Return of the Autobots, Ch. 9

Chapter Nine

Sideswipe and Jolt changed back into their chosen terrestrial modes, followed by Bumblebee so that only Optimus and Ratchet remained in protoform. Optimus held the shard of the AllSpark between his pointer finger and thumb. Using his other hand, he sort of tapped the side of his head where Iris imagined his temple would be if he had one, but he only did it once. Prime's eyes grew brighter at the touch until two separate lines of light zeroed in, converging on the shard; a holographic image was projected from the other side of the Cube sliver and onto the desert sand where they stood. Iris took a step forward, having been standing behind one of Ratchet's feet, and looked closer at the image that had been shown. Numbers.

34 53'36" N, 117 1'8" W

She tilted her head. "They're geographic coordinates," she noted.

A sleeve of metal pulled back from Ratchet's forearm and a screen was revealed. Taking another glance at the coordinates, he touched the screen and tapped the numbers in. They had to wait a couple of seconds but soon enough Ratchet had an answer for them.

"The coordinates appear to be for a location called Barstow, several hundred miles from here," the mechanic informed, though his voice was a bit confused. Despite having been here before, Iris knew that they wouldn't know everything about Earth, let alone the name of every single city in every single state in the US.

Iris squatted down above the coordinates' image. "Barstow's in southern California. A couple of hours from where we are now," she said. "Do you think that's where the next shard is?" she asked Ratchet.

Ratchet made a thoughtful sound. "It would stand to reason so," he admitted. "The shards are all parts of the same whole, so it would make sense that they could lead us to each other," he added to Optimus.

The light beams from Optimus's eyes evaporated as he bent down and handed the shard back to Iris for safekeeping, nodding towards Ratchet in acknowledgement; Iris was quickly learning that Optimus was a bot of few words when words were not needed.

Not long after he and Ratchet both returned to their vehicle forms without another word. As all of the cars started up, Iris ran back to Bumblebee's side and climbed into the driver's seat. As soon as her door shut, the bots were off, following Bumblebee and Optimus back to the main road, towards Barstow and the next Cube shard.

For the first half of the drive there, Iris and Bee remained silent again. But after a time, her curiosity regarding her grandfather and his relationship with the Autobots began to swarm her mind with questions. However, Bumblebee couldn't speak very well, except when using the radio; how far in a conversation would that get him? Not to mention Iris didn't want to try and force him to 'speak' too much. She knew that they were robots, but already she had seen that they could feel, think, and speak for themselves. They made conscious decisions and were capable of experiencing pain.

Instead she turned the radio on and tried something different.  "Hey, Bee, is there any way for you to patch a comm. link to Optimus while you guys are in car mode?"

"-bzzt- It's not impossible," was the phrase he chose to respond with.

So she waited for a few moments until Optimus's voice filled the Camaro's interior. "Did you have a question?"

"Would it be too much to ask if I wanted you to tell me about my grandfather?" she asked tentatively.

Optimus was silent for a time, long enough that Iris wondered if the connection had died. But soon enough his voice came through.

"Sam was…different," he started. "He held a unique ability to accept the situation as it was, and saw us as friends rather than weapons that could be used for war."

"People saw you that way?" she interrupted in astonishment.

She imagined him nodding. "There were some, but I learned to accept human nature for what it was. I had anticipated that some would fear us, while others would take more interest in uncovering our secrets in weaponry to further their own wars; because your race is not unlike our own.

"Of course, there were times when Sam would prefer to continue as normal an existence as he could, without interference from us. I did not blame him for it. Freedom of choice is a right given to all sentient life forms. But still he remained our ally, and I do not doubt that without him many more of us and of your race would have died. He saved more than he was given credit for."

"There were others here?"

Optimus was silent again, and Iris rethought her question.

"D-don't answer that," she evaded. "So, did…did my grandfather ever save your life, Optimus?"

He didn't hesitate this time. "Yes."

Iris smiled, feeling somewhat relieved. Hearing Optimus say that assured her that even a human as insignificant as her (in comparison to the Autobots) could do something helpful. She'd been worried going into this, despite Optimus's reassurance that they truly did need her help. To hear than someone like her grandfather had been an asset to a marvel as large as the Autobots gave her hope that along the way, she'd be able to contribute something to this mission besides giving road directions.

"Optimus? Earlier you mentioned someone named Megatron, that he was the leader of the Decepticons. …What kind of bot was he?" she asked, very much hesitant. The subject itself seemed to be a touchy one for Optimus Prime.

Nonetheless, he answered her. But the answer given was one she had not expected to hear. "A misguided one," was all he said. Then the connection was terminated.

Bee's robotic whirring came through the radio instead of some line from a movie or a random radio broadcast of unknown origin. He seemed to prefer using that then trying to use voices that weren't his own.

And it translated to: 'Did you get the answers you wanted?'

Iris shrugged and sighed, pulling her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, settling her chin atop her knees. "Sort of," she murmured in reply, and then they both fell silent.

And they stayed silent until Barstow was in sight.