Gotta be honest, I didn't do a whole lot of proof reading on this. I'd appreciate it if you guys would let me know if you find mistakes so I can correct them. :Y

Thoughts and criticisms are encouraged and appreciated!


"OW! Primus, take it easy with that thing, would ya?!"

Steve quickly pulled his arm away from Raoul, rubbing fervently at the dented plating. "I'm not like your sparkless Earth cars. I DO feel pain."

The Vehicon was sitting by the side of the road just next to the human's wrecked Earth car. Once he had explained a bit more about himself, Raoul had graciously offered to fix his arm, but Steve was starting to regret accepting the help. The human's idea of repairs involved a lot more forceful prodding with sharp tools than he was used to.

"Sorry." Raoul shrugged his shoulders, lowering the crowbar he had in his hands. "But I mean… I'm not exactly sure how gentle I should be. I've only got experience fixing Earth cars, not weird alien-slash-robot cars."

The Vehicon let out an offended huff at this. "Oh I see. So, you're the one made out of carbon, but I'mthe weird one? That makes sense!"

"Well you're on my planet, man. So yeah." Raoul bent over to rifle through the red toolbox at his feet. "Everything alive around here is made of carbon. So until the tables are turned and I'm on your planet, it means you're the weird one." He paused sifting through his tools to glance up at the Vehicon. "And for the record, I'm not okay with being abducted to an alien planet! I got places to be and stuff..."

Steve let out a quiet vent as Raoul turned back to his tools. "Nothing to worry about there... We're not even able to go back..." He grumbled, mostly just to himself. Raoul didn't seem to hear him, or at least decided not to respond. After a minute went by he finally stood up straight again.

"Ah! Here we go!" he held up a device that looked like some sort of vice with a a suction cup in the center. "This'll fix you up no problem!"

Steve leaned away uneasily as he eyed the tool. "What is that thing?"

"It's a dent puller." Raoul said quickly. Then he held out his hand for Steve's. "Ok, lemme see your arm."

Steve was about to do as the human said, but he visibly hesitated. "Uh… is this gonna hurt?"

"I honestly don't know." Raoul said, "Never used it on something that could feel pain before …If you want I could take off the whole plate first and then pound out the dents."

"NO." Steve was very quick with his response. "Just... just do it quick, okay?"

"Come on, it could be worse." Raoul pointed the tool in his hand over at his own car. "I mean, it's not like your whole front is smashed up. Imagine the kind of whining my car would be doing if it was alive!"

"Wait a second-" Steve suddenly yanked his arm away from the human. "Are you hurting me on purpose? Is this revenge for breaking your car or something?!"

"What? No!" Raoul glared up at the Vehicon, lowering the tool in his hand. "Just because I'm mad you trashed my car doesn't mean I'd do something nasty like that."

"So you are mad!"

"You focused on the wrong part of that sentence." Raoul crossed his arms across his chest. "Look, I know this sucks, but sometimes we just gotta do things that suck because we don't have any other choice. That's just how the world is. So quit being a baby and let me do what I have to, already!"

Steve grumbled something under his breath but then lowered his arm again for Raoul. The human paused for a moment to glare up at the Vehicon, but then reached forward to get to work. He poked the end of the suction cup onto the dent in the middle and pushed until it was flat against the panelling. Then he fit the crossbar attachment over it. It was at that point Steve decided to look away.. He wasn't sure he wanted to watch what was going to happen next. He couldn't see what exactly Raoul was doing, but the pressure on his arm steadily grew worse and worse, and right when he thought he couldn't take much more, there was a loud POP!

Steve wrenched his arm away from Raoul with a shout and the dent puller went clattering to the ground. "FRAG!" he cried, cradling his arm. "That fraggin' hurts!"

"But hey, at least it worked!" Raoul bent over to pick up his tool, "Your arm's looking way better now."

Steve pulled his arm out of the protective grip he had on it to look down at the damage. Raoul was right, the smashed in panelling had been pulled out almost all the way to its original shape. It was still scratched and a little rough looking, but it was certainly an improvement.

"Yeah, it is..." he agreed, rubbing a servo along the panel. "Thanks for your help."

"Sure thing, pal." Raoul gave the dent puller a little twirl before stashing it back in his tool box. He then picked up the box and stepped over towards his own car. "Too bad there's no easy fix for my own ride..."

Steve looked over at the car as well. As far as function went, it looked like it could still run, but the paneling on the front end was hanging off, so that would get in the way. So it couldn't technically drive, but it wasn't completely trashed.

"Well... sorry again about your car." Steve transformed to his vehicle mode. "But if you could give me directions, I'll be on my way."

Raoul spun back around, "Wait, what?!" he shouted, "You're seriously gonna leave me stranded out here? With a car that you wrecked, by the way!"

Steve rolled away just slightly. "What else am I supposed to do?" he grumbled, "I can't exactly take you with me. I don't have a cockpit or anything for you to sit in."

"Maybe not, but you're not really in a position to go running off by yourself, either." Raoul pointed out, "Let's say I give you these directions, but how are you supposed to know what routes are where? What if you miss a turn and get lost again? Then what?"

"I'd figure something out!"

"Don't be stupid!" Raoul placed his toolbox down next to him and knelt to inspect his car. "Just sit tight for a bit, okay? I'll see if I can get my own car moving, and then I'll drive along with you."

Steve's engine rumbled irritably, "No!" he growled, "I have to get to Rodrigo's mine as fast as I can, I don't have time to sit around and do nothing! That's why I left my own mine!"

Raoul appeared to pause for a second when Steve's tone became angry, but he quickly turned back to his car, noticeably keeping his gaze off the Vehicon. "Well tough break. It's like I said, sometimes we just don't have a choice."

After a minute of silence, Steve finally rolled off to the side of the road and sat still. Raoul continued to work on his car, ignoring the sulking Decepticon behind him. The silence stretched for quite awhile, the only noise coming from Raoul's work.

While Steve sat quietly on the grass, feeling the Earth vegetation stick uncomfortably to his treads, another thought crossed his processor. He transformed back to his root mode and, still sitting on the grass, finally spoke up.

"Hey so… those coordinates I gave you? How far away are those exactly?" he asked, looking back to Raoul.

"Look even if it was close, which it's not, you still shouldn't be driving around out here all by yourself." Raoul replied without looking up. "If someone catches you, y'know someone who's not me, then you could find yourself in some serious trouble."

"No, what I mean is… well, I technically turn into mining equipment. So I'm not very fast. If it is far, it'll take me way too long to get there."

"Yeah, well there's not much you can do about that." Raoul shrugged. "You gotta deal with the cards you're dealt sometimes."

Steve's gaze traced over the car in front of him, "Maybe I don't." Steve stood up and circled around the car. "I've got an idea that'll get me there way faster, and would let you ride along too. It's just..."

Raoul followed him around, not looking especially comfortable with the way Steve was eyeing his car. "What are you planning?"

Steve crouched down in front of the car, taking ahold of the dangling panel on the front end. "I mean, it shouldn't matter that it's dinged up… all the parts are still technically in place." He was mostly talking to himself it seemed. "I'm more worried that Idon't have the right components. I've never tried it without being pre-formatted first…"

"Okay you've lost me." Raoul stepped forward, taking ahold of Steve's servo and pulling it away from his car. "Quit poking at my car though, it's banged up enough as it is!"

As Raoul moved towards him, however, Steve stood upright and stepped away. "This might take a little while, but… well, hopefully it'll work." He said, reaching up to remove his mask.

"Man, you're not makin' any sense. Could you just- WHOA!"

Raoul leapt back suddenly as Steve's visor flashed green, a beam of light shooting from it and quickly scanning the car up and down. A moment later, the Vehicon seemed to crumple in on himself, his gears and inner metal shifting, the outer plating reshaping, and even the rubber of his treads was slowly changing. A few minutes went by like this, until at last, all his parts and pieces came together into one final shape: a purple and black replica of Raoul's car, but fortunately, minus the damage.

"Unngghh..." Steve groaned as he shifted his new round tires around. "That was... not especially fun. But I think it worked." He then turned his wheels to spin around and face Raoul again.

While Steve transformed, Raoul had taken up a seat on the hood of his own damaged car and was staring on with one hand covering his gaping mouth. His whole expression was a mixture of shock and a little bit of horror.

"So, um," he began, uncovering his mouth, "Is this something you Decepticons do a lot?"

"No, not a lot." Steve replied, rolling forward a bit. "Only when we have to. And it's actually a lot safer to get pre-formatted for an alt-mode before you scan one. A lot can go wrong if you scan a vehicle you're not compatible with."

"Not compatible?"

"Yeah, like if I were to try and scan a fighter jet or something." Steve explained, "I'm not a flier, so it would fail... and it is not good when a scan fails. Sometimes you've gotta get medics involved and stuff."

"How did you know it would work this time?"

"I... didn't? Honestly, I was a little worried. It's a bit bigger than my usual vehicle type, and I was gambling a bit that my treads would be able to convert to tires..." Steve's new mirrors flicked up and down in what might have constituted a shrug, "But I had to give it a shot... Like I said, I can't just sit here and do nothing."

Raoul stared on for a moment longer before shaking his head and standing upright. "You know there's a point where bravery turns to idiocy, right?" he had a smile on his face, despite his words. Without waiting for a reply, he hurried over to the trunk of his own car and popped it open, pulling out a small duffle bag. "Well, let's get going, then."

Steve transformed and allowed Raoul to put the bag and his toolbox in his new passenger seat. As Raoul circled around to the other door, he asked, "What about your car?"

"It's fine. I'll call for a tow while we're on the way." Raoul dropped into Steve's seat, taking ahold of his steering wheel. Having something sit inside him was kind of a new sensation. It was a little weird, but Raoul didn't seem to think it was, so he said nothing.

"Besides, we're in a rush, aren't we?" Raoul continued, "You've got places to be, and so do I."