Bumblebee grinned despite himself when he saw the target. His aim had been spot on, his rounds hitting the bullseye every time. Beside him, Strongarm puffed her chest up with pride as she saw her target and how she had shot just as well as him.
"Ha, I'd like to see Sideswipe shoot that well," she said.
Sideswipe is better with a sword, Bumblebee reminded her telepathically as they weren't currently facing each other.
In fact, he could hear blades clashing as Sideswipe and Drift practiced together. Curious, he lowered his gun even as Strongarm went back to shooting and turned to look. Sideswipe was holding up on his own against Drift, despite the fact that he only had one sword, while Drift had two. Jetstorm and Slipstream were standing nearby, watching, but a hand signal from Drift, they began circling around, looking for an opening. Bumblebee debated warning Sideswipe, but then decided against it, as this was Drift's moment to teach.
Grimlock was standing between two aisles in his T-Rex form, the green scales a few shades darker than emerald green due to the shade he was hunkered down in. Windblade was sitting atop his head, watching Drift and Sideswipe spar. Occasionally, dark pink flickered around her hands, like she was contemplating summoning her psychic swords and joining in the mock battle. The odds were rarely one-on-one, anyway.
"Have you talked to any of the humans recently?" Sideswipe asked Bumblebee. "Besides Denny, of course."
I talked with Raf recently. He's thinking of coming down for a visit soon.
"I like Raf," Strongarm said with a nod. "He's actually willing to talk about my parents. I remember so little about them – a sound of their voice here, a certain color there. What about you, Bee? Do you remember your parents?"
Bumblebee sighed sadly. He glanced toward the back of the Alchemor, ignoring Fixit as he scrambled around doing who-knows-what, and could barely make out the tarped vehicles in the shadows. One of the vehicles was an ambulance, and another would have been a red and blue semi. Two others were an Aston Martin and a blue semi, the vehicles owned by Strongarm's parents.
I remember a lot about my parents. I remember that Mother hated cats, but she tolerated it when Knock Out brought them to base because she thought it was funny that Grimlock was afraid of them. I remember that Father was a great leader and orator, but he was a horrible cook, despite how hard he tried. I can recall the exact shade of Mother's hair and eyes, and the same for my father. But mostly I remember the stories, he told Strongarm.
Strongarm gave a sad smile. "My Mom used to tell me stories, too. She told me about Velocitron and how the faster the family, the more wealth they had. She told me about the semi-annual race the Speedia and she told me about the way the sun exploded and some lucky Velocitronains moved to Cybertron. That's where Mom met Sideswipe's father, Breakdown. At her new school on Cybertron." She paused. "I guess she knew of Ultra Magnus at that time, but she really didn't meet him until she joined Team Prime on Earth."
"Aaah!" Bumblebee whipped around at Sideswipe's cry, and then burst into amused laughter. The redhead was lying on the ground, Slipstream sitting on his back and Jetstorm lying across his legs. Jetstorm grabbed the shoelaces of Sideswipe's right shoe and refused to let go. Drift looked down at the younger Cybertronian, expression as neutral as always.
Windblade flew down to land in front of Drift, her pink blades forming and wings spread. She dropped into a fighting stance and arched one eyebrow. "Care to fight someone who matches your level of expertise?"
Before Drift could decline or agree, Fixit yelled out, "Team Bee!"
Bumblebee quickly put his gun in its holster and rushed over to the Alchemor, where Fixit was intently studying a screen. Strongarm was by his side and she stopped just a step behind him when he stopped, allowing Windblade and Drift to flank Bumblebee. Jetstorm and Slipstream stood obediently on the other side of Drift, ears perked up in attentiveness. A shadow fell over the group as Grimlock joined them, still in his T-Rex form.
Bumblebee knew Sideswipe had joined the group when Strongarm randomly asked, "What happened to your face, punk?"
"Slipstream decided to use it as a launch pad," Sideswipe replied.
What is it, Fixit? Bumblebee signed when Fixit looked down at him with his too large eyes.
"The scanners have picked up a massive energon disturbance in – in – in…" Russell, who had just joined the Mini-Con, gave him a rather hard hit to the back. "Thanks, Rusty," Fixit wheezed. "Anyway, it's –"
"Just start up the groundbridge," Windblade ordered. "We'll take a look. Right, Bumblebee?"
Bumblebee nodded confirmation and then started toward the groundbridge as the all-too familiar green swirl burst to life. As he entered the portal, he realized he'd forgotten to tell Grimlock to shift back into his human form; for all he knew, Fixit was transporting them into the middle of a city. As he exited the groundbridge, he realized that he need not worry, as they were standing in the most rural plain Bumblebee had ever been in, most likely somewhere in the middle of the United States…if they were even still in the United States. Maybe he should have at least let Fixit tell him where they were going.
The others came through, Grimlock having reverted to his human form. Perhaps Drift or Windblade had told him to. A hundred yards in front of them set the biggest structure Bumblebee had seen. It must have not been noticed due to its rural positioning. It rose on six pillars up to at least fifty feet and a circular rim connected the pillars at that height. Bright blue energy swirled within that circle, somehow not falling to the ground, as if it was resisting gravity. Bumblebee could swear that it looked like…energon.
"It can't be," Drift murmured.
"An Omega Lock," Windblade gasped.
"What's an Omega Lock?" Sideswipe asked, scratching his head.
"It's an ancient piece of architecture. I'm surprised Steeljaw and his followers could even replicate it. The Omega Lock will make Earth into a metal planet, like Cybertron," Windblade explained. "And in doing so, any organisms without energon pumping through their veins will die."
"But the humans!" Strongarm cried.
"Um, I think they noticed we're here," Grimlock said.
Steeljaw was standing on the upper rim of the Omega Lock, barely visible. Beside him appeared to be his most loyal followers, Thunderhoof and Underbite. From the ground level came the rest of his followers, rushing at the Autobots. Circling above them and cawing was a crow that must have been Filch, but Bumblebee doubted she would actually join in the battle.
We have to stop the Omega Lock from… Helpless, Bumblebee looked over at Windblade and Drift, who seemed to know the most about the Omega Lock.
"It will fire a beam directly into the Earth. It's not primed yet," Drift said.
"But it will be, as soon as those lights running up and down its legs are lit up all the way," Windblade added.
Bumblebee looked at the closest leg and the glowing blue lights – perhaps lit by the energon itself – were extending from the circular rim to the ground and a little less than a fourth of the way.
"Um, there's more of them than us," Sideswipe noted.
When has that ever stopped us? In moments like these, Bumblebee was etnerally grateful for telepathic communication. Autobots, rev up and roll out!
Bumblebee, like all Transformers, was capable of transforming into animals, though he preferred not to. Certain Transformers could fall into a limbo state, with a partial transformation of human and beast, and Steeljaw's Pack mostly consisted of such Transformers, though they could take the shape of a full human or full animal if they so choose.
A woman dressed in brown rushed past Bumblebee, her yell transforming into a roar as she herself transformed into an ankylosaurus. Grimlock transformed into his T-Rex mode and the two Dinobots began circling each other, looking for the advantage. Grimlock's fangs were bared, and Scowl's tail with its club end was swinging around.
Drift and his Mini-Cons had engaged with Fracture and his two Mini-Cons, Airazor and Divebomb. Airazor was a ferocious little capuchin monkey, trying his best to gouge Slipstream's eyes with his fingers and sinking his fangs into the wolf's ear. Divebomb, the harpy eagle, was darting around Jetstorm, ripping his claws into the wolf's haunches before he had time to turn and snap at the large bird, at which point Divebomb just flew out of reach. Drift and Fracture were going sword-to-sword, Fracture promising this would be the day that he finally did Drift in for his honorable ways.
Windblade was engaging the tricky Springload, whose skin was tinged green due to the acid that coated him because of his amphibious beast form. His feet were large frog feet and his legs were bent at an odd angle, but the spring of his limbo mode was unimaginable. Occasionally, his long, pink tongue darted from his mouth, green toxin dripping. Windblade was mostly playing on the defensive, using her psychic blades to parry Springload's tongue and using her wings to stay light on her feet so she could quickly dodge when Springload leaped.
Strongarm was facing off against the two porcupine limbo formers, who were unrelated despite their similar beast affiliations. Quillfire's brown quills had ripped through his brown leather jacket and his nails had changed into brown claws, his canines blunt but strong fangs. Scatterspike looked much like Quillfire, though her claws were gray and her quills were a dark purple that matched her eyes. Her short brown hair had a few orange streaks dyed into it.
"Poor, lit'le Autobot," Scatterspike said, trying to figure out how to turn her back to Strongarm so she could fire her quills without actually giving Strongarm the advantage. "You yellow-bellied varmits will be runnin' to the hills soon, I reckon. Wouldn't ya say so, Quillfire?"
Sideswipe was paired up against Scorponok. The Decepticon's hands had transformed into pinchers with a hard, brown exoskeleton and a tail of the same exoskeleton flicked around behind him, clear poison dripping from the stinger. The redhead was bouncing on the balls of his feet, parrying Scorponok's strikes and calling out one liners, to which Scorponok just responded by hissing or snarling.
Bumblebee saw all this as he raced for the Omega Lock, his only thought to figure out how to power it down or at least stop it from firing…or whatever it did. Bumblebee cried out as a laser beam caught in him in the side and he stumbled, turning to face Bisk as the Decepticon raced toward him. Unlike the others, he hadn't taken his limbo form and instead walked toward Bumblebee in the appearance of a human, laser gun held in his hand, smoke curling from the barrel.
"Looks like your health is dropping," Bisk said, grinning. "I kill the boss, I get the high score." He was losing control at the prospect of killing Bumblebee for the sake of gaining a high score, and lobster antennae were shifting about above his hair. That was the thing about Transformers with limbo forms – they didn't have to concentrate to transform and they could quite easily shift from one form to another. Bumblebee and the rest of the Autobots had to have at least a moment of concentration to shift into another form.
Bumblebee didn't bother responding. First off, he doubted Bisk knew sign language, and, second, he wasn't going to waste any time telepathically communicating with the video game obsessed 'Con. Bisk fired another shot, and Bumblebee executed a backflip to dodge the laser beam, mentally thanking Windblade for her agility lessons. Landing lightly, he pulled his pistol from its holster and fired twice. Bisk shrieked in pain and sat down, looking at the twin wounds in his chest.
"Impossible," he croaked. "I have more XP. How can you beat me?"
Pushing aside a twinge of guilt at the thought that he had so quickly and thoughtlessly taken a life, Bumblebee kicked Bisk's gun away in case the Decepticon didn't die quickly and somehow had enough strength left to fire. As Bisk muttered something about failing his quest and not getting the high score, Bumblebee spun around at the sound of a foot step and pointed his pistol directly at Clampdown.
The short and squat Decepticon screeched, his too-large limbo form mouth wide in terror. His face lacked any eyes, as in his limbo form they moved around atop his head on eyestalks, and his hands were red claws.
"I'm sorry, I don't want to die. I don't even like Steeljaw that much!" Clampdown whined. "If I tell you how to stop the Omega Lock, will you let me go?"
Bumblebee gestured for Clampdown to keep talking. Looking a little more relieved, Clampdown complied.
"There's a control panel up where Steeljaw is standing. You can shut down the entire Omega Lock, or you could just destroy the entire control panel. That's all I know, really!"
Bumblebee took a step toward Clampdown and with a terrified wail, the cowardly Decepticon shifted into a crab and scuttled off. Not wasting any more time with him, Bumblebee raced toward the Omega Lock. Approaching the nearest leg, he holstered his pistol and began to climb.
"Autobot! Prepare to be destroyed by the Beast from Kaon!"
Cursing mentally, Bumblebee looked up at the massive gorilla swinging down the leg toward him. Groundpounder had been a gladiator long ago, and while he was no Megatron, he had earned his name, Beast from Kaon. Bumblebee didn't have time to fight the Decepticon and, as Groundpounder closed the distance, Bumblebee closed his eyes and concentrated.
For some reason, some Transformers took longer than others to transform. Bumblebee knew his mother had been one of those – she had only shifted into a dog for her guardianship duties of Raf, and those hadn't been high-stress moments – and Bumblebee seemed to take after her. Strange, considering his father had b
een a Prime with no lag between thinking of a transformation and the transformation taking place.
Pushing all that aside, Bumblebee envisioned the very animal he was named after, which he had the least trouble shifting into. As Groundpounder swiped at his head with a strike that would have done him in, Bumblebee suddenly wasn't there anymore, but instead buzzing up by Groundpounder's nose. Stinging Groundpounder right between the eyes for good measure, since he wasn't an Earth bee and would survive such an act, Bumblebee flew up toward the Omega Lock rim. Below him, Groundpounder howled and fell toward the ground, pounding at his own face due to the sting.
Upon reaching the rim, Bumblebee shifted back and quickly kicked Underbite in the back of the head. The Decepticon howled in pain – literally, since he shifted into a large bulldog with huge jowls – and Steeljaw and Thunderhoof turned to face Bumblebee. Steeljaw snarled, while Thunderhoof straightened the lapel of his suit, though he was glaring at Bumblebee.
"Youse about ta get ta thunda!" Thunderhoof threatened, taking a step forward.
Reflexively, Bumblebee pointed his gun at Thunderhoof, though he had yet to shift into his deer form, which was required to create the energy blast he was threatening to make. Steeljaw beat him to it, placing a hand on Thunderhoof's chest.
"Fool! You create an energy blast near all this energon, and the entire place will explode," he snapped. "Take the bug out with your weapons. You, too, Underbite! And don't shoot the energon."
I will defeat them, Bumblebee promised Steeljaw telepathically.
"I'm sure you will, but they only need to keep you distracted for a few more minutes and then it won't matter, because the Omega Lock will turn Earth into a second Cybertron," Steeljaw replied. He walked over to the control panel, where many lights were blinking and warnings were flashing on screens. As Bumblebee watched, a warning disappeared and another light began blinking; the lights must indicate that another system of the Omega Lock was ready.
Underbite charged forward, his mouth opening impossibly wide in an attempt to swallow Bumblebee whole. Dropping his gun, Bumblebee grabbed Underbite's bottom fangs and jerked to the side, throwing both of them off-balance. They tumbled toward the energon pool, Underbite shifting back into a human. Bumblebee gave him a sharp punch to the eye.
"Ow. How dare you destroy my beautiful face?" Underbite cried.
Bumblebee grabbed his gun, finger on the trigger and ready to fire. Unfortunately, he'd forgotten about Thunderhoof, who charged forward now with powerful antlers sticking up above his greased back black hair. Apparently having no concern for his teammate, Thunderhoof struck both Underbite and Bumblebee. Underbite shrieked and Bumblebee ignored the pain ricocheting up from where Thunderhoof's antlers had pierced his chest and shattered his ribs as he pressed the muzzle of his pistol against Thunderhoof's head and started to squeeze the trigger. Only Thunderhoof had too much momentum and his charge sent all three of them into the energon pool. The charge from Bumblebee's gun went off just as they hit the surface.
For some time – maybe mere seconds, maybe hours – Bumblebee was aware of nothing but a horrible burning sensation. It was like he was being fired at by a high-pressure hose, leaving his skin raw and painful. The worst of the burning came from his chest and throat.
Then there was only numbness and glimpses of a planet he had never seen but he instinctively recognized it as Cybertron. Bumblebee had been born on Earth and what little he knew of Cybertron he had learned from stories, but he was suddenly filled with a longing to be there on Cybertron. It was the ancestral home of all Transformers. Bumblebee couldn't understand why his parents and the other members of Team Prime had been willing to never set foot on their home planet again, why they had willingly chosen to stay on Earth, amongst the humans, whom they were constantly separated from, no matter how alike they looked.
For one terrifying moment, Bumblebee wondered if he really should stop Steeljaw. Maybe he should let the Omega Lock turn Earth into a second Cybertron. Steeljaw was like him, outlawed from Cybertron, and, like him, Steeljaw must have wanted to return to his home…the home of their parents. But then he thought of Raf, who was coming for a visit soon, and Miko, Jack, Russell, Denny, June, and Fowler…all those innocent humans, including that little girl he'd met in Crown City once who'd made his day by actually knowing sign language.
His fist closed around the handle of some weapon and he kicked in the direction he thought was up. His head broke the surface of the energon pool and he gasped for breath, the last of the burning fading from his throat. As he swung his right arm up to pull himself up onto the Omega Lock's rim, he realized he was holding a sword in his grasp – a bright, glowing sword.
Around him, the energon boiled and fires burned on the surface, the substance reacting violently to the charge Bumblebee had accidentally shot into the pool. On the far side of the Omega Lock, Bumblebee could see Thunderhoof pulling himself out of the energon rather ungracefully, his suit smoking and not so pristine anymore. There was no sign of Underbite.
Steeljaw was standing at the control panel, hands to his head as he cried out, "No, no, no, no!" No lights were flashing and the warnings were endless. He spun around as Bumblebee stumbled to his feet. "You – you did this. You destroyed my beautiful Omega Lock, you –" His eyes widened. "How did you get that?"
Bumblebee glanced down at the Star Saber shimmering in his grip. He had been told that Primes alone could hold the Star Saber without being burned – he'd even heard stories of a former Decepticon named Charlotte, who'd been burned trying to retrieve the Star Saber for Megatron. Optimus had had the ability to summon the blade, though he had rarely done so, and there had been no sign of the sword since Optimus's disappearance. But here it was, sending a tingling feeling of strength up through Bumblebee's arms, across his chest, and directly into his spark. The ribs Thunderhoof had damaged no longer hurt him.
He hefted the blade. "I'm the son of a Prime. You should never underestimate me."
Steeljaw's eyes widened even more. "You…you…how?"
Bumblebee charged forward, bringing the Star Saber down in a wide arc. Steeljaw dodged aside, but that was fine, because he hadn't been aiming for Steeljaw. The control panel was cleaved in half in a fantastic display of sparks. Bumblebee spun back around, and Steeljaw looked even more upset, and terrified.
"You slagging idiot. The whole thing is going to explode!" Steeljaw must have called out telepathically even as he spoke aloud, Bumblebee decided – and he also knew this because he would have done the same, could he have spoken aloud. "Decepticons, retreat!"
Fixit!
Fixit responded to Bumblebee telepathic call immediately. Sorting out a background message about cameras and stellar infusion, Bumblebee determined Fixit's response to be, Bumblebee. What can I do for you? Is anyone injured?
Open the groundbridge. Tell everyone to get through it. Last I saw, everyone was okay.
Will do, he – she – Bee, Fixit promised among another background message about the Knights of the Round Table.
Bumblebee walked to the edge of the rim as the entire Omega Lock began to shake. The energon swirled and more flames appeared. Some of the energon splashed onto the rim and began burning there, hot enough to make the metal near the flames bubble. Bumblebee regretted that they couldn't obtain the energon for their own use, and he reflected it must have taken Steeljaw quite a bit of time to collect all this energon and the materials to build the Omega Lock. Steeljaw's Pack must have had the Autobots chasing them far and wide to distract them from their efforts here. Far below, he could see their groundbridge swirl to life.
Grimlock was snarling at Scowl as she backed away from him, swinging her tail threateningly. Grimlock must have received Fixit's order, as he didn't chase after Scowl, but instead began backing toward the portal. Both Dinobots seemed hesitant to turn their backs on the other. Drift, Jetstorm, and Slipstream were at the groundbridge portal and Drift was waving the Mini-Con brothers through. Strongarm and Sideswipe were walking toward the groundbridge together, but they were much closer to the Omega Lock than the groundbridge. For a moment, Bumblebee panicked because he couldn't see Windblade, before he noticed her flying over the battlefield, locating all her teammates. Filch was up there as well, looking for the Decepticons.
The Omega Lock shuddered and Bumblebee stumbled, nearly losing his grip on the Star Saber. It had come for him, and he wasn't going to let it go that easily.
One of the Omega Lock's legs crumbled, and with a groan, the entire structure began to slowly tilt. Bumblebee scuttled toward the highest point as the Omega Lock began to fall. Flaming bits of metal fell down past him, one passing so close his yellow jacket began to smolder.
"Bee!" Windblade dived toward him to grab him and pull him from the falling, flaming wreckage.
And that was when the Omega Lock exploded.
Windblade shrieked as the explosion buffeted her, throwing her away from Bumblebee. Filch, too, was sent flying through the air and not under her own power. Down below, Sideswipe and Strongarm ducked their heads and covered themselves as best they could. Though he would later deny it, Sideswipe offered up his own body as a shield for his little sister. Drift looked up in horror, while Grimlock did as well, reverting to his human form. The Decepticons shattered in every direction, their only thought to get away. Back at the base, Fixit flinched as he realized something had gone wrong, alerting Denny and Russell. The two humans were even more alarmed as Jetstorm and Slipstream whined and then raced back through the groundbridge.
As for Bumblebee, there was nothingness.
When he finally woke up, the first thing he noted was that the side of his face felt wet. He began mentally checking for any pain, but nothing seemed drastic – just soreness and bruising. Maybe he wasn't hurt that badly, or maybe he was so burned, he no longer had any nerves. He grunted as something wet and sandpapery ran up the side of his face again, pulling through his blond hair.
Opening his eyes, Bumblebee found himself looking up the snout of a very curious cow. Pushing the cow's nose away, Bumblebee set up with a groan. The cow licked his hair again, creating a rather large and noticeable, well, cowlick. When the cow made to lick him yet again, he shooed her off, swatting at her slimy nose.
"I'm not grass," he snapped.
Exhaling a gust of air in what might have been a disappointed sigh, the cow lumbered off a few paces and began ripping up the grass with her tongue. Ignoring the cow, Bumblebee moved his jaw, checking for pain. Something had been off when he had spoken to the bovine. As there was no pain, he decided it wasn't worth bothering about and looked around for any sign of the others. The only other things he could see were several other cows and endless grassy plains.
The Star Saber was gone. The loss was almost a physical blow, but Bumblebee was soothed by the thought that no one else could use the blade – he wasn't even sure how he had been able to use the sword.
Bumblebee huffed as the cow's tail whacked him in the face. Slapping away her tail, he turned to glare at the cow. She didn't appear to mind, but instead offered only a low bellow before she lumbered a few more steps away and thankfully out of swatting range. Bumblebee pushed himself to his feet and sent up a mental ping – no words, just a way for the others to locate him if they were within mental range.
Almost immediately, Windblade reached out to him telepathically. You're okay, thank Primus! Sideswipe and Strongarm are closer to you than Drift and me and they're on their way.
How are the others? Bumblebee was concerned with only the welfare of his team, his friends.
Grimlock and Fixit are the farthest team out, but they should be heading toward your location now. Other than a scrape on Grimlock's knee, they're fine. Drift and I are a little bruised and sore, but nothing serious. Sideswipe and Strongarm were closest to the blast, but they refused to be checked until we had found you. Slipstream and Jetstorm are okay – they were at the scrapyard when the Omega Lock blew. Are you injured?
Just sore and bruised. A miracle I'm not burned to a crisp, Bumblebee replied.
Drift jumped into the conversation. We should all send prayers of thanks to Primus tonight. It is more than a miracle that we all survived, and with no major injuries at that.
After sending a rush of agreement, Bumblebee pulled his mental psyche in close, ending the conversation. He could now hear Sideswipe and Strongarm calling his name from behind him. Spinning around, he saw the half-siblings rushing through the fields toward him. The cattle paid them no mind, other than a few who looked up lazily as they passed. Bumblebee ran toward them. The three youngest members of Team Bee collided in a rather clumsy, but heartfelt, three-way hug.
"You guys are okay!" Bumblebee cried out in relief.
Sideswipe pushed him away to arm's length, studying him in surprise. Strongarm looked just as stunned. "Bumblebee…you, you talked."
"That's impossible," Bumblebee protested, but even as he did he realized how weirdly doubled his voice sounded. That off feeling came over him, but now he recognized it as movement. The movement of lips, a tongue, and jaws that had never once been put to use. No longer speaking telepathically, Bumblebee degraded to a long string of curse words – both English and Cybertronian. Figures that he would gain a voice only to put it to use in such a way lacking of eloquence.
Finally catching a breath, he croaked, "How is this possible?"
Sideswipe on shook his head in mystified silence. Strongarm, however, was beaming. "Who cares, Bee? You finally got your voice! Chalk it up as a blessing from Primus."
"I hardly doubt Primus would bless us so much. First not letting any of us be injured or worse and then gifting me with a voice that was stolen before I was even born," Bumblebee argued. "Then again, we might be due a blessing from Primus."
The three Autobots fell into silence. Windblade and Drift, trailed by the Mini-Con wolves, soon joined them, immediately followed by Fixit and Grimlock. The buff man grinned in relief, while Fixit gushed excitably about the good health of his teammates. Bumblebee made a mental note that Grimlock and Fixit made a good team, with Grimlock being quite easily able to push Fixit's wheelchair through any terrain – or he could always just carry Fixit if it came to that.
"What are the stats of the 'Cons?" Bumblebee asked.
Windblade's wings flared in surprise, whacking Fixit's glasses askew. Drift's eyes widened by a slight degree, which was Drift for floored. Grimlock opened his mouth, but all that escaped was a not so ferocious squeak. Jetstorm and Slipstream set up on their haunches, backs stiff and ears perked.
"You can talk," Fixit said, straightening his glasses. He didn't sound surprised, merely perplexed, as if he were thinking of the logic reasons why Bumblebee's damaged vocal cords would suddenly be capable of speech and not finding any that he could conclude as correct.
"What happened?" Windblade asked.
"I don't know. Gaining my voice back isn't the only weird thing that happened today. I summoned the Star Saber," Bumblebee told her.
"I know. I saw it in your hands," the Camien Cybertronian replied.
"That is easily explained," Drift said. "Your father was a Prime and your mother was from an ancient bloodline, descended from Solomus, the first Liaison, chosen by Primus himself. You have ancient and powerful blood in your veins, and this must be why you could hold the Star Saber."
"Huh. Doesn't explain the voice, though."
"No, but sometimes good things just happen," Grimlock said. "Like me finding Denny and Rusty in that scrapyard. I was so lonely, but then I befriended them, and then I found other Autobots."
"You're right, Grimlock. I should except this for the gift it is and not ponder the 'how?'. Now, to answer my initial question, what is the status of the Decepticons?" Bumblebee inquired.
"Bisk and Quillfire didn't make it," Strongarm said, "and I don't think Underbite escaped from the Omega Lock before the explosion, but I can't confirm that."
"Filch got away, as did Scowl and Springload," Windblade added. "Thunderhoof, too."
"And Clampdown," Bumblebee stated. "He fled before I even got to the Omega Lock."
"Fracture and Divebomb escaped, but we did manage to defeat Airazor," Drift commented. "He's currently napping in a stasis pod aboard the Alchemor."
"That just leaves Scatterspike, Grounderpounder, and Steeljaw unaccounted for," Fixit concluded.
"I suppose it's too much to hope that Steeljaw got blown to bits?" Sideswipe asked grimly.
"I think we've exceed our limit for fortunate happenings," Bumblebee told him. "We managed to defeat three of the Decepticons today, maybe four if Underbite really is dead. We'll deal with the others when they pop their heads up, which they will, because I believe we just blew up most of their energon reserves. How about we go home and take some much needed time to relax?"
"Scary movie marathon!" Sideswipe cheered, while Drift grunted and rolled his eyes in distaste. Windblade's lips twitched in a smile, while Strongarm grinned and slapped her half-brother's back in agreement. Grimlock smiled, exposing sharp canines.
As Slipstream and Jetstorm milled around Drift's legs – alternating between wagging their tails and looking excited and looking subdued whenever Drift looked down at them – Bumblebee said, "I can settle for a scary movie marathon. As long as Denny approves the movies for Russell to watch!"
"I'll get the popcorn," Fixit promised. "I've been wanting to try out this sheet – beat - heat ray I found in the Alchemor's storage units."
Simultaneously, the other Autobots gave the beaming Mini-Con looks of varying degrees of horror at the thought of Fixit possessing a heat ray.
"Maybe we should just stick to the microwave, Fixit," Bumblebee cautioned.
Fixit just smiled sheepishly. "Oh, yeah. That would work, too."
A few notes: 1 - I know all the Decepticons listed in this chapter weren't part of Steeljaw's pack, but I pulled in a few more 'Cons that I liked to make the Decepticon forces larger 2 - I know the real Scowl was male, but my Scowl is female 3 - Bumblebee talks now simply because it is easier to write and because I like felt like he deserved a voice 4 - I forgot to write in Thunderhoof's accent in the last chapter, and I apologize, but he's got it here
Thanks for reading and reviews are welcome!