(posted Oct. 5, 2007)

Disclaimer: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters and the plot are the intellectual property of Litahatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee. Litahatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks to the REVIEWERS of chapter 1: Karategal, Truth of Barricade, theshadowcat, atomic auna, lady tecuma, mutated glow worm, MadameSoybean, ferretsareillegal, grlwdgrntrk (for two reviews), i-love-me-some-leggypoo, ArmoredSoul, akire, Bryan, Kerry, Transflashbacks, flamingmarsh, sista, Xerios, Lecidre, Freakish Child, KB, blood-tempest, Bunnylass, SOnicHerO100, Cr4ZyFr0G100 from dA, Iluvbee1990, Shizuka Taiyou, Hearts of Eternity, and manepigen. I had no idea reviews would be so satisfying. I can't wait to see what the next reviews will be. (As a new reviewer comes, I will add your name to the thank you. If you have the urge, feel free to review even if it has been years since posting! There's no such thing as a late review *smile*). Thanks again!

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You guys are awesome (smile).

CREDITS: Eternal thanks to Hearts of Eternity for letting me use her idea on sparkmates and the spark-bond between them that would result in death if one dies: from her amazing story 'What Time We Have Left.'

The bolded stuff is Ironhide and Chromia communicating in Cybertronian via their bond. I suppose one could compare it to text messaging (for lack of a better explanation), only imagine if you can hear the other person's voice that you are messaging.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 2

Electrocution

by Litahatchee

Will watched, through Ironhide's review mirror, the metallic light blue Jeep Liberty following them; at a distance, he noted. He remembered a conversation he had had awhile back about something Ironhide was waiting for, something he had been hoping for.

"So, is this what you've been waiting for?" Will asked tentatively. Ironhide was in one of his moods and Will was having a hard time getting him to talk with him.

"Yes," Ironhide replied tersely.

"…and the mech is a femme?" Will asked again.

Ironhide was beginning to wonder if there was a wire loose in the human's head, or whatever the equivalent was to an organic. He'd just told Will that Chromia was a femme a moment ago.

"…and her name is Chromia?"

"Yes," definitely a wire loose somewhere, Ironhide concluded.

Will was thoroughly confused by this point. So, this femme was a transformer, but not considered a female, according to Ironhide, yet she was called a "she," even by him, and was somehow different than him.

"Is she your wife?" Will finally asked a new question.

"No," Ironhide stated without any further explanation.

Will let out a sigh of exasperation. Well, Ironhide was being as vague as ever.

"What is her relationship to you again?" Will asked.

"She is my bonded. We are sparkmates," Ironhide answered irritably.

"Oh, okay, so…she's your wife."

Was there an echo in here? "No, Will, she is not my wife!"

"Is she not your wife because she isn't female or… ?"

"She isn't female in the human sense. She isn't different from me except that she could create life. She is not my wife, she is my sparkmate." Ironhide hoped that was enough to satisfy him.

"So… she's like the AllSpark?" Will asked, remembering that the AllSpark could create life too.

Ironhide resisted the urge to eject Will out the door. "Absolutely not!" he all but yelled.

Will decided he would find a more "willing" mech to ask what all of this means. Ironhide was definitely not cooperating; cooperating, in fact, about as much as he did when the military was questioning him on his cannons, among other things. He was usually much more talkative with Will, though.

Will would talk with Ratchet. Ratchet always seemed willing to talk. He hadn't spoken with him much, but Ratchet was definitely approachable. He thought again about Optimus's choice in Ironhide as the Transformer Liaison. Optimus knew Ironhide would tell them virtually nothing. Will could see Optimus's humor coming out in it as well. Will was sure the Autobot leader was quite amused with the situation, probably on more levels than one.

Will also understood that Optimus was probably protecting his fellow mechs. The humans could hurt them and that whole thing with Bumblebee really upset him. Will cringed as he remembered seeing poor Bumblebee bound to that table. Perhaps if the Bumblebee incident hadn't happened, it would be Ratchet acting as the Transformer Liaison. Poor Bumblebee, perhaps it was for the better. Optimus learned to be cautious with the humans early on. Will knew his people would take full advantage of them however they could. He was already getting pressure to press them for more, but he was choosing to ignore it, finding ways to distract his superiors.

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It wasn't that Ironhide didn't want to explain things to Will. Will was the only human he actually trusted. He was just… distracted at the moment. She was not his wife, oh, no, no. She was much more than that. They did not part in death. They were bonded for FOREVER.

When a mech became bonded to another, he was no longer whole. In fact, each one of their very lives depended on the survival of the other. If one died, the other soon followed. They also needed to remain together. When separated over great distances and time, they would not be able to join and would soon start deteriorating.

Ironhide and Chromia were separated because the AllSpark was more important than the two of them. Optimus had long regretted the decision of separation, but if one died on the mission, then he'd lose both, and that was just not acceptable with the small numbers they already had. They all understood and they all agreed. Separation was necessary and hopefully temporary.

The pain… the pain started about 5,000 years before. It started out small. Ratchet was very concerned about him. There was little he could do, so he worked diligently on Ironhide's bad hip, erratic pump, and other aches and pains in order to make the mech at least that much more comfortable. Ratchet had figured, then, that he could survive without Chromia for another five or so thousand years.

As that time passed, Ironhide's health became worse and worse, but he never let on. Ironhide was beginning to fear the worst, that perhaps Chromia had not survived. They had had no communication with anybody since the search for the AllSpark began and the distance between he and his sparkmate was so great that they could not feel each other through their bond.

The only other member of the team with a bonded was Optimus, but his spark was stronger than Ironhide's. He was also in better health to begin with. Ratchet figured Optimus could live another 15,000 or 20,000 years without his Elita.

Optimus knew Ironhide was suffering, but he had no idea how far he had been slipping. Ironhide suspected that there was another matter that kept Optimus going so strong, but he kept that to himself. If he were to die, that knowledge would die with him.

Ironhide was watching the metallic light blue Jeep Liberty behind him. No, he wouldn't be dying anytime soon. But then, he was afraid she might be a mirage, ready to fade away at any moment. Before, he didn't believe his spark, now he wasn't believing his optics, so he kept reaching out to her through their bond...

"Yes, it's me," she sent him. "I'm right here, you don't have to keep checking."

Chromia felt Ironhide brushing her through their spark bond. She shuddered. It was tantalizing. She had already sent him several messages, via their bond AND through their comm. systems, trying to reassure him.

'If he does it again, I'm going to ram him,' she thought to herself. It didn't take him long…She felt his touch again... 'Oh, that's it!' She sped up.

Ironhide saw Chromia getting larger in his rearview mirror. He sped up himself just as she was about to hit him. She painfully bumped into him, but not as hard as she intended. The result, however, was just as satisfying, as she saw an arc of lightning pass from her frame over his. He shuddered visibly.

Ironhide tried to prevent the electric shock from passing through his cab, but since his spark was closest to the cab than anything else, he was unsuccessful.

Will started jumping and yelling as if the cab were suddenly full of rattlesnakes! The console was now covered in little arcs of lightning, jolts of electricity shooting through his butt as he tried to stand up off of the seat. This didn't help him AT ALL, because as soon as his feet hit the floor, several waves of jolts ran through his feet and up his legs. He grabbed the wheel and tried to pull himself up and, hopefully, get his, now painfully tingling, legs off the floor when a very large electric shock traveled from his fingers up his arms.

"Ah! OWWW! Ironhide? What the hell…Argh!" Will screeched.

Unable to get away from the jolting, Will started kicking and screaming, his kicks landing their mark in Ironhide's cab that now had Ironhide painfully yelling. Ironhide sped up, cursing her under his breath.

"Primus, Chromia!" he yelled. "You're going to make me electrocute my human!"

She slowed, allowing more distance between them.

"Pull over! Pull over!" Will was screaming at Ironhide and he did so. Will couldn't jump out fast enough, nearly falling on his face as he found himself wobbly on his electrocuted legs. "Gah, what the fuck was that?" he yelled, but Ironhide said nothing at all. He was feeling quite awful and really didn't know what he could say.

Will ran around in tiny circles, brushing off his arms as if they were covered with dirt. Knowing that attacking the tires would be useless; they were a part of the armor, after all, and, besides, if they were sensitive at all, the mech wouldn't be able to drive over rough pavement; Will ran over to Ironhide's back left fender and swiftly kicked the large dent that Chromia caused when she shot him.

"Owww!" Ironhide yelled, much to Will's satisfaction and then Will turned to Chromia.

"What is he doing?" She asked. "That is very strange."

The human was holding his middle fingers up in the air at her and making fists while thrusting out his arm and smacking his elbow.

"Humans use expressions when they feel helpless," Ironhide explained to her.

"Well, he is helpless. Look at him. He doesn't even have armor. It's amazing he can even walk around without fear of death on a planet full of things that can easily kill him. Why Optimus would destroy the AllSpark for these humans is beyond me," she retorted.

That's exactly the way he felt, at first. He smiled inwardly. She hadn't changed a bit, a femme after his own spark. He did bond with her, after all.

"He grows on you," Ironhide admitted fondly as he watched Will jump around, mumbling something to the effect of, 'Ironhide's fucking wife that isn't his wife. She's not my wife, Will. She's my fucking sparkmate and her sparks are gonna fuck you up!'

"Yea, I see that," she replied. "He's like a parasite, using your armor for his protection while you drive him up to speeds that would otherwise kill him."

Ironhide smiled inwardly again, between his human and his femme, life on Earth was about to get more interesting. When Will calmed down, he opened his door.

"Oh, no way, I'm fucking walking home." Will turned and started walking. Ironhide rode beside him, urging him to just get in the truck.

"Come on, Will. It'll take hours to get home at this pace. Just get in." Will kept walking, so Ironhide continued, "Well, okay. You know, you have other options." Will stopped, interested in what his proposal could possibly be. "You could always ride with her," and with that, Chromia's door opened.

"You've got to be shitting me... NO!" He jumped back in Ironhide's cab and closed the door.

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They rode along in silence and Ironhide looked to see if she was still there, again. He became uncertain, afraid the mirage would disappear at any moment. He reached out to her again...

"Stop doing that," her voice cut through the cab, Will nearly jumping out this time.

"Ironhide, I'm going to have a nervous breakdown," he said. "Whatever it is that you are doing, please, for sanity's sake, please stop."

Though the sound of her voice was really comforting to him, Ironhide sent her, "Do not talk to me through my cab. You are making Will nervous."

"I'm making him nervous?" She replied. "You're the one with all the electricity."

"What? Only because you won't keep your distance!" He was incredulous.

"Only because you keep reaching out to me, Hide! It's driving me crazy. I swear my spark can't take much more."

Silence…

A little time passed before Ironhide reached out again, but, this time, Chromia reached back. When he felt her touch, a heat wave passed through him that had him running off the road. Will grabbed the wheel and pulled them back onto the road. Will was beginning the think that it might have been best if this Chromia had turned out to be a Decepticon. It seemed that the end result would be the same either way; he was surely going to end up dead. At least, with a Decepticon, he had a fighting chance.

"Just, please… get me home safe," Will stated out loud, but not necessarily to Ironhide. "And why is it so hot in here? Did you turn the heater on?" Ironhide quickly rolled down his windows and turned the air on full blast.

"Okay," he sent to her. "I get it, just…" he hesitated. "Just please don't disappear.'

Chromia was silent. Ironhide very rarely voiced his fears. She really didn't know what else to do to reassure him, short of joining with him, which would no doubt mean disastrous results for the organic he was so fond of. She thought about that last part for a second. Ironhide, fond of an organic? He was getting soft in his old age. Chromia took to changing her form.

Will noticed the Jeep Liberty was gone and now a Toyota 4runner was behind them.

"Um, Ironhide?" Will said. "I think you lost her." Ironhide thought Will sounded a bit relieved.

"No," Ironhide replied, "She's still there." And then, "That's her."

Will looked again and realized the vehicle was the same metallic light blue as the other. He shook his head. This was getting weirder and weirder. He looked in the rear-view mirror again and saw a metallic light blue mini van. He laughed in spite of himself. She remained that form for awhile and then became a Ford Explorer.

Unbeknown to Will, Ironhide was watching her too. She was expending an awful amount of energy doing that. He thought back to their younger vorns and the energy that attracted him to her in the first place. She was tireless. Smiling to himself, he reached out to her again, this time sending her a suggestion of what he would do to wear her out later.

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A metallic light blue Cadillac Escalade ran completely off the road, disappearing down the ditch, and running up on the other side into oncoming traffic. Ironhide laughed. Will was dumbfounded by the sound; Ironhide, LAUGHED. It was a hearty, good natured, laugh of a sort that Will had never heard from the mech.

Will looked back to see that the Escalade, now a Dodge Nitro, had run onto the other side of the road and was expertly dodging traffic and making its way back into the ditch and back onto their side of the road. It began speeding towards them.

Will sure didn't want to get shocked again and started yelling, "She's coming. GO! GO! GO!"

Laughing again, Ironhide tore out of there as fast as he could.

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