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.
Chapter Eleven
rating: non-sexual
Optimus Prime sat once more in his office, hands steepled in front of him, lost in thought. Yesterday's confrontations and arguments, primarily with Crystal, weighed heavily on his mind. He just couldn't bring himself to accept her words, that she had been forced by his former mate to sell her body in order to gain information to benefit the Autobot cause. What horrible irony -- in order to upkeep their ideals, they'd had to betray them utterly. A shudder of horror wracked his frame. It was a very good thing that the war was over, for Optimus would have surrendered to the Decepticons right then and there. It was better to lose the war with dignity than to win it by sacrificing every noble ideal that they had fought for.
'And what part did I play in this?' he mentally berated himself. 'Certainly the femmes were an autonomic unit after our departure, and they had to fend for themselves and make their own decisions, but as Autobot commander I have a responsibility to them. I should never have stranded them on Cybertron! Of course, I merely assumed that our shuttle flight would be brief, and that we'd return as soon as we gathered more energy. If only I'd left them with more materials, more energy, more protection, perhaps they wouldn't have been so hard-pressed to survive.' He sighed. 'Well, there's nothing I can do about that now. But still, when we made contact with the femmes once more, I should've seen to it that they behaved more like a sub-unit instead of their own private band. As a result, they drifted far from the purpose that they should have been fighting for. I don't know what they went through to allow them to sacrifice one of their own without a qualm, but I must take my part of the blame for it. And I do indeed have a large part of the blame to answer for.'
He shook his head in disgust, remembering the harsh and ugly words he'd hurled at the poor femme the day before. 'And what did I do when she revealed her true function in this army? I jumped to conclusions, I slandered her, and I accused her of treason. Good going, Optimus Prime. You're just as bad as those that sent her to sell her body to the Decepticons. The poor femme. I admire her strong spirit. Anyone lesser would've already cracked under the strain.'
'Perhaps it's not too late!' he thought suddenly, brightening slightly. 'Perhaps I can make it up to her yet. She's missed out on so much. I hope that I can provide the caring and stability that she's so yearned for. Both I and this army have a lot to answer for, and I'm going to begin this second to make it up to her.'
Optimus turned to his computer console with renewed inspiration. He opened up the "locate" menu and typed "Crystal" in the space. The computer searched for a moment, then emitted a low, negative buzz. "Operative Crystal not in detectable parameters." Optimus grumbled an oath. What could that mean? The computer was capable of scanning the entire planet, except for a few remote locations. Okay then.... He initiated a general search on Crystal, tracking her movements since the day before.
"For the love of Primus!!!" he exclaimed, jumping out of his seat at the findings. Crystal was slated for a mission deep in the Poh sector of space, as of today, and her ship had already left spacedock quite a few hours ago. And the authorizing officer for this decidedly pointless mission was....
"ALITA!!!" Optimus roared. He had a sinking sensation as he realized something very wrong was going on here. Surprising how you think you know someone.... For the love of Primus, he'd been practically soul-bonded with this femme for nine million years, and now he was realizing that he didn't know her at all. Had the war really changed her, changed both of them, so much?
Enough was enough! He'd put a stop to all of this garbage, right away! He wouldn't allow any more of this to go on. He flipped on his radio with an angry snap and growled, "Alita One, this is Optimus Prime. Report to my office at once!"
"Acknowledged," a cool, feminine voice replied, sounding less than enthused. Optimus sat back, his anger simmering, to await the arrival of the femme that he had loved so much.
* * * * *
"What is going on here?!" Optimus roared, thumping his desk in emphasis.
Alita jumped, a bit taken aback. She'd known that something was up when she'd received the curt radio summons, and she figured that he'd discovered her little plan to separate him from his new femme toy for a short while, but she hadn't realized quite how furious he was over the situation. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said, but not sounding very convincing.
"You know very well what I'm talking about. What did you do with Crystal?" he snapped.
"Oh, that. I sent her on a mission, that's all. Even though we're at peace, there's still a lot to do. We have to keep tabs on the Decepticons."
"That is true, but there's no reason to send a lone operative that far away to do it! And I doubt Crystal would've agreed to it. I have many operatives that are better suited to such a task. You are to check with me before authorizing any missions! You picked a soldier that was poorly suited for such an assignment, out of vengeance rather than out of professional consideration." His voice grew sad. "Alita, what's happened to you? I would have never believed you were capable of such cruelty. You sent one of your own females out on a risky and completely unnecessary mission, just to achieve some low goal of your own."
"I had to!" she snapped, unable to hide a look of guilt that flitted across her face. "You don't know Crystal nearly as well as I do! She uses men and then discards them like they were yesterday's fuel! You won't listen to reason; all you're interested in is a bit of interface! She has you wrapped around her finger, and you're so addled with lust you can barely see it! I had to send Crystal away for your own good, to give you a chance to clear your head and see things objectively. She's a rotten energon cube, ruining everything she touches. Believe me, I know. She's wrecked more happy relationships than I can count. Although I did want her out of the way, I made sure that she would be safe during her mission and would return in one piece."
"That's not good enough!" Optimus roared, jumping to his feet and towering over the femme commander, who quailed under his look of wrath. "You deliberately put her in the path of danger to suit your own twisted goals, and I won't let you get away with it! And my sexual life is no longer any of your business! I can do whatever I please, and it just so happens that I *like* interfacing with Crystal! There's not a single thing you can do about it, either. If she decides to leave me, so be it. Leave us alone to make our own decisions. That femme has been persecuted by you and your army long enough."
"Is that all?" Alita asked, not believing that she was about to get off with anything harsher than a lecture.
"It most certainly is not!" Prime snapped. "This abuse ends here! Alita One, for the abuse of your command power, you are hereby stripped of rank and are restricted to quarters until a court martial can be convened. From this moment, the femmes are directly under my command. And if I can't straighten out this mess, Primus help us all." He pinned her with a sorrowful gaze, his voice dropping in tone. "Alita, what's happened to us? I used to think that I could face anything with you by my side, but lately we can't even sit next to each other without getting into a fight."
"I--I don't know," Alita whispered, looking at the floor. "I miss the way things were, too, but I can't stand seeing Crystal manipulate you. That femme is up to no good, I just know it."
"Well, let me worry about that. I'm a grown bot; I can take care of myself," Optimus replied. "I want you to think long and hard about what you've put Crystal through. I will work on getting a tribunal together for a court martial. In the meantime, you are to go to your quarters and wait. I'll notify the femmes of the change in command structure."
"I'm sorry, Optimus," Alita whispered. "For everything. But if I had the chance to do it all over again, I don't think I'd change anything."
"Then it is I who should be sorry, Alita, for allowing any of this to occur. I just pray that all of this turns out for the best."
end of Chapter Eleven
go to Chapter Twelve
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