AN/EDIT: Chapters 3-5 are currently in the process of being revised.
Disclaimer: I own Shiloh, Seth, Marc, and Lily. All others belong to Hasbro.
Hidden in the shadow of the rock face, Bumblebee watched the preparations for the race. According to Jack, some of the racers in town had been talking about 'The Red Devil' attending the Saturday night race. Optimus had immediately assumed this mysterious racer was the Decepticon Knock Out and sent Bumblebee to investigate.
The first to arrive were a group of older humans, three boys and one girl. Bumblebee could detect no threat from them, so he delayed contacting Base. Next to arrive were a pair of teenagers he recognized from when he picked up Raf from school. The boy had often praised his alt-form as he walked past to the girl, who merely stated that she preferred old cars. Jack had spoken of them once or twice at Base, saying that they had a passion for cars and racing. Vince was the next to arrive, his car's engine growling throatily.
Still no sign of Knock Out, Bumblebee mused. He was about to contact the rest of Team Prime and report the rumor as just a rumor when a familiar Aston Martin rolled up. Knock Out must have engaged his holoform, because a human with striking red hair and a leather jacket exited his alt-mode.
Bumblebee contacted Optimus and informed him of the sighting, asking for permission to engage.
::That is an outcome which should be avoided if at all possible. However, if in the event he poses an immediate threat to any of the humans, you have permission to engage him.::
The Autobot scout replied affirmative to the order, unease coloring the beeps. He examined Knock Out's holoform as it leaned against the Decepticon's alt-form and found himself surprised to see the Decepticon insignia flaunted on a pendant around the holoform's neck. Bumblebee noticed that Knock Out primarily focused on the girl with dark brown hair, while she spent an inordinate amount of time appraising his vehicular form.
A few minutes had passed when Bumblebee picked up on the conversation occurring between the two girls.
"It doesn't bother me. I don't see why it bothers you," said the brunette girl with a mildly irritated expression on her face. "He's probably just trying to figure out the competition here. It's obviously his first race."
You couldn't be more wrong, the disguised Autobot thought. He almost wished he could be that ignorant of friend and foe.
"No, Shy, it's not. I talked to some of the others, and they've seen him here once before on the night Darby decided to try his hand in the Circuit," the second insisted, looking just as annoyed as her friend. "Some of them also heard that this guy has raced all across the continent, and he's known for running some guy off a cliff who scratched his paint."
Listen to your friend. She's smart.
"Trust me, I won't trade paint with him. That car's just too beautiful to mess up."
"I'm asking you as a friend to be careful. I don't want anything to happen to you."
It was then that all the racers were called to the starting line and the two girls ended their conversation, leaving for their own cars with only the slightest hesitation.
Sudden anxiety struck Bumblebee. He didn't trust Knock Out to simply race and let the humans be. Something was going to happen, and if he merely waited for it to occur, one of the humans would be caught in the crossfire.
And that was something Bumblebee could not allow.
The roaring of engines filled Bumblebee's audio receptors, surrounding him on all sides. Knock Out was to his left, one of the humans was to his other side, and there were several others in front and behind him. The Autobot was literally in the middle of the pack.
Knock Out hadn't done anything yet, but Bumblebee knew he would any time now. Cutting the Decepticon off from the humans was his primary goal; if he could ruin his precious paint job in the process, that was just a bonus.
Bumblebee deliberately swerved so that his bumper glanced off of Knock Out's door, prompting the crimson Decepticon to not-so-gently nudge him back. They continued on like this for a length, the former taking every opportunity to swipe at the latter's paint job and drive him closer to the edge of the road.
Suddenly Knock Out accelerated, and in turn Bumblebee sped up also. Knock Out allowed the Autobot to take maneuver himself into a position where he could run him off the road, but when Bumblebee was about to do so, his opponent hit the brakes. Unable to pull away in time, Bumblebee slammed into the nearest racer and sent the car spinning out. There was a high-pitched squealing as the driver fought to regain control, cut off by a sickening crunch as the car met the mesa a few hundred feet off the road.
Bumblebee halted, activating his holoform. His tanks churned. He headed for the smoking wreck of the human's car, praying the driver was still alive. In the background he heard engines shutting down and shouting. The other humans must have seen the smoke and come to see what was wrong.
One of the girls screamed something - a name, concluded the fraction of Bumblebee's processor that was still functioning.
He reached the wreck, and felt his spark sink. The engine was leaking everywhere, the windshield had shattered, the hood peeled back against what was left of it.
To say nothing of the driver. From what Bumblebee could see so far, it was bound to be worse inside the car. It was too dark to see much, not to mention that the driver's side door was pinned against the mesa.
"Seth!" It was the girl who had screamed earlier. She flew past him and pulled on the passenger door of the car, but it was stuck. "Oh gods, let him be okay. Please let him be okay." She pounded on the door, trying everything she could think of to make it open. It refused to budge.
Vince arrived next, immediately joining the girl in trying to open the door. He was staring into the wreck, where as she was too panicked to look. "Come on, buddy, get up!" he yelled. "Dammit, you better not be dead!"
The rest of the humans reached them at once, all yelling incomprehensible things. None of them seemed to notice Bumblebee.
The two oldest ordered the others out of their way. One smashed the glass and opened the door from the inside, backing away to let the other crawl inside.
The girl was shaking, all color gone from her skin. "Please," she begged, "don't take him from me." Vince and the other girl took turns comforting her.
"Shiloh, which pocket's his knife in?" called the racer who had climbed into the wreck.
"F-front right," the girl stammered.
A minute went by before the racer carefully climbed back out of the wreck, cradling the unconscious Seth in his arms. Blood dripped down the teenager's forehead and stained his clothes. One arm hung limp at an awkward angle and the other was severely bruised. But the most obvious injuries were the vertebrae protruding in his lower back.
Bumblebee stepped back. What had he done?
The sound caused the humans to turn in his direction. Vince's expression took on a dark undertone. The blond girl stared for a few seconds before she understood what had happened.
"You-" Shiloh choked on the accusation, the color returning to her cheeks. Her eyes narrowed and she swallowed. "You-!" Again she broke off. A reddish tint entered her skin. She lunged forward, tackling Bumblebee into the desert sand. "You almost killed him!" she shrieked, punctuating each word with a blow.
Bumblebee immediately realized that she was related to Seth, or close enough to be his sparkmate. It should have been obvious from her expression right before she attacked him. The same expression had twisted the faceplate of Sideswipe when his twin Sunstreaker was killed in battle, and marred those of countless Cybertronians when their sparkmates were struck down. Never in a thousand millenia would he have imagined a human bearing it.
Still, he took the blows silently, not striking back. Even if it weren't his fault, he would never be able to strike a human.
The weight was lifted off of him after a minute or two. He stood, and realizing what a normal human would do, dusted himself off. Vince and one of the other boys were holding Shiloh back.
"The only reason we're holding her back is because it would take too long to clean up the mess," Vince clarified.
Shiloh thrashed against them. "Let go!" she screamed, tears running down her face. "Let me go! He- he-"
"Not important right now," Vince soothed, glaring at the Autobot's holoform. "What's important is that we get Seth to the hospital."
The blond girl spoke up. "I already called 911, but it'll be a while until they get here."
Shiloh struggled harder against the two other racers. She glowered with murderous intent at Bumblebee. "You almost killed him," she repeated, her voice low and threatening. "Understand that if I see you again, I will not hesitate to return the favor." Finally, she ripped out of their grasp and went over to Seth. No one else said a word.
Bumblebee took the hint and returned to his alt-mode, dissolving his holoform into static as soon as the door closed. He could see a flash of red in his rearview mirror disappearing down the road. Once he arrived back at base, he knew he would have to explain what he had done.
Optimus, I've made a terrible mistake...