The sparkling gazed up at the mech in front of her, blue optics wide. The gray mech was in shadow, so all the little sparkling could see was his red optics. "Well well well. Look at what we have here. A little sparkling, all alone and defenseless," he said, his sharp teeth shining in a smirk. The sparkling tried to run away, but she was frozen to her spot in fear. The mech grabbed the sparkling and lifted her closer to his face. "And I just so happen to know your parents. No doubt they'll give up everything to save their precious little sparkling," he sneered. The sparkling shivered in fear, but at the mention of her parents, she stopped and glared at the mech. If she could speak, she would shout to leave her parents alone. "My liege, the Autobots are at our door!" another mech cried out. "Let them come. I have some leverage over them," the first mech replied. The mech waited patiently as the door on the other side of the room took all the hits the Autobots were giving it. The resounding echoes of each hit made the mech smirk. Finally, the door crashed to the ground, letting up a cloud of dust.

Once the dust cleared, the mech could see a blue femme standing there, her blasters aimed at him. "Let my daughter go, Megatron!" she shouted. "Ah, Chromia. It's so good to see you again," Megatron said. "Stop the pleasantries! Give me my daughter!" Chromia shouted. "Oh? You mean this little one?" Megatron asked, holding up the little sparkling. Chromia's optics widened in horror. "LET HER GO!" she shouted. "Ah ah ah, I'm not going to give her to you so easily. I want something in return," Megatron replied. Chromia lowered her blasters the tiniest bit. "What do you want?" she asked in defeat. Megatron's optics shined in glee. He had the leverage over Chromia. "I want Optimus Prime dead and the Matrix of Leadership in my grasp. Then and only then will you get your precious daughter back," Megatron said. Chromia's optics narrowed. "I'll never turn my back on the Autobot cause!" she shouted. "Then you can say goodbye to your precious daughter," Megatron replied, his grip on the sparkling tightening.

The sparkling cried out in pain. Her chassis was tightening, her vents felt ready to burst. Chromia's optics widened. "NO! DON'T HURT HER!" she cried. Megatron turned his evil gaze on Chromia. "Fine," he said, loosening his grip. The sparkling took deep breaths. "There's only two choices from here if you won't accept my deal. Either I just kill your daughter in front of your optics, or I spare her life and she will grow up a Decepticon," Megatron said. Chromia glared at Megatron with such hatred, he felt himself grow fearful of her gaze. "YOU WON'T EVER DO THAT TO MY DAUGHTER! I'D RATHER DIE!" Chromia shouted. Megatron smirked. "Very well then," he replied, aiming his blaster at the femme and shooting.

The blast hit Chromia right in the mid-section, which sent her flying. She landed on the ground about ten yards away from where she was standing. Her optics closed as she grit her dentas in pain. Megatron started to laugh evilly but was cut off when he himself was shot by a blast. "CHROMIA!" a red 'bot cried. The Autobot ran over to where she lay and kneeled beside her, holding her in his arms. "Chromia.... I told you to not go after our daughter by yourself..." the mech whispered. "I-I'm sorry.... Ironhide but I.... couldn't let Mega..... tron get her...." Chromia gasped. "Shh shhh, save your strength. Ratchet'll be here soon and he'll save you, just hold on 'till then," Ironhide pleaded. "Th-ere's nothing..... he can do.... for me....." Chromia whispered. Ironhide's optics filled with tears. "D-Don't say that! You'll be fine!" Ironhide tried to reassure his sparkmate. Chromia's optics filled with tears as they dimmed. "Ironhide.... take care of..... our daughter...." Chromia whispered. With those words said, Chromia fell limp, her optics closing. Ironhide's optics closed as tears spilled down his faceplate. He just lost his sparkmate.

Two more Autobots ran through the door, one being over thirty feet tall with silver, red, and blue paint. The other was smaller, with reddish-orange and white paint. Both had the same bright blue optics. The taller 'bot had his blasters out and his battlemask on. The smaller bot had his servos turned into knives. They looked around the room before their optics fell on Ironhide, holding an offline Chromia in his arms. They put their weapons away and walked over to Ironhide. The smaller 'bot did a quick scan of Chromia to see if she was fully offline as the larger 'bot placed a servo on Ironhide's shoulder. After the scan, the smaller 'bot shook his head, his faceplate showing sorrow. "I'm sorry. If I got here sooner maybe I could've saved her..." he said. "It wasn't your fault, old friend. Not everybot can be saved by you, Ratchet," the taller 'bot replied. Ratchet looked at the ground for a moment before giving himself a shake. "Are you injured?" he asked Ironhide. "I'm fine physically, Ratchet," Ironhide replied dully. The taller 'bot gazed at Ironhide in sorrow. He was not fine emotionally or mentally due to the fact his sparkmate just offlined in his arms.

A small cry jolted the 'bot to the sound. He walked over to where a small form lay on the ground, near Megatron. He kneeled down and picked up the small sparkling in his arms before walking back to Ratchet and Ironhide. "Ironhide, I know you are mourning, but your and Chromia's daughter needs you now more than ever," the 'bot said. Ironhide turned to look at the leader then his gaze shifted down to the sparkling in his arms. The 'bot gently handed Ironhide the sparkling, who gazed down at his daughter with grief in his optics. He turned his gaze back up to the leader. "I know, Optimus. But how can I? We're in the middle of a war and I can't be there to protect her. If Megatron gets his servos on her again-" Ironhide cut off, too horrified by the thought. Optimus looked at Ratchet. They needed to do something to protect the little sparkling, but what?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bzzzzz, bzzzzz, bzzzzz, bzzzzz

Zoey woke up to the sound of her alarm clock. She pressed the 'off' button and sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. Another day of school, coming right up! Zoey hopped out of bed and went over to her dresser, picking up the clothes sitting on top. She always made sure she had an outfit prepared the day before. After she changed into the outfit, black leggings with a mint green tank top with a pair of dark blue converse and a black leather jacket, she walked into the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and hair before leaving the bathroom, heading downstairs to the kitchen. When she walked into the kitchen she saw her mother standing at the stove, finishing making pancakes. "Morning, mom!" Zoey greeted. "Good morning, Zoey," her mother replied. The woman wasn't actually Zoey's mother since Zoey was adopted. Her adoptive parents never told her though. Zoey just knew for as long as she could remember. She sat down at the counter with a plate, silverware, and cup full of milk waiting. Her adoptive mother walked over and put three pancakes on the plate and a jug of maple syrup down next to the setting. Zoey smiled at her and she smiled at Zoey before turning away to go fix herself and her husband some breakfast.

Zoey smiled as she saw her adoptive mother turn away, her belly round. She was four months pregnant with her first child, so Zoey was glad to be able to be a big sister, even if she and the baby weren't really related. Her adoptive father walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, putting on the jacket of his suit. "Good morning," he greeted Zoey, who muttered a 'good morning' even though her mouth was stuffed with pancakes. He greeted his wife with a peck on the cheek. She smiled and gave her husband a plate of pancakes and he said a thank you. He sat down next to his adoptive daughter and ate. A few moments after he sat down, Zoey was standing up to put her dishes in the sink. She quickly cleaned them and placed them down to dry before running out to the living room. Her backpack was sitting on the ground next to the couch. After double-checking to make sure she had everything, she grabbed the backpack and slung it over her shoulder. She ran out the front door, calling a 'goodbye' to her family before closing the door and running down the sidewalk to the school.

Once she reached the school she went through the doors to her locker. Zoey put her backpack on the hook before grabbing her supplies needed for first period, her Language Arts class. She closed her locker and walked to the classroom and sat at her desk, putting her supplies down on the edge. She grabbed a notebook and pencil and she put the pencil eraser to her lip, thinking. She closed her eyes and her mind went blank. Finally, a thought came to mind. Instantly she began writing what she saw and heard in her mind. As she looked at the paper, she thought up ideas for a new book. She was actually an author. Not fully fledged, since she was only a junior in high school, but that was what she wanted to grow up to be. She was actually kinda well-known since she had a few books published already. It was where she got money from. Her friend, Jack worked at the KO drive-in to earn some cash, she published books to earn some cash. She was jolted out of her thoughts when the bell rang and the teacher started to speak.

After school, Zoey was stopped by her Language Arts teacher. "Zoey, I've read the latest chapters of the new book, and they were practically perfect. I have no doubt the book will be another best-seller. Now, I also wanted to mention your previous book. It ended with such a cliffhanger, everyone wants to know what happens. Will there be a sequel to it?" he asked. Zoey thought about it for a moment. The reason the book ended on such a cliffhanger was that she didn't know what happened afterward. Don't get me wrong, she did write the book, but she didn't get any thoughts on what happened after. Remember when she let her mind go blank and wrote down what she saw and heard? Well, she did that, but after the ending, there was nothing. No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't figure out what happened. "I'm still thinking about it. As of now, I don't know for sure," Zoey replied. "All right. When you find out, you tell me," the teacher said before walking away. Zoey continued to walk to her locker and she grabbed her backpack, putting her supplies inside, before grabbing her backpack and closing her locker.

She walked through the halls until she came outside. Zoey was about to walk home, but she stopped when she heard voices. She turned to look at the commotion and saw Vince and his gang of bullies surrounding a boy, around twelve years old. He had spiky brown hair, orange-rimmed glasses, brown eyes, an orange sweater vest over a long sleeved white shirt, dark blue jeans that bagged at his feet, and orange and white sneakers. Some bullies were holding two people back, one being a girl around fifteen years old, the other being a boy around sixteen years old. Zoey recognized the sixteen-year-old boy as her friend, Jack. He had messy black hair, dark blue eyes, a dark gray shirt over a long-sleeved white shirt, blue jeans, and blue converse. The girl had black hair with pink streaks in two, fluffy pigtails with a single ponytail down her back, dark brown eyes, a pink shirt with purple accents under a blue tank top with yellow accents and a green robot on the front. A thick, yellow belt was around her waist with two small plushies, one a green bunny, the other a blue kitten, attached. She wore dark blue and dark purple striped leggings under dark blue jean shorts. She wore black, knee-high boots with pink laces.

"LEAVE RAF ALONE!" the girl shouted. She desperately tried to get through the bullies blocking her way, but they were too strong. "You're such a nerd, Raf," Vince laughed at the boy. Zoey felt horrible. She knew what it felt like to be bullied by Vince. She wasn't going to let him get away with bullying the kid, Raf. Zoey changed direction from the sidewalk home to the group. Two bullies blocked her way, but she pushed right through them, surprising them by her strength. She walked right up to Vince and tapped his shoulder, making him turn around. Zoey wound up her arm and with all her strength punched Vince right in the nose. He staggered back, holding a hand to his nose. When he pulled his hand away they could all see Vince's nose was bloody and was slightly crooked. A collective gasp came from the group of bullies. Nobody stood up to Vince like that. Zoey picked Vince up by the collar of his shirt so he was unable to touch the ground. "Leave everyone alone, you bully. This is your first and last warning," Zoey threatened. Vince's eyes widened as he quickly nodded. Zoey dropped him and pushed him away. Vince ran, his bullies following.

"Thank you."

Zoey turned to the three who were obvious victims of Vince's bullying. Raf had been the one to say his thanks. "Yeah, thanks, Zoey. Without you that might've gotten ugly," Jack added. "Dude, that was wicked! Nobody's stood up to Vince like that! Now he's definitely gonna think twice about bullying!" the girl exclaimed. "Miko, what are we gonna do with you?" Jack asked, putting his head in his hand. Miko glared at Jack before turning back to Zoey. "So, what's your name?" Miko asked. "It's Zoey," Zoey replied. Miko smiled before turning to Jack, whispering something in his ear. "Miko! You know we can't do that!" he exclaimed. "Why not? She just proved herself worthy," Miko replied. Zoey raised an eyebrow. 'Worthy'? What was she 'worthy' of? "Don't listen to Miko, she can be quite crazy," Raf said. Miko shot Raf a glare. "Well, we should go. Science fiction club," Jack said, grabbing Miko's arm. "Science fiction club?" Zoey asked. "Y-Yeah," Jack replied, getting a bit nervous. Did she know? "That sounds cool! Can I join?" Zoey asked. Jack mentally breathed a sigh of relief. "We'd have to talk to the other members. Can't promise anything, though," Jack replied.

"Oh. Okay. Well, ask if I can join! Tell me as soon as possible!" Zoey said, walking away, waving. "See ya!" Miko called. The three waved before walking over to three vehicles in the parking lot. Miko hopped into a green, armored Hummer, Jack hopped on a blue motorcycle with pink accents, Raf hopped into a yellow Camero with black racing stripes. The three vehicles drove out of the parking lot and turned down the same road, going the same way. Zoey walked down the sidewalk until she came to her house. But she didn't feel like going there. She continued to walk on until she came out of town. Despite that, she didn't stop walking. She only stopped when she decided to take a break, sitting on a rock. Zoey looked out at the vast Nevada desert, her eyes picking up every detail. Every rock, plant, animal, and shade of color. Some would say it was a barren wasteland, but Zoey saw the beauty of the land. Despite being a desert, plants like cacti flourished in the heat with little water. Little animals survived, so the desert was always teeming with life. She sat there, staring off into the distance, for a few more minutes before getting up and walking back home.