Author's Notes: Well, this chapter is short, but I'm happy with how it turned out anyway. Now we can actually get into the story proper! The first chapter was more of a prologue than anything else. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter, and please leave a review :)


Chapter 2

Hunted

It was a quiet fall evening at Mount St. Hilary. The Ark stood as a lone sentry in a landscape dominated by plants and wildlife. Hound and Bumblebee had spent the evening on guard duty, but now it was time to go inside and let the night shift take over. Bumblebee and Hound passed by Mirage and Prowl as the new guards made their way to the front door and the relieved crew made their way to their rooms.

"You want to see that photo I took of the falcon that flew by?" Hound asked.

"Sure, it was pretty neat when it flew near your helm," Bumblebee smiled as he remembered the falcon landing on top of the Ark.

Hound showed him the in-motion shot of the falcon flying away. It wasn't a perfect shot. The wings in the photo were a little blurry. Bumblebee complimented Hound on the picture nonetheless. He liked the photo despite its flaws.

They both shared a deep love for their surrogate planet, and they both spent hours talking about earth's natural life or human culture. Jazz was another one that understood their love of the planet, but Hound took it to extreme degrees sometimes. Bumblebee still remembered Hound confessing to him that sometimes he wished he could be human. Bumblebee understood that. Being a Cybertronian meant war and death. Being a human meant trees, families, and video games. Yeah...Bumblebee understood the appeal.

"Hey, Bumblebee, you want to go to the rec room with me?" Hound asked, "Tracks and Smokescreen are setting up a projector in the upper levels and are going to show a film called Monsters, Inc. You in?"

"Nah, I'm pretty low on charge," Bumblebee declined, "I'd better turn in. See you tomorrow."

"See you, Bee," Hound waved goodbye as he walked toward the elevator.

Bumblebee made it to his room a few minutes later. His part of the Ark already had the lights turned off for simulated night time. Bumblebee found it interesting how they all just adopted the earth's night/day cycle no questions asked. He got into his berth and sighed contentedly as his systems began to shut down. It really had been a long day, and he was exhausted. He smiled and went into recharge thinking about what a wonderful day tomorrow could be…


Bumblebee's audio sensors woke him up out of a good recharge cycle. He stirred, and then noticed that there were a few clanking and skittering sounds coming from out in the halls. He huffed tiredly, lamenting that he was such a light recharger. He looked at his internal chronometer. Oh-two-hundred. It was still the middle of the night!

Bumblebee groaned and lied back down hoping to get back into a recharge cycle before his systems came fully online. There was a buzzing sound. Then the sound of fast footsteps. That didn't sound normal. The footsteps sounded too small...too quick for an Autobot.

Bumblebee sat up and listened more carefully. Was it a human friend come to visit? It seemed too late at night for them. Besides, the pattern seemed too rapid for human feet. Bumblebee knew he wouldn't get any recharge until he knew what was going on out there, so he groggily got out of his berth and went out into the hall.

It was so dark. Darker than usual. Even in simulated night there was usually residual lights in the corners, but tonight nothing. Bumblebee turned on his optic lights, and calming blue light streamed from his helm and out into the hallway.

There didn't seem to be anything out of place. Everything was so quiet now. He was sure the noise was nothing to worry about, but he was still curious as to what it was. Maybe another one of Wheeljack's inventions got away and was wandering the halls. If so, then Bumblebee needed to catch it so it didn't get damaged.

He walked along the halls in silence with nothing but his little optic lights to guide him. Then he heard a sudden noise! It sounded like it came from above him, but when he looked up there was nothing there. Now Bumblebee thought he was starting to look paranoid. He didn't need people comparing him to Red Alert, so he turned around to go back to his own quarters to get some recharge, but then he saw something on the lower part of the wall. Needing a better look, he turned on the headlights on his pedes and walked over to the wall. There were wires hanging out, and bite marks on the open panel door…

Bumblebee's optics widened in realization. Something was here that ate metal! He tried to keep himself calm, thinking that maybe it was just one of the Dinobots getting curious about the world around them again. Then again, Dinobot teeth marks were much bigger than those…

Bumblebee shivered and walked slowly along the halls, hoping to be quiet enough to avoid detection until he could make it to Optimus Prime's quarters and alert him that there was an intruder (or Wheeljack invention) eating the walls.

He walked on for a few minutes, and then finally made it to Prime's quarters. He rang the door chime and waited, but there was no answer. He tried again, and stood there patiently, but there was no answer.

He suddenly felt something liquid drip on his left shoulder from the ceiling, and he touched it to discover that it burned! Acid! He had touched acid and it was on his shoulder!

"AHH!" Bumblebee cried out in pain, and stumbled back a few steps in panic.

He looked up again at the ceiling, and this time he could clearly see Kickback in his grasshopper alt mode staring down at him with bulging unblinking optics!

Without saying anything, Bumblebee quickly took his rifle out of subspace to try to blast the Insecticon before he could cause anymore damage, but the bug threw a balloon that surprisingly contained more of the acid! It melted Bumblebee's gun, and with no way to defend himself the Autobot took off down the hall in a mad sprint!

He could hear the buzzing behind him as the Insecticon gave chase! Bumblebee had to get to the upper level and warn the other Autobots! He couldn't see more than a few feet ahead of him with his optic lights, so he once again turned on his headlights and saw that he was only a couple seconds away from running into Bombshell! He skidded to a stop, and Kickback used the opportunity to grab Bumblebee's arms and hold him tight!

"Let me go, you overgrown cockroach!" Bumblebee grunted as he tried to struggle free from Kickback's grasp.

"Shh…" Bombshell hissed in a mock-attempt to soothe the Autobot, "Don't worry, little morsel. We're not going to hurt you...yet."

Bombshell then stuck a cerebro shell on Bumblebee's forehead, forcing the Autobot to stop moving. Bumblebee was aware of everything that happened around him, but powerless to interact with anything. The cerebro shell was better than any shackle, as it caused Bumblebee to stop moving completely, and forced his body to obey the will of the Insecticons. His mind was still free, but that didn't matter anymore.

/Shrapnel, this is Bombshell,/ Bombshell said over the comm, /Mission accomplished. We have the package and are ready to retreat./

/Good good,/ Shrapnel said sinisterly over the comm, /You two meet me outside with our little recruit recruit. We need to get him back to the swamp before his team realizes what we've done to their security system system./

/Of course,/ Bombshell purred; pleased that their plan had gone so smoothly thus far.

"Kickback," Bombshell then addressed the grasshopper out loud, "You carry the cargo. Make sure not to damage him until I get a complete body scan of him and take pictures of his internals for my files."

"Sure thing, Bombshell!" Kickback replied in a chipper tone as he grabbed Bumblebee's stiff but still conscious body.

Bumblebee wanted to fight his way out so badly! He wanted to get free of the awful bug, or at least be able to move or release his intakes. At least now he knew why the Insecticons never invented a version of the cerebro shell for humans. They would probably be unable to breathe without a command. Well, that and the obvious humans-don't-have-processors-to-hack reason.

They took off into the air a few minutes later, and Bumblebee dreaded what they might make him do. If he couldn't get the offending piece of tech away from his processor, then he might never have free will again!