Chapter 26

In hindsight, this was going swimmingly.

Cameron stole and begged for enough money to get a few train tickets, and she put on her cutest face to get longer rides in strangers' cars. She flew for a few minutes longer each time. And all because she had something to look forward to. Tiara.

In about a week, Cameron went from Indiana to the edge of Illinois, and in another week she had made it to Kansas. That's when she met Ren, the trucker.

She had been walking along the side of the road after just have been flying for an hour and a half when honking caught her attention. She turned her head to find Optimus driving towards her. She gasped and blinked, but when she opened her eyes, she found it wasn't Optimus. It was the same semi-truck, but the blue was replaced by black, and the flames were still present. And Lennox wasn't in the driver's seat.

"Hey!" called the man. He had short black hair and was wearing a plain white tee, blue jeans, and black sneakers. He only looked about thirty. "Need a ride?"

Cameron stopped and waited as the man pulled over in front of her, before walking over to the driver's side. The man leaned out, smiling. "What's a little girl like you walking along the road alone like that?"

Cameron's face hardened, but she shrugged. "Well, ya know," she said, causing the man to chuckle.

"Get in, I'll take you anywhere."

Sighing, she moved around to the other side and stepped on the ladder, opened the door, and plopped down on the seat. She put her bad down by her feet and leaned back against the seat. It felt weird, but it was as if the seat started to contour to her body, her every curve, and warm up. She let out a long breath and relaxed her body to the seat.

The man chuckled beside her. "Like the truck?"

Cameron nodded. "Love it. But how does the seat do that?"

"This truck is meant to go cross country. If the seats hurt, I'd have to stop too much, right? So they redid the seats." The man held out his hand, to which Cameron took. "By the way, it's Ren."

"Cameron."

Ren pulled out from the side of the road and began driving again. "So, where are you headed?"

Cameron bit her lip. "California."

Ren's eyes lit up. "Aw, really? Me too! This shipment is going to Tranquility."

Cameron flinched. "Really? 'Cause…I'm going there, too."

Ren laughed. "Small world after all, right?"

"…yeah, I guess so."

Ren had decided to take her all the way to Tranquility. Along the way, they made stops at gas stations and McDonalds for food and bathroom breaks, Ren happily paying for Cameron. Cameron let him do all of this for her, because what choice did she really have? Ren slept at truck stops, but Cameron always slept in the cab, still cautious and fearful. I mean, what were the chances that they were both going to the same place at the same time?

They passed time by playing games when driving. Cameron taught him how to play license plate games, and when you spot a yellow buggie you hit the other on their shoulder. Ren naturally hit pretty hard, but he always looked as if he was trying to hide pain after hitting her. Maybe it was the metal. Ren told him about his job as a truck driver, and how he hated all those stereotype drivers, but he never asked about Cameron's life, which was perfectly fine with her. But most of the time they just let the radio play and occasionally bob their heads to the tunes. He only asked her once about 'those giant robot invaders' and 'the end of the world' and what she was doing then, because he was delivering a shipment when all that went down. Cameron was sure her heart beat two times faster when she confessed she didn't know anything about that, and to drop the subject, because she claimed it got her depressed to talk about the end of the world. Ren, thankfully, didn't question any further.

In two weeks tops-a lot more time spent with Ren than comfortable with Cameron-they had made it to California, and about a day or two later they made it to Tranquility.

"Hey, so, do you want me to drop you at your house, or…" asked Ren, trailing off.

Cameron shook her head. "No, thanks, I can walk. Nothing against you or anything, you seem like a good guy."

Ren smiled. "Alright, alright, I'll back off." He cocked an eyebrow. "Just be good, alright? No trouble."

Cameron nodded her head and smiled. "Alright." Tentatively, she held out her head and Ren slowly shook it. "Goodbye, Ren." Opening the door, she jumped out of the truck with her backpack, landing on the ground with a thump and closing the door behind her. She patted the truck three times to signal to Ren to drive off and he did so, honking the horn three times back to her. She watched him go until she could see him no more, then sighed in relief.

Done and done with that, she thought, tucking up the backpack to a more comfortable position and began her trek to Tiara's house.

Cameron has only walked to Tiara's house a handful of times, but somehow she remembered which turns to take, how many blocks to walk. And it was only in about ten minutes until she was standing in front of her house.

Cameron yelped and ran back behind a bush. Crap, she was almost caught! She had only a short glimpse at her old house and caught movement inside, a shadow behind a curtain. It had only been for a second, but Cameron recognized her mother's slightly-out-of-shape-frame. So they didn't move, and everything returned to normal. Did they even think about her? About the empty presence of her still-not-cleaned room? Then she shook her head. Better not to think of it. On both accounts.

Taking a deep breath, she positioned herself into a running position-knees bent, balanced on her toes-and took off running past the house and down another block. She only stopped when she almost ran into a mailbox from the momentum and looked behind her to see if anyone was following her. But what could they do, exactly? What would they do if they saw her running by their house? Probably shake their heads, thinking they'd seen a ghost. Because Cameron Donna Witwicky doesn't live here anymore. She doesn't exist. At least, not in their eyes, right?

Getting back to reality, Cameron continued walking. Tiara didn't live a far distance from Cameron-a mere walking distance-so she arrived there in minutes' time. She stood in front of that stupid yellow house of theirs-not very wide, but four stories high, if you count the attic-and walked up the few stairs to the door. Raising her hand, she formed it into a fist and banged on the door.

Tensing up, she heard footsteps in the house, second floor, pounding down the stairs. She knew it was Tiara immediately, hearing the loud 'boom' as she jumped down the last three steps and hopped over to the door.

Cameron flinched as she heard her best friend unlock the door and gritted her teeth, willing herself not to run away. She never thought it could be this hard.

Suddenly, the door opened up to a grinning Tiara, whose smile instantly dropped upon seeing Cameron as the latter's heart dropped to the ground in shock. Tiara's happy eyes drew a frown as she looked Cameron up and down. A few seconds past-hours to Cameron-before Tiara spoke.

"Cameron?"

Cameron prepared herself for this, for the confrontation. She had a month to do so, carefully figuring out her speech to Tiara on how she failed as a human being to her own race. She memorized the five minute long speech in her head and went over it about as many times, but all that came out of her mouth was, "…hi."

Tiara's Point of View

I looked her up and down, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion and disappointment. This random stranger at my door made myself think of my best friend Cameron who I hadn't seen in months, and it pained me to think of her. Damn, I was so bored! Cameron would've suggested something awesome like running around in banana costumes from Party city and chucking them at people like Frisbees, but doing it by myself didn't seem right.

The girl in front of me had messy black hair that went up to her shoulders with some dirty blonde on top, like she dyed it. Her crazy blue-green eyes bore into my own, as if looking for the answers to the damn universe, and her clothes were all battered and torn and dirty. Was this some type of hobo or something?

I opened my mouth to tell her to go away when my mind suddenly clicked. This girl looked like Cameron, exactly like Cameron… "Cameron?"

The stranger's eye light up for a millisecond, then shown a look of horror. "…hi."

I gasped. Cameron! She's finally home! And she looks like shit! I ran the two feet separating us in one long stride and brought her into my arms, squeezing tight. I felt her flinch under the sudden contact, but then her arms immediately found each other around my back and squeezed. After a moment, I let go and held her at arm's length like a mother to a kid and laughed. "Oh my God Cameron! You're finally home! Where were you? What took so long? Are you okay? Can I get you something? Do you need help? Why do you look like shit?"

Cameron sighed and rolled her eyes, a small smile forming on her lips. "Okay, okay, enough with the questions. Please don't be too loud either." I opened my mouth to ask another bajillion questions but she cut me off with a shake of her head. "No, inside we talk. Your room, okay?"

I nodded. "But can I get you something-"

"No, just your room. But don't let your parents know. We really need to talk." Skeptical, I looked into Cameron's eyes and saw a seriousness in there that I had never seen before. I almost shivered at the intensity of her gaze, nervous about what we had to talk about, but was wise enough not to ask here and led her inside my house. Closing the door behind us, I found that she was already bounding up the stairs to my room and followed quickly suite.

When I entered my room, Cameron stood in front of my walls, staring at it with wide, sad eyes. Her eyes danced over the pictures of us laughing together on the walls, countless little strips of the pictures from those booths in the mall of us doing retarded faces. Her mouth started to quiver, her eyes started to water, before she blinked hard and looked away at me, motioning to close the door. I obeyed and walked over to her, but she held out her hand halfway.

"Don't," she said, her voice shaking, her control breaking. She shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut. "Please, just stay right there…Tiara."

Terrified now, I stop walking, figuring it was the best thing to do than creating a worse situation by not doing what she asked. I watched her clench her hands into fists and grit her teeth, looking at the floor, willing herself not to cry before I opened her mouth to speak, choosing my words very carefully: "Cameron, you tell me what happened. Now." I forced my voice to remain calm and neutral and in control, because she clearly wasn't. She needed a voice of reason.

Cameron took a deep, deep breath and looked back at me, a small tear trailing down her face. She opened her mouth to speak, closed it, and opened it again. "You have to promise not to tell anyone," she whispered.

Being my smart ass self, I answered, "Did you kidnap the goddamn president or something, you dumbass?"

She smiled for a second and giggled. "No, you freaking idiot. But I'm serious. You are not to tell anyone, alright?" Once I nodded, she righted herself-stood a little straighter, chin held higher, eyes boring into my own. "Now whatever happens next, you must not freak out. I have no intentions to harm you, and I never will. Do not draw attention. Do not freak out. Understood?" I nodded again, biting my lip. What the hell was she up to?

Suddenly, she started to change.

I watched in horror and shock as the person who stood in front of me turned her flesh into metal slowly, her clothes disappearing. Metal took place of everything flesh as parts shifted into place. Her legs had been replaced with pointy, jagged metal, her waist with something that looked like regular underwear but with sharp edges that attached to her leg parts. Her stomach was flat and reflective, her chest being replaced with another layer of armor shaped to look a little like breasts. Her shoulders metal caps on them, her right having two thick spikes but her left having only one thicker spike, each at least five inches tall. Two thin but long wings protruded off her back, maybe each at least three feet long. Her arms were thick and rounded, an extra layer of metal on her elbow like an elbow guard. A sword-like object protruded from the side of her forearm, her fingers replaced by long and sharp claws. But the most notable change had to be her face.

Gone were Cameron's soft blue-green cat eyes, replaced by a vivid bright blue glow, emanating around her face. Four spikes were on top of her head-two tall ones more towards the back, two short ones more towards her face. Her ears were replaced with something that looked like headphones with two long antennae from the top of it. Her teeth became a little jagged, along with the rest of her facial features, and two thin eyebrows were placed above her eyes.

Her body was now a twisted, conjured figure of silver and black metal with dark gray wires here and there, some light blue glowing wires showing. The same light blue light from her eyes, which were staring right back at me with a scared expression.

I suddenly realized that my jaw had dropped and my eyes widened, so I fixed those and, for the sake of both of us, I smiled. "You're a robot! You're a mother fucking robot! Holy shit this is so fucking cool-" I stopped myself, realizing I was shouting, and lowered my voice. "You have to tell me everything."

Cameron nodded and transformed back to her human form, her clothes thankfully reappearing and her hair fell down to her shoulders as she sat on my bed and patted right next to her smiling, signaling that I should sit down next to her. "It's a long story," she explained, and I nodded, understanding, and sat down next to her.

She then told me everything, all the way back to the year of 2005. Of how she met the Autobots with Sam and Mikaela, Sam's ex-girlfriend, and how they met this organization called Sector Seven who hid the AllSpark and Megatron, the Decepticon Leader. Of how her great-great grandfather met Megatron and accidentally activated some sort of coordinates thing and had the coordinates of the cube imprinted on his glasses, which is why the Autobots had come the Earth in the first place. She told me of the Mission City battle, of how when Sam killed Megatron with the energy of the cube, it transferred itself into her body and she became the host of the AllSpark, given her new techno-organic nature. And then, years later, the Egypt battle. And, finally, the battle that had spread across the entire globe, but the core battle in Chicago. How she had teamed up with the Decepticons and how she treated the Autobots, and then finally ending with how she had been on the run for four months now.

I returned with some news of my own. The Autobots had been reportedly moved to a new secret base since their last on had been destroyed, and they are fully known to the world. Some people are still protesting their being here, but most are grateful of their presence. Megatron's body has been carefully taken apart and studied in a secret, highly protected facility somewhere unknown, along with Sentinel Prime's body, though his parts were kept together under Optimus Prime's orders. People are rebuilding Chicago, though they said it would take about ten years for it to be fully restored, and most of its residents-the small amount that had actually survived-had moved away.

At the end of all of the explanations, I looked at the clock and realized we had been talking for about four hours now. Our stomachs rumbled in sync and we laughed silently. I went to the kitchen and got us some popcorn, snacks, and a liter of soda up for us to eat, but she ate them all, so I had to go get something else for me to eat, which she ate most of anyways. Not like I cared-she didn't have much to eat the past four months anyway. She needed this.

The next hour spent was her bawling her eyes out-thank God my parents had left earlier-about how much of a terrible person she is for doing that to Earth, to us. For turning on her friends and family. She used up all of my tissues and my trash was overflowed. She kept on telling me what I horrible person she was, but I tried to counter and calm her down by telling her that it's fine and all is forgiven and that she needed to let bygones be bygones.

After a few moments of silence, Cameron finally asked, "Well, what do I do now?"

"Well, that's kinda obvious," I told her. "You go to the Autobots."

Cameron flinched and then laughed. "They'd kill me before I got into a mile radius of their base, wherever that is!"

"Well, didn't you say there were energon detectors everywhere now?" She nodded. "You have energon now, dumbass. You'd be tracked. They'd go after you."

"Like that's helpful," she snorted. "Like I just said, they'd kill me! I'm no different than any other Decepticon freak."

"You're not a freak, and you're not a Decepticon." I shook my head. "Cameron, what other choice do you have? Run away from them forever? I can probably keep you a secret for a mere month, no longer. They'd find you wherever you go. You're not safe anywhere. You're only choice is to go to the Autobots and tell them that you've changed."

"But that's just it," she told me. "I don't think I've really changed at all."

I smiled. "You'd be surprised."

"But-"

"You helped them numerous times, and you made one little goof. It's not like they're going to forget all those times you've helped because of that. They'd forgive you. You were under the power of the AllSpark. It's fine."

A few moments passed before Cameron sighed again and smiled, nodding her head. "Yeah. Alright, fine. I…I guess I have no other choice." She paused, and her smile widened as she announced, "Tomorrow, I'm going to get the attention of the Autobots."

I nodded. "Good girl. Now, can I ask you a question…?"

She tilted her head. "Yes, of course, Tiara. What is it?"

"Ugh…it's just that…where do your clothes go when you transform?"

Author's Note: Okay hey guys! sorry for the recent long ass updates again, but now there must be what? Two chapters left? And then onto the sequel! *squeals* I hope you're ready for it, but there will be more descriptions of it in the last chapter of this story (two chapters away).

But thank you for sticking with me! I'm so thankful for all of you and your reviews, keeping me with some faith that someone actually likes this story.

Is it weird to say that I'm getting excited that this is over in two chapters? Because I just can't wait for the sequel. ^o^

Oh and a shoutout to Rockubyebaby, I hope I used your 'OC' to your liking. I just imagined her as a smartass, cocky (the good ways) person who makes a great friend, especially to Cameron. You'll be seeing more of her as of late.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I just couldn't get around to how to describe how Cameron looked like, it was really irritating. Plus with all of the things going on as of late...and if you want to know more of what Cameron looks like, I kind of went by the design of Sari Sumdac from Transformers Animated, so you can look that up if you like.

Please review! It makes me all happy inside when you do. ;) And I ABSOLUTELY PROMISE that the next chapter will be out by next week, and a maximum of two weeks, but most likely not two weeks, don't worry. XD

Okay alright bi ~ ;)