Author's Notes: Set just as the 1st movie ends. Originally was just going to be a story about how the woman reacted when Ironhide jumped over her but then grew to something much bigger. I will be adding other characters from G1. Neither the second nor third movie will play a role, but some of the characters will.

Twist of Fate
Chapter 1 – Life Crashes

It started out as a typical morning for Katherine Lennox as she began her workday. She had brushed her long dark brown hair, thinking she'd put it up, but it didn't take her long to change her mind. Dressed in the new teal green dress her boyfriend gave her for her birthday before kissing her boyfriend good-bye. If she thought that today was going to be the last time, she'd ever see him alive, she would have taken the day off and spend the day with him. But who could predict life would throw such a life changing curve ball?

She worked for one of Mission City's newspaper companies as a reporter, a great reporter. There were three major newspaper companies in the city. She was so good that her co-workers would tease her by calling her Lois Lane. She was not a big fan of Superman therefore would shrug off the teasing and say something sarcastic, like 'you got to do, what you got to do'. She knew the teasing was harmless, in fact she would get involved with the teasing sometimes by yelling 'Superman, help'. Her co-workers would laugh as she would jump on a desk and look like she was about to fall off. But shortly afterwards her boss would barge in the room, saying 'this is a paper not a Broadway play'. Everyone would sober up and go back to their respected areas.

As Katherine walked into the newsroom, she quickly grabbed her white blazer, as it was a little cool with the air conditioner on. Taking a seat at her desk, she tried to turn on her computer, but it would not compute. Others tried the same thing, with no luck. She cursed and slammed her hand against the tower.

"Katherine!" her boss boomed, as he walked out of his office. "Don't slam company equipment."

"So, what are we to do?" she asked. "How am I going to get my story done?"

"Listen up people," the boss yelled over the newsroom, getting everyone's attention from either cursing or about to hit something. "We're in a worldwide communication black out. It happened in the middle of the night. Or at least that is what I believe. We must do things the old-fashioned way. Break out the typewriters and type your stories. We'll have to manually print out the newspaper. So, let's get to it. Katherine, you get out there and find as much information as you can about this black out."

"What about my story?"

"Save it for another day. This is more important. Now get moving."

"Yes, sir," she mockingly saluted. She quickly turned away and walked to the elevators, making her way towards the underground garage. Just before the elevator doors closed, she could hear groans and moans about having to do things the hard way.

When she got to the underground garage, she saw the night security guards, chatting with the day ones. The six guards notice Katherine's approach.

"Miss Lennox," one of them asked. "What is going on? I just saw you a few moments ago and you were bragging about your story that needs to get done today."

"A worldwide communication black out. Apparently, the virus the military began to advertise yesterday has finally taken affect."

"Damn," one of the daytime guards said. "Where are you off to?"

"To find out what more information I can get."

"Well Lois Lane then better get going then," a night guard said.

"Oh yes," Katherine whipped her hair around. "Where's Superman when I need him?"

The security officers chuckled. She walked away, making her way towards her car to hopefully find some answers.

Explosions were everywhere as Katherine ran. Giant robots were fighting in the middle of the city. Dirt smudges smeared across her face and her nice shinny hair was now flat and dull. Long ago she lost her blazer when the firefight began. She had tried her best to run from the robots, but she couldn't make it. She had tripped over fallen debris from a building. Getting up to her knees, a sudden blast of weapons fire was aimed directly in her direction.

Another vehicle, driving at top speed, came from the opposite direction. It suddenly changed before going airborne. When it was done changing, she noticed it was another giant robot. It jumped into the air and somersaulted over her. An ear-piercing scream escaped her throat as she thought she was going to be crushed. She was too petrified to move.

The sound of her scream was cut off as it moved over her. It got on the other side of her and she was able to get a good look at his face. She barely heard the words that were said by the robot.

"Run!" It said.

She felt faint. Realizing if she didn't move, she would be killed. Taking a deep breath, Katherine willed her feet to move as she jumped to her feet and rushed away from the scene as quick as her body would let her. Not bothering to look behind her, she continued running until making it to an alleyway, far enough away from the fighting. Sounds of the fight still could be heard. Folding her legs straight up to her face. This was not her day.

After what seemed like forever, the battle cries lowered down and before long no longer could be heard. No more weapons fire. No more crashing into buildings. It was completely silent expect for some faint cries from the citizens. Everything just seemed to stop like turning off a movie. But this was no movie, this was real.

Wanting to get away from the nightmare, Katherine slowly made her way out of her hiding spot and into the street. To her horror, building debris and dead bodies scattered all over the place. Not too far where she stood, three giant robots were left standing. Another one was strapped to a tow truck and two teenagers were standing beside it. The tallest one was holding on to what looked like another robot, but it was in two pieces.

As she looked around, she saw some military officers. In the middle of the officers and to her surprise she saw her brother, Captain Lennox. She gasped before shouting her brother's name, limply making her way towards him. "Oh god! Will! You're alive!"

Captain Lennox turned to the sound to see a woman slowly walking towards him. Even with the dirt smears all over her face, he'd be able to recognize his little sister anywhere. He quickly sighed in relief as he dropped his gun and ran to her. Just as he pulled her into an embrace, her legs gave out. She was safe, his little sister was safe.

"Who is she?" asked Bumblebee, using a line used in a song from the King of Pop.

Ebbs looked to the wounded Camero. "She's his younger sister."

The instant she felt his arms around her, she cried in relief and terror. "It was horrible!"

"Everything is ok," he assured, as he whispered in her hair, holding her tightly. "You're safe, I'm so glad."

She began to cry with relief. "No, I was sent out of find out why the worldwide black out."

"Good."

She pulled away with fear in her eyes. Her eyes showed many questions.

"I don't know the assessment of the damage."

"The paper! I have to check to see what happened!" She tried to get strength into her legs to pull away, but he wouldn't let her go.

"It's too dangerous, right now. My men will handle it. Besides what you have witnessed, other media will be on your backside and right now, we don't know what to say about what happened?

"Just that some GIANT robots just tore across this city like a tsunami!" She snapped, getting the others attention. Up until her outburst, everyone around gave the two siblings a private moment. Even Optimus had his men keep silent.

"Katherine!" Lennox blurted and then sighed. She needed to understand what was going on. What just happened could not be publicize. He had hoped to avoid confrontation with the Autobots enemies but he soon realized his grave error.

Grasping her hand, he pulled her towards the giant robots. "Please, don't make me, make it an order. If you allow me, I will introduce you to the 'giant' robots, the good guys."

"Excuse me!?" she blinked, forcing him to stop. "Are you telling me, there were bad guys?"

Lennox nodded. "Yes. But as you know..."

"Yeah, yeah... classified," she huffed, allowing herself to be pulled, until reaching the others.

When the siblings were close enough to the robots, his hands wrapped around her waist so she wouldn't bolt.

"Everyone," Lennox began. "This is my little sister, Katherine. Katherine these robots are known as the Autobots."

Katherine began to tremble as she noticed all eyes were on her. She carefully looked at each one. When she came to Ironhide, her eyes widened. His face...it was the same face who told her to run. She trembled more as she pointed a finger towards him. "That... I met."

Optimus looked up from the girl to his weapons specialist. He had a questionable gaze.

Ironhide looked at his leader. "While dodging a Decepticon missile, I jumped over her and told her to run."

Optimus nodded. "Well Katherine," he began. "My name is Optimus Prime and these are my men. Ironhide, which you already met, Ratchet my medic and there on the tow truck is Bumblebee."

Katherine looked at the robot strapped to the truck. She opened her mouth to ask why he was there, but then noticed its legs were missing.

"This is going to be one hell of a story."

Lennox quickly turned to his sister. "No! You cannot print anything in the papers about this. Nothing!"

"Will," she protested. She squirmed her way out of his embrace. "I'm a reporter. That's my job, it's what I do."

"Look, if you print anything that has happened here, other forces will come and attack."

"I have to. This is story worthy! If I don't, some other paper will."

"I don't mean to interrupt," Optimus intervened, seeing the sibling rivalry for what it was. He knelt to be more eye level to the two humans. "I must agree with your brother. What happened here can not be publicized. We may have won the battle, but not the war is far from over. I fear we have not heard the last of the Decepticons."

"I agree," Ratchet replied. "For the time being. As you humans put it, 'they tucked tails between their legs and fled to lick their wounds'. If word were to get out, the Decepticons will no doubt twist everything to their advantage."

Optimus shook his head. "I cannot and will not let that happen. Not all humans will be considerate. Bumblebee already has been subjected to it."

Sam walked up to the woman. "Trust me," he said. "Bee was treated as a lab rat. Not to mention Megatron was held in stasis by a secret government agency, studying him. "This…" he swung his arms around, indicating the city. "May not have happened if that secret government was more opened. The Autobots could have prevented this destruction."

"Then what do I tell me readers?" she asked, not liking the words the teen was saying

"For now, you must sit silent," Captain Lennox said. In the distance, sirens were heard, coming closer. He turned back to Optimus. "You guys better split; the local authorities will be here momentarily. The public is not ready to hear alien invasions let alone 30 feet intelligent robots."

Optimus stood. He was quick to transform. "Ironhide. Ratchet. Attach Bumblebee to me.

Katherine nearly screamed in fright and would have lost her balance if not for her brother near her. This was completely unreal to her. These guys were only just giant robots but they literally could blend into the human world as vehicles.

Silently the two remaining mechs did what they were asked. Sam, Mikaela, Ebbs and the rest of Lennox's men all helped as well. The second Bumblebee was rigged to Optimus' back, Ironhide looked to the remains of Jazz's body.

"What are we to do about Jazz?"

"Rachet, you will carry him. I would like to see if he can be brought back online." The voice came from the Peterbuilt. "Autobots! Transform and roll out!"

Just as soon as there were two cars, Ironhide picked up the remains of Jazz, sliding them into Ratchet's back before transforming himself. Sam looked to Optimus. "You want us to ride with you?"

No sooner said, Optimus opened his passenger door, allowing the teens to climb in.

"Wait," Lennox said just as they were about to pull out. "Take my sister. The government will ask her a lot of questions. Questions, she cannot answer."

"Ironhide," Optimus commanded. "Take the female."

"Yes, sir." The door to the GMC Topkick truck swung open.

To shocked from their transformation, to say anything, Katherine numbly moved away from her brother and slowly climbed in. She was not impressed the tallest robot agreed she couldn't print anything. For the time being it was probably best to just go with the flow. She almost jumped in fright as the truck sped off down the street.

The three Autobots quickly made their way down a street, disappearing into the crowds of vehicles still trying to flee the scene. In about 10 minutes, Ironhide noticed the tow truck coming up behind him. He was taking the rear. He quickly slowed down, giving the truck time to catch up and allowed them to move ahead.

As they began to near the end of the city, a man suddenly appeared in Ironhide's driver seat. Again, Katherine jerked.

"It's only a hologram," Ironhide said. "This way, we can mislead your authorities."

The sound came from all around her, but the hologram did not move. She cautiously moved her hand and waved at the hologram. She jumped as her hand moved through the hologram, forcing her to huddle herself against the door. A clicking noise distracted her as the doors locked. She looked up with surprise.

"It's for your protection," he sighed. The human was vastly annoying him. Luckily, he didn't have to watch the woman. Yes, he could feel her and sense her trembling, but he had to concentrate on the road. For the moment, he couldn't watch her and the road at the same time. Normally it'd be no problem, but the hologram was slightly taxing on his energy reserves. In the few short days since arriving, he had no time to really work on the hologram.

When the Autobots were far enough outside the city, they came to a stop. This allowed time for the humans to catch their breath. A lot had happened in the past 24 hours. Once Katherine was able to step out of the Topkick, she took a seat on the side of the road.

"Are you alright?" Sam asked, as he approached the trembling woman.

She looked at the boy. "I don't know. I woke this morning only to later meet up with giant alien robots that can transform into human vehicles. And one produced a hologram in the driver's seat."

Mikaela felt sympathy for the woman. "I know how you feel. Bumblebee first appeared as a 1977 Camaro, but soon changed after a quick snide remark from me. It soon became apparent for me to change my perspective on him and we didn't even know his name yet. Soon we met the rest of the Autobots."

Katherine looked up suddenly. "Where are we?"

"A few Earth miles out of the city?" Optimus answered. "Why do you ask?"

Katherine's eyes widened suddenly. She glanced around to where a bunch of vehicles were parked on the side of the road. "My boyfriend works for a road construction, and he's supposed to be working." With wide eyes, she bolted off the ground and rushed over to one of the vehicles.

Noting it was unlocked, she climbed and drove off before anyone could say a word. She ignored the two teens as they yelled her name. She had to find out.

"She's getting away!" Ironhide yelled.

"Ironhide go after her!" Optimus commanded. "Autobots move!"

The two teens were quick to climb back into the truck. Both Ratchet and Optimus were unable to transform due to their cargo in back. They did what they could to move out of the Topkick's way so he could catch up to the woman. He revved his engine, chasing after her. He cursed as she had quite the head start. He knew he could overtake her, but it was the matter she was currently in Ironhide's care.

A mile down the road, he caught up with her. However due to her position in the road, he had to slam on his emergency brakes and swerve towards the shoulder. With such a high need to brake, it was apparent he was going to flip. Preventing himself from doing so, he transformed.

Surveying the area, a look of shock marred on his face. The car Katherine stole was in the middle of the road, front tires swerved to veer towards the left lane of the four-lane highway. Front door was wide open with Katherine standing on the other side of the car, horrified appearance on her face. The area was dead quiet with only the sound of wind around, whipping her hair around her smeared face.

There before his optics was a scene straight out of a fictional tragic movie. To his surprising optics, the rural landscape that had was lined with trees with the road in the middle was unrecognizable. The entire terrain was upheaved like an explosion happened, causing trees, dirt and chunks of asphalt to be scattered everywhere. A construction crew were scattered all over and it was not a pretty sight. From the center of the road to as far as the optic could see, without having to switch to sensors, the ground was riddled with small craters as if several missiles were released. Scorched bodies were everywhere with some draped over equipment, while others laid face down pinned by debris rocks, earth and trees.

Using his sensors, Ironhide scanned ahead to see how far the destruction went. Several cars were scattered with more people until he finally found the end where there was a large lineup of vehicles.

"Starscream," he muttered, noting the damages were nearly a mile long. "All dead..."

Tears fell from Katherine's eyes as she scanned the area for any life. Her eyes fell on one person and with a gasp, she shrieked. "CHARLIE!" She ran over to that one person and started to sob uncontrollably.

Ironhide watched Katherine rush towards a fallen human, just as the remaining Autobots arrived.

"My god," Sam whispered as he and Mikaela climbed out of the truck. "It's like a massacre out of a disaster movie."

"This is the Decepticons doing," Optimus stated sadly. "And from the looks of things, not that long ago..."

Mikaela looked up to the Peterbuilt. "I don't understand. Why would they attack here? We were in the city."

"The answer is simple," Ratchet answered. "Starscream. He must have done this just after fleeing the city immediately upon realizing the battle was lost." He was the only Autobot to remain in vehicle mode.

Sam looked to the Hummer. "Are you serious?! Why would he do that?!"

"A distraction perhaps," Optimus answered. "The Decepticons have no morals or compassion."

"The destruction goes on for 1600 Mechanometer," responded the weapons specialist.

"What is she doing?" Bumblebee asked, grateful he could speak now, but wished he could see more of the tragic scene. The human female was near by a section of trees that was not destroyed, rocking back and forth, holding something.

"It would seem she..." Optimus paused a moment, "has found someone in amongst this catastrophe."

"Optimus," Sam looked up. "It's not safe here. The local authorities may show soon. I'm sure where this destruction ends, people are using their cell phones, calling for help."

Optimus 'looked' down to the boy. "Sam, we need to give the female some time to herself. Much has happened to her today." Looking up, he scanned ahead and sure enough, the young teen was correct. There were vehicles heading towards them at top speed. "Ironhide?" he called.

Ironhide turned to his leader.

"We have to get out of here. Meet up with us as soon as you can. The local Authorities will be here soon."

"Understood sir," he answered. He watched as the teens jumped back into the truck once more and his teammates left. Now that it was him and the woman if would be easier, or at least that is what Ironhide thought.

Being careful not to disturb the scene more than it already was, he made his way over to the grieving woman. She was draped over a fallen man, crying hysterically. She didn't care that blood was smearing into her clothes or even on her skin.

Ironhide noticed a piece of heavy equipment pinned the man to the ground. He scanned the man, Katherine cried over, astonished to find how bad the body was disgruntled. The man's right hand was twisted, pointing in the opposite way. His legs were crushed under the heavy machinery, which was a hot roller for asphalt. His neck was broken in two places. A sharp object was sticking out of his chest, just below the human heart, blood seeping out.

Ironhide realized the object had struck a lung. Thanks to the World Wide Web, he learnt humans had two lungs and if one is puncture, one could live, but with difficulty breathing. What surprised him the most though, the man was still breathing, barely, and was trying to speak but the words could barely be made out.

"Kath...rine," the man barely whispered.

She lifted her head. "Charlie?" she wept

"I love...you..." he looked above Katherine and saw the giant robot.

Ironhide looked down at the man, stunned the dying man's eyes didn't even flinch.

"...'Hide...Take...care...of...herrrrrrrr..."

'Did he just call my name?' Ironhide wondered as Katherine began screaming, crying even more hysterically. He noted the human's optics were open but there was no shine or life coming from the baby blue eyes.

Ironhide cautiously knelt beside the woman, but something caught his attention on the now deceased human. His optics zoomed in on the left shoulder, which was covered in blood from a gash, revealing flesh underneath the clothing. Switching from regular optics to a type of infrared that could see beyond surface. His optics flashed in what a Transformer would consider as optics widening. There on the shoulder was a tattoo. But not just any tattoo. This one was a symbol indicating the faction of Autobots.

Ignoring the female for the moment, shutting off his audioreceptors, he did a scan around the area to find the name of the construction crew. Opening his browser, he began a search of the company. He managed to hack into the company's computer. In moments, the research brought up files on each employee. Scanning through, he stopped when a file popped up with the same name Katherine called out.

Needing to do a wide search about Charlie, full name Charles, he had to figure who this human was as fast as possible. However, for the moment he had to deal with the grieving female. In the meantime, he would continue his search and then inform Optimus the moment he found all he could.

Reactivating his audioreceptors, he opened his browser once again and began to search for ways to calm the woman down. He came across a website called youtube and brought up some music. It began to softly play from his radio.

As soothing music filled her ears, Katherine came to the realization the music was coming from somewhere overhead. Exhaustion was quickly consuming her from crying and evading destruction from the giant robots. Her throat was beginning to hurt from screaming over Charlie now dead.

"I too lost someone I loved too," Ironhide started, attentively. "Her name was Chromia. She was lost to me by the Decepticons."

She continued to silently sniffle over her lost boyfriend, no longer able to scream in hysterics, as Ironhide carefully brought a finger to her back, rubbing it. How he was able to it, she didn't know.

"Also, a dear friend of mine was lost today. He was known as Jazz and was the second Lieutenant. He lost his life fighting Megatron."

In the distance, Ironhide could hear sirens. It was time to get out of there. "I do not want to rush you. But we need to get out of here. I can't be seen."

Katherine would not move, and it frustrated the Autobot as the sirens drew closer. With an angered sigh, he made his way back to what was left of the road and transformed. It would have been too easy to just pick her up and get out of there, but he really couldn't hold her while transforming into his alt mode At least the authorities will be able to make her move.

"Good god," Ironhide heard someone say. He noted through his mirrors, watching as a medical team quickly came on to the scene there was also another group. He read the letters on their vests saying 'CSI'. He had no idea what the letters meant.

"Excuse me, miss."

Ironhide noticed he was wearing a police uniform.

She slowly raised her head and glared at the man.

"Any idea what happened here?"

"The same thing that happened in the city?" she whispered hoarsely.

Ironhide looked and saw Captain Lennox stepping out of a vehicle.

The cop looked at the Army Ranger. "This is a massacre."

"That I will agree with." Lennox looked very saddened, but he had to be an officer first. With a deep breath, expression turning into a stone cold one. "This area needs to be secured, immediately and everyone not authorized to be here must leave. And that includes her."

Another officer came up behind Katherine and pulled her off the dead man. Finding her vocals, she began to scream and struggle. Her struggling was making it extremely difficult for the officer to pull her away. If it weren't for the matter of her being grief stricken, she probably would have been arrested.

"He's dead," the cop yelled. "We have to secure the scene."

"Charlie! Charlie!" she continued to scream.

"Damn..." Lennox groaned, quickly moving towards the hysterical woman. Reaching her, he commanded the officer to release her. Before she had a chance to rush back to the body, Lennox heft her up over his shoulder, carrying her away from the scene.

Each person there, cringed at her kicking and screaming. No one noticed as the nearby black truck passenger door opened, allowing Lennox to put his sister in. He barely got her in, before the door slammed shut and locked. She tried to push the door open but to no avail. Lennox moved towards one of his officers.

"Inform the others I must take an immediate leave of absence," he breathed quietly.

Ebbs looked to his partner. "I will make an excuse. You went with the aliens to discuss some private matters and to learn where they will hide while everything calms down."

Lennox grinned. "Good plan. I'll radio you when I reach the others. I see there is currently only one here."

The two men saluted before Lennox went to the vehicle he travelled in, grabbed a backpack and made his way back to the Topkick, climbing into the front seat The engine revved and carefully the vehicle turned and headed back towards the city, where it would take a different root.

Once Ironhide was far enough away, he gunned it. He had seen Optimus take the lead, as per usual on a off beat and path, which appeared to be remains of an old road. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to take the route. Now he would need to make up more time having to take a different route.

To drown out the heavy sobs, he once again turned down his audio receptors to near silent, while Lennox opened a window, allow the wind to blow in his face. Eventually Katherine's screams slowed and in time the cab of the truck was silent. Enjoying the silence, Lennox leaned his head back. He knew his sister had fallen asleep from exhaustion.

Seeing the female had cried herself to sleep, Ironhide turned up his audioreceptors back to normal. "Much better," he muttered.

"What happened?" Lennox asked quietly, not looking up to the road.

"We stopped to calm the adrenaline," replied the truck from within. She realized we were near the construction crew. Stealing a car, she drove to the blast site. I tried to stop her. Who was he?"

"Her first real serious boyfriend. They met ten years ago while she was in journalism school. Unlike the rest of the family, she chose a different lifestyle. They had been living together for the past three years."

"Well, that explains the heavy resistance. I've heard of humans doing that, but never thought I'd see it firsthand."

"Grief will do that. Where are you the others?"

"Knowing your local law enforcement would soon arrive, Optimus left me with her to later catch up."

"Where are you to meet up with them?"

"Optimus will send me the coordinates. All he wants to do right now is get away from prying eyes."

"I agree," Lennox said. "She'll probably sleep most of the way there."

"What was it that she called you?"

"William but she has always called me Will. I told my teammates we were going discuss an alliance. At least that is what my superiors will believe. I'm going to see to the well being of my sister. She has lost much today." He sighed. "Listen... what are you called again?"

"Ironhide."

"Ironhide. With everything I've just been through in the last several days, you think we can just have it quiet?"

"Fine with me. You already dealt with the Decepticons before we even arrived here. And dealing with her hysterics, my audio receptors could use a break."

The rest of the drive was silent as Ironhide drove towards the setting of the sun. He had a long drive ahead of him and wasn't going to stop unless he had to. He wanted to be with his other comrades before his female passenger woke. He didn't want to deal with another screaming fit as his audio receptors could be damaged and he didn't want to be stuck in the infirmary any more than he had to.

He was annoyed at the woman but felt sorry for her. Her loss reminded him of the day he lost his mate, Chromia. It had happened before Megatron left to chase after the All Spark. Of course, Megatron was the one who ordered the hit to be done in the first place and it was someone else who took her life, but it might as well have been Megatron who pulled the trigger.

His thoughts were interrupted when the passenger seat jolted. The woman was in discomfort, and she was slightly shaking. Slowly, he tilted the seat downward, making her a bit more comfortable. Lennox reached to the back, grabbing his backpack. Unzipping the pack, he pulled out a small blanket and draped it over the woman. He sat back in his seat and relaxed; waiting for nightfall to hit so he could sleep. The crisis was over and now he could take a moment to grieve over his comrades who died in Qatar and Mission City.

Added Notes: Mechanometer is approximately 1 metre.

Reference: Generation 1 episode "City of Steel", Hound stated Optimus Prime's head was within ten mechanometers when they approached its location. The AllSpark Almanac defines a mechanometer as the distance traveled by light in a vacuum in 1/268,435,456 of a nanoklik, or about a meter.