Disclaimer: No-one, no-place, nothing. I own none except for what is mine and L.M. Dodger's.

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Chapter 2

Tasha suddenly heard the most alarming sounds she had ever encountered . . . how could she classify it? Banging trashcan lids? No. Screeching cats? No. A live Marilyn Manson concert? Maybe.

The ruckus turned into a series of terrifying crunching noises. Tasha was about to run inside when a cussing Leah finally drove her car in the shop. She climbed out of the car and slammed the door shut.

"That was your car?!" Tasha couldn't believe what she was seeing. "What did you do to it?"

Leah turned to her friend, fuming. "What did I do to it?! What did I DO TO IT?!? What DIDN'T it do to ME?!?!" Tasha's eyes went wide as Leah erupted. "First thing I found out was that the gas and brakes were REVERSED! For SOME reason, the windshield wipers wouldn't stop! "Oooh, what a beautiful engine"—HA!!! It died in the middle of EVERY intersection! I tried to listen to the radio, but NOOOOO! Every time I clicked a button, something ELSE went off!! First the lights, then the blinkers, then the car alarm! The seat was trying to break my face, as you can see!!" She pointed to her bloody, bruising face, and continued venting. "I was pulled over—PULLED OVER! The cop thought I was DRUNK!!"

Tasha nodded her head. "That explains why you're so late . . ."

Leah glared at her friend, debating as to whether or not she should put in a missing persons report for the soon-to-be-dead mechanic. Tasha smiled and pushed her friend away from the car. "Look, I have some bubbles. Go take a nice hot bath and leave this baby to me for a while, k?"

Leah glared at the car. Shadowhawk grinned yet another secret grin. She kicked him as hard as she could, yelling, "THIS ISN'T OVER, YOU!!!!"

Tasha smiled sympathetically. Leah's eyes widened and she fell to her knees. "OH GOD, I'M YELLING AT MY CAR!"

Tasha patted her shoulder. "Go, I'll take care of it."

Leah stood and tried to hold back the sniffles that were beginning to escape her. She nodded and turned, heading into the house. Tasha watched Leah until the door closed behind her. Then she turned, a malicious grin spread across her face. "Now let's have some fuuuun."

Shadowhawk couldn't really describe what happened, but he suddenly felt he was better off with the other girl.

Leah came in after her bath to find pieces of the car scattered all over the ground. "Oh. My. God. Tasha, what did you do to my car?!?"

Tasha poked her head up from the hood. "Me? Nothing really." Her voice was innocent. Too innocent.

Leah looked at some of the parts on the floor. A dashboard, the front seat, the motor, screws, bolts, the battery . . . "Is that the radio? Why is it destroyed?"

"Hmm??" was the only reply.

Shadowhawk shuddered as the mechanic dug further into the car. Dear Primus, help me! I'll be a good Decepticon. I'll become an Autobot even! JUST GET THIS WORM OUT OF MEE!!!

Leah's anger seemed to fade as she saw how pathetic her car looked. "Tasha, thank you for helping me, but . . . I think you're making things worse."

Tasha finally took her eyes off the car. "No. Look. The gears in the seats are broken, the motor has a TON of dents—I'll need to replace a few things in there—and the battery is dying. I'm surprised you made it here. This thing looks like it went through a war zone or something . . ."

Shadowhawk paused in the midst of his praying. You have no idea, you stupid squishy homo sapiens. Leah sighed, pulled off the towel wrapped around her head, and shook her hair.

"What can I do to help you, then?"

Tasha stood up and wiped her hands on her jeans. "Well, it's getting late. I'm going to stop for the night. If you want to keep working on it, go ahead, but I need my beauty sleep," she said with a sarcastic swipe to her hair as she walked by.

Leah replied with a chuckle. "Thanks Tash, for everything."

Tasha merely waved her hand. "Yeah, yeah."

A few hours later, Shadowhawk shuddered as he felt Leah's drool hit his leather interior. Primus . . . Primus . . . At least stop drooling! He railed at the unconscious earthworm for a while, shuddering once again as another drop fell onto his upholstery. He sighed and checked out his systems. Well, at least these human scumbags were good for something. He could finally start up his internal nano-bot rejuvenation systems. Shadowhawk shuddered once again as he felt another string of drool. I hope you drown in your own liquids, human! A warm buzz exploded in his body as the nanos started working. It would take a month or so, but the sooner he was better the sooner he could kill the woman with the wrench. . . and her little friend, too! Shadowhawk sighed as the nanobots warmed up his limbs. Thankfully, Dr. Hook managed to implant them in every bot he came across. They were—quite literally—a lifesaver. If it weren't for the little buggers, that buggy Autobot would probably still be gloating over his corpse on Mars. He felt drowsiness overcome him. How long had it been since he went into stasis? Before he could find out, his systems shut down for as long as they could.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!!! The shrill sound of a wrench on a pot forced Shadowhawk out of stasis. Uhhhhhhh . . . that . . . THING!! I'll kill it!! He turned an angry eye on the mechanic.

"Leah!! WAKEY WAKEY EGGS AND BAKEY!" Tasha yelled. She let out a startled yelp as a welding torch flew at her.

"Shut up!" Leah was red-eyed from staying up so late. Shadowhawk barely kept from bursting with laughter as he watched the mechanic get chased away by a barrage of objects thrown by the angry girl that was hanging out of the driver's door. His humor died instantly as the once-enraged individual lay down, snuggling back into the leather. She groaned, "And you know I don't eat breakfast."

Tasha poked her head out of the corner she was hiding in. "Awww. . . but I made it out of the squirrel I found in your car's engine!" she whined. Leah sat up and gave her friend a disgusted look. Tasha burst out laughing. "I'm kidding! I'm kidding! I didn't even make breakfast. I just thought that you would like to go get some tickets to that weird little thing called. . . Oh, dare I say it?? Anime OASIS?!?!"

Anim-ay Oasis? What in Primus is that? Shadowhawk was still wondering when suddenly the previously half-asleep driver leapt from the back seat and rushed toward the mechanic.

"LET'S GO THEN!"

She looked ready to bounce through the roof, as much as she was hopping. Mentally rolling his eyes, he tried to shut out the noise the two flesh-sacks were making and re-enter stasis.

Shadowhawk woke up to silence—a very odd thing to wake up to, concerning the last few days' events. He checked his internal clock only to find that the females had left the house three hours ago. Three hours to acquire a ticket? There must have been an ambush. He felt a slight tinge of worry pass through his processors . . . and his jaw almost fell through the floor at the realization. Worry? I am actually WORRYING about those meatbags? The human must have damaged my central processors, he thought to himself, making a mental note to do a check-up when the micromachines finished repairing him.

Just then, his audio sensors picked up the sound of a bike pulling into the driveway and he became silent. A clatter of feet . . . But no voices. The footsteps . . . They were heavier than the females'. Shadowhawk barely contained the rev of his engine as he heard the lock being picked on the door. Intruders, he thought to himself as he heard the click of the lock giving way. Once again there were heavy footsteps . . . they were trying to be stealthy. Shadowhawk resisted the urge to burst out laughing. That is the fleshling version of sneaky? I could hear him turn onto the street!

His internal laughter continued until he heard a high beeping tone. "This place is loaded, man! We gotta make a hit. Put it on the map!"