Chapter Text
It was a quiet night in Jasper Nevada. Bumblebee patrolled the area, watching out for any Decepticons coming close to discovering the location of their base.
With the recent activity with Arcee in the nearest town right after the event with Cliff, Ratchet decided, without consulting Optimus, since he was outside doing Primus knows what, that patrolling at night was also necessary. And everyone present agreed, even Bumblebee, he just didn't expect him to be the first one in turn.
It was only the first day, and he was already tired of seeing the long road for so long.
There weren't that many humans outside, and therefore, there was nothing interesting to entertain himself with. He only had to watch the incessant flickering of his screen searching for energon or signs of decepticons.
Finally a signal appeared, but the device Ratchet gave him couldn't identify the signal as a decepticon or an autobot, which was weird since every time they encountered a mech, a profile was immediately created to identify them.
But if they didn't have a profile, they probably hadn't seen this mech before.
Great, finally, something interesting was happening.
Bumblebee accelerated to get closer to where this signal was coming from. The closer he got, the more he could see lights from several cars all stopped together, as if parked, but with their lights on. If the mech was here it would be hard to find them among so many cars, and he couldn't let the humans see him without a driver, so he had to be careful if he got closer.
Shortly before reaching the place, he swapped his colors to go unnoticed in the darkness of the night. He stopped in a space between two vehicles that seemed to be forming some kind of formation with a few others.
His device indicated that he was quite close to the other mech, but with so many cars, there was no way to find anyone.
Suddenly, all the cars around him started their engines as if someone had coordinated them. There were no longer people leaning on the hoods of their cars around him, nor was anyone talking; only a voice could be heard in front of them among all the roar of engines.
“Set”
He recognised what that word meant. This was a street race, and he was stuck with cars all around him.
He always wanted to race in one, but he knew what Optimus would think about it.
Although, an opportunity like this shouldn't be wasted.
“Go!”
The voice, along with a light, marked the start of the race. Bumblebee accelerated along with the rest of the cars, forgetting the reason why he was there.
Bumblebee could appreciate a good driver, but he literally IS a car, and he was not letting anyone beat him. It didn't take long before he set himself between the first places and when he had only three cars in front of him his sensor sounded again pulling him out of his competitiveness and signaling that one of the cars in front of him was also from Cybertron. The device was not precise enough to tell him which of the three it would be, so when he had a chance to overtake he would also check what kind of drivers they had, or if there was anyone on board. If they had a hologram or had made friends with a human, it could be easily noticed since you can't fake the pressure and adrenaline you feel on a race.
But something in the red car leading the race caught his attention. His movements were fluid and experienced. It could always be a really good racer that somehow ended up in a nowhere town on street races, or maybe it could be the mech his sensor detected.
The two cars were so busy blocking each other that they left an opportunity for Bumblebee to steal the first place which he used to then watch through his rear view the tinted windows of the red car and the clearly frustrated human on board of the other one. This only confirmed Bumblebee’s theory. The red car was a mech.
In the distance, an improvised finish line could be seen. He needed to find a way to show himself as a cybertronian before the race was over, and it became too late.
The mech accelerated even more, trying to get past him while he was thinking. Of course, this only increased the competitiveness of Bee. He was pretty sure that the ability both of them were showing was evident to the humans, but neither of them cared at the moment. It had been ages since Bumblebee had any chance to drive like this. He felt alive and free. He didn't even know he had craved this feeling.
They were almost at the finish line with Bumblebee winning just for inches. There was no way he would lose the small chance he got, and indeed, Bee crossed the line in first place and the mysterious mech in second.
They both skidded to stop. Bumblebee was ecstatic. If the track had been larger, the mech would probably have won, but the real result was way better for Bumblebee, of course. The mech was evidently not happy with this, and everyone could tell it. As an act of rage, he turned around fast enough to throw dirt all over Bumblebee and accelerated away from there.
Great. He couldn't lose the opportunity to gain a new member for his team. So before more cars could arrive, he went chasing after him as fast as he could.
He chased him for a while, and when he was almost there, the mech accelerated even more. Bumblebee started to feel frustrated. Obviously, the other mech was now conscious about him also being a cybertronian. Why was he avoiding him?
Like, sure, he won the race even when the other mech had an advantage over him. But that's what he gets for playing with a human.
He was starting to fade. As a last resort, he honked his horn to get the mech’s attention, which apparently worked. The red mech started to slow down and allowed Bumblebee to get beside him. Maybe he was wrong, and the mech hadn't even seen him.
Right after his thought ended, the red car stomped on the gas and left a cloud of dust behind him.
Now he was definitely just teasing Bee.
And Bumblebee… He couldn’t let his honor be crushed like that. He started chasing after him again, but this time trying to overtake him.
And that's how an improvised race started.
They didn't even have a finish line. It was just about getting past the other.
Sometimes being Bumblebee leading, and sometimes being the red car. They were now all alone in the cold night of the desert highway, so both of them were freely using that extra boost that energon provided for them to go faster than any normal car would.
The road they were going crossed the tracks of a freight train, but neither of them knew this. Both were driving so fast that when the red mech noticed the train and hit the brakes, it started to fishtail, almost losing control. This startled Bumblebee, confusing him as to why the sudden change. He noticed the train a little bit after, which didn't give him enough time to stop himself since the train was already crossing, so his automatic response was to jump the train.
He transformed into his alt-mode to impulse himself high enough to not damage the train or himself. He landed on the other side and stopped the impulse he had gained through the race with the help of his hands and pedes.
When he came to a full stop after all that impulse, he looked in the direction where he had come. With the train still crossing the road, he could see through the brief spaces between the train cars the other bot also on the floor. Apparently, he had also transformed to stop himself before crashing with the train.
Bumblebee wasn't close enough to the train to get a good look at the bot, but he was pretty sure they made eye contact. He could see his optics widen when looking at him. He even seemed nervous but also kinda disappointed. Bumblebee turned his gaze to see how much of the train was left to cross so he could approach the red bot, but the other one seemed to read Bumblebee's intentions and wasn't really eager to have a conversation. So before the train ended, he transformed back and accelerated, leaving Bumblebee behind.
What was wrong with him? He was not going to chase him forever.
Could he be a neutral bot who wanted to stay like that? It wasn't really common.
Even if he was neutral, it is easier to convince them to choose a side than one who has already made up his mind. So he decided to give him one more chance.
He was ready to go chasing after him (again) when he noticed there was more light than before. It was already dawning, and he was supposed to return to the base like three hours ago to avoid humans.
Scrap.
He transformed to his vehicle mode and started driving to the base’s direction. He swapped back his colors while driving; now his dark appearance isn't helpful in passing unnoticed at daylight; on the contrary, it attracts more attention.
He hadn't noticed how far away he actually was until he arrived at the base and the sun could be seen at his fullest.
He entered through the doors as quiet as he could, hoping that his absence hadn't been noticed at all.
Unfortunately for him everyone was at the main hall. Ratchet seemed busy at the computers while Optimus was listening to something Arcee was telling him, and Bulkhead was standing right next to the entrance just watching. Bumblebee approached him, being him the closest one and his best chance to know what was happening without bringing too much attention to himself.
“What's going on? Why is everyone here?”
Bulkhead turned at him a little bit startled but whispered back. “Optimus just arrived, and Arcee is telling him about our encounter with the decepticons at the town.”
“Oh, ok”
When Bumblebee started paying attention, Arcee mentioned how they both got out of the highway to fight the decepticons. He got closer to the conversation in case his perspective could be helpful to Optimus.
“...and the cons would have been scrap metal if I hadn't been distracted by the human.”
“A human?”
“Two. Human boys.”
“Hmm.” If Optimus was startled by his sudden appearance, he didn't show it.
Arcee sent Bumblebee a weird look before continuing speaking. “I… Guess a second one caught us in action. I don't know, I was a little bit busy at the moment.”
“If the decepticons are targeting us, anyone perceived as our ally will be at great risk. Bumblebee, Arcee, you must bring the humans here as fast as possible in case the decepticons are already after them.”
“Yes Optimus”
“On it”
Since a ground bridge would definitely be a call for unwanted attention, after Optimus' command, they went driving together to the town where Arcee found the human,
“So.” Bumblebee spoke through the com link.”Any idea where the boys could be?”
“Well I know where one could be, and he also mentioned a homeroom. Maybe also at school?”
“Alright. Two places, two of us, let's split.”
When they arrived at the town, after a long trip. Bumblebee went to the KO Burger local, where Arcee said she encountered the boy while she went searching for the school. It didn't take her long. After all, it was a small town.
Not even an hour after they arrived, both of them started to get bored of waiting to see a familiar face between all the passersby.
“Ugh, how much longer are we gonna be here. Are you sure he hasn't been there, Bee?”
“Why doubt me? I'm paying attention, promise.”
“Hard to believe. Especially coming from you.” She did, in fact, believe him, but bullying Bumblebee could keep her entertained for a while.
She heard an offended sound through the com, knowing very well it wasn't completely real.
“Well I have better things to do than to be here as an unwanted company.”
“Hm. What a drama queen. But speaking of ‘things to do’ What took you so long after your patrol to return to the base?
He was about to tell her he had found a mech and tried to reclute him. But he knew the first question she would ask was: How did you find him? And the answer of him racing in a street race was definitely going to reach Optimus.
And after all, he didn't actually spoke to the mech, so there was no point in mentioning him. Right?
“Your silence only makes me think the worst, you know?”
“...I just got distracted by the beautiful landscape.”
There was a short silence from the other side of the com.
“The beautiful landscape of endless sand. Sure. You were testing your speed, weren't you?”
“…No…”
“C’mon Bee you know very well that this only attracts speed traps, and we can't have humans searching for us.”
“But there weren't any tramps.”
“So you admit it!”
“Wha… No, I…Ok I actually-” His rambling was interrupted by the ring of a bell coming from Arcee’s com.
“Hey the boys are here. Come.”
When Bumblebee arrived, he could see the little boy from the last time. When he was in front of him, he opened his door.
“Hello again. In compensation for your small car, would you want a ride and an explanation? Your friend can go with my friend over there.”
“Um… Does it want us to get in?”
Did he was just called an it?! That's rude. But well, he usually forgets that humans can't understand him so easily.
“No, just me”
That's new. The kid understands him. Awesome.
“Hi, how's it going?” The little kid got inside him, and Bumblebee couldn't be more excited about his new friend. While Arcee was convincing the other one to join, he and Raf started an exciting conversation about races. Of course Raf’s experience came from video games, which he promised to play with him one day, but Bumblebee enjoyed telling Raf how awesome a real race was.
He was happy to finally have someone to hear him ramble about speed.