-1Drone

Chapter Three

Repair Systems Non-Functional

Bumblebee drove his human friends home, dropping Mikaela off at her mom's house, and then taking Sam back. When Bumblebee pulled up on the drive, instead of getting out, Sam sat there for a moment. Bumblebee didn't need to scan Sam to know that his human friend was concerned about something.

"Sam? Ratchet has repaired the damage, I will soon be fully repaired by my own systems, there is no need to worry."

Sam reached down to stroke Bumblebee's seat leather, and Bumblebee responded with a contented sigh, and a snuggle of his seat against Sam's body.

"I just hated seeing Barricade rip your side open like that, Bumblebee." Sam replied. "Thanks for defending us, that must have hurt."

"Sam, I am your guardian and your friend. I will always try to guard you against Barricade, and any other Decepticon that wants to try and hurt you and those dear to you. I have defeated him before and will defeat him again." Bumblebee stated. "It will take more than a surprise use of his hydraulic joints and clawed hands to defeat me, and Barricade knows that. To cause me that amount of damage took more energy than Barricade is usually willing to expend in a simple skirmish like that. I underestimated him, and he changed his tactics and took advantage of that. It is not a mistake I intend to repeat."

"Yeah, well it was still nasty." Sam said. "I worry that he will come back tonight. You can't stay on guard tonight, Bumblebee, you must be tired from the fight, and he could try and take advantage of that to attack you again." Bumblebee could tell that Sam was scared, for both of them.

"Please, Sam, I have had some recharge, I will be able to function at optimum efficiency for several days now. If Barricade comes back tonight, I will be ready and waiting for him, and I will defeat him again." Bumblebee delivered this promise in a tone that was not boastful or prideful, but as a simple statement of fact. "Rest, please, Sam, I will be protecting you."

"Thanks." Sam said, reassured. After his first terrifying encounter with the black and white Decepticon, Sam was still frightened of Barricade. With no sightings of the murderous Police car for several months, Sam had begun to hope that Barricade had more important things to do than terrorise Sam and bash his guardian about, but the day's earlier encounter seemed to have destroyed that hope. Sam got out, closed Bumblebee's door, and stroked his hood, as he did every night now before going inside.

"Goodnight, Bumblebee." he said.

"Goodnight, Sam, sleep well." Bumblebee replied.

He got inside, walking through into the front room, to find his parents waiting with serious expressions on their faces. Sam's father turned to him.

"Hey, Sam, do you think you could explain the mess out there that used to be my patio? At least, it was a patio when we went out." he asked. Sam groaned, recalling that Barricade had paid his visit while his folks were out of the house. Of course, he reflected, it could be worse. At least this time he would not have to lie to them.

Sam was, not for the first time, relieved that he had come clean to his parents about the Autobots, and Bumblebee in particular. He was also now glad that he had told his parents about the Decepticons, including all of his previous experiences, from the first Barricade encounter to Mission City.

"Remember that evil cop car I told you about? Well, he paid me a home visit today." Sam explained "Bumblebee tried to stop him, and they fought. Well Barricade-that's the cop car's name, remember?-threw Bumblebee at the house and he sort of landed on the patio." Ron nodded.

"At least I can claim off the Government for the cost of the slabs. They agreed that if we help them cover up the robots' existence, we can claim for any damage they cause." He pulled out

a thick, complicated-looking form and handed it to Sam.

"Simmons found out somehow-I guess some of the neighbours, or passing motorists, saw. He told me to tell you to fill this out. I would suggest that you leave that till tomorrow. We know about the robots, but the school don't. Somehow, I don't think 'the robot ate my homework' will wash with them." Ron said.

"Crap!" Sam swore: he remembered he did have an essay to hand in on Monday. "Um-I'll sweep the yard and do the bins, then I'll write my essay."

"Just write your essay, dear, I'm sure you can be let off chores for a night." his mother said. Ron gave Judy a hangdog look, but nodded his agreement.

"Thanks, Dad, you're the best," Sam said, before bolting upstairs.

"I am aren't I?" Ron muttered as he went to put on his shoes.

Sam wrote half the essay in half-an-hour: he could write some more tomorrow evening once he got in. Hoping he could put in enough to scrape by with a pass, he shoved it in his bag. Maybe he could ask Mikaela to look it over for him before she headed home tomorrow. He yawned: it had been a tense and scary day, and tense and scary usually made Sam sleepy. He got under the covers, hoping Barricade was not on his way over.

Barricade did not put in an appearance that night, for his task was done. All he and Starscream had to do was wait until all Pit broke loose. That would happen some time later, for it would take Starscream's little invention time to carry out all the commands embedded in its programming.

A little after six AM in the morning, Bumblebee was still awake and with all external sensors running, watching out for any signs of Barricade. He was unaware when the scuttling mechanism, which resembled Scorponok but was many times smaller, reactivated.

It obeyed the first instruction in its programming, which was to move slowly with as little energy expenditure as possible, to reduce the chances of being detected. However, it was not just moving aimlessly about, but was headed to a specific location to carry out a specific instruction.

When it reached the main circuit-hub that controlled Bumblebee's auto-repair, it began. The auto-repair hub was a large and spreading structure, and would require many hours of work, but the drone, with the single-mindedness of all programmed and unliving machines, set about its task methodically.

Bit by bit, wire by wire, circuit by circuit, it slowly but steadily began to disable Bumblebee's damage detection and auto-repair function.