Chapter 7: Taylor Faints And Ratchet Goes On A Rampage

Nicole POV

I blew my hair out of my eyes. For the fifth time. They fell back in place. I sighed. " 'Cade, I'm bored."

A staticky sigh came through the dashboard. "That's the fourth time you've said that in the past 15 minutes."

"But I really am bored!"

"Well, do something to entertain yourself."

"Like what?"

"How should I know? Do something that you and Taylor do in the car when you get bored."

A light bulb went on in my head. "Hey, do you think Taylor is awake now? I mean, it's been two hours since the party and you know when she gets drunk that she doesn't sleep long. She always said that alcohol wont affect her since she's a country hick. Whatever that means…"

I looked at the gold Corvette in front of us. Said Corvette swerved. And swerved again. And again.

"Hey, what do you think's wrong with Sunny?" I asked, as if it was the simplest question ever.

"I don't know-" a crackling sound cut Barricade off.

"Hey, Nicole… She's, um, awake. And trying to-ow-bash the window-ow-out."

I snorted. "Pull over. I want to see this."Sunny and Sides pulled over, but others went on ahead. Barricade slowed, stopping just in front of Sideswipe.

I got out and 'Cade activated his holoform to follow me. Sunstreaker's door opened, and an angry Taylor jumped out.

"What the freakin' hell? God, I'm goin' crazy! A car that drives it self…Maybe I'm dreaming…Yeah, that's it. I'm dreamin'."

She looked around and saw me. "Oh, hey Nicole. Good to see a familiar friend in this stupid dream."

Sunny's holoform popped into existence. Taylor yelped and jumped behind 'Cade's holoform. Then she said, "Oh, hey Cade."

I stared at the space where Taylor had been. "This is gonna be harder than I thought it would…"

'You bet it will.'

"Not helping, Jazz." I muttered under my breath. Sides, Sunny, and Barricade looked at me, but only the twins looked confused.

I sighed and glared at Sunny. "So you didn't turn your holoform on?"

"I didn't think I needed to."

"That's just it, you smart-aft. You didn't think."

I grabbed Taylor's arm and turned her so she faced me. "So, Taylor, how do you feel?"

She tilted her head and put on her cute country thinking face. "Ummm… My head hurts, and my tummy feels queasy. I feel a bit confused as to why I'm dreamin' 'bout a car that drives itself. Nice car by the way." She blinked. "And I feel stupid talkin' to a Dream-Nicole."

I sighed. "Trust me, Taylor. This is not a dream. It is all very real."

"But a car driving itself is impossible." Then she giggled. "You sound so negative. Just like the real Nicole."

I glared at her. "I do not sound negative!" I shouted. Then I looked at the twins and Barricade. "Do I?"

All three of them nodded. I gave them the death glare.

Taylor giggled again. "That's just what the real Nicole would say, Dream-Nicole."

"This is not a dream!"

"Whatever you say, Dream-Nicole."

I face-palmed. "Don't you get it? This. Is. Not. A. Dream. You. Idiot!"

She frowned. "Shame on you, Dream-Nicole. You and that awful temper of yours. Just like the real Nicole. You get angry and reserve to name-calling. I had hoped that in my dream you would be a bit nicer."

I growled and felt my hands clench into fists. " 'Cade. Grab me before I kill her."

I felt his holoform's arm slide around my shoulder and lead me to his alt mode. The door opened. "Just get in. You can explain it all to her the rest of the way."

I snorted as I sat down. "Thirty minutes is too short to explain all of it."

He sighed. "I'll go get her."

The door shut and things were a bit quieter than they had been on the side of the road. Spice crawled into my lap and meowed. I kissed her small head and sighed.

'Well, look on the bright side. Ya wont be bored anymore.'

'Shut up, Jazz.'

The passenger door opened and Taylor got in. I glared at her as she buckled up.

As we pulled back on the road, Taylor looked at me. After a few moments, she said, "Stop glaring at me."

"I will when you believe that this isn't a dream."

She glared back at me.

I sighed. "Well, Taylor, whether you believe me or not, listen. I'm not going to repeat myself twice."

She gave me a questioning look. Then her face lit up, like she had just realized something. "Where's Cade?"

I sighed again. "Phase one of the explanation…..Barricade lock the doors. Taylor, meet the new, metal, alien Barricade."

Like I told him to, Barricade locked the doors. But he didn't say anything.

I tapped the dashboard. "Earth to Barricade. Anyone home?"

Barricade's voice boomed from the radio. "Well, what do you want me to say?"

Taylor shrieked, but I was too busy glaring at the dashboard. "Uh, I don't know, how about 'Hey, Taylor, I know you thought I was human but I'm really a transforming robot from space'?"

"I'm too busy driving. You explain it to her."

"WHAT? Barricade, what a lame excuse! Driving is practically programmed into your processor! It hardly takes any effort." I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Never mind. I'll do it all myself."

I sighed and looked at Taylor. Or, at the place she had been. The passenger seat was empty, since Taylor had jumped in the back. "Taylor, get your butt in the passenger seat. Barricade wont eat you."

Slowly(oh so ever slowly) she stepped in the front seat and sat down.

"Ok, Taylor, let's just pretend for a moment, that this is not a dream. And that aliens exist…" and so began my oh so long story.

25 minutes and several questions later….

"Got all that?"

Taylor nodded with a dazed look on her face. "I think so. And I don't think this is a dream anymore."

I smiled. "Good. Oh and by the way, do you remember the party?"

"Sort of. There was this boy… and I think we kissed. Did we? Were you there?"

Damn. There goes my blackmail material.

Suddenly Barricade slowed down. I looked outside. Desert surrounded us for miles. Up ahead, there was a large gray building, with a few more similar buildings surrounding it. There was a radio tower, and a runway.

The Autobots pulled up to the checkpoint(or whatever you call that small gray station thing) and went right through. Optimus must've sent them a message explaining why Barricade was here, because we went through( but not without a cold look from the guard first).

The hangar opened, and the Autobots drove in. Barricade slowed, like he wasn't sure what to do, so I got out and Taylor did, too.

I heard that whirring of gears sound, and Barricade transformed with Taylor watching in awe.

When he was fully transformed and standing up, he looked down at Taylor.

Her mouth was open, and her eyes were huge. She looked at me. "You know how I said I didn't think this was a dream anymore? I changed my mind. This is a dream." She looked at Barricade, then backed to me. She was white. "I think I'm gonna faint now."

Just as she began to fall backwards, Sunny's holoform was there to catch her.

I stared at him. He glared at me. "What?"

I snorted. "How very chivalrous of you. Careful Sunny. She remembers your holoform. Don't let her see it-"

I was cut off by a loud whistle. Suddenly, Humvees with big guns and soldiers raced out of the hangar. They made a circle around us and aimed.

At Barricade.

Without thinking, I ran towards the nearest armed vehicle. "What the hell are you doing? He's harmless! Lower your weapons!"

A man in uniform came out of a car. "Ma'am, we are trying to ensure your safety. Calm down, and come with us-"

I slapped his hands away. "Don't 'ma'am' me, you idiot! He is not going to attack anyone! He's with me!"

"General Morshower." I heard Optimus' deep baritone voice. "Barricade is not here as a prisoner. He is here to explain how he came to know Nicole."

I glared at Morshower. He looked unsure about whether or not to tell them to lower their guns.

He sighed. "All right men. Lower your arms."

I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding. I looked back at Barricade. He looked tense, like he was in a defensive position.

I walked slowly back to him. I patted his leg. He looked down at me.

"Hey. It's gonna be alright." I said softly.

He grunted. "I hope so."

I sighed and glanced around. Sunny and Sides were standing off to the side, watching the Humvees drive back into a separate hangar. Sunny was still holding an unconscious Taylor.

It bothered me to see Taylor so…so….lifeless.

I shuddered.

I turned towards Ratchet, who was talking to Ironhide and Optimus. "Hey, Ratch, don't you have like a med bay?"

He sighed. "What did you do to hurt yourself now?"

"Why do people always assume that I hurt myself? But no, I want you to look at Taylor."

"Alright. Come on."

He opened his servo. Instead of walking over to him, I teleported into his servo in a small flash of blue light.

He looked slightly startled, but a bit curious also. "I want to run some tests on you, Nicole. It's strange that a human is able to yield the power of the AllSpark."

I fingered the shard thoughtfully. 'Jazz?'

'Yeah?'

'You never told me what powers the AllSpark granted me.'

I heard him sigh. 'I'll tell ya later.'

I sighed, irritated. 'Fine.'

Looking around, I realized that Ratchet had started walking. I was surprised at how many Autobots lived at the base. What was even more weird, was that I knew all their names.

They gave us weird looks. Or, I guess they gave me weird looks.

Ratchet explained to me where all the rooms were.

We passed a room that said:

WHEELJACK'S LAB

CAUTION: EXPERIMENTS IN PROGRESS

Then written below that in Sharpie(must've been a really big Sharpie), it said:

WARNING-EXPLOSIONS MAY OCCUR AT RANDOM TIMES

I opened my mouth to ask about it, but a loud explosion, followed by a small earthquake cut me off. Said explosion came from the lab.

I looked at Ratchet. He had this look on his face that said he had dealt with this a million times before.

The door to the lab opened and a cloud of smoke billowed out. A tall, soot-covered figure stepped out.

The black figure saw us. "Oh, uh… Hello, Ratchet."

Ratchet sighed. "Hello, Wheeljack. What did you blow up now?"

Wheeljack shook his helm, shaking soot everywhere. "I was trying to create a transwarping device."

"And what did you use to test it?"

"Myself."

"Well, then how the Pit did it make that big an explosion?"

"It…overheated."

"Exploded would be a better term."

"Alright, it exploded."

Ratchet face-palmed. "Oh, Wheeljack…"

I spoke up. "Isn't transwarping the same as teleporting?"

Wheeljack nodded. "Why?"

"Because I can transwarp, too."

"A human transwarping? I'll believe it when I see it with my own optics."

I snorted. "Prepare to believe it."

I looked for a suitable place to transwarp. Spotting a clear spot on the floor(it wouldn't be fun to get squished on my first day here), I willed myself to appear there. I went weightless again, and dropped on the floor.

Looking up at Wheeljack, I grinned. "I told you so."

He was staring at me curiously. A few other Autobots had seen it, and they were wide-opticed.

Wheeljack knelt down to see me better. "I never caught your name, girl."

"Nicole Witwicky."

He nodded. "Sam and Mikaela's youngling…" he said thoughtfully.

"That's me." I muttered.

Wheeljack smiled. "It was very nice to meet you, Nicole. Maybe if you stop by the lab sometime…"

Ratchet laughed. "If you think I'm letting you run tests on her, Wheeljack, then your wrong."

Wheeljack put on a fake hurt look. "I was only going to say we could talk sometime."

"Sure you were. Come on, Nicole."

I transwarped(yay, new word) onto Ratchet's shoulder. Sitting down, I waved at Wheeljack as we walked away.

"Promise me one thing, Nicole." Ratchet said.

"What's that?"

"That you wont go in there while he's doing an experiment."

I laughed. "Ratchet, that is something I cant promise you. I like big explosions. And firecrackers. Yeah. Explosions and firecrackers."

I thought I heard Ratchet mutter something that sounded like 'Primus, what will we do with you….'.

Though that could just have been my imagination.

But I doubt it.

Ratchet opened the door to his Med Bay. It was a really big door, with a smaller human-sized door beside it. We walked in during what I guess had been a debate between a red and white mech known as Red Alert, and a black and white mech named Prowl.

They looked up for about two seconds, then looked back at each other and began to argue again.

Ratchet sighed and walked over to a giant silver table. Taylor was still unconscious, laying on the table.

I jumped down from Ratchet's shoulder. He gave me an irritated look. "Are you trying to offline yourself?"

I held up my hands. "That was a 7 foot drop, Ratchet. I don't think that's gonna kill me."

"Ten feet."

"Seven. Look, can you just examine Taylor? I'm going to go find Barricade before Ironhide blows him up."

Ratchet shook his head and pulled a chair closer to Taylor. After a few moments, he looked at me. "Do you really love him, Nicole?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course. Other wise I would have said blast him to pieces." I winced. "Forget I just said that."

Ratchet smiled a small smile. "It's just so unusual. An ex-Decepticon falling in love with a human….Are you sure your love is real?"

I glared at Ratchet. "Ratchet, let's drop it. I. Love. Barricade. It's as simple as that."

Ratchet grunted. "Fine. But one more question…"

I groaned.

"….Why do you want me to examine Taylor?"

"Oh. Wellllll….I'm not real sure. But just seeing her so lifeless…..It bothered me."

"It's nice to know that you care for your friends. But there is nothing wrong with her, unless you count the calories and sugar she consumed with that fast-food you call McDonald's."

"What do you have against McDonald's?"

"The food is unhealthy for your fragile human bodies."

"Ratchet, I am nearly invincible. Do you know how I first met Barricade? Don't tell Ironhide this, but Barricade hit me when I was crossing the road. I was sixteen."

I swear Ratchet's face went red for a few seconds.

"He WHAT?" He grabbed a wrench off the table and started towards the door.

Oops…

I transwarped to the ground right beside Red Alert. The last thing I expected him to do was scream. I swear one of my eardrums popped…Prowl, on the other hand, just looked startled.

"Wait, Ratchet! Wait! I-uh-didn't mean it! He never ran over me! I promise…" I stopped as the door slammed shut.

I face-palmed. 'Jazz, did I just sign a death wish for Barricade?'

He snorted. 'Depends. If Ratchet is just mad, he'll just throw a wrench at 'im and cuss at 'im in Cybertronian.'

I thought of how Ratchet's face went red. 'What if he's really mad?'

'Then ol' Ratch'll try ta take him apart.' He said in a cheery tone.

"I hope Barricade can run fast. But in the mean time, I'm gonna try and stop Ratchet before he, well, you know…breaks something…or someone…I better get going."

I transwarped on the other side of the door(I'm not lazy, it's just faster). For the first time, I got a little dizzy. 'Must be running low on energy…'

I started searching for signs of where Ratchet had gone. It wasn't that hard. There was a path of Autobots on the floor, probably wondering what idiot had been stupid enough to piss Ratchet off. Said idiot winced.

Suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped around my waist and lifted me on their shoulder. I shrieked(how very girly…ugh..) and heard someone laugh as I was slung on their shoulder.

"Let go of me you freak!" I shouted, squirming.

I heard more laughing and a familiar face came into my line of sight. "Dang girl, you've grown a lot…"

"Epps?"

The dark-skinned soldier grinned. "The one and only. Nice ta know ya still remember me."

"So who is holding me-" I stopped in mid-sentence and slapped the head of my captor. "Put me down, Will Lennox, or I'll transwarp you so far from here you wont know how to get back."

The brown-haired soldier put me down with a smile. "Still as headstrong as ever. And what do you mean by transwarp? Isn't that the 'bots term for teleporting?"I snorted and dusted my self off. "Well, ever since my dad gave me this necklace, it's become a human term, too."

They gave me confused looks.

I sighed with a smile. "I'll explain it later." Then I remembered what I had originally been doing. I groaned. "Shit. Hey, would you happen to know where they took Barricade, the ex-Decepticon that's come to the base?"

Lennox pointed to the door that led outside. "Yeah, they took him to the interrogation room."

I closed my eyes. "What does it look like?"

Epps shrugged. "Like your basic interrogation room, only bigger. Metal table, metal chairs, really big one-way mirror."

I hoped the picture-in-my-head method would work. "Ok, you guys. Do either of you get sea-sick?"

Without waiting for an answer, I grabbed both of their arms and transwarped to the interrogation room.

I opened my eyes and landed on my feet as we popped in the room. Again, I felt a little dizzy.

I heard a groan from the floor. Lennox and Epps were both on their backs on the ground.

Lennox opened one eye. "I get what you mean now. But no more random transwarping anymore, OK?"

I shrugged.

Epps groaned again. "That was not cool, man…"

After helping them up, I discovered that this was not the interrogation room. It was actually an old storage room. There was this big table in the middle, but it was too high to see what was on it.

I pointed to the top. "What's up there?"

Lennox and Epps looked uncomfortable. "When the Autobots first came here, the first battle they had with Megatron included a casualty…"

I was looking at the table now, because I knew what was up there. "Jazz…"

I heard Epps ask what I had said, but I was too busy caught up in my own thoughts.

I transwarped onto the table, landing and making a small cloud around my feet where I had landed in dust. No one had been in here for awhile.

I faintly heard Epps and Lennox calling my name, but I was in awe of what I saw.

Jazz's body lay in front of me.

I ran my hand over the dusty shell that had been Jazz's bi-pedal mode. Underneath the dust bunnies, was a bright silver paint job, just like in the vision I had had.

I climbed on top of Jazz's body and wiped away the dust on the dull blue visor. 'Once your alive again, Jazz, I bet your visor will be a bright blue-'

'Woah, hold up. Alive? Again?'

I bit my lip. 'Oops…I wasn't supposed to say that…'

Jazz was silent for a moment. 'And ya could really do this?'

'What is that I hear in your voice? Hope? Yeah, I could do it. If I save up a lot of energy and focus on not draining my life force.'

I could practically picture Jazz shaking his head. 'No. It's not right. I'm dead. Ya can bring me back from the Matrix.'

'You said it yourself, Jazz. You're a ghost. Ghosts don't pass on.'

'No. I forbid ya to do it.'

'And just how do you plan on doing this? I'd like to hear your wonderful plan.'

'Uhhh…'

'Ha! I knew it! Be ready to be alive in a few days, Jazz.'

I stood up and dusted myself off. I looked over the edge. Lennox and Epps stared up at me.

"Are ya done disturbing the dead?" Epps asked crossing his arms.

I ignored him and looked at the ground. The table was maybe 9 feet up from the floor. An easy jump for someone who's body has been enhanced by alien technology to withstand major injuries….

Wow. That made even me sound smart.

Taking a few steps back, I took a deep breath. "Watch out below!" I shouted as I launched myself over the heads of two gaping soldiers.

I flew through the air, and just as I was about to hit the ground, I put my hands out and did a front flip.

I stood up straight. "I've always wanted to do that."

Turning around, I said, "Are you ready to go?"

They stared at me. Lennox shook his head. "I honestly wonder if bringing you to a base full of weapons was a good idea."

I started to roll my eyes, but I stopped in mid-roll and smiled. "Do you think I could get a gun?"

"No!" They shouted at the same time.

I threw my arms up. "How come everybody thinks I can't handle a weapon? I can control my AllSpark powers!"

Lennox smirked. "I have a feeling that transwarping isn't the only thing you can do, is it?"

I scowled. "Well, I think I do have more powers, but someone wont tell me what they are."They looked at me, then at each other, then back to me.

I glared at them. "What?"

'Ya better get used ta that, 'cause if you don't shut your loose cannon of a mouth people will start to think the AllSpark power is messin' with yer mind.'

'My mouth a loose cannon? Go talk to Ironhide, and tell me what you think then!'

A light bulb went on in my head. "I'll just go ask Ironhide for a gun!"

I pretended not to notice the worried looks on their faces. "So, where is the interrogation room again?"

Epps pointed to the door. "It's just a few rooms down-"

That was all I needed to know, so I grabbed their arms. "Try to land on your feet this time, OK?"

We were gone in a flash of blue light.

"Starscream, get in here!"

Said SIC cursed in his native language. He had hoped that Soundwave would tell Megatron and Megatron would vent his anger on the fraggin' walking computer.

He sighed and slowly opened the door incase any sharp objects were thrown at the door.

Starscream bowed before looking at his leader. "What have I done to upset you now, Lord Megatron?" he asked sarcastically, already knowing the answer.

Suddenly a servo wrapped Starscream's neck, crushing precious wires and a few energon lines. His pedes dangled a few feet from the ground as he clawed at the servo choking him.

Megatron's eyes were a blazing red. "Once again, you have failed me! I cannot rely on you to kill a traitor and simply capture a measly fleshling! You are worthless!"

"But, Lord Megatron-there were Autobots! We were outnumbered-" he stopped and screamed as Megatron sunk his claws into the delicate wings on the Seeker's back.

"Excuses!" The Decepticon Leader threw Starscream to the ground as another mech walked in.

"Lord Megatron." Soundwave's monotone voice echoed through the throne room.

"What do you want, Soundwave?" Megatron asked, stepping over a panting Starscream to his throne.

"Located: Autobot scout. Designation: Bumblebee."

Megatron looked up. "The fragging guardian of that flesh bag I killed?" He smiled as he remembered the look on the girls face as she watched her creators die at the hand of Megatron. "The one who disappeared off the face of this organic planet?"

"Answer: Yes. Query: Do you wish to intercept and terminate?"

Megatron almost said yes, but a plan formed quickly in his processor. He smiled. If Soundwave could have, he would have grimaced, but that would have been an display of emotion.

"No, Soundwave. Let him reach the Autobot base. Then, when the time is right, we will kill the Autoscum. The Autobots and girl will let their guard down in their grief. Then. Then we will take the Host of the AllSpark. Using the method you devised, we will drain the AllSpark power from her."

Megatron smiled at his own plan. "And once we have that power, we will take the power and kill that fragging traitor and everyone the Host cares about." He laughed, but there was nothing joyful about it.

Starscream listened to every word.

Me: Hey you guys! I hoped you liked this chapter! I put in a lot of work and time(sleep time) into this.

Liar Me: No you didn't.

Me: What! Yes, I did.

Liar Me: No, you didn't.

Me: What are you talking about? YES, I did!

Liar Me: That's what I said.

Abusive Me: Your really annoying.

Me: For once, I agree with you.

Liar Me: No you don't.

Me: *throws something at Liar Me*

Abusive Me: *throws something at Nice Me for no reason and knocks her out*

Me: Why'd you do that?

Abusive Me: You got to throw something at an annoying person, so I threw something at the other annoying person in the room.

Me: Wow. Just…wow.