Since the first chapter/prequel was so short, I thought I'd add the second chapter. The OC, Delphine, is introduced. I tried not to make her a Mary Sue, so if the story here on out mentions anything Mary Sue-ish, blame me for my love of fashion. :)

This story was intended to have a prequel to it, so there will be things that are unexplained. That is the beauty of a mystery ;). Don't worry, it should all come later.

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers.

Delphine hadn't heard from an autonomous robotic organism for years.

Ever since Optimus Prime had sentenced her to life out of the Ark, she'd lived a life- all expenses paid by Optimus himself- in a small cottage on the Southern California coast.

Granted- she'd been grateful for the full expenses paid life he'd given her, as money had been sent to her account at the bank every month for the past fifteen years. Nevertheless, living comfortably never stopped her from worrying…

And wondering…

She glanced at herself in the mirror and grumbled. Fifteen years had passed and she didn't even look past twenty human years.

"I look like a school girl." She muttered.

People were starting to wonder. She was starting to get nervous.

This was a secret only Kup and Optimus Prime had known.

She was a techno-organic. She had really been born in 1967. That was all she really knew. She didn't remember much past 1980, when she woke up in an orphanage with no memories, other than a strange sound similar to a heart beating. All she realized was that she physically stopped growing in 1987. The Autobot Ratchet had confirmed it.

She preferred to keep the fact to herself. She didn't quite know what capabilities she had as a techno-organic. On the outside, she looked perfectly human, except she hated that whoever had turned her into a techno-organic had also given her an aesthetically pleasing face. She'd met the Autobots in 1984, finding out she was more useful to them then she thought. It turned out that she could read their ancient language and decipher symbols.

She missed them; to her they had been her true family, and like close family, she never forgot their faces, some even their alternative modes. She grew in age, but not physically, and the prospect of having the life span of a transformer scared her.

Especially when she was alone at night, pondering over whether she'd run around the earth alone for millions of years without someone else's continuous company.

She was interrupted from her pondering by the ringing of her phone. She picked up the phone unperturbed, thinking it might be one of her neighbors.

"Hello, this is Delphine."

"Delphine, this is Kup."

She dropped the phone.

She scrambled for it so fast Kup didn't even realize she had paused on the other side of the line.

"Kup?! Oh, God, is that really you? Are you calling through your COMM link?"

"Yes, yes, lass." He replied, and Delphine, despite not having spoken to him for almost twenty years, realized something was up.

"So, what's up? How are you? Has Optimus decided to let me back?" she asked, albeit the last question a little sarcastically. That was one subject that would always hurt her. Telatraan One had not received her calls for many years, despite her frequent attempts to push through.

It had been fifteen years since she'd spoken to any of the Autobots.

There was a pause, like Kup was deliberating on answering. Finally, he sighed and replied, "Yes, lass. I have strict orders. Prime has asked that I retrieve you and bring you back to Autobot City."

Delphine was confused. "Autobot City?" she asked.

"Oh, yes, sorry lass. We have a new base. Telatraan One was destroyed."

That explained her unanswered phone calls.

"Were there any casualties?" she immediately asked. This had been her main concern for the last twenty-one years since she'd known the transformers; God forbid if anyone died at the hands of the Decepticons. To the transformers, it was a war and death was expected, but every Autobot death felt like a knife in the back to her.

Especially since he was probably still serving under that damned Megatrash Decepticreep…

"Delphine?"

"Yes, sorry Kup," Delphine responded automatically, "When can I expect you?"

"I'm coming now, expect us tomorrow."

"Alright then, I'll be ready. Can't wait to see you, Kup."

"Me too, lass, me too." Kup then hung up.

He hadn't answered her question about the casualties. He didn't want to tell her yet how many Autobots had recently gone offline due to the earlier Decepticon ambush.

They were all Autobots she had grown up with.

Delphine put the phone back on its base, all of a sudden feeling an excitement and happiness that hadn't filtered through her since she was a teenager.

"Wait, what did he mean by us?"

Ever since Optimus Prime had gone offline, Kup had noticed a change in Hot Rod's behavior while repairs from the Decepticon attack were taking place in Autobot City. Hot Rod would take little energon and work overtime- down until he needed another refueling to keep him going. He barely took the time to recharge. Every Autobot noticed this, yet Hot Rod seemed to be his cheerful and playful self nevertheless.

Most of them believed that he had just matured in a sense after realizing that even Optimus Prime could be defeated. That at times the war did not end with the forces of justice always winning like a sparkling's recharge story.

Kup knew the real reason. He was certain that Hot Rod had gained maturity as a result of their leader's passing, but he believed Hot Rod mostly blamed himself for Optimus' death in the first place. After all, he had acted impulsively and attacked Megatron at a crucial moment, hindering Optimus' ability to attack Megatron without hurting Hot Rod in the process.

And Megatron, being the treacherous, slagging pile of Decepticon junk that he is, took the opportunity.

But no one blamed Hot Rod; it had been an unlucky moment in a surprise attack. They had been outnumbered and low on energon.

So on the day that Kup called Delphine to bring her back in accordance with Optimus' dying wish, he decided he'd drag Hot Rod along to pick her up.

"Kup, they need me here." Hot Rod had protested.

"No way lad. Optimus wanted her here and we're bringing her. You've been working overtime, and that's not what he would have wanted."

"But-"

"No. You can help me settle one of his dying wishes and help me pick her up. Primus knows what she'll want to bring with her for the stay."

So Hot Rod gave in.