Cade Yeager had been thinking of his daughter, safely moved into her dorm for her sophomore year of college, rather than paying attention to where the car took him. It wasn't like Bumblebee needed any help from him to drive back to base anyway. Moving her into a dorm this year wasn't what he'd wanted, but since she'd wanted an apartment of her own, it was a compromise. Nineteen was too young for that, in his opinion, and at least the dorms had chaperones. He hoped Tessa would concentrate on her studies and that Lucky Charms wouldn't distract her too much–

–and then he looked out the window and saw that they were in a part of Houston he'd never visited before. A really, really shitty part, in fact, and since when had this place been on the way back to base?

"Hey Bee, take a wrong turn somewhere?"

"–life signs detected–" Bumblebee replied through the radio–even though Ratchet had managed to mostly repair his vocal processor, Bee still communicated though the radio much of the time. "Keep a look-out, pardner. Signal's weak."

"Might be more help to you if I knew what I was looking for," Cade replied, but before he even finished the sentence, Bee slammed on the brakes so hard that he was thrown against his seatbelt and nearly hit the steering wheel. "OW! What the hell?" he gasped, rubbing his chest where the belt had cut into him as the yellow Camaro's back end whipped around to reverse their direction. "Bumblebee, what's going on with you tonight?"

Agitated noises erupted from the radio as Bee turned down a series of narrow, dark alleys. Then a few more disjointed lines from radio and television came from the speakers. "–eureka, I found something!– Sarge, get the medic over here!–take me to your leader–" With the last blurb, Cade's door popped open and his seatbelt released. When he hesitated, Bumblebee even bounced the driver's seat to urge him on. "–out of the car, son–"

"Christ, all right, I'm out!" He stumbled a little as the car began to transform before he even had both feet on the ground. The darkness pressed in around him, too quiet for the city, and he glanced nervously around as Bumblebee rose to his feet. This place had "muggings and murder" written all over it.

Then again, what was really going to happen that a sixteen foot tall robot warrior couldn't handle?

Bumblebee prodded Cade in the back, urging him toward a pair of overflowing and extremely smelly dumpsters. They were wedged at the very back of the alley, covered by an overhang the robot would never fit beneath, and surrounded by mounds of trash. "Man, I don't know what you could possibly want in there," Cade grumbled as he moved forward with something less than eagerness. A blast of the Camaro's horn and seeing Bee reach to the fullest stretch of his arms and start scooping trash out of the way himself had Cade moving faster, though. He'd never seen Bumblebee so upset, not even when it looked like they were going to lose the battle of Hong Kong, but that didn't mean he was anxious to dig through trash. "Okay, okay, man, I'm going, but you really need to tell me what I'm digging for," Cade said as he started tossing trash bags out of the way.

"–Houston, we've got a problem–nurse, get this woman to the trauma room, STAT!–take me to your leader–"

But Cade saw her before Bumblebee's broadcast was even finished. A woman's bloody body lay crumpled between the dumpsters, covered in trash. "Oh, Jesus," he whispered, stopping dead in his tracks. He'd never seen anything so pitiful in his life. "We've got to get the cops out here. Whoever killed her might still be around–"

Monty Python blasted in his ear so loudly that his teeth vibrated. "I'm not dead yet!"

Cade jumped, covering his ears. "Jesus, Bee, you don't have to scream!" he shouted, moving forward despite the stench. When he lifted a trash bag off her, he saw that she was indeed still breathing. The realization sent a jolt of adrenaline through him. He flipped his phone out of his pocket with one hand while continuing to shove trash off her with the other. "I'll call an ambulance. I don't think we should try to move her."

"–negative, Captain," Mr. Spock's voice replied, thankfully quieter this time. "–take me to your leader–" Then Bumblebee switched to his normal voice. "Load her up, she's coming with us."

Cade half-turned and gaped at the robot. "You can't be serious. Listen, I know Ratchet can fix anything, but this isn't an Autobot! We've got to get her to a hospital, Bee. She needs human medical attention, not a ride back to base."

"–take me to your leader–" The line was louder this time, and Bumblebee went back to scooping trash out of the way with both hands, lying on his belly to reach further into the narrow alcove. His clear agitation was contagious and Cade pulled more refuse off of her as Bee's voice switched to heavy metal, then a commercial, before repeating the same line again. "–get up, gotta get out, gotta get away–a limited time, so act now!–take me to your leader–"

"Why do you keep saying that? What exactly do you think Optimus is going to do with a beat-up human?" Cade tried to ask, but Bee punched the ground impatiently and repeated one more time, as emphatic as any scream, "–TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER!"

The Autobot was clearly not going to take no for an answer. Giving in, Cade shoved the phone back in his pocket and carefully eased his arms under the woman. This close she looked terrible and smelled even worse from her burial in old garbage, but her pulse felt strong despite her cold skin. Bumblebee transformed again and popped the passenger door, already reclining the seat, and Cade put her gently inside. If Bee didn't mind this stink and mess on his upholstery, who was he to argue?

He didn't even bother trying to take the wheel when he got in on the driver's side. It was obvious that Bee was in an almighty rush. Instead, Cade held on for dear life as the car tore down the street like a bat out of hell–it was a lot like riding with Shane, actually. He buckled the woman in and occasionally reached out to stabilize her when Bee skidded around corners.

The normally hour-long drive back to the Autobots' base of operations took only about twenty minutes. Bee turned the heater on high and soon Cade was sweating, but he didn't complain, especially when some color finally started to return to the stranger's cheeks. No matter how Cade questioned Bee, the radio stayed silent until they reached the drainage canal that hid the entrance to Metroplex. Bee didn't even slow down as he sped straight at an enormous storm drain–a camouflaged shortcut to the main repair bay. Its wide entrance was blocked by heavy steel bars which slid open as he approached. As soon as they passed beneath the retracted bars, however, Bumblebee started broadcasting a siren wail with near-deafening volume. Cade cursed and covered his ears, then bounced off the door when Bee whipped around another corner and into Ratchet's repair bay.

Autobots came running from all directions as Bumblebee finally braked to a halt beside one of the enormous tables the medic used to treat damaged Autobots. Cade was already reaching for his seatbelt when his door popped open again. He jumped out and rushed around the car, ready to lift the injured woman out, but Bumblebee had also opened his passenger door and was extending the seat carefully outward toward an oncoming Ratchet and Wheeljack.

"What's going on, Cade?" Ratchet asked, visually searching Bumblebee's frame as he rushed over. "Bee, where are you injured?"

"No, he's fine, it's not us. We found–"

Cade didn't get to finish his sentence. Ratchet had frozen when the woman still cradled in the passenger seat came into view. "Oh, Primus, no," he whispered, and despite the fact that his face was made of metal, he looked both horrified and nauseated. He glanced over his shoulder and started issuing orders as more Autobots entered the repair bay at a run. "Ironhide, go intercept Optimus Prime and keep him busy while we clean her up. He'll be headed this way and he doesn't need to see this. Skyfire, go back him up. Wheeljack, let's get her onto the table and see what's what. Cade, we're going to need you for this, so don't go anywhere."

Wheeljack lifted the woman carefully from the seat, finally allowing Bee to transform. The young Autobot was already shaking his head before he'd even completed his shift. Cade recognized the movie he quoted this time as Raging Bull. "Whaddya thinkin'? You gotta tell him."

No one paid attention. "How long should we delay Optimus?" Ironhide asked, already shifting into his vehicle form.

"As long as you can, or until I radio with the all-clear."

Bee grabbed Ratchet's shoulder and shook him. "You gotta tell him and make him understand," he repeated.

"Not now, Bee," Ratchet said impatiently, shaking him off. "We both know that getting him in here right now is not a good idea. Now help us with this or roll out, got it?"

Skyfire glanced from the bloody woman to Ratchet and back, clearly confused as Ironhide rolled out of the room at top speed. "I've studied human anatomy extensively, Ratchet. I might be more help to you here. I'll be happy to stay and assist."

"No, you really should go with Ironhide," Wheeljack said as he carried her to the table. "You're big enough to keep Prime out of here by force if you have to."

The enormous scientist gaped at him. "By force?" he repeated in disbelief. "I can't imagine I'd have to–"

"Oh, you'll definitely have to if he finds out what's going on," Ratchet said darkly. "Try to avoid it if you can. I don't care what you tell him, just keep her out of it or he'll go over you like a steam train."

"Why? Who is this woman?" Cade and Skyfire asked simultaneously.

Bumblebee shook his head. "–he's not gonna like this–" he said in a dark and worried voice.