Chapter 21

"This isn't working."

Ratchet turned his gaze to his student when the younger mech entered the med bay. His optics narrowed when he sensed the tension in Jolt. Wheeljack trailed off from whatever he had been saying and also focused on the youngling.

"What isn't working?" Ratchet started, lost between being frustrated and concerned. Frustrated, because Wheeljack had finally made his way back into the bay to check the progress of his repairs only to be interrupted before he could even begin. Concerned, because young Jolt was obviously very, very stressed. Ratchet had never seen his apprentice this way before.

"These 'search and rescues' are putting her in danger," Jolt answered. Immediately, Ratchet knew who 'her' was, he felt a wave of understanding. He had just been about to reach for his tools, organized neatly on the table, but now he turned and leaned against it with his arms crossed over his chest. Although he knew, he said the name anyway, "Demona?"

"This Ghost-" Ratchet's optics widened, but Jolt didn't catch it, "-nearly shot her in the spark and was convinced that she was an enemy."

"'Ghost'?" Ratchet repeated, "She's the new arrival?"

"You know her?" Jolt's voice returned to his usual calm, soft tone, even if it was only for a moment. His optics were still bright with anger, "Who the slag is she?"

"An elite warrior," Ratchet explained, "she led a team of special ops mechs into a nest of decepticon scientists to free a Senator once, and she held off an army of constructicons with only a handful of autobots under her command. She's just as vicious as Ironhide and Chromia in battle, perhaps worse."

"She didn't trust either of us," Jolt started, "not even me."

"Ghost trusts no one, she's even disobeyed a Prime."

"Optimus acted like he knew her personally."

Ratchet paused and turned back to his tools, "Believe it or not, she was not always so..."

Jolt raised an optic ridge and offered, "Sparkless?"

Ratchet cut him a look, "She's had her share of sacrifices and losses, and she has her way of dealing with them. Despite her...personality, she's a valuable fighter. She can lead and she can follow, and she can adapt to any situation. We are lucky to have her here on earth."

"Every mech we are sent out to repair and retrieve ends up worried out of his processor or keeps a blaster pointed at her like she has a target painted on her head," Jolt reverted back to the original topic, "I knew it was a bad idea to begin with."

"Orders are orders, Jolt," Ratchet lowered a hand to grab his trusty wrench, but was stopped again when the younger kept going.

"She's not some murdering pit-spawned monster, she never was, but they all treat her like she'll shoot them down if they turn their backs on her."

Wheeljack stayed quiet, watching the exchange. Ratchet argued, "Optimus didn't have much of a choice. You and I both know that she can find an injured mech faster than anyone else here. We need her where she is."

It was that moment that the med bay doors slid open, revealing the very topic of their discussion. Ratchet's expression softened slightly when he saw the tension just seep out of the mech almost instantly. He turned his attention to the femme.

Demona had her own sense of stress about her. She folded her arms across her chest, "I've been looking for you."

"I've been here," he answered. Demona fixed her optics on him, not quite impressed with his reply.

She motioned towards the door, "Go to the wash racks and clean up. I'll be there soon to help with your door wings."

Demona waited until the medic was gone before she turned her full attention to Ratchet, "Jazz told me that a decepticon appeared near base."

"Yes," now that things were starting to calm down in the room, he returned to his tools and finally reached for that wrench. Confusion flowed through him when he wrapped his fingers around it and lifted...only to find it stuck to the table like the two were one piece. Processor stumped for the moment, he moved to the next tool, to find it stuck to the surface. Confusion rapidly escalated into anger as he realized that he'd, once again, been 'pranked'.

When he spoke again, his tone was strained, "but the signal vanished once we had mechs assembled to confront it. Optimus had the twins and Ironhide scout the area, but none of them found anything."

Demona and Wheeljack watched as he tested each tool. By the time he reached the last one, he was seething, "Who the slag was meddling in my med bay!"

The femme's sigh drew their attention, "your apprentice talked my sparkling into 'organizing' for you."

Ratchet blinked and stared. Jolt had Sundance do this? In the background, Wheeljack laughed, the first sound he'd made since the femme entered.

"So if you want to beat someone, you have my permission to go after him...just leave him in one piece, please," Demona vented softly, "as insufferably hard-headed and over-protective as he is, I still love him."

"How are you, by the way?" Ratchet started, crouching to pull out a container stored under the table, "Jolt said that Ghost had you at gun-point."

"She did."

"I'm sorry. Besides Ironhide, I don't believe any other living creature holds so much hate towards decepticons. If we had known that she was the new arrival, Prime would've gone to meet her himself. You are undamaged?"

"I'm fine," her frame tensed slightly, "She must hate them with her entire spark, she threatened to blast through Jolt to get to me."

Her tone had darkened considerably, and, once again, he was concerned. At least until he realized that his hands were stuck to the container. Ratchet let out a sharp vent, "What on earth has she done?"

The anger left Demona and she approached with silent foot steps. Kneeling beside him, she extended one claw blade, "Hold still."

He did as told, and with one, accurate swipe, she managed to cut through the substance without damaging him or his container. She started, "She did the same thing to Jolt once. He spent days trying to figure out a way to save his tools."

"And?"

"Cutting through it with a sharp blade works while it's still wet, but once it's dry...the only thing that works is cold water." She stood up, "she still won't tell us what she made it out of."

"Primus, all we need is another inventor running around..." Ratchet ignored the look Wheeljack sent him and the protests. Demona shook her head and dismissed herself from the med bay.

A bit on Ghost...we now know she's got a reputation among the autobots...

The little prank wasn't brilliant, but I thought it was kinda cute...and whatever that mystery goop is, I want some. I bet that crap works a ton better than duct tape. Probably have one more chapter at base before we switch back to the James family, which, if things go planned, will make a few of you guys giggle...

Probably have one more up tonight.

Demona and her family and the story belongs to me. Transformers does not.