Chapter Two : Curiouser and Curiouser

Disclaimer : I don't own either of these two worlds, they belong to their respective owners, which is not me.

He wasn't sure, exactly, what had prompted his decision to take the tiny squishy female with him when he'd made his escape from those that pursued him. Perhaps it was that she'd saved his life with the stunt she'd pulled on the crane, or perhaps he remembered another high spirited brunette that would have done the same for him without any hesitation or second thought. Either way, now there was a squishy in his passenger seat, his energon levels were dangerously low, and he was being hunted by the very humans he'd been trying to protect.

Ratchet was, unfortunately, a medic with the tendency to fuss excessively over those in his care. Like it or not, now that she was with him, she was in his care. Little Miss Clara had just gotten herself into a war and a world that she had no business in. No matter where she'd come from. The brave ones always ended up destroyed. He remembered that from when the Lennox family had tried to hide him before. They; Will, Sarah, and baby Annabelle, had been killed before he could evacuate them. He'd failed them, and in doing so lost the last humans that cared what happened to he and his people. Now there was another human, a civilian, put into harms way because of him. Nothing he could do for it now.

She'd gone quiet after her explosive exclamation when she'd first jumped into the cab, slumped against the passenger door and still panting after her mad dash from those that were after him. "Are you alright, femme?"

"I'm fine, fantastic even."

"Your heart-rate and blood pressure are elevated and your respiration is at alarming levels."

"Oi, rude alien gent, stop scanning me without my permission."

"Its not rude to be concerned with the one who saved my life just now." His tone had bite to it, a little of his natural personality shining through even though he had little energy to spare to being cantankerous at the moment.

"Fine." She snorted and rolled towards the driver's side, seat-belt firmly in place. A smart one then. Good girl. "Just don't make a habit of it, I get enough alien tech pointed at me as it is."

That, on its own, was odd. Until his people had hit the planet alien life was regulated to stories and occasional, fictional, sightings. But she seemed not only used to it, but aggravated by its regularity. Curiouser and curiouser.

His attention was shifted from the femme to himself when something in his engine block sparked and started making a bad gurgling noise. Sounded like energon in the intake valve, but his scanners were barely working so he couldn't be sure. Either way, he had to stop and deal with it. Or perhaps talk the femme through it, if she was familiar with Earth vehicles. No other options.

Ratchet knew it was risky to stop, especially without knowing exactly where they were and who could be close by, but it was either stop or choke as his intakes clogged and his internals overheated. He chose to stop, pulling over as far as he could and hoping it was far enough. Wherever he was there were a good number of trees and rocks, and the temperature was cooler. Somewhere in the Rockies, maybe.

"Miss Clara, I require your assistance."

"What's up gent?" She sat up, finally seeming to realize they'd stopped. She was more rattled or exhausted than he'd first thought. Not a good sign. "Think we're far enough away from those goons to be safe here?"

"No, but I am in need of repairs. My intakes are clogging up and if something isn't done I will overheat."

Big brown human eyes looked at him very hard, a look he hadn't been given in a long time. "In other words you'll either drown in your own blood, or overheat something and explode."

"Exactly."

"And I thought the Doctor was danger friendly. Alright then, what can I do to help?" She was getting out the passenger side before he could answer, assuming she'd be able to hear him outside his vehicle form; which she would. Still he popped open the other door to circulate the cool night air into the cab. It would slow down the overheating process, and probably air out the cab, which smelled pretty badly by now since he hadn't had the chance to wash in nearly three Earth years. She hadn't complained, but it had to be bad.

The medic braced himself then forced open his hood, hearing something splinter as he did so. The transformation sequence was botched, he'd gone through too fast for things to go where they should. It was going to hurt going back to bipedal form, but he'd do it when he got the chance. Hopefully near some of his own kind who could help him more than this one tiny femme with too much courage and not enough common sense.

Back to the task at hand.

"Are you familiar with the internal workings of Earth's motor vehicles?"

"No, but I help fix the TARDIS periodically. It can't be any harder than that." He didn't know what a TARDIS was, but he assumed it was the ship she'd come from. "Just talk me through it. I'm clever enough to figure it out." If he'd had another option he'd have protested, but given where the leak was he couldn't get to it without the use of a hologram, and unfortunately his holographic projector was mutilated in the fight on the boat.

He vented loudly and settled on his shocks, making his entire frame sink a few inches and Clara jump back like she expected something to happen. "You know, when most things make that sort of noise, they blow up."

She'd said it with a straight face and even tone, and he still cracked up. He simply couldn't help it. He'd been so worried and lonely all this time on his own, and now he had a vibrant little spark of life to keep him company if he could just keep her safe. Being alone never sat right with him. Ratchet was a medic, and was thus used to always being around others; injured or just checking in. It pained him to be alone, and with humanity now against them, he'd been more alone than he'd ever been before. Clara was one of the rare ones that accepted, and he imagined when they had the time he'd hear all about this Doctor of hers and just where exactly she'd come from. For now, he had to get through this crisis and then on to another hidey hole.