Chapter 7

Optimus Prime drove along an old, abandoned highway in the middle of a scantily populated forest area, Ratchet trailing behind him as they sped to their destination—an old condemned gold mine forgotten to the rest of the world. After hearing from Bumblebee of the events that had unfortunately taken place, they were distressed to hear Lilith had been wounded and a human policeman had been pulled into the mess as well. Of course, they didn't blame Bumblebee nor Lilith for what had happened, though it was upsetting all the same.

When they arrived at the meeting place it didn't come as a surprise that they'd arrived there first. During the trip they were constantly being updated with everything Bumblebee found out from the man named Laurent DeLuca. When the little yellow Camaro pulled up next to the red and blue big rig and search and rescue vehicle both larger 'bots nearly sighed with relief.

One by one the humans climbed out of the yellow espionage expert, Sam muttering a warning of "brace yourself, Sergeant," to the policeman just before the search and rescue vehicle began the transformation that nearly dropped the officer to his knees in fear-muddled awe.

Ratchet knelt down to Lilith and scanned her body, "The shot's a clean one, Lilith. You were fortunate enough for the bullet to miss your spine, scapula and clavicle. You'll need stitches." Ratchet offered a hand for Lilith to climb into. She nodded at the medic's instructions and climbed into the awaiting palm. "You're lucky—normally I'm not equipped to repair flesh-beings such as yourself, but after Mission City I took the initiative to prepare myself. However, that's no reason to be careless. This world can be dangerous and if they had hit you in a critical area I doubt there'd be much I could actually do for you."

Lilith looked at him, "They like to shoot first and ask questions later. I was just standing there when they shot me from behind."

The medic scoffed at this new information, but said nothing pertaining to the matter.

From below, Laurent was watching the exchange with interest. His mild fear had disappeared leaving nothing but awe and curiosity. The amount of gentleness the giant being showed for the abnormally tiny woman was astounding—it didn't seem possible for such a large creature to be that tender. His eyes never once left Ratchet.

That is, not until he saw Lilith's shirt softly billowing to the ground; he turned away instantly, noticing Sam do the same to clean the blood out of Bumblebee's interior.

"Ratchet?" Lilith asked, "I'm... The thought of a needle terrifies me."

There was a small pause before the medic spoke gently to her, "Close your eyes, then, and hold still."

Laurent's eaves dropping was ended the second the yellow Camaro in front of him began the transformation the search and rescue vehicle had gone through—the sense of mild fear (or maybe the feeling of being a tiny insignificant ant) returned when the 18 foot yellow 'bot walked over to watch Ratchet stitch Lilith up.

The cop jumped when Sam clapped a hand on the man's shoulder, "Cool, huh?"

"This is..." Laurent wearily looked at the motionless big rig, "What are they?"

A deep voice came from the 18 wheeler Laurent had suspicions about, "Allow me to explain that, Sam."

The Autobot leader's vehicular body began to separate, rearrange and lift off the ground, just like the other two, until before him stood a 32 foot tall being. Laurent stumbled backwards away from the largest of the 'bots and incidentally tripped over a fallen tree branch. He landed on his back with a grunt.

Optimus knelt down to get a closer look at the man, "Are you alright, Laurent DeLuca? We mean no harm." Laurent ran his fingers through the strands of long, dark brown hair that had fallen loose from his ponytail and stared at Optimus. At last he nodded. The Autobot leader continued, keeping his voice soft as to not frighten the man, "I'm Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots—autonomous robotic life forms." Optimus motioned to the two yellow 'bots watching over Lilith, of who had turned her attention to the leader, equally interested in what the great leader had to say, "My Chief Medical Officer, Ratchet, and espionage expert Bumblebee. My weapons specialist isn't here at the moment, but I will introduce you to him, when we rendezvous with him later. We came to Earth searching for the Allspark Cube: a source of great power wanted by both Autobots and Decepticons alike."

"Decepticons," interjected Sam, "are basically the Nazis of their race."

Optimus nodded affirmation before continuing his tale, "Many battles were fought for the Cube; many lives were lost. The latest battles have been not on our home world of Cybertron, but here, planet Earth, where we Autobots fight to protect all humankind from the war we inadvertently brought you."

The stunned man still grounded rubbed the back of his head, "Aliens, huh..." He mused over that for a few moments before climbing to his feet, "What about Lilith? How does she fit into all of this?"

"We're working with the United States Government in secret; they have known of our presence on Earth for many years now, but kept it from the public to prevent panic. Lilith's origins are a mystery, we know only that she had been under human control and when we discovered her, she was trained to disarm and destroy us. Because the US government is the only group to know of our existence, we believe they have a hand in her training."

"But that doesn't make sense," Laurent insisted, "Why would they work with you, but train her to kill you—"

"I'd never do that!" Lilith vowed from her perch in Ratchet's hand. He had just finished stitching her up, "I...I couldn't!" The very thought of hurting any one of her friends hurt something deep inside her.

Mikaela jogged forward, unwrapping her jacket from around her waist to pass it to Bumblebee. The smallest of the 'bots then sent it to Lilith, who took it after a second with a mumbled, "Thank you."

Optimus stood to his full height and walked to where Ratchet stood so he could face the distraught young woman, "You may not have had a choice, Lilith. We don't know much about the person you were before, but you had risked your life to save the children; that isn't the mark of a bad person."

"No choice?" She whispered and looked up, "Everyone has a choice...to stand up and say no."

"Not everyone is strong enough to say no." All eyes and optics turned to Laurent. He smiled slightly, "And sometimes, even the smallest weakness can be used to make someone do something they don't want to."

Lilith looked from Laurent to Optimus, "W...what should I do?"

Optimus gave her a supportive smile, "We'll figure something out. Until then, you're welcome to stay with us."

The smile returned to her face, though it was small, and she nodded, "Okay. Thank you, Optimus..."

"It's not a problem. Now, then," the great mech turned to the others, "Shall we head out?"

"Where to?" Mikaela asked as Bumblebee transformed back into his alt-mode and Ratchet lowered Lilith back to the ground, where she easily hopped off, allowing him to transform as well.

"Before we make any accusations on the government's involvement with Lilith, we decided to contact Lennox to see if he knew of anything. He wishes to meet with Lilith." Optimus' great form reverted back to the flame-clad Peterbilt. "Lilith, Sergeant DeLuca, would you like to accompany me?"

Lilith beamed up at Optimus and nodded; both driver and passenger doors opened in invitation. Laurent walked casually, while Lilith almost skipped—Lilith knew nothing but transforming aliens, but Laurent, on the other hand, was still trying to accept everything. Personally, he thought he was doing quite well...just a little uneasy, which was to be expected.

"Oh, wow, Optimus!" Lilith smiled as she took the helm, "Your seats are really comfortable—and bouncy! Wow! A bed! Look Laurent!" Man and machine chuckled at the excitement the woman was exhibiting. She only cocked her head, wondering why they were laughing; but it didn't matter, and she knew that, so she smiled.

For a while, as the caravan steadily drove to their destination, everyone was silent, leaving each other to their own thoughts.

Optimus had a lot to think about: the lack of news of both Decepticon and refugee Autobots troubled him—it of course was still a little early to let it worry him—it could be a few years before he heard news of new Autobot arrivals, but to be so in the dark was distracting. There were three Decepticons he knew were still out there, keeping their presence illusive: Starscream, Barricade and Scorpinok. What could they be planning? Where were they? When would they reveal themselves once more?

And there was Lilith. Where had she come from? Was she a sick product of human genetic engineering, or was she like the Cybertronians—an extraterrestrial? There were questions on what she meant to the war, as well as her origin. To put it simply: she was a weapon. Even though she no longer remembered her training, even though she was now innocent and determined to bring peace to the whole world, the training was still there. The questions that came with her presence almost sent his processor into overdrive: as a weapon, for who was she meant for—the Autobots or Decepticons? How far would the humans go to have her back...? Would he be forced to interfere with their works to keep her free? Would that spark a three-way war between humans, Autobots and Decepticons?

Hopefully Lennox would be able to answer a few of the questions he mulled over.

Laurent was just trying to cope with everything—every once in a while he'd find himself scolding himself for getting sucked into such a heavy situation; only to be contradicted by thoughts of what was right and his duties. In all truth, though, he didn't have to be there. He had made sure Lilith had gotten away safely, so he could probably just say 'well, it was fun, nice meeting you guys, but gotta go' and make up some story and go back to his normal police life. But, each time he thought about that, he would see Lilith kneeling before him with tears in her eyes and blood on her shirt, and he would think about how she had hugged him, rather than punch him in the face or kick him in the crotch.

He wanted to protect her; because, no matter what that bounty said about her or her abilities, she was weak. No doubt the Autobots could protect her, but he wanted to make sure she didn't get herself killed. And...he was seeking atonement; in order to achieve that he would have to help her.

Lilith had a lot to reflect on, too. Mostly, she replayed the events in her head, winding backwards with the events: finding out just what kind of problems she had caused for her friends, the bounty, the ambush the police had set up for her, and earlier that morning.

"Today was a good day." She whispered, looking at Laurent specifically.

"Yeah?" He asked, hoping she would continue.

Lilith nodded, smiling. "Earlier this morning, I decided I wanted to travel around the world, bringing peace to every land I touched. For a while, after the town's police force ambushed me, and shot at me, I didn't think it'd be possible. But...I was just thinking about you. At one point you held a gun on me too, but now, here you are, trying to help me. If I can do that again, nobody will have to get hurt, and I won't have to lose my freedom."

In all honesty, he wanted to believe she could do it, but she hadn't seen much of the world—he had, and after seeing what he had, he wasn't sure she'd be able to achieve her goal.

She understood it, too. "I know it sounds...impossible, but I just can't let anybody get hurt. Call it a dream of mine."

"It's an admirable dream, Lilith." Optimus' voice rumbled over his roaring engine.

Like Laurent, Optimus Prime knew pain was sometimes unavoidable, but it was no reason to discourage her. If anything such a goal should be encouraged—violence should always be the last resort. Though a peaceful solution rarely presented itself, the dream was with him too.

"It is." Laurent confirmed and brushed his hair from his eyes, "I'm glad it's you with the warrant...you're a pacifist; if the bounty had been set on someone else, there would be no pacifism to keep them from living up to their description."

Lilith thought it over. As much as she didn't like acting as a magnet for chaos and war, she agreed with Laurent. If it hadn't been her as the "terrorist" it would have been someone else. Someone who might not have been as reluctant to fight. Plus the friends she had made were wonderful.

"I'm glad, too. If it wasn't me, there's no way I would have met any of you. I'd never give that up."

Laurent smiled, "An optimistic pacifist, huh?"

Lilith's smile bloomed into a grin, "Yes!"

The three of them continued to talk, occasionally asking questions of each other—or skillfully dodging them. After a few hours the parade composed of three vehicles came to a stop at an old, abandoned ranch, where they waited for their company to arrive.


Lovins go out to: October 13th,

Yay! I managed to get an update up! Though, I still don't know when the next one might be.

On a lighter note: ;P Next chapter will have Lennox in it. I promise. Reviews make the world go round!

October 13th – Did that satisfy your Ratchet needs? Haha I'd never really made the connection between Ratchet and House—till you mentioned it. o.O Sometimes it's hard to keep a character here or there from fading off into the background...unfortunately Ratchet is one of those characters -winces- Blah. Anyway: Thank you so much for the reviews n.n! They keep me looking forward to updating.