Adaptations of Love - Chapter 04 (Part 01)
Pairings: Sam / Bee, Swerve / Mikaela
Rating: R
Author's Notes: You know the drill by now, we're sure.
Summary: Sam's graduated, Bee's admittedly in love and Wheeljack has plans that are surprisingly diplomatic in nature.
Adaptations of Love
By Winged Dreamer and Nightmare
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Author's Notes: Haha, we're mean. Sorry, but it was just the best cut-spot for the end of Chapter Three. ^^;; Otherwise Chapter Three would have ended up ridiculously long.
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Chapter Four - Part 01
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It was at that moment that they came into the back half of the room they had just entered, pushing past the curtain that separated the two halves. Ron, Judy, Sam and Mikaela immediately froze at the sight before them. There, reclining on the medical slab and still as death, lay Bumblebee. His optics were off, the only glow in his frame coming from the Spark in his chest, and that was faint at best.
Mikaela gasped out, "Oh my god."
"Bee… Oh god, Bumblebee!" Sam shoved past Maggie and Alex, bitter dread coating the back of his throat. He didn't even hear his parents call for him to wait, using the momentum from his running start to haul himself up onto the slab to Bumblebee's side. Metal that was supposed to be warm felt frighteningly cool beneath his fingertips. "God… Bee! Bee, wake up!" he begged, slapping his best friend's arm hard enough to sting his hand down to the bones.
There was no response.
More terrified than he had ever been, more terrified than when Bumblebee's legs had been blown off in battle, Sam desperately looked around the room for someone - anyone - who could help. And found him almost immediately, watching in something akin to perverse amusement from his place on the other side of the slab. "Ratchet, what's wrong with him?!"
"Nothing, Sam," was all Ratchet could say before his voice, loud though it was, was overridden.
"Sam, it's fine. I'm fine. I'm just tired. My natural body is trying to conserve energy, so that I can hold this form long enough for them to get more data readouts." Alex's voice was weary and he looked completely wiped, but he approached the slab himself reaching up toward Sam with one trembling hand. "Come down. Let me explain."
"Wait. What the…" Mikaela's eyes were huge as she glanced between the Autobot on the medical table and the young man they had spent the afternoon with since their arrival to New Tyger Pax. And then her expression changed from sorely confused to utter disbelief. "You're joking! Oh my god! How?"
Ron and Judy exchanged confused looks with each other and then returned their attention to the strange tableau in front of them to await an actual answer. Miles just looked from an elated, dumbstruck Mikaela to a confused and hesitating Sam and gave up trying to understand. Instead, he waited patiently for an answer and an opportunity to ask more questions.
Maggie watched Sam stare down at "Alex" for a moment, her blue eyes concerned. The other humans weren't taking this well. Well, Mikaela was, but she had always been a little different from the Witwickys. "We asked him to do it," she threw in. "To see if the program was good enough to fool those close to him. If he could do that then he could fool anybody, and that's what we needed to know."
Eyes darting from Bee to Ratchet to Alex, Sam could only shake as terror became uncertainty. "F-Fool… I-I don't understand… How…?"
"We're calling it a construct," said a white, red, and green Autobot from another corner of the room, drawing everyone's attention. "An extension of the main body built from tiny sensors that perfectly mimic the human body in everything from bone to blood. Think of it as… a laptop that's wirelessly hooked up to a desktop. The ultimate reconnaissance tool." The Autobot seemed to puff up with pride.
"And something that won't blow up, for a change," muttered Ratchet.
Sam's gaze fell back onto the… not-human standing below him, relief starting to melt away the uncertainty. There was something in those gold eyes, something deeply familiar, that begged him to believe everything that was being said, and Sam felt himself giving in. "I-I… You're… You're Bumblebee…"
"Yes, Sam," Alex, or rather Bumblebee, confirmed, his voice the same gentle, cultured British-sounding voice that was so familiar to the boy he spoke to. Once again he wriggled his still unsteady fingers where they reached for Sam's hand. "Come down. They'll explain everything while I disperse and reboot."
After staring at Bee for a moment more, Sam hopped down from the medical slab and yanked his best friend into a crushing hug powerful enough to force the air out of him. "Don't you ever scare me like that again," he whispered his words a very firm order, though his voice trembled. If Bumblebee died… God, Sam couldn't even bring himself to think about it.
Still confused, Miles leaned towards Mikaela and muttered, "Am I missing something?" He didn't understand what was so scary about seeing an Autobot on a table or why it was such a big deal that Alex was really Bumblebee.
Mikaela bit her lower lip in indecision before finally whispering, "It's what's inside that counts, right?"
The construct in Sam's arms tilted his head slightly to glance at Mikaela over his shoulder. Her words were confusing, but the boy holding on to his torso drew his attention almost instantly when Sam tightened his embrace just a bit. Strong arms settled around Sam's shoulders and hugged him tightly in return. He was tired - oh, so very tired - but for Sam he would muster the last of the strength in this faux body and hold him for as long as was possible. "I apologize. I did not realize you would think the worst."
"Yeah, well, remember for next time that when someone's unconscious on a table in a hospital, it generally means something's seriously wrong with them." Sam gave Bee one last squeeze, then slowly released him, loathe to lose the contact after his scare. "Alright, go do whatever it is you need to do."
Bumblebee left his palms on Sam's biceps for a second. With a firm nod, he rubbed one lithely muscled upper arm and then stepped away and past Sam. Almost immediately he began stripping away clothing starting with the turtle neck, revealing a thin but visible scar across his throat, and then the shoes, socks and camouflage pants. His boxers were simple black cotton which he left on as he reached for the hand of the Autobot on the table, but he paused before actually making contact. "I need to scatter and reabsorb the sensors to recharge them," he informed the humans, staring Sam straight in the eyes. "My natural body will reboot in just a few minutes."
With that Bumblebee put a hand to wrist of his Autobot body and the form of "Alex" shivered, fuzzed and staticked until it had completely dissolved into thin air. The black cotton boxers fluttered to the floor.
"Well," Judy exclaimed after a moment of silence. "That was interesting. Who knew?"
Ron glanced at his wife and could only shake his head.
"You okay, man?" asked Miles, still confused about what was going on, when Sam returned to his spot next to him.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." Outwardly calm now, inside Sam was shaking with nerves. What if Bee didn't reboot? What if the construct-thing had drained too much of his energy? What if they were lying to him and there was something wrong? Would Bee still be able to transform? What was this program going to do to his cybernetic mainframe? Was he still the same Bee? Just how much had Ratchet and that other Autobot played mad scientist on him?
Reaching out Mikaela took Sam's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You worry too much. He's fine. See."
Mikaela turned everyone's attention from Sam to Bumblebee with a slight inclination of her head. On the slab, the Autobot's Spark was already glowing brighter and with a few flickers his optics came back online as his chest panels closed. He was sitting up, albeit slowly, within moments.
"How are you feeling?" Ratchet asked his charge immediately and placed a steadying hand against the back of Bumblebee's shoulder nearest himself.
"Scans indicate nothing out of the ordinary," Wheeljack interjected.
"Fine, thank you, Ratchet," Bumblebee murmured and swung his legs to the side of the slab. Glowing blue optics landed on Sam and Bumblebee's antennae rose and fell for a second before the yellow Autobot said, "Wheeljack and Ratchet have ensured that nothing bad can come of my involvement in their research. There is nothing to fear."
Mikaela sized Sam up out of the corner of her eye and smirked. If Bumblebee was anything like Swerve he kept a constant sensor on Sam's vitals and chemical levels, which meant that that statement was more for Sam than for the rest of them. He's got it bad, she thought in amusement. But… I haven't really got room to talk.
Sam gave a slightly shaky nod and glanced at Wheeljack. "So… what exactly was that construct thing?"
Again the Autobot seemed to puff with pride. "The construct is a small, external, secondary mainframe built out of trillions of cell-sized sensors which perfectly mimic human cells except under the closest scrutiny. To this, we can give a tiny piece of an Autobot's unique Spark, and thus, make it serve as a second body. Given the construct's human appearance, it would allow us to discretely interact with people while our main bodies perform other tasks, maintaining a single consciousness between the two bodies. Right now the wireless connection has a maximum range of sixteen point two four miles and the construct only lasts up to eight hours, but we're working on increasing those. The range will be difficult, but increasing the longevity will be just a matter of increasing how much power the sensors can hold. With continued practice, I'm confident that Bumblebee will soon be able to create a construct that will be able to last at least an entire solar cycle."
"Solar cycle?" asked Miles.
A young heavyset man suddenly appeared by Wheeljack's foot, his eyes magnified by the thick glasses he wore. Glen nodded a cheerful greeting at Sam and Mikaela as he supplied, "Twenty-four hours. He's still getting used to Earth terms. Hey Wheeljack, what do you think about tweaking this section of code over here?" He led the Autobot back to a bank of computers in the corner, each screen covered in lines upon lines of code in both English and Cybertronian.
"Wait," called Sam. "So what happens to the sensors when they run out of power? And the piece of Spark that's in the construct?"
Ratchet glanced Wheeljack's way and took up the task of answering since it was clear Wheeljack was more interested in playing with Glen. "The sensors can be reabsorbed into the main body or dispersed, along with the piece of Spark. Our Sparks can safely sustain minor amounts of damage, and the size of the piece needed to create the construct doesn't even fall under minimal damage."
"Our Sparks are capable of repairing themselves, though it does take longer than our exoskeletons," Bumblebee added as he slid from the edge of the slab to stand on the floor. After a moment of positioning his feet, he crouched. Now closer to Sam's eyelevel, he offered. "I can explain it all to you as we head back up to the ground side. I'm sure you are all hungry, and it is, as you know, a bit of a trip."
Judy's stomach took that moment to make itself known and Ron's gave an answering growl. Judy gave a surprised, "Oh!" and Ron chuckled while patting his gut. "Yeah," he agreed. "Getting old kinda means needing consistency in some things, and it's well past our usual dinner time by now I'm sure."
"It is exactly seven fifteen Post Meridiem," confirmed the large yellow robot. "I can carry us all to lift since that, I think, will be faster. Swerve says he will be meeting us topside."
"Uh, didn't Optimus say the soldiers were expecting us for dinner at six?" asked Miles, turning to Mikaela.
"Yeah," she agreed. "But I think they'll understand just this once."
"I think so," Bumblebee agreed, straightening and stepping around them so that he could fall to all fours and transform. Both doors popped open and the seats leaned forward so some of them could climb into the backseat.
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"You guys are late," called Lennox from the canteen entrance as Bumblebee and Swerve drove up a little over an hour later, their windows down. "What happened? You guys have a party down there or something?"
Stepping out of the little red Corvette she'd crawled into once they were topside, Mikaela shook her head. "Nope. Just lots of questions and drama."
"Drama?"
"Sam."
"Hey!" called the young man in question, almost smacking his head as he stood up from leaning Bee's front seat forward so his mom could get out of the back. "You were just as freaked out as I was!"
"Freaked out?" asked Lennox, curious.
Miles hopped out of the Corvette and grinned. "He thought his car was dead."
"With good reason!" Sam scowled.
"The construct. Bumblebee had us completely fooled, and he was in some kind of power save mode in his robot form all laid out on an exam table. Sam kinda flipped. I admit I was a little worried, too," Mikaela explained.
Lennox chuckled. "I told Epps you guys wouldn't figure it out. I was told about the experiment and I was still surprised when 'Alex' showed up, asking if he could pretend to be a new Private. Thought he was some kid from the university pulling a prank." He nodded towards the inside of the canteen. "Come on. Let's get you guys some dinner, and then I'll show you to where you'll be staying for the night."
Sam waited until everyone else had gone inside before patting Bee's roof. "Think you'll be up to hanging out for a while after dinner?" he asked quietly, hopeful. Bumblebee had seemed really tired after reabsorbing his construct, and Sam wanted to make sure he was completely okay without anyone else around to interrupt.
"Looking forward to seeing you in the sunshine of my time in a station off the coastline, coming in view," the radio responded with a crackle.
"Okay. Go take a nap or something. I'll find you when we're done eating. I won't be too long, I promise."
"They call me mellow yellow," the radio agreed and then fell silent.
Swerve quietly revved and rolled up alongside Bumblebee, gently nudging Sam's leg with his bumper in a clear show of promise to look after their friend.
"Thanks," murmured Sam. After a brief caress of Bee's roof, he disappeared inside the canteen.
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On to Part 02…
Rating: R
Author's Notes: You know the drill by now, we're sure.
Summary: Sam's graduated, Bee's admittedly in love and Wheeljack has plans that are surprisingly diplomatic in nature.
Adaptations of Love
By Winged Dreamer and Nightmare
----------
Author's Notes: Haha, we're mean. Sorry, but it was just the best cut-spot for the end of Chapter Three. ^^;; Otherwise Chapter Three would have ended up ridiculously long.
----------
Chapter Four - Part 01
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It was at that moment that they came into the back half of the room they had just entered, pushing past the curtain that separated the two halves. Ron, Judy, Sam and Mikaela immediately froze at the sight before them. There, reclining on the medical slab and still as death, lay Bumblebee. His optics were off, the only glow in his frame coming from the Spark in his chest, and that was faint at best.
Mikaela gasped out, "Oh my god."
"Bee… Oh god, Bumblebee!" Sam shoved past Maggie and Alex, bitter dread coating the back of his throat. He didn't even hear his parents call for him to wait, using the momentum from his running start to haul himself up onto the slab to Bumblebee's side. Metal that was supposed to be warm felt frighteningly cool beneath his fingertips. "God… Bee! Bee, wake up!" he begged, slapping his best friend's arm hard enough to sting his hand down to the bones.
There was no response.
More terrified than he had ever been, more terrified than when Bumblebee's legs had been blown off in battle, Sam desperately looked around the room for someone - anyone - who could help. And found him almost immediately, watching in something akin to perverse amusement from his place on the other side of the slab. "Ratchet, what's wrong with him?!"
"Nothing, Sam," was all Ratchet could say before his voice, loud though it was, was overridden.
"Sam, it's fine. I'm fine. I'm just tired. My natural body is trying to conserve energy, so that I can hold this form long enough for them to get more data readouts." Alex's voice was weary and he looked completely wiped, but he approached the slab himself reaching up toward Sam with one trembling hand. "Come down. Let me explain."
"Wait. What the…" Mikaela's eyes were huge as she glanced between the Autobot on the medical table and the young man they had spent the afternoon with since their arrival to New Tyger Pax. And then her expression changed from sorely confused to utter disbelief. "You're joking! Oh my god! How?"
Ron and Judy exchanged confused looks with each other and then returned their attention to the strange tableau in front of them to await an actual answer. Miles just looked from an elated, dumbstruck Mikaela to a confused and hesitating Sam and gave up trying to understand. Instead, he waited patiently for an answer and an opportunity to ask more questions.
Maggie watched Sam stare down at "Alex" for a moment, her blue eyes concerned. The other humans weren't taking this well. Well, Mikaela was, but she had always been a little different from the Witwickys. "We asked him to do it," she threw in. "To see if the program was good enough to fool those close to him. If he could do that then he could fool anybody, and that's what we needed to know."
Eyes darting from Bee to Ratchet to Alex, Sam could only shake as terror became uncertainty. "F-Fool… I-I don't understand… How…?"
"We're calling it a construct," said a white, red, and green Autobot from another corner of the room, drawing everyone's attention. "An extension of the main body built from tiny sensors that perfectly mimic the human body in everything from bone to blood. Think of it as… a laptop that's wirelessly hooked up to a desktop. The ultimate reconnaissance tool." The Autobot seemed to puff up with pride.
"And something that won't blow up, for a change," muttered Ratchet.
Sam's gaze fell back onto the… not-human standing below him, relief starting to melt away the uncertainty. There was something in those gold eyes, something deeply familiar, that begged him to believe everything that was being said, and Sam felt himself giving in. "I-I… You're… You're Bumblebee…"
"Yes, Sam," Alex, or rather Bumblebee, confirmed, his voice the same gentle, cultured British-sounding voice that was so familiar to the boy he spoke to. Once again he wriggled his still unsteady fingers where they reached for Sam's hand. "Come down. They'll explain everything while I disperse and reboot."
After staring at Bee for a moment more, Sam hopped down from the medical slab and yanked his best friend into a crushing hug powerful enough to force the air out of him. "Don't you ever scare me like that again," he whispered his words a very firm order, though his voice trembled. If Bumblebee died… God, Sam couldn't even bring himself to think about it.
Still confused, Miles leaned towards Mikaela and muttered, "Am I missing something?" He didn't understand what was so scary about seeing an Autobot on a table or why it was such a big deal that Alex was really Bumblebee.
Mikaela bit her lower lip in indecision before finally whispering, "It's what's inside that counts, right?"
The construct in Sam's arms tilted his head slightly to glance at Mikaela over his shoulder. Her words were confusing, but the boy holding on to his torso drew his attention almost instantly when Sam tightened his embrace just a bit. Strong arms settled around Sam's shoulders and hugged him tightly in return. He was tired - oh, so very tired - but for Sam he would muster the last of the strength in this faux body and hold him for as long as was possible. "I apologize. I did not realize you would think the worst."
"Yeah, well, remember for next time that when someone's unconscious on a table in a hospital, it generally means something's seriously wrong with them." Sam gave Bee one last squeeze, then slowly released him, loathe to lose the contact after his scare. "Alright, go do whatever it is you need to do."
Bumblebee left his palms on Sam's biceps for a second. With a firm nod, he rubbed one lithely muscled upper arm and then stepped away and past Sam. Almost immediately he began stripping away clothing starting with the turtle neck, revealing a thin but visible scar across his throat, and then the shoes, socks and camouflage pants. His boxers were simple black cotton which he left on as he reached for the hand of the Autobot on the table, but he paused before actually making contact. "I need to scatter and reabsorb the sensors to recharge them," he informed the humans, staring Sam straight in the eyes. "My natural body will reboot in just a few minutes."
With that Bumblebee put a hand to wrist of his Autobot body and the form of "Alex" shivered, fuzzed and staticked until it had completely dissolved into thin air. The black cotton boxers fluttered to the floor.
"Well," Judy exclaimed after a moment of silence. "That was interesting. Who knew?"
Ron glanced at his wife and could only shake his head.
"You okay, man?" asked Miles, still confused about what was going on, when Sam returned to his spot next to him.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." Outwardly calm now, inside Sam was shaking with nerves. What if Bee didn't reboot? What if the construct-thing had drained too much of his energy? What if they were lying to him and there was something wrong? Would Bee still be able to transform? What was this program going to do to his cybernetic mainframe? Was he still the same Bee? Just how much had Ratchet and that other Autobot played mad scientist on him?
Reaching out Mikaela took Sam's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You worry too much. He's fine. See."
Mikaela turned everyone's attention from Sam to Bumblebee with a slight inclination of her head. On the slab, the Autobot's Spark was already glowing brighter and with a few flickers his optics came back online as his chest panels closed. He was sitting up, albeit slowly, within moments.
"How are you feeling?" Ratchet asked his charge immediately and placed a steadying hand against the back of Bumblebee's shoulder nearest himself.
"Scans indicate nothing out of the ordinary," Wheeljack interjected.
"Fine, thank you, Ratchet," Bumblebee murmured and swung his legs to the side of the slab. Glowing blue optics landed on Sam and Bumblebee's antennae rose and fell for a second before the yellow Autobot said, "Wheeljack and Ratchet have ensured that nothing bad can come of my involvement in their research. There is nothing to fear."
Mikaela sized Sam up out of the corner of her eye and smirked. If Bumblebee was anything like Swerve he kept a constant sensor on Sam's vitals and chemical levels, which meant that that statement was more for Sam than for the rest of them. He's got it bad, she thought in amusement. But… I haven't really got room to talk.
Sam gave a slightly shaky nod and glanced at Wheeljack. "So… what exactly was that construct thing?"
Again the Autobot seemed to puff with pride. "The construct is a small, external, secondary mainframe built out of trillions of cell-sized sensors which perfectly mimic human cells except under the closest scrutiny. To this, we can give a tiny piece of an Autobot's unique Spark, and thus, make it serve as a second body. Given the construct's human appearance, it would allow us to discretely interact with people while our main bodies perform other tasks, maintaining a single consciousness between the two bodies. Right now the wireless connection has a maximum range of sixteen point two four miles and the construct only lasts up to eight hours, but we're working on increasing those. The range will be difficult, but increasing the longevity will be just a matter of increasing how much power the sensors can hold. With continued practice, I'm confident that Bumblebee will soon be able to create a construct that will be able to last at least an entire solar cycle."
"Solar cycle?" asked Miles.
A young heavyset man suddenly appeared by Wheeljack's foot, his eyes magnified by the thick glasses he wore. Glen nodded a cheerful greeting at Sam and Mikaela as he supplied, "Twenty-four hours. He's still getting used to Earth terms. Hey Wheeljack, what do you think about tweaking this section of code over here?" He led the Autobot back to a bank of computers in the corner, each screen covered in lines upon lines of code in both English and Cybertronian.
"Wait," called Sam. "So what happens to the sensors when they run out of power? And the piece of Spark that's in the construct?"
Ratchet glanced Wheeljack's way and took up the task of answering since it was clear Wheeljack was more interested in playing with Glen. "The sensors can be reabsorbed into the main body or dispersed, along with the piece of Spark. Our Sparks can safely sustain minor amounts of damage, and the size of the piece needed to create the construct doesn't even fall under minimal damage."
"Our Sparks are capable of repairing themselves, though it does take longer than our exoskeletons," Bumblebee added as he slid from the edge of the slab to stand on the floor. After a moment of positioning his feet, he crouched. Now closer to Sam's eyelevel, he offered. "I can explain it all to you as we head back up to the ground side. I'm sure you are all hungry, and it is, as you know, a bit of a trip."
Judy's stomach took that moment to make itself known and Ron's gave an answering growl. Judy gave a surprised, "Oh!" and Ron chuckled while patting his gut. "Yeah," he agreed. "Getting old kinda means needing consistency in some things, and it's well past our usual dinner time by now I'm sure."
"It is exactly seven fifteen Post Meridiem," confirmed the large yellow robot. "I can carry us all to lift since that, I think, will be faster. Swerve says he will be meeting us topside."
"Uh, didn't Optimus say the soldiers were expecting us for dinner at six?" asked Miles, turning to Mikaela.
"Yeah," she agreed. "But I think they'll understand just this once."
"I think so," Bumblebee agreed, straightening and stepping around them so that he could fall to all fours and transform. Both doors popped open and the seats leaned forward so some of them could climb into the backseat.
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"You guys are late," called Lennox from the canteen entrance as Bumblebee and Swerve drove up a little over an hour later, their windows down. "What happened? You guys have a party down there or something?"
Stepping out of the little red Corvette she'd crawled into once they were topside, Mikaela shook her head. "Nope. Just lots of questions and drama."
"Drama?"
"Sam."
"Hey!" called the young man in question, almost smacking his head as he stood up from leaning Bee's front seat forward so his mom could get out of the back. "You were just as freaked out as I was!"
"Freaked out?" asked Lennox, curious.
Miles hopped out of the Corvette and grinned. "He thought his car was dead."
"With good reason!" Sam scowled.
"The construct. Bumblebee had us completely fooled, and he was in some kind of power save mode in his robot form all laid out on an exam table. Sam kinda flipped. I admit I was a little worried, too," Mikaela explained.
Lennox chuckled. "I told Epps you guys wouldn't figure it out. I was told about the experiment and I was still surprised when 'Alex' showed up, asking if he could pretend to be a new Private. Thought he was some kid from the university pulling a prank." He nodded towards the inside of the canteen. "Come on. Let's get you guys some dinner, and then I'll show you to where you'll be staying for the night."
Sam waited until everyone else had gone inside before patting Bee's roof. "Think you'll be up to hanging out for a while after dinner?" he asked quietly, hopeful. Bumblebee had seemed really tired after reabsorbing his construct, and Sam wanted to make sure he was completely okay without anyone else around to interrupt.
"Looking forward to seeing you in the sunshine of my time in a station off the coastline, coming in view," the radio responded with a crackle.
"Okay. Go take a nap or something. I'll find you when we're done eating. I won't be too long, I promise."
"They call me mellow yellow," the radio agreed and then fell silent.
Swerve quietly revved and rolled up alongside Bumblebee, gently nudging Sam's leg with his bumper in a clear show of promise to look after their friend.
"Thanks," murmured Sam. After a brief caress of Bee's roof, he disappeared inside the canteen.
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On to Part 02…