Chapter 001: First Encounters

Sari Sumdac was used to being the odd one out. At sixteen she was a pixie-ish girl with dark skin and deep auburn hair. Her coloring and stature were not the things that kept her apart, however . The public at large didn't know what made her different, but when people got near her they immediately felt that she was different. Of course, she knew why they felt that way. Her father had told her long ago.

Isaac Sumdac had taken a child that was dying and rebuilt her using his robotics knowledge. Sari was a cyborg now, over half of her body was made of bionics. But normal people could sense that she was not completely organic. He had partially hidden her from the world because he knew that the debate surrounding the assembly of hybrids such as androids and cyborgs was a touchy political and moral issue. Sari understood, but she didn't like it.

As she walked down the halls of her father's Lake Erie plant, she felt a chill of loneliness. "Come on Sparkplug." she said with false cheer. "Let's go drop in on that tour Dad's giving."

Suddenly the alarms began going off all over the building. Sari broke into a brisk jog as the mechanical canine followed at her heels. She was almost out when she was confronted with a large gelatinous-looking monster. Sari wondered if she should try out the new modifications her father had built when she felt something slimy wrap around her waist. Sari screamed as she was pulled out of the plant and then twenty feet into the air.

On the ground Isaac Sumdac was out of his mind with worry. "Sari! Sari!"

Next to him, Captain Fanzone tried not to lose the reigns of his temper. It was one thing for this to be a crisis situation, a completely different one to have the wacked out, worried, neurotic father standing next to him. "Get those trucks back! Get them back!" He grunted in annoyance.

"What are you four doing?! What part of get back don't you understand?!" Fanzone was not exactly happy about the situation as it was anyway. This monster was a real danger to the city, not to mention the other nearby metropolises. "Dammit get those trucks back! Get those . . . What the -?" Sari looked down in terror as the multitude of emergency vehicles backed away from the creature who still held her in its tentacles. She was ready to let loose another scream when she noticed that four vehicles had not moved. Captain Fanzone's obnoxious yellow compact, a military personnel carrier, a fire truck, and a police motorcycle still sat right in front of the creature. Sari was unsure of what they could do. She could see the motorcycle cop pointing up at her, but then it hit her. There was no way that guy was a motorcycle cop . . .

Suddenly, the cars stopped being cars.

Sari felt her jaw drop open as she saw the vehicles transform into bipedal robots. What's more, their drivers all hopped out and managed to keep some kind of hold on their car-robots. After the robots were done transforming they stood with their driver in their hands.

Sari watched in amazement as the yellow car-robot was launched up to cut off the tentacle that held her. Sari screamed as she fell through the air, but her scream was choked off when she felt herself land with a thud on a large hand. She looked up into incredibly blue eyes. Two sets of them. Sari could feel the movement as whatever was holding her as it ducked out of the line of fire.

"Are you okay?" the boy asked.

Sari nodded. "Yeah, thanks."

"So, what's your name?" the boy asked. "Mine's Bumblebee."

It took her a moment to realize that when the boy spoke, the robot spoke too. "I'm Sari."

He laughed. She could feel the robot laughing too. "Don't be. I like my name."

She laughed too. "No, my name is Sari! You know, like the clothes women in India wear."

He cocked his head. "In-dee-ah?"

She wrinkled her nose. "You've never heard of India?"

"No, we just got here."

Sari's mouth fell open slightly. "What do you mean you just got here?!"

Before he could answer, drones flew into the parking garage they were in and began to fire on him. "Ah, ow, ow! Stop it!" he cried. "Here." he said as he set her down.

Sari stood for a moment as she watched him blast down the drones. She watched him walk out and felt fascination as she watched him agilely dodge a blow from the creature. What were they?

She watched with bated breath as the battle unfolded. The motorcycle ran at the creature, but was absorbed, driver and all. The other three regrouped and tried to help but their efforts proved futile. She saw them meeting and hatching a plan. Bumblebee looked put out, but he transformed back into his vehicle mode and rode into the parking garage. She could only gasp in horror when the other two were absorbed and then when Bumblebee launched himself off of the building at the creature.

In the end, she cheered with everyone else when the plan that these strange robot-men had concocted worked and the creature was no more. Sari darted out from the parking garage and made it over to Bumblebee just as he was transforming. She smiled at the boy in the driver's seat. "Oh my God that was so freakin' cool!" she gushed.

The boy looked wide-eyed around. "Thanks." he finally answered with a smile. His smile turned into a frown. "Look, I've got to go."

Sari reached out and grabbed his arm that was resting on his window. "Wait! You just got here!"

Bumblebee shrugged. "I know, but Prowl really needs to get medical attention."

Sari bit her lip. "Let me come with you."

His eyes widened. "I can't. Boss-bot would have my hide."

"Please Bumblebee!" Sari said, her eyes wide open and liquid. "You can trust this face can't you?"

Bumblebee knew that he was going to be in major slag for this, but he couldn't deny a pretty femme. "Alright. Hop in, but stay down! Prime is already going to flip so let's at least get you on board before he does."

Sari squealed and jumped into the back seat. She obediently laid down and got quiet. She had to work to stifle a giggle as she felt a burst of giddiness. She hadn't felt this happy in years. The car jolted a bit as it hit the water, but Sari enjoyed watching the patterns that flicked across the interior of the car enough that she didn't freak out as much as she thought she would.

Up in the front seat, Bumblebee-Companion chewed on his lower lip. Optimus was going to freak when he saw what Bumblebee had brought down, but he was curious about the pretty femme in the back seat. Where was her Handler? Did she even have one? Was it that strange four-legged one sitting on the floorboard beside her?

"Be really quiet okay? I'm going to have to sneak you into one of the holding bays until I can figure out what to tell Prime."

Sari nodded. She watched in awe as an immense door opened in the huge ship they had just approached. Bumblebee drove in and then turned off into a large room. His door opened. "Hop on out." Sari did as he asked and watched as Bumblebee drove out. She walked around the large room and explored a bit. She approached a large box sitting in the middle of the room. She felt drawn to the thing somehow. When she reached it, she stopped and studied it. The box was covered in geometric lines and dots, not unlike the wiring of a circuit board. The box itself was actually not a cube at all, but some strange three dimensional polygon that she couldn't put a name to. Around the middle there was a metal bar that had a gap over a hole in the box. The hole was glowing slightly.

Sari reached out to touch it, but suddenly it opened with a flash of light. She felt something enter her mind and then the glowing orb in the center of the box flashed several images to her. The first was of a set of faces, one robotic and the other human. The robot had a white face and turquoise eyes. His helm was deep blue with a ridge in the middle and two white antennas on the top. The man was an older one with stern features and a strong jaw.

The next was the face of one of the robots and his driver that she had seen earlier. The robot had a silver-grey face with turquoise blue eyes as well. It's helm was blue and slightly resembled a baseball cap with raised antennas on the sides. The driver had a stereotypically handsome face. His jaw was strong and square, his upper lip was a little fuller than his bottom, and his nose was straight and just the right size for his face. His eyes were the same turquoise as the robot and now that Sari really looked she saw that they both held the same kind look.

The next image was of yet another set of faces. This robot was silver and his face was constructed like that of his human counterpart. It was a strangely handsome yet cruel face and the red eyes glowed with palpable menace. The man's skin and eye color made Sari think at first that he was albino. His skin was alabaster white and his short hair was bone white. Sari felt a chill run up her spine. She could sense that he was evil to his core.

Finally, she was shown the face of another robot and man. The robot had a long black face and red, mean eyes. The helm was a darker black and looked like it had air vents on the sides. The man had a long face as well, but she couldn't deny that he was attractive. His skin was swarthy and his mean eyes were crimson. Sari instinctively knew this guy was a weasel.

Then, she felt like something was rummaging through her mind. She made a sound of protest, but before her eyes the image of a man, woman, and child flashed through the air, then a horse, dog, cat, and finally a strand of DNA. The presence in her mind did something that felt like a mental pat and then left.

Sari was left awestruck by the entire incident. "Wait . . . Did we just have a conversation?"

There was no response, but a flash of light filled the room. Sari shrieked as the light coalesced around the key she wore as a necklace. It was antique from the days when all homes were locked with metal keys. Her father had given it to her as a present long ago. The light invaded the key and it changed. Designs similar to the ones on the box covered it.

Before Sari could even begin to get a handle on what was going on, she felt someone grab her arm. "How did you get on this ship?"

She turned to see the second man and robot that the light had shown her. She added a couple more things to her original observations: he was really tall and he had a pleasant tenor voice. Bumblebee was jogging in after him. Sari realized that both the robot and Bumblebee were shorter than the other. "It followed me home. Can we keep it?"

Sari began to feel indignant. "I'm not an it, I'm a she!"

Bumblebee and his robot turned to give her a smile. Both of them. Suddenly a voice came in over the intercom. The voice was gruff. "Prime get in here!"

The tall man dropped her arm and turned to trot out of the room. Bumblebee and his robot inclined his head and Sari nodded. They turned to follow. Sari took in that the ship was spacious and uniform. After a few moments they entered another room. Sari felt a small smile come to her lips. So medical rooms looked the same everywhere.

In the center of the room was a large table. On it was the motorcycle robot and his driver. The robot's chest area was devoid of armor and the man was shirtless. When she got close she saw a large, irritated patch of skin approximately in the same area on the man as the exposed circuitry on the robot she got an niggling idea in the back of her mind.

An older man and a large, red and white patterned robot leaned over the man and machine on the table. He looked up as they entered. "Prime, he's unstable. I'm not sure that he's going to make it."

The other pair in the room, a bulky man and green robot, gasped. "There's gotta be something you can do Ratchet."

The other pair shook their heads. "There is nothing I can do."

Sari looked at the four pairs and saw the emotions playing across eight faces. Then she felt the key lift from her chest. It was glowing again and leading her toward the pair on the table. She let it lead her as the other four pairs in the room stared at her. She walked over to the table and looked back. "A little help?"

Bumblebee and his robot walked over, and the robot gently picked her up and set her on the table. She walked around the man and followed the key to the robot. She climbed up to the exposed area of his chest. There was a raised panel in the middle of his chest and before her amazed eyes, her key changed shapes. She realized that it would now fit into the slot in the platform that was in the robot's chest. She put in the key and turned it.

The key flashed and then popped out of the slot. Sari stepped back and climbed off. The armor over the chest area regrew and the quiet engine revved. She took another step back and nearly stumbled over the man who was laying behind her. Sari turned and stared as the man opened his eyes and sat up.

She blushed when she realized she was staring. He had the same turquoise eyes as the rest of them and a handsome face. He had high cheekbones and slanted, piercing eyes. His skin was swarthy and his hair was dark as well. The robot's color scheme was gold and black. It had a long face with golden horns and the body looked a lot like the uniform of the motorcycle police that roamed the area.

"That's . . . quite the cure." he murmured. The robot sat up as well and both nodded to her.

"Can all . . . 'she's do that?" the large red and blue robot and man asked.

Sari looked around. "I don't know how I did that."

The red and white pair sighed in unison. "Well, either way, thank you."

"Yes, thank you." the gold and black pair echoed.

Something clicked in Sari's mind. These men and these robots, something about them nagged her. They moved in unison and spoke in unison. The similar clothing. Each one of the men wore clothing that matched the design of their robot. "What are you?"

They all shared looks before each of them looked to the pair in red and blue. He stepped forward and extended a hand to her as the gold and black pair stood up. "We are organo-mechanical beings from the planet Cybertron. I am called Optimus Prime and I am the leader of this team."

He gestured to the bulky green pair. "This is our space-bridge expert Bulkhead."

"Hi." he said sweetly. The man was taller than Optimus Prime and had a rugged, square face. His blue eyes were not piercing like the gold and black, or calm like Optimus', but instead resembled a doe's. His hair was a dark green that bordered on brown. The robot was the military carrier and a dark green.

Optimus nodded to the red and white mech. "This is our medic Ratchet." The medic robot was taller than Bumblebee's robot and the gold and black one, and Sari could tell that it was probably some sort of ambulance. The robot was missing one of his horns, and the man had a corresponding scar over his right eye. The man looked to be in his late fifties or early sixties. His face was still handsome, but his body looked like it was in the process of going to fat. He merely grunted to her.

"This is Prowl, our navigator." This time Optimus gestured to the gold and black pair.

Prowl nodded to her formally. "Thank you again for helping me."

Sari blushed. "No problem."

Optimus the man smiled. "And I believe you've already met Bumblebee."

Sari glanced back at the man and mech. Bumblebee the man was a twenty-something looking young man with spiky, blond hair and happy eyes. He was cute with a round face and slim body. He waved at her.

Sari waved back and smiled. She then looked back to Optimus. "So, you both," she said as she pointed to the man and mech, "Are Optimus Prime?" "Yes. The organic half of our pair is called the Companion, the mech is called the Handler." Optimus explained.

Bumblebee sidled up to her. "Yeah, we're one mind spread between two bodies."

Sari nodded. "Ohhhhhh-kaaaaaaaay."

Alarms went off. "What's going on?" Bulkhead asked.

Ratchet tapped a key on the monitor. The screen lit up with the images of search and rescue bots scouring the coast around the lab. Sari cringed. "Uh-oh. I think my dad is looking for me."