The Atlantic
…
Two days later, Aria once again traveled down to the hangar to see the Autobots. And this time, she had permission. She walked a few steps behind the colonel. It was challenging to keep up with his pace.
He was actually a very nice man despite appearances. After she filled out a bunch of paperwork that more or less stated she does not mention anything to do with the Transformers under threat of life in prison, Colonel Lennox took her down to get her some new clothes.
Since she had no money to spend, he talked to one of the higher-ups on the ship which provided her with a standard long sleeve shirt and utility pants that looked like what most of the maintenance crew wore. None were just the right size, so she had to use a belt to stop them from falling down and roll up the bottoms, so they didn't drag.
Shoes were another story altogether. She couldn't find a single pair that fit correctly, so she chose the ones that were the closest. I didn't take long for painful blisters to form on the back of her heels and the top of her toes, thus why it was challenging to keep up.
Sam had told her that all the Autobots were now awake and well, so she would be meeting the rest of them. Her excitement, however, was eclipsed by nerves. Yes, they were kind to her, treating her with respect and kindness that she, frankly, hadn't expected. Maybe they were just being polite, though.
Well, minus Ironhide, who was kind of an ass. But Sam had assured her that it was nothing personal. It was just how he was.
Aria walked down the final flight of steps to the hangar. She had to stay close to the side to allow multiple other sailors to pass by. For such a large ship, the halls and stairways were uncomfortably narrow.
Reaching the back corner of the hangar, the various robots came into view. Her eyes first landed on the Prime, standing so tall his head was just cleared the ceiling. His attention was focused on Ironhide who appeared no less put out than the previous time she'd seen him, arms crossed over his chest.
Off to the side was Ratchet sitting in a group consisting of four other Transformers, each their own specific color. There was Mudflap as well as a blue one, a yellow one, a bright green one and a silver one. Sam, Mikaela, and Leo also sat amongst the group. No sign of the little monster truck.
It took everything she had to not just turn around right then and there. They hadn't even acknowledged her yet. If she left now, they wouldn't even know she had been there in the first place. Maybe she could try again tomorrow? Or the day after that?
"Hey, guys!" Colonel Lennox greeted, causing all of the robots to turn their attention towards them.
Well, there went that idea.
Many curious glowing blue eyes landed on her small form. She wrapped her arms around herself, pushing away the urge to take a step back. All these aliens, they were looking at her.
"H-hi," she sputtered.
There was a jumble of greetings in reply.
"It is nice to see you again, Ms. Normandy," said Ratchet politely
The Prime nodded. "Ms. Normandy,"
Mudflap nudged the other small green robot. "It's da chick!"
"Well, look who came cowering back," Ironhide sneered, looking down at her.
Her eyes lowered from the dark robot's scarred face and settled on his large forearms. The massive cannons on them were partially hidden away. Even with them gone, he was incredibly intimidating.
"That's not how you speak to a femme, Ironhide."
The voice belonged to the silver Autobot. He stood and rolled towards space in between her and Ironhide. Interestingly enough, instead of feet, he had wheels.
Ironhide turned his attention towards the approaching Transformer. "She's not a femme, she's a female."
"What's the difference?"
"If you haven't noticed, she is a human, not a Cybertronian."
"That doesn't mean you should treat her any differently," said the silver Autobot, as he came to a stop near her.
"Humph."
What did he have against her? While the rest of the Transformers were polite to her, Ironhide only cared about showing her how superior he was to her, and possibly humans in general. Sam's previous statement of "it's nothing personal" became less and less believable by the second.
She was drawn out of her thoughts when the silver robot took a knee before her in a dramatic fashion, like a knight kneeling before maiden.
"Ignore him, little lady. Name's Sideswipe, at your service."
At the gesture, Aria's eyes slid over to the colonel, sending him a rather pleading look, before turning back to the Autobot. "The pleasure is…mine?"
She swore she heard a scoff come from the ebony robot behind Sideswipe. Sure enough, Ironhide had turned away, turning his focus to the Prime.
Mikaela waved a hand above her head. "Aria!" she called, "About time you made it! Come over here and meet the rest of the Autobots!"
Aria complied, leaving Colonel Lennox's side and joining the group, sitting cross-legged between Mikaela and Ratchet. Sideswipe also returned to his spot. Sam then went around the circle, introducing her to the unknown Transformers.
"This is Bumblebee, my best friend and guardian,"
The robot gave a friendly wave while making a humming noise that sounded like someone saying "Nice to meet you" without using the sounds. Aria pulled her lips back into a smile and curled her fingers in a timid wave back. This Autobot had large blue eyes and a round head, making him look young and rather harmless. The doors of his vehicle from were perched on his back like a small pair of wings. Bumblebee was a fitting name.
"He can't talk, so he usually uses the radio when he needs to communicate."
"You got that right!" a voice played from somewhere on Bumblebee's form.
Next up was the bright green robot. It was one of the smallest ones, though still at least ten feet tall. He looked nearly identical to Mudflap, the main difference being their colors. While Mudflap was red, Skids was bright green.
"This is Skids, he's Mudflap's twin. However, that works…" Sam muttered at the end.
"Yeah but I'm da smarter one!"
"Are not!" Mudflap interjected.
"Am too—OW!" Skids was cut off by a punch in the arm.
Many of the surrounding Transformers shook their heads, some more amused than others. She raised her line of sight above the group, allowing them to settle on Ironhide's form. He conversed quietly with the Prime and Colonel Lennox, paying the others in the circle no mind.
Next up was the blue Autobot. He had wide eyes framed by pieces of metal slanted upwards, making him look more like an owl than anything else.
"Jolt, Aria. Aria, Jolt."
"Greetings," he said, his expression stoic.
Tapping a shoe on the tarmac, she responded, "Um, hi. Nice to meet you, Jolt."
The Transformer nodded. "You as well."
…Well, this was awkward.
Most likely sensing the situation, Sam moved on. "And you already met Sideswipe."
The silver Autobot sent Aria a cocky grin when she made eye contact with him. "Let me know if you want to go for a ride sometime."
"I'll uh, think about it. Thanks."
So, there was Bumblebee, who was Sam's guardian. He was friendly but could only speak through the radio. Then there was Skids, who, like his brother, was immature and not the brightest of the Autobots. Jolt was mostly indifferent to the whole situation, and possibly the quietest of the group. And lastly, Sideswipe, a young and cocky Autobot who wasn't afraid to stand up to the ever grumpy Ironhide.
It was fascinating to see each of their unique personalities.
"Might want to be careful Sideswipe, if your head gets any bigger, it might explode," called Colonel Lennox, joining the group. Behind him, Ironhide and the Prime also stood closer to the circle of Autobots.
Many of the aliens looked at each other in confusion at the colonel's words before Ratchet spoke up. "Ah, is that one of those metaphors?"
Lennox scratched his head. "Erm, I'm not one hundred percent sure…"
Seeing as Colonel Lennox didn't know the proper answer and Sam and Mikaela remained silent, Aria answered instead.
"It's an idiom. A phrase not meant to be taken literally. A metaphor is—" Aria abruptly closed her mouth. All eyes were on her.
The colonel raised a brow. "What are you some kind of English major?"
"I actually majored in astronomy, but I did take a lot of literature classes," she kept her voice down.
Ratchet suddenly perked. "As in the study of celestial objects and the cosmos? That is truly fascinating, Aria."
"You mean there are humans that study space?" Mudflap piped up.
Now all of the Autobots gave her their undivided attention. She once again wrapped her arms around herself and stared straight ahead, avoiding eye contact at any cost. Her skin tingled.
"Wow Aria, you never told us that! No wonder you were so curious about Autobots," Mikaela said.
The only space-related thing that went through her mind at the moment was how much she wanted to become a neutron star and collapse into herself. Why did she want to meet them again? She could barely socialize with humans, so why would aliens be any different?
"It is only impressive if she has something to show for it," Ironhide said, crossing his arms.
She kept her mouth shut. She wasn't about to tell them about all the papers she wrote regarding the possibility of extraterrestrial life, carbon-based or otherwise. It would just sound stalkerish at this point.
"Do not listen to him, Aria. Anyone who seeks to learn about the unknown is impressive to me. Even we still have much to learn about the universe and its inhabitants. I would be happy to discuss such topics with you in the future," said Ratchet.
"I would like that," Aria replied. It was always nice to talk to a fellow scientist, especially one who potentially had vastly different theories, laws, and research.
…
It was a beautiful summer day. Aria relaxed on a hammock while sipping on iced tea through a straw. An F-22 Raptor soared above, performing an array of areal stunts much to her amusement. The hammock swung back and forth, back and forth, but there was no breeze.
Ironhide sat off in the grass. He faced mostly away from her, tinkering away at the guns on his arms. Was he preparing to shoot her with those guns? Or perhaps the fighter jet in the sky?
The hammock swung further. She had to hold her iced tea up so it wouldn't spill all over her white sundress. Higher and higher it swung, until...
Thump.
Aria's eyes flew open. She landed face first on the cold, smelly floor. She was about to push herself up off the floor when the ship lurched to the opposite side, and she was sent rolling back into the side of her bunk.
What in the hell was going on?
This time she managed to sit up before the floor tilted once again, and she braced herself with her arms. Well, that explained the hammock dream. She sat there dumbly for a moment, still groggy and disoriented. Other than her, the room was empty.
A thud drew her attention, her eyes landing on the rusty orb that once belonged to Jetfire as she rolled on the floor.
She crawled towards it, not yet trusting her legs, and picked it up. Cradling it in her arms, she held onto one of the ladders leading up to the taller bunks and stood. She made her way towards her locker while holding onto whatever she could.
Inside the small metal, space was a ball of stained white fabric that had once been her favorite dress. She placed the orb inside and slammed the door back shut again.
She stumbled out of the room and into the empty hall. Of course, the one night she actually managed to fall asleep was the one that everything had to go to hell. She was a heavy sleeper, yes, but this was ridiculous. How had she not heard everyone else getting up and leaving?
Her bare feet padded against the cold floor of the narrow hallway. An unknown draft sent goosebumps down her legs. All she had for pajamas was an oversized tee-shirt and shorts that flapped against her skin as she walked—well, tried to walk.
She ascended the final set of steps up to the hangar when loud shouts and bangs filled her ears. She pushed the steel door open using almost all her body weight. When had it gotten so heavy?
A gust of air blasted her hair back when she finally got past the door. She raised her good arm over her face, squinting through the salty wind at the commotion before her.
Not ten feet away from her was a plane being held in place by six men and Sideswipe. Another man ran around the jet, chaining it to the floor. Behind them, countless aircrafts were also being moved into position.
Water poured in through the opening of the descended aircraft elevators. Soldiers, personnel, and robots alike were swiftly splashing through the puddles while trying to stop planes from crashing into one and other.
Leo, Sam, and Mikaela, along with Skids and Mudflap, were a part of the chaos. She ran over to them, planning to ask what was going on.
"H-Hey, Aria!" Leo hollered waving to her with one hand, the other holding a rope with the other teenagers. "Come help us out!"
The three of them with the two robots were currently holding a helicopter in place near the elevator opening. She ran towards them, keeping as far away from the shifting jets as possible, her bare feet dashing through the icy ocean water.
"What's going on?" she yelled over raised voices and splashing water.
"There's a huge storm outside, we think it's a hurricane!" Mikaela hollered back.
She made out Sam's voice next. "They're trying to get as many planes down here as they can before the storm gets any worse!"
"Worse?" Aria shrieked. "How could it possibly get any worse!"
As if irony itself had heard her, there was a loud bang.
"What the hell was dat?" Mudflap questioned just before the eighty thousand tonne aircraft carrier rolled violently to the side.
The thirty-degree angle of the floor sent half the people in the hanger toppling over. Aria, Sam, Mikaela, and Leo were on the ground instantly. Metal crunched and screeched as the helicopter also slid into the nearby wall.
Aria half expected to be crushed in a pile of broken metal. Eventually, she stopped rolling but remained face down with her hands on her head, hopelessly waiting for the floor to stop rocking back and forth.
"Raise the elevators!" A loud voice yelled above the commotion.
There was a loud buzzing sound, and the floor under her began to rise. Oh no, she was on the elevator! She attempted to get up and jump off before she ended up on the flight deck. The hard rocking of the ship left her efforts in vain. Rain pelted her skin. By the time she managed to stand up, she had come face to face with a huge wave coming straight towards the side of the ship.
"Brace for impact!" a distant voice called.
The wave hit her like a wall. She couldn't breathe. The freezing water forced its way down her throat and into her lungs and stung her eyes. Everything was dark and cold, then a searing pain in her back.
Next thing she knew she was up against the railing of the bridge, sputtering out water. An intense pain shot through her spine, causing her to wince and cry out. The aircraft carrier then shifted back again almost just as violently, and Aria was sent tumbling back towards the edge of the ship. This time, however, something caught her mid-fall and lifted her up. Her eyes met the glowing blue ones of the Prime.
"You should not be up here," he said with a stern expression.
Between the tone of his voice and glare, he was frightening. The towering robot ran towards the bridge, Aria still in his metallic hand. She turned her attention over his shoulder, where another wave was approaching.
The Prime placed her on the third level of the bridge. "Stay inside and hold on." He commanded before turning around and helping the others on the flight deck. Through the downpour, the forms of Ironhide and Bumblebee were barely visible.
With one last glance at the turbulent water, she ran to the nearest door. She burst into a well-furnished room and ran into the corner beside a couch that must have been bolted down. Sitting down on the floor, she braced for the wave.
There was another massive crack as the wave plowed into the ship. Aria kept her eyes shut tightly. How many people have been washed away, frozen, and drown to death? Would the ship flood and sink in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean?
Why couldn't she do anything to help? Sam, Mikaela, and Leo had been helping below, and here she was hiding in the corner of a room. Her hands and feet stung, and her fingernails were blue. Her hair clung onto her face and lips, no matter how many times she tried to peel it off.
Perhaps she could assist with the clean up when it was all over. No, that wasn't enough. People were dying, and all she could offer was cleaning up the mess?
Why did Jetfire have to die? They could have teleported home a long time ago. Then he would go back to the museum where she would visit him all the time. But no, he had sacrificed himself. Something she was incapable of doing. Jetfire saved the world, and she was sitting here feeling sorry for herself. He believed in her, called her a warrior. A warrior wouldn't sit and do nothing like a coward.
No. She forced her body up. She wouldn't let Jetfire down. Taking a shaky breath, she opened the door and was against the railing in one swift movement.
Aria blinked the raindrops from her eyes looking down at the Flight Deck below her. Her blurred vision managed to pick out the three giant robots among vast amounts of humans.
The wind whipped her wet hair around. It was hard to tell what time of day it was because of the dark clouds swirling above them in the sky, like one of those ends of the world movie scenes formed by someone's twisted imagination.
There was another large banging sound to her right, followed by hollering that could barely be heard above the turbulent wind gusts. Aria ran uphill towards the edge of the bridge to look over the side of the aircraft carrier. The narrow balcony tilted upwards, exposing the side of the ship that would otherwise be under water.
Without any warning, the ship lurched to the other side, and she was sent toppling over the railing. She screamed as she fell.
Aria hit the water on her side before she was pulled further down into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. Almost instantly, the current sent her spinning away from the side of the large vessel. Attempting to swim towards the surface seemed impossible. Which way was up? She stopped struggling. This was it.
Something grabbed her. Pulling her in an unknown direction. Seconds ticked away like hours before she was blinded by daylight. Aria gasped for air, coughing out large amounts of ocean water.
She was beside the giant aircraft carrier. Hanging on to the ledge, however, was a giant arm with flaming red and blue paint on various parts. She followed the arm to once again meet the face of the Prime. The soaking alien leader looked far from pleased. She had never been so happy to be alive.