Disclaimers: I don't own Transformers or any of these characters.

Note: Due to the fact that there is a lack of Arcee and Bumblebee stories, and because my readers have asked for more stories with these two paired up, I have written this story.

I hope you enjoy this story!

…...

Chapter 1: The Capture

It was the middle of the day in scorching hot Jasper, Nevada. The sun was beating down on the ground and it seemed like the rocky terrain had become a searing oven. No one would dare venture out into this devastating heat, except for two large Autobots and their two small human companions.

One the Autobots was a large yellow robot and the other was a smaller, slimmer dark blue robot.

The two humans were hiking quickly beside these two moving giants. One of the humans turned to the other and commented, "It sure is hot. We should have stayed back at base. I'm melting here."

"Because, Jack, Ratchet refused to watch you kids alone," the dark blue robot responded smirking.

"Why does Ratchet have to have moods sometimes?" he murmured irritably.

"Miko," the other human merely remarked shrugging his shoulders.

A few beeps rang out of the yellow robot. Normally, the shorter human boy would have translated for his yellow friend, but the other robot beat him to it.

"Bumblebee's right, see this as an opportunity to get out and exercise," she answered teasingly.

The other boy smiled as the boy named Jack scowled slightly, "Thanks Arcee, I didn't know you and Bumblebee had suddenly volunteered to become my secondary parents."

Arcee smirked then shrugged her metallic shoulders before turning to her companion, Bumblebee who beeped in amusement.

The other boy fixed his glasses before he cut in, "Jack, just don't think about the heat."

Bumblebee smiled down at the younger boy, Raf, as Jack grumbled something about how he gets air conditioning on his way back to the base.

"Fine, why don't you and Raf go stand under the shade beneath that cliff, and Bumblebee and I will finish recon as quickly as possible," Arcee offered as Bumblebee nodded.

"Shade! Finally!" Jack exclaimed as he ran over to the shack with Raf following chuckling.

Raf turned around and called out, "Be careful, Bee."

The yellow Autobot gave the young boy a thumbs up before turning and following his female comrade eagerly.

Jack sat down and brought the bottle of water he had brought to his lips. Drinking heavily, he then turned to Raf and offered the bottle to the younger boy. The younger boy shook his head and pointed to his own chilled water. Taking a sip, he sighed and wiped his mouth as they sat in peaceful silence.

Their eyes wandered towards the two Autobots who were chatting about something. Arcee was listening intently as Bumblebee spoke animatedly to his comrade.

"They've gotten closer," Jack remarked.

"Since the incident with Starscream, Bumblebee's been hanging around Arcee," Raf agreed, "It's sort of like he's trying to help her move on."

Jack nodded before taking another sip, "Arcee definitely is smiling more than before. I've even heard her laugh at something Bee said yesterday."

"I remember. It was a pretty funny joke."

"I wouldn't know," Jack returned.

Silence followed and the two boys lost sight of their guardians. This didn't alarm them, they were still nearby.

Just as Jack was about to close his eyes, something flashed in front of them. With a loud thump eight long legs landed gracefully in front of the two boys. Eyes widened in terror, and the two boys backed up as they gazed up into Airachnid's optics.

"Hello, Jack. And you must be Bumblebee's human," she remarked as she turned to Raf, "You'd make fine prizes; but today I'm after something a little bigger."

She smirked as she gazed around.

Suddenly, something slammed her into the rocks. She crashed into the solid wall and crumpled into a heap.

Recovering quickly, she found her attacker to be the Autobot scout.

"Ah, it's the Autobot bug," she stated with delight, "Wonderful. And is Arcee not far behind?"

He glared down at her with his cannons facing her. She then detected a new presence, Arcee. She was angrily directing her two blasters at the female Decepticon.

"Arcee, it's good to see you. I wanted you to be here when I stole away another one of your partners," she added lightly as she raised herself on her spider legs.

"Stay away from Jack," Arcee seethed.

"Whoever said anything about Jack?" Airachnid remarked smirking.

Arcee's eyes widened in surprise and before she could react, Airachnid had shot her with her spider web. Arcee was thrown back and stuck to the rocky cliff.

Airachnid then turned towards the yellow scout and, quick as lightning, pounced on Bumblebee. He swiftly stepped out of the way and grabbed her legs from behind. Then he swung her across the ground and into another rock wall. Seeing that he had knocked the female Decepticon unconscious, Bumblebee hurried over to where Arcee was struggling to free herself. The boys were assisting her in this endeavor and had managed to cut halfway into the spider web that held Arcee prisoner. Bumblebee beeped to the boys and Raf pulled Jack back as the yellow scout ripped the web off Arcee. He then lowered her down gently before looking straight into her optics and issuing what was obviously an order through a series of beeps and chirps.

"Bee wants us to leave and bridge ourselves to safety," Raf explained nervously.

"But we beat her, right?" Jack questioned the younger boy who shook his head.

"Bee says that she won't stay down for long; he was buying us some time," Raf explained as he stared up worriedly to his Autobot friend.

Arcee grew livid, "You do not order me around, and we both stay and take her down together!"

Jack realized that, although she wasn't as vengeful as the time before the Starscream incident, Arcee was not in full control of her temper at that moment.

Bumblebee jerked his head to the side then turned back to his Autobot comrade. He placed both of his servos on her metallic shoulders and stared hard at her. He beeped a message that caused Arcee's head to shoot down and nod reluctantly.

"What did he say?" Jack questioned Raf.

"He said that he can hold her off, and that our first responsibility is getting us to safely. But means he needs to hold Airachnid off," Raf explained as he looked up to Bumblebee who gave him a reassuring smile.

Bee then turned to a now subdued Arcee, who transformed into her motorcycle mode and ordered both boys to hop on. She then drove towards the ground bridge Bee had called for while he had been attempting to placate Arcee.

As they rode, Raf and Jack looked back to see Bumblebee fighting a now conscious Airachnid. He shot her in the legs which caused her to collapse on the ground. This gave him an opportunity to run after the others. But Airachnid was following him close behind.

He neared the others and Arcee and the boys were just about to enter the ground bridge.

That was until they noticed the appearance of Breakdown and Vehicons. Breakdown tackled Bumblebee to the ground. Bee turned his helm to his friends as they entered the bridge. Arcee turned around to run out and aid her friend when Bumblebee stared at her for a moment as he kicked Breakdown off and shot at a Vehicon coming near the bridge. As Arcee stared desperately at her friend, she wavered between disobeying her close friend and obeying him.

She couldn't bear the thought of losing him, so she began to walk out of the bridge.

She never noticed him bring his free servo to his helm and beep a request.

Suddenly, the bridge closed up and Arcee was standing in the Autobot base.

"Bumblebee!" she yelled.

…

Bumblebee shot at Breakdown and managed to knock him down in time to swerve around and catch Airachnid's sneak attack. He fought as well as he could and even considered transforming into his car mode and speeding off. Just as this though crossed his mind, however, something slammed into him from behind. He slipped into unconsciousness as his massive body crashed in the middle of Breakdown, Airachnid, and the Vehicons.

"Take him, Lord Megatron will appreciate the information this little Bee has to offer. Not to mention the amusement he'll bring," Airachnid said as she stroked Bee's face, "When I'm through with you, Arcee's going to have three partners dead."

…..

"We have to go back! Bee's in danger!" Arcee exploded at Ratchet, who ignored her as he searched for their missing comrade's life signal.

Exasperated, Arcee persisted, "Why the slag did you shut the ground bridge down? I could have gone back and saved him!"

"He told me to shut it down in order to protect you. And because he knew that you weren't in total control of your emotions when you saw Airachnid. And because your first responsibility was making sure the kids were safe. Bee would never forgive you if you chose to save him over others," Ratchet listed off irritated.

Arcee adopted a irritated silence in response to the medic's reasoning.

It was then that Optimus and Bulkhead entered from the ground bridge. They had been sent immediately after Arcee had returned with the two boys.

Arcee practically sprinted over to them and demanded, "Well? Where is he?"

"Unfortunately, we were too late," Optimus stated grimly.

"You don't mean he's…" Arcee choked back the words before she could finish her statement.

The three Autobots and the two boys turned their heads towards the medic who quickly cut in, "No, I can still detect his life signal. Bumblebee still lives."

"They took him away before we got there," Bulkhead added.

This did little to reassure Arcee, and she resumed her pacing.

"What's going to happen to him?" Raf asked agitated.

Arcee halted her pacing and bent down in front of Bumblebee's human friend. She looked straight into his human eyes and stated with a determined look, "We won't let anything happen. I'm not losing another one of us."

Her conviction managed to convince the young boy, who nodded and then launched himself on her leg, hugging it tightly. A few tears had formed and were now running down his face.

"Please save him," he pleaded as Arcee's expression softened and she began to stroke his back with her metallic finger.

"Don't worry, Rafael, we will. We will not abandon our friend to the Decepticons," Optimus assured.

…..

End of Chapter 1

I hope you enjoy this beginning. The action begins in the next chapter!

Please, please, please review!

Next up: Bumblebee as a prisoner and the Autobot's next moves for saving their friend!