Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, and probably never will.
Author's Notes: I would like to aplogize for taking so long, but you are going to be rewarded. I think this might be one of my best chapters, but I shall leave that up to you, the faithful reader.
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Bumblebee carried for a few miles before she stirred again, he didn't stop. In no way was he going to let her go now. He had a lot to say to her, and now he couldn't say them. He was conflicted however; he both hated her for attacking him and understood that she was lost. He had been lost after he lost his voice, alone trying to figure out how to communicate with his friends. They didn't understand, no matter how much they said they did. Even if they turned off their vocal processors for an orn or two. They could turn them back on, he couldn't. He hated them before he started using his radio. So, quite possibly, he could understand what she felt, what it was that she was going through.
Even if she wouldn't let him explain it to her, and now he couldn't even do that. Unless he linked with her, assuming that she would let him. And judging by the way she was currently being treated that wasn't about to happen. He came to a stop when her optics came back on, a scowl on her face, he glared back down at her, his battle plates sliding into place. He lower her to the ground, daring her to do something.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked picking herself up and placing her hands on her hips so that she resembled a human female. He flinched, he knew that stance, Sam had been on the receiving end of it multiple times and it was never good. He recovered quickly, taking a defensive position.
She continued to stare at him, nearly ready to demand that he speak before she remembered what she had done. She regretted it, but it was the only thing she could think of. Surely the medic would be able to repair it. She only wanted to be allowed to get away from him, from them. She didn't understand everything that she was feeling. She wanted to apologize for her actions, to let him know that it was nothing personal. She would have done the say thing to any of the others. Then again one of the others might not have held back, they could have over powered faster than Bumblebee had.
"You could have allowed the others to take me back," she said softly, taking a few steps away from him. So very ready to turn tailpipe and disappear. She waited for the best moment, it wasn't forthcoming.
He admitted it to himself, the truth burning in his mind. He knew what he had to say. "I must be protective, you cannot be reckless."
Her response was not the one he was looking for, she shifted into her alt-form drove around him a few times before taking off. He watched her go before shifting into his own alt-form and speeding after her. Was she playing games with him now, making him chase after her. What reason could she possibly have to be provoking him like this.
Did he really just tell her that he cared, that he wanted to protect her? No, what reason could he possibly have to be protective. She had insulted, run away, and hurt them. And now she was…flirting with one of them? Completely impossible, but she was a femme so it was only natural for her programming to take over at some point. Although why she was attracted to the small yellow bot was beyond her for the moment. All she really knew was that he wanted to protect her; she wasn't going to make it easy on him.
"Enigma, where are you leading me?"
The gentle voice that had been speaking to her during those weeks on the table was back, he sounded amused.
"I'm not leading you anywhere. You just happen to be following me." came the chuckling reply, her engines roared as she skidded onto the paved road. A few horns blared at them as they sped up, a yellow and black camaro next to a blue and grey Harley Davison. She wanted to loss him, but she was having fun now. Could she be like this around the others, be like a normal femme. Did she actually have feelings for him, did she want to be with him and his friends? He was beginning to win her over now, make her see that being around others wasn't a bad thing, that it was needed in order to survive. She wondered how long she could continue to lead him around before he got wise.
He was going out on a limb now, if he could get her to play, to loosen her up a bit. However he wasn't given the chance to suggest anything, she spoke quickly.
"Why don't you just go away."
"Or take a buggy ride to the lake?" he said in response, thankful for his unlimited access to the world wide web. She couldn't look at him, but he could tell that she wanted to from the way she slowed down. Pulling off to the side of the road he waited for her, it wasn't a long wait. After she had came to a stop he spoke again.
"I challenge you to a race to the lake." He revved his engines to prove his desire. He would set the terms hit, but he was confident in himself.
"Why do you wish to race?"
"I want to make a deal."
She revved her own engines, it would be a good chance for her to test out her systems. She waited for him to continue.
"If I win you come back to the hanger and never run off again. If I lose you get to leave, and I promise not to follow you.." He would do what ever it took to get to her agree, he only hoped that she wouldn't notice the loop hole he had created. The others could follow her all they wanted, besides he could speak for them, or for himself. But that was besides the point at the moment. He waited, the silence she was creating was starting to get to him.
"You have yourself a deal, Bumblebee."
"GO!" he blasted over his radio, dirt flying up behind him as he left her there dazed and confused. After a few seconds she tore off after him, creating her own cloud of dust. She accessed a map of the area, finding the fastest route to the lake; when it came up she discovered that it lead her through a part of town known as the suburbs. She figured that Bumblebee would be going the same way, and so she sped up more, passing cars and other vehicles.
When she was finally able to pass the yellow camaro in front of her noticed that he seemed to slow down a bit. In that moment she felt anger and contempt. How dare he think that she couldn't beat him fairly, it was bad enough that he hadn't fought back earlier. But now, when the race would determine her fate. She hated him for that, what could she possibly due to get him to actually race. She slammed on her brakes, nearly causing him to rear-end her. Laughing she sped back up, hoping that that was enough to get his engines really going.
It was, he sped up, inching ever closer to her rear tire. He wasn't going to pass her just yet. He recognized the street they had just turned onto, and turned his radio up, hoping that Sam was outside. And indeed he was in the front yard, he looked very displeased as his car roared down the street.
"Bumblebee, where are you going?!" he yelled running after the camaro.
"But we are heading towards the lake…" was the only reply he got before his car once again disappeared from sight. Disgruntled he walked back to the front porch and sat down, his small dog yapping excitedly at him.
Bumblebee sped up and passed the blue and grey Harley Davison without a second thought, he might have been going easy on her before, but not now. He wanted Sam to see him chasing after her, and to tell him where he was going, knowing full well that sooner or later an Autobot would come to call. He looked back at Enigma in his rear view mirror to find her right on his aft. He couldn't do much more than keep her from passing him at this point, he was at his limit. Luckily though the lake was starting to come into view.
Enigma finally felt challenged by the mech, and she gave it her all to beat him, but it wasn't enough. She came skidding to a stop only seconds after he did. His joy clear as he honked and blasted music through his speakers. She flashed her high beams at him trying to get him to stop celebrating. It was quite a few minutes before he did so, during this time she contented herself to explore around the lake. It wasn't like she was going to go very far. Although, she noted, she could have easily left him at the lake during his victory 'dance'.
Bumblebee scanned the area for humans, he found a few on the other side, so they were relatively safe from being spotted. He had watched Enigma as she wandered around, it was obvious that she wanted to keep moving, to get away from them. He couldn't figure out why she didn't run while he was distracted. The only answer he came to was that she was going to keep her word. He drove around to a spot away from the main area, Enigma followed him taking in everything that she could because her mind told her that it would be her last chance to do so.
Bumblebee spoke to her via link, of course, "Enigma, are you ready to be with the rest of us?"
He felt sad for her now that he was once again looking at her, knowing that she was near death when they found her. And that all she knew was being alone. He was going to save her, bring her back from the place she was in, he had to. No one else offered to be there for her, not even the eldest of them. He wondered how Optimus would have handled her had he left her there. Or Ironhide. Or Ratchet.
Well, he figured the latter would have taken care of her, then most likely done something to prevent her from attacking them again. Even if it meant welding her to a table. He hoped that his friend wouldn't do such a thing to her. He dimmed his lights and began to wonder what was going on in the femme processors.
She needed to know that he understood, now was probably the best time for her know.
"I do understand, Enigma."
She would have glared at him had she not been in her alt-form, he didn't understand it at all. "How could you even begin to fathom what this feels like?" Her anger rang clear in his head. He subconsciously backed up a few inches.
"You still fear me." she stated coolly, she had thought that the mech would have realized that she only fights for herself, but then again he had never seen her fight except for when she attacked him. Which wasn't a very good example of how passive she really was.
"Yes. But that is not what I want to tell you."
"Then go on, before I get bored."
They both chuckled, or at least as best two alien robots are able to chuckle, in sounded more like a sputter than anything else.
"I have felt the same loneliness that you do. When my vocal processor where originally damaged during battle. None of the others could understand how it had effected me until I began to use sound bytes. They all knew me as the bubbly one, the high spirit. But without my voice I wasn't able to be so," he paused, should he go on, "I also lost both of my legs, Ratchet is an amazing mech. You should trust him like you trust me. They only want what is best for you and the rest of us."
He felt low, like he was sinking, her voice pulled him up again. "I have taken it away again…I am sorry."
"Wanna go for a drive?" he moved towards her slightly, hoping that she understood how he felt. He didn't want her to be sorry for him, the others would do that. He wanted her to be happy, to be comfortable around him. Her expression would have been one of confusion and happiness, she loved the idea of going for a drive and hoped that it would be something she was able to do. Even though she knew, deep down in her spark that it wasn't likely due to her most recent actions. Unless the yellow mech stood up for her or pleaded her case.
"As long you lead," she said, a few moments later they were driving away from the lake. It could be said that they had struck a friendship. However the truth was that Enigma was testing her limits, while pushing aside everything that she knew for a few moments of kindness. For she didn't know how long they would last once they got back to the hanger. All she knew was herself and the horrors she had seen on Cybertron before she left. No matter what she did the images of the others were imprinted upon her memory, she could see them every time she shut down, or went into a recharge.
She could see the younglings being crushed, and the femmes who rushed to save them ripped apart. She saw the countless empty shells and wasted Energon that spilled from the broken bodies. She had tried to save a youngling when she left, attempting to bring him with her into the vastness of space. The young bot had survived leaving the atmosphere only to die in her arms a few vorns later from the cold. She was forced to release his young body, she beat herself up for her own foolishness, for believing that she could save him. What she considered worse however, was that she would never be able to tell the others what she saw.
They wouldn't possibly be able to fathom how much she suffered during those centuries alone among the stars and planets. She wanted nothing more than to create new memories, to over write the ones that haunted her even now as she drove along side Bumblebee.
She wasn't paying attention to where they were going, and she felt as if he wasn't either, they just seemed to going which ever direction he felt like going. She didn't understand it, but she wasn't going to question it, if this is what going for a drive meant then she was fully enjoying. At least until a purple Peterbilt, and black GMC Topkick 4x4 performed a u-turn and began to follow them. She began to speed up, she didn't know any of the others alt-forms aside from 'bee. Who at the very moment she began to pass him began to slow down.
He and the others sped off after her, he was trying to get a link established with her, their earlier connection dropped. When he finally got a connection however, Enigma wasn't listening, or she was and just didn't care.
"Enigma! It is Optimus and Ironhide! They have just been looking for us."
"How do you know it is them and not some other…?"
"Because I am being yelled at," even if he wasn't actually using his voice, his light hearted tone was evident, and cause enough for her. She too began to slow down and pull off onto a side street. The very side street where Sam and Mikaela had first met the Autobots. After they all came to stop Optimus shifted back into his robotic form, displeasure clear upon his face plates. Lennox and Epps jumped out of the black GMC, M-90's slung to their backs. Ironhide and Bumblebee both followed his example, the former looking rather angry at the two of them as well. Enigma slowly shifted back, she knew something bad was going to happen. She could see it as clearly as she could see her own hand.
"Bumblebee, what were you thinking? You should have taken her back to the hanger," asked Optimus as he looked down at the young mech.
The young mech in question bowed his head while he searched for a good response, "Oh, I don't know. I thought we could just go for a drive." He was being, what Sam called, a smart ass. They all stared at him, did he really just say that to Prime. No, not their little 'bee, impossible, he would never speak to any of them like that.
Then they turned to Enigma, as if she would possibly have a better answer, one that made more sense than Bumblebee's obvious display rebellion. Had she damaged more than his voice during their little fight in the sand? No, he had just had enough. She deserved to be treated with more care, yes, they had been keeping her away from the humans, but it was clearly not the way to go.
"Okay, yeah, excuse me, but before you guys start doing whatever it is you have planned. Would you mind explained who the HELL that is?!" yelled Master Sergeant Epps pointing towards Enigma, earning him a nod from Major Lennox.
Optimus had completely forgotten their tag-a-longs, with a robotic sigh he looked at them. He would deal with Bumblebee later. Right now he had to introduce the humans to potentially dangerous femme bot with canons like Ironhide's and the temper of Ratchet. Needless to say he was worried for every party involved in the forth coming events. He looked at Enigma, who seemed to be more interested in her surrounding than the rest of them, although what the femme was thinking was beyond him.
"Major Lennox, this is Enigma, a femme bot from our home planet of Cybertron. She has travel a great distance to be with us. However she is having some difficulty adjusting to our company." He continued to look at her, until finally her blue optics met his, he could see pain in her eyes (he recognized it from his own.)
"Right, you already told us that little tid bit. What we want to know is why you have hiding her, Optimus," it was Lennox who posed this question to the large purple mech. However it was Enigma that answered him, causing all of them to jump slightly.
"I am not safe. When I was first discovered by them I turned my canons on them. And then did so again after they had returned my systems to normal. I have wounded one of them in my attempts to escape from them, and the memories running in my processors. I am not safe to be around."
"That's not true!" shouted Bumblebee, earning him a few glares, two to be exact, and three questioning gazes.
"…I trust you as much as I trust anybody," he said, lowering his head sadly. Hoping that his trust in her wasn't fool hearty, he could hear their doubt.
Enigma wanted to reach out to him, to let him know that she trust him as well, but she felt that if she did move she would be looking down the barrel of someone's weapon. Which would trigger her to ready her own, and from there it would spell disaster. Instead she chose her words carefully, weighing them in her mind before allowing them to pass through her lips.
"After the way I have treated you, you should not. But I trust you as well and give my word here before these humans that I am no more a threat to you."
"You're promise means little to me, Enigma, seeing as how you have much to learn about Earth and our customs here," Optimus was being hard on her, if she was going to learn she might as well begin now. She had to learn to respect authority and those it lied with.
"Okay, well now that we all know each other, I think it's time we all got back to where we need to be," Major Lennox said breaking the tension of the night. None of them made a move; Bumblebee was shifting his gaze between Optimus and Enigma, Ironhide wasn't taking his optics off the femme (not after the stunt she pulled earlier), Optimus was also watching the femme, while Enigma seemed to be staring into space.
She was in fact, trying to force herself to become submissive. She knew that was the only way she was going to survive living with them. They remained in the silence for what seemed like hours until Optimus spoke.
"Autobots, roll out."
Enigma was the last to shift back into her alt-form, and the last one to leave the side street after the two men had gotten into Ironhide. They drove back to the hanger in complete radio silence, not even Bumblebee was willing to break this silence. It was the dangerous kind of silence, the one where the wrong word could send the world as you know it spinning into oblivion.
Quotes used by Bumblebee*: Jackie Chan Adventures, Medicine Woman, Family Guy, REPO! The Genetic Opera, Cars, Lost Highway, Alias, and 24.
* The order of the quotes in the listing does not reflect the order in which they were used. Thank you.
