Happy New Years everyone! Sorry it took so long! This has been my most difficult chapter yet as I had to add on, delete and cut a few scenes that would work better in the next chapter. Here it is, the moment we've all been waiting for, Chapter nine.

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers Animated. There would be a season four if I did and we'd see if what happened to the other Screamers.

Chapter Nine: Blowing things out of Proportions

BlackArachnia smiled as she snuck into the former base of her former comrades. Despite the damage, there was still many things that she could salvage. If she played her cards right, she might even find a good………………… Hello!!

"And we're in business!" She grinned in relish as she spotted a spare transwarp drive. How those Autobot dweebs had missed that, she didn't know. But luck was on her side, obviously. If this worked, she would have her body back in no time……. Of course, she wasn't going to test this out without making sure it did work. She was going to need some lab rats.

"This should prove useful." She grinned, showing her fangs. "After all, I got nothing to lose, and everything to gain." She wasn't about to throw her life away after all.

She remembered her 'sister' and the crazy glitch she was kissing.

"I think I know just the test subjects to use." She smirked evilly.

OoooOoooO

Wasp hated to admit this, but Bumble-bot had improved enough to actually give him a decent fight. He was suffering from a major injury in his abdomen and he had some rather nasty dents on his frame. Which isn't to say that Bumble-bot was doing any better. He had gotten some pretty major shots on Bumblebee and had given a matching gnash across his face. But while Wasp had control with his rage, Bumblebee's rage was a force of nature that made even Wasp shudder.

Maybe he shouldn't have pushed it.

"Wasp!!!" Bumblebee shouted as he flipped in the air while shooting at the former Autobot. Wasp somersaulted to the side ad used both stingers to shoot at Bumblebee. Wasp then grabbed a lamp post and smashed it at Bumblebee, who blocked it with his arms. Despite his success in blocking it, the damages were enough to destroy his right stinger. But this did not deter Bumblebee, who ran towards Wasp and grabbed him by his neck with right hand and slammed his left stinger on Wasp's shoulder. Wasp shrieked in pain and slammed his right stinger in Bumblebee's thigh while shooting him three times. Bumblebee howled and fell back, releasing Wasp. Both bots were suffering from major injuries and were going to go into stasis lock pretty soon. However, neither one cared at the moment.

"Wasp going to end this!" Wasp snarled as he tried to stop the energon from escaping his shoulder. He was not going to lose to him!! No way, no how!

"Don't worry, Wasp. This will be the last time I fight with you." Bumblebee stated icily as he got in a stance. 'Slag! He's tougher then I thought! I gotta finish this and get back to Sari.'

"I can't let her get hurt." He whispered as he readied himself. "I won't let her get hurt." He launched himself again.

OoooOoooO

Sari sighed as she waited for either Bumblebee or Wasp to come back. She had been surprised to see Bumblebee after so long and had been stunned. She had been even more surprised that he had looked at her in a way that she had always wanted him to.

At one point, she had always thought she would be dating Bumblebee.

Sari sighed. That was in the past. Bumblebee was not interested in her. He treated her like his kid sister and at times, she felt that he saw her as immature, not someone to be dating her. Granted, he wasn't exactly Mr. Maturity himself, but she had at times tried to make him see that she wasn't a kid. At least, not the kid that she used to be. Wasp didn't treat her like a child. He saw her as a woman and someone that was his equal. Sure, at times there was something weird about him but she put it off as a glitch he received in jail.

But when Bumblebee paid attention to her, it was a dream come true. He did love her, or at least she thought he was going to admit it. But he did hold her, he did smile at her, he was nice to her again.

Did she love Wasp? Of course, she treasured every moment with him. He was special to her.

Did she love Bumblebee? Without a shadow of a doubt. Without him, she would feel so empty and lifeless. He was also special to her. Life without him was unbearable.

Now, which one was she going to choose as a steady boyfriend?.............. There laid the problem.

Before she could think about what she was going to do, she heard the sounds of laser fires and property damages. One of the pieces of the pavements flew overhead and was heading towards her. With quick reflexes that she picked up from training with Wasp, she pulled her blades out and released a shockwave, destroying the rock, reducing it to sand.

'Is there a fight going on?' she thought worriedly. Did Bee find a Decepticon and was fighting him all by himself? Panicking, Sari ran and transformed to her Cybertronian form. She was able to enhance her optics to get a closer look on who Bumblebee was fighting.

And what she saw made her spark/heart clench in horror.

OoooOoooO

The fight was short-lived but intense. It was clear that although Bumblebee had the righteous anger and experience with fighting Decepticons, Wasp had the stellar-cycles of pent-up frustration and endurance that he gained from surviving the conditions in the stockades. It also helped that the Decepticon programming was fueling his power and strength to new levels. Bumblebee flipped over a charging Wasp and used his wheels to avoid Wasp from shooting him down. 'If he keeps this up, he'll destroy the city.' He thought. In retrospect, fighting Wasp was a bad idea. However, he could still hear his words, his threats on Sari's life, his hint that he may have done something to her already. Bee narrowed his optics, if Wasp did anything to her; he swore to Primus that Wasp was going to regret ever coming to earth.

Wasp could already feel that he was losing too much energon. He had to grab that bot off guard somehow. He realized that he was leaking oil. While he was upset about the wound, it also gave him an advantage. The next time Bumblebee got too close, he aimed his shot arm and had the oil fly to Bumblebee's face.

Bumble tried to wipe the oil out of his face as Wasp ran up and shot his arm off. Then he back kicked the Autobot hard on the building, causing him to crash through it. Bumblebee struggled to get the rubble off him, but Wasp was on him in a second. Wasp grinned as Bumblebee was finally on the ground. The air was thick with Bumblebee's fear that Wasp could literally taste it. If transformers had saliva glands, he'd be drooling at the moment.

"Bye bye Bumble-bot. It's been real!" Wasp smirked as he pulled his stinger out. He pulled it back, intending to slam it on his abdomen and finish what Sari unintentionally started. He was finally going to get revenge on the mech that ruined his life.

"Wasp!!! Wasp!!!!!!!!" A voice shouted. An all too familiar voice. Wasp and Bumblebee both turned and saw a small pure-white Cybertronian face with a human body and pretty white dress skate towards them. Sari transformed back into a human and jumped on Bumblebee's chassis, where her dress had gotten a bit dirty from running.

"Wasp, don't do it!" Sari screamed as she broke the speed record to roller-skate a fifty yard dash.

'He must have mistaken him for a Decepticon! Why else would he fight another Autobot?'

'But didn't Wasp stop being an Autobot after he was accused to being a traitor?' her voice of reason pointed out. Sari shook that thought out, why would Wasp attack an Autobot if he wanted to prove his innocence. Bumblebee would have listened to Wasp, he's very friendly.

"Sari………. No…………." Bumblebee weakly said as he tried to get back up, but the foot on his chest was preventing that. Wasp turned to Sari direction and his optics widened at the sight of Sari. She looked a bit like in his nightmare with that white dress. Was what he had seen a premonition? Would he lose Sari today to his enemy?

"Wasp please, don't kill Bumblebee. Please!" Sari screamed as she wrapped her arms around Bumblebee's neck. Wasp nearly snarled. Sari was touching Bumblebee, willingly?

Bumblebee was not enjoying the hug. He was too busy being scared to death that Sari would be crushed by Wasp's hands. Wasp was not reassuring him with the growing scowl on his face.

"Sari…….." Bumblebee moaned. He tried to move, but his systems were failing fast. He had to get help. He sent an emergency message to the other Autobots. He hoped it wasn't too late. But Wasp wasn't attacking anymore. Instead, he was glaring at Sari, who looked back at him pleadingly with tear-filled eyes.

"Sari, step aside!" Wasp really didn't want to hurt Sari but nothing would stop him from getting his revenge. Also, Sari's arms wrapped around his enemy's neck and her white dress was reminding him of his nightmare of losing Sari to Bumblebee.

Sari shook her head frantically as she tightened her hold on Bee in an attempt to protect him. "Wasp, this isn't a Decepticon! This isn't the enemy. This is Bumblebee! He's an Autobot and a friend. Please, calm down and for Heaven's sake put the stinger away." Sari was dangerously close to sobbing. Wasp was starting to be aware of that fact. Although his optics were still red and glowing brightly (unbeknownst to the crying Sari), he was calming himself down. However he had no intention of backing down.

"Bumble-bot will pay for ruining Wasp's life! Step aside, Sari! Bumble-bot must face crimes." Wasp snarled, however his optics went back to normal and his hands replaced his stingers. He gave Sari another warning glare as she looked up, her face in a mask of confusion and sorrow.

"What?" Sari gasped. "What do you mean?" Did Wasp and Bumblebee know each other? Did they both train together?

Bumblebee looked between the two and was feeling a bit lost. Was he missing something? How did Sari and Wasp know each other? Warning bells in his processors were going off, trying to tell him something important as it pieced the puzzle together no matter how ludicrous the puzzle seemed.

"Bumble-bot is reason why Wasp is like this! Wasp hate Bumble-bot! Wasp going to destroy Bumble-bot." Wasp snarled as he felt his need to kill rise. If Sari didn't move by the time the programming restarted, he would not be able to stop himself.

"B-B-B-B-B-Bumble-bot?!!" Sari incredulously stuttered. She had heard that nickname before from Wasp.

"Wasp……. No……..Sari!" Bumblebee moaned. He forced his energy on his auto-recovery system. It would weaken him greatly, but he needed to be partially healed so he could grab Sari and make a run for it. What an idiot! He never should have approached Wasp. He should have grabbed Sari and made a run for it. Now because of his actions, Sari may die.

Unfortunately for Bumblebee at the moment, Sari was a very smart girl so it didn't take long to piece together what Wasp was saying, and what she figured out shocked her.

After spending her time with Wasp, she had figured out his speech and what he was talking about at times, though she still found him confusing. While she couldn't stop him from calling people fleshy-bot, she at least succeeded in having him call her Sari. (Though on very rare occasions, he would call her Sari-bot.) Anyway, from what she observed, Wasp can't say names; rather he had this habit of calling them by what he sees and ending it with the word 'bot'.

Bumble-bot, she now realized, wasn't an insult for bumbler, (though Wasp could use it as such.) It was a name! If Bumble-bot worked as a name, and she now knew that Wasp was furious and vengeful about the stockades, (Sari was observant enough to know Wasp hated the Bumbler that sent him there and he made no actions in hiding that little fact.) Bumblebee seemed to know him and both seem to hate each other with a passion though Wasp was willing to kill Bumblebee if necessary as he 'ruined his life'. With all this in her newly developed brain…….. Processors………… whatever, Sari came to one conclusion and it was a conclusion that she was not happy to have figured out. The shock of her discovery dissolved into tears as Sari whirled around and glared infuriately and accusingly at Bumblebee.

"You? You sent Wasp to the stockades?!!" she accused, her Cybertronian mask fell over her face to reveal pure fury. Bumblebee stared at Sari, wondering why she was angry at him and standing next to a now somewhat docile Wasp.

This was officially Bumblebee's worst day ever.

OoooOoooO

Several minutes before the confrontation occurred, on the other side of the city. Bulkhead sighed as he sat in front of the base looking as bored as the pit. Ratchet was grumpier than usual, probably from worry. The others were still searching for Ramjet while Bumblebee was off looking for Sari. He really hoped that he found her this time, he was getting worried. Both Ratchet and Prowl claim that they had a bad feeling something was wrong with Sari and it was getting stronger. So frankly, Bulkhead was a bit edgy.

Bulkhead saw Optimus and Prowl walk back to the base with the Jet twins happily running along with them while holding Ramjet. Sentinel was sulking behind them. He must have done something stupid judging from the look on Optimus' face. He looked more annoyed than usual.

Of course, the past days of Sari dating and the new revelations on Wasp's condition had not done any of them good for their temper.

Bulkhead smiled as he saw Prowl in his new mods. "Hey Prowl, looking good!" he commented. While he was wary about the mods since the last time he wore them, Prowl seemed to be in perfect control this time.

"Is he ever, ya'll should have seen him in battle, showed ninja skills like you wouldn't believe! He was totally badass." Jazz grinned as he proudly pated Prowl on the back, who gave him a small smile. Jazz was glad that Prowl was loosening up now. Since the Sari dating incident, Prowl had been a bit……. Testy. Especially towards Jazz, who was determined to make sure he didn't do anything stupid.

Prowl suddenly looked on to the direction of New Detroit. Was it just him, or was there a storm coming?

"Yeah, I feel it too." Jazz grimly answered as he answered Prowl, who had no idea that he had asked his question out loud. Jazz was stunned to notice Optimus Prime suddenly stiffen and have their optics darken, indicating that they were receiving an incoming call.

"That was Bee again, he found Wasp! He's injured and Wasp is about to kill him." He answered darkly.

The other Autobots immediately jumped and transformed to their earth modes and proceeded to burn rubber. Optimus' panicked voice spoke up again.

"There's more! Sari's there and she's trying to talk to Wasp."

The others were already breaking the sound barrier.

OoooOoooO

"What?" Bumblebee was shocked. How did Sari know about this? He never told her about this and he doubted that the others would care too much about telling her about his time in camp.

"You sent Wasp to the stockades and you had him suffer there for fifty years. How could you, Bumblebee? Do you have any idea what you did? Wasp was attacked, hit, and friendless for so many years and had icky Decepticons for company. Why did you do it?" Sari was more furious than ever before. She normally spent most of her nights with Wasp as he would tell her how lonely and frightened he'd been in the stockades.

"Sari, you don't understand! It wasn't my fault; you see there was this Autobot, who wasn't an Autobot, but I didn't know it at the time and he tricked me into thing that Wasp was the spy for the Decepticons when he was really the spy, even though Wasp acted suspicious and was a bit of a jerk to me. "

Wasp and Sari exchanged very flat looks at the explanation. Bumblebee didn't like those secret stares.

"So because one supposed Autobot said so, you sent an innocent mech to jail; someone who didn't deserve it. How could you believe that other mech and think Wasp could do something like that!" Sari tried to keep her temper in check but she had a whole week of frustration and aggravation to unleash on her best friend. The fact that she had heard all the terrible things that had happened to her friend also made her blood boil.

"Wasp isn't exactly an angel himself you know. The way he acted, you'd think he was a Decepticon! So it wasn't hard for me to think he was a traitor!" Bumblebee shouted. What was going on here? How did Sari and Wasp know each other and why was she defending him?

Wasp was half-angered and half-hurt by Bumblebee's assessment of his personality. He wasn't that bad! How could anyone mistake him for a Decepticon? The reason that he wanted to be an Autobot commander was because he wanted to save people of both his kind and of other species to those murderous Decepticons.

Sari was far from done. "But he wasn't a Decepticon, was he? Geezz, you always do this, Bumblebee! You're always wrong about something or someone and when it smacks you in the face, you make up excuses. You were wrong about Blurr, you were wrong in taking on Swindle and the SUV all by yourself, and now you were wrong about this, Bumblebee, only this time it really hurt someone. Are you even sorry for sending Wasp to the stockades?"

"I tried apologizing to him! I can't help it if he can't let bygones be bygones." Bumblebee explained frantically. Sari just stared at him incredulously. Let bygones be bygones? Young and innocent as she may be, being sent to jail when you're innocent wasn't exactly peaches and crèmes! Even she knew that!

"Actually," Wasp stated, speaking up for the first time since this conversation started, "Bumble-bot never really did apologize. Instead, of saying how it was Bumble-bot's fault he sent Wasp to stockades, he keeps saying that 'Longarm Prime tricked him'." Wasp glared at him. Even if Bumblebee did offer his apologies, he would not accept them; not after everything he'd been through. Bumblebee could take his apologies and shove them up his tailpipe.

Sari glared at Bee. "Oh that's real mature, Bumblebee. Instead of apologizing, you shifted the blame on to another Autobot." Was being away from Bee making her forget just how immature he could be? Here he was not taking any responsibilities for his actions.

"It was Shockwave's fault! He tricked me by saying that Wasp was a traitor. Considering the evidence we found and how I heard someone talking to the Decepticons, not to mention how he treated me, I believed Shockwave. I didn't know it was Shockwave who was the traitor, considering how he was the only one nice to me in camp!"

"So you believed him and sent Wasp to jail?!! Meanwhile the real Decepticon was promoted and he may have killed who knows how many Autobots during his time? Jeez Bee, did it ever occur to you that he may have been doing this to trick you? And you didn't even have the decency to apologize to him; after all he's been through? How inconsiderate can you get?!!!" Sari shouted, her cheeks getting red with frustration. Wasp was imprisoned because of a Decepticon plot that Bee may have helped with. Wasp's could have had a career if it had not been for Bumblebee.

With his temper, overwhelming guilt and the wounds in his body, it was no surprise that Bee snapped at Sari. Too bad he didn't choose his words carefully.

"At least I learn from my mistakes, unlike someone who continuously abuses the All-spark and damn the consequences we all suffer from it!" Bumblebee snarled. "Or did you forget how you decided to nearly kill me and my friends when you lost control of your upgrade?"

Bumblebee knew right then that he had gone too far! Sari had made mistakes and she had fooled around with the key, but she had done more good with the key then any harm, and he had always defended her for that because he had always seen the good she's done. Hell, he had wanted to reassure Sari that he had no hard feelings of what she did and had wanted to remind her of all the good she's done.

The look on her face, the way her hands went to her mouth and how her eyes watered, told him that he had failed in reminding her of that.

Up until now, Wasp had been listening to the conversation with amusement. Seeing his spark-mate tell Bumblebee what a fool he was had made him so happy that he was getting turned on. Just as he was deciding on whether to screw discretion and make out with Sari in the middle of the warzone that used to be a public area, Bumblebee had to go and kill the mood. He snarled angrily, this was over the top. Sari was all ready broken apart about that, why did Bumblebee have to bring that up? Sari, when she wasn't enjoying his dates, had moments when she would sob about the events that she had caused after her upgrade. He had to comfort her during those moments and tell her it wasn't her fault.

"Bumble-bot ignore Sari and refuse to call Sari, but willing to forget that when Sari decide to seek other mechs? Does Bumble-bot only care about Sari when Sari no longer is interested in whatever Bumble-bot is doing? Is Sari something to pass the time when Bumble-bot is bored? Is whatever important work Bumble-bot working on finished? Is Bumble-bot here because Bumble-bot want to stop Sari from seeing Sari's boyfriend and to keep Sari for himself?" Wasp sneered.

"Is that what you wanted to talk to me about? You came here because you were bored from fighting Decepticons and video games? I'm just a little human to pass the time? Is that why you never called or picked up my messages?" Sari wept as she tried to stop the tears from flowing. While deep down, she knew it wasn't true, she was too hurt to care. Did he act like that when he held her because he was jealous someone was paying attention to her?

"What? Sari, that's not it!" what was she talking about? He and the Autobots had been in fact, waiting for her call. Even more so after they had found out that she was seeing someone.

"I've tried to talk to you for nearly a week, you refuse to call back or visit and you treat me like a kid! You're taking me for granted! You only pay attention to me only when I'm longer paying attention to you." She sobbed. How could Bumblebee take her for granted like that?

"NO, IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!!!!" Why was this happening? Why was Sari defending Wasp? Why won't she listen?

"Why not? You're only here because of my boyfriend." Sari shot back. Was he really going to break her away from Wasp? Not if she could help it!

"No, I'm here for Wasp!" He threw back, 'And to be here, with you.' He was not interested in knowing who the human boy that ensnared Sari's heart was. Once he told Sari his feelings, the boy would no longer be a problem. Sari loved him, he was sure. They had a spark connection, for Primus' sake.

The next words shattered those dreams.

"And just who do you think I've been dating for a week?" she hissed angrily.

Bumblebee could swear right there, that his spark had just stopped pulsing. What had she said, he could not have processed that right. Sari and………….. Wasp, of all bots?!! No! Not even in his worst dreams could he see that!

Sari hadn't meant for it to come out like that, the stricken and heartbroken look on Bumblebee's face caused her to almost sob. Bee looked so hurt and vulnerable right now.

This only served to make Wasp happy again. His next words were so gleeful, even Sari noticed it.

"Sari and Wasp have spark connection. That mean that Sari and Wasp are ……" He looked up for the proper words for Sari to understand. "Soul-mates."

Sari looked up at Wasp, confused and a little annoyed that he knew something she didn't. Before she could demand what he was talking about, she was interrupted by a scream of anguish and rage.

"LIAR!!! I HAVE A SPARK CONNECTION WITH HER, NOT YOU!!" Bumblebee screamed as he desperately tried to get his stingers out. Instead, all he received were warnings of imminent system failures.

"So how come Wasp can feel her moods. Why Wasp feel so good when Sari showers or touches her body? How come Wasp know when Sari is in pain or sad?" He smirked as he watched Bumblebee stare at him wide eyed. Bumblebee stared at Wasp, then he reached for the link with Sari. For the first time, he searched completely through Sari's soul and took a peak of her essence. He then found a barrier halting him from feeling anything any further. Reaching with his processors, he found that the barrier was made by one mech.

Wasp.

He was telling the truth………….. Wasp and Sari were spark-connected.

"No……" He whispered in denial. "No….no…no………NONONONONONONO!!!!" He screamed as his systems started to collapse faster from his emotional turmoil.

"Bumblebee….." Sari had never seen him like this and it was scaring her. Wasp, on the other hand was grinning sadistically.

"THIS ISN'T REAL! THIS ISN'T REAL! THIS IS A NIGHTMARE I'M HAVING A NIGHTMARE!!!" Bumblebee shrieked as he clutched his head. Combined with the fact that he was grievously injured, only operating on five percent of his systems, Bumblebee did the only thing he could do.

He went into Stasis-lock.

"BUMBLEBEE!!!" Sari shouted as she reached for him. "Bumblebee? Bumblebee, are you all right?"She asked as she looked at the now seemingly off lined Bumblebee. He looked so sad, lying limp on the floor, his expression frozen in despair.

"Bumble-bot will be fine. Body shut down to help him heal faster with Automatic recovery. Will wake up on his own soon." Wasp stated. He considered shooting Bumblebee but went against it. Not with Sari so close by.

Sari gasped as if she just remembered he was injured. She reached for her neck in reflex and sobbed as she remembered that she didn't have her key anymore and she couldn't heal him. She could feel her self-loathing and uselessness returning.

Wasp suddenly picked up several energy signatures that belonged to the Autobots. 'Oh terrific! Just when I was enjoying that Bumbler's despair.' "Come on Sari, Gotta go!" He picked up Sari and transformed, leaving Bumblebee behind. Sari gasped and placed her seatbelt on as she started to fret for Bee's life.

"But Bumblebee……" She sniffled.

"…..will be healed by other Autobots coming! Sari must come with Wasp!" He had no intention of fixing that glitch. Let him bleed to death from his own mess.

"The others?!" Sari wanted to see the others as well. She missed them so much. "Wasp, we could clear your name and …… and…… talk to Bee! We could….."

"No! Wasp fight with Bumble-bot and caused property damages. Autobots will assume that Wasp brainwash Sari into working with Wasp. Autobots will shoot first and ask questions never! That normally Wasp's lot in life." Wasp closed the conversation with an air of finality. He sighed when Sari became solemnly quiet. Some date this turned out to be.

OoooOoooO

"You're kidding? We got them all!" Bulkhead shouted at the good news as he picked up speed to head for Bumblebee's last location.

"Yep, it just leaves Slipstream." Optimus added. He had to admit, things were starting to look up.

However, the news that they were too late and that not only was Shockwave still at large, but had grievously injured Ultra Magnus was unsettling. It was not just because Ultra Magnus was their leader and would know what to do in a Decepticon fight that had him worried, because that meant that Sentinel was now the new Magnus until he recovered. What a dreadful thought!

"You're also not going to believe this, but Lockdown was helping Sentinel Prime at the time. He was the one that had captured the seekers." Optimus stated with a touch of satisfaction.

Ratchet laughed. "And why, may I ask, do you think that I wouldn't believe that? I mean, who else would be so efficient and effective in catching them?"

"Okay, it does seem very plausible now that I've said it out loud." Optimus said with humor in his vocals.

"ARE YOU ALL DONE TALKING ABOUT ME?!!" Sentinel shouted from behind. Were they all going to rub it on his face for the rest of his life? At least they had Decepticons in custody! That was good enough!

Bulkhead giggled. Wait until his little buddy heard this! He could almost hear him laugh…….

He nearly crashed into Optimus and Ratchet. He wondered why they stopped all of a sudden until he saw the devastated street and buildings. There were signs of an intense battle done by two Cybertronians and judging from the property damages, they were going all out. This made everyone transform and try to find Bumblebee. This was bad! Clearly, Wasp had no qualms in attacking in a public area despite the fact that humans were not out this late usually. For Bumblebee to participate in this would either mean he had no choice, or his buttons had been pushed?

It would be even worse if Sari had been caught in the crossfire.

"GUYS!! I SEE BUMBLEBEE!!" Bulkhead shouted as he ran towards a broken skyscraper. Everyone flinched as they saw his battered form and how low on energy he was in.

"Put him in my trailer." Optimus ordered as he reverted to his truck mode as Bulkhead carefully loaded him up. Wasp obviously had not been playing games. Strange, however that he left him alive. As the drove back to the base, no one noticed Bumblebee was clutching his chest as if his spark was in pain.

OoooOoooO

Bumblebee slowly came to in the base, his optics were slowly coming on line and his body was still a bit sore from the fight but everything was fully operational. He looked at all of his worried friends who were hovering around Ratchet, who was annoyed by this. Sentinel Prime was leaning on the wall looking disdained that he had to wait in the first place. The Jet twins were apprehensively watching their new friend while Jazz had a slight poker face.

"Bumblebee, are you functional? Where is Sari, is she all right?" Optimus asked as he helped the mech up from the berth. "What happened to you? Where are Sari and Wasp? Did Wasp succeed in taking her?"

Oh Primus, It wasn't a nightmare! It really did happen!

Bumblebee slowly looked at Optimus. Autobots didn't cry, but Bee was dangerously close to achieving that impossibility. His back was at his teammates and tucked his knees up, so no one could see his face.

"Hey buddy, did you find her? Is she okay?" Bulkhead asked as he looked at his friend. Bumblebee looked miserable. Did he find Sari or did something else happen?

Bee looked up at them with dead looking optics and a slight tremor in his body. Then his face broke into a heartbroken expression and he ran and clings himself on Optimus. One can hear the severe hiccoughing his systems were making. Optimus looked at one another worriedly. What had happened?

"I take it there's trouble in paradise." Sentinel Prime smirked. The rest of the Autobots glared at him. Bumblebee didn't say anything. He just slowly got out of Optimus' arms and walked to his room

"I'll go talk to him." Bulkhead assured a very worried comrades.

OoooOoooO

Bumblebee was lying face down on his berth. He had lost Sari, only it was worse than he imagined. Somehow, Wasp had won her innocent little heart. After the fight they went through, he knew that he was never going to get her back. She seemed set on staying with Wasp. Whatever Wasp had said too her had made her hate him. He barely heard the door open, or see Bulkhead walk in.

Bulkhead held the inconsolable mechling and rubbed his back, Bumblebee was hiccoughing so hard he was in danger of destroying his software. Bulkhead held him close, whatever had happened must have been serious.

"It helps to talk, you know." He said in a tone that said 'take your time.'. That was the incentive that Bee needed as he really wanted to tell someone what had happened.

"Sari found out about Wasp being falsely imprisoned and blamed me as well as say how stupid I was. Then she called me inconsiderate because she thinks we didn't respond to her messages, which we never got! And…… and…….. she thinks we never called her, when we tried. I also said some nasty things to her and now she thinks I'm angry over what happened over the battle." He whimpered. "She hates me, Bulkhead. And I think she thinks the feelings mutual. She thinks I don't care about her and I take her for granted."

Bulkhead sighed. He wouldn't be the first to admit that Bumblebee was obnoxious and sometimes did take things for granted. But he did truly love Sari. Otherwise he wouldn't be torn apart like that. Bulkhead thought that he should have visited Sari or at least let her know his feelings. Now it was too late and she may decide to move on.

"But that's not the worst part Bulkhead! Oh, I hadn't even gotten to the worst part!" sobbed the sparkbroken Autobot.

"What is it? What else happened?" 'How bad could it be?' he asked as he held Bee. Bee looked at him and told him everything.

It turns out Bumblebee wasn't exaggerating on how bad it could be. In fact, he understated it. By the time was done, Bulkhead felt his systems go cold as ice.

OoooOooO

Optimus impatiently waited for Bulkhead and Bee to come out so he could get news on either Sari or Wasp, (Mostly on Sari). Ratchet was still reeling on how injured Bumblebee was and foolish he was to take on Wasp all by himself and Prowl was meditating so he could get used to his upgrades. Jazz had gone back inside the ship to take a quick recharge as he had not been recharging a lot lately. Sentinel simply told everyone he had better things to do then to stay with a bunch of losers and went back to the ship (That and Optimus was starting to scare him again with that look he gave him.) The jet twins also had to carry out their guard duties on the Decepticons.

A crash was heard and everyone jumped to see Bulkhead practically sprint out the room. Of course when something that big moves so fast, you get the frell out of the way fast, especially since Bulkhead isn't the agilest of Autobots.

"Guys, Bee met Sari's boyfriend." That had gotten everyone's attention. 'And the plot thickens.'

"He did?" Optimus asked, excitedly. He then calmed himself and looked a bit solemn "I mean, did he?" Now he and the others know who to look for in their patrols, and if they should encounter him…………… well humans do tend to go missing in big cities. That's not really unheard of.

"Yeah, he's everything we feared he would be." Bulkhead sighed.

Everyone in the room felt their sparks stop pulsing as he said this. So they were dealing with some kind of monster, a man that wanted to hurt Sari rather then make her feel loved, all the more reason to get rid of him discreetly.

"Did he show signs of criminal tendencies?" Prowl asked immediately as he fingered his stars.

"Oh yeah, he's psychotic, cold, cruel and has no love for anyone but himself." Bulkhead growled.

"I knew it!" Optimus snarled. His axe was out in the wink of an optic. So the man was a threat, well he'll just have to neutralize that!

"Is he dangerous for Sari's continued lifestyle?" Ratchet demanded to know, already prepping a berth for her.

"Slag yeah, in fact, he's on the run from the law! He's been avoiding capture, still is."

"AN ACTUAL CRIMINAL?!!" Optimus shouted. How could Bumblebee not have taken Sari back to the base when he found her? If it were him, he'd have taken Sari and kept her in his arms at all times.

After he finished stomping on the criminal pervert to a nice mush, of course.

"Not like I could. And he's not exactly a criminal! He's just been wrongfully imprisoned." Bulkhead sighed. "But he isn't right in the head either."

Warning bells went off on the Autobots. Prime chose to dismiss them and continued his interrogation.

"I think Sari really missed us. She chose to fall for a someone that has a lot of traits similar to Bumblebee. Though, in my opinion, they're nothing alike."

Prowl's expression was frozen and one can see a mild tick develop in his eye ridge. Ratchet also started to twitch and he felt his processors start to smoke. No……… No……….way….

Optimus was either not making the connection or he was denying it sub-consciously.

"What do you mean by that? How are they similar." Optimus interrogated.

"Same size, same weight, similar built, same weapons. They're both evenly matched." Bulkhead emphasized.

Ratchet lost all light in his optics and one can see the smokes come out of his audio receptors. Prowl was frozen like a statue, for once not because he was practicing.

Optimus blinked. "So, Sari, ……. Is dating a Cybertronian…………… or the headmaster in someone's body."

Whether he was playing dumb on purpose or not didn't matter, Bulkhead couldn't take it. He tried to let them know it gently, now was the time to be blunt and to the point.

"Optimus, Sari is dating Wasp!" Bulkhead shouted. He had been badly shocked when he heard it from Bumblebee, even as he said it, his body shook in fear for his little friend.

Optimus froze like a statue as the only sign that he was still online was when his optics started blinking to show that he was trying to process what he had just heard. In a very way-too-calm-to-be-real voice, Optimus spoke again.

"Bulkhead, please do not joke with me. I know it has been a trying day but…….."

"She is dating Wasp! Bumblebee saw them together; he said that Wasp even admitted in romancing her and sleeping with her in his ship. They've been going on dates, making out and even talking about their lives together. The only thing they haven't done is spark-bond, but the way Wasp talks, it's only a matter of time before he does." Bulkhead trembled as he said the last part. He'll kill him before he does that to Sari.

Optimus looked at him with wide optics as he fell to his knees. "Bulkhead, you're not joking, are you?" He sounded like he had lost all life in his voice.

"No way, Not about this! And neither would Bee. He in his room more miserable then I've ever seen him. Not only are they dating, but Bumblebee said that Wasp has a spark connection with Sari as well." Bulkhead waited for his Commander's reaction.

He was not disappointed.

A loud screech shook the base on its very foundations.

OoooOoooO

In New York City, Isaac looked up from his work and immediately knew who that scream belonged to. Professor Isaac sighed as he decided to head back to New Detroit tomorrow. That scream must have been because of Sari. It had to be! No one else could instill that kind of reaction from Optimus Prime.

OoooOoooO

It is said that in space, no one can hear you scream. Well, trying saying that to two bickering Decepticons who were trapped inside an Autobot Spaceship.

Starscream stared at the direction the scream despite being in space and an air-tight ship. "Wow, impressive. Scientifically impossible to do, but impressive." He wondered how that scream could travel from here?

Megatron blinked in glaring confusion. "Where is Earth?

"According to the star chart of that stupid warp-hopping ship, it's on the other side of the universe. Why? Is the great Megatron homesick already?" Starscream sneered. He got smacked for it. Megatron turned back to the window in reflection.

"I could have sworn that scream belonged to that Autobot who's name continues to elude me."

OoooOoooO

Back on earth, Optimus finally stopped screaming and seemed to be going through a processor meltdown. "Sari and Wasp?!!" Optimus shouted. "My charge…………… my child……….My Sari ………. My little Sari and with that………that……" Optimus felt his tanks churn violently. He wanted to crash, hard. He wanted to have a system crash to end all system crashes and never wake up to this reality again: A reality that allowed sweet innocent girls to be enchanted by psychotic maniacs. But he could not crash for the life of him. His system was too advanced and well protected from system failures to be able to allow him to crash.

Oh how he envied Ratchet right now, who was smoking in the audio receptors and laying flat on his face.

"He's taking it better the I thought." Bulkhead said to Prowl, who was still frozen.

"Sari and Wasp?!"Prowl exclaimed, his optic twitching ever so slightly.

"Yeah, Prowl. That's what he said." Bulkhead sighed as he rubbed his temples.

"Sari and Wasp?!" Prowl repeated. The twitch became violent.

"Yep! We gotta get them away from each other before they spark-bond." Bulkhead sighed again. Easier said than done. From Bumble's tale, they sounded pretty close and She was defensive of him.

"Sari and Wasp?!" His voice was now rising and his hands were shaking.

"Okay Prowl, you're scaring me." He walked up to the clearly disturbed ninja.

"Sari and Wasp?!"Now he was hyperventilating.

"Uuuuhh, Prowl?" Bulkhead attentively poked him to get his attention.

"Sari and Wasp?!" Prowl was shaking in his whole body now.

"PROWL!!" Bulkhead shouted to get his attention but it was no use

"SARI AND WASP?!!!" Prowl was now clutching his head and his vocals reached a loud hysterical pitch.

"Ratchet, Prowl's trapped in a loop. Could you……………" it was then that the larger and stronger Autobot noticed the out cold Medic. Bulkhead reached down and helped him on the couch, making sure the old medic was comfortable. Meanwhile, Optimus was falling to pieces to the latest revelations. His mind ran to all the scenarios that he thought of before but replaced them with Wasp. This was worst then all of them combine, this was worst then his nightmares about Elita-1 getting eaten alive by spiders, this was even worst then the nightmares of when Starscream became the new All-spark and used his powers on them. This was even scarier than that one particular dream where he found himself spark-bonded to Emperor Megatron, who somehow managed to get Ultra Magnus' Hammer, the newly formed All-spark and Omega Supreme in his possession. (He had screamed for an hour upon waking up and had flat-out refused to leave his room all day until Megatron was either killed or suffered an accident.)

Sari was dating Wasp? The scenarios where he had a mysterious human boyfriend doing terrible things to Sari were now replaced with scenarios of Wasp. Only the images were more violent and far more obsessive. It was a horror movie come to life, like that movie 'Deadlock' or 'Sleeping with the enemy' that Bumblebee rented them. Only it was bloodier.

So many terrible ways for Sari to die or suffer, and he still had no clue on how to find either of them.

He buried his face in his hands and let out a whimper. "This is my entire fault; I should not have thought that Sari was less important. I should have sought her out when I had the chance. If I had done that, then Sari would be here and protected." He had put capturing all Decepticons as a top priority that he had forgotten about his little human, the girl who was prone to getting into trouble. He should have known that Sari could not stay out of trouble for a day. When it came to her, it was always something.

Sari was important to him and the team. They were part of a family, with her acting as the youngest. He should have told Sentinel Prime to stick it up his tailpipe and gone after his child. His child! Had he done that, Sari would have been in safe hands while they were looking for Decepticons. Now he feared she would be used as hostage, among other things.

While Optimus lamented over this, Bulkhead walked towards him. He walked past Prowl, who got out of his loop but was currently sucking his thumb in a fetal position. Clearly, his processors had been reduced to sparkling mode to handle the enormity of the situation. Bulkhead wasn't too worried. Prowl was a master of 'mind over processor', he'll snap out of it soon. Walking up to his Prime, he caught his attention with a soft tap………… that sent him falling face first on the ground. After lifting him up, Bulkhead whirled him around.

"Look, Optimus, this isn't your fault. We all neglect Sari a little and put our responsibilities above her. But it was all our faults on this, not just us. Besides, there was no way you could have seen this coming. Heck, I didn't see it coming! Prowl, with all his ninja powers probably didn't……."

Optimus suddenly noticed they were an Autobot short.

"Where is Prowl?" Optimus asked as Bulkhead noticed the gibbering and thumb sucking had stopped. The only sign that he had left was the door wide open and the leaves blowing inside the base.

Both Autobots prayed for whoever was out there crossing his path.

OoooOoooO

Jazz smiled as he took in another high grade from one of the many pretty femmes that decided to indulge him on his vacation.

"More energon, oh master of cool." A seeker that looked eerily like Slipstream cooed.

"Sure babe. I could really use some refreshments." Jazz smirked sexily as leaned on his side

"Ohhhhh Jazzy-poo, please tell us how you single-handedly defeated Megatron and then became Master Yoketron's successor." A blue Arcee look-alike pleaded as she hugged his arm.

"What, again? Oh, all right, anything for you, Chromia…." He grinned.

A black and gold femme sashayed towards with an intent look and a strange serene smile.

"Hey there, gorgeous, what brings you to my neck of the woods?"Jazz flirted.

The femme ran and wrapped her arms him as she smiled at him. She looked eerily like his home-boy ninja Prowl, not that he was picky with femmes.

"What can I do for you, doll?" He smiled dashingly as he placed a hand on her cheek.

She smiled pleasantly. "I want you to die. Slowly."

"Huh?"

Jazz suddenly felt his neck crushed by the femme's hands.

OoooOoooO

Jazz suddenly found himself out of recharge and in his room. Despite waking up from his nightmare, he still had the sensation that he was being strangled by……………….. wait a minute! He was being strangled!

He looked up and saw an insanely enraged Prowl straddling his hips and strangling him.

"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! IF YOU CARED ABOUT ME AND SARI AT ALL, YOU WOULD DIE FASTER!!" Prowl shouted as he continued squeezing Jazz's throat. This was his fault! His entire fault!

"Prowl…….. dude…….. what's up?" Jazz asked as he calmly tried to remove Prowl's death grip. Prowl would be foaming if transformers had the ability to do so. As it is, he was growling like a tiger.

"What's up? What's up? YOU PATHETIC EXCUSE OF A NINJA, THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!" he attempted to reach for his throat again only for him to dodge him. Yes, it was his fault! If he had just let him go out to search Sari while helping the planet out on its wild teenage problems, he'd have Sari home long ago.

"………….. Refresh my memory, ninja-bro. What exactly is my fault?" Jazz asked calmly as he backed away from the clearly emotionally unstable cyber-ninja. Maybe S.P. was right and they really weren't right in the head.

Jazz's cool behavior seemed to enrage Prowl all the more.

"You stopped me from seeking out Sari and her boyfriend. You stopped me from solving the city's over-population problem by curbing the teenage hormones. You prevented me from hunting and ending the life of said boyfriend and you talked me out of finishing him off. Where in all this should I not kill you?"

Jazz stood up straight and crossed his arms. His nunchucks were in his hands, just in case. "Is it really my fault? If Sari is in love with…………" Prowl grabbed his throat to stop him from going further and snarled as the nunchicks stroke him. It would have caused even more damage had his upgraded mods not have protected him.

"Sari's boyfriend is Wasp! Remember Wasp? He was the one with 'bad mojo' in his 'karma' as you calmly told us? The one that had a fried processor? The one that had no hope of becoming normal again? That Wasp! He has a spark connection with her as well. AND HE NOW HAS HER IN HIS POSSESSION!!!" Even as he said this, Prowl felt like falling apart. He had never felt so helpless in his life, especially since the one person in the world that he loved like his own child was missing and in the hands of the most depraved Cybertronian since Lockdown.

Jazz's jaw dropped on his lap. There was no way that their luck would be that bad. That was just wrong! A little Autobot/Human girl with the mind of a child and an unstable killing machine former Autobot were potential spark-mates? There was something wrong in the universe for that to happen. "Dude, your karma sucks! What the frag did you do in your past life, worship Unicron? Became one of Megatron's top assassin? Start a boy band? Seriously?"

"Is that it? Our karma sucks! Is that all you have to say? I should kill you Jazz, for stopping me from not taking Sari back. Give her a chance to grow up, you say? Give her own personal space, you said? No doubt because we waited so long she is now sufficiently in love with Wasp, to a point where she will no doubt defend him if we attack!" Prowl growled as his processors went into over drive on how to get Sari into safety if she fights them. He still remembered Bumblebee's little episode after capturing SUV. What if Sari wasn't experimenting with herself………….. What if that twisted son of a glitch had…………….

Jazz knew he had to calm Prowl down from the way he was growling animalistic. He knew that those new mods and Prowl's 'Processor over Matter' would tear him to shreds if he didn't say something soon to calm the ninja down.

"Well, if Sari is connected to him……………" Jazz waited until Prowl released him. "If Sari really is connected to him, then he won't hurt her. At least, not physically. Spark-mates can't hurt each other. The link wouldn't allow it." Jazz knew that the link would allow the attacker to feel every attack done to the spark-mate. If they bonded, it was even worse. There had been some cases where if one spark-bonded couple died, the other followed minutes later.

Prowl momentarily calmed down before he was hit be another thought. This one was frightening.

"What if Sari wanted to call them but couldn't? What if Wasp was stopping her with his forceful personality, which isn't to say he doesn't have his strength alone to stop her? Sari could be trying to reach for us while we're all having meltdowns. Wasp could be using the link against her."

"I seriously doubt that, unless she spark bonded with him. Just no way, no how, would Wasp bond so soon! It's too dangerous for the kid, being so young and all. But……….. if she's the dominate, she might have the ability to chill him out, ever think of that." Jazz had noticed that up until now, Wasp had been very quiet since his attack of Bee.

That was true, also. Sari was no submissive and had been known to back talk even Decepticons. He doubt Sari would allow Wasp to walk all over her. On the other hand, there have been cases of women who appear confident, strong and defiant but sometimes were trapped in a rather dangerous relationship because they either loved the danger or felt the need to be loved due to past relationships not working out. Prowl sighed, wishing that he had followed his intuition and gone after his student/youngling.

"Jazz, we need a plan in capturing Wasp. This is no longer a simple seek and capture mission. He has a Sari now, and I, for one, will not stand for it no matter what connection they have. We have to find him now before Sari gets seriously hurt. He may be spark-connected to her, but he is still psychotic. He might even be crazy enough to harm her, even if it means harming himself." Prowl pointed out. He knew that Ratchet and Optimus had all lost loved ones and it tore them apart even today, he himself had lost his Master Yoketron fifty steller cycles ago. They couldn't take another loss, especially not someone so close to their sparks.

Jazz nodded grimly, Wasp might be crazy enough to do something like that. Frowning, he decided that he should talk to Prime on what they would do in this new situation. Of course, he'll have to tell S.P. about this too. Yeah, that will go well.

Despite the situation, he couldn't resist one last tease.

"You know, if we do capture them, we could have a jailhouse wedding." Jazz joked. He narrowly avoided getting his head bashed in and decided to leave while he still had all of his body parts.

OoooOoooO

Meanwhile, inside Wasp's ship, Sari sobbed at the loss at her best friend and first crush. How could things have gone so wrong? Bumblebee was supposed to help her get Wasp some help in clearing his name and becoming an Elite Guard again, instead she learns that her friend does something horrible and was the reason Wasp suffered so much. Then he throws it in her face that she stabbed him. She was sorry about that, okay! She had suffered extreme guilt for an entire week for that! The fact that neither him nor the Autobots have talked to her since she moved back with her father made her feel lower then dirt. She had hoped when Bee held her, he would have forgiven her, but she could see that was not the case.

'Maybe he really does hate me! What do I do? I don't want him to hate me, I can't stand it! BUMBLEBEE!!!' her thoughts sobbed as she curled up in a ball.

Recent events had made things worse when she realized how cold and selfish she had acted. Bumblebee had been injured and instead of calling for help, she had yelled at him and threw it in his face that she was dating Wasp, just when she thought he may be in love with her. Oooh, how she had hoped for that!

'I had Bumblebee back and may have just lost him as a friend! I didn't even get to apologize to him for stabbing him! He was right! I do mess up a lot and have no right to tell him how horrible he was with Wasp with all the things I've done.' She sobbed louder. 'And how could I be so horrible! He had been badly hurt when I yelled at him. He even went into stasis lock, which shows how bad his injuries were. And I called him inconsiderate. They might as well put my face in the dictionary under that word.' She curled up even more.

To make matters worse, she was confused about her feelings for him! Bumblebee was going to say he loved her, She just knew it! A week ago, that would have had her jumping to the moon and back. But now, she feels like she's trap in Black Arachinia's web, tangled in a mess that was once again her doing! Did she love Wasp or did she love Bumblebee?

The Disney Princesses in the movies never had problems like that!

If she chose Bumblebee, Wasp would be depressed and heartbroken and he had lost so much already! Who knows what he would do if she left him? She kept Wasp happy and vice-versa. Wasp had made her week! He was her first kiss, her first date, her first everything! She cared for him so much and he was someone made her feel like a woman. But if she chose Wasp, Bumblebee may be depressed and heartbroken, and decide to cut off their friendship. And she would die if she lost his friendship! She loved him just as much as she loved Wasp! While he didn't make her body tingle with excitement and adoration, he did give her that wonderful feeling of comfort of safety and affection. She was afraid of losing that security blanket. She may have already even lost it.

'What am I going to do?' she thought, miserably.

As she curled up on Wasp's berth and used her dress to wipe her tears, she failed to notice she was not alone. Just sitting beside the berth was a mech with glowing red eyes, hovering over her in worry while at the same time thinking evil thoughts of a certain Autobot's demise.

TBC

Tune in next chapter when Sari and Wasp have a fight of their own and how the others will deal with these new revelations. Not to mention what they will do about it!

The Assassins come in the next chapter! And they actually succeed!!!

Warning: The following chapters will be bloody.