First of all, I wanted to thank you all for the well wishes. It really, really means a lot to me. Thank you ever so much.

Second, I wasn't going to upload this chapter just yet because I wanted to see how it would balance out with the next one lengthwise. But I guess I decided I like it just the way it is, so sorry if the chapter after this is a bit shorter, I haven't finished it yet but it just may turn out that way.

I mulled over this a bunch, and I'm (pretty?) happy with how it turned out? So it it's not up to your standards, I don't really know what to tell ya so I'll just apologize again.

Okay, better just get it started yet.

Oh! And one more thing:

Happy birthday grapejuice101

"Is the Cube okay?"

"Yes, it's wearing its seatbelt. How about her?"

"She's strapped in too. He wouldn't have it any other way."

"You know what I mean."

"… Gawd, I wish I knew."

My eyes rolled open. Everything was blurry. I shut them again. I felt a mechanical rumbling beneath me. It was soothing. I tried again. I squeezed my eyes before opening them once more. I blinked and blinked and blinked until I could focus. Road. Window. Roof. Car.

Bee.

I took a deep breath, filling my lungs, and let it out. I felt better.

"She's awake!" Sam's voice.

I was feeling better by the second. I thought maybe I could lift my head. I did.

A sudden tightening around my body across my chest and lap. I lifted my hands in response to where I felt the pressure applied. Seatbelt. The squeeze felt fierce, protective.

I got the message. I clutched back at the seatbelt best I could and ducked my head. I felt safe, and thankful. I sat still and just breathed as I remembered.

They were watching me. I lifted my head, saw Sam in the passenger seat and Mikaela leaning forward from the back. I was in the driver's seat?

"Why am I driving?" were my first words. Probably not the best choice. But at the same time, I remembered: The Cube. Where was it? I turned around to find it next to Mikaela in the back.

"We wanted to keep it away from you." Mikaela found her words.

What? Why? "What happened?" I asked, turning back to the front.

Sam and Mikaela looked at me with wide eyes, then at each other, then back at me. "The Cube…" The boy tried. "It…shocked you."

… This did not compute in my brain. "But…I'm organic." I thought aloud. "They said it wouldn't hurt-"

Mikaela reached forward. She pushed back the tight seatbelt around my lap and pulled something out of my pants pocket. It was metal. It was on a chain. It had a face.

My Autobot necklace.

"We think," she began, handing the emblem to me. "It saw your necklace and…got confused."

The necklace wasn't even charred. It was as shiny as ever. Confused? No, that was me. "And I'm…okay?"

"Somehow," Mikaela replied, nodding downwards towards me. "But it did burn you."

I tilted my head downwards and felt a stiffness in my chest. It was hard to tuck my chin all the way down, but I saw that my upper chest had been heavily bandaged. I lifted my hands to feel what I couldn't see, and I felt the bandages stretch across my whole collarbone. Strangely enough, I wasn't in pain. "It doesn't hurt." I told them.

"That's bad." Sam replied. "Third degree burns are the worst kind. They kill all your nerve endings."

"Then why am I not in a hospital?" I asked. This was sounding pretty serious.

The teens looked at each other again. "That's the weird part." Sam replied. "Other than the actual burn, you're fine."

I didn't understand. "What?"

"There should be extensive damage." Sam ticked off on his fingers. "Difficulty breathing, loss of fluids, muscle and bone damage, heart stopping. Iris, you were electrocuted! By all rights you should be dead."

"Stop." Mikaela took Sam's shoulder in a vice grip. "That's enough." She turned back to me, pausing to let me catch my breath. "They gave you a tetanus shot, just in case, but we were running out of time. They checked you over best they could with the time they had and didn't find anything. We had to get going."

That's right, I remembered with a shudder. "Megatron." Oh God, this was real now. The hunt had begun. By all rights, I should be dead. I gripped the seatbelt again, wishing it'd hold me tighter.

It did.

I looked out the window. The rising sun was shining from the other side of the car, but it lit up the whole valley. Being from Minnesota, I'd never seen a desert in real life. The ones I'd seen most in media had rising dunes of sand, but this one was largely flat, rocky, and full of shrubbery. Here and there in the distance were huge, jagged rock formations jutted out into the sky, begging to be climbed like nothing I'd ever seen. They were beautiful in the golden light of sunrise.

Further up the road there was a glint; something shiny reflecting the sun. I leaned forward and squinted against the light. Through the heat rising in waves from the concrete, I picked out the wiggly images of four vehicles drifting in and out of the opposite lane.

A grin broke onto my face. Full of newfound energy, I tugged at the seatbelt. "Come on," I muttered, giving a few desperate jerks. They were getting closer. "I want to see them!"

Bee complied. When I felt the seatbelt slacken, I swept my legs under me into a kneeling position. I then proceeded to stick my entire upper half out the open driver's window. Wind buffeted my hair and my cheeks, roaring in my ears and making my eyes water. But God, it felt great.

I flung my arms outwards, leaning against the sill of the window, and began waving like a madwoman. "Hey!" I yelled, my smile stretched further by the wind. "Heyyyyyyyyyyy!"

The blast of Optimus's horn hit by ears and I broke into elated laughter. They were here! Everyone was alright!

When we met in the middle, Optimus hit his brakes. He swung around after the trail of soldiers had passed and pulled a tire-squealing U-y to follow. I figured Jazz, Ironhide, and Ratchet would fall in behind, but the silver flash from behind caught my eye. The Solstice raced up beside us, pulling ahead just a tad.

"HI JAZZ!" I cupped one hand around my mouth and waved wildly with the other, utterly delighted when his side-view mirror twisted up and around to flash an automated wave.

My seatbelt tugged at my shoulder again, so I slipped back inside. I felt Bee accelerate beneath me. He came into the lead again, and the two sports cars repeated their racing jostle. It was an exchange between the two Autobots. It said, 'Good to have you back.'

Proud and so, so happy to see my Autobots again, (When did I start thinking of them as my Autobots?) I slipped my necklace back over my head. I barely felt it thump back into place on my bandaged chest

Civilian cars joined the train of soldiers and aliens as the barren, desert road joined a major highway, so I guess I wasn't surprised when I heard sirens.

Wait.

Sirens!

I whirled around to see Barricade leading a… Geez, I never knew what it was. A huge mining truck with a claw thing. It was Bonecrusher, and he was gaining fast. That was all that mattered.

Cars were swerving out of the way at the police sirens, but not all of them.

"Move," I said aloud to them. "Move!"

My breath caught in my lungs as a car was hit out of the way and a minivan crushed against the rails. Then the Decepticon picked up another car with its claw, tossing it into the air. The inhabited vehicle smashed down a little ways ahead on its roof, soon crushed by another unfortunate car landing on top.

I screamed. Bee tightened my seatbelt again as he accelerated, but I remained turned around, clutching the seat and watching.

Optimus and Ironhide dropped back to block off the incomers, but Bonecrusher was becoming impatient. Without decelerating, the Decepticon dug himself into the concrete and flipped to his true form with a roar.

Cover now blown, the Prime too transformed on the highway. He got to his feet quickly and leapt to avoid incoming traffic as he slowed down and turned to face the threat.

Here he comes. Bonecrusher moved like a skater down the highway. On his way to Optimus, he sliced clean through a city bus. Fire blew from it as it was sliced in half, a few flames sticking to the Decepticon as he rushed to meet his foe.

My blood ran cold. These were no longer Michael Bay special effects, these were people. People were dying! I watched in horror as the two titans slammed into each other, knocking them both off the bridge and disappearing below.

I knew Optimus would win, but that didn't seem to help at the moment. I pressed my face into the back of my seat, trying to keep from hyperventilating. The leather echoed the sound of my breath back to me. It was ragged and panicked. There was already so much death, and we hadn't even gotten to main fight yet!

As we rolled into the city, Lennox's vehicle came to a stop at a local pawnshop. People were milling around the shopping center wondering at the weird mix of civilian and military vehicles. Too many people. I had to take action.

"Gimme a second to find an old radio!" Lennox yelled at us in the Camaro. "We need to be able to relay our position."

"Len-!" "What if no one's been able to call out your air strike?" I tried, but was interrupted by Sam.

"Hey-!" "Well, that would suck." Lennox almost grinned and saw me. "Good to see you up, kid."

"Wait-!" "Shouldn't we keep going toward the air force base on the other side of the city?" Mikaela this time.

"Yes-!" "Not good tactics to split up, miss. Not here. Please, just a minute."

Before I could get another word in edgewise, Lennox was gone. I let out a groan and hit my head against the steering wheel in frustration. Whether the honk that followed was caused by me or Bumblebee, I didn't know. "Sorry, Bee," I apologized as I undid my seatbelt.

"What're you doing?" Sam asked as I pushed open my door.

"I gotta do something!" I shouted back as I ran around the front, looking for the next person in charge. "Fig! Jorge Figueroa!"

The Chief Warrant Officer turned at the sound of his name. "Niñita, you should be back in the car-" he started.

"We gotta clear the area!" It was my turn to do the interrupting. "There's way too many people in danger!"

"Just hang on," he replied. "We're gonna get out of the city and then-"

"NO!" I yelled. "We won't make it out of the city!"

Fig paused. "What do you mean?"

I cursed in my head. I didn't have time for this. "Look, I know what's going to happen, alright? You gotta trust me on this!"

He shook his head. "Kid, I don't what you're getting at. We'll be out of here in a few minutes, so why don't you-"

"EPPS HAS DAUGHTERS!" I exploded. "THEY LIKE MY LITTLE PONY! LENNOX HAS A BABY GIRL AT HOME NAMED ANNABELLE WHO HE'S NEVER HELD! YOUR MOMMA MAKES ALIGATOR AND IT TASTES GOOD, BUT EPPS IS NEVER GOING THERE! DONNELLY COULD HAVE DIED IN THE DESERT! YOU TOO! YOU FOUGHT A GIANT SCORPION! HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?!" I sucked in breath and my lowered volume to a more meaningful pitch. "I'm from a world where this is all a movie. And in this movie, tons of people die because there's a big fight in the city! I don't want that to happen, so you have to LISTEN TO ME!"

The soldiers had gone silent at my outburst, the four I had mentioned especially. Donnelly's eyes were wide, and I got the feeling that he hadn't escaped Scorponok by much. Even Lennox looked over from the door of the pawn shop, where he'd been fighting with the woman inside. Wide eyes, set jaws; my message had made it through.

"That's my girl," the radio crackled from inside the Camaro. The voice he had chosen was full of pride.

On the outside my chest swelled and my back straitened, but on the inside I was melting and grinning like mad.

Fig mulled this over in his head for milliseconds, then he called over his shoulder, "Don! Find the local law enforcement! Get them to set a perimeter around the main route through the city. See if they can evac the local buildings, or get set on natural disaster protocols."

"How?" I asked. "Isn't everything still out?"

"Just satellite and landlines. Radios still working. That's how we got the word out, remember?" He swatted my shoulder. "Nice insight, kid. Gracias."

I nodded and rushed back to the car. Bee popped open his door and I leapt inside.

"Hey," Sam said as I buckled in. I looked up at the seriousness of his tone. The boy paused, eyes shifty. "You said there's going to be a fight?"

There goes that, I sighed inwardly. No use keeping it a secret anymore. "Yes," I replied. "But you're going to be fine. Transformers always has a happy ending." I looked into the back seat to include Mikaela. "Just, go with your gut. You can do this." I ended the conversation there, turning back to the front. I just don't know if I can.

We were running out of time, but Lennox's struggle with the pawn shop owner gave Donnelly time to find a cop. I didn't see this happen, but soon enough I heard the sound of sirens. I had to tell myself not to be afraid; Most of them aren't Barricade. Then finally, Lennox came rushing out of the shop, short wave radios in hand. "Come on, let's go! Mount up!" he yelled, and we all started moving again. Soon enough, the sources of the sirens became visible. Black and white vehicles zoomed in from side streets, blocking traffic from getting to the main way. Then their occupants rushed into the nearby buildings to warn the people inside. I held my breath and examined each police car I saw. Thankfully, I didn't see any Mustangs.

At my last home in Minnesota, I'd lived near a military base. I could easily distinguish the sound of thunder from the sound of a fighter jet approaching. I heard a noise now, and it was not about to rain in the desert. I looked up and out the window as the rumble of the F-22 became a roar. Zip! There it went, the sound of its powerful engines pounding and echoing off the skyscrapers. Quickly, everyone pulled to stops in the middle of the road. It was thankfully empty of other running cars; the police had done their job.

"Air Force has arrived! Pop smoke!" Lennox ordered as everyone exited their vehicles. The green fog that began to surround us unnerved me. It was too much like the freezing gas.

Wait. Green smoke.

You did it again!

It was too late to tell the humans; they couldn't do anything about it now. But I knew who could. I ran to the black pickup and skidded to a stop just short of the grille. "Ironhide! It's not the Air Force! It's not even humans!"

The battle-ready Autobot's response was immediate. As soon as his head was free of his transforming bulk, he shouted, "IT'S STARSCREAM!"

Bee too transformed, and I could not be more thankful for the lack of the sound of screams in the air as the Autobots got up.

"Ratchet! Jazz! Flanking positions! Back up! Take cover!" the weapons specialist ordered the Autobots and then the humans. "Bumblebee!" He and Bee each took a side of the nearby Furby delivery truck (I never understood why that was there.)

"No no no no," Lennox yelled as he realized what was going on. "MOVE!"

Someone yanked me around towards the back. There was lots of screaming and yelling from both Ironhide and the soldiers. Jazz and Ratchet had pulled forward and arrowed themselves into a protective V, pointing in the direction of the next suspected attack, and Lennox was waving his men towards the barricade. The teens joined the soldiers behind the Autobots, I with them.

This was bad. Really bad. As Ironhide and Bee continued lifting the truck into the air and angling it outwards, I began running the movie through my head again. What was going to be the next bad thing to happen? Pedestrians, Starscream, then…

Oh no.

"INCOMMING!" Ironhide yelled.

I jumped up and screamed, "BUMBLEBEE!"

Just as the missile was about to hit the truck, I was pulled back down.

BOOM!

The force of the blast knocked me over. My ears rang and my head spun. I tried to take a deep breath but came up coughing. I forced my eyes open. They stung. I squeezed them shut again until they started watering like mad. There was ash and rubble everywhere. The soldiers and the teenagers were covered in it. Sam and Mikaela reached for each other's hands. Smoke thickened the air, making it hard to see your surroundings.

"Anyone hurt? Everyone okay?" one of the soldiers was yelling.

I reached up and grabbed the first solid object I could find, Jazz's side mirror. Rubbing my eyes and coughing some more, I got to my feet and tried to look through the smoke. Where was he? "Bee?"

A low, mechanical groan, off to my left.

My eyes widened. "Bee!" I yelled, ending in a hacking fit. I stumbled around debris towards the noise. He was close. Then, through the dust, I saw him thrown back against a truck. The vehicle's trailer was completely demolished, but Bumblebee wasn't much better.

His legs were gone, everything below the knee. They ended in twisted, smoking, stumps. His feet? Disconnected, thrown off to the side by the blast.

"No," I whimpered as my friend fell over onto his front. He tried to rise, as if he thought he could still manage, but fell down onto his hands and knees again. "This wasn't…I…"

What did you do?

"I… I didn't-!"

What did you do?!

More tears in my eyes.

"Bumblebee? No. Your legs!" Sam exclaimed. He and Mikaela had gotten up and seen him too. "Your legs." He turned to me for a moment, and my blood ran cold.

"Bee!" Jazz hurriedly transformed and came over. "Aw, man! Ratchet!"

"This is all my fault," I mumbled as Sam shouted desperate encouragements to Bumblebee, who was still trying to get up. My hands gripped at my hair and pulled. "It didn't have to." I blubbered silently. "Why can't I change anything?"

Hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see Mikaela, who had tears in her eyes too. Her hand slipped down my arm into mine and we walked over to Sam together. She was biting her lip as she grabbed the boys arm, holding him back. Sam's dusty cheeks were streaked with tear trails. Mikaela's silent gesture said everything: It's no use.

KRACK!

We turned at the sound of another explosion. Further down the street was a tank. Brawl. He released a few more detonating rounds into the rubble where the soldiers hid before advancing. Paying no heed to anything in his way, one of his treds climbed up an unlucky car and crushed it like a trash compactor.

"GET DOWN!" Jazz yelled. He jumped and transformed midair, speeding down the street towards the Decepticon. Ratchet, who had been on his way over to us, also saw the threat and diverted to follow.

The soldiers sprang into action. "Move out! Let's go!" Lennox ordered, soldiers and S7 men alike grabbing their weapons and moving into position. The battle had begun.

Sam rushed back to Bumblebee as Mikaela held back. I watched her find the tow truck with her eyes before running off. She was more than capable on her own. The boy was sitting down behind a pile of rubble, in front of the crawling Autobot. "I'm not gonna leave you." He told him.

Bee reached back and pulled out the Cube from the wreckage. With a nod, he gave it to Sam.

The boy looked at the Cube, held in both hands, and then at me. Then Bee looked at me.

I looked at them both. Ashamed, sad, and afraid.

Bumblebee and I locked eyes. His seemed to plead. This triggered a memory. I remembered the movie, and what was about to happen. I looked at Bee's legs once more, then back at his face. New tears were forming. "I'm sorry." I told him quietly. Then I set my jaw, a new emotion burning through my body like liquid fire. Anger. "It won't happen again."

Without looking back once, I pivoted and ran in Brawl's direction. I ignored Sam's screams and Bee's wordless wails to come back. I couldn't do nothing. Not again. I would follow the script no more.

Whiz!

That was a missile, fired from Brawn, zooming over my head. I couldn't understand why he was firing in my direction, until I heard from behind, "GET DOWN!"

I dropped into a crouch and spun, just in time to see Ironhide transforming. Before he could even get to his feet, two more missiles flew inches above. Ironhide launched himself into the air with his hands, narrowly missing the incoming rockets. When his body was completely upside down, he fired both cannons into the concrete, giving his huge bulk just enough air to miss another. He landed on his feet so close to my tiny body that the concrete cracked beneath me. Again he leapt upwards, tucking and rolling over me in an arc that I just had to watch. Just before his shoulders hit the ground, our eyes met. I couldn't see much in his bright blue eyes during that split second, but in his battle hardened face, I did see urgency. All this happened in seconds.

"GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!" Ironhide roared before running turning back towards the battle.

I'll say it: Ironhide scared me. He was big, loud, dangerous, and knew what he was doing a heck of a lot more than I did. So for a moment I didn't move, I just watched the battle.

Silver caught my eye. Jazz rounded the corner in vehicle form, then sprang into action. In one smooth move, he flipped into the air and landed on the tank. "Come on, Decepticon punk!" He grabbed the main cannon and yanked, pulling it off its mark and sending the missile harmlessly away. When Brawl transformed into bipedal mode, Jazz perched on top and kicked one of the Decepticon's shoulder-mounted missile holster, tearing it off his body. Brawl snarled and grabbed the Autobot off his back. In one throw, the tank sent Jazz sailing into the side of a building.

That's right. I was doing this for him. Jazz had to live. He could do so much more than me.

Shaking, I pushed myself to my feet again and ran.

Ironhide corkscrewed through the air, evading two more missiles before landing again with a guttural roar. The three Autobots came charging in all at once: Ironhide gave the Decepticon a taste of his own medicine, as did Jazz. Even the peaceful medic did an aerodynamic flip over the tank brandishing his buzz saw and successfully chopping off one of Brawl's arms.

It was downright awe-inspiring to watch the Autobots fight. They gave me the strength to forge ahead.

"Concentrate your fire!" I ducked into more debris as I heard Lennox yell, lest someone else try to stop me. The soldiers released their own firepower, and the combined effort of humans and Autobots finally sent Brawl to the ground.

There was a great thundering overhead. Like a fighter jet, but…different. I just caught a glimpse of the source before it crashed down into an alley behind the current battle. Brawl's last word confirmed my worst fears.

Megatron came out from around the corner.

Everything in my body cried for me to fall into a puddle of terror, but my feet started forward again. Do you know what that's like? Running strait towards the thing of nightmares? Not even the kind of nightmares where the boogieman is in your closet. More like when there's something huge, like Godzilla height, thundering ominously around. You daren't even look the monster in the face, you just try to run and hide, even though you know its eyes are glowering down on you. And I had had nightmares about Megatron. I'd been terrified of him like any child of any movie monster. But now he was real. He was here.

And I was going to face him.

"It's Megatron! Retreat! MOVE! Fall back!" Ratchet called, but someone didn't listen. The King of Careful himself, Jazz, stood his ground and fired directly at the Hell Bringer.

Time was running out. Jesus! I prayed as I pushed my body into a sprint. Daddy!The pains at my sides drove into me like spears, my lungs burning my upper body with each scorching breath. Please! My body screamed for me to stop. I CAN'T LET HIM DIE!

My heartbeat didn't even feel like a heartbeat anymore. As I threw everything I had, everything I was into my run, I began to feel an insatiable hunger. This instinct, this force drove me further, past the limitations of my own body, and I ran faster than I ever had before. Everything burned. I still didn't know what to do; I had no weapons, and I was too small to be noticed. Megatron wouldn't so much ignore me as he wouldn't even realize I was there, truly like an insect. But that didn't matter. I had to stop this. Now.

"Fall back!" Lennox repeated, as Megatron crippled the Jazz. He grunted in pain as he crashed into the ground, fully aware of just what was advancing upon him and still not fleeing.

As if my eyes were not my own, they flew over to a pile of rubble. They zeroed in on an up-thrust crater in the street, on top of which had landed a minivan. It was flaming, but the van had landed at an angle, its back end jutting upwards. My brain flew with the speed of a supercomputer, judging the height and angle of everything. It was perfect.

Megatron was coming into range. If I could just get there, with just enough speed, I could maybe meet his knee.

Concentration's never been my forte, but now I felt like a Zen master. My mind was locked. I saw every foothold, every hole, every edge, and mapped a path upwards. Every movement was a carefully calculated action, pushing upwards and onwards off the rubble. My muscles were on fire, but the raw fury burning through my soul was hotter.

UP! Off the outthrust spike of concrete and onto the roof of the car. My shoes didn't even slip. How was I doing this?!

It didn't matter.

Everything slowed down. I didn't have a plan, I probably didn't have a minute left, but not an ounce of me cared. Getting there was all that mattered.

My feet launched me into a soaring leap, from the top of the van, at the height of my speed, I screeched Jazz's last words.

"YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME?! YOU WANT?! A PIECE?!

*3rd Person POV*

Jazz knew what was coming. Megatron was right behind him, advancing. Frankly, he was doomed. But did that mean he would give up? No. He'd keep fighting till his spark gave out. He owed everyone at least that.

There was a shrill noise, expelled from something tiny. Amongst the many sounds of battle, it stood out. Why? For all its lack of size, it was raw.

Before the Jazz could turn to find the source, there was a surge of unimaginable power. Blinding light and deafening thunder accompanied it. Even from facing the opposite direction, Jazz was blown away. He wasn't physically thrown, but his inner systems were. He was disoriented in a way that most Cybertronians had never experienced. If he had been human, his condition would have been comparable to being almost knocked out. Extreme dizziness, ringing ears and colorful shapes before the eyes would have been his symptoms. The ground seemed to be shaking. Things were falling, hitting him. Everything in him reeled, scrambling to right themselves.

Regaining some cognition, Jazz smacked the side of his head with his hand to speed up the process. Good, he could see again. Still on the ground and physically stunned, the silver bot heaved up into a crouch and turned towards the source of the power surge. Only one thing he had experienced had that kind of energy signature.

Surprise is an inadequate term to describe Jazz's reaction to what he saw. There, just behind him, lied the great hulk of Megatron. He had fallen, taking out a while building as he toppled over, his upper half hidden in dust, bricks, and rubble.

But that wasn't the strangest part. Not one fourth of the way up the Decepticon's leg, sitting up and gazing about, blinking, in a dazed, delirious state,

Was Iris.

*1st Person Iris*

… I…

… What?

… What happened?

I felt like I saw seeing, hearing, feeling, existing through a thick, thick cloud.

Where was I?

My eyes struggled to focus. I couldn't hear much, just my own breathing and my heart thumping irregularly. Naturally, something shiny caught my attention. I turned my head, struggling to keep it upright, and tried to focus through the fog.

Shiny. Metal. Sliver. Body. Head. Mask. Bright blue visor.

Jazz?

Emotion conveyed through the gears in his face as easily if he'd had muscles instead of wires. Optics wide, mouth agape, he was staring at me with this astonished, bewildered look.

Why?

Whatever I sat on began to move. It was sleek but poky, uneven, and roasting like metal left in the sun. None of that made any sense.

My senses seemed to snap back to me as they sensed more potential danger, which ended up being Jazz coming at me quickly. He snatched me up and immediately began running. His claws more cupped me than clutched me, like a person running with an egg. Then everything went upside down, inside out, topsy-turvy, and bam! I was sitting in the driver's seat of a Pontiac Solstice GXP.

"What were you doing?!" Jazz's voice came from the radio. "What did you do?!"

Sitting unbuckled, I turned around to look out the rearview window. Megatron was rising, pulling himself up out of the remains of a brick building he'd fallen into. How had that happened?

"I was…" My mouth flapped like a fish as I tried to form words. "I…"

Terrified shakes started again. I clutched the back of my seat for dear life. Just peeking out around the corner, I saw the leader of the Decepticons glare in our direction.

But Jazz was faster. In out of debris with crazy speed and skill, soon the monster was no longer in sight. At a safe distance, Jazz suddenly took a tire-screeching turn into a narrow alley. His driver door popped open. He did not hurry me, and was patient enough to allow me to detach myself from him at my own pace, even though I could sense his urgency. As soon as I was out, he flipped to his robot form again.

"Look at me," he ordered in a low voice, grabbing my face between his finger and thumb-eske digits. It hurt, but not extremely. Not like he'd had any practice being delicate with squishy humans anyway. Still too disoriented to do much, I obeyed.

Jazz lifted his visor brought his face very close. Not too close, or he would lose focus on me, but still close. Electric blue optics burned into my eyes. I watched lenses zoom in and out, searching, searching… Then pan out to take in my entire face.

"You could have been killed!" he told me, releasing his pinching hold. He sputtered, sounding partially electronic, and partially warm, like a living being. "You- You were- That energy- Doesn't make any- How?"

My brain reeled to understand what he was trying to say, which was hard to do when I was so fascinated by the inner workings of his face I could see up close. "I…don't know?"

Jazz made a sound of frustration. "Why were you even there in the first place, kid?" he asked. "You could have died!"

Slowly, my mind was recovering. I remembered. What did I do? Had I really…?

"You could have died." I repeated, with slightly more emphasis.

"What?" Jazz asked. "What do you mea-" He cut himself off and looked at me, beginning to comprehend for himself.

I met his eyes again and finally realized that this was unscripted.

The law of the movie had been broken.

Jazz was alive.

My own eyes filled with tears of a new kind: Joy.

"… Iris," Jazz said slowly. I let him figure it out in his own time, watching him put pieces of the puzzle together in his head. "If you hadn't…" He began. "Would I have…?"

Tears streaked trails through the grime down my cheeks. "Jazz," I croaked, my throat tightening again. I'd never felt relief this strong. "I knew your last words."

Silence. Relative silence, at least, since the sounds of battle still continued outside. We stared at each other for what seemed like a long, long time.

Jazz's intensity fell, just a bit. His features, especially his optics, softened. "Kid, I-"

CRASH! An empty car slammed into the street and tumbled out of sight.

"I gotta get you outta here." Jazz finished, scooping me up once again. He didn't transform this time, but he was still plenty fast on his feet. In and out of crushed cars, buildings, and craters, he soon brought me right back to the street where I'd started. Mikaela had hotwired and retrieved the tow truck, as I knew she would, and she and Sam were working together to chain Bumblebee to the empty back. Bee saw us first. His eyes found me clutching for dear life to Jazz's hands, and tried to yell something I could not translate.

"Iris!" I heard Sam exclaim just before I was dropped into the Bee's open palms.

"Hang on to that one!" Jazz didn't so much order as suggest. "Don't let her out of your sight."

I looked back as Bee's hands curled protectively around me.

Jazz hesitated for a moment, staring at me again. His mouth worked as he tried to say something, but nothing came out. Nothing needed to though, it was written all over his face.

Then he dashed away.

"JAZZ!" I pushed myself up and yelled quickly, before he got too far. "Stay safe this time!"

In one swift, absurdly cool move, Jazz spun around while running. He sent a reassuring smile my way as his visor slid back down, before completing the 360 and heading back towards the battle.

Bee's grip tightened around me as he pulled me closer, and I knew I'd be lucky if he ever let go of me again. "Are you hurt? – Are you crazy?! - Where did you go? – What happened? – Why did you run off like that? – What did you do?"

I relaxed into the strong grip. I didn't mind at all, and I was going to be here a while anyway. I gave this one reply: "My job."