TFP: Surprise!(Chapter XIII:Blood in the woods...)

Lauren had been drifting in and out of sleep. There was a war between the conscious and the unconscious brewing, and it felt like a game of tug-o-war... the dreams wanted to keep reminding her of Optimus's past, but reality needed her to return to face the consequences at present... Worst of all, every time she drifted back to sleep she hadn't even realized that she had fallen asleep. In the middle of revisiting some time shifting between Iacon and Megatronus, Lauren felt cold water splashing onto her head. She came awake, with a violent jerk to an upright position. Some of the icy water rolled down her back, then some went down her face, neck, and to the rest of her front. The shock of the awakening made her body tremble.
"Thank you, Corporal."
Lauren shook her head, and realized Woods sat in a chair across from her. Her wrists were restrained to the metal table by a pair of handcuffs, and when Lauren looked back, she realized in each corner there was a soldier, armed.
"Are you with us now, Miss Courage?" Agent Woods asked.
Lauren shivered, glancing around still part-grogily... "Wh-what did you do to Optimus?"
Woods eyed her, "Optimus... you mean the robot, right?"
Lauren stared at him, "I told you he's on our side..."
"So you say, but considering you were sneaking around our facility at the time the other one broke out, I'm a bit suspicious of your intentions, Miss Courage," Woods explained.
Lauren laughed, "Ha-ha-HA! My intentions?! You're gonna end the world!" she squealed. Lauren leaned her head down, cupping both hands over her lips. Scrap! Where did that come from... oh no... where's the matrix of leadership shard?!
Woods eyed her, then opened the folder in front of him, "I see you have a... colorful mental history."
Lauren gulped, suddenly trembling to focus, "Where is the... shiny thingy?"
"The glowing blue stone you had?" Woods asked, "It was confiscated. Why is it--?"
"I go crazy again without it! Give it back to me I need it, I'll explain everything right after you--HEY! I can see myself in the mirror!" Lauren chuckled.
Woods eyes her over, and thought a moment, "Corporal... bring me the stone, lets see what happens when she gets it. When I saw her last she seemed like any other kid... something isn't right."
As the corporal left, Lauren started gazing around, like a happy drunk, "Ooh! Can we play a game?! Lets play Megatron versus Optimus! I can be Optimus, and you can be Megatron!"
"Megatron... thats what you called the other one. Who is he?" Woods asked.
"Oh Megatron-tsk-tsk-TSK! He thinks he so smart, but he's just a dummy-head like Unicron! Ha!" Lauren laughed, "Ooooh! I'ma sing about Megatron in here! I'ma singin' 'bout Megatron in here! Where is here anywho?"
Woods sighed, "Alright, this is getting ridiculous. Where is the blasted stone?!"
"What stone are talkin' about?! Is it shiny? I like shiny stuff, how 'bout you?!" Lauren asked, leaning forward.
The soldiers cocked their guns, and aimed.
"Stand down, I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to fake something like this," Woods sighed.
A soldier handed Woods a small case, and Woods opened it.
"Oooh! Its glowy!" Lauren marveled.
"why don't you take it?" asked Woods.
Lauren grinned, "What thank-!" The moment she touched it, the insanity vanished again, "... you." She sank back, posterior plopping back down in the chair. Lauren stared at it, then looked up at Woods, "Um... sorry," she began, "This keeps my... my head on straight. Its complicated, but put simply. This shard tunes my mind, and organizes the two sets of brainwaves I have in here."
"Wait-what are you talking about?" Woods asked.
"Just listen to me, Agent Woods..." Lauren said, patiently. she looked at him with intelligent, lush brown eyes, "I'm sure that profile you have tight there says that I'm special... what you don't know-is why." Lauren held the matrix shard open towards him, "Optimus Prime, the cybertronian you have captured, is the leader of the Autobots-good guys. Megatron was the one you had before... he got free, he leads the Deceptions A.K.A. the bad guys. Both are here because they were drawn into our reality by your little operation here. That colorful light show you had going on was going to destroy the Earth. There was no time to go through the proper channels, so instead we had to go in, and shut it down for you. Now, as for how I fit into this? I have all of Optimus's memories-well... most of them, but-look, I can explain things a lot better later, for now I want to see Optimus."
Woods eyed her, "Wait-you wanted to shut the device down?"
Lauren nodded, "Yeah... and we did... right?"
"No, its running by itself now... we can't shut it down at all, how will it destroy Earth?" Woods asked.
"DUH!" Lauren shouted, "Its drawing the Autrobot's reality with our reality-merging them! We have to shut it down, where is the scanner I had?!"
Woods pulled it out of his pocket, "This thing?"
Lauren gazed, "We only have 72 hours until... all of this-everything we know-its all going to collapse. Please! I know you have no reason to trust me, but you have to!"
Woods tapped his finger on the table, then breathed, before taking out a set of keys, and unlocking the cuffs. "Alright Miss Adams." He took out a phone, "Abort the use of the robot for test 37! Do you copy?" He walked out, beckoning Lauren to follow, "What do you mean they already started?!" Woods broke into a sprint.
Lauren chased after, placing the shard back in her pocket, before an intense pain surged through her spark, or heart. She lost her footing, and hit the ground, writhing, screaming, she heard Optimus's voice, "What the scrap are y'all doing to him?!"
Woods gasped, "You can feel what he feels?!"
Lauren cried, "AGH! Make it stop, blast it! It feels like they're cutting  up his-AGH!"
"Test 37, call it off, NOW!" ordered Woods. "Because there's a little girl connected to the robot and you're killing her too!"
Lauren trembled, and looked at Woods, "Y'all were gonna kill him... wh-why?"
Woods sighed, "We thought he was the enemy... has it stopped?"
Lauren grunted, wiping the tears away, her head was throbbing again, but she forced herself to her feet, "Scrap..."
Woods had touched her arm, helping her up, "Are you sick, you're really warm?"
Lauren shook her head, "Forget about me, where's Optimus?!"
Woods nodded, "Right, follow me!"
Lauren ran after him.
After the hallway, there was a large hanger opening to the outside, and it seemed to be where helicopters and vehicles came in. Lauren skidded to a stop, and looked over. Behind a line of military hummers, a white and red vehicle peeked out, "Rachet?" She ran back to him, "Rachet, I need you, come with me, they were about to kill Optimus!"
"Wait-what?" asked Rachet, "Then why are you running around with them?!"
"Because Woods is trying to stop them, just come on, Optimus is going to need your help!" Lauren growled.
"Miss Courage?!" asked Woods, running back.
Lauren looked back at him, "Do not attack him!"
"Who?"
"Rachet, go ahead."
"You had better be right about this guy," muttered Rachet, before transforming.
Woods froze, "Another one?!"
Soldiers cocked their guns, and aimed at Rachet.
"Friendly! Friendly!" Lauren shouted.
Woods shuddered, "Weapons down, trust the girl...it sound like we have bigger concerns right now. Courage, who is this?"
Lauren breathed, "Rachet, he's the Autobot team medic. Maybe he can undo what ever damage y'all have done!"
"Then follow me quickly!" nodded Woods, leading on again.
They finally came to a giant elevator, and Woods selected a level.
"What happened?" Rachet whispered, after Bending down, "Optimus mentioned that Ryler and Sonya had lost you, then MECH made a get-away for some strange reason, and now you and Optimus had been captured?"
Lauren nodded, "I-I... Optimus saved me from Megatron, and just after that, we were both captured."
"Megatron?!" muttered Rachet.
"They were using him as a power source for the groundbridge..." Lauren sighed, "I'll tell you about it later. For now, we just need to focus on Optimus..."
"I don't like the look of this human... Woods, I do not trust him" muttered Rachet.
"I know, but sometimes to be trusted, you first must trust," Lauren whispered, and looked up to Rachet with deep, intelligent eyes.
A reminiscing smile came across Rachet's face, "Wise words... you know who that sounds like, don't you?"
Lauren blinked, "Who?"
"Optimus," chuckled Rachet.
Lauren blushed, "What? I don't-Jack is the one whose like Optimus, not me! I wish I could be more like him."
Rachet touched her shoulder, "You are both like him, you merely have... well-nevermind." She hesitated, and ended up not saying something, but whatever it had been it was either dangerous, important-or both.
"Rachet... what's bothering you? Usually you're just annoyed, but you're rarely worried."
Rachet's concern vanished, as though her question had made him realize something, "Oh-uh-nothing, its simply a matter I'm not permitted to discuss."
Lauren smiled, "Well at least you're not a liar. If you ever need to talk, I'm here, old frie-dagh! I mean Rachet! My bad."
Rachet chuckled softly, "Are you confusing Optimus's thoughts again?"
"Yeah-and its not funny," Lauren muttered.
"Sometimes it is," whispered Rachet.
Lauren shook her head, "Pfft-lets just focus on the goal at hand."
The doors to the giant elevator opened.
"Hold on a second," said Woods, "I need to--"
"No," muttered Lauren, shoving past him, Rachet following.
Woods ran in front of her, "Look, Miss Courage! We had a security breach earlier, and so everyone is on alert! Rachet can come, but I need you to stay here for a moment."
"What?! That doesn't make any sense!" Lauren spat.
Woods sighed, "Look, can you just trust me for a sec--"
Lauren saw a man further down the hall... he had a gun, and he aimed at Woods, ignoring Rachet, who hadn't noticed, and Lauren. "Woods get out of the way!" she screamed, knocking him away, while simultaneously grabbing his side arm, and aimed.
Two shots, a bullet from each barrel, the bright flash escaped each gun, and blood was spilled...