Mixed-Up

Chapter 3: Sentinel Magnus

It didn't take long to get to the Autobot Headquarters as it was housed in a building that Optimus recognized as Sumdac Towers, a robotics company that they had driven past on several occasions while out on patrol. Once there Optimus, Prowl, Ratchet, Bulkhead, Bumblebee and the Decepticons were shoved rather forcefully into the building and then directed to the elevator. They went up several floors then Bumblebee and his group were led off, Optimus tried to follow them but was stopped by one of the remaining guards who shook his head. "Sentinel Magnus wants to have a word with you," he said, grinning.

Optimus felt slightly uneasy and worried but ignored it, instead paying attention to what was going on around him. Silently he counted five floors that they had went up and adding that to the fifteen floors they had traveled with their fellow prisoners that meant they were now on the twentieth floor. His musings were interrupted by the guards who pushed them off the elevator and then directed them down a hallway, at the end of which was a door. One of the guards opened the door and announced, "The prisoners, sir, as you requested."

"That will be all," Sentinel said from inside the room, his voice clearly audible even though he couldn't be seen.

"Yes, sir," the guard replied with a bow, indicating for Optimus and his three companions to enter the room before closing the door behind them.

Once inside Optimus looked around with interest, mentally taking notes of his surroundings and filing them away for future reference. The walls were blue with orange trim, painted no doubt to match Sentinel's paint job, and on one wall was a full-length painting of him.

"Glad he's so modest," Ratchet muttered causing Optimus's entire frame to shake with silent laughter as he tried to control himself while Prowl merely smiled, his blue optics lighting up with amusement. Bulkhead made no attempt to hide his laughter but let it out, hurting their sensitive audio sensors while he was at it.

"Very funny," Sentinel said from across the room, his voice instantly sobering them. He rose from the desk he had been sitting at and walked over to them where he preceded to walk in a circle around them. "Hmm," he said. "You look like them and you even seem to have their sense of humor but you can't be them."

"Why not?" Prowl asked.

"Because you, or rather who you're pretending to be, disappeared twelve million years ago and haven't been seen since then," was the smug answer.

Optimus's knee joints suddenly felt weak and threatened to give way as he gaped at Sentinel. "Twelve millions years?" he gasped; his voice no louder than a shocked whisper.

"Don't sound so surprised," Sentinel frowned. "Every bot knows that, even the Dinobots know and that's saying something."

"Twelve million years?" Optimus repeated, unable to say anything else as his processor tried to wrap itself around the number.

Sentinel opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on the door. "Come in!" he yelled, annoyance coloring his voice.

The door opened and Cliffjumper entered, closing it behind him. "I'm terribly sorry about the interruption, Sentinel, sir," he apologized, "but when I heard that they had shown up I went through the records of our interrogations of that traitor Bumblebee and I found something that I thought you might like to know."

"What?" Sentinel looked confused then suddenly comprehension dawned on his faceplate and he groaned. "Don't tell me that it's today."

"Yes, sir," Cliffjumper nodded. "Today is the day that Bumblebee said they would come back; right down to the minute from what we've been able to confirm."

"No," Sentinel said, groaning louder than he had before. 'Please say it isn't so," he begged.

"I really am sorry," Cliffjumper said as he backed up, eyeing his leader carefully as if judging how long he had until Sentinel blew up.

"Well," Sentinel said thoughtfully. "We can't let anyone else know about this. If the Council finds out about this they might give Optimus my position and I have no desire to lose everything that I've worked for. Not to mention if they discover that Bumblebee's words came true they might believe that he had nothing to do with Ultra Magnus's death."

Optimus had heard enough; summoning up his courage he stepped forwards and said," Bumblebee might be a lot of things but one thing that he isn't is a killer."

"Oh really?" Sentinel got directly in Optimus's faceplate. "Then tell me why he is in allegiance with the Decepticons who are convicted killers and why he was witnessed ripping out Ironhide's spark before he crushed it?"

"How can you be so certain that it was him?" Optimus asked.

"I just told you; a bot saw him do it."

"Who?"

"Jazz," Sentinel said triumphantly; then smiled when he saw the look of shock on Optimus's faceplate. "Not only that but he also tried to kill Jazz but wound up just wounding him. Poor Jazz took a direct hit in the processor and went crazy and had to be locked up in a mental asylum where he died ten thousand years ago."

Optimus was stunned, he didn't want to believe Sentinel but he couldn't reconcile his memories of the Bumblebee he knew with the Bumblebee he had seen earlier that afternoon, cutting down Autobots as if they were merely obstacles in his path and not living, breathing bots.

Sentinel laughed as he watched the conflicting emotions battle each other on Optimus's faceplate. "You see, Bumblebee is the killer, not I. The only thing I am guilty of is trying to rid the world of scum like him." He stepped back and walked over to his desk where he sat down and began to look over a large stack of datapads. "Take them to the prison and put them with their friend then…what did I say Bumblebee's sentence was?"

"He and the other Neutrals are being executed tomorrow," Cliffjumper replied.

"Very well. Give my old friend Optimus and his friends the same sentence but first give them some violet optics and cover up their Autobot symbols," he ordered.

"Yes, sir," Cliffjumper said.

"We didn't do anything!" Bulkhead hollered, trying in vain to break his cuffs.

"Tell that to someone who cares," Sentinel said as they were dragged out of the room, the door shutting behind them.

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