So I learned that Fanfiction doesn't let you put periods in chapter titles, so any chapters that are split up will have to be labeled with a comma instead. Example, last chapter "Chapter 2,5". I don't know why they did that, but, we adapt and continue on.

Neal meets

"...-al?! Neal!" I jumped at the shout, only to flail as gravity took me to the ground. I hit my head on something and let out a cry of pain as I went down. I felt my whole world lean back and forth and I tried not to get motion sick as tires squealed. The world stopped swaying after a few seconds and I tried to get my bearings.

"Neal? Are you okay?!" The voice didn't really register in my head as I saw I was in a bus and looked over. The driver seat empty. When I looked through the front windshield, I saw that I was headed straight for a guardrail.

"Oh crap!" I pounced on the steering wheel in an attempt not to crash, but I couldn't turn it.

"Neal-! Let go!" I pulled back like the voice had bitten me, still shaking and not fully cognitive. The bus slowed to a stop, and when the door popped open I scrambled to get out. I tripped on the last stair and fell to the ground, crawling away. I tried to focus, but images from my dream flashed through my mind and my vision was wavering and hazy.

'You're MINE!' I heard metal scraping behind me, and I froze.

"No..." I whined, and slowly turned around to see a giant robot walking towards me. I panicked and curled into a ball, letting out a short yell. A voice from above me called out.

"Neal! What's wrong?!" I froze when I heard my name. My brain started to clear, if only slightly, and my vision focused a little more. I took a second look at the robot and realized that this one was different than that one. And familiar. But how? I struggled to focus, my mind still buzzing with adrenaline. "Neal? What happened?" I focused on the voice and everything came flooding back at once.

Snowboarding. A big storm. A dragon that turned out to be a robot. The robot needing my help. What was its name?

"R-renegade?" My voice cracked as I tried to repeat the word that flashed through my mind. I saw a giant hand coming towards me and flinched, letting out a pathetic whimper as I grabbed a handful of grass to try and pull myself away from it. The hand stopped and retreated a little. "Neal, please, speak to me." I desperately sucked in a breath.

"G-iant. Tried t-to..." I shook my head and whimpered again, not able to form the words.

"It was a dream. It wasn't real." I saw the hand reaching for me again, but I didn't try to move away this time. It gently picked me up, the claws carefully wrapping around me. Renegade gently rolled me into the center of his palm, then held me close as he straightened up. I felt a gentle heat coming from some vents on his chest. After a few minutes I felt better and sat up in Renegade's palm. I was still shaking like house in a hurricane.

"Neal, can you speak to me now?"

"Y..." My voice caught in my throat and I had to try again, "Yeah. I'm okay, just an, un-unusual nightmare." I tried to push those thoughts to the back of my mind as I slowly wiped my hands against my pants, the clammy feeling distracting me. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you like that." My whole world moved as Renegade shifted back onto his heels. Hopefully, no one drives by.

'Hopefully, he doesn't drop me.' I thought as I looked as far over the edge of his hand as I was willing. A20 foot plus drop is not good for one's health.

"I understand. Are you going to be alright?" He asked. I shook my head to try and clear it more.

"I think so...I've never, had a dream like that before. I mean, I've had realistic dreams in the past but that one was..." I shuddered. "Too real."

"Are you okay with continuing?" I nodded and held onto one of his fingers as he set his hand on the ground, allowing me to step off. My knees nearly gave out as I slid back onto the dirt. I watched as he shifted back into the bus and opened his door. I got in and plopped heavily onto the first bench. I sighed when I felt the heat kick on.

"Sorry for scaring you Renegade." I said.

"I was concerned for your wellbeing. After all, I said I would get you back to your family, didn't I?" I nodded, running my hands mindlessly over the leather on the seat. The vehicle shuddered. "I may be in my alt mode, but my physical sensors are still active." I pulled my hand back like I had been shocked.

"Sorry! I didn't know."

"It's alright," He reassured me, "I just haven't had any nonviolent, physical contact with anyone for millennia. It is, foreign to me now." I felt my face flush in embarrassment as I wanted to disappear.

"I'm...going back to sleep..."

"Rest, we still have a while yet to go." I nodded and closed my eyes.

««{{¤}}»»

I woke up as Renegade pulled into a parking lot. I sat up and looked around. It was a simple rest stop, which looked deserted.

"Neal, if you wish to stretch your legs, feel free. Even us bots can get stiff if we stay still for too long."

"Thank you." I stepped off the bus and sighed, stretching my arms over my head. Inside the building the lights were on, but I figured there were motion sensors outside or something. I thought I was only in the restroom for a second, when I heard a groan of pain.

Trying to ignore it, not interested in starting awkward bathroom talk around a possibly regretful night before, I had just started to open an empty stall door when a louder groan, and then a yelp echoed through the room. I grew concerned, but still hesitated in talking to whoever it was. Something that sounded like an open palm slapping the tile on the wall made me jump. Then a young voice echoed out of the far stall.

"Go away!" It sounded like a teenager. He sounded like he was in more pain than I thought.

"Hey, kid, you doin' alright?"

"No! Just, leave me alone!" I took a step back at the volume of his response.

"Okay, sorry." I jumped when a loud bang came from the stall, and I saw a body hit the floor through the gap underneath the door as he cried out.

"No! Shut up!" His voice was twisted in pain, and I threw my self-preservation out the window. Something was wrong with him. I ran over and used my knife to unlock the door, throwing it open.

A teen of about 15 was curled up on the floor, squirming in pain and digging at his eye. I could see that he had been doing more than trying to get an eyelash out, the skin around his eye was bloody.

I dropped to a knee and put my hand on his shoulder. His brown hair was in his eyes when he looked up at me. My own eyes widened in surprise to see his right pupil was glowing with a red light.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" He shouted, and I knew he wasn't talking to me. I grabbed him and hauled him to his feet. He squirmed and thrashed, crying out and scratching at his eye. "I don-just get out!" He grabbed his skull and screamed. I thought I heard a quiet mechanical whine coming from him, but I wasn't sure. I dragged him outside, avoiding flailing limbs.

"Renegade help!" He rumbled over after thinking about it for a moment.

"What is happening?"

"I don't know, but he is in pain and his eye is glowing red!" Renegade stayed quiet. "Please, Renegade, he's just a kid. Is there anything you can do?" Silence for a minute longer.

"Step back." I stepped back as a laser scan ran over the kid. Renegade was silent for just a second, then transformed.

"There is something robotic in his eye. Step back." He knelt down and pointed a finger at the child. A thick bluish gas spewed from it, shrouding the kid. Once the mist dissipated, the kid was unconscious. I stepped over and rolled the kid onto his back.

"Knock-out gas?"

"Affirmative." Renegade did another scan, this one solely on his head. My leg bounced as concern washing over me. His face was still screwed up in pain, even unconscious like that.

"What did you mean when you said that he had something robotic in his eye?"

"Exactly what it sounds like," His fingers split open and a bunch of small tools came out. He continued as he worked, "The scans showed a spherical, mechanical object in place of his eye. Unfortunately, my scans are outdated enough, I am unsure of its exact nature." He leaned back after a few minutes, his finger switching back to normal. I walked over to the kid and sighed. He had a bandage wrapped around his head, covering the eye. "I am not sure how else it help, but he will not be in pain while unconscious." I nodded.

"Thank you for helping him."

"If I didn't, I would be no better than the Cons I am trying to leave." He stood back and transformed. "Get him, we are going to a medical center." I grabbed the kid under the arms and lifted him over my shoulder. He was rather light, almost too light. I laid him down in one of the bench seats and plopped down in the driver seat. Renegade's confusion was conveyed by a slight groan from the engine.

"I don't want him to wake up to no driver like I did."

"Fair enough." He conceded as he kicked into gear and we headed out. I sat back and sighed. I reached for my phone when I paused.

"Nuts."

"Pardon?"

"Sorry. My phone was in my parachute bag."

"I am sure you can obtain another one."

"Yeah. Too bad all of the photos I took were sent to it." Renegade was silent for a while.

"You may sleep if you wish."

"I'm not really tired right now but thank you. I'm a little too disturbed by what just went down. Even if I wanted to, I don't think I could sleep."

««{{¤}}»»

"Oooh my head...where am I?" I rested my hands on Renegade's wheel while still allowing him full control. I looked back as the kid sat up, holding his head.

"Hey kid, how are you?" He looked at me and froze.

"Who are you?! Where am I?!" Panic started to rise in his posture, and I held up a hand.

"Calm down. I'm taking you to the hospital." I looked back to the road, letting Renegade turn the wheel to shift lanes.

"For what?!"

"Your eye." His hand went up to the bandage. "Don't mess with it."

"What's wrong with my eye?"

"You almost lost it kid. I found you at that rest stop in hysteria. You nearly clawed it out for some reason."

"I...scratched my own eye out?" I glanced at him with a look of sympathy.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I'm...I'm not sure. I...don't remember."

"It's okay, don't think about it too hard. Just breathe right now. We'll get you to a doc and they'll fixed up."

"But my eye..."

"I'm sorry kid..." I shook my head, truly feeling for him, "There was nothing I could do but bandage you up. What is your name?"

"...Jeremy."

"Okay Jeremy, my name is Neal." I glanced at him and saw him looking around.

"Why are we in a bus?"

"It's my ride." He looked around in awe.

"Aren't you a little young to be driving a bus?" I shot him a raised eyebrow before I locked my eyes back onto the road.

"Yes. Yes I am." I said simply.

"…It must have cost a lot."

"I've got a friend. He found it pretty easily." Renegade rumbled a little, and I tapped my foot on the floorboard while shooting a look to my left so the kid didn't see.

"That's, actually pretty cool," He went silent and after a minute, I turned halfway to him, glancing at him occasionally, keeping my vision mainly on the road.

"Jeremy," He looked up, "Have you ever had surgery on your eye before? Or any injury that could lead to irritation?" He looked really confused.

"What? No?"

"Okay, I was just checking. It could have been your eye had gotten infected at some point, and the itch slowly drove you crazy."

"Well, no one's ever touched my eyes. At least, not that I remember. The worst that's happened to them was an eyelash or some dust." I nodded.

"Okay. Well, we'll see what the doctors say." Jeremy went silent. I quietly sighed and kept pretending to drive.