The walk into the city seemed like it took forever. Maybe it was the exhaustion, maybe it was the energon in her system, or maybe it was just hope fading. Maria trucked on, one hand on her side, her burn wound stinging every time her shirt touched her skin. Her face a light pink, having cried for a long time on her walk, she wanted to kick Crosshairs. How could he just leave, knowing that he was probably going to be recaptured and harvested anyway. How could he just do that. Though the answer didn't matter currently, she trucked onwards, reaching the city by daybreak.

"I'm not a fighter." She walked between the traffic. "I'm not a soldier." Moving to the sidewalk she made quickened pace to get to her last destination. Though this was located in the city, the building itself was no more than three floors high. This particular facility was more dedicated to the science than the paperwork. "I'm just an artist." She had ditched her welder along the road. The weight slowing her down. She had already felt like passing out, and at times she staggered about, and people around her wondered if she was drunk. It had taken her till Noon to find the right place, and by then she was covered in sweat. A knot formed in her stomach as she stood in the middle of the parking lot, just looking at the building. "Optimus...Ratchet...If you can hear me," She spoke into her bracelet. "I'm coming."

Energon dripped from Ratchets head onto his shackled hands. He was slumped in his cage, heavily restrained and wounded. He had been working, converting the Dark Energon as he had been instructed, only when they brought in Optimus did he finally put up a fight. Smashing what large canisters he had already synthesized, he tried to get to Optimus. Swatting humans and machines out of the way, he only made it half way before being electrocuted and knocked around by the Evolved soldiers. Taking a beating, he was cuffed and put away, now having to stare at Optimus and Megatron laying side by side, being drained of their life. one vile purple, the other blue. The medic cursed himself, now unable to do a thing, his optics faded, and he wished he would just rust already.

"R...chet..." Ratchet's head lifted slightly at the sound of something in his audio-receptors. The static overwhelmed the message, making the rest impossible to hear. The building had heavy security, he had been certain no transition could get though at all.

"Maria...?" His voice was soft, wanting to believe it was her but he too was so low on Energon he felt himself fading in and out of consciousness. Leaning back, he rested his head on the back wall, feeling lost. Was this how the war ended? With the last of their kind ripped apart for the greater good of another species? Was this how it ended. Optimus and Megatron dying side by side, unknowing that the other was beside them. He never knew, or even though something like this would be the end game. "I tried." He blinked, inhaling and letting out loud cough. "I tried Maria. I wish I had your spark. But I'm old now..." he continued talking to himself. "I thought I was scrap when I landed in the junk yard. But you had to fix me. You insisted. And..." He trailed off a moment, "I showed you how." Looking at his hands, he spread his fingers and though about all of the things he had fixed, and those he had not, like bumblebees voice box, or even coming close to bringing Jazz back. "I could use your spark now. Primus...I'm giving up, and I know you wouldn't." His fist clenched and he rested his head on the wall again.

"Have I broken you?" Ratchet looked down again, seeing Marias father. "You had been so adamant about saving everybody and getting out. Was it the fact I successfully captured your leader that broke you?" He paced the cage.

"There will be others..." Ratchet held his gaze with the man.

"True, and they will be brought in soon enough. It is only a matter of time. Lucky for us, we caught your leader alone. Put down some of my choppers and land crews. But he never fired on them."

"Optimus doesn't kill humans..." Ratchet wished he had, just this one time, but Optimus was pure to the core.

"And because of that he was an easier catch than most. With both him and the other giving me large amount of your life blood, I can supply an army quickly." Motioning to a table, he showed Ratchet several different syringes, some blue, other dark purple. "We already know what the blue energon can do..." He picked up a purple syringe.

"You will end your own life...even with it synthesized..." Ratchet snapped, becoming angry that he had played a part in his achieving this. "The universe requires balance, and with you using that, you are tipping the scale, though maybe in your favor for a while, it will bounce back. And you will not like the outcome." His words didn't shake the man.

"The difference between your kind and mine is the fact we are not afraid to overstep."

"And you will play dearly for it. You already have."

"But I have so much more to gain."

"Others will come. And they will stop you. If not today...tomorrow. One day. You will pay for what you have done." He watched as the man injected the dark energon right into his arm. He staggered and howled, his blood feeling as though it was acid. "I can feel it...the power..." He said through bared teeth. Standing up strait, his eyes glowing a faint purple while the veins around his eyes also pulsed purple. Throwing his hand to the side, he crushed a terminal, then laughed. "The human race will be at the top..." A faint purple aura glowed from his hands a guard slowly approached him, looking a little hesitant.

"Sir there has been a perimeter breach. We think it's-" The guard was cut off when Marias father sent him flying across the room with his push.

"Perfect..."

Maria was running down the halls, having blasted the front doors open with her push, she threw anybody aside who got in her way. Lucky for her having practiced with Crosshairs so much, tossing people aside was a breeze compared trying to move a transformer. She kept running, not stopping when the guards charged her, instead she picked up speed, ramming them and knocking one off his feet. Using her Push to knock the other down, she began a beat down on the one she had pinned. Though he was still a grown man he dumped her off and punched her in the gut. Maria cried out, curling in a ball, her burn throbbing.

"Fuck off!" Lifting the guard, she pushed him, throwing him down the hall and slamming him into the wall. Regaining her footing, she jogged. "Shit..." Vision already becoming blurry, hot blood oozed from her nose. "I have to hurry. Hurry...hurry." The building was like a maze to her. The more corners she turned the more she felt like she wouldn't find the lab until finally it was in view. Crashing through the doors, she fell face first into the large room. Getting up and brushing herself off she looked around. She did a double take when she saw Ratchet.

Finally.

"Ratchat!" She ran, ignoring the lab workers trying to grab her, her subconscious pushed them. She ran till she slammed into his cage bars, tears pouring down her face. "Ratchet, I'm here! I'm here!" She was choking on sobs as she reached in and touched his shackled hand.

"Maria..." His optics flickered online. He leaned forwards in the cell, taking her little hand into his big one and squeezing gently. "You're alive." he was relieved.

"Barely." She began to cough, blood coming out. "I... Ratchet listen to me." She pulled her hand away and ran to the terminal closest to his cage, "I don't have a lot of time before this place is overrun. I have to get you out." She was struggling to see what was on screen. Words danced in her vision and she collapsed to her knees, but she kept typing.

"You have used to much of your ability..." He knew.

"I'm fine..." As her mind kept the lab workers back, she worked. "Once you are out...get Optimus." She could see him from across the room...along with Megatron who she did not recognize. "Grab him and leave here as fast as you can. Don't turn back." Right as she was about to press enter to open Ratchets cell, a powerful blast knocked her away from the terminal, smashing her into bars. It was nothing she had ever felt before, the push was worse than the soldier she encountered when she tried to save Optimus. No...this Push was something more.

"Tsk...tsk. Maria. Why can't you just listen to your father." Maria's father stepped out, motioning for the workers to clear the area. "Funny...Your mother looked just as you did right in this moment."

"Bastard." Maria's back slid down the bars and she was sitting on the floor, dazed. "It end here." Ratchet stuck a finger though the bars to help her stand. "You can stop now... or-"

"Or what..." Purple eyes ablaze, he pushed her up against the bars and held her there. She felt like a wall was being pressed to her, crushing her between it on Ratchets cage. "You'll kill me?" He laughed and lifted her away from the bars and high in the air, then whipped her down into the floor. Her body rolled and she remained unmoving.

"Maira you cannot fight him! He has Dark Energon inside of him! You have to get out!" Ratchet rattled his cage, slamming his feet against the bars, causing the lab to shake.

"Is that all you have? My daughter? You have put up better fights trying to get me to let you go to that scrap yard." He moved close to her, amused when she began to roll over.

"I'll never stop fighting you..." Marias eyes radiated white light, she stood, hands out, pushing her father back. "I'll never forgive you..." Pushing and pushing, she had him close to pinned in the same place she was, until he pushed her back and she was thrown again. Crashing over desktops and shattering test tubes. She stood, panting, wiping blood from her forehead. Ratchet was right, he was ten times stronger than her. Not only could he out push her, he had home advantage. If he called for it, the extra soldiers would pour in and overwhelm her, but for some reason she just knew he wouldn't do that. He wanted this victory for himself alone.

"Maria, listen to me. I really don't want to put you down. You are one of the biggest breakthroughs this company has seen. You will be the first in the Evolutionary chain. Don't make me waste all those recourses." Scalpels lifted off the trays close to him and hovered around him as he spoke. "I really would like to work this out."

"Lies..." Maria side stepped, the two circling each other like lions.

"You have two choices here. You can either give up and stop this fight and submit to the test," His eyes glowed slightly brighter as he spoke the next sentence, "or you can die here and now with you bots." The scalpels suddenly straitened, pointing right at her. "Which is it..."

Maria said nothing, instead, she steadied herself, separating her legs a bit, she braced herself and raised her hands.

"So be it." The scalpels flew like bullets and Maria was ready. Fire at her fingertips, focused. The scalpels deflected, but as she had feared, she couldn't stop them all. One sliced right though her side, tearing though her back and clattering to the floor while the second that hit her sliced her cheek open. As the barrage stopped, she fell back, gagging on blood as her hand tried to cover the hole the knife had punched through. Her braclet had flown off her wrist, bouncing off of the ground a few times before rolling and hitting the edge of Ratchets cell and stopping.

"Oh well, it was fun while it lasted..." She though she heard her father say. Everything around her was flickering, feeling was being lost and all she could do was lay there.

"No! Maria!" Ratchet cried out, ramming himself against the bars. He roared, thrashing as much as he could but getting no closer to breaking out. "Monster!"

"Oh hush. She had a choice, but she always chooses wrong." Stepping over his fallen daughter, he walked a few paces, his back to her, he began to speak. "It's over for you now. I wish you had just done as I had asked. A lot of my labs would still be functional. And I could have a few more bots to have drained. But like I said before to your friend...it is only a matter of time before we catch them all."

Maria, on her side, looked at her hand. Covered in blood, she felt a knot forming in her throat.

I failed.

Tears stung her eyes.

I tried so hard and I failed.

As tears globed down her cheeks, something caught her remaining vision. Within the cluttered mess of the knocked over desks, papers, and glass, was a still intact dark Energon syringe.

"If I'm going to die..." dragging herself along the floor, she took short painful breaths, "I'm going to die in style." With shaking hands, she grabbed the needle and jammed it into her leg.

Marias father was jarred back, a huge wave hitting him. The desks and examinations tables were violently pushed back, leaving the room wide open. He turned and his eyes filled with rage when he saw Marias eyes glowing the same purple as his.

Ratchet could only watch, a horrible dread filling his spark chamber as he watched Maria step forwards. Only one of her arms was extended, her fingers pointing at her father.

"I'll kill you..." Her voice was a whisper but it sounded like many at once. The dark energon formed around her hands, creating what looked like large fists. Her father did the same.

"Fine then. If you don't want to just die on your own, I'll make sure I finish the job." They both charged and their fist collided, sending a shockwave through the lab, cracking the buildings supports. Both were thrown back, and they charged again, slamming one another and pushing. face to face, Maria's eyes sparked rage while her father's seemed amused. They fought, sending more and more shockwaves though the floors and walls and soon the building began to give. The ceiling began to fall, and the walls cracked and groaned in response to the new weight. Maria used the falling ceiling pieces and hurled them at her father, he blocked them, destroying them from his abilities shield. The longer the battle went, the more dangerous it became for the both of them. As they grappled, outside blast could be heard and a soldiers voice came though a terminal that was laying on the floor.

"Insections are overrunning us!" The voice was frantic and screams could be heard in the background. "They are trying to get in! And there's-" A loud scream followed and the communication was cut short. It wasn't long after the bugs burst though the lab walls, zooming all over and swarming the area. Maria and her father paid no attention, both locked din battle and bloodlust from the Dark Energon. The longer it remained in their systems, the more violent they became. They didn't realize the building was now collapsing on top of them. They just dodged and clashed again and again until Maria was distracted by a familiar voice.

"Ride'em little doggie!" Crosshairs flew in on an Insecticon, leaping down and rolling, his guns drawn. Blasting away the guards that tried to follow him, he made his way to Ratchet.

"Crosshairs?" Ratchet was just as surprised as Maria was. Though Maria made the mistake of letting her guard down and was rewarded with a powerful push that sent her to the floor. Now being crushed by her father's push.

"Go! Get Ratchet and get out of here!" Maria screamed, pushing the floor, trying to get herself up. "Get Optimus and Ratchet to safety!" Blood was streaming from both corners of her mouth, and her father looked just as rugged as her now. Though his glowing eyes now began to fade and he was losing strength. The Dark Energon in his blood almost all used up. Taking her chance, Maria broke through the push, picking up a steal rod that had fallen from the ceiling. "GO NOW!" She let the rod hover around her as she watched her father fall to one knee, still trying to fight back.

Crosshairs destroyed the terminal holding Ratchet and broke his cuffs off, then went over to Optimus and unhooked him. Still in stasis mode, he was unharmed, though a little drained, still well and functional. Crosshairs hauled the Prime over his shoulder and looked at Megatron. He turned, ignoring him.

More of the building collapsed over head, some pieces hitting ratchet and the others as they made their way to the opening where Crosshairs had come though. Ratchet skidded to a hault as Crosshairs jumped though the hole.

"I cannot leave her!" He said over the loud noises of the building shattering.

While Ratchet was shouting at Crosshairs, Maria had sent the rod though her father, making sure to target his heart. There were no last words, no guilt, no 'I'm sorry it ended this ways', just the end. His body fell, purple blood gushing from the wounds, while Maria threw her hands up, holding a large portion of the ceiling up, if it came down so would the rest of the building. Her eye slit liek fire and the purple energy flared, the ceiling rose as she screamed. Putting every last bit of energy she had into lifting it just so the others could get out.

"Go! get out!" Her legs started shaking under the weight, her voice lowering to something demonic. "Get out!" She collapsed to one knee and saw Ratchet reach for her, but Crosshairs grabbed him.

"We can't! She's gone anyway Ratchet! She can't live with that for much longer! Let her go!" He dragged the medic out.

And the building fell.

It's over...

Or at least it soon will be.

The pain will stop.

The sorrow will fade, and I can rest.

My fighting is done.

I did what I could.

Blurry eyes rapidly blinked, struggling to clear. Soft gags and hiccups escaped the body laying under rubble. Only a small glint of light from the outside could be seen through the cracks. Facing up, she could see ships hovering overhead...

No...not ships. Insecticons. That's right. Not ships. Just the bugs.

Blood trailed down her lips, down her neck, and into her hair, making it stick to her. Grime covered her sliced and swollen cheek. She was pale, cold, and could feel the heat at her fingertips fading, and all she could feel were her normal hands. No longer was they warm feeling present. The pain was close behind, not leaving her unattended it rocked her in and out of consciousness till she thought she heard her name being called. With eyes only half open, she reached out her hand, her fingers stretching in the direction she through she had heard her name. Unable to move her head, she just kept reaching, toughing only the ground she lay on. She listened, but didn't hear her name again, and she just wished death would take her already instead of leaving her buried, but she could hear the rubble about her moving. Then the hot sun splashed her face, warming her pale body, and then she was uncovered, but not moved.

"I guess we are even now..." She couldn't see who it was, her vision to foggy, but she made out a familiar scar, a familiar two scars to be exact.

Starscream threw the rubble off the human, leaving her uncovered and exposed in the light.

"I was digging for someone else." He moved along, brushing more and more rubble away before uncovering Megatron. "Here he is." He hissed, pulling his leader from the ruins and commanding the insecticons to grab and lift him. They flew off with the large bot, and Starscream turned back to the human. "Always the problem with you fleshies. So squishy." jumping, he transformed and zoomed away, leaving Maria with only the sunlight to comfort her. It wasn't long later that she heard her name again and she just wished it was god. Unable to open her eyes now, she allowed whoever was picking her up to do so.

"I found her!" Ratchet cried, pulling her close, he scanned her, his panels flashing red.

"Ratchet she's going to die, stop making it worse." Crosshairs had a groggy Optimus balanced on one of his arms.

"How long does she have..." Optimus took a step towards him, still needing Crosshairs to help him, with such little energon in his system he was wobbly.

"Not long..."Gently shaking her, he shook his head.

"It's okay..." Maria said though dried lips, her eyes barely open. "It's okay now..." She trailed off. "I'm ready." She touched ratchets chest plate, her hand cold. "I promised I would come get you. I did what I had to...and I'm so happy you are safe." A single tear streaked down her face and Ratchet shivered, biting his bottom lip in anger at himself. "You guys don't have to worry about my dad anymore...or this company. Please don't think of us as monsters." Her words became softer and softer, both of her arms badly burned from using the dark energon, and her eyes normal, though a very dull brown. Blood was dried and crusted to her shirt, and her free hand was still covering her open wound. She began to look more and more like a corpse than the young artist he had first met. He could almost see her spirit leaving her body.

"Don't worry about that okay...Just save your strength." Ratchet stood quickly, transforming and zooming down the road, sirens blasting. Optimus and Crosshairs only watched them vanish.

Ratchet remained parked outside the hospital for weeks, the more time that passed, the more the feeling of dread in his spark grew. Even though the dark Energon had run out in her body, she was still heavily wounded, plus the dark energon still demands a price that can sometimes never be paid. But he remained, unmoving until finally one early morning a knock came on his hood.

"It seems like yesterday I was under this hood looking for parts." Maria smiled, her head wrapped in bandages, and both of her arms, she was sitting in a wheelchair. Ratchet Transformed, so much joy on his normally grumpy face.

"You're alive!" He picked up her chair and held her in his hands. "I feared the worst."

"I'm tough as nails." She gave him a big smile but winced as she pulled the stitches on her cheek. "But something is wrong." She saw Ratchets face grow with worry.

"What is it." He began to fear if the dark Energon had already done something.

"I...I cannot feel...my powers anymore. It's like they are just gone. I used to feel warm. Or at least like my fingers were hot. But now it just feels like my old me..." She watched Ratchet think for a while.

"Maria, when a transformer runs out of energon they either die or become dormant... So it needs to be replenished. But you do not live on energon..." he thought some more then nodded. "The best reason I can give to the absence of your powers is that you dried up the Energon hat was given to you from your earliest forms of life. Or, when you used up the last of the dark Energon, it took what was left of your powers with it, balancing you back out to just...a human." He set her down. "But I am just guessing. One way to find out it to replenish your supply."

"No...I think I have had enough of this for one summer. Plus...humans are not ready for this kind of things yet. Best I leave it behind."

"I wouldn't say all humans."

"What about Optimus and Crosshairs, what are they doing?"

"Optimus is freeing the remaining captured bots. Crosshairs recovered all of the locations of the labs in the country so they will be busy for a while. But as your guaridan, I am assigned for your protection."

"If you wanted to spend more time with me Ratchet you could have just said so." Maria laughed and watched as He transformed and opened his door to her.

"Ready to go home."

"Yeah."

Thank You guys for reading! I hope you enjoyed! More stories to come (with Maria, different world, different times) In the future! Thanks for all of the support and Reviews! You're all amazing!