Right, well, this is my first attempt at Ever publishing something before, so reviews would be much appreciated, tell me whether I should continue on or not. A final note, this is the prologue, covering the minor changes happening in the first movie. Anything that you recognize, I don't own, I just like playing with them.

Well then, shall we get started?

I glanced around the classroom again. There were people behind me. I hated having people behind me. One of the students got up to the front of the class, carrying a backpack, he dumped a bunch of old mariner's things onto the desk. Ten minutes until school was finished for the day.

"Watch," Trent murmured beside me. I glanced at him. He had an elastic and a paper wad. Idiot.

"Okay," the student said quickly. "Sorry, I got a lot of stuff... For my family genealogy-"

Trent released the wad. It was all I could do to not whack him.

Idiot. And of course I'd have to continue to pretend to be impressed by him. Ugh.

"Who did... Who did that? People! Responsibility." the history professor stated firmly.

Yeah, right, most of these kids wouldn't know responsibility if it jumped up and bit them in the ass wearing a tutu.

"Okay, um... so for my family genealogy report I decided to do it on my great-great-grandfather, who was a famous man, Captain Archibald Witwicky. Very famous explorer. In fact he was one of the first to explore the Arctic Circle, which is a big deal."

I pursed my lips slightly. Arctic circle had been a big deal.

"In 1897, he took 41 brave sailors straight into the Arctic Shelf." he began calmly. Crew of 41, had to have been a smaller ship. I wondered how many came back from that.

"And here we have some of the basic instruments and tools used by 19th century seamen-"

The class burst out giggling. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as Trent nudged me with a smirk. Idiot.

"This here is the quadrant, which you can get for 80 bucks, it's all for sale by the way, like the sextant here. Fifty bucks, which is a bargain.

I forced a small smile as I watched him try to sell his grandfather's artifacts. My respect for the kid went down a little bit.

"These are pretty cool. These are my grandfather's glasses. I haven't quite gotten them appraised yet, but they've seen many cool things."

"Are you going to sell me his liver?" the professor interjected. "Mr. Witwicky, this isn't show and sell. It's the 11th grade. I don't think your grandfather would be particularly proud of what you're doing." Point to the professor.

"I know, I'm sorry, I just, you know, this is all going towards my car fund-" get a job "-you can tell your folks. It's on eBay I take , cold hard cash works too. And the compass makes a great gift for Columbus Day."

"Sam!"

"Sorry." Sam said perfunctorily. "Um, unfortunately, my great-great-grandfather the genius that he was, wound up going blind and crazy in a psycho ward, drawing these strange symbols and babbling on about some giant ice man that he thought he'd discovered."

The bell rang.

"Okay. Might be a pop quiz tomorrow, might not!" the professor called out. "Sleep in fear tonight." the professor grinned. I couldn't hold back a small snort. Sleep. Right.

"Here, you want? Here 50, 40? 30?" Sam was saying as kids rushed past him. I walked out the door and grabbed my things out of my locker.

"Mikaela!" Trent called out with a broad grin. "You comin' to practice?"

"Sorry, Trent," I drawled calmly, hefting my bag. "Got work. Later." I walked past him and out the door. I grabbed my scooter and quickly threw my helmet on, driving home. Five minute shower, hair up, clothes on, scooter. I got to work and smiled at the hostess as I walked in.

"Banes! You're late!" the boss shouted. I glanced at my watch.

"All due respect, sir," I stated calmly. "It is precisely four on the clock, I am ready for work, all that I need to do is put my helmet and purse in the staffroom."

The man glared at me as the hostess rolled her eyes behind his back.

"Fine, work," he grumbled, stomping back into his office.

"If only he managed to stay out of his office for more than five minutes, he'd get off your back," Julie murmured, patting my shoulder consolingly. I smiled at her and glanced at the seatings.

"Usual arrangement?" I asked cheerfully.

"Yes indeed my dear-" the phone rang. Julie picked the phone up. "Julio's Pub and Gr-"

Julie cut herself off and a tired look crossed her face. "Alright then, David, feel better soon," she said in a resigned tone. She looked at me desperately. I looked at the seating.

"Well, at least his tables are next to mine," I shrugged, shooting her a half grin.

"Saint Banes," Julie muttered, patting my shoulder.

"As if, my temperament?" I snorted, grabbing a handful of menus as the dinner rush made it's way through the door.

Ten minutes later Julie and I passed each other.

"Catholic church is renowned for it's miracles," she murmured. I snorted. I glanced around at the tables and noted a man sitting straight backed, looking around. In moments I was at his table.

"Is everything alright here?" I asked with a smile. The man jumped.

"Oh, uh, sorry, steak is a bit rare still," he murmured.

"I am so sorry," I replied automatically, "would you like me to take it back, they can throw it on the grill for another couple of minutes?"

"Please," the man grinned.

"And another round too, if you don't mind," the man beside him grinned. I glanced at the cups and the steak.

"Medium-rare steak, seven Sleemans and a Rickards on it's way," I smiled at the table, lightly picking up the plate and checking the grinning nods.

Definite bonus of having David calling in sick. Lots of tips, I grinned to myself. I slid the plate under the warmers.

"Jerry!" I called out, "911 steak needs a bit more cookin'!"

"Good guys?" he called back.

"Yeah they're good guys," I snorted as the plate receded into the kitchen again. I keyed in the beers and waved at the bartender. He nodded and started pouring as Julie came to stand beside me. "Oh, and you may be surprised to know that the latest Catholic miracle is the spontaneous combustion of one Mikaela Banes, Daemon in disguise," I smirked at her.

A good night at work meant Julie was laughing, the bar guys were cheerfully pouring, the Kitchen staff wasn't breaking too many plates. Although as expected, the bossman poked his head out of the office at quitting time to snarl at me. The only thing to make this job suck ass. Thank the gods I was off the next couple of days.

"Don't call," I snorted, "I've got two days away from Mr. Snarls to go pretend to be a normal teenager."

"You got it, hon," Julie smiled consolingly. "Get your homework done."

"Yeahokay," I snorted, bumping her hip with my own. "See you on the flip-side."

-0-0-0-

Day off, yesss.

I could hear Trent's puffed up, pretty excuse of a hummer revving outside. I slipped my shoes on and wandered out the door, into the front.

Beach parties are easy, all you have to do is stand around, looking pretty while the boys play at looking good. Mindless.

"Mikaela," Kylie murmured. I looked at her curiously. Kylie rarely spoke, let alone spoke to me. Sweet, shy girl, "How do I...?" she murmured, looking at another one of the jocks. I read his body-language for a moment and smiled at her. Danny was turning out well, just as shy. Continually glancing at Kylie when she wasn't looking.

"Like this," I murmured, winking at her before walking up behind Trent. "Hey," I smiled, winding my arms around his waist. Trent grinned down at me. Certain that his male ego was at fighting strength with me beside him. He wasn't being too much of an idiot today, he deserved it. I glanced over my shoulder and nodded to Kylie.

She looked at me uncertainly.

'Go!' I mouthed to her. She looked at me for another second then walked over to Danny. The dear girl.

"Hey," she smiled at Danny. His face lit up like a christmas tree when she wound her arms around his waist.

"Hey Kylie," he murmured shyly. "So... uh..." he trailed off shyly. They began faltering. I slipped away from Trent and strutted toward them with a grin.

"You know Danny," I smiled at him. "If a girl as pretty as Kylie does that, it's usually a good idea to ask her out on a date so she doesn't get away."

"Will you?" Danny blurted, wide eyed, looking down at Kylie. I kept on walking, did the circuit and wound up beside Trent again. I looked back at them again to see Danny beaming at a blushing Kylie. Score. They looked like perfect high-school sweethearts. I glanced over as an old yellow Camaro parked close by, Sam and another boy... Miles, yes I knew their names... mostly... got out, checking each other out on the sly. Sam was watching me with a hawk's eye. At least Trent didn't notice, he thought the other boy was checking out the car.

"Hey, bro. That car. It's nice. Hey." Trent grinned for a moment before his expression went back to it's idiot bully mode. "So, what are you guys doing here?"

"We're here to climb this tree." Sam stated seriously, his eyes flicking back and forth between Trent and his friend. Good cover.

"I... I see that, it looks... it looks fun." Trent stated, thrown for a loop. I couldn't stop the small smile at watching him desperately searching his tiny brain for another topic.

"Yeah," Sam nodded, watching Miles again.

"You know, I thought I recognized you. You tried out for the football team last year, right?" Trent smirked at him.

"Oh, no, no, no, that... No. That wasn't like a real tryout. I was researching a book I was writing." Sam nodded. Had to give him that one, half decent excuse, if overused.

"Oh yeah?" Trent smirked.

"Yeah."

"Yeah? What's it about? Sucking at sports?" Trent grinned at him.

"No, it's about the link between brain damage and football." Sam stated with a nod. "No, it's a good book. Your friends'll love it, you know, it's got mazes in it, and you know, little colouring areas, sections, pop up pictures, it's a lot of fun." he shrugged.

Wow, cruising. I held back the small smile and strode forward as Trent started up in his aggressive posturings.

"That's funny," Trent stated flatly.

"Okay, okay. You know what? Stop." I told him firmly, pushing him back somewhat. It always seemed to surprise him that I could do that.

"Hey, guys, I know of a party, let's go, let's head." Trent called out irritably. I walked to stand beside the driver's side.

"Hey, how about you let me drive?" I smiled at Trent, you know, so we could actually get there.

"Oh, no. No, no, no. This is not a toy." Trent stated seriously. Right, plastic car, can't go over speed bumps. Idiot. "These 22's, I don't want you grinding them. No." How the hell do you grind a tire? Idiot. "Why doesn't my little bunny just hop in the back seat?" he asked curiously. Oh, that was the last straw.

"Hoh, oh... God I can't even tell you how much I'm not your little bunny." I smiled at him sweetly, I gave him a light shove out of my way and started walking.

"Okay," Trent shrugged. "You'll call me."

As if. A car screeched behind me.

"Mikaela! It's Sam. Witwickey? I hope I didn't get you stranded or anything." Sam called out. Great, another knight in faded armour. I stayed silent. "You sure?" I kept walking. "So listen, I was wondering if I could ride you home – I mean, uh, give you a ride home, in my car, to your house." I stopped walking and resisted rolling my eyes. Freud.

Ah well. Get a ride at any rate, better than walking ten miles. He leaned over and opened the door for me. Which was kind of nice, actually.

"There you go," he murmured before clearing his throat. He punched the gas slightly and the engine roared off. Sounded like a nice engine, actually.

"So... uh..." he started, still paying attention to the road... mostly.

"I can't believe that I'm here right now," I stated quietly. Sam looked around.

"You can duck down if you want, I mean, it won't hurt my feelings." He said calmly. I couldn't help the tiny smile, poor little downtrodden sweetheart.

"Oh, no, no, no. I didn't mean here with you." I smiled at him. "I just meant here, like, in this situation, this, same situation that I'm always in. 'Cause, I don't know, I guess I just have a weakness for hot guys, for, tight abs and really big arms." I smirked slightly, looking out the window at the scenery. Habitually mapping it.

"Big arms..." Sam murmured. "Well, there's a couple new additions in the car. Like, I just put in that light there. And the disco ball, so the light reflects off the disco ball." he grunted, making muscles. Trying so hard.

"Huh," I nodded, eyeing him. I switched to a different tactic.

"Are you new to school this year? It's your first year here?" I asked with a tolerant smile.

"Oh, no, no." Sam stated quietly. "We've been in the same school since first grade."

"Really?" I asked, curiously now. He paid attention...

"Yeah, yeah a long time," Sam shrugged.

"Well, do we have any classes together?" I asked with a smile.

"Uh, yeah, yeah, History, Language Arts, Math, science." Sam reeled off.

"Sam," I called out.

"Sam, yeah," Sam nodded.

"Sam, Wilkicky," I looked at him.

"Wit-wicky," Sam smiled at me tolerantly.

"God, you know what? I'm so sorry," I smiled at him. "I just..."

"No, it's cool."

"I just didn't recognize you," I smiled at him.

"Yeah, well, I mean that's understandable." Sam grinned.

And then the car began sputtering.

"No, no, no, no. Come on," Sam began begging quietly. The radio switched itself on. "Sorry, I'm just working out the kinks, you know, it's a new car." he began explaining as he drove toward the bluffs. The car parked, looking out over the hills and Sam began babbling explanations. It was pretty obvious where his train of thought was leading as I tied my hair back.

"Just pop the hood," I told him somewhat irritably, climbing out of the car.

The engine underneath was frankly gorgeous.

"Whoa, nice headers," I commented to him calmly. "You've got a cross-ram manifold with individual throttle bodies, that's, pretty impressive Sam."

"Throttle bodies?" he asked curiously.

"It squirts the fuel in so you can go faster," I drawled to him.

"Oh," he stated quietly, staring at my stomach. "I like to go faster."

"It looks like your distributor cap's a little loose," I added calmly, reaching in and testing a few of the connections.

"Yeah? How'd you know that?" he asked curiously.

"Oh my dad, he was a real grease monkey, he taught me all about this," I said quietly. "I could take it all apart, clean it and put it back together again."

"That's weird, I just wouldn't peg you for mechanical." Sam stated calmly, he thought he was hidden, but I distinctly heard him say "oh my god."

"Well you know I don't really broadcast it," I shrugged, "guys don't like it when you know more about cars than they do. Especially not Trent, he hates it."

"Yeah no, I'm cool with, you know, females working on my engine I prefer it actually."

And there went his other foot into his mouth. I nodded to him.

"Okay, you want to fire it up for me?" I asked him calmly.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, no problem," Sam nodded, he fairly ran to the driver's side.

"Thanks."

"You know I was thinking, if Trent's such a jerk, why do you hang out with him?" Sam asked rather innocently. I leaned my forehead against my arm, going over the reasons in my head again with a sigh. Don't get involved, don't get attached.

I listened to the engine as it failed to start, I couldn't really hear anything wrong, blockage in the fuel line probably.

"You know what? I'm just... I'm gonna walk," I stated calmly. "Uh, good luck with your car," I added, grabbing my bag.

"Alright, walking's healthy, right?" Sam called after me. I could hear him begging his car to start. And then it did just that, in moments he was screeching after me. I couldn't help but smile at him, getting into the car. Final test, I got him talking about his own favourite topics, casting myself as a shallow person, but a good listener. Eventually we pulled up in front of the run down trailer of my home.

"I had fun," I smiled at him. "So you know, thanks for listening."

"Oh, yeah, yeah," Sam shrugged.

"You... you think I'm shallow? Huh?" I stated quietly.

"I think you're sh... no, no no, I think um. There's a lot more than meets the eye with you." Sam stated rather haltingly, working his way through the sentence carefully.

"Okay," I smiled. Alright, he was worth a try I suppose. "Alright, I'll see you at school." I smiled at him and got out of the car.

I glanced back to see him almost whacking his head against the steering wheel. "that was stupid, stupid line," he was muttering. No, it was a dear line. I turned around and smiled at him, waving from the door. The grin on his face was worth it.

I turned and looked at my empty home and kitchen with a small sigh.

Another day.

-0-0-0-

I sat with my 'friends,' laughing with them as they giggled about the empty-headed 'men' in our school. I glanced up and looked over in shock as Sam of all people hit the rough concrete on a pink bike, flipping over the handlebars and landing hard.

"Sam?" I asked in shock.

He groaned, squirming and trying to catch his breath.

"Hi," he gritted out.

"That was..." I started, looking at the sidewalk again, struggling for a word that wouldn't deflate his ego more. "That was really... awesome."

"Well, it felt awesome," he groaned.

"Are you okay?" I asked in concern.

"I'm not okay, alright? I'm losing my mind a little bit. I'm getting chased by my car right now. I gotta go." He babbled out, getting the bike on it's wheels again and taking off.

"You know what?" I said calmly, "I'm gonna catch up with you guys later." I jogged to my scooter and began tracking Sam. A cop pulled out in front of me.

It must have been a trick of the light, in place of "to serve and protect," it looked like it said "to punish and enslave."

I drove somewhat more slowly, scanning the area. Sam's camaro drove nearby. I saw Sam running toward me, yelling something, I turned in toward him, directly into his arm.

Clotheslined, my scooter left without me. That was going to be some damage.

I rolled to my knees.

"What is your problem, Sam?" I demanded.

"Okay, there's a monster right there it just attacked me!" he shouted, pointing toward the junkyard, I looked where he was pointing and felt myself freeze. Oh that was bad.

Something... robotic... was running toward us.

"Here he comes! All right, get up. Get up and run! You have to run! Okay?" Sam was babbling, dragging at my arms. I heard screeching tires and dragged Sam to the ground, somewhat more away from the Camaro as it spun a donut far too close for comfort. The robot thing fell down and the Camaro screeched to a halt beside us. The door opened.

Nobody was in the driver's seat.

"Sam what is that thing?" I demanded.

"You have to get in the car." Sam stated seriously. "Get in."

"I don't..." I started worriedly.

"Get in the car. Trust me. Trust me!" Sam was shouting.

"Sam!" I shouted as he dragged me to the car. I looked up, the robot was rolling to it's feet, I gave Sam a shove and scrambled in after him. The door closed behind me and the car shot forward. I bit my lip against the desire to shout that we were going to die as the cop car chased after us, I could see him trying to catch the corner, spin us out.

"Go go go go go!" Sam was bellowing.

We crashed through a window, through a warehouse, in close quarters the Camaro seemed to hold it's own, out of the warehouse, more driving. Eventually the Camaro backed itself into a bay, shutting down. The locks clicked down and refused to open.

"We're locked in," Sam stated the obvious. "The car won't start. At least we ditched the monster, right?"

We sat silently, I held my breath, watching as that same cop car drove past us.

The key turned.

"Okay, time to start," Sam muttered softly.

The most beautiful of sounds, the engine roared to life, squealing tires, we drove past the back of the cop car and continued on. A fresh shock, my door opened as the Camaro spun a donut, dumping us on the road.

Sam was on top of me, I struggled to disentangle myself from him as the car drove forward slightly.

And then it shattered.

I watched, shocked as he stood up, backing up slightly in a poor fighting stance. We were in the way of his feet. I dragged at Sam, trying to get him to run as the cop car transformed... that was the only word I could think of, and charged the yellow bot.

And then we were running, a far smaller bot chasing after us.

The worst of sounds.

"He's got me! Oh god!" Sam shouted.

Junkyard. I acceded to my training and ran for the tool shed.

Weapon, needed a weapon.

Sawsall, yes, I checked the blade for a tenth of a second and pulled the trigger. We had power. I ducked out of the tool shed and tracked the sounds, going after Sam. It was a horrifying sight, there was a metal skeleton pinning him against the fence. I did the only thing I could think of, cutting off arms, head, limbs. The head just kept going. I stood with the saw on my shoulder.

"Not so tough without a head are you?" Sam demanded, kicking the head. A good distance, too.

In the silence, we began walking. There were the sounds of hydraulic systems working, heavy footsteps.

"What is it?" I asked softly, looking up at the robot.

"It's a Robot," Sam replied quietly. Thank you captain obvious. "But like a... like a different... you know, like a super-advanced robot. It's probably Japanese."

Absolutely not, the Japanese would be bragging about it, they were still bragging about their latest nanny-bot. The one that still didn't walk.

"Yeah, it's definitely Japanese." Sam confirmed to himself. I rolled my eyes.

"What are you doing?" I asked worriedly as Sam began walking toward the bot.

"I don't think it wants to hurt us. It would have done that already." Sam stated quietly, climbing toward the car. I took a deep breath and centred myself. That made more sense than it didn't. I sighed inwardly, I still had to play the game.

"Really?" I asked sarcastically. "Well, do you speak robot? Because they just had, like, a giant droid death match."

"I think it wants something from me," Sam murmured.

"What?" I asked quietly.

"Well, 'cause the other one was talking about my eBay page."

And weird just officially went to completely, ridiculously bizarre.

"You are the strangest boy, I have ever met." I stated flatly.

"Can you talk?" Sam called out.

"XM Satellite Radio... Digital Cable brings you... Colombia Broadcasting System." the bot played the soundbytes, looking down at Sam and gesturing somewhat.

"So you... you talk through the radio?" Sam asked curiously.

"Thank you, you're beautiful. You're wonderful, you're wonderful." the bot clapped and pointed at Sam. He looked like he was smiling.

"So, what was that last night? What was that?" Sam asked curiously.

"Message from Starfleet, Captain... Throughout the inanimate vastness of space... Angels will rain down like visitors from heaven! Hallelujah!"

"Visitors from heaven? What... what are you like an alien or something?" I asked as calmly as I could, looking at the bot. He pointed to me and turned. Transforming.

"Any more questions you wanna ask?" the radio played.

About a million, I thought.

"He wants us to get in the car." Sam murmured.

"And go where?" I asked breathlessly, smiling in spite of myself.

"Fifty years from now, when you're looking back at your life, don't you want to be able to say you had the guts to get in the car?" Sam asked me.

I looked at him for a moment and nodded, I climbed up the slope and slipped into the car. I glanced around at the interior and nodded. It... he... I'd stick with he for now... took off and drove for a second before my purse came into view. He stopped and opened his door, thoughtfully letting me out to collect my things. I grabbed Sam's pants while we were at it. It was dark out by now, I slid back into the car and looked at the steering wheel as the car... bot... began driving himself. I shifted over toward Sam in the passenger seat and sat in the middle, on the console.

Uncomfortable much.

We sat in silence.

"This car's a pretty good driver," I finally said quietly.

"I know," Sam murmured. "Why don't you go sit in that seat there?" he asked quietly.

"I'm not going to sit in that seat. He's driving," I replied quickly.

"Yeah, you're right," Sam murmured. We sat in silence for a moment. "Well, maybe you should sit in my lap."

"Why?" I demanded quietly.

"Well, I have the only seat belt here. You know, safety first." Sam stated quickly.

I heaved a sigh, looking around somewhat.

"Yeah, alright," I murmured.

"Right?" Sam nodded.

"Yeah."

"Okay."

I squirmed around for a moment, settling myself onto Sam, careful to not squish any delicate bits. He wound an arm around me, getting the seatbelt in place.

"There, see that's better," Sam stated quietly. Well, marginally, anyway, he was still a bit bony, better than the console though. He promptly sat frozen under me.

"You know, that seatbelt thing was a pretty smooth move," I complemented him with a low tone of amusement.

I felt him laugh more than I heard it.

"Thank you," he murmured.

"You know what I don't understand?" I murmured. "Why if he's supposed to be, like, this super advanced robot does he transform back into this piece-of-crap Camaro?"

In a moment, the car squealed to a halt. Sam was yelling.

"Oh, see? No, Get... no, that doesn't work. See?" Sam began babbling irritably as we piled out. One of the other drivers was yelling at us.

"Great, now... See?" Sam began growling. "Fantastic. Now you pissed him off. That car is sensitive. I mean four thousand dollars just drove off."

I rolled my eyes that money came up on the list so quickly.

We stood for a minute before the same engine roared toward us again.

In an entirely different frame.

New Camaro. Same colours, same sound. Gorgeous.

"What?" Sam asked in shock, he opened his door for me and I slid into the passenger's seat. I couldn't stop grinning. Now this was class.

"'Cause I... couldn't look... too expensive," the bot played the soundbytes cheerfully.

"You know I didn't mean to offend, right?" I asked worriedly as we drove off again.

"Nah, rust was annoying anyway," the bot played gleefully. I couldn't help but laugh as we drove. Several minutes and he carefully crashed through a set of gates. I stayed silent as we climbed a hill, he parked and I got out, looking around cautiously.

"Look at the sky," the car played softly. I looked up and watched, feeling the shockwaves as four meteorites entered the atmosphere. I couldn't help but glance at my watch. Seven thirty-eight, Sam flinched as the sound reached us, hiding behind me slightly. I watched in awe as the meteors flashed above us, surges of blue fire crossing them. One landed close by and we began running toward it, Sam pulling me behind himself.

A lone tree was on fire, obviously from the heat of re-entry. Absolutely incredible, silvery with markings across it. It began to shatter, transforming, lights shone from it, a bipedal form standing. It looked at us for a long moment before turning and running.

Exquisite, it moved with such surety, so smoothly, graceful in spite of the fact that it had to top at least thirty, thirty five feet tall.

The Camaro came up behind us again, opening his doors, I slid into the passenger's seat quickly, snapping the buckle into place. He began driving again, Sam sitting in shocked silence. Probably following a signal, he seemed to know where he was going, anyway. We drove into an alleyway and parked, there were broken cars, tall buildings, good cover. I got out and scanned the area, three vehicles coming up behind us, converging. Search and rescue, large four-by pickup and a solstice. But in front. In front of us a semi drove forward. Blue red and silver, beautiful chrome work. It looked... it looked so tough, a warrior, aggressive.

The sound of his -it had to be a he- engines had me struggling to not moan.

Pure power. Gorgeous.

I walked forward a few steps toward him, and backed a step as he came to a halt quite close. Airbrakes hissed.

And then he shattered, stretching and folding on himself. He stood, final elements of his frame settling into place as the bots around him transformed as well.

I watched them enviously, I couldn't help it, they were absolutely gorgeous, standing with their own personalities. Their own stances. Soldiers, trained, the Camaro stood to attention for a moment beside a tall, bulky mech loaded to the... teeth would have to serve for now. It was all I could do to kick myself into remembering to not assume human characteristics in them. But I could have sworn that the Peterbilt had let loose an incredibly masculine hum. The sound of a man stretching and enjoying the feeling of it.

I turned again and the Semi, the largest one knelt down, bringing his face to our level.

Point to him for that. This close, I looked into his eyes and prayed that I could understand the emotion in them.

There was kindness there.

(BPOV)

Bumblebee drove into an alleyway and parked, there were broken cars, tall buildings, good cover. Mikaela got out and scanned the area, well, looked around at any rate, but somehow Bee knew that she was scanning the area as his unit converged on them.

In front of him, Prime drove up, and Mikaela strode toward him, backing up slightly as his Prime transformed into his bipedal form.

For a moment, they stood, staring at each other, and Bee had to bite down hard on his automatic response.

The thread.

There was a connection between the tiny earth femme and his Prime.

What the scrap was he supposed to do now!?

He filed that thought away for later, and focused instead on the human male he had taken under his guardianship.

(MPOV)

"Are you Samuel James Witwicky, descendant of Archibald Witwicky," he asked quickly. His speech was formal, but most certainly english. Masculine voice. Gorgeous.

Sam leaned in a bit more closely, looking into the enormous bot's face. Evidently a bit too close to focus properly on, the bot backed away slightly.

"They know your name," I whispered, looking up at him.

"Yeah..." Sam stated uncertainly.

"My name is Optimus Prime," He rumbled, he turned and looked at me for a moment before focusing on Sam again. "We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron."

"But you can call us Autobots for short." the search and rescue hummer added. I liked his voice, a lighter bass, no nonsense with a hint of grump and humour. Nice to listen to, but Optimus' voice... it simply ran through my bones, thrilling my nerves. I could feel that voice. Incredible.

"Autobots," Sam repeated quietly.

"What's cracking little bitches?" the solstice asked cheerfully. Oh he'd be fun.

"My first lieutenant. Designation Jazz," Optimus rumbled.

"This looks like a cool place to kick it," Jazz added, spinning about and jumping to recline on a broken down car.

"What is that? How did he learn to talk like that?" Sam asked curiously.

"We've learned earth's languages through the world wide web," Optimus rumbled.

And that explained a lot.

"My Weapons Specialist, Ironhide."

I heard fingers and spun around, gunslinger stance. I clamped down on my initial reaction and bit down a snort of amusement as Sam flinched beside me. I looked up at the mech and didn't allow so much as a speck of fear to show in my stance. Sure enough, a moment later.

"You feelin' lucky punk?" he growled.

"Easy Ironhide," Optimus rumbled.

"Just kidding, I just wanted to show him my cannons," the mech shrugged. I battled against the smile that threatened to cross my face.

"Our Medical Officer, Ratchet." Optimus continued. I turned and looked at the bot as he sniffed and hummed.

"Hmm, the boy's pheromone levels suggest he wants to mate with the female," Ratchet drawled. Obvious. Awkward. But that was an interesting insight into their society.

Either we were still animals to them, sex meant nothing, or sex was open-mindedly spoken about. I glanced at Sam and felt myself cringe slightly as he made the effort to look innocent. Oi.

"You already know your guardian, Bumblebee," Optimus rumbled. I looked over to see the little bot bouncing about and grinning.

"Bumblebee, right?" Sam asked cheerfully.

"Check on the rep, Yep, second to none." Bumblebee played the soundbyte cheerfully.

"So you're my guardian, huh?" Sam asked, grinning at the bot.

Bumblebee chirped and nodded to him.

"His vocal processors were damaged in battle. I'm still working on them." Ratchet grumbled quietly, aiming a laser at the bot. He coughed slightly and looked somewhat reprovingly at the medic.

"Why are you here?" I asked quietly, looking up at Optimus.

"We are here looking for the All-spark, and we must find it before Megatron." he rumbled gravely, looking down at me.

"Mega-what?" Sam asked somewhat densely.

Obviously another bot.

Optimus reached up gracefully and touched his temple. Beams of light shot from his optics and at the ground at our feet. I backed away slightly from the edge as the ground broke away. I looked up and was surrounded by an entirely different world.

Incredible.

Optimus' voice seemed to surround us now.

"Our planet was once a powerful empire, peaceful and just. Until we were betrayed by Megatron, leader of the Decepticons. All who defied them were destroyed. Our war finally consumed the planet, and the All-spark was lost to the stars. Megatron followed it to Earth, where Captain Witwicky found him."

"Whoa," Sam snorted softly. "My grandfather."

"It was an accident that intertwined our fates," Optimus rumbled softly. "Megatron crash landed before he could retrieve the cube. He accidentally activated his navigation system. The coordinates to the Cube's location on Earth were imprinted on his glasses."

"How'd you know about his glasses?" Sam asked curiously.

"eBay," Optimus rumbled. Succinct. Unbelievable. Well shit.

"eBay," Sam murmured with a grin.

"If the Decepticons find the All-spark, they will use it's power to transform Earth's machines and build a new army." Ratchet added intently.

Oh shit.

"And the human race will be extinguished," Optimus rumbled seriously. "Sam Witwicky, you hold the key to Earth's survival."

Oh shit.

"Please tell me that you have those glasses," I stated worriedly.

"At home, in my room," Sam stated worriedly.

"Let's go," I stated firmly, walking toward Bumblebee. The bots transformed quickly, and I slid into the passenger's seat.

It was a quick drive, Optimus in the lead.

They definitely had some sort of silent communication if he knew the way to Sam's house without Bee leading the way. I stared at that truck the entire time.

Gorgeous.

We pulled into the back alleyway and Sam got out of the car quickly.

"I need you to stay here, alright?" he asked worriedly. "You gotta stay here and you gotta watch them." he babbled.

"Okay, okay," I murmured.

"All of them." Sam continued on. "Do you hear what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, okay, okay, go," I coaxed him on.

"Five minutes, alright?"

I nodded to him and he began running.

I could hear his and an adult male's voice talking quickly about two hundred feet away. Optimus began transforming.

"No!" I whispered worriedly. "No we gotta stay here! Five auto-bots start walking around in the middle of suburbia is enough to cause a riot! If you wanna get out of here unmolested you gotta stay quiet!" I whispered desperately.

"They will not see us," Optimus rumbled quietly. He stood up and stepped over the fence.

Oh god.

Bumblebee was transformed and sneaking around the side of the house.

Oh god.

Sam's father finally abandoned his door and Sam began running around.

"What are you doing, what are you doing?" Sam began babbling. "No, watch the path! Watch the path! Watch the... Please, please please." I made it around the fence just in time to watch Optimus, turning around trying to keep Sam in his visuals, step on a fountain.

Oh god.

Sam was yelling.

"Whoops... Sorry. My bad." Optimus rumbled.

That, said in that voice... I almost died trying to hold in the laughter.

"Oh, I... You couldn't... You couldn't wait for five... you couldn't wait for five minutes? I told you to just stay! Just stay! God!" Sam was babbling.

Sam ran toward me.

"I told you to watch them. I told you." He told me almost angrily.

"Okay you know what," I stated worriedly. "they seem to be in a little bit of a rush-"

"Oh this is bad. No!" Sam started up again, turning away from me. "Mojo! Mojo! Off the robot! God!"

"Ugh! Oh, wet," Ironhide rumbled irritably.

"No, no, no, no, no, easy, easy," Sam was yelling. "Hold on, Hold! This is Mojo. This is Mojo. He's a pet of mine. He's a pet. Okay? That's all. If you could just put the guns away... Put the... put them away. Please." Sam began babbling quietly, shrinking away from Ironhide's cannons.

Priceless. I walked forward and got in beside Sam.

"You have a rodent infestation-" Ironhide began.

"A what?"

"Shall I terminate?" the bot finished with a growl.

"No, no, no, no. He's not a rodent, he's a Chihuahua. This is my... This is my Chihuahua. We love Chihuahuas! Don't we?" he looked at me.

Oh speak for yourself, it's an inbred rodent, I thought as I nodded.

"He's leaked lubricants all over my foot." Ironhide rumbled irritably.

Yep that was an excellent reason to shoot a Chihuahua.

"He peed on you? Bad Mojo. Bad Mojo!" Sam started, shaking the Chihuahua. I had to walk away. I couldn't do it.

"Bad Mojo!" Ironhide growled.

Oh I couldn't do it.

"I'm sorry, he's got a male dominance thing," Sam continued, looking up at Ironhide. "That's all it is."

"Ugh, My foot's gonna rust," Ironhide grumbled.

"All right," Sam continued, weaving between robot legs toward the house and carrying his chihuahua. "Shh! Shh! Shh! Shut up and go hide!" Sam demanded in a terrified tone.

"Just hurry," Optimus rumbled, he sounded somewhat irritable.

"Ironhide?" I called out quietly. The bot looked down at me. "You want me to clean that off?" I asked calmly, pointing at his foot.

The bot seemed startled and nodded. I ran to the garage and quickly got in, grabbing a rag, some oil and a bucket. It was a moment to grab some water, wipe the pee off and dry his foot with a bit of the oil.

He seemed a bit more appeased when I'd finished. That was something at least.

"Auto-bots, recon," Optimus rumbled.

"Oh bad idea," I muttered.

The bot stared at me as his troops circled the house.

"You're graceful in an open area," I snorted and glanced around. "Close quarters? Not so much I'm thinking."

Optimus rolled his optics at me and offered his hand.

"Will you do it then?" he murmured softly. I sat in his palm and snorted as he gently lifted me to the window.

"What, what is this?" Sam whispered worriedly.

"Time is short," Optimus rumbled quietly.

"They really want those glasses," I stated calmly.

"Come on. What are you doing?" Sam asked.

"I'm gonna help you," I told him breathlessly.

"Okay," he nodded, guiding me into his room.

"Please hurry," Optimus rumbled, looking in the window.

"Okay," Sam muttered, stuff was flying everywhere. "Yeah no, no, it's definitely gone." he stated.

"What do you mean?" I demanded.

"My glasses were in the bag, they were in the backpack and now the backpack isn't here," Sam stated, gesturing wildly.

"Well they're going to be pissed," I stated matter-of-factly. "So... so what do you want to do?" I asked calmly.

"So what I think you should do is you should... you should check this whole... this whole section here. Just give it a clean sweep, and I'll get the corner here." he said in a panic. I knelt down and pulled out a box. "Yeah, no, no, no. Not there. That's my... That's my private... Sorry, that's nothing."

"You just..." I started. "You just told me to look..."

"I know, I just didn't mean to look inside of my treasure chest," he stated, burying the box under his mattress.

"You should be way more specific so I don't get in trouble in your room." I told him calmly, scanning the area.

This room, was ridiculously large. He had more stuff in one room than I had in my entire trailer.

"Okay, what now?" Sam asked, looking out the window as I glanced out and covered my mouth to hold back the snort of laughter.

Five exquisitely beautiful vehicles parked in a destroyed backyard.

"No. No, no. No, no, no. This isn't hiding. This isn't hiding. This is my backyard, not a truck stop." Sam was babbling again. "Oh god, Oh!"

He looked about ready to faint.

Pansy.

I sat back and watched as he continued to tear his room apart and glanced at the window.

"Sam, Sam, Sam Sam Sam!" I whispered. "He's back here!"

"I can't deal with this," Sam began muttering. "I can't... deal with this. What? Oh no, no, no, no. This is my mother's flower..."

"Oops," Optimus' voice rumbled. I covered my mouth to try to stop the snort of laughter.

"Okay, listen. You gotta listen to me." Sam stated worriedly. "If my parent's come out here and see you, they're gonna freak out. My mother's got a temper, okay?"

Optimus vented an irritated sigh. "We must have the glasses." he rumbled.

"I know you need the glasses. I've been looking everywhere," Sam began babbling. "They're not here, they're definitely not here." I looked over to see the bot reach up to touch his brow and shake his head.

"Ugh, keep searching," he ordered softly.

"Look, I need you to be quiet for five minutes, ten minutes. Okay? Please, I'm begging you. You got to... you're making a racket. I can't, I can't concentrate. You want me to look and I'm hearing-" Sam began babbling, terrified.

"Calm down, calm down," Optimus ordered softly, looking around.

"You gotta do something here. You gotta do something here." Sam just kept babbling.

"Autobots, fall back," Optimus rumbled, looking behind himself.

"Thank you. Please, for five minutes. Good? Good? Okay."

"Move!" Jazz called out.

"Get away," Ironhide rumbled.

"What's the matter with you, can't you be quiet? He wants us to be quiet." Optimus rumbled, I watched out the window as they began walking toward the road. I turned into the room and spun back around again at an enormous crash. A singular scream of Ratchet's siren. Flashing lights. The ground shook. From downstairs voices began shouting.

"Earthquake! Move, move, move, move, move! Earthquake!"

So that's where he got it from.

"Judy! Judy get under the table! Move it! Duck and cover right now!"

Silence for a second.

"How did you get over there so fast?" a woman's voice asked curiously.

I held my breath to keep away the laugh.

And then the power went out.

Footsteps. Lights were shining into the windows, courtesy of the bots.

"Sam?"

"Sammy?"

Footsteps.

"What the hell is that?"

"I don't know," the woman's voice stated curiously.

"Sam?" his father called out again.

"That's weird," his mother added in an almost amused, suspicious tone.

"Sam?"

A hand started knocking on the door.

Aw crap, I scanned the room for a good place to hide.

"Ratchet, point the light," Optimus rumbled.

"Come on, hurry," Ironhide added.

"Listen, we got a major issue here," Sam started. "What's with the light, you gotta stop the light. What's going on? Turn it off. You gotta tell him to shut it off. Shut it off."

"Sam, are you in there?" his father called out, knocking again. "How come the door's locked? You know the rules, no doors locked in my house!"

"You know he'll start counting if you don't open the door." his mother called out.

"One more chance. Five..." his father called out.

"Oh dear."

"Four. It's coming off the hinges, pal." his father called out.

"He's counting!" his mother called out. "Sam just open the door."

"Three." I ducked down behind a chair and hid, hoping the vantage would be blocked. I froze, absolutely still. Part of the room. Hidden.

"Oh my," his mother was muttering.

"Two."

"He's counting."

"Stand back!" his father called out just as Sam made it to the door. He wrenched it open and wedged himself in. Obviously not hiding anything. Ugh.

"What's up? What's with the bat?" he asked quietly.

"Who were you talking to?" his father asked in a hushed, normal voice.

"I'm talking to you," Sam stated immediately.

"Why are you so sweaty and filthy?" his mother asked in a shocked tone.

"I'm a child. You know, I'm a teenager." Sam answered immediately.

"We heard voices and noises and we thought maybe you were..." his mother began.

"It doesn't matter what we thought. What was that light?" his father asked, walking through the door to the window.

Oh crap.

"No, what light? What? There's no light, Dad! There's no light!" Sam began babbling. "You got two lights in your hand! That's what it is. No maybe it bounced..."

"There was a light under the door." his father began saying.

"Look, you can't... You can't just bounce into my room like that." Sam started again, "You gotta knock. You got to communicate-"

"-We did, we knocked for five minutes-" his father started.

"-I'm a teenager." Sam continued.

"We knocked!" his mother protested immediately.

"You didn't knock you were screaming at me, okay?" Sam played the card.

"No." his mother began.

"This is repression, what you're doing here," Sam continued on his roll. "You... you're ruining my youth, okay?"

"Oh for Petes sake," his mother began with a sigh. "You are so defensive, were you... masturbating?" she asked earnestly.

I looked around and struggled to not laugh as the room fell dead silent.

"Judy," his father started with a serious expression.

"Was I?" Sam started up again. "No mom I..."

"Zip it, okay?" his father added quietly.

"It's okay," his mother was singing with a smile.

"No I don't masturbate!" Sam continued.

"That's not something for you to bring up," his dad continued.

"It's okay," his mother continued with smiling sweetness.

"That's a father-and-son thing, okay?" his father finished.

"Father-son thing." Sam agreed, pointing between the two of them.

"I mean you don't have to call it that word if that makes you uncomfortable," Judy continued. "You can call it Sam's happy time, or..."

"Happy time?" the two of them chorused incredulously.

"...my special alone time..." Judy continued.

I almost died, right then and there.

"Stop," his dad started.

"Mom,"

"Judy, stop," his dad continued.

"... with myself..."

"Mom, you can't come in and..."

"I'm sorry, it's just been a weird night, I've had a little bit to drink," Judy stated placatingly.

"Yeah well we saw a light," his father started again, looking around. I froze in position, becoming a part of the room, his eyes skipped over me.

So near the window, I could hear Optimus' voice.

"Oh, parents," he rumbled softly, the hissing of his hydraulic systems.

"I don't know where it was, but we saw it," his father continued, walking into the bathroom. Sam had an ensuite. Friggen hell.

I caught Optimus rumbling a 'whoa' before the house shook again.

"Earthquake! It's another one! Another earthquake! Get in the doorway!" Sam's dad was yelling. I held my breath again.

"Okay!" Judy called out.

"Aftershock! Aftershock!" his dad was calling out. The house quieted. "Oh I hate these, got to ride it out. Ride it out!" his father muttered, his voice reverberating in the tub.

"Quick, hide," Optimus rumbled outside the window. I was astonished Sam, his mother and his father weren't hearing it. The lights switched on.

"Hey the lights are back up!" Judy exclaimed with a grin.

"Where?" came from outside.

"Come on, get out of that tub." Judy stated.

"Can't you take safety seriously?" Sam's father asked irritably.

One of those.

"Good Lord, this floor is filthy, Sam."

"Oh, oh, man! Man. Oh." Jazz's voice was muttering. It sounded like a terrible game of hide and seek out there.

"Oh, no!" his father started. "Look at the yard. The yard is destroyed. Judy! Better call the city. We got a blown transformer! Power poles's sparking all over the place!"

I took a deep breath and suppressed the groan.

"Oh, man. Yard's a waste. Trashed. Gone. It's a wash. The whole yard."

"You're kidding." Judy replied.

Outside the window.

"The parent's are very irritating."

"Yeah yeah yeah."

"Can I take them out?"

"Ironhide, you know we don't harm humans. What is with you?" Optimus rumbled scoldingly. My heart sank and soared as he spoke.

"Well, I'm just saying we could. It's an option." Ironhide replied. I bit my lip.

"We heard you talking to somebody, Sam," Judy was saying. "We wanna know who."

Personally, I'd had enough. I stood up.

"Mom, I told you..." Sam was saying. The three of them froze and stared at me.

"Hi, I'm Mikaela, I'm a, I'm a friend of Sam's," I stated calmly, standing up from behind the chair.

Sam and his parents all stared at me. I couldn't help the tiny, wry smile as his father began congratulating him. His mother was laughing and shaking him slightly.

"Gosh, you're gorgeous," his mother stated absolutely seriously. "Isn't that the prettiest girl?"

"She can hear you talking, Mom," Sam stated quietly, accepting the fist bump from his dad.

"Thank you," I smiled, putting on the marginally shy smile that generally got parents to like me immediately. I caught Sam's eyes and worked to get the message across.

"Oh, my goodness. I'm sorry you had to hear our little family discussion about..." Judy started.

"Sorry that we're bugging you," his dad added, heading for the door. Wow. "C'mon, let's go." It was a relief when Sam immediately asked his mother where his backpack was, the entire group trouping downstairs.

There were cars driving down the street, parking in front of the house. I heard them before I saw them. SUV's. I looked frantically out the window to find it empty. Men running into the yard, blessedly sans-Auto-bots.

"Mikaela, Mikaela I got them," Sam whispered, "listen I need you to distract my parents-"

"It's a bit late for that, Sam," I murmured, looking out the window. The doorbell began ringing.

"Oh shit, oh shitohshitohshit," he began babbling quietly.

"Pull it together Sam," I murmured. "Glasses, quickly," he handed them over automatically, and I tucked them into my bra just as the doorbell rang.

"Ron, there's guys all over the front yard!" his mother was saying in a shocked voice.

"The heck is going on here?" Ron asked sternly.

"Your son filed a stolen car report last night," the man stated, entering the house. "We think it's involved in a national security matter."

I sagged into myself. For God sake.

"They're they're ripping up my rose bushes!"

"National security?"

"That's right. National security."

"My god, Ron, they're everywhere. There's guys in suits all around the house!" Judy was saying. Crap. Well, at least she was the one doing the scanning. "Look at this!"

"Could you stay off the grass!" Mr. Witwicky was called out.

"Get me a sample and some isotope readings," the man called out. I began praying that the auto-bots didn't leave such a signal.

"They're pulling bushes out of the ground!" Mrs. Witwicky shouted, snatching up her bat again. "Good lord! They've got to get their hands off my bush!"

"Drop the bat, ma'am, I am carrying a loaded weapon." the man stated calmly.

"Hey, hey, hey, that's my..." Mr. Witwicky started and trailed off.

"But you'd better get those guys out of my garden or I am going to beat the crap out of them." Mrs. Witwicky stated angrily. I gave Sam a shove out the door.

"Are you experiencing any flu-like symptoms? Aching joints? Fever?"

"No!"

"What is this?" Sam asked, looking around worriedly.

"How you doing, son? Is your name Sam?" the man asked cheerfully.

"Yeah?" Sam muttered.

"Well, I need you to come with us," the man stated cheerfully.

"Whoa, way out of line," Mr. Witwicky stated immediately, walking to stand in front of Sam. A good father.

"Sir I am asking politely, Back off." the agent stated flatly.

"You're not taking my son." Ron stated flatly.

"Really? You gonna try to get rough with us?"

"No, but I'm gonna call the cops, because there's something fishy going on around here." Ron stated flatly. Ah crap.

"Yeah. There's something a little fishy about you, your son, your little Taco Bell dog and this whole operation you got going on here." the agent stated in amusement.

"What operation?"

"That is what we are gonna find out." I checked his name tag. Simmons.

A second man moved close.

"I think, direct contact." he murmured softly. Ah crap. Simmons looked at him incredulously for a moment before turning to us, carrying a heavy looking geiger meter.

"Son?" Simmons asked sternly.

"Yeah."

"Step forward please," Simmons stated quietly.

"Just stand?" Sam asked curiously.

Simmons was waving a wand around, the meter immediately began going crazy.

"Fourteen rads. Bingo! Tag them and bag them!" he called out excitedly. Crap.

"Sorry miss," a man muttered, grabbing my wrists and cuffing me, out of habit I picked his pocket and caught up the key to the cuffs. He didn't even notice. Improper training then. I resisted rolling my eyes. That was going to complicate things.

"Get me a sample on that vegetation ASAP!" Simmons called out.

"You hurt my dog, and I'll kick your ass!" Judy shouted.

"Sam! Don't say anything, Sam!" his dad called out. "Not a word until we get a lawyer!"

Ugh, guilty call. The man shoved me gently into the SUV. Simmons slipped into the passenger's seat and we began driving. At least they hadn't searched us thoroughly.

"So uh, Ladiesman217, that is your eBay username, right?" Simmons asked.

"Yeah, but, you know, it was a typo and I ran with it," Sam started.

"What do you make of this?" Simmons asked. He pressed a button on the cellphone.

"My name is Sam Witwicky, okay? And my... uhh, car..."

"Is that you?" Simmons asked.

"Yeah, that sounds like LadiesMan," I stated flatly, looking at Sam. Cellphone Video? Really? Idiot.

"Last night at the station, you told the officer your car transformed." Simmons stated slowly. "Enlighten me."

"Well, here's what I said, okay?" Sam started. "'Cause this is a total misunderstanding, that my car had been stolen..."

"Really?"

"...From me, from my home... and but it's fine now because it's back! It came back!"

Silence.

"Well, not by itself," I nudged him with a snort.

"Well no," Sam agreed.

"Because cars don't do that because that would be crazy," I finished, laughing. The men in the car began laughing. Forced, fake, terrified laughter.

"That's funny, that's so funny," Simmons grinned at us. Fake. His face straightened a second later. "So what do you kids know about aliens, huh?" he demanded.

"Oh, you mean, like a Martian? Like what? E.T.? No." Sam started.

"It's an urban legend," I stated calmly.

"Yeah," Sam agreed, nodding.

"You see this?" Simmons asked. "This is an I-can-do-whatever-I-want-and-get-away-with-it badge." he stated, waving around an old fashioned rosette.

"Right," Sam stated.

"I'm gonna lock you up, forever."

"Oh, God," I stated irritably. "You know what? Don't listen to him he's just pissy 'cause he's got to get back to guarding the mall." I stated flatly. Challenging him.

"You, in the training bra, do not test me." Simmons stated. "Especially with your daddy's parole coming up."

I bit down a gasp of horror, glaring at him.

"What? Parole?" Sam asked in shock.

"It's nothing," I stated, fighting back the horror.

"Oh, grand theft auto, that ain't nothing?" Simmons asked.

"You know those cars my dad used to teach me to fix? Well, they... they weren't always his." I stated quietly.

"You stole cars," Sam asked in shock.

"Well, we couldn't always afford a babysitter," I said quietly, "so sometimes he had to take me along."

"She's got her own juvie record to prove it!" Simmons added. "She's a criminal, criminals are hot." he eyed me.

I glared at him again, biting back the emotion from my face and preparing to resume the icy silence that had got me through these situations.

"That'd be a real shame if he had to rot in jail the rest of his natural life." Simmons half sang to me, taunting me. "It is time to talk!"

I could hear beeping, the geiger meter going insane.

I saw a giant blue foot, and then we hit it. I ducked down into the seat as the car spun around, hitting against a hard object. The window shattered. The males were yelling. I could see familiar colours on one of the legs.

"Big! It's big!" the man was yelling.

Hands crashed in through the windows.

I recognized those hands and relaxed, even as the hands lifted us up.

"I can't see it! I can't see it!" the driver was yelling.

"Shift your weight towards the front!" Simmons shouted.

"All right, All right!" Sam was yelling.

The metal squealed in protest until the roof completely tore off. I looked up and watched with a small smile as Optimus idly tossed it away like a tiny piece of scrap, shutting the lights off on his chest.

"You a-holes are in trouble now," Sam muttered gleefully. "Gentlemen, I want to introduce you to my friend, Optimus Prime."

"Taking the children was a bad move," Optimus rumbled above us as men ran to surround our destroyed car, weapons pointed up at him. "Autobots, relieve them of their weapons." he commanded sternly.

"Freeze!" Ironhide growled as the men scattered, trying to see everything.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Simmons was shouting.

"Give me those!" Jazz growled. I turned in time to watch the weapons fly out of the men's hands and into his. That was just cool.

"Whoa!" Simmons stated, looking around in shock.

We were surrounded, Optimus knelt down and brought his face to our level again.

"Hi there," Simmons stated calmly.

"You don't seem afraid. Are you not surprised to see us?" he asked curiously.

"Look, there are S-Seven protocols, okay? I am not authorized to communicate with you except to tell you I can't communicate with you." Simmons said his spiel immediately. I rolled my eyes.

"Get out of the car," Optimus ordered irritably. I quickly undid my handcuffs and began squirming out of the car.

"All right." Simmons began nodding. "Me? You want me to get..."

"NOW!" Optimus roared angrily.

"Alright, alright. Get out. Hey." Simmons started. "Alright, I'm ... I'm getting out. I'm getting out. You see? Very nifty how you put us down without really killing us."

I quickly began unlocking Sam's handcuffs.

"You're good with handcuffs, too, now, huh?" he demanded.

"How are you doing?" Simmons was babbling.

"You weren't supposed to hear all that," I murmured.

"How's it going huh?" Simmons was saying.

"Yeah," Sam stated, giving me the cold shoulder. The bastard. I followed him.

"This is real," Simmons said in an awed voice. "Now, listen. If I choose to engage with him, mum is the word, alright?"

"Sam, I have a record because I wouldn't turn my dad in," I stated with my own pride, letting him see my anger. "When have you ever had to sacrifice anything in your perfect little life?" He just stared at me.

"Big guys, big guys with big guns, huh?" Simmons was saying, looking around. I glared at Sam for another moment before spinning on my heel and looking at the Agents.

"What is sector seven?" I demanded. "Answer me!" I snarled.

"I'm the one who asks questions around here, not you young lady!"

"How'd you know about the aliens?" I asked firmly.

"Where did you take my parents?" Sam demanded.

"I am not at liberty to discuss it." Simmons stated firmly.

"No?" I asked, lightly picking his pocket and pulling out his rosette.

He barely noticed.

"Hey, you touch me that's a federal offence," he told me.

"Do-whatever-you-want-and-get-away-with-it badge, right?" I asked, holding it to his face. "Agent Seymour Simmons."

"Yeah. Brave now all of a sudden, with her big alien friend standing over there." Simmons muttered.

"Where is Sector Seven?" I demanded.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Simmons taunted me.

I looked up at him angrily, and Bumblebee took a step forward, he fiddled for a second and a plug ejected itself from his crotch, whacking Simmons. He began peeing on him, dancing a bit as he did. I died a little bit inside.

"Oi hey hey!" Simmons began shouting.

"Bumblebee, stop lubricating the man," Optimus rumbled sternly, I glanced up at him. For some reason, he sounded almost amused.

"Get that thing to stop, huh?" Simmons was shouting.

Optimus looked down at me, looking rather benign. I rolled my eyes and scanned the men standing around.

"Alright." I growled, walking over to Simmons. "I want all of you lined up along the curb, and you tough guy, take it off."

"What are you talking about?" Simmons asked irritably.

"Your clothes, all of it, off." I stated coldly.

"For what?" Simmons growled at me. I stared at him for a moment and sighed.

"I'd tell you it's for threatening my dad," I growled, "but right now," I reached out and swiped a bit of the lubricants off of his forehead, touching it to my tongue and spitting. "You have antifreeze all over you, which isn't terribly crucial, but it's not exactly good for you."

I peeled my jacket off and handed it to him.

"Little lady," Simmons started, taking off his coat and clip on tie. "This is the beginning of the end of your life." he stood still for a moment.

"You're going to want to get that off of yourself fairly quickly, skin absorbs it quite readily." I added calmly. "And if you would be kind enough to turn off your cellphones, blackberries and PDA's I won't be forced to smash them." I added coldly, staring at the second in command.

"You are-!" Simmons began almost hysterically.

"Relieving you of duty," I snapped at him coldly.

"Where's your badge," the second in command snarled.

"Unlike you, Mr. 'I'm wearing a suit therefore I must be important', I do not need a rosette to hide behind in order to do my job."

I promptly grasped his wrist and caught up the cellphone he had in his hand, ending the call and shutting it off.

"Now, for your own health remove your clothes. Please." I added offhandedly.

"You, are in so much trouble," Simmons began, peeling off his clothes. "This is a federal offence what you're doing."

"Federal offence," the second in command added angrily.

"You," I stated, looking at Sam coldly. "Cuff them."

He stared at me and scrambled to obey. In minutes, an entire entourage stood or sat in a line along the curb.

"Thank you gentlemen," I stated placidly. "By your leave, Optimus, we should roll."

The mech leaned down and offered Sam and I his hand.

"Up you get," he rumbled firmly, Sam and I scrambled onto his shoulder quickly, holding on as the enormous 'bot began striding away, the rest of his unit transforming and rolling out with smoking tires.

"You're a friggen CIA agent or something?" Sam demanded the second we were out of earshot from the agents.

"Sam, we've been in the same school forever," I snorted. "That shit only happens in movies. I lied through my teeth, now let's get the hell out of here, hopefully the people on the other end of that phone call bought it, and bought us some time."

"You were impersonating a federal agent!" Sam shouted at me.

"Yeah, and as far as those agents are concerned I've now kidnapped you. Squeal, Sam, you don't know me, and you didn't want anything to do with this mess."

"I do that what the hell happens to you?" Sam demanded.

"They throw the book at me," I shrugged. "Shit happens, safety of the world is more important than the freedom of one individual."

I looked up quickly.

"Shit, choppers," I growled. Optimus began running, evading the helicopters easily. He pulled himself up amidst the girders of a bridge. I held my breath, listening to the sounds of the world.

"Easy you two," Optimus rumbled softly. I froze in position. Sam reached back, trying to climb higher on Optimus' shoulder. He caught my shoulder and made to pull himself up, I slipped.

"No, No! No! Sam! Sam don't drop me!" I shouted, dangling from his arm. I could see his hand slipping from it's perch. He began wriggling desperately as chopper blades whirred beneath my feet. Shit. "No! Sam! Sam don't!" I shouted at him.

"Hold on!" Optimus rumbled loudly.

Sam's hand spasmed, releasing me.

"No!" I shrieked. Optimus' foot was flying toward me. Not fast enough. Time slowed to nothing, Bumblebee transformed and caught me, Sam in his other hand, diving. His armour squealed as he slid across the concrete. The choppers circled the three of us as Bee set us down carefully. A cable shot from the chopper and tangled around his hand.

"NO!" I shrieked, running toward Bee and drawing the knife between my shoulder blades. I began hacking at the cable. Metal. Why metal! A second helicopter took the shot and Bee's other hand was snared.

Then his feet.

We fell together, Bumblebee struggling not to crush me. I continued ineffectually hacking at the cable around his wrist. Bumblebee was screaming, struggling. The echoing in the flood plane made him sound like a monster. I was praying that they wouldn't draw and quarter him, struggling to get the cables off.

"NO! Stop!" Sam was screaming as SUV's squealed toward us. "Stop!"

"Get down on the ground! Get down! Get down!" a voice on a loudspeaker shouted.

Sam was down first. Men with guns pointed at me dragged me from Bumblebee, pinning me to the ground and stealing my knife.

"What? Okay!" Sam was shouting. "Look! He's not fighting back!"

"Freeze it! Freeze it! Freeze it!" Men were bellowing.

No, not him, no...

Clouds of liquid nitrogen were being sprayed. Bee was crying.

No...

A man cuffed me again, dragging me up by the shoulder, spiking pain to run down my arm. I bit my lip and struggled against him slightly. They were dragging me away.

"Don't let him move!" the men shouted.

Bee just looked over at us, and my heart broke to see the young bot looking pleadingly around himself. I pulled myself free, running with my hands behind my back, shouldering the men who were trying to freeze the little bot. Kicking and disabling as best I could. More men tackled me to the ground.

"Stop hurting him!" I shrieked, struggling against them as they dragged me away. "Look! He's not fighting back! Stop hurting him!"

They dragged me toward the SUV's.

"Happy to see me again?" Simmons asked with a smirk. "Put her in the car with her little boyfriend."

I snarled, struggling against the stronger men shoving me forward.

Sam just stared at me as they shoved me into the car.

I closed my eyes and bit back the tears to hear Simmons yelling.

"I want that thing frozen and ready for transport!"

A tear escaped me, I wiped it quickly on my shoulder and noted something. The glasses were gone. I prayed that Optimus would find them, wherever they were. I sat in icy, grieved silence as the agents in the front of the car gloated over their catch. I listened to the radios, short wave.

"Change of orders, straight to sector Seven!"

We drove to an airport, and a man stared at us.

"Get those cuffs off them!" The man shouted.

"Sir I don't know if-" the agent started.

"Get the cuffs off!" he shouted. "Come on you two, you need to come with me."

I looked at him closely and nodded, walking toward him with my cuffs still on.

"I thought I said-!"

"Surely you don't mean off of her!" one of the agents asked in shock. I rolled my eyes and worked my hands out of the cuffs, collapsing my hands to the width of my wrists. I turned and lightly threw the cuffs at the agent.

"How the hell!" one of them shouted.

"Criminal, remember?" I asked coldly, I followed the senior agent quietly, but a man still sat beside me in the helicopter.

I glanced at him and didn't allow the recognition to cross my face.

He looked familiar.

Sam plopped down beside me, and a caucasian female, early to mid twenties, african male, about the same took the other seats. We sat in silence.

"So..." Sam finally started.

"What'd they get you for?" she called back.

"Um, I bought a car, turned out to be an alien robot." Sam stated calmly. The man across from me mouthed a 'wow.'

"Who knew?" Sam smiled. I frowned, looking out the open doors.

I recognized the scenery finally. Hoover dam. We got into the SUVs again, driving across it. Nobody was allowed to do that anymore, the car stopped and everyone piled out. I rolled my eyes slightly, we had better things to do at the moment than enjoy the scenery.

"This way," an agent stated quietly. I noted soldiers standing to attention in front of the Sec Def. We kept walking, and stopped in front of Simmons.

He had his clothes on now.

"Hey kid," he started, looking at us. "I think we got off to a bad start, huh? He reached out and caught Sam's shoulder. "You must be hungry? You want a latte? HoHo? Double venti Macchiato?"

"Where's my car?" Sam demanded.

"Son," another man started placatingly. "I need you to listen to me very carefully. People can die here. We need to know everything you know, and we need to know it now."

"Okay," Sam nodded agreeably. "But first I'll take my car, my parents. Maybe you should write that down." he added, looking at Simmons. "Oh, and her juvie record. That's got to be gone. Like, forever." he told Simmons flatly.

"Come with me, we'll talk about your car," the senior agent stated calmly. I nodded and followed him cautiously, keeping a close watch of our path.

"Man's an extortionist," Simmons muttered behind me.

"Your name?" I murmured, looking at the agent.

"Tom Banachek." he stated calmly. I nodded.

"Alright here's the situation, you've all had direct contact with the NBEs," Simmons started.

"NBEs?" a soldier asked curiously.

"Non-Biological Extraterrestrials, try to keep up with the acronyms," Simmons stated. "What you're about to see is totally classified." he added, leading us into the depths of a the concrete structures. Enormous.

The sight in front of me was horrifying.

"Megatron," I whispered, Sam stared at me for a moment.

"Dear god, what is that?" the Sec Def asked quietly in front of me.

"We think, when he made his approach over the north pole, our gravitational field screwed up his telemetry. He crashed in the ice, probably a few thousand years ago. We shipped him here to this facility in 1934." Banachek stated.

"We call him NBE one." Simmons added proudly.

"Well, sir, I don't mean to correct you on everything you think you know," Sam started. "But, I mean, you know, that's Megatron."

"He's the leader of the Decepticons," I continued quietly.

"He's been in cryostasis since 1935." the Banachek stated, looking at Sam. "Your great-great-grandfather? Made one of the greatest discoveries in the history of mankind."

I could see Sam swelling up proudly at that.

"Fact is you're looking at the source of the modern age," Simmons stated proudly. "The microchip, lasers, spaceflight, cars, all reverse-engineered by studying him. NBE one. That's what we call it."

Sam was nodding somewhat.

"And you didn't think the United States military might need to know that you're keeping a hostile alien robot frozen in the basement?" Sec Def demanded.

"Until these events, we had no credible threat to national security," Banachek stated calmly.

"Well you got one now," the man stated.

"So why Earth?" one of the soldiers asked. I looked at him. A captain.

"It's the All-spark." I stated calmly.

"All-spark?" Sec Def asked curiously. "What is that?"

"Well yeah, they came here looking for some sort of cube looking thing. Anyway Mr. NBE one here, AKA Megatron," I added, looking at Simmons sternly. "That's what they call him, who's pretty much the harbinger of death, wants to use the cube, to transform earth's technology to take over the universe." I glared at the frozen mech. "That's their plan."

"And you're sure about that?" Simmons asked flatly.

"Yeah," I nodded as Sam nodded vigorously beside me. I narrowed my eyes at him, he was fidgeting. "You guys know where it is. Don't you."

I didn't make it a question.

Agent Banachek looked at me with narrowed eyes for a moment, and nodded.

"Follow me." he stated sternly.

"You're about to see, our crown jewel," Simmons stated proudly.

"Carbon dating puts the cube here around 10,000 BC," Banachek began quietly. "The first Seven didn't find it until 1913. They knew it was alien because of the matching hieroglyphics on the Cube as well as NBE One. President Hoover had the dam built around it. Four football fields thick of concrete, a perfect way to hide it's energy from being detected by anyone, or, any alien species on the outside."

"Wait, backup. You said the dam hides the Cube's energy. What kind exactly?" Maggie asked quietly.

"Good question, follow me, please," the senior agent stated. I turned and walked beside the Captain.

"How'd they get you in on this, Captain?" I asked softly. He glanced down at me.

"Survivors." he growled softly.

"SOCCENT Quatar base attack?" I murmured. He stared at me, even as we continued walking. I shot him a sharp look.

"I am young, not stupid, I do listen to the news." I muttered.

"Lennox," he muttered, offering his hand. I took it firmly.

"Mikaela." I replied.

We went through another door.

"Please, step inside, they have to lock us in." Banachek informed us.

"Oh, wow," Glen whispered.

"What's that? Freddy Krueger done been up in here or something?" one of the soldiers asked.

"Oh, no, man." Glen stated with a grin. "Freddy Krueger have four blades, man. That's only three. That's Wolverine!" he laughed. "Right? That's Wolverine!"

"That's very funny," Simmons stated, absolutely straight faced. "Anybody have any mechanical devices? BlackBerry? Key alarm? Cell phone?" Simmons called out.

"I got a phone," Glen shrugged, tossing it to the man.

"Ooh, Nokias are real nasty. You've got to respect the Japanese, they know the way of the samurai."

I rolled my eyes.

"Nokia's from Finland," Maggie murmured.

"Yes, but he's, you know, a little strange." The Sec Def murmured. "He's a little strange. Shh." he held a finger to his mouth.

"We're able to take the Cube radiation and funnel it into that box." Simmons called out.

I slid my goggles into place.

There was a flash of light and the cell-phone began convulsing slightly. It shattered into a tiny bot. I could see it so absolutely. A child, a baby, born battle ready in a dangerous place. It began launching itself against the window panes. Sam flinched away beside me.

"Shh," I murmured. "Shh shh shh, it's okay." I tore my goggles off and pressed closer to the glass. It seemed to stop and stare at me for a moment.

"Mean little sucker, huh?" Simmons asked cheerfully.

"That thing is freaky!" Maggie shouted.

"Any more freaky to you, than you would look to him?" I called out challengingly as it became distressed again. Even I could feel the negativity in the room. Danger.

"Kind of like the itty-bitty Energizer bunny from hell, huh?" Simmons asked gleefully. The little bot formed some weapons and began shooting at the glass. He launched himself again and landed on his back, spinning around uncontrollably.

"He's breaking the box," Simmons stated, shaking his head. The agent pulled a trigger and a blinding flash of light blasted through the box.

"No!" I shrieked.

The little bot was dead, toasted.

"It was a child!" I shrieked. "A brand new life and you kill it so easily!"

"It's a violent robot monster," Simmons growled.

"They are sentient!" I shrieked at him. "Autonomous Robotic Organisms. Sentient beings in their own right! And you just murdered a child!"

The people stared at me for a long moment, then looked at the box. I felt my heart wrench as I looked into the box again.

"If you were born, fully functioning and sentient, inside a glass cage with enormous aliens staring at you, what is your first response?" I asked sadly. "The answer is survival. We do everything we can to survive, to protect ourselves."

"How can you be so sure?" the Captain asked sternly. I turned to him angrily.

"I dare you," I growled. "I dare you to look into the optics of Optimus Prime, leader of the auto-bots and not see the same compassion and leadership in his eyes, as you would see in the mirror yourself, Captain Lennox."

The soldiers stared at me. I turned away and started, hearing the groaning of metal reverberate deep within the concrete. I automatically looked for the source, a couple of the soldiers doing the same.

"Gentlemen, they know the cube is here." Sec Def stated flatly.

"Banachek, what's going on?" the agent called out, hitting an intercom button.

"Well, the NBE One hangar has lost power," the man called out over the speaker.

"What!" Banachek shouted.

"And the backup generator is just not gonna cut it!"

"Do you have an arms room?" the Captain demanded of the Agent. He nodded. We began running. Men were shouting.

"I'll bring security to the weapons room!" Simmons shouted.

"Get everyone to the NBE One chamber now!" Banachek bellowed.

"The lights are out!"

"Move it! Move it! Let's go!"

"They're popping our generators!" Banachek shouted. We made it to an impressive room, men began loading weapons, mounting them to cars. I glanced around and sought out Simmons, or Banachek.

"Forty millimetre sabot rounds on that table!" Simmons shouted. The room was a hive of activity. The lights flickered and almost went dark.

Silence.

A bullet clinked into it's holder. I shoved Sam. He stood frozen. I snarled and strode forward.

"You gotta take us to his car," I growled. "You gotta take us to Bumblebee, he'll know what to do with the cube."

"His car?" Simmons asked, looking at Sam. "It's confiscated."

"Well un-confiscate it!" I growled.

"We do not know what will happen if we let it near this thing!" Simmons shouted.

"No, you don't know." I snarled.

"Maybe you know, but I don't know," Simmons babbled.

"You just want to sit here and wait and see what happens?" I demanded.

"I have people's lives at stake here, young lady!" Simmons shouted.

"Take her to the car!" the Captain growled, shoving Simmons for me. That was nice of him, he had the Agent backed against the vehicle in moments.

And the room exploded.

Security pulled weapons on the Captain, he had his glock in hand and pointed to the man the next second. "Drop it." he commanded.

Soldiers were disarming Security.

Well shit.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Banachek shouted. Everyone froze.

"Drop your weapon, soldier," Simmons started. "There's an alien war going on and you're gonna shoot me?"

"You know, we didn't ask to be here," the Captain interrupted him.

"I'm ordering you under S-Seven executive jurisdiction-" Simmons started again.

"S-Seven don't exist!" a sergeant called out.

"Right. And we don't take orders from people who don't exist." the Captain added.

"I'm gonna count to five. Okay." Simmons babbled

"Well, I'm gonna count to three," the captain stated, pressing his gun to the Agent's chest. Oh, the man had style.

"Simmons?" the sec Def called out.

"Yes sir?" the agent replied.

"I'd do what he says. Losing's really not an option for these guys." the older man stated, rather amicably, considering the circumstances.

"Alright, okay," Simmons nodded. "Hey, you want to lay the fate of the world on the kid's Camaro? That's cool."

"He's not a kid's Camaro," I growled softly, running beside the Agent. "He's Bumblebee."

"If that's the case, why has he not communicated?" Banachek demanded.

"His vocal processors were damaged in battle," I snapped. "He speaks through the radio, when you care to listen. Not that you've allowed him to get a signal!"

I ran though a door at the Agent's gesture and stopped dead.

Bee was crying. A barely recognizable 'no.'

"Stop! Stop stop stop!" I shrieked, running forward and grabbing freezing wands from a man's hand and throwing it to the ground.

"Let him go! Let him go!" Banachek shouted. Sam ran up beside me.

"Are you okay?" I asked worriedly.

"They didn't hurt you, right?" Sam added in counterpart.

He began speeding up somewhat, his battle mask receding over his face. He scanned the area, weapons online, looking for the fight.

"Listen to me," Sam stated worriedly. "The Cube is here, and the Decepticons are coming."

Bumblebee sat up, still covering himself as he looked at the armed personnel.

"No, no don't worry about them," I told him quickly. "They're okay, right? They're not going to hurt you."

Bee rolled to his feet and kept his defences up.

"Just back up a little bit," Sam called out. "He's friendly, he's fine."

"Okay, come on," I told him seriously. "Put the guns down, they're not gonna hurt you. Here, come with me, I'm gonna take you to the All-spark."

Bumblebee looked down at me and nodded, the cannon receding into his arm. I began walking and stopped, holding my arms up to Bee. He picked me up lightly.

"Whaat?" Lennox demanded.

"Bumblebee, you are under orders to keep me hostage for your own peace of mind," I stated sternly, looking into his face.

"But I don't... want to... hurt you... Mikaela!" Bumblebee immediately protested.

"Oh shit..." Lennox whispered.

"If I didn't know that would I be in your hands at the moment?" I asked in amusement. "That way," I added, pointing. Bumblebee nodded and began walking quickly, soldiers running after him as the mech carried me gently, following my directions. We finally caught sight of the Cube. Bumblebee set me down gently and I jogged beside him somewhat. Bee reached up reverently and gently began poking the Cube.

"Okay, here we go. He doing something. He doing something." one of the soldiers muttered a little ways away.

My hair stood on end as energy surged around us, flashes of light emanating from the cube. I could hear the whirr of electricity as it came alive. Ticking, I stood back slightly.

"Oh my god," I whispered, smiling as the cube folded into itself, completely defying every law of physics. In moments, a comparatively tiny cube sat in Bumblebee's hands.

"Message from Starfleet Captain... Let's get to it." He played the soundbytes.

"He's right. We stay here we're screwed with Megatron in the other hangar," Captain Lennox stated firmly. "Mission city is 22 miles away. We're gonna sneak that Cube out of here, and we're going to hide it somewhere in the city."

"Good, right," Sec Def started, nodding.

"But we cannot make a stand without the Air Force," the captain stated firmly.

"This place must have some kind of radio link! Yes, Shortwave, CB."

"Right, yes," Simmons nodded.

"Sir, you got to figure out some way to get word out to them. Let's move!" Lennox commanded, I nodded and followed, scrambling into the passenger's seat as Bumblebee finished transforming.

We took off driving.

"How's the cube?" Sam demanded

"It's fine," I stated calmly, turning and looking back.

"Well, put the seatbelt on it," Sam added. I rolled my eyes and obeyed.

We drove for another few minutes.

"There's Optimus," Sam stated, pointing. I felt a surge of relief and glanced in the mirror. The second Optimus spun around the soldiers looked incredibly upset.

"Lemme at the window!" I commanded. Sam froze in his seat and I climbed over him, sticking my torso out the window and waving at Lennox.

I prayed he'd get the message as I signalled.

'Four Allies.'

The soldiers promptly stared at me.

'Are we moving or not?' I signalled impatiently. 'Four Allies, respond.'

Finally, Lennox signalled an acknowledged.

My eyes were everywhere, keeping an eye on the cube, watching for enemy attack.

"Scout," Bumblebee played the soundbyte quietly. I smiled at him gently.

We made it to the city finally, sitting in the middle of a well covered area while the soldiers evacuated the streets. I stepped out of the car and stood ready.

"Air Force has arrived! Pop smoke!" Lennox called out.

"Raptor, Raptor, do you copy?" the tech sarge called out over the radio. "We have you visual. Green smoke is the mark-"

I could feel the niggling feeling between my shoulder blades as a plane screamed overhead. The sense that something bad was going to happen.

"-Provide air cover and vector Black Hawks for extraction."

Off to the side, Ironhide transformed.

"It's Starscream!" he bellowed. "Back up, take cover, Bumblebee!" They ran forward and picked up a van for cover.

"No, no, no, no, no! Move!" Lennox shouted.

"Back up! Back up!" Ironhide was yelling.

"Retreat! Fall back!" Lennox bellowed.

"Incoming!" Ironhide shouted.

I watched in horror as the bots got hit hard, before the force wave threw us away.

Bright light. Uncle's words resonated in my mind.

"No matter what happens, get up, keep going. Never stop."

I struggled to my feet and took stock of the situation.

"Anybody hurt? Everyone okay?" Ironhide shouted.

"Clear the area!" Lennox shouted in counterpart.

Bumblebee began crawling out of the wreckage of the truck.

"Bumblebee, your legs! Your legs," Sam groaned, crawling toward his guardian. Chaos reigned. I looked around and spotted a tow truck. I looked back at Bee and came to a snap decision.

He'd saved us, we needed to save him. Now.

Sam was panicking, shouting for Ratchet, refusing to put weight on his leg.

A tank began shooting at us.

I began running, it was a matter of seconds to smash the window and get into the truck, hot-wiring was another few seconds. An idle thought came and went as the engine roared. There goes my record, again. I twisted the wires together to keep it running and got in, slamming it into gear and roaring to the two males who'd inexplicably entered my life.

"Sam!" I shouted, "Help me with this. Bumblebee, can you hoist yourself up into a sitting position at all?" I asked quickly.

The bot hurried to obey, quickly moving to sit on the back of the tow truck. Sam and I were tying him in as Lennox ran up.

"Where's the cube?" the captain demanded.

"It's right there," Sam pointed to it, hopping slightly on his good leg. Lennox ran off again for a moment. He ran back again.

"Okay," he stated, setting his gun down.

"What?" Sam asked.

"Alright, I can't leave my guys back there, so here, take this flare." Lennox stated, pressing a flare into Sam's hand. "Okay there's a tall, white building with statues on top. Go to the roof, set the flare-"

"No," Sam started.

"-Signal the chopper and set the flare-"

"No, no. I can't do this!" Sam continued.

"Listen to me! You're a soldier now!" Lennox shouted. "Alright? I need you to take this Cube, get it into military hands while we hold them off, or a lot of people are going to die!"

"I CAN'T!" Sam shouted. The captain glared.

"He can't run!" I shouted, "He's sprained an ankle, I'll take it. White building statues on top, signal and get to the black hawks." I repeated his instructions quickly.

Lennox stared at me for a moment and nodded firmly.

"Take the flare," he commanded, pressing it into my hands.

"You gotta go, you gotta go," he told Sam.

"How do we get Bee out of here!" Sam demanded.

"Sam, get in the truck and drive, it's your lucky day it's an automatic," I told him sharply, "go! I got this go!"

I snatched up the cube and looked at Bee, throwing him a salute before taking off at a dead run. Ironhide and Ratchet followed me, providing cover.

Blackout landed, and Ironhide got in front of me, picking up a car to deflect the Decepticon's shot. I rolled, dodged the flying debris and kept going, Ratchet hot on my heels.

We were running together.

"Keep moving Mikaela!" Ironhide shouted. "Don't stop!"

Blackout landed beside me again, taking out a car as I dodged around it.

I kept running. Starscream landed right in front of me, transforming and skidding toward me.

"NO!" Ironhide bellowed.

I did the only thing I could think of, I dodged to the side and ducked down as Medical officer and Weapons Specialist engaged him.

Right on top of me. They were taking a beating. Starscream retreated, transforming mid-air and taking off.

"Mikaela! Get to the building!" Ironhide shouted as I stood.

"Fall back and regroup!" I shrieked at them, "you won't keep up to me where I'm going!" I immediately ducked into an alleyway, taking fire escape routes and running as the crows flew. Running as hard as I could direct to target.

Megatron himself landed well behind me, running toward me.

"Give me that cube girl!" he shouted.

I kept running, watching the cars as they sped past me, dodging them as their drivers freaked out. I thanked my lucky star that I'd been wearing flat soled shoes.

I made it to the building finally, running through the gate and into the entrance. It was a moment to survey the layout. Enormous arches, a grand foyer. Beautiful, in it's own way.

I began running down graffitied corridors, a voice was yelling at me.

"I smell you, girl!" Megatron's voice shouted, spurring me to greater speeds.

Finally, stairs. I looked up, twenty stories. Brilliant. I kept running.

Up, circle, up...

Finally I was on the roof, climbing up one of the fire escape ladders to get to the top. The flare burned brightly, lit by hitting it to the wall. I stayed silent, keeping my air for running.

I ran, dodging laundry, listening to battles, listening to the choppers. Fully prepared to jump into the nearest blackhawk.

There it was, hovering in front of me. Salvation. Mid-step I looked around.

"Pull up!" I shrieked, hitting the deck and curling around the cube.

Time slowed. Fire. I could feel the beat of the stabilizers in my bones.

Cradling the All-spark I stood, trapped twenty stories up as the roof began to explode at my feet. Finally, I took the only available cover, swinging myself around one of the statues as Megatron finally caught up. In the distance I could hear sirens, shouts for help, my name.

"Is it fear or courage that compels you fleshling?" Megatron asked in a quieter voice.

In silence, I bit my lip, taking a slow, quiet deep breath, glancing around for somewhere else to go. I wished fervently for a backpack. I could feel his steps as he slowly moved toward me, the building shuddering under his weight.

"Give me the All-Spark and you may live to be my pet." I could hear his grin, he had me cornered. We both knew it. His hand closed with the sound of a guillotine. Two helicopters flew past us, I glanced at them.

A soldier standing in the open hatchway looked at me, held my eyes for a moment.

The look was burned into my mind.

He knew I was going to die, there would be one who did not know me to grieve my death. I took a deep breath. Prepared.

"So that you can destroy our world too?" I shouted out, "I will never give you this All-Spark!"

"Oh, so unwise."

I saw it before it hit, his fist a mace on a chain. I closed my eyes and pushed myself away from the building as the statue shattered above me. I fell. The air rushed past. My final thought rushed through my blood. Who would sing me to the next life?

I hit down on a solid surface, it continued down with me for a moment before I felt myself lifted.

"I got you girl," Prime looked at me over the face plate of his battle mask. He pulled me to his chest and held me close. "Hold onto the cube!"

We fell, a controlled fall this time until Megatron dropped down from the top. We landed heavily, people were screaming.

"Mikaela?" Optimus rumbled softly, I looked up into the incredible blue of his optics as his battle mask receded. "You risked your life to save the cube."

"No victory is without it's sacrifice," I whispered quietly.

"If I cannot defeat Megatron, you must push the cube into my chest. I will sacrifice myself to destroy it, get behind me." he ordered softly.

I closed my eyes and nodded, quickly running to obey.

"It's you and me, Megatron," Optimus growled.

"No, it's just me Prime," Megatron growled.

"At the end of this day, one shall stand, one shall fall," Optimus rumbled.

A nearby trench served perfectly for cover as I listened to the battle. The sounds of one being thrown and landing hard.

"You still fight for the weak! That is why you lose!" Megatron announced gleefully.

Ducking rocks I came to a resolution.

Prime would not be the one to die.

I looked up and began following the battling titans, watching, waiting.

Airplanes screamed overhead, soldiers crept along the ground, I waited.

Blackout was down. Missiles screamed, I ran toward Optimus as Megatron was hit several times. A burst of fire and time froze, I was laying between two injured titans.

"Mine! All-Spark!"

"Kae, put the cube in my chest, now!"

I took a deep breath and flexed muscles I hadn't used in years, jumping to my feet and jamming the cube against Megatron's chest.

Fire, I was on fire. The worst of welder's flash, screaming through my nerves. Fury.

I closed my eyes as a fist squeezed my heart, a thing of creation was being used to destroy. To destroy the monster, I had become the monster.

§Carbon Child, you grieve destruction?§

"Creation cannot be used as destruction, forgive me mother," I thought, tears running down my cheeks.

§Carbon Child you will create now, we shall teach you. Rest§

The pain eased away, cool water on burns, Megatron jerked back, dragging the cube with him as it disintegrated in his chest. Red, molten metal poured from a gaping wound.

He was down.

And then there was silence. I stood and watched his final convulsion. His optics darken. Who would sing his song? Hissing clunks behind me told of Optimus walking toward us.

"You left me no choice, brother," he rumbled in a grieved tone.

Was that his song? I looked up as he knelt to my level.

"Mikaela, I owe you my life. We are in your debt."

I nodded and stood, dazed as the other auto-bots gathered around us. Sam screeched to a halt with Bumblebee still on the tow truck.

"Prime, we couldn't save him," Ironhide rasped, handing over the remains.

"Aw Jazz," Optimus rumbled, "We lost a great comrade today, but gained new ones, thank you, all of you. You honour us with your bravery."

Ratchet looked down at me as Bumblebee spoke his wish.

"You are leaking lubricants," he stated quietly. I finally felt my awareness return, my back stung.

"Oh." I whispered, beginning to feel the dampness of blood. A gentle hand picked me up, sitting me on a stretcher.

A gruff face with kind eyes slipped a needle into my arm.

"Rest now," he said gently.

Darkness.

(OPOV)

With saddened optics, Optimus retrieved the remaining splinter of the All-spark, he looked down at his hand and saw streaks of red, a scan showed it to be blood, human female. A glance at Mikaela's back showed why as his Medical officer gently picked her up and set her on a stretcher.

His fingers curled the splinter into his hand, pressing it against the blood. He felt a flash of warmth in his palm and frowned. The blood was gone, and the splinter somewhat darkened. When the circus was finished, he fervently hoped he would have a chance to talk to the femme

(RPOV)

Ratchet watched the tiny human femme worriedly, her metabolism was slowing drastically. He waved to one of the military paramedics.

"Is it normal for your species to shut down so drastically?" he rumbled worriedly, scanning her vital signs again.

The man reached forward and touched her neck as the Captain they had fought with ran forward.

"What happened?" he demanded. "She was standing a moment ago!"

"She is damaged, and in shock," Ratchet rumbled quickly, scanning the femme. "I gave her a mild painkiller and sedative. She began shutting down."

"Sam!" Lennox bellowed. The boy limped over.

"Yeah?" he asked curiously, looking at Mikaela. "What happened?"

"Do you know if she's allergic to anything?" Lennox demanded.

"Er... no..." Sam mumbled. Well that was useless.

"Let's get her to the military hospital," Lennox called out. "We need a background check on her."

"Give me her full name," Ratchet demanded, already hacking into the systems.

"Mikaela Banes," Lennox growled. Ratchet scanned the frequencies for a long moment.

"I cannot find anything!" Ratchet growled. "Simply that her father is listed as next of kin. Calvin Banes."

"Right!" Lennox called out, waving a cop over. "We need to find Calvin Banes. Her dad."

"Oh, him?" the cop demanded. "What, did that little shut mouthed kid of his get hurt?"

"You know them?" Lennox demanded.

"Shit, yeah," the cop snorted. "Their gang was some of the best grand theft auto artists in the country. Her family was an ongoing study in gang psychology. Little shit there refused to so much as utter a peep against 'em. Got her own record as a result."

Ratchet growled softly at the man's attitude.

"She has just saved your planet, and all you can say about her are insults?" he demanded. The cop just stared at him. Ratchet could smell the fear on him. A sickening scent.

"Lennox Captain, I request permission to take her under my care," Ratchet stated perfunctorily, transforming and onlining his holoform to continue to tend to the femme.

"Where do I find her father?" Lennox growled.

"Jail, here, here's the number, not like the phones are working." the cop grumbled, handing Lennox a card. He walked off.

Ratchet shook his head irritably and continued scanning the femme. She was stable, even if her body had slowed so drastically.

"Let's get the hell out of here," the Captain growled. "We've got a hell of a lot of cleanup to do."

"Auto-bots, Roll out," Optimus ordered. The remaining unit transformed, Ironhide bearing a badly damaged Bumblebee.

They finally made it to 'base' as Lennox called it. Ratchet deposited the femme into the care of her own species and immediately went to tend his unit. Bumblebee was a pain, as always, but two re-attached legs was not a problem, he'd seen the scout with far worse. Jazz though, Ratchet cycled his processors, pressing down his grief as he gently rebuilt the fallen bot as best he could. Jazz deserved that dignity. Optimus wanted him in a casket, his body treated with respect. That was a liability, Ratchet almost laughed about that.

Jazz would have reamed the Prime out something fierce about that.

Breaches repaired, servos reattached, finally finished, he stretched and scanned the computers of the hospital.

They had determined that Mikaela was highly sensitive to chemicals, had spoken to her father. He had stated flatly that she was not to be given anything without her direct consent. She knew her correct dosages.

'Which would be wonderful, except she's unconscious' Ratchet thought irritably.

Optimus wandered into the garage Ratchet had commandeered and sat on the floor heavily.

"I had hoped to speak with her," he rumbled softly.

Ratchet nodded.