The car, while good at driving, had no knack for stealth. The cop car followed them, through the city, into the country, even inside a darkened warehouse without losing them for a second. (Y/N) was still reeling, and poor Sam hadn't stopped screaming once.
Just outside of the warehouse, (Y/N)'s car opened its doors and dumped out its passengers. (Y/N) tumbled hard in the dirt and hurried to clamber to her feet. But, she would have done better to stay on the ground, for her car transformed into that tall yellow and black robot once again, and she tripped over her feet as she scrambled to get away.
"Holy shit!" Sam screamed, so desperate to escape he was crawling. "Oh my god!"
"Get up!" (Y/N) demanded, hoisting him to his feet just in time to run again. The evil robot had deployed a drone that came straight for them.
They tore across the field, narrowly avoiding the shower of sparks that came from the scrape of metal against metal. The two robots fought behind them, so big that the ground seemed to shake with each punch they threw. The yellow bot got hit with a particularly hard blow, and he was sent tumbling backward, barely missing (Y/N) and Sam, who dove out of the way.
(Y/N) hurried to stand again, already running away to somewhere else when Sam screamed her name.
"Help me! Help!" The drone attached itself onto his legs, clawing and climbing and ripping up his jeans. Sam kicked his legs as he desperately tried to weasel away. "It's gonna kill me! (Y/N)!"
She didn't know what he expected her to do, and despite this, she hurried back to his side. Without a thought or a clue, (Y/N) pulled back her leg and she kicked the drone hard enough that one of its sharp metal arms snapped off and the drone went flying.
"Thank you," Sam scrambled to his feet, sounding breathless. "Thank you, you're an angel, you're incredible–"
"Go!" (Y/N) pushed him forward, bending down to scoop up the remaining arm.
She had hoped for some kind of exit at the bottom of the hill, but all they found was a fence keeping them locked in. (Y/N) had half a mind to jump it, but that was no good. The top was wrapped with spindles of barbed wire.
She swore under her breath, turning around to run somewhere – anywhere else, but the drone had come back with a vengeance. It used its remaining claws to reach out and slice her cheek, only narrowly missing her eye. As she cried out, she could have sworn it laughed at her.
They were cornered, Sam was still panicking, and the robots were still fighting. The drone was circling around again, metal claws glistening in the moonlight, and (Y/N) was convinced that was the end. But she refused to go down without a fight.
She waited until the drone was low enough, then, using its own arm against it, she whacked it out of the sky. (Y/N) started after it as soon as it hit the ground, ignoring Sam – "Wait, (Y/N), I don't think that's such a good idea!" – ignoring her racing heart and rising anxiety. The drone started to sit up, and with a frightened scream, (Y/N) hit it again. And again. And again until it whirred pathetically. Then, for good measure, she plunged its metal claws straight through its chest.
Its eyes flickered out. Dead.
She staggered backward, realizing what she'd done. Despite her shaking hands and labored breaths, she had won. If anyone told her she'd be spending her Friday night defending her classmate from an alien...
Sam said hesitantly from behind her, "Are you okay?"
"I just killed an alien robot with its own arm. I'm great!" She turned around to face him, beaming.
Sam stood a safe distance away, still trying to catch his breath. His brown eyes were wide with something that looked a lot like awe, and he opened and closed his mouth a few times as he struggled to find something to say. (Y/N) spared him.
"You wanna put your pants back on?"
Sam's face flushed. "Yeah," he said. "No, yeah, I'm sorry," and he hurried back up the hill to where his half-shredded pants lay in the dirt.
Behind him, the yellow and black robot had emerged over the hill, his glowing blue eyes looking straight at her, then at the dead drone that lay beside her. She watched him carefully, trying to read his face, but it was all metal, and it was dark. She couldn't tell what he was thinking at all.
It wasn't until he gave a faint nod that she realized he approved.
(Y/N) allowed herself to smile.
But when Sam looked up and noticed him standing just a few feet away, he screamed and fell backward. "(Y/N)!" he cried again. "It's back!"
"He just protected us," (Y/N) said as she moved past him. "Get up,"
"What?" Sam said under his breath.
She ignored him, staring up at the robot. He was taller up close – nearly the size of her two-story home – and as she saw him in the light, he looked like he was almost smiling. She surprised herself when she asked, "Can you speak?"
He nodded, placing his hands proudly onto his hips. "XM Satellite Radio – Digital cable brings you – Columbia Broadcasting System..."
Her brows furrowed together as she took him in for the first time. Her eyes scoured the gears that traveled all the way up his body, shielded by a yellow chest plate and headlights. His doors poked out on either side of his head, almost like two little wings. "You talk through the radio, then?" she said.
"Thank you, you're beautiful." He clapped and pointed at her with false enthusiasm. (Y/N) cracked a grin; he was teasing her. "You're wonderful, you're wonderful."
"Why did you go to the junkyard last night? Were you contacting someone?"
He turned his gaze to the starry night sky. "Message from Starfleet, Captain – Throughout the inanimate vastness of space – Angels will rain down like visitors from Heaven! Hallelujah!"
"So, you are an alien," she said.
He nodded and pointed at her again. She could almost hear a sarcastic very good as he bent down and transformed back into that little yellow Camaro. He opened up his doors, and through the radio said, "Any more questions you wanna ask?"
(Y/N) started towards him, but Sam latched onto her arm.
"Hey – are you insane? In case you forgot, last time we got in that car, we almost died,"
"In case you forgot," (Y/N) pulled her arm free. "He just saved our lives. Or did you want that other alien robot to rip us to pieces?"
Sam opened his mouth to argue, but he couldn't find anything to say. He cast a hesitant glance at the car and she noticed the unmistakable gleam of panic in his eyes.
(Y/N) remembered he didn't ask to be there any more than she did. And while everything began because of his grandfather's glasses, she was the one who pounded on his door and begged him to let her in.
"Look," she said. "He saved us, Sam. He didn't have to do that. And I think I trust him–"
"Oh, you think you trust him, that's really good, (Y/N)."
"Okay, fine, I do trust him. Happy?" She fixed him with a stern glare. "The way I see it, we have two options. We can either get in the car and go where ever he's taking us. Or, we tell him to leave and we're stuck here overnight without a car."
Sam studied her for any indication that she might give in. When he didn't find one, he looked past her at the car, still waiting patiently at the top of the hill. "Fine," he conceded. "But if I die, it's going to be your fault."
(Y/N) rolled her eyes, turning to walk up the hill. "Don't be such a baby,"
***
Sam was quiet for most of the ride, though it was not for lack of courage. (Y/N) had a multitude of questions that she needed answered, and hadn't stopped talking since she got in the car.
"What's your name?"
"Bumblebee,"
"Bumblebee," she mused. She thought of the little wings on either side of his head and smiled. The name suited him. "I'm (Y/N),"
The radio crackled, and finally, he said, "–(Y/N)– " He clicked through a few more channels before he found what he needed to say. "Pretty name,"
"Oh, thank you," she laughed at the absurdity of it. To think she was being complimented by her car...
Sam slumped in his seat.
"So what that guy said at the dealership," (Y/N) said. "Is it true that cars pick drivers, or whatever?"
There was a low hum that she assumed meant yes.
"Then why'd you pick me?"
For a moment, there was silence. If he was anything like the other alien, he was there for the glasses, too, but he couldn't have known that Sam gave them to her. She hadn't told him about the glasses, either, so she wasn't even sure if he knew then.
Finally, Bee said, "You – picked me first."
He was avoiding the answer.
But, she remembered how excited she was when she saw him parked among various junker cars. She had turned to her mother and proclaimed that was the car. (Y/N) didn't recall a time when she had ever felt so sure of anything. "Huh," she adjusted in her seat. Perhaps they had chosen each other. "Fair enough."
A silence fell over them for the first time since they got in the car. (Y/N) turned her head toward the window so she could hide her warm cheeks. She didn't know what she was blushing over – he was a car.
"So..." Sam leaned over the glovebox to whisper. "If he's so technologically advanced, why does he turn back into this piece of junk?"
In an instant, Bumblebee pulled to a stop in the middle of the road. "Get out," he demanded, throwing both of his doors open.
(Y/N) obeyed at once, if not for fear of how angry Bee sounded, then for the drivers honking their horns at them. Sam hurried out, too, the door barely missing him on his way out. And then, as soon as they were safe on the sidewalk, Bumblebee pulled away.
"Are you kidding me?" (Y/N) demanded, turning on Sam. She pointed a finger in the direction he drove off. "That is a '77 Camaro you just insulted. That is the first and the only car I've ever owned, and you just made him so angry he drove away!"
"Sorry!" Sam threw his hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry, I was just asking!"
She turned around to look around the tunnel, hoping that by some miracle, Bee would turn around. And to her surprise, he had, but he looked jarringly different.
He was now a fifth-generation Camaro, one that (Y/N)'s dad had gushed about after seeing models online. His chipped and faded paint was replaced with a fresh, glimmering coat. And, even though she stood on the sidewalk, (Y/N) could smell the leather interior.
"Holy. Shit."
"Bee?" (Y/N) asked in disbelief. She hurried into the driver's seat before anyone could start honking. "Oh my god, you look great!"
He seemed to laugh. "You're not too bad – yourself."
(Y/N) blinked. "Did you just hit on me?"
"What?"
She turned her head toward Sam, who was still standing a safe distance away on the sidewalk. "What are you doing, get in!"
He stepped closer, staring her down in disbelief. "You aren't the least bit weirded out by this?"
"Oh, no," (Y/N) said. "This is all very weird to me, but I'm trying hard not to think about it." She knew that if she did, she would completely and utterly freak out. "Come on, people are waiting,"
And Sam, suppressing his worries, got into the car. Bee closed the door behind him and immediately sped away.
"Good choice."