Okay, so I understand if you all want to see me crushed under Megatron's foot, but please hear me out. Firstly, I am SO SORRY that I left this for so long with no explanation. The last six months have literally been work work work for me as I've been doing my second year of A Levels and writing had to be put on the back burner. Hopefully the arrival of this new chapter will placate you somewhat.

On a side note, thank you so much for the lovely reviews!

Ironhide

Ironhide was still undecided as to whether he liked this planet. Yes it was a vibrant, colourful world and its gravity was significantly less than that of Cybertron - which would make walking especially fun - but a few things annoyed him.

Firstly, there was a higher oxygen content in the atmosphere than on Cybertron, so he'd have to be careful about leaving his armour untended incase the metals began to oxidise. Having already calculated that he'd have to flash energon over his dead metals every eight orn or so to keep them in good condition, he wasn't too impressed.

Secondly, the inhabitants of the planet were already succeeding to annoy him. They were a primitive species with a minimal understanding of science and were so Primus-damned fragile! They wore no armour to protect their carbon-based forms beside a few thin layers of cloth; and they were completely squishy!

Now here he sat in the dark, dreary car park of a chain restaurant waiting for Bumblebee's human femme to arrive. The report the young scout had returned fourty Joor after his arrival was barely believable. Crash landing in a compound and saving the femme from the crossfire? Crashing into the compound was a result of Bumblebee's telemetry suffering with interference due to the planet's magnetic field, so that fact stood firm. However, saving the femme from the crossfire? That wasn't right. A heavily guarded compound and a single femme being shot at bang in the middle of everything caused Ironhide to jump to some conclusions. That was his job; being a Weapons Master and protector of the Prime demanded him to approach every situation with caution. Primus he knew that Bumblebee would never lie to their Prime, however Ironhide got the impression that the young scout was withholding the truth somewhat. Whatever the case may be, he would get the truth eventually: either through Bumblebee and the femme trusting him with the knowledge or through extracting it with force. The safety of his Prime was the first and foremost important duty he had ever accepted.

The rumble of an engine brought Ironhide from his processors as he looked up to see a motorcycle pulling into the car park, a black clad rider sitting astride the vehicle. His optics trailed the bike as it made a sweep of the car park, the rider analysing each car carefully as they passed them.

As the rider circled passed Ironhide for the first time, he wondered whether or not to reveal himself to the human. He quickly dismissed the process, knowing it would be a fool's idea to announce his presence to possibly the wrong fleshling. No, he would wait to see what this one was going to do.

As the rider drove carefully around the car park a second time, they slowed the motorcycle to a stop in front of Ironhide's hood, cutting the engine and dismounting.

"I know that's you, Ironhide." A soft, distinctly feminine voice came from beneath the helmet as the rider removed the protective item, revealing the face of a young femme with thick mahogany hair. "I know that Bumblebee sent you the pick me up."

Ironhide couldn't stop the feeling of surprise that filled him as the femme spoke, shocked that she had singled him out from the multitude of vehicles in the car park.

Flicking on his holoform beside the femme, he folded his arms across his chest and raised a singular eyebrow.

"How did you know it was me?"

Ironhide refrained from smirking with satisfaction as the femme jumped slightly at his sudden appearance, an innate reflex of the human species.

"Jesus, Ironhide." The femme said as she turned to face his holoform, a surprised look on her face. "Rule number one of living on Earth. Don't randomly activate your holoform where civilians could see you. They'll freak out at a guy seemingly materialising from thin air."

Raising an eyebrow at the femme's words, curious that she knew of the holoform. Obviously Bumblebee had revealed that feature to her previously.

"How did you know it was me?" He pressed again, stepping closer to the femme as she placed her helmet on the motorcycle and undid the zip of her leather jacket.

"It wasn't that difficult." She said nonchalantly as she pulled her dark hair from the band that was securing it in place so it fell around her shoulders and down her back.

Ironhide scowled as the femme fell silent for a few moments as she pulled her hair up into a high ponytail, incapable of seeing the reasons for humans having such annoying strands of proteins covering their scalp.

"There's loads of parking spaces in the car park, yet you choose the space that's furthest from the restaurant and the only one that's out of sight of the security cameras." The femme clarified as she finished tying the band in place again. "So it was obvious that you're not here for a Big Mac and fries."

Ironhide raised an eyebrow at the femme's approach to the situation. Her observation and insight learning where far greater than what he expected from Ratchet's initial notes of his ex situ study of the human race. They, the Autobots, had been aware of the sentient nature of the human beings, however they had not been expecting such high order behavioural capabilities from such a young species.

"Get in." He grunted, turning on his heel and walking over the the driver's side door. He knew this planet would be a new experience for them all, but he had far from expected the human mind's cerebral skills to be as highly developed.

"What about my bike?" The femme asked, looking between the retreating holoform and her motorcycle.

Ironhide turned from the door, grunting it annoyance at the femme's question.

"Is it necessary?" He asked bluntly.

"Well what am I supposed to do with it?" The femme replied irritably, crossing her arms across her chest, mimicking his holoform.

With a roll of his eyes, Ironhide moved forward and lifted the motorcycle from beside the femme, before returning to his body once again and depositing it in the flatbed of his new alt mode. The femme simply watched him as he lifted the motorcycle and settled it place before his holoform returned to the open driver's side door and climbed in, slamming the door firmly shut.

"God I prefer Bee's personality..." The femme muttered irritably as she began to make her way towards the passenger door. Ironhide expected her to pull the door open harshly as a result of her mood(and his rudeness, but he'd never admit to that), but instead she pulled gently on his metals as the door opened and she shut it with equivalent ease once she was settled in the seat. Yet another surprise to add to the list it seemed.

With a low rumble, Ironhide onlined his engine and began to pull out of the carpark, determining a route to the location of Prime as he did so. The femme remained silent in his cab as he pulled out, weaving in and out of the traffic as he proceeded down the street.

"You know," The femme said quietly, her eyes trained on the road ahead, "there is a speed limit on this road. If you don't want to be pulled over by the cops, I'd suggest slowing down."

"Why would they pull me over?" Ironhide asked, begrudgingly slowing his speed slightly.

"Because to the cops you're just a Topkick." The femme replied steadily, glancing sideways at Ironhide's holoform. "If you want to stay inconspicuous you're going to have to obey our laws."

Ironhide grunted in affirmation and slowed his speed down to the speed limit displayed on a sign at the side of the road. Once again, a silence developed in the cab as Ironhide made no attempt to converse with the femme. He still believed getting her involved was a very bad idea, considering Bumblebee had also acquired two more fleshlings not much younger than the femme herself. The scout seemed to just attract fleshlings wherever he went. They only needed the Witwicky boy, yet here they were with three humans already.

Shifting the black bag that was on her back into her lap, the femme pulled out a pair of identical items. Ironhide ran a quick scan of them through the World Wide Web and found them to be a pair of Magnum Elite II combat boots. The femme proceeded to remove what he assumed to be another form of shoes from her pedes, before slipping them into the bag and pulling on the boots.

"So..." The femme said hesitantly, glancing up to see Ironhide watching her intently. She seemed completely unfazed by the fact that he wasn't watching the road at all. How much had Bumblebee told her?

"I guess you guys know where the All Spark is then?"

A lot, it seemed.

"I mean, a group of you have now come to Earth," the femme continued, her eyes focused on lacing the boots, "so either you've found it, or Bee needs some help finding it."

"Bumblebee discovered how to find its location, that was deemed enough for us to come to the planet." Ironhide replied simply, his brows furrowing as he decided on having a sharp word with the scout at a later date about sharing the intentions of the Autobots so freely. What he didn't tell the femme however, was that Decepticon activity had dramatically increased in the last two orn in this Solar System, contributing somewhat to their decision to arrive on Earth. Whatever knowledge the Decepticons had gained, it had them searching this system feverishly.

"Would you mind looking away for a moment?" The femme asked suddenly, pulling Ironhide from his processors to see that the femme was now clutching a piece of cloth in her hand. "I mean, it's fine you watching me doing my boots and everything, but I'd prefer it if I could have some privacy changing my top. I don't want to wander round with 'Hal's Diner' displayed on my chest any longer than I have to."

Nodding slightly, Ironhide turned the body of the holoform away from the femme's direction and focused his optics on the road. They were close to the others, another few turns through the rat-run the humans called a city and he would be there. Ironhide heard the sounds of fabric shuffling as he felt the femme shift in his seat, before a quiet sigh escaped the femme's lips as the sound of a zip could be heard and the femme leaned back into the seat.

"I'm decent."

Ironhide acknowledged the femme with a quick glance to see her holding the black bag in her lap, the old 'Hal's Diner' t-shirt replaced with a black one hidden beneath her leather jacket.

"So..." The femme began once again. Ironhide could not control rolling his optics at her desire for conversation. "How many of you are there?"

"Including Bumblebee, five." He replied, a quick glance to his right confirmed that the femme was watching him curiously.

"Who are the other three, besides Bee and yourself?" The femme persisted, shifting in her seat to watch Ironhide with interest.

"You'll meet them in a moment," Ironhide replied simply, "along with the human who will be able to direct us to the location of the All Spark."

::Ironhide, what is your location?:: Prime's voice rang over the primary.

::Less than a cycle from you, Prime.:: Ironhide replied quickly, ::Bumblebee, this femme of yours talks almost as much as you do.::

::Good to know you found her.:: Bumblebee replied with a laugh. ::Be nice to her Ironhide, she's a good person.::

::I make my own judgements on character.::

::Pfft, we noticed!:: Jazz supplied with a smirk, adding to the conversation.

::We're not having this conversation again, Jazz.:: A ripple of laughter filtered through the primary and Ironhide scowled as he thought back to conversations the group, specifically Jazz and him, had previously. It would always end in a heated discussion between the two of them about whether it was better to be trusting or guarded. It had become a game to Jazz to bait Ironhide into the argument, to which Ironhide would refuse to rise to the bait each time.

::Another time, perhaps.:: Jazz said nonchalantly as Ironhide rounded the final corner into the backstreet where the Autobots were meeting. Ahead of him, Prime, Jazz, Bumblebee and Ratchet were already in their bipedal forms, the two humans standing amongst them.

::Don't count on it.::

Okay, I found this last part quite hard to write, but I've found in other fics that I've read that some people really don't focus on the relationships between the Autobots themselves, and it's something that I want to develop and work from as it's something I found really important in the movies (especially when friendship and loyalty was tested in Transformers 4). I'm just finding some traction at the moment, so bear with please :)

Once again I apologise for my absence, and I hope you can forgive this returning chapter; it's not my best. I don't want Millie's relationship with Ironhide to be all sunshine and rainbows to begin with as her past is shady to say the least, and Ironhide's top priority is Optimus' and the Autobot's safety.

Reviews are much appreciated!

Shakalakaboomboom x