Will walked into the rec room quickly, spotting Ironhide, and walking over. he appeared nervous and uneasy. Bumblebee noticed him first and kicked a chair over to him. he gave a slight smile and sat down, rubbing his chest plate slightly.

"Will?" Ironhide ask, looking over. he could feel the uneasiness coming from his bondmate and it was making the sparkling upset and him uncomfortable.

protect us.

Will watched the rec room door way. Ironhide huffed and continued with his poker game.

I always do.

he looked over when Will tensed.

"there you are you stupid slagger!" Hot Rod hissed stomping over. Will looked at Ironhide nervously, but his bonded seemed content to ignore the idiot for the moment.

"frag off Hot Rod." Bumblebee glared.

"go away. leave me alone." Will said.

"when I get my servo's on you-" Hot Rod hissed. Ironhide cut him off by suddenly shoving his chair away from the table, shoving the table back slightly on accident. he stood angrily, arms at his sides, and cannons spinning, but not firing up. the spun continuously, something Will noticed only happened if Ironhide was super pissed but knew he couldn't fire his cannons, at least not at that exact moment.

"you're gonna keep your servo's off my bondmate or I'm gonna rip them off your protoform and beat your aft with them!" Ironhide hissed, growling at him.

"your stupid bondmate scratched my paint and attacked me!" Hot Rod hissed. Ironhide snorted and shifted, not taking his optics off Hot Rod.

Will?

Will shifted some. Ironhide could feel that the sparkling was upset and simply sent a few calming waves over the bond, his anger certainly wasn't helping anything.

he hit my chest and it hurt. it scared the sparkling so I punched him. I never meant to scratch his paint!

Ironhide shoved Hot Rod angrily.

"frag off. if I catch you messing with my bondmate again, I'm gonna blow your aft off this planet with my cannons! understood!?" Ironhide hissed. Hot Rod nodded slightly and scrambled off. Ironhide huffed out his nose and headed back to the table.

is the sparkling okay?

Ironhide sat back down at the table.

just a little upset, but it'll be fine.

he nodded slightly and picked his cards back up.

"thanks." Will mumbled. Ironhide nodded slightly as the game continued. after a bit Will got up and left, Ironhide turned to watch him go.

if he bothers you again, just let me know.

Will nodded slightly as he walked and Ironhide turned back to the game. Will rubbed his chest plate gently.

"it's alright." Will soothed the sparkling quietly.

"hey!" Hot Rod hissed. Will froze slightly.

Ironhide.

Hot Rod shoved Will hard, sending him backwards into the nearest wall. Will yelped slightly and covered his chest.

Ironhide!

Hot Rod grabbed him angrily lifting him up. his chest was exploding in pain, but suddenly warnings were flashing. Sparkling danger. Sparkling injured. Will wasn't sure what snapped in him, but whatever it was, he was suddenly wailing on Hot Rod.

"YOU KEEP YOUR SERVOS OFF OF US!" Will shouted. Hot Rod was shocked trying to get away from him, but Will was relentlessly beating on him. suddenly someone grabbed him and pulled him off. Will swung around punching whoever it was in the face. Ironhide simply turned him around and gently urged him away from the mech groaning on the floor.

"come on." Ironhide said. Will went with him, angry puffs of steam huffing from his vents for a moment, before he winced. his chest plate was aching now. the sparkling was upset and making him hurt more.

"we need to get to Ratchet." Will winced. Ironhide raised an optic ridge but did as he ask and lead him towards the medbay.

"what happened?" Ironhide ask.

"I dunno. he shoved me and I started getting warnings the sparkling was in danger and was injured and I lost it." Will said. Ironhide was quick to scoop him up.

"you idiot! why didn't you say that!?" Ironhide hissed.

Ratchet! Will's getting warnings that the sparkling is injured!

Will yelped in surprise.

"I'm sure we're fine Hide." Will said, slightly embarrassed. he sat Will down quickly, just outside the medbay, pushing him inside. he was immediately grabbed by Ratchet and Wheeljack, they each grabbed one of his arms, and thrown onto a berth. "hey!" Will hissed.

"chestplates now." Ratchet hissed.

"j-just wait a second. we're fine." Will said, trying to sit up. Ratchet pushed him back down.

"open your chestplates." Ratchet ordered. Will sighed and did as he was ordered to do.

I don't understand Ironhide.

he noticed his bonded shifted.

warnings like that generally mean that the sparkling has detached from your spark and if not handled immediately, you could lose the sparkling.

Will shifted slightly, letting Ratchet and Wheeljack look him over. poking and prodding him, running all kinds of tests, and flat out fragging the sparkling off. after about an hour of this, they finally let him up. Will closed his chestplates and winced, sitting up.

"you guys didn't have to be so rough." Will huffed.

"the sparkling seems fine. where did the warning come from? you or the Allspark?" Ratchet ask.

"the danger one came from the Allspark the other came from me." Will said.

"there was more than one?" Wheeljack ask.

"yeah." Will said. "one said the sparkling was in danger and the other said it was injured." Will said. Ratchet frowned.

"well... we didn't see anything." Ratchet said.

"but it would have been clearly visible had it detached from my spark right?" Will ask. Wheeljack nodded.

"yeah." he said. Will slowly got up.

"what happened?" Ratchet ask, stepping back to lean against the counter in the medbay. "what brought those on?" Ratchet ask.

"w-well do you want the full story or just the important parts?" Will ask. Ratchet raised an optic ridge.

"all of it. it could be important." Ratchet said.

"well, okay I got up this morning and walked out of the room. Hot Rod was basically waiting for me there. he got handsy and shoved me. it hurt the sparkling and my chest, so I punched him. he got pissed. he fell back and it scratched his paint. so I took off to find Ironhide. Ironhide told him to back off and I went on my way. he confronted me again out in the hall, ironically on my way to Wheeljacks lab. he shoved me backwards hard enough I stumbled into the wall and I immediately got those warnings. something snapped I attacked him. told him to stay the fuck off of me and started punching him... then I punched Ironhide and now I'm here." Will explained.

"so this happened after he punched you the second time?" Ratchet ask, sharing a look with Wheeljack.

"shoved me, but, yeah." Will said. Wheeljack gave an amused snort. "what?" Will ask.

"that is what we refer to as the protection program." Wheeljack said. "some bot have it activated automatically, if their bodies know the sparkling could be in danger. some bots have it activated once the sparklings been put in danger." Wheeljack added.

"protection program?" Will ask curiously.

"generally referred, by humans, as a quote, maternal instincts." Ratchet explained. "basically that 'thing' that snapped in you earlier, was your utter need to protect the sparkling over anything else. anyone hurts your sparkling, you'll beat their aft into the well of Allsparks given the chance, but thats generally only if you can actually defend yourself. if your programming decides you can't protect yourself, you'll do what you normally do, go to Ironhide." Ratchet added. Will nodded slightly taking in the information.

"uh okay." Will said. he looked over at Ironhide, who was smirking and amused. "um... meaning entirely?" Will ask hesitantly.

"you just became the most dangerous mech on the base." Ironhide snickered.

"oh fun." Will said. he sighed. "I... I'm gonna go lay down." Will muttered, leaving.

"don't you dare heal Hot Rod before I get done with him." Ironhide warned, following Will. Will rubbed his chestplate with a wince.

"most dangerous mech on base?" Will ask, looking at him. Ironhide nodded.

"yeah. I'm not joking either. if someone hurts you or threatens to hurt you, you could end them." Ironhide said. he chuckled. "but, that does mean you and the sparkling are completely safe from Hot Rod." Ironhide assured. Will seemed a little relieved to hear that.

"good." he murmured.

"you stupid slagger." Hot Rod growled, stomping over. surely this idiot wasn't dumb enough to come after him with Ironhide literally beside him. however, his bondmate stepped aside. Will could feel amusement from his side of the bond, why wasn't he going to help? Will backed up slightly as Hot Rod stomped over. "looks like your bondmate realizes you deserve this!" Hot Rod hissed, pulling back to punch Will. immediately sparkling danger warnings flashed and Will growled angrily. he grabbed Hot Rods wrist and head butted him hard before punching him in the face.

"you fucking asshole! I said don't touch me!" Will hissed, punching him again. he slammed the mech against the wall hard then threw him onto the ground, kicking him in the head. "but maybe you didn't get that through your thick CPU so let me say it again!" Will shouted, pulling back to kick him again.

"Will." Ironhide said. Will turned to him angrily. "he's down it's okay." Ironhide added. he motioned to Hot Rod on the floor. "he's down. no more danger." Ironhide assured. Will stepped back slightly, panting and looked at Hot Rod. Ironhide was right, the mech was curled up trying to protect himself from the bots anger.

"o-oh..." Will mumbled. there was energon leaking all over the floor, pouring from Hot Rod. "okay..." he said, looking at Ironhide. his bonded smiled at him and nodded for him to come along. Will followed quietly, looking back at Hot Rod, but Ironhide grabbed his hand and pulled him along. he was proud of Will, it was hilarious he'd kicked Hot Rods aft. he took Will to their room and laid him down.

"just get some rest okay? I don't think Hot Rod will be bothering you for a while." Ironhide chuckled. Will nodded slightly and laid back, he was exhausted and quickly fell into stasis. Ironhide wasn't worried about him, he knew Will could protect himself, he was more worried about the rest of the base. he shook his head, he'd cross that bridge if he came to it. he laid beside Will and let himself go into stasis. everything would be fine.