Disclaimer: Transformers and any characters mentioned in this story do not belong to me (except for the Ferrari dude). This story is not written for any commercial purposes.
Title: Enfolding Grasps
By: Wind of the Dawn
Chapter 1 To Protect
Italics: Thoughts
:: Word :: : Cybertronian Communication
It wasn't enough.
Even after all the precautions they've taken, the child still wasn't safe enough.
Humans were fragile. Beings capable of breaking with the slightest pressure. Even though they were looking out for him in terms of safety from its other children, there still were other factors that could and would rip away the child cruelly from their embrace.
That was unacceptable, a scenario so possible yet needed to be avoided at all cost.
They would not lose him.
The yellow one, Bumblebee, was brave and valiant. Protective of his charge and terrifying and efficient against any threats his charge could encounter. But was he enough?
They knew that he had other duties and other loyalties to the Prime. How far would he be willing to defy his leader in order to protect the child? Would it be far enough? And if his charge desisted against his protection, would he yield against all warnings and leave him in danger?
It had happened once before and could not happen again.
No. The child needed someone more dedicated. Someone wholly devoted towards his wellbeing and life. Someone who would not hesitate to cut all bonds in order to keep the child safe. Someone whose entire existence would revolve around him.
Someone who would do anything necessary to keep the child safe.
If there was no such person in the universe, then they would take matters into their own hands.
So be it.
LineBreak
Ever since the events in Mission city and Egypt, everything that happened in life to Samuel James Witwicky felt pale and numb. Comparing events of a "normal" life and the current one he was leading (being hunted by Decepticons and their human like minions) just didn't cut out anymore. Anything short of planting a Decepticon in his lunch box would not bring out his usual shriek and evasive actions; it would instead evoke a monochromic "o" and a flat stare instead.
In his defence, after one spends the last few years of their life ritually communicating with giant robots (giant ALIEN robots) and glancing around their shoulders for menacing red optics or suspicious cars, how could someone not start to feel that a "normal" fright was overrated and hence act like a stunned rock?
Of course, his now low running emotional circuits combined with his shifty over-the-back glances would not remain unnoticed for long. Hence, when his marvellous friend Miles came to visit and noticed that Sam was seemingly being a bit down, he naturally decided that yes, perhaps a field trip would do wonders for him. One thing led to another, and soon Sam found himself roped into a boys-only trip to a current automobile show in town.
Though extremely disgruntled with the idea (for gods sake Sam lived with alien robots that could turn into spiffy cars), Sam readily agreed to his friends idea. Just as his luck would have it though, Bumblebee was scheduled to have a check up with Ratchet on the day and would be thus unable to accompany him.
But that was okay, after all, what could happen there?
Famous last words.
LineBreak
It felt vaguely like a sense of detached horror.
Sam tried very hard to not gape as he watched the Navy blue Ferrari in front of him shift sluggishly on its newly extended legs as it tried vainly to stand on top of the overly garnished stage it used to sit on. Stretching out its slender arms like a toddler, it stumbled around the edge of the stage and slowly stepped down onto dry hard land, scratching the delicate stone paved ground with its sharp toes.
Twittering loudly, it swerved its delicate frame side to side as if to admire itself, and if cybertronian beauty scale was the same as human's it was certainly magnificent.
Its head was shaped almost like a human's, with something akin to an inverted black half-face mask covering the lower part of its face and a sleek visor swung across the back. The rest of its head was navy blue with the Ferrari's headlights framing the sides of its head like butterfly wings with space in between. Its gold optics were embedded close to the headlights, leading Sam to wonder idly through his horror if the bot would get blinded if they switched on. Meanwhile, its body, while large, was slightly smaller than Bumblebee's; and unlike Bee, it looked like it was built more for speed and flexibility than power. Doors aligned themselves upon its shoulders and aligned down until the elbow, which themselves led to a pair of hands with tipped claws. Its torso was pitch black tinged with blue, as was its lean legs that were attached to wheels on the back.
Overall, it was a sight to admire.
Now, if would only stop trying to come near him!
Stumbling backwards blindly, Sam hysterically tried to avoid the various projectiles being spilled across the floor courtesy of the clumsy (was that even possible) mech. For each step he took, the mech took equally with a much bigger range. In the process, it also increased property damage immensely.
"O God, O God, O God, Stopstopstopstopstop!" Shrieking in denial over the entire event itself, Sam looked on in horror as millions of dollars worth of cars and items were knocked all over the area. Surprising, the mech stopped as its foot just finished squashing a multi million dollar concept car beneath it.
The shriek of metal in the silence was deafening.
It was surprisingly eerie when the gold optics (Sam had never seen such a colour for optics before) started to stare intensely at him.
Feeling slightly like he had just entered an impromptu Mexican Standoff with the mech, Sam eyed it (him?) back. When his eyes started to water and sting though, he had no choice but to concede defeat. Such was the sting on his pride that when the mech moved closer to him he was utterly unaware.
Or maybe that was just because he was in shock.
Nearly his limit of just breaking out into a fit of screams, Sam practiced the art of calming one's self. When it failed, he sunk down feebly onto the floor and grabbed his head with both hands.
Ignoring the alarmed clicking that resulted from his meltdown, Sam rewinded his memories. How on earth did he end up like this again? It was only supposed to be a freakin visit to a show! A holiday kind of activity that aimed to destress a mind, not push it over eleven! O Primus, he was jinxed wasn't he? Everything he wanted normal would end up being revamped wouldn't it? He would always remain a robot magnet wouldn't he?
Sobbing into his knees Sam sunk further and further into the pits of hysteria.
He would have remained there too, if he hadn't hear a feminine shriek come from the other room.
Suddenly on overdrive, Sam jumped to his feet and lunged at the mech. Grappling his (though beautiful it looked masculine) sharp toes with wild abandon, Sam started to play a desperate game of thug and war with him. "Come on, come one, move it! Or we'll get caught by security and that'll open a whole new can of worms!"
Seemingly unwilling to harm the tiny human, the mech obediently shuffled along side Sam's cajoling, careful to not cut him with his claws. It got impatient though, when both of them along only managed to cross a grand total of 5 meters in a half a minute. Picking Sam up suddenly, it proceeded to stride (knocking apart more cars in the process) to the nearest wall and blasted a hole in it with a cannon that Sam swore he didn't have before.
Sam felt his soul float away.
Walking out into the daylight, the fifteen foot tall robot gently placed Sam on the ground. It then folded inwards with the usual cybertronian transformation sequence into a sparkling clean Ferrari again. Opening its drivers door open upwards, a sentient seatbelt shot out and pulled the shell shocked human into the cabin. Once tucked in and secure, the car drove off in a cloud of dust, conveniently ignoring the fact that the automobile show was now utterly ruined.
LineBreak
William Lennox stared in annoyance at the destruction.
Early in the morning and half-asleep, he received a frantic call from one of the night N.E.S.T operatives about a possible Decepticon attack. Instantly awake and prepared he rushed out into the biting cold of dawn and leaped into his jeep, driving madly to the autobot hanger of the base. With a good portion of their autobot allies in compulsory medical check up (Ratchet was a scary mech that no one wanted to cross), the team had deployed with only Ironhide and Jolt. Reaching the lock down site in record time, they had immediately seeked out the enemy and engaged in conflict with the team of shifty looking neon coloured tractors, smack bang in the middle of a town.
Will was now very convinced that the transformers all had a very poor grasp of stealth. Either that or they were all attention seekers.
I mean, seriously, neon pink and green?
After a long battle of yelling, shooting, and in Jolt's case whipping, the battle was finally won with Ironhide blasting the neon bots with his plasma cannon and Jolt electrifying the rest of them. Tired and dirty, they all started their long journey back to base; only to receive another message of a possible Decepticon attack.
Extremely cranky now, the group rushed to the latest attack site with their firearms brandished and ready to shoot, only to find that whoever had attacked the area (a car show of all places) had already packed up and left. They had also left a lovely parting gift of millions of dollars worth damaged cars for N.E.S.T, insurance unclaimable.
Damn it all.
"Sir, think there's something you need to hear."
Turning around to face his partner in combat, Will tangled his hand through his hair.
"What is it Epps?"
Sergeant Epps jogged over the debris littered ground briskly and stopped close to the Major. Far enough to not be suspicious, but close enough for whispered words. "A boy there was ravin bout his friend bein lost. Said somethin about cheering him up and bringin him here, then loosin him after."
"So? He could have just ran off during the incident."
" Well ..." Shifting lightly foot to foot Epps twitched nervously.
"Spit it out."
"It's the Kid sir."
Ice pooled into Will's gut as he slowly looked Epps in the eye. The kid, an affectionate nickname and code for Sam Witwicky, unofficial member of N.E.S.T and the Autobots group, was a prime target for revenge. The Decepticons had proven themselves to be willing to wait to achieve retribution, and as they had all the time in the world, that proved to be a frightful thing. One year after the whole Mission city drama, when things were thought to have been settled down, multiple Decepticon signals had suddenly appeared overnight mere kilometres away from the kid's house. Alarmed, Bumblebee had quickly evacuated the kid's and his parents (pet included) and drove off with them in the general direction of the rest of the Autobots. Lucky for them, Bee had the best stealth equipment of the group. Eluding the Decepticons completely, they had driven off safely. When the rest of the cavalry arrived, the Witwicky house was completely levelled. Neighbours reported hearing enraged roars and spiteful threats to 'the boy' not long after they left, but being afraid had not left their house to check. Then after the whole broadcast fiasco and Egypt, they all realized that Sam had an eternal target pinned on his head.
"Bumblebee."
"Negative sir. Jolt reported that Bumblebee's been undergoing maintenance since 06:00 morning."
"Dammit" This was worse than he thought " Does anyone else know about Sam's disappearance act?" The last thing they all needed was a group of half-maintained Autobots rushing out into the country on a man hunt.
"No sir."
Pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers, Will grimaced. To tell or not to tell. If Sam was really captured by the unknown then they had to get Autobot help to track and rescue him. On the other hand, if he was just out there somewhere enjoying a cup of coffee after a sprint away from the area ... The joys of paperwork.
"Sir?"
Decision made Major William Lennox raised his previously lowered head.
"Contact the Autobots, inform them of the possible kidnapping of Samuel Witwicky immediately."
"Roger that." Giving Will a last reassuring glance, Epps turned around and ran out of the room, presumably to directly inform one of Ironhide or Jolt about the disappearance of Sam.
Migraine building, Will looked down upon the giant scratches upon the debris riddled ground. Hands tightening, he narrowed his eyes. No one fucked with his friends.
Hold on kid, we're coming.
LineBreak
Many miles away from the site, a navy blue Ferrari cruised smoothly down the deserted roads. Gears shifting and engines purring softly, the car seemingly glided across the road, letting no bumps or noise disturb its human passenger.
How curious.
After the boy (his creator. his charge. hishishis) had been pulled into the safe confines of the mech, he had somehow seemingly dropped into recharge. Observing his head drooping onto his shoulders uncomfortably, the Ferrari-mech had slightly reconfigured the inner structures of his current vehicle form in order to provide better comfort for him. Where there once was a seat at the driver's side, there was now a comfortable bed like structure supporting the sleeping boy. Aware that sudden jolt would potentially unseat the human, yet not wanting to create the discomfort of being restrained (unacceptable, his charge would Not be caged or harmed by anything) the safety belt had been reconfigured to wrap around the boy softy but securely.
Processor split on playback and driving, the mech analyzed all previous contacts between him and his creator. The creator spoke in another language (English, his processors informed him) and had seemed incapable of communicating in cybertronian. This factor had caused distress to the creator when he could not understand the communication attempts he had tried to relay (unacceptable, all threats would be annihilated). In result, stress levels had raised and his creator had displayed alarming behaviour.
Unacceptable.
He would have to learn the language of English before his creator next came online, or another process of alarming behaviour might or would be repeated.
However, more of a priority was the status of his creator. According to pre-existing data available when he was created, humans were fragile creatures capable of being extinguished by the mildest of factors. Slightly higher temperatures would affect the hydration status of humans. Lack of certain nutrition's would affect the physical status of humans. Incomplete recharging cycles would result in lowered mental capabilities and worse. So many threats, so little time to download and process.
There was also the issue of incompatible combat practices and situations with his systems. He would have to recalculate them to factor in gravity and other such factors while moving. If not done perfectly, it would increase the risk of his creator being injured due to his own lack of mobility.
Unacceptable.
He would protect his charge, failure was not an option.
Determination set, the mech focused directly on first learning all possible threats and dangers to humans, as well as the methods available for nullifying them. Later, it would process English. Setting systems on auto drive and threat detection, the bot continued on its mission of finding a safe environment for its creator.
He would be safe.
LineBreak
Grappling desperately at the struggling Bumblebee, Ratchet cursed yet again.
Why Primus, of all days did you choose today for Sam to get kidnapped?
Attempting to pin Bumblebee down upon the berth, Ratchet scowled as much as his mechanical face allowed him to. "Slaggit Bumblebee, stay still!". Though a significantly bigger and heavier mech than Bumblebee, it didn't necessarily mean that it was an easy job subduing him. Bumblebee was a young mech still in his youngling periods, nevertheless he was a fearsome opponent to face in the battlefield. If serious, he could have easily thrown off Ratchet in the current situation. When frantic over the safety of his precious charge, he could have wiped Ratchet off the map before he could even shutter his optics.
It was how he could do neither that Ratchet knew it was a bad idea to let him go.
"Slaggit Bumblebee, stay still before I take my wrench to your head and leave you here offline while we go for Sam!"
Bumblebee stopped for a moment before renewing his struggles with new vigour. Ratchet cursed again " Primus sake Bumblebee, stay still while I finish!"
"No! Sam's in danger! I have to find him!"
"And in the process run out of energon halfway finding him!"
"Wha-"
"Look down you idiot." Gesturing towards Bumblebee's armour Ratchet gazed dryly upon the flows of energon running down. Coolant pipes were half attached and in the process of being cleaned. The scout's legs were being re-adjusted to better suit the local percentage of gravity, and the previous struggle he had engaged in upon hearing the news of his charge had shaken loose some previously attached cables.
All in all, he was not fit for combat.
"Ratchet, I -"
"Quiet Bee, lie down for just a few minutes more and I promise you I'll be done."
A whine. "But Sam -"
"You will be no use to him in this condition."
Flinching back as if slapped, the canary yellow mech lowered his optics down in desperation. Waves of misery cascaded of him in response to his own guilt of not being with his charge when he needed him.
" Bee ..." Ratchet hesitantly reached out to touch the youngling's shoulder but the mech lifted his hand and pushed it away gently.
"Ratchet I ..." Looking up to Ratchet with an unidentifiable glow in his optics Bumblebee clenched his hands "Please hurry, I need to get to Sam." and destroy whoever's taken him were the words unspoken.
Nodding briskly, Ratchet continued his work. He would not be the only one seeking payment for the kidnapping of Sam.
LineBreak
Sam was dreaming.
Skies of ivory and stars that shined bright.
Cities of precious stones metal eclipsing the horizon, framing the land of metal lovingly with its shadows. Blinking lights stretched itself over the sky, etching out patterns of history and pride ("glyphs" his mind whispered). Mechanical figures raced around playfully along the streets, and laughter echoed across the streets. The wind curled around him lovingly, breathing into him life and hope.
It was beautiful.
Where am I?
The question was not answered, but Sam already knew the answer.
It was home.
A/N
And ... That's the end of the first Chapter!
Pats self on back.
For anyone confused, the Ferrari bot is not an actual character but an original character. Hope you all actually don't mind him that much cause he's kinda important for my plot bunny.
Never fear though, he's not meant to replace Bumblebee!
Gasps in mock horror.
They will COEXIST! As much as they can anyways.
And yes ... He refers to Sam as both his creator and charge. It's not a typo. As for why ... Mwa ha ha ha
This is set in Sam's hometown. Let's just say that he went home for the holidays and reunited with his old friends.
:: Feeds bunny Chocolate ::
:: Bunny stomps on alter ego's feet ::
Anyways ... this is one of my first few fanfictions. So ... helpful reviews and comments would be much appreciated!
Cya!
Wind of the Dawn out ~~