6. Speed Metal

Story Start: Forest Road

A red car roared its way down a road through a forest at night. Its radio was on and a news castor stated "Metropolitan Police are continuing to crack down on illegal street racing. Citing danger to both drivers and pedestrians-" A moment later the radio knob clicked to the off position without anyone touching it.

A minute later, the Nemesis' Chief Medical Officer, Knockout, reached a line of three cars, a man holding a flashlight standing in front of them. The Decepticon pulled up into the last spot next to a muscle car, it's driver equally muscular with tattoos and a ring with a large gem.

Eyeing the car, the man said "Not from around here, European design?" When he didn't get an answer, he said "Sure is pretty, too pretty." With that, he reached forward and ran his ring along the door next to him.

Knockout's mirror looked at the scratch on his door then shifted to watch as the driver closed his window. As his gear handle shifted to drive, the Decepticon hissed out "Big mistake!"

The race started and the muscle car driver was quick to take the lead. But when the other two human drivers were far enough away on the curving road to not see what was happening, Knockout rammed the back of the muscle car before running it off at a curve. Coming to a stop to look down the cliff where the car had landed upside down, Knockout heard a dazed "Ugh, duuude."

"You scratch my paint, I scratch yours." Knockout said in satisfaction before backing up then tearing down the road again.

Scene Change: Jasper High, Friday

Jack walked his way to the parking lot of the school where there was a motorcycle waiting for him in one of the parking spaces. In the parking space on his right was also a motorcycle waiting for him, though this one already had someone leaning against the seat. The completely covered and helmeted figure nodded their head to Jack and said "Ready for this test drive Jack?"

"I've been looking forward to this all day Arcee." Jack said with a grin.

"Wait, he's the one you're waiting for?!" Vincent, the school bully asked incredulously from where he was leaning against his muscle car in the spot on the left of the rider less bike. The guy had tried to chat up the lady when he came outside but had been shut down rather efficiently.

"These are the bikes he rides." 'Arcee' (clearly a nickname) stated, idly pointing at the one Jack was now straddling and continued "He built that one for a school project actually. We're just going to run it through its paces before he decides whether to put it up for sale or not, hence why he wants me with him. You know, just in case."

"Tch." Vincent tsked to himself, giving the bike that he had originally thought was a beauty a look over before he muttered "Don't know why anyone would want to buy something the dweeb made, it looks like a cherry moped."

Jack put on his helmet and said "Uh, this cherry moped has dual carbs and should be able to go from zero to sixty in 3.5 seconds." With that comment given, Jack and Arcee started their engines and backed out before the two took off out of the school parking lot.

Vincent scowled after them before he made his way to the driver seat of his car. If the dweeb thought he'd let that go then he had another thing coming.

Meanwhile, with the two motorcycles, Jack looked over and down at the blue motorcycle, ignoring the woman in the seat as he said "Thanks again for agreeing to this Arcee, I know there's a bit of pride involved when it comes to what bike I ride so I appreciate you willing to tag along."

"Don't sweat it Jack, you did build the bike, you should see what it can do at least once." Arcee stated, her hologram 'Sadie' giving Jack a thumbs up.

"I just wish we could have done this sooner." Jack said as they approached a traffic light that was turning red.

"It has been a busy couple of weeks." Arcee mused as the pair came to a stop.

On the sidewalk were a pair of girls who also went to the high school and the redhead waved and said "Hey there, Nick right?"

"Jack actually." Jack corrected.

"Jack, sorry." The redhead said embarrassed at forgetting his name before she continued automatically "I'm Sierra."

Jack nodded and said "I know."

Sierra became a little more embarrassed and glanced at the bike he was riding as she said "Right, sorry. Um, you once offered to take me for a ride?"

Jack blinked at that before looking over at Arcee for a moment, being sure to look at the hologram which turned its helmet towards him as well before he looked back and said "Yeah, I did, and the offer's still open. It's just, right now's not exactly a good time. We're heading out to put this bad boy through his paces since I haven't had a chance to cut loose with it since I built it for a school project a few weeks ago."

"Oh." Sierra said, before cocking her head to look at Arcee and said "I had thought that blue one looked familiar, so I guess she's going with you on your other bike just in case things go wrong?"

"That's right." Jack said with a nod.

But before he could make an introduction their conversation was interrupted as Vincent pulled up. "Hey, small world." Vincent said at an attempt at nonchalance as he stood up through the open driver side half sunroof of his car without turning off his engine, leaning against the car roof as he said "You know, Cheer Captain here might enjoy watching you take on four wheels of muscle car."

Jack blinked once, flicked his eyes between Vincent and the two girls before looking back towards Sadie.

Arcee made the hologram shrug and said "We are heading out to test what it can do Jack." If it was her Jack was riding at the moment she would have been against it, but since they would be testing the non Cybertronian bike's speed (and acceleration) anyway, what was the harm?

Jack turned back to Vincent and said "Alright Vinny, you're on."

Vincent smirked and said "Dirt road by Trucker's Ranch, one hour."

Time Skip: One Hour Later

The race wasn't actually taking place on the dirt road, it was just where a convenient mile marker for the paved road was. Vinny had taken off immediately after naming the time and place (likely to give his car a quick check over before the race and/or top off the fuel tank) but Jack and Arcee had been polite enough to give the two girls a ride when Sierra had asked Jack if it was alright for him to give them a lift to watch both the race and the further testing that would come after. Thankfully, like Bumblebee Jack had used his ring to give Arcee a little bit of modification, in her case, her holoprojector. Since Sadie was now a solid light hologram, Sierra's friend (Rachel) could hold onto 'her' as the pair rode to where the race would be while Sierra rode behind Jack.

That hologram was leaning against Arcee's body with crossed arms as the two school girls stood next to her. They weren't the only ones though, Miko had soon pulled up in Bulkhead, the Japanese exchange student hopping out of the driver side. (Agent Fowler had done her a solid and had rushed a Student Driver's License through the system for her as a thank you for helping protect the DNGS from MECH. She'd be testing for a full license next month once she had enough driving hours logged.) As she had quickly climbed up to sit cross legged on Bulkhead's roof, Miko had excitedly exclaimed that she couldn't wait to see Vincent get what he deserved. Raf had appeared shortly after, Bumblebee's own (new) solid hologram coming out of the driver seat while Raf came out from the back seat, the pair moving to lean against Bumblebee's hood.

Sierra had been a bit put out by the appearance of Miko but Raf (and Bumblebee's Hologram) coming had definitely smoothed her ruffled feathers. It was a bit strange seeing the younger student here, but it made her and Rachel stop low-key believing that Jack and Miko were an item and yet had still offered Sierra a ride.

Jack glanced up from where he was having a quick and quiet conversation on his phone with Ratchet when he heard a car engine. The medic had seen Bumblebee and Bulkhead and their partners' IFF tags joining Jack and Arcee's on his monitoring station and had wondered what was happening. Sierra and Rachel were left with the impression that this 'Ratchet' was a mechanic Jack knew. (The name kind of made it obvious) Jack looked down the road towards Jasper and seeing Vincent's car coming said "We're about to start Ratchet, I'll tell you how the tests go when we get back."

"Very well Jack, take care." Ratchet said and Jack flipped his phone closed and pocketed it as Vincent pulled off the road, going around the four other vehicles before coming to a stop next to the only other non cybertronian vehicle (not that he knew that).

Vincent once more stood up in his car as he said "Decided to bring some friends I see. Are they racing as well?" His eyes went over Bulkhead and Bumblebee, dismissing Bulkhead as being race capable but definitely appreciating the look of Bumblebee.

"Naw man, we're just here to watch." Miko said with a smirk.

Vincent grunted and turned his gaze to Jack and said "We'll go back a mile then race back to here."

Jack nodded his understanding and then both looked at Miko as she said "This will be the starting signal, you see this, you put rubber to asphalt." The Japanese transfer student had hopped down off of Bulkhead's roof and was pulling out of his back hatch a ship signaler light.

Sierra, Rachel, and Vincent all blinked at the large light and telescoping stand that Miko was now rolling to the middle of the road and Sierra hesitantly asked "Um, why do you have that?"

"How else are you going to signal a race to start in the day time from a mile away? We certainly can't use a signal flare, this close to Trucker's Ranch, that'd just start a search and rescue operation if anyone else sees it since the truckers would think there was a breakdown." Miko stated.

"Well, she isn't wrong." Jack said as he put on his helmet then started his bike's engine. The pair of racers pulled into the road and made their way down it at a relatively sedate 45 miles per hour. They pulled off again at the mile marker in order to turn around on the road, lining up on the mile marker. Jack pulled out his phone and dialed Miko to let her know they were in place.

Miko gave them thirty seconds of tense anticipation then the pair saw quick flashing down the road. Immediately after, they burned rubber then shot forward. Jack was content to stay level with Vincent for the first ten seconds of the course but as soon as they passed that first part of their race he turned his bike's accelerator all the way forward and let out a yell of excitement as his bike went from simply going fast to bat out of hell speeds. Vincent's jaw dropped as he saw his opponent rapidly pull away. Thirty three seconds after starting, Jack blasted past the mile marker and the observers, Miko letting out a loud cheer as he did so.

Soon as he was past the 'finish line' Jack eased off of the accelerator, let the bike coast for another mile, then applied the brakes before turning back around. By the time he had gotten back to the others, Vincent had returned from his shorter braking turn, though he was on the opposite side of the road from the others. Jack decided to do the decent thing to stop by Vincent when he made a head gesture that he wanted to talk.

When Jack pulled over, Vincent said "There's a racing group called the Circuit that uses Jasper's draining canals for a race course. Next race is tomorrow night at 11. If you want to put that bike to a true test rather than just one on acceleration, you should be there."

Jack gave a nod of understanding and Vincent gave a curt one back before giving him the location of the race's start before sitting down in his car and driving off. Jack watched him go for a few moments before joining the others.

Scene Change: Nemesis Medical Bay

Breakdown was currently using a buffer on Megatron's comatose body. He paused though when the med bay doors opened and Starscream came in asking "Ah Breakdown, has there been any change in Megatron's Condition?"

"Hm, only cosmetic." Breakdown stated.

"Well, I'm sure you and the good doctor have been doing everything in your power." Starscream said before looking around as he asked "Where is Knockout?"

The med bay door opened again and the car in question came walking in as he pointed at his arm and asked "Can you believe what some skin job did to me?"

"You have been street racing amongst the humans again haven't you?!" Starscream demanded.

Knockout smirked and once by Megatron's side turned and said "I'm not only an Automobile, I'm an Automobile Enthusiast."

Starscream frowned and said "I do strive to run a tight ship Knockout. I would strongly suggest that you seek my permission before disappearing on one of your...jaunts."

"No worries, Her Commandant." Knockout said, completely unconcerned with the scolding her was just given.

"It is Lord to you." Starscream growled out.

"Only if Megatron takes a nose dive." Knockout said with a smirk.

Starscream snarled and stepped in close as he said "The day our Master emerges from stasis, I will graciously release the title. But I believe that outcome is unlikely, something to do with the quality of medical care around here." Turning around and beginning to leave, he gave one last taunt as he said "So continue buffing, after all, we do want Megatron to look his best for the memorial."

As the door to the med bay closed, Knockout gave a rude hand gesture and called back "Buff this!"

Time Skip: Three Hours Later

Miko had offered to take Sierra and Rachel back to town once all of the tests were done on the new bike. As such, it was just Arcee, Jack, Raf, and Bumblebee going down the road to the Autobot's base. Green Lantern Ring generated blue tooth headsets allowed Jack and Raf to talk on the Autobot com frequency as they traveled and Arcee was taking advantage of the time to get to the base to air some concerns.

"Jack, you're not actually thinking about going are you? It was one thing to do a straight shot on a paved road against one other driver in the day time, it's completely another to go tearing off through the canals at night with who knows how many other drivers trying to pass you. And they will likely all have cars, you'll be on a motorcycle. If you crash, there's a much higher chance that you'd go splat than they would."

"I do have a bike suit, I could wear that and have my GL suit on underneath that for added protection." Jack stated, though the way he said it showed that he was still a bit uncertain on whether or not to go.

"Is going to this race for a high stress test really worth possibly wrecking the bike you built Jack?" Raf asked from the back seat of Bumblebee.

"Jack, what you do with the motorcycle you built is your choice." Optimus said, startling all four of them, the quartet having not realized that the big guy had been listening in on their conversation. Continuing, the Prime said "However, I believe that you should consider how your mother would react should she learn of this race."

"Optimus is right Jack, I believe that Nurse Darby would be quite upset with you were she to find out you participated in such an event." Ratchet added.

Jack gave a hum at that but didn't actually say anything, and remained silent the rest of the way to the base.

Time Skip: The Next Evening

Knockout was once more driving down a road when his coms came on and Breakdown said "Knockout, Starscream's been looking for you again, where'd you go?"

"Out for a little drive," Knockout answered "I just drove from town to town, sniffing around until," A purple car honked its horn as it passed Knockout and there was a grin in his voice as he finished "the next opportunity presents itself."

Knockout shifted gears and quickly sped up to follow the obvious racer. As he shot down the road, he passed a sign on the left side of the road that named the town he was heading for: Jasper.

Scene Change: Autobot Base

An alarm rang out startling everyone. As Ratchet moved to his station, he said "Sensors are picking up at least one non friendly Cybertronian bio signature within quick driving range of the base." Quickly typing, he looked at what the sensors were telling him and he said "There's just one of them, they're going down the west interstate, into Jasper itself."

"Just one Con? But there were two that day we met." Jack said as he looked up at Arcee with a frown.

Raf put a hand on a human sized computer station, that hand sinking into the monitor as it turned into electricity. A moment later, one of the screens on Ratchet's bigger station opened a window showing a satellite image of a red car following a purple one.

"Knockout." Optimus said with a frown.

"He's going for where the Circuit is racing tonight." Jack said with a frown.

"Civilian level satellites won't be able to see him very well once night falls." Raf said, also frowning. He could see if there was something a little more intelligence purposed in orbit that was relatively close by he could take over. But he really didn't want to do that unless he absolutely had to so that way questions about why a satellite was hacked to look down on Jasper could be avoided.

There was silence for a few moments then Jack looked up at Optimus and said "If any of you guys go he'd recognize you in an instant and would put the racers in danger. I can go keep an eye on him in order to make sure this is just a bad coincidence and not him being subtle in trying to find the base or where we humans live."

"Hmm." Optimus frowned in thought before he gave a very small sigh and said firmly "Take no unnecessary risks when it comes to observing him, and contact us the moment he performs anything suspicious."

"Good luck Jack." Miko said quietly.

Jack nodded and flew out of the common room. A minute later, he flew back in wearing his bike suit and headed for where his bike was propped on its kickstand by the entrance. A moment after starting his bike, he tore off down the exit tunnel. Looks like he was going to be racing after all.

Scene Change: The Canals

Jack pulled up next to Vincent as all of the cars rolled into place. He had made damn sure that his helmet hadn't so much as twitched when he went past Knockout on his way to where he was told to start from.

"Hey, was starting to think you chickened out." Vincent said, glancing over at him.

"Something came up that I had to deal with before I came." Jack said with a shrug.

"Well I hope your head's in the game now." Vincent said before he rolled up his windows, and action all of the other human drivers were doing as well.

Jack slapped down the visor of his helmet. The moment it was down, his ring generated a Heads Up Display that would allow him to not only see the track perfectly but keep an eye on all of the racers. Even if he was over a mile away from Knockout, he'd know if he left the course.

"Receiving tracking data five by five Jack." Ratchet said into the earbud the ring had made. Back at base, all of the Autobots, Miko, and Raf were watching Ratchet's screens where a wireframe of the canal and the people and vehicles in it were being shown. Knockout was the only car in racing position without a human siting in it and had a Decepticon Emblem hanging over its hood to serve as an IFF tag.

Jack got a surprise when he saw Sierra of all people would be starting the race. She gave him a smile then turned serious as an announcer called out "Circuit drivers are you ready?! Make it mean, but keep it clean! Fire them up in FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!" Sierra's arms dropped and she went into a crouch and everyone took off past her. With the lighter motorcycle, Jack quickly took the lead but the cars were quick to catch up, especially when he reached the first turn.

Jack took advantage of the design of the canal by going up the angled incline at each turn the same way NASCAR drivers did when they took turns on a race course. Doing that and then accelerating on the straightaways allowed him to build up a lead and he kept that pattern up even as he kept part of his attention on the other racers.

Three quarters into the race, Knockout had made his way to the front of the pack, thankfully without body checking any of the other cars. As Jack reached a long straightaway, he seemed to kick into another gear and roared across the distance between them.

"Jack, let him pass so that he does not get any ideas." Optimus advised and Jack nodded, moving from the middle of the canal to the left a bit, giving plenty of space for Knockout to do so.

"Hm, smart human." Knockout mused to himself when he saw the motorcyclist who had been doing rather well during the race apparently see him coming and moved over rather than try to block him from passing. A moment later he shot past the human racer. For a moment, he thought he saw a small flash of green in his side mirror but decided it was just the flash of the motorcycle's forward lights hitting the mirror and bouncing off the human's ring. (Humans sure did like to wear shiny rocks for some strange reason.)

Jack meanwhile smiled under his helmet as the rather small tracker his ring had made shot into Knockout's tailpipe. With any luck that tracker would make it through the Nemesis' cloaking field and Team Prime would be able to keep track of the ship.

Soon the start of the race came back into sight and Jack shot past before he began braking, going up the embankment of the first turn in order to use the elevation to further slowdown at a reasonable speed. The fact that it allowed him to continue watching Knockout as he drove away was just a bonus.

A minute later, Knockout's ID Tag disappeared from his HUD and Ratchet stated "Sensors picked up a brief ground bridge, he's gone."

Jack let out a sigh of relief before he turned his bike around and coasted back down into the canal's bottom. The other racers had all did skidding turns to slow down through the first curve and then backed up back to where the others were. Stopping by where Vincent was, Jack let the HUD construct fade from his helmet before taking it off and said "Well that happened. Pretty sure I smelled NOZ coming from that guy's muffler."

"You actually know what NOZ smells like?" Vince asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Something smelled different in his exhaust." Jack said with a shrug. Vincent gave a shrug back and Jack continued "Listen Vince, while this was surprisingly fun, I don't think I'll be doing it again. Mom's got a rather loose schedule as a Nurse and there's too much of a chance she'd come back home and find me missing to want to risk doing this again."

"Yeah I hear you, being grounded for a year would be the pits." Vincent said with a nod of understanding.

Scene Change: Nemesis (A Few Minutes Earlier)

Knockout drove out of the ground bridge he had called for and transformed with a satisfied sigh as he said "Ah, that was a good drive."

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, Knockout." Starscream said as he entered the room the Ground Bridge technicians worked in. If Knockout was a human, he would have paled as he saw how angry Starscream was.

Giving a nervous chuckle, Knockout took a step back and said "Uh, Lord Starscream, fancy meeting you here, did you need something?"

"I do not appreciate having my orders be ignored Knockout." Starscream stated as he continued forward, raising his right hand as he continued "If you will not secure my permission before leaving the ship, I'll just have to ensure you're too busy repairing yourself to leave. Don't worry, it'll only be cosmetic."

Knockout's eyes widened and he shook his head as he said "No, not the finish, NOOOOO!"

SCREEEEEEEECH!

END

AN: 'There are roads which must not by followed, armies which must not be attacked, towns which must not be besieged, positions which must not be contested, commands of the sovereign which must not be obeyed.' -Sun Tsu, The Art of War. So too, are there battles that must not be fought. Such as getting into a throw down with a Decepticon among civilians when there's a chance he will just leave once he's had his fun.

Standard reminder to vote in the poll. I've added all of the previous winners and a few other potential stories so instead of ten votes it's twenty votes now.