Meanwhile back at the base, the Autobots were all there and there's nothing to do ever since they had secured the mine back at Oregon. Optimus and the others had returned back to base to relax a little bit.
"Finally back here. Standing guard is one of the most boring things for an Autobot." Cliffjumper stretched a little to remove the stiff joints of his chassis.
"Tell me about it. Last time I stood guard, I got knocked down." Smokescreen said as he remembered what happened back at Cybertron.
"Oh my joints. One more guard duty and I'll rust." Bulkhead said as he moved his joints around a little more as Bumblebee agreed as he sat down.
"Finally back huh?" Miko asked as she stood by the railing of the human area.
"Yeah. So you're ready for our Monster Truck Smash-Whack marathon?" Bulkhead asked her as she grinned excitedly.
"Sure am. What about you, Raf?" Miko asked as she turned to Raf who shook his head.
"Nah I'm good. I have a lot of stuff to do on my computer." Raf said as Miko nodded before noticing that two of their human friends and femme aren't present at the moment.
"Okay. Where's Jack, Emily and Arcee? I haven't seen them here in the base." Miko asked curiously since they should have arrived any minute earlier.
"Jack and Emily had to work their usual shift after school. So Arcee had to go wait for them." Raf said before they heard someone coming in.
It was Emily rolling on her caster board as Miko grinned happily.
"Hey, Emily. We've been talking about you. Hey wanna see some Monster Truck action?" Miko asked but stopped when Emily looked at her sharply.
"No." She answered firmly as Miko blinked at that.
Emily got off her caster board as the others couldn't help but notice that she was walking like she was limping as they got worried.
"You okay, Ems?" Smokescreen asked worriedly as Emily just continued to walk.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm doing okay." She said as she could feel her anger and frustrations surfacing slowly. One more and she would explode.
"Are you sure? You don't look so good." Smokescreen said but flinched when Emily turned to him with that certain fire in her eyes like any other femmes when they were angered or provoked.
"I said I'm fine. Can you just leave me alone?!" She snapped at him as he nodded quickly.
Emily walked over to where her motorcycle is as Ratchet scanned her without her noticing it to see what's wrong with her.
"Did I say something wrong?" Smokescreen asked the other mechs in the room as Bulkhead grunts while shaking his head as Bumblebee does the same. Back on Cybertron, mechs learn not to make femmes mad.
"Don't worry, Smokescreen. It's not you. She just... needs some time to calm down." Ratchet reassured him as he nodded.
"I wonder what happened to her." Miko wondered in confusion.
"Well, whatever it was, she looks mad." Raf said meekly.
Both Miko and Raf saw how Emily was working on her motorcycle with the frustration written on her face when they suddenly received a notification on their phone. They both saw and couldn't believe it as they looked at each other.
"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Miko said in shock and disbelief.
"Yeah but I can't believe it." Raf just nodded before dropping his voice in a whisper.
"Think Emily has something to do about it?" Raf whispered curiously.
"I guess we'll figure it out." Miko whispered back.
Seeing as how fixing her bike wasn't helping with her growing anger and frustration, Emily decides to see if some training in the S.A.F.E room might help her get rid of some of the steam.
"I'll be training in the S.A.F.E. I don't want to be disturbed." She said as she stood up and headed to the training room.
"Very well." Ratchet waved as the others just watched.
Emily starts heading toward the S.A.F.E room when Optimus comes in and sees Emily walking down the hall. She just passed beside him without even greeting him as he just blinked down at her in confusion and followed her with his optics until she disappeared around the corner but he could have sworn that she was producing an angry aura and decided against asking about it.
"I can't believe that. She didn't even greet Optimus." Smokescreen said in disbelief.
"She must be angry at something." Cliffjumper agreed as he could feel the aura was producing.
"Aren't you going to say anything, Optimus?" Bulkhead asked him as he entered the room.
"Emily is young. She needs to have her own space to calm down the storm inside her." Optimus said as he was going to give Emily some space to cool off. Even a big and strong mech like him won't handle the wrath of a femme be it from a human female or not and Emily was no exceptions to that.
"If you say so, Optimus. I wonder where Arcee and Jack are right now." Cliffjumper shrugged before wondering where the two were.
"I'm sure she and Jack are on their way here." Bulkhead said as Optimus turned to Ratchet.
"Ratchet, I want you to take care of things while I'm gone." Optimus said.
"Sure thing, Optimus. Where are you going?" Ratchet nodded but couldn't help and asked curiously.
"Hopefully we will find something useful to us." He told him before transforming and drove out of the base.
Back at the highway towards the base, Arcee and Jack were both talking about that little race that they had.
"Jack, just so you know. We are not to talk to anyone about this little race." Arcee said as Jack nodded.
"You know me, Arcee. I'm not one to attract attention." He replied.
"If that was true, wouldn't you be happy that you've sent this loser cry to his mama?" Arcee wondered curiously as Jack shook his head.
"Okay, I admit it was good." Jack said as Arcee chuckled softly.
"Bet Sierra was really impressed." She teased him as he blushed a light pink.
"Yeah. I mean, I think so." Jack said as he was a little embarrassed.
"Just so you know we will never do that again. This is just a one time thing. I don't want street racing going through your head. It's too dangerous." Arcee said as Jack nodded.
"Sure thing." He said before they arrived and entered the base.
After getting in, Jack got off from Arcee to let her transform as Jack smiled to everyone that was present.
"Hi, everyone, we're here." He said as Ratchet nodded.
"Glad you came." Ratchet said as Miko waved over.
"Yo, Jack. What's up?" Miko asked as Jack nodded.
"Nothing much. Just a regular day at work." He shrugged as Miko tilted her head.
"Are you sure?" She asked just to be sure as he nodded.
"Yeah. Anyway, is Emily here?" Jack asked as Smokescreen spoke up.
"She came in before you. She looked kind of angry." He said as he rubbed the back of his helm as Jack looked surprised.
"Oh really?" Jack asked as Bulkhead nodded.
"Know why?" He asked as Arcee shook her head.
"Can't say I do." She said as Jack looked up to her.
"Well I guess that if we want to find out, we can talk to her to see what's going on with her." Jack said as Arcee nodded.
"That does seem appropriate." She said as Ratchet turned to them.
"She's training at the S.A.F.E room." He said as Jack nodded.
"We'll go there." He said as both of him and Arcee went there to talk to Emily.
"He didn't tell us anything." Raf said.
"I'd figured so. Jack doesn't like to attract attention. The only way to find out if it's true is to tell him that we know. That way he'll tell us about it." Miko said as she was forming a plan.
"I'm not sure about this. Maybe Jack doesn't want to talk about it." Raf said as he didn't want to get too personal as he was curious to know as well.
"Come on, Raf, let's go." Miko said as she stood up with Raf as they both ran after Jack and Arcee.
Meanwhile at the room, Emily was training to let off some steam as she had put on her suit and she was fighting on a simulation that had twenty Decepticons shooting at her. She had decided to practice her shooting. For now she had taken only 15 out of 20. She only needed to take down five more cons. Time was running out and she only had 30 seconds left. Not wanting to fail at this training, she decided to act fast. With one shot, she had taken down two cons and put the score at 17 out of 20. She shot the two other cons leaving the score at 19 out of 20. Only one con was left as she started aiming at it. Waiting for an opportunity and when it showed up, she shot the last con down. Making the score 20 out of 20. Not only that, she had made a new time record. The simulation was over and still Emily couldn't calm down her anger before she heard the door getting opened, meaning that someone was entering the room as this made her a little annoyed.
"I told you guys I did not want to be interrupted!" She snapped angrily.
When she turned around, she saw that Jack and Arcee were the ones who entered the room as she calmed down slightly but not completely as she crossed her arms.
"Oh, it's you guys." She said as Jack rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
"Yeah it's us." He said as Arcee wasn't surprised by her outburst but it concerned her.
"The others told us you were here." Arcee said as Emily just sighed.
"They also told us you were kind of... in a bad mood." Jack said slowly as Emily gave the two a slightly angry and irritated look.
"If you're here to ask me if I'm okay, I can assure you two that I'm totally fine. So you don't need to worry about me." She told them as she turned back to the simulator to train a bit more but Arcee stopped her for a moment.
"Emily, I understand that sometimes it can be painful to lose. But it was just a race." Arcee said as Jack agreed with her.
"Arcee is right. There's no need to make a big deal out of it." Jack said as Emily knew they had a point but that wasn't why she was angry.
"Easy for you to say. You're not the one who sprained his ankle." She rolled her eyes and turned around while putting her hands on her hips.
"No, wait, what I'm trying to say-" Jack started but Emily gave him a sharp look to which he instantly stopped talking. Man, who knew Emily could silence someone with just one look.
"I know what you're trying to say here. That I shouldn't take things easily and I should just ignore what people say. I thought a guy like you would understand but I guess I was wrong." Emily said as she looked away as she was gritting her teeth.
"What does that supposed mean?" Jack asked in confusion.
"You know what I'm talking about. Ever since I got here, Vince has been onto me for what felt like forever. I figured if I showed him a good lesson, he would leave me alone." Emily said as Jack saw what she was trying to say and couldn't help but feel bad.
"Look I get that. Vince can be a little irritating. But maybe if you just ignore him, it'll go away." Jack said as Emily rolled her eyes.
"Oh really? How did that work for you?" Emily asked sarcastically.
"It worked fine." Jack shrugged but Emily just scoffed.
"Oh really? Sure it's not because of that little race you did to impress Sierra." Emily said as Jack took a step back in surprise at that.
"Whoa, wait up. I didn't ask to get in that race." Jack said as he tried to defend himself but Arcee stepped in.
"Emily, this was my idea. If there's anyone you should blame, it's me." Arcee said as Emily just clenched her fist but she breathed slowly to not eat them more.
"This isn't about who's to blame or anything. It's about me being in a difficult position. You don't understand this because you don't know what it feels like and right now I don't need your pity so just leave me alone." Emily said as her voice slightly cracked as Jack and Arcee took that as a sign to leave her alone as they left the room.
"I guess she's mad at me." Jack sighed as Arcee looked down at him with a soft smile.
"She's not. Just give her time. Remember, don't tell no one about you know what." Arcee reminded him with a stern look as he nodded.
"Our little secret." Jack said as Arcee left.
Suddenly out of nowhere, Miko surprised Jack from behind.
"Dude! Vroom, vroom, vroom! And the winner for beating Vince is..." Miko mimicked the position and the sound of the motorcycle as she trailed off as Jack looked at her in surprise and shock. How did she know?!
"Whoa, hold on, Miko. How did you find out?" Jack asked her in alarm as she put a hand on her hip with a look.
"You're kidding? The whole school knows about it. Here." Miko said as she took out her phone and showed the blog of the school of the cheerleading team social media Apparently the captain of the cheerleading team, Sierra, had published something about the race.
"#Jack wins a race against Vince." Jack said as he groaned at this. Why, Sierra, just why...
"You're famous, dude." Miko said with a grin.
"Yeah. You beat the pants off that blowhard bully Vince." Raf said as he was also impressed by it.
"Way to go, dude." Miko said before he grabbed both of them by the shoulders and huddled together as he lowered his voice as he didn't want to get in trouble.
"Shh, shh, guys. Listen, you gotta keep this a secret no matter what. Especially from Optimus." Jack said as he was worried about the red and blue mech finding out.
"Don't worry we won't tell him." Miko raised a hand as a silent promise.
"Our lips are sealed." Raf nodded in agreement.
"So hey what's the deal between you and Emily?" Miko asked curiously since she heard the conversation between the three but couldn't understand anything.
"What do you mean you heard us?" Jack looked even more surprised and alarmed by this.
"We got worried about her so we thought that we should try and figure out why she was so angry." Miko said as she grew worried as Jack sighed heavily.
"It's kind of a long story. Vince had challenged me to a race and when I said yes, Emily decided to help me. During the race, she had lost control of her caster board and fell. Spraining her ankle in the process." Jack explained as Miko winced at that.
"Ouch, that's gotta hurt." Miko said as she crossed her arms.
"Yeah. Arcee and I tried to tell her that she shouldn't make a big deal out of it." Jack said only to get the same look Emily gave him and Arcee but with irritation in it from Miko.
"Are you serious? How could you tell her that? You out of all of the people who know how it's like to be bullied by that jerk." Miko said as Jack took a step back in surprise.
"I get that but she shouldn't make a big fuzz." Jack said as Miko just scoffed.
"You're just saying that because you don't get anything about girls." Miko huffed before she left seeing as to how Jack still didn't get why Emily was mad.
"Just out of curiosity, why did you accept to race Vince?" Raf asked Jack as he looked up to him.
"Well... Sierra was there and I wanted to impress her. Do me a favour and don't tell Miko I said that and also don't tell Arcee I told you about all of this." Jack said as he didn't want to get in trouble with three girls about the subject as Raf nodded.
"You got it." Raf saluted with a smile.
The day after that, Jack was at school and everything was calm. After school he had to leave for work when suddenly Sierra surprised him as she walked up to him.
"Hey, Jack. Where were you? I've been looking all over for you." Sierra said as Jack looked at her in surprise and curiosity.
"For me?" He asked to make sure as she nodded.
"Yeah, I wanted to, you know... congratulate you. The race. How great was that? I was like 'Yeah, Jack'." She said as Jack smiled shyly while rubbing the back of his head.
"Thanks. By the way, Sierra, I saw your post on the cheerleading team social media page." Jack said as Sierra nodded and smiled apologetically.
"Oh, yeah, sorry I didn't tell you about it. I got so excited after you won. But don't worry, the social media page is private so nobody else will see it." Sierra reassured him as he sighed silently in relief.
"Great." He smiled his thanks.
"Anyway. I gotta say you were amazing out there. That bike you've had is surely fast." Sierra said as Jack glanced sheepishly at Arcee as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Well it-it-it was no big deal." He said sheepishly before Vince came and bumps Jack's shoulder with his rather painfully.
"You got that right. You think you can run with the big boys? Here's another challenge. The circuit, tonight. 11:00 PM. What do you say?" Vince said as he narrowed his eyes to dare Jack to reject the challenge.
"Huh?" Jack blinked in surprise.
"What's wrong, Darby? Cat got your tongue?" Vince taunted him.
"What, no, of course not. I'll be there." Jack quickly answered since he didn't want to appear like a coward in front of Sierra.
"Good. Get ready to lose. Because the only way you'll win is if you bring something better than your two wheel junk." Vince said before leaving towards his car as the two watch him leave as Sierra turns to Jack with concern in her eyes.
"Good luck on your second race, Jack. I hope you'll win." Sierra said as she left for home and left Jack in a huge rollercoaster of emotions as he groaned silently and covered his face.
"Scrap. Arcee is gonna kill me for this." Jack muttered quietly.
A few hours after school, Arcee was waiting for Jack to come out. Jack came out and tried to hide his stress from her.
"Hey, Jack, how was school today?" She asked as Jack grabbed the helmet.
"It was good, very good. Nothing out of the ordinary." Jack said as he laughed nervously before getting on Arcee who started to drive but Arcee could feel that something was bothering him.
"Sure you okay? You seem a bit nervous." She asked as Jack was beginning to get nervous.
"Who me? No I'm not. Couldn't be better." Jack said nervously but Arcee knew better.
"Jack." She said sternly as Jack sighed and gave up.
"Okay. Here's the thing. I accepted to go on another race." Jack said and Arcee almost skidded to a stop at that in shock.
"You did what?!" She said in shock and slight anger.
"It's some kind of challenge for a street race. I-I-I don't know. It all went so fast." Jack said as he tried to defend himself.
"How could you agree to that?" Arcee asked him as she regained her composure and started to drive towards the base.
"Well, Sierra was there and... I didn't want her to think I was a loser. I had no choice but to accept Vince's challenge." Jack said as Arcee was slightly disappointed at that.
"You always have a choice, Jack. And what part of just this once did you not understand?" Arcee said before asking him sternly.
"I know. I've messed up. But we're doing it right?" Jack said before asking hopefully but from what he can feel from Arcee it was a no.
"We're not doing it." She told him sternly.
"But, Arcee, if I don't show, Vince will never leave me alone and Sierra will think I'm a coward." Jack said. He didn't want to go but he had no choice but to go since he already accepted it.
"That's no excuse, Jack. Just because you wanna impress this girl, doesn't you gotta put your life on the line. So forget about this race. Is that clear?" Arcee said sternly as Jack sighed in defeat.
"Yes." He said but he's got a plan to participate in the race without Arcee knowing.
Meanwhile somewhere in the highway, Knock Out was out driving again as well as disobeying Starscream's orders once more as Breakdown contacted him.
"Knock Out, where are you? Starscream's been looking for you all over the ship. Again." Breakdown said as Knockout would have rolled his optics at that. Typical Starscream.
"I just went out for a little drive. You know me, Breakdown. I roll from town to town. Sniffing around, taking a gander and waiting for-'' Knock Out said but was cut off when a car passed by him while honking its horn but the car looked like it was racing.
"The next opportunity to present itself." Knock Out grinned before turning the comm-link off.
Knowing that where this car was heading to would be his next opportunity, Knock Out started going the same way that car went. From the looks of it, it was going to Jasper Nevada.
Meanwhile back at the base, Emily, Miko and Raf were already there as Emily seemed to have calmed down slightly while Arcee was keeping an eye on Jack but she had to go since she had to go on patrol for a while as she went to the entrance before she turned to Emily.
"I'm going on patrol. Emily, you're in charge." Arcee said as the blond glanced at her and nodded.
"Sure thing." She said as she turned back to cleaning Bolty with wax.
Before leaving, Arcee goes to check on Jack to make sure that he stays put and does not leave the base for that race.
"Jack, you stay put. Okay?" She said sternly as Jack nodded.
"I will." He said.
"I'm serious." Arcee said as she gave him a stern look as he nodded.
"I know. And I promise I won't leave this place to go, you know where." Jack said as Emily glanced at him after finishing up polishing Bolty as she had a pretty good idea on what the two meant.
"Very well. See you later." She nodded before transforming and leaving the base for the patrol.
"Why would Arcee choose me over you guys?" Emily asked curiously as she turned to the other mechs in the room.
Bumblebee whirred and beeped to say that Arcee has some certain criteria when it comes to choosing someone in charge to guard the base.
"That's why she would never choose one of us. She's very responsible when it comes to making choices." Bulkhead said as Jack knew that wasn't true sometimes.
"Guess you don't know her that well." He muttered quietly to himself before going to the human area to ask Raf, who was playing a video game, a favor.
"Raf." Jack called as Raf turned to him.
"Huh?" He turns to him but loses when he gets distracted by Jack's greeting.
"Sorry about that. Is there any way that I could borrow Bumblebee for an hour?" Jack asked as he pointed his thumb at Bumblebee as the scout looked at him as if asking why Jack would want to borrow him for an hour.
"What for?" Raf restarted the game as he started playing as Jack tried to come up with an excuse.
"Well you see... I have to work on a late homework about... engines." Jack said as Miko looked at him like he grew two heads.
"A homework about engines? Seriously?" Miko asked if he was serious as Emily rolled her eyes at that as she knew that he made that up since he was planning something.
"If this is your best lie, you're embarrassing yourself. What's this all about?" She asked him sternly and Jack knew that he was caught red handed and knew that he had to come clean.
"Well you see, earlier today at school, Vince challenged me to another race... and I said yes." Jack admitted and everyone stared at him in shock and surprise. He said what?!
"Whoa, you're kidding?" Miko asked to make sure she didn't misheard.
"I wish I was." Jack groaned but it was too late to back down.
"Jack, you know racing is against the rules. What if Optimus finds out?" Raf said as he didn't want to break the rules for a street race as Bumblebee whirred in agreement.
"If Arcee finds out about this, she's going to kick our tailpipes." Bulkhead said as he didn't wanna face the wrath of a femme since seeing Emily being so angry earlier was really scary.
"I don't know. It sounds pretty fun. I bet it will be just like a race in Velocitron." Cliffjumper said as he was a little interested in it but one look from Emily made him stop.
"You're not helping, Cliffjumpermper." She told him sternly as he gulped and nodded.
Smokescreen comes in and sees that everyone is having a conversation. He hides by the wall so that he can listen without anyone noticing him.
"Just out of curiosity. Why did agreed to race Vince again? You already beat him once." Miko said curiously as Emily scoffed since she knows the reason why he accepted.
"Ain't it obvious? He wants to impress a certain girl." She said as Miko made a 'Oh! Burn!' face.
"Ooh nice one, Romeo." She teased as Jack blushed a light pink as Raf was still hesitant.
"I'm not sure it's a good idea for you to do that race." Raf said as Bulkhead agreed.
"Yeah. What if something bad happens?" Bulkhead asked as Jack looked desperate.
"That's why I was thinking of borrowing Bumblebee. He's fast and it shouldn't be too hard on him." Jack said as Raf was reluctant.
"I don't know." He said with an unsure look.
"Come on, Raf. You know Jack has to do this. To get the girl." Miko said as she thinks it was a great idea but Raf wasn't still convinced by this.
"And beat the bully." Miko said as she put more emphasis to it.
"Come on, Raf. Just this once." Jack pleaded as Raf looked really unsure of how to answer.
"Well..." He said but was cut off by Emily saying a firm word.
"No. The answer is no." She said sternly and firmly as she gave Jack a stern look.
"Say what now?" Miko looked taken aback by this as Jack looked at Emily desperately to change her mind.
"Please, Emily. I promise everything will be fine." Jack said as he looked at her as Emily stood up while crossing her arms.
"I said no. Arcee has left me in charge and we both know that she doesn't want you in that race." She said as Jack looked deflated by this but he wasn't gonna give up that easily.
"It's just one race." Jack said as he tried to defend himself.
"No, Jack. It's not just one race. If you keep racing one day, you'll make it a habit. A dangerous habit." Emily said as she was feeling her anger rising slowly again but she kept it at a limit.
"I won't. After this one, I will officially retire from street racing." Jack said. He needed to be there but Emily wasn't having none of that.
"I'm not letting you do that race. End of discussion." She said as she turned her back to him.
"Why don't you just admit it?" Jack said but that struck something and it was bad news.
"Admit what?" She turned to him as her eyes narrowed dangerously.
"You're jealous. You can't handle the fact that I won that first race and not you." Jack said as he crossed his arms and made Emily narrow her eyes at him more as the others looked at the two nervously and took a step back.
"Heads up, guys. This is not gonna be pretty." Bulkhead said as he backed up to not get caught as Bumblebee nodded while shaking in fear since this is the third time he's seen Emily so angry and upset and she was really scared when provoked wrongly.
"You should be careful with what you say." Emily said in a warning tone.
"Funny I was gonna say the same thing about you." Jack retorted as he rolled his eyes.
"You know what's funny? A while ago, you used to take things seriously. Always being responsible. Not making any trouble. Now all of the sudden, a guy starts challenging you to race and you accept it like it doesn't matter." Emily said as Jack just stared at her.
"Well, excuse me for trying to stand up for myself." Jack said.
"Oh yeah what a big stand. You say that you're trying to defend yourself but that's a lie. You only agreed to do this to impress a girl you like. And by doing so, you're putting aside your sense of responsibility. What would Arcee or your mother say if they were here?" Emily said as she put her hands on her hips as Bolty quickly went to Cliffjumper since he was sensing the rising tension between the two teens.
"Burn." Miko said quietly with a small snicker
"Okay fine maybe I am. Maybe I'd figure that if I prove to Sierra that I'm brave perhaps." Jack said as Emily shook her head in disappointment at him.
"That isn't brave, Jack. It's foolish and you know that. Is that the kind of guy you wanna be? An irresponsible guy? Doing something stupid just so you can go out with a girl?" Emily asked as she didn't want to argue with him and hoped to knock some sense into him but there was nothing changing both of their minds.
"Look, I'm not asking for your approval. And I don't need to." Jack said.
"Oh yeah, well, if you think I'm going to let you go to that race and throw your life away, you got another coming to you, mister!" Emily started to raise her voice as everyone flinched at the tone of her voice. Man, she's scary. It even made Bumblebee hide behind Bulkhead at that.
"Okay, well, thank you for worrying about me ruining my life! I really appreciate it! I should probably tell you that my life is not your business. And it is not your place to tell me what I can or can't do! You're not Arcee! And you're not my mom!" Jack yelled back as a huge silence took place as the two had a stare down but Jack took a step back once he realized what he said as he looked at Emily and he instantly regretted what he said as he saw pain in her eyes.
She was only trying to look out for him but words, painful words were exchanged. But before he could apologize, the comm-link started beeping and Raf checked who it was. It was Optimus calling them.
"It's Optimus." Raf said as Emily looked at Jack one more time with a disappointed look before turning to Raf as she tried to calm down and not cry.
"Put him in." She said as she took a deep breath as he nodded and did so.
"Arcee, this is Optimus." Optimus said as Emily explained where Arcee is.
"Arcee went on patrol. What do you need, Optimus?" She asked as Optimus spoke up.
"I need someone to help us count the stock of Energon in the mine." Optimus said he was with Ratchet at the mines as she nodded.
"I'll help you." She said as she went down the human area and to her motorcycle as she got on and started the engine.
"Very well. Optimus out." He said before turning the comm-link off.
"Raf, open the ground bridge." She said as he nodded.
"Got it." He quickly put the coordinates that Ratchet and Optimus used earlier as Emily turned to three mechs with a stern look in her eyes.
"Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper. You guys are in charge. Make sure that a certain person does not leave this place." Emily said as she gave Jack a warning look as the three nodded before putting her helmet on.
"Uh, sure." Bulkhead said as Cliffjumper nodded.
"No problem." He saluted.
Raf enters the mine's coordinates and after he opens the ground bridge, Emily enters it and disappears from view as Miko turns to Jack.
"Sorry, dude. Guess you won't be going out tonight." Miko said as Jack just sighed.
"Yeah, well I guess I better get ready for tomorrow's humiliation." Jack said as he walked down the human area with a gloomy mood as the others just watched him.
"Poor Jack." Bulkhead said as he couldn't help but feel bad for Jack but Emily was kind of right since street racing was illegal from what he learned from Miko.
"Yeah I feel bad for him." Cliffjumper agreed with him.
Jack started walking around the base on his own to try and clear his mind when suddenly, he heard someone's voice calling him.
"Psst. Hey, kid." Smokescreen whispered as Jack turned to him in surprise.
"Smokescreen? What are you doing there? Why are you hiding?" Jack asked as he noticed that the rookie was hiding.
"Sort of. I heard the whole thing. I wanna help you." Smokescreen continues to whisper as Jack looks at him in confusion.
"What?" He asked as Smokescreen made a quiet motion.
"Shh." He shushed him as he nodded and walked over to him as they both began to whisper.
"Oh sorry." He said in a whisper as Smokescreen just waved it off as he had a plan in mind.
"We don't have much time left. I'm gonna help you win that race." Smokescreen whispered with a grin as Jack looked at him in surprise.
"Why would you want to help me?" He whispered curiously.
"Let's just say I'm curious about how things work in a human street race. So what do you say?" Smokescreen whispered as he waited for his answer before the sound of the 15 year old girl surprised them.
"He said yes." Miko said as she came out of hiding as the two of them looked at her in surprise. Was she eavesdropping on them just now?
"Miko, what-what are you going?!" Jack asked her in a whisper as he stared at her in shock and surprise.
"I'm helping you out. I've got an idea for you two to go to that race without no one noticing you were gone. Smokescreen will say that is going out to get some air and you will try to get us some sodas." Miko said as she grinned as Jack and Smokescreen looked at each other at that.
"I don't think it will work." Jack said as he was unsure but Miko gave him a look.
"Hey, if you have a better idea, I'm all ears." Miko said as they both gave up and agreed with her plan.
"Guess we're going with that plan." Smokescreen said as Jack nodded.
"Looks like it." Jack said.
"Okay, well, let me introduce you to your seat." Smokescreen said as Jack looked at him in confusion.
Before Jack could even ask what that meant, Smokescreen grabs him and puts him inside his hood as he lets out a surprise yelp. After that, Smokescreen goes to see the others like nothing happened to tell them he's going out to get some air.
"Hey, guys, if you don't mind, I'm going out to get some air. It feels a little hot here." Smokescreen said as he feigned a little overheating as they looked at him in confusion but let him.
"Okay just be careful out there." Bulkhead said as Smokescreen nodded.
"I will." He said before walking to the entrance of the base and transformed before leaving just as Miko came back.
"Miko, where's Jack?" Raf asked curiously as Miko just smiled at him.
"He went to get some sodas." She simply said as Raf stared at her in confusion.
"Okay?" He said with confusion before turning back to the game.
After Smokescreen got out of the base, he stopped and told Jack he could come out of the trunk as he opened the lid.
"It's okay, kid. You can come out." Smokescreen said as Jack quickly scrambled out of the trunk and almost heaved a little.
"Don't ever do that again." He said as he felt like throwing up.
"Sorry. I figured it was the only way for you to get out unnoticed." Smokescreen said as he opened the driver seat side for him to get in.
"Get in." He said as Jack did so after buckling up the seatbelt and Smokescreen started to drive to the place where the race was being held.
"You okay?" Smokescreen asked as he used his rearview to look at him since Jack was fidgeting slightly.
"Yeah I'm just a little nervous." He said with a nervous smile.
"No kidding. Can't believe Emily was trying to control you out there." Smokescreen said before thinking of Emily trying to keep Jack from street racing. What's the big deal? Jack did say that it was only once and she made a big deal out of it.
"Yeah me neither. Ever since yesterday, she thinks she has to be right about everything and worse she thinks she knows better. I already have my mom and Arcee. I don't need a third person acting like a mother in front of me." Jack said as he was a little annoyed that Emily was telling him what he can or can't do in his life.
"Relax, kiddo. Don't need to worry about anything. We'll have a good time." Smokescreen said with a grin on his voice.
"If you say so." Jack said as he relaxed.
"So anyway, why did you agree to go in that race?" Smokescreen asked curiously as this made Jack blushed a little.
"Let's just say. It involves a girl." Jack admitted shyly as Smokescreen had a teasing grin at that.
"Oh I get it now. You wanna make her think that you're a cool guy huh? With me on your side, you'll be a lot cooler." Smokescreen said with a teasing tone as Jack couldn't help but feel more embarrassed.
"Let's just try and finish the race and go home. If Emily or Arcee found out about this, I'll be in big trouble for this." He said as Smokescreen agreed with that one.
"You got it, kid. We will win this race and get you a date with this girl. Sounds like you like her a lot." Smokescreen commented on how Jack talks about it and it was like how he always catches Emily watching Optimus with that look in her eyes and when she always became so shy around him.
"Yeah, you could say that." Jack admitted dreamily with a goofy smile on his dreamy face.
"I wonder if she's pretty." Smokescreen wondered as he tried to imagine what the girl Jack likes looks like.
"Yes she is. She might be the prettiest girl in Jasper, Nevada." Jack admitted as Smokescreen decided to tease him at that.
"I'll believe it when I see it." Smokescreen teased him as Jack snapped out of his thoughts of Sierra and gave him a playful glare.
"Hey." He said warningly as Smokescreen just laughed jokingly. Looks like there's two love birds on Team Prime. One has fallen for the last of the Primes and one is in love with a girl.
"I'm joking. I'm just messing with you-WHOAAAAAA!!!!!!!" Smokescreen said but cut himself off with a yell and hit the brakes and drifted off the road as Jack let out a surprise yell before they came to a stop as Jack pants in shock and looked at the rookie in shock and surprise.
"What happened?" Jack asked in shock as he put hand over his chest to calm his heart down.
"Sorry. I just saw something on the road." Smokescreen said as he could've sworn that he really did see something on the road and it looked sharp.
"A little warning next time. I'll go check." Jack said before getting out of Smokescreen and went to the road to check it.
He then fishes out his phone and uses the flashlight of his phone to try and find what Smokescreen saw on the road a minute ago. After looking around a bit, he had found a bunch of nails on the road as he was puzzled by their appearance.
"Nails? What are those things doing in the middle of the road?" Jack said as he kneeled down and picked one up before standing back up and checking the road before he remembered that this was the same one he, Vince and Emily raced on yesterday.
Wanting to figure out what Jack found, Smokescreen transformed and went to ask Jack what he had found as he kneeled down beside him.
"Everything's okay, kid?" He asked as Jack look at him and back at the roadm
"This road. It's the same one from last time." Jack said as he was trying to piece something together. The accident happened before the race ended but how can nails be involved?
"What do you mean?" Smokescreen asked in confusion.
"This road is the one where I've first raced Vince. For some reason, there's nails all over the place." He explains as he showed him the nails while he used his shoe to sweep them off the road before a car ran over them.
"How did they get there?" Smokescreen said as he knew that things like those could cause some serious accidents.
"Don't know but it sure is... weird." Jack said before his eyes widened when he pieced everything together and realized something that made anger boil in him. Vince did this?!
"Wait a minute. The nails, Emily's accident. No way..." Jack said as he finally figured out what caused Emily's accident yesterday.
"What is it?" Smokescreen asked but Jack, with anger, threw the nail from his hand as he clenched his fists tightly but calmed down.
"I think I found out what these nails are doing on the road. Someone threw it and that someone is Vince. That's how Emily lost control of her caster board. She hit a nail." Jack explained to him as Smokescreen felt anger flashed through him as his optics widened in shock at this before narrowing them dangerously. That fragger did what?!
"So you mean that guy cheated?" Smokescreen asked just to be sure as Jack nodded with a burning fire in his eyes.
"It seems that way. Either way, I'm gonna make him pay." Jack said as he was really looking forward to beating Vince and to make him pay.
"Very well then." Smokescreen agreed with him before transforming and opening the driver seat.
"Let's roll." He said as Jack got in and Smokescreen took off to where the race track will be located.
Now that Jack knows what happened yesterday, he's determined to get some payback from Vince and that was to beat him in the race.