Hello, I hope you are all enjoying the story so far! Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I've also gone back and fixed a couple small mistakes I made. Mostly spelling and grammatical errors. Thank you Ekeifer for pointing out that error in chapter 1.

On to the story!

I do not own transformers

Chapter 8

Ironhide woke as he heard rustling from within the three story home behind him. Sarah Lennox and Annabelle always tended to be early risers. While he did have berthing back on base, he tended to stay near the Lennox household whenever he could find the right excuse. His guardian protocols urged him to stay near his charge, although they had not needed his protection since Sarah Lennox relented and moved to Diego Garcia.

Captain Lennox and Sarah Lennox were both thrilled to live together, although the Captain was required to remain on base proper most of the time. However, Mrs. Lennox did not wish for her daughter to grow up on a secluded island. For this, Ironhide felt a twinge of guilt. He too wanted Annabelle to grow up among other children and receive a quality and diverse formal education, but he also wanted Annabelle to be safe.

After becoming the Lennox's guardian, he avoided the sparkling at all costs, for fear of harming or scaring the child. But her curiosity was relentless and eventually she won out. The black mech was wrapped around her finger.

After a few months of living with the Lennox's, Ironhide was called on to go to the newly founded base, leaving the two femmes unguarded. He would never make that mistake again. Now, both lived safely on the island, but he still watched over them whenever he could. Sarah Lennox saw right through him, of course. Whenever he stated he would stay out front, sighting he was too tired to head back to base, she would give him a knowing smirk and wish him a good night.

Annabelle especially liked it when Ironhide stayed over so she could sleep with him in his alt-mode whenever she had one of her recurring nightmares. Luckily, it seemed that, on that day, Annabelle had a full night sleep. As usual, she had peeked out her window to see if her favorite truck was recharging outside. By the time Ironhide fully woke, the four year old had her arms stretched as far as they would go up his grill.

"Mornin' Iwonhide!" she stepped back in anticipation.

Ironhide, not wanting to disappoint the child, slowly transformed. The sparkling seemed to love watching him change from a not-so-common truck into the towering autobot, so he showed off a bit in a slower transformation to fully wow the little femme. When he was done, she clapped her hands together a couple of times. "Can we pway?"

"Sorry Annabelle, but I must get going soon." He knelt down and ruffled her hair ever so gently. "But I am off duty tomorrow, and I promise to visit then."

Annabelle looked down in disappointment. "Ok." She huffed.

"Now, have you refueled yet?" he gave her a knowing look.

The sparkling's answer was cut off by a roaring engine. A mostly white Lancia Stratos rolled up the driveway. Wheeljack quickly transformed and nodded to Ironhide. "What's up 'Hide?" he knelt down to Annabelle. "How're you doin' scraplet?"

"I'm ok." She bounced slightly on her heels. "Can you do the swords?"

Wheeljack laughed, "Maybe after I speak with your creator."

At the mention of her name, Sarah Lennox exited her household. "Wheeljack, Ironhide, good morning to both of you."

"Good morning ma'am." Wheeljack responded respectfully. While the white mech tended to be as gruff as Ironhide was fabled to be, Wheeljack had quickly learned to respect Mrs. Lennox. Unlike the soldiers on Diego Garcia, she did not stand for being called a squishy, fleshy, or any other nickname the 'bots came up with for humans. The wrecker learned very quickly to show the small woman courtesy. After a rather long lecture from the strangely spirited and ferocious femme with a certain cannon toting mech in the background, Wheeljack treaded carefully with her. Or at least when other mechs weren't around. Ironhide did not count, though, because he was even more fearful of her wrath than just about any 'bot.

"What can I do for you today?" She rubbed her hands together.

It was a common occurrence for an autobot to appear outside her household at any time of any given day. Some mechs, merely visited to collect Captain Lennox and bring him back to base. Others, such as Optimus Prime, enjoyed the peace her little carved out property offered. They could hide away from the bustle of the base. Sarah Lennox always had energon stocked in her shed for a visiting 'bot to sip on. When asked, she would also engage in conversation with them. The autobot leadership enjoyed her intelligent and nondiplomatic dialog. And the femme was definitely intelligent. Not only was she naturally knowledgeable, but the former professor was well versed in sociology. Her profession led her to be uniquely capable of fielding any questions the autobots had concerning interactions with human kind. She also had the mental steel to field some of the more bizarre questions that inevitably arise whenever a 'bot went searching through the internet.

Wheeljack dug through his subspace, "I just wanted to return this to ya." He pulled out a small box that Ironhide instantly recognized, Sarah Lennox's cleaning supplies. Mrs. Lennox was quite adept at providing car washes. Back in the old days on Cybertron, bathing was more social than it was centuries later. Ironhide, and a few other 'bots, still very much enjoyed it whenever Sarah Lennox would wash their alt-modes. "It did wonders for the jackhammer. She may not be flying just yet, but at least she's looking more respectable."

Sarah Lennox accepted the box. "I'm glad, feel free to come by and borrow some any time."

Annabelle jumped with energy, "Swords."

Wheeljack grinned, "I'll do one demonstration if your creator allows it."

Annabelle turned to her, giddy with a sparkling's excitement. While Ironhide did not like the idea of weapons, aside from his own, being within eyeshot if Annabelle, he knew that Wheeljack was extremely skilled with his katanas and posed no threat of accidently harming her.

Sarah Lennox sighed and addressed her creation. "Alright, just please be safe. Give him plenty of space." Ironhide could not help but smirk. A few years ago, the idea of an autobot even looking at her sparkling, was enough to terrify the femme. Now her trust was like second nature. "I will be inside making breakfast, be back in twenty minutes. Ok?"

"Ok." Annabelle chirped.

"Wheeljack," the femme addressed the mech, "Keep a close eye on her. And if you are going to be swinging those things around," she pointed a finger towards a nearby grove of trees, "Then try whacking down those trees of heaven without harming the palms." It was not uncommon for her to assign random tasked to the autobots whenever they were nearby. Tasks which were always dutifully carried out.

"Will do ma'am." He nodded.

"And no grenades!" She called back while heading into the house.

Wheeljack turned to Ironhide, "I'm never gonna live that one down, am I?"

Ironhide grinned, "Humans may have short lifespans, but they have long memories."

"I filled in the hole, didn't I?" He slowly started towards his destination, Annabelle in tow. "You comin' 'Hide?"

"No." he grumbled. "I have to meet those pit spawned twins and Private brook."

"Oh, yeah, Jazz told me about what's going on. Probably gonna be a disaster. Make sure the kid doesn't die, she seems like a good soldier." He threw one last comment over his shoulder, "Oh, and I should probably tell ya. I went by the doc's earlier today. The twins were there and Sideswipe looked to be in a pretty rough shape. Apparently Sunstreaker needed to put some dings in his idiot brother."

Ironhide growled. It was not going to be a good day.

-Scene Change-

They were late. All that persistence, and they were late. He was late. Maybe all of it was just one of his infamous pranks, not a very good one, though. She had done worse when she was six; taking all the tops off her caretakers' muffins- now that was evil. Erin lost herself in the slight sense of nostalgia. She was so carefree, no amount of punishment would discourage her reckless behavior. But that was a long time ago and a lot happened since then. All that was left was a girl on a mission and a few mechs who were delaying said mission.

Tired of standing around, she decided to take advantage of her surroundings. The training ground was mainly for mech on mech sparring, in its center was a large open space, dotted with a few boulders about twice as tall as an average human. Next to the sparring grounds were several targets at varying distances. Someone, most likely Sideswipe, had glued images of decepticon faces onto each target. Megatron's image had a large speech bubble that read, "Come at me bro!". Meanwhile, the one that appeared to be Starscream had a small handlebar mustache. Between the two fields were a set of stands. Erin walked between them to where the metal scaffolding was exposed. She lifted herself up and hung her legs over one of the bars. Hanging sit-ups would help pass the time.

After several minutes, Erin could hear the roar of high performance engines. It sounded as if one of them, most likely Sideswipe, was trying to make the loudest engine noises. Not bothering to stop, she continued her workout until three mechs were towering over her. Calmly, she dropped from her position and stood to face them only to be caught, slightly, off guard. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were both covered in scratches and dents. The latter mech seemed to have gotten off with only cosmetic injuries, while the silver one had a couple of noticeable holes in the armor on his arms and one on his thigh. Dried energon still was crusted close to the wounds, but it seemed that most of it had been washed away.

"Apologies for making you wait, Private Brook." Ironhide stated, glancing at the 'bots on either side of him. I had to collect these two fraggers from the med bay."

Erin didn't ask, the dark glare from Sunstreaker warned her not to. Sideswipe just shrugged and gave her an idiotic smile and wave. The yellow mech then smacked him on the back of the head or 'helm' as they called it.

"As you know," Ironhide stated, "I will be monitoring your training to determine whether you are a good fit with these aft-heads, however doubtful that is."

Sunstreaker grumbled, "Let's get this slag over with already."

Erin was surprised by how Sunstreaker seemed even remotely willing to work with a 'squishy'.

"Alright slag-heads, "Ironhide continues, "I want you three to work together in a combat exercise. I will be your opponent. A win only counts if you work together." The black mech gave a dark grin, "You have two breems to come up with a strategy. And I should mention, if any of your slag-headed actions cause injury to Private Brook, I've been informed to take both of you straight to the brig, so no funny business." He glanced over to Sunstreaker, "I won't be going easy on you fraggers, so I wouldn't recommend failing on purpose." He then thundered off to the center of the sparring arena.

Sideswipe spun on his wheels, standing between Erin and Sunstreaker, the latter of whom refused to budge. "Alright, Rin, ya ready?" he gave a wide grin.

She nodded back, considering you've seen me spar, what strategy would you think will work best for us?"

He shrugged, "I don't know, I was just gonna feel my way through it."

Sunstreaker rolled his optics in a very human-like gesture.

Erin fought the urge to do a face palm. "Look Sideswipe, you two may know each other's fighting styles well, but I don't and I can't communicate over comms like you can."

"We don't use comms, we can speak over our twin bo-". He nearly fell over as his twin smacked him over the helm again.

Sunstreaker growled, "Hurry up, fragger."

This was not working. She needed to think fast. She stared intently at the twins, studying them and remembering the brief description she received of them on the flight to Diego Garcia weeks ago. Strategies flashed through her head. She had seen Sideswipe move not only during their sparring match, but every day while he stalked her. His wheels gave him speed and maneuverability, although his armor was noticeably thinner than Sunstreaker's. Meanwhile, it would make sense for a skilled team such as theirs to have contrasting abilities. Sunstreaker was not likely to have the speed Sideswipe has, in fact, he was built a bit more like Ironhide, only without the excessive weaponry. The way the yellow mech stalked around helped confirm her suspicions, he was a solid force, built like a mountain. "Sideswipe, when you two fight, you focus on quick attacks while Sunstreaker acts as the strength, hitting hard and stunning the opponent while shielding you. Am I right?"

Both mechs seemed a bit taken aback. Erin could swear she saw Sunstreaker mouth 'not bad'. "Analyzing that wasn't hard." She summarized. Besides, she did have some background information on their fighting styles already. "What he'll expect is for Sunstreaker to make the first shot, followed by Sideswipe up high and me down low. That's the move that makes the most sense. So, let's make him think that's what we're doing." A plan formed in her mind, one that even she felt nervous about.

-Scene Change-

Ironhide was not a very patient mech. He gave the three two breems, but considering they had never fought together, he should have given them a day to practice and discuss. However, he didn't care. When the three finally got ready to face him, he felt his battle programs activate. His vorns of experience were behind him, ready to face whatever they threw at him. The twins were powerful and wild, in a real fight they would tear their enemies apart. While strong, they were also predictable. This would leave Private Brook exposed, outside of their 'twin loop'. He takes out the human, all three loose the exercise. She needed to learn how not to be the weak link.

Private Brook gave herself a head start, moving in towards his legs. After a couple kliks, the twins burst towards him. Ironhide would let them have the first move so he could determine their exact strategy. Sunstreaker arrived first with a powerful shoulder slam, sending Ironhide skidding back. Out of the corner of his optics, he saw Private Brook rearing to strike. He swung his arm towards the ground with only enough force to knock over the human. His fist came to an abrupt stop, slamming into tough metal. A silver fist curled around his own, holding him in place. Sideswipe flashed him a cocky smile. He… missed? Where was she?

Sideswipe swung his free arm up, out of his servo jumped Private Brook, weapons in hand. She landed against Ironhide's faceplates. One leg hooked around the back of his neck and the other folded to push against the front of his neck cables, holding her in place. Her E-blade came within inches of his optic. A handgun containing paintballs matched the other. Ironhide was about to swat her off but felt the sharp edge of an energon blade at the back of his heels. The pressure of a cannon met his chest plating. He was completely pinned. Past Private Brook's weapons, Ironhide could see her and Sunstreaker's victorious smirks. Sideswipe chuckled from behind him.

"Alright," he said brusquely, "I concede."

Private Brook was the first to sheath her weapons. She kicked with her leg to distance herself from the black mech and landed on the ground. He noticed how she seemed to falter a bit in her fall. His scanners picked up her elevated heart rate, which was higher than it normally was when they sparred. He filed it away for later thought.

Sideswipe, on the other hand, clumsily leapt forward to try and catch the falling human. He fell short and 'ate' the dust by Ironhide's feet. Sunstreaker kicked off the silver servo that had grabbed onto his pede after the fall. He stalked slightly away from the group, probably just trying to get some distance between himself and the human.

Ironhide regained his composure. The three of them had caught him off guard. He did not expect them to operate together so easily. At the very least, he expected Sunstreaker to outright refuse the human's help. One impressive bout, however, would not make the decision for him. He had far more planned.

-Scene Change-

Erin was surprised by how willing the twins had gone along with her battle plans. For beings with hundreds of years of their own experience, she thought it would be harder to convince them to cooperate with her. Sunstreaker still seemed apprehensive, though, Erin just hoped these trials did not include any trust exercises.

Luckily what came next did not include Erin falling back into Sunstreaker's hand. Ironhide had them continue to come at him as a team. After the fourth round, she got the sense he just wanted a win under his belt. Unlike the first round, the second was mostly Sunstreaker beating on Ironhide, but Erin and Sideswipe still contributed… a little. Mostly by staying out of the way, which counted… sort of. Rounds three and four showed Erin just how formidable the twins were. Ironhide was no slouch, Epps had told her just how powerful he was on the battlefield. Although, she learned, he never used his full strength when sparring, mostly because it would leave far too many potholes and too many buildings would be lost. The twins, on the other hand, had no qualms about going all out on the black mech, which is precisely what they did. Erin managed to do her part, shooting paintballs at Ironhide's optics to blind and distract him. If he avoided her, he would not be focusing enough on the relentless beating the twins were intent on putting him through. If he allowed her to continue her onslaught, he would be blinded and even more vulnerable.

While Erin and Sideswipe could accommodate each other's fighting styles, it had become apparent that Sunstreaker was working around Erin rather than with her. Ironhide seemed to have caught on to this as well.

The strain was catching up on the human. Ironhide had focused almost all of his attacks on her, trying to take her out or drain her energy with each round. It was clear that while she was remarkably fit, not to brag, she still did not have a robot's stamina.

She followed after the twins as they tried to get some distance from their opponent before the next round. A large servo wrapped around her abdomen and pulled her into the air. She flinched and tried to pry herself away but it was a hopeless effort. Even with her energy reserves low, she found a burst of energy in her newfound panic. Massive black fingers covered her holsters, making her incapable of unsheathing her weapons. Ironhide grunted and caught the other mechs' attention. Erin scowled as she was held up like a trophy.

"You aft-heads just let your partner get captured." He asked darkly, "What are you gonna do about it?"

Sunstreaker turned away and casually remarked, "Guess the squishy's dead… too bad."

Sideswipe gave a malicious grin and jumped into action, literally. He leapt into the air and shot on of his massive blades at Ironhide's good leg. The black mech fell to one knee with a grunt, unable to move with the blade slicing through his ankle strut and impaling him to the ground. His grip tightened slightly around Erin's waist and, in a real situation, her insides would of likely coated his servos by then.

For such a large mech, Sideswipe was fast on his two wheels. In a second she was face to faceplates with him. Using his remaining energon blade, he sliced at Ironhide's wrist, causing him to drop her into Sideswipe's waiting servo. Just as quickly as he attacked, the two of them withdrew. Erin sat cradled against Sideswipe's chassis. Erin tried to quell her panicked pulse, hoping the 'bots did not pick it up.

Ironhide remained kneeling, stuck to the ground. He glanced between his leg, Sideswipe, and Erin. "You left your blade to cover your retreat." He stated, somewhat shocked.

Sideswipe said matter-of-factly, "Well, I had to take care of my femme now, didn't I?"

Erin noticed how the hand cupped around her twitched. She leaned ever so slightly to see the top of his wrist spark. Did shooting out his blade injure him? Erin thought they were detachable. He looked uncomfortable. She quickly leaned back away from looking over the edge of his hand. Sideswipe's thumb started to unconsciously rub an imaginary line along her arm. Erin looked up at him and cleared her throat. Immediately, he stopped and looked down a her for the first time. His free hand, blade still unsheathed, rubbed the back of his neck.

"Oh, sorry, Rin." Sideswipe promptly and gently lowered her to the ground so she could jump out of his hand. She felt much better on solid earth.

Erin hear the sound of scraping metal as Sunstreaker, not too gently, yanked the blade out of Ironhide's ankle. From the looks of it, nothing too vital was hit. Most of the disturbed pieces of the leg clicked back into place. Sunstreaker returned the blade to Sideswipe's eagerly awaiting servos.

Ironhide grumbled to himself about how Ratchet was going to have a field day. Erin was unsure of whether he was referring to his own injury or what he planned to do to the twins. He must have wanted to delay the former because he sat down before addressing the group. "Alright, next you'll be doin' team ups. Sideswipe, Erin, you two will be taking on Sunstreaker. Same rules as before."

Sideswipe skated around Erin and stood ready to attack. Sunstreaker got into a mirrored position. Erin pulled out her pistol, there was no way she'd take the yellow mech on with her E-blade. His twin, on the other hand, had no qualms about facing off faceplate to faceplate.

Within seconds, the two were bashing into each other. Sideswipe offered up a roundhouse kick which bounced off Sunstreaker's forearm block. Sideswipe continued the motion with a left handed hook which Sunstreaker also met. He a attempted to jab a knee against his twin but the silver mech skillfully dodged it. Erin trained her sights, a clear opening available. Sunstreaker wasn't even trying to avoid her aim.

The two continued their deadly dance, neither landing a direct hit. Sideswipe skated and flipped around, blades unsheathed, optics intent like a vipers'. Sunstreaker was solid like an ox, giving no ground. They were so different, and yet made a perfect team. Twins. One was the solid foundation, putting emotions aside for both their sakes. The other, terrifying and deadly, yet rescues both of them from themselves… She lowered her weapon and watched as they moved in tandem.

"What's wrong?" Erin was nearly startled by Ironhide's sudden question.

She put her weapon in its holster on her thigh. "I don't think this team-up is a good idea." She sighed.

Ironhide seemed genuinely surprised. "Really?" She gave him a questioning look, prompting him to continue. "Don't get me wrong, those two slag heads are trouble. But, Sideswipe has me somewhat… convinced. Why are you second guessing this?"

She looked up to the two mechs who continued their match, unaware of their onlookers. Each had a wild grin plastered on his faceplates. "They don't need me."

Ironhide looked at her appraisingly. "Those two half-bits live in their own world. It's about time someone breaks them out. I'm willing to give you three a chance if you are."

"I just…" she lowered her head. "I don't know."

"It's not like it's a permanent state of things, either way. Give it a day and recharge on it, ok?" Ironhide gave her an imploring look. For some reason, he had changed his mind about their arrangement. Honestly, she had been even more convinced not to be involved with them, but she also trusted Ironhide's judgement.

"Ok."