Melissa's POV

I opened my eyes groggily and the first thing I noticed was three blurry figures just short of my face. Invasion of privacy much? My heart skipped a beat seeing only three blurry figures in front of me without my permission or my knowledge was slightly frightening, so I bashed my hands and kicked them with my legs. Suddenly, what seemed like seatbelts just flew around me and clicked in place, restraining me from moving. Adrenaline rushed through my veins as I felt like I was reliving the nightmare with the cop car, who decided to torture me before that other robot saved me. I wasn't going to stop fighting until I understood what was going on.

"No need to be afraid, you're safe." Did I just hear Doctor Ratchet's voice? Yeah, that was definitely his voice. I calmed down a bit.

"Melissa, stop." I heard my uncle's assertive voice. My blurred vision sharpened by the second. "Ron's here." He said. That made me freeze on the bed of the truck, which by now I realized was holding me with its seatbelts as to not hurt others. I looked at the three faces. Will, Doctor Ratchet and Ron were inside Ironhide, looking at me with worry.

"Are you alright?" Doctor Ratchet asked while looking at me, though I could almost feel being scanned. It was a really weird f1eeling.

"Yeah… fine." I said as I felt suffocated by the seatbelts as the adrenaline ebbed away. "Ironhide, will you please… let go of me, I can't… breathe." I struggled. Jeez, why'd he have to tighten them so much? It's not like I could damage that truck much anyway, but whatever.

Obediently, he retracted the seatbelts into place and then Will stepped forward, chuckling. "Mel, did you know you talk a lot in your sleep?" I shook my head as I gave him a confused look. He started to explain. "You were screaming Ironhide's name. I think you scared him." He burst out laughing. I didn't find anything amusing here.

"Ironhide is not scared of anything." Ron growled at my uncle, shutting him up immediately. I started to move from the seat, but as it was early in the morning, the sunrays went through the windows, giving light inside the truck. It also went over my skin, which was shining from sweat. It's just fine and dandy, I talk in my sleep and I also sweat in my sleep. God bless me.

"Can I go and take a shower?" The three men nodded and got out of my way as I stood up and made my way out of the truck. I went pass Ron and Doctor Ratchet and straight into the house. I took my clothes off and went straight into the bathroom to shower. That's when I felt the relaxing hot water on my skin.

I finished with the shower and put on clean clothes. For the life of me, I couldn't remember which day it was today and I couldn't get Ron off my mind. Why did I have that dream that I just had? Sure, it was amazing, but still… It was bothering me. What part of my mind was making that illusion that we were kissing?

And more importantly, what part of my mind wanted it to happen? As I got in my room, I laid on my bed and looked at the ceiling. What was I going to do now?

A sudden knock on the door made me jump a bit and stand up from my bed.

"Come in." I said stoicly. Well, whoever they were, they were kind enough to knock, instead of barging in. Ron opened the door and stood by the doorway. "Hey, Ron. What's up?" I played it cool.

"Your uncle sent me here. He has a proposal for you downstairs." He said, ever so formal, and opened the door fully. I stood up and he stared at me, those blue eyes scanning me.

"What?" I said, staring back. He motioned with his head to go downstairs and I complied. As we got downstairs I saw my uncle talking to Optimus. That meant that there were three talking cars in my driveway, as if one wasn't enough. "Hello Optimus." I bowed my head respectfully and he did likewise. "Why'd I have to come down?" I whispered to my uncle. What kind of proposal would come from speaking to Optimus about it?

"Well Mel, ever since you were… attacked, Optimus here, Ron and I, thought about giving you some martial arts lessons." Will said as I stared at him. Why in the world would I need martial arts lessons?

"Though, she is a natural at self-defense." Ron said with a smirk. I rolled my eyes, though I couldn't hide my smile, remembering how I struck him in the nose in the beginning.

"Why don't you just assign me to a nearby karate class or something?" I asked.

"Because Ron volunteered to teach you." Will said and I stared at him once more. I looked at Ron, who was playing it cool. When I got a better look at him, it was crazy how fit the guy was.

"I didn't know you did martial arts." I said, looking at Ron.

"I do much more than that." He snorted, straightening himself. Okay, Mr Egotistical Ass.

"You will start when you are ready, although within this week would be a good start." Optimus said and looked at Ron. I tracked his look and Ron nodded at him.

"We start on Monday, 6 o'clock." Ron stated.

"What?! I'm not going to get up that early, are you crazy?! I just finished high school! I want to sleep longer and have a break from everything." I whined and my uncle chuckled.

"Sorry Mel, but no such thing is going to happen." Will said. This was a battle lost before it even started.

"Uncle Will, what day is it today?" I rubbed my forehead.

"Sunday." He flatly said.

"What?" My hand met my forehead. "Oh dear, I'm missing so much. I'll get my clothes ready for tomorrow, I'm off to sleep." I said going inside the house, only to be stopped by my uncle's voice.

"Mel, it's 8 in the morning now, why are you going to sleep?" Will asked me tumultuously.

"I should just get ready for tomorrow. I have a feeling Ron's going to give me a hell of a time." I said and entered the house, going straight into my room and onto the bed. Oh my sweet bed. I could still hear their laughter from my previous sentence.

When I woke up again, it was about 5 in the afternoon. That, and I lost the better part of Sunday. I yawned and rubbed my eyes, waiting a minute or two and then got up. I got sneakers out of my closet and some clothes for me to train in for tomorrow.

I actually missed training. I put the folded clothing on the side of my bed and then my stomach rumbled. I went downstairs to the kitchen with the intention to eat, seeing Sarah was feeding Annabelle. Though there were lunch leftovers which she saved for me, I put them on a plate and into the microwave.

After the meal was heated, I gleefully took the plate and ate. Ten minutes later, I had a full stomach and I was, believe it or not, sleepy again. I yawned and went back into my room, thanking Sarah for the wonderful meal. As I got in my bed again, I couldn't help but feel excited.

Who knew what else Ron was good at? He was buff and all and he had a talking truck, he did martial arts and he probably even mastered them. I don't really know his rank in the military, but something tells me I'm going to find out really soon.

I failed to fall sleep and for the last time, turned to my bedside table clock. It was around two in the morning. I sighed and got off my bed. It was very cold and looked out the window, seeing that it was snowing again. But I was restless and bored.

Should I harass it? I mean, should I bother the truck? Maybe he's sleeping. I sighed and slumped back into my bed.

Early in the morning…

"Get up." I heard as the cover was thrown off me. I groaned because I hated when someone took the warm cover off me. "Hurry, get dressed." A gruff voice said. I could tell he was eager to start, but I, on the other hand, not so much anymore.

"Well, I'm definitely not going to get dressed in front of you, so scat." I said as I picked up my stuff that flew from the bed and onto the ground. Ron left my room and I dressed myself in a black track suit and went downstairs, picking my hair up in a pony tail, and pony tails suited me extremely well. It even made my face look more beautiful and the track suit went perfectly down my lean figure. Just as I finished picking up my hair, I saw that the main door of the house was open and in front of the door was the truck. I hurried up and went outside the house in a jog and got in the truck.

"Ready for your first try?" Ron teased from driver's seat.

"Can't wait…" I said sarcastically. I looked out the window and in about an hour we were at the base. I was 'resting my eyes', and because of that, I got shaken by Ron every once in a while.

"Don't sleep." He commanded.

"I'm not sleeping." I groaned, turning my back against him, so I could get away from him. It was way too early in the morning, couldn't he just cut me some slack?

Ironhide got us in the main hangar of the base and I could immediately see a huge blue sparring mat on the ground. After Ironhide stopped driving, Ron and I got out. I saw my uncle and Sergeant Epps next to him and I waved at them and they slowly started to make their way towards us. Soon, I saw the motorbikes and waved at them, too. They flickered their headlights in greeting. They were polite, which is quite weird. Which brings me to the question, what are they doing here? I mean, on Earth? I'll have to ask Ron later.

"Hey Melissa!" I heard a female voice calling me and as I turned around, I saw Nicole next to Bumblebee.

"Hey Nicole. What's up? How's Bumblebee doing?" I smiled as I approached her and the yellow Chevrolet.

"Nothing much. Bee's doing great, though he's excited about something. He won't tell me about what, though, but I guess we're about to find out."

"You got that right, ma'am." 'Bee' said and Nicole chuckled. She walked away somewhere and Bee followed her behind like an obedient puppy. It was very funny to see wherever Nicole went, Bee would follow her. But above all, I found it to be cute.

Maybe Ironhide would follow me? I turned to the truck and gave it a good look. No way. I just don't see him as a puppy. I just don't.

"Ready?" Ron came out of nowhere and spoke from behind me. I nodded and we settled on the blue mat. I saw some other cars here as well, standing around the mat. They weren't that close, but they looked interested in what Ron was going to teach me.

Ron and I got to the center of the mat and I tried some kind of fighting stance.

"Warm up, then we'll start." He said and I stopped with the jumping around and started twirling my neck, arms, hips, legs and joints. After ten minutes I was fully warmed up and cracked my bones, letting the pressure in the muscles vanish and looked at Ron, who was staring at me.

"What?" I asked, looking at him.

"Is it normal for human bones to crack like that?" He asked, eyeing me up carefully.

"Yeah, it's actually really… Wait, did you say human?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Let's start." He said, evading my question. Men.

He took off his jacket and the first thing I noticed was the way his muscles were almost ripping through the dark grey T-shirt he was wearing. Damn that's… hot. I mentally slapped myself and approached him, trying not to stare at his big arms and chest too much. He looked at me warily as I came forwards and couldn't stop myself from touching his bicep. It was as hard as a rock.

"Muscles of steel, eh?" I said, poking it one last time and taking a step back.

"Show me your fighting stance." He commanded. I folded my fingers in a fist, holding them close to my face and putting my left foot in front of the right one.

"Excellent." He said, but lowered my hands down a bit. They tingled with excitement. There was something about his soft touch that made my heart pick up the beat. "Attack is the best defense. You need to coordinate your attacks and always shield your face. It's the most vulnerable part of the body, next to the plexus, knees, genitals…"

"I get it." I said.

"You don't, so don't interrupt." He said. I snorted and rolled my eyes. He was going to give me a hell of a time.

"Anyway, always keep track of where you position your feet. It's crucial that you stand conversely to your opponent." He motioned his stance, and I had to move conversely to it. "Good." He stood straight, but put a hand in front of him, his palm facing me. "Now punch here." He said.

I took my fighting stance and punched with my right fist. His hand didn't even move on impact.

"Too weak, try harder." He said, but I heard snickering on my left. Skids and Mudflap, the little red and green Chevrolet cars, snickered at me. I grew irritated and I punched again, venting slightly.

"Harder. Use more force." He said and I punched much harder. I heard muffled laughter now and I started to feel embarrassed. "Good, but not good enough. At least you managed to hit your opponent." He shot the Skids and Muddy an angry look, not missing their laughter. They immediately stopped laughing and backed up. "Can you dodge?" He asked me. Just as I looked at him and saw a fist coming my way. I crouched immediately, out of reflex. "Excellent. You have a natural fighting stance for someone how hadn't fought in their life. Good reflexes, as well." He said and I smiled, feeling very flattered. Funny how I didn't blush. "Let us show you how it's done." He said.

Us?

From behind me, Nicole appeared and she patted my shoulder. I got off the mat with her and stood next to Bumblebee, the rally yellow Camaro. The driver's door opened itself and a tall, slim, blond man came out of it.

"Who are you?" I asked, looking from the man to Nicole. She seemed to know him, but I hadn't seen him before.

"Don't you recognize him? It's Bee." Nicole said as she moved to kiss the man on the lips. My eyebrows shot up. I didn't understand… How can her car be her boyfriend and this guy can also be her boyfriend? I let the confusion slip away, since I didn't poke my nose into other people's business.

'Bee' got on the mat and folded his sleeves and took a fighting stance.

"Check on the rep, yep, second to none." The radio from the yellow car said and Nicole grinned. She offered me to sit on Bumblebee's hood, but I declined. Then, to my complete surprise, the car moved forwards slowly, offering us to sit on his hood. After the two of us got onto it, I felt that his hood was warm as well, just like Ironhide's.

The blond man on the mat started jumping around, putting his hands near his face and punching in the air with eagerness. Ron readied himself as well and round one began.

"Just don't hurt him!" Nicole yelled at Ron. He made a gesture of 'I'm not promising anything'.

"Do you think he's going to hurt him?" I asked Nicole warily.

"I don't think so, but I wouldn't like my Bee to get hurt." She patted the patted the hood beneath her.

"Who do you think will win?" I asked as Ron and Bee started to fight, Ron managing to lay a few hits on Bee's abdomen, causing him to wince.

"Ron definitely." She said without thinking as both of our eyes were trained on the two battling men. Watching skillful fighters was so entrancing. My eyes were glued to Ron and how he expertly ducked and had a perfect fighting stance, as if he was fighting his whole life.

"Why do you say that?" I asked Nicole.

"Do you know anything about the guy? He's like, 200 pounds of pure muscle. He'd kick everyone's ass before they even knew it." She said.

"How'd you know so much about him?" I asked as Ron managed to tackle Bee to the ground.

"I'll tell you another time. The story is too long." She smiled.

"You got it." I smiled back.

"Ow." Bee yelped as he got pinned to the ground. Ron stood with one knee on Bee's hands that were behind his back, effectively pinning him and not allowing him to move. His hands pressed Bee's head down and held him by the neck. "Okay, Hide, you win." He confessed.

Ron let a small grin of victory cross his face over beating his younger opponent.

"Good one, Ron." I said as I got up from Bumblebee's hood. Ron didn't seem to even break a sweat.

"That was nothing. You should see a real fight, this was light sparring." He said. I dead-panned.

Light sparring? It looked pretty vicious to me. Then again, I never fought or saw a real fight in my life.

"When's the next training?" I asked.

"Tomorrow. Same time, same place." He said.

"Oh come on, Ron, please, can we do it later? It's too early to start trainings like these every day!" I whined.

"You need to toughen up then. Tomorrow, same time, same place, we practice attacking." And with that, he turned around, leaving me alone.

Well, that's just great.

I walked over to Ironhide and, though I wasn't quite sure why, I knew I wanted to talk to the truck.

"Did you see that, Ironhide? Ron's really good at what he does." He said as I got in the passenger seat and put my feet on the dash. I felt very comfortable here and almost carefree. I just hoped Ironhide didn't mind my feet on his dash. It's not like my shoes were dirty or I could scratch anything.

"Oh yeah…"

"You know what, Ironhide? Can I ask you a question?" I said, taking my feet off the dash and sitting on the huge leather seat Turkish style. "Why are you on Earth and where do you come from? I'm pretty sure nobody built you." At least, from what I understood by now, these cars weren't exactly manmade.

"That was two questions, not one." The radio said, using words from a talk show. I wondered if Ironhide even had a voice? What if the poor thing's only way of communication was through human media?

"Alright, Mr. Smartass. Answer at least one of them." I smiled. Just imagine the fun, talking to your truck.

"We lost something… we came to find it but… it's destroyed… no point in going back." The radio responded. It took me a while to understand, between all the static in trying to make a sentence using different radio stations. This would certainly take some time getting used to.

"So you're stuck here? Jeez…" I sighed. I felt a bit bad for them.

"Ya got that right, sista."

"But, I can see you're hanging on." I leaned on the seats. Out of the blue, a distant thought reminded me of a question that I longed to be answered. "So why won't my uncle tell me who you really are? I mean, Nicole and Sam know and the whole base does. I feel stupid, to be honest. Being left out." I confessed, crossing my arms around my chest as I started feeling sad.

"Your father's only looking out for you. He doesn't want you to get hurt." A quote resounded, though I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be my uncle, instead of father. My chest tightened a bit from the reference.

"Get hurt by what?" I asked, though I had a pretty clear image of a pair of certain red eyes in my head.

"You'll find out... one way or another." A woman's voice said and then it turned on the famous song, and the radio turned off.

"But, I want to find out now." I leaned on the seats, sighing. Ironhide knew better than to reply and I looked through the window. I saw soldiers ducking and carrying their weapons, running around, doing drills.

Which gave me an idea.

What if I became a soldier? I'd have better training, spend time more with my uncle and maybe find out about the 'whole truth'?

I sat up from my seat, thinking more about the subject. It was a really good idea and it could have marvelous benefits. I'd work out all the time, get my physique up and boost up my stamina and morale. I'd be tougher and stronger, maybe even get paid so I could repay Sarah and Will for all that they have done for me…

"No." The radio turned on.

"What?" I asked, looking at the multimedia.

"You will not join the army." The radio said.

"Where'd you get that?" Seriously, was this truck a telepath along with its ability to talk and whip out seatbelts?

I snorted and crossed my arms, looking out the window again. Same scene, soldiers running. I missed running and I missed action. Things were pretty tranquil now and Ironhide didn't play anything through the radio, so I got out of the truck unannounced and started to walk across the hangar. I found the three colored motorbikes and they didn't seem to be doing much.

I approached them without fear. Well, there was some fear, but I prayed that they wouldn't really hurt me. "Hey, there. I'm Melissa, Captain Lennox's nie-"

"We know who you are." A female voice said and I couldn't make out which of the three motorbikes in front of me said it. "We were briefed before your arrival." One of them said.

"May I know your names?" Sure I heard some of the names, but didn't really connect them to the three bikes.

"I'm Elita One, but you can call me Elita." The purple one stepped in, almost leaning on its front tire, as in bowing. Her voice was unimaginably deep, but really nice, like a female empowering baritone.

"I'm Chromia, also known as Mia, at times." She 'bowed' as well and returned to her previous parking place, right in front of me. It was crazy how polite they were for mechanical beings. Never in my mind did I ever think I'd experience something like this.

"I am Arcee, and if we become good friends, you can call me Cee." She dimly flickered her headlight as in a wink. I smiled at the three motorbikes.

"So are you three... like, related?" I fished. I didn't know anything about motorbikes, but wherever the trio went, they went together. Which would only lead me to assume…

"Yes. We are sisters, also known as the Arcee twins." Elita said.

"Though why Arcee, I'd never know." Chromia resounded.

"Got me wondering, too." Arcee said.

"So who named you the 'Arcee twins'?" I asked as I crouched and then sat on my butt, clearly wanting to talk to them. They seemed interested in talking to me.

"Your uncle did." Arcee stepped in, rolling to get to my side. "When we were on our first mission in Shanghai." That rang a bell oddly enough. "Captain Lennox notified us of a target that was headed our way."

"We managed to throw it off route and then Sideswipe came and took care of it." Chromia said, clearly disgusted in whatever it was. I glanced to the shiny silver car, the one Will kicked because of his mighty engine roar that wanted to frighten me.

"But where do you come from?" I started to feel like I was interrogating them.

"We'd love to tell you all about us." Arcee spoke, but then another motorcycle continued.

"But we cannot tell you any more than you possibly need to know." Elita said and the trio retracted. "Optimus's orders." She finished.

"Thanks, anyway, I'd really like to learn more about you. You seem very interesting." I smiled.

"Oh we are." Chromia said. "In time, you'll see." She said and with that we finished our conversation. I bade them goodbye as I turned around to the entrance of the hangar, which didn't have doors. Just as I got out and looked towards the sky, I had a pretty clear view. It started to dusk and then I heard an engine coming towards me and I turned around. Ironhide was coming my way and just as he was about to pass me, he stopped right beside me. I patted his big fender, talking to him.

"Ready to go home, big guy?" I said.