-1Escalade Grows Up

Premis: The girl with the Caddy affected by the Allspark is frightened of the spikes in the steering wheel and wants to sell the car on. Mikaela takes the job on.

Rating: T

Pairings: None particularly apart from the film one of Mikaela and Sam, but there is some Transformer interaction with Trent and Miles.

Note: An Energon cube appears or is manufactured in both versions of the story.

Disclaimer: The Transformers belong to Hasbro and Takara and the film story to Dreamworks and Paramount, I 'm just playing around in their Universe for a bit.

Time Setting: Just after the end of the latest film.

After the battle of the Autobots and Decepticons where the Allspark was destroyed things were a little flat.

"I know! Let's go to one of those parties like where you met me" said Mikaela to Sam.

"That would be cool! I'd like to show Trent he doesn't own me anymore!"

"And I'd like to show off Bumblebee's new form" said Sam. "Unless …you're not having second thoughts about hanging out with me are you?"

"Oh no Sam" she said- "There's more to you than meets the eye too."

They cruised out to the drive-meet as soon as they'd got permission from their parents - Michaela's Dad had come out on parole with all her charges being dropped as Simmons of Sector 7 had promised.

They lay on Bumblebee's hood smiling at Trent who cast them envious glances. He had to put up with a talkative little redhead who looked as though she had her own crowd for the evening.

Halfway through the evening, in fact, her crowd moved off, so he and his crowd decided to move off and hit another party. Sam and Mikaela didn't mind: in fact, his going eased a little bit of tension they had had since the beginning of the party because he was there. Now he had gone they could relax. Or so they thought.

"Hey, weren't you the jerk who ran into my car in Mission City?"

A stunning beauty looking out of a flame-decaled car confronted Sam.

He only vaguely remembered running into a car: he'd had other things on his mind at the time, like getting the All Spark to safety and avoiding Megatron.

"Uh- yes" he allowed.

Mikaela, however, while squaring up for a bitch-fight, recognised her: she'd been driving the tow truck with Bumblebee on it at the time and had had to take note of other road users.

"You're one of the girls from the caddy aren't you?"

"Yeah, I kinda didn't want it after it did an "alien" on me, but "Dapper Dan" is having trouble shifting it. "

"My Dad could sell it for you. We'll even throw in a quick service and wash and wax. Dapper Dan just tends to stick a high price tag on them and wait."

"You don't say. I usually go to him because he sells a superior class of exotic Automobile. But as you're offering, I'll give you a chance." She purred, half-closing her long-lashed eyes, throwing her a set of keys. Mikaela caught them deftly.

"C'mon Cressida, we'll follow Trent to the other party in your car, it's getting kinda crowded round here." They all got out and bundled into another car, squealing and giggling derisively, then drove away.

"Let'em all go, we can have the lake to ourselves then" said Sam. "But she was really scared of that car."

"Not surprising if the wheel did a face hugger on her," said Mikaela, who'd seen it. She touched Bumblebee's door lightly and he opened it so she could hop out and put the key in the Caddy.

"Seems all right now. Maybe it was just a power surge from the All Spark when it bounced. Come on, I'm fed up with weird things happening, let's just snuggle on Bumblebee's hood." Sam said.

So they did, seeing that they were left alone at the lake. Then Mikaela drove it home at the end of the day and left it on the forecourt of her Dad's garage.

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The next day dawned sunny with a deep cerise Cadillac Escalade with white flame details on the hood sitting on the forecourt of Colin Banes' garage. She was enjoying herself. When she had first been ensparked by the essence the creatures inside her had made a noise that hurt her delicate scanning audio pickups, so she had grabbed the outlet making the sound inside her to make it stop. The creatures showed signs of fear, she had found out from their internet, and had hit her doors so she had let them out to flee.

Others, however, had tried to break into her cab from the outside and police and army officers had brought back the screaming girl with a key to her door to move her. As she had wanted to move she let the girl in and had stayed in disguise as it helped her learn to drive and get away from the battle.

The trip to the lake had been pleasant and it was a good way to try to get her trust and learn their language, so she'd let the girl think she still owned her and could control her. The girl who had taken over later seemed more confident with her and appreciated her for herself, which was good because she found out she had disguised herself as a car that gave great prestige to those who travelled in her.

She thought she would soon be able to manage the communication, navigation and other systems by herself now, but she had shut down overnight and would see what these people in this new place were like,

as she recharged in the sunlight.

A man in a baseball cap was approaching her with a container of liquid.

He began to wash her with warm soapy water. She had probably been washed before but this was the first time she had felt it and it felt nice. There was - how could she describe it? A good 'cybernetic'? 'Cybertronic'? 'Electric'? atmosphere when he took care of her bodywork and wheel hubs, obviously proud to have such a 'superior'? wicked'? 'expensive'? car on his lot. She felt good. She hummed, but made sure to keep it just below human hearing.

A dark-haired girl in blue coveralls and sneakers came out with some coffees. Although Mikaela and her Dad did not live at the garage they had come in early for the Sunday Traffic in her Dad's Pickup Truck.

"This is a stunner!" he called to Sam who had just rolled up in Bumblebee. "Folks'll be after this one! The wrong kind of company maybe! P'raps we better get in an alarm system and some dogs."

He was answered with a yapping bark as Mojo looked out the window, the plaster now off his leg.

"Um…Mum insisted I bring him along for the ride-walk" said Sam, "As it's not an "official" date, it's daytime, not Night, and he needs the exercise." Sam cringed in embarrassment. "I guess I have to do some chores sometimes."

"That's not quite what I had in mind," said Mikaela's Dad, finishing up the car wash with a wipe down with a dry cloth and leaning in through the window and wiping the dash.

Mikaela handed a coffee to him and one to Sam with a kiss, then took her own to the little office - shop window.

Mojo broke into yapping again.

And was answered by a deeper bark as Miles came by on his bike with Mason the mastiff.

"You been lumbered with the Sunday morning dog walk too bro?" hollered Sam to his pal.

"It's better than washing him!" Miles called back. "It's a workout and you don't get wet!"

"Here, Mik, you finish the clean up job." Her Dad handed her a leather and some wax. "I got to do the paper work."

There was a big roar. The owner of the caddy had turned up on a Yamaha.