Time Bomb

Chapter 5

The remainder of the night consisted of the four robots resting in a stasis of some sort. I never knew mechanical creatures that ran off of gasoline required sleep to power. I guessed it was to help me fall asleep myself without having to turn on Beethoven, but that was the last thing I had on my mind. I had claimed my fair share on the drive here, and trusting that they would be cautious of their steps was not something I agreed to risk.

I decided to place myself farther away from them, keeping a watchful eye for any evil bots that might try to sneak up while I was alone. Besides my prosthetic, I had not witnessed one first hand that was threatening to take my life. I didn't know what they looked like or if they were anything like these "Autobots", but I was sure I would know when I found one.

I settled myself in a patch that had little to no weeds sprouting from the ground, gathering everything that happened to me in the past few hours together. My family was probably out searching for me; My mother especially worried sick. I hated to worry her so much what with all of her constant support. But I had to stay here and get this thing checked out, or else something bad could happen to more than just me.

As I stretched out my legs, I kicked the damned piece of metal and drug it rancorously against the hard surface, hoping it would fall off or break apart. I repeated this over and over, even springing to my feet and ramming it into the rocky wall with a rage that soon mutated into angry tears. I cried out as I began to feel a burning sensation at the base of the undesired appendage. How was this possible? I could actually wiggle the toes and feel it!

My greatest gift was the biggest tragedy. I collapsed again, ripping at the edges of the plastic that protected whatever was hidden within it. And when it didn't peel away as I wished, I screamed and more tears fell until there was nothing left inside of me to do anything.

I laid there for what seemed like forever, darkness eating away at me.

The Samurai then came out of nowhere with stretched arms, making a spot next to me with not even the slightest of a glance. I did not say anything.

"What is your name, Sparkling?" His gaze did not falter, as they were glued to the stars when he spoke.

I asked myself the same question, the words just barely forming around my lips. "Olivia."

"And what is your story, Olivia?"

My story? A smile began at the corner of my mouth. I had so many people ask me this that the answer came with a breeze. As I spilled my life story, I realized I was not afraid of these admirable robots. They were here to help and I had seen them protect their human allies during battle live on TV. I was in good hands, so what was I afraid of?

"What is 'type one diabetes'?" he annunciated the new words, looking down at me for the first time, face contorted with ignorance.

"An illness that basically attacks my immune system," I explained, "and shuts my body down. Unless I take certain types of medication."

The bot swatted the air with his humongous hand, groaning for reasons unknown. "I didn't ask for your crusade tales-," he exclaimed. "Your story. This diabetes is a mere enemy you have stumbled upon. He is hardly a specimen of mind if defeat is but an option."

I was humbled by his words, mouth agape with little to fill it in return. "I-I don't know what to say then."

"Who are you, Olivia?" The Samurai leaned in with narrowed eyes. "What have you done to earn your title? To make your place in this world?"

He returned to his original position, this time staring down at the land beyond us either thinking really hard or listening too intently. "I am Olivia Banks," I said, much weaker than I wanted it to be. "I've endured type-." I inhaled deeply and let it slip away with ease. "I've defeated my enemy at a minor cost of my leg. Uh, I've participated as a tutor for younger children having troubles with their academics, despite my degraded social life. Guess you could call me a math geek. And...um..." I struggled to find other things I have done that seemed valiant in the eyes of a human. "I'm fighting for my rights to do what I want to do."

It was a good thing my parents forced me into speech classes as a child.

"Olivia Banks," the Samurai mumbled as if testing the sound of it. "Hm, you have done many things to accept this name of yours. But I am afraid, right now, it is not enough. You are in the presence of a situation you cannot walk away from, you understand. You will need to bear this hardship until we can better deduce this, in which we may or may not ever. You are a brave one, Sparkling.

"Bumblebee, and I originally, believes it to be a live Decepticon. But know that what I discovered in my sight is much more alive than any random bot of deception. This is why I contacted Crosshairs, our more or less infamous armorer and mock medic when mandates to be. He's not the most pleasant Autobot for company, but there's a reason he remains fully programmed and functional."

I laid on my side as he spoke soft words, feeling a wave of fatigue finally hit me. The Samurai rested his mouth for a few minutes, an expression unreadable. "What did you say your name was?" I asked through a yawn.

"I am a Cybertronian Autobot. My honorable entitlement is Drift, and I am exalted to carry such prize."

My smile from before broadened, neglecting the entrance of thoughts of my future fate. "And have you earned this entitlement, Drift?"

The Samurai laughed. "I can never live up to it, but I will try. Discerning my mistake of following the wrong leader was my first trial. And I will transcend the many to come."

I waited a few moments to ask my next question, rolling onto my back and staring up at the stars as he had done before. They were exceptionally prominent. "Does all of this mean I'm still Olivia Banks?"

His voice dropped a level in volume. "That is for you to decide."

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By morning I had found myself balled up against the stone, a headache forming at the right of my skull from where a rock had dreams of becoming a pillow. I cringed, rubbing the raw skin so that the tingling would straighten out. When I looked beyond my resting area, all that was in my line sight was the rocky plains and grasslands.

Oh yeah, I forgot. I was in a life-threatening situation.

As I wandered to the cliff side where the Samurai and I had our talk the night before, I stared out into the distance watching the phantom ripples of water form on the horizon. The sun was already mantled high in the sky, so it had to be somewhere around noon. I sat myself down onto the warm surface, dangling my feet off the edge feeling the rumble of my stomach. I hadn't eaten anything since dinner with Martin yesterday.

Just what I needed. These robots didn't consume human food, and I couldn't go out anywhere without someone pointing me out. Not to mention all old yellow Camaros would become targets since not many owned one. There was no doubt the police were already after me. I would be caught, and they would suspect I ran away voluntarily. But I couldn't and wouldn't starve.

Inside the cave where the Autobots had resided in, the Samurai, Drift, had his two katana blades that he kept strapped to his back on his lap, and was sharpening them with an ancient looking rock of some sort. The Camaro, Bumblebee, was parked in front of him (pun not intended), shaking his head viciously and waving his hand as if whatever Drift was saying was ridiculous. Then the mini bots sat just behind them, watching the scene. The two larger robots must have been arguing about something.

Just as I was about to make a seat next to Bumblebee, he stormed off outside with flailed arms. Another thing I didn't know about alien robots: they had attitudes too.

"Is everything okay?"

Drift grumbled a reply that I could not quite translate, and I didn't bother asking again. The Autobots may have been the good guys, but giants nonetheless. Trust was still thin between us and I didn't want to be caught in the middle of one of their fits. So I distanced myself once again, laying my back against the cave walls at the entrance where Bumblebee was kicking around pebbles.

"Morning," I said hopelessly. I remembered when sometimes I would ignore my mother's morning smiles that disgusted me so. How could anyone be happy at the break of dawn? I still didn't really understand, but if I was going to be here a while, I wanted somebody to talk to at the least. Maybe that's how she felt when I was the only one home for the majority of the week.

The Camaro - I mean, Bumblebee stopped punching at the exterior cave walls, hesitating. To respond or respect, I did not know.

"Want to go for a drive?" I tried to be calm as he put his metal fists down and stared down at me with those intimidating robot eyes. They seemed soulless with the lack of emotion he showed. This bothered me more than aggression. "I-I mean, you know, I'm just hungry. It would be nice if-"

Before I could even finish my sentence, he had gotten down onto his hands and knees and was in his car transformation. The driver's door opened and I hopped inside, blushing. I didn't expect him to do this right off the bat. Then he drove off down the incline as I searched through the glove lock and back seat for spare cash and any hats or jackets. If I was lucky, it would be staged as a regular kidnapping. That way the news of this wouldn't spread out any farther than Arkansas. But I wasn't taking any chances.

"Where are we headed?" the radio picked up.

I smiled at it as I placed a baseball cap on my bedhead hair and tucked a twenty in my fist. "Do you always speak through the radio?" When I did not receive an answer, I sighed. "The nearest Wendy's. And a Goodwill if there's any nearby."

The trip was not very long. I had asked to stop by the Goodwill first so that I could slip out of the rotten cloth my mom called a dress. Colorado might have had high temperatures, but the nights turned out to be freezing. Something a knee-length curtain couldn't handle.

I had little money, so I settled on a single pair of dark jeans, a random tee that would be enough to do it's job, and a lightweight hoodie that was extra furry on the inside.
With the remaining ten dollars I had left, I spent it on a burger at McDonalds since there was no Wendy's around and three water bottles that would hold me for about a week. Hey, I didn't know how long I was going to be there. I needed to be prepared for anything

On the way back to camp, I sat with my feet propped up on the dashboard, moving my shoulders to some songs Bumblebee favored. When he ran out of suggestions, I attempted to strike up a conversation. "So...Bumblebee, right?" I placed my finger on the bumblebee air-freshener and twirled it around. "Where'd you get that name?"

"Where did you get...yours?"

"My mom when I was born. That's different though. I'm Olivia because my mom liked it. You didn't just come into existence one day and have those door-wings on your back, did you? Do they even have bumblebees from where you come from?"

The engine revved some, and the radio lights lit up. "You ask too many questions."

I was somewhat taken aback, though I knew he was only joking. "Well, if you're going to kidnap me, at least let me have some freedom. Now, tell me about this home planet of yours."

Unlike previous questions answered in silence, Bumblebee opened up and gave me a brief summary of where he and the other Transformers came from, every once in a while struggling to find words in my language over the radio. It wasn't easy catching all the small details from the changing stations, but I had an overall idea. It was interesting to hear more Universe secrets unlocked from the alien himself.

Then he started on the wars prior to our meet. He explained to me the sources of a few battles back on his planet "Cybertron" but only touched up on the most recent ones here on Earth. The Decepticons first wanted the All Spark, the power that basically ruled all of Transformer kind, then decided world domination was their true passion.

It all made sense, I guess. Why they were here. Why the Badies were here.

Throughout his whole monologue, I rejected the thought of questioning him on the presence of the Autobots now. Obviously there was still some Decepticons out and about, but there had to be something bigger going on. They were hiding their whereabouts unlike the past few years.

Somehow, I knew I would find out eventually. After all, I was already caught in the current.

"Bumblebee," I said when he finally wrapped up to when I was first found. "Why do you think...you know...this Decepticon is trying to pose as my leg? I know I've asked you and Drift a million times already, but...I've never really gotten a direct answer."

The Camaro replied with a single word: "Wait."

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Back to where I started. Bumblebee had scurried off as soon as we had reached camp. Where he went, I had no idea. Drift, on the other hand, rested on top of the caves, overlooking the land. He played the Samurai part well. But it was a little unusual to have a robot saying nothing and doing nothing as you yourself fiddled around wondering what to do next. So I hung my legs off the cliff once again, watching the sun fall from the sky.

I didn't know how long it had been, but when a small dot among the horizon zipped down the road, I was probably the happiest person in Colorado.
"Drift," I hissed in a whisper as if the car half a mile a way would hear me. "Do you see that? Is it..."

"Crosshairs, yes. He is much earlier than I expected. But, time is of the essence. He must have sensed this."

I joined the Samurai by his side as he hopped down from the rock and stared down the approaching car. Doing this, I tapped my foot up and down with anticipation. Whether to be scared or ecstatic, I was not sure. At least something was pumping through me.

The car did not make it all the way before transforming into his Autobot form. This one was green and ranged about the size of Drift, if not smaller. He reminded me of a mad scientist the way he dressed (if they even did dress) with a cape-styled metal that hung from the top of his waist - down, and goggles of different colors attached to his forehead (which looked a little more like they belonged to an aviator, rather).

The bot looked intimidating as he sneered over at Drift, whom I had hid behind before safety was granted.
"This better be good, Drift. I was in Las Vegas having myself a ball, and then you call." The green robot shook his arms around that raised his voice for him. "Almost blew my cover too."

Drift seemed to ignore his slander, and carried on. "You are the only one I can count on right about now, Crosshairs," he spat as if his comrade was a fool. "The Autobots became quiet since the end of Sentinel Prime. I have been unable to contact even the most talkative of bots, Sideswipe, when he arose my censors nearly months ago. But Sideswipe cannot aid me in this matter. A medic is in need for this job."

Crosshairs groaned and twisted up his face with disgust. "I'm not a medic. I deal with weapons and armor strictly. Just because I did some work on Optimus does not make me a replacement for Ratchet."

Drift hesitated, then signaled for me to reveal myself. I came out from behind him, only to be greeted by a grimace. "This might change your mind."
"A human? Are you half-clocked? Do you know what they've been doing nowadays? Every one of them, hunting us down. Had some shooting out my tires after scopin' me out. I don't know how, but they did, and I drove miles upon miles on only three wheels over in Cali. It wasn't until I reached Vegas that I loss them. Whatever it is, whatever it is so special abou-"

"Are you going to argue my reasoning without verifying the situation yourself?"

I watched cautiously as the Autobot grumbled to himself from being interrupted, swiping me up in his metal claws without care. "What is it?" his eyes glazed over me then turned to the Samurai who stood his ground confidently.

"Decepticon evidence has been traced inside of her right leg," said Drift, pointing to the prosthetic. "Bumblebee first came to me with her yesterday believing an actual Decepticon had a transformation-"

Crosshairs interrupted, "Do you really think speaking of this in front of the Decepticon itself is the best idea?"

My head flipped back and forth between the two robots as they flashed scowls at each other. "If you would allow me to finish, you would know that I myself suspect otherwise. Look at the connection with the Cybertronian metal and her circuits. No Decepticon has the ability to do this."

My heart pounded as I imagined a phantom tingle at the bottom of that leg. What was he talking about? He had never spoken to me about this when I asked him about it the night before. "What do you need me for? Her fate is sealed. There is nothing we can do about it." I gripped the silver metal that held me and gulped all the nourishment out of my mouth.

"Is this what you have become?" Drift's voice roughened as it grew. "I know that you see something, Crosshairs. Just because humans have endangered themselves does not mean that each and everyone deserves extinction because of our own kind. This will be the start of a second war, and we must put an end to it now."

The two bots were face to face with me stuck in between, Crosshair's hand dangerously wrapped around my body. He could have squeezed me to a pulp right then and there, but he didn't. Instead, he stepped back in surrender and walked towards the cave, seeming to have forgotten about the helpless creature between his fingers.

Crosshairs did not settle for a few feet inside of the cave, but more like a quarter mile before whipping out a laser that he drove into the rock. The heap fell to the ground flat-sided, rising to the Autobot's hips. He dropped me onto it without a second thought. "Run and you'll regret," he snapped, turning away and pulling a variety of items from somewhere inside his trench coat and traced out a similar rock to place all of his mechanical stuff. I stared down from the boulder and shivered at the height. I wasn't sure any human could survive the jump.

"What are you doing?" I gathered all the confidence I could and stood with my fists clenched at my side. I couldn't look weak in front of them. I couldn't have them thinking I couldn't handle what I was going through. That I wasn't just some scared human.

"At ease," said the cool Japanese voice that broke the silence with his entrance. "Crosshairs is only here to help, I assure you."

I swallowed the third lump in my throat and relaxed my muscles. The more I pushed myself through this and cooperated, the faster this would be. I hoped.

"Lay flat," Crosshairs instructed me and I followed his orders. He hung up a lantern on the wall after drilling in a hook, then held some type of a scanner over me. He moved it back and forth, landing right above my knee and taking a closer look. Drift peered over the Autobot's shoulder and nodded his head as if Crosshairs had sent him a silent message.

"What is it?" he squinted his eyes.

"Tell me everything," said the green robot, throwing his scanner carelessly behind him and pinning Drift against the wall by his shoulders. "What is that thing?" he snarled in a low voice made for me not hear. But I did. Every word. "I know almost every apparatus Cybertron has to offer, and that can't be one. Whatever it is - it's spreading. And fast."

The Samurai held up his hands in an attempt to calm Crosshairs, but, like me, he looked ready to explode. What was spreading? What could have possibly been streaming through me emitted by the prosthetic alone?

"I don't know," Drift murmured, pushing the other away while keeping his head. "But we need to. Crosshairs, you have to investigate this. This can be a dangerous target against the humans or even the Autobots. In any form it will mean certain fate for one of the two species. Can I count on you?"

The green bot studied Drift with an anger and fear mixed around in his expression. Which made me wonder why he was at all afraid, or upset even. I was the one with the time bomb. Not him. I was the one being targeted. Not human kind. Somebody or something wanted me dead. But why in this way? What was this supposed to do to me? Melt my insides; Freeze them to the core; Construct a black hole inside?

Whatever it was, there was no inner-strength I could bring forth and act like I was okay. None of it was left. I used that all up on speaking to the alien robots.

Crosshairs bowed his head slightly, but by the look he still carried, he was not happy about it one bit.

The Samurai nodded in response, turning back towards the entrance and leaving us.

"Where are you going?" he hollered, madness jumbling up again.

"You wanted to know everything?" said Drift. "You're going to know everything."

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So...there's another chapter for you. I really hope I'm doing okay so far. I'm trying not to make things too fast for the beginning, but I guess it did take five chapters to get this far, huh? I'd like to thank all of my reviewers once again: seeing them build up is really exciting for me and honestly gives me more inspiration to write this. Considering my stories are usually discontinued by the second chapter, this is a great improvement for me. Thank you guys so much and hopefully I'll have two more chapter out by next Thursday since it is the first day back to school. Dx

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