Hello everyone, Vehicon Kingstriker here, bringing you another TF story I've been eager to write for awhile. After playing a bunch of racing games I just had this idea to create this, though originally this was going to be another one-shot, I've decided to split it into different chapters. Anyways, enjoy the story!
Barricade's Hot Pursuit
Chapter 1: First Capture
In Iacon, becoming one of the top enforcers was one of the most difficult things to accomplish, that didn't even include how troublesome speeders have became lately. The Iacon Police Department have barely captured any speeders or other law-breaking mechs for at least a month. Every week they'd tried to recruit many new young mechs who may just have a chance, but instead they got nothing but failures.
When 21-year old Barricade was recruited, nobody thought of him any different than the others, though if one thing stood out, was his ability to befriend most of the other policeman rather quickly with his amazing stories and other gossip. Then came his first official assignment one day when he was called to the boss' office. Inside with the boss was Barricade's best friend Prowl.
"S'up Barricade!" Prowl high-fived him.
"Hey Prowl, so you wanted to see me boss?" Barricade turned his attention to the mech behind the desk.
"Yes, I believe I have your first mission ready. Though like most days we rarely catch anybody, so don't get your hopes up. We just received word of some mech racing the area, guy's name is Fracture, can transform into a chopper-bike. At least try to catch him." The boss said.
"Ooh, I heard that guys is very dangerous." Prowl warned.
"Aw, I'll be fine. I can handle mechs bigger than me." Barricade scoffed.
"If you say so, don't expect me to gasp in horror if you come back with a few dents." Prowl said.
"Whatevs."
Barricade left the building and began his scan of the area. He knew the whole town like the back of his clawed hands. He just needed to stay cool and listen for the troublemaker. He past by other cars not bothering to alert anyone with his siren just yet. Driving around the perimeter of his assigned area, he could faintly someone up ahead racing around, some others honking their horns and yelling.
"Aha, just the sounds I was waiting for. Time to move in." Barricade whispered to himself.
Passing by a few cars and down a few blocks, he came across a construction yard where a group called the Constructicons were working on a new apartment complex. He transformed and waved to them.
"Hey guys, how's the work?" Barricade asked.
"It's been better, just a few minutes ago some chopper-bike ran past us knocking over a support beam and other supplies, the nerve of some people. I'd like to see that guy come back here again." Scrapper growled.
"Relax you guys I'm going to try and detain him myself." Barricade said.
"You sure, that guy looked a little bigger than you, it's good to have some kind of back-up." Scrapper suggested.
"I'll go!" Hook volunteered.
"You sure?" Scrapper asked.
"Of course, if he catches the guy, he's gonna need someone to carry the mech away so he doesn't run off." Hook said.
"I'm surprised we don't have people like you back at the station." Barricade shrugged.
"Eh...I don't mind helping out. Come on let's go, I think I saw him heading towards the highway. Guy's gonna try to escape the city." Hook said.
So the two teamed up and raced out onto the highway nearby and listened for the sounds of the speeder. Barricade knew he was out of his small jurisdiction but he didn't care. After another minute the two were about to give up when they saw Fracture up ahead trying to blend in with the other cars.
"Hah, he's too different than the other mechs on this highway, too easy to spot if ya ask me." Hook said.
Barricade cut on his sirens alarming a few mechs but they moved out of the way. Fracture could hear the sirens and panicked.
"Oh scrap, I thought I lost them. No matter, I'll lose this rookie easily." Fracture chuckled.
Fracture was an expert at losing police, he was much faster than most of them and steered quite better. He knew how to trick them as well leaving them puzzled for awhile. But Barricade didn't plan to fall for his tricks. He and Hook stayed on Fracture as they weaved around traffic.
"PULL OVER FRACTURE!" Barricade yelled.
"NEVER! YOU WON'T CATCH ME! NO ONE WILL!" Fracture yelled.
What Fracture didn't know was that Barricade was probably one of the fastest mechs in the whole city, he didn't even need boost tanks to help out. He managed to catch up with Fracture and tried to pit maneuver him.
"Ooh so close." Hook said.
Fracture growled and sped up, but Barricade was already prepared and hit him in the side making Fracture swerve a bit.
"OW! YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THAT!" Fracture said.
"Yeah sure..." Barricade mentally rolled his eyes.
Up ahead were two big rigs pulling trailers, one of them Barricade knew. So he contacted the blue and red rig.
"Optimus, It's Barricade, we got a speeder loose and coming up behind ya, you mind blocking the road?"
"Will do Barricade."
Optimus spoke with the other rig and together they slowed down and blocked Fracture's path.
"GIVE UP FRACTURE!" Barricade yelled.
"NO!"
Before Fracture could decide a different route, Optimus slammed on his brakes and Fracture crashed into him losing control and falling on his side, Optimus honked a goodbye as he and the other rig continued on. Barricade transformed and was about to pull out his stasis cuffs when Fracture transformed looking pissed off.
"UGH! YOU GAVE ME A NASTY DENT YOU SLAGGER!" Fracture growled.
"Well you did try to get away." Barricade said.
Barricade was a little intimidated, Fracture towered over him a bit and he looked pretty tough. Though he didn't look as tough as Hook.
"I'M GONNA DENT YOU BACK!" Fracture gritted his sharp teeth.
"GO AHEAD AND TRY!" Barricade challenged.
Hook knew better to stay away from this situation, then again, Barricade would probably lose, and that was his friend. This may have been Barricade's first capture, but maybe only the chasing would have been the successful part. Barricade figured out what he should do, but he had to make it quick. Fracture extended out his long spike on his wrist and swung at Barricade who jumped back transforming and raced back at a surprised Fracture.
"WHAT ARE YOU-"
CRASH!
Fracture is launched back and Barriade transforms mid-air then sucker-punches Fracture in the face knocking him out. Barricade high-fives Hook.
"Nice work dude! You're the first cop to catch someone for months!" Hook said.
"Thanks, I guess it's a good feeling. Come on, let's take this guy back to the station before he wakes up."
And so after Fracture's humiliating tow back in robot mode, he finally wakes up to see himself in lockup.
"Hmph...the kid got lucky that's all." Fracture groaned.
In the lobby, the boss, Prowl and all the other enforcers were still in disbelief that Barricade had actually got someone, on his first official day. In a lounge area, Prowl and the boss talked with Barricade privately about his success.
"Wow Barricade, before you came, I didn't think this force would be able to last any longer, but you've proved me wrong. You've proved that we still had some hope left and maybe we can come out on top again. It all depends on whoever we are able to catch next, or at least you." The boss explained.
"I'll do my best sir, maybe things will finally change around here." Barricade shrugged.
Prowl came closer and put a hand on Barricade's shoulder.
"Next time I go on patrol, you've got to go with me." Prowl said.
"Sure why not?"
Later on, Barricade was walking down the hallway containing a few cells, he knew Fracture would only be in lockup until tomorrow morning. But he decided to check on him now since his shift was over. Finding his cell, he saw Fracture sitting on the bench sulking. When he saw Barricade's shadow, he looked up and gritted his sharp teeth.
"What do you want now cop? Here to gloat over your victory? My chest still hurts from you ramming into it like a maniac!" Fracture growled.
"You asked for it, and no I'm not here to gloat. Just to check on you, see when you had woken up." Barricade said.
"Well go away. I don't like to talk to cops." Fracture turned his head.
"Just let me ask something. Why you do the things you do?" Barricade asked.
Fracture turned back to him and smirked.
"Haven't you ever had a reason to just race around, feel the wind against your frame, maybe even break your own MPH gauge? It's a good feeling, and I barely get to do it here, it's not the chaos part I like the most, it's just getting out and going fast...really fast. Don't tell me you've never had that kind of experience."
Barricade looked down, Fracture figured he was remembering something.
"Actually, I've had that experience too. When I was much younger of course. Me and Prowl would race each other on the outskirts of town. It was fun, but then came the enforcers, and trust me what I did to you was nothing compared to what they would do back then. When me and Prowl got caught, they pummeled us, we had so many dents put in before throwing us in lockup. At least things have changed, and newer enforcers have been put in. But it was the beating that kinda changed us, we ended taking it easy after that, and eventually we took interest in wanting to join the force not because we got to kick some ass, but also because now we can speed around...but serving justice is okay too." Barricade explained.
Fracture nodded and looked back down.
"I'm only here until tomorrow morning right?"
"Yep."
"Good, I can't stay any longer than that...I wonder what my girl Filch would think." Fracture sighed.
"Well, I'll come release you tomorrow."
As Barricade left, Fracture had a reminder.
"Oh Barricade...you better be careful."
"Of what?"
"One name: Bumblebee."
Barricade looked confused, who was Bumblebee...maybe soon he'd find out. Later, Barricade was racing home ready to get some well-deserved relaxation. The name however still bugged him though, did this mech live in this city? Was he here to cause trouble? What else did Fracture know about him? As he was almost home, he suddenly saw what looked like 4 mechs standing and talking in the middle of the road.
"Huh? They shouldn't be doing that!"
Barricade cuts on his siren alerting the mechs who turn to him. When Barricade arrives, he cuts off his siren and transforms.
"What are you 4 doing blocking the road?" Barricade asked.
As Barricade examined them, he saw that apparently the black and yellow standing in the front was the leader, he was an inch shorter than Barricade and had large doorwings. Behind him were three other mechs, one was white, the other two were red.
"We're just talking, what's wrong with that?" The black and yellow one asked rather loudly.
Barricade didn't know whether he should call back-up or take care of them himself.
"Well you're gonna have to talk somewhere else." Barricade stood his ground.
The other three didn't say anything and instead Bumblebee talked again.
"Well we don't want to, AND WE'RE NOT!"
The mech even had the nerve to get in Barricade's face making the cop scowl, his dark purple eyes glowing.
"Move away kid." Barricade growled.
"What are you gonna do cop? I bet you couldn't even catch us if you tried." He said.
"How do you know?"
"Because you cops are bad at your job!"
Before he could do anything, Barricade sends his fist slamming into the mech's face making him stagger back surprising the other three.
"I told you to MOVE AWAY!" Barricade growled.
The mech rubbed his non-existent nose and clenched his fists.
"DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU'RE DEALING WITH?" The mech roared.
"Come on Bee, he's not even worth our time ya dig?" The white mech tugged on Bee's arm.
"Bee? You mean as in Bumblebee?" Barricade asked.
"Yeah, how the hell do you know my name?" Bee asked.
"Some mech named Fracture. I captured him on the interstate earlier." Barricade smirked.
"WHAT? YOU CAUGHT THAT GUY?" Bee gasped.
"Yeah so?"
Bumblebee looked between the others, then back at Barricade.
"You cops just got lucky!" Bee claimed.
"Like I need luck!" Barricade snorted.
Bumblebee was getting very irritated by Barricade's attitude.
"THAT'S IT!"
But before any punches could be thrown, Prowl arrived aiming a gun.
"YOU FOUR! LEAVE OR BE SHOT!" Prowl threatened.
The four seem to tense up, they had no weapons on them, so they only looked back at Barricade, the cop didn't even need to bring his guns the whole time. Bumblebee and Barricade's eyes locked onto each other's.
"This ain't cover cop!" Bee vowed.
The four transform and race away, allowing Prowl to put away his gun.
"Dude what happened?" Prowl asked.
"I was just heading home and they were blocking the road." Barricade explained.
"I see...well I guess you've finally met Bumblebee and his notorious gang. I'd be very careful, catching them isn't so easy."
"Wait why didn't you arrest them now?"
"Because it would take more than us to capture them, trust me, many have tried...and all have failed and given up."
"Well...I think I'm gonna change that."
Prowl looked at Barricade like he was crazy...
"You're insane...but...at least you're not a quitter."
"Anyways, I'll see ya tomorrow."
"Alright, tomorrow I'll go over the history for each one and their supposed fifth member."
"Fifth member? Who's that?"
"We don't know much about him...but let's worry about that tomorrow."
"Okay."
Barricade transformed and continued down the street until he reached his house and Prowl raced by honking. Meanwhile, far up ahead, the group of four had stopped by a billboard that read "Welcome to Iacon". The mech presumed to be Bumblebee was pacing back and forth while the other three murmured.
"Heh, it's been awhile since Bumblebee has been that mad." One of the red ones chuckled.
"Watch it Knock Out, don't you remember what he did to your paint the last time you teased him?" The other red mech asked.
"Of course Sideswipe, but still." Knockout shrugged.
"Hey Jazz, you think that cop even has a chance against us?" Sideswipe asked.
"Nah, he's messing with the wrong crew. That mech couldn't beat one of us if he tried ya dig? But it wouldn't hurt to test him out. Heh, Bumblebee over there has to be figuring out a plan." Jazz pointed over to the leader.
Bumblebee ceased his pacing and looked at his crew.
"Okay, it's time we show these cops just how useless they are, and then we can takeover Iacon. And we're gonna start with that rookie." Bumblebee shot a fist in the air.
"YEAH!" The others copied him.
To be continued...