Worst Case Scenario ~ Spark of Hope 'Alternate ending.'
First of all I am so grateful to Dragonrider2203 for letting me steal her muse and build off of her Chapter 1 on Worst Case Scenario. Which means *shameless plug* you need to read 'Worst Case Scenario' Ch 1 first before you can read this one. Story ID # 5267434
Rated T for swearing.
Passively with his head glued parallel to the floor, Bee slowly climbed up the stairs towards Megatron's chambers. As an obedient stooge he held out a large flask of blueish liquid over his head in offering. His optic never dared venture a glance upwards. Never dared to face his master. Two years now and that thought still made him sick. Megatron snatched the canister out so haphazardly he managed to leave a new set of claw marks in Bumblebee's hands. Megatron rose to his feet and prowled around his open castle.
"Such a glorious day, isn't it." He smiled and opened the flask and fed it to his spark. With sheer contentment he made a motion of what would be a satisfactory sigh as the energy soared into the red glow in his chest. It pulsed brightly in return. Bumblebee sat busy examining his hand. His repair cycles weren't what they used to be and wondered how many weeks it would take to heal. Whack! The canister thwacked against Bee's head. Bee flinched back to sniveling groveling.
"Now get out of my sight!" Megatron roared as he came stomping towards Bumblebee. The yellow Autobot scattered. From experience he knew that if he wasn't quick enough, Megatron would bare down on him, unleashing an assortment of punishments. As Bumblebee quickly scampered away from the chamber he glanced back to see a cage swinging in the grisly air. It was empty. Bee's remaining optic sparked. He trotted down the stairs. As soon as he was out of sight behind a large pillar he quickly scanned the room for a biological life form. There was none. Quickly he surveyed the street below. There was a signature, but his sensors were too damaged to tell correctly without getting closer. Sam!
He quietly slipped down towards the street. A few more mentally sound drones and Decepticons flung insults and kicks his way. He lay low and docile until they were out of sight. For two years they had come to expect him as their punching bag for frustration or a reminder of how high and mighty they are compared to the fallen Autobots. Bumblebee's only reason for putting up with that was because A) Megatron, and B) Megatron's possession of the boy. However Sam was absent without Megatron's knowledge. If Bee could find Sam and hide before Megatron wised up, he was willing to take his chances with A.
It was best to kept a low profile. He even rubbed mud over his Autobot emblem to avoid uneasy glares and unnecessary confrontations. As he smeared the dark goop over the red embossing he could feel the scratches Megatron left on it. Megatron liked seeing it only because he liked seeing it on such a submissive pile of scrap heap. Whenever making mention to the word 'Autobot' he would thump the thorn of his claw on it to scuff and mar the symbol Bumblebee held so sacred. Now it was covered in shame. Bee's spark sank.
Bumblebee was in the streets now. He was out looking for his leash. All these risks for the one hope that he could find it and hide themselves somewhere safe. These streets weren't that high risk to Bumblebee. Barely anything that crawled around here had much more intelligence than a toaster. Even so, he needed to be low key. He bounded in the direction he last picked up the human's presence. A moment of optimism. His sensors were coming up positive with organic life forms ahead of him. He couldn't tell, but it was either three forms or his sensors were malfunctioning. He shook his head a little to see if it would remedy the problem. No go. He pushed forward.
Then a familiar sound of weapon fire and explosions caused him to cast aside his subtle demeanor. He bolted into a run. His feet pounded the broken concrete. As he got closer to the action his audio sensors picked up multiple voices. It was a dead end for Sam but they sounded like they needed help. Bee stopped running for a moment and examined a quick way to the roof.
Down below three humans were running between the buildings with several Decepticons trailing behind them. The metal monsters were gaining, which left the humans with little time to turn and shoot. Two dodged into an alley. The last one worked her way to the opening when a large explosion blocked her path.
"Sari!" One of the men yelled as he threw out his grungy hand to her.
"Save it! I'll catch you at the next pass." She ran past them feeling the escalating danger fold around her. It was a suicide mission now. She knew it and she cursed under her breath. Up above Bee followed along the rooftop. Two humans passed down an alley and dropped into an exposed sewer system. Two drones followed suit but by the time Bee ran perpendicular to the location their sparks fazed out. The humans disabled two sparks in such a short amount of time? Bee was curious but had other pressing matters at hand.
Sari didn't have the fortune to dispatch her followers. She turned her head to see a massive metalized beast at her heels. Behind that were several other robotic monsters. Her brain screamed at the realization that the next exit from this awful terrain was six hundred yards ahead. The metallic beasts would be on her in three. Yet, she pushed forward. She was leaving it up to fate or chance now. Hopefully one of them cared.
One hundred yards. Two hundred yards. Two hundred and fifty the great metal dragon collapsed behind her. She caught the noise and turned her head. Her mind couldn't grasp all the information at once but she got the most important. Missiles were being launched towards her. As fast as her feet could carry her wasn't enough to avoid the impacts completely. They landed behind her and caused her to fly forward through the air. Her body impacted the ground and slid. Her weapon skidded farther still. Sari grunted as her senses were insulted by the smell of caustic fumes and pain. She couldn't make it to her feet but she was determined to get to her gun and fight. Behind her Bee had used the large metal body as shielding and a hiding spot for another surprise attack. Surprise. He launched his fist into the approaching Decepticon's head. Using the momentum, he one-eightied around and caught his footing to continue running. Just as Sari had the gun strap in her hand she turned to see a hulking robot soar towards her. She braced herself on wobbly knees as her hand caught the butt of the gun.
"Hurk!" She bellowed as she felt the impact. It wasn't what she expected though. For one, she was still breathing. Second, she looked around with confusion and saw that she had been scooped up in two powerful arms. She didn't go into a panic. No, her instinct was too concentrated on her anger. She pulled at the gun strap but it was trapped on the outside of the robot's fingers. Her body was pushed up to his chest plate making it too difficult for her to aim the gun anyways. She cursed. She could feel the warm spark pulse inside and if she had her gun a single shot could put the creature down.
Bee crashed into a corner of a building. Or rather the corner crashed into him as a barrage of explosions pelted debris into the air. He continued plotting across the ground looking for an escape. He was already regretting this. Hopefully the AllSpark only gave them the spark of life but not the mind to tell Megatron what he was up to. Sari looked out to see that her second exit just passed her. She growled and continued to work with the gun strap, edging the gun closer to her grasp. It was difficult because the robot that was carrying her was bouncing around relentlessly. Bee reached an intersection. In the opening before him was more trouble. Without a nanosecond's blip he bounced off towards a side passage. It was down a very narrow alley way. He had to slow down to prevent his movements from shoving his doors and arms against the brick building. Behind him the brainless creatures tried following but most were too big to fit through. Little ones came behind but without the intelligence to dictate a plan, a power struggle ensued instead.
Sari was pushed up even closer to the Autobot's chest as he strafed the wall. It was slowly dawning on her that it was feeling more like an uncomfortable hug rather than a threat. Bee trotted out of the alley. He really had to give it to Megatron at keeping his sparklings really dumb. They were so busy struggling to go through the passage they failed to realize they could just go around. Easier for him to control Bee amused. Near him was a road that was broken open and an underground cavern was exposed. He slipped down through the hole and continued running until his scanners quit buzzing with danger.
He slowed to a stop. Carefully he set the girl down and stepped forward to survey the upcoming landscape. Sari behind him grasped her gun and pulled it towards her. It made a dragging noise. Bumblebee turned back to her and pursed his finger up over what humans would perceive as a mouth piece. The human universal for 'quiet, please'. Sari raised an eyebrow of disbelief and stepped backwards. Her mind struggled to grasp that he just signaled to her in a human gesture. Bee tried to return his watchful eye to his surroundings but his optic caught something foreign on his hands. They were spotted with blood.
"You're hurt." He spoke with concern as his optic flashed to look her over. Her frown turned into a gape. She looked down at her side and pressed her hand to her body. Pulling it away reveled crimson on her fingers. Sure enough, she was. Her mind acknowledged and responded in kind by signaling pain receptors to activate. She doubled over slightly.
"Is there anywhere you can go for help?" His voice sounded almost human. Almost. It was soft yet scratchy and of course a hint of metallic. She stared at him. He took the moment to survey the area once more. If she had half the mind, she would shoot his spark out. Right now, right here. She shook her head and started walking forward.
"I'm going out of my mind." She muttered. Bumblebee watched her intently and began to follow her. She stopped with acknowledgment of the first footsteps, she looked back and glared at him. Not really sure what to do or say in response, he shrugged. She stepped away with her eyes fixed on him. The adrenaline that was saturated in her body started to recede. It caused a moment of dizziness in her. The Autobot was more attuned to sensing this than she was. She had learned to ignore it.
"You shouldn't be straining yourself." Bumblebee muttered thoughtfully. He stepped back and started his transformation. Sari's response was to line up the robot in her scope. Bumblebee paused with concern at the response but after two years, it was probably expected. His transformation was complete, followed by a strange stare off between a yellow sports car and an armed woman. Even with her finger on the trigger and her aim steady, Bumblebee cautiously edged closer and offered an empty seat. He then stayed completely motionless. Her eyes slowly broke away from the little orange reticle and examined the yellow car. At one point it was a beautiful, sleek car. Now it was marked full of tattered fragments of metal, scratches and scorch marks.
He rolled forward quietly edging the door opening closer to her.
"What the hell." She stiffened. It was a mix of a question and a statement. Seconds rolled on by and the car patently waited for her. Curiosity killed the cat. She mused with a crooked half smile. More moments passed. What did it want? She shot glances around. Now minutes. Then slowly, she stepped into the drivers seat. Bye Miss kitty. The door shut but the car waited for her command. She eased her hands on the wheel. Quietly the car drove off.
After all those years of being mute he suddenly could speak again. But fate had a cruel sense of humor and she implemented it well with irony. The first words that came out of his vocal processor was, "Optimus!? No!"
As they retreated and went into hiding, despair had fallen over his spark and his desire to speak plummeted. It only worsened as Megatron and the other Decepticons slowly picked away the only friends he had left. Mikaela ended up being the hardest to deal with. After Sam's disappearance, Bumblebee could only assume death, he took on the role of being Mikaela's guardian.
Megatron hunted them down. Bumblebee used himself as a distraction and it worked as long as Megatron didn't realized Bumblebee's ploy. Lots of words could be used to describe Megatron. Impatient, rash, impulsive but stupid wasn't one of them.
"Fee Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of a fleshling." Megatron amused while discontinuing his search for the last Autobot in pursuit of someone who could not hide her scent so readily. The evil being laughed heartily as the screaming girl wrenched Bumblebee out of hiding. He ascended in the air with his prize and kept a slow pace so that the Autobot on the ground below could follow.
This was now a game for Megatron and Bumblebee's desperation made him a willing pawn. First was the horror of realizing that Megatron had been keeping Sam as a toy. Then he watched helplessly as Megatron obliterated Mikaela in front of both Bee and Sam. Bumblebee fought as valiantly as he could. In the end his head was struck to the ground so hard that half of his sensors went off line, including one of his blue optics. The fight was over and Bumblebee submitted to his fate. Megatron fanged a vicious smile. You're not getting off that easily for all the trouble you caused me! Rage burned into him at how the great Decepticon was deceived by such an unworthy advisory. How he had been distracted by this scrap heap as the AllSpark was sent out into space. Oh no, there was a special place in hell for Bumblebee.
"Submit to me and I'll let the boy live."
Until just a few minutes ago, Bumblebee hadn't spoken since.
The tunnels he was driving through were a mixture of sewers, subway lines and carved out caves. It would have been surprising how quickly things turned into wastelands had he not seen it once before. Things were quiet. Too quiet for either beings tastes.
"So," Bumblebee's voice broke the silence. The tension was going to be a lot harder to dismantle. Sari looked down at the swaying steering wheel. Her eyes were filled with distrust. Bumblebee was driving. She took no interest in the deception that she was in control of the situation. After the long pause Bumblebee awkwardly continued, "there must be a human settlement somewhere you can get aid from?" At least he hoped.
The agony of silence responded. He turned on the radio and scanned for radio waves and signals that might tell him something. His passenger lurched with unease when she heard that the robot could access their communications. Bumblebee picked up on the response and turned the radio down. He didn't want to turn it off however in case someone relayed that a young emaciated boy wandered into their camp. Bumblebee was always known for his optimism.
They drove around aimlessly in the tunnels for what seemed like hours. Tension never ceased between the two. Bumblebee used this opportunity to at least map out the tunnels to his memory. He had been quite lost roaming around ever since satellite and internet went offline. He made a couple mentions that she should seek medical help. Even if she stopped bleeding externally Bee still worried about internal bleeding. She prodded her stomach as to check herself but she never once muttered a sound.
Well this is just delightful. Bee would have rolled his eyes if he had them. If he could just get her to ease up a-
Bee suddenly killed the engine, the lights and locked down the doors. Sari's eyes widened at the sudden lock down. A moment of pause then the gear shifted itself into neutral and the car quietly backed down the way it had come. She sat up to see what the reaction was for. As quick as everything had died it sprung back to life. The gear jammed into drive and the wheels screeched as the car spun around. Zero to sixty faster than any car commercial could have ever boasted, the car blasted down the corridor. Behind them another car squealed it's tires.
The yellow Camaro muttered something in Cybertronian. It seized Sari's heart to hear that language. They crashed over a large pot hole and Bumblebee inadvertently translated his words to English,
"Damnit!"
The car closed up behind them fast. Black like a black hole with a wicked light that gleamed off it. So vividly it looked like black teeth, grimacing black teeth. Bee made a high speed turn. Halfway through the turn the road turned to sand and the tires slid uncontrollably straight. Bee cursed again in Cybertronian. The black Jaguar XKR roared towards him. The Camaro's tires continued to spin and suddenly caught friction again. It blew by the Jaguar. The Jaguar lurched at Bumblebee and thrashed open it's door with it's suddenly protruding spikes into Bee's side. It was enough to throw his course into the wall. The car scraped against the wall before Bee accelerated towards the center again. He had a plan. It wasn't a very good plan but at hand he didn't have a lot of options. Just his luck, a Decepticon. A real, vicious, cybertronian Decepticon. Engines roared through the narrow tunnels. The last two years of wear and tear really showed their true colors right now. Bumblebee had a hard time out pacing the black car. Worse thoughts popped into Bumblebee's systems. He couldn't keep this charade up forever.
He was coming to the end of his plotted course. Near the end of this tunnel was a piece of asphalt that had fallen from the world above. It might give him enough of a ramp to get topside. Where hopefully the overwhelming scent of robotic beings loitering around could mask his trail. His spark-nullifyer was now proven to be in decommission.
"You're not going to make it!" Sari yelped.
Thanks, I needed that. Bumble thought sarcastically. He shifted to high gear and ramped. Gunning everything he had towards the pavement. He jumped badly.
The front wheels had cleared but the undercarriage of the car banked into the rubble. Bumblebee threw his front tires into a frenzy and the momentum allowed his back tires to catch. He spun frantically trying to get enough friction with something. Exhilaration surged through him as his back tires hit a nick and he was able to pull himself free. He chirped in triumph as he bolted away from the hole in the ground. A scrape of metal and an angry engine stranded below furthered his excitement that was able to push his energy banks for just a little bit farther. He forgot how good it felt to make a stand against the enemy. Time for celebration fell short though. Racing away from one lowly Decepticon in the face of everything else lost was infinitesimal in comparison. Especially when out of the corner of his window he sited the alien jet of Megatron. He squealed his tires as he jerked a stupid move to hide himself so quickly in a partially demolished building. Bee killed the engines. Sari's heart pulsed inside her chest. She had seen him too. She breathed heavily and by the way the car was venting warm air into the chamber and trying to quiet the whir of an engine fan she mused that the car was doing the same thing. Neither dared to do anything until an extended period of time passed.
Allotting that enough time passed Bumblebee weakened and sagged into his chassis.
"I have to ask something of you." The car spoke wearily. "I know you don't want to relinquish any of your safeties to me, but" Bumblebee paused, "I need a place to hide." His voice infinitesimally weak. She looked down at the dashboard. The look in her eyes was no longer of distrust but curiosity. Bee confessed farther, "I am really low on energy right now, and if I can't find a safe place to recharge soon," he paused again, his voice processor strained. "I'll go into a mandatory shutdown." What he did today was stupid. Very, very stupid. What's worse is he doesn't even have a clue where Sam is. What if Megatron just did something just to toy with him. His spark froze at the thought. Sari startled when she felt the car roll back unexpectedly. It stopped with what seemed to be the robot catching himself in thought.
"Okay?"
No word in English or Cybertronian could express how grateful Bumblebee was.
"Stop here." Sari ordered. Bee obliged.
"What is that?" Bumblebee asked as he saw a strange orange flag hammered into the side of the wall. Sari sighed, she hoped he wouldn't have noticed it.
"It's a marker."
"I can see that. For what?"
She sighed again finally relinquishing her knowledge. "It's a trap set for robots like you." Bumblebee nodded on his tires. Not that Sari was versed in understanding robot-turning-into-talking-car body language to see it. "Wait here, I'll be right back."
She walked down the passage way glancing back a few times to make sure the car was doing as he was told. What a weird day. She shook her head as she walked into a welcoming site. It was a small outpost for the human resistance. Right now it was sparely populated. As she stepped through she was warmly greeted by an older woman. Sari smiled and hugged the women affectionately even though she couldn't remember her name.
"Oh my goodness, child. You're hurt." Sari simply smiled and nodded. She'd been through worse.
She had the chance to get cleaned up and have her wounds bandaged. No serious damage thankfully. She glanced over to a large duffel bag that was set over in a corner.
"Is that what I think it is?" She asked. The lady nodded. Sari sighed with unease. "You mind if I take it back with me?"
The lady who tended to her looked at her with mild surprise then replying warmly, "Yeah, sure. I don't see why not."
Sari's stomach lurched and twisted inside her. She had the people's trust and now what she was considering could be viewed as betrayal. She picked it up and turned back to the woman.
"I'm heading to Outpost Twelve. I have a couple comrades there that I'm going to try and regroup with." She smiled wryly. At least if she does betray everyone, they now know where to find her. As she turned to leave a handful of men entered the base.
"Where'd you come from?" Sari yelped in shock. The men looked at her. Two looked at each other.
"Uh, through that opening right there." One of the men still sporting a protective mask replied as he pointed at the entrance. One of the younger men swatted his shoulder with the back of his hand. All in a good chuckle of redundancy.
"You didn't see anything strange." She kept her warrior demeanor even as fear welled up inside her.
One guy narrowed his eyes, "What like we were followed? Nah, we're too good for that."
"Why, you think something weird is going on?" This guy replied with tension growing on his nerves.
"No, I. I just had a weird day." Sari chuckled. "I'm sorry for coming off strange like this. I almost got my ass handed to me by a bunch of metal heads." She pulled up her shirt to expose her bandages. The men smiled and nodded solemnly. A couple reached out to pat her shoulders encouragingly.
"Take care out there." One waved her off.
She walked back to where she left the car.
"Mr. Robot?" She called out in a loud whisper. She looked around to see an empty cavern. A small rumble of small rocks moving out of place caught her to glance upwards. With the ease of tremendous strength the robot lifted himself out of his hiding place. With one arm he gracefully set himself on the floor. Sari check to see if the coast was clear before motioning the robot to follow her.
She led him down a tunnel with a series of dead ends.
"Nobody ever comes down here. This should be a safe place for you to sleep." She turned and looked at the robot in the eye. Her gut wrenched at the thought about what she was going to do. She looked down at the bag. He saved my life, he deserves it. She told herself. She set the bag down and opened it up to expose the contents. Bee looked on in curiosity. She pulled out a large container that required two arms to lift it. Not that it was that heavy, it was just big. She handed it over to the large robot. He delicately took it with a cocked head. Now the container looked barely the size of a soda can. His optic lit up as he realized she was offering him energon. As she was struggling with her gut reaction and picking up the bag, she realized he was staring at it.
"It's not good enough?" She questioned a little defeated. Bee whirred his voice box as he looked at her in surprise.
"No, no, it's just-" he trailed off. All the times he had to fetch Megatron's 'breakfast' Bee toyed with the idea of taking energon for himself. He never dared to for Sam's sake.
"I'm not sure what more I could really offer you." She responded coolly but defensively.
He still looked at her in shock. She was clearly misunderstanding him. He considered thoughtfully for a moment before speaking.
"Well, if you have any time travel and a miracle, I would rather have that instead." Honestly. I'd give anything for that!
Sari looked at him as if he was trying to communicate with her in Cybertronian. Suddenly she burst out a bawk of laughter before catching herself. He made a joke. She couldn't believe it. His optic softened on her. He turned back to the flask. He glanced back at her one last time for verification that was okay. He could sense her apprehension but she never once objected.
He prepared himself by setting himself up higher on his exoskeleton. He placed his fingers on the top of the flask to remove the lid. Before doing so he wondered if he wasn't just imagining this. Did Megatron hit him really hard on the head to knock an important connection loose? Only one way to find out. He popped the top off of the container and tapped open his armor to expose his spark. His spark surged and quaffed in the energy. Bee tensed up at the sensation, dropping the canister. His spark surged and flitted wildly. Then bright blue energy electrified and sparked across his gray and yellow metal. He arched and his head crooked up while his hands involuntarily tried to make a fist. His fingers couldn't come together so they strained in a crux of a claw. Sensors that he had long forgotten about suddenly and rapidly flared up all across his body, as well as forgotten pain. With the canister depleted and rolling on the floor and the spark with nothing more to gain relinquished it's grasp to the air. Bumblebee fell back and caught himself against the wall. His sparked pulsed irregularly as it cycled in the new energy. In no way was it pure energon but it was so good. Even a little terrifying. Bee's body convulsed as the impure but raw energy cycled through his old systems spreading out through all the metal inlays regenerating old nano repair modules that had long been dormant. It hurt. It burned. It soared. It was rejuvenating! Bumblebee finally relaxed. His optic glowed just a little bit brighter. Even the dead one hinted a minor glow. Bee pushed his chest plate together as he realized that it was very exposed in front of a human who wasn't exactly an ally. It locked and the body vented in cold new air.
Sari stared at him in fascination. And now, she was expecting him to fly into a rage and tear her limb from limb. No explanation as to why she thought that, just with a human's luck against a robot it seemed like the most natural result. Maybe some of his systems were broken and she just reactivated them. Like it's 'kill all humans' protocol. Her mind could come up with more rationalizations for her thinking, but thought stop; he looked directly at her. Instinctively she reached for her gun. Instead he picked himself up off the wall and walked a few paces away from her. His arms braced themselves on the frame conjunction to his legs. He just stood there in his moment of silence. Okay, no kill humans protocol?
"So, what are you?" She stepped up closer to him. "Were you a malfunction when Megatron made you?"
The mechanoid whipped in her direction. His face locked down on her's. The one optic blighted so bright it scorched deep into her soul. The reaction was so quick and severe she had actually forgot about her gun at hand. And she had suddenly remembered just how big the thing is. Her body froze. There was something on his face. Vicious evil? Did the word Megatron just snap him back into kill mode? He was in kill mode now she was sure of it.
She wasn't apt at reading Cybertronian emotion. Far from it. She didn't have a clue. What she thought looked like shear rage and impulse for blood was actually the look of ****ing disbelief. Not disbelief, but ****ing disbelief.
"w-What?" The robot's voicebox stammered. She didn't move. Bumblebee reeled back. "That has to be the most insulting thing anybody has EVER said to me!"
"?" Sari was too flabbergasted to even make a word. She tried though.
He shook his head and turned to leave. Two steps in he turned back to look at her in bewilderment. One step back towards her. "Did you really just ask-?" He shook his head. "No!" His head continued to roll like a bobble figure. He then coasted up his hand to catch it still.
"Sorry." She whimpered.
Bumblebee who still couldn't get past staring at her over that comment made a cough noise. Over loading his vocal processor actually. The sudden spark of pain was enough to detach himself to finally change the subject.
"Soo, where did you get the energon from?" He stared down at the empty flask on the floor resisting the urge to stare at her again.
Okay, She insulted him. Very badly apparently. And yet he didn't go into kill mode. He didn't even threaten her. Maybe he didn't have that kill humans directive after all. She could move again.
"What?" She chortled. Her hand awkwardly reached up to scratch her scalp. "You think people who are forced to die collecting energon for Megatron wouldn't risk their lives giving it to their own people?"
Bumblebee let the words linger, to let them have their ire before asking a follow up. "But where do they get it from?"
"Earth's core."
"I see." It explained the impurities.
"And when that's depleted. Megatron will activate the Sun Harvester in Egypt."
"Sun Harvester!?!" Bee's optic blighted and dropped on Sari's detached expression. She looked up at him.
"Yeah." Followed by intensive examination of the robot who started whirring and clicking to itself. Bumblebee's optic intently focused on nothing at all.
"How could there be a Sun Harvester here? There's no way Megatron could have gotten enough energon back to Cyberton to get the supplies. Not in just two years!"
"It's been there a while. Before our written records. It was hidden away under one of the pyramids." Her tone was flat but her eyes were full of wonderment. Bee glanced a look at her then back to the wall. His optic twirled the light inside it and his metallic features shifted slightly. By his tone she was finally able to understand his current expression. Deep thought and confusion. Suddenly his weight bared down on his legs and he had to reach out to the wall to catch himself. Air vented through his systems and he crackled something in Cybertronian. Sari didn't know what he said but the last click and static sounded like the word 'Megatron.' She silently stepped away.
'Damn you Megatron!' So. Even if they had succeeded in stopping Megatron from getting the All Spark, Earth would have still had a big target painted on it's sphere. It really did seem like Megatron had the universe wrapped around his little claw. He noted that his human companion was becoming uneasy with his sulking. For the best probably. Nothing will get accomplished when dwelling on 'what ifs'. Even if he had enough to spend eons dwelling on them.
He straightened himself up. Another conversation changer. Something simple. Something not negative. Sari beat him to the punch.
"So? Is there something I can call you? Maybe something besides Mr. Robot?"
"Bumblebee."
"Uh, okay? Mr. Bumblebee."
"Heh. No, just Bumblebee."
"Sari." She smiled. Bee nodded his head in return. "So what kind of name is Bumblebee anyways?"
Whir?* "What kind of name is sorry?"
Quiet laughter but a loud smile. "Oh, so you're a wise guy are ya?" A warm blue optic glowed at her. The other sparkled as it tried. Sari sighed. "I should probably get going. Take care of yourself Mr. Bumblebee." She waved as she headed towards the exit.
"Sari!" She looked. "Will I ever see you again?"
She sighed, "Probably not. It would be best." Nodes and parts all over Bumblebee's body sagged like a dog hiding it's tail. He whirred out a whimper on his servos. She pretended she didn't notice it.
"Then," Bumblebee walked up to her and knelt down so he could be closer to eye level, "take care. And I thank you."
"For what?"
"For helping me," his optic darted back in thought then back to her, "and for smiling." She stared at him stunned. She then shot an uneasy smile. He looked like he wanted to say more but he backed up allowing her room to leave.
"Kay." She whispered, waved and then disappeared into the darkness. Bumblebee went to find a corner to recharge in. The energon surged his systems but he still felt exhausted. It didn't help that he hadn't had a decent recharge in the last seven hundred Earth rotational cycles.
Three Earth rotational cycles later.
"Sari! Where have you been sista? We've been looking all over for you!"
"Looking for me!? I was looking at every station from here to Junction Fifteen! Where the hell were you?"
"We must have been playing tag." A big tooth filled smiles all around. Marcus was older of the three. He was in his early thirties but due to his newly acquired experience he was aging fast. Riley was a little younger than Sari and a good deal scrawnier. His hair always had a crazy style to it. Sari shook her head with a smile at the ridiculous 'Goku' hairstyle he was sporting this time. She noogied him as she greeted him. She then wiped the gunky oils off on his coat.
"What are you using robot grease for hair gel or what?" Sari quipped at him.
"It's the best out there!" Riley smugged back combing his hair back on end.
"Sari, do you still have that tank of energon?" Marcus asked instantly ruining the happy reunion for Sari. Marcus still had a big grin on his face.
"Why? What do you need it for."
Marcus lowered his head towards her, his voice was almost giddy. "Seven and Rainman are coming to City."
"What!?"
"Yeah, they are bringing a weapon with them! One that should take out Megatron and all the Decepticons out, all at once!" Riley brimmed with excitement. Sari stared at them as excitement expanded through her.
"Bring down Megatron!?" She squealed.
"Yeah, but it needs a lot of energon to power it. So we should get that energon tank to them."
Reality snap. "I, I don't have it."
"You left it at a different outpost?"
"No." She looked at them with sorrowful eyes. "I need to tell you something." She looked around, it was scarcely populated but that was still too many. "But in private."
"Sari, it's a Decepticon!" Riley cried at her.
"But he was so human like!" Sari protested. "I could feel the emotions dripping off of him!"
"That's what they do! They deceive people! Sari! Decepti as in deception. You know that!" Riley continued.
"I thought you'd understand!" Sari bit her lip.
"Sari, we do! But you were taken advantage of. You were susceptible to it's persuasion and you fell for it. It's - ." Marcus was interrupted.
"Susceptible to its persuasion? What are you saying, I'm easily duped?"
"Well?" Marcus tried to think his words carefully.
"Why? Because I'm the only girl in the group? Suddenly I'm stupid and naive!?"
"I didn't say that."
"You implied it."
"What? No! Sari, you were taken advantage of because you ended up getting stranded out there by yourself. And that was my fault, I should have taken better care of my team! Look Sari, we do understand. But you have to remember this is how we lost Outpost Five." A pause and a sigh. "Riley's right, if he's one of the smarter ones, like you say he is, then his whole purpose is to get by our defenses. Which means that they know about the weapon. And we most certainly don't need another Jaguar hunting in our tunnels."
"So what do we do? We can't just go and tell everyone that Sari invited a robot down here, they'd kill her for treason! Especially when they find out she gave it energon."
"Then we have to take care of it ourselves." Marcus threw a long look at Sari. She flinched and darted her eyes away. She never felt so worthless before. "Don't worry about the energon, if anyone asks we lost it during a raid."
"Yeah." She replied with eyes glued to the floor, her voice flat.
"Look Sari, don't worry about it. We'll fix this." Marcus encouraged.
"But what if you're wrong, what if he really did need help?"
"Sari." Marcus trailed off. "Look I know you may have felt a connection. You have to remember how damn cleaver those things are. They are especially apt at manipulating people. Sari, I'm sorry, but you have to stop fighting this. That thing needs to be destroyed and that's that."
They headed through the tunnels back to Outpost Nine. The post where Sari picked up the energon and near where she hid Bumblebee. Sari sulked behind them. Marcus gave her a watchful glance. As he did this the radio crackled.
#Outpost Nine! Come in! We need reinforcements, Black Jaguar is on the prowl! I repeat Black Jaguar is on the prowl!#
"Son of a b- they must have paired up for a tag team! We got to get over there fast!" Marcus shifted his gun to his hands and began running. Way far off in the distance tire screeching echoed through the caverns.
"Outpost Nine! Hurry!" With his finger on the radio, Nick flew down the hall as fast as his feet could muster. Ear piercing screeching of wheels echoed behind him.
"Behind you!" Another freedom fighter yelled to him. She leveled her weapon and unleashed a barrage of fire. Then to her horror, clicking. "Shit, I'm out!"
The radio was dropped when his foot nearly gave out under him. Nick barely balanced himself to continued running down the corridor. The car easily advanced on him.
"ROAD KILL!" It roared out in English to his own amusement. He had successfully worked to deplete most of the humans of their ammunition with barely receiving a scratch. And now with his elite hunting skills he will destroy all the fleshlings before they can make it past their sacred little flags. The black teeth were smiling.
At least, he thought that until another car screeched it's tires. Bumblebee pulled out of the cavern on the other side of the human's position. His tires squealed as he banked out of the side passage and turned without ever touching the break. At close proximity to the slowest human, Bumblebee swerved to intercept the gap between him and the Jaguar's path. The humans barely had time to even gawk at the sudden appearance of a second robot.
"Mother of Mary!" Nick breathed as a yellow Camaro's back bumper missed him by barely a few inches. He turned back to see the Jaguar roll out of the path and by the time it touched the adjacent wall, it was a robot. Bumblebee transformed.
The black Jaguar having the upper hand from transforming first, leaped at Bumblebee. Bumblebee being the more apt fighter slipped out of the way, grabbed Roadkill's head and smashed into the wall. As Roadkill pulled his head out of the wall and turned to face the Autobot, Bumblebee landed a strong punch toppling the Jaguar. The Jaguar went down, swung out his leg knocking Bumblebee's feet out from under him. Thickset as a cargo ship but graceful as a cat Bumblebee caught himself on his hands, rolled over them returning himself to his feet.
"What the hell!" The resistance stopped to gawk at this incredibly inconceivable concept. Sure the robots had a lot of in fighting, but never at the opportunity to wipe out a whole squadron.
"Keep moving!"
The Camaro and the Jaguar locked grips over each other. Trying to break the brace both managed to hit a few walls in the tiny enclosure. The Jaguar threw up his leg on Bumblebee's chest and knocked Bumblebee back, impact to the wall. Jaguar charged. Bumblebee slipped under him, grabbed and rolled him over his shoulder crashing him down onto the earth.
"My prey!" Roadkill growled in cybertonian and transformed into a car and bolted down after the humans. Predictably Bumblebee followed suit.
The black car closed the gap between him and the humans again. His trunk popped open and a volley of explosives bounced out to slow down his pursuer. He then did a three-sixty to spill out more explosives to take care of any humans that might be too close. Two humans darted into a passageway. The rest ran forward. Explosions blasted inside the enclosed walls. The force crumbled walls and ceilings. The Jaguar flipped back into his natural form and awaited inside the eye of the explosions. He flipped out his cannons and blindly unleashed a volley of fire through the smoke at Bumblebee. He then braced himself for what he expected to be another close combat robot verses robot fight. Instead Bumblebee gassed it. The Jaguar stood their dumbfounded for a moment, then the car rammed him. The force knocked the large robot on top of the Camaro. Roadkill grabbed the roof with one hand and reached back with the other and rammed his claws through Bumblebee's hood. The car screeched tires as it began swerving wildly from the pain. He nearly hit people as a result. He tried to knock the Jaguar into the wall to stop him, but he ended up scratching himself in the process. More claws thrashing the Autobot's armor trying to find something tender. Bumbleebee gritted his gears from the pain and then sped up. The illogical move made the Jaguar turn to look where the car was going. His spark shockwaved through his body when he saw Bumblebee was racing towards a little orange flag.
"You fool! You'll kill us both!" He screamed. Bumblebee slammed on the brakes and sent the Jaguar flying. He tumbled, then using his claws, he stabbed them into the wall and the floor to stop his momentum just yards from the flag. Bumblebee sped forward, hoisted and rolled into a robot throwing out a kick. Roadkill jumped forward driving his claws into Bumblebee as he absorbed the kick. He wasn't going to go through that ray unless the Autobot went with him. The opposed forces connected and neither side went anywhere. Bumblebee didn't have time to scream at the pain as two sets of claws rammed through his armor. Bright yellow fluid sprayed from the wounds. Bumblebee grabbed at one of the arms and tried to punch it to break it at the joint. The Jaguar grabbed the fist before any damage could connect. He then pulled Bumblebee to his feet and smashed his face into the wall. Then a punch. Bumblebee stumbled backwards. Roadkill grabbed Bumblebee's shoulders and rammed him into the wall again. He then threw him at the other wall. Then he threw his fist at the Autobot.
Bumblebee's turn.
He slipped out of the path letting the fist connect with concrete. Then a wide slash with his fist to pelt the Decepticon across the face. He grabbed the Jaguar and pounded him first in one wall, then braced his feet up on the wall and lunged the Jaguar into the other. Roadkill went to his knees and Bumblebee cracked his elbow over Roadkill's head. For the moment he was dazed, Bumblebee took the opportunity to grab his arm, roll a circumference to gain momentum then toss the Jaguar towards the beam.
The Jaguar slid. When he stopped he then sat up. Out of the corner of his optic was a orange plastic flag that fluttered gently from the air stirred up by the combatants. He froze. Bumblebee took a few steps back, curled his fists into a defensive stance and waited for the Jaguar's reaction. With the energon having had a few days to course though his body some of his lost sensors were back online. Now he could see what the flag represented. Two bluish gray beams that crossed across the tunnel. One at leg level and the other was at chest level to a robot his size. The Jaguar had managed to slip in between them unharmed. It would have remained that way if he stayed absolutely still. But he didn't, he turned his head to look directly at the flag. An antenna on his head gear just tapped the blue line causing a flicker. Then, a blue explosion erupted out engulfing the Jaguar. It hit the other wall, then blasted through the tunnels showering them in a blue white energy. It rolled over Bumblebee and it caused his spark to burst. Seizing, he scrambled to the side passageway. Agony washed over his body and Bumblebee twitched as he fought with the horrible pain. He screeched. He almost threw open his chest plating to see how his spark was reacting but as he reached down he saw two humans in front of him. One had his gun leveled right at Bee's chest. Bumblebee flung himself to the wall. He suddenly had a very humbling respect for the human's weapons. They stared at each other. The one with a weapon was a child. His hand shaking visibly. The other was an older man. Strong and experienced but he was pinned under collapsed rubble and his gun was just out of his reach. Bumblebee slid down as his body still surged in pain. He was at the mercy of a child now, and the only thing he could do was stare, twitch, whine, and stare.
"Shoot it!" The man screamed at the boy. The boy stood there shaking. His grip tightened but his finger on the trigger didn't. "Shoot it!" The man barked again. Bee just sat there against the wall. His body tingled with festering, uncomfortable static. His spark pulsed frantically each time sending out a new wave of pain. "SHOOT IT!"
"I can't!" The boy sobbed. "I'm out!" His gun was still leveled but it was a worthless act. The man slumped his head back in defeat.
Bumblebee reached out behind him and braced his hands up on the wall. He slowly pulled himself to his feet.
"Get out of here." The man told the child flatly. The boy just frantically shook his head at the man. "Go! While you still can!"
"I'm not going to leave you!"
Another shock went through Bumblebee's chest. This time not from the struggling spark. Sam! Sam had said that to Bumblebee as he tried to give him the All Spark.
"You have to!"
Bumblebee remembered wanting to say that to Sam but at the time his vocals still didn't work. The energy from the All Spark had not yet run their course or possibly he just didn't discover they worked yet.
The boy shook his head at the old man. Wet glistened under his nose. Bumblebee's pain faded slightly. He took a step forward.
"Don't you dare hurt him!" The man screamed and with all his strength tried to reach for his gun that was just beyond his grasp. Bumblebee reached down and plucked the gun away and tossed it out into the hall. He then motioned the boy to move. The frightened child instead collapsed and refused to budge. So Bumblebee gently pushed him out of the way. The boy stared at him as he braced to pick up the rock. A hefty piece of concrete had fallen from the ceiling and landed on top of the majority of the man's body. It would be easy to move for a robot his size, but with the way his body was shaking from the explosion he didn't want to risk dropping it on the man. In a good grasp, he pulled if off the man and rolled it to where the boy had been standing. He was indeed far weaker. He nearly toppled over before the rock touched down. Now it was the man who braced himself up against the wall. The boy quietly shuffled to his side. Bumblebee tried to make quick work of the man's injuries but he was no Ratchet. Besides, the Calvary could be heard coming down the halls. He'd have to leave it up to them. Bumblebee bounded out of the passage into the main hall, transformed and booked it out of there.
By the time Marcus and his team made it, the chaos had died.
"What happened?!" He shouted to the people who had gathered in the area. One man was being put to a stretcher. Nick had suffered the most damage out of everyone. And to everyone's disbelief the reason was from a falling slab of concrete rather then just encountering two medium sized robots.
The walls were rammed full of holes, scratches, scorches and scrapes as well as a number of areas that were splashed or dripped with vital robotic liquid.
"You are not going to believe this!" Nick replied as he laid there while men and women gathered to his side bandaging his more urgent bleeding.
"What?"
"A yellow Camaro showed up and saved our asses!"