New Upgrade

AN: A story request I did for joebev910. They weren't being so specific on what they want other than Sari getting new Upgrades, so I tried my best to scrape up and hope for the best. Sorry for the long wait.

The war was getting worse, and Autobts were losing.

Sari wasn't sure what had happened. At first, they were celebrating the victory, but soon after, the whole world was on fire. Bots were hurt and there were dead everywhere. Ratchet and other medics trying to save the fallen comrades, Arcee and others with intelligence and Optimus Prime trying his best to boost the moral and sending troops to help turn the tide of the war.

But in the end, it was all for naught.

She felt helpless as she could only watch her friend, Bumblebee growing up so quickly, trained to become a soldier, and killed more Decepticons in his own hands. Both used to be close, but the war had separated them into different paths and Sari had forgotten when was the last time she saw him smile and laugh

They rarely cross paths anymore, but whenever she finds him, she would find him stare at nothing, optics hardened with bloodlust and instinct to survive. She wasn't sure who she was seeing in place of her Bumblebee, but her great friend Bumblebee was long gone, and she stopped looking for him, keeping an audio out for his name.

Bulkhead was also taken a toll from the war and became one of the important scientists next to Perceptor and Wheeljack. However, due to their role in war, they never saw each other again, as same with Optimus due to his status as a military leader. She never bothered to call them, in fear that she'll get in the way of their delicate work.

Ratchet was still with her, as he was her personal medic and even he had lost contact with the other three, but he relied on their status based on the rumors that was spread by the other Autobots. However, age had gotten to him, war swallowing him whole, leaving Sari behind to defend herself.

Sari then jumped from one team to another, helping them against the the horde of Decepticons, but due to her small body, she ended up in a hostage situation as she is the only size of the cybertornian's servo despite her upgrade. And the guilt of putting her teammates into medbay had worsened as she watched them struggling to survive.

That was then and there, Sari decided, that she'll get a new upgrade.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sari looked back up at her old friend, Bulkhead, whom she managed to get a hold of after she tried calling him. She was relieved when Bulkhead still kept his old frequency, "I mean, once you go through this, there's no turning back."

"I'm sure." Sari confirmed, as she laid herself on the large medical bay, "What use am I, if I'm going to get caught and being small?"

"Well, I'm sure there's some advantages on being small, Sari" Bulkhead replied, scratching his faceplate nervously, "I mean, you can hide and attack other Decepticons without them noticing you and you can easily maneuver around the base without them noticing you."

"Yeah, but that's one time."

"...So, I guess your mind's set on it." Bulkhead mumbled to himself as he set the tools for her upgrade ready. Sari looked over to see new plates and armor for her new upgrade.

"I can't instantly upgrade you since you're half organic, but what I can do is help encourage them to stretch and grow. It's going to be a long process, could take stellar cycles until you're at the desired...height. How tall do you want to be again?"

"As tall as Bumblebee." Sari confirmed, "I know what I'm doing and I don't care how long it takes for me to get there."

"I hope you're right..." Bulkhead sighed as he picked up a wrench, "Let's start with your legs then..."

After years of painful stretching and replacing her armors, Sari had surprised her old friends and comrades when she came out from the science complex, ten times as bigger as she was. She heard that Optimus Prime had nearly blew a gasket when he heard her sudden upgrade. But he had calmed down and actually visited her personally to see if she was doing okay.

Their reunion was teary at best, but Sari was glad that he had taken the time to see if she was doing okay.

However, she never heard anything from Bumblebee, so curious, she decided to ask Optimus if Bumblebee was okay and where he was, since Optimus overseer all the bases and crews around Cybertron.

"Hey, Optimus. Have you seen Bumblebee? I haven't heard from him for a long time."

Optimus paused for a while and remained silent for a minute, his faceplate forming to a deep frown and if she can study his face carefully, she could've seen a small flicker of fear in his eyes.

"Sari...during your whole process of upgrading yourself, there's been...an incident."

Sari froze as she looked up at him. An incident?

"You see, there's a huge fight in Kaon, and Bumblebee had found an important intel that would push the tide of the war, but the Decepticons had gotten to him before we could do anything..."

Optimus's shoulder plates sagged from the unseen weight.

"Bumblebee's gone, Sari. I'm sorry."

-.-

"You want me to what?"

"Purge my organic side" Sari answered to another scientist, Perceptor she believed was named, "I know my condition is a rare thing, but I want to get rid of it. And I heard that you've gotten rid of your emotions to get data better."

"Getting 'rid' of it is quite a harsh word." Perceptor droned, "I believe, 'putting it aside' is a better choice of words."

However despite his logical senses and urging to reconsider, Sari refused to accept any more excuses and went right on with the purge of what Sari was.

Later on, she came out as a different person. No longer recognizable by her peers and friends.

Perhaps, it was best left as that.