Disclaimer: "I do not own any part of the transformers franchise, or any of their characters. I own only Harper, and any original content that I make her do or say. Everything else is property of the amazing men and women who brought this story to life on the big screen. Thank you."

Chapter 5

"Harper!"

She winces at the volume Sam uses to scream into the phone. Yesterday had been one thing. She'd been sleeping in, and should've already been up anyway. But at seven in the morning... on a Saturday? It was entirely too early for this shit. Sighing, she asks, "And good morning to you too, Sam. What's up?" "Good morning! My car is stalking me!" "Your car that stole itself?" "Yes! It's back, and now it's following me around town! Just… just get here! I'm at the abandoned parking garage! Hurry!"

Harper glances out her window at the parking lot. And sure enough, Dragonfly snaps his headlight on for a moment, before revving his own engine. A sign that he was ready to leave, and needed her to come with him. Nodding, she says into the phone, "I'm on my way Sam. Just… don't piss it off." "Piss it off! What the…"

She hangs up before he can say anymore, and then grabs her bag and throws her curly hair into a ponytail before heading out the door. Her jeans will definitely be better protection against the heat of the vehicle than her sweatpants from last night, though she still wears a black tank top. She hadn't felt like taking it off last night when she fell back into bed, and she certainly wasn't going to take the time to change it now.

The jacket she's wearing today though… that had been a present from Will and his unit. It was the deep kind of green all of them wore, soft and comfortable too. And on the insides of the jacket, they'd had their names sewn in, along with an oath of protection. "She We'll Defend."

The army motto was actually "This We'll Defend". Something they took seriously, and it was not a phrase they ever said lightly or playfully. The army is where Will had been before being promoted to captain of an Army Ranger unit. And for her jacket, the phrase was altered slightly to 'She' We'll Defend. And in their opinion, it was the most fitting thing to put on their Harper's jacket. Because that is how they all felt. She was a person they would defend. To their last dying breath, they would protect her.

Or… they would've… if they were still here.

Harper shakes her head to clear it. Even if they couldn't protect her anymore, or promise that they would… having the jacket still helped her feel close to them. She would keep it forever, no matter what else might happen to it.

Swinging her leg over Dragonfly, she asks, "Can you extend your handles back a little more so I can at least look like I'm driving?" "You should lean forward. We are going to be moving pretty fast. But fear not. No harm will come to you."

And she believes him, so she leans forward for the handles, and then says, "Alright. I assume you already know where we're going. Lead the way."

But even though they arrive at the parking garage in what Harper thinks is epic timing, they're still not fast enough to get there before Sam is under attack from…

Was it a police car? Yes, it was a police car that was shifting into one of these… whatever they were. Gritting her teeth in aggravation, she asks, "Is nothing sacred anymore? Now we can't even trust cop cars. Shit." Dragonfly revs to move faster, but rather than go further in, he veers sharply to the side, and circles around the garage.

As soon as he stops, Harper hops off with every intention of going after her brother. But Dragonfly, transforming quickly into his other form, grabs her in his large hand. "Patience." "Patience, my ass. They have Sam!" Dragonfly nods, but then says, "Bumblebee will protect him. I am here to protect you." "Then where the fuck is Bumblebee?" "Please. Patience. They can't hurt Sam. Not until they have what they want." "That means they can't kill him! That doesn't mean…"

But before she can get into that, Sam is thrown onto the hood of a car, and the cop car that's now standing demands, "Are you username LadiesMan217?!" Harper sighs at the ridiculous name Sam had chosen for his ebay profile. Then she watches him leap off the vehicle he was lying on, right before the cop car flips it over.

Dragonfly moves now, further in so they can see, but still in hiding. And Harper is about to lose her shit and just start screaming so maybe the cop car will have a different target to go after.

But finally, the yellow Camaro, who is apparently named Bumblebee, spins onto the scene. Burning rubber in a circle before the evil robot, he then throws open his door for Sam, and the girl who had shown up from out of nowhere. Harper's not really sure who she is… just that Sam insists she get in the car with him, so she must be rather important.

As soon as they take off, Dragonfly puts Harper down and shifts back into a bike. Swinging her leg over him again, she declares, "Do not ever do that to me again." "I am supposed to protect you." "Then protect me by helping me protect my brother! Do not ever hold me back again!"

Silence for a moment as they take off, and then Dragonfly answers, "I will do what I can to heed this request." "Good. Now, catch up to them. They're gonna need help." "Affirmative."

It's well into the dark hours of the evening before Dragonfly slows down inside the gates of a power station. Harper glances around, "I don't see them." "They are here. Bumblebee will do what he can to lose the cop before fighting him." "Why?" "We tend to cause a lot of damage to the area around us when we fight out battles. Your buildings do not sustain our force very well."

Harper sighs, "Yeah, well, I don't think we built anything with the intention of you guys ever coming here. No offense." "No offense is taken." As they continue slowly driving, Harper asks, "So… what do we do until they're done hiding?" "We wait." Sighing again, she explains, "I'm good at waiting for a cake to finish baking. Not so much on waiting for anything else."

A pause, and then Dragonfly asks, "What is a cake?" At that, Harper laughs before explaining, "We have a lot to talk about when we finally have a minute to not panic about what the hell else is happening. But, suffice to say, a cake is a desert. It's sweet and tasty, and people usually have them at birthday parties and such things."

When Dragonfly asks what a birthday is, Harper almost laughs again. But that's when Bumblebee zips from out of nowhere and into more open territory. And as he ejects Sam and his friend from the vehicle, Harper can guess well enough that the time has finally come to fight in order to protect Sam. The Camaro breaks apart and pieces itself back together into the form Harper had seen the night before. Fists up, ready to go as the cop car transforms as well.

It was apparent that Bumblebee took his job as protector just as seriously as Dragonfly did. The cop car tries to go through him to get to Sam… but Bumblebee just launches the thing over-top of himself, rolling him into one of the towers of the power plant.

One thing was certain, Harper wasn't going to have any power when she got home. If she went home after this. Something told her a lot more was coming after this than there had been after last night's events.

As Bumblebee then gets thrown into one of the other towers, Dragonfly begins shifting while Harper is still in the seat. But to her surprise, amidst all the shifting and changing, she somehow ends up in his hand, rather than simply ending up on the ground. He sits her down after that, and then says, "I must help Bumblebee. Stay safe." "I'll be with Sam." "That is not…"

At the look she got on her face, apparently a look that even a robot could understand, Dragonfly switches to say, "Be safe. I will return as soon as I can."

And as he takes off in the direction of the larger fight, Harper takes off in the direction her brother went. Which she considers to be a good thing, since another robot was chasing after him and his friend. A much smaller robot. This one was more the size of a normal human, rather than a skyscraper or small building.

The robot had already gotten hold of Sam's pants in an attempt to drag him away. But Sam kicked them off, and then continued hightailing it towards the fence at the bottom of the hill. Harper's not sure where his friend went, but if that girl just up and left him to fend for himself, Harper was not going to be thinking too kindly of her for very long.

As the creepy little robot kept Sam pinned against the fence, Harper ran up and yelled, "Get off him!" She slung her bag at his head, and while the little demon spawn was leaning back, she spun herself in a circle and roundhouse kicked him off of her little brother.

Not that it did much more than push him away. And Harper can't help staring at him in shock when the robot does some sort of fancy footwork with his mechanical legs before charging at them again. Shoving Sam to the side, she winces as it slams her up against the fence. It head-butts her twice, resulting in a blacked cheekbone and a cut at her temple. Sam grabs the thing from behind, trying to pull it off of her. But the thing wraps its mechanical hands around her throat and squeezes tightly to hold itself in place.

Harper's vision was honestly beginning to go blurry, even as she kicked the damn thing in the chest to shove it off. And as it and Sam fell to the ground, the girl that had been with them before came running back into action.

With a power saw in hand. Things for this girl were looking up. And as the robot launched itself back at Harper, the girl hacked off its arms, and then chopped of its head, effectively making the entire thing useless.

Mostly. Harper still has to pry off the metallic hands that went back for her throat. Sam hollers at the little monster, "Yeah? Not so tough without a head, now are you?!" While he kicks the head over the hill and out of sight, his friend drops the saw and helps Harper get the hands off her throat.

Once they hit the ground, she winces for Harper upon seeing the bruises that are already forming around her neck. But Harper simply takes a deep breath before saying, "Thanks. And you would be?" Still out of breath herself, she replies, "I'm… Mikaela. Um… Sam's friend." Sam nods a little too fervently in agreement with that statement, so Harper raises her eyebrow. But as they're all a little worse for wear right now, she decides to let that discussion be tabled for later.

Sam glances back to where the other fight had been taking place, and then says, "Come on." As Harper comes up to his side, he says, "Harp, you are not going to believe…" But then his eyes blow wide when Harper says, "That your car drove itself, turned itself into something else, and proceeded to beat the crap out of the cop car? Yeah, I believe that." "But… how?!"

And as they approach the area, she points at the green robot standing next to the yellow, "Because the smaller one is mine." "Your bike is a…"

As they look up at the robots for a second, Mikaela finally asks, "What are they?" Harper shrugs. Obviously, she's been saying that it's a robot in her head an awful lot. But… let's be real. It has to be more complicated than that. Right?

Sam, on the other hand, decides to stick with simple for now, and answers, "They're robots. But like a… like different… you know? Like super-advanced… robots." And then Harper can't help it. She lets out a laugh through her lips when Sam adds, "It's probably Japanese. Yeah… it's definitely Japanese."

Dragonfly begins making his way closer to the edge of the hill. And as Harper starts climbing to meet them, Mikaela asks, "What are you doing?" Harper shrugs, "Staying down here isn't doing us any good. They're not going to hurt us." "How are you so sure?"

Sam points out, "Well… I think they would've done that already." Harper nods, "Very astute observation, Sam. But, on a more direct note… mine told me it was here to protect me." "What?!" Harper just glances back at him with a raised eyebrow. "Keep an open mind, Sam. How many times have I told you that?" "You say that about trying something new you've cooked!" "Well, yeah. But it's also a motto that should be applied to all of life. Geez."

He worries for a moment about joining her. But, in the end… well, he didn't think they were going to hurt them either. Plus…

As Harper approaches her robot, she turns as Sam says, "I think they want something from me." Mikaela shakes her head, "What?!" "Well… cause the other one was talking about my ebay page." Nodding, Harper says, "Right. I remember that. You need a new username, by the way." "Remind me later."

Mikaela finally just throws up her hands, "You are the weirdest two people I've ever met." But she can't help smiling as Harper shrugs, "Yeah, but you get used to it. Don't worry, you'll learn to love me. Or, you'll just forever ignore me. In which case, don't expect any cupcakes for your birthday."

As Sam starts trying to communicate with his robot, who can apparently only talk through the radio, Harper gets to Dragonfly, who bends down to her height again. His head tilts from side to side, and his eyes actually send out a beam that seems to scan all of her injuries. Then, those blue eyes narrow somehow, as he says, "I told you to stay safe." "Yeah, I tried that. He would've hurt Sam." "Hurt, but not killed." "Neither of which is okay with me."

They stare each other down for a moment, and then finally Dragonfly gentles his gaze. Reaching out a finger to gently touch her chest, he says, "You have a great and brave heart, little one. It will serve you well." "It always has before." "Good."

She jumps a little when Bumblebee finally transforms back into a car, prompting Dragonfly to change back as well. And as she swings her leg over her bike, she can hear Sam ask Mikaela, "Fifty years from now, when you're looking back at your life, don't you wanna be able to say you had the guts to get in the car?"

And when she finally moves to climb in, Sam glances over the top of the car to see Harper. She smiles at him, points inside, and then mouths, "She's a keeper." Grinning, he hops in behind his 'friend'. And then they take off. To where, they have no idea.

But Harper can already tell. This already interesting night, was about to get a whole lot more interesting.

"Hey! What took you guys so long?"

And as Sam and Mikaela roll up closer in an incredibly upgraded looking Camaro, Harper adds, "And what happened to the car?" Sam hops out, "Never mind that. Did you see that asteroids?" "Yeah. Amazing. Also means we should be expecting at least four newcomers any minute. So, where…"

The semi-truck that begins pulling up into the alley answers her question. And they all can't help standing and staring as this one begins shifting apart and coming back together. It was taller still then even Bumblebee was, and Harper had already thought he was huge.

The other three come up from behind them, transforming as well into their robot forms. Bumblebee and Dragonfly follow suit, all eyes currently turned towards the larger blue and red robot, that had previously been a flaming semi.

As it bends down to their level, he eyes Sam first and asks, "Are you Samuel James Witwicky, descendent of Archibald Witwicky?"

The first thing that anyone says, is Mikaela saying breathlessly, "They know your name." Sam nods, and then finally answers, "Yeah." The robot then turns to Mikaela and asks, "And are you Harper Marie Witwicky?" Mikaela shakes her head fervently, while Harper gently holds up her hand and says, "That's me. Sorry."

The robot turns to her, and then says, "Apologies are mine. My name is Optimus Prime. We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron." Harper nods, still a bit thrown for the moment. Not really by the robot himself. She'd already accepted the other two as real, so having four more to add to the list wasn't a big leap. No… she was just really surprised that they already knew their names.

Then she jumps as one of the ones behind them, the one that had previously been an emergency response vehicle, says, "But you can call us Autobots for short." Harper nods to that, liking this one a little more already. He had a tender tone, though his voice wasn't as deep as Dragonfly's. But there was the same gentleness there that put her at ease.

Not like the other one, who appeared to be somewhat of a bad boy as he immediately asked, "What's cracking, little bitches?" She glares briefly at him, because that particular curse word has always been one she's hated. But before she can comment, Optimus introduces him as, "My first lieutenant. Designation, Jazz." Jazz then proceeds to look around, "This looks like a cool place to kick it."

As he promptly tosses himself back onto a car, Harper finally can't contain herself. Turning around to face him, she asks, "Excuse me! What were you, raised in a barn? Have some manners!" The robot actually jerks in surprise, and then glances around and asks in a slightly less irritating voice, "What'd I do?" Harper glares, "You're talking like an asshole, for one thing."

Jazz simply looks up at Optimus in confusion, who then looks down at Harper when she asks, "How did he even learn to talk like that?" To which Optimus answers simply, "We've learned earth's languages through the world wide web."

Then, to her surprise, Jazz comes around so he's in front of her and has her attention again. "I… didn't mean to offend. It was a very popular site I used to learn modern English slang. I…" Harper finally softens her gaze a bit, and then says, "Repeat the first sentence you said again." "What's cracking, little…" She cuts him off, "The last word you're about to say… don't ever use it again. I hate that word."

He nods affirmatively, and Harper thinks Optimus might actually be grinning a little at the entire interaction that just took place. Which... yeah, it was kind of hilarious. A five-foot-two human was telling a house sized robot to mind his manners. If Harper wasn't still trying to wrap her mind around all of this, she'd probably be laughing her ass off too.

But Optimus keeps his composure, and simply gestures to the black GMC that is spinning some of the guns he has in his hands. "My weapons specialist, Ironhide." To which the autobot holds out his guns and asks, "You feeling lucky, punk?"

Harper raises an eyebrow, but can't help laughing this time. Sam gives her a look and asks, "Really? Jazz can't say the word 'bitch', but this guy can threaten us with guns?" "He's not actually threatening us. He's quoting a Clint Eastwood movie. Not my favorite, but you can't really hate on someone quoting a classic."

Optimus just shakes his head in amusement, and then says to the still playfully advancing robot, "Easy, Ironhide." He backs up instantly, but then adds disappointedly, "Just kidding. I just wanted to show him my cannons."

Harper can't help laughing again, and then they look to the third autobot, whom Optimus introduces as, "Our medical officer, Ratchet." And to her never ending amusement, Ratchet sniffs at the air, literally just sniffs, and then says, "The boy's pheromone level suggests he wants to mate with the female. The brunette, not his sister."

As Sam and Mikaela both cringe a little at having that thrown out into the open, Optimus is about to go on and formerly introduce their own vehicles to them. But upon seeing the concerned look enter Ratchet's features, he instead asks, "What's wrong, Ratchet?"

The autobot moves to be in front of Harper, bending down to inspect her more closely. And she thinks he's probably looking at the bruises she's attained this night. But as he sniffs at the air again, he says aloud, "This one is in the midst of overcoming a small, but still rather severe, case of depression. She aches from it still."

Her heart gave a lurch at having that brought up again, and when Sam reaches out for her hand, she squeezes his tightly for a moment, taking in his silent support. Ratchet then moves away as Dragonfly bends down beside her. Eyes taking her in, she's surprised that she can already tell that he's asking her without words what has been troubling her so. But she does understand, and simply says, "Later. Please?"

He nods without question, and then stands back up and nods to Optimus. Their leader nods back and continues, "You two already know your guardians, Bumblebee and Dragonfly." Harper grins as Bumblebee plays some upbeat music from his stereo while he faux boxes in front of them. Dragonfly simply shakes his head, though Harper can see the amusement on his own face.

Sam can't help grinning, "Bumblebee, right?" When Optimus nods affirmatively, Sam then asks his car, "So you're my guardian, huh?" Bumblebee nods affirmatively, and then winces as Ratchet shines a red beam towards his throat. The medical officer explains, "His vocal processors were damaged in battle. I'm still working on them."

Harper touches her own throat, wincing at the soreness that still rests there. She feels Dragonfly's large hand at her back, worriedly resting against her. Turning slightly towards him, she whispers, "I'm alright."

Mikaela then asks, "Why are you guys here?"

Optimus then begins telling them the tale of his people, showing them through images that seem to overtake the very ground they stand on. How his planet was once a powerful empire, until a particular decepticon, Megatron, betrayed them. The war that followed consumed the whole planet, and the allspark, which gave life to their kind, was lost to the stars.

And apparently, through coincidence or fate, whichever you prefer to believe in… of all the places it could've landed, the allspark found its way to earth. Where Megatron followed it, and where their great, great, grandfather had found him buried in the Arctic snow. This is also when the location of the cube was then imprinted on the glasses that had been inherited by Sam.

Bewildered, Sam asks, "How did you know about the glasses?" Optimus simply replies, "Ebay." Sam is briefly just so incredibly thrilled by how they've learned so much in so short a time. But then they turn to Ratchet, who explains, "If the decepticons find the allspark, they will use its power to transform earth's machines and build a new army." And for emphasis, Optimus adds, "And the human race will be extinguished. Sam Witwicky, you hold the key to earth's survival."

As all of the autobots then stare down at them with baited breath, Mikaela says desperately, "Please tell me you have those glasses." Sam nods, but then looks to Harper and asks, "What do you think about all this?"

She shrugs, "I think these are the good guys, and we should help them." "Just like that." "Pretty much." "But…" He steps closer and whispers, "What about… what happened to Will? His unit? You don't think they…"

Harper shakes her head sharply, for two reasons. First of all, four of these guys had literally just gotten here thirty minutes ago. And secondly… well, she liked Bumblebee and Dragonfly. And they'd apparently been guarding the two of them for quite some time, not just the past couple of days.

Turning to look at Optimus though, she says, "There was an attack on an army base in Qatar not even a whole week ago. Something huge and massive took out the entire base, and left no survivors." There's a brief pause, and then Optimus says, "From what information I can gather, I can confirm it was not one of us. Most likely, it was a decepticon, already stationed here in search of the allspark." "And you're against them?" "Affirmative." "And if you find the one that took my friends from me, you'll kill him?"

A pause, and then Ratchet says, "This is the depression you suffer from. You have suffered a great loss." Annoyed, Harper says, "No shit." Back to Optimus, she asks, "Well?" "If we find him, and he fights, then yes, we will destroy him."

It wasn't exactly a firm yes… but it was a yes, nonetheless. Turning back to Sam, she says, "What are you waiting for? Let's go find them a pair of old, cracked, ancient as hell glasses. And while we're at it, let's save the world." Sam blinks at her, but then grins and asks again, "Just like that?" "Yep. Because I might be depressed, but I'm not in a particular mood to die any time soon. So saving the world we have to live on, will be a great start to that. Let's go."