*REWRITTEN: 6/24/22*

Welcome back to the third chapter! Hope you enjoy!


(A-POV)

I sat in the backseat of the yellow Camaro, staring silently out of the window and thinking over everything that had just happened. I met an alien, and his name was Bumblebee. I was riding in the backseat of said extraterrestrial. The more I thought about it, the crazier it seemed. What I thought was going to be a nice day hanging out with Mikaela turned out to be a day that turned my life upside down.

I didn't need another one of these days. I've already had too many to count. But I already knew I wasn't going to be able to walk away. My downfall would be my curiosity, I could feel it.

I didn't know if I could ever look at a car or toy without thinking of the alien that I was currently sitting in. That in itself was weird. I was sitting inside of an alien. Actually inside him. All of a sudden, Bee slammed on his brakes and my head rammed into the back of the passenger seat. I hit the seat with full force, not having enough time to react in order to lessen the blow.

"What the hell?" I shouted, rubbing the side of my head.

Bee politely opened the door for me, but I could tell that he was upset. I got out of the car confusedly, not knowing what had happened. Bumblebee had stopped inside a tunnel in the middle of traffic. I turned to see Bee drive off while others behind us honked in annoyance.

"Oh, see? No... no that doesn't work. See? Fantastic, now you pissed him off. That car is sensitive, I mean, $4000 just drove off." I heard from behind me.

I glared at Sam and Mikaela. "What did you guys do?" I demanded.

"Mikaela told him that the car he chose was a piece of crap Camaro!"

I looked at Mik, horrified. "Why would you say that?"

She stared right back at me. "It was an honest question! And it was true!"

"Just because it may not be the best car on the block doesn't mean it's crap! There are some things we keep to ourselves, Mikaela Banes! And you're a mechanic, you should know the potential an old car like that has!"

As my best friend and I started to argue about the situation, we heard a familiar engine rev behind us. We turned around and didn't see the old Camaro. Instead, we saw a brand new 2007 Chevy Camaro drive up and open its doors. Beautiful yellow paint job, crisp black racing stripes. All three of us gaped at Bee for a moment, before climbing into our respective seats. Upon seeing the interior, we all gaped once again.

"Bee, how the hell did you do this?" I said, awestruck.

Bumblebee chirped and beeped in reply and I laughed, hearing the mischievous tone in his voice. I didn't need to understand him to know he had pulled a crazy stunt to pull this off. As soon as we were in the car, we were driving off again.

"Incredible," I whispered to myself.

-0-0-0-

Bee drove into an open gate and pulled up in front of a huge stone building. I climbed out, following the two humans that sat in the front. Suddenly, a flash of light danced across the night sky, so much so that I was momentarily blinded. I looked up and saw four meteors shoot above us. I heard the sound and felt the tremor shake the ground as they landed.

All three of us started sprinting towards the nearest meteor, seeing it had landed in a field. As we advanced, I saw a flaming tree and the meteor on fire as well. Then, the meteor began to open up and a metallic whirring filled the air. I then realized that it hadn't been a meteor at all. It had been a space pod of some sort. A robot taller than Bumblebee emerged from the metal pod, and with one look at us, ran in the other direction. Sprinting back to Bee, we hurriedly jumped into the Camaro. He took off once more and turned into a nearby empty alleyway.

In the distance, I spotted a sliver of light glint on something, and my damned curiosity won again. I got out of Bee and stood up.

A blue Peterbilt with red flames emerged from the darkness. I turned around upon hearing more engines join us. When I turned back to the truck, I found that the Peterbilt had rolled up close to us. Just when I thought things couldn't get any crazier, it started to transform.

As a body and face took form, I could only stare in awe. A deep, contented sigh left the being as he stretched. The other vehicles transformed, following suit.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sam and Mikaela look around at the other robots, but my eyes were trained on the one standing before me. It was quite obvious that he was the leader of the group. He stood tall and proud, confident but not cocky. It made him look... regal, almost. My thoughts wandered and my eyes flicked across his frame, taking in his looks. The leader bent down to eye level, and as he did so, my breath caught in my throat.

"Are you Samuel James Witwicky, descendant of Archibald Witwicky?" A shiver ran down my spine. God, I could listen to him talk all day long.

"Yeah..." Sam whispered.

"My name is Optimus Prime. We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron." This time, Optimus' eyes met mine. I found myself drawn into his bright azure eyes, not able to look away until a robot spoke up from beside me.

"But you can call us Autobots for short."

"Autobots," I murmured, testing the way the word sounded against my tongue. Upon hearing this, Optimus glanced down at me once more. Instead of holding my gaze, his eyes flicked towards the yellow, red, and white bot who had just spoken.

"What's crackin' little bitches." I heard a voice say from behind me. I swung my head around and saw a silver bot do a backflip in mid-air.

"My first lieutenant, designation Jazz." Optimus rumbled.

"This looks like a cool place to kick it." Jazz said while jumping onto the hood of an old car. I smirked at the bot's antics, shaking my head in amusement.

"Nice moves, Jazz!" I grinned up at the Autobot.

Jazz looked at me, bent down, and scooped me into his hands. "Glad you liked them. I'm a performer at spark, what can I say? Maybe I could show you my other moves, sometime." He winked.

I laughed outright at that, already knowing that I would come to enjoy Jazz's company more and more. "Sounds like a date," I replied, grinning up at him.

"Wha- how did you learn to talk like that?" Sam asked.

Jazz opened his mouth to speak, but Optimus beat him to it. "We've learned Earth's languages through the world wide web." I snorted and politely asked Jazz if he would set me down. He did just that, lowering his hand enough so I could safely jump off.

"My Weapons Specialist, Ironhide." I heard the familiar sound of cannons and guns being loaded and prepped. I twisted towards the sound in surprise. "You feelin' lucky, punk?" Ironhide snarled, pointing his guns at Sam. Once again, instinct kicked in and I jumped in front of Mik and Sam, pushing them behind me protectively. I glared at Ironhide, somewhat having a staring contest with him. Lifting my head high, I refused to back down. I wanted to see if I could crack his bluff. The urge to smirk rose and I allowed myself to indulge in it. The smirk made its way onto my face.

During our little contest, I faintly heard Optimus say, "Easy Ironhide."

The 'bot was the first one to break away from my gaze. "Just kidding," he snorted. "I just wanted to show him my cannons." I took a few steps towards Ironhide. I could trust him. He simply enjoyed using his massive frame to scare the shit out of people.

I liked him already.

"What kind of cannons are those?"

"These? These are the best of the best. Some of the most accurate out there. Why do you want to know, femme?" Although there was a hint of the past snarkiness in his tone, there was also curiosity.

"I'm interested." I shrugged. "You say they're the best, but how many rounds do they shoot?"

"On average, 30 rounds without reloading them. Takes 30 Earth seconds to reach maximum firing speed. I've made headshots from a little over 4,000 of what you call 'feet'."

"Holy shit," I murmured. "This thing is no joke. The closest thing we have to that on Earth is maybe a 5"/54 caliber Mark 45. Our armies and navies use them. Over 4,000 feet though? I've never seen anything like it."

After hearing my semi-coherent mumbling, Ironhide let out a harsh laugh and said, "Oh, I like this one."

Optimus very quietly cleared his throat, signaling that he wanted to continue the introductions. I glanced up at him, and once again met his eyes. I nodded slightly and gave him an apologetic grin. I understood that he wanted me to stop talking for a while. I gladly handed over the attention he deserved.

"Our Medical Officer, Ratchet." Optimus introduced.

Ratchet sniffed the air professionally. "The boy's pheromone level suggests he wants to mate with one of the two females."

I attempted to not to laugh at that, but I quickly gave up trying and let a giggle loose. I regained my composure and said, "It's definitely not me!" Sam and Mikaela were looking around awkwardly, staring at anything that wasn't near the other person. Optimus continued with the introductions. Either he failed to notice the tension in the air from Ratchet's words, or he elected to ignore it. My money was on the latter.

"You already know your guardian, Bumblebee."

With that, everyone looked at Bee. Punching the air and hopping around on his toes, Bee started boxing an imaginary enemy. Check on the rep', yep, second to none played from his radio.

"Bumblebee, right? So, you're my guardian, huh?" Sam asked.

Bee nodded his head once in reply.

Ratchet pointed a laser at the yellow bot's throat. "His vocal processors were damaged in battle. I'm still working on them."

As a response to the laser, Bee coughed a couple of times.

Mikaela swiveled her head towards Optimus, asking the question that had been on my mind for quite some time now. "Why are you here?"

The Commander looked down at her. "We are here looking for the AllSpark, and we must find it before Megatron."

Mega-what?" Sam asked, confused.

Optimus lifted two fingers and touched the side of his temple, which projected an image from his eyes. Slowly, the ground started to crack and fall away. It looked so real that I backed up from the projected gap in the asphalt.

"Our planet was once a powerful empire, peaceful and just. Until we were betrayed by Megatron, leader of the Decepticons." Instead of hearing Optimus' voice in front of me, I heard it surround me. Fascinating. "All who defied them were destroyed." In the projection, a huge silver robot emerged from the ground, looking even more menacing than the Decepticon we had laid eyes on earlier. His bright red eyes were cold and dreadful, and they sent a chill down my spine.

They looked all too familiar.

"Our war finally consumed the planet, and the AllSpark was lost to the stars. Megatron followed it to Earth, where Captain Witwicky found him." The projection fell away, and we were left with a view of the alleyway once more. I stood there, allowing my mind to take in all that I had seen. That was Cybertron. I had just seen another planet; one that has held life. Giddiness erupted from my chest. It was every small child's dream to see another planet teeming with life, despite its grim fate.

I had finally achieved that, even though it had been a simple projection.

Upon the mention of the Captain's name, Sam gasped. "My grandfather."

"It was an accident, that intertwined our fates. Megatron crash-landed before he could retrieve the Cube. The Captain accidentally activated his navigations system, and the coordinates to the Cube's location on Earth were imprinted on his glasses." Optimus rumbled, finishing his piece of history.

Sam talked once more, twiddling his fingers. "How'd you know about his glasses?"

Optimus blinked a coupled of times. "eBay."

"If the Decepticons find the AllSpark, they'll use its power to transform Earth's machines, and build a new army." Ratchet said with a scowl in his voice.

"And the human race will be extinguished." The Autobot Commander replied gravely and returned to standing straight. "Sam Witwicky, you hold the key to Earth's survival."

I looked around in awe, staring at all of the 'bots surrounding us. What troubles did they all go through in order to try and restore peace to their planet? I thought. I found that I admired every single Autobot here. I admired their courage, their kindness despite going to hell and back, and I admired how they seemed to care for our planet; even when they had just arrived.

My eyes traveled to Optimus, and a million thoughts and questions flew through my head. I wanted to ask every single one of them but decided against the idea. It wasn't the right time or place. All of the Cybertronians transformed into their vehicle mode and started towards Sam's house in search of the glasses. An idea popped into my brain, and instead of walking to Bumblebee, I approached Optimus. Treat him with respect, I reminded myself. To be fair, it was hard to forget that.

The guy's aura practically commanded it.

He had yet to transform, so I lightly tapped him on the leg. He glanced at me with a questioning look on his metallic face, and he bent down in order to get closer.

"Excuse me, Sir," I said calmly and politely. "I was wondering if I could accompany you on the drive to Sam's house?"

He stayed quiet for a moment, and I saw the surprise flicker across his face before he hid his emotions. However, It didn't get by me. I was all too familiar with the action. I saw it in the mirror constantly.

He stood to his full height. "Of course." He transformed and opened the passenger door for me. Ever the gentleman. I smiled.

I climbed into the seat and jumped a little at the feeling of him clipping the seatbelt across my body.

"I am sorry to have startled you." Optimus apologized.

"It's fine, Sir. I'm simply not used to having the seatbelt move on its own," I replied with clear amusement in my voice.

He huffed in mirth as I relaxed against his seat. A moment of silence passed between us, but it was comfortable.

"What is your name?" He asked suddenly.

"My name is Alestia Barone."

"It is nice to meet you, Miss Barone."

"Please, Alestia is quite alright, Sir." I chuckled.

"Alestia, if you insist that I call you by your first name, I would like to extend the same courtesy. There is no need to be so formal. You may call me Optimus."

The leader took me by surprise once more, in the span of 2 minutes. "Thank you." A small smile graced my face.

"Is Prime your title, then?"

He hummed in affirmation.

Silence once more. "May I ask you a question?" I asked suddenly.

"Of course."

"What was Cybertron like when everything was peaceful? Before the War?" I asked in the most empathetic tone I could muster.

There was no reply.

Good God, they've only just arrived and I'd already managed to offend him. I silently cursed myself. That's why you keep your mouth shut. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"You did not offend me."

I let out a breath of relief. Pushing my limits wasn't something I was interested in achieving with these new acquaintances.

"Cybertron was... wonderful." Optimus sighed. "It was rich with life. Mechs and femmes, ones with good sparks, ruled justly, and as a result, Cybertron was peaceful."

"You miss it." It came out as a statement, rather than a question.

"Greatly."

"Optimus," I called gently.

"Hmm?" He hummed in reply, obviously lost in memories.

"I'm sorry for your losses. I will do everything in my power to help you restore your planet. I will get you those glasses."

"Thank you." He replied quietly.

A comfortable silence fell upon us both once more. I leaned my head against the back of the seat and closed my eyes. The sound of Optimus' engine on the road eventually lulled me to sleep. I couldn't help myself.