System rebooted. Power stabilizing. Circuit check... internal drive function restored.

Bumblebee didn't hear the report, but he felt his systems registering one by one as his consciousness rebooted itself and he regained normal function. He felt weakness, disorientation, but that was typical of a system reboot. He put a priority on optics, and was soon able to look around.

Within seconds, he was getting groggily to his feet, looking for Smokescreen and wondering why he hadn't been destroyed in that blast. The weakness began to fade as he straightened up, and he realized belatedly that, if he hadn't been destroyed, the Decepticons were probably still here too.

Soundwave was also getting to his feet, but he seemed in no condition to continue the battle. From the looks of him, he was feeling just like Bumblebee was. Bumblebee wasn't exactly feeling profoundly ill, but he was experiencing a disinclination to pursue battle just now.

"Ugh," Knockout was the first to speak, trying in vain to wipe the mud off his body with his hands, "I hate being muddy."

Bumblebee looked at Knockout, and then his gaze sort of drifted to himself, and he noticed the mud covering his own outer shell. He didn't especially like it. He began to slowly try to wipe it off, then remembered he was looking for Smokescreen. He looked around again, somewhat vaguely.

The vehicons were getting up now, but they seemed listless. They looked at each other, then looked around, then looked at the Autobots, then Soundwave, then each other again. They seemed to be lost, like they didn't know what they should do next. Neither Soundwave nor Knockout supplied an answer.

Bumblebee spotted Smokescreen at last, kneeling on the ground still and shaking his head in the hopes of clearing it, like he thought something might have rattled loose and needed to be knocked back into place. He stopped after a moment, and looked around. He saw Bumblebee and their eyes met.

He looks just as lost as the vehicons, Bumblebee thought.

"I'm okay... I think," Smokescreen said uncertainly, slowly getting to his feet, "What happened?"

"You shot the panels," Knockout exclaimed suddenly, and went towards the device at a stumbling run.

When he got there, he shoved Soundwave aside and began to frantically fuss with the controls.

"Not on purpose!" Smokescreen protested.

{What happened?} Bumblebee repeated Smokescreen's question, somehow certain Knockout knew something more than he was saying.

"I don't know," Knockout answered, "This is a very old..." he shook his head, "No, you... you two need to go away. This belongs to the Decepticons."

As though the words had somehow snapped him back to a reality he had vacated since the pulse, Soundwave abruptly turned his weapons on Bumblebee. The vehicons also turned on the Autobots, but they were slow and they seemed to lack energy about it, like they were doing it only because it was expected, rather than because they had any reason to.

Inwardly, Bumblebee berated himself for not bringing his own weapons to bear. Soundwave had him point blank, he'd be dead before he could even begin the shift that would allow him to access his blasters. He felt like an idiot. It looked like Smokescreen felt the same way, but he also cast a somewhat accusing look at Bumblebee. Bee felt he deserved as much. He was the more experienced of them, he should have reacted more quickly, and better. He'd made a mistake, and now they might pay for it with their very lives. Not a very agreeable prospect.

"Oh come on," Knockout sounded irritated, "You don't all need to point weapons. Some of you get over here, help me prepare this for transportation."

"You're not taking that anywhere," Smokescreen said, but his voice lacked conviction.

{And just what do you expect to do to stop him?} Bumblebee felt shock even as he spoke, appalled by the uselessness of his own words, and the open irritation carried on them.

He usually suppressed such remarks before he spoke them, knowing they were completely counterproductive. But, for some reason, he just couldn't summon the internal resources necessary to keep the negativity to himself, or even to convince himself before he spoke that they'd do more harm than good. He felt a thin thread of concern vibrating inside, and instant regret.

But Smokescreen's response was equally inappropriate.

"Hey, at least I'm acting like an Autobot!" he snapped in an uncharacteristic flare of anger, "You're just being an overgrown, motion sensing brick!"

Annoyance flared through Bumblebee, but it encountered restraint via something very unexpected. Regret. Guilt. Smokescreen was right. Bumblebee knew he'd handled the situation quite badly. He dropped his gaze and looked at the ground, profoundly unhappy with himself more than he was irritated with Smokescreen. The thread of concern strengthened, seeming to coil itself slowly around his insides. Something was wrong.

The sound of the Ground Bridge activating should have been a welcome relief, but it only served to make Bumblebee think about having to explain his mistakes to Optimus, or having Smokescreen do it for him. He watched grimly as Optimus, Bulkhead and Arcee came through the portal.

"Oh for goodness sake," Knockout sounded thoroughly irritated with the whole matter, "Just take your Autobots and go away."

Looking at the dozen vehicons who had their weapons trained on two of their party, Optimus hesitated a moment. With the numbers, he would normally be equal to fighting. But with two of his people already being held point blank, with their deaths assured if he engaged the enemy, he decided to agree to Knockout's unexpected proposal.

"Very well," Optimus said, "But this is far from over."

Unhappily, Bumblebee and Smokescreen moved around the vehicons, who tracked their progress, and backed their way up to the other Autobots. The lot of them then backed through the bridge and returned home. The weight of his failure was almost crushing, but Bumblebee turned to Optimus anyway.

{I'm sorry, Optimus. They took us by surprise. It was my mistake that gave them the upper hand.}

"Surely that's not all there is to it," Arcee said, crossing her arms and looking doubtful.

"Oh it's not," Smokescreen volunteered, sounding even angrier than he had before, "He completely failed to oppose them when they took us prisoner, just stood there gawking at them."

Bumblebee had had just about enough and snarled, {Like you did any better!}

"At least I took a shot! A shot, I might add, that saved your life!"

{Idiot! You could have gotten us all killed! Did you miss the part where we experienced a full system crash?!} Bumblebee knew he was beginning to shout, but he couldn't seem to help it.

He was angry with Smokescreen for being angry, and for telling Optimus about his incompetence. But he was even more angry because Smokescreen was absolutely right, which only served to further increase the already debilitating guilt that was rising up from previously unrecognized depths.

"Oh yeah!?" Smokescreen rose instantly to the fight, "Well who was it who noticed the Decepticons in the first place, while you were busy admiring a hunk of oversized scrap!? Huh?"

{Like you weren't just as fascinated,} Bumblebee snapped, disbelieving the vehemence of his own words, feeling somehow detached from the whole argument, like he was just a spectator.

He felt a creeping sense of embarrassment as the rest of Team Prime stood staring at him and Smokescreen, evidently so astonished by the behavior that they couldn't even react to it. But somehow he just couldn't seem to stop talking, even though by now he desperately wanted to.

"Bring it, bug!" Smokescreen was really shouting now, and lunged for Bumblebee, who met him almost unwillingly.

The sound of them smashing into each other seemed to snap the others out of their daze.

"Bumblebee!" Optimus roared, "Smokescreen! Cease and desist!"

The tone of rebuke sent a shiver of pain through Bumblebee and he instantly disengaged. He moved away from Smokescreen as though he'd been stung, and dimly observed Smoke doing the same. They eyed each other for a moment, then looked away, both utterly ashamed of themselves, and also deeply confused by their own behaviors and feelings.

"What is the matter with you two?" Optimus demanded, his voice resuming its usual quiet booming levels, but laced with deep disappointment, which made Bumblebee feel all the worse, "What happened?"

Explain, a part of Bumblebee urged him, while another part said, What's the point?

He shook his head miserably, and avoided looking at Optimus. Deciding Bee wasn't going to step up, Smokescreen decided to report instead. Surprisingly, his remarks about Bumblebee's incompetence were kept to a minimum, he seemed to start to say something, then cringe as though hit by lightning, and then resume a regular, sensible report.

He detailed their arrival, the way they had observed the object and failed to identify it in any capacity before the Decepticons arrived. He told how they had fought, and then hesitated, seeming to be crushed under the same guilt that was weighing on Bumblebee. His voice shook a little as he admitted to accidentally shooting the panels and setting off the device. By the time he finished, he sounded every bit as miserable as Bumblebee felt.

"It seems there is plenty of blame to go around," Ratchet remarked.

"But that does not excuse your behavior," Optimus pointed out to them, "Or explain it. Ratchet, I want you to do a full physical on both of them. Make sure they are as unharmed as they appear."

While Optimus was speaking, Bumblebee felt his attention being drawn back to the mud that was still -irritatingly and embarrassingly- all over him. He tried to wipe it off, soon becoming absorbed in the task. It was only when he heard his own name and looked up to see Ratchet waiting impatiently for him that he remembered where he was, and what he'd done.

Miserably, he walked over to where Ratchet was waiting, and submitted to examination.


"I can't stand this mud!" Knockout wailed, actively clawing at it, "It won't come off! Soundwave, why won't you help me get it off!?"

Soundwave merely stared at him. In response to the desperate plea, some of the vehicons moved to help Knockout, but they weren't very energetic about it, and he rapidly became annoyed with him and shoved them away.

"Oh get off, you're not helping! Why don't you go away and rust somewhere!"

His comm unit chirped and he answered almost angrily, then felt a wave of utter fear as the identity of the person on the other end of the line became clear to him. Megatron. The very name sent him into a shuddering fit and he stood silently while Megatron spoke.

"Knockout, where are you? You were supposed locate and retrieve the device immediately!"

"Yes, yes," Knockout nodded, abhorring the sound of wheedling in his voice, "We ran into some Autobots and a bit of a mishap. But we're almost ready for transport now. Er... what is it anyway?"

"Just bring it! I want it safely out of Autobot hands. Sooner, rather than later. Understood?"

"Uh... yes," Knockout replied, "Knockout... out," he growled in annoyance.

That display of fear was absurd. Where had his pride gone? The mere thought of groveling like Starscream always had made him angry enough to override his fear. Besides, what did Megatron expect of him? It was completely unfair to expect him to do this. Here he was, covered in mud, working to get the job done, and Megatron was demanding status reports. It wasn't fair!

The squealing sound of metal being crushed made him lurch around. He found Soundwave slowly and deliberately crushing the neck of one of the vehicons. It was a quiet act of rage, but a terrifying display nonetheless. Soundwave wasn't one for casual displays of cruelty or power.

Soundwave lifted the twitching vehicon above his head, sheer anger radiating from his core. Then, effortlessly, he tossed the now deceased vehicon aside. His hand closed into a fist, and it seemed his anger was not spent. But, a moment later, he opened it and seemed to diminish his presence, as though letting out a sigh of resignation. He turned towards Knockout, pointed to the device.

"Yes, I know. Get it moving," Knockout said, his own anger overriding the fear of Soundwave's display, "I heard Lord Megatron. I'm not deaf, you know."

He didn't feel he had done anything wrong; if anyone had made a mistake it was Soundwave (not that he would ever dare suggest such a thing, especially as Soundwave seemed to be in a terrible mood). He felt no guilt or shame of any of his conduct today. But a quiet, slow spreading fear was growing up in him, and a prickle of unease established itself when he realized he couldn't explain why.

Plus, he was still deeply annoyed that he had been unable to get the mud off his chassis.


"I've never seen Bee act like that," Bulkhead said, "Have you?"

"No," Arcee answered, "I couldn't figure out if he was scared or angry."

"He was sure somethin'," Bulkhead said, shaking his head.

"It was almost like even he was surprised by the things he was saying. I thought for a minute he and Smokescreen were going to kill each other."

"And what about Smoke?" Bulkhead pointed out, "He's not exactly the temperamental type."

"Maybe he's just concealed it well," Arcee suggested, "Maybe all that cheerful exuberance is just a facade, trying to fit in better."

"I don't buy it," Bulkhead said, after thinking a moment, "Nobody could fake that much enthusiasm. Besides, you and I both know Autobots ain't exactly the deceptive type. We are who we are."

"Then what was it we just saw?" Arcee asked.

Bulkhead didn't answer, because he truly had no clue.