I opened the fridge, pulling out a tuboware container. Cautiosly I lifted the lid and took a sniff. It smelled like a combination of vomit and sweat. I think it was supposed to be a hamburger but it smelled like crap. In my household, if it didn't smell good it won't taaste good. I gagged and tossed it down the garbage disposal. I cast an eye over at Lennox and Epps.

"How can you guys eat this crap?" They just shrugged. Man, if I have to work with these guys they are definatly getting better food. Somewhat frightened of what coulde be hiding in the meat drawer I was somewhat relieved to find a couple rools of Jimmy Dean sausage. Breaking it into smaller pieces with my fingers I set it in a pot over high heat to fry up. I headed to the pantry, luckily this was not the mess that the fridge was. Searching around the bottom I managed to locate a bag of red beans and rice.

Once the sausage was done I added water and the red beans and rice, letting it boil before I covered it. Soon the smell of good ol' Cajun cooking filled the room. I could sense Lennox and Epps begining to salivate at the smell. Grabbing a deep serving spoon, I dolled out a few scoops for each of them. I swear if it's possible to inhale food, they did. What was left over I stuffed into a clean plastic container and threw it in the fridge.

"So am I staying here, or are you taking me back to Phoenix?" I asked, glancing at the guns strapped on Epps' and Lennox's hips.

"Uh, I guess you can stay here. We'll take you back tomorrow. I think there's an unoccupied room on the second story, down the left hallway on the right." I followed his direction and found the room. A window was on both sides of the room, one looking over the desert outside the barbed wire fences and the other looking into the hanger. More of the robots were sitting around, not doing much.

One of them, a big, bulky black one pointed at me. A red and blue one looked over, standing up to his full height. His piercing blue eyes examined me before he gestured for me to come down there. Although they probably just could have reached through and grabbed me like King Kong, I went down to the hanger. As soon as I had pushed open the door, they all stared at me. I just stood there. The red and blue one kneeled down.

"I am Optimus Prime, we are in your debt. You saved Ratchet, one of my oldest friends." I bit the inside of my lip. He was the voice, the one that had made me think I could fix their friend. I looked at the floor, somewhat awed and scared by his presence.

"It was nothing."

"Nonsense! If it weren't for you we would have lost him!" It was the big black one that had pointed at me earlier. Optimus glanced at him, then back at me.

"Ironhide, my weapons specialist." I nodded, the name seemed to fit. I looked around at all the robots just sitting in the hanger.

"Is this all you guys do? I would think you'd be outside, doing something."

"We are working with your goverment, weeding out Deceptacons, but they have us stay here."

"Deceptacons?"

"Cybertronians like us, but they will kill humans to achieve their means. We are Autobots, we prefer a peaceful co-existence. You've met Ironhide and Ratchet already, there are Skids and Mudflap." A couple of red and green cars waved. "Arcee, Chromia and Flareup." Three pink, blue and purple robots nodded their heads. "And finally Jolt and Sideswipe." A silver robot with swords on his arms, and a blue one with electric whips gave a slight wave.

"So you guys just fight these Deceptacon guys? You don't have any family or anything." Optimus shook his head.

"No, we are some of the last survivors of our race." This tugged at my heartstrings. Poor guys, and they just get locked up here? Like some kind of sideshow! I didn't need the room that Lennox had let me use, I'd stay here with them. I looked up at Optimus' face, then I saw several shards of metal embedded in his shoulder.

"Oh, here hold on. Let me get my pliers and I'll get that out." I hurried back to the garage, grabbing the toolbox and raced back to him. I pulled out a large pair of pliers and tested them to see if they needed to get oiled.

"Ok, here lie down. I have that out in a second." He gave me a bemused look but obliged, giving me full access to his shoulder. I got the shrapnel removed without any difficulties, he was relatively good about it. As the last piece pinged to the floor and I jumped down from his shoulder, the set of big doors opened. In walked Ratchet. He cast a glance at me, climbing down from Optimus. I was suprised at how fast Optimus got to his feet and embraced his friend.

"I certainly hope I still have my job! She's been taking all my patients!" Ratchet laughed, clearly happy to be feeling better again. I smiled at him, I hadn't noticed that he had a handlebar mustache earlier. Ironhide jumped up and ran to give Ratchet a hug too, sensing that this could easily turn into several twenty ton robots not watching where they're walking I backed into a corner. With a slight yawn, I realized how tired I was.

But still, I needed to stay up, falling asleep would be rude, not to mention possibly deadly. Ratchet, along with Ironhide, sat down next to me. I glanced over, he seemed to be studying me. With a single movement, I pulled my blonde hair out of it's ponytail and made a little curtain between us. A large metal finger brushed it back.

"Thank you." Ratchet said, his voice deep and comforting. A slight flush crept into my cheeks.

"Your welcome." We didn't say anything else and before I knew it, I was asleep.

"Major Lennox, I would like this girl to join our team. She has experience working on engines, and besides Ratchet would appreciate a little help in the medical bay." With a slight groan, I began to pull myself up, or actually something began to pull me up. The large metal hand deposited me onto his shoulder. Ironhide looked over, slightly bemused at the rat's nest of my hair.

"Welcome to the team, girl." he chuckled. Believe it or not, sitting about thirty feet in the air on a large robot equipped with massive cannons was actually not uncomortable. It felt... safe. I could see Optimus and Ratchet talking to the soldiers who were standing on a catwalk, so they could talk face to face. The two of them cast a look at me sittiing on Ironhide, I gave a little wave.

"Sure, why not?"

A/N: Thanks to Lee-Aeront for reviewing and faving this story and to PunkRockSkaterE and MaraChan-2010 for putting this on story alert! Oh, and to the fifty people who have read this! Now before I leave, I would like to request at least four more reviews before the next chapter.