Author's note. So in the end, most people decided they wanted Darklight and Ivory to remain. But don't worry; there'll be plenty of other opportunities for the other Femmes to encounter the Decepticons.
Thanks for the suggestions I got, some will be used in the next chapter and I'll credit the suggestors then. ;)
Enjoy and please review.
"Which Femmes did we manage to recover?" Megatron demanded of Starscream as they walked along the broken corridors.
"Darklight and Ivory," Starscream said with a slight frown. "Echo remained with the cassettes and of course, we had Moonracer. But the others managed to get completely away."
Megatron nodded, he had wanted to keep all of them but he could still work with four. At least they still had one of the pregnant Femmes although it was a shame to have lost the other one. No matter, they'd get her and her Sparkling back one way or another. He actually smiled slightly; the Combaticons would not allow their Femme to be free for long.
"Where are they?" Megatron questioned.
"When captured, they were brought deeper into our ranks to prevent the Autobots retaking them, I believe they are currently in one of our spare rooms," Starscream replied, making Megatron nod.
"Good but I'd like to see them now," he stated before adding. "Since your Femme is pregnant, it's up to you whether or not she is punished but I'd rather the Sparkling was unharmed."
"I would never risk my offspring," Starscream exclaimed indignantly. "That is my heir."
He suddenly paused as he was reminded that they'd just discovered that Megatron had an heir. One who was his greatest enemies mate and had previously been the object of his desires, Primus Megatron's personal life was messed up. Starscream decided that it might be a good idea not to bring anything up about Elita or indeed Arcee and instead said.
"I'll have them brought to you immediately."
"Do it," Megatron said coldly, his narrowed optics indicating that he knew what Starscream had been previously thinking.
"Yes my lord," Starscream murmured, doing exactly as he had been asked least Megatron decided to beat him.
Very soon, the Femmes appeared with their guards and Starscream could relax a little.
"So," he began, surveying the two Femmes before him. "You attempted to escape with Prime."
Darklight just shrugged, she wasn't overly bothered that she'd been caught. It would have been nice to get out but she could roll with it. Ivory scowled, she'd fought against being recaptured and had some scuffs and a few cuts on her body. At least her granddaughter had managed to escape, she was grateful she was finally away from that slagger Megatron.
"Yes we did," Ivory said furiously. "You honestly thought we would remain?"
"Soundwave's mate did," he said coolly causing her to scoff.
"That is her business," Ivory stated coldly. "If she wants to be a good little breeder for that masked Mech, then she's more than welcome to."
"Echo knows her place and embraces it," Megatron told her, glaring at the defiant Femme. "Just as you will soon enough."
"The Autobots will rescue us," she declared boldly making him chuckle.
"Why would Prime care about you two?" he sneered. "Darklight is not an Autobot, she's a street whore we picked up and as for you, well, Prime has his two Femmes back, I doubt he will bother with a decrepit thing like you."
Ivory looked completely outraged while Darklight just had a neutral expression. She knew street whore was pretty accurate but she still felt strange about being called one. Perhaps those other Femmes had rubbed off on her; she hadn't had much self respect before.
Megatron smirked at them before barking at their guards.
"Take Darklight to Starscream's quarters and Ivory to mine. I'll deal with them later."
The Femmes were duly led away and a few moments later, Soundwave appeared with Echo. Megatron smiled at them and said.
"Soundwave, how good to see you. Echo, I hear you chose to stay?"
"Yes," she said softly with a small nod.
He touched her face gently before saying.
"Soundwave is one of my most loyal Decepticons who would do anything for the cause...and his family."
He smiled, not in a warm kind way but it was a lot less sneering and cold.
"I knew when it came to making choices; Soundwave knew what he was doing, especially when placing his trust in you. But it is always good to see that trust was indeed warranted. You could have gone with the Autobots, with your fellow Femmes but you chose to stay."
She nodded slowly.
"I love Soundwave," she said softly. "He's a good mate and father; I had no reason to leave him."
"Of course," he acknowledged. "But your loyalty deserves a reward."
As she gave him a curious look, he reached up and undid the delicate collar around her neck. Her optics widened as he offered the collar to Soundwave and said.
"You're free my dear. You've proven yourself trustworthy and are thus no longer a Decepticon slave. You can bond to Soundwave as a free Femme."
"T-thank you," she stammered, hardly able to believe what happened.
"It was my pleasure," he said, turning to Soundwave. "Take your Femme back to your quarters and make sure your family's settled, I will need your assistance repairing the damage."
"As you command lord Megatron," Soundwave intoned, offering Echo his arm and leading her away.
The gesture was not soft, Echo had never been a trouble maker and he had no real concerns with her. All she seemed interested in was taking care of her new family and making them happy, he had absolutely no issue with that. She could do that to Spark's content, as long as she didn't try to leave Soundwave but he doubted that would happen.
He had more important things to focus on, namely the Autobot response to the attack. With three Femme prisoners, they would be back and Prime would want some proper revenge. And Megatron would be more than ready for him.
...
Ironhide waited anxiously at the entrance of the base, wishing once again that he could have been there for the fight. But it hadn't been possible so now he waited like some sort of overbearing creator. Funny, he'd never really understood those who worried when soldiers like him went into battle because he'd never considered that he might not come back.
Ratchet did always tell him he was overconfident.
"Hey," came a voice behind him and he half turned to see Spike standing there nervously.
Since it had been such a major battle, Spike had not accompanied Bumblebee but he had insisted on waiting at the base for the Autobots return. He figured that he could help with the wounded, taking care of the minor injuries anyway.
"Hey Spike," Ironhide said quietly. "How's things?"
"Alright," the young boy replied. "Still no word?"
"Not yet," Ironhide replied. "But something tells me it won't be much longer."
"That's good," Spike said with a nod. "I hope Bee's okay."
"Ah, he'll be fine," Ironhide declared with a small smile. "Nothing gets our little Bee down."
Spike laughed before turning serious.
"I uh...I was in the Med Bay earlier," Spike began hesitantly, twisting his shirt in his hands. "I saw Dynamite, I mean your son."
"Yah did?" Ironhide said softly.
"Yeah, I've never seen a real Transformer baby before," Spike said with a grin. "He's real cute, dad says so too."
"Thanks," Ironhide said with a nod before asking quietly. "And did yah see his optics?"
"Yeah," Spike admitted. "Uh, First Aid explained about that, its cause that bastard Megatron hurt...well, you know."
"Ah do," Ironhide growled grimly as Spike looked behind him as though checking for something.
"Don't tell dad I swore," he mumbled, scuffing the ground with his feet. "Says there's no excuse for bad language even if it's true."
Now Ironhide managed to smile, Sparkplug sounded like he knew what he was talking about.
"Ah don't know if we're gonna be able tah fix it," he now told Spike. "But it don't matter, he's mine and Chromia's and ah ain't gonna let that slag head near him again."
Spike nodded, he believed him. But there was something bothering him.
"But why did he do it? I mean, wasn't stuff going pretty well for him? Arcee seemed to think he was quite happy."
"Ah'm hoping Prime might have some answers tah that," Ironhide stated. "Or one of the Femmes at least will."
"Think Optimus will be able to rescue them all?" Spike asked and Ironhide shrugged.
"I dunno about all," he admitted. "But ah know he won't go home without at least some of them. They ain't safe around that manic."
"Too right," Spike declared before suddenly squinting. "Hey, is that dust?"
"Huh?" Ironhide exclaimed, looking to where Spike was squinting and crying. "It's them!"
"Great," Spike cheered as Ironhide bent down and lifted him onto his shoulder to get a better look.
Soon the convoy of Autobots was clear enough for Spike to make out Optimus in the lead. However a lot of dust was being kicked up so Spike was having a little bit of trouble recognising everyone until they were much closer.
"I can't see any Femmes," he said with a frown as Ironhide said. "They're probably in Optimus's trailer, especially if we managed tah get any of tha carrying ones."
"Oh," Spike said in understanding as the Autobots drew closer.
Ratchet appeared to be right behind Optimus, his lights flashing indicating that he had patients that needed urgent attention. Spike winced; he hoped none of them were injured too badly but even from this distance, they all looked pretty banged up. Ironhide was already moving to one side so that none of them were blocked by his body.
Ratchet just zipped right past him along with some others who appeared to have badly injured passengers. Spike swallowed at the flash of life force on some of his friend, it must have been a terrible battle. Optimus had separated from his trailer and was transforming as Ironhide stepped towards him.
"How was it?" he asked as his leader heaved a great sigh.
"Pipes, Hotspot, Beachcomber and Slingshot are in a critical condition," he stated grimly. "And there are numerous others who are badly wounded as well, we will take a while to recover from this."
"And...tha Femmes?" Ironhide asked quietly as Optimus along with Prowl who only appeared scuffed and slightly dented went to the tail end of the trailer to open it up.
"Echo decided to remain but Megatron captured Moonracer, Ivory and Darklight," Optimus growled. "Along with Wheeljack."
"Oh no," Spike exclaimed as the doors were opened and Optimus leaned in to help the first Femme out.
"Hell," muttered Ironhide as Arcee hopped out before helping a pregnant Firestar disembark, followed by Elita.
"Ironhide," Elita exclaimed upon seeing him and hurrying over to him to touch his arm. "How are they?"
"Alright," the red Mech replied heavily, rubbing his face. "It's...slag, ah can't even begin tah say."
Her optics were filled with both understanding and sympathy. Swallowing slightly, she said quietly.
"Ironhide, it's...my fault that Megatron..."
He snorted.
"Lemme guess, yah refused the old slag heap again?"
"In a way," she said with a grim smile. "I made sure he could never have me in the way he wants and he...took it badly."
He looked a little confused at her, just how could she have done that? With a heavy sigh, she said.
"I'll tell you later, with Chromia present, you both deserve to know why...it happened."
He nodded, that made sense. On his shoulder, Spike asked. "Hey, is...Arcee okay?"
"What Megatron did has hit her hard," Elita said quietly as a crying Arcee was hugged by her father. Elita had explained what why Optimus had attacked although she hadn't yet revealed that she was the young Femme's aunt by spark.
"She...she was becoming fond of her grandfather," she said bitterly and the young human boy winced.
"That's rough," he said a little awkwardly. He honestly didn't know what else to say.
She nodded as Optimus led his daughter and Firestar over.
"Everything alright with yer sparkling?" Ironhide asked and the fire coloured Femme nodded with a smile.
"It's all good," she assured him. "But once everything's settled, I'll let Ratchet check me out."
"Wild horses couldn't stop him," Ironhide agreed, managing a genuine smile.
"Cee," the Femme now said gently to the still hiccupping Arcee. "You wanna show me your room? I think I could do with a proper lie down."
"O-okay," Arcee gasped out, rubbing furiously at her optics, desperately trying to compose herself.
"I'll join you later," Elita said soothingly, kissing her daughter. "I...need to see Chromia first."
Arcee's optics filled with misery but she was too distraught to insist that she be allowed to come as well. She wasn't even sure she wanted to; everything was just such a mess. With a very encouraging smile, Firestar drew the emotionally shattered Femme into the base, she'd look after her.
"Uh," Spike began awkwardly. "Do you guys want me to leave or something? I don't want to get in the way."
"You can stay if you want," Elita said warmly, sighing a little. "Believe me, you'll find out soon enough."
"Ratchet commed First Aid on the journey back," Optimus told Ironhide quietly. "Chromia and the little one have been moved to one of the Med Bay quiet rooms, we can talk in peace there."
"Do you wish for me to be there?" Prowl questioned and Ironhide stated. "Yah might as well be, someone's gonna have tah do a report."
"Indeed," Prowl acknowledged as they made their way into the base.
When they arrived in the quiet room, they found Chromia lying huddled on a berth right next to her Sparkling's incubator. She didn't react to their presence until Elita hurried over and bent down. "Mia?"
Chromia's blue optics glowed slightly as she raised her head. "Lita?"
"It's me," Elita said, reaching out to squeeze her friend's hand. "Firestar, Arcee and I managed to get out."
"I'm glad," Chromia said in a pained voice that was most unlike her normal tone. "Serves that...that slagger right if he can't have either of you."
"Mm," Elita murmured in agreement. She looked over at the sleeping Sparkling and smiled.
"He's beautiful," she told her friend, adding. "I should have known you'd have a Mech, his legs probably transform into little cannons."
This actually managed to win a small smile from Chromia, sending a jolt of hope through Ironhide's spark. His Mia was still there, he just needed to figure out how to bring her from the shell Megatron had imprisoned her in.
"Chromia," Elita now said in a very serious tone. "I want to tell you what happened to make Megatron...snap. Is that alright?"
The blue Femme's expression became haunted again, however she nodded.
"It was after Arcee's party on the Nemesis," Elita began. "We were all doing chores, I happened to be in Megatron's room when...he appeared."
She swallowed as she remembered what had happened but soldiered on regardless. With Optimus squeezing her shoulder, she carried on with her story.
"He wanted to have 'some fun' with me as he usually did. Damn his optics for making me promise to let him do that whenever he wanted," she said bitterly. "I won't go into details but needless to say I thought it was going to be the usual unpleasant experience."
Spike made a face on Ironhide's shoulder, that didn't sound good at all.
"In the middle of it, he suddenly played back a recording..."
"A recording?" Optimus could not help but ask.
"Of three words," she replied grimly. "My darling Areo."
There was a pause and then Optimus let out a Cybertronian curse, one Spike had never heard before but just hearing the Autobot commander swear was shock enough. Ironhide was frowning, he thought he'd heard that before but couldn't think what it was.
"It was the key to my belt," Elita stated darkly. "Megatron had managed to record Optimus saying it and used it to finally get me open."
"Aw man," Spike exclaimed. "He...did he?"
"He tried," she whispered, Optimus giving her shoulder another squeeze. "I fought back, I managed to grab something and strike him on the side of the head. He backhanded me but I'd damaged him enough that he had to check the wound. And that's when...he took his...helmet off."
All those in the room except for little Dynamite stared; they sensed this was an important part of story although right now they couldn't work out why. She took in a deep intake of cool air before explaining.
"Without his helmet, he has panels on his head. I recognised them, I recognised him as someone I met when I was a little Sparkling. My mother had taken me to a fair and we happened to meet him, he had apparently met my mother before. When he left, I asked my mother who he was and she said that he was..."
She squeezed her optics shut as she forced out the words.
"...my papa!"
"WHAT!?" Ironhide half roared in shock as Spike yelped "Holy cow, your dad!?"
"My father," Elita agreed as Chromia's optics widened in shock and horror.
"Your Sire...he tried to...," the Femme tried but couldn't finish that thought.
"Yes," Elita said, tear pooling at my optics. "My own father tried to rape me...repeatedly."
"I'm sorry," Chromia whispered as Optimus bent to hug his mate from behind, offering her comfort.
"I know," Elita said softly. "I...I told him...before he could actually do it. He didn't believe me, thought I was trying to get out of it but I said enough that he knew there was a chance it was the truth. But he was angry and determined to prove me wrong so he dragged me to the Med Bay, barely giving me a chance to put any armour on at all. Once there, he ordered Hook to test us and the results...proved I was right."
She looked at Chromia sorrowfully.
"Megatron did not take it well. I tried to talk to him but he grabbed me and locked me in a supply room. Then he left the Nemesis and..."
"R-raped me," Chromia finished for her, tears slipping down her cheeks.
"Yes," Elita agreed. "Chromia, I'm so sorry, I had no idea he was..."
"Don't," Chromia interrupted. "Don't you dare blame yourself Elita One. You did want you had to, what Femme could stay silent if you knew her own Sire was about to rape her?"
"I never wanted him to attack you...and your son," Elita whispered as Chromia grasped her hand. "I-I actually thought he was better than that."
"You know?" Chromia said with a bitter sigh. "A part of me thought that too."
Author's note. The after match of battle in the next chapter. Until then.