Someone Who Cares [Transformers Prime Fanfiction]

[LeaderOfROTR]

Chapter One


Ultra Magnus was not truly liked by the others. Sure, there was a forced respect, but that was only because Optimus demanded it. He always felt excluded from the rest of the bots; secretly hurting from it.

The truck sat on the side of some Primus-forsaken rural road, smoke escaping from his engine. Unable to drive any further, he sighed and sunk down onto his tires. Magnus tried to COMM the others, but the airwaves were quiet.

The mech had been sitting there for several minutes, and was concerned that the Decepticons could track him and find the Autobot second-in-command stuck here. He shuddered at the thought. Pulling up all of his mental gauges, he gave everything a good check-over. Everything was mostly fine, save for a couple of broken tubes and the jammed cooling fans in his engine. Ratchet had slapped his hood shut and pronounced the tall mech good to go when some of the others had come in injured from a scouting mission. Now Ultra Magnus was paying the price. He felt cheated from his tune-up, and Ratchet had missed some small problem that had quickly grown into the mess he was now in. The Cybertronian considered trying to transform, he was in a remote area and there was not any living sentient creatures around.

Warm air puffed off of my lips, my breathing slightly wheezy in my chest. My legs churned along the ground, creating a rhythmic slapping sound. There was a burning sensation all throughout my body, and sweat dripped down my skin. Sure, I hated running; and I made getting run over look less painful, but running was how I worked things out. It gave me time to think and to work out any emotions I had. Today I had gone running because of poor grades. One missed assignment and my grades were in the parent's red-zone. We had fought about it, and ugly things were said.

So I went running.

I was so deep into my thinking that I realized I was in the middle of nowhere, far too late to try to retrace my steps. "Shit." I muttered, glancing around as I caught my breath. Up ahead, there was a glimmer of something red and blue. Perfect. I could ask if whoever was up ahead knew where we were. I began to jog once more; slightly concerned at the small amount of sloshing in my water bottle. Fainting out here would be bad.

I made it down the road in good time, seeing the smoking truck- Oh. That would explain why the vehicle hadn't been moving. Hopefully the driver was still around. I pumped my legs faster, ignoring the horrid burning in my chest. I tripped, and for a moment the world swayed and rushed towards my face. There was an odd mechanical noise as I stumbled and regained my balance. Sweat dripped into my eyes, and my vision blurred. I looked up to see a tall red and blue figure. Blinking through my teary vision, I rubbed at my eyes. The noise sounded again, and I finally cleared my vision. Blinking, I rubbed my forehead dry and looked at the truck.

A deep, male voice sounded from the cab. It almost seemed to have a… metal tint to it. If that was even possible... My mind helpfully came up with a mental image of a man sitting in the cab with a can over his head. ‘Thanks brain, I love when you come up with these things.’ I mentally quipped. I realized that I hadn’t been listening to a word the guy was saying, so I approached the cab with an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I was tuning out what you were saying. Can you tell me where we are?"

The man was silent for a beat. "That is all you wish to know?"

I nodded. "Yeah, kinda got lost when I was jogging. I didn't bring my phone either. Then I saw your truck and hoped that you would have a better idea than me."

The cab door swung open as an oddly dressed man stepped out. I looked up, slightly confused. He definitely looked odd. But who was I to talk? I had crazy hair that was long, short, spiky, and flat. I tugged my headphones off, giving him a smile.

He looked roughly my age, perhaps a couple years older. He had blue hair that stood right up, and his jacket was blue and red. It matched the truck's paint job perfectly. The man's eyes were piercing blue, almost glowing neon blue.

"You do not want to know what my truck is?"

I tilted my head. "Why, is it one of those solar-powered trucks?" The man seemed even more confused and shook his head no. I grabbed my water bottle and drained the last bit out of it. I put it back, and then wiped my mouth. "So, where are we?"

"Our current coordinates are-"

I cut him off, confused. "Um, I don't have a GPS with me, I can't use coordinates." Man, this dude is odd.

He nodded slowly, as if he were mulling something over. I sighed, and placed a hand on my hip. "How about you just give me a lift?" He pointed to the smoking front of the semi and I face palmed. "Duh! That's right."

This human strongly reminded him of the human called Miko. She seemed a little more centered though, except that she had that odd human habit of running around with no logical destination. While he had been thinking, she had made her way over to his hood and had opened it. He watched her look over the engine, murmuring to herself.

I looked around, and then saw where the smoke was coming from. I smiled and reached in, tugging off the engine filter. It was clogged, so while he was driving the truck's engine slowly stopped working. I brought it out and banged it a couple times, creating a shower of nasty who-knows-what. I smiled and replaced the filter. "This should tide your truck over for a while." I said as I turned to face him. I wasn't paying attention to my hand as I pulled it out, and it must have hit something hot. I yelped and pulled it all the way out, causing the whole hand and some of my arm to get burned. My eyes watered as I gingerly held it up, watching the skin turn red.

The man immediately moved up to me, his eyes holding worry as he looked over the flesh. He touched it, and I let out a second yelp. I yanked my arm away from him, tears streaming down my sweaty face. "Don't touch it!" I snapped, and then gave him an apologetic look. I lowered my eyes, sighing.

The female human had somehow hurt herself on something in his engine. Ultra Magnus watched with slight fascination as her flesh changed from its normal tan color to a red color. He touched the skin, which was burning hot. It had pained her, which he felt bad for. She also had a leak in her optics. “Is that normal for your spe-” The man stopped himself, then continued. “Are you alright? You are leaking lubricant from your…” He struggled to find the human word for optics. Eyes! “...eyes and your skin is changing colors. It also has risen temperature by three degrees Fahrenheit.” She looked up at him, a puzzled and pained look covering her facepla- face.

He realized that he had used terms that the humans didn't and had scared her because of being able to state her exact skin temperature. Their species are unable to scan each other without specialized tools, so to state her status was quite concerning to the female. He had to speak quickly before she figured something out.

She managed to beat him to it. “A-are you a-a doc-doctor?” She whimpered, obviously in a lot of pain. As he looked down, the human ailment called ‘blisters’ began to form. It did not look good, and the human girl might be in serious danger.

Magnus had no way of telling how much this could effect the human.

[LeaderOfROTR]

Chapter Two


"No, but I know one. I'll take you to him." She nodded and trustingly climbed into his cab. He got into the driver's side and gently leaned over her to help buckle her in. The girl smiled gratefully through her tears. He buckled himself and started the motor. It sputtered, coughed, and then roared to life. He began to drive forward, and grabbed the communicator hanging down from the ceiling. Hopefully the airwaves were working once more. "Ratchet, come in. Ratchet, I am with a wounded female." His thumb came off of the button, and the radio crackled and fizzled.

I held the unburned part of my arm tightly. It hurt like nothing I had ever felt before, and I was pretty sure that I was in shock. I also felt faint. What if this odd truck dude turned out to be a serial killer and I fainted? He seemed pretty nice though. The man he had called had an odd name, but perhaps it was a nickname. I was pulled out of my musings by a slightly staticky and gravelly voice coming over the radio.

<"This is Ratchet, what is this about a wounded femm-"> The man lurched forward and grabbed the communicator, pressing down on the speak button so that the voice was cut off. He glanced over at me, and I gave him a confused look. Slowly and carefully, he spoke.

"I am with a wounded female," he said, stressing the word 'female'. "And she has a burn on her skin." Again, he stressed the word 'skin'. His thumb slowly moved away from the communicator, and I noticed that his driving hand was tightly holding the steering wheel. I stayed quiet though; I didn't trust my voice not to betray my pain. The man glanced over again, a look of concern flashing in his eyes. I gave him the tiniest of smiles, and then laid my head back against the seat. The seat seemed to mold to my form, creating a soft spot for my face. Odd, but comforting.

Not too soon after, I passed out. Not too much of a surprise though. My head lolled to the side, but was stopped by the seat molding further to help hold my head. I took no notice.

Ultra Magnus kept a careful eye on his passenger, careful not to jolt the fragile human around. She was in stasis, but was completely limp. Now he understood how the Autobot Civilian Guardians felt. Humans were so delicate and weak, and yet even he, the mighty Ultra Magnus, had seen their utter strength. Their habit of needing nightly stasis was odd, but their cycles were much shorter than that of Cybertronians. When a Cybertronian entered stasis, their frames locked to prevent any moving about that could possibly injure them. Humans obviously did not have this trait. He looked over at the human female, a streak of guilt flooding through him. He technically was the one who caused her the pain she was suffering from. "Ratchet, it is all clear. The human is in stasis, and my scans indicate she will remain so for several more mega-cycles. Send the ground bridge." His thumb slid off of the communicator, and his holo blinked off. The mech drove along in silence, and a green swirling portal appeared not too far in front of him. He drove through the portal, appearing in the Autobot Nevada base.

The Autobots were assembled around the bridge, watching with curiosity and interest. Ratchet quickly pushed through the forms, watching impatiently as the Autobot second in command transformed and gingerly held out the human in his servo.

"What the frag happened to the human?!" Ratchet yelled as he snatched away the girl, albeit gingerly enough not to hurt her limp form, rushing to the Med Bay. He set her down and turned on his hologram to help care for her. Ratchet's holo had grey combed back hair, a lab coat with his red and white color pattern, and held his characteristic wrench. Scanning her, he deduced that her burn was second degree. She also was dehydrated, but it was a trivial matter.

He began to work, removing the dead skin. After he had taken care of that, ointment was gently spread onto the skin, and wrapped with soft gauze. He infected an antibiotic into her blood stream, then sighed. "She needs at least two weeks to heal. She needs to stay under my care to make sure nothing Cybertronian has effected her and entered her bloodstream."

Optimus looked severe. "Ratchet, what are we to tell her family? We cannot keep her in Nevada for two weeks when she is from Iowa. Fowler will not be happy." His stern tone made all of those around him to wince.

"If I may be so bold as to suggest, but instead of having her stay with us, Ratchet goes to her?" Smokescreen piped up, looking up to his leader with wide open blue optics. Prime considered, then nodded gravely. Ratchet followed the silent command and turned off his holo to transform. She was carefully loaded into the back by Arcee, who had the best sized servos to place andnsecure the human onto the ambulance's cot. Bee three the switch for the ground bridge, and Ratchet drove through, sirens wailing.

[LeaderOfROTR]

I woke to a white ceiling and that strong smell of hospital. Of course, I was in one of those stupid hospital gowns that showed off way too much of one's back for my liking. I sat up and accidentally brushed my arm against the side of the bed, groaning from the flash of pain that accompanied it. I glanced around the room, seeing a small set of get well cards. The table had thoughtfully been set on my good side so I could reach them. Plucking one off the table, it was from my family. Just the usual gushy family stuff. I figured the rest of the cards from my friends. Turns out, only two more were from my friends. I picked up the last two, confused as I looked over them. One had the truck that I had helped colored with color pencils, and the other had a blank front.

Upon opening the colorful card, I found a message in messy writing. From what I could make out, it read: " Hey, heard you got burnt pretty badly. Totally sorry for you. Keep rocking, Miko." I stared at it for some time, trying to figure out if I knew anyone named Miko. Nothing. I'm pretty sure that a name like 'Miko' would stick around in my head. Well, that left only one more card. This one had that mysterious air about it, and I couldn't help but need to open it.

The inside of the card proved to be much like the outside, save for a short message written in an exceptionally neat handwriting. It read: "Dearly sorry for the trouble caused. -M" I was so confused. Who were these people? How did they know about my injury? What was going on here?

Ratchet sighed, and then gently pushed the door open to the girl's room. "Hello, my name is Dr. Ratchet. You are Lita, correct?" She seemed to wince at the name.

"I actually prefer the name Leader."

He nodded. "Alright, Leader. How is your arm feeling?" He observed her reaction, watching her lean back with a soft huff. He raised an eyebrow.

"It itches like heck and feels two times hotter than the worst sunburn I've ever gotten. It also hurts a ton." I watched him set down his clipboard and approach. He held up his hands to show no ill will.

"I'm just going to take off the bandages and look at it, okay? I need to make sure it's healing properly and you don't have an infection." She nodded, giving the medic the go ahead to do it. His hands gingerly pulled off the pin, and then began to unravel the gauze. As soon as he saw it, he struggled to keep a poker face. He had been right to worry for her. The blisters had now fully formed, and were very sore looking. Just the heat coming off of her arm was more than any sunburn. He applied the ointment as gingerly as possible, yet Leader still struggled to not cry out. Ratchet used the softest gauze he could to rewrap it before hooking it closed with the pin.

At least there was no indication of any contamination by anything Cybertronian. Still, he was going to check up on her every single day until she was fully healed. Explaining what she had done had been a little awkward to the girl's family. They were somewhat horrified that she would stop to help some random trucker, but expressed wary gratitude to Ultra Magnus. He had left a card for the girl, and since Miko had somehow found out too, she also sent a card. Ratchet had cursed himself for being such a softie before setting out her card also. He noticed that Leader had read all of them.

"I see you saw the two extra cards. Miko is my...erm..niece. M stands for Magnus, the trucker who took you here. Just to clear things up."

Her grey eyes settled on his face. "How did you two meet?" He could hear the pain in her voice as she cradled the bad arm.

"He brought you here, and we talked. That's it."

I said nothing, but my heart began to race. 'He's lying.' Instead, I forced myself to nod. "Thank you, Doctor. I'm going to rest now." I turned on my good side and closed my eyes, listening to him quietly leave. I laid there, unable to sleep as my head churned. 'What's going on? Why isn't he telling me the truth?' Finally, uneasy sleep overtook me.