Author's Note: So this chapter was short and one of the finished ones so since Kbanes2 reviewed (and your reviews made my day) I ended up updating. Enjoy even if it is short...


Aggressive Negotiations-Patience and Contemplation

"If you know the art of breathing then you have the strength, wisdom, and courage of ten tigers." Chinese adage

Shadow led Ratchet through the large room again and then through the same door Ravage had left through earlier. Ratchet waited to speak until they were in the empty hall, guessing his questions would likely annoy the femme. "You don't like Ebony much do you?"

The femme let out a short bark of laughter and asked, "What gave you that idea?"

"Why exactly don't you like her?" Ratchet questioned and she turned her violet optics on him.

"You ask a lot of questions medic."

"You keep answering them," Ratchet replied and he saw something close to amusement in her optics.

"Fair enough," she said, turning her back on him and continuing down the hallway. "I don't like Ebony because she's a suck up, as the humans would say. And she's Shockwave's sparkmate."

"Obviously not because of looks," Ratchet said dryly and Shadow laughed coldly. They walked in silence for a ways until Shadow tapped a sequence on a code bar near a door and it hissed open revealing a dusty looking med bay. "What happened to the medics?" Ratchet asked and Shadow sighed.

"Hook was offlined ages ago," she said in an offhand sort of way but Ratchet could hear some genuine affection and sadness in her tone.

"And Scapel?" Ratchet asked, brushing dusty off a table that looked as if it hadn't been used for ages.

"Will be offlined before he can say Primus save me if he ever steps foot in here," Shadow said coldly. "Slagging poor excuse for a medic." Ratchet was the one who laughed this time.

"So why bring me here instead of one of the berths like Megatron ordered?" he asked after a moment and Shadow vented a sigh.

"Safer that way. I don't trust any of the others," she replied, tapping a code into another code bar. Another door slid open with a squeak revealing several berths for battle ready medics to recharge in. "After you," she said dryly and Ratchet slipped into the room with Shadow following him. The door slid shut behind them and only a dim light lit the room as Shadow settled on one of the berths. Ratchet slipped in the one across the room from her, reluctant to terminate the conversation like the 'Con so obviously wished to.

"What about your brothers?" he asked in an effort to restart the conversation.

"They'll be fine on their own," she said. "They can manage if it's not in a battle. Now recharge." Ratchet was about to protest the order when he thought the better of it. If he was going to make the best of this situations he would need rest and patience. The first one the medic could take care of but the second had never been his strong suit. It was going to be a long imprisonment.