A young girl wandered aimlessly through the darkened city streets, the snow coming fast and heavy. She had been out for hours, simply going wherever her feet happened to take her, anywhere but "home". Or rather, what had been her home, but was now reduced to a charred city block, twisted and marred beyond recognition by a blast from an ion cannon. And not just any ion cannon, but the ion cannon of that infamous Optimus Prime; the wonderful, heroic protector of the galaxy, and ironically, the destroyer of it as well.

She looked up at the dark, pitiless sky, wanting to scream but unable to. It was him and all the other robot invaders that had come to her planet who were destroying it. They had taken control simply because of the fact that they could do as they wished whether or not they were given permission to do so by the UN. Oh no, they didn't do anything they wanted publicly of course; they were always caring and respectful when in the view of a camera, calling a human ambassador one tenth their height and one thousandth their age 'sir'. They took control secretly, cajoling their way through the US government to build a city-sized base right on top of her old home (forcing her family to move) that was covered from end to end in dooms-day weapons for crying out loud!

And then, just when her single mom finds a decent house for them, it's demolished by that Mega-scum character when he took the ion cannon from Prime. And along with it, her mom, older sister and unborn brother…

A cry of utter despair tore from her throat and she beat her bare hands against the alley wall until blood mingled with the snow. She sank to the filthy ground, cradling her bruised hands against her chest, shaking both with cold and the poignant sobs that racked her thin body. Her face was screwed up with the agony of her heart being torn apart, trying not to think, but unable to do otherwise.

It was their fault. The Transformers did this to Earth. To her family. To her. And she hated them all.

After a while her sobs quieted, and she sat slumped against the wall, trembling with cold and fear. What would happen to her now? Where was she supposed to go? If she went to a shelter, they would surely put her either in an orphanage or in foster care, and she distinctly remembered the awful things that the psychos there did to her. The scar running from her forehead, across her nose and over her check was a painful reminder of the time she was put into foster care when her father was in jail for beating her mother, and her mother was in the hospital because of it.

If it wasn't for Jena, her older sister, she might not have made it out alive. Another cry escaped her at the sudden sharp thrust of her sister's face in her mind. Jena was always so kind and loving towards her. And she was gone, killed in a mindless war that had continued for millions of years.

By now she was so cold that her whole body was numb. She had stopped shaking, but all of the energy had been sucked from her body by the cold, and she couldn't get up. Her vision started to blur, and everything seemed to be going so slowly. It was still snowing, and somehow she distantly realized that she was sitting deep in bank of snow that had built up on her. It was one of Oregon's massive blizzards, and at the rate the snow was falling, she would soon be buried beneath a white blanket.

Good…. Then I'll be with Jena and Mom and my baby brother…. And there'll be no more blasted robots….

The last thing she remembered seeing was a large, steel plated face looming over her, a look of concern evident on its face. Its "lips" moved, but she couldn't hear anything it said. Then she felt herself lifted from the ground by something surprisingly warm, and all faded away.

ShadowStriker nervously paced the enormous hall in front of the medical ward, the small "wings" on the sides of his head flapping in adgitation. The female he's found out on patrol didn't look to be in such good shape. He knew that it was dangerous for humans to stay out when it was that cold for too long, especially when she was only wearing a T-shirt and jeans. He assumed that she probably hadn't planning one being out for long in that attire.

At that moment First Aid emerged, catching the pacing black mech in mid-stride.

"Well? How is she?" he asked before the medical bot could open its mouth.

"Calm down, ShadowStriker. She'll live, but I'm curious to know what she was doing out in that blizzard… Why did you bring her here? Why not to Fort Max where she could be attended by human doctors?"

"It was too far, and she was already unconscious. Besides, I don't trust the butchery practices the humans call 'medicine'." ShadowStriker snapped. "And you never answered my first question- What is the female's condition?"

First Aid sighed. Shadowstriker, who was a new recruit fresh from Cybertron, wasn't quiet adjusted to calling humans 'he' or 'she' instead of the technical identification of 'male' and 'female'. First Aid was just glad no humans were in ear shot. Human women especially took insult from the label 'a female'.

"Moderate hypothermia, and some severe frost bite; a large piece had to be removed her left ear, but I reconstructed it with synthetic skin. Also, her hands were somehow damaged, and they had to be bandaged. Other than that, the only thing out of the ordinary is mild malnutrition."

ShadowStriker sighed with relief. When he had seem the human in the alley, completely unresponsive to him, he had assumed the worst.

"Is she awake?"

"No, I've put her in stasis so she can recover. I had to balance her body chemistry to counter-act the hypothermia." The red and white robot explained. ShadowStriker nodded in defeat, his heart going out to the young human. Just seeing her so helpless in the alley had moved him, and her presence had somehow carved out a place in his spark.

"Can I see her?"

First aid looked at him questioningly. The completely black mech usually avoided contact with humans, even Sparkplug and Buster. He wasn't rude or course with them; he was simply a loner, and preferred not to be around them. So, his sudden desire to stay with the young girl, though not unusual for most of the other bots at the Ark, was out of the ordinary.

"I don't see why not…" He replied slowly.

ShadowStriker quickly passed First Aid and went through the sliding doors that opened at his approach into the Med-bay.

There, on the large table, was the pale, thin human with raven black hair, her eyes closed peacefully. She was made to look so much more vulnerable by the large machinery around her. A small metal headband was clamped to her forehead, keeping her in the coma-like state known to Transformers as stasis. Wires ran from it and attached to the large machines in the med bay which currently displayed heart and breathing rate, as well as brain activity.

Unlike in human hospitals, there was nothing else attached to her, though judging from the equipment that First Aid had out, that had not been the case a few minutes ago when the head medic had 'balanced her body chemistry'.

ShadowStriker just stared at her prone form, completely transfixed, and equally unaware that humans found staring rude. He was relieve to see that her lips were pink again; he didn't know that humans lips could be blue like that.

First Aid came up from behind him.

"You know, Optimus is not going to be happy about you bringing her here." He said quietly.

"And you agree with him?" There was an accusing, angry note in ShadowStrikers' voice.

"No." First aid answered after a moment. "I probably would have done the same thing, whether she wanted to come or not." He said very softly.

ShadowStriker gave him a disbelieving look. A grin flickered over the medics face.

"I've… seen human medicine in affect, and I don't much like it either. Besides, in her condition, I'm the only one I would trust to heal her." The black mech grinned at his friend.

"You always did have an ego the size of your laser scalpel." The medic grinned back.

"I know."

"Know what?" Came a deep voice from the entrance, and both froze as though caught with their hands in a cookie jar. ShadowStriker turned, and there, standing large and imposing in the doorway, was Optimus Prime

Busted.