Different Beginnings
Chapter 6: Apologies
After he left the med-bay 'Bee just kept on walking until he had cleared the back door of the base. Once clear of the warehouse he broke into a run, not bothering to transform. He ran until his legs refused to go any further then promptly sank to his knees and buried his faceplate in his servos. His shoulder struts started shaking and clicks poured from his unwilling vocalizer like a flood.
'Bee had no idea how long he remained hunched over in that position but when his desperate sounding clicking finally slowed to the point where his body no longer felt like it would fall apart from the shaking he lowered his servos and vented very, very slowly as he tried to calm himself.
Once he had accomplished this he settled onto his skidplate and hugged himself, resting his chin on his knees and submitted himself to rational thinking. Guilt rose up in him at the memory of the look on Optimus Prime's face. He hadn't meant to be so…cruel. True he was worried about Bulkhead but that still didn't give him an excuse to be mean to someone who didn't even deserve it. Other than arriving on Earth what had Optimus and his crew done to him? Absolutely nothing. This mess wasn't Optimus's fault or even his fault. The blame fell squarely on the Decepticons. They were the ones who had iniated the fight. They were the ones who had kidnapped Bulkhead and they were the ones who were going to pay.
Cheered by this new thought, 'Bee's optics lit up and he smiled. Had Bulkhead been to there to see it he would have run in the opposite direction as fast as he could go because that smile was a cruel, dangerous smile; it meant that 'Bee had a crazy idea, one that most likely would end up resulting in a brilliant explosion and more than a few missing limbs.
'Bee rose to his pedes and swayed for a few seconds before heading back towards the base. He had a lot to do starting with apologizing to Optimus and finishing with freeing Bulkhead by whatever means possible.
"Don't feel bad, Prime," Ratchet encouraged while he finished cleaning up the med-bay. "Bumblebee didn't mean what he said. He's just upset about Bulkhead you know that. He'll cool down and be back in a little while apologizing for yelling like that."
Optimus just looked at Ratchet and raised an optic ridge, not saying a word.
"You're right," Ratchet shook his head in disbelief and threw the energon-soaked rag into the barrel in the corner. "I don't know what I was thinking."
"This is Bumblebee we're talking about," Prowl agreed. "The chances of him returning and apologizing are about as high as it raining energon."
Optimus sighed and frowned. He had an idea but he wasn't sure how it good it was.
"What is it?" Ratchet asked suspiciously. He knew that look in Optimus's optics; it heralded the arrival of an idea.
"We need to rescue Bulkhead," Optimus said loudly, knowing that if he mumbled the answer he'd just have to repeat it and he didn't want to do that.
Ratchet groaned and lowered himself into a chair he'd found during an early morning trip to the junkyard when Bumblebee had decided that the warehouse could use some 'sprucing up'. That day they had had fun. Bumblebee and Bulkhead regaled the others with stories of their misspent youth and even Prowl had unbent enough to laugh at one wild tale while Ratchet and Optimus watched, smiling indulgently and laughing in all the right places. It had been a good day and one that had given Optimus hope that they might possibly be able to get along one day. But those hopes had been smashed today and Optimus was willing to do anything to attempt to reclaim them, even if it meant doing something completely suicidal.
"If you're going to rescue Bulkhead then you'll need to know where the Decepticon base is first," a voice spoke from the doorway. They turned to see who it was and Optimus's jaw almost unhinged itself when he saw Bumblebee standing there, dirt on his legs.
Since they seemed incapable of speech Bumblebee took the iniative and spoke again. "I just wanted to say that…I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I didn't mean it." The tone was sincere as were the words spoken. Bumblebee was genuinely sorry. Wonders never ceased.
Optimus nodded. "It's okay," he said then grinned, turning to Prowl. "Better get out your umbrella, Prowl," he teased.
Prowl scowled at him and didn't answer.
Bumblebee looked confused then shrugged before turning back to Optimus. "Were you serious about rescuing Bulkhead?"
"Yes," Optimus didn't hesitate to answer the scout.
Bumblebee nodded then shoved all kind looks and words away and transformed into the Bumblebee they saw on a day-to-day basis. "Then let's not waste anymore time," he turned and marched out of the med-bay.
Optimus, Ratchet, and Prowl looked at each other before following the determined mini-bot into the center of the base. But to their surprise Bumblebee just kept walking until he reached the door next to his room and opened it, then walked right on in. Ratchet shrugged and followed him in, Optimus and Prowl right behind him.
In this room were more monitors and several maps tacked on the walls. Bumblebee moved to a keyboard and typed something then a map appeared on one of the monitors and then Bumblebee enlarged a certain section of it and tapped the area of the screen with a digit. "That's the Decepticons base camp right there. It's in a cavern in the mountains where we can't pick up their signal. They'll take Bulkhead here," he tapped a small red x "they always take him there."
"How many times have you had to rescue him?" Optimus asked curiously then froze, hoping he hadn't made Bumblebee mad again.
"Almost twenty times," Bumblebee said quietly, not looking at them. "Now if you don't mind we really need to get going."
Optimus nodded, he could ask later; after they rescued Bulkhead.
A/N: 3 reviews and the 'deal' will be explained in the next chapter, I promise.
Kudos to anyone who can figure out what the 'deal' is before the next chapter is up!
Coming up: The Deal