A/N: UsagiLovesDuochan asked about Ironhide's view of everything that's happened, and he started talking – thus, a small interlude before the fic picks up again. I hope to get the next part posted by Friday, but can't promise anything. If not Friday, it'll be sometime early next week. Thank you to my amazing reviewers – getting your views of it all is awesome and tends to spark ideas about things I hadn't considered at all, and that's definitely appreciated :) And thank you to my awesome readers for giving this crack-bunny of a fic a chance!
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Contrary to common belief, not all of Ironhide's processing power was spent on his weapons systems. You had to be smart to survive on the battlefield, because the femme Luck was fickle and only followed you for so long before someone else caught her optics and you were left surrounded by enemies and with no backup in sight.
It was one of the reasons that had made him accept the then-human Major as a comrade in arms in the first place, despite his small size and the fragile nature of his species. He was lucky – he had to be to survive not only the attack in Qatar and being hunted by Scorponok, but the mess that had been Mission City and his attack on Blackout as well – but luck had not brought him and his men from the destroyed base and back to the human's native country with the information they carried. Luck had helped, but most of it had been skills and relentless determination, and Ironhide could respect that. 'Will' was a fitting name for the small new ally Ironhide had found himself with after the battle against Megatron, and he had been pleased when said ally had been put in charge of the human part of NEST. It was someone tried and tested in battle, and Ironhide could respect that, too.
That humans were fragile compared to Cybertronians had been painfully clear from the start. They were determined to fight for their planet and did it quite well, too, but it came at a high cost for them. It didn't stop them, but it was something that all of the Autobots kept in mind. Ironhide had always known that it was true for all humans, that his small ally was no different and that fighting at their side would be very likely to end up getting him killed someday, but over time he had stopped worrying about it quite so much. The Major was skilled, his team was skilled, they had learned each others tactics and quirks, and the femme Luck seemed to keep a consistent optic on him. There had always been the risk, of course, but it hadn't been at the forefront of his processors the same way as it had in the first months. It had been an acknowledgement of a fact, like Arcee and her sisters' relative vulnerability, and nothing more. It was a credit to said human's skills that Ironhide simply acknowledged the fact of his relative fragility and still trusted him to stay safe.
It hadn't been until the last few seconds before the explosion and the too-late warning from inside the building that Ironhide's processors had caught up with reality and the theoretical fact of human fragility became sudden, spark-chilling knowledge, too late to do anything but watch as metal and concrete exploded and the structure came down with a rumble that was felt more than heard through the chaos of the battlefield.
He had finished the battle with brutal efficiency after that. There would be nothing to salvage but bodies – not many of them, either, because Primus damn it all, that was why the human had been in there in first place, and the building had been all but cleared of both civilians and all NEST personnel but one by the time it came down – but it hadn't mattered to Ironhide. Cold fury in his spark, he had ignored Ratchet and Chromia and even his Prime. Nothing to salvage but bodies, and in the case that really mattered to Ironhide, not even that. Humans were a foolish species, too, and had yet to learn that some alien technology should be left alone. The explosion had originated from the laboratory, and Lennox's sharp warning had come from the same location. Logic told Ironhide that there would be nothing left to find, and he had obliterated one of the few remaining fragments of the building in helpless anger. He didn't know why Lennox had gone back inside, didn't know what had been important enough to run a risk like that without backup, and it didn't matter, either. The femme Luck was fickle, and Ironhide would gladly have torn out her spark if he could for abandoning the human when he needed her most.
It had been Ratchet who had picked up the presence of a spark and Optimus Prime and Ironhide who had helped the medic force aside the heavy pieces of broken concrete to reach the Cybertronian buried underneath. They had thought it was Starscream or one of his trine at first, until a disturbingly familiar Autobot insignia had come into view, and while Ironhide's processors recalled with perfect clarity what had followed, it was still something they had problems dealing with.
The Seeker, Energon levels at critical and in desperate need of a recharge, had asked for Ironhide in perfect, flawless, familiar English, and Ironhide had done the only reasonable thing he could: He had frozen and stared, like the Earth-deer caught in the headlights of a vehicle, and had stayed that way as Ratchet worked, only moving when the medic ordered him to get his aft in gear and help lift the Seeker.
Things had only turned increasingly strange after that. The hows and whys of the situation nobody had any idea of. Lennox himself couldn't offer an explanation, either, and Ironhide had been a lot more relieved than he had been willing to show when Ratchet had confirmed that it was indeed their supposedly-dead human in the Seeker body and not some freak sort of Earth-influence that had caused the thing to speak human-style English and ask for Ironhide.
Some things made sense, they had found in the days that followed. Most things didn't. A brand new spark wouldn't have known how to fly so well, but it came instinctively to Lennox. On the other hand an adult Seeker, from what Ratchet had told him in a private moment, should have had more control of its core programming than Lennox currently had. It wasn't a sparkling but it clearly wasn't completely mature, either, and Ratchet had finally admitted defeat. He could help the human part stay in control to some degree, but where the thing had come from in the first place and why Primus had chosen to do it like that, they'd have to ask him themselves, and Ironhide hoped it would be a long time before any of them got the chance to do that.
With Lennox finally in recharge after their training session and Ratchet's check-up, Ironhide had retreated to analyse the information he had gathered over the course of the day, from the flight to their training and their talk, and he was slowly, cautiously, starting to believe that Lennox was telling the truth when he said the Seeker and him had reached an agreement. It had clearly been the Seeker in control the day before, but now... Lennox's control had slipped once or twice during their close combat lesson, but nothing even approaching what Ironhide had observed the first few days and the constant visible struggle to keep the Seeker from reacting to something as simple as the presence of someone stronger than itself. Something had reined in the Seeker, and while Ironhide wasn't sure exactly what their medic had done, he approved.
Even the bond felt different now. Less familiar Cybertronian and more... something else. The time after the first flight it had felt like a normal Cybertronian bond – less controlled because of the Seeker, with stronger emotions, but a normal bond. Now... less so. A constant, low-key presence as Lennox couldn't quite shut it off completely, but with a strange feeling to it that Ironhide assumed was the human influence showing. It was more controlled than the Seeker, certainly. He had wondered after Ratchet's talk just how much of Lennox's reactions to it all had been nothing more than the Seeker looking for a mate, but even with the human in charge the bond remained and Ironhide's cautious attempts at reassurance hadn't been blocked like he had initially suspected they would be.
Everything considered, Ironhide had finally decided, there was a real chance that Lennox had told the truth about that as well – that it hadn't just been the Seeker showing interest during that first flight, and Ironhide approved. Of course he had reached back when the Seeker had initiated the bond – it was a Seeker and Ironhide had always held a fascination with them – but that initial fascination had turned from the Seeker and to the human instead as their fight had begun in earnest. The Seeker was fascinating on a purely visual level, strong and dangerous and exotic to a ground-based mech, but the human was a comrade in arms and for the first time Ironhide found himself appreciating Lennox's traits as a mech rather than as a fragile, organic life-form.
The stubbornness and determination that fit so well with his name had been commendable in a human working with NEST, but it was only with Lennox as a Seeker that Ironhide had remembered how much of an attractive trait he considered it in a mech. Seekers were arrogant and vain, which was why Ironhide had preferred to admire them from a distance, but with Lennox in control, the Seeker had yielded and obeyed orders, and Ironhide had watched in fascination as a build of mech that was never intended for ground-based combat had nonetheless silently put up with two hours of relentless training in that very topic, and Ironhide didn't for a moment believe a proper Seeker would have done that.
Seekers were interesting by nature but Lennox was quickly becoming interesting to Ironhide for much more than simply his new build, and he reached out carefully to reaffirm the presence of the still-tentative bond before he retreated again, careful not to disturb the new Cybertronian's recharge.
You slagging well better be careful, Ratchet sent through their own bond, forged through aeons in battle together, and it was only then that Ironhide realised he had been transmitting to some degree. Of course you are. I can practically feel your processors creaking, the medic continued a bit annoyed and confirmed what Ironhide had already guessed. Shield, Ironhide. I know it's a unique situation, but the only excuse for forgetting to shield a bond at your age is senility. Is it time for a thorough medical exam, perhaps?
I can still slag your aft, medic, Ironhide rumbled, more annoyed with his own lack of attention than anything, and the amusement that followed the remark was well-deserved, too.
And risk the Seeker thinking you're interested in me instead? Keep in mind what I told you. There are two personalities in there. Make very, very sure the human side is interested, too. He sounded patiently amused, like explaining something to a youngling, and Ironhide made a grumbling sound through their bond, drawing a soft snort from Ratchet. Recharge, Ironhide. He's not the only one who needs it. Recharge or shield. Yes, he is attractive. I am aware of this. Stop keeping me awake because you need to overload.
And before Ironhide could come up with a suitably snappy retort, the bond went silent and Ironhide huffed.
Medics, he grumbled for good measure, and then sighed and surrendered. Annoying or not, said medic was right. Recharge it was.