Black Pearl

Prologue

Haneul sighed as she finally exited the plane after an extremely long flight. Shouldering her purple backpack that was her carry-on, she waited by the baggage claim for her luggage. After hefting the large black and purple suitcase off of the conveyer belt with some help from a kindly gentleman, she stood outside of the airport. Damn, was it hot outside. Pulling her long, straight black hair up off of her neck, she tied it into a messy bun. Narrowing her almond shaped brown eyes to guard them from the sunlight, she fished a pair of sunglasses out of her backpack, quickly putting them on.

Haneul was tiny. As a Korean woman of twenty-four years old, she stood only five feet tall, and weighed around 100 pounds soaking wet. She didn't mind being small, however. It was just a pain in the ass trying to reach for things on the top shelves. Plus, she couldn't stand the nicknames people would give her. However, she managed to put up with all of the ridicule and name calling all throughout her life, and thankfully it had ceased when she entered medical school. Haneul's dream was to be a nurse. All she wanted to do was to help people; she had been that way all of her life. So, it was only natural that she was to enter the medical field when she had the opportunity.

That was one of the reasons why her family had decided to ship her from her home country of Korea to America. There, she would have the chance to further her knowledge and also work on her English skills, which admittedly weren't the best in the world. She tried, though. And to her, that was all that mattered. She could understand most of what was said in the language, but when it came to speaking it, her mind always drew a blank. To her, it was unacceptable. To her family, it was funny.

She quickly made her way to the car rental section of the airport, where she rented a nice black Ford Edge. Seeing as how it was only noon in Washington D.C., she decided to make her way to the hospital where she was going to be an intern with the program they offered. Unfortunately, things didn't quite go her way.

While driving down the back streets of the city, in a more deserted part of town, she screamed and had to slam on the brakes to avoid colliding with a huge, metal foot that had landed right in front of her car. Looking up with her eyes as wide as they could go, her jaw dropped as she saw the being in front of her.

It was large, extremely large, and slightly humanoid although it was made entirely of metal. It was black, with white accents and the word 'Police' stenciled on it. As if hearing her scream, it turned its head towards her, terrifying red eyes glaring at her menacingly. Baring its sharp, rusty teeth it raised its foot, planning on stomping on her car. She couldn't move fast enough to put the gear shift into reverse, but just as it was about to bring its foot down on her, a loud shout echoed throughout the street.

"Barricade!" the voice shouted just as another metal being jumped over her car, ramming themself into her attacker and toppling the two of them to the ground. This one was a bright yellow, and she could vaguely make out the words 'Emergency' on its body. "Stop trying to run away!" it shouted. A large buzz saw ejected itself from its wrist, and was quickly headed towards Barricade's head.

Unfortunately, Barricade managed to remove himself from the yellow one's hold, quickly transforming into a police car and speeding away from the scene. As if noticing her for the first time, the being that had saved her life widened its electric blue eyes as it looked into her own brown ones. The face was distinctly masculine, now that she got the chance to examine it. He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that she was okay, followed by a gasp of astonishment.

"Oh slag."

Ignoring the exclamation of the giant that had saved her, Haneul quickly reversed the car, driving around the legs of the being and speeding off in the direction of the hospital. What she didn't notice was the neon colored emergency vehicle trailing her from a distance.

Parking her car in the hospital's parking lot, she quickly made her way inside. After reassuring the receptionist that she was okay and not, in fact, hurt in any way, she was shown into the back, where she met the doctor that she would be shadowing for the day.

Ratchet, on the other hand, easily blended into the other emergency vehicles behind the hospital. Activating his holo-form, he entered the hospital in search of the human who had witnessed his little spar with Barricade. Because the general public didn't know of their existence yet, they had to be extra careful not to be seen. He was already beating himself up over the fact that he had been so careless, in his eyes. He went to the ER waiting room, thinking that she had gone to the hospital for some injury that Barricade had inflicted upon her, but when he was proven wrong, he slid his hand down his face.

"Slaggit, Optimus is going to have my head."

A/N: So, here's my latest story!

Sorry that I've been inactive for quite a long time. A lot of shit has been going on in my life. Anyways, I hope that you find this story as intriguing as my others, and review if you like it!

I'm unsure as of yet whether or not I will continue with this, but if I receive positive feedback, then you bet your ass I will! I've missed you guys.

With love,

-ZH