A/N: I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in a week. Live happened. I was almost done with the chapter Tuesday and meant to finish it Wednesday but between practice for the musical I'm in and a concert I was preforming in I was home for maybe ten minutes before the concert and afterwards I came home and fell asleep. I promise to come out with the next chapter as fast as I can. Also Reader5265 correctly guessed what was going to happen in this chapter.
When I woke up I was a little confused as to where I was and then I remembered that I had come to Prime after my night mare. I hadn't meant to fall asleep, I'd only meant to visit long enough to calm myself down and then go back to my own room. Inside I knew he didn't mind, or at least he never used to mind, but I still didn't like the fact that I had to wake him up when he needed the sleep.
Quietly I got up , not seeing Prime in the room and started to head towards the living room when I remembered that my phone was still sitting on the nightstand in my room. Grabbing my phone I head back towards the living room but stop at the end of the hallway when I hear voices coming from the kitchen.
"Bumblebee had a nightmare last night. I'm not entirely sure what it was about but if I had to take a guess I'd say Tyger Pax." Prime's voice was the first one I heard clearly. I sat down silently and listened, knowing that if I walked in there the conversation would end faster than I could say Primus.
"What's wrong with that?" Ratchet asked this and I was hoping that Prime wasn't mad at me for waking him up.
"At least he's coming to you. Remember when he said he'd stopped having nightmares but was still having them three or four times a week?" Ironhide said this and I lowered my head.
"True, he's telling me about them, but he's fifteen, shouldn't he have stopped having nightmares?" Prime wasn't happy that I woke him up last night.
"Optimus, it's not like he'll just forget about what happened at Tyger Pax. He was attacked, mutilated and scarred, and for all we know, they could have forced him to watch as they murdered Cliffjumper. I still have nightmares from time to time due to some of the stuff I've seen as a field medic and I guarantee it isn't as bad as what Bumblebee went through. He can't even really begin to get over it and let it fade to a distance memory because every time he speaks, he gets reminded of it." Ratchet's words hurt like daggers, mostly because what he said was true.
"That just makes me think of what I could have done to prevent it from happening."
"Prime, you never could have known that was going to happen. Bumblebee was in the wrong place at the wrong time." Jazz made this comment and might have continued if Prime hadn't cut him off.
"Bumblebee is always at the wrong place at the wrong time." As I heard Prime say this I leapt to my feet, not caring that my phone clattered to the floor. Tears streaked down my cheeks as I ran towards my room, slamming the door behind me.
The sound of four pairs of footsteps came from the other side of my door as they raced up to it. Grabbing the note pad that was sitting on the desk, along with the pencil and scribbled down a question before sitting on my bed. A knock sounded from the door and Prime entered, immediately I lifted up the note pad so he could read what I had written.
'Am I really that much trouble to look after?' I look at Prime, just wanting to know if he actually meant what he said the other day about trying to be a father figure for me, or if he was fed up with me and thought of me as an accident waiting to happen. A few more tears streaked down my face and when he didn't answer immediately I quickly wrote down 'you said "Bumblebee is always at the wrong place at the wrong time."'
"I didn't mean it like that Bumblebee. Your whole life has been one accident after another, none of which have been your fault. Never have I once blamed you for any of them, you've suffered from them enough. If anyone should be blamed it should be me. To me you're the son I never had and I just wish that you didn't have to grow up in this war."
I smiled at him as I gave him a hug. How could I have ever had doubted him? He ruffled my hair a little bit and wiped my tears away before handing me my phone. At that point another knock came from the door and we both looked up to see Ratchet leaning into the room.
"Would now be a good time to change your bandages, and check your neck?" As Ratchet said this, I tensed my shoulders. Ratchet must have seen me because he quickly added. "I'll only look, I promise." Prime gently set his hand on my shoulder and I glanced between him and the medic before nodding.
Ratchet had me sit down on my bed before starting to take off my bandages. I sat perfectly still as he did this and Prime squeezed my hand encouragingly. When he finally got it off I noticed that it had blood on it, much like the last one, but this time the blood looked dried rather than fresh. Despite that my stomach still churned a little at the sight.
"Slag. Where did I put the roll of bandages?" Ratchet looked around for half minute, checking the pockets on his lab coat before looking at me. "I'll be right back." He then walked ot of the room, presumably to get more bandages.
I simply sat there and stared at the open door, waiting for him to come back with the bandages. There was movement and I was surprised that Ratchet was back that fast and then I realized that it was Jazz. He glanced at me, his gaze obviously hovering on my neck for a second before looking towards Prime for permission to enter.
Prime nodded and Jazz came over and sat down on the other side of me. I was a little conscious about the fact that my scars were visible. Why, I wasn't entirely sure. Jazz had seen my scars before, so it wasnt anything new. Maybe I just felt like my neck was exposed. Whatever the reason, I was happy when Ratchet walked back into the room, bandages in hand.
"Bumblebee." I already knew I wouldnt like what he was about to say by the sound of his voice. "While I was getting bandages, I realized that it would a lot easier to see how your neck is healing if I wiped away the dried blood. I told you that I wasnt going to touch your neck, which is why I'm asking for your permission to."
My first thought was to say no and just have him apply the new bandages but Ratchet was the team medic and he knew what was best. And he was asking for my permission when he could pull rank and apologize afterwards. Besides that it probably wasn't very healthy just to leave the dried blood."
"Go ahead." Ratchet smiled at me and I couldn't help but smile back at him.
"This would be easier to do in the bathroom." I nod at him before standing to follow him. Prime and Jazz both followed and Ironhide did as well. The three stood behind Ratchet while I sat on the counter in the bathroom, my legs dangling over the side. Ratchet turned on the water and wet the paper towel in his hand before gently bringing it up to my neck.
At the first touch I flinched even though it didn't hurt and I was surprised when the water wasn't freezing but rather somewhat warm. I sat still as he worked on cleaning off my neck. Every once in a while it would hurt a little but I knew he was trying his hardest to be gentle so I tried not to flinch too much. After several new paper towels he finally grabbed a dry one and dried off my neck, making sure to get any of the water that had dripped down my neck.
"Alright, I'm done now. Your wounds look like they're doing well. Now all I need to do is apply fresh bandages." As he said this he reached for the bandages, I set my hand on top of the bandages and indicated for him to wait a minute. Ratchet moved his hand away and I took a breath before looking over my shoulder.
I made eye contact with my reflection for a second before allowing my gaze to drop to my neck. Megatron's claw marks were carved into my flesh, just like they had torn through my metal when I had been a Cybertronian. Slowly I closed my eyes and a tear rolled down my cheek as I moved my hand off of the bandages.
Ratchet had just picked up the bandages when a knock sounded from the front door. Prime, Ironhide and Jazz all left the room, presumably to answer the door. Talking came from the other room as Ratchet got the bandage ready. It grew louder and Captain Lennox entered the bathroom, talking over his shoulder, probably to Prime, not paying Ratchet or I any attention.
"... So I've been asked to take you guys..." He trailed off as he finally looked up towards where I was sitting on the counter. It was pretty obvious that he was staring at my scar. Even though Ratchet had started to rebandage it, a majority of it was still clearly visible. "... take you guys to the government base where they're being held. The government seems to think that they'll be more willing to talk to you."
"Very well. We'll be ready to leave as soon as Ratchet is done." I looked towards Prime, at a loss as to what was going on. Lennox's stare seemed to bore itself into my scars and I shifted, uncomfortable under his gaze. When I looked towards him I expected to see pity in his eyes, like everyone else when they realized that I couldn't talk, but instead he was looking at me with a new found respect.
At that point it dawned on me that he was the first, outside of our small team, to actually see it. Both Sam and Mikaela knew of it and had a vague description of how I had gotten it but they hadn't actually seen it. They filed out of the bathroom, probably to give Ratchet a little more room.
A minute or two later Ratchet finished applying the bandages and shooed me away. I gladly jumped off the counter and head straight to my room. Sitting on the edge of my bed I pull on my shoes and socks before grabbing my jacket off the back of the door. As I zipped up my jacket, I noticed a pair of ear buds sitting on my nightstand.
They were still in the package and there was a note taped to the back. 'Figured you'd want a pair. They're really great at blocking out the rest of the world.- Jazz' I smiled, of course Jazz would get me ear buds. As I pulled them out of the package I made a mental not to thank him later.
Walking out of my room and down the hallway, I stop in the living room where the others were waiting. As soon as I entered everyone starting moving towards the door. I fell into my place at Prime's side and jumped when someone tapped my shoulder. Looking over my shoulder I see Captain Lennox.
"Be proud of your scars, they make you who you are." I smiled a little and nodded. His advice was good and it was meant to be a message for life, but I don't think he understood that my scar had turned my world upside down and not for the better. Lennox then turned towards Prime. "I need to talk to you a little more. Do you think that I could ride with you?"
"Yeah, no problem." Prime said this before opening the door and starting down the stairs. Everyone else followed and I patiently waited until everyone else had gone before me and I closed the door behind me.
In the parking lot, instead of heading towards the Camero, I walked over to the blue with flames pick-up truck that Prime was standing next to. When I got over there, Prime nodded to me before going back to his conversation with Lennox. Lennox glanced at me as I climbed into the back seat, pulling out my new ear buds after I sat down behind the passenger seat.
I had just put the ear buds in when they climbed in and Prime started the engine. Picking a random song on my phone and turning it up, I pulled my feet onto the seat next to me, finding it more comfortable even though it wasn't as safe. I leaned my head against the door and stared out the window, watching the world go by.
In the front seat Prime and Lennox continued to talk. From the little bits and pieces I'd caught during quiet parts of a song and song changes, it sounded like Lennox was asking Prime about us. Questions like who each of us was to the team, how long we'd known each other and how we'd met.
I jumped slightly when something poked me in the shoulder. Looking away from the window I see that Prime had reached into the back seat and poked me to get my attention. His lips were moving but I couldn't hear him over my music. Immediately I yank out my ear buds.
"Bumblebee, would you like to climb up here?" I nodded and unbuckled my seat belt. Prime slowed down as I grabbed the shoulders of the seats in front of me and I hopped up. Captain Lennox reached behind me as I sat down. At first I was confused as to what he was doing, but when he got something to come up, I realized in between the driver and the passenger seats was another concealed seat that was supposed to be used.
Prime picked up speed again as I fastened the seat belt I found up there. I turned down the volume on my music as I put my ear buds back in. If my music was loud enough for Prime to hear it, he'd chew me out about it. Of course with my music turned down I could easily hear their conversation while I leaned against Prime.
"What about Bumblebee? What is his story? Is he normally this quiet?" Lennox asked this and I heard Prime let out a sigh.
"Bumblebee's the youngest member of the team, he's only fifteen. Sadly our war is all he's ever known. He was pulled out of the wreckage of a bombed youth center, only survivor. We're pretty sure he's the youngest of all surviving Cybertronians and Ratchet's the oldest."
As Prime said this I started to realize just exactly how much had been lost in the war. Ratchet might act grumpy and old, he was only sixty. Before the war the life expectancy was mid two hundreds, but many lived up into the three hundreds.
"What is he going to do when the war is over?" I'd often wondered this myself. When I was younger I had assumed that I would help with the rebuilding of Cybertron. But when Cybertron went dark shortly after Tyger Pax, I didn't know what I was going to do. I still didn't know.
"I don't know. I've often thought about what is going to happen to him. I wish I knew." I smiled slightly, knowing Prime would always look out for me.
"Has he always been a quiet guy?"
"When he was little he wouldn't shut up. Even before he could talk, he was 'talking'. Instead of making clicking noises sparklings usually make he made a buzzing noise. That's actually how he got his name." Prime let out a small chuckle at this. Glancing towards Lennox I see that he was smiling.
"But the war finally got to him?" Prime was no longer smiling, I didn't even have to look at him to know this.
"Megatron got to him." I was surprised at how much hatred was in his voice. He didn't raise his voice, instead he practically growled this.
"Is that how..." Lennox trailed off and he looked down at me. I smiled at him as I took out my ear buds, ending their conversation. We sat in silence for a minute or so before Lennox sat up a little. "We're here." Prime parked and we climbed out.
Waiting in the parking lot were a few other military officers of some sort. Jazz, Ironhide and Ratchet approached form their own cars and we ended up in front of them. Prime and Jazz stood at the front with Ironhide and Ratchet behind them while I hung back awkwardly. Lennox stepped over to the others.
"Prime, this is Sergeant Robert Epps and Special Agent Seymour Simmons." I glared at the one Lennox called Simmons. He was the one who ordered me to be captured and then frozen.
"I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. Jazz is my second-in-command. Ironhide is our weapon specialist, Ratchet is the team medic and Bumblebee is the team scout." Prime introduced us, motioning to all of us in turn. Simmons narrowed his eyes when Prime said my name. I guess he didn't like me just as much as I didn't like him.
"Well, it looks like the titans stepped down to our level-"
"Simmons, they're not here to talk to you. They're here to talk to the ones inside. Now get your head out of your ass and say something actually useful, for once, or stay quiet." I was thankful that Sergeant Epps had shut him up. Simmons would have had a nice encounter with my fist if he had continued.
"Thank you Sergeant Epps." Prime nodded his head in thanks.
"Just Epps will do. Now come on. I expect you'd like to start your meeting." Epps then started walking away and towards a heavily fortified building. The building was mostly concrete and the few windows had bars across them. The only connection that I could make was that it looked similar to how I had imagined an insane asylum to look like.
For the most part it didn't look at all friendly. Outside the doors stood two guards, both were armed and looked bored. They straightened up as we got closer, nodding to Lennox when we reached the doors.
The inside seemed like it was just a tangle of hallways with no signs but the guard who met us when we walked in, led us without hesitation. When he finally stopped, even I was confused and I was normally good at remembering things like that, as a scout I had to be. The guard opened the door for us and Lennox led us in.
The room was divided by a half wall that had glass on top. On the other side stood five people, four men, and one guard. As we stepped into the room I suddenly got uneasy. Looking towards Prime I see him narrowing his eyes. Ironhide let out a low growl and obviously I wasn't the only one who didn't feel comfortable with them. Prime took a step forward.
"Megatron." The tallest of the four men stepped forward. He was probably an inch or two taller than Prime who was already the tallest of our team, standing at 6'4". His arms and face were covered in small scars, the most noticeable was a large one going over his left eye. The scar appeared to be fairly fresh and not very well taken care of.
"Prime." Before he spoke I had been slightly uncertain that Megatron and the other Decepticons were also turned human. There was no way that I could ever forget his voice.
"I'd been wondering where you guys had been hiding." Jazz said this as he folded his arms. I looked at the others and finally noticed the resemblances between them and the Decepticons I was used to fighting. The youngest appeared to be around thirty, twenty-eight at the least.
He had on a torn police officer uniform and I knew it had to be Barricade. Taking a second look, they all had ripped, torn and sometimes even burned clothing on. Obviously still in the same clothes that the wore during the fight. Everyone of them had a Decepticon insignia visible.
"The choice wasn't exactly ours." Megaton growled this at Jazz but I could feel his gaze boring into me. "How's the little Bug?" I flinched slightly at the comment . He'd called me Bug before taking my voice. Megatron must have seen my reaction because he let out a dark chuckle, just like the one he'd let out as he let me fall to the ground.
I took a step away from the glass and sat down, bringing my head into my hands. This just caused him to laugh harder and for the other Decepticons to start laughing, as well. I covered my ears, trying to block it out and I found myself letting a few tears roll down my cheeks. A hand rested on my shoulder as Ratchet kneeled down next to me.
He lifted my chin up, forcing me to look him in the eye. I removed my hands from my ears and wrapped them around him. Closing my eyes, a few more tears slide down the side of my face and I feel Ratchet's hand wiping them away. Ironhide must have seen the fact that I was crying.
"Slagger!" I jumped and my eyes flew open to see Ironhide walking towards Megatron, and for the first time I noticed the gun holster at his hip. Prime immediately grabbed the weapons specialist by the shoulders, putting himself between Ironhide and the glass. When Prime gently placed his hand over Ironhide's gun, Ironhide let out a growl but took a step back.
"You need to learn to control your men, Prime." Megatron said this in a taunting sort of way, he never would have stopped one of his men.
"Why? You haven't shown any self control." Prime swung his arm to point towards me. "He was only ten at the time." I looked between Prime and Megatron as they stared each other down. Prime's whole body was shaking slightly and I was scared of what would happen if his anger took over.
I'd seen Ironhide lose it before but Prime was always calm, and now he seemed so close to breaking. Ratchet's tense grip on my shoulder told me he was afraid of Prime losing it as well.
"I don't care about his age. He's an Autobot. You should be glad that I only took his voice and not his life. If you were that concerned about his well being you shouldn't have put him out there in the first place. Now just fix this fragging situation."
"We're just as in the dark about this as you are Megatron. We don't know how this happened or how to reverse it. Ratchet has done some tests that have wielded no results as to why we're human. They've only shown that there are no signs that we were ever anything but human." As Prime was saying this I saw one of the other Decepticons, who I assumed was Starscream, lean over to Megatron and whisper something in his ear.
"Why not? Haven't you had your scout out looking for answers? He's okay at that. I know you've sent him to infiltrate the Decepticons before. Or do you not trust him that much? I mean you obviously don't, otherwise he'd have an Autobot insignia." I stood up and went to take a step towards him, only to be stopped by Jazz. The second-in-command rested his hand on my shoulder and started to steer me towards the door.
"Oh come on, let him stand up for himself. Let him fight his own battles. Let the bug speak." When Barricade said this Jazz applied a little more weight to his grip, an obvious warning for me to stay back. I balled my hands up into fists and I could tell that I was shaking out of anger, similar to how Prime was earlier. Right then Prime set his hand down on my other shoulder and I lowered my gaze to the floor.
"If you have nothing else to say that could help us get out of our situation, then we'll be leaving." Prime didn't even wait for Megatron's answer before starting to herd me towards the door. Jazz left my side and walked behind Prime. Megatron spoke up just when we got to the door.
"One word of advice, Prime. Don't put too much energon on the bug. He's not worth it and the next chance I get I'll finish what I started. " A shiver ran down my spine as he said this and Prime immediately pushed me out the door. The guard that led us to the room led us back to the entrance of the building. No one said a word until we were outside and headed towards the car. Agent Simmons broke the silence.
"Hey Bumblebee, Bug whatever your name is." He had already been walking too close to me for my comfort but this just made me stop in my tracks. I was already pissed off and if he was going to start off by talking to me that way I didn't want to hear what he had to say.
Turning on my heels I swung at him as hard as I could, throwing all of my anger and every other emotion I was feeling into the punch. I smiled at the crack I got when my fist connected with his face. He stumbled backwards from the force and I expected someone to grab me to make sure that I didn't hit him again. Simmons turned to face me a glare in his eyes as he held his hands up to his face and some blood was dripping between his hands.
"NBE1 was right, Prime. You need to control your men. And while you're at it, teach them some respect." Simmons spat this at Prime, but he sounded kind of odd do to the fact that he was clutching his nose.
"Maybe they'll give you more respect if you aren't a complete and total jackass. Because you certainly haven't earned it. Only reason I haven't punched you myself is cause you're, sadly, a higher ranking officer. And 'because they're an ass' doesn't validate hitting a superior officer in court. Trust me I've tried that before." Epps said this as he grabbed hold of Simmons's arm and started dragging him back towards the building, presumably to get his nose checked.
"I'll stay here Prime, and make sure that Bumblebee doesn't get in any trouble for that. And honestly I hope his nose is broken." Lennox said that and then started heading back to the building. We then all silently climbed into our vehicles and pulled out of the parking lot. I leaned against the passenger window for a moment before pulling out my phone.
"I'm sorry for any problems I've caused Prime."
"Bumblebee, I don't care, and please call me Optimus."
A/N: So another chapter done. I want to thank my friend who was just reading this during class and made the comment that Bumblebee should punch Simmons. So that's why it happened. And if anyone was wondering who the four Decepticons were they were Megatron, Starscream, Barricade and Scorponok (and yes he is a human). Also did anybody notice that Bee had always referred to Prime as Prime instead of Optimus? Now time for me to respond to reviews.
HipsterL: Glad you liked the last update and I hope that you enjoyed this one as well.
Dially: Thanks, I'm gonna need all the luck I can get. Glad you approve of how I did Tyger Pax. I wrote that twice, trying to make it perfect. And I'm planning on keeping writing, although not on this story in November but I shall return to it in December.
SweetGirl55: Everybody seems to feel bad for Bee and after looking my story over I certainly understand why. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as the last one.
Guest (10/16/13): I hope I added enough fluff for your liking.
Auzurii: I really enjoy writing Bee and Prime scenes. Bee is always so worried about what Prime thinks of him while Prime is always doubting if he's doing all he can for Bumblebee as a father. Prime's trying his best be he's that awkward first time dad who doesn't know how to deal with kids at all. I get the feeling that Ratchet took care of the sparkling sitting when Bee was younger. But Prime cares for him all the same.
Reader5265: I think most of the readers want to give Bee a huge hug. I do too. And don't worry Bumblebee will get his chance to torture the others. He may not actually be able to laugh out loud but the others will know he's laughing at them. I haven't worked it into the story quite yet but I decided that Bee moves his shoulders in a slightly exaggerated movements and so he's basically expressing his feelings through his shoulders like he would normally do with his doorwings. And you guessed right, it was a bad outing of meeting the Decepticons. Only good thing that came from it was that Bumblebee be got to punch Simmons.
Guest (10/21/13): I updated like you asked.
Until I get the next chapter up. Don't be afraid to review. I always love seeing your comments and they're always the highlight of my day. And on a completely unrelated note, I'm planning on being Bumblebee for Halloween.