Chapter Text
“Shitshitshit-” you were knocked off your feet as another round of gunfire shook the ground around you. There was a shriek of tearing metal somewhere off to your left, pumping another wave of adrenaline through your veins.
This was supposed to be a nice, relaxing trip to Sierra Nevada with your friends, not whatever this was. The brochure certainly hadn’t advertised GIANT FREAKING ROBOTS blocking your path. Now, as you sprinted down the mountainside, heedless of any rocks falling down behind you, you were glad you thought ahead to bring hiking boots and not wear sneakers like your friends had, because now you had to outrun said giant freaking robots.
You were lucky that this particular hiking trail wasn’t steep, as it made escaping from this mess a whole lot easier. You weren’t sure where your friends were; you had been separated from them when the first robot, a giant red-white-and-blue one with wings, had landed ahead of your group. The four of you had scattered when it began firing at random trees, though you vaguely remembered one of them shouting about meeting back up at the campsite.
That train of thought was brought to a halt when a dark shape darted out of the woods in front of you. You yelped and stumbled back when it turned its glowing red eyes on you, stalking closer. It looked like a big cougar, aside from the fact that it was made out of metal and had rockets on its hind hips.
You continued to take small steps backwards as the feline robot slinked forward to match your pace. You didn’t register the sound of rocks shifting behind you over your heart pounding in your ears.
“Ravage: Cease and desist,” a cold, robotic voice ordered from behind you. You froze in your tracks, whipping around just in time to see another giant robot—a navy blue and white one this time—reach down to pick you up.
You gasped, “Fuck,” before turning to sprint off into the woods. You almost made it, too, until a metal bird swooped down over your head and grabbed you by the shoulders. You clung to the bird’s legs as you were lifted into the air, then found the air knocked from your lungs when your back hit something solid and cold.
Said solid and cold surface turned out to be the robot’s hand; realization hitting you as it closed its fingers around your torso. You couldn’t help the small sound of fear that left you when you looked up and met the robot’s gaze. It didn’t have a face; why would it? Maybe that one from before was an outlier-
“Designation?” it asked in that same robotic voice as before, calling your attention back to it. You didn’t know if it was a question or a statement, but it seemed to be waiting for an answer.
“What?” Your heart was still pounding in your chest. You faintly wondered if the robot could feel the vibrations against its hand.
“Designation?” it asked again, and its voice almost seemed to have an inquisitive quality to it, if that was even possible.
You blinked, then said your name. This seemed to satisfy it, as it nodded in response, then turned to look back up the hill you had scrambled down earlier. You followed its gaze and saw the one with wings from earlier fighting a shorter yellow robot.
As you slowly calmed down, you realized that you were surprisingly unhurt. With your adrenaline now subsiding and rational thought shining through, you remembered hearing something about giant alien robots on the radio while watching your younger siblings. They had asked if they could see the robots, to which you replied no; it would be too dangerous.
Seemed you were something of a hypocrite now, clinging tightly to the blue robot’s thumb as it began striding back up the mountainside once the other two robots retreated. The metal bird that had picked you up settled on the big canon-looking thing on the robot’s shoulder, watching you with curious red eyes. You met its gaze for a while before glancing back at the big robot, then to the ground where the cougar—Ravage, if you remembered correctly—was keeping pace.
You were being taken back up to where your hike had first been interrupted. There was significantly less noise now, though if you watched the forest past the trail, you could see the trees shuddering, implying the fight had simply moved.
A gasp escaped you as you suddenly and quickly lost a lot of altitude. You’d never admit it, but it took a few seconds of struggling before you realized the robot was setting you down. Once it deemed you close enough to the ground, it opened its fist and you tumbled out in a heap, a rather undignified yelp leaving you.
You quickly stood up, dusting the dirt off your pants and shirt before looking up at the robot inquisitively.
“Thank you, I think,” you shouted, unsure if it would be able to hear you all the way down here.
It nodded in acknowledgement. “Thanks: Not needed, but welcome. Civilian casualties: Counterproductive to the Decepticon cause.”
Decepticon… Weren’t those the bad guys? You glanced down at the blue robot’s chest, catching sight of a purple blot you couldn’t quite make out. You tried to focus in on it, but the robot turned to walk away.
Before you could stop yourself, you blurted, “What’s your name?”
The robot paused, looking back at you in a way that felt almost surprised, despite the lack of facial features to confirm your assumption.
“Designation: Soundwave.”
Soundwave. That name sounded familiar. A high-ranking Decepticon, if your memory was to be believed, which it usually wasn’t. What was it—he, you corrected internally—doing here?
“Is there a reason you’re out here on this day in particular?” you couldn’t help but ask.
Soundwave fully turned to face you now, kneeling down to get closer to your level. “Query: Why?” He almost sounded amused.
You shrugged. “Call me curious.”
He contemplated this for a second, giving the bird long enough to hop off his shoulder and eye you up and down a few times.
“Laserbeak: Cease and desist,” Soundwave chided. The bird lowered its head and stepped back a bit.
He looked back at you. “Scans: Revealed large amounts of natural hydrocarbons below the mountain. Hydrocarbons: Good for making into energon. Energon: Our lifeblood.”
“What, so like, oil? Coal? You’re gonna mine under a national park?”
Soundwave tilted his head. “Query: What is a national park?”
“A protected nature reserve! If you started mining whatever is below the mountain, it could destroy the park!”
He seemed to consider this. “Mining: Would cause loss of support from humans?”
“Most of us, anyway. And the heartless ones who don’t care would be mad that you got to take the resources before they did.” You mumbled that last part, not intending for Soundwave to hear it. He did anyway, but didn’t comment on it. He was aware of the state of Earth’s geopolitical scene; he had to be.
“Soundwave: Will order a retreat and bring up your concern with Lord Megatron. National Parks: Will be avoided in the future. Human support: Top priority.”
With that, he stood to his full height. Laserbeak squawked and flew up to perch on his shoulder again, while Ravage startled you by rubbing up against you like a cat. You instinctively ran your hand over its back, unable to stop your smile when you felt it purr.
“Laserbeak, Ravage: Transform,” Soundwave ordered. A strange sound came from both the smaller robots, and your eyes widened as they changed shape and jumped into Soundwave’s chest-window-thing. It briefly crossed your mind that they looked like big cassette tapes.
Transformers, you thought. That’s what they’re called.
You watched Soundwave take off, somehow, despite the lack of any kind of thrusters whatsoever. He rocketed off like Superman, even had his arms out in front of him and everything. You imagined him in a red cape and chuckled.
“Maybe I should start paying more attention to these Transformer people…” you thought aloud as you walked down the trail back to your campsite where your friends were hopefully waiting for you.