"Damn, those are some responsive breaks you've got there, ghost car." That was how she thought of it until now, some kind of entity. She looked down to the radio, as if it was the car's mouth, realizing she never asked its name. "Actually, what should I call you? And are you a spirit from beyond the grave?"
"No. My name is-"
"-Bumblebee."
She let out a brief laugh. "I get it." Her right foot toed the gas, her left on pressed flat against the break pedal as she powered through a turn. Her teeth are on fully display, lips stretched wide. "Yellow paint, black stripes. That's pretty cute. You sure look like a Bumblebee." Paired with the bee hanging from his rear view mirror, it tickled her to know there were ghosts (or whatever it was) as endearing as this. She felt the seats warm and rattle a bit before quieting.
Her brother turned right and passed through a too-narrow alley, forcing her to take another route. She went straight.
"We're losing him!" said the car, the beeping of medical equipment in the background reminding her of Grey's Anatomy, one of Margaret and her mother's favorite dramas. She was taking a detour around the building, knowing she could take two rights and be where was he would come out, she just had to floor it.
"Hey, I got this. These are my streets." Midge whipped the car to the right, the tires squealing against the asphalt and surely leaving marks. She masterfully twisted the steering wheel with one hand and when Sam pulled out of the alleyway, she was already behind him.
He almost got away, swerving around hobos lining the road to the underpass. There's too much bric-a-brac to to be zooming around, and Sam had ducked behind a truck bed. "Shit!" she swore, locks of hair pulling loose from her messy bun as she tried taking a right to keep up, yet the wheel turned opposite, wrenched from her grasp by the possessed vehicle.
"What are you doing?" she asked the car incredulously. "My brother was right there. You told me he's in danger!"
"-not the only one," delivered the velvety voice of John Lennon.
She could hear Sam hollering outside. She turns around, looking out the back windshield to see the black and white vehicle jerking forward vehemently over and over. "Bee, that's a cop car. He'll get arrested again and that'll cause problems!"
"It's an impostor." It sounded like a line from a black and white horror film. Her racing thoughts suddenly slowed to a crawl. Were there more like him?
She shook it off, because the most important thing right now, the thing most at risk, was her dear brother's life. He couldn't even get out of bed before noon, how was he going to fight off a Crown Vic? She couldn't even see him anymore. The Camaro was going back to the entrance, but wasn't Sam still inside?
She growled, ripping off her seat belt and going for the door. The little silver peg went down, locking her in. It was impossible to move, not budging in the slightest with all her strength. Sam's yelping was louder than their arguing now, and she could identify the sounds of impacts. "Bumblebee! Open these doors right now!"
He responds with the radio, a twangy banjo playing behind the voice of a cowboy. "Sit tight, little missy-"
"We've got a train to catch!"
By train, she imagined he meant Sam. She threw up her hands, about to go on a tangent about the importance of communication when she realized how counter-productive that would be. She settled on something kinder. "Good. Thank you."
"Seat belts, everyone!"
"Whoa!" She hastily buckled back up, having been startled by the sudden throttle. Bumblebee rocketed around a left that took them back to the start. "There he is!"
Sam and his new girlfriend Mikaela were on their knees in front of a gigantic robot, like sitting ducks waiting to be obliterated. She had to shut her mouth, realizing too late that it was hanging open. "It was nice knowing you, Bumblebee." Midge bid him farewell as they hurtled toward the mechanical monster, sure to die. The tires squealed, the little yellow car drifting its backside into the monstrosity, tripping it. They missed the teens by mere inches, luckily, and circled back around to him.
She thanks God that they were all still alive and looked up briefly. Bumblebee popped open the passenger door and the two teens scrambled to their feet. "Sam! Mikaela! Let's go!"
"Sam, what is that thing?" the teen girl was saying to Midge's sibling.
"You have to get in the car," he said, avoiding the question entirely. She was sure he didn't know what it was either. Midge wasn't all too attached to her possession theory after that.
"I don't want to." They couldn't afford for her to hesitate- the enemy was only knocked down for so long.
"Come on, kids! Clock's ticking!" The young woman shouts from the driver's side. They had to get out of dodge and quick. The mess of wires and spark plugs encased in sheet metal was coming right for them, its sharply edged toes cracking the concrete.
Sam spun into the seat, pulling the girl with him and shutting the door. "Go, go, go, go, go!"
The Camaro peeled off the lot, storming through a cloud of dust. Before they entered it, Midge spotted the giant mech transforming back into the cop car, taking off after them. "Oh, shit. Bee, he's trailing us!"
"Go, go, go, go!" Sam repeated at the top of his lungs, smacking the dash with an open hand.
Her hand shot out, giving the boy a clip to the ear, harsher than the one he delivered. "Stop saying that like he isn't going! And don't hit him, idiot! You should know better than to distract the driver!"
Mikaela grasped the handle on the car's ceiling, her legs bracing against the door. "Oh God, we're gonna die. We're gonna die."
"No, we're not," Margaret assured, laying her hand on the teen girl's. "He's a perfectly capable driver, and I can take over at any time."
"Trust me, he's a much better driver than you are, sis!" He looked to his older sibling, his mouth spouting confidence but his face saying doom as the coupe veered off the road and neared a brick building, showing no signs of stopping. "Oh
Bumblebee crashed through the mosaic window and then a bookcase, turning into a donut in the middle of the otherwise empty warehouse. The cop car couldn't keep up with his reflexes, stalling out and having to start again from zero.
We came out on the other side. The Sun was setting, leaving the sky a dusky red. For the second time, Bumblebee wrestled control from Midge and steered into the alley between two scaffolding sets. He turned off his headlights and silenced the engine, the little chrome pegs switching down.
"We're locked in." He pushed into her seat, invading Midge's space to try the key, lashing out at the dashboard again when it didn't turn over. Midge gave him a warning glare and he scooted back onto the center console. "It won't start. At least we ditched the monster, right?"
"It's okay. He did this to me before. It means he wants us to stay inside." Midge was sure the machine had a plan. Having been with him all afternoon and still being alive, she had no reason to believe he wanted to hurt them.
"What? You kidnapped my sister? And why is it she's only wearing a bikini, huh?" Sam points a finger at the stereo unit, scolding the multiple ton machine. "Yeah, that's what I thought, got nothing to say. Don't do it again, buster."
"It's Bumblebee, actually." She crossed her arms, feeling miffed at the implication. "And I can take care of my-"
"Shh!" Mikaela shushed them sternly, which they obeyed. The look in her eyes said she wasn't messing around. "We're supposed to be hiding."
She chanced a look down at her lack of clothing, realizing only when Sam brought it up that her shorts were likely done drying. Hanging over the back seat as they were, she snagged and wiggled into them awkwardly. They were full of holes but they would do. She looked up, seeing why it had suddenly become quiet. The cop car was rolling by the front of their run way, but wasn't moving away fast enough. When it halted and its reverse lights came on, Bumble started up the engine and put the pedal to the metal. They zoomed past the patrol car. "To punish and enslave," was emblazoned along the side of the car, just one of many things that were wrong with it, not the least of which was that it turned into a giant, evil monster.
He drives up a one story incline and swerves, opening his door and retracting the seat belts all at once. The three humans were thrown onto the concrete in front of the city's water treatment center, ejected from their seats. Midge pulled away from the rough ground, feeling small rocks stuck in her scrapes. But that was nothing, she only had eyes for the incredible metamorphosis taking place before her eyes.
Metal shifted and changed, each piece of the intricate puzzle finding a new home easily. Bumblebee was coming to form right in front oh her and she still couldn't explain it. It was fascinating, making her heart thump powerfully, like the sound of his pedes meeting the ground. With each subtle shift, it was clear he did his best not to squash the much smaller humans. This was probably new for him, too. The fully erected being was stunning. The yellow Camaro had fully disappeared and in it's place was a man of steel, painted yellow. Two little nubs poke from the crown of his helm, his doors migrating to his back like wings, and his wheels became as elbows. Every part served a different purpose in this new form.
He took a protective stance, which Midge copied in front of her brother and his friend. She hoped it wouldn't come to blows, but she needed to be ready for that possibility. That was difficult to do, though, when you didn't even come up to your ally's kneecap. The cop car continued to speed down the docks, changing into its other form on the go and launching itself at their protector. Both robots barreled over their heads, forcing the fleshy beings to duck. Bumblebee got separated and slid further, sparks flying from his screeching metal. The other one turned to face them. Midge helped up the other two, trying to keep an eye behind herself. She saw when it spit out a much smaller version of itself, impossibly shiny and chromed out, seemingly made of blade-like metal.
The miniature giggled to itself like a crackhead. That thing needed the opposite of a fix. Everything it said sounded so close to English but wasn't, driving her in mental circles. She backed up, waving the kids on while it advanced slowly. "Go!"
"Midge, I'm not gonna leave you here." Sam grabbed her wrist, pulling the other way, and she gave in. She didn't want to die here. She just knew that her brother had to get home safe. She wasn't leaving anyone behind.
Though they ran away from the fight, it kept ending up on top of them. Bumblebee took a flying kick to the face and was planted into a water tower face-first. The following explosion made her shield her eyes and face from the heat and brightness. After the initial shock passed, she refocused on her companions and found them too far away. She raced to the other side of some boxes, intercepting their path, or so she thought. She only found Mikaela running, and turned around.
"Keep going! Find us a weapon!" Midge called after her, hoping she heard as she ran in the other direction.
"Help!" came the high-pitched screech of her precious dweeb brother, crying at the top of his lungs. "It's gonna kill me!"
His pants were around his ankles when she found them, the teen rolling around in the gravel with the chrome machine that was too small to reach him normally. She got close, stepping hard on the thing's back, taking it by surprise and pinning it to the floor. Sam stood up finally, losing his trousers all the way but escaping with his life. "Go help Mikaela! We need something that can kill it!"
He ran off, unsettling the rocks under his feet with every step. She hoped they found something useful over there. There was no time to day dream, though, and she squared her vision onto her captive. It was thin, made of a spindly metal skeleton, and a noggin like a bladed head massager. "Hee hee!" it cried, followed by more gibberish, and twisted its body 180 degrees, clawing at her calf. She pulled away from the pain and it rose, stalking in a slow perimeter around her. It seemed to understand that dangerous things could come in very small packages, like the two of them.
It feinted right and she over-committed, losing her balance when he went with the left. it sliced a hole in her the triangle of her top and she hissed, covering the spot before red started weeping from it. She was ready for its next attack, not falling for the feint, blocking its advance with her forearms. It still smarted, but not as bad. The bot distanced itself, letting the gap between them grow to 25 feet before it took a running start in her direction. She tried to stop it, but the machine avoided her hands, getting in a cut down the middle of her chest, a bloody line appearing down the center of her rib cage, stretching from collarbone to midsection. It wasn't very deep, but it started bleeding profusely. She stumbled, her foot going down the wrong way on the slope and sending her tumbling through the short fence. She rolled down the hill, wrapped up in a wrestling match with the combatant.
They landed roughly and stood as quick as they could. It drew back, winding up for a big finish and jumping on her. She was just able to stop it, her arms caging her in and keeping it away from her vitals, but her grip was slipping. Her back was up against the chain link fence. She could feel it leaving marks on her skin as the minion robot repeated over and over, "Witwicky! Witwicky!"
When she thought she couldn't hold it back any longer a battle angel with a hacksaw rescued her. Mikaela's weapon of choice was efficient and deadly, taking the arms off the creature easily. It wailed, oil and grease spouting from the cut lines. The teen girl advanced, clipping its head from its shoulders this time.
"Kill it! Kill it! Get it! Get it! Get it!" Sam encouraged, his hands turning to fists as he watched over the young girl's shoulder. Midge took a deep, relieved breath. It was finally over. Or at least, they had defeated the thing but it wasn't dead. Sam rushed forward, punting the cranium across the lot. "Not so tough without a head, are ya?" They breathed a collective sigh of relief and Mikaela took off her outerwear.
The dark-haired girl looked the both of them over, holding out the denim jacket to Midge. "So, what, it's like a family tradition to lose your clothes during a fight?"
"Something like that. Thanks." She smiled at the girl, snapping the bottom button to keep herself a little bit decent. "You two stay here. Don't do anything stupid."
"Where are you going? Midge!" Her brother wailed her name, voice cracking.
"I have to make sure he's okay!"
The teens were on her heels, running after her as she scaled the steep incline up to the higher level. They followed after her, stopping only when they saw the thing she approached: a giant yellow robot who went by Bumblebee.