Maggie placed her make-up onto the counter. After taking one last look in the mirror to make sure nothing was visible she walked out of the bathroom and yawned. She didn't get a lot of sleep that night, and it didn't help that she got up at six in the morning.

Maggie tiptoed passed the bedroom where her boyfriend was sleeping soundly. She didn't want to wake him up. Maggie went into the kitchen to fetch herself a cup of coffee before going to work. She blew some of her curly blonde hair out of her face and tried to dry the coffee she spilled onto her jeans. She huffed. That was going to stain.

"Forget it." Maggie said with a thick Australian accent. She picked up her purse and car keys, then walked out the front door.

Maggie had a job at the Rand Corporation, but she mostly found herself working at NEST; a top secret government organization. It didn't hold the kind of secret that would embarress a child if it was spread around the classroom; no, it was a secret that could get someone killed if they weren't careful enough. Maggie couldn't even give her boyfriend a lot of details because he wasn't directly involved.

Maggie walked to her car with a smile on her face. She was about a thirty minute drive away from work, and to be honest she couldn't wait to get there.

Earlier that morning her partner, Glen, called her and told her that he made an important discovery. He refused to say anything about it over the phone for fear that they might be overheard. Maggie didn't argue because Glen was right. It was never completely safe to talk at NEST headquarters either. Enemies could hack into their network and listen to their conversations at any time, even with defenses in the system that the biggest computer geek could only dream of.

After hearing Glen's excited voice, Maggie couldn't wait to get to work and find out what he discovered.


Ratchet folded his arms in front of his chest. He cycled his vents for the umpteenth time in an attempt to calm down and stop himself from throwing anything harmful at his patient.

Ironhide was throwing a fit, again. It wasn't anything unusual, but it was highly annoying to everyone around him. The Autobot Weapons Specialist gotten himself damaged in a fight with a rouge Decepticon and had his right cannon busted. It was his own fault, really. He was restless for a few days before hand and was itching for a fight.

After carelessly charging into battle, Ironhide ended up having a tantrum in the med bay because Ratchet told him to go into recharge.

"Primus forsaken Decepticon! I'm going to tear his slaggin' axle in half!"

Ratchet decided to stop stalling and calm the ranting robot before he tried to blow up the base. Again. Ratchet spoke with an unidentifiable accent. "Not now, you aren't. Lay down."

Ratchet wasn't surprised when Ironhide ignored him and continued shouting profanities about something that was partially his own fault. Ironhide was tired, and when he was tired he was grumpy and irrational. To make the situation worse he was grumpy, irrational and angry, though the humans and Autobots outside knew that from the racket coming from inside the med bay. It was a life threatening combination.

Ratchet pushed himself off of the wall he was leaning on. He picked up a wrench off of his desk and approached his patient. "Quiet down, you're behaving worse than a sparkling!"

Ironhide stopped his rant, but he was still stubbornly refusing to rest. He grunted. "I'm just fine."

Ratchet threw the wrench he had into the air and caught it again, repeating the process numerous times. He looked absolutely murderous. "Let me put it this way. You either go into recharge by your own free will, or by force."

Ironhide laid down without any more complaints, though he did mutter something about a 'wrench wielding piece of scrap' before powering down his optics and quickly falling into recharge. Satisfied, Ratchet turned to the broken cannon on his desk.

It was about two minutes before he heard a door open and someone pause midstep. A femme's voice reached his audio sensors. "Oh. Sorry, wrong room."

Ratchet recognized the voice before he saw who came in. Slightly annoyed from being disrupted, he turned his head to see Maggie Madsen standing under an open doorway, embarressed. Ratchet forgot about Ironhide. He instantly went into doctor mode and turned around completely to scan the injury the femme seemed to be trying to hide.

"What happened to your cheek?" Ratchet asked, gesturing to Maggie's face. Maggie froze for a second and wondered how he noticed. With a sigh of defeat, Maggie brushed the make-up off of her face and revealed a bruise. She looked away, noticing Ironhide's still form on the other side of the room, and tried to come up with a lie.

"I... fell." Maggie said while not making eye contact. Ratchet's optics narrowed sharply. It was impossible to lie the the Autobot medic. He could sense someone's heart rate in a matter of nanoseconds. Luckily, humans had slightly more leeway than the Autobots when it came to keeping something away from Ratchet. Maggie looked up. It was obvious that Ratchet wasn't convinced. "On the way here, I tripped... And fell."

Ratchet nodded and reached over for something that Maggie couldn't see from where she stood. After a few seconds Ratchet turned back to Maggie and handed her a human sized ice pack. "You should be more careful."

"I'll try." Maggie said, giving Ratchet a small smile. The smile faded when Maggie looked at the ice, looked at Ratchet and looked back to the ice again.

Ratchet resisted rolling his optics and explained. "Ice eases the swelling. You should keep the pack on for fifteen minutes."

"Ah." Maggie nodded. She put the ice onto the bruise and cringed slightly at the cold. "Thanks."

Ratchet gave another nod and returned to what he was doing before Maggie came in. A buzz from Maggie's cell phone indicating a text message reminded her that she had to get to Glen. He was the only one who ever texted her, anyway. Maggie turned around and walked out through the door she came in.

Ratchet knew Maggie had lied to him. Her heart rate paused when he asked her about her injury before it started beating rapidly. She seemed to be trying to stay away from the subject so he decided not to press the matter. Maggie didn't have a Decepticon scent on her, so it wasn't anything to do with the war. Ratchet shrugged and let it go.

The Autobot medic lifted a Cybertrontian sized wrench and started tinkering with the multiple pieces Ironhide on his desk. The Weapon Specialist didn't even stir when Maggie and Ratchet were talking, proving that he really was tired, though he would never admit it.

It took a few more minutes to fix the cannon. Ratchet looked over his handiwork, then walked over to Ironhide's offline form and kicked him.

Ironhide jolted out of recharge and looked around rapidly. His optics rested on a smirking Ratchet. Ironhide scowled, while Ratchet nodded and gestured for Ironhide to lift his arm up. Ratchet picked up the cannon off of the desk and started to reattach it, leaving Ironhide to do an internal check-up.

The Weapon Specialist frowned when he saw the time. "Why did you make me go into recharge if you were going to be done that quickly?"

Ratchet's smile widened. "Because I can."

"Fragger." Ironhide grumbled.

Ratchet stood up and placed the wrench onto his desk. He stepped back to give Ironhide room. "Alright, you're fixed. Get out."

Ironhide rolled his optics and got up without a complaint, though internally he was plotting revenge. Ratchet knew what Ironhide was thinking but brushed it off since his patient was tired and couldn't think straight. Ironhide walked out of a doorway big enough for all of the Autobot's to fit through. Even their boss didn't have to constantly bend down to get around.

Ratchet threw a wrench at Ironhide, missing only so he could startle the Autobot. "And go recharge, slaggit! I don't want to drag your aft back in here because you went into stasis on the target range!"


Ironhide was walking towards the makeshift Autobot hanger with a scowl on his face. Ratchet was full of scrap. Ironhide knew his limits, and was smart enough not to push them. Ratchet didn't need to remind him to go into recharge.

Maggie turned around corner after corner, finally giving up when she realized she had absolutely no idea where she was anymore. NEST had gone through so many renovations to fill both the soldiers and the Autobots needs; like the giant medical station she was in ten minutes ago.

Turning one last corner, she saw an extremely grumpy Autobot heading her way. She tried to turn around, but it was too late. Ironhide stopped and made eye contact with Maggie. "Why is there ice on your face?"

Maggie bit her lip before responding. "Ratchet."

"I know that," Ironhide snorted and rolled his optics towards the roof. Who else would it be? Ratchet was the humans doctor as well. NEST didn't want to tell anyone else about the Autobots existence on Earth, so no human doctor was hired. Ironhide look back to Maggie. "Why?"

"I fell." Maggie said, accepting that it was her excuse. It might not have been a very convincing one, but that's what she said to Ratchet earlier. If she said something different to Ironhide it would be obvious she wasn't telling the truth.

Ironhide wasn't as good as Ratchet when it came to reading humans vitals, but he could tell that something was off about the femme's story. He was about to ask Maggie why she was lying to him when her cell phone rang and she answered.

"Hello?" Maggie paused to hear her impatient friend on the other line. "...Yes, I'll be right there."

Maggie said her goodbyes to Ironhide and took off. Ironhide grunted and continued toward the Autobot hanger to get some ordered recharge.