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/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's (Sunshadow and the Decepticon Nightfire belong to Litahatchee/ Letohatchee) are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Thanks to the wonderful and amazing REVIEWERS of chapter 50: Faith Destroyer, Violetlight, Faecat, ice around the moon, Flameshield, flamingmarsh, Jadedfalcon, hummergrey, xCubicZirconia, kris126, Bluebird Soaring, theshadowcat, TransformersLover95, Hearts of Eternity, Lecidre, CuteKittten, Shizuka Taiyou, and 1bloodtempest.
Responses to reviews for ch. 50 have been moved to 'RESPONSES TO REVIEWS' on my biopage.
Hearts of Eternity is my 1,000th reviewer! Never, in a million years, would I have thought when I started this story that I'd reach 1,000 reviews. Thank you all so much for the interest, support, reviews, faves, and alerts for this story over the last couple years. You people are the best! I look forward to continuing this fic all the way to the finish line and hope you all continue to enjoy it. THANK YOU!
Thanks to Shizuka Taiyou for reviewing chapters 1-16 and 18-41 (you missed 17 *wink*). That was some insane reviewing marathon right there! Wow! Thank you so much!
Thanks to Hearts of Eternity and Manepigen for reviewing chapters 1 and 2. I absolutely love back reviews as much as reviews for a newly updated chapter. Thank you!
Thanks so much for adding me and my story to your:
[Favorite Story]: Faith Destroyer, FluffyBiscuits, IrresoluteSongbird, staidwaters, SadoZ, Hawkehunt, Pie., ShadowShinobi122, Shizuka Taiyou, Kitsune Triforce
[Story Alert]: Ladyleyn, english-enigma, Hawkehunt
[Favorite Author]: JeanieLee, Makuta Artidax, dogfighter1379, Pie.
[Author Alert]: Starrfier, TransformersLover95, Ladyleyn
Wow! Thank you!
Visitor Country Reader Traffic, November, 2009: USA, UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, Malaysia, Poland, Slovakia, Singapore, Mexico, Austria, Taiwan, Hungary, Norway, Indonesia, Sweden, Thailand, Finland, India, Estonia, Italy, Israel, Russia, South Korea, Philippines, Chile, New Zealand, Ireland, Lithuania, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Bulgaria, Netherlands, and Denmark. Wow!
Eternal thanks goes to Karategal, lady tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, Phoenix13, and i-love-me-some-leggypoo for letting me use their ideas and/or terminology. The name, Nightfire, belongs to lady tecuma. The Decepticon femme character with that name, however, is mine.
This chapter is entirely in the present. Normal print is the present. There is a lot going on in this chapter, so I hope it is all fairly clear. All questions that arise during this chapter will be answered in future chapters *smile*
Enjoy!
Night Fire
Chapter 51
Concessions
by Litahatchee
"Are you okay?"
Chromia stood next to Bumblebee in what the Lennox's called their 'yard.' Despite the fact that the sun hadn't risen yet, the sounds of the tiny flying organics of the area could be heard as they began their day. The other Autobots were gathered around Will and some sort of Army 'escort' contingent. Chromia and Bumblebee were standing a little ways away from them.
Chromia was keeping her distance on purpose and she was under the distinct impression that Bumblebee was too. Though he had said that he trusted the humans, she really couldn't blame him for being a little stand-offish. At least, she assumed that was why he was stand-offish. A spike of anger at what she learned that the humans did to him rose in her spark, but she quickly blocked it from him. Ironhide looked in their direction for a moment, but Chromia's full attention was on Bumblebee.
Bumblebee's spark seemed to be reaching for something. She was confused by that. She didn't understand what he was trying to do. He was reaching out, yet his spark was guarded. She couldn't tell what he was reaching out for. His gaze was set upon the gathered mechs, but she couldn't make out which one he might have been looking at, if any particular one of them at all.
Bumblebee suddenly stopped trying for it, whatever it was, and a painful spike rose in his chest from his lost bonds. Chromia immediately tried to sooth the pain and that was when Bumblebee finally acknowledged that she said something. He looked at her, his optics searching for assurance, but she didn't know what to reassure him for. She simply let her side of the bond be wide open for him. He seemed to relax a little, but only marginally so.
"What is it, brightspark?" Chromia tried again.
Bumblebee glanced back at the mechs and then looked at her again.
"Nothing," he said. "I'm fine."
He then turned and walked away. He transformed when he got to the driveway, indicating his readiness to get moving.
Chromia looked back towards the gathered mech and narrowed her optics at Ratchet. She was wholly convinced that there was something Ratchet wasn't telling her about Bumblebee, whether it had to do with Nightfire or not. Maybe Bumblebee suspected something too, but Ratchet obviously never told him.
Ironhide broke away from the group and started walking towards her. Perhaps Ratchet wasn't what was bothering Bumblebee at all, but Ironhide instead. Ironhide always had a knack for intentionally or unintentionally upsetting someone...
"What did you do?" Chromia accused as soon as Ironhide was next to her.
Ironhide was confused. He had no idea what his sparkmate was accusing him of now, but his first reaction was to deny any wrong-doing whatsoever, even if he did do something wrong.
"Me?! I didn't do anything..." Ironhide took up for himself.
Noticing the questioning look on his face and feeling it in his spark, Chromia gestured towards Bumblebee, explaining, "Something is bothering Bumblebee."
"Ah," Ironhide sounded, nodding his head in understanding. "He gets like that when he's around Optimus sometimes."
"Optimus?" So Bumblebee was looking at Optimus...
Chromia couldn't dwell on it any further as a spike of pain shot through her chest and across her shoulders. Most of it subsided as quickly as it hit her, but that did nothing to subdue Ironhide's rising concerns.
"You're in pain," he said. It wasn't a question.
She tried to block out the lingering aches, but Ironhide wasn't fooled in the least.
"I'm okay," she said, sending him reassurance through the bond, a reassurance he wasn't accepting.
"No, you're not," Ironhide countered, stepping closer until his chest was nearly touching hers.
Chromia could practically hear his spark singing to hers. His closeness was distracting... He was trying to wear her down, make her admit something was wrong.
"It's just the new weld, Hide," she said quietly, averting her optics from his gaze.
Ironhide wasn't sure if she was just using that as an excuse to cover up something else or if she really thought that was the only problem.
"You've never had this much trouble after a weld replacement before, even getting used to it," Ironhide said just as quietly.
"I never had a replacement with an alloy from this planet before either," Chromia reminded him.
Ironhide remained skeptical. Ratchet would never be so careless as to use something if it were that substandard. Ratchet wouldn't have replaced the weld at all until he was sure; Ironhide knew him well enough to know that. At least, he hoped he did...
Ironhide glanced in Ratchet's direction. Then he felt warm, caressing, digits against his face as Chromia reached up to touch him, his attention returning fully to her.
"Can't we go just one orn without being reminded?" Chromia nearly whispered. Things were going so well between them. She just wanted to be able to enjoy being together...Chromia looked at the humans and Optimus. Well, she wanted to at least enjoy being together with only minor distractions, even if it was just for one orn. She rested her hand on his chassis, continuing, "Just one orn, Hide. That's all I ask. Then we can go to Ratchet and I'll let him do whatever he thinks is necessary."
Ironhide briefly wondered if Ratchet had already told her what he thought was necessary. The way she was acting, it was probably more serious than he'd like to think. He suddenly had a feeling he was going to want 'just one more orn' as well.
Right then, Optimus gave the order that it was time to roll out. They both looked up and then Ironhide leaned his head down until his forehead came to rest on Chromia's. As usual, it was she who would wear him down instead.
"Okay," he said simply, though he couldn't hide his worry through their bond.
888888888888888
Optimus, Ratchet, Ironhide, Chromia, and Bumblebee, the only Autobots on Earth and possibly the only Autobots left in existence, followed the human escort vehicles, who were flanking them on all sides.
"I don't like this," Ironhide grumbled.
Other than Ironhide voicing his dislike of the situation every now and then, nothing else was said until they got to the base and approached the entrance to the underground facility. Only something the size of a vehicle could go through this particular entrance. In fact, it was an entrance for vehicles. So, they had to remain in their vehicle modes until they got to the section big enough for them all to transform and stand up in.
"I don't like this," Ironhide stated again.
"Yes, you said that already," Will said from within Ironhide's cab. "Several times, in fact."
Ironhide did his usual brooding thing and Will shook his head in his usual frustration with it.
"This was Optimus's idea. He said there needed to be a mutually beneficial relationship between the humans and the Cybertronians," Will said after a moment more of dealing with Ironhide's intense silence and hoping to put Ironhide's mind at ease.
Ironhide made a huffing noise, "Yea, well, that doesn't mean I have to like it."
Will threw his hands in the air in defeat. He was somewhat taken aback by how openly Ironhide was protesting. He could be fairly open with Will, but not that open. The more Will got to know him, the more he realized that Ironhide considered him more than just some other human. He was Ironhide's friend and, like a friend, Ironhide felt he could say anything. Yet, that didn't change the fact that they were two completely different beings from completely different planets.
"I'm one of those humans, Ironhide," Will said after a moment.
Ironhide seemed to take pause. It was almost as if he'd forgotten that little detail about Will.
"But you're a human I trust. It's the rest of them that I worry about," Ironhide finally spoke.
888888888888888
The Autobots settled around each other in a room that Optimus assured Ironhide was as secure, if not more secure, than the Ark. The room was made entirely of concrete. The entire underground facility was made of concrete, actually. Various types of wiring, cords and conduits ran along the ceiling and the walls near the ceiling. There were obvious security cameras facing them, but Optimus had them turned off. He didn't tell the humans to turn them off, he just used his wireless connection with the security system to turn them off himself. Undoubtedly, the humans would notice.
Ironhide made sure Chromia had a place to sit and then he sat next to her. Optimus sat in front of them, while Ratchet and Bumblebee decided to lean against the wall behind him. Optimus was, in effect, in the middle and, therefore, the center of attention.
A scaffolding-type structure hung from the ceiling above them. Ratchet stood at optic-level with it. There was a door near the ceiling, under all the wiring, that was adjacent to the structure. The door opened, and several humans walked out onto it, to include Major William Lennox, Colonel Eric Lagier, Master Sergeant Robert Epps, and the Cultural Anthropologist.
Optimus had hoped that the humans would have given them some time to converse amongst themselves, but he didn't say anything to them. Will Lennox looked a little uncomfortable, so Optimus figured he had tried to argue just that point. Optimus nodded his head towards him in appreciation of his efforts. It didn't matter that they were there, as all the Cybertronians had to do was speak in their language and it would be like they were in private anyway.
"There are a few things we need to discuss about the humans," Optimus started.
Chromia was surprised that he wanted to start with the humans first. She figured that he was dying to know about how she was separated from Elita and she was fully prepared to start with that report. Maybe he was procrastinating...Or maybe he knew there was nothing that could be done about it, so he wanted to start with something that could be somewhat controlled.
---
"He is speaking in their language again," Colonel Lagier said to Will.
Will couldn't help but feel a slight sense of deja vu from the previous evening. He glanced at Epps before looking at his current commander. "I suggested that we give them some time to themselves. Otherwise, they'll just speak to each other as if we aren't here. We should have waited at least an hour." Will's stomach growled at him. He would have liked to have had some lunch while giving the Autobots a little privacy.
Right at that moment, Lagier's stomach growled as well. It was low, but Will didn't miss it. He smirked at the man. Maybe they'd start listening to Will in the not too distant future.
Will had more experience with the aliens than anybody, except for maybe Sam, and Epps, but the higher-ups still thought they could direct the situation. When the aliens were ready to speak with them, they'd speak with them.
The aliens weren't ready to speak with them yet, so standing there was a waste of time while they could be doing something else. Somehow, Lagier thought they were being ignored or put aside. Will tried to explain to him that that wasn't the case. It was just the way the aliens were. But, Will wasn't an expert on cultural relations, so having the Anthropologist around would hopefully prove to his commanders that he had been right about the aliens all along, never mind the fact that there was no human in existence that was an expert on alien cultural relations.
Will looked at the cultural guy. He couldn't quite remember is the man's first name was 'Gary' or actually 'Guy.' The man was jotting down some notes. Will hoped having this person around was a good thing. His notes and accountings were going to be integral to what the human view of the aliens would be. This Anthropologist could either be the Autobots' best advocate, or their worst enemy. Will hoped the guy could remain objective...
---
"Ironhide is doing a great job in handling the human obsession with gaining new weapons technology," Optimus said. He looked at Ironhide, continuing, "You have done well in diverting their attention for the last five years. However, the humans are a persistent race. I have had to reiterate how dangerous it would be if we gave them any further knowledge on the matter. They were not very happy about that, so I have made a few concessions with the help of William Lennox."
"Concessions?" Ironhide asked. "What kind of concessions?"
Optimus looked from Ironhide to Chromia and then back to Ironhide. His expression was unreadable. Then he said, "We're going to rebuild that structure you burned down."
Ironhide swore Optimus was trying to hold back a smile after he said that.
Ironhide leaned back, shaking his head, "I'm never going to live that one down, am I?"
"Nope," Ratchet said quickly from his spot against the wall.
"What did they do?" Bumblebee asked innocently.
Both Optimus and Ratchet chuckled when Ironhide's face blanched.
Chromia ignored all of them. Simply rebuilding the barn wasn't what Optimus had in mind and she knew it. There had to be a bigger concession than that. None of the other humans would care about a single structure that didn't belong to them...at least, she didn't think they would.
"We're going to teach them better construction engineering, aren't we?" Chromia asked.
Optimus smiled at her, "Yes."
Chromia smiled back. She told Will they'd rebuild it and that it would last a lot longer this time. She was glad Optimus was thinking along those same lines.
"We won't help them fight their wars, but we can help improve their lives," Optimus said. "I have already given them better security programs so that they can tighten the security of their defense network."
Ironhide seemed to relax a bit at that. It made him feel better knowing that the Decepticons would have that much more difficult of a time hacking that system. The humans probably put everything they learned about the Autobots on that system. It made him feel better that the Cons may not find out about Chromia from a human error, at least.
"That is as far as we go in helping them improve their defenses," Optimus continued. "It will be up to us to countermand any Decepticon attacks."
"What if we need the humans' help? They have proven themselves useful against the Decepticons already," Ratchet said.
"They have argued that point in their attempts to gain more knowledge about our weapons," Optimus said. "We will decide what to do if and when we are faced with that possibility. For now, we will rebuild the Lennox barn using what the humans would consider state of the art building materials and technology."
"Using what?" Ironhide asked. "This planet is completely different from ours. Their building materials are substandard from anything available on our planet, very few of which is available on theirs."
"We can help them improve what they have by showing them possibilities in reinforcing it," Optimus countered.
"Then what?" Ironhide asked next.
"You will continue acting as liaison. We will build underground living quarters for you and Chromia under the new structure. They wanted more than just this new security and new building materials, so Will convinced them that studying us, our culture and interaction, would be beneficial for both us and them."
Ironhide's optics grew wide, "He what?"
Will Lennox had been arguing that someone studying them would be a good idea. He felt that if the humans understood them better, then they'd be more and easily accepted into their society when the time came. Ironhide never liked that idea. He didn't give a Con's aft if the humans accepted them into their society or not.
"A Cultural Anthropologist will be observing you and Chromia," Optimus said, nonplussed by Ironhide's reaction.
Ironhide jumped to his feet, not bothering to hide his anger, "Have you lost your mind?! You know what would happen if Chromia were discovered here!"
"No, I don't know...and neither do you. The Decepticons are scattered. Without Megatron, the conditions of the war have surely changed," Optimus said, his voice remaining calm.
"Yea, but you don't know for sure," Ironhide countered.
"Ironhide, this is the only way we can move forward on this planet. I explained the situation to the humans and they will do everything within their power not to mention that there is a femme among us."
Ironhide's anger spiked. "You told them?! What happens in my life is not to be on display for most Cybertronians, let alone an organic species!" Ironhide yelled at him.
Ironhide jerked his head towards Ratchet, fully intending to let him know just how displeased he was with Ratchet telling Will about his loss, but Optimus got his attention again when he rose his voice.
"I didn't tell them anything you wouldn't want them to know. I only told them the situation with the femmes of our kind."
---
"That one sure does have a temper," the anthropologist said of the one they called 'Ironhide.' "It's interesting that the most hot-headed one is the one that's loaded with the most weaponry."
Will watched as he jotted a few things down. Will suddenly became fearful that these observations would be used to decide on how dangerous the Autobots might be.
"He's harmless," Will stated.
"Harmless isn't exactly the way I'd describe him," the man retorted.
"He means well," Will countered.
"He burned down your barn," the guy continued.
"Not because of his weapons, I promise you. That was purely an accident," Will was starting to get annoyed with this guy and became a bit suspicious on how this particular Cultural Anthropologist was chosen.
"What if your family had been in there?" the man said next.
Will snorted. He knew Ironhide never would have approached his mate like that if Will's family were around. Ironhide had problems with Will watching their reunion upon Chromia's arrival. There'd be no way he would have done anything with the entire family around.
The Cultural Anthropologist had no idea how the barn was burned down and Will was sure Ironhide would like it to remain that way. Will might have argued for this observer, but he also knew how private Ironhide was and he'd do what he could to ensure Ironhide's most private moments remained, well, private.
Will watched as a few more things were jotted down. "I thought you people were supposed to be objective observers."
"We are," the cultural stated.
"Just make sure you remain that way," Will countered.
---
Chromia just sat there with her mouth hanging open. She was literally speechless. She and Ironhide were going to be nothing more than a cultural experiment. Finally, she found her voice.
"Optimus, I don't think Ironhide and I are the best Cybertronians for the humans to formulate their opinions around our entire kind on." The humans would more than likely decide that all Cybertronians were battle-hungry war hounds while observing the likes of the greatest warriors ever produced by Cybertron.
Optimus actually disagreed, but he didn't voice that. Instead, he said, "They specifically asked that it be you two. They are very curious as to how bonded mates of our kind would conduct themselves."
"Then they can observe you and Elita when she gets here," Ironhide stated sternly. "As far as Chromia and I, we don't want to be 'observed' by anything."
At the mention of Elita, Optimus hung his head. Slightly angered, he didn't say anything for a moment, allowing his temper to settle somewhat before saying, "You will allow yourselves to be observed for long enough to satisfy the wishes of the humans."
"I'm shocked, but I'm not surprised," Chromia stated. "This isn't the first time you've made a decision that affects us without consulting us first."
Optimus met her gaze evenly. She would see to it that this would happen with as few problems as possible, but he was going to owe her big time.
Bumblebee was surprised, yet amused, by Chromia's forwardness with the Prime and he made a small snickering sound. The sound stopped when both Optimus and Chromia snapped their head in his direction. He tried to cover himself by making a coughing noise into his hand, which was probably something he learned from Sam, as coughing like that served no purpose or benefit for a Cybertronian.
Chromia turned her head from the youngling's peculiar behavior and returned her attention to Optimus. "But, as always, we'll get used to it," she conceded.
Ironhide looked like he might protest, but Chromia reached out to him with both her hand and their bond. She patted his arm while reassuring his spark. She made a motion for him to sit back down, which he did.
Chromia knew the next part wasn't going to be easy. The last thing Optimus needed was for them to be fighting every decision he made, but that didn't mean Chromia wasn't going to speak her mind, which Optimus well knew.
There was a moment of silence between them all as Optimus prepared himself for the next topic. He looked at Chromia.
"You were assigned to a team consisting of yourself, Mirage, Smokescreen, Hound, First Aid, and Eli..." Optimus started.
"I don't know where she is," Chromia interrupted. She knew Optimus had to be desperate to know if she knew Elita's whereabouts, especially since they were supposed to be together all this time. "I don't know where any of them are. I lost contact countless vorns ago."
"What happened?" he nearly whispered.
"The Decepticons...They found us..."
8888
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Oh my goodness, I just got a review that prompted this note and explanation. When I say that the humans want to 'observe' the Cybertronians, I do not mean in a perverse way at all. The reviewer understood that, but I wanted to dissuade any other thought in that direction, unless it's a humorous one. Cultural Anthropologists observe and record other cultures all the time, but not in a sexual manner. They merely observe the way other cultures conduct their day to day lives. They watch them and study how they interact. What I am saying in this chapter is NOT meant to be voyeurism.
