Optimus POV

I watched Autumn enter the hangar with Ravage in her arms. Elita was following closely, but seemed to be merely observing. Arcee followed shortly after watching Autumn intently. I have to admit that it is a great relief to me for three of the femmes to have arrived. In addition to giving the others hope that our race can survive, and lifting the spirits, they will be able to help Autumn as well. I had listened to what Soundwave said to Prowl, and it weighed heavily on my spark that Soundwave felt his presence was actually necessary for Autumn's well being. The issue on the other servo… is that she has actually smiled.

I am unable to recall seeing her smile as a human… and until this bream I have not seen her smile as a bot. She was training with Jazz, and though he wasn't fighting at anything close to his full abilities, I could see that he was still pushing her… hard! The match stopped when Sgt. Epps made a suggestion, one that made sense actually. A holoform could not suffer permanent damage easily. The only way that was possible was to damage the actual system responsible for the holoform. Otherwise, it was a simple matter of disengaging the holoform, and then reengaging it again. It would allow Autumn to socialize more, because then she might feel more at ease with the humans that were stationed on the island. As it is, she tends to stay to herself when she's not in training for something. That isn't good for her. She needs to associate with others, interact with them, and hopefully overcome her past. I can only pray to Primus that she will.

I watch silently as she steps over to Ravage, sits down, and pulls the Cybercat into her lap. Her entire demeanor seemed to change immediately. As she focused her full attention on Ravage, petting and stroking the Symbiont, a slight smile graced her faceplates. It was the first smile I have ever seen from her. To know that her smile was caused by the simple presence of a Decepticon Symbiont is not a spark warming experience. Elita and Arcee were clearly displeased by the entire situation, as well as the attention that Autumn gave the Cybercat, yet they didn't interfere.

When Ironhide entered the hangar, Autumn tensed up and the position of her wings indicated fear. I knew that my Weapons Specialist noticed it because he slumped in dismay. Then Ravage was snarling at him… loudly.

"No, stop. Ravage please stop! I'll get in trouble, and I don't want to be in anymore trouble. I can't go back to the brig!" Autumn said as she wrapped both arms around the Cybercat.

The desperation in Autumn's whispered words was clear to anyone who heard it. It was clear that Ironhide did, because he winced visibly.

"Ya ain't gonna get in any trouble dere Lil Lady. Ah can see that Ravage ain't doin nothin ya wouldn' be doin if ya had the struts for it. Ya ain't gotta be scared of ol Hide though. See ya got the frame of an adult, so tha's what he thought ya were. If he'd a known ya was still as young as ya are, dere ain't no way he'd a done that." Jazz told Autumn seriously.

"Ain't that right Hide?" Jazz demanded as he looked over at the black mech. I could see that his casual attitude was all but gone, and he was now very serious, although Autumn was unable to see his face, so she couldn't tell.

"Yes." Ironhide said in a saddened tone as he looked towards Autumn.

Suddenly Ironhide turned away from Autumn and went to the other side of the hangar, where he collapsed down into his truck form. The driver side door opened, and Ironhide's holoform got out.

Autumn POV

I watched in surprise as Jason/Ironhide got out of the truck and walked over towards me. I recognized the holoform immediately. How could I not? That face, those huge rolling muscles, and those piercing blue eyes would be burned in my memories forever! This was the one who had broke down the door to that room I was trapped in, snapped the chains that held me prisoner, and saved me. I thought that I was going to die in that room. I wanted to die. Then he came. Nothing, I mean absolutely nothing could have stopped him. Not even my father could stop him, and he had tried!

He walked over, but stopped some distance away, and looked up at me. I could see… actually see that sadness on his face.

"I told you yesterday that I'm sorry for what I did to you. I said it, and I meant it. Yeah, Chromia might have hit me a couple times, but it was a lot less than what I deserved." Ironhide told me seriously.

"You… you're the one who got me out of there."

The holoform only nodded. "I'd do it again too. Only, I'd make sure that I pounded that chunk of scrap afterwards." He said as he looked up at me. "You don't have to be scared of me Autumn, because I will make sure that you never get hurt like that again!"

I could tell that he meant what he said, but before I could say anything Ravage squirmed out of my arms and walked over to him stalking around him in circles like she was about to rip him apart. Ironhide wasn't scared at all… he only looked at her and grinned.

"You really like her don't you? Good! Make sure she stays safe, cause if ya don't, you and my cannons will be having a talk, and I can promise that you won't like what they have to say." Ironhide/Jason said while looking Ravage right in her one optic.

Elita POV

I remained a silent observer as Ironhide approached Autumn using his holoform. It was clear that she recognized the holoform, but at the same time, she was also very frightened of Ironhide. Autumn was very apprehensive and held Ravage tighter as he approached.

I watched Autumn as he spoke to her because I wanted to see what her reaction would be. I knew that Ironhide truly regretted what he had done to her, but Autumn didn't seem to believe that. I knew that Ironhide had always been patient, and extremely good with both sparklings and younglings, but Autumn clearly wanted to have nothing to do with him. Apparently that training incident, which I didn't have all the details of, had made a horrible impression on Autumn.

Ironhide tried to reassure Autumn, but I could see that she still refused to believe him. That was when Ravage jumped out of Autumn's arms and stalked towards Ironhide. She was circling him, ready to pounce on him in an instant. It was an explosive situation, but instead of reacting to a clear threat from ravage, Ironhide only grinned.

I couldn't help but smile in satisfaction when Ironhide delivered his command to make sure that Autumn stayed safe, because it was exactly the kind of thing he would be prone to do. Make sure that a sparkling was protected at all costs. I don't think anyone was ready for what happened next.

Autumn jumped from her position against the wall of the hangar and kicked Ironhide's holoform. She used such force that it created a huge dent in the door of his alt mode when he flew thirty meters across the hangar to hit himself before dissipating. That was when Ironhide transformed and stared at her in shock.

"You leave Ravage alone!" She bellowed in rage. "You lay one servo on her and I'll offline you in such a way that you'll be wishing to Primus you had never been created. I'll eat your spark for a lunar cycle snack! I'll suck every last drop of energon from your lines and want more! Do you hear me? I'll kill you slowly!"

I was stunned into immobility. I couldn't believe that this was the same Autumn I had met just a few jour ago. Her faceplates were so twisted with rage that I had never even seen a Decepticon look that fragged off!

There were only two bots present who were not shocked into immobility. The first was Jazz. He reacted very quickly to grab Autumn from behind, and keep her from continuing her attack against Ironhide. Logically, I know that she doesn't have anywhere near the skill to harm him, but still… that rage was actually frightening to see!

The other bot who was able to move was actually Ravage. The notoriously dangerous and deadly Cybercat was slinking backwards away from Autumn with her ears laid back, and her tail tucked up against her abdominal plates. Ravage was even frightened by Autumn's rage, and that was saying something, because that Cybercat had even attacked Devastator without hesitating!

Jazz POV

It was a good thing I grabbed Autumn when I did, because she was going to tear into Hide with everything she had. Not that she would have been a match for him, but still, she wasn't joking in the slightest. Even as I held her back she struggled to get at him. Her doorwings kept slamming against my shoulder plates hard enough to be painful to me! So how she was able to handle that I have no idea. What I did know, was that Ravage wanted nothing to do with the kind of rage Autumn was going through. That told me something.

I knew that Cybercats have an extraordinary sense of smell, and can use it to detect all kinds of emotions in a bot. Whatever she smelled in Autumn wasn't normal anger, because it even had her scared. I knew then that this had to be what Ratch had been talking about. This is what her 'psychotically murderous rage' was like. To be honest, I knew that the pain from her doorwings should have just about paralyzed her, but she didn't even notice! It seems that I'm going to have to ease up, or stop her training altogether; because there is no way that I want to have to fight her in this state. If the pain from her completely slagged doorwings isn't stopping her, then a bot would almost have to rip her spark out before she'd even notice the damage.

I had to get through to her. The only ways that seemed possible was to either damage her enough to put her in the medbay for a while or reason with her. I'm not a Decepticon, and I don't hurt sparklings!

"Ya don't wanna do tha Lil Lady! Ol Hide dere can give meh a good fight, an ya ain't got da trainin ta go servo ta servo wit him. Come on now, yer even scarin Ravage." I told her hoping that I could somehow get through to her.

That's when I saw Ravage look towards the brig. She looked back at Autumn for a moment with her helm tilted to one side, before looking back towards the brig again. Then she started slowly slinking up to Autumn, and I could tell that she was actually scared. It wasn't until Ravage actually got close to Autumn that she even noticed the Cybercat. At this point Ravage was so low to the ground that her abdominal plates were almost touching the floor. Then, before I could stop her, Autumn was reaching down and picking up the Cybercat.

"I'm… I'm sorry Ravage. I wasn't trying to scare you. I didn't mean to. I swear I didn't!"

Autumn was actually crying as she apologized to Ravage. There was a stunned expression on the faceplates of every bot present. Poor Sgt. Epps, he looked pale, and I think if he could have run, he would have. I will say this for Autumn; she's the first bot I've ever known that could actually shock Optimus into inaction. I almost wanted to laugh, except that this wasn't even close to being funny. When she didn't do anything but hold Ravage close and start cuddling the Cybercat, I began walking her to the medbay.

Ratchet POV

I was doing a bit of research when the door to my medbay opened. I was about to throw a wrench as usual, but then I saw the condition of Autumn's doorwings. I felt me spark almost freeze in my chest. How was she even functioning with that kind of damage? I saw the tracks and tears of energon sliding down her cheeks, and I thought that it was because of the pain. Then I heard her whispers. She was crying because she was truly sorry for scaring Ravage, and she didn't want the Cybercat to leave her. She wasn't paying any attention to the amount of damage she had to her wings, which was phenomenal. They were unrecognizable as doorwings. In fact, if I didn't know what they were, I would have sworn that they weren't even a part of her frame! They were bent in to balls of crushed scrap metal. Jazz walked her over to a berth and sat her down on it. That was when I saw the traces of green paint on his shoulders.

:Ah'll fill ya in later. Dis happened while Ah was keeping her from atackin Hide. Do whatever ya gotta do ta put her out… fast! Ah don't wanna try holdin her back again.: Jazz sent before I could say anything.

I gripped Autumn by her shoulder plates and gently put her in stasis. I was about to move Ravage, when that Cybercat jumped out of Autumn's arms and moved to the other side of the medbay where she sat down watching Autumn. I was in the process of laying Autumn down with her back struts facing upwards when Optimus entered. Jazz, Arcee, Elita, Ravage, and now Optimus. There were far too many uninjured bots in my medbay for my comfort.

"Do not even think of ordering us to leave Ratchet. All of us are concerned about Autumn right now. Even if you were to paint Sunstreaker pink… he would not be nearly as angry as Autumn was a moment ago." Optimus told me seriously.

"Autumn, angry? That's a first." I replied with a huff.

"Yeah, well she was fragged off enough ta scare Ravage away from her. She wanted ta offline Hide." Jazz told me gruffly.

"No! She wanted to feast on Ironhide's spark and then drink the energon from his lines." Arcee corrected sourly.

I couldn't help but look up from Autumn. "What the slag torqued her off like that?"

"Ironhide issued a warning to Ravage to keep Autumn safe. Autumn did not appreciate the threat he made to Ravage in the process." Elita answered.

"From now on, no one is to make any threats to, towards, or in regards to Ravage! I do not want to see or even hear of Autumn going off like that again. I will issue that order to all of the other bots on base as well." Optimus said softly in a near growl.

I couldn't help but stare at Optimus. For him to show any sign of anger was rare indeed, but for him to be that angry, something very serious had occurred.

"Ratch… Ah think we seen what ya was talkin about wit tha psychotic rage o hers. Ah was behin her, holdin her back, an she didn' care about anything other than getting at him! She wanted ta kill Hide so bad tha Ah think she could taste it. She beat tha slag outa meh wit her wings, an she never even noticed tha damage she was takin. All she wanted was ta get ta Hide an kill him slowly." Jazz said with a shake of his helm.

I shook my own helm and got to work on Autumn's doorwings, which were mangled beyond repair. They would have to be replaced. I set about removing the twisted lumps of metal from her frame, and had to admit that I was glad she had been focused on something other than the damage she'd taken. The screams that she should have been emitting would probably have been heard from across the island.

There was a lot of delicate work involved, because she had also done a lot of damage to the joints, and the controlling muscle cables as well. It took me a couple of bream to get each wing off, because I had to disassemble almost half of her shoulder assembly to do it. When I finally got the worthless lumps of metal disconnected from her frame I switched her from a stasis lock to forced recharge, so she could get some much needed rest. I decided to get some recharge myself before I started on the process of manufacturing some new doorwings for her. I went to my office and sat down to rest. Ravage was still there, but none of the others were. With the Cybercat in recharge, along with Autumn, I slipped into recharge myself.