Transformers: Survival of Defective Products

Jack has been getting really annoyed by Vince at school lately.

That guy has a bad temper and a sharp tongue. He often causes trouble for people because his family owns a modified sports car.

Jack usually ignores him, but the problem is that Sera is here today too.

"Where's your usual motorcycle?" Vince asked, leaning against the car. "Why didn't you bring it?"

Jack: "She's not my car."

"So it was borrowed," Vince scoffed. "Or are you just too scared to compete?"

"Not interested."

"Afraid of losing?"

Jack stopped walking.

The teenager's reason was working very hard, but he caught a glimpse of Sera not far away.

Reason officially went offline.

"What are we competing in?" "Racing."

-

Fifteen minutes later, Jack began to regret it.

After hearing the whole story, Arcee refused decisively: "No way."

"Oh please, he's really annoying."

"That's no excuse for illegal racing," Arcee said, crossing her arms. "And do you think it's fair to compare Cybertronian vehicles with human-modified cars?"

Jack had nothing to say. Bumblebee happened to be passing by and, upon hearing the word "racing," slowed down a little.

Arcee gave a warning look, but Bumblebee immediately walked away as if nothing had happened.

Ten minutes later, Jack found him in another passageway.

The two people looked at each other.

Bumblebee spoke first: "Just once?"

Jack: "Just once."

—At night, at the suburban racetrack—

Upon arriving at their destination, Jack ignored Vince's taunts.

After Sierra waved the starting flag, both cars sped off simultaneously.

Bumblebee was clearly holding back, but even so, Vince was slowly pulled away after a few turns.

Just as Jack breathed a sigh of relief, a bright red sports car suddenly caught up from behind, its paint so shiny it was almost blinding.

Bumblebee: "...Oh no."

The private channel connected immediately: "I thought it was someone else, but it's you, Bumblebee."

Bumblebee instantly became annoyed: "What are you doing here?"

"Racing".

Jack was stunned. "He's a Cybertronian too?"

"Decepticons, knock them down!"

Why are the Decepticons racing here?

Knockout replied directly: "I like it. You have to allow Cybertronians to have hobbies."

He had barely finished speaking when he passed by, saying, "You've regressed, huh?"

Immediately afterwards, Jack felt an irresistible recoil force, and the yellow sports car accelerated sharply as he slammed on the gas pedal.

Jack: "Wait! I didn't come here to compete with him!"

The game quickly turned sour.

He deliberately blocked the corner, and Bumblebee cut past him from the side, neither car giving way.

"They're getting more and more conservative."

"It's better than you only caring about the paint."

"What an aesthetically challenged guy!"

As Jack sat inside, he began to question the meaning of life.

He came here tonight to beat Vince, but where is Vince? He can't even see him in the rearview mirror.

-

Bumblebee crossed the finish line first.

Vince arrived quite a while later, looking extremely grim.

Sera walked over and said with a smile, "Your driving skills are really good. Congratulations on winning first place."

Jack whispered "thank you," and it seemed as if tiny flowers began to fall around them.

Until he was knocked down and slowly walked by: "Having fun?"

The bumblebee immediately became alert: "What do you want?"

"It's nothing," Knockout said casually and cheerfully. "I just felt that this kind of happiness should be shared."

Bumblebee and Jack froze simultaneously.

That's it!

-

The Autobot base and the vector private frequency soon received a communication.

Sender: Knock Down.

Attachment: Record of the illegal racing scene.

Arcee closed her eyes, and Optimus Prime remained silent.

He was still researching the limits of the Autobots' transformation and mimicry with AZ, as well as the gravitational vectors of human structures, when he clicked on the screen and saw Bumblebee, Jack, and the eye-catching red sports car next to them. He paused for a moment, then resignedly teleported to the Autobot base.

Taking down this guy is pointless and only serves to make you happy.

-

When Jack and Bumblebee returned, Arcee was the first to block their way.

Optimus Prime didn't say anything harsh, only calmly reminding:

"Illegal racing on public roads endangers unauthorized personnel, and Bumblebee's performance far surpasses that of human vehicles. If an accident occurs, the consequences will not be just a normal collision."

Jack lowered his head and slumped down: "I'm sorry."

Optimus Prime then looked at Bumblebee, who honestly apologized.

Arcee added coldly, "So you're going to go find Bumblebee just because I said no?"

Jack had no way to defend himself.

Vector stood aside and listened for a while before squatting down in front of Jack after Optimus Prime finished speaking.

"Breaking the law is of course wrong."

Jack's spiky hair seemed to droop, but she smiled again:

"However, being provoked by someone you dislike many times and then wanting to make them suffer in the end is not a heinous crime."

"It's normal to get angry and retaliate, but you have to choose the right way." Vector patted him carefully on the shoulder. "Next time you want to teach Vince a lesson, find a way that won't drag yourself, Bumblebee, and the bystanders into the law."

Jack finally smiled: "Yes, Your Honor."

Bumblebee poked its head out from the side: "What about me?"

"You're older than him, go listen to Optimus Prime yourself."

Bumblebee: ...Favoritism!

Just then, the base communications suddenly went off; it was the partition.

Heavy breathing and noises came from the other side first.

The smile on her face vanished instantly: "A partition?"

"The dead fire is gone."

-

Half a minute before the game, the partition and the dead fire secretly arranged a fight.

There were many old grievances from the war, and they couldn't really fight to the death now. After a "very mature" discussion, the two planes decided to find a deserted place, not to use lethal weapons or attack the fire pods, and to settle the matter by having whoever conceded defeat stop.

Then he didn't tell anyone.

Once the vector knows, it can slap their heads with a folder.

The two aircraft fought their way from the wasteland to the abandoned quarry, completely unaware that a reconnaissance plane had already locked onto the abnormal energy high in the sky.

Silas looked at the screen. Two mechanical lifeforms, with no other of their kind nearby—it was the perfect opportunity.

"Prepare paralyzing weapons."

The deputy reminded him, "We can't bring two."

"Then one."

-

All I remember is something piercing my body, followed by complete paralysis.

He and the dead fire collapsed at the same time, and then he fell into a coma.

When I woke up again, it was already dark, the dead fire was gone, and only drag marks remained on the ground.

The partition immediately realized something was wrong.

No matter how annoying a dead fire is, it's impossible for it to just disappear on its own like this, without even leaving a single sarcastic remark.

-

The ambulance arrived first, followed closely by Graviton and Optimus Prime.

"Sorry, I'm the one who asked him out." The partition man looked very upset.

"Did he agree?" "...He agreed."

"Then that's your problem." Yin Xiang squatted down and picked up a small metal needle from the rubble. "We'll talk about that later. Let's find the opportunity first."

The ambulance scanned the device: "Neural interference paralysis device, not Cybertronian technology."

LaserBird suddenly appeared from nowhere, scanning the scene and uploading surrounding images and drag marks.

The sound waves remotely compared the residual traces of the numbing needle in the database, and the results were sent in less than a minute.

[Mech Special Operations Team.]

Vector's expression turned completely cold. This time they actually dared to directly kidnap Cybertronians?!

She immediately connected to the Decepticon communications: "Deadfire has been captured by the Mech Task Force."

Megatron's first reaction was unsurprisingly: "If he can't even handle a group of humans—"

"Megatron," the vector coldly interrupted, "Think carefully before you speak."

The other side stopped, and he almost blurted out that old logic, but he swallowed it back.

Even if he is corrected over time, his old ways of thinking will still emerge faster than his actions. Fortunately, he has some ability to reflect.

After a brief silence, Megatron changed his order: "Soundwave, recall and knock down. Starscream with flying units, ground forces prepare, prioritize rescuing Deadfire."

If the vectoring fins are relaxed a little, at least this dead thing can still be saved.

-

When Deadfire awoke, he was already anchored at the mech special operations team's temporary base, where several members were scanning his armor.

Silas stood on the platform above, his eyes gleaming with undisguised interest.

The complete mechanical life, including its materials, structure, and deformation principles, is all worthy of study.

"Cut him open."

The Deadfire Optical Mirror suddenly lit up: "Try touching me!"

As soon as the cutting equipment approached, the alarm suddenly went off.

[Space anomaly. Multiple high-energy targets.]

Silas's face darkened: "So fast?"

Outside the base, the land bridges lit up instantly on both sides, one side occupied by Autobots and the other by Decepticons.

Red Spider, accompanied by flying soldiers, blasted open the gate, knocked them down, and rushed inside.

As the vector stepped out from the other side, Silas recognized her at a glance through the surveillance footage.

That last shot is still fresh in my mind.

"withdraw."

The deputy was taken aback: "The target is still—"

"It's too late."

This time he finally confirmed that the Cybertronians' intelligence sharing and rescue speed far exceeded expectations.

The key personnel quickly evacuated through the backup passage with the scanned data.

The first one to be found was knocked down; the outer armor wasn't cut open, and only basic sampling was performed.

He visibly relaxed, then immediately began to mock, "You got captured by a bunch of humans?"

Deadfire: "Go back and laugh."

The dead engine was eventually brought back safely.

It's fortunate that there weren't any serious injuries.

-

After returning to base, Silas couldn't resist flipping through the incomplete documents.

Could humans create something similar? What if they obtained complete data and thoroughly studied the internal workings of those mechanical lifeforms?

An extremely crazy idea, which is currently uncertain even at the theoretical level, popped into my head.

He tentatively named it the Chimera Project.

He documented energy fluctuations, surface scans, and the speed of rescue responses from all sides on Cybertron.

It's okay, he'll succeed next time, and they won't find it so quickly.

-

After the dead engine was carried back and saw the partition, its first words were: "Still fighting?"

The partition peeked at Yin Vector, who was looking at a medical report, and remained silent.

The dead fire followed his gaze and fell silent.

"You've arranged a fight in private, haven't you?"

The vector chuckled.

A chill ran down my spine from behind the partition, and even the dead fire shivered inexplicably.

"After you're cured, come to the judicial liaison point yourself, and I'll explain to you what risk reporting is."

The person next to him, who was knocked down and was laughing loudly with his teeth chattering, turned his head as if to be pulled away:

"I haven't even brought up the illegal racing issue with you yet."

The smile vanished the instant he was knocked down.