The Name's Ironhide

Megacycles passed and Ratchet was beginning to think that Hound and Ironhide had lost their footing on rocky terrain and sunk into the ocean. Why else would they be so late? When Optimus Prime had specifically instructed them to limit their time spent on reconnaissance missions and not stay out too late.

Ratchet's concerns were soon justified when Hound and Ironhide came in. The latter clutching his arm defensively, not wanting anyone to see that him in a compromised state.

"What happened?" Ratchet asked and walked over to Ironhide, casting aside any dismay to examine the bot for injuries.

"I ain't damaged. Just stings a little." Ironhide brushed off Ratchet's attempts to 'fuss over' him and headed towards his quarters.

In this mood, Ratchet was unlikely to get any answers from Ironhide.

"We were heading back to the base, when he got struck by lightning." Hound offered an explanation, when he was certain Ironhide was out of hearing range.

That explains the tardiness. Ratchet thought and made a mental note of suggesting new protocols to Optimus about going on missions in bad weather conditions.

—

In the secret Sector Seven facility, an energy signature Jack Burns thought he'd never see again, appeared on the register. Energon.

"So, that's where you've been hiding. How nostalgic." Jack uttered to himself and headed to his next destination—The location of his first encounter with Bumblebee and their base of operations apparently; Redwood National Park.

Jack parked his Jeep beside a large boulder, partially blocking the entrance to the cave the Autobots had gathered in. It's like leaving a key under the doormat. He observed. The stone may serve its purpose at keeping prying eyes away from the mouth of the cave, but it wasn't a trained government agent.

"Anyone home?" Jack cried out. The low visibility of his surroundings, suddenly making him feel unwelcome. He had been lucky to being on good terms with Bumblebee and Hound. But the rest of the Autobots? Jack had no way to tell how they'd react.

In the darkness of the cave, Jack made out two glowing blue optics, that might as well have been the red reticle of a sniper rifle.

"State your business, if you want to keep yer head on your shoulders." The hulking figure of Ironhide growled, aiming his blaster at Jack's head.

Okay. So the red one meant business. Jack steeled himself, while at the mercy of the gun in the giant robot's hand. More intel for my files.

"Hold your fire! He's with me." Bumblebee stood between Jack and the trigger happy Ironhide, with his arms out to shield his human ally.

"You didn't tell them about me, soldier? I'm shocked." Jack asked, pretending to be offended by Bumblebee's oversight.

"Guys, this is agent Burns. He's 'Earth's first line of defense' against... hostiles." Bumblebee informed the Autobots, saying the last word Agent Burns had once considered him with distaste.

"We've met." Hound stated a little coldly.

"What brings you here, Agent Burns?" Optimus Prime sensed the tension in the room and asked, on behalf of all his crew. His calm voice defusing the situation, for the moment.

"I came here to offer you an extension of friendship. If the Decepticons ever show up gain, the Earth needs you to be ready. And your base looks like it could use some better tech." Jack gave his proposal to the Autobots and awaited their response.

"Our installations are fully capable of detecting Decepticon activity." Wheeljack retorted, defending the work he had completed for the last several weeks.

"I don't deny it. But scraps from junkyards will only carry you so far. Let us help you." Agent Burns appealed to their cause.

It seemed to Optimus Prime, that both parties would benefit from co-operation and after careful consideration, gave Agent Burns his answer. "We will consider your proposal."

"Great! We'll keep things low-key with small teams and you'll barely know we're there." Jack exclaimed, his upbeat manner secretly peeving Ratchet. That's what they all say. Ratchet thought. But soon the base would be crawling with humans, with their distracting chatter.

"I'll be on my way then. See you around Bumblebee. Red." Jack nodded to the familiar Autobots, as he gave his good-byes.

"My name's Ironhide!"

"Ironhide. I'll add it to my files."

Drive-through

As the primary engineer for the Autobots, Wheeljack's crowning achievement was getting the Autobot headquarters in running condition. Decked out with monitors and computer terminals, courtesy of Sector Seven, and steel plates covering the natural walls to reduce humidity. The base was completed within a year. Leaving Wheeljack with no excuse when Bumblebee begged him to see a movie with him at a local drive-through theatre.

Their choice of movie—Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

A comedic film where cartoons and humans co-exist and a rabbit named Roger must clear his name of a murder he didn't commit.

As the movie goers roared with laughter in their cars, Bumblebee and Wheeljack couldn't help but honk their horns with amusement. It was moments like the exasperated detective Eddie Valiant screaming at Roger to get out of his chair, that made Bumblebee feel a warmth in his spark. Like the feeling he got, after getting a hug from Charlie.

But like many movies, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? soon took a dark turn when an innocent toon was slowly dissolved. Framed from the beginning as a dangerous criminal like Roger and tortured until his systems shut down. Painful memories began to surface. Too painful to watch the film any further.

It was then, that the curious Charlie Watson noticed a Camaro racing away from the parked cars towards a road and decided to follow it.

Haunted by the cruelty of the Decepticons, Bumblebee hunched himself over and shook his head, desperately trying to rid himself of the painful reminders of his brush with death.

"Bumblebee?" Bumblebee's audio receptors recognized the familiar, female voice. But the young bot made no attempts to open his optics and free himself of the memories freezing him in his place.

"When I saw the Camaro storming off, I thought, 'Maybe it's Bumblebee. Maybe I'll see him after all this time.' But I didn't want it to be like this..." Charlie slowly approached Bumblebee and stroked his back. Her gentle touch bringing Bumblebee back to the present moment.

"You want to go back and see how the movie ends?" Charlie asked, hoping the end of the movie would make Bumblebee feel better.

"Bzzt. Negative." Bumblebee turned her down. How could the movie possibly turn out well, after what he'd just seen?

"Then listen to it with your sensors. What are they saying?"

"Come on Roger. Let's go home. I'll bake you a carrot cake." Bumblebee played the audio back of Jessica Rabbit, rewarding her heroic husband with a delicious treat.

"See? The movie has a happy ending." Charlie reassured Bumblebee and the two friends returned to drive-through together.

"Wheeljack, 'Say hello to my little friend!' Bumblebee exuberantly introduced Charlie to the mech, who replied with mock jealousy.

"Don't I get a passenger?"

Joining her that evening, a young man fit the bill, was Charlie's date—Memo. Who saw the opportunity to let Charlie catch up with her robot buddy and still be beside her.

"I could be your passenger." Memo replied and entered Wheeljack's vehicle mode, and enjoyed watching the movie's credits alongside Charlie and Bumblebee.

Good Bot, Bad Cop

When Jazz was given a heads-up by Sector Seven that a transaction would be taking place between a black market dealer and the Decepticons, he didn't know what to say to the shady man wearing a mismatched bright orange vest against a dark jacket. Except maybe to wear something a little less conspicuous.

"Don't you think selling tech to the Decepticons is a bad idea?" Jazz confronted the man, clutching a parcel protectively.

"They said you were infiltrating the government, that you were the bad guys!" The man explained, as if doing business with Decepticons intent on subjugating the Earth was the right thing to do.

So he was dealing with one of those gullible crackpots. When a siren blared and a police car came into the scene after that, Jazz was grateful for the interruption.

"I'm not selling anything illegal. You've got nothing on me!" The man raged and attempted to run away, when he ran into the 20 feet tall form of the Autobot Prowl.

"I'm not going to read you your rights." Prowl said sternly. "But if you ever try something like this again... the police won't be the only thing you have to worry about." Jazz finished, making the man drop the parcel on the ground and running away in fright.

"Well, that was easy. Thanks for the assist." Jazz thanked his partner Prowl—the bot who had made a criminal fear police vehicles more, from now on.

Thanks for reading my story. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the last chapter of my Bumblebee drabbles.