Chapter Text
“Fuck!” I yelled, the soap covered bowl slipping from my wet hand and shattering on the tile floor. I loudly groaned that trailed off into a growl in frustration, drying my hands on the old rag by the sink and crouching to delicately pick up the thankfully large shards and giving the area a sweep of the broom for extra measure. Frustrated tears filled my eyes and wetted my lashes, today had been shit and now I was crying over a goddamn bowl.
My boss’s condescending voice echoed through my skull mockingly at the failed project that I had worked on (by myself of course), the rain semi-soaking my clothes on the way to said work, and the re-soak I got from a careless driver on the walk home after a long day ending in a scalding hot shower . With a resigned huff and a few tears falling I snatched up my phone, opening a restaurant app for some comfort food hoping to put a balm on the sour mood.
The only light at the end of the tunnel was the fact that I had at least two days off of work to try and relax. Focusing heavily on the relax part, hence the chores before the weekend kicks off. Shoving my sock covered feet into my trusty rain boots, throwing on a hoodie to shove my keys, phone, and wallet into once a selection of tonight's junk food was made. The rain had lightened considerably and soft rolls of thunder made the tension flow and disappear in my shoulders as I hopped into my car, opting for soft tunes to occupy the space quietly.
My soul ached for a break, to act like there were no expectations or deadlines, to just feel free for just a few moments to the point I could feel it settle and weigh down my bones. Taking a soothing deep breath, I pulled into the small diner parking lot that had its purple neon sign glowing in the late evening. The little town seemed quiet tonight, no drunk teenagers to be found due to the rain, not a sound to be heard besides the patter of rain and the hum of the neon sign as I walked inside. A bored teenager stood behind the counter, a plastic bag on the counter behind him,
“Welcome to Sally’s, how can I help you?” He muttered quietly, hovering a finger over the register to start punching in keys with a blank stare. “Hey, I just had an online order. Should be under Y/n,” He nodded, turning back to the counter, handing the sack to me with a swift bored, “Enjoy.” Nodding, I leisurely walked back to my car. A hum of aerial engines sliced through the sky catching my attention, glancing up I watched as three large jets shot by and disappeared into the night.
“A little low, don’t you think?” I commented under my breath continuing to my car plopping down in the driver's seat. Turning the ignition over, the engine stuttered a few times before starting and I groaned at the noise. “ Please don’t start with me,” I threatened the hunk of metal, taking off from the parking lot with a silent prayer that I would make it home in one piece. I mentally entertained myself by thinking of what show I wanted to watch with my meal, maybe some romance? Action? Horror? I pondered, lazily scanning the empty street as I drove letting the street lights guide me home. Movement shuffled at the edge of the street in one of the alleys and I glanced at it before bringing my gaze forward again to the road, only to suck in a terrified breath with a scream stuck in my throat as a teenager darted into the road. Slamming the breaks in terror and wide horrified eyes I watched as the boy's head whipped around to make eye contact with my headlights and freeze. Everything seemed to slow and only move sluggishly in the haze of sick realization.
I wasn’t going to stop in time.
Instinctually I slammed my eyes shut with a whimper of panic ready to jerk the steering wheel to at least try to not hit the poor kid, before being thrown forward and slamming my forehead against the steering wheel and everything snap to black.
My ears rang and I blinked bleary eyed as smoke came from the front of my car, the whole front smashed upward towards the cracked windshield. My heart was still in my throat, choking me as it pounded in my chest and pushed my blood through my veins in a hot panic. Shoes slapped against the asphalt and yanked my door open,
“Oh my god, are you okay?” A boy's voice cracked in panic, letting out a groan and whimper as blood ran into my eye and he gripped my shoulder. I blinked trying to clear the fluid looking over at the voice.
The boy? I didn’t…hit…him?
I simply looked at him in confusion, closing one eye that was flooded with the blood from the wound on my temple that pulsed hotly and stinging sensation. I scanned him for injuries, only to find none. If he was alright…then what the fuck did I hit? Hearing mechanical whirring I moved my head in a daze as two large glowing light blue eyes stared at me from over my busted up car.
“Jack, you need to call your mother. She probably has a concussion, the con decided to turn tail thankfully, ” A female voice commanded, the optics shuttered a blink breaking its contact with my eyes. With a nod from the boy, I groaned out, “Wha…what happened?”
“Uhhhhh, well, just….one second,” The teen, Jack? Stated before bringing a phone to his ear his voice tinted in urgency.
It wasn’t long before the sound of an ambulance siren echoed down the street, my senses fighting to keep me awake. I looked back at where the optics still glowed in the dark, feeling slight panic as a feminine form slowly took shape. She was a deep blue with pink accents, a serious expression on her metallic face that shifted and moved like skin. A robot. I hit a giant robot. My breathing started to speed up as I fought to stay conscious, head throbbing with a harsh ache and sticky blood stretching on my skin as it moved.
“Hey honey, can you hear me?” A warm soothing female voice broke me through my panic and ringing ears and I hesitantly turned my head, meeting the gaze of a woman that looked almost identical to the boy from earlier. Simply watching her, she hummed in concern. She reached over and unbuckled my seatbelt before continuing, “ I need you to talk to me, where are you hurting?” Licking my dry lips I sluggishly tried to form a coherent thought,
“I…uh…my head hurts,” I croaked. With a nod she slightly tilted my head, wincing at the cut that was slowing in blood flow and drained into my eye and on my hoodie.
“Can you tell me your name?”
“Y/n…Y/n L/n,” She nodded before backing away,
“Okay, Y/n. I need you to try and come out of the car. Arcee is going to help me get you in the ambulance,” I nodded as small black dots slowly began to appear, lulling my head around to idly look for this ‘Arcee’. I could barely react as the large robot seemed to shift and change to only stand at about 6’0 now, approaching quickly and assisting in getting me out of the car and on my feet.
Oh god, what did I get myself into, I scolded myself. With slow and steady movement, they laid me in the ambulance, strapping me into the gurney before it took off. An older man with salt and pepper hair, had a disapproving frown as he sped off.
“Another to add, wonderful,” The woman giggled in response as we left my car and kid with his giant lady robot behind.
“Ignore him sweetie, we're going to get you all fixed up. Promise,” I simply looked at her blankly, trying to process what the hell had happened. Before I could get a word in, the black dots grew in size before I slipped away into blissful oblivion.
=
“That’s it, follow the light,” I heard a voice murmur in encouragement. I groaned as the light stabbed my brain, turning my head away harshly and forcing the vomit back down my throat at the motion.
“Well, don’t do that. You could make yourself sick,” Another voice chuckled. Opening my eyes again with a squint I made eye contact with blue optics. They weren’t the same from before, a lighter more aged blue than the neon of last night. Rocketing up from the bed, I whimpered as my head violently pounded and breathed through the nausea that ripped through me again.
Lightly touching my head, I hissed lightly at the stinging sensation that radiated from my temple.
“Ehp! Ehp! What did I just say?!” An aged man's voice scolded, I looked over to the voice and froze once again as a robot in white and orangish red glared at me, he stood with his servos on his hips at 6 '5 and wide shoulders that held a metal like back pack. The ambulance insignia accented him and I jolted…the ambulance…and now a bot?
“Whaaa…” I trailed off in disbelief. The mech rolled his optics with a disgruntled expression,
“Yes, yes, robot this and that. No we’re not built, yes we are aliens in a sense, and no we will not harm you,” He stated dryly as I continued to watch him.
“O-okay?” My voice cracked with narrowed eyes, peeved that he got all my questions before I could even ask. Let a girl freak out every now and then why don’t you?
It wasn’t long before the lady from earlier came into the room, running vitals and deeming me fit to leave the med bay. I silently followed her, not being able to process my emotions or the situation quietly yet as my mouth slowly opened in astonishment. More bots stood in the main hub, the blue and pink one from earlier last night, a white, red and blue one with a cocky attitude, friendly yellow and black, massive green and black, and the tallest of them all was a blue and red mech who regarded me with a faint frown in displeasure.
“The human is fine, will be a little woozy and disoriented for a few days or so. Other than that they are fit to go back to their daily life,” The red and white mech droned out, I jumped at his change in height that now towered over me. The lady with black hair settled her hand on my shoulder giving me comfort that I took graciously.
“Uh, so, can someone explain please?” I begged quietly, the blue and pink robot sighed with a regretful expression. Oh god, the kid wasn’t dead was he?! I mentally panicked.
“Look, sorry about your car. And, well, hurting you. I wasn’t intentional in the slightest,” Arcee admitted. The woman by my side chimed in, pointing at each bot with a finger as she introduced them. I awkwardly waved before crossing my arms to give myself a soothing hug as I introduced myself.
Optimus shifted as he spoke, “I apologize for you ending up in the crossfire of our war, Arcee has been cornered with her charge named Jack last night. As he ran from the incoming threat, you almost hit him with your car. However, Arcee managed to get in the way, saving Jack’s life but harming yours in the process,”
“He’s okay?” I whispered out as relief flooded my system. Thank goodness, I thought I had killed a kid and hallucinated everything else. A small quirk comforting smile of the massive mech’s mouth accompanied his nod of confirmation. I let out a bone deep sigh as June rubbed a soothing hand on back, “He’s okay, a little startled, but okay,” She soothed.
“Okay, so…what now?” I shrugged looking between all of them. They glanced at each other, before looking at Optimus. A hum rumbled from his chassis as he thought,
“I believe that will be something discussed with Agent Fowler, he is on his way as we speak,” Nodding I allowed June to guide me up the stairs and to an old couch where we waited for the Agent. I simply listened to the idle conversation of the bots, something about Decepticons and their schemes. A name stuck out to me though, the team seemed to really dislike this Megatron guy. Apparently a warlord of some kind that they were currently fighting, at least that’s what June stated.
“Y/n L/n, my name is Special Agent William Fowler, I believe we have some things to discuss,” I jolted looking at the man that now stood in front of me. Nodding nervously, I glanced at June who nodded in encouragement and a gentle push into the man's direction.
Following him, we entered an office that had stale dusty air making my throat itch. I stifled a cough as he sat behind a desk in a rickety old office chair and I occupied the couch in front of the desk. He sighed heavily, pulling a few papers from his briefcase and settling them in front of me.
“Well, now that you know a national secret, let's get down to business shall we?”