Chapter 1

"So this is the truck ya were tellin' me 'bout?"

"Yea. Reckon you might like it. It's certainly yer style, Cody."

Cerulean blue eyes gazed up at the beaten up vehicle before her, covered in scratches, dirt, tears and what looked like bullet holes almost. The blue and red color was faint underneath the thick layer of dirt and dust, but Cody could tell that once it was fixed, it would be a beauty. She was a young woman of 24 (almost 25, with it being July) with short, black hair styled into a pixie, bangs sweeping over the right side of her forehead and right eye. She was a bit on the short side, but made that up with her quick reflexes and her nimbleness with the slender build of her form. She was wearing a pair of black jeans that hugged her legs, a gray sleeveless tunic shirt that reached the middle of her thighs and black combat boots that zipped up, along with a few rings on her fingers and a couple of bracelets, including the dog tags that hung around her neck, once belonging to her father.

"Looks like he's been through hell, hasn't he?" Cody asked, looking over to the man standing next to her.

Miles was a man in his late 40's, with a deep voice and a thick, Texan accent. He was currently going through a divorce, but made it up by befriending the young woman and helping her find projects while she wasn't racing.

"I reckon so. He'll need quite a bit of work, but I'm sure you'll manage." Miles replied, nodding in agreement. "My thinking is that he's a Peterbuilt, due to the appearance of the hood."

"Which makes it much better for me, since I love larger vehicles." Cody smiled a bit. "Alrighty, I'll take 'im."

Cody transferred over 500 dollars to his account, which he gladly thanked her with a ruffle of her hair. Miles called the towing company of the small town and they were able to get the beaten up Peterbuilt to Cody's workshop just on the outside of town, which was quite large since she owned two other vehicles, a motorcycle and a small truck to load parts and supplies. The Peterbuilt was placed in the middle of the workshop, where she could easily work on it without issue. The next race wasn't for a couple of weeks, so she had plenty of things to do until then. She often had Miles find her projects since he was better at it than she was, and she paid him for it.

"Good luck on 'im, Cody. Let me know how it goes." Miles said as he walked out the door.

"I will, thanks man!" Cody called back to him, shutting the door and stretching. "Time to work."

Her workshop was also her home, which she rented from a landlord that lived on the other side of town. He often always called her for repairs, which he gladly lowered down her rent for her since she was so helpful. The only thing she really had to pay for separately was her car insurance and her internet bill, as well as a phone bill. She loved it, even though she didn't really have anyone to call family except for Miles. Her parents both died while across seas, having stepped on a landmine while scouting. Cody mourned for them and it was hard sometimes, but she had been able to make it through without any mishaps.

Now that she had a project to work on, it would keep her busy.

Cody brushed her hair out of her forehead and put her foot onto the step, opening the driver's side door. She was startled when rusted and dirty parts came falling out of it, clattering onto the cement floor loudly. She internally wondered how the truck got to be in this state, but all she was worried about was fixing him up. She sighed softly and climbed into the driver's seat, shining her flashlight around to get a better look. The interior had definitely seen better days, but it actually wasn't as bad as she thought. Tears here and there and completely covered in dirt.

"What happened to ya, big guy?" she asked softly, sitting down in the driver's seat.

Putting her other hand on the broken horn, she felt an engraving underneath the thick layer of dust. Curious, she brushed the dust away with her thumb, until she could see what she had felt. The engraving was nothing more than a face of some kind, certainly not any symbol she had seen before. Pursing her lips, she moved down a bit so she could get a look at underneath the steering wheel. Cody shined the flashlight around, seeing wires hanging out, as if someone had tried to hot wire the truck.

Cody carefully placed the flashlight between her thighs and held it there, as she grabbed the wires with her thumbs and index fingers, pushing the wires together as she tried to attempt and start the semi-truck. There was nothing for a moment, but then she saw a small spark and then a larger one came from out of nowhere. She yelped and immediately released the wires, and was shocked when the truck started up, sputtering to life for what was probably the first time in a long time.

"Yes!" she cheered.

Without warning, the truck rumbled and the radio came to life, surprising her once more. Then, the truck began to shake violently and a deep, male voice came from out of nowhere, speaking in a language that she clearly couldn't understand. She was confused to what was going on, quickly exiting the truck and falling onto her ass. Cody watched in completely and utter shock as the truck began to move and shift, becoming what looked like a giant humanoid as it formed in front of her eyes. A pair of bright, blue lights came to life and shined down on her smaller form, growing taller and taller until it nearly brushed the ceiling of her workshop.

"Oh...my...fuck..." Cody gasped.

What Cody could only describe in front of her was a giant robot, something that came out of a fucking science fiction movie. It moved lethargically, as if it was just waking up from a coma or a deep sleep. Dirt and parts fell off of it's huge form, and it's large fists clenched, still speaking in that language she couldn't understand.

It, he...Cody had no idea what to call the truck. It's voice was deep and sounded male, so she was thinking that the truck was a he. It's blue eyes landed on her, blinking rapidly before they slowed down. The metal creature lowered itself to the floor, now sitting down like she was, knees close to it's- his chest. Cody didn't move for what seemed like an hour, and then she slowly moved. She was careful as she stood up, watching as the creature's arm came up in what looked like defense. Cody raised her own hands, showing that she was unarmed.

"It's okay...I'm not gonna hurt ya." she said softly, taking a few steps closer to the creature.

The creature's eyes softened and he leaned forward, his hands on the floor of the workshop to support his weight. She could hear metal groaning as it moved and she swallowed thickly as the creature raised a massive hand, slowly getting closer to her own held up ones. After a few moments, flesh and metal pressed together, palm to palm, getting a feel. Cody could feel the warmth of the creature underneath her palm, and she could also feel a faint vibration, like a heartbeat.

"Do you have a name?" Cody asked, removing a hand so she could place it on her chest. "My name is Cody, Cody Gerrick."

"Co...dy?" the creature spoke, in a deep, baritone voice that also sounded mechanical, robotic.

"Yes, Cody." she nodded. "Can you tell me your name?"

The creature seemed to think for a moment, before it turned its glowing blue eyes down to her. "Optimus Prime."

Well damn, that was quite a unique name. Cody gave a nod, then a smile and took her hand away, to which the creature did the same. "That's quite the name, Optimus. Can you...well, speak human language?"

"I can." he gave a slight nod. "However...it is hard to...speak."

"Your vocal cords must be damaged." Cody concluded, placing her hands on her hips. "If I can take a look at them, I can deduct what's wrong with them."

"Very well."

To her surprise, he moved his hand down to her, placing it on the floor, palm-up. Cody blinked, glanced up at him and then looked to the giant hand in front of her. She took a deep breath, then took a few steps forward and put one foot on the creature's metal hand. She tested it for a few seconds, then climbed onto the hand completely. Optimus raised his hand slowly upwards, causing Cody to fall flat on her ass in surprise. She laughed nervously, and once he had brought her up to his throat, she sat on her knees and took a closer look.

Upon examining the thick cords around his neck, she saw one of the cords had been slashed completely through. It was nothing difficult she couldn't fix. "One of the cords here has been sliced through completely. All I need is some parts and a couple of tools, then it should be good as new. Bad news is, it's late and I need to sleep. I can get this fixed up in the morning for ya."

"Thank you." he said politely.

"My pleasure." she said, giving his thumb a gentle pat.

Optimus lowered her back down to the ground, where she stepped off and cracked her back. She informed him that she was going to take a shower and went to her bathroom. She took a 15 minute shower, dressing in pajama shorts and a tank top. She had her AC on, but when she was working, she did warm up quite a bit. She'd sleep tonight, then get to work in the morning. She half expected this all to be a really weird dream and wake up to no giant robot in her workshop.

After drying her hair as much as she could, she hung her towel up and left the room, turning off the main light of the large, open room. Cody sighed softly and made her way to her bed, which was a complete mess. She never bothered to make it since she would just sleep in it hours later. She fixed her blanket, crawling under the comforter and glancing up at the creature before her. "Will you be alright until about 8 AM?"

"I will...be. Stasis will...allow me to...regain my strength." he gave a nod.

Cody gave a nod and reached behind her, turning off the lamp. The only light she had now was the moonlight that came through the windows near the ceiling and the glowing, blue light that came from Optimus' eyes. She didn't mind the lights at all, normally not able to sleep in completely darkness. She sighed softly, turning onto her side with her back facing the large creature. When she closed her eyes, it only took her a mere few minutes to fall asleep, her breathing evening out slowly.

The human was asleep within moments, leaving him to his thoughts. He wouldn't be able to go into stasis right away, since he had just woken up from a coma, it seems like. How long he had been asleep, he didn't know. The last thing he remembered was arriving on this planet, landing in the middle of a field and then taking a vehicle mode, then he was attacked and injured severely...then...nothing after that. His memory was blurry after that and he assumed he had been asleep for a long while.

Then he was being jolted awake by electricity, startling him into transforming. His optics were gazing upon a frightened human, and once both of them were calm, she spoke to him. She wasn't...terrified of him, but more so curious and cautious. Their palms touched and he knew for a fact that she was a human he could trust. Her name was Cody, she said. Cody Gerrick.

Optimus closed his optics and pulled up his internet search, searching in the name Cody Gerrick. The first thing that came up was a link, called Facebook. What was Facebook? He clicked on the link anyway, being brought to a profile that definitely had Cody's picture on it, then a large, cover photo with her and an older man chasing each other...playfully? Her profile on the left side concluded that she was single, and was self-employed as a racer and a mechanic.

A racer?

Sounds like Sideswipe a bit. He thought, scrolling down her profile to gather more information.

He found a video that had been taken two weeks ago and he played it, curious. It started out with someone holding the camera, videotaping what looked like a drunken Cody. She held up a shot glass filled with a golden liquid, before speaking. "Here's to my parents, Steven and Wanda Gerrick, who both died when stepping on a landmine on the other side of the world." She spoke, before putting the glass to her lips and drinking the liquid down. "It's been six years since they passed away, on August 1st, 2013. Way to start out the month, eh?"

Stepping on a landmine...?

Optimus searched the date for the current night and read that it was August 15th, 2018. So it had been six years since her parents passed away...

He turned his optics towards the young human, softening a bit. Maybe she didn't have siblings...

Ah, well. He could always ask her questions about it, though he was sure since they just met, she would be cautious of letting him in on personal information. With that, the Autobot leader allowed his optics to close and he was quickly off to stasis.