Chapter Text
The first thing Kira thought when she saw the jet outside her garage was that her cousin, Franklin, had finally gone and grown a sense of humor.
He was the only person she knew in the area with access to that kind of hardware. He probably had a high enough rank to do it. But would he?
No, that didn't seem like the kind of prank Franklin would pull if he actually were going to pull a prank. He was far too straight-laced, serious, and law-abiding to “borrow” a military vehicle to park outside her garage for a laugh.
Maybe there was a logical reason? She couldn't think of one off the top of her head beyond maybe they needed to borrow some parking space to store the thing. Surely they didn't think she could work on the thing! Sure, she was a mechanic but her most complex projects were dented ATVs and that singing animatronic mouse she'd been working on before she noticed the jet.
Well, she wasn't going to figure out the mystery jet by staring at it from inside her garage. Kira walked outside and over to the jet. There was a sound behind her best described as “vworp” and she froze as a massive shadow fell over her.
There was a hand. Reaching for her.
The hand was as big as she was. Just the hand. The rest of the... the thing... was even bigger. It was taller than her garage!
Most details blurred in sheer panic, but she saw black and purple plating and red, red eyes and it was reaching towards her and she should have run but her legs decided to lock up instead.
The hand wrapped around her middle, holding her in a tight vice from her chest to her knees. She scrabbled at the index finger as it lifted her high into the air. The plating of the finger joints was smooth and warm from the desert sun. She didn't think she could hold on if it decided to let go but she tried anyway.
Panic threatened to choke her and held her in a grip tighter than the robot's. She shivered and swallowed down a whimper before it could become a scream. Screaming might annoy it. Struggling definitely would. She had to hold still and stay quiet. It was always better to be still and quiet when someone bigger had you in their grip.
The hand stopped moving, and she realized she was being held up to its face. Up close, she could see the tiny mechanisms of the glowing crimson eyes. That was interesting enough to flatten her terror for a brief flicker of time. She watched the lens adjust and narrow to focus on her, minute adjustments remarkably similar to a human's pupil.
“This is your facility?” the robot demanded.
“Yes,” Kira answered, her voice barely a squeak. What did a giant robot want with her little garage?
“You are a mechanic?” the robot asked.
“Yes, but-”
Kira wasn't able to finish her protest before she was plopped into the cockpit of the mystery fighter jet and the canopy lowered over her head. A five-point harness secured itself over her chest and the jet took off, taking a much shorter path than she thought it should have to get airborne. Kira yelped, and a voice from the speaker growled at her.
“Quiet, human.”
Okay, this jet was probably a robot, too. That made sense. Sort of. She knew what had her, anyway. They were called Transformers. She'd seen a documentary about them. They came from space, crashed into a volcano a long, long time ago, and had been... asleep, or something. And then the volcano erupted and nearly buried a town and the robots woke up. And some of them were helpful and saved the town, and some of them were trying to kill the others and kept taking over power plants and oil rigs and stuff. Sometimes you saw them fighting on the news. She'd never paid much attention. It was just another thing about the outside world that she didn't understand or want any part of.
So what did two giant, transforming robot jets want with her? She was nobody! Just a mechanic, and barely a real one of those. She repaired antique animatronic teddy bears and ski-dos!
Kira clapped a hand over her mouth to keep any sound from squeaking out and annoying the robot. She watched the sky rush by overhead through the canopy and wondered where they were taking her, and why. Hopefully, if she stayed quiet and cooperative they wouldn't hurt her, and maybe she could find a chance to sneak off. From the angle of the sun, they were flying out into the desert. That was good. She knew the desert; knew hiding places and shelters and where to find food and water.
The plane landed after a few minutes. She wasn't sure what speed they'd been flying, but they would have to be miles and miles into the desert now. The canopy popped open and the other robot plucked her out of the cockpit to drop her onto the sand.
“Do not attempt to flee,” the robot ordered while the blue, jet-shaped one made a weird sound and... transformed. Huh. That was interesting. If she weren't so terrified she'd be fascinated by the process.
“'Kay,” Kira meeped.
The black and purple jet robot pointed and Kira turned to look at a rock outcropping.
“Go,” the blue one ordered. So, Kira walked around the outcropping to find a third giant alien robot.
Only, this one was a lot less scary and a lot more mangled and... unconscious? Was that the word? Hurt, definitely. It was red, blue, and silver, with the same wings as the other two but twisted and dented. Something hissed and sparked around the chest and joints. There was an awful grinding, whining sound like someone struggling to breathe. Did giant robots breathe?
Kira looked from the damaged (injured?) robot to the two kidnapper robots. Surely they didn't think...
“Repair our trinemate,” the blue one instructed. “Now.”
They did think.