Honestly when I heard about the battle in Mission City it scared the living daylights out of me. I wasn't sure how the two in front of me, they weren't much older than me, had managed to cope with that ordeal. Swallowing, I smiled nervously and held out my hand.

"Hi... I'm Autumn." I said somewhat nervously. The two glanced at each other before smiling. Sam seemed equally nervous while Mikaela seemed to have no problem with the situation. Shaking their hands, I felt a weight lift off of my shoulders. Even though I had seen them around at school, I had finally met them and got over with it. I wasn't really all that sure about Mikaela, since she was friends with 'Snotty Bitch', and the rest of that bunch. Without them around though, she seemed kind of nice.

When they walked out of my room and I was once again left alone, I noticed something on the ground. It was an onyx colored stone of some sort that shimmered and had odd patterns on it. Crouching down I realized it wasn't a stone, but some kind of shard of something much bigger; from what however, I did not know.

It must have come off of their clothing...The thought passed through my mind causing me to frown. Crouching down, I hesitantly picked it up. Immediately a power surge lanced up my arm, and through my chest; a silent scream of pain left my body as strange symbols swept across my vision. I couldn't move, I couldn't breath, the only thing I could do was stare at the symbols that were going crazy in front of me.

I couldn't unclench my fingers from the shard, I was hypnotized, entranced even, by the very thing that caused me more agonizing pain than my father ever had! I couldn't let it go. The lines had blended between couldn't let it go and wouldn't let it go. I wasn't sure anymore. Finally the pain dissipated leaving me panting on the floor. Agony seared my body making me tremble. Dropping the shard I noticed that the shimmer was gone, as soon as it touched the ground it disintegrated. That's never good.

XXX

I lay there tossing and turning; trying to sleep even though I knew it would evade me the rest of the night. Only seconds after touching the shard, I found myself seeing an odd assortment of symbols, some seemed older than time itself. Nightmares were a common occurrence for me now. It had been a week since meeting the apparently famous duo and touching the shard and I still couldn't sleep. Visions put into my head by that damnable shard haunted me day and night.

Sighing, I finally threw my legs over the bed and stood up, grabbing the thick cotton jacket that Epps and Will had given me I slowly wonder out of my room in search of a certain someone. I couldn't stay angry at him forever, and besides I seriously needed his comfort.

Stepping down the nearly silent halls, I avoided the cameras and the people on night shift. Walking around with the cold concrete freezing my bare feet, for what felt like hours, I finally came across a familiar archway. Tiptoeing in I saw all the vehicular forms of the bots I had just recently gotten to meet in their true forms. Swallowing I inched in, hoping I didn't wake them. I honestly didn't know what type of punishment would be put upon me if I were found.

I slowly inched over to the familiar silver-gray Datsun 280ZX; sitting down on the cold hard concrete floor I leaned against his front left tire hesitantly, when he didn't move I settled further back. A grimace split my features briefly as the cold concrete sapped the warmth from my body. Shivering, I curled closer to the tire, not noticing when the whole wheel seemed to warm of its own accord. My mind unwittingly began to sink into the depths of sleep; I didn't even stir when I felt a familiar warm hand brush the hair out of my face, or when the arms picked me up. After that, everything turned to darkness.

XXX

When I woke up, I found myself to be laying on some type of soft material. My deep brown eyes flickered open, gazing around me to find myself in the interior of a vehicle. Sitting up with a gasp I looked around in fear, my heart pumping quickly like a startled rabbit.

A zapping noise startled me, earning a slight shriek. Turning quickly I found Bluestreak's holoform to be sitting in the passenger seat giving me a friendly grin. I let a weak smile pull at my lips in turn. Suddenly he frowned.

"Are you alright? How did you sleep? Your temperature is elevated; I don't think that's supposed to happen. Maybe I should get Ratchet...Yes Ratchet, Ratchet!" My friends panicked state made me giggle.

"I'm fi-" My words were cut off as a hand reached through the now open door and picked me up. I let out another shriek, this time louder, as I came face to face with something straight out of a nightmare. My breaths grew shallow and quick when I looked up those dangerous blue optics, that deep set expression of annoyance and the thin pressed line of metallic lips.

A tingling sensation swept over me. Shivering I curled in on myself only to have a digit from his other hand pry my limbs out of the fetal position. His optics widened and I could hear his vents stall.

"Primus... your giving off radiation linked bio-signals, but not just that... Optimus!" I could tell he wasn't really speaking to me, more to himself, but most doctors did that as far as I knew. Suddenly Optimus Prime was standing right beside Ratchet. How a bot as big as him moved that silently astounded me.

"Is there some kind of problem?" Their optics locked and a deep rumble left the troubled medic. His gleaming yellow paint catching my attention briefly before I looked back up them, only to have their blue optics set on me.

"The little one radiates the Allspark's energy signature..."

"But that's impossible!" I looked up at them all silently, a confused expression on my features as Blue appeared right behind me.

"How is that possible? What's going on!? How do we fix her! What if the Cons find her Ratchet, what if they get her and use her! She won't stand a chance against them, she'll offline Ratch! What-" He was silenced by a deft wrench to the helm. I had no idea how Ratchet managed that without dropping me, but I had to give the doc bot props.

"I'm not sure how it's possible, but it is. Optimus, I need to study her to figure out this phenomenon." As soon as he said 'study her' my mind was filled with grotesque visions of him dissecting me. Of blood dripping off tables, maniacal laughter and excruciating pain. I swallowed heavily and looked to Optimus and Bluestreak hoping for them to save me. Blue gave me a sympathetic gaze, as Optimus just studied me with his intense blue optics.

"With her permission you may. After all, she is a sentient being is she not?" I gave a heavy sigh at his words knowing they all would want me to let him 'study me'. I was stuck on a double edge sword per say. If I said yes, then there was the possibility of it being some madman experimentation; however, if I said no then they would loose all leads to finding out possible ways to get their Allspark thing back. Heaving out a sigh I looked up at the giddy medic feeling like I was walking down death row.

"I g-give you my p-permission." A seemingly sinister grin slowly worked its way across his mouth, my heart dropped. What have I just done?

XXX

It's been a week. An excruciatingly long week. Ratchet was just plain out creepy sometimes, the way I would wake up to find him watching me with those intense neon blue optics or messing with some syringe while staring at me... man oh man.

A shiver coursed through me at the thought, in a way I would rather be facing that 'Megatron' or something. I never met the evil leader and didn't plan to, but I'd heard enough stories about him to give me some serious nightmares.

There was a zap and suddenly I was staring up at Ratchets holoform. His dirty blond hair looked shorter than I remembered. ...And that's a needle! The thought came and went as silently and quickly as my breaths. He came closer with the needle; it was empty so I knew he was after my blood.

"What are you, a fucking Vampire?" He scowled and grabbed my arm.

"I need to check your blood. Stay. Still." He commanded.

I growled at him after he snarled the words. "Neine!" I spat the German word with a violent conviction. He raised his eyebrows, his eyes turning dangerous. Not a second later his holoform disappeared, and in his place stood his real form. My breath caught in my throat. My words strangled and intertwined, clogging my throat and not wanting to come out.

"Femme. I do not have time for this. I need to figure out why you have that signature!"

"I've been here a week! You've taken multiple tests! Can't you figure it out? I thought you were the 'best medic on Cybertron'."

I spat the last sentence mockingly. His optics narrowed dangerously, I swallowed heavily. My heart was hammering. Oh shit... that was out of line... I'm gonna die... I'm gonna die! I was hyperventilating, I realized distantly.

His huge silver servo slammed down on the giant berth beside me causing me to flinch. I slowly looked up at him from my fetal position, I didn't know when I curled up like that but I didn't plan on coming out of it anytime soon.

I felt a prick and squealed loudly. Looking over I saw his holoform smirk, the needle now full of my blood. His holoform taped up my arm to keep it from bleeding and disappeared.

"I hate you." I snarled. He just smirked.

Ratchet POV

I got her energon sample and retreated to the back of my medbay. I needed to test it again. The last test I had performed came back positive. She didn't just carry the signature for no reason; all of her hemoglobin cell count was low, as was her white blood cell count.

Her cells were mutating, holding the Allspark's very essence in their structure. Her entire cell structure was completely changing.

A scowl pressed across my lip plates, the metal grinding as I scanned her energon sample. I could see everything that was going on, watched her cells mutate and change.

Before my very optics I watched as electricity carrying nanites attacked her cells. I narrowed my scanners in on them, watching them flow to and fro, destroying her biological make-up and making it... mechanical.

My optics widened in horror and amazement. I had no idea how this was happening, it was astonishing! It was also horrifying, if something happened... I had no experience with this, she could very well offline. I clenched my fist causing the metal to squeal, my processor repeating her words.

"I've been here a week! You've taken multiple tests! Can't you figure it out? I thought you were the 'best medic on Cybertron'." Guilt gripped my chassis. She was right; I had to figure this out and fast, because her time was rapidly running out. Sighing, I pinched the bridge of my olfactory-sensor-ridge. What I wouldn't give to have Perceptor, or even Wheeljack, here at the moment.

Normal POV

I lay there on the gigantic berth in silence. Ratchet had been gone for awhile; he was beginning to unnerve me. His actions made me feel like I was on my death bed. God, why did I agree to this again?

I sat up and looked over the edge of the berth carefully. It was easily thirteen feet from the concrete floor. Looking around I didn't see another way down, I felt something within me click as if telling me I could do it. I shook my head and tried to back up... but I lost my footing and fell.

A loud scream left my lips as I fell from the berth straight to the ground. I curled into a ball instinctively, the air rushed past me for a total of no more than a couple seconds. Before I could hit the ground I felt something odd happen, I felt this feeling of being invincible as if I could do anything.

I opened my eyes to find myself not even an inch from the ground, my breath hitched. I was levitating in mid-air, a bubble of electricity surrounded me like a force field. I looked up to hear a clatter, Ratchet stood there with a look of shock on his face plates.

"Uh… Hi Ratchet." I said awkwardly. Then the bubble popped and I hit the freezing ground with a thud. I sat up and stared at my hands. How the hell did I do that? I thought in amazement. I glanced up again to see Ratchet still standing there. I was trying to gauge his reaction, but he was unmoving and unreadable.

My heart sank. I'm not supposed to be able to do that... nobody else can do that, so how did I? He's already looking for something... did he find it? Did I just give him proof of something? Worry mauled my insides like a rabid fox, making me queasy. The ground trembled as he silently walked over to me.

His powerful large servos picked me up, a tingling 'pins and needles' sensation swept through me. Looking up at him I could almost hear the gears turning in his head, his expression grim. I swallowed nervously and closed my eyes tightly as he walked from the med-bay.

He carried me close to his chassis, as if I was something precious that would break from the most simplistic touch. Silence was my only companion as I ignored the voices of soldiers from below; my only focus was on Ratchet as he held me close.

I suddenly found myself freezing, yet sweat beaded up on my forehead as I curled closer to him for warmth. His metal was nice and toasty warm, heating my freezing flesh. I felt him twitch slightly, his other hand coming up to cup me from the cold air.

I heard a large metal door open and voices speaking lowly, but I couldn't focus on what was being said. My teeth were chattering, an odd sensation flowed through me.

It felt like when you stepped outside during a storm, the feeling of lightning targeting you. The hairs on my arms stood on end, Goosebumps covering my flesh. I looked up, but saw nothing. His servos shielded me from the outside world.

Suddenly light permeated my vision, I gasped and ducked my head, my pupils aching and stinging from not dilating properly to the amount of light. I winced and slowly looked up to see Optimus staring at me with a look that seemed to hold a lot of sorrow.

I was handed forward to Optimus, his huge servos surprisingly gentle. I snuggled into his warmth; getting as close to it as I could. I didn't know where I was in my disoriented state of mind, but I knew that humans weren't in this area.

I felt a tingling sensation sweep through me, heat crawling through my body almost to the point of burning. A soft humming noise was heard from the mech holding me.

"You're right Ratchet; I fear the worst for our young friend." I winced and looked up weakly, my confusion pretty obvious to those who knew me well enough.

"I am truly sorry Autumn, we shall do what we can." I felt my confusion grow; it must have shown on my face.

"Autumn-" I looked to Ratchet, his optics dark. I curled closer to Optimus for warmth and the knowledge that he would protect me from the insane medic's wrath. His next words sucked the breath from me, stole any words, and numbed my mind.

"-The radiation is changing your DNA... it's... almost bio-mechanical. I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do. Not right now at least." I was quiet, as silent as I had been when I couldn't speak. What does he mean by changing... am I no longer human or something? He said bio-mechanical though...

I swallowed and buried my face against the large Autobot leaders chassis. For some reason the sound of his gears turning, of his spark's thumping rhythm, it comforted me. In a way it scared me, but at the same time it seemed completely natural. What happens now?