Mentions of Young Justice…Planned crossover of Transformers and a little of ER, mainly focused on Protectobots and rescue work. Don't own anything but Mariposa and the plot! Lot of personal details!

~Bonds, Hot Spot~

~Bonds, Blades~

~Bonds, First Aid~

~Bonds, Groove~

~Bonds, Streetwise~

~Bonds, Marianne/Mariposa~

"Normal"

'Thoughts'

"Comms or phone, other side"

"Bumblebee, Tones"

"Bumblebee, Comms"

"Bumblebee, Radio"

Prologue

january 31, 2016, midnight

I look around before adjusting the bag on my shoulder. This is it. I'm done. I spare one last glance at the farm I've lived on since I was born, then slip my duffel and messenger bag on the passenger seat of my old Dodge Spirit. It's time for a new start, in a new place. I've been verbally, emotionally, and physically abused for thirteen years, and I've finally decided enough's enough. I'm gone. A new name, a new identity, a whole new person. I'm moving on.

I won't tell you my real name, only that I am now going as Marianne Anderson. It's based off a Cybertronian name I chose from a fandom I follow, and another fan's surname for Wheeljack. I am autistic, and I love medicine and emergency vehicles. I used to work in one, until my disability became known, and I got fired. I lost my cert two years ago.

Mostly, right now, I just hope the rust-bucket that is my beloved Tinkerbelle can get me to Chicago.

January 31, 2016, 1:40 am

I pull over to the curb and shut off the over-heating engine before locking the doors. While a part of me is wishing I had thought this through, most of me is just happy to be away from the man who has been abusing me for the last thirteen years. I'm finally free.

Now if only I had somewhere to go…

January 31, 2016, 5:30 am

Two years ago, at this time, I was going through the worst day I've ever had. Two years ago today, I finally decided I was going to fight back. Now… to see what that sound was.

I look out the window, but see nothing. It's pitch black. I know I heard something, though.

"It's probably just someone visiting friends."

"Or someone's in trouble."

"Voices…" I whisper. I'm too scared right now to do anything else.

"There's someone inside, Hot Spot. I can't just abandon them. What if they need help? What if whoever's dying in there?"

"Great. Now I'm imagining things…"

I hear a tap as the car shakes slightly. "Not imagining things…" Now I don't know whether to scream from fear—I am terrified of aliens—or scream like a crazed fangirl because I have two Autobots—at least, I think they're Autobots—outside my car, pushing on it. Either way, I hit the switch and lean my head out the now-open door just enough to see what color their eyes are, then stick my head back in so they won't see me lose it—in a good way. "Oh. My. God. Oh my God. Oh-my-God-oh-my-God-oh-my-God-oh-my-God!"

"Excuse me?" I take a few slow, deep breaths, then open the door. "Are you okay?"

I nod, not trusting my voice. Apparently, I shouldn't have trusted my body either, because the next second I find myself clinging to the nearest metal leg. I hear the sound of someone clearing their throat, and look up at what seems to be a red-orange and white bot. With rotors. 'Blades. And not the nice one from Rescue Bots either. Oh, slag. I'm gonna die.' "EEP!" I pull my hands back quickly, and duck behind my now-destroyed car.

Another bot, this one red and white, leans over the car. "Blades won't hurt you."

"You—you're…" Between exhaustion, my excitement, and the dizzy spells I've been suffering from for a year, I'm starting to feel like I'm about to pass out. It's all I can do to find the ground before it finds me.

The red and white mech kneels to me before I can. "I need to get her to that Hospital."

"N-no. H-he'll find me."

"I'll take you to our place then. We'll protect you. It's what we do."

The blue mech sighs. I look up to see he's got red optics, but for some strange reason, I'm not scared. "Aid—"

Blades crosses his arms. "We can't take some human we just met home with us!"

The black and white mech glares at Blades. "We can't just leave her out here! She'll freeze to death!"

The silver mech leans against a concrete arch. "Where else could we take her, where she wouldn't just run off?"

The white and red mech, whom I've now determined is First Aid, Medic in Training, transforms before opening the back doors for me. "Grab her bags, Groove. She's freezing." His next words, aimed at Blades and the blue mech, stun me to silence. "I'm the CMO now, and if I say she needs to come with us, she comes with us."

"Y-you're the CMO? B-but…" I blink back tears. "It really happened… God, no!"

"Miss?"

"Marianne." I sigh heavily. "He's gone, isn't he? Ratch? That bounty hunting fiend really did it?"

He's silent for a moment, and when he speaks, I can hear the pain in his voice. "It'll be two years in June."

"The same, in May, with my Mother." I sigh heavily. "Her biological son abused me, and I got punished if I told… The movies, and Ratchet, were the one thing that kept me sane most days."

"Oh, Mari…"

I shake my head. "That's why I don't want to go to the ER. I'm traveling under an alias, and haven't had the chance to legally change my name yet." I sigh softly. "He acts like compassion is a sin. I saved newborn bunnies last march, and he fed them to a cat—the same one he ripped from my hands two years before." I sigh heavily. The cat in question reminds me of something else. "Aid… Think you could at least help me get an Illinois EMS cert. I'd need to take the class again, but—"

"Anything you need. I'd even be willing to train you as an Autobot medic."

I look at my hands. "I'd rather be able to make that moot."

He pulls into a driveway, and lets me out. I grab my bags and step back to let him transform. "How?"

The blue mech holds up a hand. "First, we need to get a few things cleared up." I look at my feet nervously. "We'll let you stay here since Aid likes you, but you'll need to stay out from underfoot. One of us will take you to find what you'll need later, but for now, you need sleep."

I nod and lay on the couch. "You try to sleep on the side of the road in Chicago. It's frightening."

"She asked if I'd help her get an Illinois cert for EMS." He sighs before turning to me. "Why do you want to make my offer moot?"

I start playing with the strap on my bag. "It's one thing if I'm crying over him, because watching those movies helped me through the last thirteen years of emotional hell, but to see you hurting… I can handle it if it's me. I've been through a lot." I look up at the medic. "I can't if it's you, or Optimus… It's times like this that I wish I wasn't just a human with a sensitive spine."

"A what?"

"My back's really sensitive, just along my spine, and sometimes my shoulders. I can't stand to be touched there, and it's always been that way." I yawn before pulling my orange knotted fleece blanket out of my bag and curling up into a ball on the couch.