Prisoners of the Mind

Chapter 6: The Truth Or Not The Truth?

When Sentinel walked into a room he expected a reaction. Whether it involved bots scampering for their workstations or even a bored, disinterested look after seeing who it was, there was still a reaction. But walking into a room and seeing four hopeful looks tossed his way only to turn to bitter disappointment when they realized who it was? Definitely new and very strange. He narrowed his optics at Optimus and asked, "Are you going to help rescue Ultra Magnus or not?"

Optimus didn't immediately answer but slowly said, "Is Bumblebee dead?"

Sentinel froze and said, "I already told you; Bumblebee isn't real, he never was."

"That's not what he said," Prowl was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed as he gazed evenly at Sentinel.

"What he said?" Sentinel was beginning to feel alarmed. There was no way that…

"When his ghost visited us," Bulkhead explained.

"Ghost?" alarm was rapidly taking over.

"Seems he died about three years ago," Ratchet grunted.

"Was he real, Sentinel?" Optimus asked.

For a minute Sentinel considered telling them the truth; like he had been urged to do so many times before. Instead, however, he decided to do things the way he always did; the easy way which involved telling bots whatever they wanted to hear. "Yes,' he replied. "Bumblebee was real but he died three years ago. The four of you were so overcome with grief and guilt that you developed a glitch. Ultra Magnus ordered me to bring you back here and place you in the simulation chamber until we could decide what to do with you."

"And you woke us up to deal with the Decepticons before we were expendable," Optimus finished.

"Yes," Sentinel said. "We can't meet their demands; I refuse to make deals with Decepticons. But I can't allow Ultra Magnus to die either. So will you help us rescue him, please?" he put just the right amount of pleading in his voice to make it seem like he hated having to ask for their help, which he did.

Optimus sighed heavily and reluctantly nodded. "We'll help."

"Good," Sentinel sounded grateful. "In that case come with me. I'll you everything that we have on the Decepticons." He walked out of the room, the other four Autobots following him.


"Bumblebee!" Sentinel's booming voiced caused many bots to jump in surprise then to hurry off, fearfully looking for a place to hide. Sentinel paid them no attention but marched with a fierce determination across the room and stopped next to a certain bot who was sitting in front of the monitors. He crossed his arms and waited.

As if he could feel the angry blue optics boring a hole in the back of his cranial unit, which he probably could, Bumblebee slowly tilted his head and looked up at Sentinel and smiled. "Hello, Sentinel. What brings you here?" his voice was calm as if he were discussing the weather.

"You visited Optimus and the others didn't you?"

"Whatever would make you think that?" Bumblebee did his best to look innocent but failed miserably.

"You know perfectly well t hat you saw them," Sentinel hissed. 'I specifically told you not to go anywhere near them. Why did you disobey me?"

"Since when I have ever listened to your orders?" Bumblebee asked jokingly then grew serious. "You were losing them. They were suspicious before you told them about Ultra Magnus but afterwards? They knew that you were lying to them about something else too. If they had kept dwelling on it they might have figured out the truth. But now that I've told them that I'm dead they have something else to think about. Plus they don't really have anything else left to lose now so they won't care if they live or die," he explained then leaned back in his chair and smiled once more at Sentinel.

To his cried the blue and orange bot valiantly resisted the urge to throttle Bumblebee and instead focused on something that the minibot had said. "They better not die," he growled. "We can't afford to lose all that research."

"Relax," Bumblebee told him. "They won't get off-lined; they have too much experience fighting the Decepticons. But even if they do then at least we'll know whether or not it was a success."

"True," Sentinel agreed thoughtfully. He had just reached the door when something occurred to him and he asked, "You're not planning to see them again are you?"

Bumblebee didn't answer, choosing instead to smile mysteriously and begin whistling.

Sentinel eyed him suspiciously then left, resolving to keep a close optic on the minibot. Not that it would do much good. If Bumblebee wanted to see Optimus again then Sentinel was smart enough to know that there was no way they could stop him.


Ultra Magnus lay on his recharge berth, staring up at the ceiling. So far he had counted all of the tiles, all one hundred and thirty eight of them, and had figured out what would be the best color to paint the ceiling, cream with a brown trim. He had also decided that the room could use some serious re-decorating. He checked his internal chronometer which, surprisingly enough, they hadn't broken and discovered that it was almost time for lunch. He moved to sit at the table and waited for Blitzwing to arrive. To his astonishment he had actually started to like the triple-changer. So what if he was a Decepticon and obviously insane? Blitzwing had done nothing to harm Ultra Magnus and was pretty good company. The two of them had had some interesting conversations when Blitzwing brought him energon.

The door opened but instead of Blitzwing Starscream walked in. "Hello, Ultra Magnus," he sneered. "We need to talk."

A/N: 3 reviews and don't forget to vote.