Chapter 4 - "A Whole New World"

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"-But in war, ideals can be corrupted. And it was thus that Megatron lost his way."

I was hanging off of every word the Autobot leader was saying. My heart ached for them and all that they had been through. I couldn't imagine living in a war for most of your life, having to leave your whole planet behind…

"Is there gonna be a pop quiz?"

I instinctively hit Miko on the arm with the back of my hand.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"Don't be rude, and it was only a light tap." I answered, slightly irked by her bored comment and the interruption. Optimus had literally just finished telling us about their war and she had the nerve-

"So what does Megatron, or any of this, have to do with us?"

Miko and I broke our little stare down to face the red and blue autobot, both wanting to hear his answer.

A frown drew across Optimus' face. "Megatron has not been seen or heard from in sometime. But if his return is imminent as I fear, it could be catastrophic."

There was a pause as we all took in what he'd just said.

"And since you now know of our existence, I fear that as of last night the Decepticons know of yours."

A shiver ran down my spine.

"Got it. We spot any strange vehicles, call 911. Can we... go now?"

Well Miko did not like that.

"Are you insane?! I'm living a dream here in Bot-swana and I will not allow you, or anyone else, to shatter it!" She threw a distrustful look at me at the end of her sentence and I pursed my lips.

"It is best if you four remain under our watch, at least until we can determine our enemies intentions."

"Optimus," the grumpy orange bot interjected, "with all due respect, the human children are in as much danger here as anywhere!"

"Children?" Jack and I chorused, offended.

The autobot just ignored us and continued, "They have no protective shell. If they get under foot, they will go... squish." He emphasized his point by stomping his foot. We all flinched backwards.

His actions are seriously making me question whether he's actually concerned about us or not.

Optimus noticed our fear. "Then for the time being, Ratchet, we must watch where we step.

Ratchet, huh?

Just as I was mentally going through their names - what was the green one's again? Did I even get the blue one's name? - an alarm started blaring and I heard Jack ask what it was.

Bumblebee answered him and thankfully, at the sight of our dumb-founded faces, Raf translated. "Proximity sensor. Someone's up top!"

"It's Agent Fowler."

The other kids and I all shared a look at Ratchet's words.

"I thought we were the only humans who knew about you guys."

"Special Agent Fowler is our designated liaison to the outside world, as he tends to visit only when there are issues." Optimus replied and I had to admit, even though they could disguise themselves as cars and other vehicles, it'd be pretty hard for them to escape the government's radar completely. "It may be best if you did not meet him at this time."

I glanced at the three next to me briefly before looking back up at Optimus. "Don't worry, we'll stay out of sight."

As the elevator began its descent, we all ran and hid under the staircase: backs pressed flat against the wall as we listened to "Agent Fowler".

My throat went dry with every new number he'd throw out and I counted myself lucky that I'd managed to be ahead of all the collisions. My stomach dropped. So that was why no other cars passed me when I was pulled over at the stormwater drain. All those people…

"-it's time to wake up the Pentagon!"

"Hear me, Agent Fowler. We are your best, possibly your only defense against the Decepticons."

"Says you."

Miko tried to peek around the corner to see this Fowler guy and I pulled her back gently. I did, however, manage to catch a glimpse of the man. His face was hard like granite as he stood before the giant that was Optimus Prime, no fear on his face whatsoever. Bulkhead - that was his name - called out to him and crushed a piece of machinery in his hands and I had to wonder if that had shaken Fowler's tough front.

"Enough!"

Optimus didn't even need to raise his voice that loud for everyone to fall silent. Damn.

"Military involvement will only result in catastrophe. Perhaps you can condone widespread human casualties, Agent Fowler. I, however, cannot."

"Then do us both a favour, Prime, and handle this. Under the radar. Or I will."

There was the distinct swish of the elevator doors closing and I braved a look around the corner. All clear.

"Man, that guy was uptight!" Miko groaned. "The bots were just doing their job and protecting people. It's not their fault the Decepticons had to go and ruin everything."

"You don't have to be so rude, you know."

"She does have a point though, Jack." I responded. He looked stunned at my defense of her.

"Hah! See? Maybe you aren't so lame after all."

I gave her a look. She grinned.

"I'm going to ignore that last part. But anyways, yes, the first part wasn't very nice, or fair, but the Autobots shouldn't get in trouble because of the Decepticons." Jack seemed to be thinking it over a bit more and went to open his mouth but I cut him off before he could even start. "And yes, I get that there's a whole other side to things because, I mean, think about all the pressure Agent Fowler must be under having to deal with... all of this."

The three of them all stared at me, Jack and Raf with understanding and sorrow and Miko…

"Pressure, shmessure. If he doesn't want to be here, then he can leave."

And with that, she turned and sauntered over to Bulkhead and began Round 2 of question-time.

"But- you- y-ju-" Jack just patted my back as I tried to come up with something to say to her.

"Let her go, it's all good."

I threw him an exasperated look and found it mirrored on his own face.

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"Blasted Earth tech!"

I jumped at Ratchet's sudden booming voice.

"Cliffjumper's signal just popped online."

"Who's Cliffjumper?"

"How is that possible?" Optimus asked, ignoring Miko's question.

"It isn't," he glared at the screens in front of him, "just another bug. The system is chock full of them."

"If there's any chance Cliffs alive-..."

I was a little confused, the bots urgency and serious demeanours making me hold my tongue from asking anything, but I think I might have understood now.

"Ratchet, prepare sick bay. We may need it."

All of the Autobots except Ratchet moved towards a tunnel on the opposite wall with curved metal beams lining the passage. From the looks of things though, it was a dead end. But that didn't make any sense-

"Hey!" Miko cried out, "What can we do?"

"Remain with Ratchet."

She groaned at his answer and I was unnerved when the orange Autobot responded in kind.

Those concerns flew from my mind though as the tunnel with the strange floor and metal beams suddenly erupted in a blaze of blues and greens swirling together, streaks of purple and pink coursing amongst it as well.

Awe overtook me and I let out a stunned gasp.

I heard Optimus call out to the others and my eyes couldn't get any wider as I watched them all shift down into their car modes and drive through the electrified tunnel. With a flash, they disappeared where the dead-end used to be and all to soon, the portal closed.

"Oh my God..." I breathed out, having to blink a few times just to make sure my eyes were working. What the hell did I just see?

"W-What just happened?"

"I transported them to the designated coordinates via the Ground Bridge."

Via the what?

"What's a 'ground bridge'?"

"Ugh," he sighed, "A scaled down version of Space Bridge technology." His tone was patronising but I tried not to focus on that as he continued, a more somber note in his voice. "Since we don't have the proper means of inter-dimensional travel-"

"You're stuck here, on Earth."

Ratchet was quick to brush off our sympathy as soon as he seemed to realise he'd been remotely vulnerable. "With the likes of you, yes. But I constructed the ground bridge to allow us to travel anywhere here on Earth."

"That's incredible!" I blurted out. His glowing eyes darted over to me, as did my fellow humans, although they weren't looking skeptical and shocked like Ratchet was. "You built this on your own?"

"Well, yes I- I did." He was still giving me that funny look, like I was some kind of puzzle he couldn't quite figure out. All I could do was smile though, too caught up in the fact that this was so freaking cool and holy shit, teleportation!

"Wow," Raf and I chimed at the same time.

"Does it work for humans?"

"Naturally." There was that flare of pride back in his voice replacing his brief bashfulness.

Miko stepped forward, "You mean I could just shoot on over and visit my parents in Tokyo?"

"Within moments." No way! That's- "In fact, allow me to send you there right now, all four of you!"... not so awesome: specifically not the snarky grin across his face. My smile started to wilt in the wake of his back and forth attitudes towards us. Why did he not like us? Were we really that bad in his eyes?

Seeing Miko calmly but snidely tell him to "watch it" while wagging a finger at him did cause me to snort however; Ratchet's smirk just dropped in confused shock. He grumbled and quickly brushed it off, shooing us away to "go explore, do whatever, I don't care. As long as you do it somewhere else."

So we did just that.

The Autobot's base was even larger than I'd thought it was with more massive hallways branching off here, there, and everywhere. Miko strolled along in front of me, bouncing from one thing to the next and excitedly wondering aloud about what they might be. The two boys were just behind me and whenever I looked back, I saw Raf's little face beaming with joy and awe whilst Jack's amazement was a bit more subdued by the underlying hints of worry and caution. It made me remember all of the concerns I had, but the list was practically nothing now. I'd only been here for about an hour but after getting to know these alien beings a little better, I was finding it hard not to trust them.

We walked around for a good half-hour, peering into the giant rooms we passed and discovering a kitchen and bathroom as well that were, thank god, only a short walk away from the main area. Once we got back to the front, I paused by the other section that was just around the corner from the ground bridge. There was a large, metal table of some sort to the left and a variety of machines were scattered about: some reminiscent of microscopes and the like while others were entirely foreign. A huge chamber with a strange clamp inside it took up the back wall and I noted to myself to ask one of the Autobots what, exactly, it was. Maybe not Ratchet, though. Don't think he'd like to be bothered by us humans. I grimaced. A loud huff broke me out of my thoughts.

"Really? You know this is complex technology, don't you?"

Speak of the devil...

"It's not a child's toy."

I wandered back around to where everyone else was and saw Raf sitting up on the platform, typing away at his laptop.

"Now try."

The numerous boxes with red x's covering the screen became green ticks before disappearing completely and Ratchet looked down at the boy in bewilderment.

"Go Raf! Nice work," I laughed - I knew he was a smart kid! - and he sheepishly smiled back at me.

Even though he was still a bit embarrassed at being outdone by a human kid, Ratchet still managed to glare down at me and I took a step back, all playfulness leaving my body.

"Ratchet! Bridge us back using the arrival coordinates, now!"

At Optimus' command, Ratchet quickly moved over to the machine he'd used to activate the ground bridge before and pulled the levers down. The ground bridge lit up once more and barely a second later the Autobots raced through, morphing into their robot forms. Where's... hang on, what is-? I squinted at the red truck coming into sight and my eyes slowly widened as I noticed the large blue cloud following him. The portal closed as soon as Optimus was clear and I felt my legs shake with the force of his landing.

"What was that explosion? Was there a fight? Can we come with next time?!"

Judging by Arcee's expression, Miko was about to be in for it.

"Look-"

"Hey, Miko, why don't we go see what the 'bots hide in their sock drawers?" Bless your quick thinking, Jack.

"Seriously?"

"Oh yeah," I went along with it as Jack and I both tried to lead her away, "aren't you even a little bit curious as to what the 'bots might be hiding? I'm sure they have heaps of cool, alien trinkets."

She still didn't seem convinced but we dropped it when we saw Arcee fall over.

"I'm fine! Just... dizzy."

Us humans all looked at each other.

"Robots who get dizzy?"

"Robots with emotions..."

"Robots who feel pain..."

"Robots... who can die..."

My heart lurched at Jack's comment. He'd probably come to the same conclusion as I had: Cliffjumper was thought to be dead... and they'd gotten their hopes up for nothing. I know I was still coming to terms with them being aliens and not just your average robots, but I don't think it really hit home for any of us until that moment. They were more than just machines.

I noticed Jack glancing at his phone. "O-Optimus?" he called out tentatively. The red and blue Autobot turned his attention to us. "I hate to bug but... no bars."

"A security precaution. The silo walls isolate all radio waves."

"Well, if I don't call my mom soon, I'm pretty sure the cops are gonna be out looking for me."

Huh?

Optimus seemed to be as confused as I was. "Have you broken a law?"

"Uh, curfew. It's after 10pm." Shit. I pulled out my phone as Raf started to talk and balked at the digital numbers staring back at me. 10:04pm.

"Earth customs. I hadn't considered."

I was so dead.

"But the issue of your safety remains."

Yeah, the issue of getting razzed by my dad for being home so late without a word.

"Bulkhead, accompany Miko home."

The bots were going to go home with us? Oh great, how am I gonna explain this?

"Bumblebee, you'll watch over Raf."

There were only two Autobots left other than Optimus and I had a sinking suspicion that the leader wasn't a candidate.

"Arcee, you'll accompany Jack."

Oh no.

"Still dizzy."

"You're fine, says your physician."

She grumbled and slumped but ultimately shifted into her motorcycle mode and her and Jack drove off. That meant…

"Ratchet-"

"Busy!"

Optimus ignored his yell and continued. "-you will take Carmen home."

Ratchet spun around in frustration and disbelief. "Optimus! I can't look after her, I have work to do!" he pleaded. I shrunk in on myself, feeling bad that he was being forced to deal with me when he obviously didn't want to.

"It-It's fine, really."

The two autobots turned to look at me when I spoke up. I breathed in and garnered my strength. "All I need is a lift home; you don't have to stick around." Ratchet was smug and went to say something when Optimus spoke first.

"A kind offer, Carmen, but I would feel better knowing that you were not unguarded." The orange and white autobot only just managed to wipe the dismay from his face when his leader shifted his gaze back to him. "Your work can wait until the morning, old friend. As her guardian, I think it best if you were to watch over her as the others will with their charges."

It was silent for a moment as Ratchet thought to himself before a sigh rent the air and he transformed. I stared.

"Well? Are you coming or not?"

I blinked and shook my head, saying goodnight to Optimus before rushing down the stairs. An ambulance. He just had to be an ambulance. I mean, I guess I should have guessed from the heart-rate lines on his arm but still. He's gonna stick out like a sore thumb.

I hesitated at his open door, fleetingly, before lifting myself up and in. I flinched as he slammed it shut but froze at the sensation of the seat belt sliding over my body of its own volition. The gear stick shifted into drive and we made our way back out through the tunnel I'd first come in through.