Well, school's finally out and I only have one exam left before I can officially call it summer vacation. Anyways, I'm not going to be in town June 22 through either the first or second of July. So, I'm really not going to be able to update at all. This might be the last story I update before I leave so, enjoy!


Chapter Eight: Tongue Tied

Optimus suddenly felt himself at a loss for words. He felt like he was going to choke on his own tongue. Never had a femme put him at a loss for words like this. Optimus tried to regain his composure, but he couldn't.

"Well?" Jessica asked looking at him quizzically.

"Um," Optimus remarked trying to quickly think of what to say, "Jessica…I…would…like to train you,"

"Oh," she stated, "How about you teach me how to transform so I can go home?"

"Later on, why don't you go to your quarters and rest?"

"I'm not tired,"

"Well, I guess you could just hang out, I've got nothing for you to do," he explained.

"I suppose I could find something to do," Jessica exclaimed sounding bored.

"Right," Optimus remarked, "I'll see you later Jess." And with that he left the room.

Jessica watched as he exited the room and the doors shut behind him. She got a rather evil looking smirk on her face and murmured, "I'm going outside." Getting up from the bed, she walked out of the med bay and out of the base.

Everything looked so much smaller from her new point of view. She sat down on a rock and sighed. Jessica had a lot of things to think about, and each thing she needed to think about seemed to make her life even more complicated than before.

Jessica knew she had been cured and the formula had been completely erased from her system. But now she was this, and although she couldn't say she wasn't beautiful, it would be awhile before she got used to her newly improved body. She was excited and terrified about her new form. She was basically unlimited now, but what was she suppose to do with herself? Humans wouldn't accept her anymore.

Not to mention she was homesick. As much as Jessica didn't want to admit it, she wasn't ready to be so independent and on her own. She wanted someone to turn to who would hold her and comfort her. But no one came to mind…just Optimus.

Out of all her problems, Jessica knew Optimus was the biggest one. He had always been there for her, whether it be looking out for her safety or actually rescuing her. And even though he was a robot, Jessica couldn't deny that Optimus was extremely good looking.

She felt…different…about him then she did anyone else. And she wasn't quite sure what it was she felt, but it scared her, and that's what made her want to leave. It was a burning hunger, and it was so strong, it made her weak at the knees. Jessica had felt this way before, but not quite as strong as she did now. That person whom she felt this emotion for only succeeded in breaking her heart. Ever since then, Jessica had kept herself isolated from that feeling, but somehow Optimus was breaking through that barrier.

Jessica rubbed her forehead and stood. "If Optimus isn't going to teach me to transform, then I guess I'll have to teach myself," she mumbled to herself. Letting her optics go offline, Jessica concentrated on what she transformed into. A jet was one form, and a human the other. She focused on her human form and ushered the word, "Transform." She felt her body fold and when she opened her eyes, she was human again. Jessica then transformed back into her robot form, and into her jet form and flew around for a bit getting used to her vehicle form.

When she was satisfied, Jessica transformed and landed on the ground. Suddenly a chuckle sounded behind her. Jessica whipped around only to be face to face with a nightmare from her past. "Sideways," she exclaimed.

"Good guess," he remarked and approached her.

Jessica took a step back, "What do you want?"

"You," he answered quite frankly, "I take it the autobots turned you into a transformer because our formula failed."

"Well no duh. All you did was poison me," she retorted.

"Don't use that tone with me," he threatened, "Now come, your presence is requested."

"Requested? By who?"

"Thrust, and me,"

Jessica rolled her optics, "I'm not going anywhere so you mine as well pack up and go home."

"The only thing I have to pack is you Jessica," he remarked stopping in front of her, "Don't make this harder than what it has to be."

"How about you just leave so you don't make this harder than what I want it to be?"

Sideways grabbed her by the throat and pulled her to his optic level, "I told you not to talk to me like that."

Jessica glared at him, "Let me go."

"Not a chance in hell. You're still an experiment kid, Thrust and I have yet to begin with you," Sideways stated in a sadistic tone then added with a bit of lust in his voice, "The autobots did do a good job creating your new body. I might just…experiment with it myself."

"You evil bloody creep!" Jessica spat venomously trying to break free from his grasp.

"I'll take that as a compliment," he stated with a smirk of amusement on his face, "We're leaving."

"Correction, you're leaving," she said and twisted herself out of his grasp. Before Sideways had time to react, Jessica had already disappeared back inside the base.

Sideways knew it would be suicidal trying to go in there by himself to retrieve the girl. "Next time Jessica," he mumbled under his breath, "Next time." And with that he made a hasty retreat back to the decepticon base.


Jessica ran to her quarters and locked the door once she got inside. Numbly she walked over to her bed and sat on its edge trying to calm herself down. She had almost crashed into Optimus on the way to her quarters, and she was sure within the next few seconds, he would be knocking on her door demanding to know what was going on. Quickly she tried to think of an excuse.

A soft knock sounded on her door, "Jessica, I know you're in there, let me in."

Jessica laid down on her stomach in the bed and pulled a blanket over her head. She was scared and confused, and she didn't want to tell Optimus what had happened for fear that he may yell at her for leaving the base without permission again.

"Jessica, I know your door code so you mine as well let me in,"

The girl didn't get up from the bed and a few seconds later she heard Optimus typing in her door code. She prayed that he'd mess up or something and that he wouldn't get in, but her prayers weren't answered. Jessica heard the door hiss open and shut and Optimus's soft footsteps as he came over to her bedside and sat on the edge where she had just currently been.

"Is something wrong Jess?"

"Leave me alone, I'm trying to be invisible,"

Optimus shook his head trying not to smile and said, "You know Red Alert didn't create you to be invisible."

"I'm using my imagination,"

"Well then, even if your invisible you can still talk, what's wrong?"

"I have the right to remain silent,"

"Not right now you don't," the autobot leader stated, "So spill."

"I don't spill,"

"Did you leave the med bay after I left?"

"Yes,"

"Where'd you go?"

"Out,"

"Outside the base?"

"Yes,"

Optimus shook his head not at all happy with Jessica's confession about that, "You still haven't learned have you? Whenever you step outside the base alone, something bad happens. So what happened this time?"

"I taught myself to transform,"

"Really now?" Optimus remarked a little surprised that Jessica was able to do that, but it made sense being the smart girl that she was.

"Yes, I can even fly on my own,"

"Well, I'm proud of you, but something else must have happened to have made you come running into the base so quickly like that."

"I had…company,"

The autobot leader felt his system's freeze, "Who?"

"I guess you could call him an old acquaintance,"

"Sideways?"

"Correct,"

Optimus groaned, "What did he want?"

"Me,"

"This definitely isn't good Jessica. Now that he knows you're a transformer, there's no telling what he'll want with you,"

"He wants me for more experimentation. Optimus, this is one reason why I want to go home. I'm sick of being treated like an experiment, I'm a normal person just like you and the rest of the transformers,"

The autobot leader sighed, "I know Jess, but until Sideways and Thrust are no longer a threat, I'm afraid I can't let you leave this base alone."

"Oh joy," Jessica remarked.

"And I definitely don't want you to runaway again, so what will it take me to get you to stay here?"

"Well, you could lock me in my room forever and forever and never let me come out," Jessica suggested, "But I don't necessarily like the sounds of that."

"And you know I'm not that kind of person to lock you up like that," Optimus admitted, "I guess I really don't have anything extremely persuasive to say other than I need you here with me."

"What?" Jessica said eyeing him suspiciously.

"Er, that came out wrong," Optimus quickly stated to try and cover up his mistake. He knew though that it hadn't been a mistake, and that he had almost told Jessica how he really felt. He kicked himself mentally for not stating the truth.

"Do you like me Optimus?"

"Yes," he said and then added quickly, "As a friend." Now he was ready to shoot himself for not telling the truth again.

"I see," Jessica said relieved and disappointed all at once, "I guess I could stay then, until Sideways and Thrust are taken care of, and then I might leave depending on whether or not I change my mind."

"You know," Optimus stated thinking back, "I did promise to take you to Cybertron sometime. Don't you want to stick around long enough so you can see it?"

Jessica rolled over onto her back and removed the covers from her body and sat up, "Yes! I completely forgot about that!"

Optimus chuckled, "Well, you'll need to wait around long enough until we can get a ship built and head back there."

Jessica nodded and there was silence between the two for a moment. Suddenly Jessica asked in a quiet voice, "Optimus, would you ever hurt me for any reason?"

"Is that what's been bothering you?" Optimus remarked in a gentle soft tone.

She nodded and moved so she was sitting next to him, "I was just wondering."

"Jessica, no matter what you did, I could never be moved enough to hurt you. I may yell, but I won't bite. Do you understand? I care a lot about you Jess, I don't want you to be afraid of me,"

Jessica was silent for a few moments. That feeling inside her didn't terrify her now as it had before. Now it was only a hunger waiting be satisfied, and more than anything did she want to satisfy it. The feeling was still extremely powerful, and still making her weak at the knees, but she now had an idea of what this feeling was.

"Hey Optimus," she said suddenly, "Don't be afraid to tell me anything."

The autobot leader glanced down at the floor knowing this was his moment, no time was better than now. He drew in a breath and suddenly found himself saying, "Thanks Jess, I'll see you later." And before he knew it, he had left the room leaving a bewildered Jessica behind.


Megatron sat in his throne and watched without amusement as Thrust and Sideways kneeled before him. "What is it?" he asked gruffly.

"We found out something about the autobots," Thrust spoke first with a chord of excitement in his voice.

"Thrill me,"

"They turned a human female into a transformer, successfully," Sideways stated before Thrust could get a chance to speak.

Megatron rubbed his chin thinking for a moment, "Any ideas as to why they did that?"

Thrust glanced at Sideways and the motorcycle continued, "Well sir, we had kidnapped her and run an experiment on her—

"Without my knowledge?" Megatron exclaimed cutting the bot off, "Just how did the autobots manage to get her away from you?"

"They came here and took her away," Sideways explained and prepared himself for Megatron's fury.

"Here? You two are going to be scrap by the time I'm finished with you!"

"Here us out Megatron, what if we could turn humans into transformers? Think about all the possibilities, you'd have more men on your side and you could easily outnumber the autobots,"

"And then there's the trouble of getting them loyal to me," Megatron hissed.

"We can program them to be decepticons loyal to you sir," Sideways added before Thrust could ramble on some more, "And if we could get this girl—

"There's no point in getting her,"

"Let Thrust and I see if we can duplicate this experiment that the autobots did. If we can't figure something out, we'll take her apart to get the information we need,"

Megatron thought about this for a moment. It definitely wouldn't hurt to try, and if it succeeded, it could mean an end to the war. "Alright," Megatron finally stated, "I'll go lead an attack on the autobots, and while all the autobots are out, Sideways you get the girl."

"As you wish Megatron,"

"Let me know when you have her though,"

"Yes sir,"

"And when I get back," Megatron stated with an evil grin on his face, "Bring her to me."


Evil spot to end it, I know. But until the next chapter, please review!