Chapter 14

Why? I moaned mentally. Why, why, WHY?

I was currently sitting in the passenger seat of Ironhide's large alt-mode, and it was obvious that I wasn't enjoying it. I couldn't ride Arcee because the police or even the Decepticons could spot me, but I absolutely REFUSED to ride in Jetfire's jet mode; I had nothing against him at all, but I was still queasy about heights since Starscream had tried to kill me. To my dismay, the only other option was to let my Guardian, Ironhide, drive me. I still didn't know why he had wanted to be my Guardian – maybe it was because the Decepticons were drawn to me and he thought he could have more 'fun' that way. He really seemed to enjoy violence and stuff like that.

As uncomfortable as I was around Ironhide, I told myself to suck it up and bear with it. But it certainly didn't help that his holoform kept glancing at me as it pretended to drive.

Okay, Ellie, I told myself, just try to ignore him. He's not doing anything, so it shouldn't be so hard. Think about something else, like… what was Arcee doing with human clothing?

Almost subconsciously, I looked down at myself. Arcee had given me a thick white jumpsuit which I was now wearing. The trimming around the wrists and ankles were red and the collar and a band around the waist were blue. On each shoulder was a red Autobot symbol and on the left side of my chest was a yellow 'D'.

What does it stand for? I wondered. But I decided that didn't matter. It wasn't exactly that important.

The Autobots seemed to have been living near humans for a long time without notice, especially since they received their holoforms only recently. Besides Arcee owning the jumpsuit, there was no indication that the Autobots had known any humans.

Except, of course, for that time I heard Arcee, Bumblebee and Ironhide arguing in the weapons specialist's room. I remembered it sounded a lot like they were referring to my dad. Maybe that's what the 'D' on the jumpsuit stood for… my dad's name.

No way, I told myself, physically shaking my head. Dad's always been away from Tranquility when he went away for the army. Besides, this suit's too small for him. He couldn't have met the Autobots.

"I ain't likin' this AT ALL," Ironhide suddenly stated, snapping me to reality.

"What?" I asked stupidly, turning to him.

I shrunk when the holoform shot me a glare and growled. "Are ya tellin' me ya don't see any danger in comin' along with us?" he demanded loudly.

"N-no, that's not what I meant," I said quickly. I sighed and put my hand on my head. "Sorry, I was just thinking, okay? A… a lot's been going on all at once." I sighed again, but it turned into a yawn.

"Ya need ta rest," Ironhide remarked automatically.

I turned my head to him again sharply. "What? No! I'm just getting bored!"

"Ya havn't been getting' the sleep ya need," he told me. "I know; Prowl said you were up late last night. He wouldn't tell me WHY, but I know you were awake. Now… do as I say an' get some rest!"

I gave him a pleading look. "But-"

"NOW!"

I jerked back, but after a minute of processing what had just happened, I decided he was right; I just didn't have the energy to argue with him. Crap.

I let out a breath in defeat. "Fine," I replied. "Just please wake me when we get close. I still want to help in any way I can."

I glanced at the holoform, hoping for a physical response rather than a vocal one. I only got half my wish when Ironhide grunted, but nodded.

I hesitated for a moment before unlatching my seatbelt and curling up onto the joined seats, being careful not to invade in the holoform's space, and finally closing my eyes.

I found myself standing in the middle of a foreign neighborhood street. I wasn't worried though; nobody had bothered going through here for YEARS. The place was basically a huge dump. Everything, from the disemboweled buildings to the neglected street, had a brown rusted tinge to it. Nobody had cared to maintain anything.

But I was still a bit nervous. I swallowed hard and held the strap of my red backpack tighter to my shoulder. I was going in. I had a deadline and I knew something bad was going to happen if I was late. It seemed even worse than being caught someplace where I wasn't supposed to be. I took a breath and stepped forward.

As I went through the old neighborhood I took my steps carefully, not wanting to hurt myself on the different pieces of junk, such as car parts and broken glass, which was all scattered about the street. The place must've been looted a long time ago.

I inwardly scowled. It's not my job to speculate, I told myself mentally. Gotta keep my concentration. I've got someplace to be.

I continued on and eventually I came to something that was just out of place among all the junk and debris; a brand new, bright pink motorcycle. It was hard to miss, and I wondered if anybody would try to steal it. But what was even weirder was I thought I had recognized this specific bike from somewhere…

I shook my head. Not my problem, I thought and I picked up the pace. But it was strange… I was almost CERTAIN that I had seen it from someplace before.

Suddenly, I felt cold metal snake around my body and squeezed like I was in someone's fist, causing me to scream.

"Aahh!" I cried. "Let me go! Let me go!" I managed to get my arms loose and tried to push myself free from the thing's grip, but it was to no avail. "Please!" I wailed. "Let me go!"

I began sweeping my gaze around, hoping – PRAYING – that someone or something was nearby to help me. I even looked back for the motorcycle, but it was gone.

Instead, in its place lying on his side was a red mech. My face lit up hopefully. I was happy to see him; I knew he would help me!

But my joy soon dissolved. He was badly damaged. All over his body were burn marks, expose wires, and he was slowly leaking purple fluid. Lying by his head was what looked like some sort of giant scope, almost like from a microscope in the science lab at school. From wires that were strung out and still attached it to the mech, I assumed that it used to be mounted on his shoulder.

Though he looked offline, I knew he was still alive. The wires that stuck out from his wounds were sparking, showing that life energy still surged through him.

I said something, but no sound came out. I attempted to swallow the lump in my throat, failing, and tried again.

"Perceptor!" I shouted to the mech. I didn't know how I knew his name, but I continued. "Perceptor, get up! Please, you're dying! Go find Ratchet – he'll fix you!" I could feel my worry grow when he didn't move.

There was a low voice chuckling behind me, making me shiver. "It seems that your Autobot friend is out of commission," said the thing that was holding me. That voice… it wasn't familiar, but I knew that whoever it was I didn't like it at ALL.

I gulped and gritted my teeth angrily. "Let me go," I demanded without looking back, my own voice slightly shaking. "Perceptor's my friend… I need to help him."

"Why?" the voice asked with a smirk. "Why help him and the Autobots when you could help me?"

I turned and glared at my captor, tears beginning to stream down from my eyes. "Because!" I growled, "You and your Decepti-tards KILLED my father! I hate you, Megatron! I HATE YOU!"

Megatron, a metal monster shrouded in shadow with his clawed hand holding me, narrowed his glowing blood-red optics and grinned, showing his razor-sharp dental-plating. He began to laugh, and every nerve in my body shook. He did so maniacally and with evil triumph, as if by torturing me he had won.

I opened my mouth again and screamed:

"PERCY!"

My eyes slowly slit open. I blinked away the sleep and realized I was still in Ironhide's cab. I closed my eyes and breathed in relief. It was only a dream.

More like a nightmare, I mused. But at least it was over.

Slowly, as I had relaxed, I became aware that I wasn't exactly in the same position as I was when I fell asleep. My head was slightly elevated by something covered in the rough fabric of someone's jeans. A hand was gently stroking through my hair and down my back.

Cautiously, I pulled my head up and saw that I had been lying on the Ironhide holoform's lap.

My heart stopped. Crap.

I quickly sat up, moving back to my seat. I put my seatbelt on and clutched the shoulder strap, slightly shaking.

"S-sorry," I mumbled. "I-I don't know how that happened."

"S'okay," Ironhide sighed. "I don't mind."

I let out a breath and sheepishly nodded. "Thanks," I said quietly.

"No problem."

For a few minutes neither of us said anything. I didn't bother looking outside to see where we were; I just knew we would be there soon.

I decided I wanted to know how Ironhide made it so that I could use his holoform as a pillow. When I first found out about the holoforms and I tried to touch the projection of Arcee my hand went through it and the holo flickered like crazy.

"Hey, Ironhide…?"

"Pulsin' energy."

I blinked, startled by the statement. "What?"

"Pulsin' energy," the holoform repeated. "Ratchet took the research of an Autobot that's posted elsewhere from our base and worked on applying it to these holoforms for us. O'er the past few days he's been upgradin' them so tha' they give off a subtle pulsin' energy, makin' them tangible an' give off a warmth similar ta tha' of a human's. He's got Wheeljack workin' on a way ta make it so we can FEEL things with the holoforms."

I looked down. "Oh…"

I wondered who Wheeljack was. I assumed he was probably some kind of inventor if he was the one who originally did the research about holoforms. I wouldn't be surprised if his notes helped Ratchet and Jetfire with the conversion chip for my phone.

Suddenly, Ironhide's alt-mode stopped. I looked at his holoform in confusion as the truck simply shifted gears and turned off the engine.

"We're walkin' from here," the weapons specialist stated. "We can't go in vehicle mode or they'll be alerted by our engines."

I nodded. "Okay. And it'll get dark soon. That means less chance for humans to see you too, right?"

"Right," Ironhide replied, the holoform dissolving.

I took that as my cue to get out, so I unbuckled the seatbelt and did so. Behind me Ironhide unfolded into his full-sized Autobot form and crouched low next to me as a pink motorcycle and a large white and red jet approached from the direction we had come.

Arcee and Jetfire arrived and transformed, following Ironhide's example.

"Alright, mate," Jetfire whispered, "what's your plan?"

"We take out tha guard an' position ourselves around the warehouse," Ironhide told him. "On my signal we storm tha place. Hold yer fire, 'cause we don't wanna get Optimus an' the others in a crossfire. Only shoot when yer sure about it." He narrowed his optics slightly. "Now, yer sure it's only Blitzwing right now?"

"He's the only one we saw on Wingblast's camera," I said.

"An' Wingblast's tellin' me she took a fly around an' didn't see anyone else," Jetfire added.

The weapons specialist nodded. "Good," he remarked. "We won't be makin' any more noise than we need to. Ellie…" I looked at him. "Try an' stay outta tha crossfire. If ya get yerself hurt, I'M gonna be tha one responsible."

"Don't worry about me," I told him seriously. "Let's go trash some Decepticons!"
***

As we pressed forward from the scrap yard to the warehouse and as I rode on Jetfire's shoulder I kept thinking about that dream I had. I was again walking home through the abandoned neighborhood, again seeing Arcee, and again getting caught by someone I was afraid of. What really weirded me out though was seeing the apparently non-existent Autobot, Perceptor, once again in a dream.

How would I know if he didn't exist? I asked myself. Maybe Optimus or somebody mentioned something about him and I'm just putting a name to a face.

But it was still strange. That dream was a Star Wars copyright infringement if I ever heard one. The whole 'aid the bad guys' and 'bad guy killed my father' was just plain weird. There's no way on Earth, or in the UNIVERSE considering the Autobots and Decepticons, that Megatron could have had anything to do with my dad's death… right?

Plus, the idea of Megatron ending up actually being my dad like in Star Wars movies made me want to gag. I had never even seen the 'Con and it was just plain…. Ew – no. So glad that I knew better than that.

Perceptor…

In my dream… he was HURT. It bothered me a lot. I wanted to know WHY he was hurt. What happened that he was that torn up and knocked unconscious like that? Who could have done that to him?

Stupid Decepticons, my mind grumbled. Even in my dreams they terrorized me.

"Almost there, spunk," Jetfire breathed quietly. "Once the 'Con's down, I'm gonna let you go and you need to find someplace to hide."

"Got it," I replied softly.

We moved forward and Jetfire crouched behind a nearby building. Ironhide and Arcee continued on, positioning themselves around the enterance of the warehouse, hidden from Blitzwing's view. I scanned the sky, but I couldn't see Wingblast anywhere; I knew though that she was watching us from someplace.

I settled myself in a seam of Jetfire's armor and held on as he made final adjustments to a large Gatling gun.

"Watch your head," he murmured, pulling down a cover plate like a medieval knight's helmet. "Once this thing starts goin' off blaster energy casings are gonna be flyin' all over."

I nodded and shrunk even closer against his shoulder plating. The scientist finally stopped working on the weapon and held it against his chest with both hands.

"Any klick now…" he whispered.

As he said that I heard Ironhide's voice…

"Get 'im!"

Neither the Decepticon nor I had time to react. It felt like I had left my stomach back behind the building when Jetfire shot up and bound over a car toward Blitzwing, who looked absolutely stunned, even with a visor on. From either side of him Ironhide and Arcee charged and grabbed him, Arcee slapping away his weapon.

"Ahh! Vat are you doing?" he shouted angrily in a thick German accent. "Don't touch me, you filthy Autobots!"

He was thrown roughly to the ground on his face with Ironhide on his back, trying to grab the Decepticon's hands while Arcee held his legs down. Jetfire stood in front of him with the large gun aimed at his head.

Blitzwing stopped struggling to glare at him. "You vill regret zis, traitor!" he growled.

"I haven't when I left the Decepticons," Jetfire told him sternly, "and I never will."

The Decepticon opened his mouth to say something else, but he suddenly stopped. I gulped quietly, realizing he was looking at me through his red visor. He smiled, showing sharp dental-plating, a small gap in the front.

"Ze girl!" he remarked with excitement. "You might be able to redeem yourself, traitor! I'm sure Lord Megatron vould allow you back if you give him ze tiny fleshy."

Jetfire growled. "Forget it, slag-for-circuits!" he said angrily. "Now shut up!"

"This'll shut 'im up," Ironhide stated, pulling out a pair of handcuffs – the same kind that had bound Arcee only days earlier.

With ease he snapped them onto the tan and purple Decepticon's wrists. I clung tighter to Jetfire as an electric wave seemed to visibly flow through Blitzwing and he yelled out, only to completely go limp with the glow from his visor gone, evidently showing his optics were offline.

I just stared with a lump in my throat. "Is he…?"

"Stasis cuffs," Jetfire stated, lowering his gun. "He's not offline, he's just in stasis lock. The cuffs send out a powerful overload of energy that knocks every system temporarily outta whack; courtesy of a famed Autobot inventor."

"You mean Wheeljack?" I blurted.

Jetfire turned his head to look at me, and I guessed that behind his battle mask he was confused. "Yes, the 'bot's name IS Wheeljack," he said slowly, "but how did you…?"

"Ironhide told me about him," I replied, pointing to the weapons specialist.

Jetfire looked at him. "No kiddin'," he said with slight amusement in his voice.

Ironhide just grumbled. He stood up from the ground, heaving the unconscious Blitzwing up along with him by the arm. "'Nuff talkin'!" He told us sternly. "We got a mission 'ere!"

Cybertronian Dictionary help:
Klick- Minute

Author's Notes:

Wee! The first taste of action! 8D More promised in the next chapter.

Tranquility, in this story, is in California and it's the town that Ellie and her friends live in.