A/N: Here y'all go! There's still a rhythm about it that feels like it's missing and I can't put my finger on it… Hopefully, y'all still dig it hahah. Let me know what you think! I know lots of you couldn't leave a comment last time b/c of the whole 'one comment per chapter thing' or whatever, but pls comment now! Love y'all.


Chapter Sixteen:

Only Natural


"Without trust, honesty, and communication, love is just another four-letter word, like shit." –Tommy Cotton


For the most part, I always knew when someone was staring at me as I slept. It was as if the weight of their eyes was rousing me from sleep. The only few really good examples of this that I had were from back in Alabama. There had been a few times where the kids came into my room in the morning looking to wake me up and during their 'build the confidence'moment their eyes would shake me out of slumber.

All that aside though, I wasn't in Alabama. The kids definitely weren't trying to wake me up to show me something or to ask to watch cartoons.

I forced my heavy eyelids open and blinked a few times in hopes that the leftover drowsiness would roll off me.

"Morning Jazz." I said between a yawn. While I was curled up in a pile of blankets and pillows, he was sitting on the floor across from his berth with his knees drawn up. His arms rested on his knees and he just stared.

I forced myself to sit up, stretching briefly, and shook my head, "What's up, dude?"

"Nothin' much, soldier."

It was like someone pressed a live wire to my skin. My entire body immediately tensed at his word and any sleepiness I felt was gone. My eyes raked over his still form again, this time it noticed the tenseness of his body. His visor was darkened a shade and a half, and his lips were pressed together in a fine line. I swallowed the lump in my throat and opened my mouth to speak, but instead of a half assed apology like I should've said, a question rolled off my tongue, "Did I get approved?"

If I had thought Jazz couldn't get any more tense, I had been astoundingly wrong. He shot up in a flash and that caused me to try and scramble back. My feet got tangled in blankets though and I fell ungracefully on my ass while Jazz loomed over the berth, his hands on either side of me.

"That's all you have to say or ask? Were you approved?!" His accent was gone.

"Jazz-"

He scoffed, "Yeah, sweetspark, you were approved. Congratulations. You're getting shipped out to war, does that make you happy? Putting yourself in life threatening danger, once again, does that make you happy!?"

"It's not like that." I cried. Jazz had never taken a tone like this with me, and as much as I wanted to try and keep my cool his voice was pushing me over the edge. My entire body was screaming to fight or run, and it took all my strength to stay on my ass with my hands half up in a surrender motion, "Jazz, I'm not doing this for a laugh or to have something to entertain myself with."

He let out a sharp laugh, "Then why? Why would you do this? Why could you possibly want to put your life at risk-"

"Jazz, I can't just sit on base and do nothing!" I argued. Did he really not see my side of this? I shook my head, "It's not who I am. I can't just wander around base slacking off while everyone else works and puts their own life at risk."

"Don't worry about that. It isn't your responsibility."

This time it was my turn to scoff, "You still don't get it-"

"No, I don't."He threw his hands up in frustration and turned around to pace around the room. "I don't get it, Aj. I do not understand why you're so- so- so reckless!"

My eyes narrowed and I slowly stood up, letting blankets fall off me in the process, "Reckless? This isn't being reckless. Jazz, when have I ever been a homebody? When have I ever been ok with letting people take care of me without me lifting a finger in return!? If you knew me at all-"

"Trying to become a soldier in a war you do not belong in is reckless." He spun around with a growl. He didn't kneel down, but rather glared down at me while I glared back up at him. With the level of his berth aiding me, the top of my head came to only slightly above the middle of his chest. Unlike the twins, his berth was lower to the ground.

"If you think that I'm not already involved in this war, that I'm not a part of it, you're a fragging idiot." I tried to keep my voice steady despite my shaking hands, "And if you knew me at all-"

"Aj-"

"If you knew me at all", I was yelling now, in order for him not to interrupt me again, "Then you'd know I hate being a burden more than anything."

Jazz's visor lightened only slightly, and the firm line of his lips turned into a sad downward slope, "I'm trying to protect you. Why can't you see that? I want you safe and I promised I'd do everything to make sure you stayed safe. I can't keep that promise when you're out in the field going pede to pede with a drone or worse Megatron."

"Jazz, I get that." The hardness in my own voice had slipped away as well. Jazz and I had fought before, hell we argued all the time, we were both too stubborn to not butt heads, but never had our arguments ever felt like this. They'd never been this angry and this sad at the same time. "I know you want to protect me, I appreciate that, but- but Jazz… you can't lock me away in your room away from the world. You can't decide what I do with my life in the process."

"I just want to nudge you in the right direction."

"Why?" I shook my head, "I am more than capable of-"

Jazz groaned and set a hand on the top of his head, "Because you make terrible decisions, Aj! You never think to put yourself first! It's always about everyone else and I lovehow selfless you are, it makes me so proud to see how willing you are to help the people you care about, but I cannot watch you destroy your life in the pursuit. I can't just stand by and let that happen."

"You still don't understand." I said softly, and it was mostly to myself though I knew he heard every word. I could see it on his features now, and hear it in his voice, Jazz didn't understand still. A part of me wondered what I could say, if there was anything, to make it finally click in his head. "Jazz, this isn't just for everyone else. This is for me too. I need this."

"You need to be in harm's way?"

"I need to do something!" I yelled in desperation. There was a pleading tone in my voice that I didn't bother to try and bite back. I wanted him to know how badly I needed this, how badly I wanted him to get it. "This isn't just about me playing hero. Being able to help the people I love is a huge perk and I'm not going to lie it was part of my decision-making process, but this is about more than that. I can't be stationary anymore, Jazz."

There was only silence between us for a couple minutes. Jazz had crossed his arms and his gaze was no longer locked with mine. Instead he stared off at the wall to my right and I almost started to wonder if he was taking a comm message. Finally, he turned back to look at me. His arms fell to his sides and I watched his fingers twitch once before he knelt down and set a hand beside me. Close enough for us to touch each other, but still far enough apart that an effort would have to be made to make contact.

Neither of us made that effort.

"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you discuss this with me?" Jazz asked and the disappointment in his voice made my heart ache. There was a hollow pain filling my entire chest at his words and it made me want to curl up into a ball and hide away from the world. I pictured Jazz going into his morning meeting, happy and calm, only to be blindsided by my application. He felt betrayed. I could see it on every line of his face. I could feel it in every fiber of my being. He felt betrayed, and I had done that to him. Me. "Why, Aj?"

I bit my lower lip, trying to keep any tears at bay. Slowly, I nodded once, "Would you have stopped me, Jazz? Honestly?"

He paused, "…yes. I would've."

"That's why." I whispered. "I couldn't trust you to have faith in my decision."

Jazz lowered his head and didn't move for a few moments. The urge to reach out and touch him was overwhelming, but I resisted. He slowly stood and moved to the door. Without a word or backward glance, he left the room leaving me standing in a pile of blankets with my arms wrapped around myself as I stared at an empty, open doorway.


Ratchet stood at the head of the berth with his arms crossed while First Aid worked through a series of Moonracer's neural circuits on the screen by the berth. The young medic spoke aloud as he worked, and Taylor stood on his shoulder watching it all curiously. He should've been listening, double checking every word and move, but his processors couldn't focus. He glanced down at Moonracer's still features and it was only then that he realized his servo was lightly cradling the side of the femme's helm. He carefully pulled it away and shook his own helm as if that was going to refocus his processors.

Ratchet trusted First Aid's work enough to not have the mech repeat everything he had missed in his own thoughts. That was the whole reason why he requested First Aid be brought to this base. The mech had a natural knack for all things neural.

"Ratchet." The medic glanced at the entrance to see Wheeljack coming in, "Can we speak?"

The room had gone quiet as First Aid and Taylor looked onto the scene in curiosity. It wasn't odd for the engineer to waltz into the medbay. Pit, other than Ratchet and Taylor, Wheeljack was probably the mech who was in here the most. However, there was tension in the air and Wheeljack's tone was firm rather than energetic or excited.

"Taylor, First Aid, why don't you two take a break."

Both of them hesitated only for a moment, before they rushed out of the medbay. Only Taylor glanced back in curiosity. Ratchet stepped away from Moonracer and into his office. Wheeljack followed with firm movements.

"Help me understand this, old friend." Wheeljack spoke in their native glossa. He had his arms crossed and confusion in his optics, "Why would you allow her to join?"

Ratchet grunted back in Cybertronian, "Honestly, do you and the others really think I fragging like this? If it were up to me, I'd lock her in the medbay for vorns."

"Then why-"

"Because refusing her this would be the equivalent of locking her up for vorns." Ratchet snapped. "And as much as I may want that for her safety, it would be detrimental for her mental health. She isn't the kind of femme who can just sit back, Wheeljack. You know this."

Wheeljack sighed and sat down in Ratchet's desk chair, "I do. I do understand that, but Ratchet I am so worried. I don't understand how you are handling this. You're the absolute worst about being overprotective!"

Ratchet grumbled under his breath at the accusation, but he knew he had no basis to actually argue against it. He shook his helm, "Remember when Tyler first joined? We didn't want him on the field, but it worked out didn't it?"

"Yes-"

"And you didn't want that to happen either at first, but you relented. Pit, you voted yes on his approval board eventually."

Wheeljack vented out a cycle of air, "Yes, but Tyler isn't like Aj! Aj is- mind you, I love the femme, but Aj is a walking disaster. She is as accident prone as I am in a lab, and she isn't… she isn't actually Cybertronian." It was weird to admit that and to hear it being admitted. "She has human flesh and human blood, and I can't watch her…"

Ratchet understood and he knew why Wheeljack had come to him for an explanation. For comfort. If anyone on base could understand the absolute terror and fear of imaging Aj being harmed it was him. Wheeljack was looking to try and understand, so he could accept, but his processors still halted him.

Wheeljack was their chief of engineering, and had been for ages, but at his core he was still a Wrecker. Ratchet saw it in the mech nearly every day, and Wreckers did not forget things. If they were wronged, they held that grudge in their processors, and if they were helped, if they were saved, well they didn't forget that either. Aj probably didn't even realize the degree in which Wheeljack held her in his processors. Aj had saved him back on her own Earth and she had gotten a slight case of energon poisoning trying to do it again.

It was why if anything were to ever happen to him, Primus forbid, he wouldn't leave his youngling in the guardianship of the twins, or Jazz, or Prime, or anyone else who had vied for the position.

Ratchet would leave his ward in the care of Wheeljack, and Wheeljack alone.

The medic set his servo on Wheeljack's shoulder, "I don't like this either, old friend, but in our mission to protect her… we cannot smother her in the process. Otherwise, we become the harm we were attempting to prevent."


The shooting range was about a mile away from the base itself and it was still separated from various other training fields and exercise tracks. Even further away, I could see in it the distance, was a few abandoned buildings that had been created for the sole purpose of some training exercise. At least, that's what Sideswipe said, and he hadn't been entirely specific.

"We only have two weeks to teach you everything." Sideswipe's holoform had his arm wrapped around my shoulders as he dragged me from his cabin. The front of the range consisted of a slab of concrete with an awning over it to shade the area. There were tables and dividers much like I had seen in a movie or two. Then further out in the sand were various boxes that I assumed targets would be attached to. "We gotta cover the basics first so you'll be ready for Ironhide's training sessions. Everyone there is gonna be pretty experienced and we want you to show up and kick all their afts, ok babe?"

Sideswipe had remained parked further back and I figured it was to keep stray bullets as far away from him as possible. He had me stand by a table before jogging over to a shed off to the side. I let my eyes trace over an electronic display that had been built into the table itself. Wow, so they had fancy tables, but they couldn't hook up a fan or two out here?

I used my arm to wipe away the sweat that collected at my hairline. At least, I was in shade. That was one plus. With a sigh, I stretched out my shoulders and legs just to keep my body moving while I waited for Sideswipe to return. If I kept moving, then I wouldn't have to think about the blow out I just had with Jazz only hours ago. At the thought of his name, I shook my head. It was a shame Sunstreaker couldn't be here too, but he had a shift unlike his twin.

"Alrighty." Sideswipe spoke and I jumped. I hadn't even noticed that he had come back. He set some kind of rifle on the table alongside a few boxes of bullets, and then he pulled a handgun from his belt to the table as well. "We'll start with these two."

"Mhmm." I nodded.

Sideswipe suddenly set his hand on my shoulder and I jumped again. I focused my gaze on his holoform's face. He was wearing his military uniform without the jacket portion, so that left him in a sand brown t-shirt, dog tags, and camo cargo pants tucked into black boots. My eyes traced the downward curve of his lips, over the scar that marred it, and then to the concern in his blue-indigo eyes.

"Babe." He spoke calmly, but there was a firmness to his voice, "I know you fought with Jazz, and I'm sorry, but I needyour mind here. If you can't do that we can start tomorrow, but I need your focus. Anytime we're training, especially when we are training with dangerous weapons, I need your mind 100% here with me. No exceptions."

I sighed and straightened my shoulders, "I'm sorry. You're right. I'm here, I promise. I want to start today."

Sideswipe held my gaze a second later before his grin returned, "Good. Now listen close while I explain this because there will be a quiz later and for every question you get wrong you have to admit that I'm the greatest, most handsome mech you know."

"I never agreed to that." I chuckled.

He began to explain both guns he had brought over. I knew some light basics about guns just from growing up in the south and then hanging around base the past few months. God knew, Joey and Tyler wouldn't shut up about this stuff sometimes. So, I knew the rifle was of the assault rifle variety, but the future had done away with any knowledge I had learned growing up.

"This is an M4 Carbine variant. Wheeljack updated weapons ages ago, and he comes out with some new toys every few months or so. All weapons have been updated with Cybertronian rounds so they are effective against drones and Decepticons. However, these have been modified for the Field Cybertronian Unit specifically. They're shorter and lighter so you guys can carry them easily while on the move, and the rounds are designed for close combat. Not only do they leave a mark on Cybertronian metal, but they have more blow back on impact in order to give you guys time to move out in the field without an enemy jumping on your afts immediately." Sideswipe explained. He pointed out various parts of the gun and every so often would quiz me on something he had said before to make sure I was really taking it all in.

Learning about the weapons wasn't overly difficult, I was good at memorizing knowledge like this on the fly, and it was also nice to focus on something that wasn't a mess of my friendships. Sideswipe eventually moved onto the handgun and it was significantly simpler.

"This is the current standard pistol the ARMY and other branches assign. It's a Sig Sauer 9mm." Sideswipe picked it up and went through the basics again, showing me the safety and how to load and unload it. "Now you've probably noticed that nearly everyone on base carries one of these."

I smirked, "You don't."

Sideswipe rolled his eyes, "Yes, the government decided we weren't worth spending extra money on considering we turn into giant badaft warriors, but if you're soft, and tiny, and have fleshyou get to carry one of these."

"I'm a badaft warrior too though, right?" I joked.

Sideswipe grinned, "Yes. You're my flesh covered badaft warrior. Also, I never got to tell you how proud we are of you beating the pit out of that one annoying human and then trying to beat the pit out of Ironhide."

"Trying being the key word there." I laughed, "Ironhide destroyed me."

"Don't worry, me and Sunny are gonna do extra hand to hand with you so come training time you can embarrass him in front of new recruits." Sideswipe said cheekily.

"Really?" I was sure my eyes lit up in excitement. There was no way I was gonna beat up on Ironhide and come out on top, but I was psyched for the chance to train in hand to hand with the twins again.

Sideswipe nodded, "Now back to this, this gun uses a different kind of bullet. We couldn't fit the Cybertronian rounds into this, although Jackie and Percy are still working on that, so these rounds are more like normal bullets. They do pack a bit more of a bite though, enough to at least sting on a Cybertronian."

Suddenly, he put the pistol in my hands and my shoulders tensed. I knew this was coming, but suddenly holding the gun made my eyes widen. There wasn't a fear of the weapon, and I got that this was the job basically. I couldn't be a soldier that refused to use a weapon, that would not bode well up against a drone, but standing here with this gun in my hand reminded me of some not so great times.

Suddenly, I was thinking back to standing on the porch in front of the Reaper. The pain of being kneecapped flashed through me before my mind went further back. I could see Boss dropping to the ground dead in front of me.

"Hey." Sideswipe said softly, his hands wrapping around my own hands which gripped the gun, "You alright?"

"Just- Just remembering." I mumbled.

Sideswipe nodded, "It's ok. Take a deep breath." I followed his instructions, and he praised me for the simple action, "Do you want to continue or call it?"

"I wanna keep going." I said quickly. "Just give me a second."

"Take your time."

I closed my eyes and took in another sharp breath letting myself get centered. This wasn't like the last two times I held a gun. Sideswipe was here with me, and I was safe with him. He was going to show me how to use one of these properly, and then I'd never feel out of control in a gun centric situation again. I'd at least have some experience on my side.

"Ok." I opened my eyes, "Show me how to shoot."


Sideswipe made a noise with his mouth that sounded a lot like an attempt at saying something in Cybertronian and failing. He hummed and the sound was right by my ear since he was hovering over my shoulder, "Babe, you know I'm your biggest fan and I think you can do no wrong, but you suck at this."

"Sides, I'm trying ok!" I groaned and turned on the safety before lowering my aim. We had been shooting for about fifteen minutes now, and as it turns out I was not exactly Annie Oakley. The targets had been made of some sort of electronic shielding rather than the old-time paper. When a bullet would strike the shield an electronic read out of where the bullet had hit would show up at the table's display. I only knew that from when Sideswipe showed me an example though, because none of my damn bullets had hit the mark. "What the shit is this?"

Sideswipe rubbed the back of his head, "Maybe you're thinking too hard about it? Your stance is right at least." He was quiet for a moment and I glanced up to see his eyes glaze over for a second before they snapped back to normal, "Sunny thinks you're moving too much with the recoil. Hmm."

He readjusted his stance behind me, placing his feet next to mine, and then lifted my arms so we were both holding the gun together. Sideswipe's holoform was much taller than me so this position basically had him wrapped around me. He bent down slightly so his head would be as level with mine as it could be, and he let out a breath that fanned across the side of my neck. A chill ran down my spine despite the heat, and I could feel my face warm up.

"Alright, you're keeping both optics open right? I don't want you getting into the habit of closing one out in the field."

"Um y-yeah. Yeah, they're open."

Sideswipe nodded and moved my hands slightly, "Now, look down your sights. Are they aligned?" I focused on the task at hand and let the gun line up with the shot like he had showed me earlier. Once it was, I gave him a slight hum of approval. He nodded, "Ok, now we're going to take it a breath and on the exhale we're firing."

Although the holoform didn't need to breathe, I could feel him take in a short breath with me. I slowly let it out, and once all the air was out of my lungs Sideswipe pressed down on my finger, pulling the trigger.

The gun went off with a crack and my shoulders jerked back at the force. Sideswipe's body and arms kept me from moving to much though. The bullet managed to hit the closest target which was about fifteen feet out and there was a chime as the information got sent to the table.

"Oh my God, it hit!" I cried.

Sideswipe chuckled, "See? That wasn't too hard."

I glanced over at the table to see with Sideswipe's help not only had I hit the target, but I was only a ring and a half away from being at the center. He nudged me try again on my own, and we went again for another fifteen minutes or so. This time we used both guns and I did manage to start hitting targets. Still, none of my shots were near the middle of the target where they were supposed to be. Baby steps though.

I pulled the trigger of the rifle only to be met with the sound of clicking. Sideswipe took the gun from me, "You're out. Get into the habit of counting bullets. It's harder with a semi-automatic like this, but you always wanna know when you're about to run out."

He set the gun on the table as I just looked through the readout on the digital screen. According to it my accuracy was below 40%. Wow. I knew I sucked but seeing my lack of talent put to a number made me feel even worse about it.

"Don't worry, it just takes time. Someone will bring you out here every day to work on it." Sideswipe grinned, "You did good today."

"I know I'll get better, I'm gonna work on it, but I gotta say… I don't like guns." I admitted with my arms crossed. It had been bugging me the entire time I was shooting. "Shooting comes with the soldier territory, I get that so I'm not gonna try to wiggle my way out of it or anything, it just feels…"

I struggled to find the words to put to the feeling in my gut. Sideswipe nodded and leaned against the table so be would be facing me, "You're used to hand to hand. Going from that to a long-distance weapon is always weird."

"Yeah", I nodded quickly, "That's it! A part of me always thought it'd be easier since it's less complicated than being in a fight, but it isn't. It's just a different kind of complicated, I guess."

Sideswipe chuckled, "You got a bit of a ways to go, but that's what me and Sunny are here for. It took us a bit to get used to using guns and cannons. Pit, we still prefer our blades." He tilted his head slightly as in thought and let his eyes focus on me. Whatever was on his mind though he shook aside and poked my cheek with finger, "How are you feeling?"

The question caught me off guard and I played with the hem of my t-shirt to try and distract myself unsuccessfully. I shrugged once and twisted my lips, "We've never…never really fought like this."

"You guys argue though, I've seen it."

"Yeah, but you weren't there, Sides." I sighed, "We were- we were yelling and there was this…tension in the air. I could feel the- the hurt. His and mine."

Sideswipe smiled sadly, "The bond probably made it worse. I'm sorry you had to go through that."

I motioned to him, "Aren't you guys upset at this?"

Sideswipe straightened his posture and thought over his words, "We weren't happy. The thought of you in battle, actual battle, made our energon freeze, but… we have our reasons for accepting it quicker than some others. Our focus now is just on getting you as prepared as possible."

"See." I scoffed and couldn't help but leak my frustration into my voice, "Why can't Jazz understand? Why does he feel the need to stop me!?"

Sideswipe sighed, "I… Babe, listen." He stepped closer and let his hands rest on my shoulders, "We all do what we do based on our pasts. It's natural. Sunny and I… our pasts put us in a position to understand a little easier. Jazz though… it's not my place to share, but you have to understand his stance as well. He's doing what he knows best. It's just natural for him to…well, to do this."

"Natural or not that doesn't change our situation." I frowned. It wasn't like Jazz even made an effort to explain his own side. He was dug into his trenches, much like I was honestly, and refused to budge for anything. "You and Sunstreaker have shared things with me, and that helps me understand. Jazz is… Jazz is a mystery to me. The more I think about it the more I realize I know nearly nothing about him."

Sideswipe shook his head, "You can't expect or force someone to share their past-"

"I know." I sighed, "I feel terrible for even saying that or taking that stance, but I chose to share my past with y'all and with him. If Jazz doesn't want to share with me I can understand that, I would never force him to do that, but… but he can't expect me to understand his side of the argument when he won't even take the time to explain."

"You have a point. That's true."

I leaned forward into him and let my forehead rest against his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and put his head on top of mine. There was no part of me that would ever twist Jazz's arm or trap him into telling me about his past. If there was anything that I could understand in this scenario it was that sharing a perspective could be difficult. It had taken a while for me to trust the people around me enough to tell them about my issues. If Jazz wasn't there yet with me then that was fine. There was a part of me that was kind of disappointed that he didn't trust me enough to share anything, but still I wouldn't push.

Since I was willing to not push though, that meant he should at least give me some leeway about this whole thing. I felt bad about arguing with him, about blindsiding him with that, but not bad enough to crawl back to him and apologize for something I wasn't sorry for. If I could go back in time I would do this all the same way again. Even knowing it would lead to this fight, I would still not tell Jazz because at this point Jazz would still do something to sabotage me.

"It's gonna work out, babe." Sideswipe mumbled and kissed the top of my head, "Let's get you inside for lunch. I gotta go see Jackie anyways."


Wheeljack's optics remained glued to the holoscreen in front of him despite hearing his lab's door swish open. He didn't let his focus waver from the measurements and metal density readouts, "If this is regarding-"

"It's about Aj, Jackie."

His gaze snapped up to see Sideswipe breezing into his lab with a wide grin on his faceplates. The mech seemed downright cheery. Wheeljack wondered if that came from spending most of the afternoon with the small femme. Still, it felt odd to see him so happy considering the news of Aj. Was it that simple for the gladiatorial mech to accept?

"What about her?" Wheeljack stepped around his table, leaving his newest project up to be seen. "I'm working on the outline of her new suit right now."

"So soon?" Sideswipe stepped up beside him and turned to look at the amount of work Wheeljack had already done.

Wheeljack shrugged as the red mech's gaze came back to him, "Working on it... makes me feel better about this."

Sideswipe nodded and clapped the engineer's shoulder plate, "I get it, Jackie, but this is good. The best thing you can do is make sure she has the tools necessary to be safe."

Wheeljack hummed in slight agreement. He still thought the best thing they could do was restrict the stubborn femme from ever entering a firefight, but Ratchet had made some good points. He wanted Aj to be safe, but he also wanted her to be happy.

"So you and Sunstreaker are in charge of the training for now, I hear. Anything I should be aware of for the design?"

Each suit he made was customized.

Taylor's suit was made with magnetic joints in order for her to stick to various armor points when working and her suit also had a thicker underlining for potential energon spills. Tyler's suit had a makeshift version of doorwings that could fold out from his back plating in order for him to gauge weather conditions while sniping out in the field. He also had a camouflage feature Wheeljack had borrowed from Mirage. It wasn't as advanced as the mech's but anytime Tyler stayed still long enough his armor would begin to take the image of the ground beneath him thus making him even more difficult to see. Even Peter's suit, one the small mech never wore but Wheeljack created in case of emergencies, was made to take the damage of any attack the base may encounter.

Now he was put in charge of Aj's suit and he was going to make sure it had every bell and whistle in order for her to get the best and most use out of it.

"We actually do have a few requests. We need you to make her blades." Sideswipe replied, and Wheeljack's optics widened, "You made our newest blades, so I'm sure this can't be too difficult?"

Wheeljack scoffed, "Of course it won't be difficult, but blades? Blades? As if her being out there with a blaster isn't dangerous enough?"

The twin nodded, "I know, I know, but Sunny and I have talked about this in length. Aj is slag at blasters. She's going to get better, of course, but she's never going to be a marksman. Blades though... Her skill set already matches up halfway with what we need her to know. We both think she'll honestly be safer with blades in servo."

"Blades? You want her to duel wield?"

"Two, sharp extensions of her arms." He shrugged with a grin.

The smile on Sideswipe's face looked like one of ease, but Wheeljack could still see the slight tension in his frame. If the twins were willing to make a bet on this decision, he felt like he could too. They knew Aj's skills best and no mech, femme, or human could train her better in the art of sword fighting.

"Alright. I can do that. How do you want them?"

Sideswipe pulled something out of his subspace and set it on the bench top. It was an old Cybertronian blade and from the markings it came from the depths of Kaon's gladiatorial rings. He motioned to it, "Can you use this material to make the blades?"

Wheeljack cautiously picked up the blade which was about the length of his own arm. It screamed power and danger. He twisted it slightly until he could see a symbol on the base. This belonged to Sunstreaker.

"Are you both sure? In order to do that I'd have to strip this blade down entirely and it seems...important." Wheeljack glanced at it again. The dark metal was nearly black in color and it had veins of light purple energy pulsing under it giving the dark blade an almost lavender glow.

Sideswipe gazed at the sword with a softness Wheeljack didn't often see. A part of him wanted to ask the story behind it, to know why this blade was so important to the twins. The red mech chuckled though and just nodded with a smile that was equally as soft, "She's more important."

The words put Wheeljack at ease once again. He set the blade down, "I can do it. What type of blades do you want?"

"Dual, long. Hexagonal cross section." Sideswipe shrugged, "Sunny is the blade designer out of the two of us. He's gonna send you the measurements he wants." The mech's optics dimmed for a few Earth seconds before coming back, "Oh, and don't attach them to the suit."

Wheeljack tilted his helm, "Don't? Are you sure? I can attach them to her arm armor much like both of yours now."

"You can apply a magnet so it'll come back to her, but we need them separate. We're teaching her Kaon style."

Wheeljack tried not to seem surprised by that, "Well ok." He moved back to his datapad and started making notes.

"She needs to be fast. Whatever speed you planned, double it."

"Sure. I was also going to add an antigravity feature to increase her vertical."

"Perfect, Jackie." Sideswipe chimed then snapped his fingers like a human, "Oh! She needs heavy shielding in her back too."

"How heavy?" Wheeljack asked cautiously. Was the twin actually asking for what he thought he was? He couldn't have been entirely serious about his Kaon comment before.

"Shield strength."

Wheeljack optics blew wide open in shock, "You really are teaching her Kaon style aren't you?"

"That's the plan." Sideswipe gave him a thumbs up while backpedaling out of the lab. Wheeljack watched him go until a chime told him a new message had just come in. It was Sunstreaker and the message had an image attached of blade designs. Wheeljack turned to his datapad and buried himself in work again.