Old Friends, New Problems

Chapter 1

Something was going to happen. That's all Bumblebee knew when he woke up from recharge that morning, with a fluttering feeling in his tank. He wasn't sure what it was or when it would happen, he just knew that something was going to happen. He only had this feeling once before, and that was the day had met Raf and Jack.

What was it?

What was going to happen?

Was it going to be good or bad?

How would it affect his team?

Would it have something to do with the Decepticons?

So many questions were racing through his head that he hadn't noticed that he was drifting over into the other lane until a car honked at him. Swerving back onto the correct side of the road, Bumblebee pulled to a stop when the traffic light turned red. The fluttering feeling in his tank had gotten stronger, and it made him shift nervously on his tires.

Suddenly, a dark purple and silver car blurred past him, with two very familiar cars following close behind. The nervous feeling in his tanks got stronger as he pressed on the gas and drove after his two teenage teammates.

"What is going on here?!" he shouted through the comm., driving up alongside Strongarm. "Strongarm!"

"Sorry, Lieutenant, I tried to stop him, but Sideswipe wouldn't listen," said the blue and white femme.

Bumblebee groaned. When was Sideswipe going to start listening? "What happened?" he asked, swerving to miss a car. Traffic was starting to pick up.

"We were patrolling the south side of the city like you told us to, then this guy comes out of nowhere – and I literately mean nowhere, Lieutenant! – scratched Sideswipe's paint and dented his rim as he sped by." Bumblebee swerved to miss two more cars before making a left turn down a deserted street, keeping close behind Strongarm before pulling up alongside her. Strongarm continued, "Then Sideswipe got mad and took off after him. Lieutenant, I think he's playing with us."

"What makes you say that?" he asked, turning onto an abandoned river bordered street.

"He's had numerous chances to lose us before and he never took them, why?"

Bumblebee mentally raised a brow in thought. Why indeed. "I don't know, Strongarm."

Bumblebee pressed on the gas and sped by Strongarm, he kept going until he was diagonal from Sideswipe, which gave him a better look at their mystery driver's car.

It was entirely dark purple, with dark red and light silver musical symbols on the doors and a silver grill (from what he could see) and dark tinted windows. For some reason, he felt like he's seen this car before. Bumblebee's optics soon made their way to the car's mirror. And his spark nearly stopped when he saw it move to focus on him. A sudden memory rose up from the back of his mind. It was the day he was attacked by those two Vehicons…That's it!

They all turned onto the bridge, heading out of the city.

"Sideswipe, pull back by Strongarm, that's a 'Con you're chasing!"

"A Decepticon, are you sure?" the sports car slowed down till he was driving beside Bumblebee.

"I'm sure," he said picking up speed.

Then a ground bridge opened up directly in front of them.

Everybody (except the 'Con) tried to stop but they all ended up going through the swirling green mass. They only managed to do so after exiting the ground bridge.

Transforming, Bumblebee looked straight at the Vehicon, who was still in his vehicle mode, and took out his pistol; Strongarm did the same while Sideswipe took out the Decepticon Hunter, changing it into a mace.

"Alright, Decepticon, put 'em up!" he shouted, charging his gun.

Bumblebee was rewarded with an amused chuckle, and the sound of shifting parts alerted them that the 'Con was transforming. Parts shifted and broke apart then clicked back together, within minutes the Decepticon was standing on his – no, her own two pedes, arms crossed across her chassis. Bumblebee heard Sideswipe's gasp of surprise, turning to look at the punk, he saw that he had the look of a love struck idiot.

"So, that mutt was right – there are more Cybertronians on Earth." said the femme.

Bumblebee looked back at the femme, gun raised. The femme just cocked her helm to the side and gave the gun a bored look. He gave her a cursory look over; she had to be no more than a few years younger, or the same age as, Sideswipe and Strongarm. She had the same purple coloring and build as a normal Vehicon, but where the Vehicons were dark gray and accented black, she was smoky-silver and accented red, and she had optics and a mouth instead of a mask-like face. And there was something else she didn't have that set her apart from other Vehicons – and all other Decepticons, for that matter. No insignia. From what he could see, she had no distinguishable Decepti-brand on her. While looking for her brand, his optics locked onto a short sword attached to her hip. Looking at her opposite hip, he saw a matching a short sword there, too.

Bumblebee took a tentative step forward, keeping his optics on the swords on her hips, and asked, "Who are you?"

The femme's red optics flashed in the sunlight as a small smile graced her lips. She placed her left servo over her spark and closed her optics, and gave him a small bow at the waist. "The name's Atti," Atti stood back up and crossed her arms again. "And, I must say, I never expected to see you here, Bumblebee."

Optics widening in surprise, Bumblebee took a step back. "How do you know my name?!"

Atti chuckled and waved her wrist at him in amusement. "Everybody knows about the young scout who defeated Megatron."

Bumblebee opened his mouth to say something, but a sudden bright green light behind him caused him to freeze and whip around, gun raised. A ground bridge?!

"Well, here's my ride. See ya guys!"

Before Bumblebee could turn around or even get out of the way, Atti transformed and bulldozed past him, sending him flying into Sideswipe. When the young bot was through the portal, the ground bridge disappeared with an all too familiar hiss.

"Lieutenant!" shouted Strongarm, rushing to his side. "Are you alright?"

Bumblebee nodded at her and got to his pedes, hissing when his right shoulder sparked slightly. Turning around, he helped an almost squished Sideswipe off the ground, then looked back at the space where the ground bridge once was.

"Come on," he said, transforming. "Lets go back to base, we gotta let Fixit and the others know about this."

The two teenagers transformed and followed him as he drove out of the forest and back towards the junkyard. And that's when he noticed it.

The feeling he woken up with was gone, and was replaced with a feeling of dread.