CHAPTER THREE

Taken

***

Optimus and Ratchet drove to where they were supposed to go. With Rosanna, Flare-Up and Chromia with me, I climbed out of the fire-truck, followed by Optimus' holoform, and we walked over to Ratchet's holoform.

"Oh Wreck-Gar…" I whispered, as everyone was shooting at him or screaming. "He must be so confused…" Tears welled in my eyes, but then I dismissed them. "Prime, Ratchet – I am going in!"

Ratchet didn't look pleased. "I just spent three hours bandaging you up…"

"And I'm grateful for it!" I called, for I was already running, and wishing I had taken off my helmet but, as I ran, I realised it was a good thing.

I was running toward Wreck-Gar, and people began gasping and screaming as I jumped over a police fence, hurdle-style.

"STOP HER!!" Someone yelled.

"Help girls!" I cried frantically. My chest was killing me – I really couldn't afford any distractions.

Flare-Up, Chromia and Rosanna (in that order) suddenly assumed their robot forms as they jumped out of my hands, and landed on the ground, placing themselves between me and the police officers.

I didn't look back for very long though, as I kept on running, but now I faced a new trial.

The ground was shattered and cracked, just like in the Transformers movie game for the DS, when you jump. I had to scramble a bit, and I thought my chest was going to explode from the stress of it all. I was glad I was wearing shoes; there was so much shattered glass everywhere.

A little voice in my mind told me that I need to get up high, to get Wreck-Gar's attention, but of course there was nowhere to climb.

"Now what?" I looked around frantically.

An explosion suddenly made me look at Wreck-Gar, whose arm was showering sparks where he'd just been shot.

"NO!!" I shouted, and leapt for the nearest wall. The screams and cries of the people around me echoed in my ears as I clung to the wall and began to scramble up it, feeling like spider man or monkey. Wreck-Gar's cries of pain filled my ears to the point where the scream became my own, and I pushed myself away from the wall, flinging myself toward him. "WRECK-GAR!!!!"

I landed with a thud, on Wreck-Gar's palm.

I gasped, and sat there, looking at him dazed.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE!!" Someone shouted.

"Excuse me miss," Wreck-Gar looked at me, confused. "But what did you just call me?"

I was breathing heavily and, for a moment, I couldn't reply, but then I stood up shakily, and looked right at him. "Wreck-Gar." I said clearly. "That is your name; that is who you are."

Wreck-Gar looked thrilled. "And, perhaps, could you tell me why I am here!?" His blue optics were alight with excitement. He finally knew his name!

"Umm…you're here because I created you, so to speak…" I muttered.

"Uh-huh." Wreck-Gar nodded. "How did you do that?"

I shrugged. "I don't know…" It was very frustrating, too. What I wouldn't give for a manual or something. "I really need a…DUCK!!!!" I suddenly shouted, and a duckling appeared in my hands, but that wasn't the point.

Blitzwing and Lugnut had just flown in, and Lugnut had fired a shot at Wreck-Gar! It hit him on the back of the head, and he turned around. "Who are they!?" He cried, rubbing the sore spot on his head.

"They're the bad guys," I cried, holding onto the duck and onto Wreck-Gar. "They're trying to capture and kill me!"

"VE ARE NOT TRYING TO KILL YOU!!!!" Hothead-Blitzwing shouted.

"WHERE'S KARR!?" I yelled back, as Wreck-Gar dodged more cannon fire.

"SHE DECIDED NOT COME!!!!" Random-Blitzwing responded, cackling and firing at us.

"Wreck-Gar can't take much more of this!" I gasped. "He needs help, uh, OPTIMUS!!!!" I shouted.

People who hadn't screamed before screamed now, as the fire truck and the ambulance transformed into Optimus Prime and Ratchet, respectively. Optimus crash-tackled Blitzwing in mid-air, swinging his axe and coming this close to cutting off Cold-Blitzwing's face. I had to flinch, and I wanted to yell at him to be careful with Karr's spark-mate. I knew she'd freak if anything happened to her Blitzy.

Ratchet, meanwhile, had used his powers that only work on metal to take control of Lugnut.

He slammed Lugnut into a wall.

Blitzwing punched Optimus in the face, and I'm so glad Optimus had his face-plate up.

"Why are they fighting?" Wreck-Gar wanted to know.

I turned to look at him, feeling the white helmet heavy on my head. "Because they're on opposite sides! Blitzwing and Lugnut want to kill me,"

"VE DO NOT!!!!"

"Do too! Anyway, they're against the ones who want to protect me." I pointed out Chromia, Flare-Up and Rosanna, who had been joined by Glyph in keeping the police officers and other people at bay. I spotted the familiar-looking Indian man standing next to the Faren Zanders, and I realised that the battle might be getting out of hand.

People might get hurt.

Heck, I might get hurt!

"Wreck-Gar," I said quickly. "You need to decide whose side you're going to be on." He was looking at me. "I can't make the decision for you." I held the duckling in my arm. I had no idea where he'd gotten it from, but it was making small peeping sounds. "Are you an Autobot, like they are," I gestured to Optimus and Ratchet, who were standing back-to-back, to take on the new wave of attacks. "Or aren't you? Autobot or not, Wreck-Gar, I know you can decide it!"

Well, maybe he could've – if we hadn't suddenly been picked up by a white harrier jet and carried off somewhere.

Just great.