Blushing Arcee

"Virtual projection?"

Merlin couldn't help but glance sideways at his Ducati parked down in the workshop. It sat quietly in its spot, like an art exhibit draped in a red dress.

Thinking back to the strange malfunctions during the earlier cleaning and modification of the bike, his expression turned odd.

"It can't be that much of a coincidence..." he muttered, then began scrutinizing the footage frame by frame.

In the end, he confirmed it. The woman racing his Ducati down the secluded street was just a virtual projection—more precisely, his Ducati, left in the shop while he was in Afghanistan, had gone out on its own and projected a woman to cover its tracks.

What happened that day had almost made him think he was really some kind of pervert.

Staring at the surveillance feed on the computer, Merlin rubbed his chin in thought for a moment, then kept watching.

Next came the battle scene under the bridge. From the police footage, the site was a mess, as if ravaged by some giant creature, with blood samples left behind that looked like industrial fluid.

After seeing all this, Merlin leaned back on the sofa, tilting his head to look up at the steel-beam ceiling, lost in thought.

Now he was sure. This world really had Transformers.

At that thought, a faint smile crept onto his lips.

"This is going to be fun..."

He didn't go down right away. Instead, he used the R Star Subsystem to hack into the Eagle's defense systems, found Zone 7, and dug up files on Sam.

Sure enough, two days ago, the Department of Defense had suffered a mysterious network intrusion, but they still hadn't found the cause.

[Frozen mysterious giant organic robot.]

[Mysterious cube research project file.]

[Zone 7 Alien Affairs Special Forces.]

"Snap!"

Merlin closed his laptop, walked down the stairs into the workshop, and stopped in front of his Ducati.

He didn't say anything at first, just stood there with his arms crossed, silently watching it.

Arcee: "..."

The workshop was dead quiet, with only Merlin facing a motorcycle, but an awkward atmosphere inexplicably spread.

Under his gaze, Arcee's mind began to panic.

Yet, oddly, there was a hint of anticipation.

[What is this human going to do? Not again...]

She swore it wasn't the feeling of having her parts tinkered with that she looked forward to, but the performance boost from the modifications.

Her thoughts started to wander. Why did this human have such a peculiar ability? Or was it just aimed at her? Was it the guidance of the Creator?

"How much longer are you going to hide?" Just as Arcee's mind was drifting further off track, Merlin suddenly spoke, startling her.

Alright, now she was truly panicked.

"What does he mean? Did he find me out? Or is he talking to someone else?" Her thoughts were a mess, but she kept her exterior still, not moving a muscle.

Seeing that Arcee could still hold her composure, Merlin spoke again.

"I saw you on the path by the Manhattan Power Plant through the surveillance. That woman was just a projection."

"The fight on the bridge by the power plant probably has something to do with you too."

Arcee remained motionless.

"Do you really want me to check the weapons inventory before you come out?" Merlin wasn't in a hurry; he walked over slowly.

Just as his hand was about to touch the bike's body, it suddenly shuddered violently.

"Clank! Clank! Clank..." A dense series of mechanical sounds rang out, and the red Ducati transformed rapidly under Merlin's astonished gaze into a robot with a sweet, delicate face.

And it was genuinely sweet and delicate, not that mind-bending kind of feeling.

Seeing Merlin so close, Arcee awkwardly stepped back a few times, her pale blue eyes behind the light red visor watching him nervously.

"Uh... sorry, I didn't mean to hide with you on purpose. You did buy me, after all." Honestly, facing this human head-on, she felt a bit at a loss.

Even the mysterious, authoritative tone she'd planned to use unconsciously softened.

Whether it was because she'd freeloaded Merlin's weapons and engine mods, or because of that embarrassing incident with the headlights roaring when she first arrived.

Merlin looked at her slender, graceful mechanical body—of course, compared to the Transformers in his memory.

Combined with her motorcycle form, he had a rough idea of who she was.

"Who are you?" Still, to confirm his guess, he asked.

"I'm Arcee, from Cybertron." Arcee steadied herself and replied.

"You had a fight at the power plant? Over the AllSpark?"

"Yes... wait, how do you know our purpose?" Arcee answered instinctively, but quickly caught herself and asked in surprise.

Only then did she realize that he had remained completely calm throughout her appearance, showing none of the panic one would expect from seeing an alien.

"I looked up all the information about you, including your conversations with Sam."

"Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Ironhide..."

"And your fellow countrymen turned enemies, the Decepticons, Megatron."

Merlin paused at the end, then lifted his brow and stared at Arcee for a moment before slowly speaking: "And... the location of the AllSpark!"

"What? You know where the AllSpark is? Where is it?" Arcee exclaimed excitedly, stepping right up to Merlin.

Heaven knew how long they had been waiting on Earth without a single lead on the AllSpark.

"Don't get excited, calm down. I only know the general location. Pinpointing it precisely will take some time." Seeing Arcee's agitation, Merlin quickly waved his hands to explain.

"While I was researching you, I also looked into information related to the AllSpark. It's in the hands of Eagle Country, but the exact location isn't certain."

"It's already been taken by the human military." Hearing this, Arcee was stunned for a moment, then fell into thought.

If humans had taken it, that would be troublesome.

Having lived in the human world for a while, she understood the complexity of human society.

"Are you sure?" she asked seriously.

"Of course. I can send you the data."

After that, Merlin transmitted a segment of data to Arcee, and only then did she confirm it.

"Merlin, would you like to meet Optimus Prime and the others? Your information is very important." Once she was certain, Arcee grew a bit excited, then asked cautiously.