As always, a huge thanks to all of my reviewers!

I hit 100,000 words yikes! I've never written this much before.

Disclaimer: I do not own transformers or coach

Anna was in that darkness again, the one that only existed in her dreams but that was the strange part, she knew she was dreaming. Was she lucid dreaming? She had heard about people who suddenly became aware in their dreams though it differed on different levels. Some people were so aware they could manipulate the very space they were dreaming while others had no control and simply know they were dreaming, though it didn't mean their entire rational conscious was projected in the imaginary realm.

She stood in a city where only the cement roads beneath her feet and the skyscrapers towering above her were clear and distinguishable. Everything else was a blur; trashcans, lamp posts, stop signs, street lights, all of them she vaguely knew the name of but couldn't really see. The city was quiet and still, desolate of cars or people, even the occasional scurry of a small animals or the barking of a dog was absent. The sky was black and whenever she looked down a street it faded into the same neutral void which made the feeling of being alone even stronger, though it wasn't a bad feeling, she liked being alone but this emptiness did creep her out a little bit.

Anna found she could move freely so she wandered to the sidewalk and peered through the show case glass of a business with a sign that was blurred out so she couldn't read the name of it. There was nothing inside except more of the hazy blackness.

"It's Starscream!"

Anna jumped away from the window in surprise and whirled around to search for the familiar baritone voice that had echoed sharply in her head but she couldn't remember who it belonged to and there was still no one in sight. She stepped down from the side walk and that's when everything fell into chaos. The first explosion made her jump at least half a foot into the air and give a silent shriek that she knew her throat had made but it never met her ears through the deafening blast. There were more explosions, many more that began to crumble the buildings and sent everything ablaze.

Then there were hundreds of cars misconstrued in the street as if they had always been there. They were bumper to bumper, crashed into each other, smoking and burning but she couldn't smell it. There were people now too, all of them running and screaming, tripping over each other as they weaved through the parked cars. Their faces were blurred and indistinguishable but the screams of panic were clear enough.

Anna's instinctive fight or flight impulse jolted through her system and told her to run with the crowd and give into her irrationally fast beating heart that made her veins pulse harshly under her skin until her whole body felt like it was throbbing with the fear. But something more concrete and rational, a force she couldn't understand in her present state of mind kept her feet firmly planted by the sidewalk. She couldn't understand why she was paralyzed, was it the fear immobilizing her limbs? She wanted so badly to run, her instincts tearing her down into a terrified animal that wanted to follow the masses all running in one direction like a herd of startled wildebeest. She wanted so badly to tear away from the spot or jump out of her skin, she was beginning to make her panic but all she could do was shake with terror.

In the dark sky, over the screams, she could hear a distinct crackling sound that traveled through the air and grew as it became louder. There was a flying beige object swooping down through the skyscraper's dust and debris. An object released from its belly and shot off like a sizzling flare with a loud hissing sound and with a trail of condensation behind it; it smashed into another building setting it ablaze.

The ground began to tremble and what sounded like loud cracking and crunching sounds had her head whipping around just in time to see a black blur shooting past her and it fired a loud cannon that projected a blue and red plasma into the air. It collided with the flying object but the shining black robot in front of her received a hit to the shoulder in return.

"Ironhide!" Her entire conscious snapped to alert and she could remember who the mech was, what it was, and why it was there and she screamed for him out of fear. She had never seen the nearly impenetrable mech get hit before.

He was attacking a Decepticon in a city full of people who were rightfully frightened and running for their lives. With the sudden full realization of where she was and who was around her the paralyzing spell was broken and she was able to move out of the toppling Weapon Specialist's way.

He crashed the ground and not even a second later Ratchet was at his side firing at the Decepticon who transformed mid flight and crashed down to the ground tearing up the cars sitting in its way, sending them flying. Anna let out a panicked scream and ducked behind Ratchet's foot in a vain attempt to avoid the airborne cars that were flipping through the air with flaying sparks towards them. She didn't have time to get away from one of them and stared at it in terror as the large machine came spiraling towards her. She thought this was it, dream or not she would die but instead of flattening her like a pancake it flew right through her like a ghost.

The two Autobots smacked the vehicles away from them with almost as much ease as swatting a bug and the cars crashed into the buildings on either side of them. The beige transformer that was triangular in shape and held slanted red eyes set into a face with no noticeable mouth piece fired more missiles from a cannon and pushed off the ground with its lanky legs and transformed in a jet. Anna could feel the gust of wind from its rapidly swinging gears and limbs as it folded itself up and shot off into the black void that was now shimmering blue like the normal sky. There were more things above her head now too. Other Lockheed Martian's swooped around the air and dashed over the buildings with a roaring Doppler effect. The streets also now not only held civilians but soldiers yelling orders at each other as they scrambled behind destroyed cement and toppled cars.

"Sam! Get to the building!"

Anna jerked her head in the direction Ironhide was hollering and saw a young adult about the same age as her, dirty with a ripped up brown hoodie on and a strange large metal cube clutched under one arm. He ran right by her with a speed that could have meant the himself devil was after him, but running for your life had that effect on people. Anna looked at Ironhide and Ratchet struggling to stand with energon pooling from their midsections, a sight that startlingly reminded her of Sideswipe's brother and made her gut wrench. Making a split second decision she followed after the boy.

"Listen to me, you're a soldier now!"

More voices were echoing in her head, ones she couldn't place even in her full conscious but she didn't let them distract her from following the ruffled older teen until a black escalade came to a screeching halt just in time for him to slam into its hood. Anna watched sparks fly from the metal object he was holding, much like she had see pass between her fingers and the toaster in her kitchen before he took off running again.

To her amazement a man walking on the sidewalk screamed when the newly bought Xbox package burst open and metal arms protruded out of it, grasping for their captor. Behind him a Mountain Dew machine shuttered and transformed into a mini bot she knew quite well, Dewbot. Now she really felt a strong urge to follow the boy, at first it was a simple instinctive pull that had her following him but now curiosity as well. It was hard to process very much over the panic pumping adrenaline through her body.

She followed him through an old building with tall ceilings held up by pillars and its walls were littered with graffiti. She hardly had time to think of what was going on when a shrill echo cut through her head like a screech.

"It's Megatron, retreat! Fall back!"Ratchet, she understood it was his voice this time.

The ceiling caved in and an enormous silver transformer came crashing through the entrance she had just used, the same one that emerged from the ocean. Now the fear was completely imbedded in her too and she was running with the boy to save her own life, even with her shorter legs she was able to keep up. He raced up a long stretch of spiraling steps and she ran up with him, the monster transformer with gnashing teeth and blood red eyes below them.

"Is it fear or courage that compels you fleshling?"

That voice was the most terrifying one she had ever heard in her life and at that moment she wasn't so sure if she was dreaming anymore. The guttural growling, like the sound you would hear a tiger or a lion making while it prowled about its pray echoed in her head and made her limbs shake with fear.

"Give me the Allspark and you may live to be my pet."

"Wake up Wake up!" she began screaming at herself in her own head.

Anna could have sworn the steps were beginning to sway beneath her feet and she was beginning to experience a horrible distortion feeling as everything began to sway.

"No Sacrifice, no Victory."

She thought the silver Cybertronian's voice was terrifying but a different, husky, rasping voice sent a new tendril of fear through her veins, one that seemed to boil them with the cold viciousness of their ghosting touch.

"There you are," It rumbled in terrifying satisfaction.

Just as quickly, another sensation raced through her blood, this one warm and powerful, it commanded the chilling presence back and nearly drove all of it away.

"Hold on!" That voice…it sounded just like Optimus Prime.

Everything around her dissolved and just as suddenly she was shooting up fully awake in her own bed with a rapid breath trying to fill her burning lungs with desperate oxygen

"Anna!"

She jumped from the anxiety of the built up fear and was hardly able to recognize her surroundings. She swung around towards the voice and punched whatever it was square in the face but it hardly moved against her powerful impact. Instead someone grabbed aholt of her wrist and that made her panic more.

"No! Let go of me!" She screeched and tried her damndest to pull away from whoever it was by thrashing.

Someone came up behind her and circled their arms around her body and pinned her to them so she couldn't move as much and that only made her fell trapped so she fought even more.

"Annabelle what's wrong? You need to calm down!"

She was held immobile long enough to become aware of her surroundings but by that time she was shaking and hot tears of fear were streaking down her cheeks. Ironhide's hologram was staring at her sternly in the face while pinning her hands and legs down and Wheeljack held her back flush against him in an almost crushing grip.

"Shh, it's ok you're awake and nothing's here to harm you," Jack tried to soothingly reassure her and rocked the young woman back and forth in a very human form of comfort. He had picked up a lot of habits from having to pretend to be human for so long, he even half raised her which was why it was so impossible to pick out he was an alien.

Anna went limp in his hold and tried to slow her breath and stop the horrible shaking that plagued her nerves. It was impossible how ever to get that last voice out of her head. Even now it echoed over and over in her mind, "There you are."

Anna swallowed hard and tried to sit up on her power. "I'm ok," she told them with a shaky voice. Now that the fear and present danger was dissipating, she just felt shaken and stupid, embarrassed that she had to be held down. She scolded herself and promptly made herself believe it was all just a dream…a nightmare and it was never real. But it felt so real.

"No you pit well are not." Ironhide barked.

"You were thrashing and emitting blue energy in your sleep," Jack added.

Anna felt her blood run cold. "What energy?"

"Allspark energy." Ironhide asked bluntly.

"I-"

Anna saw past the weapon-toting mech for the first time and saw her room that was in serious disarray. Her things were toppled over and papers were scattered everywhere from notebooks that once sat on her small desk. It looked like, literally, a tornado had come through her room. It was normally a bit messy but this was beyond even her. Kaden was even cowering in the corner; he was crushed up against the door and was staring straight at her. Anna felt horrible.

She wanted to believe everything was just a crazy dream her mind made up because of the carrier incident, she was bound to have some backlash from it and it seemed to have finally caught up with her. The boy in her dream was strange though, she had never seen him once in her life. This Allspark thing was really messing with her head in more ways than one.

"It was just a bad dream. No big deal."

Ironhide's frown deepened and an old scar near his lip crinkled with it. Anna wondered if his real body was riddled with scars like the ones she saw on his hologram. Maybe she didn't notice them because they were all of the imperfections she would associate with normal dents and scratches, though it was strange that his alt form never had a ding in it. The few times that his pain job had been messed up the imperfection disappeared after a couple days.

"No big deal my aft."

"'Hide! Don't use that kind of language around a youngling!" Wheeljack scolded.

"I'm not a child…," Anna instinctively snapped back.

They both ignored her. "The Allspark?" Wheeljack asked bemused.

Ironhide didn't look pleased. "The Allspark is the reason we came to this planet but it was destroyed by the Decepticons after we landed. Somehow this human female encountered a piece. We thought the effects would have worn off by now but apparently not. I'll have to contact Ratchet. Watch her for any further anomalies."

"Look…is mom still in the living room?" Anna suddenly asked.

Ironhide wouldn't give into her attempt to change the subject and she had to wait a few uncomfortable moments until Wheeljack answered, "Cindy and John haven't left the living room since last night. You need to talk to them."

Anna looked down at her misconstrued sheets and sighed. "I know. If y'all give me some space I'll get dressed talk to her."

Uncle Jack released his hold on her and stepped off of the bed and Ironhide baked off as well. 'Hide didn't push any further questions on her but the glare was enough to let her know he wasn't pleased and they would talk about it again.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Jack asked again.

Anna huffed, "I'm fine."

She shot the weapon-toting mech a sharp glare as they both flickered out and disappeared. Anna pulled herself out of bed, literally. Her head ace may have eased and didn't feel as if she were beginning to ascend into the depths of the ocean but she felt thoroughly drained like all of the energy had been zapped out of her even worse than before. She could have easily just gone back to bed and slept for another six hours but she really did need to talk to her mom and felt stupid for acting like a child and locking the door to her room without explaining anything. Running away was what children do, maybe Uncle Jack wasn't so far off, she thought.

Anna decided to pamper herself. It had been a while since she had dressed up at any length for anything and it was a good way to stall for time. She put on a light amount of makeup, just enough to cover any imperfections and curled her hair with a gel to make it less frizzy from the humidity. She changed into her favorite pair of boot cut jeans but it was a bit of a task since applying pressure to her already hurting leg wound made it worse. For a top she slipped into a nice blouse that was complimented by one of the few nice pieces of jewelry she owned, a turquoise necklace. To finish the ensemble she pulled on her good black-lizard skin cowboy boots that fit better than a glove. The leather was nice and shiny except for the toes that were a little scuffed up but it was probably getting close to time she resole them anyway.

Even after all of the gussying up she was scrambling for anything else she could do. Perhaps paint her nails? Anna wasn't all that big into clothes or make up but she really didn't want to leave her room and face the two adults in the living room. It was decided that painting her short nails would take more time than she could waste before one of the alien Neanderthals came poofing into her room. Griping the doorknob, she took a deep breath and opened it. Kaden scooting out past her first, the poor dog probably needed to relieve himself but he might have to wait a little longer.

Just where she left them, her mom and John were sitting on the couch sipping coffee and the room smelled vaguely of burnt food that she was sure wasn't residue from Uncle Jack's happy little accident. The sight of the two adults deterred her so she veered into the kitchen while feeling her mom's eyes glaring laser beams at her back. She poured herself a cup of coffee and didn't add anything too it, the blacker the better this morning, she thought it would be needed. Not to mention, sure enough there was another pan next to the one that was already doomed for the dumpster all black and crispy in the soap filled sink, her mom had tried to cook alright.

"Aww what a cute doggie. Hey there puppy come here."

John had set his espresso on the stand by the couch and was leaning over to coax Kaden who was sniffing around cautiously.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Anna warned and watched her Doberman pad up to him slowly from the corner of her eye.

Her mom who knew better practically leapt from the couch and walked over to the comforter across the small room and continued to glare at her daughter. John still didn't take the hint and stretched his flat hand out to the muscled dog in an attempt to let Kaden sniff him. Anna's dog didn't appreciate it one bit. He growled with a show of fang and snapped at his fingers. John scrambled back with a yelp and scooted further down the couch. Anna sighed, Kaden was a bred guard dog and purposely a one person kind of canine, that's why her dad had bought him for her, the dog simply didn't tolerate anyone else.

"So you're shacking up with two older men now are you? What else haven't you told me?"

Anna slammed down her coffee mug and winced when she thought it might shatter on the counter but when it didn't she whirled to face her mom.

"You know exactly who Uncle Jack is and 'Hide is a soldier who escorted me home after the 'incident'. He was also one of dad's friends so he wanted to stay and make sure I was ok. What does it matter to you who is in my apartment or not, anyway?" It was hard to keep her voice steady and on an even tone but through clenched teeth she managed. Her mother always thought she was childish and she was going to show her how wrong the woman was. Anna could act like an adult, especially since she legally was one now. Her mom hadn't even said happy birthday.

Cindy's face reddened and it was her turn to slam the coffee down but she set it on the ground next to her without so much as a clack of the ceramic mug against the linoleum wood. "What does it matter to me? It matters everything to me!"

She stood from the chair that rocked a little from her sudden movement and began walking towards Anna who had taken a hurried sip of coffee to hide the growing agitation coiling in her chest. She could at least blame the coffee for her surly coming snappish behavior, caffeine never mixed well with her body chemistry so she was drinking a very small amount at a time. She set the mug down just before her mom reached her and stared the older woman straight in the eye with stiff shoulders.

"Why didn't you call me after your father died?" she asked in a low and breathy sentence.

"Because I couldn't. I just got home." That was truth enough, Anna thought.

"After nearly a month you just got home? I find that hard to believe. You couldn't email me, text me, call me from any computer or phone? Instead I have to go to a mass funeral service thinking you're in it, only to come here weeks later to hear the landlady tell me you're here?" Her voice rose higher and louder with each sentence and Anna was beginning to clutch the counter with white knuckles.

"First of all," Anna started with an immense amount of control, "I never even got to go the funeral. The carrier blew up from a malfunction and I was rescued a while later with a small group of survivors. They kept us for a while to make sure we were ok and clean of radiation since the ships used nuclear cores," she told her mother the finely weaved story by the government without skipping a beat.

"Who's they?" her mother asked skeptically.

"Some military guys." It was a weak answer but she didn't know if she was allowed to tell anyone about NEST, they seemed like a pretty under the radar military branch.

"That doesn't explain why I got a letter declaring you dead."

"A mistake?"

Her mom fiercely scowled and stomped even closer, Anna had to look up because she was several inches taller. Anna thought she was going to get another slap and could help but cringe away when her mom's arms stretched outwards but she didn't expect to find herself being held in a tight hug.

"How could they have mistaken something like that? I thought for sure I had lost Michieal and you."

Anna could feel her tears staining her shoulder and went ridged with a loss for words. She wasn't very good at comforting or affirming others and just let her mom cry herself out of the few tears she had. With no choice but to look over her shoulder Anna stared down John who stood a ways back keeping eerily quiet. Anna never could figure out how her mom went from her strong willed dad to this quiet man. She hated him for two reasons, stupid reasons, but ones that she justified in her own mind. One, he was weak and didn't know how to voice his own opinion which allowed others to walk all over him, especially women. Two, he married her mom and Anna considered him a stranger, a person who she didn't associate with at all, it might have been wrong but she outright ignored him most of the time.

Just as suddenly as her mom had began to cry, she pulled away, holding Anna at arm's length and stared her sternly in the eye.

"What happened in here?" the blond woman suddenly asked. "It looks like a fire of some kind exploded in the living room and kitchen, why is there a hole in the wall? Tell me what's been going on right now young lady."

Anna hardly had enough time to switch gears. "Ah, the mess?" she began, "I thought it would have been obvious Jack happened again. You know how he gets with mixing compounds."

"How many times have I told that man the kitchen is not a laboratory?"

"Many. I think it's against deed restrictions to build an underground Dexter's laboratory so he substitutes my kitchen for one." Anna affirmed with a small smile.

Her mom laughed in a way that creased in her subtly aging face and surprised Anna again. "Say," she started in a voice that was almost playful. "Yesterday was your birthday right? The big eighteen? What do you say we go shopping and eat a little pizza, just you and I? Besides, I already tried to make breakfast but the dang stove wouldn't work right."

Anna warily smiled, "Sure mom-"

"No you may not," said a gruff voice.

"And why not?" Cindy asked sharply.

Ironhide's holoform glanced from Cindy to Anna and he unnecessarily cleared his throat.

"The 'doctor' wants Annabelle to return in concern for her health. We're leaving now."

Anna got the not so subtle hint and nearly went red in the face. "Give me at least a day to spend with my mom. I won't keel over if I don't leave right now."

His nose scrunched up with displeasure and his mouth opened to bring the hammer down on her unwillingness to cooperate but he was beaten to the punch.

"You really shouldn't question the doctor honey, especially after the reactor blew up. Maybe we should save this for another day. What's wrong with her?"

"They want to check up on ah, the delayed reactions that could be just now showing up," Ironhide stumbled.

Anna rolled her eyes even though she was feeling a swell of panic. What if the Allspark energy really had a delayed reaction and it was just beginning to really affect her? There was always the small and always dangerous thought of 'maybe it will go away' but apart that contributed to that thought was she really didn't want to be probed and chided at by the massive and always irritable medical officer.

She sighed knowing it was useless to delay the inevitable. "Just one day? We can leave first thing in the morning."

He stared at her sternly for a couple of tense seconds before growling.

"One day sounds just fine."

Nobody knew when Uncle Jack walked in and only Anna knew how but his sudden presence made nearly all of them jump except for Ironhide who was being held firmly by one shoulder and glaring up at the inventor.

"Come on 'Hide, let's give them some space."

The lanky hologram of Wheeljack began dragging the stout form of Ironhide who was shooting a nasty glare backed by an irritated snarl. He dragged him all the way out the door and shut it in front of them. Anna was impressed by his courage to drag the trigger happy mech out forcefully and suddenly respected him more, and thought he was even more stupid than before.

They left, just the two of them in her mom's silver sedan. John was told to stay and make himself at home and he happily obliged, something that wasn't too shocking to either of them. He still hadn't even spoken directly to Anna since both of them came and it was just fine by her.

Anna might not have been a big shopper while her mom was but she did enjoy getting out of the house and getting new things every now and then, it just meant she got burnt out faster, much faster than most shopaholics. It didn't help that her lids already felt like heavy bags of sand or the aching burn in her calf. They shifted through a couple stores at the local shopping district that was at least thirty minutes out from her apartment.

The first stop was a clothing store in which Anna found a couple new pairs of jeans and several shirts. The last thing on earth she needed was more junk jewelry but she couldn't resist when they went into a shop full of it. She never did get around to piercing her ears and wasn't planning on doing it any time soon but Anna managed to bag a good handful of necklaces and bracelets.

The last place they stopped was the Coach store where her mom treated both of them to a couple of cute bags they found on clearance. Anna wasn't a big girly girl but she wasn't a total tomboy either, while she might like darker colors and jeans over dresses, she liked to mix things up a bit every now and then and do some 'girl stuff'. It was a little bit hard to fully enjoy herself though because every time they came out of a shop Anna would see Ironhide's alt form rolling by or parked with her white pickup which she was now certain had to be Uncle Jack's real form. She checked a couple times to see if she could spot a burn mark or scratch on the white pickup but apparently he had been spared Ironhide's wrath, or dodged it somehow.

By the time they reached the pizza shop with arms full of bags Anna was ready to roll over on the floor and pass out right then and there, or scream bloody murder about her leg, but the fun she was having kept her mouth shut. It had been so long since she had done anything like this with her mom that she didn't want to spoil it by whining to go home over a hurt leg.

After they ordered she crossed her arms over the table and laid her head.

"Tired already?" her mom teased with a rare sparkle in her eye.

Anna lifted her head up, yawned, and glared at her through blurry sagging eyes. Again she was feeling the oncoming of a light head.

"Honey you don't look so good. Are you sure we shouldn't go home and have 'Hide take you to the doctor?"

Anna picked her head up off the table. "What happened to the shacking up reference? I thought you didn't trust him?"

"Here are your two small pizzas."

A young waitress with a wide smile placed the two steaming disks in front of the correct customer and gave both of them a glass of root beer. Both Anna and her mom thanked her graciously and they both took a bite.

"It's not that I don't trust 'him'. Remember what I've said to you since you we're young?"

"Don't trust anyone at first glance," Anna answered in a tiredly mocking tone.

They didn't talk anymore after that and they both dug into their steaming piles of delicious dough and sauce.

Close to the end of their meal her mom excused herself to the bathroom while Anna finished up her last two slices of jalapeno and pepperoni topped slices of heaven. Once she finished she stared around the pizza parlor and waited five more minutes for her mom to come out. By then she was beginning to wonder what the older woman could possibly have been doing to take so long in the bathroom. Anna got up from her chair and walked into the woman's room to check really fast and do her own business. Even when she was drying her hands there was neither hair nor hide of her mom in sight. Anna shrugged off the strangeness and before she could decide to start panicking and decided to see if she just missed her mom and the woman would already be back at their table.

Sure enough the older blond was standing by her chair and staring down at the meal they just had with a concentrated look on her face. Anna hopped she hadn't spotted a bug in her remaining food; Cindy would storm up to the manager and keep the two of them there for another thirty minutes plus causing an embarrassing scene. Thankfully she didn't seem too concerned when Anna called for her attention.

"What took you so long?"

Cindy looked up and gave her a broad smile, "I was just having some difficulties. I think we should head home and call it a day."

"Yeah ok," Anna stifled through another yawn, she didn't what to know what those 'difficulties' were, that was something classified TMI in her book.

Anna's mom left the building without picking up a single bag from their shopping spree which forced Anna to scramble and balance them out to the best of her abilities. Before even reaching the car Anna was becoming irritated at her mom, no doubt she had planned on her taking all of it and humiliating her daughter in the process. There was no doubt she looked ridiculous with the bags hanging on her shoulders, in her hands, and clenched in her teeth. Underneath all of the extra pressure and extra sweat the pain in her leg was growing and began to feel warm. She concluded walking on it so much had ripped the slow growing scab back open.

Anna glared at Ironhide and Wheeljack's still forms to help vent some of her frustration. Either of them could pop their hologram into existence and help her out but of course they would rather see her suffer.

Cindy unlocked the car and stood to watch Anna try and put their things into the back. Only when Anna slumped into the passenger seat did the older woman get in herself, locked the vehicle manually, and start it up. The ride home was quiet which Anna was thankful for. All she could think of was her nice soft bed which she hopped to crash in before falling asleep in the car. She managed to stay awake on the trip back but often began to nod off only to be awakened by the twitch of a muscle, or sometimes she swore a small electric shock shot through her.

Her mom parked the car in a vacant spot and Anna shouldered a few bags to take up by herself. She walked up the stairs with her mom in tow and juggled with the bags to unlock the door. Kaden was there to greet her but she wasn't able to bend down and give him the usual pat so instead she bent down and nuzzled his head, jerking away before she could get a face full of slobber. She dropped the loads behind the couch and glared at John who was laying on the recliner watching sports.

"Come and help me take some of this stuff up." Anna knew she sounded a bit snappish and she might have regretted her tone of voice on a normal day but she was dog tired and her mom wasn't helping one bit. In fact she was walking around the apartment idly as if to purposely ignore her.

With a heavy sigh the wiry man placed the remote down with a 'clack' and pulled himself up from the chair like it hurt but he didn't voice a complaint. Anna led the way back down to the car and together they were able to empty it out in one run. Back inside the bags were dropped next to the other ones and John resumed his position in front of the TV without a word. Anna rolled her eyes and went into the kitchen for a glass of water to satiate her parched throat caused by all of the extra sweating.

Once again she had to hop up for a glass, which forced her to grind her teeth against the pain shooting through her leg, but fortunately nothing came to life when she jumped down. Pressing the glass against the refrigerator's ice dispenser then under the water she slowly filled it up. Anna let a long yawn escape her lungs as she waited and thought the floor was looking pretty good right about now.

"WOAH!" John's panicked screech at the top of his lungs was so loud and sudden it made Anna jump and nearly drop her glass.

She whirled around to tell him off for yelling at his stupid sports game but the words caught in her throat when she saw the real reason. A human sized robot with medusa like protrusions on his skull and icy blue optics was stalking towards her with its sharp talons poised and she barely caught a glimpse of receding skin and blond hair that used to belong to her mom. Adrenaline shot through her and suddenly she was wide awake.

"Shit!"

On impulse she chucked her glass and the frail drink shattered against the creature's chest. Anna dodged away from it just in time to avoid its unnaturally long mechanical tongue that lashed out and punched a hole through the lower cabinet.

Anna raced into the living room and vaulted over the couch while John took shelter behind her recliner.

"What the hell is that thing?"

She ignored him as the mechanical tongue went through the head of her couch and leapt up to scramble into her dad's room where she slammed the door shut and locked it. She rushed to his closet, threw the doors open, and dialed the familiar combination to the large safe inside with shaky fingers. Hastily she pulled out her own double barreled shot gun, loaded it and stuffed as many loose rounds as she could into her pockets.

The wood door splintered when the tongue punched a hole through it and yanked back taking the only flimsy barrier between herself and the Cybertronian with it. Anna aimed her gun at the entrance just as it was emerging and pulled the trigger. The shotgun kicked back painfully into her shoulder and the sound of the blast in such a small space nearly made her deaf but the shell effectively stopped the humanoid Decepticon by blowing a large painful hole in its exposed arm, ripping through wiring and hydraulics.

Anna had figured even with an earth weapon, a shotgun at point blank had to do some damage. She was relieved to have been right but the moment the shell exploded and the creature fumbled with a mechanical pained screech Anna didn't relish in her success and took her chance to dart out past it.

Her wound was pounding fiercely but the magic of adrenaline and trying to save one's own life allowed her to mostly ignore it and spun around on it to fire another shot into its back. The smallish Cybertronian screeched again and doubled over. Anna dashed into the living trying to reload her gun in mid flight and barely caught a glimpse of John slamming the door open and darting out without shutting it. She followed suit and ran down the steps as fast as she could without tripping over them or Kaden who was hot on her heels, even a brave dog knew when it was time to retreat.

Flying into the parking lot she screamed as loud as her lungs would allow and tripped on the pavement.

"IRONHIDE!"

If he was transforming Anna couldn't hear it through her ringing ears but suddenly she was being scooped up from behind by large mechanical hands and her stomach dropped to her toes as she was lifted. Clinging to the fingers for added support she tried her best to shoulder the gun by its thin strap and tried to get a good view of the apartments now eye level at nearly three stories. She prayed none of the neighbors would look out their window but at this point it was a fat chance.

The human sized robot came crashing down the steps and jumped the last two stories. The moment its stabilizing servo hit the pavement Ironhide's bulky frame blocked her view and blasted the mini-bot with a single shell from a gun gripped in his hand that was small compared to his usual weaponry, though it still wasn't human sized or earth made by any standards. The humanoid transformer was blasted back into the ally of the apartments where Anna couldn't see where it went but there was an obvious grinding sound as it ripped through the metal steps and as it took them with it.

Anna came to the sharp realization that her gruff guardian wasn't the one holder her and that left only one mech. She turned her head around and looked up at a white transformer who wore a mask over his mouth and strange fins protruded from its head which lit up when he spoke.

"Uncle Jack?" she asked hesitantly, already knowing the answer.

He grinned broadly. "The one and only," he said in a voice that was mechanized but clearly owned by the Uncle Jack she knew.

Anna felt shock and relief flood her and with it the adrenaline that had kept her going. In an instant she was out like a light.

Slow? I think not. Let's kick things up a notch next chapter, shall we?