Klik (Second)

Breem (Minute) 100 kliks

Joor (Hour) 60 breems

Orn (Day) 30 joors - 15 for a day cycle, 15 for a night cycle

Deca-orn (Week) 10 orns

Groon (Month) 3 deca-orns/30 orns

Vorn (Year) 14 groons/42 decaorns/420 orns

Chapter 3 - What's in a Name

"So, this is your new ride, huh? Funny, I almost mistook it for your old one!" Hank grinned as his best friend rolled his eyes.

"Ha, ha, hilarious. Do you want to see it or not?" Springer grumped, hoping up inside his personal helicopter, which was done over in a fresh coat of green and yellow paint, the same shades and pattern of the truck he'd had before the Cons blew it up outside of Hillitrex.

It had been almost two deca-orns since the recruits received their assignments, and in that time Hank had barely seen any of his friends. More often than not, he was working alongside Bluestreak, Smokescreen, the Security Director Red Alert, or the Communications officer Blaster and his quartet of nieces and nephews: Rewind, Steeljaw, Ramhorn, and Eject, also known as the Casseti Kids. Hank was still able to catch glimpses of the others around base, or even have meals with them once in a while, but his schedule was apparently different enough from the rest that they saw each other more often than he did.

Becoming an officer-in-training at the time had seemed like an honor - now, Hank was kind of wishing it had been held in reserve so that he could spend more time with people he actually knew.

The two of them had finally arranged to spend a joint morning off at the little airfield where Springer spent most of his time learning under Blades, the only other helicopter pilot stationed in the valley. He'd already expressed numerous time the sheer toughness of the woman and how much it could both scare and inspire him. Hank, having talked to First Aid a few more times since his initial med bay visit, mentioned that she and Blades were sisters, with three older brothers.

"I think Aid's so nice because she's the baby of the family, while her sister's the one who'd wrestle with their brothers." He explained as they sat aboard Springer's copter.

"Makes sense." The other trainee agreed. "So, I was thinking next that we'd-"

Whatever plans the young man had been considering, they were lost as a klaxon began to ring out over the entire Ark Valley. Instantly, figures started racing around between buildings, especially in and out of the Command center.

"What's going on?" Springer asked, startled as Hank swore and leapt to his feet.

"That's the third level emergency alert - Cons are attacking someplace with limited or no defences, and we're the closest ones to intervene." He explained. "I don't know if they're going to want us to join in or not, but-"

"Hot Rod!" A familiar figure was racing towards them. Blurr slid to a stop beside the copter, dust clinging to his blue and grey body suit. "Smokescreen said that Prime wants the six of us in Springer's helicopter, hovering over the battle and keeping an eye on what the Decepticons do." Coming up the path behind him were Arcee, Warpath and Cliffjumper. The cousins were looking out of breath, weighed down as they were by some added pieces of red armor, while the girl stayed close to make sure that they didn't get left behind. All of the trainees had their weapons with them, and the modified versions of their usual outfits that leant some protection from energy blasts and shrapnel.

"Well, let's get going then." As Springer started up his engines and Hank helped the others aboard, Autobots all throughout the valley were getting into their own vehicles to drive out the hidden entrance and make for the target. Once the others were seated, Hank joined his friend in the cockpit, grabbing the extra headset as he strapped himself into the co-pilot's seat.

*-ee Seeker flights bearing down on the Huckasee Dam and Power Station from the west, with a further four ground-bound groups approaching from the southern road. I want the usual formations in place to divert the Decepticons' attention from the Dam, while our Rescue Teams work to get the civilians out of harm's way. Top priority is protecting the structures, as the station provides power for Iacon and half a dozen smaller settlements in the foothills.* Once Prowl's voice cut out, others started clamoring over the airways to get their units into motion. Springer stayed silent as he lifted his copter into the air, circling the valley once to allow the team of Aerials time to clear out, before following Blades' orange aircraft on the flight path.

"Do you want us looking out the windows?" Arcee called up to the cockpit.

"Only once we actually get there, and then I might even have you guys open up the side hatch in order to shoot." Springer responded, keeping his eyes on the instruments and the view out his windshield. Hank noticed how tight his friend's grip was on the steering handles, and reached over a hand to poke at his shoulder.

"What?"

"Relax, dude. First big fight, do you really think that the veterans are really going to leave us to our own devices." Hank assured him with a cocky grin. "I'll bet that they go out of their way to make sure we don't get in over our heads."

Springer gave him a flat look. "The last time I followed your advice, we ended up running for our lives through a forest getting shot at, followed very shortly by my truck being blown up."

"Yeah, but I'm older and wiser now." The other trainee snorted, but returned to his piloting duties wearing a small grin.

No one was smiling by the time they reached the target.

The Seeker flights had already made at least one strafing run, if the damages to the dam were any indication. On the ground, a stream of civilian workers were fleeing in a chaotic stream, trying to clear the structure before the Decepticon ground forces reached them. A trio of enemy jets zoomed down from the cloud cover, aiming to open fire on the helpless people below. Just in the nick of time, the Aerials came soaring out of nowhere and caught the Seekers in a crossfire, destroying one and forcing the other two to return to the clouds.

Below, the fastest of the Autobots arrived on the scene and immediately started trying to impose some order over the panicked civilians. Others started setting up a perimeter where they'd hold off the incoming enemy soldiers, and a handful more headed up to the dam itself to try and do some emergency repairs. As the pair of copters circled over the area, Hank strained himself to try and take note of all the details going on, before turning his attention to the dark shapes moving rapidly up the road towards the Autobots' position.

A sudden beeping from the sensor displays reclaimed his attention.

"Uh-oh," Springer muttered, turning them mid air so he could get a visual to confirm. "Guys, we've got incoming!"

"What, someone more than expected?" An annoyed voice called from the compartment behind them.

"Yeah, a couple of Con choppers inbound - they must have been hiding in the cliffs!" Sure enough, Hank could see a pair of airborne helicopters heading straight for them. One was a glossy black with purple markings while the other-

"Uhh, Springy, isn't that the ride of one of the Cons who chased you into my mom's eatery?" The pilot narrowed his eyes behind the visor of his helmet, and swore rather impressively.

"I thought you shot that crazy woman out of the sky!"

"I did! Clearly, they got her copter fixed up and flight worthy again!"

Ignoring the glare he was receiving, Springer reached over and pulled on the lever that would open the side door. "Warpath, Arcee, can you guys shoot at those two from here?"

"We can try!" Their friends quickly unstrapped themselves, grabbed up rifle and cannon respectively, and moved to the opening. Out of the windshield, Hank could see the light blue of the energon blasts shooting out towards the enemy copters. Almost immediately, Warpath's larger weapon managed to score a hit on the panelling of the grey and blue one, forcing the pilot to swerve away for safer airspace. Arcee's rifle, while not having the damage capability of the cannon, was able to force the other copter to dodge her shots. However, the enemy soon started to return fire from a pair of blasters mounted on the underside of the aircraft, and it was Springer's turn to try and avoid being hit - while preventing his unsecured passengers from falling out to their deaths.

"Hank, can you-" The request hadn't even been finished before he was leaving the co-pilot's seat behind, grabbing up his crossbow and moving to join Warpath and Arcee.

"If each of us shoots for a different spot around him, we can force this guy to take at least one hit!" The girl shouted at them over the sound of the rotors and force of the wind. "I've got lower left, Hot Rod takes lower right, and Warpath aims for the top!"

"Got it!" Both boys answered, taking aim as best they could. Springer banked and suddenly slowed, catching the other pilot by surprise and giving the shooters a perfect window of opportunity.

The three fired at once, and sure enough, in an effort to avoid Arcee and Warpath's blasts, the enemy copter swerved right into Hot Rod's. His explosive bolt lodged in the mechanics of one of the side-mounted guns, the blew up with enough force to rip apart the side of the aircraft. Unfortunately, the shockwave rattled their copter as well, and Springer nearly lost control of the steering. Warpath was blown back into the seating compartment, knocking Hot Rod on his way, who in turn bumped into Arcee - and sent her out the door into the open air below.

"RHEA!" Instantly, Hank was leaning over the threshold of the doorway, desperately hoping she'd managed to grab onto one of the landing skids. But there was no such luck - the girl was tumbling down away from them, getting closer and closer to the rocky ground below.

Suddenly, a pale grey grappling line appeared, shooting down to where Arcee could grab ahold of it. The black and purple Con copter, already straining from the damage Hank's bolt had done, carefully lowered itself at a sedate pace, before releasing the cable and dropping the shocked Autobot trainee the last couple yards onto her feet, alive and intact.

Then the copter flew away as though nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

Hank watched all of this, baffled, but beyond relieved that Arcee was okay. He yelled for Springer to take them down to get her, which the confused pilot did. As soon as they were close enough to the ground, Hank leapt from the copter and sprinted to where his friend was sitting, still stunned.

"Arcee? ...Rhea?" The dark haired girl turned her shocked gaze towards him. "Are you okay?"

"...I just fell two hundred feet before a Con saved my life, and that's the question you blurt out?" She asked, incredulous.

"Alright, fair enough, but are you hurt?"

"My- my arm got wrenched, grabbing onto the cable, but aside from that I think I'm okay." Blurr ran up to join them, and together he and Hank got Arcee on her feet and back into the copter. Above them, Blades had finally noticed something was wrong and was circling protectively over their position.

"We're gonna have fun explaining this one when we get back home, aren't we?" Cliffjumper said dryly as he and his shame-faced cousin stood by the door, weapons ready for any approaching hostiles.

"I'll handle it," Hank said, thinking of his explosive crossbow bolt. Cliff started to nod, but then his eyes locked onto something back amid the jumbled boulders. Instantly, the youth's blaster was up and firing, prompting his cousin and Blurr to do the same. After making sure Arcee was secured back in her seat, Hank grabbed up his weapon and turned to join the others.

A group of Decepticons had been moving on foot along the cliffs to try and flank the defending Autobot forces, and instead came upon the group of trainees. They were almost entirely equipped with cannons and large blasters, eagerly firing upon the youths by the copter, who were giving as good as they got. Blurr and Hank fired a pair of flares, temporarily blinding the opposition as Springer yelled for the lot of them to get back into the copter.

They started to do so, just as a monster of an armored truck roared up to and through the group of Cons. Two of them screamed as they were crushed underneath its wheels and weight, while the others scrambled away in a panic. When the truck halted, its driver's side door was thrown open, and Ironhide came out with a war cry.

Intimidating as the man may have been during training sessions, his usual attitude didn't come anywhere close to how terrifying this visage was.

Made larger by the red battle armor he wore, the man tore through the Decepticons with nothing more than a single handed blaster and a medium sized energon axe. The trainees watched with open-mouthed awe as Ironhide obliterated almost a dozen enemy troops in as many seconds. When he'd shot down the last of those trying to flee, the old soldier turned his murderous gaze onto the frozen trainees.

"What in the fraggin' Pit are y'all just standin there for?!" He bellowed, getting them to jump and start moving again. "Git back in th' air already!" Growling as he stomped forward to yell at them some more, Ironhide didn't notice a presumed-dead Con suddenly lift himself from the ground and take aim at the oblivious Autobot's back.

Hank noticed, though.

"'Hide! Behind-" The old soldier whirled, the shot singing his hip instead of hitting him square on. Ironhide then retaliated by throwing his axe, smiling with grim satisfaction when it decapitated the unfortunate Con.

Wanting to make sure that the Weapons Specialist was okay, Hank started to move forward, only for Warpath to grab him by the back of his shirt and bodily haul the smaller youth into the copter. Cliffjumper yelled to Springer that they were aboard, and the pilot pulled them up off the ground.

Below, Ironhide raised an eyebrow at the departing copter, taking note of Hot Rod's concerned expression before the door sealed shut.

"Hmph. Rookies." He muttered, marching back to his still rumbling truck.

The rest of the battle finished up pretty quickly after that. The Autobots had become thoroughly entrenched by the time the Decepticon ground forces arrived, and were able to drive them off without too much trouble. Left without back-up, the Seekers quickly broke off their strafing runs in favor of retreating as well. The dam and power station were mostly intact, and aside from a few injuries here and there, the Autobots didn't suffer any casualties. Possibly the most noteworthy thing about the whole fight was Arcee falling out of Springer's helicopter (which more than a few people berated the trainees for on the way back to Ark Valley) and her subsequent saving at the hands of a Con (which no one felt comfortable mentioning). As soon as everyone arrived home safely, Ratchet and First Aid had taken those who needed treatment or looking over to the med bay, leaving the rest of the troops to their debriefs and cool-downs from the battle.

As he'd promised, Hank was the one to fully explain to Prime and the other officers about the Con chopper. Unfortunately for him, Prowl was of a mind to make use of the situation.

"We of course keep detailed files on as many of the Decepticon command element as we can, but also make an effort to record as much as possible about the lesser members of their forces, in case anyone ever makes an attempt at defecting," the man explained to Hank as he led him to the archives building. "If you or Arcee could sort through anything we have on enemy copter pilots and find a match, we'll add it to the file and possibly send a spy in to make contact and see how much the Decepticon is truly loyal to Megatron and his Imperials."

When they entered the building, Hank's first impression was that the archives didn't look like too big a mess to go through. Then he realized that the boxes stacked up in the entrance hall were just the stuff that hadn't been sorted yet. Prowl continued to lead him on several yards, past one door after another, until they reached one simply labelled Enemy Aircraft. Inside that room were easily a dozen shelving units reaching from floor to ceiling, completely filled with boxes of papers and files - some neat, most not.

Prowl at least had the decency to look slightly remorseful. "It's been too long since we've been able to properly organize these, so look for anything you can find on helicopter pilots and go from there. If this room doesn't turn up anything, you can try digging through the unsorted files we passed."

"...Right." Hank said weakly. "Do you want me to just look through them in here, or take it to Arcee too?"

"Is she still in the medical bay?"

"Yeah. I don't think Ratchet's planning on letting her back out for an orn or two, as well."

The Autobot officer hummed. "Well, I'd like you to begin on this as soon as possible, and I doubt Ratchet would object too strongly should you bring a box or two to the med bay for Arcee to sort through."

Sighing, Hank just nodded his acceptance. "Guess I'd better get started, then."

When he finally made it to dinner that evening, all of Hank's friends not being held prisoner in the Ratchet's domain were waiting for him. In between shovelling spoonfuls of food into his mouth, the exhausted trainee gradually explained about what he'd been doing since the battle that morning.

"Why can't we help with this?" Springer asked, a tad concerned. "I mean, all of us saw that copter, so why are just you and Arcee-?"

Swallowing his last mouthful, Hank laid out Prowl's reasoning. "It counts for my officer training, in a way, and 'Cee's the only one of you guys who isn't going to be immediately busy with training again, since Ratchet's got her on bed rest for a while, followed by a period of limited exertion."

"Oh. That bites." They all had a quick laugh at Blurr's blunt assessment of the situation.

"Yeah, yeah it does... Still, if I need a break from it, Prowl said I'm welcome to take a look at some of the other records rooms and read anything that seems interesting."

"...Seriously? The only thing you get to do when not going through old paperwork is look at other paperwork?" Cliffjumper grimaced. "That sounds like cruel and unusual punishment to me."

"Only because you don't reading in the first place, mister leap first, think second." Warpath retorted in a dry tone, causing his cousin to redden as the other boys chuckled.

"Hey, that reminds me, Cliff - why'd Ironhide give you the codename that he did? It's been bugging me a bit lately."

Immediately, Hank found himself the recipient of a warning glare so dire he was surprised the flesh didn't melt off of his bones. Clearly the other youth wasn't about to talk about whatever story there was behind his Autobot designation.

Warpath, though, was completely eager to share.

"Oh, that's a good one. We were kids, about to become teenagers-"

"War-"

"-and Cliff got it in his head to have a right of passage-"

"Warpath, I'm warning you-!"

"-so he got all the local eleven and twelve vorn olds together at the top of the Rusted Cliff-"

"Warren!"

"-in order for the lot of us to jump off and into the river!"

"Primus fraggit, Warren Palomine, if you keep going with this stupid story-" By this point, the shorter of the two cousins had gotten out of his chair and was either trying to silence or strangulate Warpath, who kept pushing his hands away and laughing as the others watched with silent amusement.

"So, because no one else was willing, Trenton here decided to go first to show the others how it was done-" Cliffjumper cursed, finally getting a hand slapped over his cousin's mouth.

"I think I can see where this is going." Springer said dryly.

"Enjoyed diving into river water, did you Trent?" Hank snickered.

Warpath finally got his gag out of the way and finished up his tale to Cliff's dismay. "He never made it to the river! Poor kid sank into mud up to his neck, and had to wait almost three joors before our Gran came with a pair of mud boots and a long enough cable to haul him out!"

"WARREN!" Deciding that he needed to get away from the now murderous Cliff, Warpath leapt to his feet and fled the mess hall, laughing all the way. Cliffjumper chased after him, spewing one dire threat after another. The pair ended up running right past Ironhide and Optimus, who looked after them with confusion before heading towards the remaining trainees.

"Dare I ask?" 'Hide raised an eyebrow as he came up to them, jerking a thumb over his shoulder in the direction that the cousins had gone.

"Warpath was just telling us the story about Cliffjumper actually jumping off a cliff when they were kids," Hank explained. "Which makes me wonder, sir, how is it that you knew that story?"

Ironhide stiffened as Optimus looked at him with amusement dancing in his eyes. "None a' yer business, kid." The Weapons Specialist finally said, stalking off to get his food.

"I believe it's a personal matter," Prime found himself saying as three sets of eyes swung to look at him questioningly. "You might actually find something to explain it during your time in the archive building, Hot Rod."

The Autobot leader then strolled off, leaving three baffled trainees behind him.

-HF-ST-

Heading back to his work sorting through files the next morning, Hank decided to follow Optimus' vague advice. When he reached the inevitable point that searching for mention of the purple and black copter became unbearable, the youth left the Aircraft room behind and went wandering until he found the door labelled Autobot Members. Inside, there were just as many boxes of files as the other rooms, but at least these had some semblance of being organized. Four shelves towards the back were prominently designated as Dead or Missing, but all the others were Active Personnel. Smaller labels further organized Autobots by division, and Hank looked around until he found Officers. All the way at the end of the row, in between an Ultra Magnus and Chromia, he found the substantial box with Ironhide's name on it.

Pulling it out, Hank started to flip through multiple pages about the old man's past battles and exploits, a copy of his medical file, even mentions of some specialized weapons he'd personally designed. Finally, the youth found what he was looking for - a short few paragraphs on 'Hide's background from nearly twenty vorns before:

Vorn 2567 in the Third Age of Cybertron

Name: Hepley, Travis

Occupation: Bodyguard to Alphius Tran, Senator of Iacon

Position within Autobots: Weapons Specialist, Basic Training Instructor

Known Relations: Wife (Hepley, Cynthia (see Chromia)), Son (Hepley, Trevor) (Deceased), Daughter (Palomine nee Hepley, Tia), Son-in-Law (Palomine, Mason), Daughter-in-Law (Hepley nee Kursen, Kristin), Grandsons (Palomine, Warren; Hepley, Trenton).

Hank nearly dropped the file in shock.

Numbly, he put everything back on the shelf, and in a daze shuffled back to the other room to continue his search. For the rest of the orn, Hank did things with a mechanical efficiency, still rolling his startling discovery around in his head, slowly but surely coming up with more than enough similarities between Ironhide and the cousins - his grandsons, for Primus' sake! - to confirm the relation.

By the time the afternoon rolled around and Hank was bringing another box to Arcee to sort through, his mind was still in a fog, and a concerned First Aid had the youth sit down before he walked into a wall.

"Alright, what the frag's the matter with you?" Arcee asked as soon as both of the medics were out of earshot.

"Still can't believe it." Hank mumbled in reply.

"Can't believe what?" Haltingly, he explained to her about the odd event the orn before at dinner, and how Prime had suggested Hank could find the reason why if he went and poked through the Autobot files. He stalled then, and it took Arcee's careful coaxing to get the other trainee to state the fact that had held him in shock ever since.

"GRANDSONS?" Unfortunately, the girl's yelp when he finally did instantly attracted Ratchet's attention, and the pair were hard-pressed not to divulge the details of what they'd just been discussing. "You mean those bone-brains are actually related to the King of Cranky?" Arcee hissed once the old medic had finally moved off again.

"Apparently."

Shaking her head, the girl sank back into the cushioned headboard of her medical berth. "Huh." She sent a look Hank's way. "Do you think Kup knew?"

Opening his mouth to answer, Hank had to pause and think on it first. "...Yeah, yeah I think he must have. He said that he and Ironhide were old friends, and considering how much Kup fussed at the cousins when they were being idiots..."

"He probably wanted to try and get them into shape a bit before their grandfather had a chance to meet them." Arcee's eyes widened. "Oh Primus. Trenton and Warren - they don't know, do they?"

"Nope. Or else I doubt the first orn would have gone by without some show of a family relationship. I'm not sure they realize their grandmother's an Autobot, either."

Arcee's jaw dropped, and Hank hurried to go on. "Y'know how much they've said that their Gran was a scary lady when torqued off, but that she'd bring them souvenirs from whenever she went travelling? In 'Hide's file, the different relations section where I found Cliff and Warpath's names was headed by a Cynthia Hepley, with a note to see Chromia, which was the name on the next box down the shelf."

"Fraggin' Primus on a pogo stick." Arcee said. "...We're not allowed to tell anyone, are we?"

"Well... Prime might have given me roundabout permission, but I don't think it's technically allowed to go snooping through people's personnel files without good cause, so probably not. I'm not dropping this just yet, though."

"What? Why?"

"I want to find out if Ironhide's really aware that those two are his grandsons, and why he hasn't said anything to them if he does know."

"Okay, I've heard from Springer that you sometimes confuse bravery with stupidity, but that is beyond idiotic!" Arcee glowered at him. "Ironhide's gonna know you went through his file, and Primus help you when he decides how best to punish you for it."

Hank sighed. "I know it's stupid, but I've got to know. I am, however, planning on taking a living shield with me."

-HF-ST-

When Hank came to Bumblebee with his request, the kid looked at him like he was crazy. Then the trainee started explaining everything from the beginning, and the tiny blonde rolled his eyes.

Of course Ironhide knows the cousins are the sons of his kids. Bee wrote out on his datapad. But he never mentions it so that they don't ask him for special favors, or so that others accuse him of nepit- nepots-

"Nepotism?" Hank said allowed, saving the kid from his struggle to remember the word.

Yeah, that one.

"Okay, that's all fine and dandy - but I don't believe there isn't more to it." Huffing, Bee shook his head and took Hank by the hand, dragging the startled trainee off down the hallway. He just went along with it, though he did falter a tad upon realizing that the kid was leading him straight to Ironhide's little-used office. "Uh..."

When they reached the door, Bumblebee didn't even bother knocking - he just punched in the access code and marched right inside, still hauling Hank after him.

Ironhide glanced up from some paperwork he was organizing, narrowing his eyes at the pair over the tiny spectacles he was wearing. "What?" The old man barked.

Bee finally released Hank's hand, marched over 'Hide's side of the desk and slapped down the datapad, with his earlier statement still displayed. Ironhide stared at it. Hank stared at him. Bumblebee crossed his arms and alternated glaring at the both of them. Finally, the old Autobot stirred slightly, glancing down at the fluffy haired child.

"Nepotism, pipsqueak? Aren't ya supposed t' be some sorta walkin' dictionary?" He asked with a hint of a smile. Bee threw his hands up in the air, snatched the pad back and stalked out of the office, leaving Hank to face Ironhide by himself. Which, the youth thought in the back of his mind, had definitely not been the plan.

Ironhide raised an eyebrow at him, before gesturing the the chair set in front of his desk. "So. Did you come straight from the archives, or have you been stewing over this most of the day?"

"Uh... I, um, went looking this morning. Kinda was in shock until about half a joor ago, when I talked to Arcee about it. You aren't, uh, mad?"

"Well, I'm a tad irritated that Optimus wins our bet, but other than that, not really."

Hank blinked at him. "I'm sorry - bet?!" The old soldier chuckled at him.

"Eh, don't look so surprised, kid. Officers gotta stay entertained somehow too, y'know. And Prime was willing t' wager a box of my favorite beer that ya'd go pokin' 'round before mid-orn, while I figured ya wouldn't 'til t'night, maybe even t'morrow." He laughed louder at Hank's shocked expression.

"That's nice to know, I guess." The youth said faintly.

"Gives ya a better idea of who we are, at any rate." Ironhide smirked. "Yer startin' the route to joinin' our upper ranks, Hot Rod. It's pretty standard fer prospective officers t' undergo somethin' like this."

"Oh."

"Th' fact tha' my grandkids are among yer group was just a handy opportunity. We come up with different things dependin' on who's bein' tested. That's not t' say, though, that yer allowed t' go spreadin' any o' this around, got it?"

"Yes sir! But, um..." Ironhide waited for the youth to get his words together. "Why don't they know?"

"Who know?"

"Cliff and Warpath. You clearly know who they are, but they don't seem to know who you are!"

Sighing, the old soldier stood and went over to a shelf at the back of the office. He pulled a photograph out from under a stack of files, and brought it over for Hank to see. In the picture was an Ironhide of vorns past, with more brown than grey hair, alongside an extremely petite woman about the same age and a pair of younger adults who could only have been their children. And held within 'Hide's muscular arms were a pair of chubby babies, happily attempting to fight one another as their grandfather beamed.

"Tha' was the last time I got t' see those boys with my own eyes," Ironhide said softly as Hank handed the photo back. "Th' next day all five of 'em started off fer home. Those were th' days 'fore the Autobots were official,'n before we started usin' codenames t' protect our loved ones."

Hank closed his eyes involuntarily, realizing where the story was going. "You son - he died because someone knew how you two were related, wasn't he?"

"Yeah. Cynthia had nightmares for groons after th' attack, convinced she could've done more t' prevent it than just fought 'long side Trevor. Was later that vorn that I suggested th' idea o' usin' other names t' protect our families."

"You were the one who started that?"

"Mm. Wasn't 'spectin' it t' be such a big thing, I'll be honest." They continued to sit in silence for a while.

"Ironhide?" Hank finally spoke up. "Thanks. For telling me all this, I mean. And for not being mad about my sticking my nose where it doesn't go."

"Yer welcome, kid. Just do me a favor an' don' go spreadin' it around, yeah?"

"Sure - can I tell Arcee, though? Since she already knows some of it."

"That's fine. Now, git outta here, I got work to do." Hank grinned and gave him a quick salute, before hurrying out of the office and back towards the medical bay. He made sure to slow down before entering, not wanting to attract Ratchet's irritated attention, but found it hard not to bounce over to Arcee's berth.

"Rhea! You're never gonna guess how well things went and what else Ironhide told me- Rhea?"

Sitting upright on the bed, documents and files spread out around her, Arcee was pale and shaking as she stared down at the paper clutched in her hands. Worried, Hank moved to where he could see it too.

There were a few notes detailing a description that matched the Con copter from the battle, alongside a blurry photo of said copter with a young woman climbing into it. Even before he saw the caption below the picture, Hank had a sinking feeling in his stomach from the similarities he saw between the lady in the photo and Rhea herself.

Below it were the words: Pilot believed to be assassin known as Airachnid, supposedly Raquel Curtis of Hivus City.

-HF-ST-

"Her sister?!" Cliffjumper sat back in his chair, shocked by the news. "Arcee's big sister is a Con?!"

"Yeah. She didn't know either." Hank said sadly. After the revelation earlier that orn, he'd spent most of the evening comforting the grieving girl. Raquel had apparently been a great sister, the ultimate protector when the pair grew up surviving on the streets of Hivus. Then one morning, after more than two orns of the elder sister acting strange, she'd vanished from their safe haven in an unused factory. All that had been left behind was a note, promising Rhea that she'd find a box of supplies waiting for her once a deco-orn in one of their many hidey-holes across the city. She'd gone on surviving as best she could, until the vorn came when she found out the supplies were being delivered by Decepticons. After that Rhea stopped taking them, and eventually left the city for safer climes.

"So, what - the big sister made a deal to become a Con, as long as they provided Arcee with food and basic necessities?" Warpath asked, incredulous.

"It makes sense," Blurr said softly, fiddling with the hem of his shirt. "If it was just me taking care of my little brother, I'd have taken up an offer like that in a heartbeat, no matter who was making it."

"I've said it before and I'll say it again - Decepticons are monsters for using people's families against them." Springer growled in as dark a tone as any of the others had ever heard him use.

It was right then that Arcee entered the mess hall, slowly getting her evening meal and then haltingly approaching her fellow trainees. The girl paused when she reached their table, trepidation clear on her face. "Hey, guys."

"Hey, 'Cee. Pull up a seat." Hank offered her a smile, which she returned uneasily. Silence reigned over the table for a while, until Cliffjumper finally broke it by slapping his hand down.

"How quiet do you want to keep this, Rhea?" He asked in a no-nonsense voice. All of the others stared at him.

"...What do you mean, Cliff?"

"I mean, do you want to let anyone else know or not? Because you can bet your rifle we'll go along with whatever you say." Arcee lost some of her tension as the other trainees all voiced their agreement.

"Well... Maybe we can let Prime and a few of the officers know, add it to the proper files, but other than that..."

"We'll keep it quiet." Hank promised. "But, just to warn you, I think Bee might go reading the Autobot files when he's bored. How else would the kid have already known what I was talking about this morning?"

"What were you talking about?" Blurr asked. Arcee and Hank exchanged a glance, which ended when the former smirked.

"You'll have to take that up with Ironhide." She informed the teen, finally back to her usual self.

A/N: Much thanks to the folks still reading this, next update will be March 8th! I'll be including a list of Autobots with it, with both their real and codenames, just to make things a bit simpler on y'all. Oh, and anyone figure out who the pilot of the black and purple copter was before I got to that reveal?

-Triscribe