Chapter Text
“Ratchet open a ground bridge!”
“On it Optimus,” Ratchet radioes in.
“(C/n) fall back!”
“I’ll catch up!” I reply while deflecting another Vehicon.
“Fall back now!”
I shoot down the Vehicon then ran towards the ground bridge where our leader was waiting for me. Stepping through we make it back to our base to see Ratchet closing the bridge behind us.
“(C/n),” my father’s voice echoes with seriousness. “You are not listening to orders.”
“Dad, I can handle lowly Decepticons. It’s sad really how Megatron enlists weak mechs to harvest energon from mines.”
“We were ambushed (C/n), and if there were more Decepticons we could’ve been in a lot more danger. I give you and the others orders to protect you.”
“But Dad I want to be strong like you, how am I going to get that way if we keep running from them or trying to stay safe?”
My dad places his servos on my shoulder plates and looks me in the optics.
“(C/n) I give orders to protect you all. I cannot lose any more of you to this war, especially you. I lost your mother, I refuse to let you fall to Megatron.”
Sighing, I lean my face plate against one of his servos on my shoulder.
“I know Dad, but I just don’t want to give Megatron the idea that we are afraid of him.”
“Believe me, he’ll be more afraid of me if he comes near you.”
I chuckle; yes I like to rebel and not take orders from my dad, but I always knew that it was to protect all of us. Dad always thinks about what’s best for the team rather than himself, which makes him a great leader. That doesn’t mean that I’m going to back down from a fight against a Decepticon.
“Go to your berth and get some rest,” he hums. “You fought well today.”
I smile at my father then travel down the halls towards my berthroom bypassing Bumblebee on my way. I pat him on the shoulder plate then he offers me a fist bump.
“Good job today Bee.”
“You too,” he answers with his usual static responses. “Are you going out tonight?”
“Shh, I don’t want Dad to find out.”
“Yeah yeah,” he brushes me off. “Just don’t come back with any major scratches or Optimus will have a Dino.”
“Haha! Yeah he would, wouldn’t he?”
“Just be careful, I’m getting tired of covering for you when you stay out really late.”
“Come on Bee, why don’t you come with me racing tonight?”
Bee points to the top of the railings where our human friends: Jack, Miko, and Raf, were resting on the lift watching TV.
“Yeah, I forgot that they were staying here this weekend. Oh well, I’m gonna recharge a bit and then head out.”
“Goodnight (C/n).”
“Goodnight Bee.”
I make it into my room and set myself on my berth to recharge while setting a timer to wake up before the race.
***
Beep. Beep.
Coming online again I shut off the alarm then quietly make my way out of my room and down the hall trying to avoid the other Autobots. Once in the main area, I creep by the humans carefully to not wake them up, knowing that Raf is a light sleeper, and finally to the exit. Smirking at my success I shift into my alt mode and speed off towards the desert drag race before it starts.
Arriving to the race I notice that it is really lit tonight. There are more people in the crowd tonight and there are a few new contenders. I drive up to the starting line while phasing my holoform into the drivers seat and roll down my window to see the bid keeper. Instead of an Autobot he sees a (h/c) haired girl with electric blue eyes, wearing a (f/c) crop top and blue jeans.
“Hey Logan, a lot of people tonight?”
“Hey Blue,” he greets calling me the nickname he gave me based on the color of my alt mode. “Yeah, we have this new guy who’s won the the last few races. I’m shocked that you haven’t been around for a while. I was starting to think you quit.”
“Nah, just have been busy. You have credit for me so I’ll just go ahead and win this race and see who this new guy is.”
“You can’t miss him, he’s already at the starting line.”
I nodded and drove up to the starting line next to a cherry red Austin Martin. The windows are heavily tinted like mine, but I remained in my holoform with the windows down. I could admire a beautiful piece of muscle, but the car can look good but it’s how it’s driven that counts.
Suddenly the window rolled down and there was a tan-skinned man with slicked back fiery red hair, small goatee, red eyes,and an arrogant smirk looking at me. For a human, he could be considered very handsome.
“So you’re the new guy I’ve been hearing so much about,” I quirk a brow at him.
“And you must the previous champ Logan can’t stop talking about,” he answers in a deep, sultry voice.
“Actually I’m still the champ, since you haven’t really raced against a real racer.”
“Oh really?”
He revs his engine a bit to try and intimidate me; I chuckle at his attempt to show dominance, but he failed. As the flag girl approaches the starting line she holds the flag up signaling that the race will start.
“That’s a cute kitten you got there.”
The flag drops.
“Let’s see if she can take on this beast!”
I speed off ahead of the other racers including the Austin Martin down the strip. I am pretty far ahead of the racers, but out of my driver’s side mirror I notice the Austin Martin is coming up behind me fast. Double shifting I pulled ahead but the red car is able to drive up beside me and wink at me before pushing ahead of me.
Smirking to myself I let him get a little ways ahead and just as the finish line come in sight, I shift into overdrive feeling the rush of my engine pushing itself to the max. I pass the Austin Martin and push my engine forward to claim the victory. Slowing down the crowd starts to rush my car so I get out to try and push some of the people back.
“Alright alright, please don’t crowd so much.”
“How did you do that?” Logan asks while walking up beside me.
“I just drove Logan, I just drove.”
“You know,” the new guy walks towards us with his arms crossed, “I wanna know how you cheated?”
“Just because you granny shift doesn’t mean I cheat. The better racer won tonight.”
He steps closer to me and he towers about a head over my holoform. The arrogance in his red orbs show as if he thinks that he was still the winner. However, I see something else in his eyes; there’s no way this guy is human. He offers his hand in a handshake gesture and I slowly grab his hand to shake it, but he lifts my hand to his mouth and places a cold kiss to my knuckles.
“Until we meet again.”
“I’ll look for you in the rear view mirror.”
The red haired man walks off back towards his car, gets in, then speeds off. I ponder about this new racer, I didn’t even get his name.
“I think you have a new admirer Blue,” Logan teases.
“No, just another contender. Listen I have to get going, I’ll see you at the next race and you have my credit for the next race.”
“Always Blue!”
I enter my car and roll up my windows then speed off in the direction of the red car. Turning off my holoform I used my boosters to drive faster down the road searching for the red car.
“He couldn’t have gotten far, especially with his driving.”
“Now that’s not very nice,” a voice echoes through the desert.
I skid to a stop and try to focus on where the voice came from. It wasn’t long before a red bot appears from behind some rocks. He sports the sleek design of the Austin Martin, but no less he seems intimidating and in his own way he is a very attractive mech. I morph into my bi-pedal form and take a defensive posture but wait to engage. His eyes widen slightly but he makes no move to attack.
“Easy there I’m not here to fight.”
“Then why did you show yourself ‘Con?”
“I just wanted to see who I was really racing. Now it all makes sense, I was racing an Autobot.”
“And this shocks you because?” I ask while relaxing a bit but I kept my guard up.
“Usually you Autobots don’t like to be out in the open so much.”
“That’s what you think Red.”
He steps closer to me about a servo length away.
“Actually my name’s Knockout for the record.”
I raised my brow plate, “And that concerns me why?”
“Just trying to make conversation, one racer to another. Not as a Decepticon to an Autobot. Even though we are on different sides at the moment, I just thought it would be fitting to get to know my competition.”
“Hah competition? You? Sorry Knockout, but tonight was no competition at all. If you even hope to ever catch up to me, I suggest you,” I place a digit on his breast plate to taunt him, “practice.”
“Hey watch the paint Girly,” he warns while pushing my hand away.
“Why, afraid of a little scratch?” I smirk. “I didn’t know Decepticons were so sensitive.”
“I didn’t know that Autobots were so arrogant,” he incheds closer to me.
“It’s natural when I continue to see others in my rear view mirror.”
“Not for long Missy; there’s another race tomorrow and it’s drifting. Why don’t we settle the score there?”
“So eager to lose again, it would be my pleasure to show you how to race.”
“It’s a date then,” he smirks.
“Whatever,” I roll my optics. “Since this was a ‘civil’ meeting, I won’t tell the Autobots if you don’t tell the Decepticons about this meeting. We are just two racers driving down a track.”
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
I nod then stepped away cautiously, and just before I transform again he calls out to me.
“Wait, I didn’t catch your name!”
“I’ll tell you if you can beat me. Oh and you have a scratch that you might want to buff out.”
“What?! Where?!”
“See you around Knockout.”
I transform into my alt mode and speed off keeping a close eye on Knockout to make sure he wasn’t following me, and I make a note to check my servo for any tracking devices he may have slipped on me. Never could be too careful around a Decepticon, even one as cute as this Knockout.