Chapter Five

Curiosity

"...," the bound female human sat on the floor.

She had stopped struggling after being set down. Maybe she realized that it was useless to so. She just sat there in silence not saying a word. An angry aura seemed to emanate off of her. Optimus had tried to apologise and untie her, but Prowl stopped him. He advised that that might not be the wisest idea.

"We can't leave her tied up like this," Optimus argued.

"I wouldn't recommend that," Prowl looked down at the human, "She's not as harmless as she appears. Or so I believe."

"What makes you think that?" Optimus didn't understand.

Prowl moved in closer and spoke in a hushed voice, "The files that the Key found. The ones that it used to trace her… they were… disturbing to say the lease."

"What do you mean disturbing?" Optimus glance down at the human as he whispered back, "Who is she?"

"Who I am is quite complex," she must have overheard them, "What I do is disturbing."

"Aren't you just a little ray of sunshine," Sari wasn't impressed with the stranger's attitude.

"Optimus Prime," she began to recite information, "Autobot. Robotic life form from the planet Cybertron. Considered to be the leader of a group consisting of four other Autobots: Ratchet, Prowl, Bulkhead and Bumblebee. Preliminary observations suggest he is morally strong, but inexperienced."

"How did you know all that?" Optimus was surprised by her knowledge.

"Prowl. Autobot. Also of the planet Cybertron. The infiltrator of the Autobot group. Seen as having a quiet and cold personality," she continued without answering him, "Skills are akin to to that of a ninja…," she looked him up and down, "Appears as one too."

"Someone has done their research," Prowl raised his brow.

"Sari Sumdac. Father: Presumed to be Dr. Isaac Sumdac. Age: Presumed to be 8 years old. Highly active on Social Media… often giving out too much information. However… there not much information on Sari Sumdac. No birth records, adoption papers or social security numbers. No other information available," the hooded woman continued rattled off information, "Other than you online presence, you do not seem to exist," she turned to Sari.

Sari's cheeks turned red, "What do you know?! I exist! I'm standing right here."

"There is no denying your existance," the woman snorted, "I couldn't find any information on you other than what you have posted. Birth records, social security, passport, adoption papers… nothing. Nothing can remain hidden from me, but I couldn't anything on you," she looked directly at Sari.

"Why you!" Sari went to roll up her sleeves as she took a step the woman.

Prowl quickly placed his between her and the woman.

"Let me at her! Let me at her!" Sari yelled.

"Why so anger? The truth is hard to swallow, but we all need a dose of reality. Besides," she shrugged her shoulders, "It's not my fault there is no information on you."

"You don't have to throw it in my face!" Sari yelled.

"A statement of facts is not throwing it one's face," she sorted back, "If you are done contemplating on what to do with me, I have a suggestion."

"And that would be?" Prowl asked.

"Release me and I may consider not ripping out your processor to find out what is causing your logic algorithm to malfunction," she offered.

"That doesn't sound like a good deal to me," Sari huffed, "Why should we let you go?"

"What reason do you have to hold me?" she asked back.

It was a good question. What reason did they have to hold her? Optimus didn't even know who she was or why Prowl brought her here. He seemed to think that she was linked to the articles that the Key had brought up. Optimus had peered through them to see what they were about. Thousands upon thousands of computers going haywire and being rendered useless. A few corporations had their computer systems utterly destroyed by an unknown individual. Some were damaged so severely that the companies never recovered. All these events seemed to be linked back to one person. Was she that one person?

"Judging by the fact that none of you have spoken," the hooded woman smiled, "You don't have a reason… So release me and I may forget about this whole thing and walk away with no grudge. There's no need for this to get personal. When things get personal… I tend to get a bit ugly… when things get personal...," her smile turned sinister.

Sari was creeped out by the strange human's smile so much that she took shelter behind Optimus' leg. He was rather unsettled as well by her words. Prowl, however, seemed unmoved by her actions. He held his ground and approached her.

"You are the one that gave Sari a program? Correct?" he asked.

"At that again?" she seemed to be reacting to an earlier conversation they must have had.

"Are you?" he persisted.

She let out a frustrated sigh, "Yes. I am the one that gave her the antiviral program. I don't know how or who did it," she hissed in Sari's direction, "but I am going to figure out how that person managed to bypass my security and lock my systems. I will not be compromised again."

Sari quickly hid her face behind Optimus' leg, "I didn't hack you!"

"I know," she sounded annoyed, "It was an outside source independent of the computer. An AI most likely… a variety of AI I have never had the pleasure of observing. It wound its way through my systems like it was an rubik's cube."

"AI?" Optimus looked down at the Key around Sari's neck.

She did mention that the Key was the one that contacted the person. Could it really…? It did do things on its own.

"Why would your program cause a computer to explode?" Prowl pointed to the remains of the computer.

She crocked her head, "Hmm… interesting… appears to internal combustion… heat, pressure… possible internal ignition… lithium-ion power source? Secondary alkaline battery? Capacitor? Or maybe the built in cooling fans disrupted? Combination?" she seemed to ponder for a moment, "What started it? Was this one of the computer you mention that… wasn't working?" she looked to Sari.

"Why do you care?" Sari came out from Optimus' leg.

"I shall repeat for myself," she asked with a huff, "Is that the computer that was acting strange?," she looked up at Optimus.

He thought he might take a chance, "This computer was behaving oddly before it exploded. There were missing programs, scans and other bits of data. It hasn't been working properly since a… certain site was visited and a file was downloaded."

"Seriously? You guys are literal walking computers and you didn't even follow the most basic rules of internet safety," she laughed.

"It's not funny!" Sari yelled at her, "This is very serious!"

"Why is that? Can't watch your Saturday morning cartoons?" she snidely remark.

"Let me at her!" Sari tried once more for her.

This time Prowl just picked her up.

"This is a serious situation," Optimus wasn't sure how much he wanted to reveal about Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Ratchet.

"How? How is this a serious situation? You lost a computer? They aren't hard to find or to build," she just didn't understand, "An exploding computer isn't the worst thing in the world… unless you're standing near it… that might be a very bad day."

"It's more than just about computers!" Sari yelled, "Our friends are in DANGER!"

"I prefer computers to people, but even I don't consider them friends," she looked up at Sari.

"They aren't computers! They're living, thinking, feeling beings! They're… they're…," tears started to whelm up in her eyes, "... my friends…"

"It's alright Sari," Prowl tried to comfort her.

"... so… it's one of you… or a few of you… that's… infected… ill… malfunctioning?" the woman started to understand.

"Yes," Optimus admitted, "Three of our friends are being affected by something. We don't know what. We've never seen anything like this."

"How many? How long? Symptoms?" she asked in a flat tone.

"What?" Optimus wasn't sure what she was asking for.

"She wants to know what's wrong with them," Sari explained.

"Three of our comrades are experiencing excessive heat production," Prowl quickly answered, "Two of which were having paranoid delusions."

"... mmm…," she thought for a moment, "Only two? Not the third?"

"No. Our medic, Ratchet, only seems to be have higher than normal heat output," Optimus confirmed, "But he isn't acting paranoid or anything."

"... medic… interesting… has he been able to pinpoint what systems are being affecting? Paranoid delusions would suggest corruption within data banks or motherboard or possibly disruption in algorithms… components unable to communicate?" she began to whisper all sorts of computer terminology to herself.

Optimus, Prowl and Sari looked to one another, not sure what to do. She just continued to mumble to herself. Deep in thought, she had become silent. It was an uncomfortable silence that made one wander if they had gone deaf.

"... I need more information…," she broke the silence, "... I shall speak with your medic, but I also need my equipment from the warehouse that you adducted me from," she looked up to Prowl, "I need my seven laptops with their cases, my white bag with a red cross on it…," a beeping noise started to come from her bound wrist, "I need that one sooner than later."

"What's that beeping sound?" Sari asked.

"The sound indicates that my blood sugar is dangerously low and if I don't get something to eat soon I could possibly pass out and not wake up," she tried to loosen her restraints, "I would also bring my mini fridge as well… do you have any orange juice or something that I could sip on? I am feeling rather faint."

"Does that mean that your going to help us?" Sari asked cautiously.

"I will… asset… the situation," she gave a guarded answer, "I don't know if I can help. Computers are my speciality… not alien androids."

"Why do you want to help us now?" Prowl was a bit suspicious of her motives.

"Simple. I'm curious…"