Author's Note: Hey everybody! Sorry about the wait, my computer went all crazy on me when I tried to post this last time. -_-' *sighs* I hate when that happens. To clear up some confusion my character's name, as stated in the first story is Alia. But she also answers to 'Angel' as that has been a nickname that her friends gave her when they were in school and it just sort of stuck. Just so you know because she's called both in this chapter for right now. Well, that's it for now. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters relating to Transformers, even though I own the DVDs. I only own my OCs that are in the story.

Rating: T

TTTTTTTTTTTTTT = scene change

'italics' mental communication

"italics" talking on a phone

My entire right side felt like someone had put a line of blow torches beneath my skin and then lit them so the strong blue flame burned constantly as no one seemed to want to turn off the gas. That was the first thing I felt as I slowly regained feeling in my body as I became conscious of my surroundings. My fingers of my left hand scrapped against something soft underneath me as I moved them into a fist and then back again. Trying the same thing with my right hand didn't go so well as a sharp, bolt of pain went through my side. I gritted my teeth as I inched my fingers back to their original position.

I heard a door open somewhere and some footsteps echoed around me as their owner crossed the room where I was. Exactly where I could not really say. My thoughts went back to the hard, cold pavement as I lay on my back in the rain. Before that all that my memory gave me were the popping sounds and the figure I had seen in the alleyway. Then a sharp pain as something hit me and then sliced into my side before I fell backward to the ground, the sound of Ratchet's voice ringing in my ears as it tried to get me to reply.

The footsteps stopped.

"How is she Carly?" I heard someone ask. It sounded a lot like Spike, I hadn't seen him for awhile but his voice was easy to recognize.

I heard a sigh. "No change, unfortunately."

I felt the thing I was laying on move by my feet and then something slightly damp was removed from my side and I could hear sloshing as whatever it was, was put into some water. A glass object tapped on some metal and the cloth was placed gently back on my side. I bit back a hiss of pain at the coldness of the water and then a stinging sensation as another ingredient on the cloth ignited against the cut in my side that was still healing. In spite of my defiance, I groaned.

Apparently it had been loud enough for them to hear because the next thing that was spoken was my name.

"Angel? Angel?" Carly called to me.

Groaning again I opened my eyes, letting them adjust to the light that was shining down from the ceiling above me. I looked around as best I could before my head started to ache from the effort. I turned my head to the right and looked at Carly, who was once again sitting beside me, and Spike who was standing behind her, both with hopeful but worried looks on their faces as they stared at me.

"Angel?" Carly asked again.

"Hello." I replied groggily.

A look of pure joy crossed her face as she and Spike exchanged a look between them before Carly turned back to me, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder.

"Can you move at all?"

"A little, just on my left side. My right… not so much."

Spike nodded. "Yeah, we expected that. You're cut up pretty badly on your side. Not to mention the fact that you were also shot twice. One at the shoulder and once on your thigh before being shot a third time at the stomach. The first two though are only grazes and are not too deep."

I laughed as much as my side would let me. "But my side looks like hell huh?"

He nodded solemnly.

I managed a small smile. "How long have I been out Carly?"

"It's been four days, since we found you." She replied, her face taking a downcast look.

My eyes never left her face. "What is it?"

"We weren't sure you were going to make it. You had lost so much blood by the time any of us got to you…"

Despite the pain I lifted my right hand and placed it on hers. She looked up at me, her blue eyes glassy from the tears starting to form within them.

"Hey, I'm here aren't I? There's no reason to feel bad, what's happened has happened. We can't turn back time."

She sniffed, wiping her eyes with her left hand. "I know, but when we found you and Optimus…"

That got my attention. Forgetting the pain I suddenly found myself shooting up into a sitting position with both my hands on her shoulders.

"Optimus! Carly! Is he… is he alright?" I cried.

Carly didn't answer for some time. Whether it was from not wanting to tell me or from shock that I have moved as quickly as I did was uncertain. I was surprised myself but I didn't care if I had opened up my side would again because of it. The only thing that filled my mind right now was to know if Optimus was alright or not. She and Spike exchanged another look, both retaining their silence as long as they could just to keep me in torment about what had happened to the Autobot leader.

She moved back and forth in front of me as I shook her with what strength my arms had left in them. "Carly tell me! Please!"

"He's fine Angel. At least that's what Ratchet assured me when I last spoke with him. Optimus had sustained life threatening injuries from whatever that thing was that exploded." Carly explained, putting her hands gently on my shoulders as she tried to get me to lie back down. But I refused to move.

"Did you find what caused it?" I demanded.

"No." Spike replied softly. The shock and sharp confusion in my eyes must have been strong in the look I gave him. He hesitated, thinking over whether or not to tell me anything. He finally sighed in defeat as I didn't back down. Though I still thought he was debating what details he was exactly willing to give me.

He took another breath. "Whatever caused the hole in the ground and the injuries to Optimus and to you is gone."

"Gone?" I asked in disbelief.

Carly nodded. "Yeah. We searched the whole area around both of you and then several feet away in a perimeter, but no pieces were found at all. All we saw were scorch marks where the pieces could have been but it looked as if they had evaporated into thin air and that also includes whatever caused your own injuries."

I looked away. There were no weapons like that in David's arsenal, of that I was certain. My contact would have sent me information about it. But then again David could have developed something new just before he came here. I shoved that thought to the back of my mind. Whenever David started a new project he and his scientists were in their labs for months on end researching and testing new components for the weapons. There was no possible way for them to have one ready in just the few weeks from him being on a trip to D.C., as my contact had told me three weeks before David appeared, to then come here and have something completely new and ready to be used.

The figure in the alleyway appeared in my mind. From the distance and darkness it was hard to tell completely what they had looked like. But they had the shape and stature of a human being, heavily covered in what appeared, by the outline, to be a trench coat and wide brimmed hat similar to the ones that western cowboys wear. The figure had moved fast, fast than anything or anyone I had ever seen before, as it left the alleyway and struck me down. The flash of silver was brief but I remembered that it came from its arm as something else connected with my side besides the fist I had felt.

I turned my eyes to my side. Bandages had been wrapped around my entire middle and were extra thick over my right side where I could just make out faint traces of the blood that had started to soak the white coloring of the bandages before the wound had closed on its own. The grazes on my thigh and just under my shoulder were wrapped as well, though more thinly as they weren't that deep.

My clothes that I had been wearing were torn in those places, except for my vest that stopped just above the side wound and had no sleeves. My jacket and jeans were torn where the shots had gone through, though my jeans were also ripped from where I had hit the ground and a large chunk of my left leg, just below the knees, was torn completely off. That I knew hadn't happened from the fall.

I took the damp cloth from my side and placed it on the side table and swung my legs over the side. Gritting my teeth I slowly lowered my feet to the ground and stood up. I faintly heard Carly telling me that it wasn't such a good idea to try that right now but I ignored her. These torn up legs of mine kept me up for a good five seconds and then collapsed beneath me and, not wanting to fall, I placed my strong hand on the nearest thing to keep me on my feet.

Unfortunately, that was my right hand.

I bit back a gasp of pain as Spike came forward and grabbed my left arm to hold me up. He maneuvered me back to sit on the bed which I did for the time being as I held my right hand, trying to get the pain to stop.

"I told you. Don't try it yet, you're not ready." Carly said.

I stared at her. "I'm fine, just a little unsteady that's all." I said as I slowly stood back up. My legs actually deciding to hold me up this time.

"You are stubborn. You know that?" Carly said, clearly irritated.

I smirked. "Yeah, Tara and Jen tell me that almost every single day. Where is Optimus?"

"He's with Ratchet in the small medbay that we have here. It's just around the corner."

"Spike! Stop encouraging her!"

"Hey, Ratchet wanted to check her out anyway after she woke up." Spike shrugged.

Carly rolled her eyes. "Fine. This way."

Walking was not as hard as I thought it would be. I had to take baby steps at first with Spike and Carly on either side to catch me if I fell again. But my strides got larger as my legs became accustomed to walking around again. As we exited the room I could hear voices drifting from another room. Spike told me that they others were probably playing some video games or watching some kind of movie.

"Video games?" I asked. "They play video games?!"

Spike smiled. "Yeah, especially Sunstreaker. He loves them."

He turned me away from that direction and continued towards yet another room that was across from the entrance garage door that I had shown Ratchet when I had first met him.

The medbay was the largest room in the building, as it also held a small table with other weapons that the Autobot's inventor had developed while they were here and were awaiting a return to their home base to be tested, though his main 'lab' was in yet another room.

Ratchet was sitting at a small table next to the weapons table with some machinery around him. Beyond him were two long metal slabs that looked like hospital gurneys. The one closest to him was empty but I could faintly make out Optimus on the other one as the three of us walked closer to the ambulance.

"Ratchet?"

He turned and looked down at us. "Yeah, what is… Alia!" A look of relief washed over his face as he saw me. He got up and came over to us, putting his hand to the ground and lifting me up onto the empty bed. He walked back to Spike and Carly for a second and said something I couldn't hear but they both nodded and replied. I faintly heard Spike say, "… just a few minutes ago." before both him and Carly left the room.

Ratchet walked back over. "How are you feeling Alia?"

"Fine I suppose except for the constant feeling of burning fire in my side but I guess that's expected."

Ratchet smiled and grabbed a couple on instruments from his table. The scanners picked up nothing else wrong and showed that my wounds were healing up nicely. I may have a scar or two on my side but nothing major.

"Ratch?"

"Hm?"

"Is it true you guys didn't find anything to show what had caused my injuries?"

He nodded slowly, a sad look on his face. "Yes, that's true. Whoever it was that caused this disappeared. We found no trace that anyone else besides you two had even been there in the first place." He walked back over to his table.

Spinning around I faced the table that Optimus lay on. A wave of nausea went through my stomach. The metal on his legs was torn and mangled in several places. A few places on his stomach and chest were also twisted and looked melted in long pieces of red metal and glass. Ratchet had done what he could to most of the areas. If I sat on my knees I could see the patched up tubes that looked like the blood veins that went through a human body, though these were thicker and had a protective coating on the outside to try and prevent tearing and breakage to the veins.

What surprised me the most was that he was not wearing his mask. Apparently it was not part of his face, as most people I had talked with after the Autobots had first appeared, had thought seeing as he always wore it. I hadn't thought his face had been damaged but my eyes landed on a smaller table on wheels with Ratch's repair tools and also held a mask that was badly scratched up and torn in half.

"Alia? You okay?" Ratchet asked.

I shook my head. "No… I'm not…"

He sighed. "This isn't your fault Alia. You didn't know that something like this would happen."

I whirled around and glared at him, my eyes beginning to sting from held back tears. "It is my fault Ratch! I should have known that bastard would try something like this! It should be me that's laying there like that, not him!"

"Don't you ever say something like that!" Ratchet snarled at me. "There is no reason that it should be you!"

"But…!" I protested.

"Enough!" he shot back. "Just don't think like that!"

Ratchet paused for a second as he tried to compose himself. His hand was tightly gripped around the table edge, hard enough that I could see that indents were starting to form in the metal. I wrapped my arms around me trying in vain to shrink myself to a smaller size. I had never seen Ratchet this angry but I had to say it. I would much rather be lying there instead of Optimus. Why go after him if I had been the real target? It just didn't make any sense to me at all.

He slowly let go of the table and headed for the door. A small pad that looked like a palm pilot clutched in his hand. He stopped at the door and turned back to me.

"He was asking about you, you know," he said, nodding towards Optimus. "He was more worried about you than himself. He's what you would call sedated right now but he should be awake in an hour or so."

Then Ratchet disappeared out the door.

I lay down on the table, pillowing my head with my good arm, as I faced Optimus. I shut my eyes as I tried to calm down the thoughts that were racing through my head at what felt like a thousand miles per second.

I must have fallen asleep as I felt a blanket over my shoulders covering me. Carly must have come back in with Ratchet to check up on me. Movement from the other table caught my eye as Optimus moved his arm; apparently it was hard for them to come out of whatever Ratchet did as it was for humans when they were put under anesthetic.

I sat up, letting the blanket fall off my shoulder. All the melted and bent up metal from before was repaired and he looked good as new. The only thing missing was his mask still but that didn't matter right now. I was just grateful that he was alive.

"Hey. You feeling any better?" I asked softly.

He turned his head towards me, smiling. "Much I suppose. You?" his face grew serious. "Ratchet said your wounds were pretty bad."

"Nothing a little R and R won't fix." I replied, standing up.

He moved his hand over to me and I climbed on as he brought me over to his side. I jumped off and then walked up his arm to sit on his shoulder.

"You're limping."

I sighed. "I know. Please don't tell Ratchet I'm walking around, he'd chew me out if he knew."

He smirked. "He yells at everyone who doesn't listen to him. It has just always been his way, I guess you could say that the more he shouts at you the more worried he is about you."

I held back a laugh. It wasn't that hard for me to picture Ratchet like that at all. He'd yelled at me before, just showing he cared in his own way. He reminded me a lot of my older brother who was very overprotective of me as we were growing up.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you. I should have been more careful about what might happen after the other day's confrontation…" I said, averting my eyes.

He raised his head, his eyes steady as they held mine when I looked back at him. "It's not your fault. Ratchet told you that already. And yes I heard your conversation," he added at my surprised look. "He's right. No one, not even you, could have predicted what happened. Just be glad that you're here and alive. I don't know what any of us in this warehouse would have done if you'd died."

A flash of pain went through his eyes. Not from a healing wound but from something else entirely. Another emotion that I didn't think he may have felt in a long time. I broke away my gaze and stared at anything but him for a few minutes as I tried to calm my nerves and the blood that was rushing to my ears as my heart was beating a mile a minute.

Though the strange thing was, it was like I could feel that pain in my own mind. I could feel what he was feeling and it was something that he wasn't even sure that he wanted to feel himself right now. As doing so would put me in even more trouble. I looked back and saw the surprised look I felt echoed in his eyes as he felt the same thing coming from me. But mixed with completely different emotions.

I looked away again, blocking all current thought from my mind until I figured out what this was.

"Ah, I see you're awake finally. About time."

I silently thanked Ratchet, as he came back into the room followed by Prowl and Ironhide. My old friend Steeljaw trotting after them before he leaped onto the table that I had been sleeping on before.

'Sure, you tell them you're awake but do you tell me, no.' he huffed as he lay down on the table.

I smiled apologetically. 'Sorry.'

He moved his head to the side. His equivalent of a shrug. 'Eh, it's okay. Glad you're alright but aren't you supposed to be resting?' He added, a smirk on his face.

My eyes widened. I was glad I was facing him and not the others in the room who were currently engaged in conversation as my face was starting to turn light shade of pink.

'You knew that I wasn't resting and you told Ratchet! You little sneak! Optimus and I were just talking!'

'Uh huh. Looked to me though like it was something completely different.'

Man, I wished more than anything that I has something to throw at him right now. 'What is that supposed to mean?!'

He snorted and laid his head on his paws to watch us.

"Alia. Can you move?"

I looked up at Ratchet. "Huh? Oh sure."

I stepped down and walked onto 'Hide's waiting hand as he transported me back over to where Steeljaw now was. I sat down next to him as Ratchet and Prowl helped Optimus sit up on the table so Ratch could examine him to make sure everything was working properly. Ironhide reached over and handed his leader the mask that had been lying on the side table and Optimus put it on.

'You think he's handsome don't you?'

I glared at Steeljaw. 'I do not! Stop reading my mind!'

'I never said that I was reading your mind. But don't deny it either. It's written plainly on your face if anyone is willing to read it.'

He had me there. I supposed that I did have some sort of feeling for Optimus. I wasn't sure when that had started; I hadn't even known him for that long. But I wasn't ready for that kind of relationship right now, coinciding with the fact of that strange feeling I had in my mind earlier. But most importantly, not with David still out there. Anyone close to me would be on David's hit list.

Not that Optimus, Ratchet and the others weren't already on it in the first place, and possibly some if not all of the Decepticons too knowing him. It didn't matter whether they were part of different sides or not, they all looked the same to David.

"I don't know, whatever or whoever it was is gone now. I've been listening to some people who have been walking around town. They keep talking about a man who is asking questions about Miss Angel there." I heard Prowl say quietly. "He says he's an old friend or something."

I rolled my eyes. Yep, there went David again, probably wondering where I had vanished too. As if he didn't already know or had some idea!

"What have the humans been telling him?" Optimus asked, a hint of worry in his voice. I shivered. Even though he was talking to Prowl I could feel his eyes on me.

"They've been telling him that she's been missing the past few days, apparently because of a sudden trip home." Prowl replied.

Ratchet sighed. "Well that's good. At least she's safe for the time being and so are you," he stated pointedly to Optimus. "It will give us time to think of some way to get rid of him."

"At least some way for me to get rid of him…" I whispered to myself.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

A few days later I was well enough to go with Carly and Spike to my house to get a couple of things and more importantly my car which had all the weapons I had in my possession in the trunk. Most of my more prized possessions and irreplaceable stuff I stored where the weapons had been in case of the off chance that my house would get blown up sometime in the future.

We drove back and unloaded the trunk, each carrying a box or weapon at a time since they were kinda heavy. A pile started to grow in the area that had been designated as Wheeljack's 'lab' while they were here, since he wanted to see what the weapons did and how they were made. I gave the boxes of vials to Ratchet so he could break down what was needed to make more of the antidotes.

I laid each weapon out on a special table that Wheeljack had placed in the center of the lab, facing a wall so that if something went wrong it would fire outside and not in. But then the table was placed far enough that a blast wouldn't hit the wall, or at least we hoped. I answered as much of Wheeljack's questions as I could as I set everything up.

Each of the weapons were grouped into categories of what would create a bullet sized wound to ones that would make a sizable dent if not a crater in either metal or concrete. Then I matched them up from what crystals or stones inside the separate chambers melted wires and sheet metal to those that caused the delicate workings of any machine to implode on themselves so whatever it was basically exploded from the inside out.

Wheeljack was very attentive and eager to learn what each one was as a kid would be when he first went into a candy store. He was also grateful for the blueprints I had for the weapons and looked at them right now through a magnifying glass panel until he could have their computer back at base, Teletran 1, make larger more readable copies to be stored in his more permanent lab.

Using the test materials that I had also brought with me, I showed him in actual life what each one did. Ratchet, Prowl, or even some of the others popped in from time to time to see what was going on. Steeljaw and Rewind were there constantly to watch as were Carly and Spike. Optimus came in once or twice, asking some questions of his own, but that was it as he had to give orders to others back at base about who to send out to stop a more recent Decepticon attack.

Now, as I'm sure some of you had figured, I had specifically told Wheeljack not to touch anything unless I said so. But it's Wheeljack, he can't keep his eager hands off of anything that could be tinkered with. So when I was setting aside a weapon that I had just used while Ratchet helped Carly, Spike, and Rewind down from the table. Wheeljack started to play with one of the bigger, and more recent, weapons of my arsenal.

I froze when I started to hear the humming noise behind me and whirled around as Wheeljack examined the thing closer to find out where it was coming from.

"Wheeljack what did you do?!" I shouted, running over.

He shrugged. "I just wanted to see what it did, so I turned it on." He motioned towards the button he had pressed.

I looked over it and stopped dead in my tracks. He had pressed the self-destruct.

'Steel! Get the other weapons off the table! Hurry!' I sent quickly as I tried to turn it back.

He set about his task and pushed each one off the table.

Wheeljack tried to help me but I shoved his hand out of the way but then it started flashing.

Crap.

"GET DOWN!" I shrieked as I ran to get off the table.

Wheeljack and the others didn't have to be told twice. They ran for cover behind a large piece of metal that was separate from the back wall. Steeljaw stopped long enough for me to jump on his back and then he ran and jumped off the table towards the small desk that Wheeljack had in the room.

BOOM!!!

The blast echoed in my ears as the hot rush of air and flame blasted behind us and literally threw me and Steel onto the desk. I landed two feet from Steel and curled into a ball as some loose pieces of metal and concrete fell from the ceiling.

As quickly as it had started the blast the shockwave of the blast passed over. I slowly raised my head from the fetal position I was in and watched as the flames from the weapon sent dark smoke into the air and it went out through the new skylight hole in the ceiling above where the weapon has stood. The back wall and floor also had huge holes in them and thankfully none of the other weapons had been directly underneath it as it had exploded.

There was also a large hole in the wall behind the weapon that was right next to the entrance to the lab from the warehouse itself. The hole was about twenty feet in diameter both ways and I was shocked that the wall was still standing. Thank you to whoever invented reinforced concrete.

The weapon itself was in no better shape. The top capsule had split open upwards causing the rocks to shoot through the ceiling and the energy canister near the trigger of the weapon at the back was now made up of several ribbons of twisted metal that bent backwards towards the muzzle of the gun and reminded me of a cartoon weapon after the rabbit had stuck his finger in the end of it.

Ratchet and the others slowly made their way out from behind the piece of metal. By pure luck the weapon had not decided to explode that way as the muzzle was completely intact. If looks could kill I am quite sure Wheeljack would have been a steaming pile of metal from the dark glare I gave him, made even more so since my green eyes darkened whenever I was in a bad mood. Steeljaw came up beside me and shook himself to get rid of the dust and small pieces of debris that had fallen on him.

I dusted myself off as Ratchet tested the table's stability and the thing practically collapsed in on itself as it fell to the floor, the still smoking weapon in the middle of it.

"What the…?!"

We turned and faced Jazz and Prowl who stood frozen in the doorway each with a shocked expression on their faces. Two others, one red and one yellow that I knew from watching the news to be Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, were each poking their head around the hole in the wall with one on each side of it.

Ironhide, Bumblebee, and a tall, green Autobot with what looked to be a missile launcher on this shoulder came next and carefully picked up some of the debris that had flown outside the room through the hole. The twins helped carry the larger chunks outside and placed them somewhere in a pile as each one was moved. Carly, Spike and Rewind went around the now broken table and picked up the other weapons before quickly carrying them to the boxes beneath the desk so that nothing loose fell on them and accidentally triggered another explosion.

"What happened?" Prowl finally demanded just as Optimus came around from where he was in the warehouse with Blaster right behind him.

"Wheeljack happened." I growled, crossing my arms.

Prowl shot an annoyed look at Wheeljack who was currently very interested in the floor or anything else that didn't contain an angry face.

"What did you do now?" Jazz asked in an exasperated tone.

"Look I didn't mean it, I said I was sorry…" the inventor trailed off.

"I know you're sorry. You're just lucky it wasn't another weapon or the whole roof would have come off this building and that no one was seriously hurt. But," he looked at me when I paused. "If you ever and I mean ever, do something like that again. I will personally ask Ratchet to permanently weld your hands into fists!"

Tension in the room slowly evaporated as Jazz and even some of the others started to laugh at Wheeljack's expression. They would all be happy if I made good on that threat if even for a day to make sure that for once Wheeljack didn't blow anything up in their faces or base. Ratchet got an evil look on his face at that thought and told his friend that he would make good on that the next time he ended up in the medbay back at home.

Steeljaw went down and brought the weapon back up to me so that I could closely examine the damage. Then he left with Rewind to go back to Blaster who needed them for some help with a communications relay that had shorted out. I grabbed one of the tools I had on the desk and started to cut off the ribbon metal on the trigger end of the gun.

"What caused it?"

I looked up at Optimus, noticing that he had stayed in the room with me when the others had cleared out.

"Wheeljack pressed the self-destruct button. Luckily it didn't fire out of the muzzle otherwise there could have been more serious injuries." I said finally as I sliced through the last piece of metal and started on removing the holding chamber's glass covering.

"I take it that you'll be staying here with us for awhile then? You seemed eager to make good on that threat of yours." I could see the smile behind his mask as he eyes were filled with laughter.

"Yeah, I'll stay. Someone's got to make sure that he'll blow up something and then Ratchet can have all the fun he wants." I replied with a smile.

There was a brief silence before both of us laughed outright with that thought, the explosion and even David, a far thought in both of our minds at the sight of Ratchet actually welding Wheeljack's hands into their proper place for once.