Energon is Thicker Than Water (RID2015 Fanfic)

Chapter 8 - Meanwhile...

...See anything?

"None. Pretty quiet in town, especially for a Saturday night."

I could use a coffee, what about you guys...?

Same here, but we're still on duty.

The man fiddled with a rubber band as he sat parked on the curb, weaving it between his fingers absentmindedly as he spoke to his teammates over their comm systems. When he'd signed up for this gig, he'd been expecting more excitement.

"...Well, nothing interesting out here tonight. What do you say we hit the sack?"

You can go crash if you want to, Chip, but I'm still gonna be scouting for scumbags.

Since when are we using our codenames over the radio, 'APEX?'

You never know who might be listening! I still can't believe they gave you the codename 'Darbus Prime...!'

I held Vector Sigma's Key for a few days. I guess it counts.

The driver rolled his eyes. "Miko, we've been out almost all night. If there was going to be anything out there, I think we'd have-"

He paused as his screen lit up and a beeping came from the monitor. "...What the..."

What is it, Raf?

Rafael adjusted his glasses as he stared at the screen. "...I'm picking up a cybertronian signal on my scanner."

Cybertronian!? Is it BULK!?

"I don't know. It's out in the desert, about three miles west of your position."

We'll look into it. We're still Unit E. Recon only.

"Good idea... Be careful, Jack."

Always, Raf...

Raf leaned back in his seat as the call was ended. He gave a yawn, considering just curling up in his car and sleeping right there. No, his house was only a few blocks away, he could make it. He put the car in drive and started down the street. He'd only gone a few houses down, however when he saw something run across the road ahead of him from one alley to another...

...Something big, mechanical and bipedal.

Raf shook any sleep from his head, looking down at his scanner. It showed no other signals than the one Jack and Miko were investigating, he might've just imagined it from his exhaustion.

He wasn't about to risk losing it if it wasn't. He turned onto the street, turning out his lights and rolling down his window to listen as he slowly moved along the street, searching for a sign of what he'd seen. His eyes narrowed as he saw it rush by again, this time jumping over a fence from a backyard as a dog began barking. It paused in the street for a moment, and then took off down the street. Raf pulled around the corner, hoping it would maintain it's straight course. He went around the block, and as he came back to the street, he saw the bot come right up to his car, and their eyes met.

It was small, half the size of the other bots he'd seen, and she was obviously frightened, as she backed away from him and took off again.

"Hey, wait a second!" Raf called, but he saw her disappear behind an old car shop and not reappear on the other side. He turned off his car and started towards it on foot, hoping it would reduce her fear of him. He crept around to the corner, peeking around it and seeing her huddled up against on old car parked outside of the shop. "It's okay..." He whispered.

Glowing blue optics stared back at him, wide with fear, and they didn't move an inch. "Hey..." He whispered. "...You're alright..."

He reached a hand towards them and they moved further away, giving a whimper. "It's okay, it's okay..." He soothed. He slowly moved down onto his hands and knees. "...I'm not going to hurt you...I promise...Are you lost?"