Reincarnate (TFP)

𝙵𝚘𝚞𝚛

The next day came quickly. Ellie looked out her bedroom window to see Optimus' alt mode sitting there and waiting. She waved from the window and hurried downstairs. She grabbed her shoulder bag along the way.

"Where are you off to, little lady?" Came a voice.

It was her stepmom. Helen.

"A.. uh- study group with my friends. I'll be back later," Ellie made up.

"I see..." Helen took a sip of her coffee, "I'll be at the office. Be safe, text me if you need me, and have fun."

"Will do! Bye," Ellie hurried out the door.

She walked up to Optimus' side, "Good morning."

He opened his door for her and allowed her to climb in, "Good morning, Ellie"

"What are we doing today?" She asked.

"I am taking you back to base. I have work to do and your friends will be there soon," Optimus drove down her neighborhood's street and into the middle of town.

"Alright," Ellie nodded, "I have something to work on anyway."

There was a brief pause.

"Did you... rest well?" He asked.

"Uh- yeah, yeah I did," Ellie answered, "Did you...? Er- do you guys need sleep too?"

"We do need to recharge every once in a while," Optimus confirmed.

"Oh... I guess even robots get tired then, huh?" She looked at his mirror.

"That is correct," they were nearing the base.

"I'm beginning to think that our species aren't all so different. Like we both need to rest, we both feel emotions, we walk upright, have a conscience, and whatnot."

"You make a great point."

They drove through the secret entrance and the tunnel leading to the main area.

"You said the others will be here soon?" Ellie asked.

"Yes, they must be getting to know one another," Optimus pulled to a stop and allowed Ellie to hop out of his cabin before transforming.

"Good, I need some space to work on what I need to do," Ellie stretched her arms out.

Optimus looked down at her, "And what would you need to work on this early on a Saturday?"

Ellie smiled up at him.

"A TV."

—

"What are you doing?" A certain doctor bot glared down at the girl.

She looked up from the instruction manual she was holding, "I'm putting together this old TV from my basement. I thought that since we humans will be around here a bunch that we should have some form of entertainment."

"Why you- Did Optimus approve this?!" He hissed.

"Cool it, Ratchet," Ellie narrowed her eyes.

She received a glare, "and he did say it was fine, thank you very much."

He rolled his optics and muttered to himself.

"Besides, you don't need to worry about this. I'm not the most tech-savvy human ever, but I can damn well read some instructions!" Ellie added as the grumpy mech walked back to his lab. She was now alone in the main area.

Ellie smirked to herself and looked back over at the next step she needed to do. She was almost done putting the actual television pieces together, but then she needed to hook it up and find an outlet. She would need some extension cords, too.

The girl with the red sweater screwed in the last screw and stood up, admiring her work. She had all the necessary wires and plugs set out, but now she needed to find an outlet and some extension cords.

She stepped down a ladder and walked down a hallway, checking all of the walls for an outlet. She hummed a song she had heard the other day. Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" to be more specific. She almost forgot she was in the base of five alien robots, and just enjoyed her existence for a moment. The hallways of the base were quiet and still.

Ellie rounded a corner and down the next hallway stood a bunch of doorways. She slowly walked down the hall, eyeing the doors. She wondered what might be behind them. She walked to the end of the hallway and passed one door in particular, only to stop and walk and walk back to it. Something was pulling her towards it. Ellie hesitantly stepped closer, and the door slid open with a hiss. Again, she stepped closer, pausing just outside the room.

She peered inside. The room was empty apart from a giant alien rifle at the far end, opposite the entrance. The rifle was Cybertronian, or so Ellie presumed. It was a deep, hot pink in color with black as a secondary color and hints of a faded, yet still shimmering gold. Her head tilted a bit as she studied it. A feeling of deja vu hit her hard, like an express train.

Had she seen this before? Surely she had. A dream? Reality?

"Ellie," said a familiar baritone voice.

The door slid shut at the press of a button. She looked up to meet the gaze of the Autobot leader himself.

"Optimus," she found herself saying in return.

"May I ask what you are doing?" He blinked.

"I was looking for an outlet and maybe some extension cords?" Ellie said, walking past him to go back to the main area.

"Then what are you doing over here?" Optimus followed her.

Ellie paused, "I don't really know. I just got sidetracked... I guess."

Optimus hummed lowly as a response.

"I know where we have supplies left over from the humans who used to run this missile silo, I will take you there to find what you need," he motioned for her to follow him down a different hallway.

There was a small human-size door leading to an old janitorial closet. Inside, Ellie found plenty of those super-long orange extension cords. She grabbed two, making a mental note of where to find the closet if she needed more. When she came back out, Optimus led her back to the main area. She felt like she had done something wrong by going to that room.

"I'm sorry if I upset you by going there. To that one hallway, I mean.," she apologized when they were a few steps away from entering the main area.

"You did nothing wrong, Ellie," He assured her after pondering her apology for a moment, "I accept your apology, though I believe I owe you one as well."

Ellie looked up at him.

"I had no intention of scaring you in any way. That hallway, that one room. It holds many memories, most prominently being painful ones to remember," he sounded sad when he spoke of that room.

"Oh," Ellie said quietly.

A commotion was heard in front of them.

"I NEEDED THAT!" Ratchet yelled.

Something small and metal lunged at Ratchet, who was backed against a wall. Optimus brought out his canons and shot it down mid-air, while Ellie stepped back and watched from a safe place behind Optimus.

The thing tried to get up, only for Optimus to step on it as a human would a spider.

"And stay broken!" Ratchet snapped, "What on Earth could have caused that?"

"I have a grave suspicion, Ratchet," Optimus said, "Dark energon."

Ellie went back to work on her TV set.