Author's note. Heh, don't hate Ivory in this chapter, she's out of her depth and in a bad situation so she allows old prejudices to take over.

Tik is the Swedish word for b**th, it was the best alternative word I could find.

Suggestions are welcome.

Enjoy and please review.

As soon as Megatron had left, Elita turned to Ivory with a smile and said.

"Arcee will be so happy to meet; she's always wanted to know more about Maple."

"Well, that's only natural seeing as Maple's her mother," Ivory replied stiffly, while inwardly feeling very relieved that he was gone.

Elita's smile faded slightly, this Femme was rather hostile but she shouldn't judge her for this. Instead she asked softly.

"How did Bliztwing capture you?"

Ivory folded her hands as she turned away slightly.

"In an old space port, I was trying to work out where to go from there."

Her voice caught slightly as she said.

"Cybertron...has changed an awful lot since I last saw it."

Elita nodded sadly as she sat opposite the older Femme.

"It is shocking...you've been off planet, haven't you?"

"Yes," Ivory said in a controlled voice. "My mate and I decided to relocate when the War broke out, my daughter and her family were meant to join us but..."

She didn't need to say anything else, Elita understood. Gently, she said.

"I was the one who found her, Arcee I mean."

Ivory's head snapped around and she stared very intently at the pink Femme who explained.

"I was part of the search and rescue operation and I dug Arcee out of the rubble. She was wrapped up in a blanket and protected by her mother."

Elita paused before saying delicately.

"It was too late for the Femme; she had been off-lined for hours. Arcee was very distraught and needed a lot of care and comfort afterwards. But as soon as I took her in my arms, I fell in love with her. When we found there was no one to look after her, my mate and I adopted her."

"But there was someone," Ivory said, her voice slightly high with emotion. "My mate and I, we waited Orns to find out what had happened to our little Arcee."

"Ivory, if we could have contracted and delivered Arcee to you, we would have," Elita said softly. "But we had no idea whether you were alive or not, it took us so long just to gather information on her. It was just impossible to unite you with Arcee to I raised her as my own."

"You stole her," Ivory spat, turning her face away again, her emotions threatening to spill over.

Elita frowned again, she certainly hadn't done that and she didn't like being accused of doing so. On the other hand, this Femme had lost out on being a part of her granddaughter's life; she was probably a little distraught about that. Elita didn't want to start off on bad times with her, it could potentially damage Arcee's relationship with her grandmother.

"I'm sorry you feel that way," she began slowly. "But I did not steal Arcee, I just adopted her. I have raised and taught her to the best of my ability..."

"Well, you've done a poor job if she's ended up here," Ivory said shrilly, jumping off the berth and taking a few paces away.

"This...this place," she said angrily. "An alien planet, far from civilisation and trapped on a base full of disgusting, uncouth, violent, loud Kaon scum."

Before Elita could say anything, Ivory continued furiously.

"And don't get me started on those strutting, posturing, shrieking, war hungry, winged demons. Have you any idea what Seekers like to do to beautiful, innocent little Femmes like Arcee, they steal them, ravish them and then toss them aside like junk. They are not to be trusted, those true winged marauders."

Elita knew she was referring to Seekers and possibly Shuttles rather than bots like Prowl who had door wings. She could not believe what this Femme was spouting, she hadn't heard racism slander like that in a very long time. Even the Decepticons rarely said anything like that, they just boasted about how their Mechlyness was far superior to their Autobot counterparts.

She also knew that Ivory could not be allowed to repeat anything she had just uttered in front of any of the Decepticons.

"Ivory, none of them have harmed Arcee," she said loudly before the older Femme could say anything else. "And you cannot repeat those words to anyone hear or you'll be punished."

"I am living an eternal punishment," Ivory snapped back. "Everything I once knew is gone and the only bright Spark in my life is being held hostage by that immoral Kaon slag eater."

Elita stared at her for a moment before bursting out.

"If you feel that way, why in Primus's name did you interface with him?"

Ivory let out a bitter laugh of derision.

"You think I had a choice? That I would actually degrade myself by willing allowing him to interface with me? You may enjoy spreading your legs for him but I certainly don't..."

"I have never slept with him," Elita interrupted furiously. "I have a mate and I am loyal to him, no matter what Megatron likes to think."

"You think I believe that?" sneered Ivory in response. "I know his kind and I know that he wouldn't have wasted a moment with someone like you."

"Someone like me?" Elita repeated, her anger rapidly rising. "What precisely do you mean by that?"

"I think you know exactly what I mean," Ivory said coldly, looking Elita up and down in a disdainful way.

Elita's fists clenched together as her body shook with anger. How dare this Femme come and patronise her like this, while also insulting just about every bot in this base. If that Femme thought she was talking to Arcee with that racist attitude, then she had another thing coming.

"Yes, I think I do," Elita growled before adding. "But I hope you know that when you insult me, you also insult my daughter."

"She is not your daughter," Ivory snarled, her blue optics blazing with anger as her fists clenched to. "She was my daughter's Sparkling and you essentially stole her in order to make up for your shortcomings."

"Shortcomings?" Elita growled, her anger at near breaking point now.

"I know you haven't conceived your own child," Ivory said nastily. "If you had, you wouldn't go around stealing others Sparklings. What kind of a pathetic Femme are you?"

"Not half as pathetic as a Femme who would leave her own child and grandchild while she fled like a coward," Elita spat, finally reaching her breaking point.

With a howl of grief and rage, Ivory lunged at Elita who also charged forward. They met with a crash, clawing and snarling at each other before both fell to the floor. Cursing and screaming, they rolled across the floor as each tried to pin the other to the floor but they were so enraged that neither could manage it. Punches, kicks, scratches and half bites were exchanged as the Femmes full fury was unleashed on each other. Elita honestly had no idea how long they fought but by the time they were discovered, they were both bleeding from various wounds and were also covered in oil and other fluids due to the fact they had crashed into different worktops.

"What the...?" was the first indication either of them got that their fight had been discovered before another voice barked out.

"ENOUGH!"

Elita found herself seized and pulled off the Femme she had currently been punching in the face. She shrieked and wildly struggled, desperate to carry on, especially as Ivory was trying to lunge at her. However, the bloodied Femme had been grabbed by Hook who was glaring at the both of them.

"On the berth," Hook spat and Elita was hauled over to a berth and dumped on it.

Before she could even attempt to escape, both of her wrists were cuffed and then chained above her head to the top of the berth. As she struggled and swore, she saw that the same thing was happening to Ivory who was screaming that she would kill the tik who had stolen her Sparkling. Elita was only vaguely aware of how much she was embarrassing herself but she just felt so angry right now.

"That's enough," Hook barked out again as he grabbed hold of Ivory's shoulders and pinned her down on the berth as Long Hual did the same with Elita. "I don't know what's going on but the two of you will calm down NOW!"

However, neither Femme would calm down so with a growl, he grabbed some sedatives and administered them. Even then the Femmes fought him, earning growls and promises that he'd make them regret brawling in his Med Bay. Once he was able to give them their sedatives, the two Femmes started to calm down but they still glared fiercely at the other.

"Lord Megatron has been informed of this," Hook said sternly as he surveyed them with folded arms. "And will be along shortly. Just what were the two of you thinking?"

They didn't answer, just looked away, feeling extremely hard done by. Hook huffed, he wasn't getting anywhere with these two. He was very surprised to see Elita One of all Femmes fighting like this, she was always very controlled. It was her who'd been angry when Darklight and Chromia had fought and had lectured them sternly. Whatever this new Femme had said, it must have been pretty bad.

He sighed; he really didn't want to have to deal with this. He couldn't treat either of them until Megatron gave him the green light and even then, the Femmes might still attempt to fight him. If they were Mechs, he'd happily hit them until they behaved but he didn't like treating Femmes like that.

Thankfully, he didn't have to continue worrying about his patients as Megatron came stomping in. He surveyed the two angry Femmes and said silkily.

"How fortunate that I didn't decide to bring little Arcee with me."

This made both Femmes jump and stare at him in horror. He smirked as he walked over to them, noting the mess they'd managed to create. The grey Mech saw that while Elita looked rather ashamed of herself, Ivory looked furiously defiant. He mentally tutted to himself, it looked like he'd need to do a bit more breaking in for her.

"Where...where is Arcee?" Elita asked softly and Megatron smirked.

"Continuing her duties, I merely wanted to school her on how to act when she is off the base."

Ivory looked at him sharply at this before exclaiming.

"You're letting her go?"

"Temporarily," he corrected. "My gift for her transition into adulthood, she will be allowed to spend the cycle with her Sire."

"Basalt is off line," Ivory spat as Megatron sneered at her.

"I was referring to Optimus Prime, her adoptive father."

Ivory blinked in surprise.

"The Prime is her guardian?"

Elita narrowed her optics, so this Femme was impressed by Optimus's status. She disliked the Femme more and more, was social standing all he cared about?

"No, I am her guardian," Megatron corrected again. "Prime merely helped Elita look after her."

"He did more than that," Elita said with a growl but Megatron ignored her.

"But he has been absent from Arcee's life since she was a young Femling. He abandoned her and Elita long ago..."

"No, he did not," Elita exclaimed angrily. "You know perfectly well that he went to find more Energon for our starving planet and that you followed him. If you hadn't attacked his ship then you both wouldn't have crashed on this planet and remained in status lock for millennia."

"The Autobots are in disarray," Megatron said coldly. "If your Prime had surrendered early on, the planet would not be in the state it is now."

His expression changed as he smiled sneeringly at her.

"You would have been mine by now and Arcee would have grown up with a member of her family."

"Well, thank goodness she didn't," Ivory said shrilly, looking horrified at the very idea. "At least she grew up with some decent influence."

Hook raised an optic brow; he was starting to get an idea of why Elita had gotten so angry. Megatron meanwhile, marched right over to her and grabbed her chin, holding it tight in one hand. With a growl, he said.

"Are you implying that Elita was not a good influence?"

"She stole my Sparkling," Ivory retorted even as she winced in pain from his hold on her. "So yes, I am."

She bit back a cry of pain as Megatron tightened his grip even harder before suddenly letting her go.

"I can see I'm going to have some trouble with you," he said icily. "So I think a night with me is in order."

Her optics widened in horror as Elita felt some of her anger melt away.

"Megatron, you can't force yourself on her," she said sharply. "It's not right..."

"This doesn't concern you, Elita," Megatron said shortly. "You can clean this place up and spend the night with Hook to make up for causing a mess and actions unbefitting a Femme of your station."

"And as for you," Megatron continued, turning back to Ivory. "You can forget meeting Arcee today and if you continue to act up, that time can be extended."

"No," Ivory cried, desperately struggling against her bonds. "You must let me see her, I can't bear to be apart from her."

"Well, you should have thought of that before causing trouble, even after I warned you," Megatron declared coldly. "Hook, have Ivory treated first and then Elita. I will be taking our new Femme with me as soon as you've finished."

"No...no...I won't let you," Ivory cried hysterically but she was powerless to do anything.

"You can't do this Megatron," Elita exclaimed as she too started to struggle as Hook gathered what he would need. "Arcee will never forgive you if you rape her grandmother."

"I'm not going to rape her, I'm going to teach the Femme her place," Megatron replied. "She'll enjoy herself well enough once I'm inside her...she certainly did earlier."

Ivory flushed at this as Elita tried again.

"Megatron, I know you're probably angry but this isn't the way to go about things..."

"Elita," Megatron growled softly. "Don't forget the favour I'm doing for you in a couple of cycle. You wouldn't want me to call that off, would you?"

Elita froze for a moment before saying stiffly.

"If that meant you didn't touch Ivory...then yes."

Megatron chuckled, going over her to stroke her face.

"So sweet, even to a Femme like her," he purred, sending Ivory a dark look. "Your kind Spark does you credit but my mind is made up. I will not have a trouble making Femme who thinks she's better than everyone on my base."

"This isn't going to change her attitude," Elita said quietly. "You are only going to make it worse."

"We shall see," Megatron said with a shrug as he turned his back on her.

"Megatron, this is between her and me," Elita exclaimed. "Give us punishment chores, you have every right to do that but don't hurt her like this."

Megatron slowly turned to fix her with a glare.

"You know she sighed up for the Senate's program," he growled. "Anything I give to her pales in comparison to the harm she helped wrought."

"You don't know how much she knew of that," Elita argued. "Most bots would never have expected the Senate to do something of that nature."

"Most bots are naive fools," Megatron replied coldly as he turned around to see that Hook had finished patched up Ivory.

"Now," he continued as he went back over to Ivory who shrank away from him even as she was uncuffed from the berth. "If you'll excuse me Elita, I have some business to attend to."

"Megatron, no!" Elita cried as a crying Ivory was scooped up by Megatron and carried away, out of the Med Bay.

"No...damn it...don't do this," Elita yelled after him, but he never looked back once.

"No," she groaned helplessly as he disappeared from sight, knowing there was nothing she could do to stop him once he was inside his room.

Primus, would Arcee ever forgive her?

Author's note. What does Megatron do to Ivory? Does Arcee find out? And what about the other Femmes, what are they up to? Find out next time, until then.