Chapter 3

Dirty Little Secret

"And all I've tried to hide is eating me apart, trace this life line"

"What are you?"

Wren shifted uncomfortably on the window seat in Gabriel's room. The morning light that filtered through the window caught his hair and turned it into spun gold and gave him a sort of halo. It made him look innocent and made her feel even worse for that serious expression on his face. He reminded her of Bumblebee sometimes and, like him, she felt that Gabriel was far too young to be involved in her war. They weren't even the same species, for Primus' sake! She just sighed and leaned her head on the bay window and said, "It's a long story and one you really don't need or want to know."

"Bull. You know very well that I will find out some way, so why don't you just save some grief and tell me?" She snorted a bit and looked down, thinking. She knew that a determined Gabriel could be a very bad thing. She looked out the window again, made her choice and hoped it was a good one.

"Promise me you won't tell anyone what you saw, or what I'm about to tell you. No one, not your brother, not your niece, not that gallery owner you've got your eye on, not even the bartender at Frankie's. You got me?" She turned and to look at him and for a moment, Gabe was stuck. She was right about that gallery owner, because Thomas O'Malley was a truly beautiful man and Gabe had a tendency to babble around him, but Wren's eyes at that moment were more than enough to distract a person, no matter what team they bat for. He had noticed how they seemed to glow at odd times but now it was as if she was purposely doing it and at the angle she was sitting, the sun shone right on her as she pushed her hair, which had changed overnight from braids to a short bob, behind her ears and caught her eyes at just the right angle, making seem to glow brighter than could possibly be natural. He just nodded. If it was that important to her, he would keep it secret.

She nodded back and started with the obvious, "I'm not human, as you saw last night. I'm not from this galaxy, let alone the planet. I am Cybertronain and I am one of the few maybe not so lucky survivors of a civil war older than this planet. And Wren is not my real name." It was an afterthought but it was important to her that he knew that that wasn't her name for some reason.

Gabe tilted his head like a confused puppy and said, "Tell me. All of it."

She nodded. She would tell him the truth as she knew it and worry about him kicking her out later. "Cybertron, the planet I come from, is completely metal, as are its inhabitants. We are sentient, living, thinking, feeling, robots. I won't go into details; those are best saved for those who know our history better than me. The condensed version is this; our planet was ravaged and destroyed by civil war and it now lays dark and dormant. What was left of our race had to flee our home planet, searching for the one thing that had set off the final destruction of our home. The All Spark was our life giver and without it, our race was, and still is, doomed. We Autobots sent it off world in order to keep it out of the hands of our tormentors, the Decepticons, those who had once so justly rebelled against our government. They went after it, of course, and we followed, while those who had never chose sides went to seek refuge on other planets. The All Spark found itself here and so did the rest of us. I don't know what happened to it, only that it has been destroyed. I haven't been able to contact my own kind, so I have no knowledge of what has happened on this planet." Or to my comrades, she thought as she trailed off. She had this sinking feeling that something terrible had happened in her absence.

Gabe broke into her thoughts with the curious question, "So what is your real name?"

Her blue eyes widened and she said, "Of everything I just told you, that is what you chose to focus on?" He nodded and she tilted her head, murmuring something that sounded like 'strange creature' before she answered his question. "They gave me the designation of Strikezone," because, she wasn't actually sure she would answer to the designation her Creators gave her anymore, so she saw no reason to give it to Gabe. With all the memories she had managed to recover during her period of stasis on the Ark, she didn't really think her name was all that important.

"Interesting name," he said, eyes following her as she began to pace. "So, if you're metal, then this body is…?"

"A hard- light holo form. Well, not quite, but there is only so much I can express in a human language," the reply was curt but she was distracted. That restless energy she had not been able to truly dispel or tame, at least, was rearing its ugly helm again, making her restless and fidgety.

"And the name?"

"I couldn't very well go around calling myself 'Striker', now could I? I chose the first name I heard and it just so happened to be Wren."

"So, last night, that was… What, the Decepticons?"

"Two of them. The little yellow one was- Bumblebee. Scrap, I forgot I was supposed to meet him today." Her eyes widened as she checked internal chronometer, "And, I'm late! I'm late!"

Gabriel snickered slightly, thinking of the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. "Mind if I tag along? I wanna meet some of these… Cybertronians," he asked, trying out the alien word on his tongue. She seemed to deliberate for a moment before nodding. "Meet me outside at the car." She said before she simply disappeared. Gabriel only spared a moment to stare before he ran down the hall and practically flew down the stairs, leaving his brother very confused and standing at the foot of them, following her outside.

The passenger door slid open as soon as he left the house and he got in, buckling his seat belt before he realized that there was no one in the driver's seat. He didn't get the chance to say anything before the car threw itself into drive and sped off. By itself. Gabe watched silently for a moment before he said, "This is kind of creepy, you know? No one being in the driver seat."

"This is my body; I should think I can drive myself without someone sitting in the driver seat," came the waspish reply from the speakers which was quickly followed by an annoyed sigh as she said, "But I suppose I can activate my holo if it will keep you from soiling my seats."

"Hey! I'm not scared! Just a little creeped out. And you popping in and out like that is not helping," he added to the newly appeared Wren, or Strikezone, he guessed he should called her. She just tilted her head toward him and snorted, the action so familiar that, for a moment, he almost completely forgot everything she had told him earlier. Almost. There was still the way that the steering wheel moved just slightly more than her hands did and the gearshift moved by itself and she didn't quite seem to be paying attention to the road.

This is gonna be interesting, he thought as she sped even more, heading for the lookout on the edge of town.

0o0

"So, this femme, who is she?" Sam was answered by static coming from the radio, his companion switching channels to find something to explain with. Before he could, though, the quiet of the Lookout was shattered by the aggressive revving of an engine. The Camaro's door opened and Sam scrambled out, confused, as a car raced up the dirt road and stopped just behind him. It was a black Dodge Charger with a white stripe running the length of the car. The passenger door opened and the blonde man, Gabriel, Sam remembered, stepped out. The second he did, the clearing was filled with the hissing sounds he had learned to associate with the transformation of Cybertronians filled the clearing and the femme he had seen last night stood up, her blue optics staring past him to his partner and her chrome Autobot symbol winking at him from her arm between a bunch of old Cybertronian glyphs. Sam almost thought he could read them.

A series of clicks and whirs came from her mouth (Sam only now realized he didn't know her name) and Bumblebee's engine revved. She spoke again in Cybertronian and, if Sam concentrated, he could hear whispered taunts in English behind it. He should tell Ratchet and Prime that his understanding of their language was evolving again, but he wasn't quite ready to be poked and prodded and experimented on like he knew the CMO was planning on doing. He hadn't realized he had zoned out until the sound of transformation behind him and saw his guardian slam into the femme. Sam stood opened mouthed as Gabriel edged away from the fighting robots and said to him, "Is this normal for them?"

Sam gulped as he watched them roll and fight like boys on the playground. "No, not really. Not for Bee, at least. You?"

"Ah, well, you see, I don't really know. This whole thing is brand new to me. Although, she did say something about a holo…" Gabe trailed off as Strikezone rolled on top of Bumblebee and held a wicked looking sword above the yellow robot's throat, something he thought would equal a kill shot if they were anything like humans.

Sam smiled slightly as he realized that this man had been dragged into the world of the Cybertronians the same way he had; abruptly and accidentally. "Do you at least know her name?" he said.

"Strikezone," said an unfamiliar female voice. The black femme- Strikezone- stood up and transformed her sword back into a hand, which she held out to help up Bumblebee. The yellow bot took her hand and stood up, beeping excitedly before he ground out, "That was awesome!"

Strikezone's slanted optics widened as she blurted out, "You can speak!" She was honestly surprised. After Tyger Pax, she never expected to hear his voice again, even if it was gravely from the damage to his vocal processors.

Bee's optics brightened and then dimmed before Sam took the responsibility of explaining for him. "Sometimes. It's painful for him and it shorts out if he uses it for too long, so he mostly just talks through the radio."

"Or you, apparently," she said. "He knows you well Bee. Something I should know?" Sam blushed hard and Bee whirred before his radio clicked on and Amy Winehouse sang out "No, no, no."

Gabriel lifted a brow, "Am I missing something?"

"No more than me, I'm sure. Tell me, Bumblebee, what have I missed?" Strikezone was not so sure she wanted to know what had happened after she and her cadre had been separated from the Ark, but she knew it was necessary.

Bee whirred sadly, antennae drooping as a slightly more static laced voice said, "If only we knew. That attack left us all scattered. The only thing I know for certain is the status of my own team."

"I know what you mean. My cadre was decimated with only me and the twins left." Striker was suddenly somber, turning her helm to the clear blue sky above her.

Sam was reminded eerily of Prime when she did that and had the odd feeling that she had gotten it from him. To break the mood and shake the odd whispering in his head he had been hearing lately (Sam was very well aware that voices were the first sign of madness, even if he knew it wasn't) he said, "Hey, Strikezone right? Why don't you come over tomorrow? I'm moving into to my dorm and I'm sure we could use the extra help." This was also part of a plan. He knew what he had to tell his best friend tomorrow and he was hoping having the mech's big sister around would help soften the blow. Slightly heartless, but it should work.

"I don't see why not. Tomorrow morning?"

"Sure, just leave me out of the decision making," Gabe mumbled.

"Oh, I'm sorry Gabrielle; did you not want to go? Exactly, so stop whining like a little girl." Ah, there was the sarcasm Bee was missing. Striker and Bee both transformed as Gabe grumbled. He grudgingly got into the car, knowing she would just as likely leave him as take him home.

Sam leaned against the hood of his guardian as he watched the car speed off. "So, that's your sister. Interesting femme." All he got in reply was a grinding of gears like a laugh as he pushed off the hood and slid into the passenger seat. "Let's go call the guys, Bee; I know you want to tell them about this."

An affirmative chirp and a rev of Bumblebee's engine was all the response Sam needed as he sped off towards the Autobot base and Sam got lost in the maze his thoughts had become while he focused on the whispering voices that sounded just a slight bit too mechanical to be human.

0o0

Songs used: Rehab by Amy Winehouse