Lillian's P.O.V.

Thirty minutes earlier

"They'll be okay...right?" I asked Miss Darby hesitantly. She nodded. "The human body is amazing at how well it can repair itself."

"When can they come home?"

"That's not for me to decide."

Miss Darby checked her phone, frowning a bit and started to type something as I looked back at my parents, who were unconscious at the moment. I was just happy they were alive.

"Lillian," Miss Darby suddenly whispered. "How would you feel if...we went somewhere?"

"Like where?" I asked, turning to face her.

"Somewhere secret? Somewhere you can't tell your friends about? Or your parents?"

I gave her a confused look.

"Can I tell Cassidy if we ever find her?"

"Cassidy already knows."

My mouth hung open in disbelief and shock.

"You don't have to come if you don't want to. It's been an eventful day for you and maybe you should get some res-"

"No, I'll go!"

"Lily, It might be...too much."

I shook my head, and Miss Darby sighed.

"I'll tell Jack we're on our way, then. You want to say goodbye?"

I looked back at my mom and bit my lip before silently shaking my head. Miss Darby placed a hand on my shoulder, and I gave her a small smile before walking off, toward the exit.

***

We were in the car and driving out of the town. I looked out the window nervously, what if Miss Darby was kidnapping me too? What if Cassidy was there, wherever we were going, what if I was going to get hurt, or what if I never saw the sky again?

I looked out in the front, suddenly realizing we were heading toward a cliff and we weren't stopping.

"Miss Darby-!"

I cut myself off as I saw that the wall opened up, leading into a hallway, and the car slowed down and came to a stop. Miss Darby got out and walked around to the other side and opened my door for me, and she noticed my concern.

"Lily we don't want to hurt you. We just want you to meet some...'people'."

I bit my lip and slowly got out, and looked around. My jaw dropped as I looked at four giant robots in front of me, and three humans were standing in front of them, and I saw that one of them was Jack.

I pinched my arm to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Miss Darby noticed and smiled, as the tallest of the robots slowly walked up and knelt down in front of me. I backed away, until I hit Miss Darby's car. The robot watched me the entire time.

"Are you alright?"

"Just...freaked out..." I replied quietly.

"Know that we have no intentions of hurting you here. You are safe."

"Do you have a name?" I asked timidly, and Miss Darby walked up next to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. The robot nodded.

"My name is Optimus Prime."

"So...what are you, exactly?"

"We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron, also known as Autobots."

"Um...what does 'autonomous' mean?" I whispered to Miss Darby.

"In a word, it means 'independent'," she replied. I nodded, before turning back to Optimus.

"Who are the other...'Autobots'?"

Optimus stood back up to his full height as he glanced back at the others.

"This is Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee, guardians to Jack, Miko, and Rafael," he answered, gesturing to each of them as he said their name. "We do have another Autobot in our ranks, Ratchet, our medic, but he is currently...out of base. I believe you may have seen him a few times before, he was Cassidy's guardian."

"He was an ambulance, right?"

Optimus nodded silently.

"I knew there was no driver!" I shouted, before covering my mouth with my hands.

"Sorry," I quickly apologized.

Optimus nodded, as if to say "It's alright", before Jack took out his phone and flipped it open, and soon Miko and Rafael did the same.

"Optimus, we got a text," Miko announced.

"From Cassidy," Jack added.

"What does it-"

"Is she okay?" I said frantically, interrupting Optimus.

"Guys help, 'cons took me and Ratchet, and Ratchet is infected with Dark Energon and I can't get out of here without you guys and I'm also hurt and I'm being hunted for. I'm currently on flight deck or something. Hope this sends I have one bar," Rafael said, adjusting his glasses as he read off his phone.

"Ratchet infected with Dark Energon?" Arcee asked, exchanging grim looks with the others.

"What's...Dark Energon?" I asked hesitantly.

"The blood of Unicron, the ultimate evil," Miko replied seriously. I was still confused, but decided I would get a better answer if I asked again later and remained silent.

"Rafael, can you find the location from which the text came from?" Optimus asked, turning to the young boy, who was already sitting on the floor with a laptop.

"You can do that?" I couldn't help but ask. Raf only nodded, plugging his phone into his computer and doing whatever. The room was silent, save for the sound of Raf rapidly typing on his laptop.

"Got it! She was above Manhattan when we got the text."

"How?" I asked. "And how do we get there?"

"The 'cons have a ship, the Nemesis. And we can use the GroundBridge," Bulkhead explained for me.

"Wait, wouldn't she have moved by now?" Jack suddenly pointed out.

"We may still bridge onto the ship, just not in her exact location. The ship is rather large," Arcee replied to Jack as Optimus entered the coordinates Raf provided and opened the bridge.

"I can go first. If the ship isn't there, it will be easier to catch one of us with the bridge than four of us," Arcee offered, and Optimus nodded in approval.

She walked in cautiously, until she disappeared, and my mouth dropped in shock.

"So...was that the GroundBridge?" I whispered to no one in particular. Raf walked up next to me, still holding his laptop, and silently nodded.

"It teleports anywhere on Earth."

Soon a large green monitor beeped, and Optimus walked over to it.

"All clear," Arcee's voice said, and the others smiled.

"Autobots, roll out!" Optimus exclaimed, and they ran through the bridge, leaving the rest of us here alone.

"Do you think they'll save her?" I asked quietly, and Miss Darby walked up behind me and hugged me from behind.

"Of course they will."

I smiled at her, before seeing Jack, typing on his phone rapidly, hopefully sending Cassidy a message. He looked up for a second and smiled, and I smiled back.

***

Cassidy's P.O.V.

It sent.

Holy scrap it sent.

It sent!

I kissed my phone, silently thanking it for pulling through before hugging it to my chest. They could find me now. Raf could track my signal...I knew he could. I saw him work before.

I scooted away from the edge of the ship even more, holding my phone to my chest like it was a lifeline.

Please see it, I repeated in my mind, pretending I had some sort of telepathic link to them.

I sat there for a few minutes, curled up and continuing to hug my phone when it vibrated, and I pulled it out eagerly, and I covered my mouth with my hand while tears came to my eyes in joy.

We got your message. The bots are coming. Lillian's with us. See you soon.

-J.

I smiled, now putting my phone in my pocket as I stood up and started heading back to my dark corner when the door started to open, and I froze in my tracks.

Was it the 'bots or someone else?

The door fully opened, revealing a Cybertronian with a white and orange paint job.

Ratchet!

I ran up to him in excitement, before remembering what Megatron had said earlier.

"I have the other prisoner...under control."

I backed away from him slowly as he stepped out, and I looked at his optics. I couldn't see any blue, just purple. He was completely under Megatron's control.

"Ratchet?" I tried signing to him. He only stared at me with a blank expression before stepping closer. I backed away more, knowing I would run out of floor soon if he kept coming closer, which he kept doing.

"Just stay still," he seethed, making me freeze again. His voice scared me. It was still the same voice, but...more threatening. He reached out a servo to try and grab me, and that's when I turned and bolted, running down the flight deck before realizing I was running out of floor and skidded to a stop before turning around and running again, avoiding his servos as I ran in between his pedes, and I looked behind me as I Ratchet running behind me and knew I was going to be outrun, until I saw him stop, and I looked at him confusedly before turning forward and slamming into something hard, and I fell back and landed on my back, and I looked up and saw a pair of electric blue optics look down at me. I blinked a couple of times before realizing it was Optimus, and I quickly got up on my feet and hugged his ped as best I could, before I realized something red was dripping on it. I pulled away and realized I was bleeding from my nose, and I blushed, feeling embarrassed for bleeding on the Prime. He only continued to look at me, now concerned when he caught sight of my bloody nose. His optics grew wider when he saw my arm. I waved him off and pinched my nose with my good hand, happy that it wasn't broken.

The other 'bots ran in then, and I grinned as I saw Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Arcee. They were focused on the 'bot in front of them, who was glaring at them.

"Ratchet...?" Arcee asked, and he only frowned, unsheathing his blade as his purple optics stared them down.

"Bumblebee, watch over Cassidy," Optimus said, barely glancing over his shoulder-plate to the scout, and he nodded, and a few seconds later something delicately wrapped around my waist and avoided my bad arm. I slowly looked up, and Bumblebee's optics met my eyes. He warbled questioningly, and I guessed he was wondering about my injuries. I smiled at him slightly and shrugged a little, and he buzzed before opening his chassis a bit and sticking me inside.

Last time I was in here I was with Jack and Miko and we blew up a mine.

I listened for any indication of what could be going on outside, but everything felt so silent. Maybe they were all having a staring contest.

"Optimus, we need to get Ratchet out of here. And we need to get the Dark Energon out of his system," I heard Arcee's muffled voice say. I didn't hear Optimus' reply, but soon I did hear the sound of metal banging against metal, and the strained sounds of Bulkhead.

"I...got him!" he cried, and I could only imagine what could be going on.

"Rafael, send a GroundBridge," I heard Optimus instruct, but soon I heard a sound that wasn't a GroundBridge.

"Optimus, leaving so soon? You just got here," I heard Megatron sneer as pedsteps ran closer to us, and I inferred that they had surrounded us. The bridge came then, and suddenly I was thankful for seatbelts that seemed to choke you, as Bumblebee suddenly lurched forward and attacked, I could hear his blaster fire.

"Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Arcee, return to base!" I heard Optimus exclaim, and soon I was bouncing up and down slightly as Bumblebee started running; I could tell we went through the GroundBridge because I soon wanted to hurl. I still hadn't gotten used to the thing yet.

"Bee, help me strap him down," I heard Bulkhead say. "I can't hold onto him much longer."

Bumblebee warbled and quickly walked over, and as I got closer I could hear Ratchet struggling to get loose.

Eventually Bumblebee opened his chassis again, and I was flooded in bright light for a few seconds, and I squinted. Bumblebee held a servo out for me to step on, and I cautiously did so, making sure not to look at Ratchet.

"Cassidy!" I heard someone scream, and I looked down quickly, to see Lillian running over to Bumblebee and myself. Bumblebee set me down, and I stumbled over my own feet as I ran towards her, before throwing my arms around her tightly, tears threatening to spill over again.

"Can't...breathe..." she gasped, and I smiled, before letting her go.

"I'm so glad you're safe," I signed to her, and she grinned, before hugging me again, and I inhaled sharply and pushed her away. She had hugged my burned arm. One I lifted it up, I pulled her back in for another hug.

Optimus walked into the base then, looking a little scraped up, but okay for the most part. He looked over at Ratchet, and I thought I saw a bit of regret in his optics before his mask retracted, and his expression was blank. He walked over, silently gesturing for Arcee to join him. She followed, and I was pulled away before I could see anything else.

"Cassidy! Oh my goodness," Nurse Darby exclaimed as she caught sight of my now-dry bloody nose and my burned arm.

"Wow," Miko said under her breath. "Who did that?" She asked, pointing to my arm. I frowned, before jerking my thumb back in Ratchet's general direction, and her eyes went wide.

"Ratchet did that to you?" Raf asked in disbelief. I nodded sadly, and Nurse Darby placed a hand on my shoulder.

"We need to get you admitted to a hospital and get you treated for those burns," she said seriously as she led me to her car. Lillian followed behind me, and she sat behind me in the car, and soon we were off, leaving the base and driving down the road that led to the base, heading in the opposite direction; back to town.

My head perked up a little bit as I thought of something, and turned around to my sister.

"How are Mom and Dad?"

Lillian just sat there, staring at my hand like it was an alien

"You don't know, do you," she stated quietly.

"Know what?"

"Cassidy...whatever car that took you...crashed."

I nodded, remembering Megatron yell at Knockout for crashing into a car.

"And...?"

"Well...Mom and Dad were out when I got back to the house. They said if I couldn't reach them to call Miss Darby, a-and I did...and..."

She trailed off, hanging her head, and I looked to Nurse Darby for help.

"Cassidy...your parents were hit by Knockout. They were, and may still be, in ER."

I stared at her for ten seconds, wondering if these two could be playing some sick joke. When I realized they both looked dead serious, I slowly turned away and looked out the window for the rest of the ride.

~~~

Well.

SHE'S ALIVE GUYS!

You have no idea how badly I wanted to kill her XD

Well, some of you don't.

Others are currently questioning my judgement and sanity.

:3

The picture used in the media is by TheWhovianHalfling on DeviantArt.

Next chapter will be up soon!