AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Gigantic thanks to the reviewers of ch. 35: Bluebird Soaring, Katanagirl16, flamingmarsh, plenoptic, theshadowcat, xCubicZirconia, Miss Procrastination, Jadedfalcon, Karategal, CuteKittten, transflashbacks, Lecidre, Xerios, Dragowolf, Mariarose, Kesera, Independent.C., lady tecuma, and Hearts of Eternity.

Responses to reviews for ch. 35 have been moved to the link 'REVIEW RESPONSES' on my biopage.

Visiting countries during December (this feature was down for awhile, so a country or two may be missing). I am really only showing you all this stuff because I find it interesting and I thought that maybe, by some small chance, perhaps at least ONE of you would find it interesting too: USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Germany, Slovakia, Singapore, Poland, Indonesia, South Africa, Taiwan, Finland, Norway, Austria, Malaysia, South Korea, Portugal, Sweden, Brazil, Costa Rica, Philippines, Mexico, France, Chile, Netherlands, Italy, Argentina, Kenya, Lithuania, Peru, Denmark, and Ireland. OMG! That must be a record! Thank you!

Thanks to SergeantDuck for adding me to your [Author Alert] list. You rock!

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 (Sunshadow belongs to Litahatchee) 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.

Eternal thanks goes to Karategal, Lady Tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, and Phoenix13 for letting me use their ideas and/or terminology. The name, Nightfire, belongs to Lady Tecuma. The characters are different, but the name is hers.

Thanks to lady tecuma for looking over this!

Okay, folks, this entire chapter is back in the past. It follows immediately after Ratchet put Chromia in terminal lock in chapter 34. Italics are a flashback. I'll be mixing past and present for a bit more, as the past affects the present greatly (which I guess is the case with all things, if you think about it).

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 36

Impenetrable

by Litahatchee

"I think you're more Decepticon than I am," Nightfire breathed as she looked upon Chromia's lifeless form.

He had actually done it. Ratchet had placed her in terminal lock without batting an optic. Chromia obviously hadn't believed that he really would; she didn't back down, but neither did he... Nightfire watched as he checked through each of her systems to make sure they had all properly shut down.

"Or maybe I'm just as Cybertronian as you are," Ratchet stated as he closed Chromia's chassis.

She supported Ratchet's decision with this, but she still wasn't convinced Ironhide would make it in time. She just wasn't nearly as sure as Ratchet was... He was way too optimistic about it...

"Or maybe you Autobots are just too idealistic," she retorted as he stood up.

"Or maybe you Decepticons aren't idealistic enough," Ratchet said as he turned towards her.

"Or maybe you are delusional," she said as he made an obvious attempt to scan her, this time using a more powerful scan. Her disruptor held up, blocking that one as well. She didn't move, a small smirk forming on her face.

"Or maybe you need to drop the charade and let me properly scan you," Ratchet stated irritably, moving purposefully towards her.

Too late, Nightfire realized she was his next target. She backed away from him, her back finding the wall all too quickly. He had her effectively trapped. She regretted her decision not to move. She wasn't going anywhere.

"Drop your disruptor, or I'll find a way to shut it off," Ratchet stated gruffly, leaving her no room to argue, slowly approaching her as if he were a predator stalking his prey...

"Don't threaten me, Autobot!" she bristled.

Ratchet quickly closed the distance and firmly placed his left hand on her chassis over her spark. She visibly flinched away as he moved even closer to reach around her side and place his right hand on her back behind her spark. His chin brushed the top of her helm...

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he said impatiently. It was clear he was preparing to administer magnetic pulse therapy...a technique she taught him! Perhaps she really was losing it...

"Well, that depends on your frame of mind," she retorted, her voice taking on a seductive tone, but with a sarcastic twinge to it.

"Primus, femme!" Ratchet exclaimed, somewhat surprised a bonded femme would insinuate such a thing, but not at all surprised with it coming from Nightfire. If her intent was to shock him enough to move away from her, he wasn't falling for it. "And you were saying that I am the one that's delusional?!"

He immediately sent her a strong pulse and she yelped in pain.

"Ow! Ratchet?!" she tried to push him away, adding, "Seriously, I'm doing fine." She was exasperated. Nothing seemed to phase this medic. She had hoped her little comment would have him shaking his head and leaving her be, but maybe he was getting to know her too well...Nothing she said seemed to surprise him anymore.

"You're not doing fine," Ratchet argued, "Scan or no scan, I can see it on your faceplates."

Nightfire tried to step to the side and break free of his hands. He was far too close for her comfort. Ratchet easily stopped her with his larger frame, sending her another pulse between his hands. She squirmed in pain, but did not yell out again.

"You can either relax or take this the hard way," Ratchet firmly stated. "Either way, I'm not stopping until you look like you feel better."

He sent her another pulse and she hissed at him.

"Just relax, Nightfire!" he growled.

She tried sidestepping him again, but he simply matched her movement, easily keeping her detained. They glared at each other for a moment, their faces no more than a hand-span apart.

Sighing audibly, Nightfire relented. He was right; if she didn't relax, the pulses would be painful to her injured spark. Either way, the therapy would work; it was up to her how she wanted to endure it. She decided the 'relaxing' way would feel best. However, she couldn't bring herself to relax fully and if his intent was to get her to let down her guard and turn the disruptor off, she wasn't falling for it. But, she did become more and more comfortable with his proximity with each pulse he gave. She began to allow him to support her weight as she rested her head on his chestplating...

Suddenly, a blaring alarm rang out throughout the med bay. Both Nightfire and Ratchet jumped as Optimus Prime's voice sounded over the loud speaker.

"Iacon Medical, prepare for incoming wounded and casualties."

Over his private link with Ratchet, Optimus said simply, "We failed."

Giving no indication that he'd just received a private transmission, Ratchet wordlessly backed away from Nightfire, making sure she was balanced enough to stand on her own. She looked up at him, clearly not so relaxed that she couldn't stand on her own power, and then she looked past him to Chromia's prone form.

"This wasn't a good time for a 'Con ambush," Nightfire said.

As Ratchet hurried out of the room to begin preparing the med bay, he said, "It wasn't an ambush."

Nightfire followed after him, Wheeljack already making preparations of his own as Ratchet rushed to help him. She noticed that First Aid was nowhere in sight...

"Take that table, there," he ordered Nightfire. Her primary functioning kicked in and she subconsciously began gathering tools and anesthetics needed for treatments and surgery. Ratchet began preping a table next to hers.

"What do you mean, it wasn't an ambush?" Nightfire continued the conversation as her hands seemed to take a mind of their own, unsubspacing a syringe here, grabbing a tool there...

Ratchet didn't pause in his own preparations as he answered her, "It was a rescue attempt."

Nightfire's hands stopped as she stared at Ratchet. He didn't look up at her, his own hands quickly gathering things he needed, arranging them here and there. She knew, immediately, who the attempt was for, and her spark sank...

"What was Prime thinking?!" she practically yelled. As the initial shock faded, her hands found life again, moving quickly here and there. Not stopping her work again, she shook her head, somewhat babbling to herself, "A rescue mission from Trypticon. It's Trypticon for Pit's sake! Trypticon's impenetrable!"

It was Ratchet's turn to pause. He looked at her, wondering what she knew about Trypticon that they had been missing. Several of Optimus's officers, especially Prowl, were very suspicious of her. Adding to the fact that she had used Optimus for her own devices the last time he had called on her, they had decided that she didn't need to know any details on the rescue mission that soon took shape once she provided them with the information on where Elita One was being held. In fact, Nightfire didn't even know there was a rescue mission planned at all. She knew that they were working on figuring out how to get to Elita, but that was a given. The actual plans were kept from her.

"You knew about this!" Nightfire suddenly accused, realization of what they were keeping from her becoming evident.

Ratchet got back to his work, ignoring her. Obviously, he knew. He would have to know, just in case something went wrong. He had wanted to go on the mission. A medic would need to be there, but so as not to rouse any suspicions in Nightfire and also because Ratchet was concentrating on Ironhide and Chromia, warriors Optimus desperately needed to remain intact, Optimus took First Aid. First Aid was a capable medic, and Ratchet signed off on it without question.

Without warning, something very large and very solid hit Ratchet squarely in his right shoulder. He was knocked backwards, the blow dazing him as he tried to regain his balance, the object clanging loudly to the floor. Wheeljack looked up from what he was doing, the sudden commotion distracting him, in time to see a wrench used to work on the largest of mechs hit the floor right next to Ratchet, the mech staggering back...

The wielder of said weapon exploded, "You put Chromia in terminal lock when you knew there was a mission?!"

Ratchet grabbed his shoulder, wincing in pain, "Primus, femme!"

An optic ridge went up on Wheeljack's faceplates. Nightfire was one strong femme.

"What were you thinking?!" she hollored.

"It was carefully planned. They weren't expecting to fail..." Ratchet said as he was still trying to clear his head.

"Or maybe you Autobots are too arrogant for your own good!" she yelled. To think that they could infiltrate such a place and come out unscathed...maybe Prime was losing his processor.

They stood staring at each other, Ratchet rubbing his shoulder. Wheeljack just watched them, not sure whether he should intervene or stay out of it.

In a quieter, more even tone, Nightfire said next, "Primus help you if Ironhide is among the wounded."

If Ironhide became injured, pulling Chromia out of terminal lock would be that much harder, if not impossible, depending on the severity of the injury and the amount of energy he might have lost. It was something that she had thought of, and that even Ratchet had thought of, given the nature of Ironhide's vendetta, but he had not injured himself up to that point, so they chose to hope that he had a good chance to continue to remain physically whole. However, if he was being assigned to missions, then the chances of him becoming wounded were that much greater, and if Ratchet knew about it, then his decision to put Chromia in terminal lock at that time was a very bad one...

"He won't be," Ratchet said evenly, "He wasn't on the mission."

They had decided that Ironhide was too much of a liability. They were supposed to be in and out of Trypticon quietly. Taking a Decepticon-blood-thirsty mech along wasn't a good idea. In all actuality, though, no one even knew where Ironhide was anyway. That was Ratchet's immediate problem with Chromia, of course.

Nightfire seemed genuinely relieved. Ratchet was still uncertain as to her real concern, but he was beginning to realize, especially with her presence in the morgue, that Nightfire had a spark beneath that usually cold surface. She looked towards the room Chromia was in...

"He'll be here," Ratchet stated confidently, not sure if his words were or even could be reassuring to her.

Ironhide felt that he had failed Chromia and Ratchet knew that too well. Ratchet also knew that Ironhide would never fail her again.

"It's a huge risk, Ratchet," Nightfire said quietly.

"Don't worry," Ratchet got back to his preparations, "I can multi-task. Besides," he raised his optics to look at her, "I'm not the Autobot CMO for nothing."

A small smile formed on her faceplates, "So I've heard."

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