Professor Baranova's Pacific Northwest Laboratory
His eyes cracked open only to close again due to the sun's blinding light that seeped through the windows of his room. For some reason, his head was pounding, and he didn't feel like getting up just yet.
"Ineedto get some curtains,"he muttered before pulling the covers over his head...or at least tried to. The fabric wouldn't budge no matter how hard he pulled.
Annoyed, he sat up to check if someone was playing a prank on him and found that everything in his room was much bigger than he remembered.
Scratching his helm really set him off. He felt something akin to fur on his helmet. Now he was sure someone was pranking him.
Groaning, he moved to get up to see what was on his helm when he caught a glance of his servos and almost fell off the berth.
To his utter horror, his shiny purple paint job was replaced by a coat of—fair brown skin. His sleepiness vanished, and panic began to set in.
"Ahh!" He tore out of his chambers in alarm and ran around the main living quarters in search of a mirror or any reflective surface.
In all his panic, he nearly ran into Graham, who was staggering down the hall with a mug of coffee in hand. Blurr dug his heels into the ground and miraculously managed to evade spilling the hot beverage all over the young doctor.
Still half asleep, Graham vaguely registered the stranger before him, who sounded an awful lot like Blurr.
"Graham! I- I woke up feeling dizzy, a-and when I looked down at my servos, I had 5 digits instead of 4 and—" Blurr blabbered on and on about his current dilemma until realization hit Graham like a pile of bricks.
"Blurr?" His jaw hung ajar, but his hand somehow managed to keep hold of the mug's handle.
"Uh, yeah." Blurr nodded, feeling uneasy under Graham's unbelieving stare. "What?...D-do I look bad?! I need a mirror!" His panicking intensified.
Graham tried to shake his head, but a muffled yell snapped him back to reality and nudged him to check up on Salvage.
"Come on, I'll help you find a mirror in a minute." Graham ran towards Salvage's room but was quickly outrun by Blurr.
The hallway seemed much longer than Blurr remembered, but he realized it was due to his new size.
Finally finding his friend's door, he didn't bother knocking and reached for the handle- only to find it was gone. He facepalmed and looked up to see the doorknob was way too high for him to reach.
Not seeing many options, he hastily pounded on the metal door and immediately felt a surge of pain run through his knuckles. "Frag!" He hissed and cradled his throbbing serv—handwith the other one.
Graham soon arrived and winced at Blurr's reddened hand. He looked back to the door and lightly knocked. "Salvage?" When he received no response, he pressed his palm against the scanner, and the large slab of metal began to slide open.
Once inside the room, they were shocked to find a tall guy awkwardly standing in a corner. His shaggy hair was a shade or two darker than Graham's, and his skin complexion was semi-dark tan.
He looked up from his trembling hands to see Graham and a stranger wearing the same simple white attire that he wore.
His irises were a soft orange—almost yellow in color, and at the moment, they were clouded with confusion. Graham read the silent questions in his eyes and could only sigh and shrug in response.
"What's goin' on? What happened to us?." Salvage fiddled with his new set of hands.
"Don't know, but the more I stare at my paint job, the weirder I feel." Blurr took a few steps forward.
"Blurr?" Salvage furrowed his bushy brows, not believing the human before him was the purple speedster.
"Yup." He nodded. Salvage analyzed Blurr's new appearance and chuckled at his bedhead.
"Nice hairdo." He playfully ruffled his short locks of dirty blonde hair, eliciting various protests from Blurr.
"Quit it, will you?" He took a few steps back and combed his fingers through his hair. It felt like fur between his fingers and would undoubtedly take time to get used to.
While Blurr was trying to get his hair under control, Salvage's door slid open, and Boulder ran inside.
"Boulder?" Graham's eyes widened, and this time he really dropped his mug. The porcelain shattered into a few sizable pieces, but Graham didn't move to pick them up.
Boulder's skin complexion was much darker than Blurr and Salvage's tones, but his eye color was similar to theirs. His skin was a deep sienna, and his curly hair was a darker brown.
He wore the same plain white garments as Blurr and Salvage and looked equally confused.
He and Graham shared a knowing glance. "Doc's unstable chemical!" They gasped at the same time.
Graham sprinted out of the room and returned with the sample he had collected.
"You must've had a delayed reaction." Graham thought aloud.
"We need to contact Chief. The others may be going through the same dilemma." Boulder instinctively pressed his finger to his earpiece, but it wasn't there. "Oh..right."
"I'll call him." Graham cast him a sympathetic smile.
Faxian
Quickshadow awoke to loud screaming. Head pounding, she glanced out the window, expecting to see the sun low in the sky but was met by the moon instead. She was only supposed to recharge for a few hours; she'd never slept in this long.
Quickshadow took in her surroundings and immediately noticed everything looked 5 times bigger than usual. That was the second thing that tipped her off.Something wasn't right.
Confused, she rubbed her eyes only to flinch at the texture of her servo. She inspected herself and gasped audibly. Analyzing her frame further, she came to the startling realization that she'd somehow turned human. Her servos were replaced with human hands, her stabilizing servos with legs and feet, and when she carefully touched her face, she assumed her facial features had likely changed as well.
She slowly got up, walked toward the edge of her berth, and glanced at the ground below. Her fist instinctively flexed to activate her grapple lines, but she remembered her current state and dropped her arm to her side.
After contemplating whether or not her new body would survive a fall from that high up, she noticed the berth's legs and used them to climb down.
She looked around, saw her mirror in the far corner, and opted to see what had happened and what she looked like.
Her new legs felt wobbly at first, but she quickly adapted. It took a second, but she was finally able to glance at herself and what she saw left her in a state of shock.
Staring back at her was a fair-skinned girl with medium locks of ebony black hair and defined eyebrows that were raised high on her face, conveying her shock.
Her irises retained her original sapphire hue, but her eyes were now lined with long dark lashes.
Another muffled scream broke her out of her trance, and she went to investigate. Breaking out of her room wasn't difficult. There was a smaller door designated for Humans, along with a security panel which she quickly overrode.
She followed the screams down the hall to Blades' room.
Dani was already inside, doing her best to comfort a panicking boy with curly light orange hair.
Blades had panic written all over his face, arms flailing as he stared at a mirror.
"Take a deep breath, Blades." Dani tried to calm him down with little success.
"I-I...I'm a human! An actual human!" he hyperventilated. "I don't even look anything like my holo-form!"
Quickshadow rolled her optics and walked up behind him, startling him further.
"AHH!" he jumped. Dani looked a little shocked as well.
"Q-Quickshadow?" Blades looked at her with wide eyes. "You too? What's going on?!"
"Yes. Now pull yourself together." she chastised.
"R-right right." he took a few deep breaths. "Um...Quickshadow, can you check on HighTide?" he asked. "Dani, we should contact Chief Burns, Heatwave, and Professor Baranova to see if anyone else was affected."
Quickshadow nodded and turned to leave.
As she walked the long corridors, she fiddled with the hem of her garments. She wore a plain white shirt with matching shorts and socks. The fabric made her feel itchy and uncomfortable.
After an eternity and a half, she reached HighTide's door and knocked. "HighTide?" she called out when she didn't hear a response.
"Enter!" he yelled after a few seconds.
She typed in the override code and looked inside.
Tall with light brown hair and medium-tan skin, HighTide stood in the middle of his chamber, staring at himself in the mirror. He glanced up and saw Quickshadow standing by the doorway.
"What the frag is happening?!" he demanded.
Quickshadow crossed her arms over her windshield and shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure, but I suspect that strange substance is to blame."
Frustrated, he huffed and scanned himself again.
"Dani and Blades are contacting the Chief; we should join them."
She walked towards the command center with HighTide following.
Firehouse
Chase was abruptly awoken by a series of robotic barks. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the Cybertronian helper dog staring down at him.
Seeing he was awake, Servo moved aside but continued barking.
Chase ignored the helper bot and began to stretch on his berth. A twinge of pain in his lower back made him freeze mid-stretch, and he noticed his berth felt rather stiff. Not paying it much mind, he threw off the covers and flinched when he saw his appendages.
Chase gasped loudly and glanced at the helper bot, who had finally stopped barking.
Overwhelmed, Chase glanced around the room. Everything looked enormous.
"Morning!" He heard Cody's voice at the entrance of his quarters.
"Why is Servo barking—" The teen caught sight of the stranger and froze at the doorway. Before he could ask who he was, the stranger replied to his question.
"I do not know, though I assume it has something to do with my current state."
The stranger's tone was monotone, and Cody immediately recognized it as Chase's voice.
"Chase?" Cody's eyes widened, and he staggered forward. "What happened to you?!"
"That is what I would like to know." Chase shrugged.
Cody pressed his comlink. "Dad, come downstairs...we have a problem."
He was met with a heavy sigh from the other end. "I'm on my way."
By the time Chief came downstairs, Chase had moved to the lounge area and was sitting on the couch.
The Chief immediately noticed the stranger sitting on the couch and assumed someone had broken in. Cody tried to explain, but Chief motioned for him to be quiet and hide.
Chase turned and saw his partner dressed in his police uniform. "Apologies, Chief; I do not think I will be able to patrol with you today."
The Chief's jaw dropped, suddenly more startled than before. "C-Chase?!" he approached the supposed stranger. "How did this happen?"
"I am unclear on that. I awoke in this state." Chase shrugged. He was surprisingly calm about the whole situation.
Just then, his comlink chirped. "Griffin Rock Emergency." He turned away to answer the call. "Graham? Slow down. Boulder, Blurr, and Salvage are what?"
Cody and Chase shared worried glances.
"Okay, stay calm. Inform Professor Baranova and bridge over to the Training Center; we'll talk there," he instructed.
Cody's datapad suddenly lit up with a call from Faxian.
"Dad, Dani's calling," Cody informed before accepting the call.
"Hey, Dani." He greeted his sister.
"Hey, Cod—"
"Cody!" A guy with light orange hair popped up from behind Dani.
"Blades?!" Cody raised his brows in surprise.
"I turned into a human!" Blades squeaked.
"Pipe down, M'squito." A brunete walked into the frame and nudged Blades.
"You've startled Cody." A girl with piercing blue eyes appeared on his other side and smacked him on the back of his head.
Cody recognized the two as HighTide and Quickshadow. He felt too overwhelmed and handed his datapad to his dad.
"Dani, inform Dr. Szeto and bridge to the Training Academy." The Chief gave her the same instructions he gave Graham. "We'll talk there."
Dani ignored the bickering Cybertroniansbehind her and signed off the call.
Mainland Training Center
Kade groggily walked out of his room and made his way over to the kitchen. The training facility was fully equipped with cybertronian and human essentials, including a fully integrated human-sized kitchen in a large room that would later be turned into a cafeteria.
After inhaling a peanut butter and bacon sandwich, Kade started the long walk to Heatwave's office.
It was past 10 a.m.; he was supposed to start helping Heatwave an hour ago.
The door slid open, and he braced himself for the lecture he was about to receive but was met with dead silence.
The computer monitor was still on, and he could make out muffled snores coming from behind Heatwave's desk.
"Heatwave?" Kade cautiously walked behind his desk and yelled in surprise.
Instead of finding a red mech asleep on his keyboard, he found a guy with dark brown hair and in plain white attire, curled up in the oversized chair.
Kade's yelling startled the apparent stranger, and his eyes snapped open, revealing a familiar firey amber hue.
"What are you yelling for, Kade?" he mumbled, half asleep.
"H-Heatwave?" the redhead's jaw was on the floor.
Heatwave took in his surroundings and almost didn't recognize his own chair.
He caught sight of his body, and panic swelled in his chest.
"What the frag is going on?!" he turned to Kade.
Dumbfounded, the redhead merely shrugged. "I-I don't know."
The monitor pinged with a call from Griffin Rock.
Seeing no other way up, Heatwave stepped onto the chair's armrest and climbed onto the desk to answer the call.
The Chief appeared on the large screen with Cody next to him. Behind them stood a fair-skinned guy with black hair. He seemed confused and distraught.
"Chase?" Heatwave asked in disbelief."
The stranger looked up and saw the unfamiliar face.
"Heatwave," Chase replied. His monotone voice remained the same.
"Graham called." The Chief sighed. "Boulder, Blurr, and Salvage have the same issue, and Cody's on the other line with Dani, Blades, Quickshadow, and HighTide."
Heatwave's jaw gaped at the news.
"For now, try to remain calm. We'll be meeting at the Training Center to discuss everything there." The Chief instructed.
Heatwave nodded and waited for the Chief to sign off. He climbed down from the desk and started for the briefing room with Kade close behind.
The walk was much longer than usual. The hallways were seemingly endless. By the time they'd arrived, most of the team was already filing into the room.
Heatwave glanced at all thenewfaces. Each individual had a unique appearance, save for their matching white garments, but he recognized each of his teammates solely by their height and optic color.
"Boulder, what's going on?!" Heatwave asked the shortest guy in the bunch.
Everyone turned to the engineer, hoping he could clear up some confusion.
"I can't say for sure, but Graham and I think that substance that exploded on us is to blame."
"Well, no duh!" Blurr rolled his optics, earning himself a glare from the rest.
Boulder ignored Blurr and went on. "We'll have to run tests and scans to figure out exactly what happened to us."
"How long will that take.?" HighTide crossed his arms.
"I'm not sure." Boulder shrugged.
"We're gonna stay like this forever?!" Blurr hyperventilated. Behind him, Salvage looked worried.
"I didn't say that! We just need to figure out how to reverse the effect."
"But it'll take a considerably long amount of time." Quickshadow stood with her hand at her hip.
"What if we're really stuck like this?" Blades began hyperventilating again.
The others joined in, giving their opinions and suggestions on the matter.
"Alright, everyone, settle down!" Chief tried to ease the confused and panickingteenagersbefore him. "I called Doc; he'll be over soon."
—
Around 20 minutes later, Doc Greene barged through the door with Frankie not far behind, apologizing for taking so long.
"We came as fast as we could; CeCe didn't want to take her na— dear me!" he froze a few meters from the group of Cybertronians. He shook his head, not believing his eyes. "What happened?!"
"We were kinda hoping you'd know." Heatwave grumbled.
Frankie's mouth hung wide open when she got a good look at the group of strangers in the middle of the room.
"Hi, Frankie!" Blades waved.
"H-hi." She stammered. "..what happened?"
"Can't say." Salvage shrugged. "We're hopin' to find out soon."
Doc turned to Anna, Dr. Szeto, Graham, and who he assumed was Boulder. "The green substance," he concluded. The four nodded, confirming his hypothesis.
"We should run some tests and see just how it affected you." The Professor suggested.
"How?" Blurr raised a brow. "We literally turned human!"
HighTide jabbed him in the ribs. "Pipe down, will ya?"
"Ouch!" he glared at him but ultimately relented. "Fine."
"I agree. We need to find the exact cause of the reaction." Dr. Szeto agreed.
—
One by one, each Cybertronian walked into the medical room Doc set up for a complete medical examination.
X-rays were taken, their hearts were checked, and some blood was drawn, much to the dismay of some.
Despite being a medic himself, Blades gave the three scientists and EMT a hard time. He wouldn't stay still; something about the tiny needle Dr. Szeto was holding scared him. He fidgeted a lot, but Dani distracted him.
Blurr was ten times worse. He went in with a brave face but screamed when he saw the needle. He attempted to run away at one point, and it took the others fifteen minutes to catch him and drag him back to the examination room. In the end, both Heatwave and Quickshadow had to be called in to help pin him down so Doc could draw a blood sample.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the three scientists returned, holding a clipboard each.
Doc Greene cleared his throat. "Good or bad news first?"
A choir of groans filled the room before they settled on hearing the bad news first.
"Unfortunately, there is no immediate cure we can whip up." Dr. Szeto frowned.
"I only received a small sample of the chemical to experiment with, and from what I heard, only a limited supply was released for study," Doc added. "Not much is known about the chemical."
"What about the sample of the green substance we collected?" Graham asked.
"It would help, but I'm afraid we won't be able to derive an antidote from it. We need the chemical in its original state to find a possible antidote." Professor Baranova shook her head.
"Were you able to find out how or why they turned human?" Frankie asked.
"Graham and I think that substance synthesized with our original programming and somehow altered our T-cog to where we turned into the last organic form we were exposed to."
The rest of the group glanced at one another; half were more confused than before.
"Yeah, Ima need someone to translate that into English." Blurr scratched his head, flinching at the texture of his hair again.
"Yer sayin' we scanned a new form?" HighTide furrowed his brows, trying to understand what Boulder was rambling about.
"In a way, yes."
"And the chemical paralyzed our T-cogs, making us unable to transform to any of our other forms?" Quickshadow brushed a few stands of hair out of her face.
Boulder nodded again.
"So, in words Blurr can comprehend; chemical change T-cog, T-cog turns us human, T-cog freeze. We not able to transform back."
Blurr rolled his eyes at Heatwave. "Yeah, I got it." he frowned.
"A plausible theory, but further study will be needed to confirm or deny it." Professor Baranova added.
"And we can't be fixed?" Blades fumbled with his fingers.
"I'm sure we'll find an antidote eventually." Doc tried to sound comforting
"How long can it be expected to take?" Chase asked.
"..Anywhere from a few days to a few months. We need to find another sample of the original chemical."
"Months?!" Blades' eyes widened.
"We're gonna be like this for months!?" Blurr exclaimed.
"How shall I complete my police duties now?"
"How are we supposed to do any rescues?"
"I'll never be able to race again!"
Everyone started to talk all at once, not knowing how to cope with their new situation.
"And the good news?" Heatwave crossed his arms over his chest, clearly aggravated by the whole situation.
"You are all stable as far as we can tell. Aside from an understandably different blood type, you meet the standard of what healthy teenagers your age should show." Doc beamed.
"That's a relief." Chief relaxed a bit while the others sighed in relief.
"Hold up...teenagers?" Kade cocked a brow.
"Yes." Professor Baranova nodded. "You all show the attributes of 18-year-olds.
"Wow. I'd honestly thought you'd be much older." Cody chuckled.
The room went silent, with everyone trying to processeverything.
"Sooo, what do we do now?" Blurr glanced around.
"I guess, find something to do while we wait for an antidote," Boulder suggested.
More groans and sighs filled the room.
"Look on the bright side," Cody spoke up. "Now you can finish the second half of your original mission!"
They exchanged dubious glances.
"Learn the ways of humans?" Blades arched his brow.
"Cody's right. We'll have first-hand experience." Salvage added something akin to excitement glimmering in his eyes.
"I suppose it would be a great learning experience," Chase concluded.
"Think of all we can learn and do." Boulder grinned with enthusiasm.
"That's right!" Blades gasped in realization and turned to Dani. "Oh my Primus! I can finally try popcorn!" Dani laughed and motioned for him to settle down.
Others were less excited about the current circumstances.
Heatwave grimaced, remembering the first time he'd been human. His hand lifted to hold his jaw; his tooth hurt just thinking about it.
Beside him, Quickshadow was awfully quiet, seemingly in a trance of her own.
HighTide had a stern face. He hardly knew anything about humans, and now he had suddenly become one.
"It'll take some adjusting. That's for sure." Heatwave finally spoke.
"And a new clothing style. You guys can borrow some clothes for now; we'll have to take you clothes shopping." Dani stated.
"Where will they stay? Their rooms here and in all our bases are much too big for them." Cody asked.
"They can use our rooms here," Graham suggested. "They aren't furnished yet, but that shouldn't be too big of a problem."
"That's a good idea." Chief nodded. "But it will take a few days to get everything set up."
Graham nodded. "Then we'd better get started."