Wheelie looked up at the other Autobot with wide eyes, swearing he could see his whole life flashing before his eyes. He knew how protective Ironhide was over Annabelle, but he hadn't had much of a choice. If he let her cry, Ironhide would have thought he'd hurt her and killed him. If he agreed to babysit her...well, it still looked like Ironhide was going to kill him. The black-haired weapons specialist hoisted Wheelie off the ground, glaring at him as if he'd just commited one of the worst sins in history.

"I-I wasn't doing anything bad, Ironhide- honest! For once I ain't lying!" The small Autobot reasoned, though this statement didn't seem to help. Watching him with horror, he noticed that Ironhide had clenched one of his hands into a fist- as the other was still holding the back of his shirt collar and choking him. He whimpered, covering his face with both of his hands. If there was one person who terrified him, it was a tie between Ironhide and Megatron.

Annabelle tugged on Ironhide's shirt innocently, trying to get his attention. Wheelie didn't seem like such a bad guy to her. In fact, he was kind of funny. She didn't see why most of the Autobots didn't like him, even if he used some 'bad words'.

"'Hide, he's right. I was just showing him some pictures from school. Oh! Do you wanna see?" The little girl asked brightly, seemingly not noticing the mortal peril Wheelie was in. In her eyes, Ironhide could do no wrong. He was one of her father's best friends, let alone an Autobot. And to her, all the Autobots were role models. Ironhide continued to glare at Wheelie for a moment before looking back down at Annabelle.

"Of course, Anna." He said with forced kindness, dropping Wheelie afterwords. The girl squealed in excitement and ran off to get some more. "Nonono! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE WITH HI- AGH!" Wheelie shouted after Annabelle, but was interrupted as Ironhide roughly grabbed the front of his shirt.

"You do anything to hurt her and you will wish you never existed. Got it?" He growled quietly, making sure no one else could hear if they were nearby. The sapphire-haired boy nodded quickly in agreement. "I'll be watching you. Every moment you're near her. Even when you start to think "I don't think he's watching me", I will be. Don't. Try. Anything." He threatened, before shoving him away roughly, causing him to fall on his rear. Wheelie squeaked a little, though still nodded- feeling his heart pound against his rib cage. Immediately he scrambled to his feet and fled, not wanting to deal with an infuriated, overprotective Ironhide any longer.