Chapter 2: Designation 'Maggie'

AN: *note*: In the previous chapter, Maggie wasn't able to call anyone because phone lines are still out at this point. And until further notice, (aka when I figure out what type of phone Mikaela uses) Unknown is a Nokia 3500 classic. :) if this is completely wrong, you'd let me know, right?

"-Comm.-"

My optics were flickering from each organic to the next, scanning them and saving the data in my hard drives. I chittered once, making nonsensical sounds to the organics, mimicking the sounds that came from the middle of them.

They seemed quite friendly – at least the thin one did. Some of the others were more hesitant, still pointing their gun-sticks at me. The thin one scanned differently than the rest – it was the only one with subcutaneous tissue on its torso and no dangly bits beneath. Did that make it different somehow? More approachable?

Did the others know that it was different?

I studied the others, noting their slight differences in behaviour to the – Maggie. Designation Maggie. Yes, their behaviours indicated they knew – that and the pheromone levels were different around Maggie.

I hopped closer to the clear polymer, noting the scratch marks in its surface. Had someone been trapped in here?

Maggie flashed white at me. "You're on a-" The rest made no sense. I recorded it so that I would be able to play it back and learn the information it told me.

"Mooore?"

There was a small squeal of feedback as a sound of my frustration. "Morrrre? More, more, more, more!"

There was an odd sound and the creature shook up and down. I mimicked it, twitching my optics up and down. One of the other creatures made a noise and my optics focused on it. It was the darker-toned one, with a different clear polymer in front of its optics.

I mimicked the sound, and another one of the creatures – one holding a gun-stick – made the same noise as Maggie.

This was fun!

I tapped on the clear polymer, and all of the gun-stick-creatures stiffened, optics tight on me. I tapped out again, recreating that odd language of lines and squiggles.

Maggie moved its top up and down, and lifted the communication device again. I scanned it curiously.

Immediately, an option popped up in my internal display – I already had an alternate mode.

Transform?

Transforming.

I felt my torso shifting, pincers molding together and sticking; chassis pelting out little buttons and two markings I recognized. I lay still, not able to move. Maggie made a weird noise, and then spoke to another one of the creatures who was brandishing a gun stick and making a high decibel noise.

The palest creature made a noise and threw out one appendage.

It came forwards and peered at me through the polymer. I scanned back, noting that the optics of these creatures were much weaker than my own – from what I could tell, their range was severely limited.

I lit up the various lights available, and clicked the communication device open and closed.

Transforming back was easy. I flipped into the air and twisted out my appendages. The little amount of energy it took to transform was barely noticed on my power readings.

The palest one rubbed its top with an appendage, a piece of white material clutched between its digits.

Maggie flicked a glance over at Glenn – he was getting over his fear of the small 'bot and coming forwards quickly. It was proving extremely cute – the little thing tended to copy her movements.

When she smiled, it would flash its eyes a brighter blue. When she nodded, it would bob its eyes up and down. It was even mimicking their words, although it clearly had no idea what it was saying – when Glenn had sworn, it had copied the words perfectly in a higher-pitched copy.

Even though it was obviously the head of the creature that had attacked them in the communications room, she wasn't scared of this creature.

It might have had something to do with the five military men with guns trained on the tiny head. It might have also had something to do with the clear polymer separating it from her, or even the completely non-hostile actions of the cellphone.

She was grateful that they were there and that Simmons was with another four military men trying to restore more communications. Keller and her had stayed together to see if they could find anything worth using in the communications room. So far, a CB radio had been the only thing that might be useful. They had found it before the little six-legged 'bot had approached them from the ventilation duct.

Simmons had one and so did their group – they'd been keeping in contact this whole time. So far, the base was free of other aliens.

She was sure that if Simmons had been able to, he'd have killed the little 'bot when he first saw it – his eyes had gleamed when he had gone over to the downed alien. He wanted it as a trophy – that much was obvious.

"You're on a planet called Earth." No recognition in the blue eyes – it didn't know enough yet. It must have come to this conclusion too, for it started speaking, saying 'more' over and over until it got the right noise.

When it transformed into a cellphone – a Nokia 3500 Classic, if she wasn't mistaken – she jumped backwards slightly, a noise of shock escaping.

Glenn had shrieked like a little girl, and she threw out an arm to stop one of the military men from shooting at the black cellphone. It wouldn't have done any good – Unknown was protected by a solid box of a strong, clear material.

She watched the phone vibrate, light up and create little whistles that sounded the same as when it was in robot form.

There was a crackle from the CB radio – Keller answered.

"Keller here."

She flicked a glance at the small 'bot which had transformed back into the little six-legged alien, front appendages touching the containment cell.

One of the military men had their gun on it.

A sharp noise echoed from the CB radio, crackling and staticky. "We got a hostile incoming – one of the aliens. I'd bet my mama's meatloaf on it."

Maggie flicked another look at the alien robot. More words to add to its vocabulary. She knew that was how it was learning – translating the binary code of the words in the airwaves to sounds to mimic. It already knew the language of binary – now to just add to its knowledge. The speed of learning was incredible – it only had to hear something once and it knew the information. If only humans could learn that quickly – they'd be so much more advanced.

Keller responded. "You got the camera's working again?"

"Oi, who am I, huh? The next door stripper? Of course I got them running!"

Although the quality of what it was learning was questionable.

Keller spoke again, disregarding the apparent nutcase on the other line.

"What's the hostile look like?"

"Black and white with blue and red lights ringing a bell? We thought this one was out of the picture!"

"A cop car?"

"Yeah, a freaking rent-a-cop car!" Simmons muttered out.

"Rent-a-cop. Rent-a-cop."

It was bouncing up and down, wiggling its front legs in the air in a strange dance. Did it even know what that meant? It should have no reason to, but it shouldn't have been able to string a sentence together yet.

Crazy – it was so interesting. All she wanted to do was study it, learn from it.

Keller responded. "Simmons, we're on our way."

The CB cracked to life. "Yeah, yeah, just bring the muscle with ya."

"Keller out."

Keller looked over at Maggie. The Secretary of Defense narrowed eyes at her. "The cell phone stays – we can't trust it."

She nodded sharply, in complete agreement. There was still so much they didn't know about the creatures – studying one up close was a dream come true. Although the aliens probably had jurisdiction, she didn't want to lose this chance for close up study.

She'd leave it here, and come back. It seemed pretty agreeable – perhaps she could convince it to come with her. Later, of course, after they' dealt with the hostile.

She followed the military men out of the room, throwing a last glance back at the little alien.

"Stay here, okay?" She said carefully, locking eyes with glowing blue. The little metal pieces above its eyes wiggled up and down, almost like it was waggling its eyebrows at her. Incredible – it had already understood that her head motions were an affirmative. Although it was slightly off – the eyebrow waggle motion was slightly wrong, but if it saw the other motion used for something, it would figure it out.

One burly black man grabbed the CB, and Keller was at the door, gesturing her out.

The little 'bot stared at her, optics glowing brilliantly blue. "Yooo-yhouuuu-youu-you help me?"

She nodded once, and grinned when the little creature bobbed its eyes up and down, flashing the blue to brighter intensities.

She left, throwing one glance back at the little creature in the cage.

I wiggled. Maggie and the others were leaving! But it told me to stay here. I wasn't really sure what that meant, but it had also promised to help me out. I believed Maggie – although I didn't really want to stay here, I would.

It would come back for me, I just knew it!

A crackle sounded in my helm, making me twitch.

There was an indistinguishable spatter of noise, making me flinch. "-Hello?-" I sent back.

After a moment of silence, an answer hissed over the airwaves. "-You are not Frenzy.-"

I was Unknown, I wasn't Frenzy. "-No.-"

"-Where is Frenzy? What have you done with him?-"

What an odd question – I didn't know a Frenzy. I only knew Maggie. And the six other organic life forms. "-Nothing. Are they missing? I can help you look for them!-"

There was a crackle of static.

"-I would…appreciate it.-"

"-Sure! Where do you want me to look? What do they look like?-"

Another short pause. "-You'll know when you see them. Go north, there should be a signal. That might be them.-"

"-Sure!-"

I was sure Maggie wouldn't mind me helping out this poor person – they were missing someone! I should help if I could, right?

Yeah. Time to get out of the box. I scanned all the walls, looking at the different joints, assessing the structural integrity of each seam. The information flowed swiftly into my processor, and little seams of light highlighted the weakest spots. I moved to the spot, inspecting the hairline cracks from the impact points to where they congregated the most.

Now. How could I cause enough damage to the spot to get it to break? As I processed that, my chassis transformed, and a cannon shot out, spitting fire at the wall. The polymer cracked a little more, and a small hole shattered. Analysing quickly, I knew that I would fit – barely, but I would.

Sliding out the hole, I darted up the wall using the previous slice-marks to anchor myself. Jumping forwards I flew through the air, flailing my legs. I landed carefully, recalibrating as I rolled over. The coordinates were burned into my processor, dancing in front of my optics.

I raced along the hall, noting how large everything was. Perhaps I could transform into something faster?

I didn't have anything else scanned. And the communication device was extremely slow – vibrating would be much slower than my current pace.

I came across another closed door – this one was much easier to get out of though. The door was controlled by a computer, and I instinctively knew that I could get through it.

Dancing up to the pad, I sliced my front appendages into the mainframe. The system was dead – impossible. I funneled some of my power into the system; enough to start it up so that I could have the door open a few inches. It slipped open, and I was staggered by the amount of energy it took to open it even that much. There had to be a better way.

I had 42.832% of power left – before that I had been at 98.912%. No more opening doors manually – I wasn't sure what would happen if I ran out of energy.

Dancing through the open doors, I squeaked. "-What does this 'Frenzy' look like?-"

There was a pause. "-I do not have an image.-"

"-Oh.-" I brightened. "-I'm sure with two of us, we'll find Frenzy right away!-"

There was no reply.

Then the other one spoke again. "-Where are you?-"

"-I'm not very far from the location now – Who are you?-"

There was a slight pause. "-My designation is not important.-"

I scanned the halls, and could feel the organic creatures out in front of me. Maybe they knew where Frenzy was?

Bouncing towards them, I squeaked happily. One of the creatures with a gun made a loud noise and made its gun spit fire and metal at me. I jumped to the side, chittering.

Maggie threw an appendage out – was it a leg, like mine? – and made a loud noise at the bigger creature.

"Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, Maggie!" I squeaked out happily.

The top portion of the thin creature twitched downwards. I tried to mimic it, pushing metal down.

I flashed my optics brighter at Maggie, hoping to placate the creature. Whenever it was happy with me, it did the same thing. I tried to show how happy I was to find them – they could help me find Frenzy for the one outside.

"Help me…. Find Frenzy?" My language skills were improving!

Maggie's soundwaves were lower. "Why are you here?"

"I have to find Frenzy! For the one outside!"

"Outside?" The tones were sharp and clipped.

I waggled my optics up and down, like Maggie had done in agreement with me. "Outside!"

"Did they say what their name was?"

"Name?" I repeated curiously.

"Designation," Maggie corrected.

A name was a designation. I waved my helm from side to side. "No, no name."

"I see."

"See? What does Maggie see?" I asked, curious. Did this organic have special optical powers?

"No, it's a colloquialism."

I didn't understand. Chittering up at the swiftly moving creature, I pelted after Maggie. What was a colloquialism? What was going on? Who was outside?

The creature slowed enough to ask me a question. "Why didn't you stay in the room like I asked?"

"Have to find Frenzy for one outside!" I babbled quickly. We were wasting time! What if Frenzy was hurt?

"Which one outside?" Maggie repeated.

I chattered out my tale quickly. "It asked me, to find Frenzy. I need to help, to help one outside!"

Suddenly, my sensors indicated another four life-forms in range. We were coming closer.

"More, more, more!" I bounced, legs skittering on the metallic floor. Maggie flicked a glance at me, organic eyes tight.

The radio crackled to life, and my understanding of the language grew, in strange leaps.

"Keller, where are you – the hostile's almost on us!"

"Almost there, Simmons."

The one that replied – the palest one – was called Keller.

I had another name! Keller!

"Maggie! Keller!" I chirped out, eager to show off my new knowledge.

Both glanced at me, and Keller scrunched his top part – his helm? – up at me.

"What the hell is that damn thing doing here, Maggie? I thought I told you that it was a security risk and a damn liability!"

"I know sir, it followed us here."

"Then send it away."

I wiggled my optics at Keller. "Send away? Okay – I'll look for Frenzy!"

Maggie flipped its optics to me. "Who's Frenzy?"

Maggie asked lots of questions. "Lost! Need to find Frenzy, for one outside!" I urged, trying to get Maggie to help me.

I skittered into a room behind Maggie, and was confronted with four more examples of these organic creatures.

"Simmons! Show me the hostile."

A pale organic with dark tufts on its helm spoke, spinning around on a black surface with wheels. "Right you are. Check out this puppy."

A hostile was a puppy was a – I looked at the image on a low-resolution screen, detailing a black and white moving machine that was coming towards us. Was this Frenzy?

I sent an image to the other one on the communication line. "-Is this Frenzy?-"

A pause. "-Yes. If you go to him, you can bring him to me.-"

What was a him? Was it a type of creature? But helping Frenzy's friend was a good idea!

I skittered forwards, towards the screen, logging the information about the machine on the screen.

"-Okay, I'd bet my mama's meatloaf that I can help.-"

Another odd pause.

"-I'll be waiting.-"

Maggie was looking at the screens, clicking buttons. I couldn't see anything, and finding Frenzy would be a lot easier by myself – I was small enough to creep through the place without the others being disrupted.

"Be back," I chirped out lowly, not wanting to disturb the others who were watching Frenzy on the screen.

Sliding out of the metal room quietly was quite easy – all the organics were bustling about busily, some readying their guns and Maggie clicking at the screen with Keller. I clicked my way out of the room, before scampering down the hall.

I had to help Frenzy!

Simmons' eyes flicked to the door. He could have sworn he just saw that little metal fucker leave the room – but that was impossible. He'd torched the sucker and it had knocked its own head off. He'd checked it and kicked it over and over, ensuring that it was dead. But that little flicker of silver and brilliant blue couldn't be denied.

He'd been a paranoid agent too long – and his gut was telling him there was more to the puzzle.

Barricade scanned the human complex, locating his temporary partner swiftly. What the frag did Frenzy think he was doing, staying in a human building? The mission was over, Megatron was online again, time to dump the little fragger back with Soundwave.

He hated having Frenzy in his mind – all glitching and repeated words.

He didn't know how Soundwave put up with the little glitch.

Frenzy was behaving oddly though – although it could just be one of his games. Barricade wasn't able to understand what the little collection of rusty bolts was thinking most of the time – and this time was no exception. Mama's meatloaf? What in the Great Matrix did that mean?

Once the little glitch was secure in his trunk, he'd go to Mission City and help out there. For now, he needed to collect Frenzy – or what was left of him.

AN: Can I mention how much I love Unknown's naivety? Oh, so adorable! Although it's liable to get it into trouble – like it just has, with Barricade. Oh snap. :)

Stay tuned, guys! What is going to happen next? What is Barricade planning?