Sparks

Official Disclaimer: The Transformers are not mine in any way, shape, or form. Pardon the pun.

Author's Note: Let the fun begin...heh. From this chapter on, I'll probably deviate from Transformers canon a bit on the technical end of things. I apologize to anyone who finds it irritating, but the plot's starting to push itself to the fore now, and needs to be taken care of...

- Chapter Eight: Jazz's Revenge and Strange Dreams -

Alex was amazed how, after such a hectic year, her life settled down so quickly. She spent more time in Tranquility now, with Beth, and Cliffjumper was somehow filling the hole Josh had left in Beth's life, though in an entirely different manner (thought that didn't stop Alex from shooting right back with the kinky robot sex jokes - it really was a wonder Optimus hadn't heard about them yet). Sam and Mikaela became regular visitors of Beth's, as well, and Bobby, Will, and Sarah always stopped in when they were in town, all of them giving Alex an open invitation to stay at their houses if needed. She usually ended up just using their driveways and sleeping in Optimus' cab - something that had become more and more of a habit for her - but they didn't seem to mind, so long as she came in and visited.

Which, save for the time she was hauling dangerous goods, Alex always did. And that one time was more due to the fact that Wheeljack happened to arrive right at that time, and was following Optimus around while he got his bearings. Ironhide and Ratchet swore they'd never heard Optimus more terrified than when he called them after Wheeljack had shown up behind him while he was hauling explosive materials. Alex found it entertaining, right up until she found out that several mysterious - and very large - explosions that had been on the news were Wheeljack's fault.

"We've decided it's his special power." Ratchet confided in Alex the next time she and Optimus passed near enough to the Hoover Dam - where Ratchet apparently hung out - to warrant a visit. "He just...knows instinctively how to make things blow up. And somehow not even injure anyone in the process. Well, except for that one time with Bluestreak..." the medic turned thoughtful. "Actually, several times with Bluestreak."

"Do they not get along?" Alex asked curiously.

"No, they get along fine." Ratchet said with a blink. "I think it's more the result of Bluestreak's continual chatter distracting Wheeljack while simultaneously not allowing him to get a warning in when he finally does realize something's going to explode."

"Right. Being with Wheeljack and Bluestreak in the same area is now filed with messing up Sunstreaker's paint job as things to avoid at all costs." Alex said decisively.

Of course, as their luck would have it, Bluestreak was the next one to come to earth, within days of Wheeljack.

"I just followed the trail of exploding Decepticons across the galaxy." Bluestreak explained without being asked when Alex and Optimus got a chance to meet with him a few weeks after his arrival. "Some of them were quite pretty, too. Jack's been experimenting with some chemicals, I think, or the Decepticons are putting some really weird stuff in their systems. I mean, a green and purple explosion? That was pretty nifty, but I got some really weird energy readings off the residue, so I stayed clear, but then there was this other one that made this sort of rainbow explosion, and there were these weird little space birds that just ate up all the remains from that. Which wasn't all that fun once some of the residue landed on me, since the birds then tried to eat me. I had to shoot some of them off, and I swear they thought dodging plasma blasts was fun, the way they followed me around after that..."

Alex was forced to just stare in wonder as Bluestreak proceeded to prove that when one didn't have to breathe, they really could go on forever. Optimus eventually had to interrupt the smaller Autobot, telling him he was free to roam around the States, though he should stay close to the other Autobots, and he was under no circumstances allowed near the Hoover Dam, where Wheeljack had joined Ratchet. Human construction was not as durable as Cybertronian.

"So are you, Ironhide, Bumblebee and Ratchet the only 'normal' Autobots?" Alex couldn't help but ask the next day after they left Bluestreak to find his own way and continued on their own. There was a funny hitch in Optimus' engine, followed by laughter.

"No. It just so happens that four of the oddest Autobots have been the first four to reach us." he said with amusement.

"Uh-huh, right." Alex said disbelievingly.

"It's incredibly unlikely, I know." Optimus said wryly. "Ratchet's still muttering about the probability of it, and Ironhide's insisting it's Jazz's revenge."

"Revenge? How?" Alex asked with amusement.

"Jazz found practically everything entertaining, but especially these four bots. The fact that they irritated the rest of us so much just made them more entertaining to him." Optimus grumbled. Alex chuckled.

Despite the two new Autobots, there was very little other Transformer activity. Lennox reported that the government was having trouble with a few F-22s, one of which was painted distinctly non-military colour, but Optimus said it was only Thundercracker and Skywarp, and they seemed content to just lead the US air force on merry chases before figuratively thumbing their noses at them and taking off for the upper atmosphere, where the other F-22s couldn't go. Barricade hadn't been seen since Bumblebee had almost destroyed him - there was a betting pool going among the Autobots (though Alex wasn't quite sure what they were betting with) for whether the Decepticon had died from his wounds, or was still getting repaired. Optimus suspected that the attack on him had been Thundercracker's abortive attempt to take command of the Decepticons on Earth, and now he was sulking while waiting for a real leader to show up.

Of course, when dealing with giant alien robots in the middle of a civil war with each other, life cannot remain very calm for very long. Not that Alex realized anything was wrong at first - everybody has weird dreams every once and awhile. Just usually their subconscious doesn't have the material to involve giant alien robots in them. Alex's did, though, and so she thought nothing of it...until she realized she'd been having the same dream for a month straight, and that she'd started having it almost a year to the day after she'd first seen Optimus transform.

"Do you dream?" Alex asked suddenly one day as she was driving down the highway, brooding about the dream. "No, wait, first question - do you sleep?"

"Yes, though it is not really required." Optimus replied. "We never dream, though."

"Huh." Alex said thoughtfully, and said not more about it until she was back in Tranquility, where she unobtrusively pulled Sam off to the side during one of his and Mikaela's visit and asked him if he'd had any strange, recurring dreams since he'd met the Autobots.

"No. But I didn't have one fall on me." he said wryly. "Could be a delayed reaction."

"I doubt it - otherwise they'd been rather nightmarish, I'd think." Alex replied with a shrug, and Sam shrugged in reply.

"Ask Optimus." was his reply, which was no help at all, since how did one discuss dreams with a being who didn't dream? Alex decided to just get some pills from a doctor to help her sleep dreamlessly and hope that was the end of it. It wasn't, though - the pills didn't block out the dreams at all. It was while puzzling over this that it occurred to Alex that she had an extraordinary amount of control over the dream. She could remember actually deciding whether or not she wanted to do things - and shortly after that realization was when the dream changed.

At first, it seemed the same. She stood in a black space, abnormally aware of herself and that this was a dream. She could see herself, but nothing else - then white lines appeared around her, whisking past, going in all directions, until they began pulling back the blackness, revealing a silver dessert, the dried, powdery earth crumbling beneath her feet if she choose to walk anywhere. Regardless if she moved or not, two or more of the Autobots would inevitably appear, standing still as statues - usually. This night, the Autobots were moving. Ironhide, Optimus and Sunstreaker were in the dream, and Sunstreaker was pacing in circles, while Ironhide sat on one of the few features of the desert, a giant rock, and watched, seeming amused and irritated at the same time. Optimus' head was the only part of him that moved.

In the dreams before, Alex had walked around, through, and under the Autobots, until finally the lines reappeared, bringing back the blackness. Now, though, she was hesitant to approach the Autobots, and stayed where she was, watching them, until the lines returned and all was blackness. Alex was particularly silent the next day, and Optimus played rather lonely songs all day long, letting her know that he'd noticed. But Alex said nothing.

It took Alex a long time to go to sleep that night. Some part of her hoped that the change in the dream had signaled its end, that she wouldn't have it anymore, but another part of her was curious to see if it changed more tonight. She inevitably fell asleep still thinking about the dream, and so wasn't really surprised when it began again. The Autobots were moving again - Cliffjumper and Sunstreaker tonight, and once again, Sunstreaker seemed agitated, pacing in circles. Cliffjumper seemed entertained. This time, Alex didn't hang back, but stepped forward, as she had before the Autobots had begun moving, intending to do her usual walk around them before the dream ended, but she paused as she neared them and realized she could hear them talking - or rather, Sunstreaker.

"-ish he'd just tell her. I'm getting tired of him yelling at me because I make some correction for her driving. The least he could do if he wants me to stop is to stop letting her drive - she obviously doesn't know how to handle a Lamborghini!" Sunstreaker said as Alex stopped a short distance away. He continued to go on, and Alex gathered that, according to this dream, Bobby had a girlfriend who he refused to tell about the Autobots, and it was irritating Sunstreaker.

"You could just force his hand." Cliffjumper finally said. "I did with Alex and Beth."

"That was an entirely different situation, though." Sunstreaker said. "Beth is Alex's sister, and they have a permanent attachment. The way I understand human courting, Bobby may not stay with this woman - which, at this point, I'm hoping he doesn't - so telling her about me may just be spreading our secret more than necessary." Alex frowned, unconsciously stepping further forward to hear more. She froze, though, when Cliffjumper suddenly turned to look right at her. If an Autobot's eyes could widen, his did, as did Sunstreaker's a moment later when he looked to see what had caught the other Autobot's attention.

"Alex? What..." Cliffjumper and Sunstreaker suddenly dissolved in the mesh of lines, and Alex was awoken by a blaring stereo.

"I'm up, I'm UP!" she roared over the radio to Optimus, who immediately turned it off.

"Get out." he said somewhat roughly, and Alex blinked it surprise before numbly doing as told, hardly stopping to think about it. Her bare feet had barely touched the ground before Optimus began transforming, and Alex panicked for a moment before remembering she was parked at a rest stop in the Rockies, having pushed herself a little too far today and being ordered by Optimus to get some sleep. Then she jumped back as Optimus brought his face close to hers, something he hadn't done in awhile, ever since he'd realized she'd become accustomed to talking with him even when he was several dozen feet above her.

"You have been dreaming the same dream for how long?" he asked unexpectedly, and Alex blinked.

"How did you -"

"How long?" Optimus interrupted.

"Uh, two months." Alex replied. "Though it's, uh, changed the last two nights."

"In your dream, you see a silver desert and Autobots?" Optimus asked, and Alex just stared.

"How..." she trailed off in confusion, and Optimus let out an odd sound before drawing back. There was a long stretch of silence as Alex stood in the mountain air, confused, and Optimus seemed to be trying to bore a hole in the side of the mountain with his gaze.

"We Autobots have a communications network that can span a planet, and even reach some distance into space." he said suddenly. "Normally it is just vocal or text, but should we choose, we can enter into, as you would term it, a sort of virtual reality environment."

"What does -" Alex started, but was stopped by a stern look from Optimus.

"This environment is given the shape of one of the major landmarks of Cybertron before it was destroyed - a silver dessert. It was a barren place by your standards, but it was beautiful to us." he said. "Not all of us go to this environment every night, usually only a few. Tonight, it was only two." Optimus brought his head back down to look at Alex, who was standing very still, not liking where this was going. "I woke you when I received a panicked voice communication from Cliffjumper saying that he and Sunstreaker had seen you in this virtual environment tonight."

"No way." Alex said in a whisper. "That - no. It was just a dream!"

"It was not. Sunstreaker was complaining about Bobby's girlfriend, was he not?" Optimus said, and Alex whimpered slightly.

"You've got to be joking." she said. "How can this even happen?"

"I don't know." Optimus said, pulling back. "Perhaps it is how much time you spend in close proximity to me, as compared with the others."

"Then why did I still have the dream even when you weren't in it?" Alex asked, even as Optimus transformed before her. He swung open his passenger side door and Alex climbed in.

"I don't know, but it is something that needs to be investigated." Optimus repeated as Alex crawled into the back. "You may need to find another truck to drive." Alex didn't even notice the odd catch in Optimus' voice as he said that - she just stared at the dark stereo for a long time after that, trying to pretend she hadn't heard what it had last said. She hadn't been driving Optimus anywhere near as long as she'd driven her father's truck, but somehow she felt worse about just the prospect of having to give Optimus up than she had when George had given her the news that her father's truck was beyond repair. Eventually, she turned away from the stereo and tried to get back to sleep, but with the memory of the dream and what it really was so fresh in her mind, she found herself unable to, tossing and turning uneasily before finally getting up and just sitting in the front seat, staring out the windshield. Optimus' engine came to life as soon as she'd settled in, and she obligingly did up her seatbelt as he rolled out, driving for her.

Normally there would have been another five day's travel to the city Alex's current trailer was destined for, but she was unable to sleep more than a few hours, and anytime she was awake, Optimus drove, so the trip only took three more days. Nick, the depot manager at their destination, was concerned when he saw Alex, seeing how tired she was, but she brushed off his offer to call a taxi and climbed back into Optimus. She had a feeling that now that her trailer had been delivered, it was his show.

She was right, as Optimus pulled out as soon as she'd buckled her seatbelt, then set off down the road at the highest speed he could safely use in the city. She was somewhat surprised when he took her out of the city, wondering for a moment if he was taking her home - but no, there was a military base outside the city, and he pulled in there, getting Alex to move over and activating his hologram before entering.

Several army officers were waiting for her, and Alex hesitated before climbing out of the cab. A soothing song came from Optimus' radio, and with a sigh, Alex got out. The officers said little to her, besides asking her to follow them, and she suspected that they had even less of an idea of what was going on than her. They were just following some - as they admitted - very strange orders as they escorted her to a waiting helicopter. The helicopter took off with Alex the only passenger, and the pilot and co-pilot being very non-communicative about their destination. Alex fumed in the back at that, thinking that Optimus could have said something about what was going on before he sent her off - but then, she could have asked, too. With a sigh, Alex eventually resigned herself to being confused, and attempted with surprising success to doze in the back of the 'copter.

She woke with a start as the noise of the helicopter changed slightly, and she looked out the window to see them approaching the Hoover Dam. Alex frowned, wondering why Optimus would send her to a facility where two Autobots stayed permanently if he was worried about her being around him, but didn't spend too much time thinking about it as the helicopter landed. The door was opened, and Alex helped out, and she found herself presented with two military officers, and a doctor in a white lab coat.

"Alexandra Morgan?" the oldest of the two officers stepped forward, and Alex blinked blearily until the stars on his shoulders came into focus, then straightened self-consciously, wishing she'd had time to neaten up somewhere along the line.

"Alex." she corrected him to cover her uncomfortableness.

"I'm General Jordan, commander of the Hoover Dam facilities. This is my second in command, Colonel Latimer." the general said, motioning to the other military man, and then nodded towards the doctor. "And this is Doctor Adair, who will be looking after you during your stay here."

"Please, call me Emily." the doctor said with a warm smile, holding out her hand, and Alex stared at it blankly for a few minutes before giving it a brief shake.

"If you'll come with us, we'll take you into the facility, where we can see about answering some of the questions I'm sure you have." the general said, motioning to two black SUVs sitting nearby. Alex had a nervous flash of Ironhide, and shook her head to clear it. The general frowned at her, taking that as a refusal.

"Sorry, just...tired." she said, heading for the vehicle, and the general nodded.

"Understood." he said, and then followed Alex as she headed for the nearest SUV. She and the doctor got inside, while the general and colonel got in the other SUV. They set off as soon as the last door was closed, heading for the dam. They reached it quickly, and Doctor Adair - Emily - escorted Alex out of the SUV and right down to a rather small infirmary. The general and colonel followed, but Emily held them back at the entrance and they went away after a brief conversation, leaving Alex and the doctor alone in the infirmary.

"You look exhausted." the doctor said, and led Alex over to the nearest bed. Alex let herself be led, but only up to sitting on the bed, refusing to lie down.

"I'd really like to know what's going on." Alex said in explanation as the doctor frowned at her.

"He didn't tell you anything?" Emily said, continuing to frown, and it took Alex a moment to decide that the 'he' the doctor was referring to was Optimus.

"No, not really." Alex said. "I didn't exactly ask, though."

"Lord, he always has to keep up the mysterious leader act, doesn't he?" Emily said with a roll of her eyes, and Alex blinked.

"You know Optimus?" she asked, and Emily nodded.

"Not as well as you, but considering that the Autobots and Decepticons have partially biological computer systems keeping them going, the government wanted them checked over, so I got to meet him a few times." she said. "I spend a lot more time around Ratchet - he's perfectly willing to let us take pieces of him apart as long as we explain human biology to him. In somewhat embarrassing detail." Alex let out a weak laugh.

"Yeah, I've heard he's like that." she said, having only met the Autobot medic the one time, the night Josh died. She hadn't even really met him that night, either - but she'd heard about him from the others.

"Yeah. He's better than Wheeljack, though - the first time he offered to rebuild one of my machines to make it more efficient, I was inordinately pleased. Then it exploded in my face when I was testing it. Fortunately, I only lost a bit of hair and my eyebrows." Emily said with a sigh. "He's been banned from touching any medical equipment since then." Alex snickered.

"Be glad Bluestreak isn't around - apparently he distracts Wheeljack, making the explosions more common." she said.

"Ouch." Emily said with a wince, and Alex nodded. "This is off topic, though. I imagine you'd like to know why you're here, since Optimus didn't explain to you." Alex nodded. "I'm going to assume that he at least told you that you'd managed to tap into the Autobots communications network."

"Essentially." Alex said with a shrug.

"Good. According to Ratchet, Optimus thinks that you being in close proximity to a spark so constantly might be what's causing this, and he's worried that it might have some sort of adverse affect on you." Emily said. "He basically wants me to run every test we have on you to see if I can find anything, be it a side affect or a cause. This is going to, at some point, include having you sleep and enter their communications network. But until then, the Autobots have agreed to stay out of their virtual communications environment, so you don't have to worry about sleeping." Alex blinked, then adopted an annoyed look.

"And he didn't think to - bah, he probably wanted me to get here faster." she said, answering her own question, and Emily gave her a sympathetic smile.

"I wondered if he'd mentioned that part. Do you feel up to sleeping, now?" the doctor asked, showing that she'd known exactly why Alex hadn't wanted to go to sleep earlier.

"Yes, please." Alex said fervently, and Emily chuckled slightly.

"Alright, I'll turn off the lights in here so you can get some rest, then. I'll probably be in my office across the hall when you wake up, feel free to come see me, or you can just stay here. You might not want to go wandering off until you've been given a tour, though - this place can be pretty confusing for newcomers." she said, and Alex nodded. Emily said goodnight after that and headed out, flipping off the lights as she went, leaving Alex with only the red glow of the emergency lights. Alex looked at them for a moment, thinking of Decepticon eyes, before letting out a quiet snort of amusement at herself and removing her shoes before lying down to sleep.