Sparks

Official Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, they belong to someone else. Someone FAR richer...

Author's Note: Is it sad that Decepticon and Autobot are now in my spellcheck dictionary? Heh...yeah, anyways, question for those that know more about transformers...what do their sparks look like? Or was that something only brought in by the movie? From the brief glimpse that we get of Optimus' in the movie, it looks like it's a black sphere with only a line in it showing the actual spark itself - anyone able to tell me if that's correct?

- Chapter Four: Paranoia and Gigglefits -

After following Alex at her walking pace all the way back to Tranquility, Optimus finally gave in and left her alone for the night, heading off to the lookout where the rest of the Autobots in Tranquility - which was Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Ratchet - had already gathered. She likely needed some time to adjust and cool down before she'd let him explain. Arriving at the lookout, Optimus found Bumblebee in the middle of describing how he'd been defeating Barricade, but the smaller Autobot stopped as soon as Optimus pulled in and transformed to his humanoid form. Ratchet immediately came over and began checking Optimus over.

"So Thundercracker's here?" Sideswipe asked after a moment.

"Yes." Optimus replied.

"It was only a matter of time before more Decepticons started showing up." Bumblebee said with a shrug.

"As long as they don't arrive at a faster pace than the rest of the Autobots out there, I don't really mind." Sunstreaker commented.

"You should." Optimus rumbled. "We've been fortunate in that only one of our battles with the Decepticons has taken place in a highly populated area, but thousands of humans died in that one. The more Decepticons and Autobots that come to Earth, the more chance that our battles will result in human deaths."

"Well it's kind of hard to find the sort of wide-open, uninhabited plains we had on Cybertron for fighting." Sideswipe pointed out.

"That doesn't mean one can't try to minimize casualties." Ratchet said sternly, looking up from where he was still fixing some of the damage Thundercracker had inflicted on Optimus.

"No, it doesn't. In fact, I'm ordering all of you to try and minimize human casualties when fighting the Decepticons. You are not to engage any Decepticon while in a highly populated area - either lead them to a more secluded place and fight there, or let them go." Optimus ordered. There were immediate protests, but Optimus silenced them with a stern look. "This is not our planet - we're fortunate that the government of this country has accepted our presence, and our war. The least we can do is try not to kill them accidentally because of it."

"When you put it that way..." Sunstreaker said wryly. Optimus gave him an amused look, and then peered over his shoulder, where Ratchet was fiddling with some of his armor plating.

"Have you finished, Ratchet?" he asked, knowing the medic could spend hours fixing all the little dents and small anomalies on each of his fellow Autobots if given the chance.

"Essentially." the medic replied grouchily.

"Good. I have someone to go...haunt, I believe the humans call it." Optimus said with a small smile.

"Alexandra?" Bumblebee asked, and Optimus nodded. "Why not just let her go? She obviously doesn't want to know."

"She may want to once she has calmed down - and besides, she's a very good driver." Optimus replied, transforming back into his truck form.

"Sam doesn't seem to think she'll want to hear no matter how long she has to calm down." Bumblebee said.

"Shh, Optimus needs something to keep himself entertained!" Sunstreaker said in a loud whisper, and Optimus purposefully nicked the Autobot as he drove off. Sunstreaker immediately began grumbling about the damage to his paint job, whining for Ratchet to fix it.

---

It was a week before Alex left Tranquility, and the robot-vehicles haunted her the entire time. She kept catching glimpses of the yellow Camaro during the day, while moving around the city, and every time she looked out the window at night, the truck was parked outside. It was irritating, and somewhat freaky, especially when George told her that an anonymous someone had paid for the goods and trailer that had been wrecked in the robot brawl. She decided not to question that, instead just speeding up her plans to leave. She was more than happy to finally get on a plane and leave Tranquility for Boston, where she bought a Peterbilt 387 without much trouble, and then resumed her trucking, deciding to avoid Tranquility for several months.

Not that it did her much good, as 'her' old truck seemed to be quite handily following her - Alex had been free of it for the first few days, but then it found her again. She only caught glimpses here and there, but it was impossible to mistake the truck. Alex found herself becoming somewhat paranoid, glancing in her mirrors far more than necessary, and barely able to get a night's sleep, constantly getting up to peek out the window, always seeing the Peterbilt 379 sitting out there, waiting. Finally, at Beth's badgering, Alex decided to return to Tranquility - she was already being stalked by her old truck (something she had a feeling her father would have found hilarious when he was alive) so what difference would being in Tranquility make?

Apparently a lot.

Alex knew something was wrong when George woke her up at four in the morning and told her she'd better get down to the depot, but she didn't worry overly much - the depot had video cameras and night staff for late-night truckers, after all. So she hadn't quite been prepared for what she saw when she got down to the depot.

"Oh god." she said as the taxi driver pulled up, her eyes wide. "Stay here." she told the driver as she climbed out and walked slowly towards her truck. George walked up beside her as she approached, giving her a sympathetic look.

"We don't know what happened - all the security cameras shorted out at the same time, and by the time the night staff got out here, it was like this." George said. Alex didn't reply, just stared mournfully at her now door- and hoodless truck. The doors and hood were resting on the back of the truck, the glass in the windows unbroken, but with massive dents in the metal. It didn't take much for Alex to pick out the shape of a massive robot finger in the dent. Cursing, she kicked the rear wheel of the truck.

"I'm sorry, darlin'." George said sympathetically. "Maybe you just ought to take the rest of the year off - it seems to be a bad year for you to be trucking." Alex frowned, but knew what he meant. Going through three trucks in one year was a bit ridiculous - not that this one was a complete write-off like the other two, but it would take the mechanics time to fix it, and she was only supposed to be in Tranquility for the night, having a trailer that still needed to go west.

"God, it's way too early to deal with this." Alex said after a moment, covering her eyes with one hand. Truthfully, if it wasn't for the lack of sleep recently, it wouldn't have been hard for her to get up at 4 am and deal with this, but with circumstances as they were, she could barely think beyond 'Truck wrecked. This is bad.'

"Why don't you go home and get a few more hours sleep? I'll get it taken to the mechanics in the mornin', and you can come in when you're rested and we can see about gettin' your trailer on the road again." George said soothingly, seeming to see Alex's tiredness. Alex nodded.

"Yeah." she said. "Yeah, that sounds better." She exchanged a few more words with George, then said goodbye, returning to the waiting taxi. Climbing in, she told the driver to take her back home, leaning her head back.

The taxi driver had to shake her awake when he got to her home, and she sleepily paid him for the trip, giving him a rather large tip, and then headed for the house, walking past the Peterbilt resting calmly out front without really noticing it. At the door to the house, though, Alex stopped, turning to look at the truck. The taxi was already gone, and no one else on the block was awake at this time, so Alex only hesitated a moment before walking up to the truck and looking at it for a moment.

"You're one stubborn bastard, you know that?" she told it. After a pause, there was a click, and the passenger side door slowly swung open. Alex stared at it, and then sighed. She'd tried ignoring it, and apparently that wasn't going to work. So she might as well give in and hear what it had to say. With the feeling that she'd regret this later, Alex climbed into the cab and pulled the door shut.

---

"This is so creepy." Optimus didn't even try and understand why Alexandra found the situation creepy - Sam had once tried to explain to the Autobots why it was odd to sit in a vehicle that was driving itself, but none of them had understood. Optimus doubted that Alexandra would be able to explain it any better than Sam, especially considering how tired she was. He hadn't meant to cause her to lose sleep, but he did want to explain things to her at the very least. But not in truck form. From what he understood of the way humans thought, and their psychology as he'd seen on the web, they would need to hear about 'giant alien robots' from a 'giant alien robot' and not their vehicle, otherwise it would never seem quite real to them. So he was taking Alexandra to the lookout, which was fast becoming a common gathering place for the bots.

She seemed somewhat surprised when he pulled to a stop, but was almost insultingly eager to scramble out when he opened his door for her. He let his horn honk in annoyance, causing Alexandra to jump, before he transformed into his humanoid form. Looking down, he saw Alexandra staring up at him with wide eyes, before abruptly sitting down and putting her head in her hands. Optimus crouched down, bringing his face as close to hers as he could.

"Alexandra." he said, keeping his voice low, and she looked up, startled.

"How -" she seemed unable to finish the question.

"George." Optimus replied anyways, and watched as Alexandra took a moment to think about that, before realizing what he meant - when George had insisted she take Optimus, he'd used her full name.

"So." Alexandra said, taking a deep breath, then looked at Optimus and cocked her head to one side. "Autobots?" Optimus gave the robot equivalent of a blink.

"Sam said you wouldn't listen." he said musingly.

"He got that much out before I stopped him." Alexandra said with a shrug, and then frowned as she looked at Optimus' body. "Is that in any way comfortable?" she asked, and Optimus glanced down at the way he'd had to twist to get his face so close to hers.

"Something might seize up if I stay like this for too long, but Ratchet can always fix it." Optimus replied with a shrug.

"Ratch...et?" Alexandra asked with a blink.

"Another Autobot, our medic." Optimus replied.

"Another...? How many of you are there?" Alexandra asked, seeming alarmed.

"Here on earth? Only six. We don't know how many more are scattered throughout the galaxy." answered Optimus, the last part said sadly, and waited as the implications of the statement sunk in.

"So what, you're aliens?" Alexandra squeaked, and Optimus nodded, then began his explanation about Cybertron, and how it was lost, before telling her about the Allspark and the battle for it here on earth. Overall, Alexandra seemed to take it quite well, and when Optimus was done, she stood and walked to the edge of the lookout, allowing the larger Autobot to straighten himself.

Optimus watched Alexandra for a moment, then decided that there was nothing more to be said, and returned to his truck form, letting his driver's side door hang open in invitation for when she turned around. It took her almost an hour to do so, and she seemed uncertain about climbing in at first, but then went ahead. She reached to start his engine, and then stopped with a blink.

"Keys." she said, and Optimus mentally berated himself for forgetting before starting the engine himself. He'd find out where the keys had gotten to later. Alex, fortunately, seemed to take the lack of keys in stride once the engine was started, and drove him back to her sister's house, where she parked him out front, in his usual spot, before climbing out and heading into the house. Optimus locked his doors and settled down, confident that she understood now, and would no longer run.

---

Alex woke late the next day to Beth pounding on her door, and with a groan, hauled herself out of bed and pulled open the door. Beth let out a mock scream as she saw Alex, who took a swipe at her. Beth skipped backwards out of reach with a laugh.

"George is on the phone for you, he seems to think you're late. And when did you get that 379 back? I thought you scrapped it after that accident?" Beth asked cheerily.

"Had it in a garage. Mechanics gave it a full rebuild to stop the malfunctions." Alex said after a moment, surprised she could come up with an excuse that good when she was this tired. Beth nodded, and then pointed downstairs.

"George." she said as a reminder, knowing her sister well enough to know that Alex had already forgotten the first thing she'd said. Alex groaned, then staggered down the stairs and picked up the phone from where it rested on the counter.

"'Lo?" she mumbled into it.

"Alex?" George asked uncertainly.

"Know any other tired-ass female truck drivers that live at this house?" Alex replied, slowly beginning to wake up. There was a low chuckle on the other end of the phone.

"Not really." George said. "So are you going to come down here and help me figure out what to do with your trailer?"

"No, I'm going to come down there and drive the trailer out myself." Alex replied after a beat, deciding to surprise George.

"Alex, darlin', I know you weren't very awake this morning, but if you'll recall, your truck ain't exactly in driving condition." George said gently.

"My truck is in excellent condition." Alex said with amusement, glancing out the living room window to Optimus.

"Alex -" George went to try again, but Alex cut him off.

"Look, thanks for getting my sister to wake me up, you're right, I am late. So I'll see you in about half an hour, alright?" Alex said, then cheerfully said goodbye and hung up when George tried one last time to tell her that her truck was in the shop. Alex smirked to herself as she went up the stairs two at a time, much more awake now. It took her little time to get ready to go, and when she got downstairs, Beth wordlessly handed her a bagel and a bottle of Pepsi before telling her to have a safe drive. Alex acknowledged her sister with a wave, and then headed out to Optimus. His doors unlocked as she neared, and she climbed into the driver's seat, tossing her travel bag onto the passenger side. She didn't even have to prompt for keys this time, as the engine rumbled to life as soon as she closed the door.

"If you want to eat, I can drive." the voice Alex remembered so well from earlier that morning came out of the truck stereo, startling her so she almost dropped her bagel.

"Sure." Alex said after a beat, but still kept one hand on the wheel, in case anyone took a close look, as Optimus drove himself to the depot. Alex watched with gleeful entertainment as George's eyes bugged out as he saw the truck, and she hopped down with a huge grin on her face.

"You said you scrapped it!" George said accusingly after a moment.

"I was ready to, but some mechanics offered to do a complete rebuild to get rid of all those random malfunctions. I didn't find out until after you called me down here that they'd finished." Alex replied.

"Wait, so why did you get the other truck?" George asked in confusion.

"Didn't want to hang around my sister's house too long driving her crazy. She might've started making me pay bills or something." Alex said with an impish grin. George glared at her, and Alex laughed.

"So what're you goin' to do with the new truck now?" he asked in grumble.

"Sell it. I'm sure there's someone out there that wants a used 387." Alex replied promptly. George gave her an odd look.

"You're crazy, you know that?" he said, and Alex nodded.

"I figure I have to be, it's the only way my life makes sense anymore." she said wryly, thinking that George didn't even know the half of it. George just shook his head, and then told her she'd better get moving. Alex agreed, climbing back into Optimus' cab and heading over to where she'd left her trailer. It didn't take long to get the trailer hooked up, and then she headed out onto the highway. She didn't turn on the stereo like she normally did, as she started thinking once she was out on the road.

"Do you prefer to drive?" she asked abruptly after about an hour.

"I don't mind either way." Optimus' replied via the stereo. "You're an excellent driver."

"Coming from a truck that I'm driving, that somehow means more than when my driving instructor told me the same." Alex said with amusement, and the truck gave a funny sound, which she took to be laughter. She drove in silence for another hour, and was about to ask Optimus if he minded when she put on music when he turned on some himself, flipping through far more than the usual stations on the radio until he apparently found a rock station he liked, or figured she'd like. For some reason, the action caused her to grin, and then snicker, until she was laughing so hard that Optimus had to take over driving.

"Alexandra?" the music turned down so she could hear the confused voice, and Alex paused, then giggled. There was another short pause, and then, after Alex figured Optimus thought she wasn't going to explain, the music returned to its previous volume. Optimus continued to drive until Alexandra regained control of herself and took back the steering wheel.

"My life the past few months has been utterly ridiculous." Alex stated in a belated explanation, and then started as the truck let out an extremely realistic - and somehow sarcastic - snort. It made her giggle again, but the fit of laughter didn't return as she drove down the highway in her truck...which was really a giant alien robot.

Alex giggled again.