Chapter 1 – We Come in Peace
The walk home from school was only a couple blocks, and if it was nice outside, it was not an awful walk. Almost peaceful, in fact. In this Autumn weather, it's not uncommon in Waldwell, Washington to hear the geese flying South for the Winter or to see toddlers playing in the park. I would not be enjoying the nice weather, however, because I needed to get my own homework done before going to tutor at the Quinn's house after dinner. Mr. Hopps asked if I wanted to sign up for the tutoring program after doing really well in his class last year, and I couldn't say no to him. Especially because he was also my anatomy teacher. He was making an exciting class even more entertaining.
But, even before I would go start my homework, I would stop in the shop and see if Nana and Papa needed any help. Field's Flowers is the family's small business, and has been in Waldwell since my Papa was a baby. And our apartment was right above the shop, so I would end up going through the shop regardless.
The shop's sign was slightly swaying in the wind when I got to the shop, and I couldn't see any light on in the window in the apartment upstairs. I heard the soft chime of the door when I entered the shop and noticed that it wasn't busy. Ms. Norris was at the counter with Nana Dorothy, in the middle of a conversation. Probably about the quilting club they went to on Friday nights while Papa Don went bowling with his friend.
Nana's hazel eyes, identical to my own, peaked over her round glasses and she gave me a small smile. "Ah, Charlotte!" she said, setting down a pair of scissors and ribbon that were in her hands, "How was school, dear?" Nana asked when I approached the counter. She pulled me into an embrace and placed a kiss on my cheek. She patted my super curly blonde hair on the top of my head affectionately.
I shrugged, gripping the straps on my worn brown backpack. "Hello Ms. Norris." I started, minding my manners. "It was fine Nana. We just started learning about the skull and brain, so I need to make my flashcards for that."
The older women laughed, shaking their heads, "This early?" Ms. Norris asked, looking skeptical.
"Never too early ma'am." I answered, "But, I was going to ask if you or Papa needed any help in the shop before heading upstairs."
My Nana shook her head, picking up her tools once she let go of me. "You're young dear." She said, curling the teal colored ribbon to perfection, "You should be worrying about finding a date to the dance and not making boutonnieres for them. Or at least, going with some girlfriends to the mall." From the corner of my eye, I could see the other older woman nod in agreement.
I tried not to roll my eyes at them. It wasn't surprise to anyone that my shyness kept me from making friends easily. Plus, it wasn't easy to make friends in a small town when your best friend moved thousands of miles away without much of a warning.
"Well," I shrugged, moving on from their valid point, "if you don't need any help, I'll just start on my homework. You know where to find me if you change your mind."
On that note, making sure that Nana wasn't going to change her mind, I headed to the back room and up the set of stairs. Papa and Nana's apartment wasn't anything huge or fancy. It was three bedrooms and two bathrooms, with a small kitchen and family room painted a light green color. The old upright piano which had potted plants on top was next to the large bookcase, and the tiny television was right across. Papa's lazy-boy and Nana's reading chair were against the window and a love seat was nestled in just right.
Papa was not up there, taking a nap in his chair, so I only assumed that he was out on a delivery. After kicking off my shoes at the front door, out of the way of anyone walking in, I made it into my room to get started on homework. My room had pale yellow walls that had been painted when my mom was a little girl. The small, white iron framed bed was pushed up against the wall across from the window with the window seat.
It was my own little corner of the world with a view of Main Street, and I wouldn't change a thing.
000
Tutoring was more frustrating than usual. Nathan Quinn thought I would just give him the answers to the cells worksheet he had to finish, but I stood my ground and tried to help him work through it on his own. It took longer than I expected too, and now I had to walk back because Nana and Papa had book club with their friends tonight.
"The model of the cell isn't even that hard." I mumbled to myself, stopping at the cross walk and looking for any traffic, "I cannot believe he thought I was going to just do the homework for him."
The night was cold, and I hugged myself to keep the breeze off of me as much as I could. Plus, it made me feel a little more safe on my walk. Not that I thought it was a scary walk or anything, but I was still a sixteen-year-old walking home alone at night when it was dark.
Waldwell wasn't typically busy at night during the week, and it wasn't common to see cars parked out on the street when most of the stores would be closed by now. That's why I had to stare at the two nice looking cars parked outside of Marco's Magic Emporium this late. A black and yellow Camaro and a cobalt blue Dodge Challenger had their headlights pointed towards the park and their head lights off.
"New nice cars in a town like this…" I murmured, passing them slowly and trying not to seem like a creep when I looked inside to see it spotless, "…must be new neighbors." The crosswalk flashed for me to walk and I decided to go through the park for a shortcut. It would only shave two or three minutes off, but it was still less time.
When I crossed the street, something in the crosswalk hit caught my eye. Without too much of a second thought, I picked it off the ground and kept walking. Once I crossed the street, I actually looked at what I picked up. It was a flat, silver and looked like it could be a ruler. But, the silver seemed like it was jewelry instead of a tool. Almost like a family heirloom. There was some kind of worn letters engraved into it, but nothing that I could make out myself.
"Papa might be able to make out what it says." I said quietly to myself, placing it into my jacket pocket, "Or take it to the jewelry store and see if they would know."
Screeching car tires coming from behind me made me turn around quickly to see what was happening. Boys in my class who had their licenses already were known to street race out in the old quarries, but not in town. Zooming right to the park, not looking like they were going to stop at all, were two identical looking black cars. Instinctively, I took a couple steps back and grabbed onto the straps of my backpack.
Then, before my eyes, the cars drove straight into the park and changed shape. Changed into ginormous, intimidating robots with their weapons pointed in my direction. I held my hands up quickly, trying to show them I had no idea what was going on and didn't mean any harm. I cried out, kneeling to the ground and tucking my head into my knees like in a tornado drill and not looking at the bright light coming from the end of their weapons.
I was so confused. First off, giant robots who can turn into car…or the other way around. Second, they're in this town for what reason? Third, why were they after me? Of course, the one time I try to take a short cut, I end up in a mix up like this! A sound of something charging up could be heard, and I couldn't even find my voice to scream for any kind of help.
"Hey Decepticons!" A loud voice shouted from the other side of the park. The two robots, along with me, looked in the direction of the voice. The headlights from the blue car were shining bright in the park and right at us, "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?!" The voice asked in a firm tone. There was a young tone to the voice, but they did not sound scared.
The same sound from when the other robots changed before echoed from the buildings and I watched the nice-looking cars from before change into robots. They were not the same size as the black ones in front of me, both of them just a little shorter and had what looked like their doors as wings on their backs.
They stood where they were originally parked and pointed their own weapons at the robots who had me down on the ground. "Retreat now and leave this human alone!" The yellow one shouted.
Neither of the identical looking robots said anything in response, both just left me and went right for the other giants. They silently chose to fight hand-to-hand, which was probably a good idea if they didn't want to ruin the buildings around them at all. I took this opportunity to get up and hide behind the statue of our town's founder: Lady Willow Waldwell. I prayed that the bronze statue could keep me safe while I watched this fight take place.
Punches were being thrown left and right in the street, the sound of metal hitting metal rang in my ears. But, for the life of me, I could not take my eyes off of what was going on in front of me. All of them were good at combat they were engaged in, taking and giving the punches left and right. The blue robot took a punch to the face out of nowhere, and landed flat on their back. Both black robots now took this chance to fire up their weapons and keep the blue one on the ground.
Before I could stop myself, and without thinking, the words flew right out of my mouth and exposed my hiding spot, "Leave them alone!" I yelled loudly, not super confident in my tone of voice, but loud enough to be heard.
All of them looked in my direction, and I covered my mouth quickly with both hands when I realized what I did. Both black robots were distracted and it seemed like the yellow and black robot was going to take this chance to take the two down and help their friend. In an instant, the identical robots were knocked down and right into the playset, destroying it to pieces. Now it was the colorful robot's turn to fire their weapons and aim them at the twins on the ground nearby.
Apparently, that was all it took to get the black robots to leave, because they were suddenly back into cars and speeding out of the park. It looked like the two more colorful giants were observing the area around them that they destroyed, and I could just feel my heart pounding in my chest.
Finally, I found my legs and courage again and started booking it to the apartment as fast as I could. My bag was kind of weighing me down, but I just needed to get back home. Whatever that was, was not something I wanted to do again, ever. Not soon enough, I arrived at the store, shakily used my key to open the door, and stormed up into the apartment. I was surprised to see my grandparents back already, but the cuckoo clock on the wall said that it was about eight thirty.
"There you are Charlotte," Papa Don said from his lazy boy, "how was tutoring? Did that Quinn boy give you a run for your money?" he asked, half teasing.
I huffed, trying to catch my breath from that sprint I just put myself through. "You could say that."
A locker at the end of the day on a Friday is the best view in the world for anyone in school. This was especially a silver lining for me today. From the moment I woke up this morning, I was busy trying to convince myself that yesterday was all just my imagination. My eyes were peeled all day long, looking out any windows that I passed by or had access to. There was no way that giant, weapon welding, aggressive robots were attacking me last night. There was no way that they destroyed the park that I grew up playing at.
There was absolutely no way.
After packing all of the books I needed for the weekend, and slinging on the backpack on my back, I also grabbed my jacket and headed out of the school. Thankfully, there was no tutoring sessions this weekend, so I could finally catch up on some reading or head to Dr. Dee's Music Store across the street and browse for some new sheet music.
The parking lot in the front of the school was swarming with upper classmen trying to get their weekend started right now. From hand-me-down cars to mud covered pick-up trucks, they all were filled with students ready to get out of the lot as fast as they could.
However, there were two exceptions for this rule. Two, similar vehicles that I did not want to see today at all. The colors what would forever be in my mind since yesterday were not what I wanted to see. Not wanting anything at all to do with these giants, I marched myself right past them and took my usual route to the flower shop.
I could hear the engines start up and follow me right out of the parking lot and towards the parking lot between two buildings that I usually go between. "Wait," one of them said, "we just want to talk!"
The nerves were creeping up in my body and I could feel my hands start to shake a little. "Look," I started, turning around quickly and looking at the two cars in front of me, "I'll just ignore and forget everything that happened last night. I was at the wrong place at the wrong time." I offered, stuffing my hands into my pockets and biting my lip, "Then, we can all just get along with our lives…right?"
I took a step back when they both decided to change into their robot forms and kneel down in front of me: half to get closer to my face and half to hide (I assumed). "Our boss needs to talk with you." The yellow and black one said.
"We weren't supposed to expose ourselves to any humans." The blue one explained, "But now that we did, we could get into more trouble if you don't come with us."
My hands were shaking more now in my pockets and I could feel the weird object in one of them still. On one hand, I was a rule follower, and if they needed me to go for them not to get into trouble I would. On the other hand, I just did not want to be involved with any kind of violence, and it seemed like these guys brought that with them.
I let out a long sigh, closing my eyes and trusting my gut over my mind once in my life.
"Ok." I agreed quietly, "But, you guys just can't transform out in the open! Someone else could see you!"
Both of the short robots exchanged looks before changing back quickly, the blue one opening the driver's door. "Hop in." The voice almost sang with an excited tone to it.
With a glance behind me, making sure that no one would see me getting into a stranger's car, I slid my bag off my back, folded my jacket on my lap, and climbed in. Once the door shut, the seat belt was wrapped around me and we were off. I was pushed back into the seat by how fast the blue Dodge Challenger was flying down the street, not really obeying any traffic rules on the way. I didn't say anything, too nervous to get this car/robot/thing mad with me while I was inside of it. Them. They were alive beings…right?
The yellow and black car was leading the way, going at least twenty miles over the speed limit, and heading out of the main part of town and towards the country. The ride out was at least fifteen minutes, with us going over some train tracks and passing through many fields of corn and wheat.
We went off the paved road and onto a gravel road right towards an old looking barn at the end. The red paint was worn chipped from the weather and some of the roof shingles are missing. When we got about five yards away from the barn doors, they opened like a garage door and we drove inside.
Once inside, I heard a female sounding voice, "Recognized – Bumblebee zero-one-three. Bluestreak zero-one-two. Accompanied by an unidentified organic being." Before the message even ended, we drove down a ramp and underground.
My eyes widened the further in we went into the tunnel and they needed to adjust to the lighting when we got away from the natural lights from the barn's windows. It was slowly reminding me about a bunker that I've seen in documentaries. There were no windows, it was getting colder, and the sounds from the cars were echoing off the walls as we drove down.
The yellow and black car transformed the minute we stopped, but thankfully the car I was in gave me the chance to get out before they transformed. In the 'room' where we stopped, there were other giant, colorful robots sitting on giant and miss-matched looking furniture. They all looked in our direction with interested looks on their faces.
Two of them looked identical except for the colors: one was red and one was yellow. Also, the yellow one had yellow fins on the side of its head while the red one had white legs. Another robot had fins as well, but was painted mainly white. There were some red and green accents on the chest area and this robot seemed to have their doors for wings too. Another bot, with a much grumpier look on their face, was all green. It seemed like they might have had a helmet on their head and headlights on their shoulders. The final robot looked the most friendly, even though their eyes were covered by a reflective visor. The white and blue robot, just like a few others, had doors for wings, and was giving me a large, friendly smile.
Before any one could say anything, like I don't know – introduce themselves, even more robots came into the large room. The first one was almost two times larger than the blue one who drove me here. It was painted a lighter blue with red and silver accents, and had pillar-like shapes on its shoulders. Behind them was a robot who looked like they could change into an emergency vehicle. There were ambulance markings on their arms and they were colored red and white. Two robots were whispering things to each other when they walked in. One of them was mainly white and the calves and upper arms were painted a navy-blue color. The other was all black with their headlights on their shoulders. The final robot to come in with the group also looked like an emergency vehicle. They also had doors for wings, and they both said police on them.
All of the giants seemed to be judging me silently, and I thought it was just the choice of outfit I had on today. I had on white high-tops, a red long sleeve shirt, and a black denim overall dress. My backpack was on my back and my green jacket was in my hands. And I was aware that my curls could look a little crazy, but there wasn't much I could do about that.
I couldn't make eye contact with any of them, and I was getting more and more scared about what was going to happen to me. It could take just one step from any of them and I would become roadkill. "I didn't think that Blue and Bee would break the rules first." The white one with fins on its head said, breaking the silence in the room.
"The Cons were after her!" The yellow and black robot, that I assumed was Bumblebee, said with a defending tone of voice, "What were we supposed to do?!"
The yellow robot with fins on their head rolled its eyes, "Not intervene!"
"Don't you remember Autobot Rule number one?" The identical looking red robot added, "Keep a low profile."
The blue robot approached them, looking angry, "How about the rule that covers innocent lives?" They asked.
It looked like another fight was going to start before the visor wearing robot stepped in between the small blue one and the identical looking ones. "Alright. Sides and Sunny, leave Blue and Bee alone." It said, "These two did what they thought was the right thing to do. Last I checked, Optimus is the one in charge, so he'll handle this." That seemed to be enough because the yellow and red robots stepped back, looking at me with judging looks on their faces.
Loud, ground shaking footsteps were coming from the other hallway and towards the room we were in. That made everyone stand at attention and look to the hall. In walked the tallest robot I've seen yet, a head taller than the tallest one. Their head was a navy blue, along with their legs. The chest and arms were firetruck red and they had windows on the front.
My eyes were wide as I watched the robot come right up to me and kneel down, even though I still had to look up at them in the eyes. The mask over its face retracted and there was a soft, yet firm look on their face. "Welcome human," Their voice boomed, "to the Autobot base. I would like introduce you to the other Autobots." The robot stood and gestured to the lineup of others, "This is our second in command – Ultra Magnus," they pointed to the blue pillar-shoulder robot, "and our chief medical officer – Ratchet." The ambulance looking robot was gestured to next.
"Our military strategist – Prowl," This was the police car, "and our special operations agent – Jazz." Jazz is the one with a visor covering their eyes. The white fins robot was introduced next, "This is our engineer – Wheeljack, and our head of security – Ironhide." The security robot was the all black robot. "Mirage is the Autobot's spy" This was the white and blue robot, "Our warriors are the twins – Sideswipe and Sunstreaker." These were the identical looking yellow and red robots, "and you have already met our young scouts Bumblebee and Bluestreak."
The large robot kneeled down again, getting close to my face. Uncomfortably close. "And I am Optimus Prime - leader of the Autobots. We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron. Our mission is to protect your planet from the Decepticons." I took a couple steps back to give myself some room.
My mind was still trying to process all of the names and information that was shared with me. So many names, so many roles, so many colors. "Um…well, why are you both there in first place?" I asked quietly, "Sir!" I added quickly, not super sure how formal I was supposed to be with any of them, but better to be safe than sorry.
"Because of planet is uninhabitable; ravaged by centuries of civil war." The leader, Optimus Prime, explained, "But that can be explained at a more appropriate time."
The tone in the room became somber after that, and I knew that I found myself in the middle of something that I never wanted to be in the middle of.