Smugglers 2: Dimension Travel
Chapter 3: Searching
"Well?" Prime asked anxiously.
Ratchet gave him an exasperated look. "You know this would go a lot faster if you would stop interrupting me and if he," Ratchet pointed a digit at Bumblebee who grinned unrepentedly, "would stop wiggling."
"But I don't want to be examined again," Bumblebee protested. "My Ratchet just examined me three days ago. He said I was perfectly healthy, well except for my processor of course, but other than that I'm just fine."
"Processor?" Ratchet immediately dropped Bumblebee's arm and started feeling his cranial unit.
"Hey get away from it!" Bumblebee managed to kick Ratchet's left optic, forcing the medic to back up a step. The mini-bot's right servo turned into an energon blade and he stood upright on the berth. "Don't come any closer," he ordered.
Ratchet sighed heavily and raised his servos in a placating gesture. After a brief hesitation Prime followed suit, the moving to stand next to Ratchet, both bots eyeing the third cautiously. "What're you going to do with us?" Prime deliberately kept his voice gentle, trying not to sound like a threat.
"Nothing," Bumblebee replied. "You haven't done anything to hurt me…yet. So until then I have no reason to harm you. I just don't like any bot in my processor except for my Ratchet but he is a very rare exception."
Prime was about to reply when the door opened and the twins walked in. "What's up?" Sideswipe called then came to an abrupt stop causing his brother to bump into him.
"Sideswipe you fragger what was that for?" Sunstreaker grumbled then saw the scene in front of him. "Oh that's why. Who's the mini-bot?"
"I'm Bumblebee are you are…?" the yellow bot eyed the two new bots cautiously.
"Oh I'm Sideswipe and this is my brother Sunny," the red mech explained in an attempt to be socialable.
"Why are you in here?" Bumblebee demanded.
"We just came in to annoy Ratchet," Sideswipe decided that, just this once, maybe it would be for the best if he told the truth.
Bumblebee suddenly grinned and turned his black into a servo. "In that case it's great to meet you. I like to annoy every bot too. It's fun."
For the first time that any bot could remember Sideswipe was dumbstruck. His mouth hung open, a million different thoughts running through his processor. This bot, this mini-bot, actually threatened Prime and Ratchet and not only that but he liked to annoy every bot else. This was a bot after Sideswipe's own spark. When he had sufficiently recovered enough to speak he said, "Sunny and I were fixing to play a prank on Prowl. Wanna join us?" Sunstreaker's mouth fell open and he stared at his twin in shock.
"Is Prowl the uptight one with wings on his back?" at Sideswipe's affirmative nod Bumblebee grinned. "Count me in! Someone needs to make that aft-head unwind." The three mechs then exited med-bay eagerly discussing different prank ideas to try out.
Once they were gone Prime and Ratchet turned to look at each other. "Prime," Ratchet said at last. "Are you sure that was a wise idea?"
"What do you mean?" Prime asked, slightly confused.
"Well for starters we don't know anything about him. I mean for all we know he could be a Decepticon spy."
Prime raised an optic ridge. "A spy?" the disbelief in his voice could not be mistaken for anything else. "Bumblebee? The same Bumblebee who wouldn't let you anywhere near him until you did the hokey-pokey?"
Ratchet frowned. "Well when you put it like that, then no," he admitted. "He could be faking it though, Prime."
"I'll tell the twins to keep an optic out," Prime assured him, heading for the door but stopped and turned to look back at Ratchet. "And if he's not faking it?"
"The Primus help us all," Ratchet muttered.
Prime laughed. "He's one bot, Ratchet. What harm could he do?"
It was official; Ratchet hated cows. If he ever saw another cow again he was going to use his magnets and drop it down from very high in the sky and gleefully watch it fall. Ratchet suddenly frowned then groaned as he realized; I've been spending too much time around Bumblebee. Feeling something squishy beneath his pedes he sighed and looked down, seeing yet more cow poop on the bottom of his pedes. Slowly he wiped his pede on a patch of green grass then continued walking. He couldn't wait to get out of this cow pasture.
His optics lit up when he caught sight of a dirt road running alongside the fence and changed directions. He cleared the fence with ease and scanned the road, noticing that the majority of the tire tracks headed in one direction. Deciding to go that way as well, Ratchet accessed his memory banks and selected the correct file then transformed into his Earth alt mode. Once the transformation was complete he drove down the road, rejoicing that he had finally left all of those beast behind when suddenly he slammed on his brakes. There, directly in front of him, was a cow.
"You've gotta be kidding," he groaned.
Wherever he was, Bulkhead decided, it was beautiful. Currently he was standing atop a hill overlooking a lake. The sun shone down, hitting the lake just right and making it appear that the water below was made of pure gold. Several trees stood around it, forming a protective circle like soldiers guarding a most precious treasure.
Bulkhead wished Bumblebee were there to see it with him. The mini-bot would like to see that. Suddenly Bulkhead was hit with a wave of loneliness so strong that he was left gasping for several minutes. He missed them. He missed Optimus's expression of longsuffering, Prowl's ninja moves; he even missed Ratchet's grumbling but most of all he missed Bumblebee's craziness. The two of them had been together so long t hat if one wasn't nearby then the other one worried.
He sighed heavily and his shoulders slumped. Right then he was the picture of dejection. If Bumblebee had seen his friend he would have immediately set about attempting to cheer his big friend up. Later Bulkhead would swear that what happened next was not a trick of the wind but an absolute miracle. He heard Bumblebee's voice and it said, 'Come on, Bulky. Don't give up now; find me.' The voice sounded far-off but Bulkhead knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was his little buddy. He turned in the direction that it had come from and drove towards it, a new-found hope in his spark.
Now Prowl thought himself a very reasonable and logical-minded bot. He was well versed in the art of ninja and practiced stealth daily. He had been a member of the Elite Guard for several years and before that he had been a spy and a very successful one at that. Therefore it was understandable that he grew a little…agitated (he didn't want to say worried) when he couldn't find any of his companions after thoroughly searching the city populated by organics for several hours. Finally he was forced to admit defeat. If they were anywhere in the city he would have found them by now. He was picking up several Cybertonian signatures but he had verified that they didn't belong to any bot that he knew. Leaning against the wall in the alleyway he couldn't help but wonder where they were and if they were all right.
He hated dirt. He really hated it. Optimus scowled at the dirt coating his sides and tires. It had already adhered itself to his inner workings and was threatening to choke his engine. At this rate it was a wonder that any of the vehicles driving past were even visible. Frankly he was surprised that Earth was known as the blue planet since he hadn't seen any water other than the small body he had woken up in.
His tires twitched when another vehicle got a little too close for his comfort but other than that he did nothing, not wishing to alert the local organics to his presence. His engine rumbled threateningly as yet more mud was splashed on him, resolving to wash off in the next body of water he saw. Forget about blending in, he just wanted to be clean and stay that way.
Excitement flooded his body when he saw an oddly familiar yellow and black car ahead only to be disappointed when he realized it wasn't Bumblebee. Huh. He never thought he'd miss any bot as badly as he missed the mini-bot at the moment. He only hoped that Bumblebee wasn't wandering the strange planet all by himself.
A/N: 3 reviews please. Thank you for your reviews so far. I never expected this many but keep 'em coming!