Hii! So, even though im writing this right now, i still don't really know what's gonna happen in this chapter, and if it's bad, its always okay to let me know ;)

Thoughts

'song lyrics'

cellphone

autobot comm line

im not sure if i've followed that so far, but from here on out it'll be like that... and i might use a few songs, thats why i have the song lyrics...so yeah...

Enjoy!

"We're gonna be landing soon, you might want to get up."

Still half-asleep, I replied with a very lady-like grunt. Note the sarcasm.

The gigantic military jet we were on would be landing at the base, Diego Garcia. I live there, as do the Autobots. Will practically does, but in all technicality, yes, he does leave /sometimes/ for the night.

I opened one eye to see who was waking me up. The voice was so familiar...

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes to see none other than Sam Witwicky standing over me. Oh, crap...

I sat up. "Uh, yeah, thanks...I'll, um, do that..." Don't think about it, don't think about it...

"So, uh, I heard that you, uh, got hurt...out there... Are you doing okay?"

"I'm fine..." Oh, shit, I'm thinking about it...

"That's good... Uh, so, see you around..."

"Yep."

He nodded and rapidly walked away.

I sighed. Why does it have to be like this?

I hate that feeling you always have right after you get off a long plane flight. Dirty, sweaty, and messy-haired. Ugh.

And now I need to go shopping, get back some of the clothes I lost back there, and the makeup. But for the first time in my life, I don't feel like it.

I had no idea that losing that damn picture would affect me this much. I don't feel like doing anything. Will's been asking what's wrong, and so has Ratchet, even Optimus, hell, even a few people/robots that I hardly talk to, like Epps and Sunstreaker.

I sighed, opening the door too my quarters. I jumped onto my bed, burying my face in my pillow and wanting to scream.

Tears leaked from my eyes, and memories flashed before them.

It was before my father went to jail. I was seven. We were in the kitchen in the morning, my father flipping pancakes. I watched, and he spoke about a car he'd be teaching me to work with. The pancake was flipped to high and it hit the ceiling. We both started to laugh.

Years later. I was twelve.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I meant to, sweetie, I just didn't know how..."
"I don't believe you."
"I don't know why it matters so much. She's gone either way."
I whirled around. "SHE'S MY MOTHER, AND SHE'S DEAD! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?"

I was thirteen. My dad was teaching me to hotwire a car.

I was sixteen. My dad was out of prison, on parole.

I was eighteen, and at home. The phone rang. I picked it up, anxiously hoping it was good news.
"Hello?"
"Is this the Banes residence?"
"Yes, it is."
"Hi, I'm Officer Brown with the Tranquility Police Department. Is this Mikaela Banes?"
"It is."
"We recently found a Ryan Banes, deceased, and left in an alleyway, is he a relation?"

A sob escaped my mouth.

Why does it have to be like this?

I eventually fell asleep, tear-tracks still evident on my face. I was woken several hours later by a loud knocking on my door, suggesting they'd been there for a while.

"Um... Coming!"

I hurried to the door, messing with my now tangled hair. I could tell from the slightly sticky feel of my face and the odd sensation in my eyes that it was obvious I'd been crying. I could only really hope that it was someone random who was here for some insignificant reason who would most definitely not ever, ever mention what they either Will, Ratchet, or anyone who would mention it to them. It was a little unlikely, but one could only hope.

And, knowing me, I did not have anywhere near that much luck, because the person at my door was Will himself. My mind went into panic mode and I slammed the door before immediately opening it again. I mean, refusing to see him would look suspicious.

"Uh...hey! So...what are you doing here? Not that it's a problem or anything... It's just a question..."

His eyes scanned my face concernedly. "Optimus called a meeting... Didn't you get... No, you didn't. Well, I was supposed to tell you everything... What's wrong with you?"

"Well, that's polite."

"That came out wrong. What's wrong, seriously, though?"

"Nothing."

"Mikky..."

"Don't 'Mikky' me, nothing's wrong! My eyes look like this because I got makeup remover in them and they started watering to hell! There is nothing wrong!"

"Then why are you so defensive?"

Because I'm a shitty liar. "I'm not defensive. What do you mean, defensive? That's ridiculous."

"See? That's what I mean!" He walked in, closing the door behind him. We knew each other far too well for him to have to care about me inviting me in.

"Well... Who said you can come in?"

"I do." He paused, then continued on in a quieter, more gentle tone. "'Kaela, if something's bothering, you can tell me."

I sighed. "It's no big deal. I'm being irrational."

He shrugged. "You can tell me anyway. You know I won't judge you, no matter how irrational you may or may not be being."

"Well..." I sat on my bed. Will sat next to me. "You know how I take that picture of me and my dad everywhere with me?"

"Yeah."

"So...I had it back in Brazil, right?"

"I would assume that, yeah."

"And..." My voice cracked. "The Decepticons attacked the base."

He nodded. I could tell he probably knew what I was about to say.

"And all..." I started to tear up. "...all of my things were burned up..."

"Oh, God, and the picture was, too?"

"Yeah." A buried my face in my hands. I felt Will wrap an arm around my shoulders.

"It was the only one you had, wasn't it?"

I nodded, a sob wracking my body. I felt his hand rubbing circles in my back.

"That's not irrational, Mikky. That...that really sucks. Wow. I'm sorry."

"I...I'm okay."

"You look it."

I almost managed a smile, but it only reminded me of how my father used to be the only one who could make me smile when I was crying, and it brought on a knew onslaught of sobbing.

Will suddenly straightened up, messing with something on his ear. "Yeah, Lennox here." Oh, the comm line.

"Yeah, she's...actually, a little less than fine, but, yes, she is physically unharmed...No, nobody's crying...Well...Damn, Ratch...Okay, okay...yeah, okay, it is her...yeah, I do...I'll talk to you about it later...of course, only if she says okay...God, Ratch, I know she has a right to privacy, I was just...Okay...yep...no, haven't seen him...alright...Lennox out."

He looked at me. "Sorry about that, you know Ratchet."

I nodded. "Do you know how many people wouldn't care if I said it was okay to tell them? Ratchet is, like, the awesomest alien robot ever."

He chuckled. "Sure... I always found him a little...irritable, but if you say so..."

"I do. And he only seems like that, he can be such a softie."

"I will take your word for it. But, I was actually supposed to tell you about that meeting."

"And?"

Will's entire persona took on a grim atmosphere. "Well, the 'Cons have the damn Hellfire. Megatron might already have it, wherever the hell he is. All we can do at the moment is hope that they're using it as an Energon source and not as a bomb, or God better fucking forbid, as a singular Spark accelerator."

"How did they get it out of there without blowing us all to hell, anyway?"

"We don't really know, exactly, but they brought some kind of machine we haven't had access, too. I think Optimus might know what it is, but that's just me, 'cause he's not talking."

I nodded, frowning. "Well, that's shitty."

He nodded. "By the way, do you mind if I tell Ratchet what's going on with you? I know he's been really worried, but he doesn't wanna know unless you say it's okay for me to tell him."

"No, it's fine." I sighed.

He gave me a small smile. "Well, I've gotta get going. Will you be alright...?" He stood.

"Yeah, I'll be fine..." He started towards the door. "Oh, and, uh, Will?"

He turned. "Yeah?"

"Thanks." I smiled slightly at him.

He returned the smile. "Anytime."

An hour and a half later, I had brushed my hair, taken a shower, redone my makeup, done my hair, and changed clothes. I walked outside. I felt like doing something a little crazy.

I jumped onto my motorcycle. I knew Ratchet would be pissed, because I wasn't wearing any of my leather. Actually, all I wore was a black racerback tanktop and dark blue jean minishorts, and my black converse high-tops.

Around half an hour later, I was racing down a desert highway, away from the Diego Garcia, at breakneck speeds. I was going about as fast as this bike could carry me, my hair whipping back away from my face, the roar of the engine the only thing I could hear other than the wind whipping by. I didn't have my cell, I didn't have any means of communication at all, actually. I knew dinner rations would be served soon, and when I didn't show up, people would worry, but I couldn't make myself turn the bike around.

I remained like that for hours, nearly flying down that freaking highway. I loved doing this because it was like relief from the real world. It was just me, out there, and I didn't have to think about anything. Least of all the tiny shard of the Allspark that was back in my room at Diego Garcia.

The hyper-sensitive heat-detecting camera zoomed in on the human femme on her vehicle. She was so oblivious, so stupid to let her guard down as such.

"Femme is in sight."

"Soundwave acknowledges. Search and destroy."

"Yes, sir."

Yes, I should teach her a lesson...

Darkling's mouth piece curved into a cruel smile. She shall find out what pain truly is.

Ratchet released a long stream of air through his air vents, similar to a human's sigh. Mikaela was still strangely absent. Lennox said she had been upset over the loss of a photograph of her and her male creator. In his culture, creators were a trivial matter, you belonged with your cohort, creators were practically irrelevant, but he understood that it was different in human culture.

He had it from several of the humans that she had not been present when the dinner rations were served, and she was not in her rooms when Lennox sent Epps to go check on her. Her motorcycle was also missing, and all communication devices were still in her quarters, as Epps had noticed when he decided to force his way in, out of a mixture of impatience and worry.

He finished off with organizing his equipment, and looked around his med bay, making sure it was perfectly organized and cleaned. He spotted a spider and swiftly did away with it. Staisfied now that it was throughly pristine, a soft smile rose to his face plates as a memory rose to the height of his processor.

It was way back when Mikaela first had moved onto the base, before she had been anything to Ratchet, when he used to just barely tolerate her being in there to watch. Back when he still referred to her as 'girl'. She'd come across a spider.

The femme shrieked, jumping back with a distressed call of,"Ratchet?"

He'd looked up from Sideswipe's left arm, on which the retractable blade was jammed, and it would not pull in. "What?" His tone had been irritable.

"There's a huge spider... Well, not huge to you, but it is to me..." The girl's voice shook with fear as she appeared at his side, trembling slightly.

He actually fought the urge to laugh. This was the same human femme who had faced off Decepticons, who had reversed a tow truck through an active battlefield with an injured Autobot on the back for the sake saving an ally rather than herself. And an insignificant little Earth life-form made her scream.

"Than kill it. It's just an arachnid."

"But... It's huge!"

"I doubt it." He began to go back to Sideswipe's blade.

"Fine!" Her voice was annoyed. "I'll get Will to do it."

He let out a stream of hot air in annoyance. She rubbed her eyes of the heat that suddenly made them prickle. "Do the arachnids truly frighten you this much?"

She nodded her head, looking defeated. "Fine. One moment." He looked at Sideswipe. "This is going to hurt."

He nodded. Ratchet gripped the top of of the blade, and rapped the other hand against the base of the blade. Sideswipe gasped in pain, but a small rock popped out of the tiny crack between the blade and Sideswipe's forearm.

His face showed immediate relief. "Damn, thanks, Ratch."

He nodded. "Well, it is my job." Ratchet turned. "So where is the damn thing?"

Ratchet sighed. "Where the hell are you, Mikaela?"

"Fuck, fuck, fuck! Don't do this to me!" I yelled at my bike.

Yeah. It's out of gas.

Why didn't I make sure it had enough? This thing is my baby, I care for it like a child. Of all people, why would I not make sure? God, I'm an idiot.

And, of course, I didn't bring my cellphone. God, why am I so FUCKING STUPID?

I screamed, stamping my foot like a small child. "SON OF A BITCH!"

I couldn't just leave my poor bike here, for anybody passing by to steal it. I mean, my dad got it for me. And, no, it's not stolen. He bought it for me.

I heard an engine far off down the road. I immediately felt better (maybe the Autobots sent someone to look for me) but my heart sank as I realized it was coming from the wrong direction.

But then again, why would anything else be going towards Diego Garcia? This particular road only goes to and from Diego Garcia from the highway, unless it was a very lost civilian. Always possible.

I sighed. It might be someone I know. As it drew closer, I found that it was a black Hummer. At first glance, i thought there was no one in it, but upon looking back, I found that yes, it did have a driver in the form of a young guy, probably around 20, with black hair and dark skin, probably latino. The hummer slowed down, coming to a stop in front of me.

The guy leaned across the car, opening the passenger window. "Need a lift?"

I stepped forward cautiously. "Depends where you're going."

"I'm going wherever you're going."

Now that's creepy. "I'll be fine."

His demeanor turned dark. His grey-ish eyes took on a reddish look. "Get in the car."

"No."

"NOW!"

I shook my head, backing up. I looked regretfully at my bike. "I'm sorry, Dad." I took off, sprinting.

Behind me, I heard the metallic clanking that I recognized as what I now realized was a Decepticon, transforming.

My breathing was coming faster. There was nowhere, nowhere at all, for me to go. Nowhere to hide. There was nothing in sight but asphalt, rocks, sand, and cacti. The Decepticon let off a plasma cannon. An explosion knocked me to the ground.

"DAMN IT, LEAVE ME ALONE, ASSHOLE!", I don't know why I said it, I just was a little pissed.

I heard the Decepticon laughing. Speaking in terrible English, the 'Con spoke. "Darkling obeys no human scum."

I scrambled to my feet, continuing to run. Darkling sounded annoyed now. "Stay still, scum."

"I DIDN'T HEAR A PLEASE!", I yelled behind me. God, I can't keep my mouth shut. I'm wasting my breath.

Another explosion rocked the ground. "Son of a..." I started to run again.

I had a feeling this Darkling guy was a bit of an amateur. He couldn't hit a moving target with a plasma cannon. And I wasn't the smallest of targets. I had once dared Ratchet to shoot a fly out of the air with a .22 caliber bullet. He'd done it on the first try, and he doesn't usually do the fighting. I mean, he's a medic.

Yet another explosion went off behind me. I started to wonder if he was missing on purpose.

This is really getting ridiculous.

Will sighed. God, how far could she have gone? You'd think she'd make sure she'd had her cell phone if she'd be going this far. He'd lost track of how far they'd come from the base after 100 miles.

It was getting dark, and he couldn't help but feel more than a little annoyed at Mikaela for running off like that. Not even bringing a goddamn cellphone. And not returning. She could be anywhere. Had she even planned on coming back? Did she even care about how worried fucking sick everyone else was? Did she even care about anyone other than her fucking self?

Okay, he was passed annoyed. He was pissed. And he wasn't the only one. Epps was grumbling to himself that they shouldn't be here, if the 'stupid girl' was going to run off on her own, she should have to face the frickin' consequences.

And as much as Will hated it, he couldn't help but agree.

There were five guys there, out looking for her. They'd taken one of the trucks, and each were lightly armed. They'd been on the road for several hours, and Mikaela was still nowhere in sight. A vague, large shape was visible in the distance, but it was far up the road, and could be an optical illusion, especially as it seemed to be getting farther away as we drew closer.

But, he did think something might actually be there, because it seemed to be doing something. There were flashing lights, vaguely, but they were there. Will sighed, nearly flooring the gas.

As they drew closer, the small group noticed something that could be taken as important. That large shape in the distance turned out to be a giant robot.

Will swore, and Epps called for backup.

It was hardly five minutes later that the sleek silver sports-car that was Sideswipe's alt-form appeared. Will had absolutely no idea how he'd gotten there so fast, but he'd done it.

He went through his usual slick transformation, never stopping, whipping towards the 'Con just as fast with the wheels now on his feet. He ripped something from the Decepticon's grip, lightly placed it on the ground, then proceeded to tackled the con, pin him down, and shoot him in the head with his plasma cannon, all in one movement.

Sides' carefully picked the...the whatever-it-is up and walked towards them. Though Will could not here it, Sides was on a comm line as he walked towards them.

Sideswipe to Prime

Prime here

Found Mikaela with enemy specimen. I need to get her to Ratchet. Let him know?

Of course. What's her condition, as best you can say?

She has some burns, I'd say first or second degree, bruising, she's definitely hit her head, a few cuts, some of which are bleeding freely, and is unconscious.

There was a pause. Ratchet is preparing the med bay for a patient. I'm not much of a judge of it, would you think it is life-threatening?

It's possible, but unlikely. Only in the worst case scenario.

Well, than make sure that scenario does not arise, alright?

Of course, sir. Sideswipe out.

well, i hope u liked it :) this one was longer than the other few. I had some writers block, and I kept feeling like it wasn't long enough, so thats why it took a few days. Sorry bout that :) reviews are appreciated ;)