Chapter 6 - Monsters.
Getting ready to meet a few of her friends at the local shopping mall, Mikaela listened to the garbled message Sam had left on her phone some time during the night. Raising an eyebrow at her reflection in the mirror as she held the phone to her ear with her shoulder, Mikaela sighed as Sam's message finally ended. Switching the phone off, she placed it on the dresser before continuing to brush her long dark hair, before flicking her eyes to the phone with a reluctant smile, "I love you too Sam, and I promise not to tell your mom about the 'Busty Beauties'; but God, I wish that you'd find someone else to ring when you're dreaming". As she picked the phone back up before dropping it in her bag, before grabbing her jacket, helmet and the keys to her Vespa, Mikaela promised herself that when she was done with her girlfriends, she'd give Sam a ring and only laugh at him a bit.
After a morning shopping with her friends, Mikaela had almost forgotten about Sam's random message and was enjoying relaxing in the sun outside the local Burger King. However a loud clatter got her attention, and Sam was thrust back into her thoughts as she watched him somersault off his mom's bike and hit the kerb hard on his back. As she heard him groan with pain, some of Mikaela's fears were lifted as at least Sam hadn't knocked himself unconscious as she called his name. As Sam heard Mikaela's concerned voice, he gingerly lifted his head, trying to focus on her voice and not the giggles of her friends, as his body hurt enough without the dent that would cause to his pride, "Er hi". As Sam tried to get himself up, Mikaela couldn't help but let a small smile cross her lips as she looked down at him, "Hey that was pretty impressive". Wincing as he stood up, Sam looked back at her, "Yeah it felt awesome". As she saw the pain in his eyes, Mikaela's smile slipped a little and was replaced with a concerned frown, "Hey Sam, look are you sure you're okay?". Sam gazed back at Mikaela, and she when saw a flicker of undisguised fear in his large brown eyes, her concern only doubled as he hurriedly picked up his mom's bike and pedalled away furiously, calling out something about his car following him. Ignoring the laughs from her friends Mikaela watched as Sam disappeared into the traffic, knowing something had to be really wrong in Sam Witwicky's world if he was out in public on a pink plastic bike, and not caring about it.
"Hey quit with the laughing". One of her friends lifted a perfectly manicured hand and waved it through the air, "Really Mikaela, I don't know why you bother with that boy, he's like way too uncool". Mikaela looked at her for a second, before grabbing her helmet, and turning to glare at her, "Because he's my best friend, uncool or not, and he's obviously in trouble so I'm gonna go help him. It's what real friends do for each other". Jumping onto her Vespa, Mikaela fired the engine angrily and pulled off into the flow of traffic. However as she scanned the street for any sign of Sam, or even his Camaro, Mikaela was unprepared for the speed of the police cruiser that sped past her, lights and sirens blaring. Breathing hard as she tried to regain her balance, and a few of the nerves the near miss had frazzled, Mikaela muttered "Jerk" under her breath before checking the street extra carefully as she hit the throttle.
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Bumblebee had also watched Sam hit the kerb from a spot just down the street. "Well if he'd stop running, he wouldn't have hit it", thought Bee to himself, as although he was concerned for Sam, Bee wasn't feeling particularly generous towards Sam at that moment in time. Bee had accepted Sam making another run for it when he'd arrived back at the Witwicky house, as it'd had been quite amusing to see Sam on the small pink bike, however it'd had been the "Satan's Camaro" comment to Miles that had really hurt and made Bee chase him just that bit faster, which had led to the kerb incident. However when Bumblebee's receptors picked up Mikaela's voice as he heard her asking Sam if he was okay, his grumpy mood faded a little as he felt the nervous fluttering in his spark that she always seemed to cause. Bee smiled to himself as he heard her asking Sam if he was okay, and he smiled all the more when he saw Mikaela trying to hide her own amusement but the hidden laughter was all too clear in her eyes. Gazing at her for a second longer as he allowed Sam to pedal away, Bee knew his spark really was in trouble.
However as he heard the distant sirens, every sense Bumblebee owned screamed a warning as he picked up on a signal he had hoped he'd never have to face again, or at least not for a long while. A signal that was somehow locked in on Sam. Pushing back his own fears of facing the nearing Decepticon, Bee gunned his engine to speed after Sam ready and willing to do what it took to keep Sam safe, but as he sped after Sam a part of his spark hoped that for once Mikaela chose to leave Sam to fight his own battles.
Sam meanwhile was losing the ability to breathe as he put as much effort into pedalling as he could. The Camaro was still following him and somehow they had ended up in a disused parking lot under the freeway. Focused as Sam was on the locality of his car that he was unaware of the police cruiser that was suddenly and mysteriously on the scene, nor was he aware of the way his Camaro had suddenly veered off in the opposite direction. In fact he was unaware of anything til he pedalled straight into the door of the police cruiser and for the second time that day found himself hitting concrete. As he tried to ignore the pain this already caused his battered body, Sam pulled himself up and almost cried with relief when he saw the cruiser, "Officer, listen to me, thank God you're here. I've had like the worst day ever. Listen I've been followed here on my mothers bike. And my cars right over there and its been following me, all the way here. So you know get out of the car". Sam was expecting to see a police officer what he wasn't expecting was for the cruiser to push him backwards. As he fell and scrambled back as the cruiser kept advancing towards him, a sinking feeling began to form in Sam's gut, which only intensified when a probe like light materialised out of where the headlight had been and seemed to almost examine him. Sam felt the sinking feeling give way to fear as he yelled "What do you want with me".
However the fear gave way to complete and utter terror as Sam watched the cruiser shift through a series of moves, as it transformed into an 18ft monster, complete with glowing red eyes that were locked onto Sam. Sam looked up at it for a moment, briefly thinking he hadn't felt this scared last night, before the adrenaline kicked in and he got up and ran as fast as he could. On hearing the concrete being crushed under the metal monsters feet, Sam sped up a little, not wishing to join the concrete as dust. As he looked back over his shoulder all Sam saw was what looked like a giant metal hand swinging towards him, and as his tired body lacked he speed to avoid it, he felt himself fly through the air and land heavily on nearby car. As he closed his eyes and whispered "This is just a bad dream" to himself, Sam felt his eyes fly open when the monster slammed its hands, wheels, whatever either side of the car Sam had landed on. A loud mechanical voice then boomed at him, "Are you user name Ladies Man 217 ?". As Sam's brain shut down just for a second, the voice repeated the question. before his tired and frazzled brain then made the link with his e-bay account and Sam quietly whispered "Yeah", only for the metal giant to ask him about the glasses. Unable to form a reply through the fog that seemed to have invaded his head, Sam watched as his inability to answer only enraged the giant further. Sam slid down the hood of the car he was on and when he felt his feet hit the ground, somehow they found the strength to run a bit further.
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"Where are you Sam?". Mikaela had looked almost everywhere for Sam and hadn't seen him anywhere. She was on the verge of giving up on him when she saw him running towards her from the disused parking lot under the freeway. Smiling to herself with relief, she turned into the parking lot. However Mikaela's relief was short-lived as she quickly saw that Sam was still running full pelt towards her and was showing no signs of stopping. As she felt him collide into her, knocking her and her Vespa over, Mikaela angrily pulled her helmet off and glared at Sam, rubbing at her elbow, "Ow. Jeez Sam what is with you today ?". Sam pulled at her arm, ignoring her protests, as he replied breathlessly, "I'm sorry okay but we have to go... like now. There's a giant metal monster thing in there, that for some reason wants the glasses". Mikaela gazed at Sam and was about to yell at him that yes the Witwicky crazy gene had finally been passed on, when she saw the truthful look in his eyes behind the fear. Looking just past Sams shoulder, Mikaela felt her jaw drop as she saw what Sam had just described running towards them and when her eyes locked onto the beady red eyes of it, Mikaela couldn't have stopped the scream of terror that ripped from her lungs even if she'd wanted to.
Unaccustomed to such a female response from his usually much tougher best friend, in fact it was usually Sam doing the screaming, Sam froze for a moment, before desperately trying to encourage Mikaela to get to her feet, "Come on Mikaela, please?. We have to move... now". However as Mikaela remained motionless, Sam wrapped his arms round her and waited for the impact to hit them
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Bumblebee had watched the confrontation between Sam and Barricade, fighting every impulse in his spark to transform. It was at times like this Bee hated having to follow orders; Bee had hurriedly contacted Optimus through the comm-link when he'd first realised there was a Decepticon in Tranquility, and Optimus had ordered him to keep Sam safe, but to also allow the confrontation to happen if possible. Bee knew he had to wait and see whether the Decepticon had realised whether or not Sam was the key to finding the All Spark, but as Bee felt the waves of terror coming from Sam, he angrily cursed at Optimus. However when he heard Barricade mention the glasses, Bee's spark sank as he realised the Decpticons did indeed know Sam was the key, only for it to lift slightly when he saw Sam make his escape, as Bee hoped he'd then be able to take care of Barricade without Sam being present.
Bumblebee fired his engine, feeling a battle light fill his spark, and began to follow the disappearing Barricade who hadn't even bothered to transform back to his alt-mode as he chased after Sam. However Bee slid to a halt as his spark almost stopped when he heard the scream of panic, and Bee somehow knew it had come from Mikaela. As he transferred all the power he could to his engine, the gravel flew in all directions as Bee sped after Barricade, determined to let no harm come to Sam or Mikaela. As he sped through the parking lot, Bee frantically scanned for any sign of either of the teens, and finally he located them just by the opening. Bumblebee felt his spark burn as he sensed the fear coming from Mikaela, and in that moment wanted to rip Barricade limb from limb for scaring his girl. Momentarily slowing, Bee realised the reason his spark fluttered like crazy every time he saw Mikaela was because he felt something more than just a need to protect her, it was more like a spark bond. Putting that new information to the back of his mind when he had time to process it, Bee increased his speed and power sliding round the frightened teens, slammed his alt-mode body into Barricades legs as hard as he could, which knocked the Decepticon off-balance. Knowing he wouldn't have long before Barricade regained his balance, Bee flung the door open and blasted 'Rescue Me' through the speakers. Sam looked at his returned car with relief mumbling "Sorry 'bout earlier" under his breath as he finally managed to get Mikaela in the car in the car with him. As Sam urged him to move it, Bumblebee accelerated out of the parking lot, feeling pleased that Sam now somehow accepted him, though he was less than pleased to still feel the fear radiating from Mikaela. Wishing he could comfort her somehow, Bee ever so carefully tightened her seatbelt ever so slightly, and he smiled to himself when he felt her calm down just a little. However as Bee realised Barricade was still firmly on his tail, he knew he had to lose him somehow and as he charged through the deserted steel yards in the fading light, Bee lost his battle to keep either Mikaela or Sam calm. Unable to do anything to calm them as he was using all his concentration to outrun Barricade, Bumblebee ignored their frightened screams as best he could as he twisted and turned through the warehouse. Finally gaining a bit of a lead, Bee headed out of the warehouse and quietly reversed into a quiet side area, killing the lights and engine as he did so.
From inside the car, Mikaela had calmed down enough to hiss "Whats going on? at Sam. Sam looked back at her and shrugged his shoulders, "I honestly don't know, but I'm leaving it up to the car". Both of them then raised their heads as they heard a blip of sirens and saw the not-quite-a-cruiser slowly drive past as if looking for them. Mikaela looked back at him, her own worry reflected in Sam's eyes when she heard the door locks close. As Sam scrabbled at them, Mikaela suddenly felt a strange sense of calm settle over her. It was as if the car wanted to protect them, Mikaela thought to herself and she found herself whispering a quiet "Thank you" to the Camaro, blushing for some unknown reason as she did so. Sam meanwhile was trying to start the engine as he'd sighted the cruiser coming back, but with no joy. Mikaela sighed as she saw the patterns of the cruisers lights dancing on the wall behind them, before whispering under her breath, "Come on please start. If not for Sam then for me, as I really don't want to see you, or us get crushed by that thing out there".
As he listened to Mikaela's voice pleading with him to start, Bumblebee finally fired his engine and shot past the back of Barricade. However as he heard the squeal of tyres behind him, Bee knew he couldn't outrun the Decepticon indefinitely, he had to stand and fight. Once he'd cleared the small bridge, Bee executed a 180 degree turn to face the oncoming car. As he did so, he dumped Sam and Mikaela on the ground as gently as he could, before thinking to himself "Here goes nothing" as he began to transform in front of them.
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A/N: Another long one, but couldn't get it to break down any more than I have! I tried! Anyway as always, enjoy and review if you could please ;) xx