47:59:45
Optimus Prime walked into the rec. room, whistling a tune as he went to the energon dispenser. He couldn't help the smile that made its way onto his faceplate as he watched his team's "morning routine."
Bulkhead was talking with Bumblebee on the couch, probably discussing some human TV show or video game. Each had an energon cube in servo, casually sipping on it while the other told their tale.
Ratchet was in the corner, tinkering with his EMP generator. Ever since he got it back from Lockdown, the thing never left his sight in-base. Before Sari's upgrade, Ratchet locked the device in the med-bay, not wanting to look at it. Now, he always carried it around, not really minding the mod at all. Optimus didn't dare ask about that change in spark, the last thing he wanted was Ratchet's wrath upon him. He did have a theory that the change had something to do Sari's upgrade and Bumblebee's injury.
Prowl was watching a nature documentary on the big screen TV, engrossed in the actions of a mother lion and her cub. The occasional "Fascinating," left his mouth as he observed the savage, yet motherly, organic.
Unfortunately, Sari wouldn't be arriving until later in the day, having to attend something called "summer camp." She said she was staying there for a month, but she'd be coming home that afternoon.
Optimus shrugged and took a seat next to Ratchet. It was a somewhat quiet start to another normal day in the Autobot base.
"It's nice to relax for once, isn't it?" he asked the medic. Ratchet grunted before replying.
"Well, it certainly beats battling for our lives at the servos of the Decepticons."
"Agreed," Optimus paused to drink some of his energon, and then changed the subject, "Strange to think that we've been on Earth for nearly two years."
"This planet's grown on you Prime, hasn't it?" Ratchet asked, raising an optic ridge.
"Yes, it certainly has. And the team has too." he added quickly.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I guess you could call us one big, dysfunctional family."
"That's one way to put it. I just call us a bunch of slag-heads that the Elite Guard put together to get us out of their helms." Optimus chuckled a bit at the comment. Ratchet's grumpiness could be comical at times.
Over on the couch, Bulkhead was describing his latest art project as Bumblebee lazily listened. Truth be told, he wasn't really interested in art the way Bulkhead was, but he cared enough to listen whenever his friend became enthusiastic about it.
"-and what do you think I should add little buddy?" Bulkhead asked, "Blue would blend well with what I have, but I want to add some excitement to it. I want it to be mellow, but stand out at the same time. What should I do?" Bumblebee mulled it over for a few seconds.
"What if you just scrapped the blue to begin with and go with a bright green? It'll blend and give it a flare."
"Hmm...That could work. Thanks little buddy." Bulkhead smiled.
"No problem," Bumblebee playfully punched the larger mech on the servo, "You know, maybe I should try being an artist."
"Bumblebee, you don't have the patience to be an artist." Both friends sat in silence before nodding their helms in agreement.
"Yeah...I'm more cut-out for racing." As he said that, Bumblebee transformed and drove circles around the couch. Bulkhead smiled in amusement as Prowl threw Bee an annoyed glare before turning back to his documentary.
Suddenly, a resounding clang rang throughout the room and Bumblebee transformed back to robot mode. A wrench clattered to the ground as the youngling pouted at the medic, rubbing his right horn. Ratchet smirked and everyone chuckled a bit. Yep, just a normal day at the Autobot base.
Suddenly, the alarm blared throughout the base, alerting the Autobots of a Decepticon attack. Every Autobot looked towards Optimus, waiting for him to give the signal.
"Autobots," he shouted, "Transform and roll out!" Five simultaneous transformation sequences sounded off. First out of the base was a fire truck, followed by an ambulance, black police motorcycle, green SWAT vehicle, and a small yellow police car.
"So, who's messing up the city this time?" Bumblebee asked, easily catching up with Optimus. At that second, an explosion ripped across the freeway they were driving on. The road began to collapse and the team separated before any of them could fall into the ravine.
Bumblebee and Optimus slammed their brakes on the far side of the raised highway. As the dust settled, relief flooded their systems. On the other side, Prowl, Ratchet, and Bulkhead had stopped just in time.
A buzzing sound reached Bumblebee's audios. The young mech transformed and shook his helm. 'No,' he thought, 'he can't be here! He transwarped somewhere and-'
"Bumblebot will pay! Waspinator make sure of that!"
"Slag!" Bee screamed, looking up to see the techno-organic flying in the sky. A large, green wasp hovered twenty feet away from Bumblebee, glaring at him through purple optics.
"Bumblebot ruin Waspinator's life! Waspinator will get revenge!" With that, Waspinator transformed and fired his purple lasers at the mech. Bee ran, frantically dodging the attacks.
"You know, I liked you better when you DIDN'T speak in the third-person!" Bumblebee shouted. "Seriously, it wasn't my fault and I'm sorry that this happened to you and that I sent you to the stockades, but there are a whole lot of bots you could get revenge on right now! I mean, Blackarachnia turned you into a techno-organic and Longarm (who's really Shockwave) set both of us up! See, I'm not the only one at fault here!"
"Bumblebot lying! Waspinator kill Bumblebot for sending Waspinator to stockades!" Streaks of yellow and purple lit up the sky. Every time Optimus tried to enter the battle, Waspinator drove him back with a barrage of lasers. Bumblebee counterattacked with his stingers and the cycle of dodging and shooting would start again.
Prowl, Bulkhead and Ratchet transformed, watching as the battle unfolded before them. Bulkhead nervously swayed in place. He knew if Bumblebee fumbled now, he'd be totally slagged. "We need to find a way to help them." Prowl stated, "I can use my jets to get over there now, but you two will need to find another way around."
"Ok, well…get on with it Prowl!" Ratchet shouted as he transformed. "C'mon Bulkhead, you're not helping by just standing there!" The large green mech transformed. With one last glance at his friend, he followed the ambulance. If Ratchet was even grumpier than usual, he knew what Bumblebee was up against.
"Slag it Wasp…or Waspinator…whatever! Don't you know when to quit?" Bumblebee sped away from a blast using his "wheels on heels" (as he so affectionately dubbed them). He circled around the techno-organic, letting out volts of electricity from his stingers. They weren't doing much in his favor.
"Bumblebot must pay!" Waspinator shouted. Having enough of the electrical attack, Waspinator flew up a few meters before pulling into a nosedive. At the last second, he evened out parallel to the ground. Bumblebee fired his stingers desperately, but all his shots missed. A sudden pain in his chassis assured his failure.
Optimus could only watch as Waspinator body-slammed into Bumblebee. Prowl landed next to him and readied a shuriken, but the Prime rose his servo.
"Don't," he ordered, "you might hit Bumblebee. Look." The red and blue mech pointed to the sky where Waspinator held Bumblebee by the neck. The youngling was dangling high above the city, at least, high enough to kill or severely damage him on impact. Despite that fact, Bumblebee thrashed in his captor's hold.
"Bumblebot ruin Waspinator's life!" the techno-organic yelled into the other mech's faceplate.
"Yeah, we already established that! Ok, I'm a horrible bot! Great, now can we move on?" Bumblebee clawed at the servo, digging his stingers into whatever armor he could. Waspinator smirked…to the best of his ability. There was no way his prey was getting away now.
All of Bumblebee's futile efforts stopped as a scream ripped through his voice modulator. A set of large turquoise claws raked down the right side of his frame. Energon leaked from the gashes, leaving Bumblebee to frantically cycle his vents. He shuttered his optics and gritted his denta. Suddenly, the pain came again, but from his right pede. What was the fragger trying to do?
"Slagging glitch! What the frag is wrong with you?" Bumblebee screamed. It was the only thing he could do to relieve the pain, and even then…
"Waspinator punish Bumblebot!" The servo around his neck tightened and the sound of rushing air filled his audio receptors. Bumblebee felt his body being flung around, occasionally crashing into an unfortunate building. It was all too familiar. Slag, this had to stop before the panic set in, before the past caught up with him again.
Those younglings back in the "care center" for abandoned sparklings and younglings…Primus, they were terrible. No, he wasn't going to think about that. All those stellar cycles, he was able to keep his past a secret. The team was NOT finding out about it. It would raise too many questions, too much sympathy that he didn't want or need. Nobody could find out.
Lost in thought, Bumblebee didn't notice their slight decent or the fact that Waspinator was hovering next to a sturdier building.
As soon as Waspinator slammed his helm into the wall, he completely lost whatever calmness he had left. Bumblebee went into full-blown panic as Waspinator dragged his talons over his chassis.
"No, no, stop it! Stop it!" he screamed, weakly clawing at the Predacon, "Not again, this is not happening again! GET AWAY FROM ME YOU ABUSIVE FRAGGER!" Bumblebee transformed a servo into a stinger and promptly shoved it in Wasptinator's right optics. Due to pain, he released the battered yellow mech, who was hurtling towards the ground.
"Slag it!" Bee shouted, "Slag, frag, shit, damnit!" His string of Cybertronian and Earth swears was fairly impressive, but the panic and desperation in his voice erased any humor from the situation. "Help, please help me!"
Ratchet immediately activated his electro-magnets. In all of the time he had known the youngling, Bumblebee had never pleaded like that. The mech sounded absolutely hopeless, as if doubting anyone would actually listen to him.
"Don't worry little buddy, I got ya!" Bulkhead reassured his best friend, catching him once Ratchet turned off the magnets. Bumblebee whimpered slightly in Bulkhead's arms, mumbling to himself.
"I'm not going back...live on the streets...so cold..." Bulkhead looked at his friend with concern in his optics. Truth be told, he knew literally nothing about Bumblebee's past. Perhaps this incident triggered something?
Meanwhile, Prowl used his jet boosters to level himself with Waspinator. With deadly accuracy, a golden shuriken struck the bug in the wing, causing him to lose some stability. Deciding to cut his losses there, he decided a retreat was his best option.
Transforming back into a giant green wasp, Waspinator shouted, "Waspinator not done! Waspinator will return! Waspinator has plans, yessss." He flew away faster than the Autobots could launch an attack. But, then again, he wasn't their first priority.
Ratchet made his way over to Bulkhead and Bumblebee, lying prone in the former's arms. The medic quickly scanned him over before transforming into his alt.-mode.
"Load him in Bulkhead," he ordered, "I want to check him over quickly at the base. Don't worry, the kid's going to be, I'm not worried about his injuries. I just want to talk to him." After carefully laying Bumblebee in the back of the ambulance, Ratchet sped off to the base.
"I hope you're alright little buddy." Bulkhead whispered before joining with Optimus and Prowl. Together, they transformed and began their journey back to base.
He had no clue how he got back there, but they were glaring at him, blaming him for something that obviously wasn't his fault. Well, he thought it had nothing to do with him. No! Why was he thinking like that? He was nowhere near any of them!
"Slagger, you led them here!" Pain rippled through his small sparkling frame. All the bigger younglings were going to beat him again. Why did they all hate him?
"I didn't do anything!" he screamed, hiding under whatever he could. Where were the older mechs? They all helped him in times like these.
"The 'Cons saw you because you're so slagging bright!" They were all after him. They were throwing things under the table. He needed to leave, go somewhere, anywhere but here.
Run away…
…back to the streets…
"Get away from me!"
…cornered…
…left for dead…
…finished…
They didn't stop, didn't listen. They were surrounding him, suffocating him, beating him mercilessly. He had to run, get away from this Pit. Nobody would notice if he left. Nobody would care if he left. Because, the truth was, nobody cared about him.
Nobody…
When Bumblebee woke from stasis, he couldn't help but panic. The last thing he remembered was Waspinator clawing at him, clawing at old scars...
"No!" he shouted, sitting upright on the med-bay berth. Just as quickly, he lay back down. Why did his processor hurt so much?
"You're awake, good. You almost scared the others, 'course, I knew you'd be fine." Bumblebee's optics shifted towards the source of the voice. They finally landed on Ratchet, casually leaning against the wall to his right.
"What happened?" Bee asked, rubbing his helm in hopes that it would lessen the pain.
"Well, Waspinator beat you up pretty good. Your damage isn't severe in the slightest; the fragger probably wanted to cause you immense pain rather than off-lining you right then and there." Bumblebee nodded as he took in all the information. That would explain the all-over body ache he was feeling.
"So kid, is there something you want to get off of your processor?" Ratchet's question threw him off-guard. It took Bumblebee a few seconds to recompose himself before he could form a reply.
"No, it's not important anyway." With that, Bumblebee walked out of the med-bay, despite the medic's protests. All he wanted was to be alone.
"Hey little buddy," Bulkhead said, walking towards his best friend, "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine." The reassurance came out harsher than Bumblebee intended and, had it been under different circumstances, he would have apologized. But right now, he could care less. Right now, he wanted to be alone.
"Well, sorry…I guess. Do you need anything? You know, I could get you-"
"Bulkhead, I'm fine! Why don't you go bother someone else for once? You all want to know what's happening, but the truth is that there's nothing! Why can't you let that go and move on? Why don't you just leave me alone? I don't want anything to do with you!" Both of their optics widened. Bumblebee, in absolute shock at what he just said, stuttered. "No…Bulkhead, I-I didn't mean it…I've just…I'm-"
Bulkhead turned away, holding up a servo to get the yellow mech to stop. He fixed a glare on his so-called best friend, but his optics softened slightly. Yet, he still couldn't look Bee in the optics, so he decided to gaze at the ground.
"Don't even apologize, Bumblebee." Bee winced, Bulkhead never called him by his full designation unless he was absolutely serious, "You obviously meant what you said. You always get like this whenever we hear something about Wasp or Boot Camp. So, you can just work it out on your own now because this time, I don't want to save you from whatever crazy scheme you have. I'm done." Bulkhead walked away, probably back to the rec. room, leaving Bumblebee standing alone in the hall.
He finally got the silence he wanted earlier. But now, under the fall of the silence, he really needed a friend…and he just pushed away his best one.
"Why am I such a slag-head?" Bumblebee groaned.
It was official: he hated silence.
Bumblebee sighed as the moon reached its peak in the night sky. Checking his internal chronometer, it was about one in the morning. He didn't care to take time zones into account; he was going to off-line anyway. Still, he did send out an S.O.S. frequency in hopes that the team would receive it. But reflecting on his luck recently, he doubted that an Autobot would find him. Anyone could receive an S.O.S., including Decepticons. If they found him first, he was completely slagged. Opting not to think about the future, Bumblebee immersed himself in past events once again.
If he hadn't said that one thing to Bulkhead, then maybe he wouldn't be in this mess. Maybe, he and Bulkhead wouldn't have had the fight. Maybe Bulkhead would still be his best friend. He wanted to apologize, and he should have apologized before he left, but every single time, Bulkhead would walk away. Not wanting to think about it, Bumblebee lifted his helm to the sky.
The night carried on, the moon peaking through the gap in the foliage made by Bumblebee's fall. Energon puddles now littered the ground around him, glowing softly in the darkness. It still trickled out of his chassis, flowing down the rock like a strange waterfall. The pain hadn't lessened at all.
An owl hooted in the distance, filling the night air with its echo. It sounded melancholy to Bumblebee, as if calling out for someone, but fully knowing nobody would respond. He mused that the metaphor would have been more effective with a wolf or something.
Suddenly, the wind caught the forest, rustling the tree branches all around the clearing. Strange, it almost sounded like a helicopter or…slag.
"Waspinator finally find Bumblebot."
Double slag.