Autobots

…

Warm water splashed over Aria's face, soaking her sand-filled hair. The shower head was partially clogged, so the water dribbled as much as it sprayed. Not that that mattered, a shower was a shower, and it was amazing.

After the chaos had ended the day before, she was instructed by Colonel Lennox to come with them to a waiting aircraft carrier off the shore. She had joined a convoy of men and aliens, sitting shoulder to shoulder in the box of a large black pickup truck.

Around her was an assortment of military vehicles and regular vehicles following behind. She would have been confused about their presence if she hadn't previously caught sight of some of the robots transform into them mere moments before they left for the ship. For all she knew, the truck she sat in was an alien too.

Among the vehicles were the bright Camaro, and the red and green cars. Of course, they were aliens. She was disappointed that she didn't realize it sooner.

As they neared the ocean, the giant aircraft carrier came into view. It couldn't come close to the shore because of its size, so a cargo ship had to transport the vehicles one or two at a time from the shore to the ship. Aria and the others remained inside the box as the truck boarded the vessel. Troops squeezed in around them, filling in the rest of the area.

It was late in the evening by the time all the robots were loaded. She and the other passengers were led down a few flights of narrow stairs to a spare bunk room. Inside were nearly a hundred beds, each with its own seat of navy curtains and an assigned locker nearby.

A man hollered out to the crowd of people she was amongst that there would be a tour and briefing in the morning at eight am sharp, and that everyone should do their best to get some shut-eye.

It wasn't until an hour later that all the chaos settled, and only whispers echoed throughout the large room. It was difficult trying to sleep. The blackness of her eyelids turned to sandy dunes. Screaming people surrounded the mangled skeleton of Jetfire, the blue orb still glowing in his hand.

The room came to life again. It started with the beeping of alarms, then yawns and grumbles. Aria massaged her eyes, attempting to will away the drowsiness. Never in her life had she slept that poorly.

When she climbed out of the small bunk, she was greeted with the sight of men shamelessly changing wherever they could find space. She wrinkled her nose, overwhelmed by the pungent stench of body odor. Averting her eyes from the changing men, she found a clock on the far wall that read six thirty-three. She had to carefully maneuver around the mass of people, apologizing to any that she accidentally bumped into on her way out.

Finally, out in the hall, she walked towards the woman's bathroom that had been pointed out to her the previous night. Inside was a handful of women in various states of undress, either getting into or out of the showers. She hopped into a showering stall and peeled off her tattered dress.

She put a lot of effort into keeping her bandaged arm out of the water, using only her good one to clean herself. She washed her hair and body with the small bar of soap provided in the shower. She didn't get out of the shower until the water ran clear, void of any sand and blood.

With nothing else to wear, she put the white dress back on and headed out towards the sinks. The other women were gone now, leaving her alone in front of the mirrors. The only sound in the room was running water from one of the showers. She combed her hair with her fingers, a long and painful process.

Freckles dotted her nose and cheeks, brought out by the Egyptian sun, and her lips were starting to regain their pinkish-red color thanks to available water, but still painfully chapped.

The shower turned off, and a girl came out. Not any girl, though. It was the girl from the museum. Not really knowing what to do or say, she turned back to the mirror sending sideways glances at the approaching girl. Maybe the girl wouldn't remember her.

"Oh my god, it's you!"

Aria's eyes met the girl's blue ones in the mirror. "Er...hi." Way to be eloquent.

The girl's curious look turned to a friendly one. "I guess we kinda got off to a bad start at the museum, but yeah, I'm Mikaela. Nice to meet you!"

"I'm Aria, nice to meet you too," she said and smiled back at Mikaela, hoping it didn't look as awkward as it felt. At least the girl was social, so that made things a little less weird.

Mikaela returned to her own reflection and began to come through her dark hair. Mikaela's hair was long, but not as long as hers. Aria's face was rounder than Mikaela's, and though darker than usual, was fairer in complexion. Aria, however, was slightly taller.

"I'm really sorry about the museum. We didn't think Jetfire was going to tear the place apart. And uh, sorry about your co-workers too, my—" she paused, a loss for words. "—Friend thought it was necessary."

"What exactly did you do to them?" Aria asked as the words coming out slowly.

"We, uh, kinda tased them."

Well, that explained it.

"So that's what it was. I thought they were having a stroke or something. I nearly tripped over Frank when I came out of the washroom. I called an ambulance and everything."

The shorter girl grimaced. "We sent Leo into the men's washroom, but he must not have checked the woman's."

Thinking back to when she was changing, what would she have done if a boy spontaneously barged into the bathroom and stunned her with a taser? Suddenly, she was very grateful she was a girl.

Mikaela's eyes wandered upwards to the clock. Aria followed her gaze to the red number that displayed seven forty-five.

"Well we should probably find where everyone is meeting for the tour," Mikaela said in a high-pitched voice.

Aria was also happy to change the subject. "Good idea."

They exited the washroom and followed a couple of other men towards a large room called a Mess. It was filled with round tables and folding chairs. Along the one side was a buffet table full of breakfast food and multiple pots of coffee and hot water. Seeing as many of the people in the room were eating, both Aria and Mikaela headed towards the food. When the scent of warm eggs and sweet maple syrup filled her nose, she nearly began to salivate. A loud grumble filled the air between the girls.

"Was that me or you?" Aria joked.

Mikaela chuckled. "Probably could go either way."

The pair began to fill their plates with food. Despite the pain of her empty stomach, she avoided serving herself too much. She didn't need a stomach ache on top of everything else that was going on.

"Sam!"

Aria flinched at the loudness of Mikaela's voice right beside her. The girl was waving her free hand to catch the attention of someone in the crowd. Aria craned her neck back over her shoulder to catch sight of none other than the boy. Though his features were somewhat blurry due to his distance, he approached quickly and came into focus. He was a little shorter than Aria and had hazel eyes similar to hers. Like the rest of them, he looked worse for wear.

"Mikaela, there you are!" he said, putting a bandaged hand on her back and pecking her cheek.

"Aria, this is Sam. Sam, Aria. You remember her from the museum," Mikaela introduced.

While Mikaela looked at the boy with an expectant glare, he mealy scratched the back of his head and cleared his throat. "Nice to meet you and uh…sorry about that."

"Hey, guys!" said another voice from behind. It was the other boy from the museum. He eagerly walked straight up to Aria and touched her shoulder before a conflicted look crossed his features and dropped it again. He was probably the type to obsess over girls but have no idea how to act around them. "I'm Sam and Mikaela's friend, Leo."

"He's my college roommate," Sam clarified.

"I'm Aria, nice to formally meet you guys."

They all sat down around a mostly empty table to eat. Sam and Leo were both curious about Aria's involvement at the museum and kept asking her questions while she tried to eat. So in between small bites and awkward silences, while she finished chewing, she recounted what happened at the museum and Egypt.

"I'm amazed Jetfire remembered to come back for you. He was definitely not all there," Mikaela said while reaching for her glass of orange juice.

The subject of Jetfire was starting to weigh on her. Sure, they didn't know him any better than she did, but he had just died the previous day. She put down her fork, the rest of her food having lost its appeal.

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that aliens exist."

They nodded in unison.

"Yeah, and that they're robots that can transform into vehicles to hide," Sam agreed.

"And hot chicks too!" Leo intervened. "No wonder she didn't want the pizza," he added, slouching back in his chair.

Aria was about it incline her head in agreement but paused mid-action. Did he just say they could transform into people? At first, the size didn't make sense, but then there was the tiny robot that accompanied the trio at the museum. But still, humans are complicated and very organic looking, how could a metal alien transform into a person or even something that looked just like a person?

Sam turned to Leo and Mikaela. "Oh yeah, I asked Skidz about that the other day. He said there were stories of Transformers that could make themselves look like people."

"That means it's probably not a common thing," said Mikaela.

Leo shook his head, zealously. "I don't know guys, I don't think Skidz knows much in general."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, I want to ask Ratchet or Optimus about it later. They probably know more."

Did she hear that correctly over the ambient chatter? Skidz, Ratchet, Optimus; what kind of names were those? Even for nicknames, they sounded strange. Were they experts on the aliens?

"Who are we talking about now?" Aria asked, pushing her empty plate aside and leaning in.

"Oh, sorry," Sam apologized. "Skidz, Ratchet, and Optimus are all Transformers."

Aria blinked. "As in the aliens? Cybertonians? You just…talk to them…casually?"

"Yeah. I mean, I guess that might sound a bit strange to you seeing as you've only talked to Jetfire." Sam replied after swallowing a bite of toast.

No, it wasn't strange to her because of Jetfire being a bit senile. It was weird because talking to beings from outer space wasn't something to be taken lightly. They were so different and compelling. One had climbed to the top of a pyramid and ripped it apart, and another could manipulate gravity. Even Jetfire could create portals through space! The Prime was massive and had such an authoritative aura, it was impossible to ignore.

Aria leaned further forward. "And you're not at all intimidated by them? I mean, the Prime is huge."

"Oh yeah, that's Optimus. He's the leader of the Autobots," Sam said.

There it was again. The casualness he exuded while talking about the apparent leader of a faction in a planet-destroying war.

"The Autobot's being the good guys, right?"

"Yeah, and the Decepticon's are the bad guys," Sam nodded. "They're led by Megatron."

Now that was a name; Megatron. If an alien as great as the Prime lead the Autobots, did that mean Megatron was just as powerful?

"How did you get involved in all this anyway?"

Sam and Mikaela shared a knowing look, while Aria and Leo had similar expressions of curiosity. Leo must not have known the story either.

"Well, it all started two years ago when I put my great grandpa's glasses up for sale on eBay," Sam began.

He told the story of how he met the Autobots, starting with his Camero, who was actually a Transformer named Bumblebee. It turned out that the attack in Mission City was, in fact, an alien invasion to a certain extent. He finished his story by telling her how they ended up in the museum, and what his role was during the Egypt battle.

Not only was this boy a considerable part of the alien war taking place on earth, but he talked about as if it were nothing more than local politics. These were aliens from a different galaxy.

"Do you want to meet them?" Mikaela asked.

The question took almost a minute to sink in. "…Meet them?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, I think some of them are resting still, but I talked to Ratchet this morning, so it should be fine."

The screech of a whistle put a stop to any further conversation. Everyone in the room turned their heads towards a man standing on a platform near the door. He wore a naval uniform with multiple badges and ribbons on it.

"Good morning, troops. I'm Captain Wilder. I hope you all slept well. We are already running behind schedule due to stragglers, but we will now commence the tour of the USS John C. Stennis. We hope you will be comfortable during your one week stay aboard our beautiful ship. Now please follow me, and for the love of god, don't get lost."

The four of them looked at each other briefly and then got up to follow the crowd out of the room. Aliens aside, the aircraft carrier was the next coolest thing. Hopefully, at some point, she could watch some jets take off from the flight deck. The outside perspective was much more thrilling than actually taking off in one, which was better described as horrifying. If she never rode it a jet again, it would be too soon.

…

The tour took two hours to complete. The USS Stennis was more like a floating city than a vessel, filled with thousands of people, both soldiers, and sailors. Even small cafés, stores, gyms, and even lounges. Too bad, she didn't have any money on her.

Everyone was allowed to go up on the flight deck and just below in the hangar at any time unless otherwise specified. Parts of the bridge were off limits, and they were allowed to use other mess halls, bathrooms or sleeping quarters that they weren't assigned to.

The tour ended back in the same room they started. Aria yawned, ready for a nap. Nothing sounded better than closing the curtains to her bunk and curling up in a bundle of blankets.

Mikaela turned to her. "So, Aria, you want to come with us to see the Autobots?"

Crap. Of course, she wanted to see them, but it was just so much to take in at once. Even thinking about it made her face heat up and palms sweat. Couldn't she meet them one at a time or something?

"What are you guys waiting for? Come on!" Leo's voice called.

Aria and Mikaela looked over to Sam and Leo, both already walking down the hall waving at them. When Mikaela turned back to Aria, she had a bright smile on her face and took Aria's wrist in her hand.

"Let's go!" she encouraged, leading Aria after them.

They traveled up a few flights of narrow stairwells chatting happily, well except Leo's occasional grumble about being made fun of, until they made it to the hangar. It was filled with jets, namely F-18's.

Sam walked on purposefully, passing the flight personal without a second glance. He must have known precisely where the Autobot's were. How though, she had no idea. He must have had military friends.

As they neared the back corner of the ship, some of the planes had been moved off to the sides in order to clear a space for a variety of familiar parked vehicles. Among them was a red and blue Peterbilt, a weird looking car that vaguely looked like a Corvette and the bright yellow Camaro. In front of the vehicles was an yellow-green robot working on a relatively smaller red one.

Upon noticing their presence, the robot looked up and greeted Sam and Mikaela as if it were a regular everyday occurrence. "Greetings, Sam, Mikaela."

"Hey, Ratchet, long time no see!" Sam grinned. Mikaela also greeted the robot.

The smaller robot spoke up. "Hey, what up, not goin' to say hi to poor ol' Mudflap here?" Its voice was loud and echoed off the concrete walls.

"Hold still," the robot named Ratchet grumbled, fiddling with something on Mudflap's arm.

"Hey, who's dat?" Mudflap asked, crudely pointed at Aria.

Sam took this as an opportunity to introduce her to the robot aliens. "This is Aria, she came with us to Egypt."

"How did she know about us?" the bigger robot inquired, now looking more closely at her. "I haven't seen her before."

Aria swallowed. Both of the aliens were looking directly at her like some sort of specimen in a jar. Becoming aware of her body, she crossed and uncrossed her arms. Still, they stared, not a noise from anyone else in the vicinity. Wait. Were they waiting for her to say something?

She opened and closed her mouth a few times. Talking to Mikaela had been difficult, but it was nothing compared to this.

Finally, with an exhale, she spoke. "I work at the museum that they found Jetfire. I followed them not really believing my eyes. Next thing I knew," Aria took a breath, "I was in Egypt."

Ratchet looked thoughtful. "So, you came with Sam and the others to revive Optimus?"

Or right, Optimus was the Prime.

"No, I woke up after they left. I stayed with Jetfire until he came to join the fight…" There was a pang in her chest. Poor Jetfire.

"If it wasn't for Jetfire, Optimus wouldn't have been able to destroy the Star Harvester. We are in his debt."

The noise of hydraulics, rotating metal, and spinning tires filled the hangar. Behind Ratchet, Aria witnessed the flaming truck transform into the great Prime itself. The cool breeze of its complete metamorphosis gently blew her hair back as she stared on at sight.

It stood to its full height, head mere inches from the tall ceiling. The towering Prime held the same majestic posture as the first time she laid eyes on it. This time, however, it looked directly down at her. She absently took a step back.

"Yes," it said in a deep voice. "Jetfire made a great sacrifice. He proved himself to be a true Autobot."

The Prime actually cared. "I know," she said not meeting the Peterbilt's bizarre glowing eyes.

As odd as it was, she had enjoyed his strange and often frightening company.

The alien leader bent down on one knee and brought his sizeable metallic face, barely a meter from her small organic one. "I am Optimus Prime from the planet Cybertron," he said in a well-rehearsed tone.

Aria leaned back at the proximity of the Primes face. Odd glyphs were etched into the sides of where his cheeks would be. The metal faceplates shifted as he talked and changed expression. It was amazing how different, yet similar their species were. Although his eyes looked like a series of lights and optics, he blinked just like a human. He had a metal nose, lips, cheeks, and forehead too, much like humans

But then they were also completely different. Giants made of metal, able to change shape at will. Their limbs were made up of guns, and they ran on a mysterious substance called Energon. Who knew how they worked, or if they evolved or were created.

"My name's Aria Normandy, I'm from uh, Earth," she said lamely. It sounded rather unimpressive when she said it aloud.

The giant robot inclined his head. "It is a beautiful planet."

Goosebumps formed on her skin from the sound of the Primes deep voice. There was the distant sound an elevator bringing down various planes from the Flight Deck.

"The Autobots are honored to call it home," the thirty foot Prime finished. He gazed at the four humans with, and expression Aria could only identify as respect.

It was fascinating to see these vast, towering robots move and act as freely as people. But it was unbelievable how they were absolutely and entirely sentient. They were compassionate towards each other and towards humans. Jetfire sacrificed himself, not just to save the Prime, but to save the planet as well.

"Yeah, and wit out us, those mean ol' Decepticons would mess you guys up!" Mudflap added.

Ratchet looked up from his work. "Earth's government seems to disagree," he shook his head. "Apparently the Decepticons are here to 'hunt' us. It's preposterous. If we were to leave, the Decepticon's wouldn't waste a moment in enslaving this planet."

"Just how many Decepticons are there?" The battle in Egypt made it clear that there were more than just a few Decepticons. Was it possible that they outnumbered the Autobots?

"Apparently for every one we offline, five more appear to take its place." Ratchet gave a hard look. He then glanced up above Aria's head. "What are you…"

Before he could finish, there was a sound like something was charging up coming from right behind her. Static filled the air pricking at her skin. It was similar to the feeling of the pulse of energy when Jetfire first transformed.

Aria whirled around and came face to face with the barrel of a glowing blue cannon almost as big as her.

"Boo."

A blood-curdling scream ripped out of her throat. She spun around and sprinted in the opposite direction.

This couldn't be happening! Was it another Decepticon? Only when she was halfway down the hangar did she slow down to catch her breath. When she did, the sound of laughter rang over the pounding of her heart. Why the hell would anyone be laughing? And why was no one else running?

Curiosity getting the better of her for the second time in the past few days, she turned around. Thank god the robots were so gigantic, or else she wouldn't have been able to see the figure of the Prime scolding another rather sturdy looking robot for scaring the daylights out of the human.

"Ironhide, the girl has been through enough this past week without you frightening her," the Prime's voice boomed through the hangar.

"I just wanted to show her my cannons…" The ebony robot muttered rather dejectedly, disarming its weapon.

"Aria come back, he was just teasing you!" Mikaela hollered over to her. It sounded like she was trying not to laugh.

Aria cautiously made her way back, never taking her scrutinizing eyes off the robot known as Ironhide. She made sure to join Leo behind Sam and Mikaela. He also looked apprehensive of the newest alien.

The black robot was second only to the Prime in size. He wasn't as tall, but bulkier. His one eye was bright blue like the rest of the Autobots, but the other was dimmer. As she got closer, the robot's face became clearer. Half his face was mangled, resembling a battle scar. It made the alien look even more intimidating.

The ebony robot regarded her through narrowed optic eyes. "I'm the Autobots' weapons specialist, Ironhide. I'd be best for you remember it, punk," he spat.

"A-Aria. Nice to meet you too," she sputtered out in response. Ironhide didn't sound the least bit friendly.

"Punk," he repeated.

She was not a punk.

"Ironhide, be nice," the Prime chided.

The weapons specialist muttered under its breath before turning around and transforming into a very heavy-duty looking truck, joining the other vehicles that had yet to transform. Wait, wasn't that the same truck she rode in on the way to the ship?

"Aria," she turned around once again to face Ratchet. "Don't let him get to you, that's just how he is."

Sam smiled at her. "Yeah, it just means he likes you." He gave her a friendly nudge.

Aria nodded despite her confusion. Wanting to change the subject, she faced Ratchet and red robots. "So you're Ratchet and er-" What was the smaller one's name again?

"Yes, I'm Ratchet, the Autobots' medic. It's a pleasure to meet you," he nodded at her.

"And I'm Mudflap!" The small red alien exclaimed before Aria could return the greeting to the more gigantic robot.

"Well, it's nice to meet you too." She paused awkwardly before continuing, "It's not every day I get to meet Autobots from the planet Cybertron."

Okay, that sounded dumb. Beside her Sam and Mikaela started their own conversation with the Prime. Good, now she only had to focus on the two Autobots in front of her.

"Ah, so Jetfire must have told you about our home planet. A beautiful place in its hay day."

Though his tone was light, his face darkened a moment after. Deciding it wasn't appropriate to bring up the destruction of their planet, she asked a different question.

"So why Earth of all places?"

The cloud lifted from Ratchet's expression. Mudflap also looked at him, eager to hear the answer as well.

"The machine you saw back in the desert was a Star Harvester. Its primary function was to harness your sun's energy to produce a substance called Energon. We did not know such a machine existed on this planet, but because of its presence, something else from our planet locked on to its coordinates and landed her as well. We came here in search of that artifact. It was, however, destroyed shortly after we arrived."

Okay, that all made sense. She already knew about the part where The Fallen built the Star Harvester on earth because he was basically an asshole with no moral compass. The artifact though…was it a ship? If it could lock on to coordinates of a machine in a different galaxy, it must be some sort of super advanced technology.

"What made you decide to stay then? If the artifact was destroyed, was there another reason?"

"We decided to stay because of the bonds we've formed. Although the Allspark was lost, we could not abandon your race and leave you to the mercy of the Decepticons."

"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings, and if we must stay to ensure yours, we will," the Prime interjected, joining the conversation.

Aria, Ratchet, and Mudflap all turned their heads to regard him.

"Hey, hey, hey!" A man paced towards them, his boots clacking on the tarmac. Even from a distance, he wore a military uniform. "We can't have civilians talking to the Autobots!"

It was Colonel Lennox. She owed a lot to the man, seeing as he was the one who gave her clearance to board the ship. She didn't, however, like that Sam and Mikaela told her it was okay to meet the Autobots when it clearly wasn't. She opened her mouth to apologize, but Sam spoke up first.

"Awe, come on Lennox, not like she hasn't seen them before! I mean, she rode in with Jetfire!"

Colonel Lennox rolled his eyes but deflated none the less. "I know they're your friends, Sam, but they're also treated as government assets. She needs clearance—" he paused as if he just thought of something. "You told her about Mission City, didn't you?"

Sam and Mikaela nodded. The colonel let out a long, frustrated sigh and turned to face Aria. "I'm going to need you to come with me to fill out more paperwork."

She said goodbye to the group of humans and aliens and followed Colonel Lennox.

Though the Autobots owed nothing to humans, they chose to stay because they felt responsible for their safety. Ratchet said, that they had formed bonds in their short time here, and Colonel Lennox called the Autobot's Sam's friends. Did that mean that they were more than just allies? That bonds could truly be formed with an alien race? Could she also form a relationship with them?

Could she actually be their friend?

...