chapter eleven

It was pouring rain the next day. Lighting tore across the sky, and thunder nearly drowned out the hushed conversations inside the buildings. Several times, the lights flickered on and off, but so far the power had yet to fail. The Autobots didn't fear a blackout – after all, it wasn't like they had come back from battle with injured. The humans, on the other hand, were clearly nervous.

Especially poor Glenn. Jazz noticed with no small amount of amusement that the man still hadn't gotten used to giant alien robots, never mind that his companion, Maggie, had warmed up to the idea rather nicely. Right now he was working furiously at a laptop he had brought with him, trying to ignore being under Ratchet's scrutiny as he worked on decrypting the information Epps had gotten from the industrial park. Epps himself was perched on Jazz's shoulder, enjoying the vantage point. Sing was in the far corner with Optimus, the Autobot leader giving Glenn plenty of breathing room. Stringer was on the other side of Glenn, the Twins were off to one side watching as O'Connell and Jones practiced hand-on-hand combat (cheering them on, was more like it), Bumblebee was back with Sam and Mikaela, and Ironhide –

Well, Ironhide was standing by the door, arms crossed, optics glaring out at the rain. Lennox had been called to report the previous day's activity, and the Autobot weapons specialist had been forbidden to join. Jazz knew that meant Lennox was in trouble, and the humans in charge didn't want the trigger-happy mech around when they punished her. Jazz had very little experience with human discipline. He wasn't quite sure what they would do to Lennox, and to be honest, the ideas sickened him. He had seen the capacity for malice in the Decepticons, and judging from the humans' history, they could be just as bad.

Epps followed his line of sight and grimaced. "Man, I hope they send Lennox back before he rusts in place." he murmured. Jazz chuckled.

"Ah, don't worry about it." he assured Epps. "It'll take more than that to make 'Hide rust."

"I can hear you." Ironhide said dryly.

Jazz laughed. "He speaks! Finally – you had us thinking you were mute or something." Ironhide shot him a dirty look before resuming his vigil. This time, Epps spoke up.

"Hey man – waiting doesn't make her show up any faster." he advised. "Never has, and it certainly won't work with Ember keeping her busy." Ironhide hesitated. He glanced over at Optimus, silently seeking permission to go get Lennox, but the massive Autobot shook his head slowly. Ironhide scowled, but held his position. He recognized the look that crossed Prime's faceplates.

Optimus had a strict rule about interfering with the human chain of command, but even he was having a hard time distinguishing between his own soldiers and Lennox's team. And really, was it any wonder? They had integrated themselves seamlessly into the Autobots' lives. Already Ironhide was having a hard time imaging going into battle and not having Anna there to watch his back. She had been right – they were useful, and more than that. They were friends.

A second later, sounds outside drew his attention to the door. Aside from the hangar doors they used to keep the rain out, there was a human-sized door cut into those. That door opened, and a soaking wet Anna walked in, followed by her considerably drier father. Sing let out a low whistle.

"What did they do, hold the meeting outside?" he demanded, drawing everyone's attention (except for Glenn's) to Anna. She gave him a look as she attempted to wring out her hair.

"As a matter of fact, they did." she muttered. O'Connell grimaced. Sunstreaker looked between the two humans, for once at a loss.

"Is this common?" he asked uncertainly. Anna shrugged and gave up on her hair.

"Only if you piss them off badly enough." she said with a shiver. Will slid a pack from his shoulders and handed it to Anna. She nodded to him and opened the back, digging out a fresh pair of fatigues. Smiling up at Ironhide, she continued, "Still, it could have been worse. Ember wanted me to pull guard duty in this mess."

Jones snorted in contempt. "Why? Because we got in a fight?"

"No. They're pissed that the park got destroyed." She rolled her eyes as she shed her outer shirt before kneeling down to take off her boots. She would leave them near the door to dry while she used Ratchet's makeshift hospital to change. It was the one place in the room that wasn't open for public viewing. "Something about possible valuable information and all that crap. My guess is Ember knows what was in that place. Bale didn't seem nearly –"

"Anna." Ironhide's quiet voice interrupted her. She glanced up at him, hands still on her boots, and froze. Ironhide's gaze was locked onto her back, and she silently cursed. Should have waited until she was behind closed doors. Ironhide gently reached out and brushed her hair over one shoulder, completely exposing the bruise and laceration that covered her opposite shoulder blade. "That from yesterday?"

"What can I say?" she said lightly, sending Ratchet an apologetic look. "I can't stand being stitched up."

"She gets that one from me." Will said calmly. He too was examining the wound. "Still, Anna, you should have at least wrapped it or something. It's bleeding again."

"Really? I don't feel it."

"Probably because your core body temperature is dropping." Ratchet said, abandoning his position by Glenn (Jazz watched as the man breathed a sigh of relief) and knelt down to run a more thorough scan. "I'm not an expert on human physiology, but I would think the cold rain has numbed the wound. That's dangerous."

Sing came to Anna's defense. "Yeah, but you learn to deal with that." he said. "We got busted up pretty good when they sent us on that special ops mission to Russia, remember?"

"How could we forget?" Epps said with a shudder. "We all got pretty slagged up on that one."

Anna rolled her eyes. "I'm going to go get out of these wet, cold clothes." she said emphatically. "When I get warm and dry, then you guys can hover over me all you want. I'll probably find somewhere warm to stretch out and go to sleep."

"I got it!"

All eyes focused on Glenn. Anna walked over to stand behind him, freezing clothes and injured shoulder forgotten for the moment. Even Optimus adjusted his position so he could better see the small screen. "What is it?" Epps demanded. "Short person on a short mech back here!"

"Hey!" Jazz laughed. "That ain't fair!"

"It's a detailed log of – everything." Glenn murmured. He glanced over at Will, the only person he really recognized in the crowd. "Dude, it's got everything from your first fight with the scorpion to the few battles right before the showdown at the industrial park." His wide eyes traveled from Will to Anna to Optimus, who was listening in intently. "And I do mean everything. Dudes, they got information on weapons, connections, everything – there's even a whole section in here about Sideswipe and Sunstreaker being twins and how that affects them in battle. It's insane!"

"Why would the humans feel the need to collect so much data?" Ratchet wondered.

Anna and Will exchanged dark looks. "I can think of a reason." Will hissed. He turned to Optimus. "I'd say they're gathering intel in case you guys turn on us."

"The problem is, they're probably going to turn on you first." Anna said darkly. "To be honest, it was really just a matter of time. They probably set this up the first time you guys refused to share weapons information with them. These stats aren't accurate."

Jazz nodded. "Same kind of thing I used to do with the 'Cons." he said with a shrug. "Get in, get information, and get out. Usually, though, I didn't make it a habit to buddy up with the ones I was plannin' on taking out."

Optimus nodded, taking everything in. "Is there any way this interpretation can be inaccurate?"

"Definitely." Stringer said. "If it's not, we'll have at least some sort of warning before everything hits the fan."

Prime nodded. "Autobots, be on guard. With Wheeljack and the others coming in tomorrow, we don't want to be caught unawares."

Ironhide nodded. "In the meantime –" he picked up Anna and let her curl up in the palm of his hand. "You need to get warm, and then let Stringer wrap your shoulder again."

Anna flashed him a grin as she let herself relax into the warmth his hand produced. "Sure thing."