T R A N Q U I L I T Y

~

"Dude, are you sure we're invited to this party?"

"It's a lake, it's public property,"

"Yeah, but are we invited?"

"We've stooped to a new low."

"Yeah, I know, stop making my ego deflate even further."

"We're spying on kids, Ash, Kids! AKA, dumb, horny teenagers."

"I'll have you know, that we were dumb, horny teenagers, too, once."

"Well, how do you know? Maybe I'm immortal, and always been this handsome?"

"Your mother showed me your baby album, Aaron," She turned from her binoculars to smirk at the now frowning pilot, "I've seen your baby butt; it was so shiny, I think your mum oiled your butt for your photoshoot."

Aaron stared at her, and disbelieving look in his eyes.

"I hate you, so much right now."

"Mmmm, you love me," and she smirked again, victorious, and turned back to her binoculars.

"Ya know what, you've had those binos for so long, let me have a go!"

"What are you, a child? Besides, you fucking called them binos; I'm never giving you them now," the Colonel scoffed, not even taking her gaze off of the boy.

"Fuck you, everyone calls them binos!"

"No one calls them binos."

"Fuck you, and your binos."

"I will literally throw you out of the window if you call them that again."

"Binos. Fuck you." Aaron grumbled, and took our his phone to go on his camera and use the shitty zoom on it and watch the boy through that.

"You are literally using a flip phone to zoom in while spying. How do I know you. Why did I even bring the camera which literally has the best zoom in the fucking cosmos, and you decide to use the flip phone."

"Like I said, fuck you."

The Colonel scoffed again, putting on the headset which was attached to a speaker receiver, capable of listening precisely to the conversation of the teenage boy. She smiled at his 'argument' with the jock in front of the girl he liked - It's like a fucking American high school underdog story, what is this shit?

"Hey, listen to this, the kid is dumb but he's a fucking genius," and passed a headphone to Aaron.

"No,I was uh, researching a book I was writing,"

"What was it about, sucking at sports?" the thick-headed jock snickers to his friends. It was a fucking weak comeback, but the dumbass didn't notice, or didn't care at least.

"No, it's uh, about the link between brain damage and football." And the boy smirks, knowing he won that one. Aaron cackles. Ash shushes him, but she has a smile too.

"You and your friends'll love it, it's got pop-up pictures and little colouring sections, a whole lot of fun -"

"That's real funny," But the jock wasn't amused.

"Why don't we have popcorn, this is a fucking comedy!" Aaron burst into laughter, Ash shushes him again with a snicker.

"Alright, that's enough," just as the Jock stepped up to the boy, the girl jumped in, cutting the jock's line of view easily. Ash was impressed, that girl has had to deal with more shit than she would ever admit, as much as the googly-eyed boys would never care to ask, but Ash could tell.

"I like that girl, she's good."

"Hmmm, her?"

This time, Ash handed Aaron the binoculars.

He held them up and watched, as well as listened to the conversation between the jock and the girl, and he, too, was quickly impressed.

"Why don't you hop in the back seat, like my little bunny?" The jock smirked, thinking it was hot or something.

Mikaela's smile dropped into a sarcastic one, "Oh, I can't tell you how much I'm not your little bunny." Before stalking off, leaving the blond bimbo in the dust.

"Oh, er, c-call me! She'll call me." Nope, she won't.

Aaron whistled, "I can see why; she's strong. She's not even hiding it, it's just that those dumb kids are too blind to see it."

"Mmmmhmmm."

The Colonel had a thoughtful look on her face, her index finger tapping against her chin in thought.

"If she sticks around, I bet she'll be the one thing apart, from the Autobots, keeping that boy alive."

"Yep," Aaron popped the p, nodding, "Here's to hoping she'll stick around long enough," Before taking a swig from a water bottle.

The Colonel looked back at the boy, who was arguing with his friend about the girl-he-likes walking home.

And noticed something about the Camaro.

"Hey, A?"

"Yeah, A?"

"That Camaro, you know how it's been bugging me for the past day since the boy got it?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I know why," as the Colonel stared at the Camaro's grill where a Chevy insignia usually would be.

She took out the camera and zoomed into it.

"Fucking bingo."

"What?"

"That Camaro is an Autobot," She exclaimed, excitement flooding her, as she took the photo and showed it to Aaron, who knew what he was looking at after seeing Ashara's drawings when she was explaining everything to him.

"Fucking bingo, is right, Ash!" Aaron cheered, shaking her shoulder, "That Camaro was creeping me out anyways, after that fiasco at the car dealership.

"Yeah," the Colonel muttered out, still filled with excitement, and had begun fiddling with the spy-receiver, "And I think I know which one, too."

"What are you doing?"

"Repurposing."

Ash closed the wiring box and slapped it to work.

"Ha ha!"

Aaron looked at her, slightly worried, as usual.

"Now, watch!" she put one headphone in her ear, the other in Aaron's, and held up a rudimentary microphone, which was her phone, plugged into the receiver, pointing it at the Camaro in the distance, "Newton, meet Tesla!"

She held up her phone, the microphone towards her mouth, and spoke once, clearly.

"Bumblebee!"

Through the binoculars, Aaron watched as the Camaro jumped slightly on its suspension, with Miles panicking slightly inside - While it was parked.

"What the fuck."

Ash was laughing, "Yeah!"

She held up the microphone again, "Bumblebee! B-127!"

The Camaro jumped again, as if panicked, and its front wheels slightly swiveled, and the headlamps flickered slightly.

In the distance, they could hear Miles scream.

"GHOST CAR! DUDE! Your car is fucking HAUNTED!"

And had jumped out of the car with little hesitation, and Sam saw his chance to pick up Mikaela, momentarily forgetting/omitting what just happened, leaving his friend in his tire spin.

"Those kids are so dumb, but that was hilarious."

"Look how quickly he abandoned his friend!"

"I kinda feel sorry for him, looked at that kicked puppy face."

"Uhhh, Camaro Autobot, driving away?"

"Oh shit yeah," And Ash quickly started her car, a cheap rental, and peeled out of the area from their hilltop hideout, hopping back down onto the main road, in order to follow after the kid, who actually got the girl.

"I'm...impressed?"

"Girl's got guts, she knows a good boy when she sees one."

Aaron laughed, and they peeled away into the night.

~

They were parked across the street, two houses away from Sam's house.

"Thank god this car has darkened windows," Aaron muttered from their makeshift bed in the backseat, keeping away from the front seat windows, or any lights inside the car.

"Neighbourhood watch in these suburbias can be such a pain; paranoid white people."

"But you are a white people, Aaron."

"Exactly."

Ash just sighed, and nestled down, wrapped in blankets just like Aaron; even though they moved the front seats as far forward as possible, her tall frame was squished nonetheless.

They sat in comfortable silence, considering the past few hectic days.

"I feel like something is gonna happen tonight," Aaron muttered forebodingly.

"Yeah," Ash stared out of the car window, gazing at the moon and stars above, "Me too."

"Autobots don't seem the patient type to me."

Ash snorted, "They're really not."

It was quiet again, for a while, when Aaron broke the silence again.

"So, how do you know all of this anyway?"

"It's kinda a long story."

"We got a little while."

Ash sighed, she knew she couldn't keep this away from Aaron; she involved, she might as well tell him.

"I was born in Singapore, to rich parents from China, and spent my childhood in Singapore before moving to the UK to finish my school days in University in Britain. I lived there, until my parents decided to split, so I stayed with Mum in England, and Dad moved to France."

Aaron sat quietly; this was a rare opportunity, the Colonel talking about her life.

"The thing is, my time in England was spent slightly weirdly; there was an old man, acquainted with my parents, and old friends with my favourite Grandma. He was strange, and lived in a castle too, and had an old tank and a weird metal Grandfather clock, but my parents trusted him, so that was enough for me. When Grandmama came to England, she took me to his castle when my parents went to work, and we stayed for dinner and tea. They caught up, laughed, as I sat on the old sofa reading a book, I can't remember what it was now, but I remember I liked it."

Ashara paused, gazing longingly at the mood.

"I remember, him taking us on a tour of his home, the castle and I loved it, it was a castle, what's there not to love. But we kept 'exploring', until we reached a huge hall, and in that hall, in the centre, was a large, round table."

She smiled lackadaisically at Aaron, him enamored in her storytelling.

"This table was filled with so many wonders, so many secrets. It was made of an old, trustworthy, dense metal, accented with great oak wood; a gorgeously carved mix of Earth and Cybertron, it was the Round Table from Arthurian legend. Turns out, the Cybertronians have been across our Earth since before the dinosaurs, and our planets are so inextricably linked that the worlds would be forever intertwined, in life or in death.

Why, only the God's know now.

But Grandmama and the old man told me what it was, my young mind running wild with imagination. They also told me, who I was. I was what was called a 'Guardian', chosen by a 'Knight', with or without my knowing, my destiny was said to be one of a protector, of life and the truth. I was chosen by Primus, their 'God', their creator, and their Primes, which passed onto one of the Knights, which was passed down to me, the rightful owner,"

She rolled up her sleeve, revealing a metal vein of sorts, slither down her arm and onto her hand, melding with her limb, forming an intricate metal skin that shimmered blue with power and old Energon.

", of this. The symbol of the Guardians, specifically the Guardian of the Truth. Primus had planned for my existence, sort of, and it was my Grandmama's job to prepare me for it, and boy did she prepare me! From then, after receiving this, the old man introduced me, to Cybertronians. His Grandfather clock, Cogman (his butler, assigned to his family line for the past 700 or so years), and his tank, his Bentley, and his pocket watch. The Bentley, Hot Rod, was especially funny, he's been trying to rid himself of his french accent that he had recieved when he landed in France and fought alongside the French and the Poles in World War 2. When he transformed, I jumped because it was so sudden, and so flamboyant, that he panicked and apologised to me in French, and was pleased to hear when I responded back, fluently, might I add."

She chuckled warmly at her memories.

"My parents grew further apart, and I had mostly lived with my Grandmama, who found it incredibly important that I learn the traditional Chinese Four Arts, as well as Martial Arts and mathematics, like computer coding. She raised me with a firm, loving hand, and as I grew taller, stronger, smarter, I knew what I wanted to do. As much as I had grown distant with my mother, which she admitted was her own fault, she understood what I wanted, what I needed. My father, was not as pleased. I had decided to join the army, and as much as Grandmama and Mum feared for my safety, they knew I wouldn't die without my permission first, as they said. And so, for years, I trained, worked, rose above my station. I became a medic, then a Medical Officer, then I became an Evac Pilot. And, alongside my Guardianship, I, as well as the army, had discovered my potential with working in intelligence, and by God did I thrive."

Ashara stopped talking, a contented smile on her face.

"And now?"

"And now, I'm here. With my Cybertronian assignment, I knew my life would never be quiet, so I had met Autobots, friends, as well as many foes, along the way. And I had killed most of them too, as they Decepticons I met either wanted to harm Humans, or myself. And it was how I met Bumblebee."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, Summer of 1986, Bee crash-landed, and ended up being repaired after being hunted down, by a young woman by the name of Charlie. I was 16, on 'holiday' to America with Mum and Grandmama, and Charlie was 17, turning 18. To say we had more than an intimate night together would be saying the least."

Aaron choked on his drink, and she chuckled, handing him a tissue, which he took gratefully.

"Yeah, I'm demisexual," Ash smirked, "I was kinda pan at one point, but maybe I was just horny."

This time, Aaron cackled.

Ash let herself chuckle before a light down the street quickly sobered her from her memory pub.

"Hey, look," And she pointed down the street, where headlamps on low power began bouncing around.

"That's Sam's house."

"Then it's either Sam on a midnight rendezvous or it's Bumblebee mobilizing."

The Camaro fairly quietly rolled out of the back garden, and drove past them down the street, too dark to see the interior.

But the crazed teenager on his bike racing after the Camaro told them everything they needed to know.

"Pretty sure it's the latter."

"Uhuh," Ash muttered, rolling unceremoniously into the front seat and starting the engine.

"I'm just gonna sit tight, for now!"

"Uhuh, you do that," she grumbled, putting the car into gear and zooming after the Boy and his Ghost Camaro.

~

The Colonel and the Pilot left the car in a shed and put on their black hoodies.

With hoods on, shrowding their features in darkness, they crept in the shadows, following the footsteps of the boy they were, technically, stalking.

"I feel like such a pedo, right now."

"Shut up, Aaron, you're making me feel like I'm a weirdo."

"But you are one!"

"But you're with me, so you're a weirdo, too! Ha!"

"Shut up."

"No, you, shut up!"

"No, you!"

"Shit! Down," and they ducked behind a wall as a light almost caught their figures.

In the glare of the powerful LED, Ash could make out a titanous humanoid figure, and internally squealed.

"Aaron!" She pointed to the figure standing on the beam in the distance, "Your first Cybertronian!"

She smiled at him, watching as he peeked over their little wall to see Bumblebee, in all his glory, standing proud in a florescent silhouette.

"Woah..."

"Yes, my friend," Ash was positively beaming, as strong as the beacon that the Autobot shot into the sky, staring at the familiar yellow lad, "Woah, indeed."

"W-what's he doing?"

If the Sun was any brighter, it still wouldn't beat the smile on the Colonel's face.

The familiar, comforting, square-like face was the highlight of the sky, as well as the Colone's day

"He's calling the others."

"ET fucking phone home, alright," Aaron barely whispered out, entranced at the being before him.

They watched as the bot disappeared after shining a light on a different spot, so they turned their attention, only to find, scrambling in the distance, a lanky boy being chased by a pair of robust guard dogs that had broken off of their chains.

"You have got to be kidding me."

"I'm surprised he even caught up to his car."

They left, but didn't go in the direction of the 'chosen one'; they could already hear the sirens in the distance.

They were technically trespassing private property.

Instead, they wandered off to find the Yellow Ghost, knowing that he was probably going to go after the boy. Find one of them, you find the other; those two were stuck together until further notice, whether they knew it or not.

They caught up to the Camaro, watching it crash through planks of wood into the old domed tent thing, roaring his engine, scaring away the dogs inside.

The dogs ran right past them, whimpering in fear and not even noticing them.

And soon, a screaming child also ran out of the tent, and straight into the cops.

"Shit, down!" was whispered before the cops' searchlight landed on them.

They watched everything play out through a gap in the wall, feeling slightly sorry for the frustrated, confused (and perhaps heartbroken) boy.

Behind them, they could hear a low, purring engine roll by them, escaping from the scene of the crime.

Hearts skipping, they stayed still, lest the bot see them.

But the Camaro just paused, peeking out from behind a wall, also stopping to watch the drama play out, before whirring and quietly driving away and then speeding when he got to the street, roaring off into the night.

The two in black could finally breathe.

"Wait, why the hell am I so scared of him finding us? We're gonna have to meet them at some point anyways?"

"I have no fucking clue; I panicked because you panicked."

Aaron stared incredulously at his tall friend, before shrugging, "Fair point."

The Colonel huffed and jumped up.

"Come on, let's go. I suspect Bee is going to appear once again before Sam, and then the real shit starts."

"Ok."

And so, the pair of hoodied spies stole away, back into the shadows.

~

The next morning, the rental car was parked back on its spot on the curb.

In the back seat, two crumpled figures slept. The taller woman had her head bent back in the gap between the back seat headrest, mouth slightly open and snoring peaceful, and her legs pressed against her thighs, with one arm stretched across the back seats and the other slumped beside her.

Slumped on her involuntarily, was the figure of a smaller man, head on her lap, his body bent awkwardly like a cat.

Suddenly, zooming down the road, at 5pm, a red chevy roared down the peaceful suburbia, speeding well over 100, with a wailing pair of cops cars on his tail.

The sudden roar and screech woke the duo with a scream and a groan.

"Ahhhh, Shit!" The Colonel hissed, holding her head.

The Pilot groaned from his position, his whole body aching with cricks. He had hit his forehead on the woman's knees when she had jumped at the sound, and she had equally bruised her own forehead, smashing it into the car roof.

"I fink you bwoke my twooth," Came the quiet, sad mumble from the man clutching his face.

"Ah, fuck, sorry..." The Colonel groaned, holding her neck in one hand and the other resting on the man's shoulder, trying to be comforting, "Fucking idiots it's like 2 in the morning."The Pilot checked his phone, after fishing out his phone from his pockets, somewhat entangled in his own limbs, "Fuck, it's 5:06."

"Shit."

"My mouth hurts..."

"...Sorry."

They sat in silence, the sleep catching up to them again. Despite the discomfort and pain the two were feeling, it was still comfortable enough to fall asleep again - I've slept in much worse.

"We've been compromised."

The words startled the Colonel, context or otherwise, and looked down at the Pilot to see him staring at his screensaver.

Of his fellow pilots...

...From Qatar.

The Colonel could feel herself choke a bit.

Everything that had happened, it was barely two days ago.

"We are, aren't we?" Was all she could say, letting her head fall back to stare at the grungy felt ceiling of the rental.

"...We should get up, shouldn't we?"

"We should."

The man groaned, the pain in his face dulled by the pain in his heart, but started to sit up.

He gathered his blanket and rolled in like a gerbil into the front seat.

The Colonel sighed and just did the same, rolling into the driver's seat, before blinking.

"Oh yeah, I forgot that Americans drive on the wrong side of the road."

Aaron glared at her, "There are literally like 5 or something other countries in the world that drive from the left-hand side, so fuck you, you guys are the weird ones."

Ash just smirked and fixed her bed head in the car mirror.

"You look like a cat dragged your rat-corpse out of a dumpster and ate you then shit you out because you were a rotten corpse."

"Thanks, you don't look too bad yourself."

Aaron huffed, "I'm a goddamn saint."

"A horrifyingly devilish one, too, very chic, much edgy."

Aaron snorted - if there was anything that could make my heart feel less heavy, it was Ash's dumbass humour.

The Colonel gently smiled - At least his expression is clearing, though his eyes are a different story.

The two just sighed and waited.

For what?

"AHHHHH! STOP FOLLOWING ME!"

That.

"Ahh, the birds are chirping."

Followed by a yellow rusty driving on the sidewalk, after the boy on his mother's bicycle.

"And here come the bees."

Aaron snickered, "Heh, birds and the bees."

Ash chuckled, "I think the boy is rubbing his dumb on us, the longer we're around him.

"We should probably go after them."

Ash just calmly peeled away from the sidewalk, and drove towards the town, and their panicked target.

They were passing in front of a Burger King.

"Oh hey look, it's that chick, Mikaela, the girl-he-likes," Aaron pointed it out as the girl group in front of the fast-food joint caught his eye while he was watching out for the boy-on-his-mothers-bike.

"Oh, and look who's coming down the corner," Ash nodded her head at her wing mirror, and 

Aaron looked.

"Uhuh..."

The boy-on-his-mothers-bike was going too fast on the sidewalk, looking over his shoulder. He didn't notice the broken sidewalk until he flipped over it.

"Ooooh," The two winced simultaneously, watching the drama unfold in their wing mirror as they got stuck in the morning commute.

"What is this, a high school movie? What the hell are the chances of her seeing him this late in the day?"

"Well, it is a small town..." Ash muttered, tapping her finger against the steering wheel, watching her mirrors and front view for a certain Yellow Camaro.

"Some folks just got way too much time in their hands..." Aaron muttered, slumping in his seat with a sigh, watching the boy race off. They were still stuck in traffic. Curious, he looked back at Mikaela and his eyes widened.

"Hey, look at this, the girl is following the boy."

"That's news," Ash replied, surprised. But then she also saw something she didn't particularly find comfortable.

Past the traffic, at the junction, a muscle car, a Mustang cop car, avoided the traffic on the main street and drove off around the block.

It was just a cop car, and of course they were 'stalking' some kids, it was nothing a simple cop could know, they were too careful.

But...something is off about it.

It. She realised she was talking about the car, not the cop, and as the car disappeared, she could finally tear her eyes away, and her eyes subconsciously flickered to the artifact that was hidden in her sleeve.

It felt...strange, like it knew something.

Aaron was shaking her, "Ash!"

She darted her gaze away - It knows something I should know.

"The traffic's moving," Aaron pointed to in front of her, and she nodded, starting the car, but he was looking at her worried, "Are you ok? You see something?"

She stared out to nothing, gazing, looking past at something no one else could see.

"...I think we have another problem."

Aaron's gaze hardened, "What problem?"

"A Con problem."

The Pilot sucked in a sharp breath, and tried to look around him at where the Colonel was staring, "Close?"

"Close. But they drove around the block, avoiding the traffic. I think they know Sam is here. I think they're looking for what we're looking for, something that Sam has."

"And are we any closer to finding what he has?"

"Yeah," Aaron looked at her surprised, "Yeah, I've been researching our kid; he's got a Facebook, MySpace, the lot, but, he's also got an eBay page, selling his Grandfather's artifacts, good shit, too, if he got it properly appraised, the dumbass, but what else do I find? His great-great-Grandfather is the one and fucking only, Archibald Witwicki. Everything you need to know is in the file in my backpack."

Aaron wasted no time to reach for her bag in the back seat, and fish out the thick manila folder, with multiple sticky notes sticking out of its edges. He gave her a look - research? Really?

"Sorry! I forgot to tell you, I only just got them recently, when I dropped by the city archive - you went to the toilet, what else was I meant to do? Sit around?"

Aaron stared at her with that look of his, before sighing and opening the folder. She stayed silent as she let him look, but she could see in her mirror how every page he turned, his face turned paler and his expression more vaguely haunted.

"Yeah..." Ash sighed, finally the traffic and turning off the main street, searching down a road where she saw a glimpse of the boy-on-his-mothers-bike, but swore when she spotted the cop car coming the opposite way as her, and neutralised her facial features, "Put the fucking folder down."

Aaron quickly shoved the folder down and stared carefully at the cop car that passed them, watching the decals or details of the car to try and get any clues.

Everything about it was a normal Nevadan cop car, until he saw the badge on the side.

His eyes quickly averted, as if the sight burned his eyes.

"Definitely a Decepticon," His body trying not to shiver when it felt like the Con was staring right back.

Meanwhile, Ash had accidentally caught the eyes of the man within.

Her body remained still, but her soul shook.

Something was different, so indescribably, horribly different about this Con, to the point that she was unsure if her heart was still beating because of the strange things she was feeling from her artifact, and from her mind.

"Yeah..."

Her eyes drifted to her wing mirror, watching the Con drive away, seeing the horrifying message on his side.

'To Punish and Enslave.

"Definitely a Con."