I.

Mikaela pulled out a purple, cloth-wrapped item. "Do you know what this is?"

"Uh…" Bulkhead scratched at his head. "Not a clue, girlie."

"It's the last piece of the AllSpark," She held it up to the sunlight, "Extracted by Optimus after killing Megatron." The woman waved it back and forth temptingly. "I could give it to you if you let me go," Mikaela poised it to stab. "Or I could use it to turn you into scrap."

The Autobot let out a raucous of a laugh.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha! Girl, we weren't there. But we know the last AllSpark shard was used on Optimus to bring him back. Now," He took a descending step forward. "Let's see, okay?"

Mikaela dropped her head and extended her bare arm out. "I guess you were too smart for me…" she held it out. When Bulkhead chuckled his consent to that she struck his fingers.

"YAH!" He hollered, shaking his massive tan hand which jiggled under his green armor.

The taser dropped to the ground as Mikaela threw her car door open, placed her son in the child's seat beside her and scrambled over to put her silver key into the ignition – it gave a disgruntled chug but Mikaela kept on turning it. She tried starting it up several more times. Unbeknownst to her, the window rolled down and the car details began to change subtly.

"Mama?"

"Not now."

Her young son peered up and saw that Bulkhead was leaning his way.

"Mama…"

She didn't respond.

The robot waved at him.

"Uh," He whined and hid his face.

Giving his head a scratch, Bulkhead noticed that the child was popping bubbles.

"Hmm," the Autobot thought a moment before beginning to spew black oil from his mouth. When he got the little boy's attention, he started to make the oil into his own version of popping bubbles. One particular bubble lingered a moment before bursting.

"Heh-heh," His young observer giggled. "Heh-heh-heh!"

"Why won't this start!.?" Mikaela said angrily.

"Mama…" Her son pointed out at the ebony coated Bulkhead. "A-ta-ba."

"Yes, Mikky. Autobot." She kept trying to force the car to start, denying it was inevitable.

"Ba-ba-ba." The child said to the still present robot.

"Ba-ba-ba…? Oh, you mean Bumblebee!"

"Ba-ba-ba!"

"No, no, I'm Bulkhead."

"Ba-hell."

"No, Bulkhead."

"Bullhead!"

With a ragged sigh, the Autobot touched his oily face and gave it a shake.

"Heh-heh… Bullhead!"

"Close enough." He conceded.

"Start… start!" Mikaela fevered on. When it stopped making noise altogether the young mother let out a frustrated grunt and slammed her palm against the car. "Shit!" she yelled.

It was a mistake.

"Mama!" Mikky next pointed out the two sports car outfitted Autobots. "Cars."

They moved in closer to distract the child at Bulkhead's gesturing.

"Ahh!" The only recognizable part of Mikaela's Mazda – the wheel – rammed at her. She managed to dive out of the way and grab her son. "No!" it transformed without warning.

"I wouldn't hit Eelshock girlie, she gets a little ill-tempered if you know what I mean."

Mikaela looked up at the Autobot in terror to which he took on a more concerned look.

She was genuinely frightened even as she knew better then to be.

"Lady, it's all right. We're Autobots, remember? Optimus, Ratchet…"

The woman clung to her son. "Please don't hurt us," she said irrationally.

Mikky looked up at her and touched her dark cheek. "Mama," he soothed, "Mama…."

"God," She whispered to her child. "You have no idea what you're saying."

Her son could never know how hard life had been since her last encounter with robots.

Bulkhead drew nearer but with more consideration for the wide-eyed mother.

"Buckle up, sit still and keep your hands in the Autobot at all times," He informed the two dutifully with just a hint of his former humor intact, "Eelshock," he gave the roof a sturdy pat which shook the entire frame. The child gave a giggle, his mother breathed erratically.

"Bulkhead?" Topspin spoke up.

"Any more trouble with'er?" Roadbuster chimed in with a vague Scottish accent.

"Not a one. Now we better head back before our collective bosses blast our bolts off."

"So why are you called Eelshock?" Mikaela dared to ask the car as Bulkhead's back up Autobots flanked them on each side. She asked this softly, but she knew she was heard.

The taser sizzled a little from where it lay on the dusty cement driveway.

Bulkhead got into position so as to form an arrowed quartet, took one look at the cheap apartment and blew it up. Mikaela gasped loudly as the Autobot chuckled and rotated his massive body parts inward and out to form a monster truck; a big green and tan Silverado. She looked over to see if her son had seen but the obscure window of the car had slid up. As the sun started to arch down, signaling late mid-day, the Autobots started their course.

"Huh," Mikaela leaned back against her seat, folding her arms in an unimpressed fashion.

"Mama?" her seat-belted one-and-a-half year old mumbled curiously.

"I'm still not sure what's so special about this Mazda," She said as they were driven to the road. The woman reeled back in her seat as streams of black cords exited different parts of the interior and slithered past her and her son. Mikky exclaimed in fascination as they both watched what vaguely looked like spark plugs leaking out from three car hoods, the tinted windows made it difficult to tell but Mikaela thought she saw all of their different circuitry start to mesh together. A second later, Eelshock buzzed to life. Everything inside the new Mazda glowed a muted purple as the other Autobots absorbed her powerhouse electricity.

"Spark-spark."

'Huh, druggies…' Mikaela thought just before something occurred to her.

"It was you before, wasn't it?" She said. "You shorted out my apartment! I blamed that God Damn Decepticon virus." At this mention, everyone surged like lightening towards their next destination: Mission City. This, of course, was where the Autobot's home was.

II.

– In the Nevada desert…

Carly and Sam had gotten away long after the third explosion was counteracted by a put out Leadfoot. Bumblebee realized in that split second that he could never hope to catch them on foot, or even in his car mode. Thinking on his feet – quite literally – the robot noticed that Simmons was eye-balling the Mercedes left behind by Carly and gave it a quick scan. The man barely had time to wheel away as Bumblebee blasted the car into oblivion and took off at an accelerated speed of eighty miles per hour in two seconds.

Simmons watched agape as the yellow 2012 Mercedes followed in furious pursuit.

"Sam," Carly glanced over at him.

"Carls." He barely inched a glance her way, hoping she wouldn't hate the pet name.

Though, if Sam were being honest with himself, he was hoping she wouldn't leave him.

"Why are you doing this?" the woman reasoned.

Sam shuddered breathily before explaining in his blunt manner. "Because with me around, there's robot threats. With me dropped off the face of the earth, there's zero robot threats. Zilch. The Matrix removed all traces of AllSpark from my body and they can't track me by any satellites with global tech down," he sighed. "No one has to die if I'm gone, Carly."

She rested a hand on his shoulder. "Ever stop to think we're alive with you around?"

His eyes veered left and grew wide. "No, we can't stop."

"Sam, what are you talking about? There's nothing wrong with stopping to think."

"Just sit back and enjoy the ride."

"What?" Carly started to turn around.

Sam caught her arm. "No, DON'T!"

"Samuel J. Witwicky, get your hands off of me!" she narrowly missed slapping his cheek.

But Carly screamed as a yellow blur came roaring up on them. The man jerked his head around to see who he knew at first glance was Bumblebee. Sam tried to outmaneuver his friend but the Autobot had no interest in his crazed zigzagging. Instead he waited for just the right moment where the backside of Sam's car was the most exposed and mercilessly nosed it. Carly shrieked his name just as they went spinning out of control. A row of four clear buttons caught Sam's eye as he struggled to center the car again. Bumblebee flew in for the 'kill' and just a moment before his victory should have been assured, the car halted.

Bumblebee jerked to a halt as well in obvious surprise of Sam's performance.

The man and woman looked at each other, down at the car and then sped away.

Never one to back down, Bumblebee continued his pursuit.

"How did you do that!.?"

"I don't know!" Sam shouted. "I guess four years of near death vehicular experiences!"

He looked down at the row of four buttons and tested one. A splatter of oil spattered out, which Bumblebee expertly dodged. Sam then tried for several more rounds, well aware of the fact that their little detour was going to make it harder for him to reach his old car; the one that looked like Bumblebee. Licking his lips, the man pushed down on the button with all his might. Oil squirted in cascades from the back and fanned over the pursing Autobot.

"Yeah-HAH!" Sam pumped his fist, looking back with a wide grin.

He noticed Carly's narrowed eyes.

"I… I was just happy that the oil slick button worked."

"Right. So what now genius?"

"We drive back, hop in, take off and hopefully Bee gets the hint," Just as Sam was ready to do a Uey, Bumblebee emerged from the fountain of black, slick but mobile, and thrust himself out to do a huge belly slide. Sam freaked out and punched down on the gas pedal.

Two giant hands reached out then and lifted the revving vehicle off of the ground.

"Bee… Bee!"

The Autobot turned the car around to peer inside. Sam, however, dove down below the wheel. Bumblebee's miffed blue optics took in a stone still Carly. "Sam…" she trembled.

"Give me a second…" He slipped his hand up and pushed down on the car horn, causing a loud, shrill sound to blare. Bumblebee shook his head wildly. "Sorry Bee," Sam said with guilt. He reappeared in the driver's seat and turned his head to look back – unfortunately not fast enough to escape his friend's hurt eyes, and placed the '09 McLaren into reverse.

The car slipped off of Bumblebee's greasy fingers and landed on the earth with a thud.

"Ah!" Carly yelled. Everything in the big expensive car jiggled around.

"Sorry, babe." Sam continued to drive backwards. There was a quickening of his heart. The look he had seen was unbearable, maybe no one else recognized the significance of what Sam was doing – but Bumblebee did. That was why he couldn't turn back now, he couldn't admit that he was wrong about his decision, the man could only further act out.

A few seconds later Sam glimpsed Bumblebee shake the oil from his body and transform back into the faster car. Wincing, Sam slowed to seventy, then to sixty and fifty, tried to turn the car around to drive forward and found himself at the mercy of his first car in his girlfriend's car mode. It was a three time whammy; his own friend pinning the passenger side of his hood, his friend's model (given by Carly's treacherous ex-boss) and of course the third; Bumblebee had dented his rental car. These, though, didn't matter much at all.

The car skidded across the sand just before stopping at the edge of the old Sector Seven entrance. Sam looked at Carly and tugged at her arm. She looked back long and hard into Sam's eyes. Their breaths were the only thing heard besides the McLaren getting crushed.

"I love you," Sam said.

"I love you too," she assented, her eyes were lost in thought.

"Carly?"

"Sam, you've gotta face him."

"No! No-no-no."

"Sam."

"No," He opened the door as Bumblebee backed up, "Come with me," the man motioned.

Carly whispered his name angrily one more time before sliding out of the McLaren with him. The two headed behind a tollbooth with Sam leading the way before they stopped and noticed yellow police tape on each side of a long row of bulky construction barrels.

Carly pulled back.

"Sam, your car's right there. You know, the Bumblebee impersonator."

"No," he turned to her. "I've got a better idea." Sam saw that the remote car had stopped.

They fled to a pair of orange barrels twenty or so spaces away before the man motioned for Carly to hide under one. She bared her teeth in refusal before an enormous semi-truck convinced her to follow Sam's lead and masquerade as one of the annoying auto dividers.

The irony of what the barrels meant and what he was doing didn't dawn on him.

A mechanical sound emitted not thirty feet away.

"Bumblebee." Optimus's deep voice asked in concern. "Why did you leave us?"

"Sir…" the Autobot spoke, causing one of the barrels to quiver slightly. "Sam."

There was a static in the air and the hidden man felt completely visible to them.

The Autobot leader deciphered Bumblebee's meaning. "It is for Sam to decide what he will do. He will always be our friend, our comrade…" the robot's blue eyes roved along the many rows of barrels. "But he is not one of us. His feeling of his self-worth may well still be in doubt. Yet he cannot find it amongst us, even as he has always been part of us."

"He's here." Bumblebee told his leader softly.

There was a long moment of thought. "Take some time, but please return soon."

Optimus reverted back to his truck mode and drove away.

An hour later, hot and tired, Sam and Carly stumbled out from under their hiding places.

"You…" the woman pointed at him exhaustedly. "Are by far the oddest man I've yet to meet." Sam grinned before looking out to see that they were miraculously by themselves.

"I guess he left," the man said.

"I guess," Carly took him by the arm and pulled him close. "Your poor heart…" she said as she pressed her ear to his chest. The sun was setting in the west, casting gorgeous rays of orange across the desert. "Let's go then," She smiled up at him with bright eyes. He let a smile cross his dry lips before enveloping Carly with a warm, sensual kiss. "Mm… Sam."

"Yeah?" the man pulled back reluctantly.

"Drinks?" She indicated the shut down car. "Any?"

"We'll get some in the next town," He started over for the Bumblebee look-a-like.

"Uh, Sam!" Carly stumbled after him in her pumps. "How'd you know that's not a trap?"

"Look, this piece of crap is not a trap," The man pulled the car door open and indicated for Carly to get in the passenger's. "Even when Bee was one he didn't look this crappy."

She shook her head of curls incredulously. "Really, Sam? Are you ever wrong? I'm telling you one thing now, I'm not going to be seen in that… that jalopy! We're taking that one."

Sam barely bothered the car with a glance. "Carly please," he slipped into the driver's seat and patted the one next to him. "Get-," the car door slammed instantly and locked him in.

"Sam." Carly said in disbelief.

"Bee…" That's when the man noticed that the top of the toll booth had been broken off and that ten of the cones had been knocked over – it was Bumblebee's warning to them.

Before Sam could protest further, he was being whisked away into the setting sun.

Carly flung the door of the McLaren open and tried to start the engine.

It wouldn't start.

"Damn."

To be continued…

~ Lavenderpaw ~