilessly about it.
“All right.” Grapple led Ratchet to the entrance they’d made. “We haven’t been able to get too far in, because we didn’t want to disturb things too much.” He explained the route they’d managed to map out between them.
“Don’t deviate from it, there’s no telling what might happen.” Hoist added. Ratchet nodded and crouched down, peering into the tunnel. They certainly weren’t kidding when they said it would be a tight fit.
“As soon as you’ve reached them, we can start removing the debris.” Grapple rested a hand on Ratchet’s shoulder. Ratchet just nodded and steeled himself before crawling into the tunnel.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It seemed to take an age to crawl through the debris, twisting and turning to avoid unsteady areas, Grapple and Hoist guiding him as best they could. Rubble scraped and scratched at his armor but he paid it no attention, too focussed on his destination to worry about his own injuries.

Finally, he found his way to where Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were. Poking his head through a gap in the debris, he could see how bad things looked immediately. Sideswipe was cradling an offline Sunstreaker, numerous dents marring the golden frame. He looked up sharply as soon as he heard the noise of Ratchet moving, concerned that something was going to fall on them. He relaxed as he saw Ratchet’s face.

“You haven’t done anything wrong, so you don’t have to come crawling to us.” Sideswipe tried to joke as Ratchet pulled himself out of the tunnel of debris. Ratchet just snorted.
“What happened?”
“The building fell on us.” Ratchet shook his head at Sideswipe’s response, carefully manoeuvring himself so he could examine Sunstreaker.
“Don’t you think I know that?” He snarked back without thinking. “Watched it fragging happen.” He couldn’t help the small tremor in his voice as he bent over Sunstreaker, carefully running his hands over the warrior’s frame.
“Didn’t plan it that way.” Sideswipe muttered, reaching out to touch Ratchet.
“I know.” Ratchet paused, looking up at Sideswipe. “He’s going to be fine. Just knocked his processor for a loop.”
“You mean we’ll have to put up with him bitching about his paintwork soon?” Sideswipe didn’t sound as upset as his words made him sound.
“Yeah.” Ratchet gently brushed his fingers over one of the dents. “Though hopefully I can get him all fixed up before it comes to that.” Having satisfied himself that Sunstreaker’s injuries weren’t life-threatening, he moved his attention to Sideswipe.
“Now, where are you injured?”

Sideswipe shifted uncomfortably.
“Back. Something hit me when the building crashed down on us.” He glanced at Sunstreaker, as though checking his brother was still offline. “Can’t feel my legs.”
“Frag.” Ratchet hissed out the curse. “We’re going to have to move him.”
“No.” Sideswipe’s tone stopped him. “If he wakes up in here…” He trailed off, not exactly wanting to divulge Sunstreaker’s fear of enclosed spaces.
“He’s not going to be waking up any time soon Sideswipe.” Ratchet murmured softly. “And if he does, he’s got both of us here, so he’s got no reason to be afraid.” Sideswipe nodded slowly, allowing Ratchet to move Sunstreaker away enough so he could see to the red mech’s injuries.

“All right, it probably feels a lot worse than it is. It’s a severed connection, and I’m not reattaching it until we get back to the Ark.” Sideswipe nodded. Ratchet had applied a pain relieving patch, so he was more comfortable than he had been.
“Makes sense.” He shrugged, tugging Sunstreaker closer.
“We’ll be out of here soon, and I’ll be able to get you both fixed up.” Ratchet cupped Sideswipe’s cheek for a moment before dropping his hand.
“Yeah.” Sideswipe sat staring at Sunstreaker’s offline form for long moments before he spoke again.
“Thanks.”
“For what?”
“For coming after us.”
“Sideswipe…” Ratchet shook his head. “I love you both, and I will always come for you.”
“Even if you have to crawl?”
“Even if I have to crawl.” Ratchet agreed. He shifted to sit next to Sideswipe, pulling the red mech into a loose embrace. Sunstreaker groaned, stretching and moving across both of them before succumbing to stasis once more. Ratchet smiled, resting one hand on the golden twin’s plating and leaning his helm against Sideswipe’s.