I don't own anything to do with Transformers. Too bad.

(bb 2010: In case you didn't read this in chapter one, this is a MARY SUE story. Big time. If that bothers you just GIT!)

The monster robot standing among the trees was waiting for my answer, and I didn't have one.

"I hit my head, earlier. I don't know what I did before, to make them chase me like that… I don't remember anything, before they chased me. I don't remember my name…"

The situation was crashing down on me like an icy wave: I didn't know anything about my past. I didn't have a purse, so no driver's license to check. Did I even have a driver's license? And I wasn't going back to whatever those buildings in the distance were. I doubted those men would be any happier to see me a second time and I knew without a doubt, but not why, that they would be there in those little buildings.

The robot was silent while I thought things through until with a muted whirling of gears and pumps and joints and god knows what went into action as it lowered itself to the ground. It sat just like a person might, legs out front, arms looped over bent knees.

"I have consulted the world wide web. You are describing an occurrence called amnesia, presumably caused by your meeting with a rock." It sounded like it was reading something off, somewhat uncomfortable with the terminology. At the same time it was amused, as if getting hurt by a rock was funny and pitiful at the same time.

"I got hit by a rock?"

"Your human coolant, your blood, is all over one of them. It is red."

I reached up to my throbbing temple and he was right. Mixing with the sweat pouring down the side of my neck in the summer heat was the thick stickiness of blood.

It surprised me by speaking again. "You may have a concussion. Minor damage caused by the fluid of the brain failing to cushion a blow." Uncomfortable recitation again.

I was beginning to sense how ridiculous the situation was. "I'm dreaming, aren't I. You're a robot diagnosing my booboos in the middle of a field. A really big robot that thinks it has a doctorate. I did hit my head, so maybe I'm hallucinating…"

It listened without comment to my mumbling for a minute or two, then cut in using that same deep and metallic but calm, quiet tone. "I am not just a robot. I am a Decepticon. I have seen things you've never imagined, so please don't compare me to what your kind passes off as technology. I'm capable of more than surfing the Internet."

"Like what?"

There was a grinding sound that seemed to come from deep in its chest, what I hoped desperately was a macabre sort of laugh.

"Helpless little flesh creature, I hold the keys to the enslavement and destruction of your world. I am capable of interstellar travel, I can assimilate any species' culture in a matter of hours if I choose, and I have more firepower than your bumbling earth scientists could ever dream of."

I was beginning to smell a bias. "You don't really like my kind, do you, figment of my imagination?" This could only be a dream. Space traveling alien robots with sinister names.

I was beginning to realize its dimly lit face was far from emotionless. Its eyes narrowed in what could only be described as annoyance, and the plates that made its mouth seemed to tighten. "Flesh creature, I'm not an… imagined thing. I am a powerful Decepticon warrior. I detected Blackout's guidance system many years ago, but the signal was incomprehensibly distorted, and now I can't trace him at all. I haven't been able to make contact with Megatron or any other Decepticons while I have been on Earth."

My mind was buzzing, trying to make sense of what it was saying. Who were Blackout and Megatron? I seemed to remember something about that name… Megatron… On a TV, shaky film on the news of huge creatures destroying a city... One of them said that name…

"It's Megatron! Fall back!"

I broke out of my thoughts and looked at the robot, the Decepticon named Skywarp sitting in the scrub in front of me. "The other giant robots were scared of Megatron. He was really big… They retreated out when he came around the corner. When they fought in the city."

Skywarp leaned forward eagerly. "Megatron is here? I can't find him. Did he destroy the Autobots? Where was the battle, human?" Its hushed voice was growing louder and more frightening. "Why isn't Megatron responding to my signals? Where are the Autobots? Answer me, flesh creature!"

I shrank back from his new aggressive behavior. I knew without a doubt Skywarp was a 'he.' He was testerone driven demanding type.

"I don't know! I just remember seeing it on the news. Maybe there were more shows, more articles on it. You said you could use the Internet."

His smoldering red eyes went flat and emotionless. "I'm already checking, human."

I sat in silence, staring at the dirt in front of me, and finally asked the question that had been burning in the back of my mind. "What's going to happen to me…? I don't know who I am. How can I live like that?"

I hadn't expected an answer, so Skywarp surprised me. "You're coming with me, human." There was a long pause in which I nearly died of simultaneous heart attack and seizure. "I like your fighting spirit. You will make yourself useful."

More than a little alarmed, my head snapped back up, causing a ripple of dizziness, which faded quickly. "But you have the key to destroying the world, or whatever. What could I possibly do to help you? Why would I help you? What are you going to do with all the firepower you say you have?"

With a fierce growl and the groan of straining mechanical parts, Skywarp leaned over me menacingly and slammed one huge black metal hand flat into the dirt just inches from me. The gust of air blew my hair back out of my face. "I saved your life, you trivial little pest of a creature! If I want to keep a pet human who owes me its existence, who is going to stop me?"

I shrank away from his giant hand, but fear kept my mouth shut this time. He was starting to straighten up when I thought I heard a faint engine noise, far off in the distance. The noise really seemed to catch his interest, since he stood up quickly and stared of into the sky for a long time. I saw a flicker of light run down his frame, then – he started to fall apart.

At least, it seemed that way. As I watched in the dim moonlight, his body shuffled and shifted and seemed to roll in on itself until I was face to nose with a black fighter jet.

At first all I could make was a strangled clicking noise out of the back of my suddenly bone dry throat until suddenly and with all the tense fear of death and torture and giant monsters my carefully maintained control opened its floodgates into one painfully long raw scream.

The fighter jet immediately started falling apart again and in a matter of seconds Skywarp was himself, leaning over me with his giant hands fluttering inches from me like monstrous metal butterflies.

"Shut down your vocal processors, human! Be quiet! Flesh bag, silence! Shut up or I'll break your fool neck!"

My emotionally loaded scream tapered off into indistinct croaking. It was a little while longer, Skywarp still kneeling over me apprehensively, until I could shakily ask, "What just happened to you?"

He stared at me again with that flat, dangerous expression, which I suppose means he's looking up something on the Internet. Finally, "Your species has no transforming technology, however much your science is Cybertronian in nature. I took the specs of the passing aircraft and assimilated it as a useful alternate form. It both increases certain skills I already have and allows me to hide in your society without causing animmediate uproar. You will ride in the cockpit."

I gulped and covered my face with my hands while I let myself take in this new obstacle. I didn't know if I'd ever ridden in a plane, or in any case didn't remember it, and this stranger, a pushy alien robot, wanted me to ride in a fighter jet.

"S- Skywarp… I don't think I can. Fighter pilots, they have to practice. They wear special suits, and oxygen masks and it's a really big deal. G-forces. Nausea. I have a weak stomach; I might throw up all over... all over you."

Skywarp shrugged his shoulders, which I noticed were much broader than before. In fact, his whole body had taken on a wider, triangular shape and in the darkness I could see parts that matched his new jet form.

"The cockpit will be atmospherically controlled for you. You won't even feel the gravity. Don't become stressed. It's bad for your health system."

"How do you know that? I thought you didn't know that much about us."

He smiled in a way that wasn't exactly cruel, but hard to describe as friendly. "I have been studying the care and feeding of the human species these last few minutes. According to many sources stress is bad for your health. I command you to avoid stress, human. Also, you are forbidden trans fats and excessive cholesterol. They are a silent killer."

I wasn't sure if I should laugh or faint. A robot was telling me how to live, and it was putting me on a diet. Looking down at myself, it was easy to tell I didn't eat a lot of trans fats before… and I had stamina, which was also obvious after my forest run. Maybe the robot diet wouldn't be that hard.

"We need to leave here, human. Your human police have been contacted and are en route."

"Ok…" I murmured nervously and started pulling on my shoes. "Um, Skywarp? How do I get in the cockpit without a ladder?"

He started to transform without answering. As he finished up, a piece of his body popped out where a ladder might be placed. It wasn't exactly the most convenient thing, definitely not made for climbing, but it had enough handholds that I managed to climb up and found myself settling into the chair in the cockpit. The top closed in on me with a hiss and without even feeling it, we were blasted into the air. No slow rolling take off for him…

He was fast. Frighteningly fast. He flew up to what seemed pretty high and did a wide circle around the area, tilted almost perpendicular to the ground some of the time. I could see a few sets of blue and red lights down one of the winding streets when he turned like that. Reports of giant monsters are taken very seriously now, so more than just a courtesy cop had been sent out. The area seemed kind of rural, buildings were scattered far apart and there weren't many lights.

"I have been searching for articles about what happened during the battle with the Autobots. Bonecrusher, Blackout, Devastator, and Megatron are confirmed offline. Barricade and Starscream were both sighted but neither was destroyed. The Autobots suffered one loss, a high-ranking officer. Their third in command, special ops unit… Optimus Prime and at least three other Autobots are still on the planet." His voice was filling the cockpit, so I couldn't be sure of where it was coming from. "Hopefully police reports will reach Barricade or Starscream and they will respond to my frequency. That idiot Starscream's totally cut me off… I have to be careful that the Autobots don't hear me before one of my allies does."

There wasn't much for me to do but listen and try to get comfortable watching the view. It suddenly occurred to me that Skywarp was probably lighting up every radar from here to Alaska. "Um, Skywarp, aren't you going to show up on radar? Won't they notice a rogue jet flying off pattern?"

"Don't worry, human pet. My cloaking generator makes me invisible to every kind of sensor your slow-witted people has ever come up with. Unless I want them to, they won't see me. They will have to make a direct visual and most humans won't recognize me."

"Oh. Ok. Are we going to be flying for a while?"

"Until I find a good place to set up temporary base. For now, yes, it will take a while. I need to look for the others, and they were last seen on this continent. Starscream is fully mobile and could go anywhere, but Barricade is limited to the roads. He should remain somewhere in easy range."

For the moment there wasn't much for me to do. Skywarp seemed to know what he was doing and I wasn't talking myself out of my new occupation any time soon. Best to just lean back, let him worry about his own problems and try to forget about mine. Maybe a nap would stir up some old memories.

Edited March 9th, 2010