A/N: Just to get this out of the way. OH MAN, the Age of Extinction trailer was amazing! Okay, now back to your regularly scheduled chapter. LOL

...

CHAPTER 4
New Friends and Prejudice

Josh stuck behind his caretaker as they entered the large building in which Magnus worked. The large building was made of glass and metal, and filled with many different Cybertronians and humans. Just as he had suspected, he got several looks, mostly directed to Magnus. No doubt, they had known that Magnus had taken in a boy. But Josh was almost certain that they didn't believe the stories until now. He tried to ignore the stares as best he could until they were riding the elevator to Magnus's floor, which ended to be the very top floor. Once inside, Josh found himself in a large entry way to what he only guessed were Magnus's offices. And to say the relic filled, Autobot shield decorated office was impressive was certainly an understatement.

"Flare Up." The purple femme at the front desk turned to Magnus at once "Please inform those who may call in to make an appointment that I will not be taking new ones until tomorrow." He tilted his head to Josh "I've promised my ward a tour of the city."

Flare Up looked down at Josh with a smirk. "So this is the kid, huh?" She nodded her head "How are you doing, I'm Flare Up, your caretaker's secretary." She explained, standing to her feet "Bee's in the office already, waiting for you. Do you want me to set the kid up with something, or...?"

Magnus turned to Josh, who simply shrugged. He didn't mind either way, and beside he was trying to be on his best behavior, just as the mech had requested. Magnus simply stared for a moment, and then shook his head. "I think this one's better off under my watchful optic." Magnus finally spoke up "And besides, I'm certain that Bumblebee would enjoy meeting him." He explained.

Josh only followed Magnus through another door. Inside, his eyes immediately went towards the black and yellow armored mech in the middle of the room, given his paint scheme, he guessed this was the "Bumblebee" they had mentioned. After he had established that, he took in the rest of the office. It was just as big as the rest of the building seemed to be. Colored in a deep silver, the very look, with Cybertronian glyphs all around, and the overall formal look of the office screamed "important" which he figured was just as well given whose office it was.

"Bumblebee." Magnus spoke up as the mech turned "I trust that your visit to Earth went smoothly."

The young mech simply shrugged his shoulders, and took a deep breath. "It wasn't exactly the most exciting trip. But it was nice." He grinned a little "But I did get to see Jack and Sierra's first sparkling. You should see her, they made one cute kid." His optics turned to Josh after a moment "Uh, sir... You do realize you have a...?"

"Yes, I am aware of my young shadow." Magnus nodded "Bumblebee, meet my ward, Joshua Beller." The younger mech arched an optic ridge in response "You've missed much in your time away." He explained.

"Apparently." Bumblebee replied "Nice to meet you, Joshua."

"Josh." Josh spoke for the first time.

"Alright, Josh then. That's cool." Bumblebee nodded his head "You'll have to fill me in on the details later. I gotta hear how this happened." He explained, before turning his attention back to Josh "So, how old are you little guy?"

Josh stared at Bumblebee, what made him so interested? It was weird, not many people really approached him with a broad smile like Bumblebee's, or with his friendly disposition either for that matter. Though he didn't appreciate being talked to like a little kid either. "I'm ten." Josh smirked "How old are you?"

Bumblebee smirked back at him, and for a minute, Josh expected him to get angry. But all that erupted from Bumblebee was a light chuckle as he pointed at Josh via a thumb, and stared at Magnus. "A smart alleck huh?" Bumblebee questioned playfully as he turned to Josh "Kid, I think I like you already."

Josh felt his cheeks flush in surprise, most people didn't appreciate his snarky nature. So to hear those words stunned any words he might have had for the mech right out of him. After a moment of regaining his composure, he stated. "Thanks, Bumblebee." Josh smiled, his eyes turned to look "I'll uh... I'll just sit on the couch, or whatever." He muttered.

Bumblebee watched with a smile as the boy seated himself on the human sized couch in the corner. The mech tilted his head to Magnus as he made his way behind his large desk. "Okay, moving out of my state of shock." Bumblebee rubbed the back of his helm "Things on Earth were pretty normal. Construction of Autobot City is going normally, even though it's run into some snags in terms of funding." He explained.

"I'll see if I cannot find more funding if that is the case." Magnus replied "And as for the co-ordinated attack by former Decepticons in Shanghai last week?" Magnus questioned "How is the city fairing from that?"

"Better. The perpetrators fled the scene though, so there was nothing in the way of arrests." The warrior then spoke up firmly "Hound and a few others are looking into who may or may not have been behind the terrorist attack."

At that point, Josh felt himself zoning out, having no interest in what was happening on Earth. He'd left for a reason, and he tried his best to forget that his home planet had even existed. It was the whole reason he had come to Cybertron, after all, to find something better than Earth. "Well then, this is all... Enlightening." Magnus replied, pulling Josh out of his thoughts "Anything else to report?"

"Ratchet wants medical leave on account of his sanity." Bumblebee teased.

"He'll need to talk to Rodimus about that." Magnus replied "If that's all, you're dismissed."

Bumblebee nodded his head, and turned, but soon turned his head to look at Josh. "So, what's the kid going to do while you're working?" Bumblebee questioned "I'd think sitting in on five different meetings would be pretty fragging boring." Josh raised an eyebrow at that "Maybe I can take him out for a bit, give you a little break from caretaker duty."

Magnus stared at Bumblebee, and Josh wondered if he even knew the mech well enough to say "yes". The mech simply shifted a few data pads and nodded his head. "I can trust you to bring him back in one piece, correct?" Bumblebee rolled his optics and nodded "Then go ahead. I'll be leaving before noon, so I expect you both back then."

"Got it." Bumblebee turned his head towards Josh "You wanna come, li'l man?"

Josh was silent, putting his hands in his pockets and staring over at Magnus. The mech simply inclined his head in an encouraging nod, to which Josh found the courage to stand and approach Bumblebee. "Sure, uh, I mean, I guess." Josh replied "We're not going too far though, right?" He questioned, a hint of fear in his voice "I mean not out of the city or anything?"

Bumblebee felt tempted to question why Josh feared where they were going. But he simply gave the young human a friendly smile and shook his head. "Nah, we won't go far." He replied, motioning him toward the door "Catch ye later, sir."

Josh could only hope that this robot would be true to his word.

...

"Whoa, what is that?"

Bumblebee chuckled as he stared down at the young human shaking his head. Having known that there was a race going on that morning, he knew exactly where to take Josh. It was close enough that he'd be keeping to his work, and would end just in time to get him back to Magnus. He stared up at the large stadium after a moment, grinning. "No one's ever taken you to a race before?" Josh shook his head "Oh man, kid. You'll love it. The best part is that you're with me too."

Josh shifted a bit, keeping to Bumblebee's side as they weaved through the crowds. It was a large crowd, filled with families and adults alike, but eventually they cleared it as Bumblebee approached one of the many entrances. "Bluestreak, hey!" Bumblebee held a hand up and waved at a young grey colored mech near the entrance "Not racing today, huh?"

"Nah, I have guard duty today." Bluestreak shrugged his shoulders "You can go on in if you want though. I think last I heard was that Mirage and Wheeljack were in the race. They'd probably let you into their pits if you went and asked." He turned his head towards Josh "Hello there, youngling. You lost? Where are your-."

"Actually, the kid's with me." Bumblebee replied.

The young Praxian stared at Bumblebee in confusion, then down at the young human. Josh had to hold back a chuckle at the mech's clear confusion. He rubbed the back of his helm. "Whoa, Bee. I thought you were only gone to Earth a couple of months. Don't you need at least nine to make a human?" Josh's eyes widened "Is the mother around, slag, if you got bonded and didn't tell me!"

"Blue, relax. Breathe a little." Bumblebee laughed "This is Josh. He's Magnus's foster son."

Bluestreak stopped himself short of another ramble, his mouth curving into an "O". He shifted a little, and looked at Josh again. "Oh yeah, I read something about that in the news." He explained, tilting his head "It's nice to meet you kid, I'm Bluestreak. We'll probably see a lot of each other. I work with your foster dad sometimes, so does my little brother, Smokescreen. Have you met him?"

By now, Josh had the feeling that this mech talked, a lot. He stepped back a little, nervousness and shyness coming to the surface. "Blue, I think you're scaring him." Bumblebee chuckled "Don't worry, Josh, Blue's harmless. Even if he does ask too many questions." He put his hands on his hips, and both chuckled at that.

Josh found himself chuckling a little himself. "Nice to meet you too, Bluestreak." He finally managed "So you're a racer?"

"Sometimes, yeah." Bluestreak nodded "Other times, I'm a sniper. Not much use for it on Cybertron these days though."

"Snipers are the ones with the big guns, right?" Josh asked quietly.

Bluestreak nodded, looking down at the young boy with a wink. "If I had it with me, I might even let you have a look." Bluestreak replied "But right now, I'm on duty here and races and guns are never a good thing." Josh smirked a bit "Come to think of it, neither are kids and guns. So maybe we'll wait until you're a little older on letting you have a look."

"Yeah, they're definitely scary at least." Josh muttered.

Bumblebee eyed the young human, noting how shaky his words had come out. How did a child like him even know what a rifle was? Usually weapons of the same caliber as a sniper rifle were kept from kids, as it often came to conversations about how they were used and war. "So anyways, Blue." Bumblebee quickly changed the subject "I'm gonna go show Josh the track. Can you get off and come with us yet, or what?"

Bluestreak looked thoughtful, and activated his comm, speaking into it quietly. "Yeah, I'm off now. No one else is arriving late or anything." Bluestreak pointed at Josh "First time at the tracks?" The boy nodded quietly "Cool, hop on and you might get to meet a few of the true greats face-to-face." He carefully lowered his hand towards the floor so that Josh could get on.

Yet again, the boy fidgeted and backed up. The young mech's stared at each other, confusion in their eyes. Though it was pretty obvious that the boy had trust issues, Bumblebee had never known Bluestreak to give up. Instead, he simply smiled a bit. "I don't bite or anything." Bluestreak attempted calmly "I promise if you get on me, nothing bad'll happen to you."

"What makes you think he's afraid of that?" Bumblebee questioned on a private comm channel.

"I was an abuse victim too, y'know." Bluestreak replied "I know how to recognize one when I see one."

Bumblebee slowly nodded as Josh stared down at Bluestreak's hand. After a moment, he moved forward onto the mech's hand with great hesitation, allowing him to carefully deposit him onto his shoulder. "Just don't drop me, okay?" Josh requested quietly, staring at the long drop down to the ground "I'm kinda... Well... Uh..."

"Afraid of heights?" Josh nodded as Bluestreak asked "No worries, I gotcha, little guy." He shook his head a little bit as they started onto the track "Hey, I think 'Jack's up second. Maybe we should go over and say hi." He threw up an arm waving wildly at Wheeljack, who was off to the side talking to another mech "Hey, 'Jack!"

Josh shifted nervously on Bluestreak's shoulder. There was so many people he was meeting and he had only been out of the youth sector a day. Were all the mechs and femmes Magnus knew were really this kind. He wasn't used to that: kindness. He was used to lots of screaming, he was used to being afraid. Had he actually made a good choice in going to meet Magnus that day? He wondered about all of these things at once. He didn't want to jump to conclusions and trust these mechs too easily. He'd been hurt before, plenty of times before, and he didn't want to be hurt again.

He'd promised himself he'd never let that happen again.

"Josh?" Bluestreak spoke up from his side "You okay, buddy? 'Jack was just saying hi."

Josh stared up at the mech known as Wheeljack slowly, a smile starting to spread. "Hey, it's nice to meet you..." Josh attempted quietly.

Maybe he could start to trust again, even if it was only a little. Or at the very least, he had to try to trust them. He had to try to make friends, and meet people. Because he couldn't go through this strange new life without friends. That was a scary thought, even scarier than getting hurt again. "You too, kid." Wheeljack replied "Well they're about to start my round, I should get going." He then turned to Bluestreak "Catch you after the race?"

"You got it."

Josh looked over at Bluestreak, then at the ground again. "Bluestreak, can I get down? I think I've had enough of being this high up."

Bluestreak chuckled, picking Josh up, and setting him onto the ground. Josh carefully stood between Bluestreak and Bumblebee, who grinned over at him. "Alright, you're in for a real treat, bud." Bumblebee led him closer towards Wheeljack's "pit crew" "And remember, you're rooting for Wheeljack."

"Why?"

"Because Mirage is a pain in the aft." Josh actually giggled a little as Bumblebee winked "Nah, I'm kidding. But he's won enough races to last him a lifetime."

"Here we go."

Josh settled against a wall as the roaring of engines erupted through the racetrack and the race began.

...

"So, did you hear about Magnus and that one kid?"

Magnus stopped in the middle of the refueling room quietly, removing his energon cube from his lips. His audio receptors soon became alert to the words of the three mechs that were no more than a few feet away from him. "I heard he's a gutter rat from the Kaon slums." One of them spoke up "Charity project, probably. Magnus has to know he's taking in a future fragging Megatron probably."

Magnus's optics narrowed, he'd only just taken the boy, but he couldn't help but feel anger rise. He didn't like anyone talking in such a manner about anyone he cared about, and though he only had had Josh for a day, that definitely included him. "Can't blame him, can you? Kids are in short supply, I'd take what I could too." Another snorted "Even if it crawled out of the sewer. I guess he'd be pretty amusing to put up around guests." He then added "Or look good for the press." They all laughed at that "At least he doesn't have to worry about him turning out to be a 'Con spawn, right?"

"If I were you, I'd choose my next words very carefully."

Both mech's turned to Magnus with wide optics as he glared at them. The mech's looked between each other and then at the imposing mech in front of him. "Sir, we're sorry, we-."

"I'd love to hear what wonderfully wealthy background you came from." Magnus grunted, neither gave any kind of reply "I thought not. Now I'm certain I'll never hear such prejudicial or disgusting words uttered from either of your vocal receptors again." He stepped forward, gripping both by the shoulders "Because if that boy hears any remark like that again you'll soon be finding yourselves in need of a new job."

"Y-Yes sir." One sputtered "We're sorry, we didn't mean anything by it."

"Then you won't have trouble keeping your derogatory comments to yourself." He clutched the mech's shoulder enough he could hear the metal bend "And to prove to me you won't ever do that again. You all get a special assignment." He then added coldly "Cleaning up the waste disposal areas. Every day for the next month." He then narrowed his optics "And I'll know if you don't. Your superior will be informed of this new chore of yours."

Magnus didn't wait for a reply beyond the disgusted and horrified faces. He simply left the room without another word, taking deep intakes of breath. He wasn't one to get angry often, but that had nearly pushed him over a dangerous edge. How could anyone talk about a sparkling that way? How could anyone talk about his ward that way? His body tensed, his mouth grimacing. Primus help him if Josh ever heard such things. He had wanted to avoid Josh ever being exposed to the prejudice some still felt towards those from Kaon. But now, he realized, it was only a matter of time.

For the first time, Magnus had to question just how right his intentions were. Bringing a child from Kaon into the higher class area of Iacon. A place where a human was not only entering an alien way of life, but a way of life filled with new experiences. And worse still, class prejudice. Pull yourself together, soldier. Magnus thought to himself You're not turning back now.

As he re-entered his own office, he glanced over at Flare Up, who frowned a little at him. "You look like you could punch a hole through the wall." Flare Up noted "Everything okay, boss?"

Regaining his composure of stoicness yet again, Magnus sighed, his optics turning to Flare Up. "I don't wish to speak on the subject right now." He admitted calmly "I'll talk to you after I'm done having a nice little chat with Greenbow about his officers. And how they need to keep their vocal receptors shut." His optics flashed in anger at that.

Entering the office, he calmly hailed the mech's frequency, trying his best to keep his cool. He simply hoped that once this issue was resolved, that would be the end of it. But even as he thought of that wonderful scenario, he knew it was nothing more than a day dream. As he could only imagine that it was the start of it all.