A/N: I'm sorry for the long… long wait. But thankfully, since I recently received the Transformers DVD as a birthday present, I'll probably have the inspiration to crank out the next few chapters pretty quickly. Here's hoping. Well, hoping that my family doesn't get to irritated with me watching the same movie over and over again.

Defining Deviation - Chapter Five

"Well, that was anti-climactic." Sage stated flatly as she looked down at the scratched glasses set on the table in front of her, a mild pout twisting her lips. She had worked for a while (as evidenced by her rolled up sleeves and messier than usual hair) before figuring out what was so special about the glasses. Currently, there was a small light projector directly behind the lenses, casting a beam of light through the scratches. The light came out on the other side, transformed into a 3d schematic of the previous location of the All Spark - somewhere on the floor of a body of water in Colorado.

She slumped down into her cushy office chair and a smirk spread across her face - she couldn't help but be amused at the situation. "The first sign of major Cybertronian action since Iceman crash-landed, and the thing that got the ball rolling was a teenager putting some old glasses with obsolete coordinates scratched onto them up for sale on the internet. I mean, Sector Seven found the All Spark around, I dunno, 1913?"

While Sage contemplated the existence of gods of irony yet again, ARIS received some more news. She promptly reported the obtainment of said data to her creator, now that Sage was finished with her work and ARIS wouldn't be interrupting - it was a pet-peeve of the witch that her computer was well attuned to.

"Sir, while you were examining the Witwicky glasses, the government was holding a meeting, attended by a gathering of computer experts. Their purpose for being there was discern exactly who or what hacked the military network and destroyed the air base in Qatar." ARIS reported dutifully. "Also, because they know that the Cybertronian in Qatar was stopped before it could finish, they are taking precautions against another attempt."

ARIS paused, as was programmed into her speech patterns to allow for the time it took for the human brain to process information. "Not long afterward, a Cybertronian signal was detected on Air Force One, attempting to hack into the files surrounding Iceman." she reported. "The Cybertronian managed to plant an adaptive spider-bot virus in the system while simultaneously downloading information on anything mentioning the All Spark. Its attempt was stopped when a young analyst by the name of Maggie Madsen detected it, and the mainframe was unplugged before the download could be finished, but not before it managed to find information on the Witwicky glasses - presumably making the connection between them and the All Spark. And on a side note, the Cybertronian currently posing as Samuel Witwicky's car shone some sort of beacon into the atmosphere during the night - presumably signaling others in its faction to come to Earth."

"Air Force One, huh?" Sage chuckled as she leaned back in her chair, her arms stretching to rest leisurely behind her head. "Must be one of the smaller Cybertronians to sneak in there. Haven't seen one of them except that one I accidentally made when I was still figuring out how to regulate my power output." she mused to herself. "Was this hacker going specifically after the same information as the one in Qatar?" Sage asked, already sure of the answer.

"Yes, sir." ARIS replied. "Both hackers were searching for information on Iceman, and in the process, the All Spark."

A small smirk spread across her face. "And what little information the thing did manage to acquire is about the outdated location of obsolete coordinates." she chuckled quietly as she fiddled with the glasses. All that fuss over such an irrelevant object…

Sage shook her head, moving her thoughts onto other matters. "Still, I want you to expand the parameters of your reports to include updates on the Witwicky boy - he'll probably be coming into contact with hostile Cybertronians who think he has those glasses. Or maybe even non-hostile Cybertronians who think he has those glasses."

After receiving a confirming beep from ARIS, Sage rhythmically moved her foot up and down, making her chair squeak as she thought over her next course of action. Eventually, she decided that there wasn't enough data for her to go on to make any drastic movements. The only things she knew, were that there were multiple Cybertronians searching for information on Iceman and the All Spark, while the other one (presumably on the opposing side in the war that the All Spark had mentioned) was currently posing as a teenage boy's first car - and was probably after the glasses she had recently snatched, or at least preventing the others from getting them. She had no idea as to the ultimate goals of either faction, and so had no idea as to which side she would help if she did decide to join in the war.

What she could deduce about either side so far, was that the yellow and black Camaro Cybertronian seemed to be considerate of human life - despite their apparent primitiveness in comparison to its own species. Also, it seemed to be operating in the position of a scout for its faction - seeing as it sent a signal into outer space - meaning that there were presumably more on their way to Earth.

The side with multiple Cybertronians already on the planet seemed to have the collective opinion that human lives were unimportant, and had no problem in ending them.

So far, it looked like the Camaro's group was the one composed of aliens that would make an effort not to squish her when walking.

Still, it would be idiotic to act without knowing all the details. And Sage had little (read 'no') patience for idiots, and so had no intention to start acting like one.

'The Devil is in the details, after all.' she mused to herself. It was the entire reason she had created her comprehensive information network. She had made sure to put in tiny little undetectable programs into each major database that popped up over the years. Their function was to open up a 'back door' for her, making an easy path of travel for her whenever she had the urge to peek into the government databases of any major country, or the networks of big corporations specializing in technology, or even Sector Seven's computer systems.

So, with no course of action that appealed to her sense of Slytherin discretion, Sage decided to put her centuries of hard-won patience to use, and leaned back in her chair to wait.

Sometime later, the serene voice of ARIS awoke her from her impromptu nap. "Sir, you should know that there are two Cybertronian energy signatures traveling toward the Witwicky residence. One of them seems to be the small one that hacked Air Force One, and is currently riding inside the other, which is disguised in the form of a police cruiser."

Sage's eyes snapped open, and she sprung from her chair, moving toward the table with the glasses on it. She snatched them up and stowed them away in the pocket of her pants.

"How far away are they, and how long until they arrive?" she asked quickly as she strode toward the stairs leading to her garage, cramming the listening/communications devices into her ears as she went.

"They are only a few miles away, and only minutes from coming into contact with the boy, who seems to be moving toward them. The Cybertronian posing as his car is also following."

Her brow furrowed slightly as she slid into her car, quickly starting it up and zipping down the driveway.

"Why is the boy moving toward them? Does he know they are there?" she asked herself, and automatically ARIS as well.

"He seems to be fleeing in terror from the Cybertronian posing as his car." ARIS stated.

Sage was silent for a moment, even as she drove like a maniac, accelerating over the speed limit, and barely slowing down on turns. "So he's running away from the more human-friendly Cybertronian… straight towards a couple of 'em that probably wouldn't hesitate to squish him for the glasses that he no longer has." Her eyes rolled in sarcasm. "Brilliant."

Sage stayed silent for the rest of the journey, and as soon as she was in Tranquility, she focused her senses to hone in on the tracking charm she had placed on the Camaro-disguised alien. By following the charm, she soon came toward the edge of the city, where the only buildings were some abandoned construction sites and a parking garage.

The breaks on the cars screeched in protest as they were harshly slammed down by Sage's instinctive reaction to seeing a giant robot around 18 feet tall come roaring through the wall of a building as it chased a couple of teens.

Sage watched intently as the teens, one of whom she identified as Sam Witwicky, ran for their lives. The Cybertronian looked like it was about to catch up to them, when suddenly, the yellow Cybertronian - still in its guise as a Camaro - came out of no where, and managed to drift sideways and trip up the other alien. It then opened up a door, which the teens dove into after a moment of hesitation to escape the death-dealing robot behind them. The Camaro peeled off down the street, turning a corner almost instantly.

The Cybertronian that had been tripped, leapt to its feet, kept moving, and in one smooth motion had transformed into a police car that gave chase without losing a bit of momentum.

"Sir." ARIS spoke up, her voice completely dissonant with the scene right out of an action flick that had just occurred outside the car.

"This had better be important ARIS." Sage said simply as she pushed on the accelerator and mentally tracked the output of the tracking charm she had put on the yellow Cybertronian. She also pressed a few buttons on the interior of the car that would activate a 'Notice-me-not' charm, as well as a strong shielding charm around the exterior of the vehicle.

"It is, sir. Especially seeing as a violent encounter with a Cybertronian is looking more likely by the second." ARIS stated in a tone of voice that conveyed exactly what she thought of her creator following a couple of giant robots that were liable to start a highly destructive brawl. "The detached tail of the Cybertronian that attacked the soldiers has been studied. They have found that the armor heals itself, or shrugs off most forms of attack. However, the only damage that lasted was caused by sabot rounds."

Sage hummed slightly. "Maybe I can transfigure the round on my guns…" was all she managed to say before she was forced to abruptly stop her car as two Cybertronians came roaring by once again.

She cautiously followed, staying in the shadows in case the 'Notice-me-not' was less effective on alien robots, and saw the Camaro swerve once again, drifting with the momentum as it turned to face its pursuer. One of it's back doors also popped open, and the boy and girl both tumbled out, crab-walking backwards away from what probably seemed to them a demon-possessed car.

Then, the yellow car transformed into its more humanoid form, Sage watching in fascination at the completely smooth movements of machinery. She caught a glimpse of a surprisingly expressive metal face, before a yellow and black face mask dropped down over its features, and the robot settled into a defensive stance in front of the two humans.

The cop car came tearing around the corner not a second later, not bothering to slow down before once again transforming into robot form. Sage saw something small and silver detach itself from the Cop-bot, before it used the momentum of its vehicle form to tackle the Camaro-bot.

Sage's eyes, used to tracking smaller shiny objects from her years of Quidditch playing, saw the spiked silver ball uncurl into a smallish robot that only vaguely resembled a human in structure. It seemed supremely unconcerned by the giant droid death match currently taking place behind it, and immediately began scuttling over to where the humans were currently watching the proceedings in stunned silence, vocalizing strange metallic clicks and whirrs as it moved.

The humans took that as a cue to start hauling ass, the boy screaming all the while. The little robot soon caught up, however, and latched a clawed hand onto the hem of the Witwicky boy's pants. Said boy immediately tripped, but kept wriggling so much that he managed to free himself, and continued running for his life, albeit without his pants.

The little robot quickly discarded the garments and darted after the boy once again.

Sage watched dubiously as the human girl, who had briefly disappeared, reentered the fray - this time wielding a hack saw she had acquired from who knows where. She ran toward the boy, who was currently cornered by the robot against a fence which he futilely tried to climb. The robot managed to once again grab Sam's ankle, but before it could do more than pull him to the ground, the girl arrived. With a swipe of the rotating blade, the silver robot was decapitated.

Its head was punted with extreme prejudice by the pants-less boy.

Meanwhile, the Camaro-bot seemed to have the upper hand in its own fight. Both it and the Cop-bot were brawling, rolling around, getting in cheap shots, and crushing their surroundings in the process. Suddenly, Camaro-bot managed to get in what looked like an extremely painful shot at Cop-bot. The severe injury, combined with the defeat of its silver partner, prompted the Cop-bot to retreat.

The sudden silence was almost unbearable in contrast to the loud crashing of the giant robot fight. The two humans hesitantly made their way toward the tiny hill that separated the two battlegrounds, the Camaro-bot meeting them in the middle as it stopped on the crest of the hill. Its battle mask was once again removed, and Sage was surprised to see the features of its face looked very human.

The boy coaxed the girl forward, surprisingly brave considering the little girl screams he had emitted earlier. Sage turned up the volume on her listening devices.

"…robot." she heard him say, never tearing his own eyes away from the Cybertronian. "But like a… like a different.. You know, like a super-advanced robot."

There was a pause.

"It's probably Japanese." Sam said, mostly to himself. "Yeah, it's definitely Japanese."

Sage rolled her eyes in disbelief. She wondered if it was the shock of the situation that made him sound as dull-witted as he did. Japanese, honestly.

Still, the boy inched closer to his 'car'.

"What are you doing?" the girl asked sharply in incredulity as her fellow human got into what she thought was too close a range to the giant robot that had just been embroiled in an extremely violent melee with another of its kind.

"I don't think it wants to hurt us. It would have done that already." he said.

The girl scoffed slightly, "Really? Do you speak robot? Because I know I don't. And they just had, like, a giant droid death match."

"I think it want's something from me." Sam said dubiously, "'Cause the other one was talking about my eBay page."

The girl stared at him like he was crazy for a moment. "…you are the strangest boy I have ever met." she said bluntly.

"Can you talk?" the boy ask the Camaro-bot.

Sage was surprised in how the Cybertronian answered. It seemed to communicate through the radio, stringing together bits and pieces of different programs to get his meaning across.

"…XM Satellite Radio... Digital cable brings you... Columbia Broadcasting System…" the words played through its speakers.

"So you.. you talk through the radio?" Sam asked uncertainly.

Applause played from the radio, "Thank you, you're beautiful. You're wonderful." The robot was surprisingly playful as it mimed capping, and then pointed at the boy like he had answered correctly on a quiz show.

"So what was that - what you did last night?" the boy asked curiously.

Sage leaned forward in her leather seat, wanting to know the answer as well.

"Message from Starfleet, Captain... Throughout the inanimate vastness of space... Angels will rain down like visitors from heaven! Hallelujah!" a myriad of voices played, switching from a military sounding voice, to a monotone lecturer, to an exuberant preacher of some sort.

Sage quickly translated the meaning of the mish-mashed phrases in her head. So she had been correct. It had been a homing beacon to others of its kind, or at least a status report of some kind.

The boy, however, seemed at a loss. "Visitors from heaven? What?"

The girl seemed to understand though, and quickly cut in. "What are you, like, an alien or something?"

The robot seemed to think the answer was obvious, because it didn't bother to answer. Instead, it seemed to shrink downward as it reverted to its car form. The door once again popped open. "Any more questions you want to ask?" came a sarcastic western drawl from the radio.

"He wants us to get in the car." the boy stated the obvious.

As the two teenagers debated the merits of crawling inside a super-advanced, giant, alien robot - it was a matter of self-preservation versus 'don't you want to say you had the guts to do it?' - Sage sighed slightly, and quietly restarted her car.

Both the teenagers got in, of course. They were, after all, teenagers.

Sage followed at a distance, relying more on the tracking charm than sight. She assumed that the Cybertronian was headed toward some rendezvous point with those of its faction that had responded to the beacon it had let off the night before, and she definitely wanted to be there. However, the Camaro-bot was probably on high alert for any potential enemies after the encounter with the Cop-bot, and she didn't want to attract any attention quite yet.

There was a bit of a dicey moment when the 'car' went through a tunnel, and came out on the other end as a completely different model, but with the tracking charm, in conjunction with the distinctive paintjob, it was easy to make sure she was following the right vehicle. The Camaro-bot soon came to a stop, overlooking a large empty expanse of land.

"Sir." ARIS spoke up, her voice filling the silence of the car. "I have detected four Cybertronians approaching Earth's atmosphere. Their projected course will land them within twenty miles of your current location."

"I can see that, ARIS." And she really could. The Cybertronians looked like shooting stars as they lit up with heat upon entering the atmosphere. Sage tracked them with her eyes, focusing particularly on the one that looked as if it were going to land the closest.

It crashed about a football field and a half away from the two teens standing by the Camaro-bot. Apparently the two were more on the reckless side of the self-preservation scale, because they immediately started jogging toward it, their faces alit with wonder and curiosity.

Sage was tempted to follow them for a second, but instead decided to stay back and listen to ARIS' reports on their landings.

One landed on some poor guy's moped. One landed in someone's backyard pool. The last one landed just off the side of the interstate.

Sage exhaled, slightly relieved that they all had seemed to escape being caught on film. That meant it would take a little bit longer for Sector Seven to track each individual one down - not knowing their appearances.

She looked up just in time to see the Camaro-bot drive toward its charges, and once again open a door in a silent instruction to get in. Apparently, it had a little farther to go - possibly to a more discreet area - to meet up with the rest of its allies.

Sage followed, once again at a distance. The yellow Cybertronian drove into the outskirts of town, coming to a stop in a sparse alley, occupied only by a couple dumpsters. It was late enough, however, that there were no humans around.

Sage grimaced slightly as she realized if the other Cybertronians were as big as the yellow one, there wouldn't be enough room in the alley for her to bring her car in and still remain undetected. Sure, she could take care of herself, but the car added extra protection if the Cybertronians turned out to be more hostile than the yellow one seemed.

She got out of the car, cast a Notice-me-not Charm, a Disillusionment Charm, and another one that would render her undetectable to the senses. She managed to climb up onto the roof of one side of the alley just in time to see a few colorful cars arrive from both directions.

One side, there was a large semi-truck. It was colored a royal blue, with decals of red flames. Approaching from the other side were a bright neon yellow-green rescue vehicle, a gigantic black pickup truck with smoke stacks, and sleek silver car that looked small in comparison.

The teens, who had gotten out of the Camaro-bot, were warily trying to watch their approach from both sides at the same time.

Suddenly, once they were close enough to the center of the alley, they all began transforming. A shiver ran down Sage's spine as she once again witnessed the smooth transition from vehicle to robot. It made her hands itch to see how they worked.

The newer Cybertronians were all even taller than the Camaro-bot, except for the silver one. The semi-truck was the tallest, and if she was reading it correctly, was probably the leader of the bunch. They were all beautiful to an inventor like Sage, foreign, yet familiar in design, but extremely interesting all the same.

The Semi-bot knelt down in front of the teens, still towering over them, but closer to their level. It leaned in close enough that Sage began to think Cybertronians had no concept of personal space, and seemed to focus on Sam particularly.

"Are you Samuel Jamese Witwicky, descendant of Archibald Witwicky?" he - for Sage could tell it was definitely a he from the delightfully smooth baritone voice he had - asked directly.

"They know your name." the girl hissed in Sam's ear.

"Yeah." was all the boy could seem to get out of his mouth.

The Semi-bot ignored their whispers and continued speaking. "My name is Optimus Prime." he introduced himself. "We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron. But you can call us Autobots for short."