Another short (according to me) chapter :( but I have been working a lot on our farm. Our mobile home was dropped while being loaded onto the truck, so it's probably uninhabitable *sobs* so I'm stuck living in a camping trailer. No internet, no sewer, no power. It's so hard! But we arrived, we're going to thrive, and we're going to survive! (hopefully)
Here's the next chapter. I hope you like!
7 – Shut Up and Drive – 7
It was nightfall again, and it found him standing just outside the ranch house that served as the hub for all operations on Obadiah's ranch. His eyes practically glowed in the night as he tried to suppress the feelings of paranoia and panic.
The Autobots and the children had told him all about the man he had run into that day. His name was Silas, formerly known as one Colonel Leland Bishop, and he was the leader of a terrorist organisation known as 'MECH'. They did not know why Mirage had had a run-in with him, but it was probably because they had seen something in Mirage. This situation almost caused Optimus to confine Mirage to base (again), but with Mirage's silvertongue, he managed to convince the large mech to allow him to return to the ranch.
He sighed. Sooner or later, he would have no choice but to camp out at the base if things got too dangerous. He'd probably lose his job.
Silently, he began to walk out towards the pasture where he had first transformed. I think it's time I stretched my gears once again. And maybe I should choose a new vehicle-form. I believe I have the need to drive; a wicked grin appeared on his face. Maybe even…race.
In the field, he gazed around to make sure there was no one who could see him, that no one was outside. He was a bit apprehensive about the pain, but he activated the Chameleon Patch anyway.
This time, he didn't fall over, and the pain wasn't as intense. In fact, it was more uncomfortable than painful. But once he was standing in his Cybertronian form, he traipsed off in the direction of the highway. When he got there, he crouched behind some rocks and spied on passing cars.
He was going to go out and enjoy himself. He survived through all this stress, so he deserved it.
An old clunker of a truck rattled by, and if still had a nose, he would have wrinkled it in disgust. The truck drove out of sight, and he sat down and crossed his legs. His doorwings flicked again when he saw another vehicle come into sight, but when he examined it, he saw it was a Ford Explorer SUV. It wasn't sleek, or fast enough. And he had done his research.
A Pontiac Solstice went by…
Too small.
A Westernstar semi-truck went by…
Too big.
A Nissan Juke passed by with its high-beams on, nearly blinding him as he tried to examine it.
Not sleek—and too small.
An Aston Martin raced by, and Mirage had to roll his eyes.
Not sleek enough.
But then he saw it. He had wished he could scan it, but had never thought he would see one in person. A bit of his vain side appeared for a nanoklik as he grinned before his orange optics turned green, and two green beams of light shot out and ran over the sleek frame of his new-favourite Earth alt. When he was done, the tech specs of the alt showed on his optics before he stood up and then collapsed into his new alt. A Ferrari 458 Italia.
He revved his engine, which had been altered and now revved with a higher pitch, and screamed out onto the highway below. If his faceplates were not hidden, he would have been grinning madly. How he missed the feeling of the air passing over the frame of his alt while he raced around…
Mirage continued to drive down the highway, and soon caught up to the Aston Martin that he had seen pass by before he had chosen his new alt. He stayed behind it, matching its speed. Maybe it would lead him to a race? Fancy, fast, cars like this often did at this time of the lunar-cycle.
Quietly, he followed, and to his satisfaction, the red Aston Martin did lead to a race—but an illegal race. Mentally, he sighed. Illegal. But no one would know he was in it…because he would race, and if he won, he would leave and not let the humans stop him, and the next day, there would be no sign of a royal blue Ferrari with needle-thin white and gold accents tracing his head-lights, tail-lights, and along the seam where his doors transitioned from the door to the window. He'd be in human form before the sun could begin to colour the sky.
He pulled up beside the Aston Martin, and quieted his engine. He had researched illegal street racing, and found that some illegal races were registration free in order to not risk a paper trail. This one, thankfully, didn't need him to activate a hard-light projection, a holoform, in order to sign any papers.
The Aston Martin revved its engines at him, and in response, he revved his as well.
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as a girl with red hair and blue eyes, dressed in a black shirt and a jean skirt, walked over to him. He sighed. Great, it looked like the human wanted to speak to him, and that meant he would have to activate the holoform. Thankfully, he was one of the few that could do so, thanks to his electro-disruptor.
Activating his electro-disruptor, he made sure his holoform looked exactly like his human form. But he had it dress in black jeans, dark brown cowboy boots, a royal blue jacket, and had a black street bike helmet appear on its head. He had the helmet's visor tint to a black so that no one could see its face.
He wasn't expecting to talk to anyone.
When the girl was close enough, he rolled down his window. "Hey, you're new," the girl stated once she came up to his window. Mirage forced himself to not shutter as the girl leaned up against his alt. It would take a lot of explaining as to why his "car" moved on its own.
"Si, I am," he said.
"An Italian accent—nice," she stated before moving away.
The driver's side door of the Aston Martin opened and a young man stepped out. With midnight black hair laced with blood-red streaks, a pale face, and crimson eyes, the man made an imposing figure in contrast to his youthful appearance. Mirage narrowed his eyes and gripped his steering wheel as he watched the man walk around the front of his alt and down to his driver's side window. But he acknowledged him as the man leaned against the door, and took the time to catalogue the man's appearance and file it away. He even took special attention of the man's messy hairstyle.
"Well, hello there," the man greeted with a one-of-a-kind vocal saunter that sent a chill up and down Mirage's frame. Great, the Aston Martin was a Decepticon!
"Haven't seen you around here before," the 'Con continued. "How good of a racer are you?"
Do not allow him to make you speak, Mirage told himself. You've run into him before, and he'll recognise your voice. Rottami, why did it have to be Knock Out?
Mirage turned his head towards Knock Out's holoform, acknowledging him. He held up a hand and shook it in a 'so-so' gesture.
"Being humble, aren't you?" Knock Out said condescendingly. "But come on, don't be shy…"
Mirage let out a low growl. Knock Out was one of those Cybertronians that would not stop pestering you until they got what they wanted. But he wasn't going to give in, not this time. So he shook his head and rolled up the window. He heard the Decepticon in disguise huff in annoyance before muttering under his breath, "Fine, be rude." Then he walked back to his alt and closed the door behind his holoform. This would be interesting. An Autobot versus a Decepticon in an illegal street race with a bunch of humans? Let's see how it all goes down…
Ten minutes later, the same girl who had commented on his accent walked out in front of the lineup of cars. She held up a handkerchief and then thrust it down, signalling the beginning of the race.
Mirage revved his engine, its exotic vipp-vipp melding in with the melody of the other engines' throaty growls, and shot forward. The beginning of this race reminded him of all the races he had gone to watch in Helix, and it reminded him of that one illegal race he had participated in Tyger Pax. Many of the snobby rich mechs and femmes had decided that they would race to see who were the best of the creations of the nobles that resided there. Of course he went, because he had once held the same mentality of all the rest. He had come in second that day.
Today, he planned on beating Knock Out and coming in first.
At the beginning, Knock Out pulled out in front of him and positioned himself in front of him. Every time Mirage made to drive around him, he would block him. This ended up irritating Mirage to the point that when he tried to go around the red Aston Martin again, he rammed the right-hand corner of the 'Con's bumper in order get up beside him. Then he rammed into his side, sending him careening onto the gravel on the side of the road. "That is what happens to scum like you, Decepticon," he proclaimed as he left Knock Out in his dust.
He managed to pass another car, one driven by a red headed, male, teen, before Knock Out caught back up to him and rammed his back bumper. "This is so on, Ferrari fleshbag!" he heard Knock Out exclaim.
Knock Out came up beside Mirage and rammed his side. "No one scratches my paint!" the 'Con yelled.
"Aren't you scratching it now?" Mirage shouted back at him. He knew that paintjobs were not the most important thing in the world, but since he really wasn't in the war at the moment, he felt kind of sad that the Decepticon was messing his all up.
He swerved away from the Aston Martin, nearly swerving off of the road. He swerved back towards Knock Out and smacked firmly into his front passenger-side door. It crumbled under his front left tire, and he had to mentally grin.
Knock Out growled before he turned sharply and rammed his front into Mirage's driver's side door. Mirage cried out as he was thrown from the road and over a short cliff. He rolled several times until he landed on his roof. He groaned as his frame bent from the impact. Great, that might inhibit me from transforming back into my human form, he thought. I guess I'll have to sit like this until Knock Out leaves. Up on the cliff, by the road, the 'Con was watching him, and he could tell it by his sensors.
The sounds of the other racers faded away, and Mirage watched as Knock Out transformed and leapt off the cliff. After performing one dramatic front-flip as he fell, he landed on his pedes next to Mirage's upside down frame. Mirage's holoform hung from the driver's seat, still strapped in. Motor functions were still available for the hard-light projection, but he had it hang limp from the seatbelt around its waist.
Knock Out knelt down and, with two sharp digits, opened the driver's side door. He grabbed the holoform from within and held it up to his face. Mirage made the holoform look like it was unconscious.
"This was the fleshy that gave me a run for my money?" the vain 'Con scoffed. He lifted one of the holoform's arms and let it drop. "I thought he'd be…more impressive."
Mirage made the holoform groan and shift a bit in the 'Con's hand. A visible shutter ran through the red mech at the possibility of a 'fleshy' waking up. But he was then distracted when three green sports cars with black racing stripes, a couple helicopters, and a large transport truck rolled up to them. Knock Out promptly dropped the holoform.
"What do you fleshies want?" Knock Out growled at them.
"We are MECH," a voice from one of the helicopters announced.
Mirage groaned as Knock Out growled a second time, this time louder. "You are the vermin that dissected Breakdown!" he cried. He transformed his servos into his circular saws.
"Indeed," the voice said.
Scrap, it's the man that I bumped into today, Mirage realized. He deactivated his holoform, and initiated his transformation cog. Slowly, but surely, he transformed and found himself lying on his back before rising to his pedes.
"So there's two of you," Silas stated.
Mirage knew he was badly damaged. He could feel his Energon draining from him. He limped over to Knock Out before shooting a look up at humans in the helicopters. Knock Out glanced at him before doing a double-take. Mirage watched as he blinked a couple of times.
"You look horrible," the Decepticon said wryly.
"There's a scratch on your paintjob," Mirage pointed out sarcastically, bringing to light all the scratches that cut up Knock Out's finish.
Knock Out growled in response before several loud clicks drew the attention back to the humans. Mirage winced when he saw the guns hanging beneath the helicopters and the humans peeking up out of the sunroof of the cars pointing their guns at them. Slowly, he reached up and rubbed the crest on his forehelm. He held his servo there.
"You are no match for the might of MECH," Silas announced.
Without turning his head, he looked at the mech that, when he had first came to Earth, had tried to kill him. "Fight?" he asked before running his servo down his faceplates.
"Hmm, drive," Knock Out decided.
And with that, the Decepticon whirled around, sprinted forward, leapt, and transformed. Mirage was only seconds behind him, half dragging himself behind the 'Con and transforming at the same time as him.
How was he supposed to explain this to Prime? Would he have to hide? "Gentile bontà, what have I gotten myself into?" he asked himself.
Hmm…no idea if I had made Knock Out OOC, but I couldn't really tell because I've been kind of disconnected from the world :P Don't worry, they'll beat each other to a pulp soon. Two vain mechs duking it out. And I have no idea how illegal races work, so the setup is completely fictional.
Italian/Tyger Paxian to English translation:
Gentile bontà – Goodness gracious
Rottami – scrap
Girl Supersonicboy: I have a lot up my sleeve, I just need to find it. I lost it up there somewhere. XD
Topkicker26: That explanation might not work very well. X3 He'd have to spill the beans. I've read that story, Mirage and Knock Out are brothers in that one. I lost track of that story. Silas knows, and you'll have to wait to see if Silas manages to catch Mirage in robot form or in human form.
KeepingThemAtBay: You can bet your boots that Mirage will be captured in one way or another. I can't wait to write that scene, I can make pretty good creepy scenes.
San child of the wolves: Next chapter, we'll see the results of the blood test. That's going to be a fun scene. Oh boy, it's going to be fun.
LunarStar98: I don't know if Silas is going to die in this fic…I want to keep this story as canon to the story as possible. He dies at the hands of Airachnid in the episode Thirst. And he will confess, I promise.
Move-2-da-beat-femme: Glad that you like it. I like your username, by the way. It reminds me of Jazz and Blaster.
