Ratchet POV

Autumn was sitting on the berth with Chromia and Elita watching her as she looked at Ravage with an almost puzzled expression on her faceplates. I could see that the missiles Ravage was equipped with had surprised her. Apparently, Autumn didn't know about them. Leave it to Ravage to keep secrets from everyone. That doesn't surprise me at all. Primus only knows what secrets Soundwave has learned over his long function. I'm sure his symbionts have learned how to keep secrets by taking lessons from him.

Autumn finally stopped her surprised staring when Ravage rose up and shoved the top of her helm against Autumn's chin. If it had been any other Cybercat but Ravage, I would say that the scene in front of me was adorable. I couldn't help but wonder if Soundwave knew about it, and if he did, what he thought. Ravage snuggled up to Autumn, and it was immediately obvious that the Cybercat had merely been showing Autumn how wrong she was about Ravage not being dangerous.

It made me wonder. Soundwave had been in her processors, deleting everything from Autumn's mind. Her memories, knowledge, skills, and all were being systematically deleted. Then, Soundwave discovered how young Autumn really is, and not only restored her to what she had been prior to his interference, but provided programs and other things that she needed. Now that mech has defected to the Autobots. He has joined our cause strictly to watch over and protect Autumn. That is why he's assigned Ravage to be with her constantly. Not only is Ravage present to protect Autumn from any possible threats, but also from her own feelings of inadequacy. That has to be a near constant battle for the Cybercat, because Autumn tends to view herself as being expendable. If only she could be shown just how far from the truth that really is.

Suddenly, Ravage was squirming out of her arms and darting across the medbay. Before I or anyone could react, she was chasing a turborat. As soon as Autumn saw Ravage going after something about the same size as a German Shepard, she screamed. Ravage didn't allow that scream to distract her though. She caught that pit spawned turborat, and offlined it with one solid bite to the back of the neck.

"I am so glad you caught that thieving thing! It's been stealing energon, parts, and tools from all over the base!" I said with a grin.

Ravage merely looked over at me and bared her energon coated fangs as if to grin at me. Oh, it looked like a snarl, or any other nasty expression, but somehow, I think she was grinning at me. Ravage turned her attention back to the turborat and prepared to eat it.

"No!" Autumn screamed loudly. "You don't know where that thing's been, or what it's been doing! It's filthy, disgusting, and there is no way in the pit that I'm letting you eat it! That thing was probably swimming in sewage for all you know!" She added as she quickly stormed over to the Cybercat.

"Autumn, Ravage is a Cybercat. They are well known for offlining turborats. Turborats are well known for stealing just about anything that they can carry. They especially like nice shiny objects. Now I know you don't want to take the chance that a turborat like the one Ravage just killed would steal that mirror that Blue gave you, now do you?" Chromia asked her softly.

Autumn turned around to face Chromia with a stricken expression on her faceplates. Her right servo covered the subspace pocket in her upper left arm.

"N… no… never!" Autumn stammered quietly.

"Then it's a good thing that Ravage just offlined one. You don't have any objections to her doing that now do you?" Elita asked as she chimed in.

"She can offline all the turborats she wants, but I'm not going to let her eat one of those filthy things!" Autumn protested.

"Then what do you propose to give her instead?" Elita asked calmly.

"I… I'll give her some more energon… or I'll get some more wafers and treats from Jazz. I'll find something!" Autumn protested as she walked over and picked up the offlined turborat by its tail.

Autumn tossed the thing in the recycling hatch, and I could see that Ravage was not pleased with that action. Then Autumn walked over to a cabinet and grabbed a cube of energon. Before anyone could say anything she had torn the top off of it and was offering it to Ravage.

My optics shot wide when I realized that she had grabbed a cube of high-grade. It's possible that Soundwave had given some to Ravage before now, but I had never seen it.

"Autumn…" Chromia began in a calm gentle tone. "You do realize that's high-grade don't you?" She asked as Ravage began to lap it up rapidly.

Autumn shook her helm. "No. What's high grade?"

"High-grade is our version of Scotch, Bourbon, Vodka, or Whiskey. It is an intoxicant, and I have no idea how Ravage will respond now that she's gone through the whole thing." I told her quietly.

"Ravage… you're not a … a mean drunk… are you?" Autumn whispered in an almost frantic stammer.

As soon as Ravage finished devouring that cube of energon, she was snuggling deeper into Autumn's lap while enjoying the strokes and petting that Autumn was giving her. The relief that began to show on Autumn's faceplates was more than a bit surprising to me, until I remembered her sire. Soon enough Autumn lay down with Ravage on her chest plates. Once she was in recharge, Ravage leapt down and curled up in a corner to attend to her own recharge.

Jazz POV

I walked into the medbay to talk with Ratchet about Autumn. I sure didn't expect to find Ratchet and Elita watching her work on some bot's frame.

"Hey dere Lil Lady! What ya workin on?" I asked her jovially.

I was surprised when I was completely ignored by Autumn. She was usually pleased to see me, but right now, she was acting as if I wasn't even there. She kept building an arm on that frame, and as I looked at it properly, I could see that she was constructing a huge frame from scratch.

"Jazz, we don't think that's Autumn. I won't deny that it's her frame, but I don't think she's the one controlling it right now." Elita told me softly.

I looked over at her sharply. "What do ya mean dis ain't Autumn?"

"Remember me saying that there are two separate and distinct personalities within Autumn's personality core? Well I think this might be that other personality. I can't be sure on that because even Soundwave can't get a read on it." Ratchet told me.

"Wait… Soundwave can't read dis?" I demanded pointing at Autumn. Those words from Ratchet made me step back a bit. That was more than just surprising… that was just frightening! I knew Soundwave was a telepath, and that if he was close enough to you, it didn't make a single bit of difference what kind of firewalls a bot had, he could find out what he wanted to know. If that bot couldn't find out anything, it meant that Autumn's other personality either had some seriously good firewalls, or that second personality was a telepath of unprecedented power… either way, that wasn't a good thing.

I reached out and started to grab Autumn's servo. I didn't move fast, but it was a deliberate action. I wanted to get her attention, so I could ask her some questions, and maybe find out what was going on. I didn't get that chance.

As soon as I touched Autumn's servo, that same hand moved in a blindingly quick flash. Autumn had never moved like that, and it was too fast for me to block! First I was struck right at the base of my throat, and then just beneath my chest plates by the same servo I had tried to grab. I stepped back real fast and watched for a second before turning to face Elita and Ratchet.

"Who ever it is… that ain't Autumn! I haven't shown her those strikes. Slag, I haven't shown anyone those strikes! Either one of those can kill a bot with a single hit. She barely touched me, but she just proved that she could have killed me if I had actually tried to stop her." I told them seriously.

That was when I saw that Autumn had turned her helm to look at me. Her face was almost blank, but her optics were very dim, like there wasn't enough power being fed to them or something. Autumn didn't say anything, but after a second of looking at me, she turned back to building that frame.

"I suppose then, that we should allow her to construct a frame that that will greatly out power Megatron or even Devastator?" Elita asked me in a carefully neutral tone.

I studied the bot in front of me for a bream or two. Yeah that was Autumn's frame all right, but it wasn't Autumn controlling it just then. Who ever this was, they were intent on building that frame. Autumn… I say Autumn, even though it's not her… had never stopped working. The torso was completed, and one arm was getting the final touches. I had no doubts that the second arm would be finished before the lunar cycle was complete.

"Ah could be wrong, but Ah don think it's gonna be a problem. If Autumn-B wanted ta kill meh, she woulda done it. She didn't kill meh… slag… she didn't even hurt meh! All she did was let meh know dat she could have. Ah think if she was a threat, den she wouldna done tha. She woulda played dumb until she got that frame up an runnin, so she'd have some serious back up. As it is, Autumn's frame don't have any weapons, so she'd have to rely on bare servos ta go through all o us. Ain't nobody dat good! She knows dat, an she knows dat we know dat! If she can build a frame tha way she is, and fight like Ah jus saw, den dere ain't no way she's stupid enough ta try anything." Jazz explained.

"You make a good point Jazz. Do you think we can trust her?" Elita asked in concern.

"Ah don see why not. She ain't tryin ta hurt nobody, an she ain't threatenin any one either. Ah say let er keep on doin what she's doin. Who knows dat big aft bot might just end up on our side if she can evah get it runnin." I said easily.

"That's the part I fail to understand. Why even build a frame with that setup, when there is no spark to put in it?" Ratchet asked.

"Ah don know, but somehow Ah got the feelin Autumn-B is gonna take care o dat when the time comes." I answered.

Autumn POV

I came online feeling a strange weight on top of me. When I onlined my optics to see what it was, I saw Ravage's face right in front of me. She was so close that our olfactory sensors were almost touching. That was when she licked me right across my face; from my chin up to my chevron. I guess as soon as she saw my optics online, she decided to go for it. I couldn't help but giggle as I pulled her into a nice warm hug.

But seriously… did I just giggle? I know that I'm different now since I'm a bot, but I didn't think I'd ever find a reason to be happy about something! Ravage! She must be the reason I did it! All I know was that I seemed to be acting a bit different today. I feel happy for some weird reason, and the only thing I can think of is that Ravage is here.

"Nice ta hear ya laughin Lil Lady."

"Jazz!" I shouted with a mock pout as I sat up. "I can laugh if I want to. Besides Ravage's tongue tickles. Oh… wait… it's called a glossa isn't it? Well that tickles too!"

"Ah nevah said ya couldn't laugh… Ah just said it was nice ta hear." Jazz said with a grin. "So when ya gonna do it again?" He asked me with a suddenly serious face.

I couldn't help it; I burst out laughing. Jazz was easy going and always joking around, so that when he tried to be serious it was funny. For some reason, him and Ravage were always making me smile, even when there were times I didn't feel like smiling.

I was starting to realize that I had lost everything! I couldn't go home, because I had no parents. My Mother was killed when I was little, and I still had nightmares about seeing that happen. My father had killed himself; there wasn't anything at my house that I could use anymore; there were some clothes that I couldn't wear; a few pieces of cheap jewelry that I had bought at a garage sale. I wasn't lucky enough to have a laptop, cell phone, or even an ipod. I didn't have my own TV or even a radio… all I had was me. I couldn't even go see my Aunt. She was all I had left of my Mother besides a few hazy memories, and she wouldn't even recognize me. I was truly alone. Not that it mattered, no one really cared about me anyway… no one except Blue, and my bond with him got taken away. What had I ever done to deserve this?

'You were born.'

'Negative! You are cherished and loved by many. You are even cherished by some that you do not like.'

I knew that first voice. It was the same one I'd always heard; the one that always told me how sorry and pathetic I was. That second voice though, I'd never heard before, but it sounded really, really serious! It was cold, like there were never any feelings at all in that voice, and that scared me. Having one voice in my head that was always telling me how lousy I was, was one thing, but now there was another one arguing with the first. This was proof that I had lost it.

'If someone out there really loves me then who is it?' I thought in bitter anger.

'Jazz, Prowl, Ratchet, Ravage, and Bluestreak love you. You are cherished by Optimus Prime, Elita-1, Arcee, Chromia, Hound, Beachcomber, and even Ironhide.'

Now I knew that voice was full of it! Ironhide hates me; I'm not totally stupid because I can see that! I don't know why he saved me when I was still human, but I bet that it was only because he was told to!

'He's just waiting for the chance to crush you and you know it, don't you?'

'Negative! Autobot Ironhide requested assignment to Sparkling Care Center in Altihex. Greatly enjoyed assignment of working with Sparklings and Younglings prior to war. Autobot Ironhide was unaware of Autumn's true age, upon acquisition of that information, Autobot Ironhide became fierce defender of Autumn. Autobot Ironhide would allow himself to be permanently offlined to prevent harm to Autumn. Verification of truth from Autobot Ironhide requested.'

That first voice was only telling me what I already knew, but this second one had suddenly gotten stronger, louder, and even more serious! It was telling me to ask Ironhide how he really felt about me! Somehow this second voice was familiar, and I didn't want to argue with it. That didn't feel right, because I knew that I always wanted to argue with people who told me to do something, and now that I had my voice back, I could!

Next thing I know, I'm in the main hangar with Ravage in my arms. I was watching Ironhide talk with Prowl about something, before Prowl looked over at me and walked away. I looked up at Ironhide and walked over to him. I was really scared, but I was mad too. The more I thought about everything he'd done, the more fragged off I got.

"I want the truth! How much do you hate me?" I demanded tersely.

Ironhide POV

"What?" I couldn't believe what Autumn had just asked me.

"How much do you hate me?" She shouted as she repeated herself.

"I don't." I answered in surprise. "I don't hate you at all. Look Autumn, I messed up. What I did was wrong. What makes it worse is that it was you. You didn't deserve that, no one does. I was going through… it doesn't matter what my problem was. It doesn't excuse what I set you up to go through. I took one look at you, and I saw an adult bot; someone who would know how to use their frame to the best advantage. I didn't even think about how old you really are, and I should have." I told her honestly.

"Do you really mean that or are you just trying to get my trust you can make me into a sparkling factory?" She demanded angrily.

I stepped closer to her, took her helm in my servos to make sure she was looking at me. I was fragged off now. Slag! I was more than that I was fragging torqued!

"Let's get one thing straight! I don't care who it is. Anyone ever tries that kind of thing with you or any other femme, and I'm going to beat them into scrap metal. I'll take my Primus slagging sweet time about it too. Then, I'm going to use my cannons to blast the pieces into oblivion, until the only thing left is their guttering spark laying on the ground. That is something I will step on and slowly grind into nothing! No one is going to be a sparkling factory if I have anything to say about, especially not you!" I growled in a soft deadly whisper.

"Look Autumn, you're just a kid… a sparkling. I know I didn't see it before, and I'm sorry about that, I really am. You're just a kid, and you deserve a chance to have some fun… all kids do! You may not be an actual sparkling, and you might have the frame of an adult, but you're not even a vorn old yet. You're a youngling. You need to be protected, cherished, and treated like the treasure you are, because younglings like you are the future of Cybertron. I don't care about anything your father might have said about you; I don't care what you think either! You are important! Listen to me Autumn, you are an important part of Cybertron's future, part of the future for the entire Cybertronian species! Whether you like that idea or not, doesn't matter, you're still important to every bot on this base. That fact that you even exist is something that gives us hope that there is a future for Cybertron! Yeah Autumn, you're just a kid. Because you're a kid, it shows us that there is still something worth fighting and finishing this war for. You are a part of our future. Every time I look at you, I see hope for a better future that for a very long time, I didn't think could exist, but when I see you, I see a possibility that I want. That's what you are for many of us Autumn, hope for the future… a better future! How could I possibly hate you?" I said before I wrapped my arms around her in a hug.

That was when Ravage started this rumbling purr that reminded me she was in Autumn's arms. I'd forgotten all about that Cybercat, but right after she started purring, Autumn started crying. I let her. That was when I noticed Elita, Jazz, Ratchet, Chromia, and Arcee watching us. Jazz was looking a bit smug, and I couldn't blame him. No matter what anyone ever said about him, they would all agree that he was a lot more intelligent than he let on.

Ratchet and Elita were smiling. I knew it was because they were glad that I'd finally gotten a chance to interact with Autumn in such a way that neither of us would need repairs afterwards. Chromia was watching us with approval in her optics. We'd talked about this; about Autumn in general, and about her situation. I knew that she liked Autumn as much as I did, and we were both glad that she was here. I'll admit that I have been a lot harder on her than I should have been. I didn't even know that she was only a sparkling until that solar cycle that Ratchet told us. I thought she was an adult femme; young, but still an adult. When I learned that she was barely more than a fifth of a vorn… I could have kicked myself. I should have known… slag I should have seen it! So she had an adult frame, I still should have seen that she is no more than a sparkling.