A/N: welcome to the slightly depressed mind of redamiB6147. Not much else to say. I promise ill finish my other storeis. Someday.

Belladonna, Strider, and the plot are the only things taht are mine.

:Message: comm link.

Read and review! reviews are the onl thing that will keep this story alive!

I reserve the right of artistic liscence.

Enjoy!

It had been a rather rough day for Belladonna Zarrinni. She was a stock person for a large department store in the mall. Her deliveries ranged in the largest, most heavy and awkward of boxes she had ever seen. She was promised less of a delivery day by Charlie, the main UPS guy who delivered to the store. Instead she was met by a younger man who had twice the promised delivery waiting or her when she got to work. Needless to say, it was already turning out to be a day of surprises.

So when she was taking out her last load of boxes to the smelly, large compactors, she thought she imagined the metallic skittering sound. She paused in her heaving of the boxes, her ears attuned to the noises that were being produced from behind the compactor she was currently stuffing.

"Hello?" he voice was small and tinny compared to the large room, and the noises paused. Her heart started to hammer as she lifted the beaten box cutter she had been using to slice up the cardboard. She walked towards the noise, aware of the darkness from the open cargo bay door casting huge shadows across the metal canisters of the compactors. The nose started up again, and Belladonna almost screamed as the shadows suddenly moved. She pressed herself into the metal behind her, her eyes wide as her forehead started to sweat with nerves.

"Hello?" she asked again, and a strange warbling and clicking noise accompanied the skittering noises. She took a single step forward before being slammed back into the metal by a metal….being. Belladonna screamed, thrashing at the metal that had a firm grip on her body,staggering into the light. She finally threw it off her, falling to the ground as she searched for the metal thing. It skidded on the ground into a pool of light from the floodlights, its frame scuffed and sharp. It had a head, two legs, two arms, and a rather proportionate torso. Its bright blue lights, what she assumed were eyes, were staring at her as it gave a curious warble, it head tilting to the side as it struggled to stand up. She moved to get up as well, but the robot shrieked in fear, peddling backwards. Belladonna froze, her wide eyes focused on the figure before her.

"Easy, big man. I'm not going to hurt you." She said, and the robot stood still, its eyes locked onto her. She rocked slightly onto her heels, her eyes raised up to his blue ones, her head resting on her arms as it moved towards her.

"That's it. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere." She said, and it moved toward her, poking her in the shoulder. She flinched at the strength behind the poke, but stayed still beside that. The robot warbled again, clicking as it tried to touch its hands together.

"Are you a baby, big man?" she asked, and he cocked his head to the side again, chirping, as she stood up. He tried to back up, but ended up skittering on his back, squeling in fear.

"No no, im not going to hurt you!" she said, and she put her hands up, showing they were empty as she stood still again. The robot chirped, moving towards her with bright blue eyes locked onto her hands.

"That's it, baby." She said, and he moved until he was right infront o her. She finally got a good look at this mystery robot, but she wanted to duck to see all the details, for he was only as high as her mid thigh. He titled his head back to look at her, but the weight of it seemed to be too much for him for he fell over onto his but, chittering at a high pitch.

"Its ok, baby. Sometimes you got to fall to get back up." She said, crooning to it with her baby voice, her eyes locked onto its silver form.

It was angular, wires wrapped around a thick metal that she couldn't identify. The chest area was the only part that seemed to be protected, thick metal over the delicate looking wires shining dully in the light. Its hands were jointed like a human's, thick fingers that couldn't quite seem to close all the way or grasp anything not unlike a human baby's hands. Its head was what caught her attention the most, for it was huge compared to its body, and all she could see was its eyes. It had a thick helm that wrapped around where its ears would have been on a human, and it stopped by the supposed chin area. It had another piece of metal where its nose and mouth would have been, and there was a deep scratch over it and almost up to its eye. There was another scratch on its chest plate, slight off from the first one. If Belladonna had to guess, she would have said that it had been scratched by something with thick angry claws and a mean temperament.

"Easy, babe." She said, and it moved towards her, touching her leg. She held still, although the slight touch tickled, as it wrapped its silver arms around her leg, shuddering into her jeans. She relaxed, dropping her arms towards her sides and brushing the top of the robots head. It moved its head, looking up at her with bright eyes that seemed shinier than before. She smiled down at it, rubbing her hand affectionately on its helm.

"Hey there beautiful." She said, and he chirped, the extra shiny in his eyes dimming to the normal brightness. He gripped into her jeans, almost ripping little holes in the worn fabric, and she bent forward a little, sliding her hands down his head to his arms, feeling the odd texture of the metal and wiring. Its grip tightened as her smooth hands trailed over wires and metal, and she stopped on its shoulders, humming to herself. She glanced at her watch, sucking in a breath at the proclaimed time.

"Damnit I was supposed to have finished an hour ago!" she said, and the robot squeaked, chittering at her as she picked it up underneath its arms and slung it on her hip, closing the compactors hurriedly to let the machine cycle through, the little robot fisting its hands in her shirt as she just about ran out of the trash room, hurrying to the break room, scribbling a sign out sheet, and then rushing to her car. Belladonna wanted out of the crazy mall and had a 45 minute drive home. The robot clicked and warbled happily as she walked to her well loved Hyundai accent, lovingly named Beau. She shifted all her weight to one hip, fumbling with the keys as the robot watched with curious eyes as she unlocked the door, sliding herself into the driver's seat and letting the little one sit on her lap. He clicked and poked at the steering wheel, and she laughed, moving him away from her lap and onto the passenger seat.

"Do you like music, little one?" Belladonna asked, and she poked the radio's power button, a familiar and rather overplayed song coming on. Her face lit up in excitement as the tune to Stereo Hearts by Gym Class Heroes warbled through the speakers. She started up her car as she started to sing, happily jumping in her seat as the little robot watched her with a curious tilt to its head. It started bobbing up and down with her as the car purred away from its parking spot and towards her house.

The song died and a new one came on, one Belladonna was less happy about, but she still tapped her hand on the wheel while she hummed to it. The little robot's eyes dimmed, its frame curling up into a ball on the seat as the girls humming soothed it into sleep.

Belladonna sighed as she glanced over at her companion, passed out on her passenger seat. She ran a hand through her hair as she thought over what she was going to do with her silver companion.

She finally pulled into her apartment complex, parking as close as she could get as she turned off the engine of the car, sitting back and glancing again at the little robot. It was still asleep, or shut down, she couldn't tell which. She got out of the car, humming Stereo Hearts again, as she scooped up the heavy body of the little guy and tucked him onto her hip again, locking her car behind her as she walked to her apartment. The little robot dug his hand into her shirt again, ripping the thin fabric slightly as he burrowed his head into her shoulder. She smiled, rocking her body slightly more as she walked, again juggling her keys and the little one as she finally got into her small apartment. She dropped her keys after locking the door behind her, kicking off her shoes hap haphazardly as she walked in a trance to her bed, laying the little robot on the center as she stripped, and changing clothes as falling into bed beside it. She cuddled around him, a smile on her face as she started humming again, the little robot moving more in her bed to get closer to her body heat. She stroked it's head as it burrowed into her chest, and she smiled as she cooed to it.

"I'm going to give you a name. Would you like that little one?" she asked, and one bright blue eye onlined, light clicking starting up. She hummed a little louder, waiting until the bright eye dulled before naming him.

"I'm going to call you Strider." She said, and the eye offlined, the little clicking petering out as Belladonna laid her head down, shifting so she didn't crush the little one. She fell into sleep with the soft whirring of the little robot's systems as it slept fresh in her mind.

Not too far away, a speedy exotic car drove fast through the streets of a close town. Its striking red and white paint job spoke of races one and lost. Its windows were blackened out, and a curious metal face was where the car identifier would have been. It was following a slight signal, one it had never thought it would feel again. It drove with a purpose, trying to figure out where the signal was originating from.

:Bumblebee to Drift: came a transmission, breaking the cars concentration. It screeched to a halt at a red light as it answered.

:Drift here.: he said, and a download started in its maps, new information being inputted into his tracking system.

:I found where the signal started. Its from a sparkling, but the only known sparklings are in Decepticon hands, so be cautious.: the voice said, and the car sighed, searching the area the signal faded out in again. The light turned green and he moved forward, deciding to leave the town he had been searching for an entire earth day.

:Drift out.: he said, and he turned onto the highway, his thought millions of miles away.

"Where did you go, little one?" he asked to no one as he settled down to drive, hunkering down on his wheels as it started to rain.