CHAPTER 7
Captured

When Trevor got out, he almost jumped back at the sight of one of the black vehicles dropping to the ground. Without a doubt, this was his first lesson to be learned about Optimus: do not make him angry. Made obvious by the fact that he held the roof of the vehicle for a moment before tossing it aside. Trevor turned his head to Bumblebee and grinned. "Seriously, you have a BADASS for a dad," Trevor replied. "Did you see that?"

Bumblebee chuckled, only vaguely paying attention as his adoptive sire ordered the men out of the car. With a shrug, he waved the boy off, being more than used to this. After all, if you grew up in Optimus's care, you knew well enough how much aft he could kick. "You kinda get used to it after a while," Bumblebee replied as he rapidly approached the scene, watching as Trevor made his way towards Sam. "Oh man, they don't look too happy."

But Trevor didn't notice that at first, not at all. The thing he noticed was that in the group of men, all with their hands up and surrounded, one had his eyes on him. Trevor tensed a little, shooting a glare his way in an attempt to get him to back off. But Simmons didn't waver, he only nudged Prior in the side and pointed the boy out. "Looks like the runaway really did go with 'em," That got Trevor's attention, as he stared back over at the man. "Fleeing the scene of the murder? Helping hold up government agents? Kid, you are in so much trouble."

Bumblebee shot the man a glare of his own, as if giving him the obvious sign to back-off. "Sure, you're the one surrounded by giant robots. But he's the one in trouble." The scout mocked, crossing his arms. "I hope the good people of the human government would have more sense than that." He then added. "I'd think twice before I threatened him again."

Bumblebee only huffed as Optimus reminded him over their bond that they were not to harm humans. Watching as Trevor picked the lock on Sam's handcuffs with some difficulty. "Sorry about this, the suits weren't exactly part of the plan." Trevor muttered quietly as Sam rubbed his wrists. "You okay, man?"

Sam nodded a little, eyeing the agents carefully. "Yeah, mostly, but these guys really have it out for them," Sam nodded towards the men, and more specifically, Simmons. "That guy's been asking me about you and them the entire way."

Trevor shook his head, watching as Optimus continued to grill the men. It was clear that it must have been the same group Bumblebee had spoken about. Because they didn't seem at all surprised by their appearance, nor did they act particularly scared. "Look, I cannot be more clear about this," Simmons spoke up. "There are S7 protocols that must be followed. I cannot talk to you except to say-."

"Alright, you can't talk to them?" Trevor stepped forward. "Then talk to me, who are you people?"

Simmons gave him a glare, as if a "never gonna happen". Though going off the look on Bumblebee and Optimus's faces, clearly got the feeling he should watch how he talked to the boy. If anything was clear, it was that at the very least the scout and him had formed some sort of bond. "Sector 7," Simmons replied rather flatly. "You've never heard of it, couldn't have. And quite frankly, you never will."

"That's specific," Trevor rolled his eyes.

"I don't make it a point to give my speil to fugitives."

"A better question," Prior piped up as Trevor shot him a glance. "Would probably be what you're doing with them. You're totally uninvolved in all of this." Trevor frowned, wondering how they even knew that he had no connections to the Autobots. "Witwicky's got his great-grandpa, what about you? Where do you fit into this whole operation?"

Trevor shrugged his shoulders, then pointed over at Bumblebee. "I'm just the one who bought the alien car," Trevor replied, rather flatly. "And F.Y.I, I'm no fugitive. My dad died protecting me, so don't start pointing fingers like that." Even he was surprised by the edge he heard in his own voice. "If you want to blame someone, blame the Decepticons-."

"Take it easy, kid," Ironhide spoke up, taking a step forward to calm the young human. "Who they are and what they want doesn't matter. We have the glasses now, we need to move."

Trevor nodded, then turned to Sam, who brought the glasses out for emphasis. Trevor nodded, then met eyes with Simmons. He didn't like the look on his face as Prior whispered to him, he didn't like it at all. "What are they looking for?" Trevor didn't acknowledge the question as he started towards Bumblebee. "Kid, you're really not gonna tell me? That's obstruction of justice, we can put you away for that!"

Trevor rolled his eyes, and gave the man the bird. "See if I care," Trevor replied. "You're probably going to be thanking us for this later." He looked up at Optimus. "That one was whispering to the other. I don't like this, we need to go." He explained quietly as Ironhide kept his cannons trained on the group of agents. "Whoever these guys are-."

"Do you hear that?" Sam spoke up as the steady beat of helicopter choppers filled the air. "Helicopters?"

Jazz took a step forward from the procession, scanning over it. While Bumblebee quickly took a step forward, holding his hand out for Trevor to scramble onto. "We definitely got a bogie headed our way," Jazz announced, turning to Optimus, who had taken Sam into his own palm. "Prime, we gotta move if we're going to get the glasses out of here."

"We're gonna slow you down," Trevor told Bumblebee. "Let us down, we can run-."

"And let these creeps take you?" Bumblebee questioned, transforming down into a car and depositing Trevor into his driver's seat. "Prime, give me Sam too. They'll probably expect the strongest of us to be carrying the kids," Optimus hesitated a moment, but set Sam back on the ground, allowing the boy to rush and get into the passengers side. "Alright, buckle up, and let's burn rubber."

As both boys did as they were told, Bumblebee floored the gas. Almost at once however, they could hear gunfire, much to Trevor's worry. He turned his head as he watched gunfire hail from the sky, shot off one or two of the helicopters. "Bumblebee, we're under heavy fire!" Both boys jumped out of their skin as Ratchet's voice came through the radio. "It is imperative that you get the boys, and the glasses out of here, we will rendezvous outside of the city-."

"Are you kidding me?" Trevor shook his head slowly. "No way, Bee. These guys obviously sent out reinforcements, the others are going to need help." He explained. "I told you, drop me off, we can go on foot and-."

"On foot!? Trev, are you crazy? There are armed men out there!" Sam shook his head, grabbing hold of his friend's arm. "Look, I get it, your parents are dead. And you've got this "I've got nothing to lose" attitude going on. Really, I get it," Trevor glanced over at his best friend, frowning quietly. "But that doesn't mean you should go out and act like an idiot."

"Ah, I see," Bumblebee began. "I guess Sam is the sensible one of you two." He then added, rather bluntly. "Listen to your friend, my job is to protect the two of you right now. And that's not going to happen if you keep running into the line of danger."

Trevor gripped his door slowly, and groaned quietly. He wanted to jump out and take the initiative, but a part of him realized they were right. His parents deaths had, in their own way, pushed him into taking unnecessary risks. Did he have a death wish? No. He'd always been a selfless type of person. But with nothing to lose, he almost felt as though that attitude was amplified in his brain. As Bumblebee swerved, Trevor was jolted from his thoughts. He could now see that the Sector Seven agents had returned to their pursuit on the ground too, closing in on him.

Sam turned himself, his eyes widening. "Aw man, we're in trouble now. We're in real trouble now," Sam muttered to himself, turning around to the radio. "B-Bumblebee, right? You need to move faster man, they're really riding your butt!"

"Working on it!" Bumblebee shouted. "Hold on, both of you!"

Trevor felt as though he was going to be thrown through the seats as Bumblebee sped up further. He half-expected that the sound barrier was about to be broken, yet Bumblebee drove smoothly. And when he lost control, Trevor realized it was not because of his own fault, but rather the fact that one of the vehicles had fired some sort of weapon. Sending an electrical charge through Bumblebee, who, as he spun around, threw open the doors, throwing the boys out so he could transform. Trevor hit the ground hard, groaning as he stared up.

What he saw next horrified him, the government had cornered Bumblebee. Shooting off more of their electrical weapons, and throwing long, metal chords which tied at him. "BEE!" Trevor screamed, rushing forward as one of the government agents rushed forward and grabbed him. "Leave him alone! Leave him ALONE! He's not going to hurt anybody! He's friendly! A good guy!"

He felt someone smack him as they fought to hold him back. But Bumblebee had clearly seen it, given he didn't even start to truly fight back until after the action had been done. He violently pulled at the chords holding him, growling lightly. "Don't hurt him! It's me you want! Not him!" Bumblebee shouted, much to Trevor's surprise. "Please, leave Trevor out of it!"

In fact, Bumblebee was surprised at himself. But he felt more fear that the men would hurt Trevor than he did about the danger coming to him. He could feel a wave of cold hit him, and see the fog from whatever they were now hitting him with (the electricity had stopped). But he struggled, he pulled, and tried to get to Trevor as he started to fall. For his part, Trevor had kicked one of the men in the groin with his prosthetic leg, and alongside Sam, began to turn the soldiers weapons on them. The agents had now swarmed both of them, and slamming Trevor to the ground so hard that he cried out in pain.

"Bee!" Trevor shouted, now crawling towards him.

But even as Bumblebee tried to hold out his hand to him, his circuits began to cool. His body freezing over, and then, he could do nothing. He couldn't move, couldn't speak or shout, only watch as Trevor, eyes filled with tears. "Let go of me!" Trevor shouted, anger pouring out through his clenched teeth. "He isn't here to hurt anybody, he didn't do anything!"

As one of the agents pulled him to his feet, another pulled his arms behind him, handcuffing him. Trevor shook his head, even as he was yanked back. He couldn't leave Bumblebee, he just couldn't. And yet, they dragged him away, away from his friend, away from the mech that would do anything to protect him and proved it time and time again. Would they kill him and take away the one person who he'd felt safe with since his parents were killed? He tensed at the thought, one which made him glare at Simmons as he was brought before him. "Don't look so surprised, kid," Simmons scoffed. "The NBE's are dangerous, we have to-."

He stopped mid-sentence when Trevor spat in his face. "He was trying to protect us," Trevor snapped, his voice hoarse with anger. "The only reason I'm not dead with my parents is because of him," Simmons seemed to consider this for a moment. "You're making a huge mistake!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Simmons waved him off. "The kid's probably been brainwashed," Simmons told the agent. "Get him in my SUV and lets move out."

Trevor shook his head in disbelief, trying to control his anger. He tried his best to remind himself that the man was just misinformed about the Autobots. And yet, without a second thought, he took him. He took Bumblebee, who was being pulled up using a helicopter and cable. And he took away what hope the Autobots had of ending this whole thing.

Or so he thought...

For as they drove away, at some distance, Optimus had found the glasses, which Sam had dropped when he was thrown. His optics filling with sorrow as the agents took off with their newfound allies, and his adopted creation. They had their prize at last, but at what cost?

...

Trevor fiddled with his cuffs quietly, anger coursing through him. He and Sam had been taken to a restricted government airport, to prepare for transport to what he thought had sounded like "Nevada", but wasn't sure. After which, they'd been separated, and taken to separate parts of the main hangar. But this was the thing furthest from his mind at the moment, with Bumblebee being at the forefront of his thoughts. After all, they hadn't tried to hurt him or Sam since they got there, and for the moment he guessed they were safe. But Bumblebee had been taken so harshly, and so many questions came from that. What had they done with him? What would they do with him? He hung his head in shame at the mental images that flew through his mind: experimentation, torture, questioning...

And it was all because Bumblebee had refused to leave him.

The sound of footsteps grabbed his attention, causing him to look up. The taller, and stockier of the two main agents, Prior, was approaching him slowly. Trevor could only look up at him and glare, but if he had even had one free hand, he would have been tempted to beat the man senseless. The man threw his hands up, taking a deep breath. "I come in peace," Trevor didn't say a word. "I've been asked to come and talk to you."

"Talk away," Trevor turned his head away. "You aren't getting anything out of me."

Prior frowned, but didn't seem to care, instead, he sat himself down on the bench in front of him. Trevor tried his best to look at other things in the hangar in which they waited for their transport. "Look, I understand this has been a long day for you," Prior tried to level with him "But I also know that you probably haven't had enough time to grieve. So I'm going to make this as short as possible."

"I don't need your pity," Trevor muttered.

"The sooner you forget about that NBE and start talking-."

"Bumblebee."

"Excuse me?"

"His name isn't "NBE"!" Trevor snapped. "It's Bumblebee."

Prior stared at him, surprised at how angry he seemed. Trevor knew why too, this man probably was of the opinion that he was just a machine. He didn't know that Bumblebee was a real, feeling person, didn't see how his emotions. He just saw a mindless war machine; an alien to dissect and study. "Why do you care about it so much?" Prior asked, leaning forward. "What did you learn from a few days alone with it?"

Trevor shook his head. "I found out he wasn't the bad guy, rather than jumping to conclusions," Trevor replied bluntly. "You have to listen to me. He needs those glasses, and he needs to be let free. Because the longer you keep him prisoner, the more people are gonna die."

"Did they threaten this?"

"No!" Trevor groaned.

Prior studied the boy, studied his emotions and the way he spoke. And to his surprise, the boy seemed genuine. He didn't seem traumatized, at least not from the "NBE". And yet, he didn't know what to think. What if the boy was right? What if this defiance wasn't because he was being threatened, but for other reasons. With a sigh, the man leaned forward, and looked in his eyes. "Listen, Trevor, I want to believe you," Prior began, surprising the teenager. "But you need to tell me what you know."

Trevor shook his head, looking Prior in the eyes. "I'll talk when you let Bumblebee go," Trevor explained, his voice low and filled with frustration. "Because you haven't given me one good reason to trust you. But they've given me a thousand to trust them." He then added. "You want to know what I know? I definitely know this: if you don't let us go? If we don't get those glasses to his friends?" He leaned forward. "You're giving their enemies more time raise all hell."

By the look in his eyes, Prior could tell that was all that they were getting out of him. At least until they got to the Hoover Dam, and he may have had a better chance of helping him. Because truth be told, he believed the kid. He'd seen the way that Bumblebee had acted back there, he'd noticed how the mech had tried desperately to get to him. He'd heard him beg them, not for them to leave him alone, but for them to not hurt Trevor. It hadn't seemed like the actions of an evil being to him then, and Trevor's actions were only further confirming it for him.

Gazing around the hangar, he finally locked eyes with Trevor. "When we touch down on the ground, Simmons will try to make you a deal," Prior commented, surprising Trevor. "I believe you kid, but I don't have the clearance to set the NB... Bumblebee, free." He then added. "But if you can convince Simmons and our superior, Bannacheck at our destination, you might stand a chance."

"Why are you helping me?" Trevor asked.

"Like I said, I think I believe you," Prior stood to his feet. "So don't make me look like an idiot. If you're lying, I'll kick your butt myself." He turned around, and started off. "We leave in ten minutes, so don't get comfortable for much longer." He then nodded. "Someone will be by to get you out of those handcuffs and escort you."

Trevor watched the man leave with a sigh. Could he possibly convince these men to trust him? Or were they too set in their ways? He didn't know, but inside, he could only hope no matter what, everything would be alright in the end.

...

A/N: For those wondering, Prior is the other agent featured in the movie and played by Brian Stepanik. I have simply named him for story purposes. He didn't have much of a role, I know. But I decided to give him a tiny bit more to do here. Anyways, next chapter, we'll break off from Trevor for at least part of it. Because the other Autobots need more loving in this fic, so they'll get the focus for at least part of it!