Decided it was time to put another chapter out, hope you all enjoy!


Chapter 5

The Next Day, Tranquility California

Mikaela glared out of the window she sat next to, doing her best ignoring her boyfriend Trent as he tried to coerce her into staying round his home after the lake party.

She'd already told him she couldn't, that she had to do something to help her recently bailed father get himself back on his feet.

Trent wasn't having it however.

"C'mon babe… yah old man can wait can't he?"

"No Trent, now shut up, I don't want to talk about it anymore. I'm going to the lake party with you, but I need to do something else after, not hang with you, maybe tomorrow?" She tried.

Trent huffed, but seemed to relent for now.

Turning her gaze back to the front she found herself praying that this Witwicky guy would hurry up already, Arien had given her enough cash to buy the apparently really important glasses he was currently waving around, she just wanted to get this all over with.

"I've got them on Ebay right now… You could bid… you know… if you're interested…"

The final bell graced her ears then, she swore she'd never gotten out of her chair and away from Trent faster.

"Hey! Sam!" She called to the teen who was trying to offer the specks out to their other classmates trying to make as hasty an exit as possible.

He spun around and seemed to all but have his brain crash as she walked up to him. "Y-yeah? C-c-can I help you?"

"Yes, I'll buy them, here." She offered the wad of tens, honestly it was way more than a pair of glasses could ever be worth, but, oh well, it wasn't her cash that was being used here.

Sam floundered, and the wad drew some wandering and surprised looks from their teacher, Trent, and the remaining classmates.

"A friend of mine likes to collect stuff like this, so she gave me this to buy anything I could do to help boost her collection. So, this enough?" She huffed, propping her hand on her hip.

Sam promptly nodded. "Y-yeah! It's enough! H-here!" He offered her the ancient looking glasses, which she quickly took, then the case that was offered, all whilst she passed over the bound wad.

She didn't wait around to hear him continue rambling, marching back to her chair, grabbing her stuff and leaving, Trent quickly following behind.

"Babe, we need to talk."

She halted in her power walk, spinning on her frowning boyfriend. "What is it Trent?"

"You never mentioned having a friend that was loaded."

Mikaela scowled. "She's a new friend, met her… a few days ago, now I need to go call her, let them know I got something, I'll see you at the Lake Trent."

"Or I could give you a lift home?"

"In other words, you want to grill me on Arien." She shot back.

"Ari-en? Huh, pretty name…" He wasn't focused on her for a moment, giving her all the time she needed to turn back towards the exit and storm away.

When she reached the door, she heard him call to her, but she pushed through, reaching into her pocket and pulling out her flip phone, dialling in the number of Arien's phone number that she'd been given on a square of paper.

"Given the time of the call, I'm guessing… Mikaela?" She heard Aria's chirpy voice call.

"Yeah, it's me, I got them."

"Excellent! We knew we'd done the right thing entrusting you with this! We'll send someone to come pick you up! Oh, Wren want's to speak to you quickly… If you see a yellow with black racing striped vehicle following Sam, walk up to it, driver or not, and tell it you have the glasses and to stop targeting Sam. It should be at the lake, so you'll probably just have to wave them at it to get it's attention."

Mikaela paused in her walking. "Is this all just some stupid joke?"

"If it was, Aria would've lost her composure by now and started laughing our head off, listen to me Mikaela, the vehicle, is not a normal vehicle, it is a he, he is sentient, and we need you to get his attention to save him from a lot of potential harm, please… I'm sending you a clip to your computer at home, watch it, and you'll understand."

With that, they hung up.

This was getting way too weird.

Shoving the glasses into its case, she then shoved that into her bag and took off towards her house at a jog, her mind racing as her eyes darted around, paranoia spiking.

She was just about to cross a street when she saw it, rolling right past her, old, banged up, but yellow, with black racing stripes.

And no driver.

"It's you…"

The car slowed for a brief moment, she swore the wing mirror lifted up slightly.

She turned, and bolted, panic rising within her, her feet carrying her fast on a longer route home, doing her best not to look back.

She didn't hear its engine following, but when she reached her front door, she did look back.

It was there, at the end of her street, turned directly towards her.

She practically threw her front door open when her keys finally unlocked it, and then slammed it behind her, hand pressed to her chest to quell her racing heart.

"Miki?"

Her head swung around, finding her recently bailed father standing there, looking more than a little surprised, with concern brimming in his eyes. "Was… Was some bastard following you?"

How could she explain the driver-less car that had followed her right after she'd been told to get it's attention from a woman she'd met the day before after they and their twin had had her whisked away to Las Vegas, women whom somehow shared a body…

"No… no… just… just got homework! Yeah, homework!"

"But it's near the end of the year isn't it? Shouldn't they be tapering off homework by now?"

"Yeah, but I got it dumped on me by history, due tomorrow, want to get it done before the party up at the lake later tonight." She rushed out.

"Oh, ok, well… let me know if you need any help with it?"

She paused in her preparation to rush to her room, the urge to see what Wren had said had been growing steadily since she had been told that something had been sent to her. How did they even have her email address?

Her father was really trying, she realised, he'd missed so much of her childhood and teen years he was struggling to know how to properly help her like a father should.

She stepped forwards and pulled her father into a quick hug. "Will do daddy."

His arms trapped her against him for a moment, before he let her go and patted her on the shoulder. "Go on, I'll be cooking up some dinner so you don't get hungry while you're at that party… mac and cheese?" He enquired.

Mikaela nodded. "Yeah, sounds good dad." She then stepped away, calmed by her father's naivety of the situation.

Walking into her own room she walked over to her computer, booting it up took a few minutes, but she was able to quickly open up her email, finding a new message, how had they even gotten a hold of her email?

'Bumblebee aka, yellow and black car'

"Bumblebee…?" She mumbled, opening the email, glancing at the sender Username 'Ar/WrOrichiono'.

"Guess their last names Orichiono…" She mumbled, finding below a tagged video.

With only a few moments pause, she clicked it.

The video player went to full screen immediately.

Robots, giant, different coloured, different sized robots, all standing around and on what looked like some old observatory.

The largest was kneeling, the same glasses she'd just bought, held almost comically between two of his giant mechanical features.

"Please… let this work…" His voice was deep, a baritone if she remembered right, as he stared at the glasses.

It then panned out to the others again, the smallest speaking. "Fire it up Optimus."

Optimus, the big one was Optimus… why… what was she seeing?

Then, it just got stranger, light beams shot out of 'Optimus' metal eye things, entering the glasses lenses.

And a giant glowing map of the Earth appeared.

"The code…" Arien had mentioned a code… was this it? "The code on these glasses indicates the Allspark is two hundred and thirty miles from here."

The glasses were a map… a map they needed to find the 'Allspark'?

The green one then spoke up, the view panning to him. "I sense the Decpticons are getting ready to mobilise."

The black one then spoke. "They must know it's here as well."

Was that a bad thing? Decepticons didn't exactly sound like a friendly name…

"What about Bumblebee?!" The smallest interrupted.

Mikaela felt herself lean closer to the screen.

"We can't just leave him to die!" The shot cut away, turning to a new one, yellow and black, Bumblebee, laying out on some moving slab as white clouds of something were sprayed at him. "... And become some human experiment!"

She felt something her her stomach drop.

Then the Optimus one cut over. "He'll die in vain if we don't accomplish our mission!"

Then the shot returned to them. "Bumblebee is a brave soldier! This is what he would want!"

The black one snapped back. "Why are we fighting to save the humans?!"

Then it cut back with him still talking, showing 'Bumblebee' thrash and buckle as he was blasted with what looked like electricity, pitching mechanical whines leaving him with each blast, the weight in her gut was just getting heavier… she'd just seen him… How did they get this?

"They're a primitive! Violent race!"

"Were we so different?" Optimus sent back.

Then it was over, the screen going dark.

And her phone ringing from it's place in her pocket.

She jumped at the ringtone, flailing for a moment to pull it out and answer it, this was too weird, she lifted it to her ear, pressing answer.

"We're trying to save them… this hasn't happened yet… we're trying to change their fate… we need those glasses to lure them away from the grasp of your Government…" It was Aria, at least, she thought it was, her tone was softened, saddened even, like she'd been forced to watch that a hundred times over, like she knew things that warred upon them.

Mikaela gulped. "They're trying to keep us safe… why would that do that to him? Who are you?"

"I can't risk saying too much, this line isn't secure, we'll speak more once you're back in Las Vegas… you're okay with another visit right?"

She nodded, despite the fact that they couldn't see her. "Yeah… yeah, I'll tell my dad I'm sleeping over… I think this is gonna be quite the explanation."

"Given there's the chance you'll faint, I'd have to agree with you." Aria responded, her voice returning to it's more positive tone.

Then Wren cut in. "A close friend of ours, Kia, is going to be sending a significantly sized convoy to transport you… don't freak out, she's just trying to cover all our bases. Just in case a 'Con chances upon you."

Mikaela gulped. "Was that supposed to help me calm down about all this?"

"No, I was stating a fact."

"Good to know… see you then I guess…"

"See yah soon Mikaela! And remember, grab Bumblebee's attention! We need to lure him to us so we can alert them to the danger they're in." Aria finished up, before the call was dropped.

Sighing, she dropped her head to her desk.

Her life had certainly taken a turn for the bizarre in the last twenty four hours.


Witwicky residence

Bumblebee was having a hard time focusing on the human male Samuel Witwicky he was supposed to guard, his processor stuck on that weird encounter with the human female.

She'd recognised him… then bolted, had his movements been too much? He'd just tried to get a better look at who'd suddenly spoken at him.

Maybe she was just a conspiracy nut… or she knew someone who had a similar vehicle to his alt mode?

Nothing he could think of made sense… Well it did, but every time he thought up another explanation, something nagged in the back of his processor saying it wasn't right.

The sound of the front door closing brought the scouts attention back to the present. He had to quickly hold in a shudder as the human teen opened his driver side door and slid in, foot hitting the side of his central column in his haste, this was still a very new feeling, having something else alive inside him, but, to the teen, he was just a normal car, he had to make sure he was safe long enough for them to get the glasses from them.

"Alright… Lake… to the Lake… Gotta get Miles… god Mikaela was so hot today…"

This human was very, very, very strange.

When this 'Miles' human was picked up, Samuel decided to have a very rampant conversation with them.

"Dude! I got a sell! Mikaela bought one of the pieces of my Great Grandfather's junk!" He exclaimed.

"Bro! Awesome! How much did you get?"

"Dude… a fucking grand!"

Miles did a spit take, spraying his dashboard with his saliva, and again Bumblebee had to hold back the urge to shudder, he'd need to wash that out… as soon as possible.

"What?! Dude, the fuck she buy?! His preserved leg?!"

"No! And, eww, that's gross, she bought the old mans glasses!"

It took a few minutes for the humans statement to sink in, when it did, he very nearly killed his engine.

Samuel Witwicky didn't have the glasses… apparently he'd sold them, that day…

The scout wished he was able to be in his alt mode so he could perform the human expression of 'face palming'.

"Really? Dude! Those things were like… junk?!"

"Apparently a friend of hers is a collector of stuff like that, she bought it for them… she handed over the wad, took the glasses, then left… she's probably gonna be at the lake party too… maybe I can ask her there? Give her the extra money back maybe to try and gain her favour?"

"Dude… Chivalry's dead, don't bother, keep the cash, besides, you'll get your face pounded by her jock boyfriend if he catches you tryin' to make moves on his girl!"

"Worth the shot."

The rest of the conversation, Bumblebee decided to tune out, focusing on following Sam's motions on his wheel so as to reach this lake and try to identify this 'Mikaela' human.

Hopefully she had the glasses with her.

When the humans finally got out of him, they were ranting and raving all over again, apparently Samuel had spotted his new target.

His optics ran over everyone within range.

Stopping on the human female from earlier that day, despite being surrounded by a group of other similarly dressed females all seeming to talk at once, she was staring directly at them.

"Dude she sees us!"

That was it, that was the final confirmation, that was the human he somehow needed to get a hold of.

How? That was the big question.

"Bumblebee to Optimus, come in Optimus."

"Optimus here… status report Bumblebee?"

"The glasses have a new owner, they were exchanged for local currency to a human female, I have located her, but we are in a public place, the Witwicky boy brought me to an outdoors celebration of some sort next to a body of liquid."

"Hmm… try and draw their attention… discretely."

"No need sir, she's staring dead at me, I encountered her earlier this cycle… she somehow seemed to know I was more than just a vehicle…"

"You're suggesting she knows you are more than a vehicle?"

"Yes sir, and I haven't shifted into my bipedal form in any location where she or any human could of chanced upon me, I made sure of it."

"Hmm… this does complicate things… What are they doing now?"

He turned his focus back to the human female, she was looking away now, talking rapidly to some of the surrounding females, trying to make her way out of the group.

He turned his audios up.

"Sorry Girls, I, I gotta go, I'll see you all tomorrow, promise." She was going somewhere.

One of the males then grabbed her. "Babe, you're acting weird, what's going on?"

"Optimus, something is occurring…"

"Nothing is wrong Trent, I'm going to visit my friend in Las Vegas so I can give them these glasses, they sent a car to pick me up, see, the drivers over there waiting!" She was becoming stressed, trying to wrench on hand free of 'Trent's' grip, using the other hand to gesture to a car parked a short way behind himself, he felt himself tense, he hadn't noticed that vehicle arrive, a quick scan reassured him, no Cybertronian signal. Though even he felt a little bit imitated by the slight scowl on the face of the giant man whom stood next to the driver side door, the taut white suit he wore straining to contain the dark skinned musculature beneath, the man seemed to be of African descent, his skin tone and head of greying black hair standing out against the white suit.

"Babe, this is bull shit, when the hell did you… it ain't a friend is it?! You got yourself a sugar daddy didn't you?! That's how your old man managed to pay his bail! You whore! You slept with some old guy! What's his real name! None of that 'Arien' shit!"

Throughout the rampant accusations, she was shouting right back, drawing attention from the surrounding humans.

"The hell Trent?! Why the fuck do you think I'd do that?! You know what?! For that? We're done! I'm sick and tired of you always trying to control what I do, treating me like some dumb trophy you own! I ain't no damn ornament you can lord over! Good bye!" She wrenched her hand away and stormed towards the large, white SUV, the driver holding the passenger door open for her.

"Ma'am, the ladies will be waiting for you in the Lobby of the Cosmopolitan Resort, estimated arrival time to the airport is just under an hour, Arien's private jet is waiting for you there." The driver announced, speaking loud enough to be heard by her now ex boyfriend.

"Thank you…"

"Winston ma'am."

"Winston, thank you."

"Any friend of Arien is a friend of Kia, and so, should be given the same level of respect. In my opinion at least."

The door was the shut, the driver moving into the driver's side door, though he did seem to pause long enough to send the now ex of his passenger a particularly murderous look before getting behind the wheel.

He didn't hesitate to start his own engine, earning a panicked shout from Samuel as he quickly ditched the human teens to follow the SUV.

Mikaela Barnes was his new target.


Mikaela sighed, slumping against the plush black leather which covered the back seats. "Talk about getting the rumour wheel rolling…"

Winston chuckled, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Petty words, jealousy and envy have no effect if you stand strong against them… i hope I didn't make too much of a scene now did I?"

She chuckled. "No… no… it's fine…" She pushed herself back up, glancing to the rear-view mirror. "Is that Yellow and Black car following us?"

"Yes Ma'am, but I was told to expect that and not to be too concerned…Does it make you feel uncomfortable?"

"No, just wanted to check…"

"Hmm, very well, ah, the Convoy is merging, don't worry Ma'am, you're safe."

Mikaela nodded.

After a few minutes of just soft piano music coming from the speakers, she decided to speak up. "Hey… Winston?"

"Yes?"

"Who's Kia?"

"Ah, Lady Kia De La Estrada, she owns the majority of the Casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, and other such Casinos around the world, hence why she has such a level of security… She is a very close friend of the Ladies Aria and Wren Oriciono, and that of Ira Halloran, the fourth member of their little friendship group, they're all quite influential women… I do believe that Lady Kia will be joining you on your flight to Las Vegas, she had business elsewhere in California, hence why the twins sent the Jet here."

"Oh… well, thank you Winston."

"Oh don't thank me, I'm just doing my job! Anything you want me to change the radio to? Oh and for your comfort, there is a cooler built into the middle seat, just pull the tab down and you'll be able to access them."

Mikaela chuckled at that, of course the SUV would have a feature like that.


Bumblebee was more than aware of the group of white SUV's that now surrounded not just the vehicle with Mikaela in it, but also himself, they were shepherding him.

That was not something he felt comfortable with.

"Optimus, I believe that I have come into contact with humans who know I am sentient, they seem to be leading me towards an Airport."

"We cannot lose the glasses Bumblebee, do you know their destination."

"Yes sir, Las Vegas… the Cosmopolitan Resort, I overheard that there are a group waiting for Mikaela in the lobby to receive the glasses."

"Decepticons?"

"No sir, if it was, they would of attacked by now, I'm not picking up any readings from these vehicles, even residual signature scans are coming up negative."

"Hmm, this could be a trap, remain on guard Bumblebee, we are altering our trajectory, Ratchet estimates we will have arrived just before the end of the next Earth cycle."

"Understood sir, I'll report back with anything else I find…"

"Be careful Bumblebee." The line ended there.


Visalia Municipal Airport

When she stepped into the Jet that was to take her to Las Vegas, Mikaela once again had the sudden feeling that she was stepping into a completely different world.

Evidently, the life of luxury was something Aria and Wren indulged in heavily.

Shuffling to the plush seat about halfway down the plane, she was almost immediately offered a tray of condiments by a smiling Air hostess wearing a black and white uniform.

Realising a single peanut could probably set her back an amount which could be classified as extortion, she turned it down, glancing over at Winston, whom was apparently going to be both her, and Kia's driver when they arrived in Las Vegas.

Her gaze then drifted out towards the window, and the parking lot beyond.

She spotted Bumblebee just as he took a corner and disappeared.

He was probably going to find his own way to Vegas… The convoy had broken away from him, and now sat ready to go again in the short stay car park, they'd been there to stop any funny business from the sentient robot.

"Mikaela? Are you nervous?" Winston enquired, going to sit in a seat close to hers, gesturing to the air hostess, she quickly responded, bringing him back what looked like a freshly made peanut butter and banana slices sandwich, which he promptly dug into.

"Yeah… looks like the cars going it's own way…"

"I know who he is dear, you don't need to pretend you don't know who he is either." Winston responded once he'd cleared his throat.

Mikaela turned her full focus on him. "How did you react?"

"How else? I fainted, manly fainted mind you, though I didn't find out about him and his lot until later, it was accidentally stumbling on something else that triggered my lapse in consciousness… Then Aria and Wren explained a few things, and now… well… my life has certainly become more interesting… ah, it would seem Mrs Estrada has arrived." He announced, having apparently spotted something she was facing away from.

A minute or so later they were joined by a Hispanic woman, but Mikaela had to perform a double take just to make sure she wasn't imagining things.

The woman was a vision, and her posture radiated out an aura of intimidation as she flung dark brown windswept locks out of her face, the rest held in place by a sun hat with a significant semi transparent cream rim.

She wore a sundress, soft cream with rouge trimming and a transparent black shawl draped around the back and around her arms.

"Mikaela Barnes?" Her tone was soft as she asked that question, approaching the assortment of seats as if she was approaching an easily spooked animal.

Mikaela nodded, holding her breath for a moment as one hand reached out, palm up. "The glasses."

"Oh! Yes! Right!" She fumbled there for a moment, finally pulling her backpack off her back, digging around within before pulling out the case and handing it other.

A strange, trill like sound left the older woman as she slowly coaxed the case open, examining the glasses for a brief moment before sliding the case back shut. "You did well, Aria and Wren are going to be pleased… for now though." She offered the case back. "Hold onto them for me alright?"

Mikaela nodded, placing the case back within her bag and placing that at her feet, watching as Kia took the seat facing her next to Winston, waving to the hostess who returned again with an already poured Martini, a cherry bobbing around in the liquid.

However, she paused just as she was about to take a sip, a smirk forming on her faded gold painted lips, her hand stretching out. "Kia De La Estrada, pleasure to meet you. We didn't meet yesterday because I was occupied with a bath. You'll meet Ira when we arrive, she's no longer nursing a nasty bang to the head… no wait, she's off on a little excursion… you'll meet that maniac eventually." The warmth that was in her tone even at the last part of her statement was somewhat comforting to the teen.

Mikaela shook the hand offered to her. "So… can I… get an explanation… I have so many questions after that video…"

"Video? … Ah, I see, the twins sent you part of the film to convince you of a few things. Yes, film, well a film to myself the twins and Ira… real life to you and the rest of the human race here…"

Mikaela glanced to Winston, who'd remained silent since his comment about Kia having arrived. "You're certain she's not crazy?" She hissed to him.

Kia laughed at the question. "Dear, I may have a bolt or two loose, but I'm hardly crazy, the situation we find ourselves in is very real. You see Mikaela, back in September of 2005, in your time, myself, Ira, and Arien, were all transported here, from a parallel reality, by a force we have yet to identify, this reality is one, that, before our arrival here, we knew as nothing more than… well… fiction, you especially, were nothing but a fictional character belonging to a franchise myself and my close friends enjoyed greatly… Think of it this way, you know Star Wars?"

Mikaela was really having a hard time believing a word this woman was saying, but she nodded, of course she knew Star Wars.

"Well then, imagine you were say… all of sudden flung from your daily life as a part time Mechanic, and right slam bang in the middle of Nabu without so much as a map to help you. That is, in effect, what happened to us, only I ended up being transported from Kenya to Zimbabwe, Ira from Rome to a forest in Germany, and Arien, well, those two were flung all the way from London to the middle of the Amazon… do you understand?"

Winston then leaned over and passed her a bottle of water. "Here, drink."

She quickly obliged, having found her throat suddenly very parched, after a quick sip she tried to respond. "So… You… that's how you knew to get me? Get these glasses? Following the plot?"

Kia snorted. "Fuck no, we have no intention of letting what's in the film, happening here… No one's needlessly dying on our watch."

Mikaela stared at her for another long moment before the Pilot chose that time to tell them they were about to taxi out onto the runway.

She thought that her life couldn't get any weirder when she accepted the existence of sentient cars able to take humanoid form.

Now she's got trans-dimensional beings on her plate whom apparently know the future.

"Can I ask a question?"

Kia nodded, a small smirk on her lips as she continued to sip at her drink, her free hand buckling herself in, which Mikaela quickly followed with.

"How much weirder are things going to get?"

"Dear, by the fourth movie, there's a Giant Robot Rex with a Scottish Accent… don't tell anyone I told you that."

Winston had the grace to try and hide his snort behind his hand.

Mikaela let off a groan as she felt the jet they were on begin to accelerate down the runway.

Once they were in the air and the seat belt sign turned back off, Kia rose, a single stride putting her directly in front of Mikaela so that she could rest her hand on the teen's shoulder.

"It's a lot to take in, I advise you take a nap so that you can save as much energy as possible for what's to come."

She took that more as an order than a suggestion, the idea of sleep was a welcomed one, and the plush seat was more than comfortable to nap for a bit…


I can now officially say the movie, or what is now happening in the movie, is fully underway!