KayleeChiara: Thank you soooo much for your kind words! I try so hard not to make my OCs cliché and I guess Im doing good! Thanks again!

Ampdi: Haha, I like when she isn't far away, too. :P Thank you for your review!

Amai Seishin-Hime: Yeah, Francesca! Come on, do it for Ratchet! He's counting on you! (p.s thank you for the review :D)

FlowerCrazy: Thanks! Glad you liked it a lot! I agree about the last couple of chapters, but I'm trying to make it work out smoothly. :)

Elita-2: Yeah, Ratchet does! And I'm sure Barricade will be fine. :) I hope! Thanks for the review!

MissShelz: Haha yeah, I had to put in a Ratchet/Ironhide argument. :P Thanks for the review!

Here's the next chapter guys! I hope you like it!

A very tired Ratchet sped through the thickness of the trees, trying his best not to hit another. He'd already busted his front bumper, he figured for sure that one of his rims were dented and he'd narrowly missed ripping off one of his side-mirrors. He guessed going fifty in a forest wasn't the best idea, but he hardly cared. All he cared about was finding her.

He was picking up a faint Decepticon signal not too far ahead, but wasn't sure if it was because the 'Con was too far away, or there was a possibly injured mech up ahead. The only way to find out was to keep pushing forward, and he was doing just that.

Finally, not even five minutes later and he could see a massive, black blur up ahead on the ground. If it was a living organism, it was not moving at all. When he got closer, he realized not what it was, but who it was, as well.

"Barricade," Ratchet growled, transforming and getting into a defensive position. The mech could have been faking it, but judging by the blue energon leaking from his wounds, he didn't appear to be.

The police-'Con wasn't dead, that was for sure, but he was barely alive. Ratchet's instinct to help him, kicked in, but he tried to shove it away for the meantime. Being a medical officer, Ratchet was obviously more of a fixer than a fighter. Despite what faction any mech or femme was on, he would more than willingly help out an injured Cybertronian.

But since Francesca was involved, he was pissed off more than concerned for the dying mech before him.

After a couple seconds of his name being spoken, Barricade slowly stirred and looked up. "Who-" he began but stopped. "Ratchet."

Not wanting to waste any more time, Ratchet bent down and glared at the other mech. "Where is she, Barricade and don't you dare play dumb."

"Where are the others?" Barricade ignored his question. "Did you bring the other Autobots?"

"No," Ratchet answered quickly, hoping to ask his question again. "It's just me."

"They sent you to find her?" Barricade wheezed, his internal organs desperately trying to heal themselves.

"I came on my own will," Ratchet replied.

Barricade paused his wincing and simply stared at the medic. Then, he chuckled. "Ah, so," he paused after a shock of pain went up his cables. He continued, "you must really love the little squishy, don't you?"

"Where is she?" Ratchet asked, ignoring the comment. "I won't ask again, Decepticon."

"We were hiding out from the other 'Cons," Barricade explained. "Didn't hide good enough, apparently. Starscream took me down, but the femme escaped. She took off through the woods, but said she'd come back for me. My guess, is that she ran off to find you guys."

"I need to find her."

Barricade chuckled, despite the obvious pain he was in. "Do I look like I'd have a clue as to where she took off to?"

"Don't try and play off like you don't know which direction she went," Ratchet snapped. "I know you have a signature to track her down with, and I'd bet my best wrenches that Starscream and the others do, too."

"Then you'd best leave me here," Barricade told him. "I will only slow you down."

"I do not leave soldiers behind."

Barricade looked away. "You forget that I play for the other team."

"You helped her escape," Ratchet replied. "That is more than enough for you to join us."

The wounded 'Con shook his head. "I'll get us both killed. Just go find her and then you can come back for me."

"By then you might be dead," Ratchet growled, realizing they were only wasting time. "Either you get up on your own, or I carry you, and it better be the first option, because I don't feel like lugging your giant aft around the woods."

And after a few seconds of contemplating this, Barricade began to rise.

The darkness of the forest floor was relatively quiet, with the exception of a few birds and crickets. It wasn't until a few seconds later was the sound of panting heard and the thump of footsteps sounded. Francesca frantically dodged trees, one after another, and then all of a sudden, she tripped.

Her hands felt like a thousand needles had just penetrated them and the combination of pain and fear made her cry. She curled her legs closer to her body and just rested there, not even caring about who could find her, or what would crawl on her. She just wanted to get back to base, but even that hope seemed too far away.

"Who's there?" A loud and demanding man's voice echoed and the birds immediately stopped their chirping.

Francesca gasped, holding her hand over her mouth to prevent herself from making any more noises. She cautiously looked around and saw the faint glow of orange not too far away. Whatever it was, it was moving closer.

Then, to her surprise, she realized that this orange was really a man dressed in hunting gear. Not wanting to startle him- because he had a huge shotgun in one hand- she stood up slowly, revealing herself.

The man gripped his gun tighter at the sight of movement from the corner of his eye, but when he saw it was only a woman, he lowered it.

"I-I'm sorry," Francesca managed to stutter out. "I'm lost."

He hesitated and then took a few steps closer to her, but was a bit surprised when she backed away. "You can trust me," he told her, wondering if she was really lost, or if she had been kidnapped. "I won't hurt you. Where are you from?"

"I came from a military base," she replied, realizing that he wasn't going to hurt her after all. He was just a human spending his day hunting. "I.. I think it's not too far from here, I just don't know my way around."

"You shouldn't be running around in these woods," he told her. "Get yourself killed by any other hunters out there who'll think you're deer." Then he nodded, "but I do know of a military base around here. It's really top secret, though, but I can get you to it." He paused and she said no more. Finally, he spoke again. "Why were you running?"

She hesitated before answering. She examined his features. He was roughly 6'3", somewhat thin, but looked muscular as well and had dark brown hair that reached down a bit past his eyebrows. It was his hazel eyes that stood out the most and they were beautiful.

"We need to get moving," she said at last, ignoring his question. "Or else they'll get you, too."

He chuckled, not really buying it. "Sweetheart, you see this gun?" He held it up. "This will take care of whoever you were running from."

"Trust me," she breathed, stepping closer to him so they were only a few inches apart. "It won't even leave a mark." She looked around. "We need to get out of here."

"Just tell me who you were running from," he said, now curious as to what on Earth would be able to withstand the bullets of his shot gun. "I want to help out as much as possible."

"You want to help?" She asked. He nodded. "Then take me to that military base."

Not wasting another second, he nodded and grabbed her arm, pulling her through the thickness of the woods towards his awaiting truck.

"Slaggit," Barricade huffed, standing on his feet, hunched over from pain. He looked around at the trees, but all he saw was a thick shade.

"What?" Ratchet growled, getting annoyed. He began to examine Barricades wounds, storing whatever medical procedure he would need to do when they got back to base in his processors.

"The signal is too faint to get a good idea on which direction she's in," Barricade gave the bad news. He shook his head. "I can't figure it out."

"It's because you're wounded would be my guess," Ratchet sighed, taking note of the faint engine sound that was faintly audible behind them. When he realized exactly what was making that sound, he cursed. "Frag, get down!" Pulling Barricade to the ground with him, he directed his optics to the sky just in time to see Starscream's alternate mode speed above them.

"He knows where she is," Barricade exclaimed.

"Then we better get to her first," Ratchet snapped. "Can you transform?"

"I-" Barricade groaned. "I might be able to if I tried."

"Well snap to it," the Autobot medic growled, transforming into his Hummer H2 SaR alternate mode.

And Barricade did snap to it. Barely able to transform, he managed, but his alternate mode didn't look as pretty as it once did. Dents blanketed most of his body, his trunk door was barely transformed all the way and even more energon leaked than before.

Ratchet knew he had to find her if he ever wanted to go back to base to fix the 'Con.

"Alright," Barricade gasped out. "I think I'm ready."

"Good," Ratchet nodded. "Let's go."

And they sped off, kicking up dirt and other debris in the process.

Yay, Francesca met a new friend who can help her. :P

And Ratchet found Barricade!

Looks like things might turn out good in the end after all, right?

We'll see... (grins evilly)