*Part 1*
*

It was just one of those days.

Sirens blaring. Wheels screeching. People running.

Just her luck to be heading back home after retrieving something for her sisters and ending up in trouble and on the run from them, going through the city streets of Portland of all places.

She knew who else was around here and didn't want to run into them just yet. Then again she didn't want these ones around either. If her sisters knew what she'd been doing they'd have her rear end, again!

So far she'd tried every method she knew of to get around the ones following her so she could get out of here and back on the road again to home sweet home where she lived with family and friends.

But that wasn't going to happen. Not today she thought. At least not right now.
They were really ticked off. She guessed that she shouldn't have opened up her mouth like she always did and say something she'd later regret. Like now.

She had inadvertently run afoul of the Stunticons a little ways up north during her drive and she'd gotten away from them then, only to have them catch up to her in Portland.

And then they arrived. The others she was thinking about. The Autobots.

One of her sisters, the unofficial boss of their little group, had continuously cautioned her to learn to keep her mouth shut. To not talk when it wasn't needed. But she had opened it again and she knew she was going to get a mouthful when she got back home.

All she thought was that the Autobots must have been monitoring events in the area or listening to the local Police radios and recognized the Stunticons by their description or were called in by the local law enforcement. It was just an unfortunate bonus that she happened to be there to distract these Decepticons from whatever it was they were doing at the time and inadvertently led them to Portland.

By then the Portland P.D. had backed off when the Autobots showed up. She didn't know then that the ones called Prowl, Bluestreak, Jazz, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had appeared. She had heard over her radio that Autobots had arrived in response to the appearance of the Stunticons in Portland but hadn't known which ones at the time.

"So Prowl?" Jazz asks over the comms.

"Yes Jazz?"

"What's the go ol' buddy?"

"Have each of the team pick a target and take them out one by one. Then we'll all attempt to take down Motor Master as a group."

"You heard the boss! Let's go!" Calls Jazz to the others. They all split up to go after their respective targets.

"So which one do you want?" Asks Sideswipe of his twin brother.

"Does it really matter? They are all ugly and pathetic and no match for my precision!" Muses Sunstreaker.

"Yeah whatever bro'." Sideswipe just ignores his brother's conceited opinion of himself and picks his own target.

But what they didn't know was that the Stunticons weren't really here to cause reckless damage to the vicinity as they usually did. They had come in search of a human driver that had sassed them on the highway and made fools of them verbally. They wanted payback. Pure and simple. In short, they wanted the pink Lotus and its driver now careening through Portland trying in vain to evade them and get away.

The human driver, Casey, was of course making use of her knowledge of the city streets to evade them as best she could but wasn't succeeding as it was five against one. She wasn't really in the mood to keep running. She was tired of driving and wanted to go home and rest after a long day of running errands for her other sisters.

She had tried to put out an SOS on her cell phone at some stage but she needed to keep all her attention focused on driving and evading the Decepticon antagonists and she hoped her text had gotten through to someone at home to come and help.

And having the Autobots showing up when they did wasn't something really she wanted, but then it was either being killed by the Decepticons or by her sisters if Casey led any Decepticons near her other sisters laboratory.

She decided she could use the Autobots as cover to get away if she could. She really didn't want to have anything to do with either side because she would most likely get an ear thrashing from for causing trouble again.

One of her sisters, Francine, was a well known scientist and worked with both civil and government projects. And some of her secret projects, if found out by the Decepticons, would make either her or the family a target if only the Stunticons had known.

The elder sister Sonia had thought it would be better Francine be as discreet as possible about her science projects to keep everyone safe from harm despite Francine's personality. And of course Casey's incessant chatter and penchant for getting herself into and out of trouble didn't help.

Francine was possibly the smartest human on the planet but hid her true self from the public with her fun loving and frivolous party girl nature and her constant need for public interaction and fun. She wasn't on the run or needed to hide but it was necessary for safety reasons to keep her science projects secret due to the nature of some of the things she was working on and the people who she was involved with.

Casey understood this, but she was a motor mouth that could put the Autobot Bluestreak to shame. Even though she could keep a secret, she couldn't always stop talking, she didn't really know how, but wanted to protect her older sisters work and get home, away from the Stunticons and deliver the items she had picked up for Francine today.

Yet she didn't want to go back home to face the one who would certainly be telling her off, Sonia. She sighed, and thought 'Me and my big mouth, again!'

Jazz had gotten into position and radioed the others, "Is it just me or are they picking on some human motorist in some flash pink Lotus? Hmm…Nice paint job though!" Jazz commented, noticing how the sunlight was making the custom pink paint show its metallic lilac shine and custom vinyls.

'Probably some human who was stupid enough to mouth off at them and now we'll have to clean up after them!' Retorts Sunstreaker over the comms., as he was listening in. 'At least I get the chance to beat up on some Deceps' and show off my skills!'

It was around this time the Decepticons had the human cornered down one end of a street in the city with no way out. She had the engine revving while stationary and it was shaking the car chassis a little.

The one called Drag Strip decided to voice his opinion of it. "Aww look at the widdle human in its car! It's trembling in fear! Hey it's so afraid of us, the car is shakin' too!" He taunts. A couple of the other Stunticons laughed at the remark.

Most of them were still in their alternate modes. Casey was unsure what to do now. This wasn't going to be easy to get out of but she had to at least try whether her SOS was received or not. Stupid smart mouth that she was.

She could see the other Stunticons weren't bothered either way if they had to leave. But Motor Master had forced them to come and take action against her as he was the one she had sassed and got the better of. And he was going to have nothing of it, his Decepticon pride wouldn't let him, even if he had to drag his posse along to do it, he would stay and crush this human for its insolence. The others just saw doing something to the human driver as a bit of extra fun.

Casey had to get out of here and away before there was a chance she was captured, hurt or worse, killed. She was still cursing her incessant ability to talk.

Prowl had come up behind the Stunticons quietly and was watching them from a hidden spot. Jazz and the twins were not too far away doing the same thing. And Bluestreak was in a hidden position for some sniper shots not too far from Prowl.

"So what do you think Prowl?" Asks Jazz from nearby.

Prowl looks ahead to where the pink car was sitting with the human in the driver's seat. "Getting that human driver out of trouble is a priority. I don't know what they did to get into this situation with these Decepticons or why they are even after the human but this would be a good opportunity to bring some prisoners in for questioning. The Decepticons have been too quiet lately and they might provide some answers." He replied. He looks over to Jazz and the twins who are opposite himself. He indicates to them to start moving in and engage the enemy.

It was then that the Stunticons changed to their robot modes as they caught sight of a shot out of nowhere from Bluestreak. When it hit Wind Rider, he instantly recognized the gunfire signature and just as suddenly forgot about the human for the time being and focused on the Autobots instead, just like his team mates did.

Just as they do though, Casey sprang her sports car into gear and used it as an opportunity to evade them and get out of there but she didn't get very far.

Another car had joined the party. Someone she knew. A friend. Someone had got her message.

During the attack by the Autobots, the ones called Dead End and Breakdown were caught off guard. They were standing there in their robot modes and barely got out of the way when an orange and black Dodge Viper ran them down to help Casey get away.

The other car went straight for the pack leader. This big purple and black truck called Motor Master.

Casey guessed her friend wanted to play chicken with the Stunticon team leader. But the Viper charging at him head on got their attention and Motor Master just sat there and laughed heartily.

"As if a little skid mark like that is going to do me any damage!" He taunts. He hadn't even bothered to transform to his robot mode like the others had previously. Not even bothering to think that any humans could do him any harm.

Dead End and Breakdown had jumped for cover and Drag Strip and Wild Rider weren't so bothered as they were in the thick of the fight with the other mechs. But a quiet verbal chat could be heard passing between them about a bet, about their leader, out of Motor Master's audio shot of course as to whether their boss would stay unharmed or his overbearing ego would lead to him getting damaged by a measly human and its car.

The Autobots were still watching as the newcomer charged towards Motor Master.

Prowl had gotten himself and Jazz to withdraw to one side so that they could reach the pink Lotus and its driver, but it had already taken off.

Jazz looked around and found it close, driving by him. "Hey wait!" He called out as it zoomed past.

Casey had used her opportunity to get away only to be pulled aside down the road by another friend who was waiting in back up in a white Toyota FJ Cruiser, watching the battle from a safe and hidden distance.

"That human sure has bearings of steel to take that lot on!" Jokes Sideswipe at the Viper driver, "Remind me to give them a medal later!"

"I'd like ta say hi to 'em when we're done for tryin' that stunt!" Jazz adds, ducking in between shots from Drag Strip. "That is if there's anythin' left of 'em."

Prowl looks over in the other cars direction. "Jazz, Sunstreaker, see if you can get in there and help that human driver in the orange and black sports car?"

But before they could move, the driver had moved around the battle zone, avoiding fire and showing off some impressive driving skills. Numerous energy shots had already bounced off of the car's hood and chassis and the driver wasn't liking the fact that the new coat of paint was probably being scratched up, but then again, the driver didn't like being shot at anyhow. 'Couldn't be helped though,' The driver thought to themself, 'A minor sacrifice in order to have some fun!'

Motor Master had decided to come straight at the Viper, but it swerved at the last second to get out of his way. He was so confident that he would be done no harm he didn't even bother to think he'd get damaged in another way from a measly human in it's pathetic car.

The car swerved, drifted and flicked out a flamethrower gun attached to the front side fenders and went to work.

Well if the driver was going to have some fun they might as well do so with a bit of flair. They had slid the wheels out at a 90 degree angle and watched as all the tires to the left side of his vehicle mode melted from the intense heat of the flamethrower, the driver then careened themself around to face whatever came next.

They just sat there with their engine running, watching the Decep's that were still standing around stupendously at their daring manoeuvre. The move got the awe of the Autobots as well as the two humans watching from afar.

Jazz and Sideswipe were rather amused. "Sideswipe's right! This human has some bolts alright, taking tha' wind outta Motor Master's tires like that!" comments Jazz. He turns to Prowl and asks, still chuckling to himself, "Should we go and get that human and their car away from here and in a safe place."

Prowl nodded.

Jazz was still snickering slightly from Motor Master's condition. "At least now that's let the air out of him, we might have a chance to deflate him even more!"

"And here I thought those were his brains being let out!" Jokes Sideswipe as he is narrowly missed by a shot from Motor Master's gun as he finally transformed to his robot mode and took a shot at the closest Autobot to him.

"I heard that you Auto-punks! Get over here and fight like real mechs!" goads the Stunticon leader.

"Gladly!" Responds Sideswipe without thinking of the consequences to himself, with the damages that Motor Master could do to him in a one on one fight.

Drag Strip and Wild Rider had made no attempt to help their boss when he had gotten his tires blown and now he was berating them into fighting when he saw them exchanging credits in between themselves trying to avoid shots from Bluestreak's sniper gun.

"Move it you slagwads! Are you gonna let some rust bucket Autobots get the better of us?" He yells as he indicates to the other Autobots, "Go get 'em!"

They were now dodging the rounds from the Autobot weapons and heading for a fight with their enemy. The Autobots were returning fire of their own.

The driver had not turned to go to a safe distance but instead stayed parked near the battle to watch. It didn't bother the driver at all. They felt quite safe where they were. Stray photon blasts from the surrounding battle ricocheted off the hood of the Viper. Even though it didn't damage the car chassis, it still damaged the paint job. They still didn't like it, but then the car wasn't ordinary so they just sat there and waited, letting the Autobots handle things.

The car chassis was actually reinforced armour and wasn't affected by any type of energy blasts. The chassis was made of an incredibly dense experimental material that would take the brunt of a blow from a very strong Transformer and come out of it with minimal damage. This was one of Francine's inventions, but Francine Deane wasn't the driver.

The other car just sat there, waiting for their opportunity.

"What the hell is she doing?" Questioned the female driver of the white SUV, looking on in the direction of the fight.

Casey was still watching with her friend, "Maybe she wants to show off again?"

The older female harrumphed and then went and sat in the driver's seat of her vehicle and switched on some scanners, she was annoyed at having to be here, but she was going to put up with it. It was bad enough the driver of the Viper had come into town. Also that Casey had mouthed off and annoyed some Decepticons. She continued to observe the goings on and noticed some strange sonic wavelengths coming from the Decepticon Breakdown.

She got onto her radio unit and contacted the other driver. "You on the air Rusty or are you so bored you've gone to sleep?"

The driver of the Viper knew she was joking, but felt somewhat bothered at having her fun interrupted. 'Yeah what?' Came the response.

"You're watching the sonics coming from Breakdown right?"

'Yeah I am.'

"Come on, we gotta get going before they see we're still here." Casey was scared and worried. She took the radio speaker from her female companion and said to Rusty. "It's bad enough Sonny'll throttle me for what I did today, but do you really feel like being chewed up and spat up too?"

'Unlike you Casey, I ain't afraid of ya sister or anyone else for that matter. Just back off an' let me do what I'm doin'.'

"This ain't no ordinary car that maggot's got!" Comments Wild Rider as he notices several blasts bounce off of the hood of the Viper. He tried in vain to blow the fuel tank as it sat there and hopefully kill the human in the car with an explosion, but the car moved to avoid that blast. It was then his scanners notice something else as the Viper moved. "It ain't got a driver? An' I seen it move without one. I bet it's one o' them!?" He points at the Autobots.

"Great!" Exclaims Drag Strip gleefully, "Another target!" And he points his guns at the Viper.

Lucky for Rusty that Sunstreaker had come along when he did after dispensing with Wild Rider and then moving on to another target before anyone else could discover the secret about the armoured sports car. But that wasn't to be.

Close by, Sideswipe was fighting with Motor Master and heard what the two Decepticons had been talking about, his slight lack of concentration almost got his head ripped off by his opponent, but still he talked to his brother in between avoiding punches and trying to land some blows.

"You heard what that Decepti-psycho said bro'?" Sideswipe says to Sunstreaker.

He sighs and replies, "Yes!" He sighs and looks in the Viper's direction. Sunstreaker was now bothered by Sideswipe's somewhat inane question, "And I should care about some driverless human car because…?"

At that time Sideswipe was getting the slag beaten out of him and enjoying every second of it. And after Sunstreaker had finished dealing with Drag Strip, he came over and joined his twin to try his luck with the Stunticon leader, finishing off what he knew his brother couldn't.

Rusty was still waiting nearby, watching the battle from close up. She had adjusted her parked spot but had not really moved very far at all. She had heard what one of the Stunticons had said, and knew that the Autobot twins had heard also and wondered what she should do.

"Wonder if that car is going to be of any use to us then?" Questioned Sideswipe as he took a nasty blow to the faceplate from Motor Master and got taken down to the ground allowing Sunstreaker to step in and have the fight to himself for a while.

Prowl had heard him from not too far away and calls over, "What were you talking about Sideswipe?"

Now that got Jazz's curiosity, 'What's goin' on now?' He thought. He was fighting with Breakdown close to the Viper and then the Decepticon landed right in front of the car after being uppercut to the jaw by Jazz.

Rusty then made her decision. She utilised the cars mechanical transformation to a robotic mode and then suddenly stood there as plain as day, a transformer like the rest of them.

Breakdown didn't suspect anything, just thinking it was another Autobot, not bothering to look if it had an insignia or not. As he got up he glanced up at Rusty's very tall yet grinning figure and said, "What are looking at? You think its funny do you?" As he gets up to his feet he starts screeching, "What the pit are you laughing at?"

'What a mental case he is!' Rusty thought.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe paused momentarily from their fight with Motor Master to see what had caused a lull in the fight.

Rusty knew everyone was now looking at her and all she did was allow her faceplate to smirk. She looked around. Prowl had already taken care of Wild Rider and Drag Strip, putting them in restraints. All that left was Dead End, who was in a gun fight with Bluestreak and Motor Master was busy with the twins, while Breakdown was still rambling out of his mind in front of Rusty.

She finally got annoyed by his rambling and grabbed the Decepticon by the neck and very nearly crushed it with her strength, then smashed him in the head to knock him out and tossed him over onto the pile where the other two half online Stunticons were, causing the two already there to groan when the dead weight landed on them.

Prowl was surprised with her appearance but didn't let himself become distracted and so quickly put manacles on Breakdown while he had the chance.

While the twins were dealing with the Stunticon leader still, Jazz joined Prowl after getting out of Rusty's way to help keep the prisoners secure.

She had then walked over calmly to where Bluestreak was firing on his Decepticon opponent. Bluestreak had of course allowed himself to become distracted by the tall hulking form of the femme, and not knowing who she was or whether she was friend or foe cautiously backed off when she approached. She gave him a friendly smile which made him relax slightly and even more so when she started laying into a surprised Dead End. The Decepticon had started to worry when none of his gun's energy blasts affected her armour when he shot her and couldn't help wanting to run when she started laying into him, she was just too strong for him.

He was then added to the pile next to the two Autobot Lieutenants.
Bluestreak not knowing what else to do wandered quickly over to Jazz and Prowl and started chattering incessantly about the situation to his two superiors.

"I wonder who she is?" Questioned Prowl above Bluestreak's chatter.

Jazz grinned and said, "Well whoever she is, she packs a punch!"

"I'd have to agree with that." Comments Prowl non-chalantly.

Rusty then walked over to Motor Master.

The Decepticon turned his attention away from his two distractions for a second to ask the femme, "So you think you're good enough to take me down do you? I'm stronger than all of my team combined!" He preached proudly.

"Yeah, sure ya are." She commented blithely, cracking the metal joints of her digits.
She shoved Sunstreaker out of the way who had gotten in front of her while she and Motor Master were talking.

"Hey!" He exclaimed and swiftly went to vent his frustration upon her.
Sideswipe asked him to stop from his position on the ground, "Hold it bro'."

They both watched as Rusty coiled up a massive right hook and knocked Motor Master off his peds with one punch.

"Dat's gotta hoit!" Joked Jazz in a comedic impression of one of the three stooges.
Prowl had not intended to allow the femme to get involved in their fight after she had transformed and revealed herself. But from his point of view it had been more logical to see what she could do after she had easily dispensed with Breakdown. The Autobots had after all already received many injuries from this short fight with the stronger and near indestructible Decepticon warriors and he did appreciate the intervention.

"Thank you for the help." He commented as she approached with Dead End over one shoulder plate and dragging Motor Master along the ground in her other hand.
Rusty just grunted and said, "Sure whatever." And then dumped her load on top of the other Decepticons already captured, whereas Jazz and Bluestreak quickly put manacles on those ones also.

Prowl continued to watch her as she stood there and watched what his team mates were doing.

Sideswipe looked up from his spot on the ground, "Hey lookit, a femme!" His bearings were still not letting him think completely straight.

Sunstreaker comments to his brother, "Well obviously she is you idiot. A load of good you did slag for brains holding me back like you did."

Sideswipe just shrugged when he sat up and let his brother help him up, ignoring what his brother said, knowing it was just Sunny showing his way of being annoyed.

The five of them stand and stare at Rusty while also keeping their optics on the captives.

She stares right back at them with no expression and then turns to leave, deliberately stepping on a half online Wild Rider who groans under her heavy weight as she walks off. "Well, see ya!" She waves back to them.

Jazz quickly approached her, wanting to stop her from leaving, "Hey wait?" He called grabbing her wrist joint. She had done what she thought was reasonable and now wanted to go but waited to see what the white mech wanted just to be friendly.

She looked him up and down first before smirking and replying with, "You want somethin' handsome?"

Jazz smiles back before asking, "Well hey that was some fancy drivin' back there! Nice one! So uh...what's your name?"

Rusty knows the other two are watching her and she decided to leave as quickly as she could. She had already blown her cover by revealing herself to them and decided not to reveal any more about her right now, fully intending to see them all again. "Not right now Jazz, later ok." She smiled down at him with her tall height. The top of Jazz's headcase only just reached her chest plates, so he had to crane his neck to look at her. She patted him on the top of his headcase and then moved away.

"But it ain't fair! Ya know who we are, well who I am anyway, an' we don' even know who y'are?" Now he was trying to be a charming weasel to get more information.
She realised this and counteracted. "Well it's my business as t'who I am an' besides that..." She looks around to the rest of them and winks, letting her optics rest on the twins longer than the rest, "I'll be 'round!" And then turns her attention to Jazz once again, blows him a kiss and then walks away transforming after a bit, doing a 360 degree burnout spin and then driving off at high speed.

"Well how do you like that? No thanks for a job well done after all that work we did, typical!" Comments Sunstreaker.

"Shut it Sunny." Sideswipe replies snidely.

Instead of pummelling his brother for back talking him, he instead comments, "You're just jealous because she was checking me out and not you."

"Yeah right, she was totally looking my way the whole time." Sideswipe retorted.

"Sure she was!" Taunted Sunstreaker, "She was wondering how an ugly piece of slag like you could even stand next to a work of art like me!" He thumbed to himself.

Prowl sighed and shook his head and Jazz laughed to himself as the twins got into a fist fight yet again. Bluestreak just stood by in wonder behind Jazz so he wouldn't get hurt by the marauding twin terrors.

It wasn't too long before Hound arrived with Jetfire to escort the prisoners back to the Autobots base nearby at the Ark for questioning.

Prowl had radioed back to the base after the femme had left with details about what had gone down at the scene and Optimus had dispatched Hound and Skylynx as soon as was possible to pick up them and their Decepticon payload.

"Hey there Hound, m'mech!" Commented Jazz contentedly as Skylynx landed and his rear compartment opened with the scout on the ramp waiting.

"Hey Jazz, so what'd I miss?" He replied cheerfully.

This was where Bluestreak interjected before Jazz could even get a word out, "Well this human in a pink car was being chased by the Stunticons and then another car came along that we thought was another human driver, but it wasn't, and she, well at first we didn't know it was a she, well she took out Motor Master's tires with some fancy driving and a flamethrower which was real hot and then we found out later she was a transformer and..."

While Bluestreak continued to ramble on needless of Hound's lack of attention to what he was saying, Hound turned to Jazz, "A female Transformer, here, on earth?"

"Yeah!" Replied Jazz, "In'erestin' day huh?" Hinting at something to the scout.

"Hmm." The tracker responded. Hound caught Jazz's hint straight away and then turned to Prowl, "It shouldn't be too hard to track her down if I followed her trail from here while it's still fresh."

Prowl noticed Jazz was grinning and sighed, then he was backed up by a couple of grinning twins right behind him, who had finished putting the Stunticons away securely.

"Well Prowl?" Asked Hound.

Skylynx chose that moment to interrupt. "Prowl we are ready to return to base now, shall I initiate take off procedures?"

Prowl looked at Hound then turned to the console where SkyLynx's voice was coming from, "Hold on a moment please."

"As you wish." Came back the disembodied vocals.

"And Bluestreak you can be quiet now." Comments Prowl.

"Sure Prowl anything you say..." Bluestreak then continued his tirade of reasons why he should be quiet to Prowl's dismay, who just sighed again and turned his attention back to the four mechs with him.

He looks at each of them in turn. "Hound, take Sideswipe with you and check out the lead. I personally would like to know who she is and where she came from and whether she is going to be a threat to us or an ally. Report back with any and all information you find." Hound nods.

"Hey, how come he gets to go?" Whined Sunstreaker.
"Because I'm just that good!" Says Sideswipe, pleased with himself that he gets to escape Ratchet's wrath back at the base especially with all his dents.

Sunstreaker makes a move to show his brother what he thought of him and his comment right now but Prowl stops him.

Sideswipe grins and says, "Well now you're the one who has to greet our illustrious and benevolent CMO when you get back and I get off free...well for now I do!"

Sunstreaker cracks his finger joints and points at Sideswipe as he and Hound alight from the landing ramp, "I'll give you your share of Ratchet's kindness when you get back you little red retro rat." He moves out in front of his two superior officers and continues glaring at his brother.

Sideswipe just continued to grin at his twin. This of course made Sunstreaker want to pummel his brother even more but he held back. For now.

"See ya later Sunny!" Sideswipe called as he transformed and drove off, following the green Jeep.

"I'll get you later you dipstick!" Yelled the annoyed golden Lamborghini from the ramp.

Prowl takes this as an incentive to tell Skylynx to take off and return to base.
He knew that the news he had to report to Prime wasn't going to stay quiet for long considering what they'd found.

"Now this is all very interesting," Skylynx begins to tell them as he takes off, "This reminds me of when I…"

"No stories right now please Skylynx." Prowl interjects.

Prowl sat silently and continued to ponder to himself. 'A femme. A female transformer of unknown origin.' The news would also have to be reported to Elita One on Cybertron if they were able to find her and communicate with her team, who were still hiding from Shockwave back home. They had to know who their mysterious helper was.

It would certainly brighten up the already dismal moral that had been hanging over the Ark of late due to lack of inactivity from the Decepticons, knowing that there was a femme transformer on Earth.

And Prowl hoped that the Stunticons they recently captured could provide them with any information on their activities or lack thereof.