The Bond of Master and Servant

by GirlWhoLovesAnime

Millennia ago, Ironhide saved a baby Mechanimal panther cub from invading Decepticons and raised it to be a warrior for battle. She was his faithful companion and best friend. But during a surprise attack on them by the Decepticons, they got separated. Hearing Optimus Prime's call, she sets out to find her master on a strange new planet called Earth. This is Zephyr's story.

5. Chapter 5: Reunited for Battle

The Bond of Master and Servant

Author's Note: Yo! It's finally time for the big cat showdown! \(^o^)/ Will Zephyr win her battle? Read on and find out! Oh, and I thank all who reviewed this story. I'm so happy you all love it! Forgive me if they're some typos in here. It's not Beta'd and I don't need one. *gives cookies to SapphireSpark, Vodid, Eunice Pacheco, Khalthar, and TFSTARFIRE*

Disclaimer: ...I own nothing except my OC's. Sad isn't it? *nibbles on a cookie*

Chapter 5: Reunited for Battle

~Flashback~

(Thoughts)

=Speaking Cybertronian=

::Comlink::

Swimming at 150mph, Zephyr swam her way towards her destination. She could feel her Master's energy through the water and it felt weak. She had to be strong and continue swimming, even though her own energy was slowly getting weak.

(Ugh, swimming through this salt water is making my joints stiff, but I have to keep going... For Master's sake...)

As she swam Zephyr noticed a huge group of slim grey-looking whales swimming alongside her. Doing a quick search on the internet she found out that they were called Bottlenosed Dolphins. They were swimming as fast as her and seemed to want to race her. She sped up faster and watched as they did also. Chuckling, she decided to humor them.

=Alright Dolphins, you wanna race? Let's race!=

Zephyr swam ahead as the pod of Dolphins kept up with her, squeaking with delight. The panther did a few twists and turns and was surprised at how they did the same with no effort. She teased the Dolphins by letting them think they won by falling back, only to speed up again. Smirking, she put her twin-tail cannons on full blast and swam at over 200mph, leaving the shocked and confused creatures behind tilting their heads and chattering away. Zephyr laughed at how they looked.

=Sorry Dolphins! Better luck next time!=

Zephyr laughed, playing with those creatures reminded her of racing with her friend Bumblebee when she was younger. Her mind wandered, how was her fellow Autobots doing? Were they all alright? Her thoughts brought her back to the time when she was with the Autobots back on Cybertron celebrating their Leader's Sparkday.

~ Zephyr was inside the main Autobot Headquarters Rec Room. There everyone was celebrating their leader's Sparkday. She looked around the room and saw Optimus smirking with a light blush on his face. Seeing his Bondmate Elita-1 kiss him in public caused everyone to go 'Aww' and tease him. It didn't bother him as he playfully shoved Ironhide who was doing most of the teasing. Zephyr chuckled and walked over to the table where various food made out of Energon sat. She knew she wasn't suspossed to be near the Banquet table but the smell of fried Energon meat was too good to resist. Making sure no one was looking, she used her paw to swipe at the plate and some fell on the floor. She gobbled it up and purred, it tasted so yummy! Being bold, she grabbed the plate with her teeth and hid under the table. She didn't have a chance to eat more when she heard someone clearing their throat. She turned around and saw Bumblebee under the table grinning at her.

"Oooh! Someone is being a naughty kitty!"

She smiled sheepishly and slid the food behind her back. Playing Innocent. "Mew?"

Bumblebee laughed and petted her. "I don't say nothing unless you share. Deal?"

"...Deal."

Zephyr slid the plate of fried energon meat to him and the Scout took some. The Mechanimal began eating and purred, she never had fried foods but this was delish to her. Bumblebee ate some and smiled at how she was enjoying it. "Good huh?" Zephyr nodded and kept eating, soon finishing all of the energon on the plate. She licked her lips and saw Bumblebee finishing his share. Her fuel tanks growled, she was still hungry and wanted more of the yummy food. Bumblebee chuckled and petted her again. "I know, I'm still hungry too. Hehe, let's sneak more then."

"Rrow!"

Zephyr peeked out from under the table and looked around, everyone was still partying and having a good time so, using her tails, grabbed a plate full of sweet baked energon mini cakes and quickly brought it under the table. "Sweet! I love this stuff!" Bumblebee grabbed one and popped it in his mouth, humming with content. Zephyr looked at the mini cakes. She never had sweets before and wondered if they tasted good. Seeing the look on Bee's faceplates she assumed that they were good. So she grabbed one and ate it, only to grimace and spit it out. Bumblebee saw this and looked at her with confusion.

"What's wrong? Didn't like it Zephyr?"

She shook her head and mumbled a little. "...Too sweet."

"Ohh, that's right you only like meat-flavored Energon huh?" She nods and scoots the plate of sweets towards him, then sneaks out to find more fried energon. The yellow Scout shrugs and eats another sweet cake. "Oh well, more for me!" Soon Zephyr drags a plate full of fried energon under the table and mews happily.

"Mew!"

She begins eating and gets a little of the food on her face, making Bumblebee laugh. He reaches to get some of the fried food only to have his hand slapped away by her paw. "Hey! I want some too!" Zephyr only snickers and hogs the plate, playfully growling at him. "Zephyr you promised you'd share with me. Don't be stingy." The MechaPanther only grins and taunts him, giving him only one fried energon and keeping the rest for herself. Bumblebee grabs it and stares at her with a 'are you serious' expression. "Really? If you don't share I'm telling."

"No need to tell you little thiefs."

Bumblebee and Zephyr froze at the deep voice and turned around, seeing Ironhide smirking at the both of them. He looks around under the table and sees the mess they made sneaking the food. "Well well, what should I do to you little thiefs?" He teased. Zephyr's ears fold back in shame and scoots closer to Bee', who grins nervously at the black Mech. "See, uh... we both were that hungry and..."

Ironhide grins and snatches the plate of sweets and fried energon and begins eating them himself. Zephyr growls as the yellow Mech protests. "No fair! Give that back!"

"I'll give it back if you and Zephyr dance the Bing Bing dance."

"Pit no!"

"Grr, Rowl!"

The Bing Bing Dance was an embarrising dance and usually Sparkings danced it for fun. But if a grown Mech dances to the song it's humillating. Bumblebee and Zephyr shook their heads no, refusing to dance something so embarrising. Ironhide rolled his optics and popped a energon cake in his mouth. "Oh come on now, it's for Optimus! It's his Sparkday!" They both refused still and Ironhide sighed when Bumblebee spoke up. "Have someone else do that. No way in the Pit am I doing that. Right Zephyr?" The panther nodded. Sure she'll obey her Master in other commands but one thing she'll never do is dance. She hated dancing anyway. Ironhide stared at the both of them and shrugged. "Alright then." He got up and yelled across the room to Optimus. "Hey Optimus! Bumblebee and Zephyr said they'll perform the Bing Bing Dance!"

"WHAT?!" The two Autobots scrambled out from underneath the Banquet table and glared at him, who was only grinning wider and trying not to laugh. "We didn't agree to that!"

"Well now you have to. Hehe... This is payback for sneaking food AND for that prank you pulled on me last month." He set the plate of food down and clapped his hands. "Chop chop you two! Time for some dancing! And yes you have to do it too Zephyr."

"Frag..." Zephyr and Bee' groaned as they made their way up on stage. Everyone who heard Ironhide's outburst stopped what they were doing and paid attention to the stage. The poor scout had a blush on his face as did the MechaPanther. Ironhide pressed a button that played the Bing Bing theme music. Bumblebee looked at Zephyr and tapped her shoulder.

"Well... Now or never..."

Zephyr looked at him and sighed. "...I guess..."

Soon they started dancing to the music, shaking their rears and acting like a bunch a cyber-chickens. Everyone in the room either laughed or pointed out how cute they looked dancing. Mirage chuckled at the sight. "Glad that isn't me." Wheeljack was busting up laughing while holding on to Ratchet, who was snickering with laughter. Optimus shook his helm and tried not to laugh too much at the dancing display. He looked at Ironhide laughing his aft off and whispered to him.

"This is for that prank he did isn't it?"

He nodded and held on to Prime's arm, his body shaking with laughter. "Got that right! Haha! Oh, and they snuck some food too. HAHAHA!"

"You are mean. Hehe."

Soon the song ended and everyone clapped for them. Bumblebee and Zephyr were glad that was over. The MechaPanther lept off stage and pounced on a laughing Ironhide. She then started nipping his exposed protofrom in irratation. "Z-Zephyr! Stop! Haha!" Bumblebee walked over and stood there with his arms crossed and a embarresed look on his faceplates. "You do that again and I'll make you freaking dance!"

Ironhide managed to push his pet off of him and looked at both of the glaring Autobots. He chuckled and gave them a small plate of fried energon. "Hey, what can ya do? Optimus was laughing seeing you two dance." They took the plates and nibbled on the food, still glaring at him. Zephyr stuck her tongue out at him and muttered her displeasure. "...Not funny Master..." The black Mech smiled and rubbed her head. "Alright, me so sorry, forgive meh?" Zephyr let a chuckle escape her lips, whenever her Master talked in that squeaky voice it always made her laugh. She wrapped her tails around him and spoke telephty to him.

[Haha! I forgive ya Master. I'll admit it was fun.]

"Told ya it'd be fun." the black Mech said.

"It was humlilating! Not fun at all!" Yelled Bumblebee. He grabbed a can of pink spray paint from his subspace and aimed it at him grinning. "Know what Hide'? You better run!" Before he could spray it Ironhide took out his own spray paint and aiming it at him. "No... You better run Little Bee!"

"Eep!" The yellow Mech ran in the opposide direction screaming as Ironhide sprayed his backside with the pink paint. Zephyr laughed and turned her attention to the food left on the table. She happily ate as everyone watched Bumblebee and Ironhide spray paint each other pink. Then both Mechs had to run when some got on Optimus's armor and faceplates. He had his own can of paint and chased after them. Zephyr didn't pay them no mind as she enjoyed her meal. ~

Closing in on her destination, she lowered the power on her cannons and swam to the surface of the water. There she turned off her weapons as she slowly walked up on the beach, some seaweed sticking to her hindquarters. She shook off the water and heated up her chassis, turning the remaining water droplets into steam as she dried herself off. Zephyr looked around, the beach was wide and had quite a few Palm trees here and there. But what stood her out was the huge building in the distance. She knew. She knew her Master was over there waiting for her return.

(Master...)

She began walking towards the huge buildings, unaware that danger was around the corner waiting for her.

...

On the other side of the beach, Ravage emerges from the water and shakes himself off. Scanning the area he noticed that only a few humans and Autobots were around. The Autobot Leader wasn't here. He grinned, he can sneak inside N.E.S.T Base and kill all the remaning humans there. But first he wanted to find her. Find the MechaPanther that beat him in battle that day.

(That Slagging Panther is here... I can't wait to kill her!)

Ravage ran across the beach, jumping over a huge 40ft fence to reach the other side. His sensors detected N.E.S.T's security cameras watching him but he didn't care, his prey was here and nothing will stop him from it.

Zephyr meanwhile was walking along the beach towards the huge buildings. Her Master's energy became stronger the closer she got to the place. She suddenly stopped, seeing a fence blocking her way. Using her claws she ripped open the fence and trotted inside, unaware that a security camera was watching her every move. Zephyr sniffed the air and smelled the scents of other Autobots along with humans in the area. If what their leader said was true, then the little squishies were helping them out in the war. She sniffed again and picked up her Master's scent. (Master Ironhide!) She mewed in happiness as she sprinted across the rest of the beach and ran onto the tarmac. She was so happy to be reunited with him that she didn't see the incoming blast of energy headed towards her until it was too late. Zephyr yowled in pain as she skidded across the tarmac and crashed into a bunch of parked military vehicles. Groaning, she shook her head and got up, wondering where that blast of energy came from. She didn't have to look far when a familiar voice spoke to her.

=Hello Zephyr... Re-Rememb-ber me?=

Looking up her door-wings twitched as anger clouded the Panther's vision. Up on the top of a roof was none other than Ravage, who was grinning ear to ear showing all his razor sharp teeth at her. Zephyr's ears folded back as she growled deeply.

=Ravage! What the frag are you doing here?!=

Ravage jumped down and slowly stalked his way towards her, his one red optic glaring at Zephyr's tense form. He chuckled and wagged his bladed tail. =Why a-am I here? To g-get my revenge for wh-what you di-did to me Centuries ag-go...=

Zephyr smirked and started walking in a circle around him. Ravage, seeing what she was doing did the same thing. The two Mechanimals kept circling each other as they spoke in their language. =Haha, you're still pissed that I beat you? I would've killed you have not Soundwave interfered in our battle.=

=My Ma-Master saw fit to inter-terrupt only to sa-save me. A-And as you can s-see... I'm stronger and b-b-bigger t-t-than last time...=

Zephyr laughed at how he spoke. =Looks like your Master forgot to fix your vocal proscessor. You sound like a fragging piece of Scrap that needs to be melted down and sent to the Scrap heap. As a matter of fact, BOTH you and your pathetic Master need to be sent to the Scrap heap!=

Ravage snarled as the blades on his back stood up. =H-How d-dare you speak of h-him in th-that way! My M-Master is b-by f-far superior th-than your pathetic Master!=

Zephyr snarled back and powered on her cannons, putting them on the low setting. =Shut the frag up! Just face it Ravage, you're NOTHING! Nothing but a piece of shit that does the dirty work so Soundwave doesn't have to! You're not a true Servant, YOU'RE JUST A DAMN SLAVE AND A WEAKLING!=

The Decepticon Jaguar roared in anger and charged towards the Autobot Panther. Zephyr roared and used her claws to swipe at his head, causing him to falter a bit and leave deep scratches on his armor. Ravage glared at the other feline and ran to her again, using his bladed tail as a weapon to strike her armor. Zephyr used her tails to hit his tail back, then activated one of her cannons and fired at him. Ravage dodged the first attack but didn't have time to evade the second. The Panther turned on her second tail-cannon and fired at him, hitting him in the side and throwing him against the wall. He quickly got up and powered on his guns on his hindquarters.

=YOU AUTOBOT BITCH!=

=PUNK-ASS DECEPTICON!=

Both Mechanimal Felines charged up their weapons and fired at each other. The power of their weapons was so strong that when they collided it sent out a shockwave of pure energy that shook the nearby N.E.S.T. Base. It also caused the main alarms to sound throughout. The big cyber-cats stood still until the smoke caused by their collision disappeared, then as soon as they saw each other's optics glaring at one another they both roared and charged at each other. Fangs, teeth, and claws tried to rip and tear the other apart as they both snarled, hissed and growled in anger. The Mechanimals didn't focus on nothing but each other as they fought. Unaware that the main security camera was watching their every move, sending the footage to the Main Base.

...

The N.E.S.T Base shook violently when a shockwave of energy hit it, causing all equipment to temporary malfuntion and shaking up its residents. Captian Will Lennox and Sergent Robert Epps was jogging with the other eight solders stationed on base when they felt the ground move. When it stopped they heard the alarm blaring throughout the base. Will looked around quickly and turned to his solders.

"Everybody alright?!"

The solders groaned and voiced that they were okay. Robert turned around and saw a flash of light and heard gunshots coming from near the tarmac. "Will! What the hell is that?!" He pointed towards the direction of the noise as each solder looked on. Will suddenly ran in that direction and called out to his solders. "Men come on! Hurry up, it's a Decepticon attack!" Everyone ran inside to get their weapons and raced to the tarmac. As they got closer they could hear something snarling and growling along with cannon fire. They hid behind a steel barrier and peeked out but when they did they couldn't believe it. Two huge robotic cats was fighting and trying to kill each other. Will saw a Decepticon symbol on one of them but couldn't tell what the other was, he couldn't see any symbol indicating if it was an Autobot or a Decepticon. The one with one red optic fired it's guns at the other but missed and ended up hitting the steel barrier where the solders were. Luckly it stood in place as the men covered themselves from the falling debris. Rick, one of the solders spoke up.

"Sir! Are they Decepticons?!"

Will glanced over and nodded. "Yeah they are! But I don't know why they're fighting each other like that!"

"Who cares?! We need to kill these basterds!" Robert Epps loaded his weapon; a Sabot round heat missle cannon and got ready to fire when he felt something poke his back. He turned around and saw the yellow Scout Bumblebee shake his head quickly and speak to him.

"No don't boss! One of them is an Autobot!"

Behind him the other Autobots arrived and saw the battle. The Bike triplets and Ratchet stood behind the steel barrier watching the huge Mechanimals fight. Optimus and Wheeljack was at NASA, the Lamborghini Twins was out on patrol with the Chevy Twins and Jazz went to get some supplies for the base. Plus Ironhide was in the Med Bay in a deep medical induced recharge so that left 5 battle-ready Autobots on base. Epps looked at the dueling cyber-cats, then back at Bumblebee. "One of them is an Autobot?! Well which one is it cause' I can't tell!" Bumblebee pointed to the one with two tails and red jagged stripes covering its black armor. "That's Zephyr, Ironhide's pet."

Will looked up at him and looked back at the fighting cats. "So that's Ironhide's pet? Wow..."

"Bumblebee didn't you kill Ravage? How is it still alive and how did it get bigger?" asked Arcee. The Scout's engine revved in confusion. He did kill Ravage by pulling him apart back at Egypt. "I'm guessing Soundwave had something to do with it." Soon everyone heard one of them yowling in pain and saw Zephyr being thrown on the ground. Ravage growled and swiftly stabbed Zephyr's shoulder with his tail, drawing purple energon blood. Zephyr snarled in pain and tried swiping at him only to get suckerpunched in the face by the other's paw. Ravage chuckled darkly and glanced over to see the Autobots and the Humans watching them. What he didn't see made him smile.

=Well well... I s-s-see the other Autob-bots but n-not your precious M-Master... Mayb-be he abandoned y-you. Hehehe...=

=S-shut up! My Master will NEVER abandon me!= Zephyr screamed when the bladed tail dug deeper into her protoform flesh, more of her energon pouring out on the ground. She screamed again when Ravage stabbed her chassis, breaking her Sparkchamber. The sharp metal tail inches away from her golden-blue spark. The Jaguar laughed like a madman at her pain. =Face it Z-Zephyr... Your pa-pathetic Master isn't h-h-here t-to save you... To-today is t-the day you die...=

Flareup, having seen enough whipped out her gun and aimed it at the cat's head. She charged it up only for a hand to cover hers. She turned around and gasped when she saw Ironhide staring at her. He lowered her weapon as she protested . "I-Ironhide! What are you doing?!" The others turned around and saw the Black Mech. He had a tired look on his face as he stared at Ravage pinning Zephyr to the ground. Ratchet frowned and walked up to him. "Ironhide you should not be moving about! Your energy levels are still-"

"Be quiet Ratchet." Ironhide interrupted him. "Zephyr needs me and now isn't the time to worry about my health." The Mech spoke tiredly and harshly towards the shocked Medic. The strange mark on his right arm glowed a little as he took a few steps forward. When he saw Ravage stab his pet in the chassis and Zephyr whimpering in pain he felt it. He felt her pain when he was resting in the Med Bay. He stopped and the mark on his arm glowed brighter as he watched his pet trying to fight off the other feline. Will glanced between his Guardian and Zephyr and noticed her right arm glowing in the same way. He chuckled lightly, getting Epp's attention.

"Dude what the hell is so funny?"

"I think we're going to see something amazing." said Will.

Zephyr felt weak. She never felt this weak before and without her Master to help her she was sure she was going to offline. Closing her optics she tried not to tear up as a mental image of her Master appeared in her mind. Her last thoughts of him. (My Master... I'm so sorry... I-I failed you...)

"GET UP ZEPHYR!"

Quickly opening her optics she looked behind her and felt her Spark swell with joy. Ironhide was standing in front of the steel barrier yelling at her to get up. She tried to call back to him but felt Ravage's bladed tail go deeper into her chassis. Ravage saw Ironhide but wasn't worried, soon his prey will be dead and then he'll go after the humans. Zephyr opened her com-link to him, using the last of her energy to speak to him.

::I-I'm sorry Master Ironhide... I came all this way only to...::

Ironhide shook his helm. ::Don't say it... Listen Zephyr you can do this. You can beat him just like last time. Now get up.::

He saw that she was struggling and whimpered. He felt fear coming from her, fear of her going offline. Ironhide frowned, he never seen Zephyr this scared and hesitant before.

He did not like it.

"ZEPHYR! GET YOUR AFT UP AND FIGHT! YOU'RE BETTER THAN THIS NOW GET UP!"

The mark on her arm glowed and pulsated in time with Ironhide's mark. She growled and used her free paw to grasp Ravage's tail and struggled to pull it out of her. The Jaguar snarled and tried his best to stab her again. =J-J-Just because your Ma-Master is here... D-DOESN'T MEAN Y-YOU'LL DE-DEFEAT ME!=

Zephyr used her other paw, even though it was injured, to pull his tail out of her chassis. The Autobots and some of the solders saw that she was struggling and raised their weapons only for Ironhide to raise his hand.

"Put your weapons down! This is her fight so no one interferes!"

"But she's hurt Hide'! We're not helping her by doing nothing!" Yelled Will.

"Trust me Will, she's tougher than she looks. Watch." The black Mech smirked as everyone gasped. Zephyr rose up a little and bit the exposed cables in Ravage's neck as energon spewed out on the tarmac. Ravage screamed in pain as he tried to bite back but Zephyr bit down harder. She then rolled so she was on her feet and threw him off of her. Ravage hit the ground hard and snarled, purple energon blood flowing out from the wound on his neck. Zephyr's optics narrowed in anger towards the other feline. =Ravage... You will be the one to die today... NO ONE DISRESPECTS MY MASTER AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!=

The mark on her arm glowed at its brightest, strenghening the bond she shared with her Master. Glancing back at him she stared into his crystal blue optics as he nodded. Filled with sudden energy, she let out a loud deadly roar that made the Decepticon feline actually tremble in fear. Snarling, she lunged toward him and slapped the side of his face with her claws, leaving deep cuts that drew more energon. The Decepticon tried fighting back but was sucker punched to the ground. Pouncing on him, she then bit down on his tail and with all her might, broke off the bladed part. Ravage screamed as Zephyr discarded the broken tail to the side. Ravage took a few steps back and activated his guns but froze in fear at the panther before him. She had both her cannons at full power and both were aimed at him.

=Any last words you dumb fragger?=

Before he had a chance to speak his com-link beeped. When he opened the link it was Soundwave on the other line. ""Ravage that's enough. It's time to come back. You'll fight her again later.::

::Y-yes my Master... On m-my way...:: Ravage ended the call and growled at the MechaPanther.

=I-I'll be b-back for your S-Spark!=

Ravage deactvated his guns and ran past Zephyr and out on the beach, jumping in the water and swimming away. Zephyr would chase him but she'll deal with him later. She felt something on her head and looked up at her Master. Ironhide smiled and petted her gently. "You put up a good fight Zephyr. I'm proud of ya."

Tearing up, Zephyr nuzzled his chest and purred through the pain she felt. "M...Master Ironhide... I missed you so much..." She wrapped her tails around him and kept purring, happiness overwhelming her slightly exposed Spark. Ironhide chuckled and petted her back, feeling how happy she was to be reunited with him. "I missed you too girl." He whispered to her. He then gently picked her up, being mindful of her injuries and walked back to his friends. Ratchet walked up to them and peformed a medical scan over Zephyr. He frowned a little and shook his helm sighing.

"Primus... You lost too much energon and your Sparkchamber is slightly ajar. Not only that you have various cuts all over your armor. Zephyr you reckless fool."

The MechaPanther chuckled and licked the medic's arm. She mewed and spoke a little quietly. "Glad to see you too Ratchet..."

Bumblebee and the Bike sisters walked over and gently petted the feline. Saying how much they missed her and glad to have her back. Bumblebee started dancing as a song played on his radio.

[Celebrate good times, Come on! Let's celebrate!]

Zephyr smiled and used her tail to poke his arm. She sniffed the air and looked down, seeing the small group of humans gather at her Master's feet. They had curious looks on their faces as they stared at her. She noticed that one of them had her Master's scent and was smiling at her.

"You must be Zephyr. I'm Captain William Lennox, nice to meet you!"

She only blinked at him and tilted her head, but her tails were wagging a little bit which meant she was interested in the little human. When she didn't say anything Will chuckled nervously and looked at Ironhide. "Hide'? How come she isn't talking to me? I heard her speak to you and the others."

"She doesn't like talking to people she doesn't know. Heck she rarely speaks anyways." Ironhide felt her squirm and looked at her. "Zephyr?" She looked back at him and pointed downward with her paw. She wanted to walk on the ground. "Are you sure girl? Your paws look bad."

"...Rrow."

Ironhide shrugged and gently put her on the ground. She winced but ignored the pain in her paw and bent down to look at the humans. Some of the solders backed away from her except for Will and Epps. From their perspective she was almost as big as Spike, one of the Dinobots. She got a little closer to Will and sniffed him. Will, being bold, put his hand on the tip of her nose and petted her. Zephyr's golden-yellow optics narrowed a little as she watched his hand on her nose. Epps noticed this and tapped his friend's shoulder.

"Ay man... I don't think she wants you petting her. Look at her eyes."

Will saw how she was staring at him and shrugged. "I don't think she cares. Look, she's not attacking me."

"That's because you are Master's pet."

Will quickly retracted his hand and glared up at the big MechaPanther. He was a little surprised that she spoke to him but peeved that she'd make that assumption. Epps started snickering as did the other solders. The Autobots heard her say that and snickered also, including Ironhide. "Hey! I'm no ones pet!" yelled Will. Zephyr tilted her head and spoke up again. "You have his scent on you, so that means you are his pet servant are you not?"

"Hell no! Ironhide's my friend, nothing more!"

Zephyr didn't say anything for a few minutes and slowly stood up. "Master your pet human has quite the mouth on him."

"The frick? Ironhide! Tell her I'm not your pet!" Will heard his solders laughing at him and he glared at him. The Autobots laughed at his expression as Ironhide petted Zephyr's head. "Zephyr, William Lennox is my friend and I'm his Guardian. Big difference."

"Oh... My aplogies then...Ah!"

Zephyr crouched and winced in pain from her battle eariler. Ironhide leaned down and picked her up. Some of her wounds opened up as energon slowly flowed out and onto his arm. Ratchet did another medical scan, grumbled and turned around, heading for his Med Bay. "Ironhide bring Zephyr to the Med Bay, she's lost too much energon as it is! Hurry up dammit!"

The black Mech walked to the Med Bay and rolled his optics. "Jeez... She's not that injured... Are you girl?" Zephyr shook her head and nuzzled his arm, purring. Bumblebee and the Bike sisters headed towards the Med Bay also. As they left one of the solders named Max saw something and brought it up. "Um, Captain Lennox? Most of the tarmac looks like a bomb blew up on it. Plus ten of our vehicles are crushed and there's a hole in the outer wall of the main gate..."

"So? We can get it fixed up." said Will.

"Yeah but... it'll take a week to fix this plus Theodore Galloway's coming here in three days."

Everyone's eyes widened as they looked around the Tarmac. It will take a week or more to repair and replace everything. And with Galloway arriving within 3 days that's not going to be enough time to finish everything. Will cursed and scratched his head. "Oh damn... Well, I'll call General Morshower and tell him what happened. Epps you and everyone here can at least help tidy up."

Epps groaned. He'd rather relax or fight Decepticons than to help clean up the scattered metal everywhere. "Fine... What about that cat's tail Zephyr ripped off?"

"We'll keep that so Galloway will be convinced we're not lying." Will headed towards the main office while the solders got ready to clean up.

Meanwhile at the Med Bay, Ratchet kicked everyone out except for Ironhide. The CMO gave Zephyr some pain medicine as he treated her wounds. Zephyr was laying on the Medical berths resting her head on Ironhide's chest. She tried not to fall into recharge since she kept nodding her head. Ironhide smiled as he gently rubbed one of her ears. "Zephyr get some recharge. You had a long day." The Panther shook her head but found herself yawning at the mention of recharging. She could use a nap. She looked up and licked her Master's cheek, then nuzzled her head in his chest as she went into a much needed recharge. Ratchet was repairing her Sparkchamber and smirked a little at the display.

"Still as stubborn as ever."

Ironhide chuckled and looked down at the recharging MechaPanther. "Yeah. But she's my stubborn kitty." He kept rubbing her ears and whispered softly to her. "Sleep well my friend."

AN: Yay! Ironhide and Zephyr are reunited! :D Next chapter Zephyr reveals a surprise for the Autobots. What's the surprise? You'll have to wait until next chapter! xD R&R please!