Right, first off, if you haven't re-read chapter seventeen - Hands, then go read it, because I being a full and complete blonde, stuck 24 where it shouldn't have been, and a billion thanks to FireRose for pointing that out to me. Right, so without further ado:

Chapter 20 - Guns and Wrenches

(MPOV)

Ironhide stood up. Or rather, he stretched back out of his Alt-form. I couldn't help but frown slightly. Even in the bright sunlight, I couldn't help but notice a few sparks shooting out of his shoulder.

Of course, for the most part when he transformed, the humans stared at the cannons attached to his wrists.

"What?" Ironhide rumbled, turning to look at me. You could always trust that bot to know when there were eyes on him.

"Doesn't that hurt?" I asked with a frown.

"Doesn't what hurt?"

"Your shoulder."

"Mmnph," Ratchet immediately grumbled. "It's worn out to the bare protoform, and he still won't let me replace it!"

"Don't want a new shoulder, it takes forever to get it worn in properly," Ironhide rumbled with a snort of irritation. Ratchet rolled his optics.

"They've been doing that for the past fourteen vorn," Bumblebee informed me with a snort, lounging casually beside my workbench.

"Of course it wouldn't be so badly worn if the lazy lugnut over there would subspace those bloody cannons, rather than carrying them around orn in and orn out," Ratchet added with a snort.

Ironhide burst out laughing.

"Lazy my pede, I build and tear these things down every single time I transform. You gotta take care of your cannons Ratchet, otherwise we'll just have another Sigma three on our hands." the Weapons Master grinned.

Ratchet promptly dropped his head onto his workbench.

"No," he rumbled flatly.

"Go on Ratchet," Ironhide grinned unrepentantly. "Go ahead and remind me what happened to a certain sub-spaced plasma rifle."

"Shut up Ironhide," Ratchet grumbled.

I looked at Bee.

"Shut up Bumblebee," Ratchet added flatly.

"Ratchet!" I shouted. "What did you do!?"

"I hate you Ironhide," my mentor stated flatly.

"No you don't," Ironhide snorted. "If you hated me you would have long since stopped nagging me about my shoulder. I'll make you a bet Ratchet."

"What?" he asked curiously, looking up.

"If your cannons fire, I won't tell Kae," Ironhide stated simply.

Ratchet was on his feet the next second, striding out of the hangars.

"Are you glitches coming or not!?" he bellowed over his shoulder.

Bumblebee had me in his hands the next second, lifting me to his shoulder as he followed the rapidly gathering group of bots.

I watched with a broad grin as Ratchet stood with a glower on his faceplates, pulling a couple of cannons seemingly out of thin air. They integrated into his wrists and began glowing somewhat.

Ratchet took aim, and a fizzle appeared, it sparked for a moment before powering down. He growled and made to fire with the other. Same damn thing.

What. Were the fricking odds.

I half expected Ironhide to burst out laughing. Instead:

"Both of them!?" Ironhide roared. He hauled off and cuffed Ratchet upside the back of the helm. "Hand 'em over."

"Iron-" Ratchet started.

"I said: Hand. Them. Over." Ironhide growled. Whoa.

Ratchet sighed.

"I'm never going to hear the end of this, am I?" he groaned.

"Hmnph! Kae!" he barked out.

"Sir!" I shouted back, and clapped a hand over my mouth. I couldn't believe I did that, ah well, Ratchet and I were both gonna get some ribbing. Ironhide was staring at me. Except then, then he grinned.

"'Mon Kae," he rumbled cheerfully, lightly plucking me off of Bee's shoulder. "Ratchet don't get to use his assistant today. You're gonna help me fix these damn things."

"Ironhide," Optimus rumbled in exasperation.

The weapons Master looked at him curiously.

"Uh, human?" I asked curiously, half-dangling from Ironhide's hand.

"Optimus," Ironhide stated firmly. "My function."

They stared at each other for a long moment until Optimus rolled his optics with a low snort and nodded.

"Right," Ironhide grinned down at me, walking back to the hangar. "As Weapons Master it is my duty to see you outfitted according to your ability to understand and function with whatever weapon I deem you fit for. You will not share any of this information with any I deem unfit for you to share it with, that includes bots as well, Ratchet and Optimus excluded. Until I deem you a fellow Weapons Master you will not teach another, got it?"

"Got it," I nodded firmly, squirming in his hand to look up at him.

"Good. Now. Before you even need to ask, last time he let his weapons go like this, I had to save his sorry aft from a couple of half-rate ruffians, all because he couldn't so much as fire a warning shot."

I snorted, I couldn't help it, Ironhide set me down on Ratchet's workbench and poked my toolkit toward me with a finger, setting the cannons down beside me. He settled down on the bench and released a contented groan.

"Right then, you see those little screws there?" He pointed to a good dozen bolts that were probably the thickness of my thumb. Mind, at his size, they were quite tiny. "Need those unscrewed, get into the guts," Ironhide rumbled with a snort. "Ratchet ain't the only one who don't like working on tiny scrap."

I chuckled and glanced at the bolts, grabbing the right tool and getting down to some serious work with the Weapons Master.

"So how are you so sure I'm not Galloway's spy?" I asked him teasingly.

"Welp, one, you just asked that. Two, just 'cause you're fixin' it, don't necessarily mean I'm gonna tell you precisely how it works."

"Fair enough," I nodded musingly, cleaning circuits and straightening wires under his command.

"'Course I'm gonna train you up proper anyway," Ironhide shrugged. I froze, turning to stare at him. "What?" he rumbled curiously.

"You're gonna train me to use Auto-bot weaponry?" I demanded incredulously.

"Yeah? So?"

"Human!" I stated incredulously. Ironhide frowned at me.

"Do you not want to learn?" he rumbled through that frown.

"Of course I want to learn!" I snorted. "I'm simply stating facts, I'm human, I thought you guys weren't going to outfit humans with weapons."

"You're more than a human now, Kae," Ironhide rumbled flatly, his own hands stilling as he looked down at me seriously. "You got a spark now, you're registering on our scans as a Cybertronian. Ain't the point though." He leaned forward, bringing his optics to my level and lowering his voice so the soldiers wouldn't hear. "You are dear to our Prime. I was watching you Femme, tiny as you are, fragile as you are you were right in the thick of things watchin' his back, you heard us coming and prepared to defend him from further threat. He says you saved his life, and Prime is useless when it comes to lyin' proper. He trusts too easy and assumes ain't nobody gonna stab him in the back. The more optics I got watchin' his back the better."

I felt my throat tighten somewhat, the gruff, rough and ready Weapons Master could always be trusted to be bluntly honest. I felt myself straighten somewhat with pride of his trust in me, he nodded and pointed to Ratchet's cannon.

"Now then, that circuit there needs swapping out," he rumbled flatly. "'S'bout ready to go."

I smiled and nodded, turning back to my work.

(SPOV)

Sideswipe was frowning again, he couldn't help it. The human femme was too calm, to patient compared to Ratchet's normal grumpiness, or even to the bizarrely even tempered Medi-bot who had resided at the temple. A solid month at base now and he hadn't yet seen her so much as growl properly. She would frown, walk around the vehicle for a second and get back to work.

Too quiet.

Anytime Ratchet began grumbling or swearing, she would look up, gauge his mood and act accordingly. Sometimes ignoring it, sometimes offering to swap, oftentimes just straight up baiting him until he burst out laughing. Scrap. She'd worked with Ironhide. And he hadn't even insulted her!

"What do you think of the human femme?" Sideswipe murmured quietly.

"Ratchet adores her, she asks good questions, doesn't argue about what I tell her I'm not going to tell her, and she does good work according to Bumblebee," Ironhide shrugged genially, picking up Sideswipe's mood and watching the Femme carbon unit as she patiently looked over another hummer. "And we all know how damned picky Bee is."

The bot in question pulled a face at Ironhide as he transformed.

But this wasn't a battle situation, Ironhide was actually pretty good with younglings. You could see him chuckling somewhat at the scout.

"I don't like it, she's too-" Sideswipe growled softly, but was cut short the next second.

"You piece of tin scrap bastard!" Mikaela shrieked at the Humvee sitting stubbornly silent in the middle of her workspace.

"Too what? Contained? Quiet? Too much like you?" Ironhide laughed as Sideswipe stared in shock.

"Kae?" Ratchet looked up from the servo he was working on in concern.

"Rust! Rust Ratchet! Rusty fucking bolts in a two year old vehicle. Where's the justice?" Mikaela demanded irritably, climbing up on top of the engine.

"Can't get a bolt undone?" Ratchet looked at her in amusement, "that took a while."

"If I don't have hydraulic ram strength in my next life I'm going to be severely pissed off!" Mikaela shot back, climbing up and balancing herself lightly on the Hummer's frame.

"What are you doing?" Ratchet asked curiously.

"Give me a lever and a place to stand, and I can move the world," Mikaela grinned at him and jumped, landing all of her weight against the wrench. The bolt came loose with a rusty squeal of protest. "When in doubt, leverage," she added, pulling herself free and climbing into a different position, a series of squeaks and clicks told of a now loosened bolt being removed. Minutes later the engine block sat suspended in a lift.

"Aw you've got to be kidding me," Mikaela growled, walking around the engine.

"Hmn?" Ratchet murmured.

"Oil pipe's practically stuffed with sand, no wonder it was running rough a month ago. Oh! And blown out head gaskets too! This just gets better! Who bloody drives a truck with no air filter and no friggen oil left in the engine!?"

"Well, we were running away from an airstrike," Graham piped up, walking by, "Decepticons don't exactly let you stop at the petrol station to top up the oil..."

"You!" Mikaela howled, extending her arms into claws and stalking after the laughing Brit with mocking ferocity.

"So that's how she stands to be around Ratchet, she can grump right back at 'im!" Chance added baitingly, scurrying past to avoid the used oil filter Ratchet delicately flicked at him. Mikaela caught it and tossed it into the bin.

"What the Pitfire kind of stance is that?" Sideswipe demanded indignantly, ducking away from Ironhide's restraining arm.

"Humans refer to that as a stalking zombie," Graham laughed, taking a couple of quick steps out of Mikaela's path, she grinned and flashed him a two fingered salute, making him laugh harder before she walked back toward the hummer.

"Useless!" Sideswipe stated after a moment, searching for zombies online. "They stumble! They're killed far too easily! Get into a proper stance!"

"They're not fighting, Sides," Ratchet rumbled, never looking up.

"One does not go into an aggressive stance and not fight!" Sideswipe stated indignantly.

"Precisely why I wasn't in an aggressive stance," Mikaela piped up, looking up at him calmly. She turned and glared at the engine again.

"If it's a write-off it's a write-off," Ratchet murmured consolingly.

"No, I can re-build it," Mikaela sighed, "It's just a pain when the bolts are stuck," she picked up a socket and attacked a bolt, growling when it refused to budge. When the next bolt proved the same she snarled, backing up and kicking the socket wrench at high speed.

"Unstable," Sideswipe grumbled.

"It's the human condition," Mikaela grumbled right back at him, which admittedly upped his opinion of her a notch, "Especially females, mood-swings."

"No, your stance is unstable, you should be able to kick with force without stumbling! Get into a proper stance!" Sideswipe commanded.

"Take a break Kae, before you break that poor engine block," Ratchet added, looking up with a grin.

"More like before it breaks me," Mikaela sighed, washing her hands in the basin, "I wonder if there's a punching bag nearby. I haven't hit anything in ages."

Ironhide elbowed Sideswipe with a smirk, Mikaela glancing over at the muted crash.

Sideswipe onlined his holoform with a disgruntled look on his face.

"Precisely what challenge is a tiny human femme?" Sideswipe grumbled through his asian based holoform as a heavyset and scarred man appeared beside him.

"Somebody for you to spar with Mikaela!" Ironhide's holo grinned at the girl.

"Excellent! I always wanted to beat up thin air!" Mikaela rolled her eyes.

"Try not to taunt them, those holos are as solid as my medic is," Ratchet grinned at the girl as her eyes lit up. Sideswipe couldn't help but grin at the change in her expression.

He turned and walked to the mats, Mikaela and Ironhide following close behind.

(MPOV)

"You want to fight you get into a proper stance," Sideswipe threw the challenge at me as several soldiers turned to watch curiously.

I automatically faced him and sank into an almost-forgotten opening stance, facing him with closed defences. He walked toward me gracefully and threw a slow punch, easily deflected, I backed a step and stood in preparation, watching him like a hawk.

We froze for a moment, sizing each other up. In the blink of an eye he threw a few quick jabs at me, followed by a light kick. I deflected them again, drawing calm and earth into my stance and soul.

"Who was your master?" Sideswipe asked quietly as we circled, tracking each other.

"Chen Sho," I stated just as quietly.

"He taught you defence," Sideswipe stated, darting in to throw a few more shots at me. I saw the opening and caught his arm. In a moment he was on his back, my forearm at his throat and one fist hovering over his face.

"He did," I smiled, shooting back to my feet and settling back into a ready stance.

"Damn Sides! She got you!" Ironhide guffawed.

"He let me," I said calmly as the holo jumped to his feet, "there's no way a bot who'd correct my stance to kick off a bolt would 'accidentally' leave an opening that wide."

Sideswipe grinned approvingly and sank into position.

"Let's see what you can do then," he chuckled and came after me with a barrage of punches and kicks. I dodged what I couldn't block, ducked and threw a few punches of my own from time to time. We broke apart and circled each other for a moment.

"You move quickly for one who's feet are deep in the ground," Sideswipe said finally.

"You take a punch well," I replied with a nod, my eyes never leaving his. "You remain stable for one who moves in the wind."

The next barrage of strikes were faster, forcing me to actually concentrate on the movements until he finally got me down on the ground.

I felt so out of practice.

"Rusty, but not bad," Sideswipe nodded, jumping up and offering me a hand.

"Thank you," I nodded, giving a small smile and sweeping his legs out from under him. He landed with a small oomph and looked up at me with narrowed eyes.

"Element of surprise, point," he nodded then recoiled beneath me, and then I was on my back with him on top.

"Sideswipe!" Optimus' voice called out reproachfully, walking into the hangar.

"Oh don't be a spoilsport Optimus!" I called out, arching to look at the mech walking toward us. That space let me flip Sideswipe again, straddling his torso I looked up at Prime with a grin. "Sideswipe has been kind enough to let me get my aggression out, and polish up skills I haven't used since I was barely older than a hatchling."

"That and it's just fun to watch Sides let himself get beat up by a human femme," Ironhide chuckled.

"Damnit! And I thought I was doing well!" I protested, rising easily from Sideswipe's holo chest. I offered him a hand and pulled him to his feet.

"Better than Ironhide," Sideswipe murmured, patting my shoulder comfortingly.

Ironhide snorted indignantly.

"You're still faster with the guns 'Hide," I called up to him with a smile.

The weapons master's holoform smirked at me and got into a gun slinger's stance. I turned to face him with narrowed eyes, copying him.

We drew hands, pointing and mockingly shooting at each other. Just for shits and giggles I went down first, clapping a dramatic hand over my heart and falling over the way a human normally would.

"Kae?" Ironhide asked curiously.

"You killed me 'Hide! Well shit." I laughed. Ironhide snorted as I flexed to my feet, I wandered to the edge of the mats and slipped my over-sized boots back on.

"Where you going?" Sideswipe asked curiously.

"Fix that Hummer," I stated with a small smile.

"But it's a write off!" Ratchet stated with a frown.

"It's a mission now," I laughed, grabbing a can of grease and going over every bolt.

"Why?" Ratchet snorted.

"Because everything deserves a second chance." I stated firmly, running through my mental checklist before starting in on the engine.

(RPOV)

Ratchet looked down at his assistant as she rapidly began stripping the engine and shrugged. She had good sense, if she figured she could fix it she could. In a remarkably short time the entire engine was laid out on a tarpaulin as Mikaela wandered through the parts with narrowed eyes. She pulled out her iPod and plugged herself in.

Ratchet let loose the small smile that had been threatening to cross his face as his assistant began moving to the beat as she cleaned each part. She turned to the engine block and frowned at it for a minute before walking over to the parts shelves. She pulled down an assortment of new parts and logged them before hauling the load to her spot.

She walked around the newly cleaned and stripped engine block before lifting it up to the drill press. Ratchet set down his tools to watch in interest as she re-bored the engine block, patiently cleaning away the shavings and spurs before inspecting it and beginning to put it back together. He scanned the engine as she worked on it and felt his brow ridges rising. She was improving on the minute flaws he'd found.

Apparently, she'd found them too. That was a very nice, tight fit on the pistons now. It was almost hypnotic, watching as she patiently went over every single detail.

"Hey Ratch?" Graham called out curiously.

"Graham," Ratchet murmured, watching his assistant.

"I can't help but worry that she's actually mad at me," Graham stated, watching as Mikaela re-assembled the engine from scratch. Occasionally logging parts numbers as she went and writing notes.

"Nah," Ratchet grinned as Mikaela hooked up a fuel line on the new engine and hot wired it to fire up. It sputtered for a second as she made several minute adjustments to timing and alignment before triggering a flood of fuel.

"YEAH!" she shouted triumphantly as it snarled to life.

"Holy shit that's a mean roar!" Chance bellowed.

Mikaela cut the engine and grinned at the men who'd stopped to watch as she worked.

"Why thank you, Chance," she grinned, lifting the engine back into the frame. She patiently began hooking it back up, bolting in the engine, releasing the lift and disappearing for several minutes as she scooted around beneath.

Ratchet shook his head with a grin and went back to his own project.

He looked in shock at the time when he finished. He'd missed out nagging her to go to dinner. He looked over and scanned the Hummer Mikaela was closing the hood on, she stripped her coveralls off and stretched.

That vehicle was a beast now. Ratchet began laughing.

"That's an interesting modification," he rumbled down at his assistant. She looked up at him with a smirk.

"Everything deserves a second chance," she grinned.

"Is it done!?" Lennox bellowed from the door to the mess hall.

"Maiden voyage!" Mikaela shouted triumphantly, hopping into the drivers seat. Ratchet listened as she turned it on, it ran smoothly, perfectly tuned. It sounded like a quietly purring beast. Rather like Ironhide, actually.

"Shotgun!" Lennox shouted, hopping into the passenger's seat with a grin as a few soldiers hopped into the back.

Mikaela laughed and drove slowly out of the hangar and onto the track. Ratchet followed to watch as the armoured vehicle roared to life, taking off like a rocket with power to spare. She looped the track, spun a donut and returned to the hangar with a truckload of laughing and cheering soldiers.

"And the point of that was?" Ratchet asked with a grin.

"I Graham-proofed it," she stated blandly as the soldiers howled with laughter