I Engineer: A Little Favor...

The tone of Hook's voice could only be described as `dull surprise'. “You want me to do what?”

“I… I want you to abduct me,” repeated Grapple, unable to hide the guilt in his voice. It would've been easier if he could see the Constructicon's face and gauge his reactions, but unfortunately the only unmonitored encrypted channel he could talk Red Alert into allowing him was for radio only.

“And for what reason? What purpose could you have for being kidnapped?” Hook sneered, openly mocking him now. “Surely it can't be that difficult to request a brief leave of absence?”

“It's not that. It's... I want you to do this. Because… You see, Hoist…”

A cold laugh cut his babbling short. “Ah, now I see. Still have that `damsel in distress' fetish don't you? And you want your favorite villain to come steal you away again, just like he use to. Only this time, you've got a hero to come rescue you…”

“Dammit Hook! This isn't… I'm not asking for…” His voice trailed off in a growl.

“Oh, but you are!” There was the smugness, that controlling hiss which still made Grapple feel weak and helpless. “You're asking me to play our little game again, like we use to before the War… before you decided to run off with your precious Hoist. Tell me, does he know what you're planning? Have you ever told him about the arrangement we had way back when? How you said I could snatch you away whenever I pleased and take you away to my private hideaway where I could do anything I wanted to you?” There was a long pause before Hook continued. “No. I didn't think you would have. After all, it wouldn't be proper to admit that you got off on being rape—in both senses of the term…?”

Grapple winced, remembering how things had once been between them. “I… I never want Hoist to know.”

“About your kinks?”

“About you.”

Dead air.

Nervously, Grapple waited for a response. Even the jagged click of disconnection would be better than silence. Finally, he spoke up, ashamed at how needy he sounded. “Hook? Are you still there? Hook?”

“I'm here.” His reply was sharper and decidedly colder than before.

“Please don't be like this…” Grapple whispered. “Please. I… I need this, Hook. I need… We need closure.”

“Closure? And just how do you expect to do that?! By letting your new lover frag me, I suppose?”

“No! That's not what I want at all!”

“Then what the Pit do you want from me, Grapple?! Hurry! I'm a very busy mech…”

“I want to be with you one last time!” he barked, feeling completely disgusted with himself. “I want to remember…”

“How good it was?” Now there was purr to Hook's tone.

“No.” The word was harsh and blunt over the connection. “I want to remember why I left you in first place.”

More dead air. This time, however, when Grapple broke the silence, there was cold resolve instead of the earlier weakness.

“You can't say that it was a healthy, Hook,” he began. “Ever since we met, you used me. Tell me, Hook, did you ever see me as anything more than a plaything? Another one of your little amusements?”

“Then why are you calling on me?” the surgeon snarled, his voice quiet but shaky.

“I told you: I want to remember. I want to remember just how much of a bastard you were. How you would treat me… The pain you caused …” Grapple's voice was rasping now, the anger and lust sneaking in. “I hate the way you made me feel…”

“But you wanted it…” Hook growled softly. “You asked for degradation… you beg me to do those things … and you loved it…”

“Loved it?” he laughed bitterly. “No. It wasn't the games I loved, Hook. It was you. Yes, I used to love you. And there was I time I thought you loved me back… That, despite the belittlement and the constant abuse you put me through, that you really cared about me. I thought that if I gave in and played along it would make you love me… But that was just a fantasy, wasn't it? You never were good for me…”

“And Hoist is so much better, isn't he?” came the sneer. “What a paragon of virtue he must be! Why, he's such a good mech that you can't ask him to take part in this sick little games with you, so you have to call up your old flames to arrange this sordid scene just to get yourself off! He's such a wonderful, understanding mech that you can't even tell him the truth?!”

Grapple sighed. “I didn't want this to end up a fight… But I should've expected it. That's how it always went whenever I tried talking things out with you. You'd always find some way to make it all my fault.”

“Excuse me? Was I the one who radioed you? Am I the one asking to be abducted as part of a twisted sex-game?!”

“It's not just about the sex.” Grapple slumped down further in his seat. “It's about moving on with both our lives. We…we never really ended things before the War started. I need to know it's finally over. That I'm not yours anymore, that I actually have someone who truly loves me…”

“So you want to an ending…” His tone had gone quiet again, and was it just Grapple's imagination or did Hook sound a bit hurt? Whatever it had been, it was gone in an instant. “Fine. If you want closure, then I'll give it to you. I'll give you an ending you'll never forget…”

Before Grapple could ask what Hook meant, the Constructicon had cut off the connection. It was several weeks later when he finally found out and if Hoist hadn't have gotten there just in the nick of time… Well, he was certain Hook would've carved out more than just his right optic…