*I don't own Transformers or anything affiliated with Transformers. I only own my original characters and plots. All rights go to Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg.*

Running back to my apartment was quite the task, especially in these heels and with it being dark outside, I nearly got lost a few times. It took me a matter of forty-five minutes and I was almost sure I frightened a lot of people on the streets. With the way my clothes were torn and considering how filthy I was from the gunpowder and dirt, it was almost as if I was some dirty hobo, but I couldn't be bothered to care about what anyone had to say or what look they needed to exchange with me. Ironhide and his well-being was all that I was concerned with at the moment. Sentinel had managed to take two very important Autobots away from me in the span of seven seconds and if he were to take Ironhide away from me, I honestly don't know what I'd do. The thought of him actually being gone brought tears to my eyes.

Without bothering to run up to the parking garage, I ran straight into the lobby of the apartment complex. Several eyes were on me once again, but as I said before, I didn't care. Once I spotted the door to the staircase, I ran over to it and shoved it open, not bothering to excuse myself from the couple that had been coming down the stairs. I wasted no time in running up the staircase. Soon, I reached my floor and shoved the door open. I pushed past several of my neighbors and headed to to my room which was at the end of the hall. I didn't once hesitate to open the door.

The apartment was dark and I searched frantically for the light switch. I soon found it and smacked the panel with my hand before the room lit up in front of me. I frowned when I saw that the room was just as I left it earlier today. I groaned in anger and took the gun I had in my pocket and laid it down on the coffee table before I walked over to retrieve my house phone; my belongings were all back in my car which was currently at Sam and Carly's house. I quickly dialed the familiar number and put the phone up to my ear, waiting for an answer. After about ten seconds, I finally got one.

"Hello?" my dad breathed out.

I could hear all kinds of gun fire and engines in the background and now that I thought about it, I could hear it outside my window in the near distance.

"Dad, where is Ironhide? Is he okay? Please tell me he's okay," I pleaded.

"He's fine, Lea. Just do me a favor and stay indoors please. Whatever you do, don't leave," he instructed me.

I sighed, knowing that I probably wasn't going to listen to him.

"Okay. Bye. I love you," I parted before hanging up the phone.

I threw it onto the kitchen counter and placed my elbows on the table, putting my head in my hands. I had no clue how everything had gotten so bad and in such a short amount of time. It was never going to get better for me, or at least that's what it felt like at this point. I had literally just got my life back and now it was being ripped apart again. Sometimes I felt as if my life would have been begtter if my father hadn't even thought of going into the military, but then again, if he hadn't, I wouldn't have met Ironhide or any of the Autobots for that matter, five of whom had so very wrongly lost their lives.

The images of Chromia, Elita One, and Arcee back in Egypt were still so deeply etched into my mind. I had been closer to Elita One more than Arcee and Chromia, considering Chromia disliked me, but it still hurt all the same seeing them all being shot down. Then I had Mudflap and Skids, my other two brothers aside from Sam. Watching the two of them get shot down without even the slightest clue of what was going on, was absolutely heartbreaking.

I was losing more and more friends at the hands of the Decepticons and Sentinel. First there was Braelynn, then Elita One, Arcee, Chromia, and Mudflap and Skids. If I lost anymore, I wouldn't know what to do about it. The Decepticons, but mostly Starscream, have done nothing but make my life a living hell and I didn't think I would even be able to breathe properly until every single Decepticon ceased to exist on the face of this Earth.

The sound of my house phone ringing tore me away from my thoughts. I grabbed the phone slowly and put it up to my ear to answer it.

"Hello?" I answered softly.

"Azalea, I'm on my way over to your apartment right now. I hope you don't mind I took your car," Sam replied, his tone frantic.

"Of course not, but what's going on?" I asked him.

"I'll explain everything when I get there. You won't even believe it," he said.

Before I got the chance to respond, the line cut off. I sighed and placed the phone back down on the counter. Why couldn't Sam and I have normal lives? Why couldn't the two of us, along with Carly, our families and the Autobots be down in the Bahamas with Adalyn and Leo where all was well in the world? Truthfully, it felt as if I was being punished, but for what? I had done nothing remarkably bad in the past twenty one years of my life. There was the exception of putting Trent and Galloway in the hospital, along with another military man, but I had only been protecting myself and it wasn't like they hadn't deserved it.

What seemed like five seconds later, my front door burst open and Sam walked in with my purse in hand. He sat it down beside the door and walked over to me, immediately wrapping his arms around me. What I didn't expect next were the tears to start flowing from my eyes. It was almost as if his gesture had triggered a bundle of different emotions and at the moment I couldn't fight them.

"What is going on? I don't understand," I mumbled into his shoulder.

He pulled away and held me at arms' length. "You need to compose yourself, okay? We're going to get through this just like we have before," he told me.

I scoffed and walked over to the window. I pulled the curtain back to reveal the bright lights from the dozens of explosions and sirens in downtown Washington DC. This was definitely not okay.

"This is already worse than Egypt, Sam."

"Lea, I need you to forget the fighting for one moment please. We have a more important issue to deal with at the moment," he told me.

"What could be more important than this Decepticon-filled laser light show, Sam? Gosh, I can't take this shit anymore," I exclaimed.

He rolled his eyes and grabbed my hands before leading me over to the couch. He sat me down before sitting across from me, a serious look on his face.

"It's about your boss. He isn't who he says he is," he started.

I raised a brow in confusion. "What are you trying to say?"

"He's working for the Decepticons, Azalea. The only reason he hired you and Carly was because of that reason. Starscream had originally instructed him to hire you and get close to you. I thought that he was done with pursuing you given this whole dark side of the moon dilemma, but he's not. The plan tonight was to get you to go to that party so he could turn you over to Starscream the next day," he explained to me.

I couldn't even believe a word he was saying. My sweet, awesome, handsome boss was a fake. It didn't make sense to me. Who in their right mind would dare side with a species as wicked and tyrannical as the Decepticons? That wasn't the only thought inside my mind though. Where in the hell was my British friend?

"Well, where's Carly at?"

He frowned. "He took her, but I have no clue where. Tomorrow morning, once everything has died down a little bit, we'll head over to my place and see if we can find out, okay?" he told me.

My anger was growing by the second. "This is completely ridiculous, but okay. You're driving though," I informed him.

He just chuckled and propped his feet up onto the table. And now there's another man that I can add to the hit list. .

*Please vote and comment. It'd mean so much to me. I wanna know what you guys think.*