Authors Note: I am happily ignoring the movie novelisation's and will always continue to do so.
Thank you to all of you that reviewed! Plushie Autobots (or Decepticons) of your choose!
Disclaimer: Don't own Transformers. Simple as that. Enjoy!
The sun glinted off the hood of a yellow 2008 Camaro, with black racing stripes, as it sat waiting in line to turn left. People stared envious at it as they passed and one had even whipped out a camera to snap a quick photo. Judy would have felt flattered at the fact people were taking notice but her son, Sam, seemed far from it. His fingers tapped the steering wheel in an aggravated way and his eyes were narrowed.
"Yeah, yeah," she heard him mutter. "Just point and stare like everyone else."
"Relax, Sammy," Judy said brightly. "You should have known you would get some attention with a car like this."
Ron, who was sitting in the back seat, clapped Sam on the shoulder. "Your mother's right, son. Not many people have a concept car."
"Its just a- a car," Sam grounded out, stepping on the gas when the lights ahead allowed them to finally turn. "Its nothing to get excited over."
Ron stifled a laugh from the back seat.
"Besides," Sam mumble quietly, so that Judy almost had trouble hearing him. "He's suppose to be laying low."
Judy wondered what Sam was talking about. Who was suppose to being laying low? But she decided she must have heard him wrong and went back to looking out the open passenger window. The sun warmed her face and a gentle breeze made her hair flutter back.
Tranquility flashed by her in a mix of colour and activity, people taking full advantage of the warm spring day. Shops had their doors thrown open in invitation to people walking by, a small café on the corner had its outdoor eating area completely full and as Sam drove around the park, Judy caught sight of people sitting by the fountain. It was, truly, a wonderful day for a drive.
Although there was things to be done. With Ron's car being fixed in the garage, Sam had the only transportation in the family. Judy had simply planned on running into Tranquility's downtown to pick up something she had ordered quite a while ago and had asked to borrow Sam's car. He had become quite nervous and managed to stutter out that he had no problem driving her there. Judy had jumped on the suggestion, having not been in the Camaro yet, and managed to get Ron to come along.
As of yet, they still had to pick up what she ordered but Judy had no problem with simply letting it wait till later. It was nice to just ride around with her family, the radio playing quietly in the background, Ron occasionally barking at Sam to keep both hands on the wheel.
They had been driving around for close to fifteen minutes when the cop car started to follow them.
Sam's eyes darted nervously to his rear view mirror and he gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles went white. Even the music had stopped playing. Judy couldn't see what the trouble was but she linked it to his arrest a few weeks ago.
"Nothing to worry about, Sammy," Judy said soothingly. "He's probably on patrol."
Sam nodded is head in jerky movements but he didn't seem to have heard what she said because he kept staring at the police car. It was a few cars behind them and Judy could just make out a man with a very cold look on his face. Suddenly the lights atop its roof flashed on, its sirens filled the air, and it pulled out of line.
"There, its been called away." Judy stated. "Like I said, nothing to worry abo- Sam, what are you doing?!"
Her son had suddenly pulled out of the line of cars and apparently had his foot down hard on the gas petal. The Camaro accelerated to well past 90 miles an hour. Ron gave a shout of surprise from the back seat when Sam drifted the car around a corner narrowly missing another vehicle waiting to turn and weaved in and out of on coming traffic. Judy could just make out the cop car behind them, lights flashing angrily.
"Samuel James Witwicky!" Ron bellowed, gripping the door frame. "What in God's name do you think you're doing running away from the police?!"
But Sam simply stuttered, eyes fearful as he continued to weave through traffic at 90 miles. Judy hide her hands in her face when he almost hit an on coming truck, giving a small shriek of fear. Had the arrest scared her son some much that he was willing to flee from the police?
"Pull over now, Samuel!" Ron demanded loudly, reaching over the seat for the steering wheel.
"I can't-" Sam breathed. "Dad, I can't."
They had reached the edge of downtown now, driving into the industrial part of Tranquility. Judy had remerged from her hands and was breathing heavily. She watched as the cop car gained on them through the now closed window (When had that happened?).
"What do you mean you can't?" Ron snapped, abandoning his reach for the steering wheel. "Of course you can! Now pull over before someone gets hurt!"
"Dad, I'm serious," Sam stated loudly. His hands were shaking. "I can't pull over."
"And why the hell not?!"
"Because," Sam yelled, "I'm not driving!"
And he flung his hands away from the steering wheel as though he had been burned. Ron chocked on his next words and Judy uttered a terrified yell.
The steering wheel was turning by itself.
Judy watched in shock, her hand covering her mouth, as the steering wheel turned this way and that. Her shock doubled as Sam quickly removed his foot from the gas petal, drawing his legs up to his chest. The car didn't slow down but started to pick up speed. Her heart-rate triplet. Cars could not do that, they could not drive themselves. Self-driving cars hadn't been invented yet. But, she was apparently sitting in one that could.
What was going on?
Ron tripped over his own tongue in his hurry to speak, to ask what was happening. Before he could say anything, though, a new voice filled the car. Judy uttered another shriek. This voice was coming from all round them, coming out of the very walls. Judy started glancing quickly around, trying to locate the source. It sounded mechanical and as though it had been newly repaired.
"Ge-get ready to b-bail, S-Sam," the voice sputtered.
"Right," Sam said breathlessly. "What-what do I-uh-we do?"
"Run, just as we practiced." said the mechanical voice, racing off the highway and out into an open field. "I'll come ge-get you when I have d-dealt with Ba-Barricade."
Barricade? Just as they had practiced? What was the voice talking about? Judy wondered briefly if she had hit her head and was hallucinating.
"Okay, right." Sam turned in his seat to stare at both his parents. The look in his eyes managed to scare Judy. "I'll explain everything later, okay? Just be ready to run."
"Sam," Ron said. "What is going on-?"
"Dad, later, okay?" Her son begged. "I'll tell you everything later. Just, please-"
"Now!"
Judy barely had time to registered what the voice had said before she found herself being thrown from the car. The sky became the ground for a few seconds before Judy slammed into the soft earth, the breath knocked out of her body. She felt the littlest finger on her right hand break.
She laid dazed and confused on the ground for what she guessed to be a few short seconds before Sam was crouching beside her, trying to pull her into a standing position. The right side of his face was cut.
"C'mon," he moaned. "C'mon, get up. We have to get away!"
Judy sluggishly responded, staggering to her feet. Ron was instantly beside her, gripped her elbow. His face was white. Sam was pulling on the back of their shirts, trying to get them to move.
"Stop it, Sam!" Ron ordered. "If this is some joke you're playing, I want you to stop!"
"Its not a joke," groaned Sam desperately, still attempting to make them move.
"Sam, get going!" The mechanical voice yelled. The Camaro had swerved around to face the on coming police car and then did something that made Judy sure she was hallucinating.
The only way she could describe it was that the car seemed to explode and begin to reshape itself. Car parts started to form arms and legs, a very large back appeared where the car doors positioned themselves, the engine seemed to create a massive head and the front fender suddenly became a chest.
When it was done, in what was a few seconds, Judy found herself staring at what she assumed to be a very large robot.
The robot (was it truly a robot?) turned its head to look down at them. She vaguely noticed that it appeared to have light blue eyes, or what she thought to be eyes, and no mouth. It waved frantically at them and took a few hurried steps backwards, its body half turned to the on coming police car.
"Goo," the robot stressed. "Goo."
Judy decided, very suddenly, to take the robots advice. As long as she managed to get herself as far away as possible from this…thing. She caught Ron's eye and they both ran for it, dragging Sam along with them. Her son half turned, stumbled a bit, and shouted something to the robot. Judy could hardly heard what he yelled, the blood pumping in her ears too loudly. But she did manage to hear the roar of frustration and crunch of metal from behind her. Her pace quickened.
A small clump of hills came into her view, nothing more than a few bumps in the ground. Judy planned on simply run past them but Sam, it seemed, had other ideas. He grabbed her hand, the broken pinkie screaming in pain, and pulled both of them towards the hills. They had no choice but to follow along.
Once Sam had managed to lead them over the hill, he let go of their hands and stumbled a few more feet before slowly sitting down. Judy rubbed her broken finger and nursed a stitch in her side. She could feel sweat dripping down her sore back. Ron was bent over beside her, trying to get his breath back.
Faintly, in the distance, the sound of something firing could be heard. Judy, out of fear, quickly walked to the bottom of the hill. She looked back at her son but his eyes were half-closed and out of focus. His expression looked lost.
"What-was-that?" Ron gasped.
It was quite a fair question, thought Judy and it was something she would like to know the answer too. But her son simply shook his head, one hand rubbing the back of his neck. He seemed to be having some sort of inner conflict with himself.
When Sam didn't answer, Ron continued to speak.
"Was that a giant robot or am I just seeing things?" Ron said wildly. "Or maybe I'm just having a nightmare, which, you know, seems the most likely considering that monster-"
"Monster?" Sam let out high pitched giggle. "You have no idea what a monster looks like and Bumblebee is as far away from looking like on as you can get. If you want a real monster, look over the hill and see who he's fighting."
"Sam, what-" Judy started. Her sons behaviour was starting to become concerning.
Her son waved at her, indicating that she should do what he said. He seemed close to hyperventilating.
Ron and Judy shared a look before doing what their son asked. Very carefully they climbed back up the hill and peeked over the top. Far in the distance, so that they were no bigger than Judy's thumb, they could see the robot that had been Sam's car and another, much more horrible, robot. Just looking at it sent shivers down Judy's spine. As Ron and Judy watched the sinister robots knocked the yellow one of its feet before clambering back down the hill to Sam.
"That other…robot looked like the police car," whispered Judy.
"Because it was," Sam stated, looking straight ahead. He seemed determined not to look at his parents. "I had no idea he had come back to Tranquility," he added quietly.
"What-I-car," stuttered Ron. He was wring his hands. "I don't understand. How could those Sector Seven people replace your old car with a robot? What's going on?"
"Well," Sam said, struggling with what to say. "Actually, Bumblebee was the-"
"Bumblebee? Who the hell is that?" Ron interrupted.
"My car. His name is Bumblebee. He was-"
"Its name. How do you know its name?"
"If you'd let me talk," Sam said angrily. "Then I can explain how I know his-" he stressed the word- "name and what is actually going on."
"Right. Sorry."
Sam sucked in a shaky breath and dug his fingers into the soil. Judy noticed, as only a mother could, that her son appeared scared to tell them anything. A minute past in silence, the only noise coming from the two battling robots.
"Okay," Sam said warily. "I'm gonna start over and just so you know, this is not how I imagined telling you guys. I pictured it, for some stupid reason, going over smoothly. So, uh, my car is an alien robot from outer space-" he let out a breathless laugh- "and his name just happens to be Bumblebee. He's the scout for the Autobots."
He stopped to draw breath and let his words sink in. Judy sunk slowly to the ground, unable to stay standing. She could hardly believe what her son had just said. An alien? There were no such things. Aliens were only suppose to exist in movies and sci-fi novels, not real everyday life. But apparently living proof was right across the field from where she sat. Judy felt a major headache coming on.
Ron looked as though he had been punched in the stomach. "No," he denied. "That cannot be an-an alien. Its just a military experiment of some kind."
"That's what I thought," Sam said, still not looking at his parents. "When I first meet him. Assumed he was a Japanese robot or something. But he is actually an alien, I'm not lying."
"But-but," stuttered Ron. "How? I mean, like, how to you know it- him? Why is he here? And why is he fighting the police car on? I want to know what's going on!"
Sam started to nibble his lip, a troubled look on his face. "Well…" he said. "You remember the '76 Camaro we bought, what was it, seven weeks ago? My old car? That-that was Bumblebee. I found out about him, like, two days after that when Barricade-" he jerked his thumb over his shoulder "- the police car, came after Mikaela and I."
"Mikaela knows too?" Judy asked faintly.
Sam nodded. "She was with me when I found out about Bumblebee."
Ron plopped down beside Judy and ran a hand through his thinning hair. "So…so you're telling me that your car is an alien robot named Bumblebee and you've known him for seven weeks. Is that right?"
Sam nodded again. He was twirling a piece of grass between his fingers.
Judy watched as her husband appeared to struggle with himself. It was apparent that he wanted to believe their son- how could he be lying, with the living proof across the field?- but coming to terms with it was truly the hard part. Judy knew exactly how her husband was feeling. To find out you weren't alone in the universe was life changing.
Ron cleared his throat and flicked some earth of his coat. "So…uh…you still haven't told us why this… Bumblebee is here. I-I mean, how come he's with you actually?"
It was Sam this time that appeared to be struggling with himself. He opened and closed his mouth several times, and different emotions crossed his face. Finally, he said, in what he assumed to be an off-casual voice, "He's acting as my guardian."
"Wait, wait," Ron said, waving both hands in front of him. He looked flabbergasted. "Did you say he's your guardian?"
"Bodyguard, guardian, protector." Sam said, rising to his feet. "Whatever you want to call him."
He turned on his heel, still not looking at his shocked parents, and started to retrace his steps back up the hill. "I think he's done fighting Barricade," he added.
Ron clambered quickly to his feet and helped Judy up. They stood close together, both thinking over what their son had just told them, as Sam reached the top of the hill. Judy couldn't help her hands from shaking. The whole of what Sam had told them terrified her to her very core. Why would her baby boy need an alien robot as a guardian? He made it out to sound as though something was after him, something besides this 'Barricade'. It wasn't something any mother liked to hear.
They watched, pressed together, as Sam stopped at the top of the hill and glanced around him. Apparently satisfied that all was safe, he motioned to his parents and stalked off, hands cupped around his mouth as he called out to Bumblebee.
Judy looked over at her husband and was glad to see that she wasn't the only one who was fearful of what awaited them over the hill. The thought of meeting a giant robot took Judy's breath away and made her heart pounded in her chest. She wondered wildly if she could avoid meeting this Bumblebee and try to forget this day had ever happened. From the way Ron was squeezing her fingers, he was thinking the same thing. But they couldn't very well hide behind the hill for the rest of their lives nor leave their son.
"Are you guys coming or what?!" Sam yelled impatiently from the other side of the hill.
Giving her fingers a more gentle squeeze, Ron squared his shoulders and started up the hill, Judy stumbling along. The sun had hardly moved in the brilliant blue sky. Glancing quickly at her wristwatch, Judy was stunned to see that little over tens minutes had passed since they had hidden behind the hill. It had somehow seemed much longer than that.
Emerging over the top of the hill, Judy felt her heart stutter in her chest as she caught sight of Sam standing less than five feet from the crouched down Bumblebee, arms crossed tightly over his chest. Sam's face was set in a blank expression but Judy could tell from just looking at him, from his ridged posture to his fingers tapping against his elbow, that he was feeling nervous and wary. Bumblebee appeared to be attempting to sooth her son from the way his giant jaw was moving up and down.
"I know it could have been worse, 'Bee," Sam mumbled, as they came within earshot. "I could have been Starscream or something. But this is bad enough. How am I suppose to tell them everything that's happened with out freaking them out?"
"Le-eave it to m-me," Bumblebee muttered back in response.
Sam smiled gratefully.
Ron came to a halt ten feet away from Bumblebee, Judy half pulled behind him. Her husbands back was ridged with fear, although he attempted to hide it behind a cool demeanour. Judy, though, didn't bother to hide how she was feeling, wide-eyed and scared as she stared up at the crouching robot. Even bend down he was taller than all of them.
A few moments passed in complete silence as Judy and Ron looked over Bumblebee, who, in turn, didn't seem to mind in the slightest. He remained stationary. He seemed to know how important this meeting was and didn't wish to scare away Judy and Ron with any unexpected movement.
After a few minutes of looking him over, Judy felt her fear ebb away slightly. He looked somewhat harmless (despite the fact he was a sixteen foot robot that could probably squish her with his heel) and the expression he was wearing was friendly, if mingled with a slight glazing of guilt. Assessing him, she started to notice interesting little details. A weird little red face was embossed to his forehead and Judy dimly remembered seeing the same one stamped in the middle of the Camaro's steering wheel, and every visible surface of him was covered in dents and scratches. His eyes were what interested her the most, though. Metal eyelids- where robots suppose to have eyelids?- blinked every few seconds, as his light blues eyes looked back at her, as what looked like the focuser from a camera twirled in and out. Judy would have expected a robots eyes to look cold, flat and emotionless. But there was defiantly emotion in these light blue eyes.
Judy readjusted her position behind her still frozen husband and accidentally whacked her broken pinkie against his back. She bit back a gasp of pain. Ron immediately turned to aid her, gently taking her injured hand in his. Sam made a gesture as if to turn to her but seemed to have resisted the urge, for he continued to look straight ahead.
A twitter of what sounded like guilt drew her attention. Bumblebee was looking down at her in a concerned manner. "I-I am sor-sorry, Mrs. W-Witwicky," he apologized softly. "For hurting you. I have sl-slight difficulty with ejecting three people from two si-sides at once."
Judy opened and closed her mouth several times, unsure of what to say. Finally, she stuttered out, "That's all right, uh, Mr. Bumblebee…"
Bumblebee released a quiet chuckle and even Sam cracked a smile. "Bu-Bumblebee will be ju-just fine, Mrs. W-Witwicky."
Tongued tied once again, Judy simply nodded her head breathlessly.
"I ha-have been waiting qu-quite sometime too meet you bo-both officially," Bumblebee continued brightly. "We wo-would have me-meet sooner but Sam felt that we should plan it out so-some more and Op-Optimus thoroughly agreed with him."
"Optimus?" Ron said.
"My leader," Bumblebee informed him.
"Leader? So-so there are more of you, be-besides the police car one?"
"Optimus Prime, Ratchet, and Ironhide," Sam said suddenly, finally looking over at his parents. "They're the only Autobots on the planet at the moment."
"Ba-Barricade is a Decepticon," Bumblebee said, and Judy noted a hint of deepest loathing in his stuttering voice. "We ha-have been en-enemies for a v-very long time."
"Autobots? Decepticons?" Ron asked, clearly confused and irritated that things weren't being explained properly. "Your enemy? What in God's name are you talking about?"
Bumblebee tapped his giant fingers against his shin plate. "I ca-cannot tell you everything you wi-wish to know, Mr. Witwicky," stuttered Bumblebee, shooting a sideways glance at Sam, who looked relieved. "Nor is ri-right now the gre-greatest time to be answering your qu-questions. I will an-answer as many as I can but ri-right now I believe we should g-get Mrs. W-Witwicky to a hospital to ha-have her hand looked after." He paused and cocked his head to the side. "Also, any ex-expenses that it may cost you will be taken care of by the government, as it was my fa-fault the injury o-occurred in the fi-first place."
Ron rubbed his neck. "Right," he muttered, "Okay."
"Al-also," Bumblebee said, as if just learning the information himself. He looked down at Sam, who stared back. "Ca-captain Lennox wi-will be coming by in a f-few days ti-time, to go over so-somethings."
Judy frowned.
Her son nodded, only showing mild surprise.
Clicking in a cheerful way, Bumblebee carefully stood up. Judy could not help but flinch at the sheer size of him and than felt her face heat in embarrassment. Bumblebee simply pretended not to notice- Judy had a feeling that he was use to humans acting this way around him- before changing back into the Camaro. Sam didn't show any sign of awe but walked confidently around to the drivers side, where the door was open, waiting for him to climb in.
The passenger door and back door swung open silently. Sam looked out of the passenger door, seatbelt all ready on, and smiled at them. All his earlier coldness towards his parents had disappeared.
"Are you coming?" Sam said brightly.
Aware that she was now going to climb into a robot, Judy sucked in a shaky breath and marched over to the open passenger door. She carefully got in and gently closed the door, making sure not to get the seat belt caught in it. Once Ron had gotten in the back, Sam twisted the key in the ignition- although Judy noticed that the car started a split second earlier than it should have- and moved it into drive.
As her son- or was it Bumblebee?- drove out of the field, music humming gently in the background. Judy became aware that her life had just changed forever.
March 3 2010
And there's my take on how Judy and Ron found out about Bumblebee. I'm actually quite happy with the way it turned out, to be honest.
This also goes to show that I have a hard time keeping with the limitations I set myself. Kept telling my self, "Keep it at 2 ½ pages, just 2 ½, nothing more than that." And it ended up being close to six pages.
I apologize if you thought that Sam would have told his parents everything while sitting behind the hill. But I had always imagined him simply telling them the basics. Sam would have thought long and hard about whether or not he should tell them about everything that happened in Mission City and would have boiled down to the question "Am I really willing to scare them even more after they find out about Bumblebee?" That's the question he was arguing about with himself while sitting on the hill.
And if you're wondering, he came to a fifty/fifty type agreement with himself. Tell them the simply, clean story of Mission City and get Bumblebee to explain what happened and why he's acting as Sam's guardian. But leave out why the Autobots are here in the first place and how big of a threat the Decepticons are.
So, review, please. Tell me what you think. Thanks!