Disclaimer: I only own Lizzy, her faimly/friends, and this plot. Zanna belongs to Roc2Roll

Chapter 6: Reality in Dreams

Lizzy opened her eyes as light filtered in through her window. She was in her room, snuggled up safe in her bed. Shaking the sleep out of her head, she rolled over and looked at her clock. It read eight thirty. Lizzy rubbed her eyes and stumbled out of bed. She headed into the bathroom to brush her teeth, and fix her hair. As she was heading upstairs to the kitchen, the events of the day before rushed into her memory. She shook her head, thinking it was only a vivid dream. Her mind was probably just remembering the crash, and had put it together with her excitement for the third movie. Voices were coming from the upstairs, but Lizzy assumed it was the T.V.

"There you are, Lizzy." Her mother said, going over to her. "Are you alright?"

"Morning mom." Lizzy replied, nodding. "I had a really weird… dream?"

She paused at the last step and looked at the two men in their family room, along with her parents. They were wearing army uniforms, and they both looked very familiar. Holding her head in her hands she started mentally freaking out. Her mother, father, and the two army men, watched her as she tried to figure things out. Lizzy sat down on the top step and ran every situation through her head other than the one she was facing right now. It just wasn't possible. Things like this didn't happen, especially not to her! Lizzy had a normal family, went to a normal school, had normal friends. Although, she wasn't so sure about that last part, especially Amber and Jenna. After about ten minutes she had calmed down. Standing up, she walked into the family room and sat down on one of the chairs.

"Lizzy, I would like to introduce you to Captain Lennox, and Sergeant Epps." Andrew said.

Lizzy smiled at them, making sure her face looked neutral, then tapped her fingers on her knee thoughtfully.

"Lennox is a Captain?" She thought. "But He was a Major in the second movie. If he's a Captain now , then that means… Oh my gosh!"

She jumped out of her chair and ran to the table in the dining room. She looked around, but didn't see what she was looking for. Slipping on a pair of flipflops, she ran down the first flight of steps and out the front door. Her eyes landed on the morning's newspaper lying on the sidewalk by the road. Lizzy started walking towards it, when something else caught her eye and nearly made her jump out of her skin. A black, GMC Topkick was sitting on the side of the road. Thinking a little more on it, it didn't surprise her that Ironhide would be where Lennox was. She walked over to the newspaper and picked it up. Taking it out of the plastic wrapping, she looked at the date.

"2008?" Lizzy gasped. "Where's my blue police box when I need it?"

Not only had she somehow gotten herself sent to a parallel dimension, but she had gone back in time. She sat down in the middle of the yard, and fell back so she was looking at the sky. It was times like these that she wished she could scream out her frustrations. A silhouette suddenly blocked her view. She sucked in a surprised breath and scrambled up. Ironhide was in his holoform, and was standing in her yard. He took a step back and held up his hands.

"Sorry." He said. "It wasn't my intention to frighten you. Although, from what I've heard tell, I ought to be glad you did not have a weapon in your hands."

Lizzy glared at Ironhide, then lowered her eyes sadly. She sat down on the grass and sighed. He really needed to work on learning what was appropriate to say, and what wasn't. Although, that had never really been his strong point. He was always more of a "shoot now, think later" type of Bot. Lizzy stood up after a minute and looked around for something hard to bash her head on. Luckily for her head, there was nothing suitable. Ironhide walked over and stood in front of her. She looked up at him. His hair was black, and greying slightly. It was short cut, like army style. He had a short, scruffy beard, and dark blue eyes. He wore dark jeans, a dark blue button-up shirt, and black shoes.

"You're still upset about yesterday, aren't you?" He asked.

Lizzy nodded, and wouldn't meet his eyes.

"You shouldn't feel sorry." He told her. "You were protecting someone. And, he was a Decepticon. They aren't worth feeling sorry for."

"Don't talk about Dreadbeat like that!" Lizzy snapped, stepping into him and making Ironhide back up. "It's not like he wanted to fight. There aren't many that want to kill. They want peace, just like you guys. But they were forced into this war. They were tricked into thinking that siding with the Decepticons was the only way to end it. And now they don't know how to get out of it. You have absolutely no right to say "They aren't worth feeling sorry for." They had lives, and families, and so much potential. So don't you dare tell me not to feel sorry, because I took away any chance he had at changing, or finding a way out of this war without death!"

Lizzy turned away and strode into the house. She gave a curt nodd to Epps and Lennox, who had come outside to watch the interchange between Lizzy and Ironhide, and went to her room. Ironhide stood where he was, and watched her walk away, wide eyed. Lennox and Epps gave her a round of applause and walked over to Ironhide.

"Hell hath no fury, man." Epps said.

Ironhide gave him a quizzical look, then returned to his normal body. Lizzy, meanwhile, flopped down on her bed, face first, and breathed out slowly. She didn't understand how her life could have gotten so screwed up so quickly. Not three days ago, she was wishing that Transformers could be real. Never once had she thought about the consequences. Sure, she'd meet the Autobots, and Lennox and Epps. But there would also be the Decepticons, and war, and death. Suddenly, her phone vibrated on her dresser. She sat up and looked at it. Jenna had sent her a text.

'Why can't I leave you alone?' She had sent.

'What are you talking about?'

'I'm talking about the fact that there are military people at your house!'

'Well, how do you know it's not just some friends?'

'You may know police officers, but you don't know any army people.'

'Wait… how'd you know they were here?'

'I just drove past your house on my way home from some errands.'

'You wouldn't believe me if I told you why they were here.'

'Try me.'

'You asked for it. Yesterday, after dad and I got our bow and arrows, we were driving home and the green truck that crashed into us the other day sped by. Suddenly it transformed into a giant robot and went to attack us. But a peterbilt semi-truck transformed and stopped it. They went into the woods and fought. I ran over with my archery stuff and stopped the evil robot from killing the good robot. But I ended up killing the bad robot, even though he didn't want to fight. And I feel really bad about it. Other good robots came and I guess they took me home because I woke up in my bed. Now Lennox and Epps, who work with them, are here to find out what happened yesterday.'

Several minutes passed, and she didn't get a reply from Jenna. Lizzy gave a quick grin and put her phone in her pocket. Her stomach grumbled with hunger. She headed upstairs to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. Lennox, Epps, and now Ironhide, were speaking with her parents, and she ignored them for as long as possible. Finally, she had to go over. Leaving the lunch meat for sandwiches on the counter, Lizzy walked out and sat down. She glared at Ironhide for a minute, but stopped and litened to what everyone was talking about. Lennox was asking what had happened yesterday. Andrew could only tell them up to when Lizzy had run out of the car, and into the woods. Epps turned to Lizzy.

"So, what happened after that?" He asked.

"After I grabbed my bow and arrows, I ran off into the woods. I'm not sure why I did it, but something-"

"Woah, slow down there, missy." Epps said, holding up his hands. "I can't read sign language."

"Dad, can you interpret for me?" Lizzy asked.

"Sure." Andrew answered.

"After I got my bow and arrows, I ran into the woods. I don't know why I did." Lizzy kept a straight face as she hid her reasons. "I just had this bad feeling. It took a while, but I followed the sound of metal clashing."

After she finished telling her story, Lennox, Epps, and Ironhide sat back and talked quietly together. Lizzy watched them apprehensively, unsure of what they thought of her. There were very few people who could hold their own against a giant, evil robot. Even fewer of those people were seventeen year old girls. Ironhide watched Lizzy with an odd expression on his face. She tried hard not to look at him, but couldn't help not throwing quick glances at him. Finally, Lennox and Epps stopped talking. They watched Lizzy for several minutes, which made her very uncomfortable. Lennox was about to speak, when a knock sounded at the door. Lizzy jumped up and went to answer it.

"What are you on?" Jenna asked, walking in before Lizzy had gotten to the steps.

"The floor?" Lizzy replied, confused.

"You know what I mean." Her friend said. "You don't make up a story like that without being high."

Lizzy raised an eyebrow in amusement, and grabbed her friend's arm. She dragged Jenna to the family room and stood her in front of Will and Robert.

"This is Captain William Lennox, and Sergeant Robert Epps." Lizzy introduced. "They work with giant Transforming robots, in a sector called 'Nest'."

Ironhide let out a low growl and stood up. He walked over, grabbed Lizzy by the arm, and lead her to an empty room. He shut the door and glared at her, while she sat down on her little sister's bed. Lizzy swallowed nervously and looked at the floor.

"What the h*ell were you thinking?" Ironhide growled. "You can't go around telling anyone and everyone about us!"

"I trust Jenna with my life." Lizzy replied.

"You may, but I don't." Ironhide said.

"I don't really care if you don't or not." Lizzy stated. "She is just as trustworthy as you or I with this matter."

"I'm not so sure about you."

"Coming from the mech who would have arrive too late to save his leader!"

By this time, the two were standing toe to toe. Ironhide was about to reply, when the door opened. Epps poked his head in the room.

"Don't go breaking an important asset, 'Hide." Epps said. "We're taking her back to base, her family and friend are gonna have to come along too."

"Did Optimus order this?" Ironhide asked.

Epps nodded, and headed back out. The mech sighed and, giving one more glance in Lizzy's direction, walked out. Lizzy waited for a moment, trying to process what Epps had just said. She was going to the N.E.S.T base? She wasn't sure whether to be excited, or nervous. Standing up, Lizzy walked out into the family room.

"There you are." Lennox said. "I was worried 'Hide had knocked you out."

"He was probably close to it." Lizzy grinned.

"Pack your things." Lennox said. "We leave in three hours."

Lizzy stood on the airstrip with her family, and Jenna. Their bags had been taken onto a smaller plane. The five of them were going to be riding on a C-17 cargo plane, accompanied by several military personnel, and two of the four Autobots. To Lizzy delight, and partial horror slash embarrassment, Optimus was one of the two on their flight. She suspected that the arrangements had been made that way for a reason. They boarded the plane and Lizzy sat in the farthest corner she could. Jenna sat next to her, trying to figure out how any of this could be real. Thankfully for Lizzy, everyone seemed to realize she wanted to be alone. Although, Optimus periodically looked her way. The flight took several hours. A little while before dinner, they landed in Diego Garcia.

Lizzy and Jenna were the last two to leave the plane. The Autobots stood waiting on the airstrip for them. Lizzy kept her head down, and walked behind Jenna. Most of the soldiers were staring at her. They had all heard of the girl who stopped a Decepticon. Jenna glanced at her friend and frowned. She turned back to the soldiers and glared at them.

"Get your a**es back to work!" She snapped. "You have better things to do than ogle at an underage girl, you pedos."

The soldiers stared at Jenna for a minute, then went back to what they were doing. Lizzy grinned and hugged her friend. Jenna sighed, and patted Lizzy on the head. Lennox and Epps led the way to several cars. Ironhide, as well as the other Autobots, had transformed into their alt modes. Lizzy and Jenna were to ride with Lennox and Epps in Ironhide. Lizzy objected strongly to this at first, but got in anyway. She felt strange riding inside of Ironhide, and sat with her knees pulled up to her chest. Jenna looked at her friend, a little worried. Lizzy was usually a very happy, joking, and social person. Now, she was quiet and withdrawn.

It was a quick, five minute ride from the airstrip to the base. They could have walked, but Lennox wanted to get them there as quickly as possible. Lizzy nearly jumped out of the truck once they stopped. Everyone was led into the base, and told to wait in a large room. After twenty minutes of waiting, the door opened. A young girl, around fourteen, walked in. She smiled at Lizzy and Jenna, and walked over. She was about a head shorter than Lizzy was, and had long, wavy, black hair.

"Hi." She said. "I'm Zanna. Did you really kill a Decepticon?"

Lizzy looked up at the girl, and nodded.

"Was it scary?" Zanna questioned.

Again, Lizzy nodded.

"Are you usually this quiet?"

Once more, she nodded.

"Are you mute?"

"Yes." Lizzy answered.

"So you can't talk?"

"That's the definition of 'mute'." Lizzy commented, while Jenna interpreted.

"Heh, yeah." Zanna replied. "I suppose it does. Sorry, I'm a little nervous talking to you."

"That's alright." Lizzy told her. "How did you get involved with the Autobots?"

"I was in Mission City when the Decepticons attacked." Zanna answered. "I was a key witness, and the military questioned me about it. While I was on base, I hung out with Mikaela. She and I got along really well, and now we're as close as sisters. So that's what we call each other."

Lizzy sat back in her chair and closed her eyes. She jerked up and something soft, yet firm hit her in the face. Jenna grinned at her and held up a pillow. Lizzy smiled at her friend. She always seemed to know exactly what Lizzy was thinking. Taking the pillow from Jenna, she curled up in a corner and closed her eyes.

A/N: Had fun making my dad his Father's Day present. He likes lions, so I painted a really cool one on a shirt for him. Looks like this .net/fs18/300W/f/2007/145/3/d/Lion_tattoo_by_ I can't wait to give it to him :) He loves it when his kids make him things, instead of buying them.

Lunar Mist: Thank you! :) Yeah, I nearly cried when I killed him. But his part may not be over yet. ;)

Roc2Roll: Thank you! And, although it was a short intro, I hope I got Zanna close to what you expected. She's going to have a much bigger part in the rest of the chapters.

Zoey the Wolf: Thanks!

bee-roxs98: Same here! But I'm not the kind of person who can sit by while someone needs help... That's probably why I nearly got killed when a friend was being threatened by gang members. lol