Thanks for reviewing, Trickster91, Senri Shiki Fan, Rob Lockster, Yuro-Faita911, and autobotgirl12328!

EVERYONE-- HELP, PLEASE! I NEED THE STATS REQUESTED IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER'S A/N FOR HOUND, BLUESTREAK, ELITA 1, AND CHROMIA! AND IF YOU'D LIKE TO REQUEST SOMEONE ELSE, TOO, GO RIGHT AHEAD! THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF A SEQUEL AFTER THIS ONE, WHAT WITH I'M PLANNING FOR KATE. THANK YOU!

Trickster91-- Thank you! That's really helpful. ^_^

Yuro-Faita911-- If you're thinking Decepticons, no. :-P They know nothing about her. If you're thinking Sector Seven, again no. They don't know about her, either. XD

You know, when I started this story, I didn't have much direction. I had a few ideas for conversations, but the farthest I knew was about Jazz revealing himself and the Autobots to Kate, as well as when Kate meets the whole gang. Now I have the whole plot pretty much mapped out, a new level of intrigue, and areason for Kate being kidnapped. Not to mention an idea for a short sequel. XD Yay for brainstorms!

If anyone would like to write a story or draw a picture based on Wheeljack's dream, let me know! The participants of the dream are all in robot mode, though maybe Bumblebee would be in car form. Not sure who the munchkins would be, but the flying monkeys would have to be Decepticons! XD Starscream as a flying monkey . . . Huh. :-P

Chapter Eleven – A Piece of Her Puzzle

In the end, Kate and Jack weren't the only ones cleaning up the mess from the prank. Jackson pitched in with some super-powerful cleaner that helped immensely, and even Peter and Hyde were found to be scrubbing at the floor in the rec room. As for Max and Micah, they spent forever in the showers, scrubbing away at the honey in their hair. Their clothes weren't ruined, thankfully, but Ray spent a while at those, making sure they were clean, before joining everyone in cleaning the halls.

Kate was fully exhausted that night, and slept well. It was late in the morning when she woke up, and by then, all the guys were up and at 'em.

The kitchen was where she went first. She hadn't had much to eat the night before because of the cleaning job, so her stomach was making angry noises at her. The baked oatmeal from the morning before hadn't lasted long with five grown men, so Kate was forced to check for cereal in the deserted kitchen. There were all sorts of things in the cabinets: chips, oats, tea, coffee, sugar, and various other sundries.

There was, however, no cereal.

She sighed, placing her hands on her hips. Didn't these guys know they had to restock before they ran out?

The sound of something in the hall drew her attention to the door. As it neared, she detected the distinct sound of an engine. Her frustration averted, she turned her mind to this new curiosity.

Who in the world is driving a car in these halls? Though, I can see why they would, with the wide corridors and tall ceilings. And it would get you somewhere quicker than walking in here. But what . . .?

The vehicle came to a stop outside the kitchen, and next she knew, two doors slammed in quick succession, and the rustling of bags greeted her ears before the door to the kitchen came open. As she watched, Jackson stepped inside. "Hey, Kate!" he greeted cheerily. "Wanna help me unload the truck?"

Kate directed her gaze to the objects in Jackson's hands, still slightly out of it from just waking up. "You went shopping?"

"Yep! Me an' Ray, since Jack pointed out that our food supplies were seriously lacking."

The girl nodded blankly before following Jackson back out into the hall. There, she let herself examine the truck resting there, and its owner. When she first met him, Jackson had sported bluejeans and a green polo shirt. Now, he was dressed more stylishly, with a white dress shirt and black slacks, accompanied by black dress shoes. His short black hair was combed neatly, and overall he looked rather out of place next to the white Chevy Silverado in the corridor. As she looked again, she noticed the blockish red and green detailing on the hood and doors, trailing back along the frame toward the rear. A long white coat pillowed in the passenger seat, and she guessed that was her scientist friend's.

The sound of bags being picked up drew her mind back to her task. Moving forward, she smiled her greetings at Ray, who had stepped around the truck to help. "Good morning," he told her amiably. "Twins been behaving?"

Kate shrugged. "I wouldn't know. You're the first two I've seen since I got up, which was, like, fifteen minutes ago. It takes forever to walk through these halls. It took me five minutes just to get here."

Jackson grinned as he came back to join them. "Well, after you eat, I'd be happy to give you a lift to the rec room, where I'm sure they'll be. Hmm, we should get a golf cart or two for in here . . ."

Kate stopped his speculation with a smile. "Thank you, Jackson. I'd really appreciate that."

He blinked. "Jackson?"

Smiling sheepishly, Kate scratched the back of her head for a second. "Sorry, it's just how I've been referring to you in my mind when not thinking of you as Wheeljack. You just don't seem like a 'Will.'"

The scientist beamed at her. "I know! Go on right ahead, Kit."

It was her turn to be confused. "'Kit'?"

"Er, sorry. I tend to make up nicknames for people on occasion. Kit sounds kinda like Kate in a twisted sort of way, and, well, yeah . . ." Embarrassed, Jackson turned a little pink. "It just kinda came out."

Kate laughed. "Hey, it's all good. Kit. I like it."

Ray snorted as he picked up a bag. "Name's short enough, why do you need to make it shorter? Myself, I'm itching to call you something longer, as if Kate's short for something. You wouldn't happen to be a Kaitlin, would you?"

"Heck, no! Nah, I'm a Katherine. I didn't tell you before?"

"No."

"Huh. Oh, well. Food time!"

Jackson let out a whoop. "Booyah!"

Ray rolled his eyes and trailed after them, carrying the last of the bags. "But how do you get Kate from Katherine? Wouldn't you be 'Kath,' then?"

Kate grinned. "Not necessarily. Haven't you ever had a nickname?"

He scowled. "Yes. That is a secret, however."

Jackson laughed. "How does 'Unholy Terror of the Seven Clinics' sound?"

"Hey, my bedside manner isn't that bad."

"Not all the time, no. But when you're mad at how stupid the injured person was, then you can be a terror."

"The twins deserve a dressing down after all the pranks they've done. I'm not going to be polite to them when they've injured themselves because of a prank."

"Hey, doc, it's not just them. I've had to suffer your rage, too, you know."

"You nearly blew yourself up, you dimwit! I keep telling you to take more safety precautions, but n~o."

"Hey, they work just fine."

"You caught yourself on fire!"

"I didn't mean to!"

"That's my point!"

Kate couldn't hold it in any longer. The argument came to an abrupt end as she collapsed in laughter, which soon had them chuckling as well. Ray shook his head as he began putting groceries away, the first of the trio to stop laughing. "Very well, I will agree that I can be less than pleasant when a patient has acted stupid, or isn't cooperating. Peter's even borne the brunt of my wrath at times with his stubbornness. The man takes too much responsibility onto himself, and hardly spares the time for a checkup. Jackson! Quit lollygagging and help me!"

Startled, Jackson got went into action, sliding a bowl and spoon toward Kate before digging through the bags. "Got a preferred cereal, Kit?"

"Cheerios and honey?"

Passing them to her, Jackson went back to putting groceries away. "We also have Honey Nut Cheerios."

"No thanks. It's weird, I like honey on cheerios, but I don't like the honey nut ones. Am I strange, or what?"

Jackson grinned. "Definitely strange."

Ray handed Kate the milk. "How'd you sleep?"

"Pretty well. No nightmares this time. But you know, now that I think about it, I did have a strange dream, and Vor says she doesn't really know anything about it. It was probably just my brain playing tricks on me."

"Why, what was it?" Doctor and scientist listened in interest, and she had to smile a little at their curiosity. Dreams were often fun to hear about, she knew from past experience. Especially the strange ones.

"Well, I felt like I was trapped somewhere, and it was really dark. I was calling for someone, but no one could hear me. I got the feeling I was their mother, or something like that. I kept thinking in terms of, 'my children.' There was someone nearby that I really didn't like, that I was afraid of, but I don't know why . . ."

The men didn't look like they knew what to make of this. "What happened after that?" Jackson asked, concerned.

Kate's brow furrowed. "I don't know. I can't remember if it went on past the point of realizing that last part. Oh, well."

"Hmm." Jackson broke out in another one of his cheery grins. "I dreamt I was in the Land of Oz last night."

Two dumbfounded expressions were turned on him, and he laughed. "No, seriously. One of my experiments went wrong in the dream, and I was transported to Oz. There were a bunch of little munchkins around, and I was wearing these sparkling red boots. The Good Witch of the North was Hyde, believe it or not, so that would be Good Wizard of the North. He looks really funny in a tutu, though, believe you me. He had the sparkly star wand Glinda had, too. The scarecrow looking for a brain was Max, the tin man looking for a heart was you, doc, and the cowardly lion was Micah. You three fought a lot in the dream, go figure. The dog was a mini-Ben, and the Wizard of Oz was Jack."

"Who was the Wicked Witch of the West?" Kate prompted, struggling to hold back her laughter.

"Well, you know how you told me a little about that movie of yours? The main villain, Megatron?"

"Yeah . . .?"

Jackson smirked. "Take a wild guess where I'm going with this."

Ray surprised them by doubling over in laughter first. "Megatron melting! That's priceless."

It only took a moment of picturing it for Kate to join Ray in laughing. "Oh, I really wish I could have seen that. That's hilarious!"

"Ain't it? I don't even really know what he looks like, so somehow he got pink daisies painted all o'er him. Ooh, eat up. Micah was saying something about aCall of Duty 4 showdown."

"Again?"

"Hey, you said yesterday that he'd think of you as a rival. Pete and Hyde won't let the twins prank you yet, so this is the only thing they can do."

Kate rolled her eyes as she dug her spoon into her cereal. "My brother couldn't even beat me. But who knows? Maybe Micah will break the pattern. I'm sure there are gamers out there much better than I, but as one can figure, I haven't really travelled around that much, so I haven't met them."

"Hmm. Perhaps Ben will be able to give you a run for your money when he visits."

"Sounds like a welcome prospect." Kate spent the next few minutes in silence as she ate and as Ray and Jackson finished putting things away. As soon as she was done, she put her dishes in the dishwasher and went to stand by the door. Jackson joined her a second later, glancing back at the doctor. "Give you a lift?"

"Sure. I think I'll watch this tournament Micah wants to have."

"Hey, Wheeljack, mind if I ride in the truck bed?"

"Not at all, Kit. Hop on up, and we'll get going. Toss me my coat, will you, doc? A~nd we're gone!"

After Jackson started the truck, it wasn't long before they arrived at the rec room. The scientist was right, she decided. Golf carts would help a lot, and she could even drive one legally! Just because she hadn't mentioned it to anyone didn't mean she didn't have a license.

Her smile at the thought died right after. She had forgotten; that pervert had it. Wait, no! It was in her backpack! Ha! Take that, kidnappers!

Such excitement over a small piece of plastic with your picture on it. What's its significance, again?

Aw, c'mon, Vor, you were there when I got my license. Remember?

Oh, yes. I apologize, dearie. My memories are less than orderly at this point in time.

Hang on. Your memories?

"We're here, Kit! Come on, you can talk to that voice in your head some other time."

Startled, Kate jerked her head up and around, unaware that she had been staring at her lap. "Wha-?"

Jackson laughed. "Come on," he repeated. "Jack and the twins are waiting. Ooh, Hyde's here!"

"Who'd want to miss this?" Hyde said in reply, hearing the scientist's exclamation. "Although Peter's not here yet. How'd you sleep, kid?"

Kate grinned, recovered from her surprise. Jackson was right, she could ask Vor later. "Like a baby, though I did have a weird dream. But that's nothing compared to Jackson's!"

Exuberant, Jackson explained his dream again, and who Megatron was. Even Hyde was bug-eyed at the end, though he also looked like he wanted to strangle the dreamer for the tutu and sparkly wand.

Max cracked up. "That's priceless, Jackson!"

"Hey, dimwit, you were the one with no brain. Meanwhile, he dreamt me to be some cowardly feline!"

"Aw, buck up, Micah! At least you were a lion."

"That lion cried! And he sang! I don't sing!"

"Yeah? I seem to remember that one time where-"

"THAT NEVER HAPPENED!!"

Jack, laughing, clapped a hand over each of their mouths and pushed them away from each other. "Easy, there. I suppose I should be glad I was just the . . . fake wizard."

Kate frowned at his momentary scowl, detecting something more behind the look. "Jack, you okay?"

His eyes cleared, and the DJ smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just realized what exactly Jackson dreamed me as."

Jackson grinned. "Hey, you all, don't forget what I dreamed myself as. I was in the place of a girl, a high offense for a man."

Kate turned to him, dismissing Jack's behavior. If there was something more to the scowl, he obviously didn't want to talk about it right now. "And you were wearing sparkly red boots!"

"At least they weren't high-heels. But they were such a fashion atrocity!"

Micah shuddered. "It hurts my head just thinking about it. Let's talk about something else. Hey, kid, up for another round of CoD 4?"

"Oh, you betcha! Who all's playing?"

"Same group," Jack answered, passing her a controller as she plopped down on the couch between him and Max again. They sat in the same order as the day before, with Jack on the far right, and Micah on the far left. Their audience settled on the other couch, with even Peter coming to join them, though he hovered around the door.

I wouldn't have figured he would come, she told Vor.

Even the manager must get his relaxation and fun, Katherine. Just because he can be such a serious fellow doesn't mean he don't ever join his group for a bit of entertainment like this.

Kate nodded silently to herself as Micah set up the game. Every man for himself – and girl for herself – ten minute rounds, first to three hundred. No kill cam, no radar. Shipment.

"Not again!" Jack complained. "I fail at this map."

"Too bad," Micah told him, childishly sticking out his tongue. "Three-to-one vote, we play it. Oh, relax. We're playing them all!"

From the other couch, Jackson laughed. "Oh, this is going to be good."

........

Kate was winning again as Micah set up the fifth map. She had lost only one round, and that was because Micah avoided her and stole her kills, as well as it being a map she wasn't as good at. She had never been the best at the one with the crashed airplane for some reason.

Max put down his controller for the moment and stretched his arms above his head. "You're real good at this," he complimented, grinning at her. "Your bro teach ya?"

"Uh-huh. At first. After he died, I hung around more with other gamers in the community, as well as a computer expert down the block that my brother had me learning from. Real nice guy, one of the few after I was kidnapped, and he taught me everything I know. Although, my brother didn't know about some of those things. Probably for the best, though."

"When you say computer expert, what do you mean?"

Kate winked, deciding to let them guess for the moment. "Just that. I think it actually had something to do with my kidnapping. I can't remember, though. Blocked memories, and all."

"Huh." Max stared at the ceiling for a moment, and she guessed he was searching for another topic. When he looked at her again, she found this to be true. "Say, that . . . Transformers thing . . . Whenever you talk about it, you always mention this 'Jazz' fellow. You like him or something?"

Kate laughed. "Well, yeah, though I don't really know much about him. Most of what I know is from fan fictions."

"No, I mean, do you like him?"

The room was quiet as everyone stared incredulously at Max. Kate gave him a disbelieving look, then shook her head. "Max, that's like asking if I'm in love with Luke Skywalker."

"Who's Luke Skywalker?"

Micah snorted, whacking his twin on the back of his head. "Star Wars, you idiot."

"Oh, yeah!"

"Fictional character, just like Jazz. Besides, I don't even know much about him, as I pointed out. And a relationship is the last thing on my mind, what with being raped and all."

Beside her, Jack choked, and everyone stared at her in horror.

"What?" she asked, confused.

Jack looked at her with concern. "You were raped?" he asked quietly.

Kate blinked. "I said that?"

"You did," Hyde confirmed.

Kate gave a disturbed frown. She didn't remember that. It was a blank spot in her memory, just like with that nightmare. "I don't . . . I really said that?"

Jack wrapped his arms around her and drew her into a hug. She returned it, feeling a little better. "Yeah. But don't let it bug you."

She felt a hand settle on her shoulder when she was released, and looked up to see Peter standing there, a sympathetic look softening his features. "If and when you remember, we'll be here for you. Never forget that."

Although confused, Kate couldn't help but grin. "Don't worry, I don't think I'll be doing that anytime soon. Come on, everyone, lighten up. I don't remember, so there's no point in worrying about me right now. Micah, start the game. I may be some troubled teenager, half insane, but I can still whup your butt."

Finally, Jack and the others laughed. "You heard the lady. Let's get to this."

Edited 4-27-10