A/N: In a world where giant, sentient robots who can feel and act just as we do, would it be so strange as to believe that there are unique and gifted humans as well? Based on the idea of the New Avengers and with the intention of creating a bridge into another comic/comic crossover (Not the Avengers but close, it's another group that everyone loves :-)), The Decepticons attempt a more stealthy approach and Tina's feeling that something isn't right just doesn't go away.

I'm actually a little bit uncomfortable about going this route, that is why I ask for opinions. There's going to be some dirty rotten Decepitcon stuff coming up but I have to get this character developement crap out of the way first. I didn't want this story to be about only Tina, I want it to be about Volt and the Autobots too. Their relationship is about to get put into overdrive. Stay tuned for some drama and smart ass comedy. Including some Sunstreaker harassment. The girls seem to like to try and instigate him. Lol.


Four.

Four long weeks. Two broken ribs, 1 nasty concussion, 10 stitches in her head which resulted in a new haircut (Miss Portman in V for Vendetta anyone?), a sprained knee and a broken left arm. It had been the week, or weeks, from hell. Thankfully, Volt had remembered her emergency data and had Ratchet take her to the University Medical Center where she was under the care of her close friend and former mentor Dr. Tohiro Tanaka.

Too many tests. One surgery, under the cover of the stitches in her head and she was back to normal. Well, as normal as normal can be considering she looked like she fell off of a highway overpass during rush hour. Getting dressed had become a daunting task that often left her in some contorted position that required the help of a nurse to free her from. Tina sat on the bed in her hospital room with her trusty black backpack at her feet. She wore the easiest thing she could get on. An oversized teeshirt from college, sweat shorts, and slip on keds. For added effect, she wore a crazy ski hat, complete with a fuzz ball on the top.

There was a light knock at the door, startled, Tina looked up to see the kind eyes of Dr. Tanaka staring back at her. The doctor was slightly shorter than her and had beautiful silver hair on his temples. His almond shaped eyes smiled at her behind his bifocal glasses, his hands in his pockets and a stethoscope around his neck. Tina giggles at him, wincing at the pain in her ribs. "You look so... doctorly."

"How should I look?" He asked with a slight smile and chuckle as he walked over to the bed.

"I guess this is fitting. I'm still just so used to you having the mad scientist look. Something weird wrapped around your head and eighthousand electrical thingy-mo-gobs hanging off of you."

"We'll now your the one with the thingy-ma-gobs. " He patted her on the back. "You'll be back to normal soon. You've always been a quick healer. Just don't forget what we talked about."

"I know," She rolls her eyes heavenward, "Practice. Practice. Practice. Get a hold on your abilities and learn blah, blah, blah. And whatever you do, don't loose your temper." She laughed as he frowned at her.

"Come back and let me know how things are going, okay?" The Dr. looked very concerned at his former student.

"Yes, I will." She smiled respectively up at her former professor. Just then a nurse came to the door and knocked. Both Tina and Tohiro turned to see the always pleasant, red haired nurse smiling kindly back at them.

"Miss Littorio, your ride is here."

"Thank you, Rose." Tina smiled at the nurse as she stepped back out of the door with a wheelchair which she groaned at upon seeing. Tina hated wheelchairs, well, when other people were driving them. She got off of the bed and gave Dr. Tanaka a hug. "I'll call you in a few weeks? Maybe we can do lunch or something?"

"That sounds good, Tina. It's been too long." He smiled that fatherly smile at her again as she picked up her back with her right hand. "Well, Tohiro, I'll be seeing ya."

"Bye, Tina. Remember, practice."

She gives him the "rock on" gesture and a hearty "Woot!" with her right hand as Nurse Rose wheels her to the elevator.

Mikela grabs Tina's bag as Nurse Rose finally allows her to get out of the wheelchair just outside of the front door of the lobby. "Take care, Rose." She says giving the pleasantly plump nurse a big hug. "I'm gonna miss the Pooh scrubs."

"Bye, Tina. Take care and take it easy, k?" Tina swears Rose tears up as the woman gives her a tender but strong hug.

"I will." She says as she walks off behind Mikela. Both girls walk to the back of the car, Volt automatically popping the trunk for them.

"Are you hungry?" Mikela asks as she tosses Tina's bag in the trunk.

"Oh my god, you read my mind. I need IHOP bad." Tina grabs her stomach with her good hand.

"Okay." Mikela walks to the passenger side and puts the seat back, hoping in the rear. Tina walks to the drivers side and tries the door, which is locked.

"Volt, come on!" She stands back as the window rolls down and a young man with light brown hair and wrap around sunglasses stares back at her. The smile on his face is simply devilish as he lowers the sunglasses, showing her his smiling big brown eyes and well chiseled jaw. "Ummmm. Uh..?"

"Hi, Tina." The guy says to her seeming overly familiar. "How did you expect to drive with a broken arm and a brace on your leg?" He flashes her a movie star grin.

"..."

"It's me, Tina. Stop playing." He rolls his big brown eyes and she just about dies laughing.

"Volt?"

"In the.. er.. flesh?" He says seeming unsure.

"That doesn't really count here." Comes Mikela's voice from the back seat. Tina shakes her head as she walks around and climbs into the passenger seat. She stares intently at him from head to toe.

"Okay, Mik', you had something to do with this. I know it." She pokes Volt in his arm, leaving a crinkle mark on the jacket his wearing where her finger had just been. "Whoa, you're... real. sort of. Whoa." She looks him up from head to toe, "Are you?... never mind."

"Tina!" Mikela yells at her from the back seat.

"What? Painkillers remember? Blame them. There's just so much attention to detail. I mean, damn, you're hair is moving in the breeze."

"So, I'll take it you approve?" Volt gives her a lopsided grin as they pull out onto the highway.

"Um, yeah." She sits back in her seat and gets a slap on the shoulder from Mikela. A shriek of pain from Tina piercing the car's quiet interior. "OW! Broken arm remember?"

"Sorry!" Mikela makes the mother of all 'oops' faces. " So, tell me, what happened?"

"When?"

"What the hell do you mean, when? I mean, before scared the shit out of Barricade and got knocked out." Mikela has somehow found a way to comfortably sit on the small bump that is in between the two rear seats. Not the most comfortable place to be. They hit a slight bump and her head hits the ceiling. "Ow."

"He chased me down, won the race, wanted to keep me as a trophy, his butt had a power surge and he dropped me like a rag doll." Tina had four weeks to come up with an answer to that exact question.

"Bull." Mikela slides over into one of the bucket seats and strapped her seatbelt on. A habit she had gotten into after Sam's constant hounding. "I'm sure we'll get the real story later. Right?"

"Yes." Tina sat back in her seat and pulled her floppy ski cap lower over her head and pushed her sunglasses up further on her face as she got comfortable. "I need sustenance or I'm going to die of hospital food poisoning!"

Both Mikela and Volt laugh as they cruise down the road in search of food.

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From across the parking lot, blending into the backdrop of numerous undistinguishable cars, they watched her hug the large woman then descend down the steps to the blue Honda. The blue Autobot honda. The human female had survived her fall, survived a fall that should have killed her. Now here she is, hobbling down the stairs with a cast on her arm, a brace on her knee and a shorn head complete with a line of stitches along the side of her head, which she tried to hide under a strange looking ski cap. She has held up quite well considering how fragile the fleshies are. Whether this was because of her unique physiology or some random streak of luck, they do not know, neither do they care. Their orders are simple, follow her, study her more and do not be seen. The lack of markings on the black and silver Camaros made them a little less obvious than Barricade's black and white police vehicle and still unrecognized by the curious human and her Autobot guardian.

Both vehicles are plain, unmarked, and in rather common colors, making them the perfect guise in which to study her more. The only drawl back to this mission, was that they would not be able to break cover. Not yet anyway. Runabout and Runamuck both patiently, yet anxiously, await the day when that cover could be broken and they could yet again dance to the sweet symphony of destruction and terror.

"Sent to spy... how long must we do this, Runamuck?" Runabout detested being forced to hold himself back from his natural talents, creating chaos and wreaking havoc. For now he could only let the tension build inside of him while he awaited its release.

"Until we are told otherwise. I too am not happy about this but it must be done, Runaabout." Runamuck wanted just as much as his comrade to take out at least one Autobot right now. But like the girl, they were ordered not to destroy her "car" either. "It may be needed to be used as a tool of persuasion later," Starscream had directed them. Supposedly, from what they had learned from Frenzy's excellent information finding, the girl was extremely attached to the vehicle. Even before discovering it's true identity, she had an unnatural affection for it. Spending way too much time with the vehicle, it would come in handy should she not see the genius of their ways and decided to fight back. The Autobot Volt had become a leverage tool.

As Volt pulls away from the curb and out onto the main road, they follow at a safe distance, placing a few cars between the themselves and the SI. The Honda turns left at the next light and both Camaros speed up to make it through the yellow light, still behind, they resume their conversation over their comm link.

"So please remind me why we're doing this when only a few weeks ago, Barricade was sent to collect her, Runamuck?" Runabout speeds up slightly and swerves at a lone pedestrian crossing a crosswalk. Laughing as the skinny and haggard man jumps back and screams a toothless barrage of swears at him, grimy fists raised in anger.

"Because things changed. She's the one who injured Barricade, not the Autobot. Starscream wants to know more about her before we take her." Runamuck pulls slightly ahead as yet another light turns amber. Runamuck follows suit.

"Okay, but does she know what she did?" The situation surrounding this human gets stranger and stranger each passing solar cycle.

"According to the data that Frenzy acquired from her friend and medic Tanaka's computer, yes she does know."

"So, she's that valuable to us then?" Runabout was confused about the Tina human's condition. They seem to be such a violent race as a whole. A small fact that does make them a slight bit more valuable in his opinion.

"Yes and then some," Runamuck's voice trails off as they slow down allowing them to see where the SI is headed. The blue Honda pulls into a parking lot at an IHoP and the two Camaro's turn and park across the street, keeping the restaurant in view.

"Sent to watch. What a fragging waste of time this is. " The black Camaro watches as three people exit. Two human females and one male. The male was driving the car. "He's a new addition. Who is that? The female with the long hair is usually seen with the Witwicky boy and that squirt Bumblebee, but who is the male?"

"I don't know, Runabout. That, I do not know. For now, we wait." Both the Silver and the Black do not move a wheel as all three humans walk into the restaurant. They do exactly that, they wait.

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"So, you have a big announcement to make tonight?" Mikela picks at the remains of her decimated waffle with her fork. Volt just sits at the table drinking nothing, eating nothing while Tina stares at him in disbelief as she looks at the SI which is parked just outside of the window and then back to him.

"Yes, I'm not telling ahead of time so don't ask." Tina shoves another fork full of delicious strawberry crepe into her mouth, savoring it's sweet flavor. The only sweet she got in the hospital was jello, bad ice cream and the occasional cookie or chocolate Rose would sneak into her room. She swallows and leans forward, speaking barely above a whisper. "Volt, how the hell are you doing that. I mean, this. You're in here. With us?"

"The avatars have a limited range but we're well within it. So, here I am." He clasps his hands on the table and Tina still stares at him in amazement. She points a fork in Mikela's direction, "Did she put you up to this?"

Mikela begins to laugh and almost chokes on a chunk of waffle. "I only provided inspiration in the form of what kind of guys you talked about with Maggie and I. I am innocent here."

Volt nods in agreement and only shrugs as the waitress asks if they need anything else and hands Tina the bill.

"I'll meet you two at the car. I've got this." Tina walks to the register and pays the bill as Mikela and Volt head back out to the car. As she walks out the door she stops to readjust her hat again and inhales the crisp morning air. The day seems nice enough, benign enough but there is a nagging feeling somewhere deep inside of her that she is being watched and not being watched by a friendly. She looks around for anything out of the ordinary that may be within sight and only sees some cars parked across the street at an office building. A few SUV's, a station wagon, one haggard looking old Subaru, two Camaro's and a Harley Davidson. Nothing to worry about. There are no Saleen cop cars, helicopters or fighter jets flying over head. She figures she's being paranoid and heads back to the car, satisfied that she had her IHOP.

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"Teeny!" Tina grins ear to ear as she hears Jazz call her nickname. The ever cheerful mech does a little dance in the hall upon seeing her.

"I'd do a dance too, Jazz, but right now it can only be the Humpty dance." She literally limps to her side and wiggles just like the song says.

"So, no hint as to what this big announcement is huh?" He raises both optic ridges at her playfully and she puts her tongue in her cheek. "Nope. Sorry, you'll have to wait."

Jazz smiles down at her and gives her a thumbs up, "Okay, we'll all be in there shortly then."

Tina smiles at him as he walks off and she makes her way to the recreation room. She can't help but laugh upon entering. Someone had gone so far as to decorate the room with streamers, balloons and a "Welcome home" sign. The fact that Glen and Sam are sitting in front of the TV, each with two party hats on his head, points them out to be the culprits. Tina almost falls over laughing as she notices that even Bumblebee has a party hat on his head. "Holy shit, Bee. You look like Jack from Jack in the Box." She laughs even harder as Bumblebee plays a snippet from a Jack in the Box commercial through his radio.

Glenn pauses his game and jumps up and gives Tina a quick hug. "Glad to see you're in one piece. We still goin' tomorrow?" Tina's Aunt, Uncle and two brothers are flying into to see her. After her accident, they figured it was time for a trip so Uncle Salvo, Aunt Donna conned Lou and Andre into taking time off of work to come see here. It wasn't an easy task considering that Tina, Lou and Andre hadn't talked in a long time. But they were going to be there tomorrow and she was looking forward to seeing them all.

"Yep. We're still going. Did Donna send you their itinerary?" Tina carefully lowered herself into a chair and pulled off the brace and violently scratched her leg. Her leg was itching something fierce.

"Yep. It's in my phone. I'll pick you up. I rented a big ole' SUV." He grins as he holds his hand out wide apart. "You know, while a Lamborghini would be nice, there's a space issue."

"And the mood swings." She chuckled.

"That too. Here, have some juice." he hands her a cup and she sips on it as bots and people alike start to enter the room. Maggie rushes over to Tina and sits down in the chair next to her, practically squeezing both of them out of it. While both are thin, the chair can only hold so much. Tina groans slightly in pain as Maggie gives her a huge hug.

"Oh my god. Oh my god. I thought you were going to die." Maggie leans back and sighs relieved upon seeing her friend in one piece. "I would have been in here earlier, but someone," The unusually hyper blonde gives Sunstreaker a death glare which is met with an equally deadly look from the yellow bot. "Someone, had to loose it. Again. On his brother. They're like eternal teenagers only one has massive anger issues and is heavily armed."

"And the other has a twisted sense of humour and is equally heavily armed."

"Exactly!"

Greetings get passed around the room as they all enter. Tina smiles warmly up at Optimus as he enters. "Welcome back, Tina. It's good to see you are better. I know Volt is happy to have you back in one piece as well." Tina looks over to Volt who gives her an agreeing nod. "Whenever you're ready, Tina..." Optimus already knows of what Tina is going to tell them. Her hospitalization was under the watchful eye of the U.S. government. Details surrounding her care and situation had been coordinated through none other than Tom Banechek, former employee and officer of Sector Seven. Still a federal employee but no longer part of the terminated Sector Seven division, he was still involved with many facets of the government involving the unexplained or just highly classified. One of those classified things being the Autobots. Another responsibility of his is coordinating inter departmental activities or events. One such even being Tina's "incident" with Barricade. Mr. Banechek had informed Optimus Prime of Tina's secret.

Tina nods at Prime and stands up. Maggie jumps up to help her do so. The injured girl thanks her friend who responds with a wink and a grin. "So, who wants to know what happened out there?" She tries the comedic approach because it's just easier. They all, human and Transformer alike, nod in unison. She inhales deeply as removes her hat and unzips the sweatshirt she had on over her tee shirt, showing the bruises and multiple needle marks on her right arm. "Well, I happened."