Hunted
BLB: First TFA fic I have worked on in a long while. I spent the majority of the past two college semesters to tweak and work on this thing and after all that time, working on it, losing all of the work and having to salvage it from scratch; I'm ready to post this because staring at it is driving me insane. I edited it some but can't bring myself to continue to scour this for mistakes since school is resuming again soon. So without further ado, I do not own Transformers. This is BB/Sari friendship and angst, kind of.
Peace and Love to all.
Everyone that had to deal with Sari and Bumblebee could see that there was a certain tension between the two of them and no one could figure out exactly what caused the problem. Optimus and the others were beginning to think that the situation would burst and that the two would no longer be friends at all. Bumblebee tried to find a way off planet, Sari barely came to the base anymore and even when she did the girl barely spoke, the only thing she wanted to do is train with Prowl. From what Prime had heard from Professor Sumdac, Sari was not much better at home; the same could be said about Bumblebee instead of his usual snarky, witty comebacks and energy he just became irritable. No matter what anyone said to Bumblebee would fly off the handle and argue with anyone or run away from the base for a few days to blow off steam.
Optimus Prime worried that his team would be shattered, until he was recieved the opportunity to send the two of them away together. Part of a spaceship had crashed in the area and since his scout could just about handle the mission on his own, sending Sari along for the ride did not seem like such a bad idea.
"I need everyone in the sit-bay," Optimus commanded over the com-link. Everyone in the base came for the briefing, even a distant Sari and a griping Bumblebee. "There was a spaceship crash a few hours ago, parts of the craft landed a few hours outside of Detroit."
"So? Things from space come here all the time," Bumblebee commented, motioning at Sari first and then the rest of them in an attempt to end this conversation as quickly as possible.
"You are right, but this particular "thing from space" is a ship from Cybertron," Prime explained, "and I am expecting you and Sari to go investigate it; make sure there is nothing going on in or around the crash site."
When Optimus told everyone what his plan was, Sari and Bumblebee stared at each other in disbelief before facing Prime and Bumblebee told him that he wasn't going anywhere with Sari. "Bumblebee that is not a request it's an order. You and Sari are going to investigate, I am not going to say it again."
"I don't even get a say in this?" Sari questioned, speaking for the first time in hours.
"Just go with it kid," Ratchet interjected and Bumblebee groaned loudly before he transformed, his passenger door opening up for Sari. The redheaded teen got in and Bumblebee sped away, following the directions that Prime had given them.
They drove in complete silence, neither of them were willing to speak to the other. Bumblebee sped on, his siren blaring as he weaved in and out of any car that was in his way. Sari stared out the window praying that Bee wouldn't crash or that they wouldn't run into any unwanted adversaries while they were away; she knew that fighting was not an option for her at the moment and that Bee did not have her back anymore.
Bumblebee found the crash site in no time and he let Sari out to investigate. The two of them spread out to search the site for any signs of life either Cybertronian or otherwise, but from the scan that Sari took and from the looks of things, nothing was there. Sari was ready to get back to base, but Bumblebee was still convinced that there was something in the area and that Optimus would expect a full report when they returned.
"Stay close," Bumblebee commanded coldly as he withdrew his stingers.
"Bumblebee, I don' think there is anything out there. The scanner did not pick up anything," Sari stated as calmly as she could, even though she felt like they were being watched.
"Well, my scanners are picking up something different," Bumblebee retorted coldly.
"I was just telling you what the scanner said, you don't have to get so defensive. I don't know why you have been so mean to me lately, but you have to know why Prime sent us on this mission," Sari nearly yelled, "he sent us out here so that we would be forced to work out our issues."
"There is nothing to work out," Bumblebee explained, "you want nothing to do with me and I see that now, it doesn't matter anyway because I'm going away."
"What are you talking about?" Sari questioned in disbelief, "So you are just running away? Where do you think you will go?"
"Running away from things is what I am good at," Bumblebee stated.
"Bee, don't do this," Sari begged, "You think there is something out here with us and you just want to leave me here."
"I DIDN'T WANT TO COME ON THIS MISSION IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Bumblebee screamed and Sari jumped back a few feet, trying to keep the look of fear from her face. At her reaction a bit of regret flashed in Bumblebee's optics but he quickly shut them, before shaking his head.
"I never asked for any of this! I NEVER wanted any of this! I'm sorry that we haven't talked, I just didn't know what to say," Sari explained, "or how to say it…" A few tears ran from her eyes as she looked up at the mech that used to be her best friend.
"What are you talking about?" Bumblebee asked.
"I've been dealing with finding out what I am, maybe not in the right way but it has been hard… especially after I upgraded myself and-"
"Almost killed me, yourself and nearly took half of Detroit with you," Bumblebee interjected.
"I know what I did Bumblebee! I malfunctioned and I didn't think I was ever going to stop," Sari sighed, "by the time Ratchet stopped me, I wasn't sure if he was going to be able to put me back in order, he did but things are different now…."
"So that's why you've been distant?" Bumblebee questioned in disbelief. "That doesn't make any sense. You have shut out not only me, but also everyone else over one mistake! Ratchet told me that he only had to bypass a few of your circuits to keep you from going crazy again, but you are worried about what? Malfunctioning again? Sari, Doc Bot said you were fine."
"I am, but things are a bit more-"
"More what?" Bumblebee questioned, "You cut me out of your life, ignored me even when I tried to talk to you as far as I'm concerned, we aren't friends anymore." Bee nearly growled as he transformed. Sari pulled on the passenger side door but it would not budge, Bumblebee was keeping her out.
"Bee, what's the big idea?" Sari asked. "I know you are mad at me, but it is more complicated than you think. This isn't funny; please just take me back to base."
"Call Bulkhead or better yet Prowl, you and him seem to be the best of friends lately," Bumblebee stated coldly before he sped off.
"Bumblebee, please don't leave me here!" Sari stood there for a second before sprinting after Bumblebee until he was out of sight, leaving her alone in the middle of nowhere, staring after him, out of breath and thoroughly shaken. She tried to reach someone over the com-link but all she got was static and feedback. Even her cellphone had no signal that was when Sari realized that she was stuck out there. She decided to sit down at the base of a large oak to take a breather while she tried to figure out a way to get back home.
"I was beginning to worry for a second there," a smooth feminine voice spoke from somewhere behind her, "I thought that the Autobot was going to be a problem."
Sari jumped up and looked around trying to figure out who was there. Every part of her was saying to run but Sari had no idea which direction to run in, if she ran the wrong way she could run straight into the Decepticon. She pressed her back against the tree instead, hoping that whoever it was would not be able to find her. A laugh rang out loudly into the forest and the scuttling of many feet against the forest floor followed.
"Come on out Sari," the voice yelled, "I know where you are." To prove her point the Con grabbed Sari's leg and dragged her from where she stood and dangled her upside down in front of her face. The girl screamed loudly as she realized whose ship that had crashed on planet.
"Arachnid," Sari gulped before trying her best to break free from the Decepticon's hold. No matter how hard she struggled, there was no getting away from the spider-bot. In her head, she kept repeating the words that Optimus told her, "Arachnid likes to play games and the hunt is her favorite thing along with torture."
"They told you about little old me, I'm flattered." Arachnid lowered her towards the ground a little, until she hiked her back up. "I'll let you down if you promise not to run away. Can you do that for me?"
Sari nodded, hoping that Arachnid would let her down so that she would at least get the chance to run. "I'm not going anywhere," Sari stated trying to keep her voice as even as possible but it was becoming harder to keep herself from trembling.
Arachnid slammed her onto the ground and hovered over Sari as the girl tried to regain her bearings. Sari scrambled backwards and stared up at the Con. She was trying to catch her breath and make sure nothing was broken before she tried to escape. "Stay put, I have an offer for you," Arachnid hummed as she went from her spider form to her bipedal mode.
"I'm guessing it doesn't involve letting me go," Sari muttered as she got up on her feet.
"Afraid not," Arachnid stated, "Unfortunately for you, you are a rare oddity and the only other ones that I know of are my friends and play for the team I used to. I need a specimen for my collection and since the others are off the table that only leaves you."
Sari took a step back. "What are you saying?"
"That this can go one of two ways, you can run and I'll hunt you down but when I catch you, the torture will go on for days, maybe even weeks or," Arachnid paused to gently caress the side of Sari's face, "you can give up now and I promise it will be over quick and painlessly."
"I don't want to go with you," Sari responded gulping down the fear and replacing it with determination, "if there is any chance of getting out of this alive, I have to take it."
"Fine," Arachnid growled, "just remember I offered you mercy at first."
When Arachnid lounged at her, Sari took off running as fast as her legs would carry her. From what she could tell, Arachnid was humoring her by giving her a head start. Sari knew that she couldn't out run her for long on foot so she decided to try to call someone over the com-link in hopes that they would at least know what happened to her. It still was not working the only thing that could hear her plea for help was the static on the other end and the Decepticon that was searching for her. As she ran, Sari knew that there might only be one person she could get through to Bumblebee; even then, she was not sure if he would answer her.
After Sari debated for a second, she decided that it could not hurt to try. At first, all she got was static, but Sari still spoke in hopes that someone would get her message after this was over anyways, "Bee, I'm sorry… I don't know if I'll see you again or if you can even hear me, but there is a Decepticon here. I cannot fight her off by myself. If you get this at all, I'm sorry and tell-" her call ended with a scream as she tripped over a root and slammed into the ground.
As Bumblebee drove on his com-link fizzled to life and before he could disconnect Sari's panicked voice came through his radio. "Bee, I'm sorry… I don't know if I'll see you again or if you can even here me, but… there is a Decepticon here… I cannot fight her off by myself. If you get this at all, I'm sorry and tell-" The message cut off when Sari screamed loudly and Bumblebee was left with only static. He had not even realized that he had stopped on the highway and prepared to head back in the other direction.
"Sari, I don't know if you can hear me but I'm coming!" Bumblebee yelled back over the com-link as he did a U-turn and sped back towards where he left Sari, hoping that he was not too late. He was trying to reach the others but his com was not working either. With sirens, blaring Bumblebee flew down the road, going as fast as he could until he was stuck in traffic. It got to the point where he pulled out of the traffic and onto the shoulder to keep going.
Sari struggled to get back on her feet and keep moving, from the sharp pain she could tell that something was wrong but that wasn't the important part at the moment Arachnid was close, Sari could feel it. Sari knew she had to keep moving, part of her considered trying to use her powers but then Ratchet's voice started telling her what he had when she first woke up after malfunctioning, "I had to switch off a lot more of your circuits than I thought I would, you are lucky to still be here kid." Ratchet stopped talking as Sari questioned him, "I'm not sure what you can still do." Truthfully, Sari had been too afraid to try for the most part; anytime she used any of her powers a sharp pain would shoot from her feet or hands to her head and settle there.
As Sari kept stumbling on the forest began to thin out around her, as it slowly became a clearing. The pain in her leg was becoming unbearable as the time went on and it was getting harder for her to stand at all let alone, keep moving forwards. Sari knew that she at least had to make it back to the cover of the trees, which would at least obscure her from sight.
When she stopped that is when Sari heard it, the pounding of metal against the ground, followed by a voice calling out from the woods, "Come out, come out wherever you are! Don't worry, the chase is almost over."
Sari had to bite back her rebuttal as she kept walking towards the tree line on the other side of the clearing, she tried to charge up an energy ball but all she managed to do was cause a sharp pain to shoot up her arm and her hands to begin to tremble. At that point Sari knew it was better to quit trying to fight back and put all of her energy towards putting as much distance between her and Arachnid as possible.
By the time the trees sprouted up next to Sari again, she decided that ducking behind a tree to figure out how messed up her leg would be the best option. By the time she bent down to roll down her knee-high socks, a huge hand came out of nowhere and slammed Sari against the trunk of the tree she was using for cover. Arachnid hoisted her up, running Sari's back roughly against the tree. Sari was trying to struggle against Arachnid but she could not muster the strength to get away. The spider-bot flashed a smile at Sari's fruitless struggles and decided that the game was not over yet. Arachnid brought Sari closer to her before letting Sari go and laughing as she crashed against the ground with a scream as she landed on her injured leg. She used her other leg to push herself away from Arachnid as best as she could, even though it was pointless.
"I didn't think our game would be over this quickly," Arachnid mused, "I thought you would put up more of a fight, Black Arachnia told me you had a lot of fight in you but she's been wrong before."
"It isn't over," Sari breathed as she struggled to stand back up, "I will keep running if that's what you want."
"That's sweet, but you look like you are in a lot of pain at the moment and I can't say that it doesn't bring joy to my spark to see this," Arachnid stated, "there is only more torture to come."
"Arachnid, you don't have to do this. You can let me go, I won't tell anyone that you are here and nothing bad has to happen," Sari pleaded.
Arachnid knelt down to look Sari in the eyes. "You think you have any room to bargain with me, everything you said can be accomplished if you die anyways. The only regret I have is that it isn't more fun for me, I suppose the fun will have to wait."
Sari realized that she had one chance left; it was run now or give herself over to the crazy Decepticon. She took off running past Arachnid and jumped as the spider-bot lounged at her, ignoring the sharp pain in her leg as she landed and kept moving as fast as she could.
Part of Sari knew that running was fruitless and that it was only prolonging the inevitable, but the other part was telling her that there was a slim chance of survival; she just had to hide long enough for Arachnid to lose her trail. Arachnid yelled after Sari, but the girl could care less what she said to her, she could not even take a second to consider what the Decepticon was saying because one wrong move on her part was going to cost her life.
Sari kept weaving her way through the trees until her leg got caught in something and when she turned to grab at it, what she felt was a sticky, spider web like substance. She tried to tug her leg free but it was no use, it was over.
She could feel Arachnid watching her, creeping forwards as Sari continued to struggle but a moment later she was plastered against the tree by the same substance that coated her leg. Sari stopped trying to escape once she realized that she was unable to move anything.
Time seemed to slow down as Arachnid sauntered towards her captive with a smirk on her face. "Well that was fun, I wasn't expecting to go two rounds with you." In the distance, Sari could faintly hear the rumbling of a car engine and the low screeching of tires, but she thought that it was all in her head, no one was coming and she was going to die. It was merely wishful thinking.
"I can keep going; I will run for as long as you want me to. Why should the chase stop now, wouldn't it be more fun if it kept going?" Sari questioned. "I want to keep going. The longer I keep going the more pain I will be in, the more can watch me squirm."
"You want to have fun," Arachnid whispered in Sari's ear and all she could do was nod, "you won't have to wait much longer, we just have to go back to my ship and the fun will begin." Arachnid was about to rip Sari off the tree, she clenched her eyes shut waiting for the pain to start as the Decepticon dragged her away.
"Step away from the girl," a new muffled voice spoke and Arachnid could only blink in shock.
"So you decided to come back and make things interesting?" Sari could hear the smile in the Decepticon's voice. "Glad to have you back my sweet Autobot friend."
Sari opened her eyes, when Arachnid pulled her off the tree and quickly hoisted Sari over her head. "Bumblebee!"
"Quiet, while the adults talk Sari," Arachnid scolded.
"I'm not here to play games Arachnid, let the girl go. I won't ask you again," Bumblebee demanded pointing his stingers at the Decepticon.
"You sound so cold and unfeeling, isn't this your friend?" Arachnid mused aloud, "Oh wait, I forgot you abandoned her out here just like she did to you. How about you let me keep the girl, she is out of your way and we don't have to fight. You and your team can go back to the way you were before."
"You know I can't do that," Bumblebee responded, keeping his stingers trained on Arachnid.
"Why not? No one has to know that I was here; you fought your hardest and were too late to save Sari. You could always just tell Optimus that you were caught off guard and that by the time you came to she was gone. I'll even give you a love tap," Arachnid offered before striking Bumblebee in the face.
"Don't hurt him," Sari pleaded.
Energon spilled from the newly made cuts on Bumblebee's faceplate but he held firm, keeping his stingers up and his eyes on Sari. "Put the girl down," Bumblebee demanded again, his facemask covering everything but his optics for the moment.
"I'll put her down," Arachnid stated calmly lowering Sari slightly before jerking her back upwards and tossing her against the forest floor, chuckling as Sari rolled unable to stop herself from crashing against a rock. Bumblebee shoved Arachnid away from him and took off to grab Sari. He scooped her up off the ground and ran in a direction that Arachnid had not gone in.
The world never stopped spinning for Sari so when she was gathered up and being carried off by someone, she was not sure who it was. Pain was setting in and honestly, Sari was not sure if Arachnid's torture could match the amount of pain she was in currently; she was sure that even if it were she would collapse from the exertion and her spark would fail long before Arachnid could kill her.
When whoever it was stopped, the bindings that were keeping her limbs from moving were removed and Sari was set on the ground next to Bumblebee. They were safe for the moment, Bumblebee was assessing the damage to his face and Sari was left to her thoughts as the silence became unbearable.
"Bumblebee, you came back," Sari said in barely a whisper.
"I heard your message and came back, I thought I was going to be too late," Bumblebee explained, "did she hurt you?"
Sari shook her head, "a little, most of the damage was done trying to get away from her. I'll live."
"Now, we just need to get out of here," Bumblebee stated as he scooped up Sari again and transformed being careful not to jostle the girl too much.
Once she was in the front seat of the car the seat slid back and the safety belt fastened around her tightly. "Bee, I'm sorry about everything."
"I am too, I shouldn't have left you out here by yourself but we don't have time for that now. We'll talk about it once we put enough distance between us and crazy spider-bot." Bumblebee started to sped back through the trees and back towards the highway.
"We can't just leave her out here," Sari thought aloud. Bumblebee stopped at her statement and held his comment until Sari decided to explain it a bit more, "if she leaves the woods and heads into a city, Arachnid could really do some damage. We have to stop her."
"You think I can take her by myself?" Bumblebee questioned.
Sari shook her head, "but we could try and contact the others. The com-link is down but Arachnid probably has a beacon on her ship or a communication link."
"What are you saying?" Bumblebee asked, transforming and placing Sari on his shoulder.
"We have to get onto Arachnid's ship," Sari stated grimly.
Bumblebee started moving towards Arachnid's ship but the quiet was not helping either of them keep their bearings. They jumped at any noise and Bumblebee had fired sparks into the woods more than once. "Bee, she isn't there. You can't keep firing at nothing; we'll end up starting a fire." Sari patted Bumblebee's helm gently. "I'm here with you big guy."
"That is reassuring," Arachnid's voice called out from nearby, "as an ally you are as good as useless Sari. You should feel awful for the Autobot because you are the only reason he is back here. Maybe, a fire would make things interesting. The game isn't over yet."
"She's trying to bait us," Sari whispered to Bumblebee, "it'll be okay Bee. I promise if it comes down to it let her have me and run. Go home and do what you have to do."
"No, we either go back together or not at all," Bumblebee responded.
"Not at all it is then," Arachnid shouted before she tripped Bumblebee and Sari flew off of her perch and onto the ground.
Arachnid and Bumblebee began to fight as Sari got up and was about to try to help Bumblebee when he spoke, "I'll hold her off for as long as I can, go for the ship, try to contact Prime."
Sari nodded, backing away from the fight and stumbling in the direction of the crashed ship. Her leg was throbbing, but Sari knew she had to keep pushing forward. Arachnid's ship was coming into view and the looming structure of the ship began to fill in the spaces in-between the trees. The closer Sari got to the ship the more of her view the ship obscured. She had to figure out a way into the ship, from what Sari could tell the door was far above her head, her legs whined at the thought of scaling up and into the ship.
The girl sighed as she grabbed ahold of a dented part of the ship and began to haul herself up the side of the ship. Sari was trying her best to keep the strain off her injured leg, by relying on her arms and her other leg to support her weight.
It took her a while but Sari finally managed to get into Arachnid's fortress and the scene around her was grim. The inside of the ship reeked of death and many dead creatures were displayed in cases as trophies, it was obvious that Arachnid, though she was not a huge ally of the Decepticons, she was still very much on the side of evil. The creatures in the cases were decaying and looked pained even in death, but she did not have time to focus on that now. At the moment it was her and Bumblebee were the ones being hunted now and Sari understood that if she did not get ahold of the others; that they would be goners just like the creatures that Arachnid had slaughtered before them. Bumblebee is the one that is in danger and she was the only one that could help him. Sari searched around for a monitor and the search lead her deeper into the ship, the farther she delved into Arachnid's world the clearer the femmes obsession with the hunt became. Weapons littered the walls and by the time Sari found what she was looking for, she was convinced that Arachnid had a complete armory with her.
Sari stood at the monitor and it only took her hands a minute to fly over the keys. She was shocked that her hands had changed into her interface form as she found a communication link on the computer. The static on the other end turned into silence, Sari hoped that someone at the base would answer.
"Who is this and what exactly do you want?" Ratchet's irritable tone responded.
"Ratchet, its Sari, me and Bumblebee need help now. There's a con here and the two of us can't handle it on our own," Sari explained quickly.
Ratchet sighed, "You two can't get along to complete a simple mission together and return back to the base without having to make up a crazy story like this."
"I'm not making this up! The com is down; this call is from the Decepticon's ship," Sari tried to argue, "Bumblebee is out there fighting her alone right now, he needs help."
"Fighting who?" Ratchet questioned.
"Arachnid," Sari answered trying to keep her voice even, "Bumblebee left me out here with her and things got ugly, he came back and now those two are having a death match outside and I can't do anything but call for help."
"Arachnid is actually there," Ratchet stated in disbelief, "Help is on the way, keep talking to me Sari."
There was a loud noise outside of the room and Sari jumped almost losing her perch by the monitor, fearing the worst. "I can't, I have to find Bumblebee, he is out there by himself Ratch and he needs help."
"Actually, right about now Sari you are the one that is in need of help," Arachnid's voice called as she strutted into the room and shoved Sari away from the monitor. She was about to end the transmission, when she decided that taunting the helpless medic on the other end would add to her pleasure. "Nice to hear from you again Ratchet, please don't worry about Sari or Bumblebee I'm taking care of them now, I would put one of them on but both of them are a little tied up at the moment."
"Leave them alone Arachnid, neither of them have ever done anything to you," Ratchet pleaded, "Bumblebee is fresh out of the academy and Sari is barely a protoform, your fight isn't with them."
"You have a point, but you and Optimus seem to care about the two of them a lot and I won't let the technicalities ruin my fun," Arachnid stated, "You can send the ragtag Autobot brigade my way but it will be too late. Sari will be nothing but pieces by the time you find her and Bumblebee is going to run away with me."
As the two of them talked Sari was trying to keep herself from recoiling in pain, she needed to move and hide for as long as she could that was the only chance she had to survive. She had to check on Bumblebee and make sure that he was still online, but Sari also understood that her window of time was limited.
"Hang in there, Sari, Prime is on the way-"
"I regret to inform you that she will not need any help from you today," Arachnid interrupted, looking around for Sari before proposing something to the girl, "any parting words Sari?"
Instead of taking the bait, Sari put her hand over her mouth and swallowed her remark, using all of the energy that she could muster to push herself away from the fembot and behind one of the many trophy cases. She was obscured from sight by the huge creature that Arachnid had most likely subjected to the same the torture she had planned for Sari.
"Sari dear, where did you run off to? There's someone on the com that would really like to talk to you," Arachnid called ignoring Ratchet's protests on the other end, pleading for Sari to stay hidden and quiet, "well I'm sorry to cut this short, but since Sari doesn't want to tell you goodbye, I will have to call you back. Maybe not, I may be too busy entertaining my guests."
Before Ratchet could respond Arachnid disconnected the call and began searching around the area for her missing techno-organism, Sari found herself trying to wedge herself farther into the corner. Arachnid was close to where she was hiding, one wrong move and it would all be over.
"I'm trying to play fair here Sari. By choosing to not trace your energy signature, but you could at least make a sound," Arachnid paused to move across the room. Sari could tell that the Decepticon was not worrying about the noise that her feet were making as she did. "I know you want to, your heart is pounding in your ears, adrenaline coursing through your veins, your breathing is caught in your throat or you are close to hyperventilating and the fear is completely taking over. Sari, we both want the game to end, why don't you just give up? Even though you are trying to buy yourself time for Optimus' heroic rescue, the scout will be long dead by the time they get here. You are the only shot he has, if you be a good girl and do as I say now we can save him."
Sari shook her head, trying her best to keep herself together and alert, the sharp pains in her leg was beginning to fade into numbness. If Bumblebee was in danger, giving herself to Arachnid was not going to help him.
The silence stretched on, neither one of them moving. Arachnid was growing bored of the waiting game so she began shuffling things in the next room over. Sari could hear the sounds of cases being moved in the other room and weapons clattering against the metal floor as Arachnid angrily threw them off the wall.
Sari slowly crawled out from behind the trophy case and began making her way towards the hole in the ship she used to get in. Sari was taking quick steps trying her best to make sure that she was as quiet as possible. She tried to focus on putting one foot in front of the other instead of the eminent danger she was in, and the fact that Bee needs her. Arachnid only sauntered back into the other room after Sari was out of the ship and trying her best to find a way a safe down. It may have been the adrenaline, but Sari had a crazy idea, the tree line was thin but there were few tall tree leaning against the crashed ship, she began to scale down the side of the ship towards the tree.
Sari kept her hold on the side of the ship until she lost her footing and was about to plummet to the forest floor when she let go and managed to grab ahold of a branch on the tree. She was close enough to the ground to let herself fall to the ground with a roll. Sari pressed herself against the ship so that she could recover for a moment before trying to find where Arachnid had stashed Bumblebee.
Sari pushed herself forwards, back into the forest and away from Arachnid's ship. Her only goal was to find Bumblebee and she hoped that Optimus and the others would get there as quickly as they could. Sari found her thoughts wandering back to Ratchet and his argument with Arachnid, at first he had refuse to believe her about the Decepticon, but now she understood Arachnid's ulterior motives. She was using them to get to Prime. She could not focus on that, Sari knew that she had to find Bumblebee.
"Bumblebee," Sari spoke in barely a whisper, "if you can hear me make a noise." What followed was a muffled cry from a nearby tree, he was in pain, probably didn't hear her at all, Sari realized. She tried to locate where the sound was coming from but was becoming more and more disoriented as time ticked on. The world was beginning to spin around her when Sari tripped over a rock and landed next to something wrapped in webbing. She was lying by the head of whatever it was but she could not make out what it was because the world was still spinning around her. Sari laid still and closed her eyes for a minute hoping that it would help her head. "Bee, is that you?"
There was no answer but as the world started to stabilize for Sari, she could make out Bumblebee's shape coated in the thick purple webbing. "Hang on Bee, I'm going to get you out of there," Sari promised. She tugged at the thick threads that were holding Bumblebee motionless but they would not give no matter how hard she tugged on them. Sari sighed as she realized what had to be done, she concentrated as hard as she could and mustered as much energy as she could manage. She forced her energy blade out and held firm as the pain exploded through her body. Sari fought the pain as; she began to slice through the thick coating of web that was on Bumblebee. Hacking away at the webs was the easy part, the hard part was uncovering her friend. It was thick and weighed quite a bit, stuck to her hands and brought back the memories of when she got caught in the same substance. The more of Bumblebee that Sari uncovered, the more she worried about his safety and their chances of moving towards where Optimus and the others would most likely head.
At this point they both needed medical attention, they both needed to get out of here, move away from this general area so that it would be harder for Arachnid to find them. Bumblebee was unconscious and Sari was not sure if she could get him to rouse.
"Bee, come on I need you to wake up. I'm really scared right now, if Arachnid finds us here, she's going to kill me. If only I would not have upgraded myself, none of this would have happened and I would still have my key to heal you, I would still have powers that I could use without pain," Sari ranted trying to get her friend to wake up, "if something bad happens to you, it'll be my fault. I don't know why I'm talking to you; you probably can't even hear me."
Instead of trying to wake Bumblebee again, Sari decided that she would stand guard and make sure that nothing else happened to Bee. She forced herself to be at the ready to fire an energy blast at whatever came at her first. The longer she was forced to wait the more Sari jumped at every noise and at any movement in the trees around her. "Please, wake up. I need you to get up Bee. I don't know how much longer I can hold on."
She was about to sit down next to him when a huge shadow began walking towards her. Sari held her blaster up and backed up so that she was directly in front of Bumblebee. "Good thing that this is almost over then," Arachnid smirked.
"Why can't you just leave us alone?" Sari screamed, "What did you do to him?" Arachnid merely ignored the girl and stalked forwards. "Stay back!" Her blasters were up and ready to charge.
"What are you doing to do with those? I heard your little spark to spark with sweet Bumblebee, I know using your powers just hurts you." Arachnid knelt down to get to Sari's level. "Face it, it's over, you're weak and wore out. Prime isn't going to make it in time to save either of you and you running from me and fighting back is only making me angry now."
"You sound so confident," Sari responded as she began charging an energy blast. Her body felt like a livewire, when she let it go, the pain only worsened. "I could keep going all night."
"That's cute. I can see it in your eyes, how much pain you are in, how tired you are, this isn't fun anymore," Arachnid retorted, "the only part of this that I look forward to is getting you on the table."
"Unfortunately, that isn't going to happen," Sari rebutted, she fired at Arachnid again but this time she hit the con causing her to double back. The pain burned through her again, but this time it was too much for her to bare, Sari crumbled to the ground lying next to Bumblebee as she struggled to stand back up. "I tried Bee…" Her spark was racing as Sari watched Arachnid recover and head towards them unable to take her eyes off the Decepticon. The world was closing in on her as fate was looming its ugly head once again, there was no way to escape, no one was there to stop her from killing either of them.
As Arachnid got closer, a pulse of electricity shocked her. Something rested over Sari and shielded her momentarily, she was shocked and it took her a minute to realize what was happening. Bumblebee had finally come to and was ready to fight back; he used the hand that was covering Sari to bring her closer to him. "Sari, you're alive!"
Sari nodded, "so are you. I was worried about you there for a while big guy."
"This is touching, warms my heart to see you two getting along. Which one of you wants to go to the well first?" Arachnid asked.
"Neither of them," Optimus Prime answered as he fired his ropes at her, tying up her legs and causing her to fall. The spider-bot thrashed violently as Optimus approached her, not wanting him to get his hands on her. "Either you come without a fight or this will get ugly."
"Is that a promise?" Arachnid asked before striking Prime in the jaw and ripping the bindings off her legs. She slipped away from Prime and struck Bumblebee, causing Sari to tumble towards the crazed fembot, before Bumblebee or Optimus could grab the girl Arachnid did. "See Sari, even when the cavalry comes you are still with me."
"Let her go Arachnid," Prime demanded as his facemask came up to cover his face. "This is over, we are going to take you in and Sari is safe."
"Is she? I can crush her right now and there is nothing you can do about it. It would be so easy for me to end this insect now, I promised her that much at least," Arachnid stated before giving Sari a squeeze.
Sari wanted to cry out in pain but held it in; this was not as bad as the torture would be if things went south. "I'm not going anywhere with you," Sari breathed trying to keep the pain out of her voice.
"No, but you are going somewhere else," Arachnid responded, squeezing her tighter. Sari did not know how much more of this she could handle; she would rather have this end now than have to endure for much longer. Suddenly the pain stopped and Sari was hoisted up by Arachnid's other limbs; she was dangled above the ground, so that Arachnid could use her blasters.
Prime's eyes narrowed and Bumblebee stepped back to transform and zip back into the woods a bit. Prowl and Bulkhead were standing back, waiting for the right moment to take action. Neither of them had any idea what Bumblebee was doing, but Prime seemed to understand what his plan was. "Just hang on Sari," Optimus shouted pulling out his axe and holding it towards Arachnid.
"What are you going to do with that Optimus?" Arachnid strutted towards the Autobot leader. "You wouldn't attack a poor defenseless fem-bot would you?"
"You are far from defenseless, we all know that," Prime accused, "you beat up Bumblebee and are trying to run off with Sari. I don't want to hurt you but since you refuse to let her go I will do what I have to."
Arachnid fired her blaster at Prime, hitting him in the chest. He backed off from her and Bulkhead threw his wrecking ball at her, forcing Sari from her grasp and into Bumblebee's hands, who had been waiting nearby to grab Sari when he had the chance. "You talk too much," Bulkhead said before charging at Arachnid and restraining her, "Prowl, cuff her. I don't think I can hold her for very long. She is really strong." Arachnid was thrashing erratically and Bulkhead was slowly losing his hold on the Decepticon, as she hit him and struggled against him. Arachnid was about to break free when Prowl popped up and slapped the stasis cuff on her hands, causing her to fall still against the ground.
As soon as Sari was out of Arachnid's grasp and into someone else's hands, her eyes closed as the world seemed to still. They were moving away from the action, Bulkhead was yelling in the distance calling for help. Arachnid was being detained and would be dealt with, Sari was safe. This whole ordeal was over, there was another voice calling to her from the haze.
"Come on Sari, wake up," Bumblebee pleaded as he laid her down on the ground before getting into a protective stance in front of her. He was in a bit of pain at the moment but Sari was in worse shape than him, Bumblebee was still trying to get Sari to come to but the techno-organism was still unresponsive.
Arachnid let out a laugh at Bumblebee's attempt at bringing Sari back. That brought the yellow bots attention from his friend to the person that did this. Instead of going after Arachnid, he decided to talk to Prime.
"What are we going to do with her?" Bumblebee asked quietly.
"I had Ratchet contact the Elite Guard, we don't have any way to transport her back to base. Ratchet gave the coordinates to Sentinel and he is going to meet us here," Optimus Prime explained, "I know that you are hurt, but can you hold on until we get Arachnid out of here?"
"I can, but Sari is down and can't wait," Bumblebee stated, "we need to get her to Ratchet." Both of them looked at the girl that was lying on the ground motionless. Prime peeled his eyes from her and looked at Prowl and Bulkhead, he was about to call over to them when Bumblebee stopped him, "You guys need to wait for the Elite Guard, I can take her home."
"Alright Bumblebee," Optimus nodded, watching his comrade go back over to Sari and scooping her up gently. The situation that they were just in was horrible but it seemed to bring the two back together. Bumblebee was concerned about Sari's safety and Sari had fought back as best as she could through it all. "Look at that Arachnid, your victim is going away. How does it feel that Sari and Bumblebee held you off long enough for us to capture you?"
"They might have held me off, but Sari probably won't make it back to the poor old medic," Arachnid growled, "That thought in and of itself bring me satisfaction."
Bumblebee had Sari laid down in the front seat, she still had not woke up and he wasn't sure if she was going to at all. "It'll be alright Sari; we are going to get you to Ratchet. Just stay with me," Bumblebee pleaded. The girl's eyes fluttered open slightly. "Good, keep those eyes open Sari. Focus on the sound of my voice. How much pain are you in?"
Sari's breathing wavered as she thought about how to answer. "Enough," Sari stated through clenched teeth, "less than I was before, but it's still there." Her eyes are threatening to close again and Sari was paling again.
Bumblebee could tell that she was trying her hardest to stay awake, so he decided that keeping her talking was the most important thing. "Talk to me Sari, I need you to keep me on track. Optimus and the others are waiting for Sentinel and the rest of the Elite Guard to come for Arachnid."
"I'm sorry," Sari croaked out, "this was all my fault."
"No, it was not. You couldn't stop Arachnid, any more than I could," Bumblebee responded, "she is crazy and sadistic."
"That's not what I was talking about," Sari explained, "if I wouldn't have upgraded myself this would have turned out better, we wouldn't have been fighting in the first place."
"I don't know what you mean?" Bumblebee questioned.
"I never told you, what actually happened after I upgraded myself. When Ratchet took me down, there were more problems than he originally thought… I almost died, Ratchet was not sure if I was going to come through at all. Ratchet brought me back, but more of my circuits had gone haywire then he originally thought. Ratchet was forced to shut down more of them than he wanted to. That is why," Sari paused to sigh a few tears leaking from her eyes, "I don't have many powers anymore, I try but it just causes pain. I've been so afraid of the things I could do to someone after what happened to you that I was too scared to even try. Also, too embarrassed to admit to anyone what was really wrong with me all of this time, I shut you out and I was wrong…"
"I didn't help matters any, I never considered the after effects of what happened, I only got angry when you were coming to see Prowl. Did he know?" Bumblebee spoke.
Sari shook her head, "no, Ratchet was the only one that knew, I never even told my Dad; he knew something was different but never pressed about it. He just thought that I was adjusting to finding out what I am. I shut myself in my room for the most part. I couldn't handle the news at first, then I lost my powers and that only made it worse."
"I couldn't imagine that," Bumblebee responded, "I remember how messed up you were, when you found out that Sumdac was not your father; that there was no record of your existence at all-"
"Please don't remind me of that," Sari shook her head, seeming lively again, "I was so lost and I thought that I was a kidnapped child or that I was just an alien of some kind… Then I found out the truth, but I still don't know how I got here."
"You came from where we all did; we might not have the exact answer of how you ended up on Earth, but you are one of us Sari," Bumblebee stated, "part of our little family. We wouldn't have made it this far without you."
"You did not need me, you guys needed my key," Sari argued.
"That is true, but we would have never gotten the key without you. The Allspark chose you, spoke to you in a way that it has not done to anyone else," Bumblebee stated, "as far as I know at least. With or without the key, we saved you that day and you would have still been our friend without it."
"You really think that?" Sari questioned in disbelief.
"Of course, you helped us adjust to life on this planet, taught us what we needed to know," Bumblebee explained as he sped on, his light flashing on his head and his siren blaring off and on to alert traffic of his presence. Once they were getting closer to the city Bee was finally able to contact Ratchet.
"Bumblebee is that you?" Ratchet asked in shock, "where are you? I haven't heard from Optimus yet… Is Sari with you? Last I heard she was with Arachnid, you didn't leave her there did you?"
"She's with me," Bumblebee said, "we are getting closer to the base as we speak. Sari isn't in good condition…. I'm trying to keep her talking, but the girl is barely keeping her eyes open."
"Good. Keep your eyes open Sari," Ratchet pleaded, "the med-bay is ready and waiting for your arrival." He told Bumblebee a short good-bye before ending the transmission.
"See Sari, Ratchet is ready for you. He's been worried sick about you, about us," Bumblebee said, hoping Sari was coherent enough to hear him, "we are almost there Sari, Ratchet is going to patch you up good as new."
It was clear to Bumblebee that Sari was trying to say something but the only thing that coming out were muffled words and gurgles. "I know you are trying to tell me something, but nothing is coming out. It is alright, we are close to the base. Everything is going to be fine, I promise." Bumblebee was trying to keep calm for the remainder of the drive, but he could feel Sari slipping away.
When they finally made it back to the base Sari was unconscious and as soon as Bumblebee saw Ratchet, he quickly handed Sari over to the medic. Ratchet eyed Sari before looking Bumblebee from his feet to his helm, "I want you in the med-bay on the other table while I get Sari started," Ratchet commanded with no sass in his tone at all, he sounded tired and like he was not in the mood for any argument.
"Focus on her," Bumblebee responded, "Sari took the worse of it, Arachnid only beat me up a little, the crazy femme nearly tortured her."
"I know what Arachnid does, Optimus and I learned that the hard way a long time ago," Ratchet stated as he took Sari to the med-bay and laid her down on the berth, getting her hooked up on a few machines, trying desperately to stabilize her. "I'm shocked Sari managed to get away from her…"
"Sari kept fighting, using everything she knew to survive. Part of her only kept moving to help me. She was stuck in that ship alone with that monster and instead of worrying about what could happen to her, if Arachnid found her, Sari risked herself to try and find me," Bumblebee explained remorse filling his tone, "if she doesn't make it Ratchet it'll be my fault. I left her there alone with no way to contact anyone; she could have been offlined…."
"Bumblebee, if you cannot be quiet and calm yourself I will have to sedate you," Ratchet warned, "from what I can tell most of the damage was done to her leg, the rest is bruising and a reaction to her trying to activate circuits that have been deactivated. I should be able to patch her up, but she will not be mobile for a while because her leg is badly sprained or broken most likely."
Bumblebee nodded, trying to keep his mind off Ratchet and the work he was doing on Sari now. Things were quiet for the most part, Sari was out and Ratchet worked silently hoping that Sari did not suffer through any more pain because of what he was trying to do.
The sounds of tools activating and then Ratchet slamming his fist against the table brought Bee back to his surroundings. "What's wrong Ratchet?"
"I need a controlled electrical frequency to correct something in Sari and begin to bring her back to us, but my tool is not working," Ratchet huffed.
Bumblebee sat up on the berth and slowly climbed down from it. "I can help you, controlled electrical frequency, sounds like something that is in my job description."
Ratchet shook his head. "No, that sounds like a really bad idea. One wrong move and we could overload her circuits completely. She needed this to jumpstart her back to us but if we screw this up Bumblebee, we might lose her for good."
"Just tell me what I have to do, you can walk me through this step by step, hold my hand through it," Bumblebee pleaded.
Ratchet took Bee's hand and placed one on a space near Sari's torso before taking the other and placing it on her injured leg. "Put minimal pressure there and then a low pulse from your stingers should put everything back in order."
"How low are we talking?" Bumblebee questioned.
"Sparring level intensity," Ratchet stated, "low and not likely to cause damage."
"Okay I got it," Bumblebee responded, withdrawing his stingers and putting them in place, "are you sure this is what has to be done?"
Ratchet nodded before grabbing his monitor and keeping his eyes on that instead of what Bumblebee was going to do. "You can start whenever you are ready," Ratchet stated calmly, hoping to get this over with as quickly as possible.
"Are you sure I can do this?" Bumblebee questioned voicing his doubts, "what if I only put her at more risk?" The sight of Sari batter and broken in front of him was not helping with coming to grips with what he has to do.
"Remember when Sari malfunctioned," Ratchet wondered aloud, knowing full well that Bumblebee did remember that day clearly, "I took a risk with my EMP generator, Optimus ordered me to take her down no matter the cost, even Sari told me to take her out of her rampage but I didn't want to. I tried to tell her to stop, begged her even but she couldn't, it was me or her. I didn't have a choice but to put her out of her misery, and I did but she took a harder hit than I planned. By the time we got her back here and fixed up, I had lost her multiple times before she finally stabilized. The only people that knew what happened were me and Sari, I couldn't put that weight on Prime's shoulders."
"She told me that on the way back here," Bumblebee responded, "so you want me to shock her even though it may kill her anyways?"
"Sometimes we have no other choice," Ratchet sighed, "Bumblebee if you can't do this, I understand."
"Would Sari want me to? We talked on the way here and she seemed okay with me, but it could have just been the pain talking," Bumblebee responded.
"If it could save her or anyone else, Sari would want it done," Ratchet stated, holding the monitor out to Bumblebee, "we'll watch this together, you can take it slow Bumblebee. It is not something that has to be rushed."
"Okay," Bumblebee said taking a moment to prepare himself before he began sending shocks through her system. It felt wrong, if he messed up, he could hurt her, Bumblebee had to chase these worries away because Sari needed him to do this. The levels on the monitor were rising slowly as he worked on her.
"You're doing good Bumblebee, take it slow," Ratchet's voice chimed in, "Sari is still stable. Things are shifting back into place."
Sari's levels began to rise a bit faster as time rolled on, Bumblebee was beginning to get frustrated with the process, he was feeling the beating he had received earlier. Bumblebee was pushing himself harder than he should have been; it caused a spike in his electricity levels and Ratchet took notice to that. "Bumblebee, you're rushing." Ratchet pulled his arms away from Sari, receiving the shock himself. "We're done, you've done enough. Thank you," Ratchet stated, "now lie down, so I can patch you up."
Bumblebee did what he was told and shut his optics as Ratchet got to work; two spark monitors were beeping in the background. As he listened in one of the sparks were beating stronger than the other one was. Bumblebee figured that his was the stronger of the two, while Sari's spark seemed to be racing to catch up. Bumblebee told himself that Sari was stable, her spark would not stop and everything was going to be fine.
Once Ratchet was finished with him, Bumblebee lay there worried about Sari, she had not woken up yet but she seemed to be stable. While he was resting, Ratchet had received a call over the com-link and was taking it as quietly as he could. From what Bumblebee could make out is that there was some kind of complication with Optimus and the Elite Guard. "I'll be there as soon as I can," the medic stated before ending the transmission.
"What happened Ratchet, did Arachnid get away?" Bumblebee questioned, the worry rising in his voice.
Ratchet shook his head. "No, but Arachnid put up a struggle, she's beat up pretty badly and so is Sentinel. They have her detained but both of them need medical attention before they take her to the stockade."
"You are really going to fix up that monster? Even after what she did to me and Sari? She tried to kill both of us," Bumblebee said in disbelief as he sat up to look at Ratchet.
"Easy Bumblebee," Ratchet sighed as he put up a hand to still the young mech, "Arachnid deserves to rot in the stockade for a long time, but if she dies on the way there, she gets off easy. I'm going to go patch her up, just so she does not bleed out during transport, as for Sentinel Prime, if I do not see to his wounds will be listening him whine about it for the next eon. Optimus asked me to come; I don't have much of a say in the matter. Hold down the fort for me, take it easy but also keep an eye on Sari."
"What should I do if something happens?" Bumblebee asked, "If she wakes up while you are gone?"
"Sari should be fine." Ratchet waved away Bumblebee's worries away. "Just make sure that when she wakes up she doesn't move around too much. Sari should not be in any pain but moving her leg will only make things worse. Stop worrying so much." Ratchet walked away after that and sped out of the base, heading back towards where they left Optimus.
Bumblebee took a seat on the berth, watching over Sari and tracking Ratchet's location on the monitor. It was weird for him to stay in the med-bay without Ratchet but moving away from Sari while she was still unconscious seemed wrong in his mind. "What if she wakes up and is confused as to what happened?" Bee thought. He hoped that even if she remembered that they were fighting that Sari would be able to forgive him for leaving her out there in the first place.
Part of him hoped that Sari would not wake up until the others returned, but as her eyes fluttered open Bumblebee's hope was gone. From what he could tell Sari seemed to be aware of where she was, but the confusion on her face was mostly because see could not see anyone in the room with her.
"Hey there Sleepyhead," Bumblebee decided to break the silence and step into her view, "how are you feeling? Ratchet told me to keep you from moving too much but nothing about talking."
"Ratchet?" Sari murmured in barely a whisper.
"He is not here right now," Bumblebee answered, "had to go meet Optimus to patch up Sentinel, they had complications." As Sari's eyes widened with worry Bumblebee instantly felt awful for mentioning it at all. "Arachnid lashed out, roughed up Sentinel a bit and hurt herself; they still have her though, Ratchet just has to do a patch job before transport."
"He is actually going to patch up that maniac," Sari breathed. Her whole body was shuddering and Bumblebee wondered if she was cold; her pulse was steady and from her voice Bee did not think she was not in much pain.
"Knowing Ratchet he will probably rough her up a bit after he stops her from bleeding out," Bumblebee explained. "How are you feeling?" He asked again hoping that she would answer him this time.
"I'm not dead," Sari laughed quietly, "or stuck on Arachnid's table before being broken up into pieces and being stored in a trophy case."
"That will not happen," Bumblebee promised, "Arachnid is outnumbered, cuffed and injured at the moment. We survived Sari. If a Decepticon comes in here right now, they would have to kill me to get to you." When Sari barely nodded in response Bumblebee added, "We don't have to talk about this anymore."
"Good." Sari smiled. "I'm sorry."
"I know," Bumblebee responded, "it's alright we both messed up. Once Ratchet lets you out of here, you and I may be spending some time together. Your leg is pretty messed up, so if you'll have me I'm offering to be your legs until we can get back to training."
"You want to train with me?" Sari questioned.
"Yes and once you are back on your feet, I think you should tell Prime and Bulkhead what happened, we can all train together," Bumblebee stated, "but at the moment you just have to focus on getting back on your feet."
"I am just thankful I can still use my feet," Sari stated.
After that, the two fell in to a comfortable silence; the air had been cleared between them. Bumblebee sat on the edge of Sari's berth and watched as she struggled to sit up on her own before he helped her sit up the rest of the way and they just sat there like that until Prime returned.
Once Sari regained her strength the whole team helped with her rehabilitation. They helped her regain her strength and how to learn how to access her powers again, slowly over time. As they helped her, they began to work better as a team. Sari and Bumblebee had patched up their relationship with one another and through their experience became closer than ever.
A/N: Edited as of August 7, 2017