"The papers I will be passing out are a review for your test next week. Don't forget to study!" a female voice dictated. The voice, a French professor, was a thin woman with raven black hair and medium frame. She handed a stack of papers to one of the students who had taken one and passed the rest to another classmate.
"Class dismissed." The professor spoke once more and in an instant many of the students jumped to their feet and scurried toward to door to leave. Only a few had lingered behind to ask questions. A girl in particular was still gathering her things. She looked to be in her late-20's, although many people mistaken her to look younger. She was rather short and thin, pale, with long natural blonde hair that always seemed to get away from her. Her soft facial features displayed a look of concentration. She was doing a mental review of everything she learned in class.
"Olivia did you have any questions?" her professor asked, pulling her out of her train of thought.
"No Madame, I'm fine, thank you." She replied as her grey eyes darted toward her professor and smiled. The professor returned the smile and Olivia resumed packing up her things.
Olivia's outlook shined positively on this semester as she made her way toward the door. She felt this time around would be different, unlike last semester… she cringed at the thought. Her pre-calculus teacher before was nothing if not mean and cruel to her students, berating them to the point where reviewing for a test became a joke, and many of them had failed the class because of her tutelage. She had drove Olivia insane and also gave her a poor grade to boot. Olivia had always strived to do well in class, and always achieved high grade goals, but when she took that math class…
She sighed and tried to block the aggravation that was trying to creep into her good mood. She sighed once more and hastily made her way out of the building into the cold weather. To her surprise it had started to snow, and coming down rather hard. The cold air cut through her like a knife and she shivered, pulling her charcoal jacket tighter. It looked as though it would be snowing for a while.
The beach area was rarely gifted with snow, but on the occasion it did, the city never had the equipment or the man power to clear the roads, so in turn most of the area would become snowed in. Younger children or people that didn't have to worry about driving, would always be ecstatic, given a rare chance of having a snow day, but the people that had to commute to class or work, they were less than thrilled.
'Looks like I'll have to start driving...' Olivia growled at the thought. She loved it when it snowed, but not when she had to drive in it. She still had another class to attend, but unfortunately they were all on the other side of the city. The school's art building, a place where most of the crafts, traditional and digital stuff was taught. The building was even large enough to hold exhibits on the ground floor. Great place to pursue any interest in art, but a very terrible location. She sighed, the freshly fallen snow crunching under her feet as she walked toward her silver car, mentally prepping herself for the tedious journey ahead.
Driving to the second campus usually took about 40 minutes, even less when she drove 80 on the interstate. It was illegal to drive above 55 in her area, but driving fast was a bit of a guilty pleasure for her. She loved zooming past every car on a normal day, even if it was a tad dangerous. However, with the relentless blizzard at hand, driving all the way to the other side of the city would certainly take much longer. Olivia growled at her speedometer as the arrow barely touched 30 mph.
"This is ridiculous." She muttered to herself. She just wanted to drive straight home, missing one class wouldn't have killed her. But as much as that option seemed appealing, she had a nagging thought in that told her if class wasn't canceled she may miss something vital, something she should have been present for in class. The same thought told her to press on, it would be worth in the end.
"Yeah right." She murmured, arguing only with herself.
Ultimately driving all the way out to class became the victor and she pressed forward determined to make it on time, even if there was a chance she would be the only one to show up. She kept driving at a slow pace and almost made it all the way there when her phone buzzed. Quickly, she glanced at her phone and snarled.
All classes canceled until further notice was all she caught from the text, but it was enough to have her fuming.
"Son of a bitch!" She yelled in aggravation. She instantly regretted her decision.
With a defeated sigh she found the nearest exit, and started heading back home. By the time she had turned the car around, it hard grown quite dark outside. The snow was coming down harder than before, and it felt like she was the only living soul out there. It all seemed so eerie, but given that she loved the silence that the snow brought, she didn't give it a second thought. For her it was comforting, like an old friend welcoming her with open arms. She would always find herself outside in the comfort of this kind of weather late at night, as if to detox from everything else.
She was engrossed in her own thoughts, unaware of two cars that crept up on her, both of which seemed to have appeared out of thin air. One of the vehicles, a beaten up pick-up truck, started tailgating her car, honking angrily. It abruptly broke her from her trance.
"What the- Jesus just past me!" she uttered trying to glance at the asshole in her rearview mirror. The other car, which didn't seem to be with the pick-up drove up on her left side. It looked as though they were trying to pass her, but given the state of the roads, kept a steady pace alongside her. She looked over and saw a small red sports car with a design running across the doors. It almost had a tribal vibe to it, but with all the commotion she couldn't tell. She also tried to get a look at the driver, but their windows were very much tinted. She briefly wondered why anyone would drive a nice car like that in this kind of weather before she was thrown back in the situation with another angry honk from the driver behind.
"OH MY GOD! JUST PASS ME ASSHOLE!" She hollered as if she wanted the truck driver to hear her. She honestly couldn't understand what this person's problem was, they could easily pass her. Within the fleeting moments the driver behind finally sped up alongside her right side, boxing her in between their own truck and the red sports car. Olivia's body tensed, she was thrown into a hazardous situation, and an overwhelming feeling of dread welled in the pit of her stomach. The sports car seemed like it was trying get out of the situation, but the pickup kept speeding up to unsafe speeds on an ice covered road. The truck began to pass her, reeving its engine violently, as if to declare its alpha status. The truck had almost made it pass her, and for a split second, Olivia thought it was safe again. A wave of relief fell over her, finally rid of an obnoxious pest, when the truck unexpectedly lost control, hurling directly toward Olivia's car.
Her stomach dropped in sheer terror, "SHIT- SHIT!" She screamed in a desperate act to jerk the wheel to avoid collision, but the attempt was futile. The truck slammed her passenger side, the impact instantly shattering the windows along that side of the vehicle. The chain reaction caused her vehicle to collide into the sports car, and with the sheer amount of force delivered, tore through the car's metal like it was saran wrap. Her body lurched, slamming her head against the driver side window. The sounds of horror around her became muffled as she fell into a daze. Her body became limp, her thoughts slipping away into oblivion, where everything went black.
Olivia groaned as her eyes slowly opened. The streetlights seem to dance as her vision tried to readjust itself. The snow was still falling, even heavier than before. The large fluffy snowflakes glittered in the lights, as if they were trying to dance with them. She started to remember what had happened and remembered some asshole trying to speed past. She groaned again as she sat up, immediately wincing in pain. It felt like someone had taken a knife and stabbed it through the left side of her skull. She gently felt her left temple only to feel a warm wet sensation, accompanied with more pain. She drew her hand back and saw the blood, not really giving it much thought in the moment. She turned to look at her window, which had shattered in a spider webbed pattern decorated in her own blood. Her very being felt dazed, as if someone had wrenched her soul out of her body and was desperately trying to keep her in limbo. She had to coerce herself to move.
Olivia fumbled to find the door handle, until the cool plastic of the slim handle graced her fingers. She tugged at it, and upon opening it, she fell out, hitting the snowy covered ground. She moaned as the freezing snow graced every little cut and scrap the accident had given her. The sudden pain felt like thousands of tiny needles, tearing at every little injury she had, until the pain ebbed away into nothing, the cold numbing her senses. She didn't want to move, but laying out there on the icy ground wouldn't be beneficial to her, and she forced herself to stand. She let out a soft whimper, everything in her body ached. Her head throbbed and the world felt like it was spinning out of control. She struggled to stand, desperately trying to regain her faculties. She quickly looked around, trying to assess the damage, when the metallic shine of the red sports car caught her attention. The sports car looked in worse shape than her own and she quickly stammered over to it, only to discover the driver's side was pinned into the median concrete.
"Sir? Ma'am? Please give me an indication you're ok!" Olivia choked as she made it to passenger side of the car. She grabbed the car handle and to her surprise it was unlocked. She quickly opened it and peered inside, only to be greeted with an empty interior.
"What the- "was all she could uttered before a loud groan echoed from the sports car. She squeaked startled, stumbling backward toward the ground. She was dumbfounded, it's as if the car came to life on its own. Although she knew certain car models had push button starters, she quickly decided that the sound she heard wasn't the sound of an engine starting. The red car began to rev its engine, desperately spinning its tires to move itself, but when it was unsuccessful the car seem to let out a frustrated growl. The next thing to happen stunned Olivia as she watched the sports car transform, struggling to change from a vehicle to what looked like a giant robot. The car's transformation seemed hiccupped, and its struggling had it growling again, until it was able to become completely robotic. The being had to be at least twenty feet tall if not more. Flabbergasted she concluded that she might have hit her harder than she thought, and assumed she was caught in her own waking nightmare. After the car transformed, the giant titan struggled to stand, but instantly collapsed, clutching its left side.
"B-Base come in…in n-need of a ground bridge…" his male voice stammered trying to radio in what she assumed was help. He looked out onto the scene as his gaze instantly caught attention to Olivia staring up at him. Olivia froze as the robot's red eyes meet her own. He looked pissed. Olivia's whole body felt bolted to the ground, still franticly trying to grasp the situation, and found herself only staring back in awe. Much of the titan's right side looked heavily damage, the metal twisted and torn, indicative of where the driver's side of his car form was. It looked like the robot was bleeding out as what she could only assume was blood oozing from his side. The luminous blue liquid slowly dripped out from the bot's slender digits, and had either dripped down his side or fell to the ground. They both continued to stare at one another, with what felt like an eternity.
'Please don't squish me' was one of the many thoughts rattling around in Olivia's brain. She was also debating with herself on whether or not to help him. A normal person probably would have taken off in the other direction, but something kept telling her it wouldn't be right. Seeing him like this, struggling, desperately trying to cling to life had her experiencing immense amounts of empathy. She couldn't quite understand how he was able to feel or experience pain, but she had to be open-minded. She was desperately trying to find a solution to aid him from his suffering. Her throbbing headache wasn't helping her cause either, but then it clicked.
"I-er-a- I think I might be able to help…wait here…" She said, her gaze still on his as she stood, then quickly spun around on her heels stumbling back to her car.
'Wait here… Jesus what stupid thing to say…' she thought as she popped her trunk. He obviously wasn't going anywhere, otherwise he probably would have drove off by now, or worse… She shuddered at the different scenarios racing through her head. What if someone was playing a cruel joke on her, or this was a military experiment gone terribly awry. They would take her away for interfering. Her thoughts were running wild. What if he was some alien experiment and he escaped the compounds? She wasn't one for believing in such silly conspiracies, but now... She had to force herself back into the bigger picture. Whatever he or it was, she felt compelled to help him. She fished around in her truck and grabbed a rather large plush purple blanket. She usually kept a big comfy blanket for trips to the beach or other instances. She never thought she would need it for first aid. The act of using a bandage or cloth to put pressure over a wound, was a standard norm among humans to help slow the bleeding, and Olivia hoped the same could be applied for whatever he was. She quickly raced back over to the large red robot, each step more painful than the last.
"H-Here, this might help slow the bleeding." She choked. Everything seemed to be spinning violently. He looked down at her in a rather surprised manner, as if he wasn't used to someone helping him. He said nothing, but grabbed the blanket from her to place over his wound. She took a few steps back, shaking head to toe, as she rested her hands on her knees. What was she doing anyways, she didn't even know who or what this thing was. The size of him alone could have easily overpowered her, but he seemed to be in far worse condition, at least she wasn't bleeding out, and Olivia assumed that hurting her wasn't the first thing on his mind.
"C-Come in base. Breakdown…anyone…" She heard his voice stammering again as he tried to com someone. At this point she didn't care, she only wanted to focus on not passing out.
'Frag Megatron to the pits for putting me on this mission! I swear if he ever gets back on my operating table I'll-' the mech's thoughts became broken by the sound of the human girl coughing. Her blood caught the light as it dripped down the side of her face onto her mostly black wardrobe. She didn't seem to be doing well. Her line of sight remained toward the ground as she teetered around trying to maintain her balance. As he was watching her he couldn't help but wonder why she was helping him, being so nice to him. He figured she did crash into him, although it wasn't her fault… that's right he nearly forgot. With how much Energon he was losing he couldn't even think straight. He began to quickly scan the area only to see that pickup truck a ways down. He let out another frustrated growl. When he got his hands on that skinjob. The female human looked up toward him again with an uneasy stare. He changed his visual direction and tried to radio the Nemesis again. Moments passed and he was once again greeted with a dead signal. His patience was growing thin. If someone didn't come for him soon, then he would surely bleed out. He could only imagine that they left him for dead, or that some idiot con broke the system. He could only think the worst for how they treated him sometimes, before his thoughts became interrupted with the sound of a male voice.
"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" the voice yelled, it was the human from the pickup truck. This man seemed to have come out of nowhere, screaming at the girl like it had been all her fault, and she shot up startled.
"Huh-"She barely made out before she was struck across her head. Her body fell limp as she fell to the ground. Watching her small body fall somehow infuriated the mech. The man must have not even noticed that a few feet in front of him knelt a large titan hovering over him. The man just kept looking at the girl with such contempt. The human readied his weapon for another strike.
"THAT'S IT!" The mech growled, mustering enough strength to grab the male human. The human screamed and the mech pull him to visual view. This flesh bag simply reeked of something strong, possibly alcohol. He heard a lot of humans partaking in ingestion of such a beverage. Right now that didn't matter though. He was enraged, and he wanted this sad excuse of an organic dead. The human squirmed around in his hand and just kept screaming. This annoyed the mech even more.
"You made the BIGGEST mistake." The mech growled and with the last ounce of strength he had he crushed the life out the male. The man choked out one last scream until his body lay limp, and he toss him to the ground. The mech slightly fumbled a little. Crushing the flesh bag took more energy out of him than he should have used. Catching his breath he looked over to the human girl, she appeared to still be breathing, but barely. The thought crossed his mind about ending her spark, but seeing her lying lifeless in the snow, he couldn't bring himself to do something like that to her…why did she have to help him anyways, it would have made thing a lot easier is she hadn't but, he looked down at his wound. The thing she handed him seemed to be helping the bleeding slow. He looked at her motionless body once more, and a feeling overtook his spark. For whatever reason he wanted to help her… his own feelings seemed to betray him. Since when did he care about some stupid human? She was the one that crashed into him, scratched his paint job, and caused him to possibly bleed to death in some stupid human town. The mech tried to justify his thoughts. 'But it wasn't her fault…'
Just then a green vortex opened up before and a large blue mech walked through.
"Primus Knock Out! What happened?!" The blue mech sprinted over to where Knock Out knelt. The red mech responded with a snarl.
"N-Never mind that Breakdown, h-help me the frag up!" Knock Out snapped as Breakdown went to grab his bleeding body, but Knockout abruptly halted him.
"W-Wait-"he hesitated, "Grab the fleshy first…" his voice trailed off as he pointed toward the human girl. Breakdown looked puzzled.
"Just hide her in your chassis; I'll explain later." Knock Out coughed. Breakdown grew a look of concern over his face, but reluctantly grabbed the human and with the sound of shifting gears, popped opened his chest, placing her inside. Then swiftly helped Knock Out up. The red mech cringed in pain.
"ARGH! Careful!" Knock Out snapped, clearly the red mech wasn't use to this.
"Come on…Let's get you to the medbay and patch you up." Breakdown replied and he walked both of them through the swirling green vortex.