Arrg! I didn't get a single day to work on either story ALL WEEK. I wanted to get this out like. . .Monday, nope after work, busy. Tuesday? Busy, Wednesday, Busy. Thursday, Busy AND my computer broke! Friday, fix computer, BUSY. ARG. I'll get the other story out soon too, but I think I'm going to be struggling with future chapters for a while. (I write ahead, so I'm catching up and Next week, Busy! Plus my next three weekends are going to be away from any computer so . . yeah.) Sorry :(
*********
Bumblebee slunk into the deepest of shadows. So far everything was going as well as he could hope for. His cannon whirled in and out of form without complications. The weapon was satisfactory operational. Some functions of his rocket launcher was impaired, but overall just having some operation was a plus. With the help of Sari, he was able to get the distorted shells out of their sleeves. New ones regrew in place, hopefully with enough function to use them like their intentions. His sensors flooded his processors. Marcus and his team of humans had their vehicle hidden among the rubble along the East side of the complex. So far, they were doing as they were instructed. The Decepticons hadn't become privy to their activities. And the humans hadn't done anything enough to call attention to themselves. To a Decepticon, humans were nothing more than vermin. As long as the slaves continued to work, the others went unnoticed. Bumblebee's biggest fear was the humans and their sense of defiance. He was counting on so many, it only took one to screw up the whole thing, and he knew that none of them trusted him, outside of Sari. Marcus was especially troublesome. He left details vague in certain regards, some for his own personal reasons and others to keep them from acting out upon their defiant behaviors. Of course being obscure didn't allot any trust either. Stakes were high, he-they only got one chance at this. He focused to keep his stress at bay, although surprisingly, he was in a strange sense of ease. His optics gazed to the people inside the complex. The stress wasn't wearing so kind to their bodies and minds. It was visible to even his scanners at this distance. At the first sign of the shipment's approach the human slaves were, for the first time since being here, in high spirits. Now they slunk away into their usual hopelessness. The yellow robot had recruited them in his plan. The trade off was giving them a chance of liberation. With no yellow robot in sight, their faces furrowed the betrayed gloom. The same old feeling of helplessness returned, herded worse than animals with sharp prods and lashing strikes as they were forced to work towards their deaths.
On both sides of the walls the dissidence grew.
"Alright Marcus? Where the hell is he?"
"A sick joke! That's what this is!"
"You didn't really think he was actually going to help us did you?"
"What is he waiting for!?"
Slowly and surely all the shipment was being carried away from the transport vehicles and lined up in front of the one wall in storage. Finally, all the trucks except for one had been emptied. Bumblebee slipped out of his hiding spot and slid along the wall outside of the slave masters' view. He did yet another scan of his allies in hopes that everything was in place. The dissidence so far, hadn't caused any problems. He was grateful for that. He reached a point in the wall that would give him a clear point of view to the cubes of energon. He leapt up to the top of the wall. He lifted himself out of his crouch and nonchalantly walked along the ledge as he examined the scene before him. As he slowly walked into place, the slaves below caught sight of his approach. They slowly and cautiously evacuated the area heading back towards the last remaining cargo-filled truck. The Decepticons snarled at the human's mass resistance to their commands. They threatened and growled until one glanced up to see a certain yellow Autobot standing out in the open over-looking them. A chatter of surprise and an alert to the defiant little insect. The seven Decepticons strolled out to view the Autobot.
"Back so soon Autobot?" The metallic facial structures twisted in amusement.
"Aww did you miss us!?" Another Decept hissed in laughter.
"Would have thought Megatron learned you a lesson!"
Bumblebee continued to stroll along the edge barely even acknowledging the Decepticons who were heckling and catcalling him. Some were shouting at him in English, others in Cybertronian, all were amused by the Autobot's actions. If he wanted punishment, they would gladly deliver. They flexed their claws, whirled their cannons and awaited for the Autobot to do something. Really what could he do? He had no weapons and he was gravely outnumbered. Bee stopped his saunter and looked the Decepticons over. Another examination of who and what he was up against. Once upon a time civilians who sided with the Decepticons. Non of them were militarily trained, otherwise they wouldn't be doing such a lowly positioned job. Not that the most callous of them minded scaring and pummeling small organics into submissiveness. How time had warped their ethics. Bumblebee grated.
Then before they could finish their calls or react otherwise, he flicked his arm up through the air, in a smooth action his cannon spun and launched a shot of energy before his arm's motion ceased from the momentum. The fiery bullet plowed through the wall of stacked energon. It caused the cubes and containers to burst open letting blue and clear liquid swim over the broken crates like water over a cascade. The shear density of the liquid made it glow brightly and the blue drifted away leaving a river of dancing rainbows to coat the ground. The Depticons all ceased at once and turned in dumbfounded horror as they watched the energon waste away into the soil. Bumblebee's optics flickered watching it waste into the ground, but decided he'd rather it get wasted rather than be in the hands of the Decepticons. They stared, their demonic anger had yet to bypass their shock. One by one heads returned back to the lowly Autobot standing on the ledge. All optics gaped in shock. Bumblebee looked back at them, his mask pulled back, he shrugged innocently.
Shock ceased, howls of anger erupted. They began their charge at the Autobot. Before they could get too far, Bumblebee's shoulders opened, two sets of three missiles blasted through the air, striking the molten pool of energy. An energon explosion ruptured the landscape. Everything washed out with light and fire engulfing the Decepticons and over the wall, coating the nearest vehicles. The air hung heavily with the scent of ozone. Past the explosion, Bumblebee heard the sound of a grisly vehicle start its engine. No, not yet! It's too soon!
Optics darted to see the human slaves work to pry the doors open of their enclosure. At their digression, they instead decided to ram the door apart with the vehicle. No, no! Stick to the plan! Not with the energon on the back! You people are fools! You just seen how explosive it is!
Bumblebee optics frantically darted back to his enemies, he lifted his cannon and started pummeling the emerging Decepticons. Now he had to wait before fleeing to make sure none wised up to the humans actions. Luckily for the humans, Decepticons burst forward with so much rage that they failed to notice them departing in the vehicle with energon strapped on the flatbed. Bumblebee did promise that they would all be distracted. Bumblebee nodded to himself before he finally jumped off the ledge. Too late to avoid the onslaught of missiles and explosions. Luckily, he slipped by with nothing fatal or crippling. That would have been a short trip otherwise.
"You little bastard! I'll kill you!"
The Decepticons bounded over the wall.
Clicking and clanking the Camaro didn't get his head start like he had really hoped for. Now he had seven very, very angry Decepticons at his tail pipe. Just because they were once civilians that in no way made them less dangerous, just more disorderly, he hoped. He floored it out of the area. To add to his wretched plan gone array, two were obviously faster than he was. It didn't help that he barely had the energy from recovering from last weeks incident. That's okay though, it was included in the plan. The only thing he really had to worry about was paying back the energon. He internally flicked on the radio, to keep an sensor on how the humans were doing. He took a heavy hit on his left, rear wheel hub, enough to send his front end in an unintended direction. The blue Hummer who crashed into him howled with excitement.
"Tst, please." Bumblebee rolled into the misdirection and sped off towards a new direction, out maneuvering the bulkiest of seven. Good thing too, him and a large Dodge Ram were intending on crushing the Camaro between them. Bumblebee plowed through the rubble that partially obscured the roadway. Three big vehicles behind him crashed through the obstacles with better proficiency, behind them roared the two sportier vehicles gracefully slipping around the big wigs and closing in on Bumblebee. He grated as they blew past him and twirled around to box him in. Bumblebee sped up and took the smaller of the two, crashing into him to break himself an opening. Pain rocketed through his body as the other one tried to intervene to stop him. The Camaro swerved just in time to miss the Hummer smashing into him. That would have been bad! The gold Corvette yelped at the close approximation the Hummer came to crushing him as well. Bumblebee put on the speed, plotting out all his predetermined travel courses. He needed them to follow him for a while before he could attempt to loose them. Touch and go. He couldn't let them get so close that they could catch him and he couldn't loose them until after the humans cleared out. Damn the luck! He knew letting the humans go so impatient would be harmful to the plan. He spun into a hard right bypassing the fallen traffic lights and abandoned non-mutated cars. Tires squealed as they tried to grip the road. The two sports followed easily as did the Hummer and one other truck. The old muscle car wasn't quite used to his own weight as he nearly spun and cracked into a building. A liability. Bumblebee accessed the car's condition. His armor would be tougher to imitate the old metal structure of those cars. Okay, not as much as a liability as he hoped for. He'd have to loose him over a tight turn somehow.
The sports ran in front of him again, this time one spun around and began a game of chicken with Bumblebee. Right directly behind Bumblebee was the Hummer. Great. Regardless if he could take on the hit from ahead, he would be totaled from behind. He needed to take care of these fast cars first! Processors running, reducing the track on the other four cars, never wise, but he didn't have a choice. Wheel turned sharp, car body rotated, and his engine NOSed it. Not the nitrous oxide systems that were specially placed in flaunty vehicles, his was alien, and much more superb. But unfortunately, not unique to him alone. He jumped over a broken road and into an old store. Crashing in through the once windows he flinched in irritation as the sports cars were still keeping up with him. He really hoped that one would be scrap metal right about now! Processors on-lined to all vehicles again, another two had already countered his change in direction. Damn these scrapheaps aren't half bad!
"I bet you're regretting what you've done now! That ain't nothing! Wait til we catch you!" The purplish Lexus growled relishing the rush he was getting. Bumblebee tried to get more speed. They sped up, eager to pass him and cut him off. Bee cut the extra energy and slammed to a stop. They overshot him, he turned and launched to a new direction. Before he could make it out of the doors he felt and impact throw him off a bit. He bit down on his gears at the pain but he continued forward. If only to have the Hummer waiting for him on the other side of the spider-webbed glass doors. Bumblebee had to be far enough away from the slave yard by now to start planning an effective 'get these guys off my six'! He barely slid past the Hummer. Glass shards glistened the air as he cleared mere inches on the blue beast. First he made sure he was still being followed by all seven Decepticons. Sure enough he was. And he was able to pick up who the three slowest were. Nearest course plotted, he swerved left. As soon as he got the chance, he had to skim through the process he was running on the radio, damn if he didn't have the thinking capacity to do it now. If only he could just project it on speakers and let his audio receptors catch it, but then that might openly advertise the Decepticons that he was being a purposeful distraction.
Bumblebee sped up on the twisting on-ramp of a tattered parking garage. To his amusement, the sports cars were first on his tail. The gold one was directly behind him. Bee slammed into reverse crushing into the front of the gold Corvette. The Corvette yelped again. Bee sped off, amused as ever, disregarding his now very achy back end.
"I'll kill you!" The gold sports car snarled.
#Hit me with your best shot! Why don't you hit me with your best shot?# Bumblebee blared out his radio in quip. The Corvette growled. Before regaining speed and laying waste into Bumblebee, an explosion fired off from inside the damage. An explosive modified missile that Bumblebee laid for him when he had crashed into him. Bumblebee fled forward hissing in laughter as he went.
#Got a green light, gotta green light yeah; But I'm going nowhere; Gotta green light, gotta red light yeah,#
Racing up to the tight spiral. Now he found himself on top of the roof.
"Nowhere to go Autobot scum!" The vehicles plowed out to the roof as well.
#No cop no stop, I don't care;# The Camaro spun to face them down.
#Every one of you could be the same; Every one of you could play the game;# Bumblebee one-eightied and plowed through the barrier and off of the roof. The other cars hung back to watch the crazy yellow fly downwards. #Gotta green light, gotta green light yeah; But you're going nowhere#
"Damn you!" They hissed. Bumblebee bounced onto the roof of another building and continued to zip down the concrete path.
#You know the best things in life aren't for me; You know the best things in life aren't for free; You know the best things in life aren't for me; You know the best things in life aren't for free;
Gotta new life, gotta new plight yeah; And its going nowhere; On a mountaintop like a pin drop yeah; No god no thought, I don't care;#
Clearing over the one building, the Decepticons now had to catch up. Bumblebee ramped off of this building and transformed as he made his way into another building that was nearly all but gutted out. In his sights was the hole opening up to the human underground tunnels. Big enough for a cybertronian his size to squeeze through. Optics widened, he cursed to himself.
The radio died as did Bumblebee's spark signature. The Lexus and Corvette took to the challenge to roof jumping. They transformed and overlooked the building where Bumblebee had disappeared. They bounced around the concrete making their way down to the floor level. They sneered. He thinks he's so cleaver. Right away they spotted the human tunnel. They slipped down into the tunnel and ran after the Autobot as fast as their bipedal legs carried them.
"Stop you fool!" The Lexus grabbed the Corvette's shoulder.
"What?" The gold Decepticons snarled.
The Lexus stared at the blue gray lines ahead of him. "He didn't go this way!"
"What? What do you-" The corner of his optic caught a curious little orange flag. Teetering on that flag was a modified missile shell. The fins on the device flicked inwards causing it to loose balance. One set of optics widened, the other was oblivious.
'Please work!' Bumblebee clenched everything to keep a focus on the most modest of sensors that were nestled inside his external weaponry. As he focused a command to alter the fins, the walls sprayed into the air around him. He must have let his nullifyer slip. He re-focused scanners just in time to see the Hummer robot bull-rush into him. They crashed down hard into the ground. A heavy fist drove into Bumblebee's back, as Bee rolled trying to get to his feet. The Hummer threw his weight into Bumblebee to hold him down. Optic behind the mask fixed up to the Blue Hummer's face. Bumblebee twisted to escape the weight but he still failed to escape the grapple. Two others descended on him, grabbing him at his shoulders. Before they could pin him, the after-shock of the spark disruptor washed over them. The horribly seizing pain lashed at their sparks, Bumblebee forced himself to kick free from his captors. He plucked another missile from his rocket and left it behind. He stumbled away, trying to transform but his spark wouldn't permit the energy to do so. The unsettling familiar sizzling washing over his body. Bee doubled over and continued to stumble away. He triggered the explosion to go off, but the external's sensors had been damaged. It was a dud. Looking back, the Hummer made his way to his feet. He was managing the festering pain better than Bumblebee was. Bee forced his stumble into a run. The Hummer started clicking and ticking behind him. Bee couldn't let himself get outrun by a brick on wheels! Bumblebee forced his transformation, fighting the spark and it's want to throw him into stasis.
The Camaro rolled out through the streets once again. The Hummer was hot on his tail, as was a Mini cooper, and an old Oldsmobile muscle car. The two trucks were still fighting the effects of their seizing sparks. A new brash set of confidence made Bumblebee purr. He took out the two speedsters! Now he could feasibly outrun these slower vehicles! If only. His spark was too unsettled. He couldn't flood his engine with alien speed. They could! Bumblebee yelped as the Oldsmobile crushed into his back bumper. Both bodies crumpled from the impact. The Cooper rolled to his right side blocking his escape. In hell bent frustration, Bumblebee jammed his wheel smashing into the side of the Cooper's body. The Mini didn't even seem phased by the impact, even though Bee almost got him to break formation. Bumblebee grated, this time with even more force he slammed into the Cooper. Still the Cooper wouldn't even utter a sound. So he was either mute or forgot what his sensors were used for. Before Bumblebee could slip through the opening he created, he squawked loudly as the Hummer decided to give him the same treatment. His body was then sandwiched between the Hummer and bricked slab of wall. Bumblebee forced his way past the building. His body screeching against the brick sandpaper as he did. He slipped to the right down the road to try and flee but his spark surged out too much pain from the stress. He was unable to give him much for leeway against the blue beast. The Cooper slipped up to him to keep him distracted as the Ford pickup and Dodge caught up. The Ford slammed into the right side of Bumblebee. While Bee skidded on his tires sides, unable to do anything, the Dodge flew behind him. The Cooper slid into the front to prevent Bumblebee from racing forward. Bumblebee growled and threw a fit of curses to himself. Then as expected, more impacts abound. From the left and from the right, effectively vicing him in. He was surrounded. They must be planning something! As they traveled forward Bumblebee took a moment from trying to smash his way free to look straight ahead. A jagged metallic spear stretched to the skies ahead of him. Cybertronian in design, it protruded knife-like edges. A communication rod, planted out in the middle of a road way. Behind him the Dodge pushed him forward, forcing Bumblebee to go faster.
They were trying to force him to plow through it. Bumblebee tried to break but the Dodge continued to thrust him forward. Bumblebee couldn't go right because the Ford was blocking his path, he couldn't go left, oh hell no, no way could he get past the Hummer and straight ahead of him was blocked as well. Bee snorted.
Regardless of what he was going to do, it wasn't going to be pretty. His spark recovered just enough to flood his engine with better than NOS speed. His best option was to take on the Mini Cooper. He rammed and pushed it forward, the Cooper braked, the Dodge sped forward ramming the both of them forward. Bumblebee gawked out in pain and his speed died down inadvertently. Bumblebee found himself uncomfortably in the center. The jagged blade was coming up fast. The Cooper broke away, not wanting to feel the impact first, Bumblebee tried to ride his bumper to escape behind him. The ford rolled forward and into him to prevent it. Bumblebee snarled. Fine be that way! He pulled back and vamped up the speed even more, strolling up on two wheels. He was quickly knocked down by another vehicle. Damnit! Bumblebee blasted forward. No calculations were in his favor, he'd loose a wheel on this one. Edging to take the least amount of damage his front bumper and wheel ripped into the thick metal structure. Burning and tearing his wheel apart so fast he barely had time to flinch. But now he was ahead of the vehicles just barely, and not for long now that his tire was shredded. The Oldsmobile struck him trying to make him loose control. Bee spun on his wheels and used the Oldsmobile's attack against his intentions. Bumblebee rolled into it, turning him into an opposite direction. Screeching tires and throwing asphalt in the air, he tore down the street. Passing them all, he screeched to the right. The heavy vehicles all slammed on their breaks and pathetically tried to turn around but they were too close to each other to do so effectively. Bumblebee threw lots of curses at himself now. He replotted his course. He had no way of running or out maneuvering the bigger lugged vehicles now. As luck would have it, he was now in the near vicinity to the Outpost Nine tunnels. He didn't feel like it was lucky enough to be cheerful about it. He heard that conversation Marcus had. Disbanded probably meant the tunnels would be empty. Well if anything, no humans will get hurt. He turned down a new direction, the other vehicles were hot on his trail and edging up fast. A large hole in the ground, Bumblebee banked and crashed in the ground below. Pain shooting up through all his joints and especially from his tire area.
Indeed his pool of luck seemed to have run dry. The hole was easily big enough for the other vehicles to slip into. Fret now flooded his spark worse than the pain. This was not the time for second guessing his plan. Damnit to hell! What was he thinking? Well there wasn't anything else to do but focus on his sensors that were monitoring the radio signals. He switched processing power over and cringed with anticipation. Please don't have this all be for nothing! He went through the conversations that had went on, fully aware of the Decepticons approach even though he didn't have sensors focused on him. Conversation after conversation, Bumblebee's disappointment could almost be seen on his car's form. They were speaking in code, he had no idea how well the plan went. They were yelling and screaming. Either it worked fantastically or it went horribly wrong. There was another frantic conversation on another channel. For a moment it peaked his interest.
#Movement! Ol' boy was right!#
His trunk buckled. The Ford giving him a reminder of what to expect. Pain. Frustration. Bumblebee vented air, if he kept getting hit like this, he won't be able to transform to give them a decent fight. Scratch that, he was pretty sure he alone couldn't take on five Decepticons at once who were bigger than him. The realization was aggravating. The pain was aggravating. Bumblebee pulled a song from his memory to blare over the radio. At least it will give him something else to concentrate on.
#Reluctantly crouched at the starting line; Engines pumping and thumping in time; The green light flashes, the flags go up; Churning and burning they yearn for the cup-
They deftly maneuver and muscle for rank; Fuel burning fast on an empty tank; Reckless and wild, they pour through the turns; their prowess is potent and secretly stern
As they speed through the finish, the flags go down; The fans get up and they get out of town; The arena is empty except for one man; Still driving and striving as fast as he can#
Bumblebee swerved out of the Hummer's slaughtering attack. That was the last of that, forward was the only direction that was open now. The rest were placing themselves to box him in again. These guys really were as good as Bumblebee was hoping they weren't.
#The sun has gone down and the moon has come up; Not long ago somebody left with the cup; But he's driving and striving an hugging the turns; And thinking of someone for who he still burns;
He's going the distance; He's going for speed; She's all alone, all alone, all alone in a time of need#
Giving into the music, Bumblebee decided that he should at least give them a run for their money. He did a poor job at it so far.
#Because he's racing and pacing and plotting the course; He's fighting and biting and riding on his horse; He's going the distance.#
#Converge, corridor seven. Hodges, warm up that ice!# Humans and their code. What a waste of processing power. Bumblebee discontinued his attention to the human channels.
Speed flooded, cascading turns were made. The best of maneuvering with only three wheels.
#No trophies, no flowers, no flashbulbs, no lime; He's haunted by something he cannot define; Bowel shaking earthquakes of doubt and remorse; Assail him and impale him with monster truck force#
Bumblebee banked into a turn. They were still hot on his tailpipe. The music wasn't enough to improve his mood. This was so stupid!
#In his mind he's still driving, still making the grade; She's hoping in time that her memories will fade; 'Cause he's racing and pacing and plotting the course; He's fighting and biting and riding on his horse#
Grief welled over his spark. Sensors picked up the five vehicles. As much as he willed them out, they were still there.
#The sun has gone down and the moon has come up; Not long ago somebody left with the cup; But he's striving and driving and hugging the turns; And thinking of someone for who he still burns;;
'Cause he's going the distance, He's going for speed; She's all alone; All alone; All alone; In a time of need#
Part of the plan? What was going on through you're processor you lug head!?
#Because he's racing and pacing and plotting the course; He's fighting and biting and riding on his horse; He's racing and pacing and plotting the course; He's fighting and biting and ridding on his horse; He's going the distance; He's going for speed; He's going the distance, ahh ah.#
Two gray lines beamed crossed the passageway ahead. The plastic flag lazily shined at the most subtle of light.
At least he could hope that this would take them out as well. That's something to look forward to right? Right? Stupid, Bumblebee. Real stupid!
They didn't seem to be savvy enough to realize what those lines represented. This was it. Just as his sensors locked in on the beams they disappeared, just nano seconds before crossing over them. Horror crossed over him. His spark stasised
"No!" The words of defeat left his voice. What happened to the trap? Where did it go!?
"Yess!" The hummer purred behind him. Bumblebee loosing himself at the hopelessness of taking the others out with him, suddenly found himself, screaming, as his body was getting pushed forward by somebody with more momentum and power than he.
"Ugn!" Bumblebee tried to roll out of the way. Not death like this! Who knows how long he would have to suffer before his release. His body slipped going perpendicular to the blue beast, and his wheels couldn't grip the ground below him. Before Bumblebee realized it, the Hummer had smashed him into a wall. Hard enough to crumple his metal. Hard enough to hurt like hell. Not hard enough to kill him. Loosing his voice in a fit of panic, Bumblebee warbled out in terror. He transformed out of his alt form as fast as his points of articulation could allow him. Just as his last piece was in place he felt a crushing grasp in his shoulder, knocking him solidly into the wall.
"You are going to pay for what you've done!" The Decepticon screamed at him. Bumblebee was smashed into the wall again. Bee didn't have time for his mask, they could see his look of horror on his face. What happened to the trap!? The only thought that could formulate over his processors. Everything else was taken over by fear.
A right hook clubbed over his face so hard he could feel the metal break on his face. The others grabbed onto him and he could feel them tearing at his body. He hissed out in pain as he desperately tried to break away from them. He was dragged back. The Hummer threw another fist deep into his metal. Pulling back his hand, he twisted it until a spiraled blade formed. It menacingly hovered over Bumblebee's face.
"I'm going to cut you into pieces you worthless-" an explosion and a blue wave across his face interrupted his promise. The blue mech collapsed. That was the start of an abrupt explosion of fire power. The deafening crackling caused all the Decepticons to jump back in surprise. Bumblebee was too dazed to be excited. His head dropped down to see a man with a rocket launcher at hand. Bumblebee recognized the man. Nick.
"Come on big yellow! Get out of there!" Nick hollered at Bumblebee. Someone else was behind him lifting another shell into the chamber. Behind them were twenty or so people firing into the Decepticons around him. Bumblebee glanced around, but chaos made it difficult to get an instant pin.
"Keep 'em in place! Keep 'em in place! Don't drop the ice on them yet!" Someone screamed. There were nearly fifty freedom fighters flanking the five conscious cybertronians. Shotguns assault rifles and the occasional rocket launcher with pulsing blue auras of energy at impact made for a more even fight. The yellow robot was being spared by such attacks.
Bumblebee threw himself into a crawl towards Nick. Getting out of the grips of the Decepticons, who had begun to launch their firepower back at the humans who were well hidden by side passageways, Bumblebee tried to make his way to his feet. A well placed swing caused his feet to give out from under him. He nearly crashed onto his human allies.
They sneered out curses as he fell over them. But using the last of his processing power, Bumblebee propped himself up to keep himself from landing on anyone.
"Let's go!" Nick yelled at Bumblebee. Unable to do anything physical to help him, he waved his hand in front of Bumblebee to encourage him to move. Bumblebee slipped forward on his arms. Explosions racketed around him. He remembered he had three explosives left from his missile modifications. He ejected them out of his system and armed one into his cannon. He launched. Another explosion. Nick grabbed at his cannon. "Move your shiny metal ass! NOW! We got this!" He demanded ferociously turning his eyes back to glare at the Decepticons. Bumblebee pulled himself over and attempted to get up again. This time measly making his way to his feet. He limped away. Back towards the other end of the cave like wall. The tunnel split to the right. Bumblebee glanced back to see another set of blue gray lights from the way he had came. It was the humans who had control of the laser beams. His optics settled on them as they worked to widdle away the Decepticons. The humans turned back and threw an impatient glare at him. Bumblebee ducked behind the wall.
"Alright ice these bastards!"
Pins were pulled and grenades were thrown at the Decepticons' feet. Pulse disruptor grenades. Explosions and waves of white light flooded the halls. Large metal bodies slumped to the floor. Humans with their guns ran up and riddled their chests' with holes. Just to make sure.
Triumph and victory emerged from their lungs. Nick and a good deal of other humans rushed back to check on Bumblebee.
"That's five Muther ruckers! Haha! We gotchu, we gotchu!" Ecstatic screams echoed down the tunnel.
"Damn." Nick picked himself up off his feet and walked away from the yellow robot.
"Five! Can you believe that shit?"
"Six." Nick snarled. The women's face was struck with stupor.
"Damn. Are you sure? You check for a pulse?" She walked back towards the yellow robot.
"Pulse? They don't have a pulse!"
"Sure they do." She turned to look at the big metal beast. She went still with awe. Not awe over his size, she personally dropped bigger. Instead it was just strange to think that a robot such as this was on their side. Farther examination proved how hazardous it was for him to be on the wrong side. His body was riddled with punishment. "Damn." She didn't bother to check for a spark pulse. A big gashed hole in the car front told her it was probably pointless.
"Well you can't say we didn't try." Nick muttered behind her. He sighed out frustration. As did a half a dozen other people as they all milled around the yellow bot.
"The eyes!" Someone whispered. The crowd looked up to see a faint glow coming from one of them. They intently studied the robot. His one optic looked vaguely blue. Did that mean it was alive? They stood around in long silence. Without any other hints of life, a strange voice spoke out quietly.
"I thought this Outpost disbanded." Bumblebee's voice was weak.
"Disbanded?" A pause in thought. "No, we never disbanded." A longer pause to study the robot. "We withdrew our support from Simmons. After we conned some pretty new toys from him. I guess that qualifies as disbanding now." Laughter from the comment.
"Simmons probably started the rumor. After we told him where he could stick his extractor." The man chuckled. "Heh, asshole arrested Captain over that one. Heh. Ah. Funny shit."
"Hey, yellow?"
Bumblebee closed his apertures as he could feel the dull throb run over him every time his spark fluttered. He wasn't sure how many more after shocks from those spark disruptors he could take. Two after shocks within the last few minutes and his felt like his spark was about to give out. The pain didn't defuse. His optics opened weakly to look himself over. He could really use a medic. He hurt like hell. He really needed a recharge, but he didn't want to risk it in case his spark fizzled out on him. He heard of it happening before. And if any time it felt like it could happen, this was it. So instead he tried to pick himself up to his feet. He had to brace himself up on the wall. Apertures closed again, still trying to block out the pain that he could feel over the numbness.
"Well lets go see how the kid did."
Bumblebee closed down his circuits that were emitting pain. Unfortunately the biggest source of pain was directly from his spark. Something he obviously couldn't shut down. He slowly put one foot in front of the other. He really did want to know if the plan was successful. He put a lot of work into that plan. Even som- Don't focus on the plan, focus on the result. Did he fulfill his obligation? Apertures opened, allowing the faint light in.
"Marcus, what the hell is this?" The man pick up an energon cube and dropped it off the pickup onto the old dust floor. It made a loaded thunk as the dust was too thick and sludgy to kick wildly into the air.
"That's an energon cube." Marcus remarked walking back towards the large truck. "Bumblebee said these things would hold three times as much as the canisters." Marcus studied the swirls of light that bounced off the six walls.
"tsk, great. And how exactly are we supposed to use it?" The man kicked at the force field holding the fuel at bay. The rainbow inside rippled to the effect. "We don't know how to open these."
"Sure, we do." Marcus heaved the cube to his chest. The thing was a lot heavier than the canisters. Bumblebee was probably right. "Grab me a basin or something will ya? I wanna see just how much these suckers hold!" A large metal tub was dropped down and announced. Marcus carefully set the energon cube inside. "Okay," he groaned, reaching his back to it's neutral position. He tapped the top of the cube in the center and wrote out the symbol Bumblebee taught him. He stood confident even though internally he half expected this not to work. "Just like," the pattern was finished and he lifted his finger away, "that." He stepped back, "I sure hope this works."
Eyes glanced at him. Hope? Then turning back to the basin they gawked. The symbol that Marcus drew on the top glowed and shot rays of light out. The light drew lines out and they spiderwebbed down the sides. As they reached the under the cube, the basin began filling with bright blue and rainbow clear energon. The liquid continued to rise. Eyes glanced at each other. It still rose. Everyone jumped back with yelps of surprise as the energy flooded over the side. The energy still flowed over, not stopping until the ground was wet and sticky with a deep saturated pool of liquid energy. The useless dirt sheened white. It was wasted energon but the group couldn't suppress their laughs of joy. The humans were skeptical when Bumblebee was very specific that they gathered cubes over the canisters. When they protested, Bumblebee explained carefully and in depth how to use the more efficient storage units. Alien technology after all. And now-
"That's more like, five times!"
"Look at that shit! Two of those cubes would be more than enough for Simmons's weapon! And you got damnear fifty!"
"Holy shit." Marcus drew in a long flat voice.
"Geez, we have enough energon to fortify entire cities. Even if Simmons's weapon doesn't come to term, we could use this to fortify a new city. One above ground!"
More yelps and screams and silly dances of joy from the Freedom Fighters. Behind them were not freedom fighters, but men, women and children that they just freed. They didn't really pay too much attention of the talks of energon. They were just excited enough to be free and away from their horrid metallic masters.
***
They wrapped their way through the tunnels. It was a long walk. Some of the cloudiness dissipated inside his internal sensors, but the worry about his spark did not. He hadn't been in these tunnels before, then again in the past these tunnels were blocked off to him by the blue gray laser traps. They were wide open to him now. With a flick of a button no less. Not that he dared to walk past the little orange flag without some coaxing first. Sure he could see the gray lines were gone, but he still didn't want to take that chance. The humans reassured him, though and by the fifth flag he was able to get past his fear. He still made sure that the humans effectively disabled the traps. Little remote controls with on and off switches. Now that he saw the wavelength used to control it, he had the option to disable them and re-enable them on his own. That might come in handy later. They left the rocky caverns for a more concrete looking landscape. Segments of underground building had been converted into underground bases. Through a large doors cheering and laughter was thundering out into the hollow halls.
Nick pulled up his radio and brought it up to his face. "Honey! I'm home!" He called out cheerfully.
#Hey, who is this?#
"Outpost Nine. Marcus is expecting us."
The cheering continued, but the radio was silent. Two minutes past then there was the sound of groaning from something heavy. Then clicking and unlocking the double doors started to open. Light poured through the widening crack from the room into the tunnel way. The light illuminated the Outpost Nine warriors and the large yellow robot who stood at the center of them.
"Hey! Welcome to the party!" They were greeted enthusiastically. Smiles and cheers fell silent as they gazed upon the massive metallic beast on the other side of the door. For some, this was the first time their eyes gazed upon the metallic creature. For others they were still awestruck and intimidated. Sure he supposedly helped get the energon, what's to say he didn't want to steal it back for himself?! Bumblebee stepped forward to get a better view. He had to duck as he passed through the door. The crowd backed away. Their smiles ceased to make up the astonished gapes and glares of caution on their face. Bumblebee's optic gazed over them. A simple thanks would be nice. He vented sharply.
The room was very large. Must be a basement from a rather large building. What was even more impressive was that his place was nearly packed full of people. Closest to the door was the fighters. Men and women armed and armored to the teeth. Behind them were people who barely held on to the tattered cloths they had. An empty truck one that carried the weakest and injured of slaves, and a truck still loaded with energon. Bumblebee's eased his shoulders back into a more comfortable location. The undertaking was a success!
"I understand everything went as well as I have suggested?" Bumblebee got a fix on Marcus. He huffed out a sarcastic laugh, edging Bumblebee to his circuits.
"Damn near perfect." Marcus shook his head. He was glaring at Bumblebee with the look of hostility! Bee twitched, trying to run everything in his processor as to why. He ran all possible scenarios that he could pull up from his memory banks. Nothing seemed sufficient. He grated. Nick approached Marcus and shook his hand. Marcus disengaged Bumblebee and was suddenly in a more uplifted mood at Nick's presence. Bumblebee stiffened. The people around him were cautiously watching him while Marcus was ignoring him. Bumblebee twitched with frustration. He slipped into a corner to try avoiding being the center of attention. The pain over his spark was still bad. It made him nervous. He nearly didn't dare, but he was so exhausted. He closed out some of his systems to put himself into a partial recharge.
"Well you were right, he did head to the tunnels heading for Outpost Nine. How'd you figure?"
"It's what he's familiar with. When he wouldn't say anything about where he was going, I figured he'd either side with the Decepticons, or flee." At that Marcus dodged his eyes back to the giant, wondering if his comment would put him in a tizzy. No light from his optics. "The hell happened to him?" Marcus growled looking over the additional damage on the robot. At any rate he motioned Nick to follow him somewhere farther out of the robot's range.
"What do you think? He tried taking on five Decepticons by himself."
"Seven." Marcus corrected. "Wait- what happened exactly."
"Don't know, cameras we set out didn't catch too much, but he was heading right towards an ice trap."
"He was going to trigger a spark disruptor?" Marcus's brows furrowed. He cursed. "Sari's gonna kill me when she hears about this. Unless you think he's immune to them?"
"Hard to say."
Marcus tipped his head down in thought. Unexplained anger crossed over him. He glanced back up, "Well, enjoy the party. I think we've been deserving something like this for a long time." He gave a warm nod and walked to his comrades who suddenly took a keen interest in removing the cubes from the room. "What's up?"
"Just for precaution." Eyes darted to the robot in silent language.
"Leave one." Marcus turned, but stopped when he acknowledged the apprehensive look in their eyes. "He orchestrated the whole thing-"
"That's why I'm worried."
"Yeah well, if he's on our side, he deserves one." Marcus looked around. "Where's Sari?"
"Getting her hand looked at. Up a floor."
Marcus nodded and strolled away. While some people relaxed and celebrated, others still continued to work. He wanted to find something to do to keep himself busy. For some reason, he just didn't feel like celebrating. And that damn robot was getting on his nerves again. He couldn't really explain why, the thing was in a corner doing nothing! Maybe it was dead, and he was just looking for an excuse to avoid Sari. Whatever.
***
Energon was cleared out. Ex-slaves were cleaned up and moved towards outposts and to a larger extent towards City. Traps were reset with a new deactivation code. In all hours passed, and the large room was nearly vacant when Bumblebee's optic started glowing again.
"What did you do?!" Sari demanded, her voice constricted, sounding ages older than what she usually portrayed. What a way to pull out of a partial. He did almost dip into a full recharge, but scanners and warnings about his spark gave him the better judgment not to. Optic floated over and looked her over. Why was she upset?! He had just helped her get energon! Were humans always this difficult to get a fix on their perceptions? Did it even pay to ask for clarification? Optics hovered past her, to see that there were quite a few warriors still in the area. They were all intently watching him, guns in hand or at an easy grasp. The trucks were gone. Most of the people were gone. The energon was gone. All except for one cube that sat on the floor near him.
"Bumblebee." Sari's stern voice called for his attention again.
"What?" He finally hissed out with irritation.
"What happened to you?"
Bumblebee glanced down at his armor. It was amazing he was even able to transform with his new formed dents. It's something that doesn't get noticed in a fit of panic. Before he could respond, Marcus entered the room. Oddly his presence inquired full attention.
"Why is everyone looking at me?" His presence required it, he didn't.
"What are you going to do about you're robot?" Someone questioned in a low voice. As if whispering, which was pointless with a robot who had the most sensitive hearing out of everybody.
"Uh-"
"I am not his robot." Bumblebee snarled. He pulled himself away from the wall and a step forward. "My obligation has been fulfilled." No farther explanation. Marcus knew what he meant. Bumblebee walked towards the exit.
"Bumblebee! You can't just leave!" Sari protested.
"Watch me."
Marcus sighed in irritation and turned away cursing under his breath. "Let him go Sari. That was the deal." The cube! "Oh hey before you go, this one's yours."
Bumblebee glanced back to look at the block of swirling energon.
"Speaking of energon," another rover went into the standard business as usual routine, "we have the shipment packed and ready to deliver to Simmons. Just give-"
"Simmons." The robot made a noise akin to a snort. All that work, all that risk he took, all for that pompous human?! "Of all the humans to survive, I can't believe Simmons was one of them." All that disdain not only dripped from his words, but caused the yellow robot to arch up his body in a threatening manor.
Eyebrows raised in disbelief and misgiving.
"Excuse me?" All around the crowd except for Bumblebee's three known humans, weapons shifted to become threatening. "His weapon is going to save us all."
A hiss of steam from Bumblebee. He almost wanted to laugh. "You're people are worse off than I thought if you think Simmons is your savior."
The humans shifted in unease. "Are you kidding me? That man is the whole reason why we've even had a CHANCE against these monsters!" The fighters weren't too impressed.
But neither was Bumblebee. "Yes, but he's also the reason why those monsters got a hold of the All Spark. He just had to get in the way of everything, him and that stupid secret agency." Bumblebee outright snarled. "One person out of the whole Sector Seven tried requesting that we work together. One message got to us and then she disappeared! They didn't want to work to protect their planet. They wanted to use the All Spark to their own devices, wanted us for their own devices. They were too busy trying to bring us in for their little experiments that they didn't notice the danger all around them! It was their greed that got us into this mess. Megatron and the cube, in the same building, only separated by a wall!"
For the first time in thousands of years, they finally caught their break. Bumblebee discovered through his scouting the ocular lenses that had coordinates to the All Spark imprinted on them. Then Simmons and his team showed up and everything went to hell. He took Sam, Mikaela and Bumblebee. Optimus was able to salvage the glasses out of the horrible mess. And in the end, it all led to the same place anyways.
"I was taken by them. I ended up finding the All Spark. Right next to the room where they were holding Megatron. Alive! Encased in only a few feet of ice." Bumblebee growled and turned back towards the door.
Although, It really wasn't all Simmons fault. It was a very rare moment for Optimus. Decepticons were mobilizing. The Autobots were so close to their goals, knowing that if they failed what horrors they would- did bring down to the planet. Optimus's rare moment when his patience was breached. He hassled the kid. Sam couldn't think straight because of it. He had difficulties finding the glasses. The Autobots were tripping over each other trying to help. Ironhide tried to lighten the mood, but Optimus took it the wrong way furthering the problems. Even so, Simmons showed up. Stole the children. Made an attack on Bumblebee. And Sam had found the glasses, it wasn't Optimus's patience that thwarted the plan. Still Simmons never harmed Sam or Mikaela, and they were talking to the Secretary of Defense. They were at least- trying. Bumblebee vented and his shoulders drooped.
"Perhaps I'm being too harsh. Simmons was acting out what he thought was best for his species. If only we knew that he was keeping Megatron alive, we could have intervened differently. IF only-" Bumblebee trailed off into his 'what ifs'. What a worthless endeavor. Bumblebee's voice shifted to rage staring at the door ahead of him. "What does it matter? What's done is done." He shot back over his shoulder and looked at the humans. "I helped you get you're energon. Take it to Simmons, and for your sakes I hope your faith in him is valid!" Bumblebee turned back to the door and pried it open. He stormed away.
He was gone. Marcus's eyes dropped to the untouched energon cube. Sari went after him.
*
As he walked down the lonely corridor, his was struck by something. Something that was so light that if it hadn't hit next to the sensors on his head, he wouldn't have even felt it. He turned to see a yellow stuffed animal on the ground. Behind him thirty yards back Sari stood. Her position told him that she was full of intense anger.
"So that's it? You're just going to leave?" A tense restricted voice. His optics narrowed on her. "You don't have to! You can stay!"
"I am not staying!" Bumblebee snorted back. A snarl from under his mask as he looked back at the way he came. Obviously not thrilled with, people.
"Then let me come with you! I told you I'd go with you!"
"You belong with you're own people, Sari. Not robots." He turned to walk away.
"Go on then! Leave! See if I care!" Her cackling scream echoed through the cavern. His spark chamber constricted. He growled and faced her.
"And what makes you think I care?! I don't care about you, or any other of your kind." His words stung. They stung both him and her. But his facial expression were hidden, good thing. It was just better to forget the humans. Again he turned and started walking away. This time he never looked back.
**
Songs
Hit me with you're best shot - Pat Benatar
The Best things – Filter
The Distance - Cake
