Chapter 8: Radiator Springs meets the Autobots

Soon as the Cars and Autobots arrived at Doc's small one-car hospital, he told the rest to wait outside and called Ratchet in. Mater had to go meet his cousin at the destruction derby arena in Ornament Valley and drove off into the distance. All that was left now were Bumblebee, Hound and Jazz while Prowl, Ironhide, Ratchet, Brawn & Mirage were in the hospital.

"Do you think that Doctor might discover something out of the ordinary when he works on the injured?" Bumblebee was obviously concerned that Doc Hudson might discover something unusual (like Cybertron Technology) and reveal to the community who they really are.

"Don't worry Bumblebee, I'm sure Prowl will have a story to tell the doctor otherwise and besides we're Earth vehicles now remember, I doubt the doctor will find anything too suspicious looking, our internal components now look like Earth technology but they still retain their superior Cybertronian performance." Replied Hound.

In the meantime, Sarge who had just came back from training a bunch of (unfortunate) recruits at his personal obstacle course; he was driving to his store when he saw Hound talking.

"An army Jeep?" he said to himself. He looked at Hound with more interest then noticed the insignias on Hound's side, it read 'Able Company, 1st inf. Division, 1944' Sarge lit up with glee and a huge smile (yes probably the first time you might've heard about Sarge smiling).

"Well I'll be the son of General Bradley, a veteran from Able Company!" and he drove towards Hound with great enthusiasm, he was so happy looking it caught the eye of Jazz.

"I wonder what he's so happy about?" said Jazz.

"Uh-oh I think he's coming our way, and he seems to be coming your way Hound" said 'Bee.

"Me? What does he want with me?" asked Hound, but before the others could answer, Sarge was in his face.

"You there" said Sarge "Is it true that you're from Able Company?"

"Err yeah how did you know that?" replied Hound.

"Hound that's supposed to be a secret!" hissed Jazz.

What Jazz meant was back on Cybertron, Able Company was the Autobots special forces unit, with Jazz as it's leader and Hound as one of its members.

"HA I knew it, a fellow soldier from able it's been over forty years since I last saw anyone from Able." Shouted Sarge with glee, "Tell me which battles did you take part in, Omaha? Cherbourg? Operation Cobra?"

"I'm sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about" replied Hound. Sarge was puzzled.

"Then why are you bearing the symbol of Able company, when it also says that you were in the 1st infantry division of '44?" Asked Sarge, Hound was stumped and started to stutter.

"I, well I err err…." Sarge then wasn't amused.

"You're not impersonating a soldier from my company are you? I can't stand cars who like to think they were there, like those wimps in the movies, what's your name anyway?" he said with a terrible look on his face staring right into Hound. Hound felt nervous, the look reminded him of Megatron.

"Err, err Hound, sir." Replied Hound, Sarge then went from cross, to surprised then nearly laughed his tires off.

"HAHAHA….HAHAHA"

"What's so funny?" asked Hound.

"Oh Hound you sarcastic old dog you! I should've known, three time Company stand up comedy champion, I tell you, your jokes came closer to killing me and the rest of the boys, than that Tiger tank back at Hill 192." Hound was just utterly confused.

"Do you know him Hound?" asked 'Bee.

"I know him as well as I know Nebulan, Bumblebee." Replied Hound but turned back to Sarge as he continued:

"But when it came to battle you sure seemed to know where those Germans were hiding, it was almost like you could smell 'em hence we gave you that name." said Sarge while he continued laughing.

"Hound this guy knows you inside and out, do you think he knows he we really are?" asked 'Bee again.

"I don't think so, I think this is just one major coincidence." Replied Hound.

What everyone failed to realize is, Hound has been well known for his alternative mode being an Army Jeep, like Sarge (minus the canopy roof) the dream Sarge had about UFO's was really T-1's droids looking for suitable earth based modes for the Autobots, and T-1 had chose Sarge as Hound's alt-mode, that's how Hound ended up having the same details about Sarge's outfit on his side, in essence (apart from the canopy roof which was replaced by an energon machine gun) was Sarge's clone.

"Oh Hound we have so much to talk about, please come into my store for some coffee."

"Coffee?" asked Hound.

"Yeah come on we'll talk about old times and what we've done during the end of the war to now." Said Sarge as he started bumping Hound in the rear bumper, pushing him towards Sarge's surplus store.

"Look's like I'm going to be a while guys" said Hound nervously as he was ushered into Sarge's store.

"What on Primus was that all about?" asked Bumblebee.

"I have no Idea bug buddy." Replied Jazz "But this place is extremely weird."

"That's a surprise coming from the self proclaimed 'culture expert" smiled Bumblebee.

"Hey" the two Autobots heard, Jazz turned to be greeted by McQueen and Sally.

"Weren't you one of those cars that confronted those robots?" Asked McQueen.

"Err yes, I was" replied Jazz.

"What happened to you out there, and the robots?" asked McQueen again.

"Aw those giant tin cans, we sent their metal hides running, all the way to their daddy!" said Jazz in his usual loud 'cool' tone.

"Wow that's awesome, how did you beat them?" asked McQueen again.

"Err how did we beat them?" said Jazz nervously, trying to think what to tell McQueen, without revealing any Autobot secrets, or from the assistance of another giant robot. Thankfully Bumblebee saved the day when he just popped into view to see what Jazz was talking about.

"Hey Jazz who are you talking to?" said 'Bee. Suddenly the Autobots audio receptors nearly overloaded when they heard the deafening scream from Sally.

"AAAAHHHHHHHH A GIANT BUG! LIGHTNING GET IT AWAY!" she yelled, Bumblebee looked at Sally with utter confusion, along with Jazz.

Sally kept on screaming and hiding behind McQueen who was trying to calm her down.

"Is there a problem sir?" asked Bumblebee.

"Oh I'm sorry, Sally is nervous about insects" replied Lightning.

"Insect!?" yelled Bumblebee "Well I maybe small but I'm not something you can tread on!" he said while Sally was still yelling.

"Sally, SALLY! Calm down, it's not an actual 'bug' bug, it's a VW bug, from Germany!" shouted McQueen, Sally then stopped and looked.

"Oh my, oh gosh I'm so sorry, you know being a female and all we're all not too fond of bugs, I still can't believe VW decided to make those types of Cars, I always freak when I see one." She breathed deeply, "Please forgive me I did not mean to be rude, what's your name?" she asked.

"Bumblebee" he replied.

"AAAHHHHH I'M ALERGIC TO BEES!" she yelled again hysterically, Bumblebee just frowned Jazz decided to step in and calm things down.

"Now c'mon lady, he's my friend he won't sting ya or anything like that." He said bumping Sally with his wheel.

But once Sally looked at Jazz, he was completely hypnotized by her eyes, he felt funny, almost weak but it felt nice. He kept looking into Sally's bright blue eyes with great interest and enthusiasm. Sally looked back into Jazz's own blue eyes, their eye colors matched almost to a tee.

"Beauty city" he whispered to himself.

"Hey, you're a Porsche too?" she asked, Jazz finally came to.

"A what?" he asked.

"A Porsche, are you a Porsche 911 model?" she asked again.

"Err, yeeeaahh, that's right a Porch 911" said Jazz wrongly, he just went along with Sally as she obviously knew his type of model better than he did.

"Wow, that's a nice surprise, I haven't seen another Porsche in years and around here they're even rarer to find. I'm glad to know that there are Porsche cars out there that are as brave as you."

"Brave? Oh you mean the robots!" said Jazz with a smile.

"Err yeah it's nice to have a reunion between the two same types of Car but what's your name anyway brave one?" said Lightning, who butted in obviously sensing some flirting with his girl.

"Oh yeah, the name's Jazz, the coolest thing on four wheels, the hippest thing from here to Cybertron and I am the first mobile music encyclopedia, in the entire universe!" said Jazz with a wink and smile.

"Cybertron?" asked Sally, Jazz realized he let his tongue slip and acted quickly.

"Err, oh Cybertron is my DJ name, yeah I'm a DJ." He said, then he got some weird looks from McQueen.

"Oh I'm sorry, did you say you were the coolest thing on four wheels?"

"You better believe it!" replied Jazz.

"Well I hate to break it to you…Jazz….but I'm afraid you're going to have to realize that you're now the second coolest thing on four wheels, because nothing is cooler than me baby, winner of the 2006 piston cup, faster that fast, quicker than quick, I'm Lightning!" (McQueen wins the Piston Cup in the game) he bragged, then with his signature "Kaa-Chooowww." Jazz just smiled back.

"Oh really? If you're the coolest Car around then how about checking out these babies?" replied Jazz, he flipped his doors open and then revealed his big speakers and started pumping out rock music with a spectacular light show.

The lights and music dazzled and deafened Sally & McQueen, Jazz then finally finished and his speakers entered back into his car mode.

"Wow!" said Sally & McQueen in unison, Jazz looked right into McQueen's face, smiled and said:

"And that's what makes me the coolest thing on four wheels, the world's only mobile radio station in one……Ka-chow!" and he signaled Bumblebee to follow him back to Doc's place, the two Autobots drove off leaving Sally and the beleaguered McQueen with his pride hurt after being humiliated by Jazz.

"You OK stickers?"

"I can't believe it, he totally humiliated me, what a jerk!" snorted McQueen, Sally just Chuckled.

"Now come on stickers you can't be the best at everything in life." she said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What I mean is, you may be the best at racing, but you're obviously not as cool as that Jazz DJ is."

"Huh you can talk little Miss Loser, you admitted yourself you were a nerd back in school."

"Says you who couldn't even do the first turn on Willy's Butte" laughed Sally.

"WHAT now you're making me mad!" replied McQueen.

He was about to counter-argue when Lizzie, from her souvenir store shouted for McQueen.

"Hey Hot Rod, yeah you, the sexy red one."

"What is it now Lizzie?" replied McQueen.

"Could you come here a minute, I need you to tell me what this dang thing is." Lizzie shouted back, McQueen sighed and turned to Sally:

"Coming Lizzie, hold on Sally I'll be right back." And Stickers drove towards Lizzie.

Sally turned around to be greeted by Bumblebee.

"Woah! Oh wait it's you, Bumblebee was it?" she asked.

"Yeah that's me, listen I just want to apologize for scaring you a few minutes ago and for my friend acting like a bit of a jerk towards your highly decorated friend over there." Said 'Bee, Sally Smiled.

"Ah don't worry about it 'Bee, believe me if there is a jerk in this town it's Stickers over there." Sally then noticed the Autobot symbol on 'Bee's bonnet.

"Hey what's that on your hood?" she asked, Bumblebee then jerked back a bit.

"What that thing? Oh err it's just a small decoration that's all you know, haha. Just something to err distinguish myself from other….'Bugs' as you call it."

"Oh I see" said Sally.

In the meantime Lizzie just stood there staring at McQueen.

"………………………."

"Err hello Lizzie?"

"………………………."

"You wanted to see me?"

"Who are you?" asked Lizzie.

"Oh for goodness sake Lizzie, it's me Lightning McQueen!"

"………………………."

"That sexy red hot rod!"

"Oh yes, I remember now, I was hoping you could tell me what this contraption is, it's some sort of musical box, I guessed you youngsters could tell me what it is."

Lightning looked towards the item of which Lizzie was talking about; it was that blue tape player she found in the desert.

"Oh it's just a tape player Lizzie, these things went out back in the early 90's, you couldn't even get this thing for two bucks in a garage sale. Where did you find it anyway?"

"The Desert!" replied Lizzie.

"No surprise then, someone probably dumped it there. However it seems like this thing is a radio as well, looks like it still has some use." Said McQueen.

"Oohh a Radio I always wanted one, do you have one hot rod?"

"Yeah I already got one built in, being modern and all, but I guess an old car like you could use it. Now if you'll excuse me I gotta talk to that 'Jazz' person and put him straight, nobody says they're cooler than me!"

"Wait Lightning!"

"What Lizzie?"

"Who were those two sexy male cars you were talking to a minute ago?" asked Lizzie.

"Oh them, well the Beetle is ok but that Jazz is an utter jerk, if I didn't know better he was trying to move in on Sally"

"Oh well if Sally ever leaves you, you know who to look for!" said Lizzie with a wink, McQueen just shuddered slightly.

"I know you may not believe me when I say this boyo, but those two cars you were talking to seemed familiar, I'm sure I saw them on the image box you call a 'TV" said Lizzie.

"Oh yeah that's right, they were two of the cars the fought against those robots on the highway, they came here for medical repairs."

Meanwhile, many miles away, a sinister being was listening in to the conversation, on a large monitor, Lizzie and Lightning were being viewed on it, every word they said recorded. Two bright red eyes shot through the darkness of the room, watching the two cars with interest, for unknown to the two cars, the tape player was spying on them and showing them to this dark person on his computer.

"What's their names?"

"Oh I think it was Jazz & Bumblebee."

"……..I finally have them" boomed the voice of the person watching Lizzie and Lightning.

"Soundwave, good work, Reinforcements will be detached but first, create a distraction"

"As you command"

Back in Radiator Springs:

"Did you hear something?" asked McQueen.

"I can't hear anything!" replied Lizzie.

"But we were just talking!"

"…………..who are you?" asked Lizzie.

McQueen grunted and drove back towards Sally.

Meanwhile in Doc's medical ward, Doc Hudson and Ratchet were piecing Mirage back together.

"I must admit Ratchet, you're an exceptionally good doctor, how long have you worked as an ambulance?" asked Doc.

"Oh erm seven years." He replied.

"Ah good you're no rookie then, not like some people I know." Chuckled Doc, Ratchet then whispered to himself:

"More like seven million years" suddenly Doc noticed something peculiar in Mirage's internal structure.

"Hey what's this thing, I've never seen one of these before." Like Rathcet had feared, Doc Hudson had stumbled onto a piece of Cybertronian technology, he quickly tried to create a plausible explanation but couldn't.

"That is a part of a component for our booster tanks" Prowl had saved Ratchet and the Autobots bluff.

"I'm sorry officer but I strictly said apart from me, Ratchet and the patients no one else is allowed in the ward while I'm operating, it's not your turn anyway." Said Doc

"Sorry Doctor but I need an urgent word with Ratchet." Said Prowl.

"Sorry officer but Ratchet is busy with a patient as well." Replied Doc.

"Actually that is an order, I'm his boss" Doc looked at Prowl.

"But Ratchet is a doctor he doesn't have to answer to you." He said.

"Actually, Ratchet and my comrades that you saw on television are actually undercover police officers, we got word about the cars causing mayhem on the motorway and went to intercept. You see Ratchet is my unit's medic." Obviously this was just a big lie to throw Doc off the actual story.

"You're undercover police cars? Hmmm well I guess that does explain why you continued to fight against those robots, but why do you need Ratchet, I could do with his help." Asked Doc.

"I got word on the radio that he's needed elsewhere, casualties on the highway are many and HQ has ordered Ratchet to go assist the other medical crews. Ratchet follow me please, I'm sorry about this doctor, but will you be able to help my men on your own for a while?" Doc looked at Prowl rather angrily, he really needed Ratchet's help but if his services are needed elsewhere, he guessed it wouldn't be fair on the injured cars on the highway whose lives may have depended on the extra help.

"Yes officer it's not a problem, but please Ratchet as soon as you've finished please come back ASAP, I could do with your expert help on these modern police cars, all their fangled boost tanks and everything are causing my brain to overload."

"Of course Mr. Hudson" replied Ratchet.

Prowl and Ratchet headed outside while Doc continued the repairs on Mirage on his own.

"That was a great bluff story Prowl, but I presume you called me out for a good reason?"

"Yes Ratchet, as you know, apart from you, me and the rest of my Autobot group were shot with transfixation rays and our transformation programming has been wiped and I fear that a sneak attack by the Decepticons here would endanger us and these Cars, I want you to find a secluded spot in the desert and contact Prime, tell him what happened about the Decepticons and what happned to me, Hound, Brawn, Mirage, Bumblebee and Jazz. With any luck Wheeljack should've finished repairing the equipment necessary to re-write the transformation programming back into our circuits, so ask Prime to get Wheeljack down here."

"Of Course Prowl, I'll do it right away, I heard from Doc about various uninhabited rock formations in the desert, they should be a good place to transform without arousing suspicion. But I must ask, didn't you contact Prime by your car radio? Wasn't that how you were able to get in touch with the Protectobots?" asked Ratchet.

"Yes I did, but I only barely managed to get in contact with Prime, I had to send out a radio distress message several times, Primus knows who might've intercepted that message but I used secret messages that only Autobots could understand, so if my message was intercepted by Decepticons or Earthlings, they shouldn't understand what I was saying. But I don't want to try that method again, it was too risky and doing it a second time might arouse suspicion, so until we can configure our radios to link directly with home base, I want you to keep in contact with Prime and to do so you have to do it in robot mode because as you know we can't use most of our robotic abilities in Car mode."

"I understand Prowl, I'll get to it right away." And Ratchet sped off into the desert, Prowl looked around, although he couldn't detect Decepticons like normal, he sure as heck could feel them.

"It's too quiet" he said to himself and drove back into Doc's.

Ten minutes later Ratchet found a nice secluded rock formation in the desert. It was located not far from Willy's Butte, but it was above a small cliff which wasn't climbable to Cars. Ratchet looked left, right, up, down, all around and even underneath himself, when the coast was clear he transformed back to robot mode, he jumped up, climbed as fast as he could, then dived into a shaded spot surrounded by rock pillars totally out of sight from the ground and air, he looked around again to make sure no one was around. When it looked safe he opened up a com link and got in touch with Prime.

"Optimus Prime, Optimus Prime do you read me, this is Ratchet calling Autobot HQ."

For a moment there was silence, but finally Prime spoke.

"This is Optimus Prime, report your status Ratchet, we haven't heard from you or the rest for over two hours."

"Sorry Prime we were busy dealing with Decepticons." Replied Ratchet.

"You had contact with Decepeticons? So that was what Prowl's distress message was about."

"Affirmative Prime."

"So what happened to you and Prowls group Ratchet and what happened to the Decepticons?"

"When on Reconnaissance we bumped into Runabout & Runamuck, we were unable to detect them because we couldn't use our tracking systems in Car mode, we followed them to an Earthling vehicular highway, once we were there we were ambushed by the Stunticons, along with Runabout & Runamuck they too had assumed Earth based modes, so we were completely unable to detect them."

"When we tried to Transform back into robot mode, apart from me Runabout & Runamuck ambushed Prowl and the rest and shot them with Transfixation rays, they're in a nearby town receiving medical treatment from an Earthling doctor." Ratchet was going to continue but Prime butted in.

"You took casualties? How many?" asked Prime.

"Four injured, two critical. As you might've guessed most of it was at the hands of Menasor." Replied Ratchet.

"Yes I might've guessed, but thankfully the Protectobots managed to save you. Did any Earthlings find out about you or the Decepticons Ratchet?"

"That's the bad news Prime, the Decepticons were caught on Earth based news networks and now the whole world knows about Robots disguised as Cars. But the good news is, seeming as Prowl and his group were paralyzed by Transfixation, they weren't caught on film in robot mode and I was helping injured Earthlings at the time so I wasn't at the actual battle, so thankfully the planet knows about the Decepticons, not the Autobots."

"I see, looks like luck has decided to smile on us for once, did Prowl tell you to give me any messages?"

"Yes Prime, he requests that Wheeljack come down to the town we're currently at and reprogram him and the rest with the transformation sequence coding, Prowl fears that himself, the rest of the Autobots and the residents of the town would be vulnerable to a Decepticon attack.

"What's the name of the town you're in Ratchet?"

"It's a town called Radiator Springs, its right next to the mountain which the Ark is based at."

"Very well Ratchet, tell Prowl that myself, Wheeljack and some additional reinforcements will arrive there ASAP, in the meantime I want you to return to the town and assist the Earth doctor in repairing the injured. Prime over and out." And Ratchet's com link went dead.

He climbed the rockface, jumped down and while in midair transformed back to Ambulance mode and headed back to RS. However Ratchet had failed to detect a certain nosey Car. Wingo, one of the members of the Delinquent Road Hazards had saw everything, Ratchet transform to robot and back and his conversations with Optimus Prime.

"Just wait till the other guys hear about this!" he said and sped off towards his comrades in crime.