Hello all,

Just want to say this is based around the Movie-verse. This story will also contain some slightly mature content. I also wanted to say that I am open to all constructive criticism. Please never hesitate.

Thank you,

Elexies

I own nothing of Transformers. The only thing that belongs to me is this crazy story idea.

The chamber was always cold and it was dandy for Constance, because she loved the cold. Oh, the cold was something she lived for, and she wondered frequently why she had allowed herself to be transported to a station in California, one of the hottest places in America, full of weirdoes and bizarre things left and right. She supposed, though, it was those bizarre things that drew her to it. She didn't so much mind the people and the sites. It wasn't too horrible of a state; America wasn't too horrible of a country. It was a strange little place. It was oddities that drew her to this place.

It was something like NBE-1 that drew her to this place.

She'd moved to America when she was eighteen and had later joined the air force as an officer. How she'd gotten into something like Sector 7, she didn't remember. She just liked to follow weird things, perhaps she had stumbled on the wrong thing years ago and that one step brought her here. She'd seen something, heard something, or followed something. She truly didn't remember, maybe the bastards had erased her memory or something silly of that nature, something a person would see in those MIB movies. It was different here though, and that's what she liked best. She'd wanted something different, although none of it had been in her life-plan. She was happy to work here, but at twenty-five she'd hadn't seen herself here.

She had always seen herself living in England again, enjoying the damp coolness and savoring the rainy weather. That's what she had pictured.

Not living in California, working for an invisible sector of the military, trying to tap into the mainframe of an alien piece of machinery. No, Constance hadn't seen that.

This was fine though; really it was fine. She'd grown fond of NBE-1, grown fond of the terrifying image he was, almost humanoid face twisted into a snarl. He was all sharp edges and there was nothing soft about him, nothing comforting to look at, but she'd found him comforting as of late. It was really just her adding a personality to the machine she'd been working on for years now. She envisioned some heroic and amazing creature that had traveled across space in hopes of giving them grand information, helping them to learn. Albeit yes, he was fearsome looking, but hadn't ET frightened the little boy too? NBE-1 had become important and dreamlike to her.

They all had made NBE-1 an important part of their lives, some more than others. True, not many stayed up for days on end trying to learn as much as they could about him, but they all felt deeply for delving into what NBE-1 could offer. She herself, she was the pull-all-nighters type. She'd gone a week on twelve hours of sleep, spending most of her time trying to crack into the mainframe.

The mainframe was hard. Hell, cracking any computer was hard. She'd been working on it for three years so far, since the day she'd first seen him to this very day, twenty-fifth birthday actually. She frowned at the thought, adjusting in the scaffolding that held her eye-level with NBE-1. She'd gone over what blueprints they had of him, and there sadly weren't many, he was a tough nut to crack, and the optics interested her. It was almost as if he had a brain, mechanical though it surely was, and like any person the eyes were the easiest way to the mind. Still, she hadn't really expected she's be here at twenty-five. Not just here, but as she was.

At her twenty-fourth birthday she'd been sitting in front of her work computer analyzing some information that she'd managed to get out of NBE-1 on a fluke, a fluke she'd yet to be able to repeat At her twenty-fourth birthday she'd said at her twenty-fifth she'd go out and she would party, hard. She'd find herself a good strong man and she would have a crazy night and damn would it be fun. There would be no consequences; she'd just go for it. No matter what happened that night or whom she was with or where she went, she was just going to go wild and have a good time.

So much for that, she thought with a tiny snort, brushing some ice off of one of the optics.

Here she was slaving away over NBE-1 again. She shook her head again, wiping her brow. Cold as it was inside, a person could really work up a sweat in this place and the clothes didn't help. She was already in thermal underwear with a t-shirt beneath, add on a pair of sweatpants and a long sleeve shirt from Antietam and you had yourself a cozy little outfit. She'd shrugged off her sweatshirt and thermal top, the sweatpants had gone too, and bare feet tapped again NBE-1's cheek from where she was sitting. She was quite alone in here, the way she preferred it. It was hard to work on getting into the hard-drive when everyone around you is talking and Jim-the-Dumbass on the intercom kept babbling about NBE-1's temperature and status. He'd been frozen for years and she doubted he'd melt anytime soon.

Constance shook her head, leaning forward toward the optic. She'd tried cutting through, but the material was far too advanced and tough. Hell, a blowtorch couldn't have gotten through it. There had to be some way to get to the mainframe though, some way to get inside. After all, she knew it was activated. Working well, that she didn't know, but it was on, or else she wouldn't have had those few lucky slips of information. She liked to think NBE-1 wanted her inside, but he just wasn't about to give her the answer. Clues were fine but answers were quite wrong.

"It's because of you that 'm here, you know," she murmured, carefully opening her laptop and signing it on. "I was invited to go out, but because of you, NBE-1, I'm here, once more trying to figure you out." She looked toward the optic, raising her brow at him, wishing perhaps he might respond one day. The idea made her laugh and she shook her head, looking back toward her computer. There was one thing she'd tried multiple times, but had never succeeded at. Those clues though, NBE-1 had given her one simple clue, and she had a feeling she might just be able to hack into the system now. "I could've partied, NBE-1, had myself a nice stripper, big strong man with a big strong package, but no-o, you wanted some company. Had to keep me at the workplace."

She checked the time, flinching to see it a little past eleven at night. No strip clubs would be open by the time she got out of here, cleaned and dressed up.

"Thank you, handsome," she sighed.

The clue had been an alien code, but she'd been studying it for the past three months, sometimes without sleep and food. She'd gotten it. Numbers and letters, all jumbled together, making no sense whatsoever. That had been another month of frustration, of irritation and fury. She got that too though. She got this kind of stuff. They'd been a name and password. Fuck, it was a whole login code for Christ's sake and she'd just laughed for hours after she'd figured it out.

So she was going to hack it again and damn, it was about time she got somewhere with this. It was only hoping she got through and that was the catch. She'd never been a great hacker. Those talents went to her younger sister. Janelle knew what to do. Constance had always liked puzzles and mysteries, which were the things that got her into Sector 7, but she'd never been great with computers. It was only because of Janelle she even had a vague idea of how to try and get inside of NBE-1. She curled up slightly inside of the scaffolding, one leg still hanging over the side, gently rocking to and fro, her toes brushing against the ice on NBE-1.

He had a signal. It was a faint signal but it was one nonetheless, alien and bizarre and it took at least half an hour to get her flimsy little computer to accept it, and then the login.

It was a long stream of random letters and numbers, and she could only hope it worked, that she had done it right. Constance sighed, leaning back some, waiting for her computer to catch NBE-1's signal, so in the meantime she thought of her lousy excuse for a birthday.

"It's not that I don't like you," she mumbled. "But you know, I always rather hoped I'd be doing something more exciting on a night like this. It's my birthday, come on. Of course, I didn't have to come here but…" she sighed at the words, rubbing her brow. But where else would she really have gone? A dull little Sector 7 girl like her? Nowhere, that's where, damnit.

Ah, connection, there it was. She leaned over, watching her screen go completely black as it had before. There was always a brief rush of panic, while no it wasn't the Blue Screen of Death, it went dark and she'd always been afraid that her computer had died. Streams of numbers and letters ran across the screen, before it paused for a moment.

J33514OSEN93T83O33N…

ENTER INFORMATION:

…

Constance licked her lips nervously and leaned forward, tapping out her out stream of letters and numbers, tapping the ENTER key once, repeating the information, then again. There was a long pause and she held her breath, waiting patiently, nervously. She could see her reflection in the dark screen, and she thought over again how a little Sector 7 girl like herself really didn't belong outside of the Dam, not really even outside of this room. She looked like someone that spent days pouring over some alien robotic, trying to figure out what it was, if it thought, if it was a weapon, if it was its own being. She looked like someone that had made NBE-1 her life. Thick brown hair was pulled back in a messy bun, curly locks falling about her face and loose over her shoulders. She was pale, her cheeks slightly red from the cold along with the tip of her nose. Big nervous brown eyes stared at the computer behind thick glasses. Her lips were chapped and her nails were bitten to the quick with chipped red polish on them. No, she wasn't the sexy hacker her sister was; she was just the dorky, puzzle loving, Sector 7 girl.

INFORMATION APPROVED…

77SJI332851FKLIE38174…

ACTIVATE ENTIRE SYSTEM?

Oh? She felt her lips twitch into a smile and leaned close, curling both legs beneath her body on the scaffold, the steel freezing beneath her legs through the pants and burning on her toes. Activate entire system? Like a boot up? Like starting a computer? She heard herself giggle and slowly her hand rested over the ENTER key, bobbing her pointer finger up and down lightly. Was it wise though? Should she really start up something, not knowing what would happen? This was something that had to wait until her superiors were here, until someone who really knew about NBE-1 was around.

What do you mean? If anyone knows about NBE-1, it's you. Just do it, just do it.

Her finger came down sharply, the sound of the ENTER key making a sharp 'click' in the air, and she paused, heart racing. Come on, do something. Do something great. Make this a special birthday, please…

She gasped softly when the computer screen when blank, waiting desperately, hopefully. A minute passed, and nothing happened. Nothing went off, nothing turned on, there was just nothing. No cake, no ice cream, no great achievement on NBE-1.

Happy birthday, Cadence.

It just wasn't fucking fair! She'd been working so hard! It was about time something good was supposed to happen. Something great was supposed to have happened! This was that special birthday and this was when she was supposed to have realized she wasn't wasting her time. NBE-1 was supposed to have pulled through for her, supposed to help her make life worth it! This was the excitement she'd been craving and working so hard on why the hell couldn't it have worked?!

"Damnit!" she snapped, fist clenching and she slammed it onto the keyboard. She heard it snap beneath her, heard the crackle and heard the hum in the air suddenly. Then she could only feel. It was a rush of electricity, energy flowing through her system and making her muscles clench and blood race. She felt herself scream but couldn't hear a thing outside of the sound of humming, a loud and painful noise. She was grinding her teeth and trying to pull her hand from her computer, but just couldn't. Her flesh was tickling with the power and she felt like her body was heating up. Yes, it was getting on and she realized her top was smoldering. She was going to die, on her twenty-fifth birthday she was going to die because she lost her temper and hit her computer. She was going to die over NBE-1 and an electrical surge. Fuck, it wasn't right, it wasn't right at all.

The scaffolding shook and jerked beneath her and then there was a snap amidst the humming. She finally heard herself groan, almost sob with the pain. As a weightless feeling grew deep inside her stomach she watched as NBE-1's optic's flicker to life, glow red, before she dropped away. Her hand disconnected from the computer, and a tingling relief ran through her system. The burning slowly died away, and the only heat she could feel was her shirt, the sleeves burnt away. Thank goodness for that, she really preferred the cold. She wasn't dead either way and that was oh so good. She was falling though, that wasn't quite as good.

Happy birthday, Constance.