AN: Happy 10th chapter! I realized I have a major flaw in my story, or in my opinion; it seems like an issue. Too many characters seem to like Vega. I know her relationships with other characters built up gradually, but it doesn't seem right to me. I haven't heard anyone tell me this yet, but it's something I realized halfway through typing this chapter. It's not like I'm gonna make everyone suddenly hate her, but she's going to end up having more conflict with other characters. I encourage and appreciate reviews, whether it's just a few words of praise or actual feedback. Both these things keep me going, and I just wanted to throw it out there for everyone to know. Please enjoy!

(also sorry for skipping an update the other day)

Chapter 10:

The next morning, I found out they caught the guy who popped out of my closet. What he confessed was that he was the one who had been eating my food and nearly starved me to death. The nurse told me all about it when she came by to help get me ready to leave. She took out my IV's and unhooked me from the heart monitor. After she did so, she held out her hand and lowered my necklace into my palm.

I closed my hand around the necklace was, and I confused at first, but she told me the man had stolen it. He was waiting for an opportunity to get a hold of it, and by the time he did snatch it, there were too many nurses around for him to escape. In the few minutes he'd have, he'd snatch up my food and eat it quickly before leaving the plates out. He'd resumed hiding, after that. I couldn't believe it. The nurse seemed a little surprised that I was more pissed about the necklace rather than the fact he was hiding in my room.

"He almost stole this from me?"

"I'm very sorry. He's been detained, and multiple charges are going to be pressed,"

She doesn't know anything about what this necklace really is. I'm really praying this man didn't snatch it because he knows what it is. I'm hoping he just noticed it was a pretty piece of jewelry he could pawn off and nothing more. If that were his intentions, it still wouldn't be a good thing, so I'm glad he didn't make off with it. I should probably let the Sgt. know this happened. I got dressed, and they handed back my bags, and I brought my flowers with me. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them. Maybe whenever I get back to the Knightship, I'll find a place in the cockpit to keep them, if Lockdown's cool with it.

They called someone up from the airfield, and I was picked up and brought back. What a strange three days, most of which I wasn't awake to remember. Even though I asked the two men who came to visit me to thank the Sgt., I wanted to thank him myself, as well. It felt wrong to just not say anything personally. He was the first person I went to when I got back. I found him hanging out alone and having a smoke.

When I approached him, he removed his cigarette from his mouth and flicked off the ashes while huffing out a cloud of smoke. "Glad to see you're back," He placed the cigarette back in his mouth.

"I just wanted to thank you again for the flowers; I really appreciate that,"

"Anytime,"

"So are they just from you or was this a group effort?"

"Well," He removed his cigarette again and flicked off more ashes, "Yes and no."

"What does that mean?"

"Lockdown told me I'm not allowed to tell you it was his idea," A smirk crossed his face, "But I thought it was a good idea, so I went along with it and sent my men to pick something out and take it to you."

"I see,"

"Don't tell him I told you," He said as he placed the cigarette in his mouth, again. "So I heard some guy stole the shard."

I tilted my head. "How did you find out?"

"When they called, they let us know." He breathed out another puff of smoke. "We're going to have someone look into it."

"I was just about to bring that up, actually,"

"Did they feed you breakfast at the hospital, by the way?"

"Nah,"

"Then you might wanna go eat, we have things to do, today."

That was a good idea. I was starting to feel hungry, now that he mentioned it. After bidding him farewell, I trotted off to find a place to sit and have a meal. I noticed the hangar in the distance, and I decided I'd chill out over there, again. This is one of the few spaces in the airfield I was most familiar with since I've spent a lot of time over here. It's nice and shady, and the sun stays out of my face, for the most part. The side I sit on is facing North I believe, so I don't think I'll ever have much of a problem with unwanted sunlight.

I haven't had my rations in awhile. I plopped down onto the grass, set my flowerpot down beside me and emptied my bag out on the ground. I noticed it was yet another warm day. That seems odd to me. It usually starts getting really frigid this time of year. I looked up, and the sky was bright with a few clouds here and there. It felt like a spring day. As I thought about this, I scarfed down a can of sardines, as disgusting as that may sound. I really love sardines. Growing up, all of my classmates would gawk when they'd see me open up my lunch box and pull out cans of sardines. Yeah, I never made many friends, growing up.

That's probably why I grew up to be more of a follower than a leader. I never really had the chance to step up and take a group's matters into my own hands. Even though my life has taken a complete turn for the weirdest, it feels good not being completely in the spotlight and be expected to lead anyone. Their schedules don't bend to me. They don't all drop what they're doing to pay attention to me, and that's a good thing. It'd be hard to adapt if it were all about me. When I'm thrown in the spotlight, I feel like I wanna run away and hide, so no one finds me. Even though my life can't be normal, again, I can still appreciate this opportunity life has given me to walk on the wild side of things.

I have a feeling my journey's only just beginning. I've come to appreciate some of the new people I've met. Sgt. Gunther, who's done what he's could to help me get it together. I didn't think he really liked me at first, but he's one of the more dependable people I've met in my life. I commend him for putting up with me. The Col. who's gone out of his way to talk to us and keep us on track. I'm quite an unorganized person, and Lockdown seems to have a one-track-mind if anything. It's nice to have someone looking out for the two of us. Yes, I can even appreciate Lockdown, as cold and mean as he can be. Thanks to him dragging me here, I've been finding out what I need to know. He's still special to me, in a way.

If it weren't for him, I would've never had spoken with Ratchet. That's something I can never tell him, though. I would have never in my life would have been able to know anything else about Marina. I would have never guessed she was on Sentinel's side. I can't say I'm not disappointed in her. Then again, she and I have met the same fate. We were both forced to side with the enemy. I'm sad she never told me this.

There I go getting deep into thought again. I was hunched over with a hand on my chin and the other resting over my knee. Lockdown seems more caring than I thought, which I find shocking. After seeing how he treats everyone else and hearing how little he thinks of humanity, I thought compassion was something beyond him. I don't know how I feel about an alien robot sending me flowers. It was sweet but almost uncanny. I almost wanna ask about it, but at the same time, I don't wanna throw the Sgt. under the bus. Curiosity may end up getting the better of me. I looked down and watched the grass flutter in the breeze. I began to hear the sound of rumbling footsteps. It was Lockdown, of course.

"I see you're still alive,"

"Yeah,"

He didn't say anything else, for a moment. He took a few steps toward the hangar and leaned against it and crossed his arms. "I took care of Dino, the other night,"

In a quick motion, I turned and looked up at him. A look of concern must have crossed my face because I noticed his optics narrowed. He looked away from me.

"He wasn't an easy one," he began to recall, "He may have been a fast-mover, but his downfall was that he was not a fast-thinker."

"Where did flee?"

"It was reported there were many sightings by the harbor area," When he said that, I felt my stomach drop for a multitude of reasons. "He seemed to think that cloaking made him completely undetectable, so he began causing havoc and hiding behind it like a wall."

"I see," So, chances are I could have run into him back at the harbor, a few days ago. He didn't mention catching anyone else, so maybe Ratchet's okay.

Dino may have tried to kill me, but I told Ratchet is teammates would be safe from Lockdown. I feel like I let him down, but what could I have done? I was hospitalized. I still can't help to feel like it's my fault. It's not like he knows I was gone or anything. I can't fix what Lockdown feels. I can't stop him from getting done what he feels he has to do. He seems to think he's 'cleaning out the universe.' He doesn't just dislike humanity; he dislikes everybody. How does he know what compassion is? How would he feel if he found out I agreed to detour him from the Autobots?

"I need to know something," I asked.

"You need to know something?"

"It's up to you if you wanna tell me or not,"

"What is it?"

I glanced over at the cluster of plants. "Did you have any say with the flowers?"

He turned his head and looked down at me. He was silent for a moment.

"No," He stated firmly. "What did Gunther tell you?"

"He didn't tell me anything-"

"Yes, he did. Otherwise, you wouldn't have brought it up,"

I guess he had a point.

"Now, what did he tell you?"

"He said it was your idea,"

"Is that so?" I nodded. "Well, he's lying to you."

Now I'm met with a dilemma. Who do I trust, here? I was beginning to feel uncomfortable. I quickly stood up and gathered my things before beginning to sheepishly walk out of the situation.

"Where do you think you're going?" I heard him call.

"I-I was just going to find the Sgt.-"

"You think I'm lying, don't you?" I didn't say anything. "He wants me to seem empathetic towards you, I suppose. Do you really think I see you as anything more than a pawn in my plans?"

"I-I'm sorry-" I uttered.

"Humans are disposable, all the same," He hissed "Do you really think someone like me would care for you? There is nothing special about you."

I suddenly felt a tear roll down my cheek. I stiffened up and placed a hand over it. I didn't even realize my eyes were welling up. I quickly whipped around in the other directions and began walking away. I can't explain how that made me feel. I clutched my bag tightly, and I dragged along with my head down as tears fell from my face and onto the pavement. I was trying hard to not have a meltdown and make a scene.

"Vega?" I heard a voice call. The Col. was maybe a few meters away from me. I noticed the Sgt. walking beside him. I halted and wiped my eyes as they drew closer.

When they got nearer, they noticed the state I was in. "Vega, are you ok?" The Col. asked.

I couldn't help it any longer. I broke down and began to sob loudly into my hands. The Col. placed an arm around my shoulder. The two tried their best to calm me down and maybe squeeze some answers out of me, but it was to no avail.

"Did Lockdown have something to do with this?" The Sgt. asked skeptically. I lifted my head and looked up and him. He looked aggravated. I nodded.

"Yes," I whimpered. "I only asked about the flowers,"

The Sgt. sighed "Goddammit, Vega." He stormed off in the direction I came from. The Col. and I followed. I looked up at the sky, and I thought to myself 'What a nice day to have squandered.' It's so sad I had to feel so terrible on a day like this. To be honest, this was entirely my fault. I shouldn't have said anything. Before we could even reach the two, they had already started arguing. We finally got close enough to hear their exchange.

"Well, what did you say to her?" The Sgt. snapped.

"I told her you were a liar," Lockdown scoffed in response. "She's nothing more than a possession, to me. I don't care for her in the way she likes to think."

"No Lockdown, you're a liar, and you're a dick for being that way to her-"

"You sure are brave calling me such things,"

"Oh? A few words offend you?" I could see Lockdown's face was now twisted in anger. He leaped forward and drew a massive cannon. This isn't going to end well.

"Lockdown, what the hell?!" The Col. shouted.

The Sgt. jumped back in shock. "What is your problem?"

"It's you. You are my problem," He began to load some strange looking ammunition into his weapon. "And I'm going to solve it."

"Have you ever heard the phrase 'sticks and stones will-" The Sgt. was then interrupted.

"Sticks and stones may break your bones," Lockdown finished loading the cannon. "But hollow-points expand on impact."

The Col. whipped out a walkie-talkie and began frantically shouting into it. "We need help over here; Lockdown is fucking pissed!" He lowered the device and looked up at Lockdown with a mixture of fear and anger in his...eye. "We're having you detained!" He yelled defensively

"You think you can apprehend me?" Lockdown taunted. He fired a few shots in the air causing the three of us to recoil back in fear. The shots rang through the entire airfield. "I'm your only hope if you want these Autobots gone. Just you try to fucking stop me."

Men came. They swarmed the entire area. They pumped him full of electric currents and knocked him out. They apprehended him. And me.