Chapter Eighteen - Racers and Enforcers
Smokescreen stood watching as Steeldust ran laps around the track. Bluestreak sat next to him on a metal bench, timer in hand.
Steeldust had gotten faster in the nearly two vorns since they'd met, if that was possible.
He'd also gotten more fidgety, causing his teacher to kick him outside for a run when he found it hard to pay attention in class.
Which is what happened earlier. He'd been restless near the end of class, so their teacher let him go early to run off his extra energy.
Blue and Smokescreen had joined him once recess had started. Or rather, came out to watch.
The speedster hadn't really stopped for very long, just long enough to say hi and then he was off again.
Smokescreen shook his helm. How Steeldust had that much pent up energy, he wasn't sure.
Blue wondered if there was something bothering the speedster.
"How many laps has he done since we got out here?" the eleven-vorn-old asked.
Bluestreak glanced up at him. "I think seven."
"Pfft, I wonder how many laps he did before we got out here."
The grey and red shrugged. "I don't know."
Suddenly, Blue's face fell. "Oh, here comes Drag Strip and Wildrider."
Smokescreen half turned and grimaced.
The two troublemakers were en route to the track, with several younglings following them.
"What do you think they want?" Bluestreak asked.
Steeldust had also seen them coming, and slid to a stop. Now, he was right beside his friends.
"I-don't-know, but-probably-nothing-good."
Letting out a squeak, Blue turned forwards again. "Steeldust, stop doing that!" he protested.
The speedster winced. "Sorry."
The group of younglings reached the trio.
"Hey, mechs," Swerve said, bouncing over to them. "Guess what? Drag Strip wants to race Steeldust again. I said he's probably gonna lose again, but you know how the competitive idiot never listens."
"If you're done?" growled Drag Strip.
"Done what? Oh, done talking about you. Yeah, sure I mean there's- "
Drag Strip narrowed his optics and stalked over to the red and white chatterbox. "Do you ever shut up?"
Swerve clapped his mouth shut.
"That's better." With a smirk, Drag Strip turned his attention to Steeldust. "So, you heard him. What do you say?"
Steeldust narrowed his optics. "Seriously, Drag Strip?"
"Yeah."
Rolling his optics, Steeldust sighed. "Fine, if it'll make you leave us alone for awhile."
He wandered over to the starting line. "Coming?"
"You know he's gonna beat you, right?" someone from the crowd said.
"Shut up!" barked the orange speedster. "This time, I'm going to win."
"He's not going to win," a youngling whispered to her friend. The two femmelings giggled as they watched the speedsters.
"How many laps?" called Wildrider.
"Three," replied Drag Strip. Seeing Bluestreak was holding a timer, he pointed towards him.
"You. Pipsqueak. Time us."
The Praxian nodded. He got ready to do as the bully demanded.
"Go!" yelled Wildrider.
The two speedsters were off like a shot.
Swerve stood next to Smokescreen. "Drag Strip thinks that since Steeldust got sent out here early and has been running, that he'll be tired. The mech thinks he'll have a better chance now, which could just be correct."
"Huh. So that's why the crowd came," Smokescreen said thoughtfully. "What rousing speech did Wildrider give?"
The red and white shrugged. "The usual, hey come look at this or I'll kick you into next decaorn sort of thing. Though he did add in some, we think Drag Strip's found a way to actually beat Steeldust this time."
"Yeah, I figured."
Bluestreak piped up then. "I think Steel will still win. He's really quick. I bet they'll accept him into races in a few vorns."
"Yeah," added another youngling who'd been listening to the conversation. "He can probably beat every mecha they have. I don't know what all the fuss is about with them. We've got our very own racer right here."
"Steel 'll probably beat Wingracer's standing record when he gets there," remarked Smokescreen.
Swerve waved them off with a hand. "I admit, Steeldust is good, but you know who's better? Blurr. He's probably gonna beat the record first."
"Are you sure?" asked the other youngling, not convinced. "He's fast, but I'm pretty sure Steel could beat him."
Shaking his helm, Swerve frowned. "No, he couldn't. Blurr's definitely faster."
The two argued back and forth some more, Swerve practically singing with praise of the pro racer.
Bluestreak and Smokescreen shared a look. They were both glad that Steeldust was out of hearing range, the race having already started.
He didn't need to hear this again.
Smokescreen then looked out at the track and couldn't help but laugh.
Not only was Steeldust in the lead, he was running backwards, almost dancing away from Drag Strip. The orange speedster was yelling nasty threats and such, growing angrier and more annoyed as it went on.
When he got really mad, at times, Drag Strip seemed hardly like competition for Steeldust.
Who thought of it almost as a game sometimes now.
"What a pair," thought Smokescreen, shaking his helm with a chuckle.
"I beat you! I totally beat you!" Drag Strip yelled, practically prancing around Steeldust as they walked down the hall.
"You beat me. Hooray," Steeldust said dryly.
He sent an amused look to Smokescreen, who returned it.
"Who's the best now, huh, Steeldust?" the ecstatic Drag Strip asked. "That'd be me! See you later, losers!"
Pausing, Smokescreen and Steeldust watched him disappear around a corner, Wildrider close behind.
"Nice of you to let him win for once, Steel," smirked Smokescreen, looking down at his friend.
Steeldust shrugged. "Eh, I was tired. Maybe he'll stop bugging me to race now. To keep his win, you know?"
Bluestreak laughed. "You really think so? He'll be back, probably in a few orns."
"You're probably right, Blue," agreed Steeldust.
"Nice race, Steeldust," a classmate said shyly as the trio passed her. "Even though you didn't win I mean."
"Uh, thanks." Steeldust smiled, awkwardly rubbing the back of his helm. "See you in class."
"Speaking of class, I better go," Smokescreen said with a smirk before taking off. "Bye!"
"Later," Steeldust replied. "Hurry, Blue. We've got to go too."
"I'm coming! Do you ever get tired of hurrying?" Bluestreak wondered as he jogged to keep up with Steeldust.
"This is nothing, just a brisk walk."
Steeldust paused, turning his attention to his friend. Who sent him a look.
"Oh. I guess you're jogging... Sorry, Blue."
The Praxian sighed.
"It's okay. I'm used to it."
Blurr glanced up from his schoolwork as Fasttrack entered their room.
"Hey, Blurr, this came for you," the other fifteen-vorn-old said, handing him a small datapad.
Curious, Blurr took the datapad. "Thanks-Fasttrack."
"No problem."
Fasttrack sat down at his desk and pulled his homework out of a subspace pocket.
Blurr turned on the datapad, beginning to read the letter.
'Blurr, I'm guessing you probably aren't expecting me to write to you. But here I am, I guess. I can't really talk to you any other way; I don't have a comm installed yet. Cause you know, I'm not old enough yet.
Jazz told me about, well you know. The bond thing.
Yeah. I guess what I really want to know is why. I mean, I thought we were close. You were gone most of the time and stuff, but we got along.
Didn't we? Did I do something wrong? You could've just told me.
I just don't understand. And I want my brother back.
If you get this, I just want you to know, even if you don't care about me anymore, I still care about you.
Your brother, Steeldust.'
Blurr stared at the datapad. "What-am-I-supposed-to-with-this? I-can't-write-him-back. What-does-he-really-expect?"
Opening a drawer in his desk, the speedster shoved the datapad deep into the bottom of it.
Fasttrack glanced over, confusion and curiosity written on his faceplate. "What was it?"
"Nothing," muttered Blurr, going back to his homework.
There was no way he could face his brother again.
Ever.
Steeldust, Bluestreak, and Smokescreen walked towards home. Their creators and guardian had decided that it would be okay for them to walk home from school by themselves.
Steeldust's was the farthest, and even it wasn't that far.
Plus, they were getting older now.
Fairly street-smart too in the two eldest ones' cases.
"So, what do you think we should do on our next orn off?" asked Bluestreak, walking along between his two friends. "And depending what it is, we could invite Swerve and some others too."
"Hmm, there's only like one orn off left before school's out," said Smokescreen.
"Oh yeah!" Bluestreak thought a few kliks. "We could do lots of stuff then. Like go to the park and go exploring and all sorts of neat things."
"Yeah, that sounds great!" Steeldust said eagerly, doorwings twitching excitedly.
Smokescreen agreed. "It does. We should ask Swerve if he has any ideas."
They stopped at an intersection, waiting to cross. Chattering on about different things they could do or schemes they could pull off, they missed their time to cross and had to wait again.
Steeldust was listening to Bluestreak when he saw something that caught his attention.
Letting out a quick gasp, he began shoving his friends down the street, the opposite direction they had been going.
"Hey!" Bluestreak said.
"Steeldust!" Smokescreen protested, digging his pedes in and halting them. "What're you doing?"
"Move," hissed the speedster urgently. He grabbed Bluestreak by the wrist and pulled him forward again.
Smokescreen frowned and hastily followed.
Ducking into an empty doorway, Steeldust peered back out carefully. Two pairs of blue optics looked with him.
"What are we hiding from?" demanded Smokescreen, searching the street.
"Him," Steeldust whispered, gesturing with his helm.
The two Praxians followed his line of sight.
A black and white law enforcer stood at the crossing, where they had been not very long ago. He looked like he was casually out for a stroll, but his optics said otherwise.
They were piercing, searching. Almost as if he was hunting for someone.
"The enforcer? We're hiding from an enforcer?" Bluestreak asked. Turning to look up at Steeldust, his optics widened. "Steeldust, what did you do?!"
"Shhh!" Steeldust hissed, lifting a digit to his faceplate. "I didn't do anything."
"Umm, then why are we hiding? Enforcers won't hurt you," whispered the grey and red.
Steeldust and Smokescreen watched the enforcer with narrowed optics. Bluestreak looked from one to the other in confusion, twitching his doorwings nervously.
The black and white mech began to move, striding in the direction of their hiding place.
"Steeee-lll, he's coming this way," Smokescreen said, backing up a bit. Pulling the younger two backwards, he stood against the wall in the shadows.
"He looks like he's looking for something," Bluestreak mused. "Are you sure you didn't do anything, Steeldust?"
"Shhh!" Smokescreen and Steeldust chorused.
The enforcer was almost at their doorway now. The three younglings stayed still, holding their vents. Smokescreen clapped a hand over Bluestreak's mouth.
"Hey, younglings," the enforcer said, grinning down at them as he passed. He had appeared to know exactly where they were.
The trio were still for several kliks after, listening.
"Is he gone?" Bluestreak asked, moving Smokescreen's hand.
Steeldust cautiously poked his helm out.
The enforcer had disappeared.
"He's gone," Steeldust said lowly, walking back onto the sidewalk.
"Well, I kinda get why you pulled us over here," remarked Smokescreen. He joined Steeldust and looked in the direction the law enforcer had gone. "He seemed like trouble. There's something off about him."
Bluestreak shivered. "I didn't like his smile. It was kinda mean looking. Like how Wildrider or Drag Strip or Wheeler smile." He moved gingerly out of the doorway.
"Steeldust, why did we hide. Do you know him?"
Shaking his helm, Steeldust started back to the intersection. His doorwings were still flared upwards. "That's Barricade, I think. Prowl told me to stay away from him."
Tapping his pede, Smokescreen looked up in thought. "I've heard my Sire talking about him. He's bad news."
"He was kinda scary," Bluestreak said, moving back in between his friends. "Enforcers aren't supposed to be scary."
With one last look, they crossed the street. Soon after, they split up. They said their goodbyes and hurried home, keeping an optic out for the black and white enforcer.
Jazz trailed Barricade from a good distance, keeping a close optic on him.
The enforcer didn't seem to notice he was being followed. Hadn't given any indication all orn in fact.
Slipping into an alley, the investigator took a short cut that would bring him closer, but prevent himself from being spotted.
Normally, Jazz wouldn't care if an enforcer got transferred to his turf.
But this one?
Jazz could smell trouble all over him.
Not to mention the questions he'd casually asked last time they'd met.
Questions about things that he shouldn't know about.
Regaining his view of the street, Jazz paused, scanning the area.
This was one of the routes that Steeldust and his friends took to and from school.
Barricade walked by the visored mech's hiding place, helm held high with a satisfied looking grin on his faceplate. As if he'd just found what he was looking for.
Jazz frowned, watching as the enforcer disappeared around the corner.
His frown grew deeper when he saw three familiar younglings appear from a doorway several yards away.
All three seemed somewhat shaken. Three pairs of doorwings were raised, three pairs of wide optics looked around cautiously.
"They were hidin' from him," Jazz realized.
Good.
He didn't want any of them anywhere near Barricade.
And he was going to have a chat to Prowl about this.
Climbing down off the roof he was crouching on; Jazz began following the younglings instead.
They didn't notice him either as they rushed home.
Steeldust trudged inside the house, holding his datapads and school supplies in his servos. The bottom of his school bag had somehow broke when they were hiding from Barricade. He'd probably ripped it on something.
He wished he had subspace pockets. That was one thing he couldn't wait to be older for.
That and getting an alt mode. Steeldust really couldn't wait for that.
Balancing on one pede, he carefully kicked the door closed behind him with the other.
Walking into the living room, Steel dropped his stuff on the table.
The front door opened again. Steeldust tilted his helm and wandered back into the kitchen.
"Hey, Steel," Jazz said, closing the door behind himself.
Quirking an optic ridge as he looked up, Steeldust twitched his doorwings. He had come almost right home from school, what was Jazz doing home so early?
"Hi, Jazz. Why're you home already?"
The investigator sighed, rubbing the back of his helm. "Well, ya see, Ah had some stuff ta take care of."
Satisfied, Steeldust nodded. "Oh, okay." He went back to the living room and flopped onto his tank on the couch, datapad in front of him.
Jazz followed him, sitting down on one of the chairs. Leaning forward, he observed Steeldust wasn't really focused on his datapad.
"Ya look like yer tryin' ta figure how ta tell me somethin', Steel."
Steeldust glanced up, then nodded. "Me and Smokey and Bluestreak were walking home this orn. And we think we saw that enforcer Prowl warned me to stay away from."
"Ah wondered if dat was what ya were thinkin' bout. Ya seen him and hid?"
"Yeah, I saw him. Bluestreak asked why we were hiding and if I did something," Steeldust replied, furrowing his optic ridges. He suddenly sat up, doorwings twitching. "Wait, how did you guess?"
"Ah've been followin' him around since he left the enforcer office early dis orn," said Jazz. "An' Ah saw you three come out o' yer hidin' spot. Then, Ah followed ya home."
Blue-green optics widened. "You were there? And following us? Wow, you're good."
Jazz smirked. "Ah know."
"Why were you following Barricade?" Steeldust wondered, tilting his helm. "Do you think he's bad?"
"Kinda. Ah don't trust him."
The youngling shook his helm rapidly. "Me neither. He was looking for something, or someone. And I don't think he's very nice. Blue was really scared after he walked by and saw us."
Jazz froze. "He saw ya?"
"Yeah, he seemed to know exactly where we were, looked right at us and smiled when he went by. I was sure that we hid before he seen us."
The investigator frowned. He was definitely talking to Prowl now.
Silver walked from the shop to the edge of the sidewalk. She was just about to step off and drive away when a voice stopped her.
"Good offcycle, pretty thing."
Rolling her optics, she turned, ready with a quick-witted reply.
She paused a klik when she saw the mech who had spoken to her.
A law enforcer, coloured mostly black with some white paint, leaned casually against a nearby lamp pole. His servos were crossed as he studied her, looking her up and down.
Silver rose her optic ridges, lifting her chin. "Good offcycle to you, Officer."
Helm held high, she turned to leave.
The enforcer moved swiftly and caught her elbow joint. "Going so soon? Such a shame, I was hoping that we could get to know one another."
Silver glared up at him, wrenching her servo free. "I think not. Now leave me alone.
"Or what?" the enforcer grinned, tone sarcastic. "You'll call the enforcers?"
The femme side-stepped him, sprinting down the sidewalk. Her optics darted around. The area was empty. The shops and stores were now closed for the offcycle, including the one she had just left.
It was just her and the enforcer she assumed was Barricade.
Silver knew she had to get out of there.
The mech chuckled lowly, running after the femme. "Apparently she wants to play a game of chase. Fine by me."
Silver opened an internal comm as she ran. "Prowl. I could use a hand."
"Silver, what is wrong?" came the quick reply.
"There's an enforcer chasing me. I assume it's the one you warned me about."
"I'm on my way."
Silver checked over her shoulder.
The enforcer was right behind her.
He reached out and caught her servo again, stopping her in her tracks.
"Let me go!" Silver snarled, whipping around to face him.
Barricade tilted his helm. "Feisty aren't you. I like that."
"I said, let me go!"
Reaching for her other servo, Barricade backed Silver against the nearby wall. She jerked away, trying to get out of his hold, but he was stronger.
In the near distance, a siren wailed.
Silver hoped it was Prowl.
Ignoring the sound, the enforcer leered down at his captive. "Calm down, I won't hurt you," he said, tone and smile suggesting otherwise.
The femme tried to shove down the fear that was rising up within her. She kicked her attacker in the knee joint.
Hard.
Wincing, the enforcer glanced down, loosening his grip ever so slightly.
Silver saw his distraction and used it.
Letting her pedes go limp, she dropped to the ground.
Being pulled by the sudden movement, the mech's helm collided with the wall. He let go of Silver and she quickly scrambled to her pedes and bolted.
At the next block, she turned, almost tripping in her haste.
A strong pair of servos caught her.
Looking up, Silver's fear turned to relief as she saw it was a different enforcer.
Her enforcer.
"Silver, are you alright?" Prowl asked, searching her faceplate in earnest.
Collapsing against him, Silver nodded. "I'm fine."
Holding her gently, Prowl guided his courted the way she had come.
They looked down the street.
It was empty.
Prowl and Silver exchanged a glance.
"He was right there a few kliks ago," Silver said, pointing to where she'd last seen the other enforcer.
Cautiously scanning his surroundings with sharp optics, Prowl flicked his doorwings. They were not picking up anything.
Whoever it was that had been after Silver was gone.
He had his suspicions though.
Prowl had been concerned about Barricade's transfer to this sector before. Now, with what Jazz had told him, and the event that had just transpired, he definitely was.
Thanks for reading!
Credit Song: No Escape (Instrumental) - Tommee Profitt