Hello, my name is spottedpath. I have been a reader on fanfiction for a while but this is the first story I've ever published. I am a new writer so please go easy on me. It is inspired by VoodooQueen's Finding Home (I highly recommend reading it), so if you notice any similarities, that's why. I would also like to thank VoodooQueen for the support in publishing this. Thanks and please enjoy!

All characters and content belong to their rightful owners, unless they are my OCs.

Freedom

Chapter 1

Erin Brook sat straight on the rough leather seats of the carrier plane. Her mind had cut itself off from her surroundings while she sorted through the recently revealed data. She had been on the aircraft for nearly six hours and the introductory presentation had just ended. Sergeant Epps concluded the Q&A session and left the new recruits time to muddle over the information.

Before she had withdrawn she overheard the expected reactions of disbelief coupled with several not so funny jokes and even a hidden innuendo about girl-bots. Bots. Robots. A year ago, had Erin been told about a war between sentient alien robots, she would have dismissed the lunacy. However, there she was.

Being a straight forward kind of girl, she ignored the shock, allowing only her curiosity to seep through as she went over the presentation again in her mind. Epps had started by explaining what he claimed was the true events in Mission City four years ago. The government had done well to cover up the event, and she would have believed fully in the hoax, had she cared in the first place. At the time the so-called terror attack had nothing to do with her so why bother thinking about it?

Sergeant Epps had continued to explain the basics of the autobot-human alliance. She found the level of freedom granted to N.E.S.T to be astonishing at first. However, she soon reasoned that the American government would want to maintain some level of detachment from the autobots in case something went wrong. A small part of her also accepted the reasoning that the cybertronians should be treated fairly, however Erin hardly ever listened to that small part. It was not that she was insensitive, but she had learned early on that letting her sensitive side free was equivalent to self-harm.

After describing how daily life should go on the base- and how this concept was torn apart by giant aliens that were too curious, clumsy, or couldn't care less- they were given brief descriptions of each of the bots. This had peaked Erin's interest. Optimus Prime was the commander of the autobots, Epps lauded his strength, patients, and leadership skills. Prowl was his second in command, a logical thinker that at times thinks critically of humans. Epps, however, assured everyone that they should not take offense to any offhanded comments he makes as he does not intend to hurt anyone's pride and sometimes he even means to be endearing. Jazz was the third in command, Epps described him as one of the calmer bots, or mechs as he said males were called- Erin sorted the topic of robot genders for another time-, she got the sense that he would play devil's advocate for the group. He was an honorable bot that would put the lives of all his comrades before his own and apparently, he had done just that during Mission City. Ratchet was the field medic who had a bad habit of also wanting to treat humans but was only allowed to preform medical procedures on those of the so-called Team Prime. This was a group of autobots and a few humans who were considered tactical specialists. They also operated with some autonomy while Prime seemed to take responsibility for whatever actions they may take. Ironhide was the weapons specialist who was also in charge of creating training regimens for new recruits and soldiers who work closely with or on Team Prime. There was also Bumblebee- the scout and guardian of a boy named Sam Whitwicky, Mirage- a master of espionage, Wheeljack- the wrecker with a love for explosives and dual blades, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker- the terror twins and front liners (robots could have siblings, apparently), Que- the inventor whose lab is off limits to all humans not on Team Prime, and Arcee- a small hand to hand combat expert, it also happened to be a 'female' bot.

Before any of the recruits had time to absorb the information on the autobots, Epps continued with describing the decepticons and their intentions on earth. Erin stared intently at the images of Megatron, Starscream, and Baricade, the other images were dissolved or had no names to identify the bots by.

After a terror lesson on how the world would probably end Epps allowed a Q&A session. He nodded to the first man to raise his hand.

The guy sat lazily in is seat, moving with the flow as the plane careened. With a smug expression on his face he asked, "Do you guys always play such elaborate jokes on the new guys or what?"

After that, Erin had decided to ignore the rest of the session. She wanted to organize her thoughts and while some Q&A would be helpful, she did not think the men in the room would ask many deep or enlightening questions and she did not wish to call attention to herself, yet.

She was pulled away from her own thoughts by an irritating tap between her shoulder blades. She gave a sideways glance to the man sitting beside her. He had a flirtatious grin and subconsciously raised one eyebrow slightly when he said, "If all the girls at the base are as beautiful as you then I will be a lucky man." Erin remained expressionless, holding her gaze out of one eye before looking forward again to see Epps take his seat in preparation for landing. Erin barley heard the man try to introduce himself. His name was Francis Sixt or Franky for short, he tried to throw in a quick one liner but by then Erin had completely shut him out.

The plane jostled its occupants before pulling to a quick stop. A mass of bodies stood, all itching to get off the hot, smelly vehicle. The doors lowered to a ramp, letting in a harsh burst of sunlight. The group stepped out into the island of Diego Garcia. The area was open, surrounded by cut grass and bordered by palm trees. The summer air with thick with sticky heat and the light beat down on Erin. She glanced at the nearby barracks. She had already studied a basic map of the island and knew that she was standing in front of hanger one with the first and second barracks to the left. The hanger to the right was used mainly for sessions involving combat troops, where she would spend most of her day.

Erin had not yet been assigned any tasks aside from participating in training routines and any cleaning task usually thrown upon rookies. She would have plenty of free time, something she was not used to.

Erin spotted a group of soldiers snickering and pointing at the group of recruits. 'What are they laughing about? Maybe they're unimpressed by the next batch of cannon fodder?' Erin darkly thought. As she made her way to the main hanger, as directed, and was almost caught off guard by a roaring engine. A silver corvette stingray drifted around from 4 o'clock and moved counterclockwise towards Erin. She quickly stepped back to let the speeding car pass. The curly haired man who was standing next to her took and extra second to react. He rolled backwards and smoothly pulled back onto his feet, all in one fluid movement. Erin was mildly impressed by the grace with which he moved. Perhaps he was a gymnast at one point. What really caught Erin's attention was the calmness, almost indifference, in his blue eyes. Her attention returned to the speeding car which had drifted to the nine o'clock position where Epps was. It made a quick circle around him and he gracelessly fell back and landed on his butt. A slip of paper slid from the then idling vehicle's undercarriage Erin picked it up and stole a glance at its contents.

She paused for a moment, having trouble computing what she saw. Silently, she handed it to Epps and watched the horror ride up on his face. On the single page was a rather goofy looking picture of Epps. At the top it said "Lost" in bolded red letters, Beneath the caption read, "my virginity. Missing since June 27th 2011", just last week.

Epps sputtered a bit before looking around. Erin noticed the group of soldiers she had observed before, were gathered around a sheet of paper. She looked further to the main hanger and saw pages lazily taped ten feet up on the wall. Although she was too far to confirm it, she had a sneaking suspicion of what the contents were.

Epps caught her attention once again with a sudden outburst, "I have two kids!"

A voice came from within the corvette, "That's unfortunate."

The Sargent's face changed from that of embarrassment to fury. "Bastard! I'll shove my gun so far up your aft-"

"Well that explains everything." The voice interrupted.

Epps went back to the shocked sputtering mess he was a second prior. While the man berated the voice in the car for embarrassing him in front of the recruits, it did not take long for Erin to make the connection when she saw the silver form, rocking from side to side. This was the prankster known as Sideswipe, a living sentient giant that folded itself into a car.

Erin cleared her throat before addressing the machine, staring at the autobot symbol on its hood for lack of anywhere else to look, "You must be Sideswipe," the car stopped rocking and the wheels turned ever so slightly in Erin's direction. "Epps said you were a notorious prankster, however if this is the best you've got…" she paused as a cruel smile spread her lips, she tilted her head back in a display of defiance, "I must say that I'm rather unimpressed."

Silence filled the air and held for several seconds. A series of mechanical sounds started as the corvette quickly reconfigured itself into a tall robot. Erin's eyes quickly glanced over the autobot. The first thing she noticed was its size, it did not add up in her mind. It was taller than she expected, far taller. She estimated the bot's height was twenty feet but it should have been smaller when compared to its vehicle form. She also noticed the two wheels which made up its feet where twice as large as they had been before. Even if it had blown up the wheels for added height somehow, it was still too tall in her mind. Plus, when she glanced at parts of the robot's outer shell, she recognized some of the pieces from the vehicle form and the sizes where also somewhat off. Finally, in her quick appraisal of the autobot, she realized that it was missing its swords which Epps said it always had. Perhaps it was hiding them somewhere or changed their size to make then more compact. Who knew what kind of technology these machines possessed, or where in that case. Erin completed all these thoughts before that last piece of the giant's chest armor clicked into place.

The robot stood over her, its shadow covering her even with the sun high in midday. It took a second to glance over Erin, seeming to perform its own appraisal of her before it nodded, seeming to find what it was looking for. Its calm demeanor changed with a lopsided grin and a slight tilt of its head. "Do you have any suggestions?" it inquired with a raised brow.

Erin saw a lot in the robot's face. For one, she could tell that it was just humoring her, she didn't think it cared all that much. Why would a super advanced race or alien robots care about a bunch of small two legged animals anyway? She responded nonetheless, "With your reputation I thought you would be the maestro of your work. I'm just a little disappointed and bored." Erin gave a dramatically fake sign and lifted her arms in a defeated gesture.

It smirked at her comment. Making a grand gesture of bowing like a performer, it responded, "Don't worry sweet-spark, I aim to please and I promise the next one will be just for you." It finished with a wink.

Well that was unexpectedly friendly. Erin still got the sense that this robot did not entirely care much for humans, at least by the way it dismissed the others. Yet she had its momentary attention. What was its motivation for making conversation? Perhaps it was ordered to. Erin remembered how Epps described Optimus Prime's wish for humans and autobots to coexists. This one must have been fulfilling expectations. Erin decided to respond with a hint of the indifference she sensed from the silver bot, looking towards its wheeled feet, "Sure," she changed to a challenging tone, "I look forward to it." She finished her statement, glancing back straight into its eyes, or optics as the autobots supposedly called them.

The bot's grin grew at her response. "I like you femme." It asked after a second of thought, "What's yer name?". It tilted its head even further, almost like a confused puppy.

Erin was fully aware of the men around her, staring in shock. She decidedly dismissed them, she still had to finish making this impression. "Private Brooks." She said curtly.

The robot shook its head, "That's your designation, I want to know your name." It stared intently at her.

Erin lowered her nose, still glancing up at him, "Erin."

Satisfied the autobot started to wheel back, "Well, Erin, I'll be see'in you around." It finished with one last wink before changing back into a car and screeching off in the opposite direction of the main hanger, towards what was considered the autobot's part of the base.

For a second the only sounds where of the wind which was slowly picking up, and the fading of a high-performance engine. Then, "What the fuck was that?" Franky asked while staring at where the silver giant once stood.

'That," Epps responded, "was Sideswipe." He said with a hint of grit. "And private Brooks," he addressed Erin, "Please don't encourage him." He almost wined.

Erin obediently nodded and turned back towards the main hanger, leaving a group of still stunned men behind with Epps slowly trekking by her heels.

When Erin saw the massive hanger from the outside, she expected it to contain multiple levels. When she entered, however, the ceiling was fifty feet high and the majority of the space was in one massive room. Several catwalks lined the walls which had sectioned off areas, each containing what was obviously alien equipment. In the center of the room, was another catwalk, only this one had two levels, the first was slightly forward of the second to leave head room. A section of the railing that lined the first catwalk was noticeably crushed.

Epps took the lead and headed towards one end of the cat walk before he suddenly stopped. "What the fuck?" he all but sighed.

It took Erin a moment to realize there was no way up. Several small divets and dark spaces marked where stair cases should have been on either side.

"Well, I guess we'll do the introductions here… Fuck'n Sideswipe, twice in one day."

As Epps mumbled about all the ways he wanted to punish the giant alien robot, several vehicles entered through a side door in the hanger. Their loud thrumming engines caught most of the group off guard. After seeing one of the aliens, the majority of men seemed nervous and suspicious of the flashy vehicles that entered. Walking among them was a human whom Erin recognized to me Captain Lennox. As the cars lined up in front of the recruits, Lennox approached his fellow humans to address them.

"Hello, I am Captain Lennox and would like to welcome you to NEST and Diego Garcia. I am certain that Sargent Epps did a good job at explaining the inner workings of NEST and gave you some details about our allies. Now I would like you to hear from their leader, Optimus Prime."

On que, the flashy blue and red semi started unfolding, a series of twirling parts reorganized themselves and clicked together in new places as the form stood taller and taller. Once the last cog pushed into place, a towering humanoid stood, surveying the group with glowing blue eyes. The entire group, Erin included, stared in awe. Everything about this robot, from its size and posture, to its expression on its face, called for respect. This was Optimus Prime.

A baritone voice came from the giant, "Autobots, transform.".

Obediently, the line of vehicles began unfolding and reconfiguring into humanoid figures. None were quite as tall or impressive as the first one, but they were not any less intimidating. Erin bean her visual analysis of the line up, simultaneously taking in the leader's reverent speech about his species history and their mission on Earth. She recognized each bot from the initial briefing. Starting from the left was Ironhide, weapons specialist. Erin could see from his proximity to Prime that there was an air of trust between them. It stood at around twenty feet tall and had a massive build. Twirling on its forearms were not-very-conspicuous weapons that appeared to be cannons of some sort. A faint blue glow came from each. Its feet were splayed out, in fact, they were not very foot-like at all. It must require extra stabilization to hold up its bulk.

Erin also noticed that, while its black exterior was glossy, the metallic parts of it were covered in scratches and even some scar-like gashes. One of which was over its eye. This bot would be in charge of a portion of her training. From the intimidating glare her group received from said machine, she could tell it would not be easy.

Next was the autobot medic, Ratchet. It was taller than the black bot but was far slimmer. This robot was mainly florescent yellow. It didn't have any notable exterior weapons. From its upper build, Erin could tell it was designed for heavy lifting and not extreme combat maneuvers. She also wondered how well a three fingered hand would be at delicate surgery or repairs.

Next was Prowl, the second in command, the robot was shorter than the black bot by around three feet. It stood with its back straight, the doors from its police vehicle form hung back like wings. Erin knew from the earlier briefing that this bot was a walking rule book. It was the closest to what Erin imagined a 'sentient' robot to be like, considering her previous experience with such things were mainly terminator and Robocop.

Standing close to the SIC was the third in command, Jazz. This bot had the biggest grin plastered on its face. It was also the second shortest of the group. Erin noted its eyes were covered by a dark visor, only a faint glow could be visible through them. Its hands were more like the claws one would see in a claw machine game than hands.

Next there was Arcee, the smallest of the robots. Erin somewhat saw the 'female' in this bot. it was around nine feet tall and balanced on a single wheel for its 'leg'. The bot's facial features were more feminine and its color was a soft pink.

Erin heard the leader explain how Que, Wheeljack, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Mirage, and Bumblebee were elsewhere at the moment and would be seen around base at some point. She'd have to wait to make the rest of her observations.

The bot thanked the group for offering their services to NEST and they were politely dismissed. Short and sweet. Just how Erin liked it.