Had a little trouble with 9, but cranked out the last half of it this morning, so now I can post this one! Hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 7 - Who's that lady on the phone?

They were driving along a winding road, Charlie in the driving seat and Memo in the Passenger.

The explanations had lulled to a stop a while ago, Charlie had few answers to give Memo for his questions.

As they took another bend, Memo spoke up. "So… that voice… coming from Bee's radio?"

Charlie wanted to smack herself for almost completely forgetting about that, she'd been so distracted by Memo's appearance. "Shit… Um… Bee, think you can play it again?"

Bumblebee hummed through the radio and pulled off the road onto a disused one, there was little to no light under the thin canopy because of the waning moon, but neither really cared as they focused on Bumblebee's radio as much as they could in the dark.

The same voice came across the radio soon after, repeating the message.

::B-127, B-127. Come in B-127, this is N-0V4, what was that signal you sent out about?! You clued in Shatter and Dropkick to Earth!::

It started off with the lady's voice sounding mostly formal, but quickly that broke into someone that sounded very distressed.

Charlie glanced around Bumblebee's interior. "So… Your actual name is B-127?"

An almost hum like sound came over the radio.

Memo spoke up, noting the voice was likely paused. "You like Bumblebee better?"

Bumblebee buzzed a positive sound.

Charlie smiled and patted his dashboard. "Cool, start her back up Bee, this N-0V4 lady sounds like she's worried about you.

::B-127, if you think this is funny… hhhhuh… myself and Cliffjumper are planet side now-::

The radio paused again. "Planet side… so… he's definitely an alien?" Memo asked, not really leaning for an answer.

Bumblebee whined.

"Okay… so there's five in total… Bee, this N-0V4 lady, and Cliffjumper… but there's also Shater and Dropkick?" Charlie murmured more to herself, working it out.

Bumblebee hit play again.

::-and I'm trying to locate you before Shatter and Dropkick do, please, relay your current coordinates over this channel so we can regroup and work as a unit to take out Shatter and Dropkick. Please, I can't fight them alone on equal grounds, and they don't fight fair.::

Memo hissed. "She sounds pretty desperate there… do you think you could reply to her Bee?"

Bumblebee sank on his suspension with a low whine.

Charlie patted his dashboard again, hoping to at least try and console him.

::Get back to me as soon as you can. N-0V4 out.::

The recording ended with an almost chirping sound, and silence filled his interior for a few heavy moments.

Charlie leaned back into the drivers seat, gritting her teeth as she sighed. "That big red and blue one said there was a war…" Memo audibly gulped. "My guess is, this N-0V4 and Cliffjumper and on your side, your team, and the other two are the enemy side…"

Memo looked a bit drained of colour. "Giant alien robots have brought their war to Earth… great… just great…" He mumbled.

Bumblebee whined, it wasn't his fault! Was it?

Charlie seemed to pick up on the distress. "Hey Bee, easy, you don't remember any of this do you?"

He whined again a negative.

Charlie glanced to Memo. "Did she send anymore messages? She might have told you where to find her and Cliffjumper."

His suspension perked up, there were more messages!

He pulled up the list and let the second one on the list start to play.

The same voice came through his radio, the audio quality was slightly garbled, but still clear enough to easily understand.

::B-127, B-127, please come in. It has been 10 breems since my last attempted communication, please respond. I need you to provide your current coordinates so that I can locate you. Cliffjumper's already expressed his... displeasure in working with me in searching for you, so I would appreciate you replying soon.::

Charlie and Memo exchanged a look as what sounded like metal on metal and a very exhausted sigh followed.

::It doesn't have to be a verbal declaration, if you're currently in a situation where you can't risk communication due to close proximity with the natives, please just send a data burst along this com-line, I can track you down with relative ease using that method by honing in on the direction it came from.::

::B… please reply soon, you were supposed to send out the 'go, no go' com burst when you found a safe place for us to settle… I'm having little luck myself considering I'm standing in a gorge in the side of a mountain with my pede turbines flooded with water. Please get back to me soon, N-0V4 out.::

Charlie and Memo glanced to the radio as this latest one ended with the same sign off as the first.

Charlie was the one to speak. "So, do you think we can answer her? Like, return the call?" She asked tentatively, with Memo nodding along as she spoke.

Bumblebee let out a whine from somewhere inside him, frame slumping.

Charlie patted the radio. "Try first okay? Don't give up just yet."

A few minutes of fiddling with the stuff that hovered in front of him, he apparently pressed the right thing to call back.

Charlie and Memo alike jumped at what they could only guess was the alien version of a phone ringing.

It got to the fourth chime when the ladies voice came back. ::B-127! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED TO THE PITS YOU'VE MADE ME?!::

All three jolted with sounds of alarm at the near roar that came through the speakers.

The silence that followed that exclamation lasted for a few moments before N-0V4 started back up. "Well?! Do you have nothing to say for yourself?! I've been worried sick!"

Silence fell again.

Memo and Charlie exchanged deer in headlight looks.

::B-127?! Are you going to actually say something to explain yourself?!::

Charlie answered before she could stop herself. "He can't talk."

A noise came from the radio that sounded like a turbine whining.

::B-127… if you are-::

"He can't talk!" She snapped again.

The voice that came over the radio sounded terrified then. ::Native… you've captured B-127… and your holding him hostage… cracked him open… hacked his com-frequencies…::

"What?! No! I'm sitting in his drivers seat!"

Bumblebee let out a buzz of agreement.

::... Uh… but… B… you weren't supposed to make contact? Optimus was specific on that!::

Bumblebee whined, Charlie spoke up. "Maybe you should just come here, we're in California. You said in your message that you should be able to… triangle our location?"

::Triangulate… yes I can… I'll inform Cliffjumper, then fly right over. I'll be there in about a joor.::

The radio gave a buzz of static, and no more words followed.

Charlie and Memo exchanged a look. "So… we wait here? … For a jar?" Memo asked.

Charlie shrugged. "Guess so… She said she was… going to fly over… guess she's a plane or something like that…"

"Or a UFO." Memo suggested.

Charlie regarded him oddly, before she gave a small nod. "Or a UFO…"

Bumblebee whined, curious to what they meant.

"Oh, it mean 'Unidentified Flying Object'... flying saucers with little green men… aliens, you know… like… you… oh my god we're sitting in an alien..." The realisation seemed to hit Charlie fully then, and her grip on his steering wheel tightened. "Bee! You're an alien!"

Memo took the time to face palm at that.

After a few minutes of working Charlie through that apparent bombshell that had dropped in her mind, they agreed that they'd wait right there for N-0V4 to arrive.

Bumblebee ended up tuning into one of the local radio stations, and the three ended up just listening on and at times interspersing the air with chatter.

They were content in each other's company to wait, and so, wait they did.

Sector Seven, Hoover Dam

"SIR! SIR!" Simmons, one of the newest recruits ran into the main room, waving a sheet of Fax paper.

Burns, Powel, Shatter and Dropkick, along with a good number of the other individuals in the room turned to regard the man.

He passed the Fax paper to Burns. "It's JFK international Airport, their air traffic controllers spotted something coming in off the Atlantic at high velocity, it didn't respond to any attempts to hail it, and it's been spotted by more airports heading from East to West across the country in the thirty minutes!"

Burns read over the Fax paper, it said just as Simmons reported, but stalled at one bit he was reading. "Ground velocity… this is impossible!" He exclaimed, looking at the numbers. "We don't have anything that could fly… this…" He slowly turned his attention up to Shatter and Dropkick, who were smirking.

Shatter decided to confirm it for the man, a knowing smirk crawling across her features. "N-0V4… has the aerial capacity to fly at just shy of five times the speed of sound… I can guess she has located B-127, if she is making such haste."

Dropkick chuckled to himself. "Such a hurry she forgot to avoid your radar systems…"

Powel was nodding, looking over the information on the fax over Burn's shoulder. "And following this path… N-0V4 is either heading for California, or Hawaii…"

Shatter smirk grew wider. "Then perhaps, we should go surprise her and B-127? I do need to get her back for what she did on that moon." She clenched her still recovering arm, wincing as the humans well meaning but insufficient welds strained.

They weren't much better than Dropkicks, but they had been able to get to the smaller spots.

Burns frowned, but had to nod, orders were orders, and he'd been ordered to work with these two to capture the three hostiles.

He was still having that gut feeling that they were going to regret this.

Woodland road outside of Brighton Falls

Memo and Charlie had both fallen asleep in their seats when the first change came.

It was a two toned sound, loud and cacophonous, a sudden sharp 'BOOM' that had Bumblebee jolting, and in turn, jolting his passengers awake, the second tone being a shrill high pitched whistle that had both humans clutching their ears.

Both humans let out startled noises as a second 'BOOM' followed only a few moments after, already sounding closer than the last.

All three barely had time to comprehend what was going on, before a different sound reached them, one that sounded distinctly like Bumblebee when he shifted between his disguise and actual form.

Memo and Charlie exchanged a dawning look of realisation, both scrambling to get out of Bumblebee, who swung his doors open to let them both out so that he could transform.

Finally the sound of something large landing reached them, just a way beyond the woods and the road that hemmed it's edge.

Heavy foot falls followed, and two bright red orbs became visible in the darkness as Bumblebee finished transforming, his own bright blue optics wide as a towering silhouette became clear in the darkness.

Just as it stepped up onto the road, it became more clear, the clouds that had been obstructing the moon moving on and allowing the one approaching to be bathed in light.

The first thing that dawned on Charlie, was their size.

They were easily double Bumblebee's height, and that wasn't counting the plane wings sprouting out and up from their back.

"B… B-127?" N-0V4 asked tentatively, taking another step closer, the main road now cleared as they stepped onto the less used road.

Bumblebee slowly nodded.

N-0VA's features lit up in a smile, and the last few steps happened swiftly, shaking the ground as she nearly sprinted forwards, giving Bumblebee no time to react before she'd swept him up into a crushingly tight hug.

Charlie and Memo both had to dive out of the way to avoid being trampled.

"B! You slag heap! Do you have any idea how worried we've all been for you?!" She exclaimed, holding him tight to her front while his pedes dangled uselessly above the ground, his own arms pinned to his sides as she swung both of the from side to side.

Bumblebee whined, trying to squirm free.

N-0V4 frowned at this, but set him down. "What's wrong? No snarky remark? No witty banter? B, what... why… why are you looking at me like that?" She mumbled.

Bumblebee glanced down and to the side, working his jaw before letting out a low buzzing whine.

Her optics widened, going down onto her knees so that she was more level with him, she pulled down her magnifier and activated the light function, illuminating Bumblebee's neck area, one of her digits hovering over what N-0V4 quickly recognised as a grievous wound, she didn't touch, but she didn't need to to realise what had happened.

"By the vaulted heights… your vocaliser's been ripped out… B… what happened to you?"

A very good question N! Welp, that's the chapter! Until next time!

Moon.