Thank you to all you faithful readers! You guys are da bomb! Stuff gonna be going down real soon :)


Chapter 9: Tragedy Avoided

3…2…1… "Charge!" Optimus accelerated forward at Leo and Charlotte's command. He easily pulled ahead of the other cars at the stop light.

"Moohahahah, we're in the lead!" Leo laughed evilly.

"All objects in the mirror are losing 'dis race! Go go go go!" Charlotte was bouncing up and down in the passenger seat of the fire truck; the seatbelt being the only thing really keeping her down. Then some cars passed in front of Optimus. "Hey, what's going on? We were winning, why'd you slow down?" She asked disappointed.

"They passed me because I am going the speed limit, while they are not." Optimus answered the young teenage girl.

"But…" she started.

"I am obeying the laws of the road. You out of all people should know the law, with your father being a police officer and all." He wisely stated. He used his turning signal and turned off the main road to a back road. Charlotte in response just crossed her arms and silently mumbled to herself. Leo, being the comedian that he is, decided to start playing the song "Bad Boys" by Inner Circle.

Bad boys, bad boys

Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do

When they come for you

Bad boys, bad boys

Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do

When they come for you

Charlotte shot Leo a look.

"What? It's your dad's theme song." Leo smiled innocently.

Charlotte just rolled her eyes and watched the many trees go by. She did this until Optimus pulled off onto a dirt road that led into the forest. He continued to drive on that road up until he hit a dead end. He stopped and waited for his passengers to get out. When they did, Charlotte went to the nearby outhouse and changed into running clothes. The barely 5-foot teen put her hair up into a ponytail and gave the now transformed Optimus her backpack.

"See ya at the house." She then started her light run into the forest towards her house with Leo playing in her ears. Optimus kept a steady pace behind her.

They had started this little workout a few weeks after her birthday. Charlotte would run to her house which was almost two miles away under the watchful eye of Optimus. He would trail behind her and give her a ride if she needed it. The forest in this area was thick, so he wouldn't be detected. His main problem was trying to keep up with Charlotte while maneuvering his way around the trees without further hurting his left arm. That and the right side of his hip were the only injuries that gave him much trouble.

After 25 minutes, they safely reached their destination. Charlotte continued running until she reached the door to her house. Optimus walked around to the back and put Charlotte's things on the outside balcony. He was thinking about telling her that she bettered her time since yesterday, when he detected Tony getting dropped off by his buddies. Optimus instead silently retreated to the forest.

"The party is home!" Tony yelled as he walked through the front door. He heard a "whatever" from upstairs, most likely his sister. He grabbed a snack on his way up the stairs for a quick shower. He got out and saw that Charlotte was waiting for him. "Wuz up, lil sis?"

"Why are you showering? You never shower when you get home." She had one hand on her hip and the other was holding her bathing supplies.

"It's not really your business, thank you very much." Tony pushed past her and went to his room to get ready.

Charlotte followed him to his room, "What? You got another hot date or something?" she teased him as she leaned on the door frame.

He rolled his eyes as he quickly pulled his 'Call of Duty' shirt over his head. "No, my friends and I are just gonna hang out. I won't be back till late tonight. Tell mom and dad not to wait up." He slipped on his shoes, grabbed his 'Gamer' snap-back hat, and mess up Charlotte's hair with his hand as he walked passed her. "Later shorty," was all he said as he hurried downstairs. She saw him get in the car with his buddies, and then they were gone.

"Humph, okay." Charlotte proceeded on her way to the shower.


It was 2:37 AM, and a group of teenage boys were speeding down a long stretch of road. They were just messing around, having fun with the radio blasting. None of them considered how fast they were actually going.

"Yo dude, when am I turning?" the driver of the truck asked.

"The turn isn't for a while, just keep going straight," was practically yelled in response from one of the guys in the back.

Trees and street signs zoomed by, and the driver missed the sign warning about the potential for animals crossing. The head lights saw the deer first, but by then it was too late. They were going way too fast.

"OH SHI….!" The driver slammed on the brakes and turned the wheel sharply. The truck curved and flipped on its side. It flipped again, and again, flying high off the ground several times. It would have continued spinning out of control if it hadn't run into a tree on the side of the road. The vehicle was right-side-up, but it was terribly disfigured. Metal parts lay everywhere. All the passengers seemed to be out cold, if not dead. It didn't help that the truck was smoking.


Optimus was awakened suddenly by an unknown source. It sounded like metal being torn apart, a sound he was all too familiar with. He left his shelter and scanned the surrounding area. He detected a disturbance down the road leading to Charlotte's house. He decided to investigate, with the aid of the shadows to help conceal him.

He quickly headed to the disturbance. He came upon the scene of a car accident. He searched the area. No one was around, so he made the decision to help. Besides, he was an autobot, and autobots helped those in need.

Optimus' scanners picked up the flammable gas scattered across the street. The humans were now in even greater danger. Optimus ran to the totaled truck. He easily, yet cautiously, tore the roof off the car. He saw four teenage boys, all wearing their seatbelts. "Thank Primus for that," Optimus thought to himself. He needed to work fast. Thankfully, the interior of the car was not nearly as bad as the outside. He carefully ripped the seat belts from their bodies. As he reached down to grab one of the boys, he noticed what was on his shirt, 'Call of Duty'.

"Tony…" Optimus whispered. A spark caught Optimus' attention. He then hurriedly grabbed the rest of the teenagers bringing them close to his chest for protection. He turned his back to the truck right as it exploded. The explosion caused him to fly forward. He landed with one knee on the ground. Optimus looked down at the boys. They seemed to be unconscious, and more importantly, not harmed from the blast. Optimus patched himself to the police apartment.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"There has been a car accident on Black Fox road, approximately 12.7 yards north from the mile marker 72. Four teenage boys, all require medical attention." Optimus told the operator while he scanned the boys' vitals. They all had at least two bones broken in some way, along with other things. "Injuries include broken limbs, internal bleeding, minor lacerations, one concussion, and the driver has cerebral hemorrhaging. The gas all over the road caused the vehicle to explode. No one was hurt in this explosion." As Optimus was saying the last part, he was extinguishing the fire. It was easy being how he was a fire truck.

"Sir, your information has been most helpful. We are sending ambulances, fire engines, and officers your way. They will be there shorty. What is your name?" the operator inquired of the Prime.

Optimus simply replied, "Please hurry," and ended the call. He laid the boys carefully on the street. He then put emergency flares all around them. He heard sirens in the distance. Optimus was about to return to the safety of the trees, when he heard a moan. He looked back and saw that Tony was moving his head in his direction. Optimus quickly took shelter in the trees. The rescue teams were arriving. EMTs ran out of their vehicles and went to the injured boys. Tony was still looking in Optimus' direction when they arrived. But when the EMTs got to him, he lost consciousness again.

Optimus remained hidden in the distance for a while. He wanted to make sure they got the proper care they needed, which they did. The first responders were able to identify who the boys were and notified their families. Optimus headed back to his base. He wondered if Tony was awake the entire time and if he had seen him…


"Is he going to be alright?" Tony heard a female voice, it sounded like his mom's.

He then heard an unfamiliar voice, "Yes, his wounds could have been much worst. A broken arm, dislocated shoulder, and a slash to the chest are minor considering what could have happened. He can thank his seatbelt for that. He and his friends were lucky that someone was there to pull them out of the truck. If they would have stayed there, they probably wouldn't have made it out alive."

"Is there any word yet on who made the call?" Tony identified that authoritative voice as his fathers.

"He moved!" Now that's my little sister, Tony thought. Her voice was the easiest to make out.

"Tony, can you hear me?" the unfamiliar voice must have belonged to the doctor.

Tony opened his eyes for the first time. He blinked several times. He looked around the hospital room and saw his parents and sister, along with a doctor. Once he saw the guy in a white coat, he nodded at him.

"Good, now I'm just going to ask you a few questions." The doctor asked him the usual questions for someone who had just been in a car accident. Tony was one of the luckier ones. His friends were pretty banged up compared to him. He was also the first one to wake up from the accident.

Once the doctor had everything he needed to know, some officers came in and asked him a few questions. Most of them revolved around every detail about how the accident happened. They also wanted to know if Tony had remembered anything after the accident, such as the stranger who pulled them out of the vehicle. Tony told the cops that he was knocked out after the accident. He told them how he sort of remembers hearing the sirens, and that was it. They thanked him for his time and left.

"I'm in trouble, aren't I?" Tony shrugged now that he was finally alone with his family.

His father replied, "Hell yeah you're in trouble." He would have gone on a rant if his wife hadn't cut in.

"Robert, he was just in an accident. Cut him some slack." Anna then turned to her son. "No, you are not in trouble. Don't think about that right now. You need to focus on getting better." She told him as she caressed his scarred face.

"But Anna," the father started, but he was silenced by his wife's glare.


Tony was released from the hospital the next day with a cast on his arm and a sling. So far, he was the only one from the accident that was permitted to leave. It was a quiet trip back to the house. When they did get home, Tony went straight to his room. Something was bothering him and his family could see it. His mom sought to make it better by cooking his favorite meal.

Charlotte ran up stairs to her brother's room. "Tony," she waited. "Tony, it's me." She knocked again, and when he didn't answer, she opened the door. She saw him sitting in his computer chair looking out the open window. The light breeze made his hair sway a little. "Mom is making your favorite, lasagna. It'll be done soon."

He was quiet for a bit, but then he said, "Kay thanks. Please shut the door on your way out." Charlotte left sadly and went to help her mom with dinner.

It was an uncomfortably quiet dinner. Tony was bothered by something, his parents were silently arguing, and Charlotte was just there awkwardly eating. Tony went to bed early that night, nobody thought anything of it.

After finishing with cleaning up the kitchen, Charlotte went to her room. "What's wrong with him, Leo? That's not the Tony I know and love."

Leo replied from his spot on the ceiling fan, "He just went through a life-changing event. He could have died. Give him some time; he's probably still in shock."

"You're right, but how long until he'll get better again," she asked as she turned the fan on. This made Leo hang on for dear life as the wings on the fan started moving faster and faster.

"Waaaaoooo!" Leo yelled as he was sent flying onto Charlotte's bed. He then dizzily replied, "I don't know. Optimus might have a better answer. I mean, it's not like he hasn't gone through life threatening situations." Giving up on trying to keep his balance, he fell back onto the pillows.

"True, it's been awhile since we lasted talked anyway. I'll ask tomorrow." Now that Charlotte thought of it, she hadn't talked to him since the day of the accident right before her run. He just might know something about this entire situation.


Tony had been lying in bed, unable to fall asleep. He looked at the clock. It was 2:20 in the morning. Giving up on the idea of falling asleep, he decided to visit the place where he almost died. He got up, careful not to hurt himself any more than he already was, and snuck out of the house. It was a good fifteen minute walk to the site. The full moon illuminated the tire marks on the road, along with the damaged tree.

The October night was a little chilly and breezy. Tony shivered in his thin pajamas. He turned to return home when something in the trees caught his eye. "Hello…is anyone there?"

No answer.

"Well…if someone is there and that person happens to be the one who saved my friends and me, I want to say thank you." Tony waited for a long moment, but nothing happened. He shivered again.

He turned to head back home when, for just a second, he saw what had been disturbing him ever since the accident. He could have sworn he saw some really big thing with eyes that glowed yellow. That was all he really remembered. He remembered seeing them when the roof was ripped off the car. And again he saw those eyes looking directly at him for a moment before their owner got him and his friends away from the explosion. He most vividly remembers those eyes looking at him when the sirens from the emergency vehicles could be heard in the distance.

Now he had just seen those eyes again, in the same spot he saw them before he lost consciousness. "I know you're there. I can see your eyes." The owner of the eyes did not move. They just kept on staring at him, at his eyes, into his soul.

Optimus gazed at Charlotte's brother from his kneeling position. His scanners picked up Tony's body temperature, telling him that the boy was cold. Optimus pulled out a blanket, given to him by Charlotte. With his right hand he held it out, far enough for Tony to see it, but not enough to see his hand.

Tony cautiously walked up to the blanket, eyeing the eyes that watched him from high up. Tony looked at the blanket and recognized it. It belonged to Charlotte. "How did you get this?" He asked.

Optimus wasn't sure what to say, which seemed to be happening more often than not. He looked away from Tony.

"Hey! I said 'where did you get this?' Don't look away from me." Tony said a little more sternly then he intended.

Optimus turned his attention back to him, not liking his tone. "Your sister gave it to me."

Tony was surprised at what he heard. Yeah, the news was stunning enough, but the voice was what really shocked him. Tony actually stumbled backwards from the powerful voice. He tripped on his own feet and squeezed his eyes shut waiting for impact, which would definitely hurt his sore body. The impact never came. Instead he felt the blanket wrapped around him.

Optimus had lunged forward and caught Tony, he just happened to have the blanket engulfed in his hand to soften Tony's fall. But now, Optimus' upper body was exposed. Tony saw the huge mechanical creature that saved him from a world of pain.

"What…is…Oh…MY…" Tony's voice was getting louder with every word.

"Please don't do that," Optimus asked softly.

Tony went silent.

"If you let me, I will explain everything." Optimus spoke quietly to keep Tony calm.

Tony responded with a nod.

Optimus took Tony to his shielded base. There he introduced himself and told Tony how Charlotte and he met several months ago. His crash landing, the night in the rain, how Leo was now alive, and how he was the one who saved him. He briefly mentioned the civil war, which led to him telling Tony he was an alien. He transformed for him to prove that point.

Tony thought he had seen that fire engine before, and it was always only when Charlotte was around. Tony then had another thought, "So, what's the deal with you and my sister?"

Optimus transformed back into his robot mode, and lifted an optic ridge, "What do you mean?"

"Like, why do you stay around? If you're an alien, shouldn't you be trying to get back to your people?"

"I've been trying to contact them. Your technology is not strong enough to reach them. I am stranded here, unable to call for assistance."

Tony pondered over what he recently heard. "Then why stay with Charlotte? Why not try to make contact with the government? They could probably help you better than my sister can."

"Put yourself in my 'shoes'," Optimus was getting better with human analogies, "if you were on an alien planet would you want to make yourself known to that world's most powerful military. You don't know what stance the government will take when they learn of your existence. You wouldn't be able to defend yourself against its entire military force if it stood against you. They wouldn't know what you were, so what's to stop them from doing tests on you when they can overpower you. On top of all that, you aren't even at your full strength. You are injured and weak." Optimus unintentionally thundered.

Tony, who was now nervous, went silent. He hadn't really thought about it. Optimus obviously knows what he is doing and he has had a lot of time to think about it. He was pulled out of his thoughts by Optimus' soothing voice.

"Please forgive me, I had no right to use that tone with you." Alien or not, anyone could hear the apology in his metallic voice.

"Oh, it's cool bro; don't sweat it. You probably need to let out steam, and that's not easy for ya because of your size." Tony gave him a half smile.

Optimus nodded in response. Bro… "Well Tony, now that you know, you must realize that no one can know of Leo's or my existence," his voice had taken on a more business-like tone.

"Your secret is safe with me." Tony looked around, suddenly realizing he had no idea where he was, "umm…"

"I'll take you to your house. Hop on," Optimus extended his hand. Tony wobbled on, making sure to keep his injured arm safe from harm. He used the metal fingers to help him. Once Tony was secure, Optimus headed for the house.

When they reached their destination, Optimus put Tony back on the ground. Tony had one foot in the house when he turned his upper body to the autobot, "Are we gonna tell Charlotte about me meeting you tomorrow?" He got a noiseless nod from the Leader of the Autobots.


Despite it being a Saturday, Charlotte woke up early the next morning. She rolled out of bed and sluggishly walked to the kitchen. While eating her cereal, she saw a note from her parents saying how they both left for work and that she needed to take care of her brother until they got home later that night.

"No, duh." She rinsed out her bowl and went back upstairs to check on Tony. He was fast asleep. She went back downstairs to watch TV in the living room, but saw that someone had beaten her to it. Leo was in there watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Charlotte was shaking her head as she approached. "Seriously?"

"Yerp," was the iPod's reply.

"Scoot over before I sit on you." They watched an episode and a half before they heard large footsteps approaching from outside. Not long after that, the room was lit up by a yellow light. Charlotte turned to see Optimus' eye in the window.

Charlotte got up from where she was sitting and went outside. "Morning," she said with a smile.

Optimus dipped his head in response. He was getting better at Earth greetings too.

"So hey, I had a question involving…" Tony. She totally forgot he was there. He could see Optimus! "Ah, you need to go! Tony is upstai…" she didn't get to finish. She heard the door open behind her and looked to see her brother come out of the house.

"'Sup Optimus. Oh, morning lil sis; didn't see ya there. I was too busy looking at up at our tall friend." Tony said rather casually.

Too casually for Charlotte, "You know about him!?" What is this? She thought.

"Whoa, take it easy. Yeah, I know about him. He explained everything to me last night." Tony had Charlotte sit down on the porch steps. He told her about last night and about the night of the accident. After Charlotte was brought up to speed, Tony asked, "So why didn't you tell me about him sooner?"

"I didn't know how you would react. You could have told mom and dad and that could have ended badly. I didn't want to take the chance." She answered as she wrapped her arms around her legs.

"I guess that makes sense. Well, you can trust me. I'll help keep him a secret." He gave his sister a side hug.

"Thanks"

"It's the least I could do. I mean, it's not like he saved my life or anything."

"True," Optimus and Charlotte said in unison.


Cybertron – Decepticon HQ (Weeks Later)

"Slag! Blackout is on to me. He thinks I had something to do with our leader's disappearance, and he is usually never wrong. Frag head, he is too loyal for his own good. Oh well, to keep him off my tail I guess I'll have to keep sending him on suicide missions until he dies. The only problem is that he is so slagging great at fighting and staying alive. The big lug nut won't die." Starscream was talking to himself, which he often did. "I need to cover up my trail. If he can't find me guilty, then Soundwave undoubtedly will."

Starscream had been giving the decepticons communications officer a heavy workload, but Soundwave was quickly getting it done. Starscream worked diligently to cover his tracks. After some time, he was successful. He felt confident sleeping at night, knowing that the decepticons were now his to control and no one could blame him for Megatron's absence. But of course, someone always had to ruin his good mood.

"Commander Starscream," Barricade started, but didn't finish because he got slapped across the face by Starscream.

"It's Lord Starscream! Lord! Get it right!" Starscream screamed in the scout's face.

Barricade gave the seeker an irritated look. Primus, he wanted to teach Starscream a lesson, but that wouldn't get him anywhere, except the brig. "Lord," he spat, "Starscream," he spat that too, "Soundwave picked up an encrypted Cybertronian message from an uncharted part the universe. He says it could possibly be Megatron."

"What!" Starscream screeched. How could he have possibly survived his wounds? "Where is Soundwave?!"

Barricade escorted the current decepticon leader to the decepticon communications officer. Soundwave turned away from the computer screen upon their arrival.

"Show him what you got, Soundwave." Barricade hissed as Starscream pushed past him.

"What do you have involving Megatron?!" Starscream demanded angrily.

Soundwave in response turned back to the screen and pointed at a picture of a Milky Way galaxy. Where his finger pointed there was a pop up. It was heavily encoded in ancient Cybertronian. The symbols were from both autobot and decepticon origin. The only ones who knew of this ancient Cybertronian were Megatron, and Optimus Prime. It had to be from one of them, but which one.

Starscream didn't want to chance it being Megatron. "I'll go and investigate. If it is our leader, I will bring him back to us. If it is Optimus Prime, then I will do what Megatron failed to do and destroy him." He then turned on his heel and prepared to leave.

Once Starscream left, Barricade looked at Soundwave. "Can we trust him? He has a history of trying to get rid of our true Lord, Megatron."

Soundwave replied using a recording of Starscream, "I'll go and investigate." Then he played back Barricade's voice, "He has a history of trying to get rid of our true Lord, Megatron."


It was December and Winter Break had finally arrived. Charlotte's family had made plans to rent cabins with some friends during the break. Charlotte's best friends were among those who came.

Her friend, Clarissa who was an only child, came with her parents. Her mother was a university professor who taught Medieval History, and her father was a firefighter captain. Charlotte's other best friend, Christine, came up with her family. She had an older sister who was around Tony's age. Her mother is in the army and her father sells milk. Both Charlotte's and Clarissa's fathers always gave Christine's dad a hard time, being how their jobs were all heroic and all he did was sell milk.

"Hey, I have a very tough job. The other day I had to wrestle a feisty cat to deliver this old woman's milk. I almost had to get stiches." Christine's dad tried to defend himself.

"Yeah sure, and the other day I was in a firefight. I was almost shot." Robert teased his friend as he was barbequing dinner.

"Good one," Clarissa's father said. He clinked his beer with Robert's.

Charlotte and her trio walked up to their dads. "I don't mean to break this up, but can we go into the forest? We wanna go on a hike." Charlotte asked her father.

"You guys want to go hiking in the snow?" he questioned.

The ever so energetic Clarissa spoke up, "Yes! Duh, it's not every day we get the chance to go on a hike together."

"We're fully prepared. We got our snow boots, snow jackets, snow gloves, and even a walkie-talkie so we can check in with you guys at the top of every hour." Christine added with a confident smile.

"Well…" one of the fathers began.

"Pretty pleeeeeaaasssee," the three teens pleaded.

"The physical appearance of the please makes no difference." Clarissa's dad quoted.

The trio of friends didn't know how to respond, but their expressions were funny. The fathers laughed and then Robert spoke. "Oh alright, check in with us every half hour, don't wonder off too far, and stick together. And…"

"WE KNOW." They said in unison after they recovered.

"Just making sure, now get outta here." They hugged their dads and then took off into the white forest.

Not even fifteen minutes into the hike, they were out of breath. Walking uphill in the snow was a lot harder than they thought, and the cold air didn't help any. They took a small break, and then started back up again. They were too tired to really talk, so Christine pulled out her iPod and put some music on.

When Leo, who was in Charlotte's pocket, heard the music he was ever so slightly bothered. He carefully pulled himself out of her pocket and climbed to her shoulder. Charlotte was further ahead of her two friends, so they didn't see Leo. "What is this? Have I been replaced by this lower grade of an iPod? Am I not worthy to grace thy ears with thyn beautiful sounds?" Leo tragically fake cried.

Charlotte laughed. "Get back in there before someone sees you." He smiled a cheesy smile, and then went back into her pocket.

"What's so funny?" Charlotte heard one of her buddies say.

"Nothing," she yelled back at them. "Hurry up you slow pokes, a snail could beat you at that pace."

"Hey give us a break, we don't run every day like you do." Clarissa panted as she finally caught up with her friend.

Christine who was not far behind said, "Yeah we, like every other American our age, are couch potatoes."

They giggled at her comment. Only she would say that, Charlotte thought. "When zombies come, you'll be glad we did this." They all laughed again, but it was true. Zombies were going to come one day, and they needed to be prepared. They checked in on their walkie-talkie once and then again later. They took another break.

"So, you guys ready to head back?" Clarissa requested from where she was sitting on a log.

"I am!" Christine jumped up, "let's get going."

"Hold on Couch Potato, we're still resting." Charlotte joked. She was standing on top of a small bolder. When they were ready, she slid down. Their return journey started off much easier then when they first started. It was downhill. Being how they weren't out of breath anymore, they talked. While they were talking, Christine thought she heard something.

"Hey guys, hold on." They stopped and looked at her.

"What's up?"

"I could have sworn I heard something."

"Like?" Clarissa asked.

Christine was about to respond when they all heard it. Growling…and it sounded close. They all turned slowly in the direction of the growl. They heard heavy footsteps from behind a bolder covered in snow. They then heard the footsteps stop. At the edge of the bolder, they saw the creature's breath. The teenagers were all frozen in fear. Charlotte's heart was pounding so loudly, she was sure the animal heard it. Then the worst possible thing happened. Her father's voice came up on the walkie-talkie.

"Hey girls, food is almost ready. If you haven't begun heading back, it's time to start. See you soon. Over." Mr. Ire's voice all but boomed out of the little device.

Christine and Clarissa gave Charlotte terrified looks, they then turned to the sound of a loud snarl. Charlotte just saw a blur of black coming at them before she turned and yelled, "Run!" They all sprinted clumsily down the hill. Charlotte looked back to see what was chasing them and saw that it was a bear.

"How the heck are we supposed to outrun a bear!?" Christine screamed.

"I don't gotta outrun it. I just gotta outrun you!" Clarissa screamed back at her. She was running past a tree when her jacket got caught on a branch. She frantically pulled free, but when she did the branch swung back, knocking Christine in the stomach and making her go down. Clarissa was too scared to look back so she didn't know that Christine went down, but Charlotte did and she went back for her friend.

While she was helping Christine up, Charlotte saw the bear coming at them fast. She didn't know what to do so she did the only thing she thought might save them and shouted, "OPTIMUS!" when nothing happened, reality set in. He wasn't anywhere close. He was most likely still parked somewhere near the cabins. Instead of just giving in, she rather aggressively yanked Christine up and they both started running. They heard the bear's breathing and could tell it was on their heels. It had closed that gap between them quickly. The ground suddenly began to shake, and the two friends were sent flying forward by a force from behind them. They heard what sounded like a yelp, and then the bear was gone.

Charlotte turned onto her back, looked up and sighed in relief. Seeing Optimus there…was just…she wouldn't ever forget that feeling of relief, happiness, and joy flooding her at the same time. She snapped out of it and got up, wiped the snow off of her, and helped her friend up. Christine was staring up at the metal giant. She didn't say anything, she just continued to stare.

Optimus turned his attention away from the fleeing animal and looked down at the girls. He knelt down so he was closer to their level. "Are you two alright?" He extended his hand to wipe some snow off of Charlotte's head, but when he reached out, Christine turned on her heel and booked it toward the cabins, screaming something that sounded like 'momma'.

"Well, that could have been worst." Leo had poked his head out of the pocket he was confined in.

Charlotte forgot he was even there. "Trrruuuueee…hey! Where the heck were you when the bear attacked!?" She asked harshly of Leo. "Some protector you are."

"I'm teeny tiny! What the heck could I have done? It's a flipping bear! Did you want me to…!?" Leo defended, but was cut off mid-sentence by Optimus.

"We will worry about this later; we have other problems at hand." Charlotte and Leo instantly stopped their arguing when they heard Optimus' commanding voice. "We must stop Christine before she reveals our existence."

"How?" Charlotte asked.

Optimus replied, "By giving chase." He scooped his little friends up and quickly navigated his way through the white forest. In no time at all, they cut off Christine. Optimus gently put Charlotte on the ground so she could explain everything to Christine. She was hesitant to believe her friend, but she eventually gave in.

"One down, one to go." Leo commented from atop Charlotte's shoulder.

"What do you mean?" Christine asked.

"We don't have to worry about you anymore; it's the other friend now." Leo said matter-of-factly.

"Oh crap, Clarissa probably made it back already. She is going to tell everyone about the bear!" Charlotte slapped her hand to her head in frustration.

Optimus decided to take over, "Contact Tony. She hasn't made it to the cabins yet. He can intercept her and bring her to us where we can fill her in on what's really going on."

Charlotte forgot they had a military strategist with them. "Oh, that makes sense. Good plan," Charlotte wiped out the walkie-talkie spoke into it. "Hey dad, are you there? Over."

They waited a moment, and then Robert's voice was heard, "Yeah, I'm here. What's up? Over."

"Can you give the walkie-talkie to Tony? We need to talk to him, over."

"Sure thing, over," Robert gave the device to his son. "Your sister needs to talk with you."

Tony excused himself from the room where he was talking with Christine's older sister, Cassie. "What do you want, Charlotte, I'm busy." Tony asked.

"I know you're with Cassie. Can I talk to you alone? We got ourselves a little problem…" Charlotte told Tony the situation. He looked out the window and saw Clarissa frantically running his way. He quickly grabbed his snow boots and jacket, yelled an "I'll be right back" to anyone who was listening, and ran outside the cabin to meet Clarissa.

"Tony! There's a bear! We were hiking and a bear came out of nowhere! We need to get," Clarissa panted.

Tony decided to cut in now that she stopped to take a breath. "We know. Everyone is already on it. They told me to stay behind for when you get here and take you to a safe spot. Come on." Tony put an arm around her shoulders to try and comfort her. Clarissa was still out of breath. She was about to ask how they knew, when Tony beat her to it and said, "They got a hold of us through the walkie-talkies."

She managed an "oh" and was led to a different part of the forest, away from the cabins. It wasn't until they went over a hill, and the cabins were no longer in view, that Clarissa became suspicious. "Where are we going?"

"To that safe spot I was talking about."

"Away from everybody?" Clarissa got out from under Tony's arm and turned around. She was about to run back to the cabin when she heard her name from behind her. She turned back around and saw Charlotte and Christine. "You're alive!"

"Yeah," they both muttered uncertainly. They weren't sure if Optimus wanted her to know the truth. He was really up-tight when it came to his secret. They didn't have much time to think about it because the next thing they knew, they were tackled to the snowy ground by Clarissa's hug. She was teary eyed while they were just giggling.

"Why are you two laughing?! You could have died!" Clarissa cried.

They felt bad for her, so they decided to just tell her the truth. She of course didn't believe it until Leo transformed and introduced himself. Optimus wasn't too happy about it, but he revealed himself to also help convince her. Clarissa wasn't scared of Leo, but Optimus was another matter entirely.

"Don't worry; we all were a little scared of him at first too. But he will warm up to you." Tony told her on their way back to the cabins.

"So you all knew about them?" Clarissa asked.

"Just Tony and I knew about Leo and Optimus. You and Chrissy found out today." Charlotte answered her friend. She then gave them the usual talk on how the aliens must be kept a secret and all that fun stuff. After eating in their cabin, they went into one of their rooms to talk about the Transformers. Tony didn't join them. Charlotte told her best buddies about how she met Optimus, the war that ravaged his planet, how Leo was a birthday gift from Optimus, and that Optimus was hurt and trying to reach his people. "Can you guys keep the secret and help me help him?"

"Duh girl, we got you," was Clarissa's response.

Christine nodded her head and said, "Three minds are better than one."

Leo cut in with the final say, "Make that four minds!"


Space

Starscream was flying in space toward where the encrypted message originated from. With the message being ancient Cybertronian, none of the decepticons could decode it. However, Starscream had a good idea about what it said. It had to be from one of the leaders. He just hoped that when he found whoever sent it, that bot would be so badly damaged that he could kill them easily.

He followed the signal all the way to an uncharted planet. The planet was the third from the star it orbited and had one moon, instead of two like Cybertron. The planet's atmosphere consisted of multiple of harmless gases. From his view, the planet was mainly blue. It had regions that were green, brown, yellow, and white. There were white swirly things that covered the planet too.

Starscream detected life on the planet, and that spiked his curiosity. He shielded his energy signature when he saw a disfigured metal machine orbiting his way. It turned out to be a satellite. He easily hacked into it and learned everything about this strange planet called Earth.

"I will resume my search for the encrypted signal later, for now; I want to learn more about this planet for it could prove useful in the future." The seeker said to himself. He didn't realize that he was being followed by Laserbeak…