*Trigger Warning for this Chapter*

Saphira was so relieved when she found a way out of the factory area. She actually found tracks in the ground that had been left by Optimus, and she followed them to the street. She was just glad that it was not raining heavily at the moment, it was just spitting and the tracks had not been washed away, which made it so much easier for her to find the road. But once she was there, she ran over to the nearest street to look at the street name. The restaurant was only a couple blocks from here. She groaned as she knew she was going to be very late. She glanced at her watch, and it was ten minutes after seven. Dylan was definitely going to be wondering where she is. She felt guilty, even though it was not even her fault.

Now that she knew where she was, Saphira had to get to the restaurant quickly. She did not know how long it would take for the robots to even notice her. Although, she did wonder if autobots was the correct term. Optimus did say that over the radio when he reached out to Mirage, so…maybe that is what they are. She was not entirely sure though. All she knew was that she just had to get to the restaurant. She would worry about getting back to her apartment later. Most likely by taxi.

She did wonder how Dylan was going to react when she finally arrived. She hoped that whatever alibi she could come up with will be enough to keep him from being furious with her. Though given that she was going to arrived sweaty and out of breath, he will at least know she was trying to reach the restaurant as quickly as she could. So she hoped that would help her in regards to her explanation to him about why she was late. She could use traffic as an excuse…but it would be the only thing she could explain to him.

She glanced over her shoulders more than once, half expecting to see one of the autobots following her. She wasn't sure what they would do if they did happen to find her, as she Optimus wanted Mirage to stay hidden. So it would be completely against his rule to just grab her from the street. She knew for a fact that what she had just seen and heard tonight was something she needed to keep to herself. No one in the world would before her.

But Mirage knows where I live…I guess it is time to start looking for a new apartment.

She stopped at a set of traffic lights and pressed the button on the pole to try and get the lights to change so she could walk across the road. She took deep breaths as she tried to pull herself together. She realized she was still trembling. She was not sure if it was fear, or from the cool air, and the raindrops dampening her dress. She glanced around nervously again, checking her surroundings for any sign of the bots before the lights change and the walk symbol turned green for her to walk across the road. She jogged across the road and she looked ahead. The restaurant was on the left and she was relieved.

She grabbed out deodorant to spray on herself and grabbed her heels out to put on quickly before she walked towards the entrance to the restaurant quickly. She glanced at the time again, and she gasped as she saw it was seven-thirty. She was very, very late. She knew she had a lot of explaining to do, and she hoped he would listen. As she approached the entrance, she noticed a few men gathered on the other side of the entrance. She was a little alarmed, but they seemed to be chatting among themselves, so she made a beeline for the entrance.

"Well, well…" Saphira jumped and stopped in her tracks as she saw Claudia walking out of the restaurant, wearing a glittery, red dress, with a big, victorious smile. "You finally made it. My goodness, look at all that sweat. EWW!" She shuddered with a grimace before grinning at Saphira. "But you made it."

Saphira took deep breaths as she frowned in confusion at the woman. "Claudia? I see you came here to dinner too." She tried to remain polite to the woman as Claudia stepped out of the building. "I am not sure what you mean by me making it, but I…"

"You really should know. I told you to be here at seven." She stepped back as she saw Dylan walking out of the restaurant, smiling at her wearing his nice, blue tux suit. "Though it does look like you were trying to get here on time. I doubt it was because of the traffic though." He let out a light chuckle as Saphira stared at him and Claudia in confusion. "But that is okay, we had a very lovely meal. We were just waiting for you to get here when desert arrived."

Saphira was confused and her bad feeling that she had felt before came back like a missile. She stepped back again from them as she was worried about what was going to happen. "You…you set this up?" She grimaced and shook her head. "Wait, wait…you really were dating Claudia, Dylan?"

The man simply nodded with a smirk. "Yep…I have been for a few years." A few years?! "I can tell by the look on your face you thought that I was cheating on you. Nah, there's no cheating involved here."

"B-But th-then…w-w-what…" Saphira took more steps back and glanced at the men who were by the entrance of the restaurant as they turn to face her. "Then…why d-d-did you s-s-start dating me? I-I d-d-don't understand. W-Why w-w-would you lie and d-d-date m-me w-w-when you are w-w-with Claudia?"

"Oh, that's because it was her idea." Saphira's frown deepened as she glanced at Claudia as the woman waved in a mocking way at her while Dylan explained. "She is tired of your presence at the company. Simple as that. A young, little girl like you should be at the bottom, not a manager of a team. She's been working hard there, and you waltz in for just a few seconds, and you are already where you are."

"But…but I d-d-didn't cheat. A-A-Arthur did hire m-me for a l-lower position at first. But I-I w-w-worked hard…" Saphira could not believe what was happening right now. "I n-never ch-cheated…A-Arthur promoted m-me b-because of m-m-my job performance."

"Mmmhmm…I originally thought it was because you are a young girl, so he was interested. But…" Claudia rolled her eyes in irritation. "Turns out he has a boyfriend. So that rules that out. But still…" She stepped closer to Saphira, making the girl step backwards again. "You came into the company only a few years ago, because Arthur took pity on you. He treated you special. There are so many people who have worked for him for years, and you have taken a position away from them."

"Well…I…i-i-it…w-w-wasn't m-my intention…I j-just wanted to work hard…th-that is all…" Saphira glanced at the men who were approaching, and she suddenly had the suspicion that they knew Claudia and Dylan. "But…I-I s-s-still don't understand. W-Why d-did you s-s-set this up? I-I…And w-w-why d-d-did you want Dylan dating me in the first place? W-W-Were y-y-you trying to h-have me crumble?"

Claudia just smirked at her. "You got the plan very well…although…I am disappointed that you aren't sobbing your stupid, pathetic eyes out right now. But…I guess it was my fault for speaking to you about your stupid car." She glanced towards the restaurant car lot curiously and looked back at Saphira. "Where the hell is it, anyway? I think it is time for you to learn your place. That car shouldn't belong to you."

"Uh…I-I w-w-was t-t-to nervous to d-d-drive it at night…so…I just took the bus." Saphira at least knew that alibi should work since there was no Porsche in the car lot with the color and markings Mirage has. "And…I d-d-did buy it…so…" She took a few steps back from Claudia and Dylan. "My head is spinning…"

Dylan let out a loud chuckle of amusement. "I guess your intuition might have told you to leave that piece of junk behind. But now is the time to teach you a lesson. As Claudia said. You are going to step down from your managing position."

"That…that-s fine…um…I am g-g-going to be doing something else soon." Claudia frowned a little as she seemed surprised by that, even though Saphira knew she was talking about the international relations. "S-So that is fine…things w-w-will change, so…"

"What is that supposed to mean, huh?" Claudia stomped closer to Saphira, making her back away some more. "Oh, no, no!" She grabbed Saphira's arm and began to drag her through the car lot. Saphira screamed and tried to stop, but because she was wearing heels, her balance was poor and she to kick them off. "If you are about to say that you have a better job, you better tell me so that I can have it. A high school drop out, orphan like you does not deserve that kind of position!"

"Let go of me!" Saphira shouts at the girl. "HELP!" She tried to scream to try and get attention. She was startled as Dylan was following with the group of men. They definitely knew each other. "Are you seriously mad that a nineteen-year-old is trying to improve her life, Claudia?! I don't understand!"

"You're a pathetic, dropout! That is why!" She groaned as thunder rumbled above and rain began to pour down on top of them. "Perfect!" Saphira saw that Claudia was dragging her to an alley that connected to the car lot, and she punched at Claudia's arm, only from Claudia to punch her directly in the face, making Saphira yelp and place her hand on her face, feeling her head throb more from the impact of the punch. "Such a pathetic waste of oxygen!"

Claudia threw the girl into the alley, and Saphira scrambled to crawl away. Dylan wrapped his arm around Claudia's shoulders with a smile. "Seems like your plan almost worked, Claudia. This girl just happened to work out that we were together because of one mistake."

"I know…" Claudia looked at the three men with a smile. "I hope you both mean sure she is not killed. I don't need Arthur breathing down my neck about it if they police find her body. But make sure she has a few bones." She pulled out a large handful of a hundred dollar bills, and Saphira managed to pull her heels off just as she stood up. "Teach that bitch a lesson."

Saphira did not wait as she ran away from them, making a left as the alley wasn't a straight line. She heard the men following behind her and she was terrified. She knew that Claudia hated her, but she never knew that Claudia hated her to the point where she would pay someone to beat her. And Saphira hoped to try and get away. She was surprised that Claudia did not want her killed, as Saphira would go to the police. She would have to.

Damn! Mirage was right! I should have stayed with them! But I don't know what Optimus would have done to me.

Saphira ran to the right and grabbed a barrel, pulling it down quickly to try and slow the men down. But as the rain pelted down from above, Saphira found it a little hard to see. Even though she could see the shadow of the buildings either side of her. However, she tripped over some loose board and she yelped, landing on her chest hard, scrapping her chin upon landing. She grimaced, placing her hand on her head for a moment before she scrambled to her feet. She glanced over her shoulder, and swung the heel she hand in her hand quickly, successful slamming the tip of her heel across the face of one of the bed who were right behind her.

He cried out in pain and surprise. She turned to run, only for her arm to began grabbed and she was thrown into a stack of garbage bags. Saphira grimaced as she felt one of the bags open, and the contents slide out from the bag. But she was not as concerned with garbage right now, she was concerned by these men. She stared at them as the surround her, all with blank expressions on their faces.

"Please…d-d-don't hurt me…I…I am o-only t-t-trying to survive…" Saphira saw that pleading with them likely was not going to help. "I…I-I l-left high school b-b-because I h-had to leave h-home for safety." Still no reaction. "I…" She yelped as she was punched in the right cheek hard, almost breaking her jaw. She placed her hand on her cheek, staring at the men as tears fill her eyes. "I…I…I just want to survive…"

"I am afraid that nothing you say will change this," One of the men respond to her in a calm tone. "We will not kill you, and you will heal. But we have to finish this job. This is not personal, girl. So brace yourself."

Saphira widened her eyes in fear. "Wait! Please! Stop!" She covered her face with her arms to try and protect her head. "NOOOO!"

Meanwhile…

"When we find Transit, we are going to need to get him alone away from the humans. I know for a fact that if he is in this city, he will likely ensure we won't be able to attack him while humans are around." Optimus had been discussing the plan on how to deal with the decepticon for the past ten minutes with the autobots. And so far, there wasn't a solid plan. "I suspect he could potentially be hiding as a public transport vehicle."

"Or even a truck. You are probably right, Optimus. Thinking back to the freeway, I think one of the trucks or buses was Transit. I think I will travel along that freeway to see if I can detect his signal again. And hopefully, narrow the search down to the point I am beside him." Arcee brought up a hologram of the area and brought up the different bus routes. She points to the freeway she and Bee had detected the signal. "I think that we at least have four routes to follow. Even if we don't find him there, we could find him anywhere."

"Why not just find the place they park the buses when they power down for the night?" Mirage asked with a frown. "There's a few places drivers park the buses, usually for when they are changing buses and drivers for that particular route. So while that sounds like a good idea, if Transit happens to be hiding as a bus, we would have to go back to where all the buses are parked."

"Hmm…that could be a better plan…" Arcee scanned for public bus parking lots to see if she would be able to find them. "There is more than a few, Mirage." She placed her hands on her hips as multiple public bus parking lots were located in the city. "We are going to have to search them all to find him. But if Transit is not a bus, we have to check a lot of trucks."

Mirage seemed annoyed by this as he stared at the hologram. "Great…just great…just more things to look out for…"

"The mouse has gotten away!" Optimus, Mirage and Arcee look at Bumblebee in surprise as he used his radio. Bumblebee placed his hands on his hips with a frown. "Well? The mouse has gone…"

"Mouse?" Mirage began to laugh as he thought that was a rather random thing for Bumblebee to say. "Seriously, Bumblebee? A mouse has never bothered us before." Bumblebee narrowed his optics at Mirage and began to point. "It is not like we…"

"Saphira has gone!" Arcee interrupts bluntly as she had looked to where Bumblebee was pointing. She walked over to the catwalk to investigate, while Optimus let out a low grumble of irritation. She noticed tracks in the dust by the beam leading towards the door. "She must have slid down the pipe without us noticing."

Mirage was rather impressed that Saphira had managed to sneak out undetected. "That's pretty smart." He let out a soft chuckle before he turned to Optimus. "I think you scared her." Optimus narrowed his optics at the bot. "Because you said you were going to take care of my mistake later. She probably left because of that."

He rolled his optics and turned to walk towards the exit with a huff. "We need to locate that girl, Mirage. She knows of our presence in this world, and we cannot have a human roaming the city that kind of knowledge. Especially as she would have heard us discussing the issue with Transit."

"That depends on how long she actually stayed there before she left. But seriously, I don't know if chasing her is a good idea, Optimus." Mirage ran after Optimus with a slightly worried expression. "I know where she lives, and maybe I can talk to her."

"No, she is to remain under our watch, Mirage. This is your mistake, and now we could potentially become targets by the humans of this planet." Optimus stopped at the door and glanced up as the rain began to pour harder. "Autobots…" He turned to face them with a stern expression. "We are to locate and return Saphira to this building. I will have a long discussion with that human." He looked at Mirage who seemed to be hesitant. "I will know if you do not bring her back. Since you know where she might be going, you are going follow her direction. Arcee, Bumblebee and I will spread out and cover more ground in case she decides to go through the side alleys of this city. We will locate her."

Mirage groaned loudly. He did not want to bring Saphira back forcefully, but he understood the reasoning for Optimus wanting her back. "Fine…I'll bring her back…if she is not at the restaurant, she'll be on her way home right now." He shook his head as he was still rather unhappy. "If you had not called for us at the time you did, Saphira would not know about anything." He transformed and began to drive away. "And try to be nice to her when I bring her back, big man."

Optimus said nothing to Mirage as he transformed to drive out of the factory area. Arcee and Bumblebee do the same thing. They both knew that Optimus was serious, so they would certainly bring Saphira back as instructed. They were just not sure if Mirage would. Especially as it seemed that Mirage already seemed to have some kind of attachment to the girl. Optimus did not approve of that at all.

Mirage could not help but grumble to himself as he turned onto the street to make his way to the restaurant. He really did not want to bring Saphira back in case Optimus would hurt her. He saw in the sideview mirror that Optimus turned the other direction from him, and Arcee and Bee seemed to have left the factory area the way they had entered. So they likely were going to go a different direction, it would seem. Mirage thought it was weird.

Though as he drove towards the main road, he decided to check the side streets first. Saphira seemed to be rather smart, so she might have avoided the main road. Mirage decided to check the streets first because of that. Nothing was out of the ordinary in the first street, so he made his way to the second side street. He had considered taking his time getting the restaurant too, as he would be on his way, just not as fast as Optimus would hope.

As he turned into the third street, he spotted an alleyway. He did not think much of it, but it was wide enough for him to fit. Since there was no one in the street, he figured this would be okay. He turned into the alleyway, and nothing seemed unusual. Though it was kind of hard to avoid the trash cans in the alley. The alley curves to the right and he followed it before he almost stopped as he heard the sound of sobbing.

He was a tad worried this was another human, however he recognized the voice. It was Saphira! But she was not at the restaurant. "Psst! Saphira!" Mirage called out as he continued to drive. "It's just me, Mirage. Optimus and the others aren't with me…but you kind of made him mad for running off." She was still sobbing, and did not seem to hear him. "Don't tell me that Dylan guy did something to you. I tried telling you, he was no good. But I hope he didn't actually hurt you." There was still no response, and with the rain pouring like this, Mirage doubted that Saphira even heard her. He followed the alley some more before he came to a stop. "Saphira!?" Hiding under a metal beam, with bruises and cuts all over her body and a torn dress, Saphira looked up from hugging her knees when she heard her name. "What…what the…" Mirage could not help but transform and kneel by the girl, looking at her in surprise. "Who did this to you?"

Saphira sniffled with a grimace as she had swelling on her cheek and a black eye on her right eye, and it hurt a little to sniffle. "You…Y…Y-You w-w-were right…" He blinked and frowned a little. "He…He w-w-was not good…Dylan…i-i-it was a trick…t-t-tonight was a trick…"

"Are you telling me that Dylan guy did this to you?" Mirage clenched his fists a little, though Saphira shook her head a little, and that confused Mirage. "What? I don't understand." He watched as she hugged her legs tighter to herself and he sighed a little. "Look…I am sorry…" She looked at him in slight surprise at his apology. "I…I almost like it is my fault that tonight went bad…but I have a feeling this would have happened to you even if you did not find out about us."

"Yeah…y-y-you would be right…"

The bot smiled a little before he extended his hand to her. "I know that you probably need to go to the hospital…and maybe the police, but Optimus is…well…" He paused as he thought about what word he would use to describe Optimus's current feeling. "Uh…well…he's angry. He is not happy that you chose to escape. I am kind of happy you are smart enough to do that, if I am honest. But…the thing is…you are the only human who knows about us…sure, it was my fault for being in the position of meeting you, so that's on me. But it is not just because he thinks you'll tell the world. And let's be real, who is going to believe one human?" Saphira just frowned at him and looked away. "It is for your safety too. If there is a decepticon somewhere in this city…"

"What d-d-does your e-e-existence have to do with me, anyway? It s-s-seems like you have some k-kind of beef with this…Transit, or whatever you called it." Saphira's teeth chattered as she shivered from the cold. "S-S-So why would it m-matter to me?"

Mirage pressed his lips together as he could see that she wanted an explanation. "I…I think it would be best if you hear that from Optimus. He is our leader. I am not sure what I can and can't say to you." He moved his hand closer to her. "Come on. I'll see if I can convince him to take you to the hospital. But I got to take you back."

Saphira hesitated as she did not know what Optimus would even do to her. She sighed as she didn't have much of an option. He would have followed her home anyway. She grabbed the bot's index finger and he helped her to her feet. Mirage watched as she grimaced and hunched over, holding her stomach painfully and limped towards him. He could see other bruises to her body and she was favoring her left foot more than the right. And he realized her right foot appeared swollen.

"Do you have any broken bones?"

She shook her head. "Just…a twisted ankle…" She looked at him with a guilty expression. "I…I am going to need help walking around a bit."

Mirage smiled a little before making sure she was holding onto the mean properly and transformed as close a possible before opening the passenger door for her. "Come on. You probably will catch a cold being out here too long, anyway."

Saphira reached for the door, happy that it was in arm's length, so she could just lean on the bot as she limped closer and sat down slowly. She whimpered a little and placed her hand on her rib. "Ow…maybe a cracked rib too…" She shook her head as tears fall down her cheeks. "I…I guess you were able to see right through him."

Mirage closed the door once Saphira was in and drove off as she sat there. He could feel the water soaking into the seats, but he did not care. He was not happy that she looked like someone had attacked her in the time that he and the other autobots were talking. "Yeah, well…the man was shouting at you as if you did something wrong getting a new car. I am not sure what kind of person does that, but I have a few words for him. And they're best kept to myself." Saphira smiled a little before she looked out the window. "Listen, Saphira, I know that tonight has been rocky for you. But I stuck around because I like you. You seem like a very nice, humble human."

She shrugged a little with a shake of her head. "Well…that's kind of a surprise…I…I don't usually have people say that to me…only my boss."

"I am surprised no one would say that to you, Saphira. I know I was meant to stay hidden, but I would have probably dropped my cover at some point." She didn't believe that since she heard how serious Optimus was about them being undercover. "Would it be possible to be your friend? I know it was a rough start, but I really think you'll find that I am a nice guy."

She listened to the bot quietly. She didn't know why he would want to be her friend. It seemed to her that Optimus did not like humans for some reason, and she did not want to add to that reason. "I don't mind if we are friendly to each other, Mirage. But for the sake of your boss's words, probably being a friend wouldn't be a good idea."

"Aw, man…I was hoping that I would get a new friend. But okay! I guess that is a start." Mirage seemed rather excited by that, and he finally returned to the street and turned to make his way back to the factory area. "I guess I had best let the boss know I got you." She just nodded as Mirage opened his communication. "Optimus, I am just letting you know that I located and found Saphira. We are on our way back."

"Good job, Mirage. Make sure she is properly secure so she does not sneak away again." Yep, Optimus sounded angry. "We are on our way back to the location."

"Securing her won't be a problem, Optimus," Mirage responded in a softer tone that was filled with unhappiness and sadness. "Something happened during the short time we had not noticed her absence, Optimus. But she is willing to stay with us, and she will likely listen to what you have to say."

"I do not know what you mean. As long as she did not alert the human authorities."

"Nope. She did not." Saphira smiled a little as she knew that might have put her in a worst position. "She did go back to the restaurant as she had intended before. She knows no human would believe her if she did tell someone."

"That is good news." She raised an eyebrow a little when she heard relief in Optimus's tone of voice. "Regardless, she is to remain secured until we return. Do you understand me, Mirage? If she escapes again, I will not be as polite."

Mirage scoffed in irritation with a light groan. "Jeez, Optimus. You need to relax. I got it under control. Plus, Saphira isn't that stupid. She knows she needs to remain for the time being." There was no response from Optimus, and Mirage let out a loud sigh. "Welp…I might have made him mad at me for how I responded…oh well."

She kept her mouth shut for the time being as Saphira was just feeling too upset and too sore to really want to say anything. Plus, she also did not want to talk. She was still not sure what Optimus intended to do, but she figured he was going to tell her what was going to happen from now on. She worried about how it was going to impact her job. But she did know when she got to the hospital, she would be able to get help from the doctors to make a police report and get Claudia and Dylan arrested for the assault. But that is if she was allowed to go to the hospital. It all depended on what Optimus had to say to instruct both the autobots and herself.