Blood and Gold

Welcome to Earth

The Camaro has been driving for a bit half an hour and Ivi was starting to fall asleep. Despite its apparent age, it still drives smooth and was a nice change to the events from not too long ago. In front, Sam tried to convince Mikaela to sit in his lap. Gross, but apparently it worked, as she climbed over to him and he pulled the seatbelt around her. Then, she said something that had Ivi protesting. "So if he is this super-advanced robot, why does he keep turning back into this piece of crap Camaro?"
She thought he was nice, and he definitely didn't like that, as the Camaro came skidding to a halt in the middle of the freeway and opened the front doors. He kicked Sam and Mikaela out, but tightened Ivi's seatbelt. "Sit tight, sweetheart," the radio garbled in a western accent.
She giggled gently, but waved lightly to Sam and Mikaela as the robot sped off again, suddenly moving to drive on two wheels. "Oh my," Ivi exhaled, deciding maybe it would have been better if he had kicked her out too.
She was half tempted to use her powers to make him drive on all four wheels, when he suddenly did so anyways. But something was different. The car changed, the outside paint peeled away and the inside became sleeker and more new. The seat underneath her ripples and changed along with the others, until not a single thing was the same inside, save for the bee air freshener. "What did you just do?"
"I got an...upgrade!"
At the excited tone, Ivi couldn't help but laugh. Then, the Camaro turned around and made its way back to the waiting teenagers, who looked absolutely nervous on the side of the freeway. Both looked absolutely stunned as the Camaro stopped beside them. "Get in," Ivi shouted quickly, hoping they wouldn't attract too much attention.
The robot gave a satisfied purr as they took off, leading them to an abandoned observatory just as five things entered the atmosphere. He let them out and Ivi watched the 'meteors' streak across the sky, a small part of her heart being tugged at one in particular. She couldn't tell why, and Ivi wasn't really concerned. It was a beautiful sight. Sam and Mikaela ran off to one that landed nearby, but the girl stayed back, patting the Camaro's hood gently. "You're pretty cool," she laughed as he revved in agreement.
"Do you have a name?"
A short silence followed her until one word was repeated over and over from dozens of songs and talk shows. "Bumblebee."
The girl smiled and looked back at the air freshener. "Your touch?"
Bumblebee just hummed in response, and Ivi found herself actually enjoying their conversation. Then, Sam and Mikaela came running back, hand in hand as they approached the Camaro. Ivi tilted her head and raised an eyebrow at her best friend, meanwhile Sam looked like he had just been elected as president. Mikaela ignored the pointed stare and they got back into Bumblebee, watching with wide eyes as he brought them to a dark alley between two downtown buildings. He let them out as other vehicles approached. There was a greenish-yellow ambulance and a big truck that all the army guys had. Funnily enough a Porsche joined them, small but sleek, and Ivi couldn't help but remember the prank their father had pulled on Sam and her. Then, all he thoughts died away as a large semi-truck approached with red and blue flames painted on it. They were surrounded, Ivi realized. Were they all robots? As if answering her question, they all began to transform. The Porsche was the smallest, but did an interesting dance as he transformed. Then there was the Semi. Whoever it was, they were massive and took twice as long as the others to turn into a robot. But he was very impressive, with almost like a knight's helmet design as his head. The giant robot knelt down and got closer to the trio of teens, his eyes(?) locked in Sam. "Are you Samuel James Witwicky, descendent of Archibald Witwicky?" The robot asked in a deep, confident voice.
Oh dear, was all she could think. Her nerves were already rising at the robots that surrounded them, but with giant robot leader before them, she was starting to freak out. Not now. If she wasn't careful, then things were going to start being lifted up. "They know your name?" Mikaela squeaked, pulling on Ivi's arm in an effort to stay away from the robots.
Then, the robot turned his eyes -electronic sockets with a bright blue light- to Ivi, catching her like a deer in headlight. Something about the blue was like a drug, and she calmed just a bit, her breathing returning to its normal pace for the moment. "Umm, yeah," Sam said after a moment.
That got the robot to look away. "My name is Optimus Prime. We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron."
Ivi blinked: that was a mouthful. "But you can call us autobots for short," the ambulance spoke up.
Autobots. Interesting. Ivi looked back at Optimus to see he was watching her again. Please stop, she begged internally, wishing she could just take a step away from the giant robot in front of her. He was very...intense. "What's cracking, little bitches?" The Porsche asked, jumping onto one of the abandoned cars in the alley.
Ivi couldn't help but smile up at him, while Optimus rumbled, "My first Lieutenant. Designation: Jazz."
The Autobot seemingly winked at them, and Ivi decided Jazz was a very appropriate name for him. "This looks like a cool place to kick it."
Sam looked between Optimus and Jazz. "Where did you learn to talk like that?"
She nearly slapped him; probably would have if they weren't surrounded by the Autobots. He couldn't just ask people those things. "We have learned Earth's languages from the World Wide Web."
Yeah, probably the best place to learn if you're a giant robot. Then, they were distracted by the robot that had previously been the large truck turning his hands into guns. "My weapons specialist: Iron Hide," Optimus continued.
The Autobot pointed the guns at them. "Feeling lucky, punk?"
Okay, so at least one of them was crazy, that was a bit more manageable. "Easy, Iron Hide."
Optimus seemed to scowl at his fellow Autobot, and Ivi suppressed a laugh at how it was almost comical; but she definitely didn't. Now was not the time for her to seem insane. "Just kidding, I just wanted to show them my canons," Iron Hide apologized, stepping back so that the three felt a bit safer.
It worked, message received. "Our medical officer: Ratchet."
The greenish robot sniffed the air and looked down at the teens with the most serious expression ever. "The boy's pheromone levels suggests he wants to mate with the females."
Ivi pushed down the urge to vomit and side-stepped with Mikaela just a bit away from Sam. There was no way that was not going to be embarrassing, and Ivi had no intentions on letting the Autobots believe she reciprocated...anything. The idea was gag-inducing as it was. Thankfully, Optimus saved them by turning to Bumblebee, who had now transformed as well. "You already know your guardian: Bumblebee."
The yellow and black robot turned on some weird song and punched the air. Wherever he had learned that, Ivi wasn't sure. Anything was accessible on the internet, she figured. "His vocal processors were damaged in battle. I'm still working on them," Ratchet said, pointing a laser at Bumblebee's throat, making the smaller bot cough.
"Why are you here?" Mikaela asked, letting go of Ivi and walking to stand next to Sam.
Okay, totally fine, Ivi could see some change in hearts (wink wink) going on between her friend and her brother. Although the thought make her feel sick again, as long as it made them happy. "We are here looking for the All Spark, and we need to find it before Megatron."
"Mega-what?" Sam asked, his eyes a bit glazed over.
Instead of answering immediately, Optimus presses something in his head, and a light brought a scene before them of a world being torn in two. He told them about how his planet, Cybertron, was once great, and then how Megatron basically ruined everything and caused their war -which totally made it seem like the Autobots were losing badly. Then, Optimus spoke on how this Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons, came to Earth because apparently the All Spark -which was like their source of life- had came here millions of years ago. Apparently, Archibald Witwicky, the same man that navigated the Arctic Circle way back when, had found Megatron and the coordinates to the All Spark had been imprinted on his glasses. "See, Sam, stupid runs in your family," Ivi whispered, causing Jazz and Iron Hide to laugh behind them.
Optimus' face twitched a bit, but she couldn't tell if he was amused or annoyed and decided to shut up in case it was the latter. While she turned her eyes to the ground, Sam continued asking questions. "How did you know about the glasses?"
"eBay."
Figures, he shouldn't have tried to sell the old things. They wouldn't have been in this mess if he had just given them to the museum like she had told him to. But no, why would Sam ever listen to little Ivi? "If the Decepticons find the All Spark, they will use its power to transform Earth's machines and build a new army," Ratchet started.
"And the human race will be extinguished," Optimus stood back up to his full height, "Sam Witwicky, you hold the key to Earth's survival."
Sam looked a little sick, but nodded. "Please tell me you have those glasses," Mikaela asked.
If he didn't, he had bigger things to worry about than Decepticons.