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Jetfire strained against his stasis cuffs, trying to do anything to break free of them. “Jetfire. We've tried everything,” Red Alert deadpanned. He really did try everything to break out of the cuffs.
Right now, they had been captured while on patrol and now, were tied up somewhere on the streets with a wild crowd of Decepticons. They were happy to have finally grabbed the traitorous Air Commander and the Autobots’ only medic. What they were planning to do…
“You think they’re gonna turn us to Megatron?” Red Alert shifted towards Jetfire, leaning against him.
“I think they're going to have their own fun before they go anywhere near Megatron.”
“What does fun entail?”
A few Decepticons started to come their way. “I think we're going to find out.”
One Decepticon came forward and smiled wickedly at them. “Well, look what we have here…” Jetfire put his confined arms in front of Red Alert, trying to block him from the Seeker.
“Oh, trying to protect your precious medic, are we?” They leaned too close to Red Alert.
“If you-”
“If I what? You can't do anything. You're tied up, and even you couldn't get through all of us, not to mention if you had your medic with you…” A finger softly traced Red Alert's face, leaving a mark behind. Jetfire bared his teeth.
The Seeker only smiled before grabbing Red Alert by the throat. Red Alert gagged as he was dragged away from Jetfire.
“Red!” Jetfire attempted to get up, but two other Seekers had come from behind and held him down. He tried to fight them, but unfortunately, the first Seeker was right. There was no way that he could fight through everyone here, and save Red Alert at the same time. He could only watch.
The Seeker pulled Red Alert in front of the other Decepticons, all cheering. “This Autobot scum has repaired our enemies! Brought them back onto the battlefield!” He gripped Red Alert's neck harder. “I think he should suffer!” A loud roar rang out along the crowd.
Red Alert was thrown onto the ground. He grabbed his neck, gasping for air. Then came a hard kick at his side. Then another. And another.
“Red!” He could barely hear Jetfire as his head was grabbed and he was brought up again. More Seekers clamored up to Red Alert and started just attacking him. Punching, kicking. After a few minutes, Red Alert's plate was heavily dented and he was struggling to breathe.
Jetfire struggled against the Seekers holding him back. “Let me go!” Red Alert was suffering and needed help, and Jetfire couldn’t get to him.
The Seeker dropped Red Alert. He groaned and attempted to crawl back to Jetfire. However, he was stopped by a pede stomped on his back. “Trying to crawl back to your big bot, are we?” They crouched down and revealed a dagger. Red Alert's optics went wide. “That was just the beginning…this is where the real fun begins.”
The dagger's blade ran down Red Alert's face, barely drawing energon.
“No!” Jetfire body checked the Seekers holding him down and ran up to Red Alert. He slammed into the Seeker and through his confined arms, managed to hold Red Alert close to his framing. The Seeker got up and frowned.
“You're no fun,” they muttered.
Red Alert was breathing heavily and leaning into Jetfire's plating. Jetfire walked back to the corner where they came from before, not sure what else to do. “It's okay, you're okay…” Jetfire whispered to Red Alert, trying to create some sort of calm. Suddenly, dozens of Decepticons started shouting and running towards them. Jetfire moved his body, trying to protect Red Alert from the onslaught of terror running their way.
Several Decepticons started beating at Jetfire, trying to get to Red Alert. Jetfire couldn’t do anything, launching his missiles would only cause more damage and could go very wrong and he couldn’t access his sword, he was holding onto Red Alert right now. What a place to be.
They managed to get to Red Alert, forcing him out of Jetfire’s hold. Jetfire yelled near nonsense, trying anything to get Red Alert back. They attacked Red Alert, first beating him up once more. Red Alert yelled in pain, Jetfire yelled in desperation, the Seekers yelled in glory and chaos. The original Seeker grabbed Red Alert by his back plating and pulled him to the original spot from before.
They looked at the crowd, still cheering in Red Alert’s misery. “Say goodbye to the Autobots’ last medic!” They then looked at Jetfire right in the eyes.
“Red!”
The dagger from before was plunged into Red Alert’s throat. Jetfire screamed, the crowd went wild as the dagger was pulled out and bright pink energon spilled out. Red Alert gagged and coughed up energon. He was dropped, barely breathing and turned his head towards Jetfire.
Jetfire held back tears. He was already in this situation, he didn’t want to cry in front of all these Decepticons.
“Still clinging on, are you?” The Seeker smiled before charging up their ion cannon attached to their arm and aimed at Red Alert. “That'll do you.” They fired.
Everything became more distant. The crowd, the cheering, the pain. All he saw was Red Alert, covered in pink, staring at him with a softness that he shouldn’t have right now. At that moment, Red Alert had accepted what had just happened.
No…no, we can save you…Jetfire’s face read.
No you can’t, Red Alert’s smile said. His optics went dark and he stopped breathing. The crowd went insane. They had just killed Jetfire’s partner, and they were damn proud of it.
*
*
*
“Are you sure it’s a good idea?” Jetfire wrung his hands together. He hadn’t been in a relationship for so many years and right in the middle of a war…?
Red Alert placed his hand on top of Jetfire’s. “If you don’t want to, we don’t have to.”
“No, I want to, just…” he opened up his hands, and Red Alert intertwined their fingers together. “What if something happens?”
Red Alert offered a smile. “I think we’ll be fine. We’ve survived this long, haven’t we?”
Jetfire exhaled. “Ya. Ya, we have.”
*
*
*
Jetfire was forced onto his feet and made to walk with the crowd. “C’mon, I’m sure Megatron would love to see you!”
They continued to shout and taunt Jetfire, trying to get some sort of reaction out of him. All he could do was look back at Red Alert, left there, bleeding out. He would likely never get a proper burial. He hoped that Elita or Chromia wouldn’t find Red Alert like that.
All Jetfire could do was walk towards an unknown fate with no one on his side. “Just kill me,” he muttered. No one heard his request over their yelling. Jetfire had a feeling that Megatron would fulfil, anyways.