Note: All characters are the property of Hasbro Studios. Features characters from Transformers Animated.
For the most part, Saturday mornings were when those that worked during the week slept in. Kids usually got up early to watch their favorite cartoons but for three young residents in Jasper, Nevada that was certainly not the case. Jack, Miko and Raf were currently outside in rather large area with grass and few pine trees. Bulkhead and discovered it earlier that week, it turned out to be an old horse ranch. The wooden fence that surrounded the pasture was worn out and the paint was chipping. The farmhouse and barn were still in decent shape and didn't seem to have deteriorated that much. After finding out that the property wasn't currently owned by anyone, Jack, Miko and Raf decided to use it for their latest project…
"Cut!" Miko shouted.
"Again?!" Bulkhead and Raf said at the same time.
"What is it this time?" Bulkhead asked.
"You forgot your lines…" Miko answered, as she lowered her video camera.
"Let's start over,"
Bulkhead groaned.
"Miko, cut us a break we've been at this all morning." Said Jack.
"Exactly! If we're gonna get this right we gotta keep filming, now come 'on we're burning daylight." Miko insisted.
"I guess she forgot we've been burning daylight since six a.m." said Arcee.
"Miko, come 'on we've got the whole weekend plus time after school to finish this. Can't we have just one break?" Raf begged.
Miko sighed.
"All right, take five."
Bulkhead and the others sighed before collapsing under a nearby tree.
"So…when is the film festival again?" Arcee asked before letting out a yawn. She leaned against the trunk, the cool bark felt good against her metallic skin.
"Next week," Raf answered.
"Yeah, people all over town and out of the state come every year." Said Jack.
"We entered the student filmmaker category." Raf added.
"Yeah, the winner gets a check for three grand." Miko explained.
"I'm guessing you all plan to split it three ways." Arcee concluded.
"Of course, Miko and I wrote the script, she's directing, Raf is doing the editing and special effects. My Mom entered the film festival back when she was in college so she's our producer." Jack explained.
"Question, how you gonna get around explaining having robots in your movie?" Bulkhead asked.
"That's where special effects come in. You'd be surprised at what the pros do in Hollywood." Jack answered.
"Yeah, some of the software they have can be used on a regular computer too." Raf added.
"So, you're going to edit the movie to make it look like we're just animated characters?" Arcee asked.
"Exactly," said Miko.
"Ok, great…" Arcee sighed.
"All right, break's over… back to work." Miko announced.
"This is the last time I work in Hollywood." Said Arcee as she got up.
She, Bulkhead and the others got to their places with Miko holding the video camera and Jack handling the boom mike.
"So, we'll be taking this from the top… and… action!"
Just then, they were alerted by what sounded like high pitched beep.
"Hold on a moment." Said Bulkhead before he tapped his comm device.
"Hello? Now? But we're in the middle of shooting."
"It can wait, we got a call from Wheeljack, said it was important. Either way, be back here in five minutes." Said Ratchet.
"Noted…" Bulkhead replied in dull tone before he hung up.
He then turned and looked over at Jack, Arcee, Miko and Raf.
"Well, you heard the doc, guess that wraps up this take."
Miko looked at the camera then at the others and smiled.
"Or maybe not."
After packing up their film equipment, the five of them headed back to H.Q. Bumblebee, Smokescreen and Wheeljack had returned from their latest excursion and spent the next fifteen minutes going over what they found.
"So, let me get this straight, you interrupted us in the middle of shooting our movie because Wheeljack located some computer hard drive?" Miko asked.
"It's not just any hard drive, Miko. This is Cybertronian, as far as we know it contains records of different residents including names." Ratchet explained.
"So like an address book," Jack concluded.
"You could say that." Said Smokescreen.
"And the hard drive is where? In Nevada?" Raf asked.
"San Francisco," Optimus replied.
Everyone in the room, froze and stood there with their mouths hanging open with the exception of Ratchet, Wheeljack, Optimus, Bumblebee and Smokescreen. After getting over the initial shock, Bulkhead spoke up.
"As in… San Francisco, California?" He asked.
Ratchet rolled his aqua-blue eyes.
"No, San Francisco, Washington… of course, San Francisco, California!" he exclaimed.
"How'd something like that, end up there, anyway?" Arcee asked.
"From what we found out, somebody in Portland, Oregon thought it was a part for some high class computer, so they shipped it to San Francisco, the company is outside the city in a town called…Rupertino." Wheeljack explained.
"That's Cupertino, Wheeljack. Would it kill you to read Raf's geography book once in a while?" Bumblebee asked.
"Would it hurt for you to keep quiet once in a while?" Wheeljack answered.
"Cork it, J." said Arcee.
"Anyway…we need to retrieve that drive before the Decepticons find out and get their paws on it." Ratchet explained.
"So, we're gonna roll out? Sweet!" said Smokescreen.
"We're going, but you're staying." Ratchet announced.
Smokescreen nearly fell over. Did he just hear what he thought he heard?
"What?! Why?"
"Because the last time you went out, Bulkhead was mistaken for someone else's ride and woke up at a car show in Orange County." Arcee explained.
"Riight." Smokescreen said nervously, throwing in a small grin.
"What's the name of the company who has the hard drive, anyway?" Jack asked.
"It's called Apple… though I don't get why in the world someone would name a brand after fruit." Said Ratchet.
Jack's eyes widened.
"Hold the phone… Apple is like one of the biggest computer companies around…"
Smokescreen raised an eyebrow.
"And what are they known for?"
"The same people behind the Mac computer, the ipod, ipad and the iPhone." Jack answered.
"O…k, well that answers my question." Said Smokescreen.
"So, I guess we're stuck here too." Raf concluded.
"Not necessarily," said Optimus.
"Figured you might want to see the city, so you're welcome to tag along." Wheeljack explained.
"Awesome!" said Miko.
"I gotta text my Mom," Jack said before grabbing his cellphone from his pocket.
"Better yet, send her a loaf of sourdough when you get there." Arcee joked.
"Sourdough?" Wheeljack asked.
"It's a type of bread…San Francisco's famous for it." Bulkhead answered.
"So I've heard." Wheeljack muttered.
He was then alerted by Optimus.
"Autobots, roll out!"
Meanwhile, elsewhere the team wasn't the only ones who had found out about the hard drive. On board the Nemesis, a certain group was about to head out to San Francisco as well. As they walked down the hallways, Lugnut and Skywarp had been quiet for the most part. After a while, Skywarp spoke up.
"I'm not too sure about this. Wh-what if we get caught?" he stuttered.
"Relax, we'll be fine. Besides, we're not the only ones going…" Lugnut pointed out.
Skywarp raised an eyebrow and looked at him.
"We're not?"
"No…weren't you listening at the conference this morning?" Lugnut asked.
Skywarp rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly.
"I… came a little late, sorry."
"Anyway, it'll be you, me, Breakdown, Starscream and…some other 'Con I've never even heard of." Lugnut explained.
"What do you mean? I thought we knew everyone on this ship." Said Skywarp.
"Better get the lead out, fellas!" one of the Vechicons shouted. He noticed they were walking towards Megatron's office and knew anyone who was late got an earful as a result.
"Apparently not," said Lugnut.
Moments later they reached Megatron's office, as usual Starscream was already there along with Soundwave. The room was mostly painted a slate gray, most of the décor and everything else was either black or stainless steel.
"You called?" Lugnut asked.
"Yes, it's about that hard drive we discovered in the state of California. I'd like you to retrieve it before those Autobots find out and try to get their hands on it." Megatron answered.
"O…k, easy enough." Said Lugnut.
"Not quite, just so there's no mix ups… we have someone else tagging along on this little… road trip." Starscream explained.
"Really, who?" Skywarp asked his brother.
"Funny you should ask…" said Megatron before he snapped his fingers.
"Hey boys," said a female voice who walked up to them from the opposite end of the room.
Lugnut, Skywarp and Starscream stood there, jaws dropped. Even Soundwave was caught off guard, grabbing a cloth he wiped off his visor, obviously stunned.
"I'd like you to meet Flipsides." Said Megatron.
"Never heard of her." Lugnut admitted.
"Nor have I," Starscream confessed.
"That's because she's part of the clean-up group." Megatron explained.
"A janitor?!" Lugnut, Skywarp and Starscream said at the same time.
"And a female?" Lugnut asked.
Flipsides tilted her head and looked at the trio.
"You got a problem with that?" she asked, folding her arms in front of her chest.
The three males answered with a serious of "No" and "Not at all".
"Wait a second, guys… have you noticed something odd about Flipsides?" Skywarp asked.
Lugnut, Starscream and Soundwave looked at the female Decepticon then at Skywarp.
"You know, brother you're right… she…" Starscream stopped short.
"Looks like Arcee," Lugnut finished.
He was right, there was a resemblance between the two femmes, though the only differences were that Flipsides was charcoal grey with rose gold markings and chili pepper colored eyes.
"Took you all that long to figure it out?" Megatron asked.
The trio looked at each other, obviously confused.
Soundwave raised his hand as if about to say something.
"Never mind, don't answer that." Said Megatron.
"But…Megatron… no offense, why is she going with us?" Starscream asked.
"That question crossed my mind too," said Lugnut.
"Flipsides has an eye and ear for detail. That's why, in fact she organized our main storage room last week." Megatron explained.
"And that place is so packed you couldn't find twelve acres of grass growing in there if you tried." Said Starscream.
"My point exactly, so she'll be accompanying you, to make sure there are no loose ends." Megatron continued.
"That won't be an issue will it?" Flipsides asked.
"N-none, what so ever…" Lugnut said with a grin.
"Flipsides, would you mind waiting outside for a moment? I'd like to have a chat with these three for a moment, if you don't mind." Said Megatron.
"Sure thing." Was her reply before she stepped out.
"I thought she'd never leave," Megatron sighed.
"All right, what's up with her?" Lugnut asked.
"Flipsides is… a little…high strung." Megatron answered.
"She is? I never would've guessed." Said Skywarp.
"So, even though she's going with you… just keep an eye on her. Last thing we need is another disaster like the one two weeks ago at that ski resort in Canada." Megatron continued.
"You mean the one where Soundwave and Lugnut ended up going backwards down that slope?" Skywarp asked, trying his hardest not laugh.
Lugnut and Soundwave both looked rather embarrassed.
"I thought we agreed not to bring that up anymore." The large mech said nervously.
"Question… if she's so darn high strung… isn't there another femme who's available for this trip?" Starscream asked.
Megatron leaned forward slightly, resting both hands on his desk.
"I tried looking around but Slipstream and Dragstrip are both busy getting a long overdue tune up."
"Forget I asked," said Starscream.
He knew from years of experience when not to push it with his boss and this was one of them. Megatron blinked for a moment.
"Why are you still here? Get going! Now!" he shouted.
"Right," Starscream said nervously.
"We're outta here," said Lugnut before the three bolted out the door.
Megatron sighed, pinching the space between his eyes.
"I ask myself every single day why do I put up with this?"
Soundwave simply shrugged his shoulders in reply and didn't say anything.
Later that day, the team reached San Francisco. It was a clear day, aside from a few scattered clouds. For a weekend, traffic was surprisingly light which made getting around easier for a certain group of autobots and their human friends.
"This is so going in the album once we get home." Said Miko who had been taking photos with her cellphone.
They were currently on a side street in Little Italy; one of the city's well known neighborhoods. On several blocks were various shops and restaurants. The sidewalks were rather heavy with foot traffic from both residents and tourists. It didn't seem to bother, Jack, Miko or Raf who were excited about visiting the city by the Bay. Even if was just for one afternoon.
"So, now what?" Jack asked.
"Easy, we find out where Apple is and take it from there." Arcee replied.
She, Bulkhead and Bumblebee were parked in vehicle mode. Despite Arcee being concerned about getting caught, nobody really seemed to notice anything odd.
Just then, they were alerted by a beep from one the comm device.
"And I think the others just found it." Arcee announced.
"Let's roll," said Bulkhead.
As they made their way towards the town of Cupertino, Lugnut, Skywarp and the others were already there. The four of them were currently standing behind some pine trees near the campus which was the corporate headquarters of Apple Inc. So far, they managed to stay well hidden.
"All right… the staff has gone to lunch, that gives us one hour to get in, get out and…" Starscream was cut off.
"Wait… what if the autobots show up?" Flipsides asked.
"That is where you come in, Flipsides…remember your story?" Starscream replied.
Flipsides frowned and scratched the back of her head.
"Can't say that I do."
"Well, then let's review…remember, if anyone asks…your shuttle crash landed in the Bay and you've been alone this whole time." Breakdown explained.
"Got that?" Lugnut asked.
"Got it, but… are these contacts really necessary?" she asked as she looked at her reflection in a small puddle. Using the contact lenses Breakdown had given her, Flipsides' eyes were now sky blue instead of red. Still, she wasn't sure about wearing them.
"Oy…" Lugnut sighed.
He simply shook his head.
"What part of blending in do you not understand?"
Flipsides simply looked at him sheepishly. Lugnut towered over her in height and his massive size was rather intimidating. Even Starscream and Skywarp admitted the large mech made both of them nervous. After a minute he broke their staring contest and walked ahead of the others, with Starscream, Breakdown and Skywarp not far behind. Letting out a loud sigh and shaking some leaves off her shoulders, Flipsides stood up and followed them.
Meanwhile on the other side of the campus, the team had located a warehouse that stored several computer parts. Despite being dimly lit, Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Arcee could still make out what was there. Jack looked around, so far nobody was around.
"Ok, the coast is clear," he said.
Bulkhead nearly fell over when he saw the number of crates and boxes stacked in the warehouse.
"How we gonna find that hard drive in a place like this?"
"Just start lookin' around I guess." Said Wheeljack, who shrugged his shoulders.
"Oh yeah, that narrows down our options to let's see… this whole warehouse?!" Arcee exclaimed.
"Whoa, let's kill the noise for a minute…" said Miko.
"Yeah…it'll be easier if we split up." Raf suggested.
Ratchet and Optimus looked at each other.
"He does have a point." Ratchet agreed.
"All right then…" Optimus sighed.
"But… someone will have to stand outside incase the staff comes back."
"I'll do it," Wheeljack offered.
"You?!" Arcee and Bumblebee asked at the same time.
"Hey, all it is watching, I've had plenty of experience at that." Wheeljack insisted.
"Since when?" Arcee asked.
"Uh guys…can we talk about this later?" Bulkhead said, interrupting the two.
"Fine…" Wheeljack sighed.
"Sooner we find that drive, the better." Said Arcee.
Before they went their separate ways.
"Jackie, you've been kinda hard on Arcee since ya got here. What's the deal?" Bulkhead asked.
"You wanna know? All right, Bulk. I'll tell you. How many femmes do you know were part of our old construction crew?" Wheeljack replied.
"I can't think of any right now… wait a second, this doesn't have anything to do with Arcee being a female does it?" Bulkhead asked.
Wheeljack gave him a serious look.
"What do you think?"
"J, just because she's a female doesn't mean she's the squeaky wheel on the team. You two have talked before." Said Bulkhead.
"Yeah, we have… but Bulkhead, she's a female…the rest of us…we're guys…" Wheeljack pointed out.
"So what? Arcee's smart… before we came here she was just a grade school teacher but she also went to one of the top colleges on Cybertron. I can't do long division to save my life but she and Ratchet on the other hand…" Bulkhead was cut off.
"What's your point, Bulk?" Wheeljack asked, getting bored with the conversation.
"Just… try to be nice." Bulkhead replied.
"'Kay…" Wheeljack sighed.
"Jackie, she's been through a lot…" Bulkhead added.
"I know the story… don't remind me." Wheeljack said before walking away.
"Do you know she hasn't seen or heard from her sisters in almost five years?" Bulkhead asked.
Wheeljack paused and turned around.
"Nope…"
After ending their conversation, Bulkhead joined the rest of the team in searching for the hard drive. With only an hour to search the warehouse, they had to be quick before any employees came back from their lunch break. So far, they had found several parts for various Apple electronics including an ipad mini. Miko broke the silence after a while, looking over her shoulder at Bulkhead.
"Anything yet?" she asked.
"Nope," Bulkhead replied.
Just then he noticed a medium size box in a corner.
"Wait a second..."
He then wiped the dust off of it.
"I think I found something." Said Bulkhead.
Letting out a loud sneeze he fell over, knocking over a few crates and boxes in the process.
"I'm ok."
Arcee walked up to him, smiling and trying her hardest not to laugh.
"Nicely done," she said.
"I'll say," Miko agreed.
"Well, Bulkhead looks like you beat us to it this time." Said Ratchet as he and the rest of the group walked over.
No sooner did he finish his sentence, they heard what sounded like a garage door opening.
"Hey!" a voice shouted, causing everyone to nearly jump and turn around towards the back end of the warehouse.
"What are you bots doin' here?" Lugnut asked.
"Us? What are you 'Cons doing here?" Bulkhead replied.
"I asked you first," said Lugnut who pointed at the other Cybertronian.
"We got word that a hard drive was shipped here by mistake…what's it to you?" Bulkhead asked.
"Wow, small world, we heard about it too and we're not leaving without that box." Said Skywarp.
"Oh yeah? well neither are we…" Bumblebee said to them.
Arcee then glanced at Jack, Miko and Raf.
"You three go… see if you can find Wheeljack." She told them.
"Got it!" the trio replied and ran off.
"They're mine." Said Starscream when went after the kids.
Just then Arcee darted out in front him.
"Back off, slim." She growled.
"Who's going to stop me, woman?" Starscream replied.
"Yo' Cee, think fast.!" Bulkhead shouted and tossed the box containing the hard drive.
"Got it, now what?" she asked.
"I don't know, just play keep away." Said Bulkhead who was trying to distract Breakdown.
Arcee then glanced at Bumblebee.
"Bumblebee, catch!"
"No fair!" Starscream exclaimed.
"Aw, go sit down somewhere." Said Arcee.
Moments later…
Everyone stopped what they were doing when they heard footsteps.
"Humans!" Bulkhead shouted.
"Scatter!" Lugnut yelled.
They all took off running in different directions. Arcee was following Bulkhead and Ratchet when she looked out of the corner of her eyes and saw Flipsides heading out of the building holding the box with the hard drive.
"Oh no you don't!" she said and chased after her.
"Arcee, come back!" Bulkhead called.
The cobalt blue female didn't let up on her chase and quickly pounced on Flipsides, knocking her to the floor. The two femmes struggled, tipping over some large paint cans in the process. Within seconds, Arcee was covered with a coat of charcoal gray and Flipsides was now cobalt blue.
"Get off me!" Flipsides growled as she tried to knock Arcee off her back. The next thing the other femme knew, she was on the floor. Both of them sat there panting heavily.
"Arcee we gotta go!"
"Wha…?" Flipsides sputtered as she was pulled away by Bulkhead.
Arcee shook herself, trying to figure out what happened.
"Huh? What the…?"
"Flipsides! What are you standing around here for? Come 'on!" said Skywarp.
Sometime later...
Back at HQ, the team recuperated from their latest adventure; save for one femme. Sitting the corner was Flipsides, who was rather confused and nervous. She looked around and noticed that she was with the Autobots. Snapping out of her thoughts she noticed Jack walking up to her.
"Hey, you ok?" he asked.
"Uh…yeah, I'm fine." Flipsides replied.
"We almost got caught but… at least we have the hard drive." Jack pointed out.
"Yeah, there's that." Flipsides agreed.
"And I caught it all on tape!" Miko said triumphantly as she walked up to the two with Raf.
"This'll be great stuff for our movie! You and Raf gotta see it."
Jack smiled and followed Miko and Raf over to the couch.
"You comin' Arcee?" he asked.
"I'll be there in a minute." Said Flipsides.
Jack nodded and continued on his way.
Flipsides frowned.
"He thinks I'm Arcee…but that's crazy, there's no way…"
The female autobot looked down at her left wrist and noticed her charcoal gray coloring was now blue. Just then it dawned on Flipsides what happened at the warehouse, the paint that spilled on her was the same color as Arcee. She also remembered Lugnut and the others mention how much she and the other female looked alike.
"Ok…this is bad…" she said to herself.
Flipsides then looked over at Jack, Miko and Raf. She smiled briefly. Miko's energetic side reminded her of herself when she was young.
"Or maybe not."
She glanced at the other bots; Optimus was standing next to Ratchet who was typing on the computer, both of them talking. Wheeljack was telling Smokescreen about what happened. Bulkhead and Bumblebee were watching Miko's video footage, occasionally laughing at certain moments.
"All right…I'm stuck here. For now…just gotta blend in." Flipsides said to herself.
Just then she thought of something.
"Wait if I'm here then where's Arcee?"
Meanwhile, Flipsides wasn't the only one who was stuck somewhere. Onboard the Nemesis, Arcee was slowly getting herself together. She had been placed on a nearby couch and was rather stiff.
"Ohh, my back…" she muttered as she stood up.
Looking around, she realized she was in what looked like the break room.
"Oh good, you're ok." Skywarp sighed.
"Yeah, we were worried about you, Flip." Said Lugnut.
"R-really?" Arcee asked nervously.
"You had a pretty bad fall back there, but Breakdown checked you out, might want to put some ice on that shoulder of yours." Lugnut explained.
"Well, we gotta file our report. Catch ya later." Said Skywarp before the two got up and left.
Arcee watched them leave then glanced at the charcoal gray paint that covered her wrists which were normally blue with a pink trim. It didn't take long for her to realize the incident back at the warehouse left her covered with a coat of paint the same color as Flipsides. She groaned, placing her right hand over her eyes.
"I'm doomed!"
She knew she had to get off the ship and back to Jasper, but the question was a matter of how and when. Back in Jasper, things for Flipsides didn't seem to be getting any better, or so she thought.
"Ok people… let's get back to work." Said Miko.
"Work on what?" Flipsides asked.
"The movie, ya know the one we've been shooting for the film festival." Bulkhead answered.
"Riight…so we gonna stand here catchin' flies or are we going to get started?" Flipsides continued.
She went on ahead of the others, leaving Bumblebee, Raf, Miko and Jack looking rather confused. Bulkhead was rather dumbfounded by Arcee's behavior but decided not to think much of it since they had been excited about doing the project since Miko and the others told them a month ago.
"You feelin' ok?" Bulkhead asked.
Flipside simply grinned.
"Never better…why do you ask?" she said, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh…uh…no reason." Said Bulkhead.
And with that the small group of friends headed outside to shoot their latest scene. Whatever Miko had planned, one thing was for sure, it was going to be a long Saturday afternoon