War Crime (First Aid/Springer) ficlet

Here for you

"Pharma? Yes, its me. No- What? No, it's nit Ratchet, its First Aid. Huh? Yes, he's here... I was hoping I could miss a few more days. Will everything at Delphi be ok while I'm gone? It's for work. We have....some bots in need of medical attention. Thanks for understanding. Bye." First Aid hung up. He turned around and set down the phone.

He took a dep breath.

And burst into tears.

Springer could have died. In fact he was pretty much dead, save for being on life support. It was all because of the Wreckers. If he wasn't their leader, if he wasn't even on the team, he'd be safe. Springer was a strong, capable mech, but Wrecker life expectancy would be a week at most. And that was only if you were really REALLY good at what you do. And what they DO is literally the warfare version of a clean up crew. When all else fails, send in the suicide squad.

And Springer was their leader.

His frame racked with sobs as he bent over his lover's comatose body. He felt his mask and faceplate rim collect with tears. First Aid gripped the side of the medical berth. Springer would survive this, and it could not be soon enough. He survived when few else did. Pyro died. Guzzle died. Ironfist. Rotorstorm. Topspin. Twintwist. And a couple hundred other mechs that First Aid didn't catch their names. But Springer was alive...for the most part. First Aid stroked the life support machine attached to Springer's torn off face, down to his shapely chin and his broad, shoddily patched up chest.

He would never forgive Overlord for this. He would forgive no one.

Not after Pova

Not after Kimia.

Not after this.

Never after Garrus-9.

First Aid checked Springer's vital signs one more time, and walked out of the room and out to meet Ratchet in the hallways. The more straightforward news was that he was going to be ok. The rest is that he'd be out of commission for a while. First Aid didn't mind that one bit.

He had taken the hand of a soldier. He knew saving lives from the war meant just as much as it did to himself. But he didn't want him fighting. He was an important general....but First Aid couldn't help but worry. He didn't mind if he couldn't fight. It just meant he'd be spending more of his life with his conjunx right? That's how he wanted to think of it. And he tried to. But the nurse couldn't deny that without Springer, the Autobots were at a grave disadvantage. He never wanted Springer to fight another war in his life, no matter how selfish he thought it sounded, he would much rather he stay with him, and safe. And yet...

"Get him back in the field asap."