Prisoners of the Mind: What Happens?
Chapter 9: The Meeting
The drive to the meeting place was quiet, full of tension. All of the Autobots were silent as they followed Bumblebee, Slipstream and the other clones keeping their mouths shut as they neared their destination. But just because they were quiet didn't mean that they weren't all thinking. Slipstream's processor was running a mile a second as she went through previous memory files and compared them to recent ones so she could figure out several things such as why Bumblebee had betrayed the Decepticons. None of the other clones really cared except for maybe Skywarp but that was only because Bumblebee had taken him under his wing so to speak and taught the scared clone a thing or two about fighting.
The Autobots were all wondering about their pasts; what was real and what was not real. On the one hand they wanted to know; they wanted to know everything that there was to know about themselves. If they really believed in the Autobot cause; if Ratchet had always been grumpy, Bulkhead naïve, Prowl a loner or Optimus a loyal Autobot soldier plagued by the memories of an old mistake. But on the other hand they didn't. They didn't want to know why they had volunteered to participate in the experiments, if they were cold, unfeeling bots. They didn't want to know.
All of them, both Autobot and Decepticon, were relieved when they finally arrived at the meeting place. Starscream stood in the clearing, Blitzwing and Lugnut on either side pointing their charged weapons at Ultra Magnus and Sentinel Prime. "There you are!" Starscream exclaimed. "I was beginning to think that you were never going to come!"
"Now, Starscream," Bumblebee chided as he transformed into robot mode. "When have I ever given you my word and not followed through?"
"Right now, traitor," Slipstream hissed with venom in her voice.
"Slipstream," Starscream said warningly. "Leave Bumblebee alone."
"Yeah," Bumblebee chimed in. "Besides, I never said that I wouldn't betray Starscream."
"He does have a point," Skywarp pointed out meekly then shrank from the force of Slipstream's glare.
"Can we please just get this over with?" Sentinel groaned. "We have a very important schedule to keep."
"All right, all right," Starscream grumbled then turned to Bumblebee. "I'll let the Autobots go at the same time that you let my clones go."
"Agreed," Bumblebee nodded. "Optimus, Ratchet, Prowl, let the clones go."
Optimus opened his mouth to protest then reluctantly nodded and released Slipstream.
"Let the Autobots go," Starscream ordered, Lugnut and Blitzwing doing his bidding.
The five bots eyed each other warily as they made their way to their respective groups. Only when the Autobots and Decepticons were safely standing next to their comrades did Optimus, Ratchet, Prowl, and Bulkhead heave sighs of relief and finally relax. Only to tense up again when Sentinel suddenly fired his weapon at Ultra Magnus, hitting the Autobot leader directly in his spark chamber. Immediately they all reacted, Blitzwing began firing at Sentinel who fired back while Ratchet rushed to Ultra Magnus's side to see what he could do. The others all watched from the side, wincing as both Blitzwing and Sentinel landed several damaging blows. Eventually Bumblebee became bored and stabbed Sentinel with his energon sword, the blade going all the way through, turning Sentinel's armor completely gray. The former prime fell to the ground with a clang.
"Well, that was certainly messy," Bumblebee said calmly as he wiped off his sword.
"Agreed," Blitzwing said then began fussing at Lugnut who was trying to ascertain how much his friend was hurt.
"Ultra Magnus'll be fine," Ratchet said. "Fortunately Sentinel missed his spark chamber by mere inches."
"Optimus," Ultra Magnus said. "I don't know what exactly Sentinel has told you but I think it's for the best if you and your friends leave this planet. For good. Some of the other Autobots might have trouble accepting the three of you."
Optimus nodded. He had already been considering that option as well. He still had no idea what exactly he and the others had done but guessed that it probably wasn't very good. "We'll leave as soon as possible," he said.
"They'll leave in the morning," Bumblebee answered.
"I would suggest that you leave as well, Bumblebee," Ultra Magnus said.
"Already planning to, sir," Bumblebee said. "I just plan on staying long enough to give the Autobots their files then I'm going to disappear as well."
Ultra Magnus nodded in agreement. "That's fine with me," he said. "That's fine with me."
A/N: I am so sorry that this chapter is late but I just haven't had the time to write anything. I promise that I'll try to finish the story before Thursday (there's only one chapter left anyway) so I would appreciate at least one review. Let me know what you think and thanks for reading!
