It was a mess.
An absolute mess.
Bumblebee only hoped things were running smoothly back at their base.
Galvatron gave a harsh and deliberate kick to the top of Grimlock's tail near its base, stripping off outer plating and allowing sparking wires to flop out. Grimlock stopped moving after this and sunk into the sand, a sad huff the only response to his defeat.
"Hah... Hahaaa" Galvatron chuckled as he stepped away from Grimlock, the Decepticons sides heaved as he began to wheeze and pant "and I'M the one who's running low on Energon!"
Bumblebee grasped Sideswipes still functional Decepticon hunter and held it out before him, he couldn't focus on a form for it to take but prayed that merely brandishing it would keep him away.
Unphased Galvatron reverted to his bipedal mode, hunched over he had his hands on his knees and coughed up more gunge, it must be the energy retardant substances he was forced to consume keeping his internals dry and running on minimal energy.
"Oh please" Galvatron finally stood up to face Bumblebee, his face returning to an all-too-innocent looking smile "Is that any way to treat an old friend"
"There's no way YOU'RE a friend!" Bumblebee spat gripping the hunter tighter.
Galvatron laughed, the loud cackle rolled around the surrounding beach in a unnervingly jovial way.
"Well surely you recognise me, don't you?" Galvatron had started advancing on Bumblebee, arms spread like he was nothing more than a placid mech greeting the day with kindness.
"I know WHO you look like, but that's all I want to know, I don't want anything to do with a monster like you unless you're safely inside a stasis pod!" Bumblebee fought the urge to run, he might have a chance against Galvatron now he was tired from fighting Grimlock but given everything that happened, he did not want to take that chance.
"Monster?" Galvatron's face drooped, he was almost hurt by the remark "Monster? Me? You barely know me and want to call me that?" The Decepticon was within arms reach now and still Bumblebee found the Decepticon hunter to be useless in his arms.
"You tried to kill my friends! My team!" Bee squawked angrily trying not to let his size get to him.
"Oh no nooooo, you really don't remember me, if that's what I wanted to do I would've gone for their Sparks when I had the chance, or their Energon"
While he had a point Bumblebee wasn't going to give him any leeway. Especially now Galvatron was raising his clawed hands and moving towards Bumblebee.
"My my, how you've…. Grown" His hands wavered on either side of Bumblebee's face plates as if he was going to stroke his cheeks, his claws even rolled around as if performing the motions.
"Back off!" Bumblebee wished his legs didn't betray him and he moved but all he did was raise his inert weapon up higher.
"Oh, young child, please! It is a pleasure to see you again… You're clearly doing better... Y'know having got your voice back and, well, alive" Galvatron was undeterred as if he knew the Decepticon hunter wasn't responding to Bumblebee's frantic whims.
"How is everyone here?" He cooed, leaning down to meet Bumblebee's optics his own optics wide like an adult talking to a youngling "I'm guessing they're… alive too?"
"You know nothing!" Was the uninspired retort.
"Awww child!" Galvatron drew back to his full height and pouted "I'm only chatting!"
For a moment Galvatron looked like he was backing off but instead he swooped down, large arms grabbing Bumblebee by the shoulders.
The yellow mech suddenly found himself cuddled up against Galvatron's side.
"Tell me! How's Raf?" He beamed down at his captive.
Bumblebee felt his Energon run cold, clearly, Galvatron did too as his smile widened.
"H-how do you know that name?"
"I told you, I know you! We knew each other! Although you're much more lively here"
"Here? What do you mean?" Bumblebee tried to glance around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Grimlock or a recovered Sideswipe coming to his aid but he couldn't make anything out.
"You wouldn't believe me If I told you friend" The big Decepticon sighed "I didn't get to look at Earth much the first time round… it's quite amusing..." He trailed off.
As Galvatron's optics zoned out over the watery horizon Bumblebee took it as his chance and struggled against his hold, squirming against the arm that held him he could feel Galvatron's hand tense briefly before his claws dug into his arm.
Trying to stifle a yelp of pain Bumblebee grunted angrily at his captor.
"Oh, you're no fun" Galvatron sighed and flung Bumblebee away with all the care of a ragdoll.
Barely thinking Bumblebee rolled onto his feet and waved his weapon before him again.
Galvatron was still unmoved and it was still infuriating to the Autobot, this kook seemed not to care about anything.
Still ignoring him Galvatron's optics gleamed as they scanned the environment, flecks of purple crept over his normal bright red until his optics were nothing but a blank slate of purple.
Quicker than it even appeared the purple shine was gone and Galvatron's optics were red again.
"It was a pleasure catching up, old friend, we, heh, we never got to speak much the first time round" Galvatron's muzzle twitched as if he was holding back a laugh at his own 'joke'.
"There's no pleasant-" Bumblebee couldn't hold back a retort but Galvatron cut him off.
"I do believe you should get back to your other friends, your assistance is required" He chimed.
Bumblebee looked to his companions, both of their communication devices were blinking rapidly as they were bombarded with messages, he looked down to his own which also blinked with a sense of urgency. The call only stifled as they lowered communications for the purpose of stealth before their search began.
Taking a few steps back Bumblebee flicked his comm lines on and was instantly assaulted by panicked warbling and babbles, the stressed voice was barely recognisable as Fixit as it didn't even acknowledge Bumblebee actually listening to him but continued to babble.
The only words he could make out were "Decepticon… urgent… damage… gone"
Bumblebee scowled at Galvatron, who pulled an innocent face and held his hands out to his side while backing away into the water once more as if being further away would lessen his probable involvement with the chaos.
Grimlock seemed roused by Fixit's desperate voice but could barely stand upright, forced into moving on his hands and knees he didn't dare try transforming out of his Dinosaur mode.
Grabbing the bent Decepticon hunter Bumblebee quickly scooped Sideswipe up in his arms but refused to break visual contact with Galvatron.
"Fixit I hear you, open up a Groundbridge at our location but shut it IMMEDIATELY after we come through" His voice caused Fixit to continue babbling incessantly but his tone sounded a little more hopeful.
As if acknowledging his desire not to be followed Galvatron backed further into the water until only his torso were visible to the regrouped Autobot trio.
The water sparkled with the green light of the Groundbridge but Galvatron still did not move instead he gave a polite nod to his leaving 'guests'.
"It will be a pleasure to watch you die again" He cooed just before they slipped through and the portal blinked out of existence.
Bumblebee wasn't quite sure what kind of chaos he was expecting from Fixit's endless stream of words over the communicator but when the trio slumped out into the main area of the Scrapyard they weren't expecting what they got.
Fixit had practically flown out from the command centre back to the centre of the clearing.
Where Strongarm lay, Energon covering her midsection and pooling beneath her as a terrified battered looking Drift presses his hands rather futilely against her to stem the bleeding.
Fixit and Denny were poking around what looked like several punctures in her body trying to do something useful.
Drift's optics were wide as he surveyed Bumblebee and his team
"Jetstorm…" He uttered "I don't know what's happened to him…"
Both of Drift's Mini-cons weren't visible and Russell was nowhere to be seen.
The entire Scrapyard looked even more of a mess than normal, the only clues to what had happened being a single abandoned sword stuck in the Earth, Dark Energon dried onto its blade and the imprints of what looked like a large creature across the ground.
It was a mess.