TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED
Re:Animated
Rewrite of 'Grey Matter, Silver Lining'. At the same time as Megatron reawakens, a woman falls to earth and Sari manages to convince her father to let her become her nanny. Emma doesn't talk much, and certainly isn't saying she knows them from a cartoon! But when the All-Spark shatters, it makes her question everything . . .
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Blue Trancender
We've been through too much, to let it break,
I won't be makin' the same mistakes,
You're my best friend,
You're my gang-gang . . .
— Nova Rockafeller
"Okay, so now that we've established that I say times in this context … what's three times eight?"
"Twenty-seven." Sari replied promptly.
Emma nodded. "Very good. Nine times seven?"
"Sixty-three." Sari was quick to respond.
"Eight times six?"
"Forty-eight."
"Excellent. Five hundred times nine thousand and eighty one?"
"Four million five hundred and forty five thousand."
" . . . Yes." Emma responded. She had no idea if Sari had gotten that right. Then again, Sari was a little brainiac at times, so she was probably right about it. Emma checked her watch, and then stood up. "Okay, lesson's are officially over for today, kiddo."
"Yay!" Sari cheered, throwing her computer tablet into the air. It landed on her bed. "Street racing, here I come!" She noticed Emma looking at her. "On TV." She explained. Then, Sari looked suspiciously at Emma. "But, where are you ...ohhhh. . . " She said suddenly, understanding. "You're going to go on a date with Prowl, am I right?"
Emma blushed brilliantly. "It is not a date, Sari - we're just going out on patrol together, that's all . . . "
"Suuure you are," Sari grinned. "Just like when you two were playing fetch with the Dino-Bots recently?"
"Bulkhead was there, too!"
"Or, sneaking off to some remote part of the woods for some alone time?"
"We were planting trees and there were about fifty other people there with us!"
"Or, when you two watched that nature documentary marathon on Sunday?" Sari was grinning by this stage. "Oh, and Bee and I also saw you two at the Burger Bot yesterday . . . "
Emma was bright red by this stage.
"They were also walking hand-in-hand at the park a few days ago!" Bumblebee added, coming into Sari's room, laughing. "They also went to the zoo on Tuesday!"
Sari laughed, too. "Sounds like a date to me!" The two of them fist-bumped.
Emma paused, and then she said: "Oh, but that's not anything at all." They both looked at her. "Not like going rollerblading at the park and getting ice-cream, or playing video games until three in the morning, or ... or . . . "
"Or going to that outdoor rock concert in the park on Thursday?" Prowl spoke up, from where he leaned against the doorframe, arms folded. "A certain yellow bot and a red-haired girl were dancing together all afternoon . . . " He smiled, as Bumblebee and Sari gaped at him.
Emma grinned, and didn't have to say thank you. Prowl already knew. He could read it in her mind, somehow.
Prowl turned his smile to Emma. "Ready to go?" He asked her.
She nodded, just as Honeybee entered.
"Officer Mackenzie just contacted me and said that a jewellery store in the city got a shipment of diamond in, but those diamonds are glowing blue like nothing from this world ... oh, and there's a big purple and aqua jet heading towards there."
"How did Lugnut know about the fragments?!" Bumblebee asked, as they sped out of the base.
"It was probably just a coincidence!" Emma responded. "Let's just get there before he gets them!"
"What's gonna happen when you absorb multiple fragments at once?" Honeybee wanted to know.
"Umm . . . "
Prowl, Emma, Sari, Bumblebee, Honeybee, and Capi all crashed out in the TV room that night. They were exhausted - it had taken them seven hours to find all of the All-Spark fragments, including one that a very rich lady had refused to give up, until Emma had absorbed it and the lady ran off screaming.
"Did you remember anything?" Sari asked Emma, as she flicked through the TV stations.
"Nothing to write home about." Emma shrugged. "Nothing like one of the first memories … my best friends had to drag me to our mentor's after I got into a fight with six other girls back on Cybertron … those six glitches, they tore off my arms and wings . . . " She noticed that Sari was staring at her, open-mouthed. "I got them back!" She assured her. "As you saw. It was more annoying than anything . . . "
Honeybee glanced at her brother, who had turned to look at Emma very quickly. "Sound familiar?" She murmured to him.
"I … didn't realise that femmes were like that." Bumblebee said.
Honeybee laughed. "You never saw what went on on the femme's side of boot camp, that's why!" She said.
Sari was still flicking through the TV stations. "News, news, ad, news, emergency broadcast for Pennsylvania, the price of oil just went up — "
"Dear Primus, no!" Gasped Bulkhead, as he came in to see them.
Sari continued flicking through the stations, as Bulkhead used his kibble as a seat. "Infomercial, ad, ad, ad, ad, uprising in Moscow — "
"Good on them." Emma nodded.
"Ad, old vampire movie, news … ooh, here it is!" Sari exclaimed.
"Yes!" Bumblebee cheered.
"Good evening, Detroit!" The man on the TV was saying, in a heavy Australian accent. "Master Disaster here with the hottest straight racing action in all the motor city!"
"He sounds a bit like you, Em." Sari commented.
"Hey!" Emma exclaimed. "I'm no drongo from Medina!"
"Now, I'm no drongo from Medina!" Master Disaster was saying, and Emma's mouth fell open.
I meant the area in Kwinana but he probably meant that place to the south-west of here!
"And, I guarantee you the best street racing that you're ever gonna see or your money back!" Master Disaster said. "You all know what this is! This - is - Street Demons!"
The title theme played.
"Money?" Capi whispered to Emma.
Emma shrugged. "Sari's a little genius, pirating the signal." She whispered back, and then noticed that Prowl was looking over at her. She tried to smile. What would he say … if he knew that I knew what's going to happen … if I tell anybody who's involved in the cartoon then it might not happen! But … what if it doesn't happen anyway?!
"There's Ming-Li!" Sari exclaimed, as the TV screen showed a woman with her scarf over her face getting into her purple car. "They call her The Surgeon because she's so precise!"
"Cool." Emma said appreciatively. "I love her style."
"Plus, she's the only girl who consistently does these races." Sari added.
"Femme power." Honeybee nodded.
"I like Roxy Sparkles, too, though." Sari went on, gesturing to the blonde-haired man on TV. "He drives super fast!"
"Roxy is a girl's name." Bumblebee muttered. He stared at the TV screen as the race was happening.
Even Prowl was watching, although it was mainly because Emma was watching very intently.
He deviated between watching the TV and watching her.
And, there it was … he saw it when her eyes lit up slightly, and looked quickly.
"That blue car just came out of nowhere recently." Sari was commentating. "The driver's thrown a spanner in the works of this game! And … ooh! So aggressive! He just ran that other guy right off the road!"
"Ooh!" Bulkhead, Honeybee, Emma, Capi, and Prowl all cringed.
A red and white vehicle was racing onto the scene onscreen.
"And here comes the ambulance!" Sari announced.
"Alright!" Ratchet suddenly stormed into the TV room. "It's late! All of you, get to bed, now!"
"You don't tell me what to do!" Emma protested immediately.
"Don't you have work tomorrow?" Ratchet asked her, somewhat witheringly.
Emma paused. "Yes. Okay Ratchet, touché, mate."
On screen, Master Disaster was interviewing somebody. "Touché, mate, touché!" He laughed.
Sari looked pointedly at Emma and gestured to the TV.
"Touché indeed. But, Sari, you're going to bed now, too." Emma said firmly.
"What?!" Sari exclaimed.
"Just watch the highlights on your phone!" Bumblebee whispered to her.
Emma, Bulkhead, Honeybee, Ratchet, Prowl, and Capi all groaned.
The next night, the Autobots went out on patrol, but left Honeybee back at the base with Emma, Sari, and Capi.
"'To be, or not to be'!" Sari recited from her homework, as she stood in the middle of hers and Emma's room, beneath the Switzerland flag. "'That is the question' … because who actually knows what that means?!" She rolled her eyes.
"It means to live or to die." Emma responded, rolling her eyes. "But, the answer is not that simple."
"Well, yeah, it is." Sari pointed out. "Living is better than dying."
"What if by living, innocent people died?" Emma questioned her. She watched as Sari faltered. "Too deep?" She asked Capi and Honeybee, who nodded.
"But, Em," Sari said suddenly, looking over at her. "You ran into that burning building without even thinking … and, during the war, you must've been in situations like that . . . "
Emma nodded slowly. "Yeah … this one time — "
Sari suddenly zipped over to sit near her on the pile of big pillows.
"My best friend and I were going out to find a sparkling . . . " Emma began.
"A what?" Sari said.
"It's a baby, basically." Honeybee spoke up. She was in her holoform, and sitting on the stairs. "Because, Cybertronians are made in two ways. Either as a protoform, which is more common … or a sparkling, which hasn't happened since the war."
"How come?" Sari wanted to know.
Emma and Honeybee both shrugged.
"I think that … we were sent out to find sparklings . . . " Emma said slowly. "And, I found this one … her name was Ariel . . . "
"Even more rare, for it to have been a femme." Honeybee said.
"Why?" Sari asked.
"I know the reason for that even less." Emma and Honeybee said in unison.
"Mmm-kay … so, what happened to Ariel?" Sari asked, looking at Emma.
"I … I don't know for sure," Emma said quietly. "I have a suspicion. But, I don't know." If I'm right, then … I don't know how to feel. "Ariel was kind of special, aside from just being one of the few femmes, but I'm not sure what else there was … something happened at that point, but I don't know what it was . . . "
"Because Sentinel Prime interrupted your memory?" Sari guessed. She noticed the way that her nanny glowered at the mention of Sentinel's name, and hastily looked over at Honeybee. "What was that guy like to work with?" She sounded interested.
"Well, I'll tell you femmes this, in confidentiality," Honeybee said, and Sari sat up a little bit straighter at the prospect of an Autobot femme secret. "He was … impossible, you know? An eleven out of ten on the 'Grinds My Gears Metre'. But … he could also be really protective … overprotective, at times. It would drive me insane!" She shook her head. "I feel like he was trying to make up for something . . . " She added quietly.
Emma and Capi exchanged a glance.
"This is a waste of time!" Bumblebee complained. "We're never gonna find that All-Spark fragment!"
"The signal was coming from this sector." Optimus reminded him. "A d if we can track it, so can the Decepticons."
"Aurgh!" Bumblebee groaned, moving impatiently as the other Autobots practically had him boxed in. "We should have just brought Em! Can't she, like, attract the fragments, like she attracts Prowl?!"
"She unfortunately also seems to attract the Decepticons, which is precisely the reason why I don't want her here!" Prowl told Bumblebee testily, just as a number of cars suddenly zipped past them.
"What's their hurry?" Ratchet wanted to know.
"I know those cars!" Bulkhead suddenly said. "They're Street Demons! Like what we watched on TV with Capi and the girls!"
"Amateurs!" Bumblebee scoffed. "I'll show them a real Street Demon!" He promptly pulled ahead, weaving expertly in between his friends and the Street Demons. "One side, ladies and gentlemen, fastest thing on wheels rolling through!" He said, as he pulled ahead of the pack.
It was at this point that, from seemingly out of nowhere, another racer appeared; the futuristic-looking blue car came in from an on-ramp, and effortlessly overtook most of the other cars.
Ming-Li and Roxy tried to block the blue racer in … and were promptly run off the road by him.
The blue racer and Bumblebee were suddenly neck-and-neck.
"So, you wanna drag, do you?!" Bumblebee said.
Optimus's voice came over the com. link. "Not now! Those drivers need help!"
"But I can catch this guy!" Bumblebee protested … just as the blue racer disappeared in a flash of blue and red, much faster than Bumblebee was anticipating. "I think . . . "
Watching on TV, Emma, Sari, Honeybee, and Capi all watched in silence, right before the broadcast cut back to Master Disaster.
"Cool car." Sari commented off-handedly.
"Mmm." Honeybee muttered. It looks like that one guy … no way it's him, though! Not here, doing this!
"Sari," Emma ventured. "What station is this on?"
"Why?" Sari suddenly wouldn't look at her.
"Sari, did you pirate the channel?" Emma asked her flat-out.
Sari sighed. "I'm not gonna lie to you." She said slowly, and then jumped off of the couch. "Bathroom break!" She raced out of the room.
"Sari!"
Sari may have dodged the question with Emma, but she couldn't avoid Bulkhead when he and the others got back.
He said: "You lied to me! You knew those Street Demon races were illegal!"
"So," Sari shrugged, like it was no big deal. "It's not costing us anything."
"How does pay-per-view not cost anything?" Bulkhead asked her.
Sari sighed. "Aurgh. Fine. I pirated the signal."
"Ha!" Emma called from the hallway.
Sari rolled her eyes. "Big deal," she looked at Bulkhead. "You said so yourself, those races are illegal."
"So if they break the law, that makes it okay for you to do it, too?" Bulkhead said.
"Lighten up, Bulkhead," Bumblebee said, as he came into the room after a - failed - attempt to be allowed to use his old turbo boosters in order to catch up to that blue racer. "We're supposed to be the fun bots, remember?"
"Yeah," Bulkhead sighed. "But, we still gotta set a good example. She looks up to us." He reminded Bumblebee.
"Hello, she looks up to everybody." Bumblebee pointed out.
"Hey!" Sari cried.
"Don't worry big guy, I'll straighten the kid out." Bumblebee suddenly promised.
Bulkhead raised an optic ridge, but then he nodded and left the room.
Once he was gone, Bumblebee turned to Sari. "Quick, show me those races!"
Sari looked confused. "But, what about . . . ?"
"Well, duh, keep the volume down so he doesn't come back." Bumblebee told her.
She smiled now, and turned on the TV to the appropriate station.
"G'day, Detroit!" Master Disaster said.
Bumblebee and Sari watched a few of the highlights, not knowing that they were being watched.
"There!" Bumblebee said suddenly. "See that blue racer! Again! Has he been in all the races?"
"I guess . . . " Sari said slowly.
"Can you figure out where those broadcasts came from?" Bumblebee asked her.
Sari smiled again. "Piece of cake."
Bumblebee paused. "The broadcast came from a piece of cake . . . ?"
Sari sighed. "Never mind."
Later on that night, Bumblebee was waiting in a dried-out irrigation channel where Sari had said the signal was coming from, but, he wasn't alone.
Emma was perched on his shoulder, dressed all in black save for a yellow headscarf (yeah, right, like that would really hide her identity).
He hadn't wanted to bring her along at first … until she'd told him that she was also suspicious of the blue racer, and didn't think that they were from Earth.
She'd added that nobody from Earth was faster than Bumblebee.
His holoform looking as young as it did would attract attention.
And then she'd revealed that she'd managed to grab his turbo boosters for him.
And, so they now waited, and it wasn't long before they heard the four racers approaching them.
"Here they come . . . " Bumblebee said quietly, as the four cars whizzed on by. "And here I go!" He added, and Emma moved as he transformed, so that she was sitting in the driver's side by the time Bumblebee joined in the race.
Emma buckled her seatbelt on instinct, but she also kept one hand there, since she knew what was to come.
She could almost hear Master Disaster wondering where 'that clown car' had come from, and then she felt a sudden tugging in her chest.
It didn't seem to matter, because Blurr was completely under Master Disaster's control, and came straight at Bumblebee who was unable to move due to the mud puddle beneath his tires.
Emma was working to control her breathing, as Bumblebee suddenly switched the direction of his turbo boosters and managed to go in reverse … but, Master Disaster did not let Blurr let up, and Bumblebee had to work hard to avoid being hit after he was nudged roughly from the side, and then from the front, even as he continued to go in reverse at full speed … but, by that stage, something minor had happened, and Bumblebee had had enough.
"So, you wanna play rough?!" Bumblebee cried, and felt it when Emma unbuckled her seatbelt. Good. "Try this on for size!" He transformed, and Emma clung to his neck.
Master Disaster was watching, of course, and thankfully ordered Blurr to stop as Bumblebee slammed his fist into the ground, mere centimetres from the front of Blurr's alt. mode.
Emma looked up, knowing instantly that it was Blurr, and feeling a wave of anger towards the one who was controlling him … who was about to make an appearance.
"Oi! Don't move a muscle or a piston or whatever it is you Autobot things move!" Master Disaster ordered, hurrying down from his nearby trailer. His gaze then zeroed in on Emma, who was still clinging to Bumblebee's neck. "So, it was you — ?"
"Don't look at me, mate!" Emma snapped.
"Even though you're together?" Master Disaster raised an eyebrow.
"Yes!" Emma retorted, and then she thought about what had just been said. "I mean, not, 'together together'." She quickly said.
"More like friends!" Bumblebee added.
"Because I already have a boyfriend." Emma finished up. Who would probably be freaking out if he knew where I was right now, but at least this time it's NOT because I'm with another mech! "I'm just along for the ride."
"Fair enough." Master Disaster crossed his arms.
"But, anyway," Bumblebee said. "You're Master Disaster!"
"From TV!" Emma added, trying to sound excited.
"Ah," Master Disaster nodded, finally smiling a little bit. "Loyal paying customers."
"Well … loyal, anyway." Bumblebee tapped his index fingers together sheepishly, as Emma slid down the back of his shoulder slightly. "So, what do you know about that blue racer that just kicked the chrome out of me?" Bumblebee asked, walking a few paces forwards.
"My star attraction." Master Disaster said, somewhat carelessly. "You could say he doesn't make a move without me." He couldn't help but notice that the woman with the Autobot was glaring at him from behind her glasses.
"So, you know the driver?" Bumblebee wondered.
"Or, is there a driver?" Emma suddenly spoke up again, as Bumblebee reached back and lifted her back up onto his shoulder.
Master Disaster laughed, somewhat nervously. "Wh-what do you mean? You can't have a car without a driver!"
Emma pointedly gestured to Bumblebee, before she raised her hand.
"Well … present company accepted." Master Disaster corrected himself hastily. "Anyway, forget about him! The next real race is at 2 a.m under the elevated roadways near Dixon Vernon. You in?"
"Will that blue buzz bomb be there?" Bumblebee wanted to know.
"Will you show up if he is?" Master Disaster countered.
"Slag yeah." Bumblebee said.
"In that case you can count on it!"
That seemed to be enough for Bumblebee, who transformed, and Emma slid into the passenger side this time, trying not to let on the fact that, during one of the times Bumblebee had been rammed by Blurr, she had hurt her left wrist.
Oh, man, not again . . . Emma though, thinking about what had happened just before she'd first come to this world.
Sari sighed, and then looked up expectantly, when Bulkhead, in his holoform, came up to her with a mug of hot cocoa.
"I hope it's not too hot." He said, handing it to her, before stepping back and returning to his robot mode. "Capi said that you like having sugar in it." He added, and Sari grinned.
Just then, her phone, which was on the table next to her, began ringing … it was Bumblebee!
Sari was not at all willing to answer it, as she was afraid that Bumblebee might talk about where he and Emma had gone that evening, and she tried to hang up the phone without even looking at it.
"Em's working so hard, I shouldn't take cell phone calls after six PM!" Sari tried to say, before she accidentally answered her phone.
"blSari," came Bumblebee's voice. "It's us! You should have been here! I couldn't beat the blue racerc even with my turbo boosters! Oh, and, uh … keep Bulkhead busy for another hour! Sari?" Bumblebee suddenly said, because Sari wasn't saying anything.
Emma then piped up with: "Sari, is Bulkhead standing right there?"
Sari sighed, but it was Capi, who had just floated in, who said: "You know he is."
There was a sudden screeching of tires from the other end of the line, and then Emma was saying sharply: "Bee, don't you dare! We need to go back there and explain things!"
"We can explain it tomorrow after I've run the race!" Bumblebee said.
"I need some ice for my wrist!" Emma exclaimed.
There was a moment of silence.
"I hurt it when the blue racer rammed us." Emma explained. "Can we … can we just go back? I'm sorry . . . " She added.
Capi sighed. "I'll get the frozen peas." He opened up his sub-space drawer.
"I'll get the bandages!" Sari added, jumping down from the couch and hurrying towards the hallway.
"We're still going to discuss this, young lady!" Bulkhead called to her.
"I can't hear you!"
It was at this point that Blitzwing flew overhead.
"Blitzwing!" Emma gasped, forgetting about her wrist briefly. "Follow! Follow!" She urged Bumblebee, who needed no persuasion and immediately changed course to follow the Decepticon.
They discretely listened in on Blitzwing's conversation to Megatron, and discovered that an All-Spark fragment was nearby.
Emma and Bumblebee exchanged a glance.
They arrived back at the base, to find Sari, Bulkhead, Honeybee, and Capi waiting for them.
"Thank goodness everybody else is asleep." Capi said quietly as Honeybee, in her holoform, tended to Emma's wrist.
"Lighten up, Bulkhead!" Bumblebee exclaimed. "Sometimes you just gotta bend the rules!"
"This isn't bending, it's shredding!" Bulkhead told him.
"Jarring," Honeybee said calmly, glancing from the tablet in her hand to Emma's wrist, which she had bandaged up after putting some ice in it. "I mean, it's just jarred. Just give it some rest, and, you should be fine."
"Thank you, Doctor Google." Emma murmured.
Bulkhead, meanwhile, was still scolding Sari and Bumblebee.
He seemed to have decided that Emma had suffered enough, which reminded Emma of the story that her dad had told her. When he'd been younger, he'd ended up on crutches. At school, there was wet cement and all of the boys had put their hands in it; Bruce had put the tip of his crutch in there. The principal had found out, and all of the boys had gotten the cane - except for Bruce, who had apparently 'suffered enough' because of his leg injury, and so he was spared from the corporal punishment.
Lucky!
Emma glanced up when Bumblebee mentioned that he could find the All-Spark fragment, but only if he was to run in that night's race.
"Think you can manage it without me?" Emma asked him.
"Probably even better." Bumblebee replied confidently, and then he realised what he'd just said. "Okay, wait, that's not what I meant — !"
Emma just shook her head and smiled, looking at Bulkhead.
"Pleeeaaase?" Sari asked Bulkhead, pleadingly, clasping her hands out in front of her and turning on the puppy-dog eyes.
"Well … okay." Bulkhead finally relented. "But, only if you promise you won't go off on some wild grease chase without me!" He warned Bumblebee.
Emma, Sari, Capi, and Honeybee watched in silence as Bumblebee crossed his fingers behind his back. "I promise." The yellow speedster said solemnly.
Bulkhead nodded, and then he left them.
"Where'd you learn that?" Sari asked Bumblebee, with a knowing smile.
"From you." He replied. He then sobered, and said: "Em … I'm sorry that you got hurt."
She shook her head again. "It's fine."
"What are we gonna tell the others?" Capi suddenly wondered. "You know … the boss bot, the medic, and Em's boyfr — ?"
Emma cut him off. "When they wakes up tomorrow, then we'll tell them. They can't argue if we get the All-Spark fragment!" She added.
"Yeah, they probably can . . . " Honeybee muttered, as she went to take Sari's empty hot cocoa mug back to the kitchen area.
"So, you met Master Disaster?" Sari turned to Emma. "What's he like?"
"He went to school in Gosnells, lives in Kwinana, and he rides the Mandurah line to get to Northbridge." Emma responded.
"What?" Sari blinked. She looked up at Bumblebee for help.
As he tried to explain it to her in Detroit terms, Emma looked over at Capi.
"Capi," she whispered to the tapir. "We need to make sure Bee takes Sari with him!"
Capi bobbed his head in confirmation. "Don't worry, I've got an idea . . . "
"They're not talking." Victoria Mackenzie observed.
Carmine Fanzone nodded. "How do you wanna play it?"
"Straight and simple." She replied.
Fanzone smiled slightly. "Just the way I like it."
The two police officers exchanged a nod, and then entered the room, where the two accused were sitting.
"Do you need anything?" Mackenzie asked them.
"Umm … a pillow for my arm . . . " Roxy muttered.
"Can I get a glass of water?" Ming-Li added.
Mackenzie had a police-bot outside of the room fetch those things.
"All right," Fanzone said, turning the chair across the table around and sitting down. He had an unflinching look on his face. "So, who's running this racket?"
Ming-Li and Roxy exchanged a glance, which Mackenzie and Fanzone took note of.
"We already know that you two are involved." Mackenzie reminded them gently. "So, you might as well tell us."
"Hey, I get paid real good to be in these races." Roxy told her shortly. "Why should I tell you, huh?"
"Because," Fanzone leaned across the table. "With all the charges they got against you two, the next time you go racing you'll both be using walkers!"
"That's twenty years in prison." Mackenzie added. "Think about it. That's a long time to be behind bars for something that neither of you actually organised."
"So, what, are we talking, like, a reduced sentence, or complete immunity?" Ming-Li wanted to know.
"It depends on what you can tell us." Mackenzie replied.
"So, start talking." Fanzone said.
Ming-Li paused. Then, she said: "Without naming names, yeah . . . "
"Go on." Fanzone nodded.
Roxy spoke up. "If you happen to be in the vicinity of Dixon Vernon tonight . . . "
"At two . . . " Ming-Li added.
Fanzone and Mackenzie exchanged a glance, and then Fanzone stood up.
"Not that you'll ever get there in time . . . " Roxy muttered.
"Hey, relax," Fanzone replied, looking over his shoulder at them. "I know lots of shortcuts — " He turned and, not realising that the door hadn't actually opened yet, walked straight into it. "Grr … this is why I hate machines . . . " He muttered, as Mackenzie rapped on the door three times to get the police-bot on the other side of the door to open it.
"The coast is clear." Bumblebee muttered, nodding to himself. "And, for the sake of my honor as the fastest thing on wheels, that coast had better stay that way . . . "
No sooner were the words out of his mouth, when Sari floated down from the ceiling courtesy of Capi, who she was hanging onto.
She let go of the little tapir, and put her hands on her hips, glaring at Bumblebee. "You're not leaving without me?!"
"It's too dangerous!" Bumblebee said straight away. "I mean, look at what happened to Em . . . "
"But, what about all that stuff you said about bending the rules?" Sari protested.
"Plus, I'll be there to protect Sari." Capi added.
"Uh . . . " Bumblebee cringed. "Yeah … yeah, I did say that, and I know you would." He added to Capi, before looking back at Sari. "But, you still can't go."
She sighed in frustration.
"And," Bumblebee added. "You gotta promise you won't tell Bulkhead!"
"Oh, don't worry," Sari assured him. "I promise." She held up her crossed fingers.
Bumblebee cringed again, realising that he had no choice but to give in. "Okay." He said reluctantly, and turned and began to walk out of the base. "Come on."
"What's the matter?" Asked Sari, as she ran after him, with Capi trailing behind her. "Don't you trust me?"
"Yeah." Bumblebee muttered. "Like I trust myself."
Neither Bumblebee nor Sari noticed Bulkhead, who had been hiding on the other side of the couch but now he raised his head.
Capi refrained from looking back, because he knew that Bulkhead was watching.
"Well," said Honeybee, watching from the rooftop. "They're off. My brother, Sari, Capi … I wonder where they're going?"
"To the illegal street race without Bulkhead." Emma replied promptly.
"Are you sure?" Honeybee asked her.
"Of course. He told them not to." Emma shrugged.
"Oh." Honeybee peered over the side of the rooftop again. "Hey … Bulky's going, too … no fair, I wanna go!" She suddenly realised.
"Let's go, then." Emma suggested. Honeybee looked at her. "I'll be careful." Emma added, holding up her hand. "I'll stay out of the way. I mean, it's not like I'm gonna be doing gymnastics or lifting a piano or something."
"What's gymnastics?" Honeybee wanted to know, as they made their way down from the rooftop.
Emma tried to explain it to her. She's never done gymnastics as a kid, although she had done callisthenics, which was similar.
"Oh, I see." Honeybee said, as she transformed. "That sounds a bit like how my best friend fights, actually … lots of jumps and twists and stuff … hmm … Sky Dancer's last report was actually from this quadrant, if I remember correctly … I wonder . . . "
"What are you doing up at this hour?" Ratchet asked Optimus not too long after, as the Autobot leader made his way into the TV room.
"I just finished talking to Prowl," Optimus said slowly. "And, we both had the strangest dream that the others went to an illegal street race and came home with an All-Spark fragment and another Autobot. Now we're both worried about our states of mind." He shook his head, smiling slightly. "We decided that it was an irrational reaction."
Ratchet had to chuckle. "A sign of working too hard, Prime." He agreed.
Optimus smile suddenly faded. "And yet . . . "
Master Disaster addressed the four drivers and one Autobot just before two AM.
"We got lots of new subscribers for tonight's race!" He sounded thrilled. "Good news travels fast." He stopped beside Bumblebee. "Just like you!"
"Aurgh, he's even sleazier in person!" Sari muttered. "Now I get what you and Em were saying . . . "
"Shh!" Bumblebee hissed suddenly. "Look what just rolled in . . . "
The blue racer had indeed just shown up. The four drivers all watched him in quiet awe, as he did a perfect reverse park next to Bumblebee.
"Well, he passed his driving test." Capi commented.
"Show-off." Bumblebee told the blue racer. "You don't fool me, Decepticon." He added.
Sari's key suddenly began glowing, as if on cue. "I'm picking up an All-Spark fragment." She said softly, and then realised that her key was not pointing at the blue racer. "But not from him . . . " She made her decision. "I'm gonna check it out!"
"Sari, wait!" Bumblebee said, but Sari had already jumped out and was hurrying away. "Aurgh, her ears are painted on!" He told the nearest person, who happened to be the rather large and intimidating-looking driver of the green and black car next to him.
"Heh, kids." The man agreed, rolling his eyes.
Less than a minute later, Sari was back, but . . .
"Quick!" She pounded on Bumblebee's driver's side door. "Let me in!" She jumped in when he opened the door for her.
"Hey!" They suddenly heard Master Disaster yelling from his trailer, and the man himself jumped down the steps. "Give that back, you little thief!"
"You STOLE something?!" Bumblebee gasped.
"Oh, like you're such a shining example Mr. Cross-My-Fingers!" Sari said impatiently, as Capi buckled her seatbelt from her and took careful note of the red and black All-Spark fragment infused radar gun-like device in her hand. "Just GO!"
And, Bumblebee did, because he knew that the alternative did not warrant thinking about.
Bulkhead watched from behind a pylon of the overpass, as Master Disaster yelled that the race only started on his say-so (because the other racers, minus the blue racer, had thought that Bumblebee suddenly taking off had signalled the start of the race).
Bulkhead shook his head. "What'd you get yourself into now, Bumblebee?" He asked out loud. "I guess it's time for me to — "
The ice came out of nowhere, and froze Bulkhead in a massive ice block.
"Chill out, Autobot." Said Icy-Blitzwing, who was of course the culprit. He then turned to the Decepticon who was floating beside him. "Remember, you vill need to speak viz Ember vhen she is by herself. Othervise, zere vill be too much interference from ze Autobots."
Clear Air Turbulance sighed. "You're telling me my plan. I already know my plan, I made up the plan, it's MY plan." She reminded him.
"Just making sure!" Random-Blitzwing told her, before he transformed and flew off.
Clear Air Turbulance rolled her optics, and that was when she noticed her target approaching.
The problem was, of course, that she was not alone - she was in the company of an Elite Guard femme who Clear Air Turbulance didn't recognise on sight; she had to check the database.
And, there was another problem.
Just out of a sight, was the blue racer. Clear Air Turbulance recognised the blue car on sight, even before he transformed.
"Blurr . . . " She muttered.
She watched as Ember - in the human form that she had, called Emma - looked around, as Honeybee transformed and approached the frozen Bulkhead.
She turned around and said something to Emma, who shook her head and held up her left hand, which was bandaged.
Clear Air Turbulance, still hovering there but completely invisible, watched as Blurr took a step back. He then transformed and sped off.
One down . . . The Decepticon femme thought, and then she made a quick decision. After all, Honeybee was distracted by trying to free Bulkhead, and she also couldn't fly.
And, Clear Air Turbulance had activated her invisibility. This was her chance.
She swooped down, and grabbed the human form of Ember, before any of them knew what was happening.
Common sense told her not to contact Megatron with the success of her mission just yet, though. After all, she'd both experienced and seen a number of times when that snapped right back to bite.
"Aurgh! Let me go!" Emma exclaimed. "Whoever or whatever you are!"
Clear Air Turbulance didn't say anything, although she was forced to stop flying for a moment in order to hold on to the struggling human.
"Oh . . . " Emma suddenly said, in a different voice. "I can see the base from here . . . "
"Okay, where?" Clear Air Turbulance asked her, without thinking.
And, now, Emma froze, before she managed to reach into the pocket of her Holden Racing Team jacket, pull out her phone, and hit the speed dial for Honeybee.
"Wait, what are you doing?!" Clear Air Turbulance cried. "I just want to talk to you, Ember — "
"Honeybee, I got grabbed by a Decepticon femme who can turn herself invisible!" Emma cried, as soon as Honeybee had answered. "She's flying! I have to transform into Ember, regardless of how my injury will translate over!"
"Don't be so reckless!" Clear Air Turbulance and Honeybee both told her in unison.
"It's either that or I end up falling, because I am NOT going to Megatron!"
"Em, don't jump! Give tactical negotiation a try, first!"
"Clear Air Turbulance to Blitzwing, come in! Why aren't you … don't tell me that that's you who just got buried under that bridge?!"
Clear Air Turbulance? Well, what'dya know, Cliffie, that hunch paid off! The dark blue and black intergalactic car did a sharp u-turn, and began heading in the direction where the communications were coming from.
Fanzone had left Mackenzie back at the station to finish the paperwork (knowing full-well that he would owe her one), but that didn't stop him from getting bossed around.
"Turn left." The female voice of his car's GPS system said. "Turn left. Turn left."
"Hey!" He snapped, finally losing his patience. "If I want a backseat driver I'll call my mother-in-law!" Because, in these situations, Gwendolyn was decidedly much worse than Mackenzie.
Sari, Capi, and Bumblebee had just managed to escape from Blitzwing, when they saw Fanzone's car travelling in the opposite direction.
For the second time that night, Bumblebee changed directions quickly and went back the way that he'd come.
It was at this time that Blitzwing managed to drag himself out of the rubble that had once been an overpass, and he observed as the two almost identical cars raced by him.
"Ooh, isn't zat cute?!" Random-Blitzwing cackled. "Zey're twins!" He switched back to Icy-Blitzwing, then did a quick scan of both of the vehicles. "Readings indicate zat vun of zem has ze All-Spark fragment." He stood up suddenly. "I vill destroy zem BOTH!" Hothead-Blitzwing declared.
Sari, Capi, and Bumblebee became aware of it when Blitzwing closed in on them.
Bumblebee sped up to draw alongside Fanzone, and reached out to open up the driver's side door.
Fanzone looked over, to see Sari and Capi gesturing wildly.
"Jump!" They both yelled.
"Why would I pull a bone-headed stunt like that?!" Fanzone demanded to know, and then he happened to turn around and see the beige and purple jet that was closing in on them.
He gasped, and unbuckled his seatbelt.
I betcha Sergeant Isenberg never imagined I'd end up doing this! Fanzone thought, remembering back to his training days, as he leapt from his car, and not a moment too soon.
Sari, Capi, and Fanzone watched out the back window of Bumblebee's alt. mode, as Blitzwing fired a missile that ended up hitting Fanzone's car and destroying it in a blazing fireball.
"You know that's coming out of my paycheck." Fanzone told Sari and Capi, who just looked at him. He then asked Bumblebee: "Hey, how come your interior's so much cleaner than mine?"
It was Sari who answered. "Hmm, maybe 'cause it's not on fire?!"
As Bumblebee weaved up the edges of the dried-up irrigation channel, Capi kept his promise to protect Sari by forming little light blue shield-like cushions to stop her (and Fanzone) from getting bounced around too much.
Sari then had the idea to slow Blitzwing down using the device that she'd swiped from Master Disaster's trailer.
"Vhat is happening?!" Hothead-Blitzwing yelled, as he was forced to follow the motions of the device in Sari's hand. "Vhy can't I control myself?!" He switched to Random-Blitzwing. "Not zat I ever COULD!" The Triple-Changer laughed maniacally.
What in Primus's name did Blackarachnia do to him? Capi thought, shuddering slightly at how becoming a Triple-Changer had warped Blitzwing's personality to the extreme.
Sari went on the explain that this was how Master Disaster's had rigged his races, but that the device in her hands made it easy to bend the rules … just as they hit a bump, and the device went flying out of her hands.
"Well, that's the trouble with bending the rules." Fanzone explained, with a slight cough. "They usually snap right back in your face."
"And now, to finish zis." They suddenly heard Icy-Blitzwing say, before he transformed into a jet, and prepared to open-fire on them.
We don't even have the All-Spark fragment anymore! Sari thought desperately, grabbing onto Capi.
And, that was when it happened.
From the overpass above them, the blue racer suddenly crashed through the barrier, much to everybody's shock - even Capi, and he had known that it was going to happen!
I don't know … who was more reckless … him or Em! Capi thought, as they watched Blurr play a game of mid-air chicken with Blitzwing.
"Never give up!" Hothead-Blitzwing declared. "Never surrender!" Icy-Blitzwing added. "Never mind!" Random-Blitzwing finished, as he veered off at the very last second, and ended up getting nudged by Blurr from beneath - with enough force to send the Triple-Changer careening into a nearby building and then flying off a short distance … where he hit something unseen.
Emma's eyes widened as Blitzwing came flying towards her and the still unseen Clear Air Turbulance.
Primus, please protect my loved ones, and thank you for making video games, music, anime, cartoons, and plushies! Emma thought desperately, as she made peace with the giant robot god, right before Blitzwing hit Clear Air Turbulance.
The Decepticon femme let go of Emma, who went flying through the air, and then the ground was rushing up to meet her, and she knew that a jarred wrist was going to be the least of her concerns - if she even survived this fall!
Something suddenly shot out of the darkness. A flash of blue, able to fly up to meet her thanks to what appeared to be a jet-pack, similar to Prowl's.
She was a femme, with armour that was dark blue, black, silver, and purple. Her optics were blue and the red symbol on her chest-plate had the telltale three lines on either side of it.
And then, Emma was held safely in the hands of the unknown Elite Guard member, who wasn't finished yet.
Her optics flashed green for a moment, and then she shouted: "There!" And she turned her wrist upwards.
Thanks to Emma's glasses, she could see the thin line that shot out from the femme bot's wrist and flew forwards before stopping … had it just attached to the unseen Decepticon femme?
It had, but Clear Air Turbulance merely laughed, and said: "Do you really think that will work — ?!"
Just then, a lilac bolt like lightning came flying up from the ground - it connected with the line and immediately travelled up to electrocute Clear Air Turbulance.
She screamed, despite herself, as the Elite Guard femme who was still holding on to Emma retracted the wire back into her wrist.
For just a moment, the black and purple femme known as Clear Air Turbulance stared at them, breathing heavily and still crackling slightly from the electric attack.
"This … isn't over … Ember!" She said suddenly, and then she transformed swiftly into a jet, and retreated.
"They always say that right before they retreat." The Elite Guard femme said calmly, and Emma could hear that she had a faint French accent.
It wasn't nearly as strong as the German accent of Blitzwing … who was to be observed just then destroying the overpass that Honeybee was standing on, and sending both her and the concrete tumbling down onto Bumblebee!
He then approached the twins, and aimed his cannons at them both.
"No!" Emma and the Elite Guard femme that still had her up there both gasped.
"It's okay!" Capi suddenly appeared right next to them. "Em! Look at Sari!" He pointed with his trunk.
Blitzwing had just noticed Sari as well, and he actually set his cannons into their non-attacking mode (upright) as he turned to her … she pointed the black and red device with the All-Spark fragment in it at him, and began to control him again.
The little girl had to laugh. "Well now we're having fun!" She cackled gleefully.
"SA-A-A-RI!" The twins suddenly yelled.
Sari glanced over at them, and realised that the device had taken control of them as well - Blitzwing, Bumblebee, and Honeybee were all helpless, as they were made to moonwalk.
It was at that point that Bulkhead managed to break the rest of the ice around him (Honeybee had used her lilac electricity to generate enough heat to melt most of it beforehand) and jumped up.
"Listen up, guys!" He said, still slightly disorientated. "Blitzwing is around here somewhere and Em just got taken by an invisible Decepticon — !" He was cut off suddenly, when Bumblebee and Honeybee were sent flying into him. The three of them. Dashed down the embankment.
"Eh-heh .. oops . . . " Sari chuckled, and then used the device to force Blitzwing to transform, and sent him flying off into the distance. "And don't come back!" She yelled, for good measures.
Bumblebee and Bulkhead approached her.
"I told you to stay out of the way." Bumblebee reminded her. "Where do you get the idea that you can just do whatever you want?" He wanted to know.
"I can't imagine." Bulkhead said sarcastically.
"Wait … what happened to Em?!" Sari suddenly cried.
They all looked over, and saw Honeybee waving up to somebody.
"Down here!" She cried happily, as the blue femme bot who had Emma came slowly back down to the ground, with Capi following along beside her.
She landed gracefully on the ground, with a big smile on her indigo-painted lips. "Ça va?"
Bumblebee and Bulkhead both gasped.
"Sky Dancer?!" Bulkhead exclaimed, as Emma jumped down from the blue femme bot's hand.
"What are you doing here?!" Bumblebee added.
"I was following a lead about a certain Decepticon who we believed came to this planet." Sky Dancer explained. "Her name is Clear Air Turbulance."
"That sounds about right, for a Decepticon who can turn herself invisible." Sari spoke up. She smiled up at the new Autobot. "Thanks for saving my nanny from her." She added, as Emma and Capi came over to her. "Whatever she's doing here, we can handle it!" She said confidently. "Oh . . . "
The remote in her hands had suddenly started to glow blue, and then the All-Spark fragment in it came loose, and drifted over to Emma.
She automatically held out her left hand, wrist-up, and absorbed the All-Spark fragment into her hand.
She closed her eyes for a moment, remembering, and then she opened her eyes again and smiled.
"My wrist is all better now!" She exclaimed.
"Yay!" Capi cheered.
"Plus, you don't have to call Mamma Fuyano and tell her you can't come in." Sari added.
Emma gasped. "I … didn't even think about work when I got hurt! Oh, thank Primus . . . " She whispered.
"Is your boss really that scary?" Bumblebee wanted to know.
"Bee, I wouldn't be at all surprised if she's somehow already found out about all this." Emma replied, raising her left hand.
Sky Dancer glanced at Honeybee, and nodded towards Emma pointedly. Honeybee's optics widened, but she didn't say anything. The fact that Clear Air Turbulance had specifically come to earth in regards to Emma, aka Ember Prime, was … going to cause them some problems.
Nearby, Master Disaster didn't really care too much about what was going on. Whatever those Autobots and those two girls were doing was of little concern to him.
He was just focusing on getting away . . .
He turned, and walked right into Captain Fanzone.
"Mister," the police chief said, slapping a pair of handcuffs on the other man. "You've just been cancelled."
There was nothing Master Disaster could do about this. It was all over, and he knew it.
"Do I at least get an attorney?"
"You're gonna need one."
Optimus, Ratchet, and Prowl all stopped and stared when the others returned to the base.
Bulkhead did the introductions. "This is Sky Dancer." He said, as the blue femme bot nodded in greeting. "She's Honeybee's best friend from boot camp, and part of a branch of Cybertron Intelligence that deals with … uh … stuff that other bots don't want to?"
"Oh, that branch." Ratchet suddenly remembered. It was a slightly painful memory for him. He glanced at Sky Dancer, who was about the same size as Prowl. And, if she had been in boot camp with Bulkhead and the others, then she must have been young.
Sky Dancer correctly interpreted Ratchet's gaze. "L'habit ne fait pas le moine." She said. "I do what I do not only for the good of Cybertron, but also because of my own past experiences." She didn't elaborate on that, and Honeybee, Bumblebee, and Bullhwad were suddenly very glad for it. "However," she went on. "I'm glad that I got here when I did."
"Yeah!" Sari jumped in, mainly to try and avoid the lecture that she knew was probably coming. "She saved Em from that invisible Decepticon!"
"Invisible Decepticon?" Optimus repeated.
"Great, and I thought Mirage was difficult to handle . . . " Ratchet muttered.
"Clear Air Turbulance is a dangerous Decepticon," Sky Dancer informed them all. "That Cybertron Intelligence has, in fact, been keeping tabs on for a very long time - since right before the war ended, in fact. What I'm telling you is so top secret that not even the head of intel. is aware of all the details — "
"Then why are you telling us?!" Bumblebee and Honeybee cried in unison, although they couldn't disguise the slight note of excitement in their voices.
"I'm not telling you everything." Sky Dancer responded, and noticed with some amusement as they both looked disappointed. They haven't changed a bit!
"Why not?" Prowl asked quietly from the corner, where he was leaning with his arms crossed.
"Because I myself don't know everything." Sky Dancer told him. "It was a safeguard to keep the whole story from slipping out. A group of us know individual parts of the story, but never the whole thing."
"Aren't you intel. bots, like, supposed to be impossible to crack?" Bumblebee asked her.
She smiled at him. "Impossible n'est pas Cybertronian, Bumblebee. They would have to get all of us to realise that we know the whole story - and, at that, I don't even know if we do. That's how secret this thing is." She paused, and then glanced at Emma, who was watching her intently. "Our hope is that it won't be an issue, of course. Ultra Magnus trusts you all to be the ones who will make sure that the All-Spark and its keeper safe. That is why I am telling you these things."
The others all nodded, with varying degrees of understanding.
Emma nodded. "Thank you for saving me, by the way." She said. "That was a cool rail-gun thing that you and Honeybee used … why did the electricity go only one way, though . . . ?"
"It's the way it's designed." Sky Dancer replied.
"We perfected it shortly after graduation." Honeybee added, glancing over at Bumblebee, to find that he and Sari were being lectured now by Bulkhead.
As this was going on, Emma disappeared. Capi was to be observed pointing Prowl in the right direction, and so the cyber-ninja vanished as well.
"So," Optimus approached Sky Dancer. "What … do you intend to do now?"
"Can she stay?!" Honeybee asked immediately. "Please please please! It's not like there isn't any room! Please, Boss-Bot? You don't mind if I call you 'Boss-Bot', do you?!"
Optimus raised an optic ridge, still finding it strange to be the apparent leader of a (much younger) member of the Elite Guard.
He glanced at Ratchet, who shrugged.
Sky Dancer seemed to be slightly more sensible than Bumblebee - who was currently saying something about disconnecting the pirated TV channels to set a good example for Sari. Ratchet didn't really have a problem with Sky Dancer staying, even if he was now rolling his optics because Honeybee was chatting excitedly with her best friend about holoforms and what they should do with their bedroom.
Bumblebee came up onto the rooftop to disconnect the satellite, only to find Emma and Prowl up there.
They both stopped talking, and looked at him.
Bumblebee held up his hands, and began to back away.
Before he could turn around and leave, however, Emma suddenly looked over her shoulder, and her expression changed. She pointed, and Bumblebee quickly came over to the edge of the rooftop, to see the blue racer speeding past the base.
Bumblebee raised a hand, and called to him: "Hey you! Thanks!" He shook his head as the blue racer simply sped away. "Who is that guy?"
Emma didn't say anything.
Seven Million Years Ago . . .
"We're too late!" Black Ice lamented, as the Decepticon warship began to rise into the sky.
"Perhaps not!" Ember said slowly. "I know that my wings still aren't working properly, but … look!" She suddenly pointed.
"They-took-damage-from-your-ice-attack, Black-Ice!" Blurr exclaimed.
"Their cargo's just falling out like that . . . " .C.A.T. was already getting ready to move if she had to. "They haven't even noticed yet . . . " She watched as Ember and Blurr exchanged a nod. "What are you two . . . ?" Her blue optics widened. "No, no way!" She realised what they were about to do, and also that she and Black Ice had no choice but to go along with it. If they didn't act now, then the Decepticons would either notice and stop them or, even if they didn't, they had about two cycles before the ship was thrown into hyper-drive, where it would be moving too fast possibly for even Blurr to catch up with them.
Either way, they would lose the sparkling.
And so, it was with that thought in mind that .C.A.T. and Black Ice gave their friends a boost.
"Woo-hoo!" Ember couldn't help but cry, as she and Blurr were rocketed upwards towards the falling cargo. Even though she could fly - she had never known another Autobot who could without outside assistance - there was nothing like getting high with a little help from her friends!
Blurr grabbed her hand and, together, they used the falling cargo as platforms to boost themselves up, and finally make it onto the ship's cargo hold.
And, that's where the next part of their adventure began.
"What the actual frag — ?!" A Decepticon who had just run into the cargo hold cried. "Commander Lugnut — !" He began to make a call to his commander, but was quickly knocked out by Blurr.
"Ember, you-get-the-sparkling!" Blurr told her, as they raced towards the door.
"And, you stop the ship from entering hyper-space!" Ember responded. "Or, else — "
"Or-else-I'll-get-us-back-to-Cybertron-myself!" Blurr grinned, as they split up at a t-junction in the corridor that they had come out into, simultaneously dodging incoming enemy gunfire as they did.
Ember also grinned, knowing full well that Blurr would drag her and the sparkling halfway across the known and unknown galaxy back to Cybertron, if it came to that. "And, it's time to turn up the heat!"
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Ça va? - How are you?
L'habit ne fait pas le moine - basically means 'don't judge a book by its cover'.
Impossible n'est pas Cybertronian - the Transformers version of a French idiom, meaning 'impossible is not Cybertronian'; basically, that the word 'impossible' doesn't exist in Cybertronian, and so nothing is impossible.