2 Chapters in one day?! Ain't I on a roll? ANyways, enjoy this little segment between Bee and Arcee during their patrol in Darkness Rising Part 3


"So, what's on the activities list?" Jack asked innocently. Arcee rolled her optics and turned around.

"I'm going on patrol."

"But Optimus told us to stay." Bulkhead reminded. Arcee glared at him.

"When you're in charge, you can call the shots." Turning to the Yellow scout, she barked an order, her face saying 'I want to talk to you' "Bee, with me."

Bumblebee looked to Raf, back to Arcee, and then just looked disappointed. "C'mon!" He beeped somberly.

Arcee turned to Bulkhead. "Bulkhead, you're in charge." She relinquished and they both transformed and drove out of the base, hearing Bulkhead speak as they left.

"So, uh, what's on the activities list?"

It didn't take long for both of them to be outside of the base and driving on the road. Silence was short but defeaning but when Arcee determined that they were far away enough, she spoke. "Thanks for the chat last night Bee. I really needed that."

"No problem, Årcee. I know you would do the same for me." Bumblebee beeped and whirred happily. "I'm just always glad to help."

"Speaking of me doing the same for you," The motorcycle began, "What about you? You've helped me deal with my emotional trauma. Twice, as a matter fact. But, I never thought to ask about your own." She asked, hoping she could repay the good deed that Bumblebee had helped her with the night prior.

"No, no Trauma at all. Don't worry." He beeped and clicked quickly. A bit too quickly, Arcee noted.

"Is it your voice? You know that the team doesn't care if you're mute, you beep, or you actually talk, we still love you all the shame." Bee remained silent. Oh, it was something else, wasn't it? "What's up, Bee?"

"Nothing."

"Bee…"

"It's nothing, I swear." It was clear he was lying to her.

"Bee, don't you dare try to lie to me. You and I are smart enough to know better." The scold was calm but harsh, her tone clearly disappointed in the mech. The autobot scout let out a long whirr that Arcee determined to be a sigh.

"I know, Arcee. I-I'm sorry. It's just...it's something really personal...that happened on Cybertron." Something that happened on Cybertron? But, she knew everything that Bee did on their home planet, so how was there something she didn't know. Then, she suddenly recalled something. There was one mission that Bumblebee didn't report on. She couldn't remember the name of the place on Cybertron that Bumblebee went to, but his mission was supposed to scout out a possible Decepticon operation. It was a simple mission, so she never understood why he didn't speak about it.

"Bumblebee, is it about that mission you didn't report on?" There was silence that answered her question. That was an answer enough. "What happened there, Bee?"

"It was...nothing, just forget about it Arcee. It was a long time ago. It's best we just leave it in the-"

"Past? Frag no, Bee! I can feel that you're suffering. Whatever happened there has deeply scared you." She paused in her tirade and then calmed down. "Please, just let me help you. Like you helped me." She begged. Bumblebee remained silent, attempting to avoid saying anything, so Arcee decided to tap him on the side in her bike form. "C'mon Bee, don't ignore me. I want to repay you for what you did last night."

"What are you talking about? You're not indebted to me because of our talk last night. I just felt like you needed to have someone talk to you." Bumblebee beeped innocently. Arcee let out a frustrated sigh and bumped the muscle car once again, this time harder. There was still no real answer than "It's nothing, Arcee, don't worry!" which irritated her further. Then, she had an idea that would make him talk.

"If you don't tell me what happened, then I'll be sure to deactivate all Cartoons from the Base." If she was in her robot form, she would have a devious smile on her face as Bumblebee let out a horrified gasp, or at least what could be considered one, as it was actually a long beep.

"No, please! I use those to learn about human culture!" Really? That's why he watched them all the time? Arcee put her focus back on the matter at hand.

"Then talk! Tell me what happened. I opened up to you and you helped me. Allow me to do the same for you." She ordered. "I'm your commander until Optimus returns, so I order you to do so." She decided to throw in before he could reject her attempts. Bumblebee let out a frustrated whirr, probably a sigh if Arcee was to consider it being vocalized.

"Alright...I'll tell you, but you probably won't like hearing about it." This made Arcee even more curious. What is something that she wouldn't to hear about? "You remember the traitor Wasp and the Decepticon, Barricade?" He asked her. Odd bringing those two up, but she'd bite.

"Yeah...what about them?"

"They...they...let's just say I was caught by both of them but I wasn't interrogated in the normal sense." Arcee almost screeched to a halt upon hearing that. Did he mean that- "Yes...Yes, I was, Arcee...I just..." Bee stopped talking, silence opening up between them. And during that time, Arcee was left to her thoughts.

'Those sparkless, waste eating, disgusting, sickening, fragging scrapheaps!' Arcee thought angrily as her processor conjured images of Bumblebee on the ground, those two mechs looming over him and...the blue femme suddenly felt an intense rage burn inside her at the images in her processor. If she ever saw those two anywhere, let alone near Bumblebee, she wouldn't just offline them, no, she would make them wish they were offlined and make them wish for the quick mercy of death because what she had planned was something so aggressive that no words could really describe her torture for the Enforcer of the Decepticon cause and that traitorous spy. "Don't worry, Bee." She soothed, but she didn't know if she was trying to soothe him or herself with her words, as she barely held back the anger in her tone. "Those bots won't get anywhere near you."

"I know. I made sure of that myself." What? "When the nearby battle got closer, I pushed them off me and blasted off so many rounds into their sparks that I'm sure I dug into the planet a little." Bumblebee sounded...angry? Sad? Upset? Arcee couldn't tell. The scout was a hard one to read. Still, he needed her sympathy.

"Bee, I'm uh, I'm sorry that happened to you. I lost my partners but that is nowhere close to what you went through. I could only imagine. I'm sorry to have you pull that from your memory just because I wanted to repay a stupid debt."

"Don't worry about it, Arcee. What's done is done. You can't change the past. You can only change the future by what you do in the present. And that means, I'm not going to live in the past, I'm going to live in the present and make the most of it."

"I understand, Bee." Silence reigned between the two for a few minutes before Bumblebee spoke up.

"Arcee, you want to talk about something else?"

"Like what?"

"How about we just talk about our charges. How's Jack?" It was clear that he was trying to change the subject but Arcee understood the reason why.

"He's good. His mom worries a bit too much though." Arcee answered respectfully. She then decided to ask him. "What about you? How's Raf?"

"He's a very smart kid. He's already created ideas for possible upgrades for myself." He was silent second. "You too." That surprised Arcee.

"Really? Why me?"

"Well, I just suggested it because I think it would help you." Arcee decided to have some fun with the mech.

"Are you saying I'm a bad fighter?" She teased with him.

"What?! N-no, nononononononono, I'm not saying that at all, Arcee!" Came the flustered response, causing Arcee to let out a good natured laugh due to how cute the mech was when flustered. Wait, cute?

'Why did I think that?' She became somewhat flustered herself at her thoughts. She would be blushing blue if not in her vehicle mode. She had just gotten over Cliffjumper's death yesterday. She wasn't seriously considering moving on yet...was she? She noticed that Bee was still beeping and chirping despite her being stuck in her thoughts.

"...and it would make sure you never get injured in a fight!" He finished. Arcee slightly chuckled at the Mech's cuteness. Even if it was weird that she found him cute, it was entertaining to see him like this nonetheless. Maybe she should tease him more.

"Relax, Bumblebee. I was just teasing you." She snickered.

"Oh…" Came the beep of realization. Arcee decided to say something to him about him saying what happened.

"Hey, Bee...if you ever want to sit down and talk to me...I'm always free to do so. Just knock on my door and I'll let you in, ok?"

"Alright...Thanks, Arcee."

"You're welcome, Bee." Silence reigned between the two, leaving them to their own private thoughts. Arcee was thinking about the Mech and how she could help him and Bee was thinking of just telling her what happened in full detail and bringing up friendly conversation with her again.

The silence between the two didn't last long though.

"Arcee, Bumblebee, do you read?" Bulkhead suddenly sounded from the commlink. From his tone, it seemed...urgent?

'What's got him so spooked?' Bumblebee thought as Arcee answered the call.

"Loud and Clear, Bulkhead"

"I have a situation."

"Bulkhead, they're children. Humans, just do whatever."

"That's not the situation. You see...I'm near the Decepticon warship." That caused both bots to suddenly stop and turn around.

"YOU'RE WHERE?!" Arcee asked, though it was more of a demand than anything.

"Aaaaaand...Miko is with me."

"SHE'S WHERE?!"

"Hold tight, Bulk. Help is on the way. Everytime we leave the base…" Bumblebee trailed off, annoyed

"...Something happens. I know Bee. I hope Bulkhead has a good explanation for all of this." Arcee stated, a bit fumed at the knowledge that a human was put in danger.

"Still, it was nice talking to you, Arcee. I hope we can do this again some other time."

"Agreed, Bee. Now, c'mon. Let's go save that Wrecker and that idiotic human. Arcee to Base, come in!" No response from Base. "Jack?" She asked. Bumblebee had a feeling that all the humans were in danger now. "Listen up, we need you to bridge us back to Base." Still no response. "Hello?" She gave a frustrated sigh. "Bumblebee, metal to the pedal." and thus, they began to drive to help Bulk and save the humans.


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