(See the end of the chapter for notes .)

Chapter Text

The park was quiet, peaceful and to the two lovestruck women enjoying each other, the perfect place to lay in each other’s arms.

One of them was five feet and six inches tall, slender, and had long red hair, past her shoulders and neck, had with a thin hairband keeping her hair from messing with her eyes. She was wearing her glasses, a sweater, some leggings and a skirt with it’s length past her knees, along with a new pair of sneakers with her colorful socks.

The other woman was an inch or two shorter than her, had her hair in a grown-out pixie cut. Her outfit was similar but less feminine than her partner’s, instead of a skirt and leggings she wore jeans.

“This is a beautiful night, don’t you think Lena?” the taller one asked.

“Not as beautiful as you, Emily.” the shorter replied.

They held each other close, gazing at the night sky as they sat on a park bench wiped free of snow.

There were not much stars in the sky, as they were still in the city. The light pollution wasn’t that bad as their friend Mordecai kept claiming it was, they knew he was just mad about sacrificing his stargazing in order to live in Washington, DC with his fiancée, to which Emily thought ‘Mordy and Hannah both have screws in their head loose, they’re perfect for each other...’, while Lena thought ‘he combined a pizza and a chicken into a sandwich, and used the gravy as dip, and then Hannah poured some Carolina Reaper powder on it, oh boy, they couldn’t breathe without feeling the heat the next day!’

They knew that the other was also thinking of their friend’s hilarious blunders, and that his wife-to-be would mix said shenanigans up a notch, and as they looked at each other, both giggled at the thought.

“He got good health insurance, that’s what,” Lena said, laying her head on the taller girl’s shoulder.

“Look!” Emily said.

The two women both saw several shooting stars streak in, rather inconsistent paths.

“That’s weird.” Lena wondered. “Amazing, yet weird.”

Emily’’s eyes widened as she noticed two fireballs headed right near their area. She hoped they would crash somewhere a bit farther away, until she felt a tug in her arm.

Lena pulled her entranced girlfriend out of the bench and ran to the side.

“Let’s strafe from their trajectory path!” she exclaimed as she let go of Emily and they both started to run.

They got to the exit where they parked near and Emily clicked their car open. Just as she got into the driving seat, with Lena waiting in shotgun, they got hit with an impact shockwave. Their car windows cracked, as did the other vehicles’ windows.

Emily got out of the car and headed to where the crash site was. Lena called out to her, “Wait, where are you going??”

“I’m going to get some space rocks for Madame Lacroix, she’s going to love it!” Emily said, running to the crash.

“How the heck did she get so fast?” Lena blurted out. “Oh, wait. I made her run that fast.”

She headed on to where her girlfriend was going, only to hear a shriek.

“Emily!” she said, running faster.

She got to the crash site, and saw Emily looking terrified.

“What’s wrong?”

Emily pointed to what’s up.

Two towering mechanical humanoids, one taller than the other, both having feminine figures. Both were winged, one, the shorter, had wings resembling an angel’s, while the taller, had wings with what look like jet thrusters on them.

The shorter one, colored in hues of white, accented by different shades of yellow, seemed to have a metal extension similar to a skirt, while the taller one, colored in vibrant blues and had yellow accents, had what look like large pauldrons. The former wore a halo, and wielded a staff, while the latter wore a helmet, and wielded something similar to a boom tube.

The taller, blue and yellow one, it’s eyes widened in what looks like panic, pointed the boom tube at the two, defensively calling out at them in some alien language. The shorter white and yellow one put its hand on the former’s shoulder, in what seemed to be a reassuring gesture.

Emily took out her phone in order to get a picture, which the shorter one in white and yellow took notice. She scanned the device, and Emily noticed that the robotic titan was accessing dictionaries and websites, closing them as fast as they are opened. As soon as she finished, the taller titan followed suit, to which she groaned, “What the heck?”

The two women waited for the robotic titans to finish, and then were taken aback when the taller one called to them.

“What planet is this?” the taller one’s voice sounded like it was a battle-hardened woman from Cairo or Alexandria.

“Earth,” Lena replied. “Planet Earth.”

“More like Planet Dirt.” the shorter one quipped as it wiped off soil from itself. “Don’t you have better terrain, like metallic elements?” The shorter one’s voice sounded like it was a busy and stressed woman, with a German accent.

“Why do you sound like, that?” Emily asked, directing the question to both of the robotic titans.

“We downloaded your kind’s languages thanks to that card you were holding.” the taller one asked.

“Ja. From something called the World Wide Web.” the shorter titan added.

“Do… you have names?” Lena asked.

“We forgot the simplest of formalities,” the shorter one barked.

“How were we to find out they weren’t hostile?” the taller one argued back.

“Mein Name ist Mercy. I am a field Medic, always with emergency medical Energon at the ready.” she said, twirling her staff.

“And I am Pharah, I am a Protector, given only one directive,” she said, turning to the medic. “To keep her safe.”

“What, are you?” Emily asked. “Some sort of alien robot species? Who made you?”

“We are autonomous robotic organisms,” the one called Pharah answered. “You can call us Autobots.”

“We hail from the Planet Cybertron.” Mercy added. “What’s left of it...”

“We wish to not be a bother to your kind.” Pharah continued. “All we need is to regroup with our ship, the Ark.” She paused. “After which, we will be gone.”

“In the meantime,” Mercy added. “Your metal transports will serve as disguise.”

Emily cocked her head. “How come?”

Lena asked, “In the first place, how are you able to hide inside vehicles when you’re enormous?” She pointed at Pharah and exclaimed, “I mean, look at you!”

The two robotic beings looked at each other. Mercy shrugged at Pharah, earning a sigh from her.

“Stand back.” Pharah said to Lena and Emily with a sigh.

To say the human women were shocked and astounded to what they’re seeing is most likely an understatement.

They watched in confusion as the robotic beings, Pharah and Mercy, were shifting and forming, changing and morphing.

“What are they doing?” Lena asked.

“They’re...” Emily answered, squinting. “Transforming?”

The sight lasted only a handful of seconds, but the human women thought it took hours. They were so intrigued by this ability that the alien robots were capable of that they didn’t even notice the resulting forms, what looks like an alien jet and an alien chopper, rise up and take altitude.

“Which one is Pharah? The blue one?” Emily asked her girlfriend.

“I’m guessing Mercy is the white one...” Lena answered in wonder.

“Hey!” Emily shouted to the alien jet and alien chopper. “Which one of you is which?”

The blue jet descended in a manner that few planes can do.

“Yes, this is Pharah.” the jet said. “Our colors do not change.”

The chopper form of Mercy descended as well. The side opened towards the two humans. “You are going with us. Serve as our guide for the… vehicles here.”

Pharah’s cockpit opened. “Take the back seat, or Primus help me,” she said in a commanding manner.

Emily got into the jet, while Lena, disgruntled, entered the chopper.

“Why do we have to be separate?” Lena asked, her temperament sour.

“So we’ll each have local guides when, no, if, in case we get separated,” Mercy answered. “Only in the near-impossible chance. Ever since Pharah has been assigned to guard me by none other than Centurion Prime himself, we were never separable.”

“That’s a good strong bond,” Lena said. “I can only look forward to my thing with Emily...”

“Are you some sort of conjunx endurae?” the medic asked.

“What?” Lena asked back.

“ Conjunx endurae . Sparkmates.” Mercy explained. She noticed the perplexed look on the human’s face and sighed. “Even upon downloading your languages and syntax, barriers exist. Now, where do I start?”

Meanwhile, Emily was getting impatient at what is taking so long.

“I thought you were some sort of jet.” she said. “Why are we slow?”

“Because Mercy isn’t some sort of jet.” the protector snapped. “And I won’t leave her side. No matter what.”

Emily stared in surprise at the devotion of Pharah on her task. She then smirked and asked, “So, she your girlfriend or something?”

The jet screeched to a halt, and barrel-rolled to the right. Mercy, in her chopper form, lagging behind, took notice and slowed pursuit.

“It… it’s nothing like that. She-she’s important to me...” Pharah said. “Not just due to Centurion’s direct mission… I don’t want to talk about this to a human stranger.”

Emily rolled her eyes in triumph, having a guess as to what relationship the jet has with the chopper.

“...some of our kind have choices they made, to be with another they care deeply about.” Mercy said.

Lena noticed Mercy slowing down, and her sudden halt of her discussion. “Pharah, stopped… Abruptly...”

“So, your kind can also, have romantic relationships?” Lena asked.

Mercy was enthralled in a thought about her jet companion when she snapped herself back upon hearing the question. “If my assumptions about what you humans call ‘boyfriends, girlfriends, partners, husbands, wives, and the like’, ja. We do. Our term for it is either ‘sparkmate’ or ‘Conjunx endura’, the latter being similar to what you call ‘marriage’ or ‘partnership’.”

“Have you thought of getting one?” Lena asked.

“Well, our planetary turmoil was several thousands of millennia in the making, and I was crafted by the AllSpark in the twilight years of the war,” she answered, in a flustered manner. “I had no time in considering anyone for it, at all. You could ask Pharah, maybe she has had considerations...”

Lena noticed that the medic’s tone sounded saddened.

“Or, she can tell you how her parents met!” Mercy said, bumping up her mood to a frantic but forced-jolly tone.

“So what’s the equivalent of ‘romantic partnership’ in Cybertron?” Emily asked cheekily.

“Sparkmates.” Pharah answered. “Or, if you’re looking for ‘til death do you part’, conjunx endurae. And I am not answering what I think you’re going to answer.” Pharah defensively added.

“So...” Pharah asked. “Are you and her...”

“Yes.” Emily answered. “I...” she said, pulling out a small box from her sweater’s inside pocket, “was going to give her this...”

Pharah took notice.

“A ring with a rock on it?” she asked.

“It’s a custom here on Earth,” the human replied. “The ring is supposed to symbolize the unity of the two people in love.”

“Until we crashed the party?” Pharah added. “You could give it to her after this, you know...”

“It wouldn’t feel, perfect.” Emily retorted. “Like, she would most likely remember ‘the time when two alien robots crashed the park’ than ‘the time I popped the question’.”

The jet sighed. “Did you try? You still could.”

“Let me tell you of a story between two Bots, very important to me. One of them, his name was Thunderhawk. He met a female named Horus Prime, and let’s say everything was shaky from the start. Horus Prime did find Thunderhawk funny but she wanted to test his mettle. After all, it’s not every megacycle that a Maximal would take a shine to an outsider Cybertronian.”

“Maximal?” Emily asked, interrupting.

“Maximals are an uncommon, and reclusive, line of Cybertronians, as they could transform into beasts.” Pharah explained. “Now, where was I...”

“Mercy?” Lena asked.

“Yes? Was ist los?” Mercy asked.

“There’s a hospital nearby, and I thought maybe a rescue chopper would fit you as an alternate mode.” Lena suggested. “Mainly because the whole alien-y thing going on isn’t warming up to me.”

“Mhm.” Mercy said, uninterested.

“Well, if you want to blend in and be inconspicuous , you might consider following my suggestion.” Lena retorted.

Mercy sighed and headed to the hospital. “Well, lucky us then.” She spotted a red-and-white rescue helicopter perched on top of the building, on a platform with a large letter H on it.

She activated her alt-mode scanner and warned Lena.

“You might want to hold on, because it’s redeco time.”

Her alt-form shifted and changed appearance, slowly copying the appearance of the rescue chopper. Her colors remained the same, with her white and yellows proudly brandished on the make.

Lena took notice of the doors changing, with better windows too. She could see where the Autobot medic was moving and how she was moving, to boot. The cockpits started to glow, creating a hologram of a blonde woman manning the controls.

“What’s with the hologram?” Lena asked.

“Part of the inconspicuous getup.” Mercy said. “Meet Angela.”

“You named her?” Lena asked again.

“What’s bad about that?” Angela, the hologram, answered.

Pharah took notice of her medic adopting a form more akin to the Earth vehicle perched on top of the hospital. “Are there places where aircraft similar to my form exist?”

“Like, planes?” Emily asked. “Combat planes?”

“Yes, sounds like they’re up to my speed.” Pharah answered.

Emily placed her phone on the front seat in the cockpit. “The map’s loaded up, you want to scan it?”

“Let’s see...” Pharah scanned the phone’s information in a second. “Good. Not that far. But--”

“Yes, we wait for Mercy and Lena to finish.” Emily said. “Like hell am I leaving Lena behind.”

Pharah saw the white-and-yellow helicopter approach her, and she barreled to face the opposite side.

Mercy knew that Pharah was signaling to get going, she recognized the barreling.

“Lena,” Mercy said. “Sit up front. To Angela’s right.” The hologram pointed at the empty seat up front.

Lena went to sit, after which she heard a noise from the back chambers.

Mercy’s slender chopper tail rearranged into a jet engine, in order to keep up with her faster guardian

“Holy crap,” Lena said, grabbing tightly on the seat. “This isn’t how they work!”

“We can modify some things,” Mercy said, “however it isn’t recommended to use these modifications constantly.”

“Somebot wants to dance...” Pharah said, taking notice of Mercy’s usage of her booster modification.

“Come, habibti!” she said to Mercy, and activated her boosters as well.

“Why did you do it as well?” Emily exclaimed.

And with that, the two blasted off to the military base. The sailing was smooth, until Emily wanted to throw up.

This prompted the two bots to land at the outskirts of the air base, beyond detection.

Emily started to throw up, while her girlfriend Lena comforted her.

Mercy looked at Pharah, or where she used to be, only to notice she had snuck in the base, spotting an alien jet landing on the base’s runway.

“Scrap.”

“Unidentified aircraft, identify yourself.” said the comm tower personnel.

“This is Squad Captain Fareeha Amari reporting, sustained damage due to recent meteor shower. Requesting to land in hangar?” Pharah responded.

“Affirmative, Captain.” the personnel replied.

“Security protocols in this planet’s technology are weak...” Pharah responded as she wheeled into the hangar.

“Let’s see, ahh!”

Pharah activated her alt-mode scanner and scanned the nearby F-16 also parked in the hangar.

Pharah’s cockpit shifted to accommodate only one seat, and changed appearance and setting to be like an actual F-16 jet. The bubble dome shifted into place, and the very metal making up the alien jet’s body warped, morphing to that similar to a Falcon jet. The blue and yellow-accent color scheme still remained, and the symbol of Autobots showed itself on one wing, while the symbol of Protectors show on the other.

She also created a holographic pilot, a woman with flight gear and bronze skin, her exotic beauty accented with beaded braids framing her cheeks and a tattoo, of the eye of an ancient Egyptian god, framing her right eye.

Pharah chimed into Mercy’s communication link. “Rouhi?”

Mercy looked on to the two humans when she received a comm chime. “Ja?”

“I’m on my way,” Pharah responded, with the hologram, Fareeha smiling. “Fareeha, wipe the eyes.”

Mercy saw a blue fighter jet leave the air base, while the hangar it came from started to flash red lights.

*Alert! Alert! Surveillance data has been scrubbed by intruders!*

The fighter jet was approaching where the rescue helicopter and the two humans lay.

Mercy immediately transformed into her robot form and pointed her hand, transforming into a photon burst gun, at the jet.

She looked at the jet and stood down upon recognizing the color scheme and the Autobot symbols.

The jet nosedived down and then pulled up, grazing the ground and started to gain altitude, steeply. As it flew up, it started to transform, wings shifting, jet boosters forming and a very familiar boomtube being drawn out.

The robotic form, upside down, steered itself upright, and landed with finesse.

“Superhero landing!” Lena said out loud.

“Only one bot is that much of a Prahlhans.” Mercy said with a smirk, sheathing her photon burst gun.

“What? It was hard to stick the landing, now that my Thermo Rocket cannon is heavier...” Pharah said, rolling her eyes.

Mercy walked toward Pharah and grabbed her by her chest plates. “You scared the scrap out of me! I almost leaked energon because of it!”

“Aww… and I wanted to look nice so we can match...” Pharah teased.

If bots could blush, Mercy would have been as red as a robin.

“Well...” Mercy said, opening one eye to look at Pharah. “You do look buffed up in that new digs...”

Pharah started to chuckle, which spread to Mercy who started to giggle.

The two Autobot ladies shared a hearty laugh together, until a rock, thrown, hit Mercy on her head, and ricocheted to Pharah’s head.

“Ohh yeah, double kill!” Emily shouted.

The two immediately glared at Emily.

“Hey, we need to get back!” Lena shouted.

Pharah and Mercy looked at Lena and Emily, back and forth.

“Understood.” Mercy nodded.

She jumped away from Fareeha, away from the humans as well, and transformed into her helicopter alt-mode, hovering to land near Lena and Emily.

Mercy opened her doors, telling the two humans to enter. Lena and Emily climbed in, shut the door, and the white and yellow helicopter took off.

“Please fasten seatbelts, this is one dangerous ride.” Angela said, materializing into the cockpit.

Lena fastened her seatbelts, and held Emily’s hand after she fastened hers.

“What about Pharah?” Emily asked.

Mercy didn’t need to answer. The two women heard the same noise that Lena heard when Mercy activated her booster modification.

“What was that?” Emily asked Lena.

“I have no idea, love,” Lena answered. “But I have a fair guess who.”

A blue and yellow fighter jet appeared in their view through the left windows, and they knew it was Pharah when it did a barrel roll, and another.

Angela asked Emily, “Destination, bitte?” to which the redhead fumbled with her phone. “Umm, I, uh--”

Angela stood up briefly to take Emily’s phone as she finished her nervously-inputting their home address.

“Danke.” she said. “Ah, just in London, I see?” she mentioned as she smiled.

“Yep yep yep!” Lena nodded.

The holographic blonde went back to the pilot seat and took the controls.

Fareeha, the holographic aeronaut hologram in Pharah’s cockpit, noticed Mercy taking a left turn, veering slightly away from the direction to the park where the two Transformers crashed in.

“Captain, route change is in order.” Fareeha told the cockpit controls.

“Yeah, I noticed.” Pharah replied.

“Doesn’t this feel like--”

“Talking to myself? Yes.”

Pharah and her hologram groaned in regret as the blue jet followed the helicopter to the destination.

Mercy released an emergency ladder down to the road in front of Lena and Emily’s apartment.

“Oh my God, oh my God, it’s too high, it’s too high!” Emily said, freaking out as she slowly climbed down the ladder, terrified.

“Don’t worry, love!” Lena said, holding a bunch of pillows. “I’ll catch you!”

“I don’t wanna die!” Emily shrieked.

A light opened in one of the apartments much further down the block.

“Shut it! We’re trying to have a good night sleep, you slag!”

“Your mother’s the fucking slag!” Emily retorted.

“Oh, bismillah.” Pharah said, transforming into her robot form. She gently grabbed Emily with both hands, and lay her down on the pillows Lena set up.

“There,” Pharah said, “You fell. Like a feather, I might add. And you were saved by your conjunx endura and the pillows.” she added as she rolled her eyes.

“Th-th-thank you,” Emily said, hyperventilating.

“How come you couldn’t just land?” Lena asked.

“Is there enough space for a helicopter and a plane to land on this one-lane road?” Mercy asked.

“We could stand here, as I did,” Pharah said.

“Get up here,” Mercy rapped. “You really want to give us away?”

“Don’t have a clue what you mean,” Pharah said sarcastically, teasing the Medic.

“What if we got caught?” Mercy retorted.

“Then we could do what Emily told me about Earth robots.” Pharah added, entering jet mode.

The jet and helicopter shared a hearty laugh as they flew off.