Disclaimer: Transformers: Animated and everything related belongs to the rightful company Hasbro. I am in no way shape or form making money off this.
Author's Note:
Prowl: 11
Starscream: 8
Optimus Prime: 2
Other: 4 (Bulkhead, Skywarp)
And Starscream has dropped to No. 2 ranking. Yeah, my bad I made him a complete and utter aft in the last chapter and made Bee and his sparkling pay the price (dodges thrown items). Sorry! Oh, someone wanted to see Skywarp being the winner which I think is sweet; I didn't think about it I just wanted the poor thing to have a chance in the spotlight. And it doesn't hurt he happens to be onna my favorite colors (happily hugs the terrified seeker) Onto the story!
Oh before I forget! I will be typing certain conversations in bold to make it easier to stand out such as comm links or private comm links between mechs (i.e. "Comm link." and/or ~Private comm link.~)
"Nightmare"
Written by: Beloved Shadow
Inspiration by: JazzTheTiger
Psyche "hmmm'ed" to herself as she went over the datapad in her servos. The list of injuries Ratchet had managed to download before Bumblebee woke up confirmed everything she had thought and it made her want to track the fragger down and drive him into the ground like a railroad spike. Or so she had heard on the humans' entertainment screen.
'But I'm still confused about that one seeker, the one that the twins said came after them.' Now that was another peculiar tale itself! When they had received the comm link that Jetfire had found Bumblebee, she wanted to go over and bring him back. But while her Earth alt mode was made for speed even if she found the minibot how was she going to bring him back? Sighing she thought back to her conversation with the jettwins.
"Okay, tell me what happened but one at a time!" she stressed as she rubbed at the space between her optics. "You, start," she gestured to Jetfire.
The orange and white seeker fidgeted in his seat but began speaking. "I is finding Bumblebee sir and am sending message to Autobots, but I is fighting Starscreams also," he said quickly. "Starscreams is looking for Bumblebee but one is not fighting but protecting, me think."
"What do you mean protecting? What color was he?"
"Like brother but not," he said with a frown, trying to think of the color before brightening. "Purple! He is purple!"
"Okay…" That only helped so little, according to the team there were three seekers who had a purple color-scheme but one of them was a femme. "You said he was protecting Bumblebee?"
"Yes! When I is flying to him he is growling at me, not letting Bumblebee go. He is… um… like…?"
"Acting protective and defensive, attacking anybot that he deems a threat to your friend," Skyfire said as he silently entered the medbay. "Forgive the intrusion, but I was hoping to listen to what these two encountered during the rescue."
"Go right ahead," Psyche said with a nod, turning back to the twins as the large shuttle-seeker sat on the floor. Since the mech was so large, things like sitting or sleeping on a standard-sized berth were pointless as they were too small to be of any use. But even so he moved with a quiet grace that was only seen on the Cyber Ninjas. She quirked an optic ridge when she noticed the twins trying not to stare at him and could hear their fans kicking on. Cycling air she cleared her vocalizer, gaining their attention as they looked just slightly embarrassed. "Okay, so the purple seeker was acting protective. Then what?"
"Oh! Bumblebee sir is talking with said bot, he is saying I is friend, I is not hurting him. But seeker is not listening, is not trusting me. I is confused, but not want Bumblebee sir hurt. Then Starscreams attack and am fighting them."
As he talked about the fighting and Jetstorm praising his brother's aerial skills, the femme sent a private ping to the large mech. ~So tell me, what would cause a seeker to go against his leader and defend an enemy bot and refuse to even acknowledge help from someone who poses no threat?~
~It's something that I haven't seen in a very long time. What few bots understand is, seekers were not always aerial fighters. We were explorers, we were able to visit other planets, assisted the scientists with their research, and in my programming, I acted as transportation for research teams and emissaries.~
~Tell me something I don't know. ~
~Alright. Seekers have a base program that when activated, makes them protective and aggressive to any and all they perceive as a threat; there was a saying "there is nothing more dangerous than a protective seeker." ~
Psyche was silent but she had a feeling why. Looking up she saw that Jetfire had stopped talking and was looking at her in concern. "Sorry. Was that it?"
"Y-Yes… then brother is flying in."
"Okay, thanks." Now she turned her attention to Jetstorm and nodded. "So, Jetfire said you came in when he was fighting and you saved Bumblebee. Explain."
"I is not knowing what happen, but I is seeing real Starscream in air with Bumblebee sir. I is too far to hear what they is talking, then I see bright light and now both falling. I is flying fast, I catch yellow friend who no have wings. I is seeing big hole in chassis and comm brother. We is saying we come here, we have grumpy bot fix friend," he explained. "But purple seeker is chasing us; he angry being, more angry then Sentinel sir when coming here."
"And you both acted bravely," Skyfire said with a nod, a smile on his lip plates. "If you had waited, Bumblebee may not have survived. He is very fortunate to have good friends like the two of you."
"W-We is happy he safe now," Jetstorm said quietly, his visor darkening slightly although neither of the twins seemed to noticed that their cooling fans had kicked on once more, and their cheek ridges were brightening in the form of a blush.
"Thanks for clearing some stuff up, why don't you two go get some energon," Psyche said with a nod though they didn't leave until Skyfire recommended the same. Once they were gone she turned her attention to her friend and now had both optic ridges lifted. "And why are you blushing?"
The large mech blinked, optics shuttering. "I-I'm not!" Psyche just continued to stare at him, making him uncomfortable but he was the one to look away, wings twitching on his back. "They are attractive, but for all I know this could just be an infatuation. They are not accustomed to seeing a seeker who is not an enemy, and I have never seen wingless seekers myself." He blinked and turned to look at her with a slight frown on his faceplates. "You are changing the topic."
"Am not! Well, not intentionally." Cycling air rather hard through her system she sat back on Ratchet's seat, crossing one stabilizer over the other. "You said something about seekers' programming, that this protective instinct is activated under certain conditions. What is it?"
"Does this concern the minibot?"
"If my theory is correct, then yes."
"… very well. When a seeker is aware of a sparkling in the immediate area, the program will activate with no warning. Regardless of classification or fraction, that seeker and any others around will protect that sparkling with their very spark even from their own creators if the need arose. I once witnessed a seeker destroy a sparkling's sire in such a blind rage when said mech attempted to harm the sparkling then turn around and clutch the sparkling close, treating it like his own and acting as though its life was never in danger."
"I see… and if it's a carrier that's sparked?"
"Then the protective instincts turn to the carrier. They will do everything to make certain the carrier is well-protected and that the sparkling develops as naturally and healthy as possible. In their programming, there is no war, no fraction, no leader to obey, nothing except the welfare of the carrier and the sparkling."
"Frag," Psyche muttered and resisted the urge to rub at her optics. She did drop her helm into her servos and took several deep breaths, vents cycling air slowly. "That explains so much… what the Pitt are we gonna do?"
"Psyche, is… the scout, is he…?" he tentively asked but when she refused to look at him he felt his spark nearly vibrating in his chassis. He could feel the beginning stages of his programming wanting to kick in but he needed proof. His processor demanded he check on the minibot to prove he was indeed sparked but he held the urge in tightly. "The seeker must have seen his spark and his programming activated. I also believe the only reason he did not attack the factory was he did not want to harm him."
"But why didn't he listen to Bumblebee when he said Jetfire was a friend?" she demanded as she lifted her helm to look at him. "What was he going to do if they hadn't come to save him?"
"His first instincts was to get him to safety and to him he perceived all bots as the enemy. He would not take chances in a strange mech to come near them even if Bumblebee said he was a friend. The seeker ran because to stay and fight would have put them in danger, only when they were cornered he refused to back down and decided to fight." He watched as the gears turned in his friend's helm, no doubt letting his words process but he spoke up once more. "Psyche, Bumblebee is no longer safe here."
"What do you mean?"
"It would be futile but right now I am certain the seeker is watching the factory, waiting for the moment for the yellow scout to leave so he can take him somewhere he deems as a safe haven. He will not stop and he will not listen to reason."
Sighing softly the femme leaned her head back, rubbing the tense wires and cables in the back of her neck. She had yet to talk to anyone, not even Ratchet but he wanted to perform some checks on the sparkling to make sure it was healthy and gauge the current development as soon as he was awake. Looking over at the sleeping mech she tried not to think about what she had just read. She may not be involved with the war, but she had heard enough tales to know just about who was who and what fraction they were associated with. And the things she heard about the second-in-command was enough to make her extra cautious.
'Bee's chassis was forced open, among the hole were scratches. So, does that mean Starscream saw his spark?' Primus, she didn't know what to think but she wanted to ask Skyfire's opinion on it. If a seeker was the sire of said spark, would that same protective programming activate? What if he overrode it and tried to eliminate Bumblebee? What about the clones? Would they follow the same programming, or would they continue to obey him? She hated this and tried not to think too hard on it but her processor was running all over the place with theories and fears, her digits tightening over the datapad, threatening to break it in half.
The yellow scout could feel awareness coming to him but it was moving sluggishly, as though he had caught a virus. He fought to online his optics, seeing nothing but bursts of static but it didn't stop him. His stabilizers twitched, kicking at the sheet covering him but he couldn't get up. Panic was rapidly beginning to set in and his processor played back a scrambled video feed of trying to escape his from his attackers, attackers that consisted of his abusers like Starscream, his army of clones, and grown versions of the bullies when he was a youngling.
'No! Run! Escape! Don't let them near me!' He had to get away from them, they somehow got inside the factory and they were after him. They were going to destroy him and his sparkling! His struts protested as he forced himself up, servos scrambling for something to grab onto but his fear escalated when he felt servos catch his own. 'No! Please, leave me alone!' he wanted to scream but all he could hear was crackling static. It was enough to make him cry.
"Bee, it's me, it's Psyche," the voice spoke up, over the static and the playback.
'Psyche?' he knew her, he knew her! She was a friend, not an enemy! But he looked towards the voice he tried to get away. That wasn't the femme, it was Starscream! Nearly screaming he lifted a servo, feeling it transform into stinger, ready to drive it into his chassis but his entire system froze as his processor was hacked.
Psyche looked at the stinger just a mere inch from hitting her in the chassis, watching as the charge died. Primus… his processor was more glitchy than she original thought. Already she could feel it trying to drive her out but it was also attacking itself. She didn't want to damage it and her hacking it was risky enough but she gently coaxed his system to relax, to go through the settings of preparing for a recharge; using her own programming she reset his start-up, making it sort through all the recent data and to online his system one by one, to give him an opportunity to slowly boot up. Readjusting the sheet on him she carefully sat next to him on the berth, watching him closely.
* Knock knock *
"Psyche? Is everything alright?" Prowl asked in concern. He received no answer and the silence was concerning. He silently pushed the door open, peering inside but all he saw was the minibot laying on the berth, the femme sitting next to him but they were both silent. He wasn't certain what they were doing but before he could enter the room he felt a heavy servo on his shoulder, making him jump.
"What do you think you're doing?" Ratchet demanded, watching the ninja move away from him and the door.
"I thought I heard something and came to investigate." It was true, never mind he had been wanting a reason to make sure Bumblebee was alright.
"Look, one thing you better learn fast is when it comes to Psyche is leave her alone," he said firmly as he closed the door and even stood before it. "She takes the welfare of her patients personal, and if she hasn't come out then it means she's not done. So, go do whatever you do and wait until she's done. Got me?"
He didn't want to, he wanted to make sure the yellow mech was alright, he wanted to assure him he would never leave him alone, he wanted to help him and the sparkling. But cycling air quietly he gave a brief nod and moved away from the room, heading to his room where the door closed. The medic continued to stand there for several kliks but sighed deeply, rubbing his servos over his faceplates.
"I'm too slagging old for this," he grumbled to himself. Now he was tempted to check in on them but held it back. First and only time he made that mistake and she shattered one of his optics by hurling her datapad at him. A klik later she was reprimanding him in the hall for being a slagging snoop who didn't understand the concept of privacy when she came out to retrieve said datapad, and threatened that the next time he tried that she was going to reformat him in several interesting ways. Glancing at the door he made his way to his own room, hoping that he could find something to do to occupy his own time.
Several breems later Bumblebee felt his system online, processor kicking on as it ran through a thorough diagnostic. Everything came back as functioning and operational. Slowly he sat up, wondering why he was feeling tired even though his chronometer said he had been offline for close to a full solar cycle. He tensed as he felt servos on his shoulders but they were keeping him steady when he felt ready to fall backwards.
"Bee? You awake?" came the concerned tone.
Frowning slightly he opened his optics and watched as his vision began to clear, focusing on the concerned dark silver faceplates and the blue-green optics. "Pssychee?" he hissed softly. His vocal cables felt sore but why? "I, I'm up, but I still feel tired."
"That's normal considering what happened; you gave everyone a scare earlier," she said softly but reaching into her subspace withdrew a cube of energon, placing it in his servos before taking another out for herself. Watching him take the first sip she sighed and sipped at her own. "Bee… Ratchet knows, about the sparkling."
He froze, the cube halfway lifted to his lip plates and his optics were wide. He carefully rested the cube on his lap when it began to slosh from trembling digits. "How?"
"You were brought in with a large hole in your chassis, so can I assume it was from Starscream?" Seeing him nod she took a klik to swear mentally if she ever got her servos on that particular seeker she was going to hack his processor so bad there would be nothing left to salvage. "You woke up during our repairs, no doubt thinking we were going to delete the sparkling but it's safe."
Was it? Not caring if the cube fell he quickly gave the command to open his chassis and sure enough he could see his own sparking humming strongly and orbiting close was a smaller spark. He released a great deal of air through his vents, reaching up to gently stroke the transparent chamber. He didn't realize he was trembling until a slender servo reached out and covered the one over his spark and lip plates pressed a kiss to his helm. "I-I thought I would gonna lose it," he admitted quietly and this time heard the soft ktches escaping his throat. "He saw *ktch*… when he forced my *ktch*my chassis open, he saw… *ktch ktch* we're not safe anymore! *ktch*"
"Starscream saw?" Seeing him nod Psyche inhaled sharply, biting back the urge to curse and scream for Skyfire to get in here. Her first instinct was to take him back to the neutral planet, to help him and ensure he and the sparkling led a safe and protected life cycle. She still sent a ping to Skyfire that she needed to speak with him later; withdrawing her servo she immediately pulled the minibot in her lap, holding him tightly like a carrier cuddling her sparkling. "It's okay, Bee. I swear to Primus everything will be alright," she cooed softly to him but now she wasn't certain if she was trying to calm him down or herself. The speedster let out a loud sob and clung to her tightly, just like he had seen the tiny human child cling to her mother figure.
'So, a carrier continues to live on,' the tyrannical warlord murmured to himself. Sumdac's pocket bots were so small, he forgot he still had one residing in the Autobots' base but was pleased about the interesting bit of news he had just learned about.
He never had any use of carriers or sparklings; he had told his soldiers early on he did not care what they did, but reminded them they were soldiers for the Decepticon forces and to never forget that his word was the unbroken law. He was a warrior, fighting for the control of Cybertron, and he could not rule his mechs with an iron fight and deal with the annoyed cries of a sparkling. However, this changed things immensely.
His glitch of a SIC had, unintentionally, sparked a mech carrier, and it was possible he was not aware of it. While he could have cared less what happened to him the seeker did have his uses. He needed him if his plans were to become a reality but it was still unlikely since that fool still had in his possession the stolen protoforms. But, what if he were to hold the carrier as a prisoner? Surely the seeker would have no choice but to obey his every command or risk the deletion of said sparkling. But what if he did not care? Oh he had heard about the seekers' programming when it came to sparklings and expected carriers but that fool seemed to care more about his own skid plates than anything else.
'So be it. Even if the mech were to lose it, I would ensure he survived long enough to carry my heir to the Decepticon forces,' he smirked. He rarely indulged in such carnal pleasures but what better way than to ensure his legacy for orns to come. Moving to his desk he typed the command to open a private comm link to the only bot he knew he could trust. He didn't have to wait long as the monitor revealed the faceplates of a dark gray mech.
"Lord Megatron, have may I serve you?" he asked even as his armor plating began shifting, becoming taller and less bulky.
"Shockwave, I am in need of more soldiers here on this primitive planet," he explained simply.
"As you command, Lord Megatron." Pulling up a window on his monitor he made note of the location of some of their forces. "We have several forces located on Planet Chaar, General Strika has been left in charge upon your return."
"So be it. Sent an encrypted message to her; I am in need of soldiers that I can trust to deal with these troublesome Autobots. I take it no one has yet seen through your disguise?"
"No, Lord Megatron."
"Good. Do not give me a reason to have you eliminated." With that he cut the connection on his end.
The Decepticon spy was silent for several long kliks, even as he typed a message for the general and sent it off he made sure his communication links were hidden. Being in charge of communications had advantages, and no bot would ever suspect that he was the true spy. It also helped that he had engineered that glitch Wasp's escape in secret to have all of the Elite Guard's focus off of him. However, he had his own ulterior motives himself and he had come this long not to allow himself to fail. Let those arrogant bots think they were the ones in charge, once the space dust had settled, mechs gray and lifeless, and the energon cold on the ground, he would emerge victorious with nary a scratch.
'Soon,' he thought to himself. He looked up sharply when his motion sensors picked up somebot approaching his office and quickly hid his communication system and activated his disguise just in time for the door to slid open. His now blue optics narrowed slightly at the sight of the light blue and white mech standing in his doorway. "What is it, Blurr? Can't you see I'm busy?"
"Ultra Magnus would like a word with you immediately, Longarm Prime," he said rapidly, staring at him coolly. "He also expresses this is important and any work you may have not completely can wait. I am to escort you to his office right now and he does not want to be kept waiting."
It took a great deal of patience and acting to keep his true emotions in check though he could swear the slender speedster could hear his own engine revving. "Very well," he said calmly even as he stood and slowly made his way out of the office, nodding as he stepped past him and into the hall. "Shall we?" he was aware that the speedster was purposely walking behind him and somehow he knew, he would have to deal with this annoying bot as soon as possible.
"Bumblebee?"
"Hmm?"
"I haven't brought it up because I was getting to know you… but, would you mind telling me about your life cycle?"
"… not gonna change anything," he murmured, his helm laying on her lap.
"No, it won't." She continued stroking the warm metal, sometimes stroking his sensory horn and smiling softly as his engine purred in content. "If you tell me yours, I'll tell you mine."
He slowly blinked, letting the proposal run around his processor for a klik or two before shifting so he was looking up at her. "You first."
"Bossy much?" she teased but nodded. Cycling air deeply she leaned her helm back, choosing her words carefully. "I wasn't always known as Psyche. My true designation was BlueStarLotus. My carrier named me after a flower he had once seen and I loved it. I got my optics and my coloring from him."
"Your carrier was a mech?"
"Mmmhmm. He was also a spy for the Elite Guard, a slagging good one from what I was told. He would go undercover as an entertainer and gather intelligence from Decepticon forces without them realizing it then report it back. My sire, was a soldier through and through. He made a name for himself but I know he loved my carrier, I could see it in his optics. They loved each other so much, they loved me and I loved them. I thought they would stay with me forever… but something happened and no matter how hard I look I can't find the records and everybot refuses to tell me anything."
Bee could feel her servo trembling and reached up to grip it tightly. "What do you know?" he asked quietly.
"… I had just entered my first frame and I was so excited, I could be more like my creators. But, my carrier was called for an important mission. The Decepticons were up to something but no bot could find out what it was; He was their only hope so he agreed. My sire was upset that the council refused to let him be in charge of the mission. I was young, but I had a terrible feeling in my spark that he wasn't going to be coming back."
"Please, don't go!" a femme youngling cried as she clung to the slender mech.
"Oh sweetspark, I'll be back before you have a chance to miss me," the mech smiled but hugged her back tightly, rubbing a servo up and down her back struts. But the youngling just clung even tighter, struggling not to start bawling. "Oh my little Lotus…"
A larger mech watched his mate and offspring sadly; he knew how she felt, he didn't want him to go either but his skills were needed. Walking up to them he reached out, his large servo nearly dwarfing that of his bonded on the youngling's helm, his other servo pulling them both to his chassis. "Lotus, I don't want him to go either but the High Council asked for Swiftsong's skills," he said softly. "Do you remember the stories I told you about the bots we're fighting, the Decepticons?"
She nodded and tilted her helm slightly in his direction, showing that she was listening.
"They're up to something and we need to find out what. Swiftsong is the only one who can find out, and the sooner he finds out, the sooner he'll be back home to both of us."
"Y-You promise?"
"Will all my spark." Smiling softly he held them both tightly, pressing a kiss to the top of her helm. Looking at his mate he kissed his lip plates, worry evident in his light blue optics. "Be safe."
"I always am, big bot," he smiled.
Shuddering her optics a few times Psyche took another deep breath and reached into her subspace. She withdrew a small holoimage of two mechs, one large with a royal blue frame and traditional bright blue optics with his arm around a slender mech with a softer blue frame, silver-white accents, and blue-green optics. Sitting in the taller mech's other arm was a youngling in her first frame, one arm around the mech's neck cables and the other waving happily, a bright smile on her face plates and large blue-green optics. Handing it to the scout as he sat up she nodded to him. "That was taken after I got my first frame, before my carrier was called for the mission."
"You all look so happy," he said. The carrier was attractive and he could see a lot of Psyche in him, but the other mech looked so familiar. As he peered at the image he blinked and realized why. "Wait, that's—your sire—is Ultra Magnus?"
"Yes… my sire is the great war hero Ultra Magnus. But just because he was given the time of Magnus doesn't mean a thing to me," she said bitterly. "My carrier kept his promise, he came back. But from what I could tell he had been found out and the Decepticons tried to torture information from him. I like to believe he was too strong for them but I don't know… my last memory is seeing him in the medbay, crying for him not leave me. He just smiled sadly, said he was sorry and he loved me so much. He joined the AllSpark a few cycles later. I didn't know who I had hated more, the Decepticons for hurting my carrier, the High Council for making him take the mission, my sire for not stopping them, or my carrier for leaving me."
"Psyche…" he wanted to say he was sorry but he held it back, nearly biting his glossia. "Is that why you don't talk about, um, him?"
"I wish that was the only reason… he tried to be there for me, we were both hurting and missing Swiftsong so much, but I still had him… then he was promoted from Prime to Magnus, even changed his designation and everything changed. He became busier than ever, following the council's every request for cycles at a time. He still tried to be there for me but I kept seeing less and less of him. I didn't have many friends to begin with but suddenly everybot wanted to be my friend from those around my age to mechs in their third frames. It was overwhelming but I learned quickly they never saw me as BlueStarLotus, they saw me as the daughter of famous Ultra Magnus. I hated him for putting me in this position and I hated them so I did what any bot would do: I began fighting." Seeing the shocked look on his faceplates made her smirk but there was no emotion behind it. "I got his attention alright, but it was just to scold me and to point out that my actions reflected upon him. After a while I just stopped caring and withdrew from the world. He never seemed to notice."
Psyche explained that she entered up disguising herself as a mech and joined the Autobot boot camp when she was old enough despite Ultra Magnus forbidding her to be involved in the war at all and on the first day began by getting into fights with the other cadets. One of them seemed determined to make her cycle miserable and she did the same to him. She was so frustrated after a rather vicious fight with a cadet she broke down in a fit when she was alone and was discovered by her drill sergeant.
"Did he kick you out?" Bee asked, listening intently. She was so much like him it was almost scary.
"Actually no; he said that he knew who I really was from the beginning, that he knew my carrier and he said he hated the council for making him take such a risky mission. But he said that my sire was an idiot and needed to format a pair just to tell the high Council to frag off once in a while," she sighed, chuckling at the memory. "Kup Minor called it as he saw it, and I called him out on it but what he said next made me stop and realize I wasn't cut out to be a soldier but it didn't mean I couldn't help in my own way. He convinced me to join the Protihex Medical Mechanics University and even gave me my new designation."
"Psyche? Why that?" the disguised femme asked with an optic ridge raised.
"Cuz I've seen ya tear the other cadets to the core with yer words alone. Sentinel is an aft and thinks he's Primus' gift to Cybertron but in a matter of kliks you pointed out all his faults, his weaknesses, and made him begin to question his own programming," he explained as he puffed at his cy-gar. "Imagine what ya could do if you used that processor of yours to help bots."
"You mean the Autobot soldiers," she mumbled.
"Never said autobots, kid." Cycling air through his system he held his cy-gar between his digits. "Look, Swiftsong was a Pitt of a mech, carrier or not. And I know if he were here, he'd tell ya to do what ya want to and frag what anybot says. So now the question is, whacha gonna do?"
"Wait, you were in boot camp with Sentinel?" Okay, that explained why she seemed to have it in for the big-chinned aft.
"And Optimus and Elita-1 along with a few others but I never attempted to be their friend although they tried. And again I was wearing a mech's frame so I doubt they remember me. So I went to the university where I was taught how to deal with damaged processors and trained to help others from soldiers who had seen too much war to orphaned sparklings who lost everything. I was even under Ratchet's tutelage as well as other medics but he was the one who I stayed in contact with after I became a neutral."
"Oh. Why'd you become a neutral?"
"… Let's just say, even the most noble Autobot can turn into your worse enemy and a cold-sparked Decepticon can prove that he has to capacity to care about somebot other than themselves." She should have known better, but that incident had been enough for her to open her optics. Venting softly she accepted the holoimage back and nodded to him. "Your turn. But just tell me what you're comfortable with."
The yellow scout blinked and slowly stared down at his lap, his gaze unfocused. "I don't want you to think less of me…" he shivered as he felt him move and sit behind him, wrapping her servos around him and pulling him against her chassis.
"Never sweetspark."
"… I never knew my carrier or sire, everybot I asked said I was abandoned but I never found out why. So I spent my cycle as a sparkling in a youth center for other abandoned and orphaned younglings. I deleted those memories but I remember no one held me or comforted me like you do, they only took care of me because no one wanted to deal with a dead sparkling. Everything changed when I grew into my first frame and they just gave me this oversized bulky armor plating they had stashed somewhere. It was the first time somebot ever gave me something and I didn't care if it was old, dented, and too big; it was mine." Even now he ran his digits over the yellow plating and slowly let his optics drift close.
"I learned early on I was different from everybot else, I was a minibot. I was never gonna be tall enough or strong enough and the other younglings made fun of me for it. It didn't stop me from trying but nothing I did worked and they just teased me even more. I hated it, I hated myself."
"What about the caretakers?" Psyche asked softly.
"They didn't care about any of us. I tried at first but the other younglings called me a sparkling and teased me even more, even stole my energon when the caretakers weren't looking and lied about it. I couldn't depend on anybot and kept to myself. But even though I was small I was fast." At this he smiled a bit, looking down at his wheels. "I just entered my second frame and I discovered that I loved racing, I loved the way the wind felt against my frame, I loved how fast I could move, and when I sped around everyone watched me. I was fast enough to beat the older younglings in races and soon the other younglings were cheering for me. I was finally getting attention but not everybot was happy for me."
"There's always one bot who hates when the spotlight is taken away."
"try several. I got cocky and sure of myself, I started bragging that I was the fastest thing on wheels and no bot could beat me. I shoulda known better. One of the older younglings that always picked on me challenged me to a race outside the center at night, outside the security gate. Just the two of us and winner was the fastest bot around."
"But, we're not supposed to be outside the gate at all," the tiny yellow mech said. "what if they check on us and we're not in our berths?"
"Aww! Is the minibot sparkling afraid?" the taller youngling sneered, his buddies snickering behind him. "You're just a big sparkling, I bet you'll never get any bigger."
"He's a liar too, faster than any of us? Then prove it, short stuff!"
He was so mad, he couldn't help it if he was a minibot! "I'm faster than you-you glitches put together! And I'll prove it tonight!"
"Bring it, midget!" the youngling snapped.
"We met outside that night, when everybot was asleep. But we weren't alone. That glitch's friends set traps around the area we were gonna race to make me lose; I woulda won but I fell for them. I called them out on it and they said I was just being a spoiled sparkling. So, I snapped and said at least I had talent and didn't have to cheat like them and I was still the fastest bot around. They-" he froze and clutched the arms around him tightly, trying not to begin trembling. "they…"
"Bee? It's okay, you don't have to continue," the femme said softly but he shook his helm, optics opening in memory.
"They… beat me up, but that was the day I fought back. I was tired of being called little and being made fun of, I wasn't gonna let them do it anymore. I guess they didn't like that because they pinned me to the ground and then the leader had a different punishment in mind." He didn't want to think about it but he managed to force the words out, how his main tormentor began touching him in places he knew he shouldn't, making vulgar comments he didn't understand but he knew he didn't like it. "But the worse part was… I-I liked it." There was a sharp intake of air before the arms tightened around him even more. This time he couldn't stop the trembling and clung to the arms even tighter, digging his digits into the aqua blue frame. "We-We were found out and got in trouble, I was hoping they would leave me alone after that but they didn't stop. They tried to get me alone and continue where they left off, cornering me and saying stuff like they were going to put my big mouth to use. I learned real quick what they meant and I knew that I didn't want any part of it. I began fighting back, yelling at them long enough to get somebot's attention then escape. I tired telling the caretakers but they didn't care so I had to figure out a way to get them back.
"I began to prank them, like switching their plating with that of some femme, dropped oil on them and made it look like they had done it, little stuff. The other younglings got a kick out if it, they laughed so hard and no one ever knew it was me. But that just made them even madder. I shoulda known better but for once bots were paying attention to me and I liked it. But, it got worse real fast one day…"
The small mech sighed as he rubbed a cleaning cloth over his plating. There was a stubborn scuff mark he tried rubbing out but nothing short of a good wax would remove it. Sadly, the caretakers weren't about to let a nameless youngling have some no matter how much he begged. He was alone in the room where all the younglings slept, sitting on his berth, he never heard somebot enter, never heard the door close and lock, never realized there was somebot behind him until he was forced onto his back plates and pressed into his berth roughly.
"H-hey! Get off!" he shouted and tried to kick but froze when he felt a heavier and larger frame press into him, vents puffing hot air.
"You think you're so much better than me," the youngling hissed into his receiver, grabbing his servos and pinning them over his helm. "I told you, just get me to overload and I'll leave you alone. Instead you make me and my friends look bad in front of the other younglings."
"Y-You glitches do that on your own!" he snapped, refusing to show this bully his fear. He cringed when he felt his servos roughly stroke his plating, painfully digging into seams and making his system begin to heat up. "S-Stop it!"
"Not this time, minibot," he hissed and pressed their cod pieces together, rubbing hard enough to create friction. A smirk touched his lip plates when he watched the yellow youngling shift beneath him, optics shut tight but he could hear his cooling fans kicking on. "You like this."
"N-N-No-o! I do-don't!" He didn't so why was his system heating up like this? He squirmed as hard as he could and managed to score a kick but cried out in pain as his other servo grabbed at his knee joint, digging digits in the gaps of the large fitting frame and squeeze the protoflesh as hard as he could. "S-S-St-top it-it-t!"
"He didn't stop," he whispered lowly. "This time, I knew he was going to do whatever he wanted and no one was going to help me." He shut his optics tightly once more as he forced the memory free. "I was so scared, I didn't care if he called me a sparkling I started crying, begging him to stop, screaming for somebot, anybot, to help me. I g-guess, Primus heard me 'cuz next thing I knew the caretakers were pulling him off me. I clung to one of them and tr-tried to tel-l-ll them what hap-hap-happened but-but I couldn't… he-he lied! They sa-said I wan-wanted it but I didn't! I didn't!"
"It's okay, they're not here, Bee, they're not here anymore," she said softly, silently rocking him back and forth, trying to protect a calming energy field although she felt mad enough to rip those idiot caretakers apart. How could they have been left in charge of younglings and allow this to happen? "They believed your tormentors over you." He nodded and she breathed deeply. "And then?"
"I-I didn't want it… I did-didn't…" He remembered that memory vividly. It was the same memory he swore he had deleted but Starscream managed to find it and replayed it over and over for him. He never wanted somebot touching him like that, he hated it, he hated them. "Th-They saw… everybot saw…" Primus, he wanted to die when one of the younglings pointed out the lubricant coming from between his stabilizers, and the smug looks on his would-be rapist's faceplates. "I-I was so ma-ma-mad, I—I attacked-ed him-m." No, he didn't attack him, he tried to destroy him. He was smaller, weaker, but he was fast on his peds. He called him every name he had heard and even managed to shatter the optics of his tormentor before the caretakers pulled him off. "No b-b-bot wanted to-to l-listen to me and I was s-se-sent to 'no-'nother center. No bot e-e-ever cared, so I s-s-started-ed pranking-ing to get some a-atten-t-tion…"
"You were so starved for it, you would accept whatever was given." He nodded silently. "You were transferred from one center to another until you were old enough to enter the boot camp, where you decided you would become an Elite Guard, somebot who would protect others like those caretakers should have done with you." Primus, how could somebot so young have suffered so slagging much? Slowly her arms loosened and she gently tilted his faceplates to her own, smiling softly and kindly.
"Bumblebee, no bot should have gone through what you did. Especially not the humiliation at the servos of some sick mech regardless of age. But right now you have a team who cares about you and loves you, a team that has been looking for you the moment you went missing and didn't stop until you were back home." Reaching up she gently rested her servo on his chassis where his spark pulsed. "Your sparkling was the result of a manipulated rape; Starscream used your own insecurities against you and made you think you wanted it. Maybe you did, maybe you didn't, but it wasn't right and he knew it."
"… but I-I belie-lieved him. He-He said, no one ca-cared about m-me," he whispered, covering her servo with his own, trying to keep it from trembling. "What, what if they-they decide I'm a tra-traitor and take me to pri-prison like Wasp? It-it ruined him."
"that won't happen. If they call you a traitor and even think about taking you to prison or harm you and the sparkling in anyway, then I'm taking you back with me," Psyche said firmly. "Torkulon is a neutral planet and its visited by both Autobots and Decepticons because the beings there only want to help those in need. It's also a cease-fire planet, a haven for those who want nothing to do with this stupid war and that includes orphaned sparklings of all ages and soldiers who had seen too much." She reached up and held his faceplates in both servos, pressing another kiss to his forehelm. "I will never let anything happen to you."
No one ever cared so much about him, willing to defy everybot with a single bit of authority. He could feel sobs threatening to burst free and once more threw himself into her arms. In the back of his processor he wondered if this was what it felt like to have a carrier care about him and vowed to be the best carrier he could be for his sparkling, regardless of its sire.
Slipstream didn't try to understand what went on in the processor of her "creator" or her "brothers", she was too busy looking out for herself. She thought that him seeing the minibot was just something to get out of his system, a toy he would get bored with and toss aside when he was done. Instead he had to go and get attached then angry when he refused him.
'Glitch ever think about the mess he's making?' she thought bitterly as she headed for the location she knew the Autobots were hiding. 'Of course the Autobot's not gonna believe him! He's been lying to him since day one! And now Skywarp's gone all crazed over something that may not even exist!' Slipstream was the type of seeker who believed in what she saw with her own optics and not what everybot told her, so when she heard Starscream muttering something about the Autobot having been sparked she set out to find out for herself.
She hasn't been online for very long, but she didn't like how her own programming was demanding she search for the yellow mech and protect him, to make sure he was safe. She didn't like him, she didn't even like Starscream so why should she risk her own skid plates for some mech? It was enough to make her processor ache and fuel pumps work harder. Banking on the air she headed for the outskirts of the human city and noticed the factory in the distance but as she got closer she was unaware of being watched.
"Is that the traitor?"
"No, that is one of the clones that the traitor created."
"We should capture him and I can use my skills to make him give up the location of that traitorous seeker." There was a muffled klang as a closed servo struck the owner of the voice in the back of a helm with just enough force to shut his mouth.
"That seeker is a femme, and our orders were to capture the sparked Autobot and bring him to Lord Megatron," he pointed out and once more was internally thinking why General Strika had sent him to this miserable planet.
"Besides, the last time you tried "your skills" it was on our leader and you spent the following deca-cycle being repaired by Scalpel."
"No I didn't! … It was an orn."
"Yeah, like that's any better."
"If the two of you don't shut your lip plates I will personally weld them shut," the third hissed and leveled a menacing glare at them. The two wisely kept any biting comments to themselves and he turned back to watch as the turquoise and purple seeker continued on her flight. He would rather be paving the way for the glorious descent of the Emperor of Destruction but he would have to bid his time and wait.
Skywarp had been watching the factory closely and once more tried to quell the urge to storm inside, located the carrier, and teleport him somewhere safe. He had an idea of where he would be protected but he needed to get to him first. Pondering on how he could do it he looked up sharply when he heard the sound a familiar and unwelcoming engine overhead. Before he would have been fearful and buried himself in the ground in hopes that he wouldn't be found, but his protective instincts were going into overdrive which in turn fueled his aggression.
'Threat detected,' he snarled to himself, the air rippling around him as he teleported.
There was the factory but the femme wasn't an idiot (something she was immensely proud of) and knew if she tried to land anywhere too close or tried to sneak in she would be caught in less than a klik. She scanned the area for a suitable place to land and wait for the perfect opportunity when she suddenly saw a jet appear right in front of her.
"What the—SLAG!" she cursed and performed a tight barrel roll to avoid getting hit but there was a searing pain as something scored a shallow slash on the underside of one of her wings. Letting out several rather colorful curses she was forced to land, transforming along the way only to feel a heavy mass land on her back struts and forced her to nearly swallow a mouthful of organic dirt. It was enough to make her let up another colorful storm of curses but froze when she felt the hot muzzle of a gun at the back of her helm.
"Give me a reason not to eliminate you right here, right now," came a threatening growl.
"If you don't get off me and move that slagging gun away from me I won't rip your helm off," she hissed but her optics widen when she felt the hum of power, indicating he was ready to start firing. "I'm not here to harm the Autobot!"
"… Prove it."
"How am I suppose to do—alright alright!" She finally felt the gun pull back and the heavy weight remove itself but as she got to her peds she could see a growling Skywarp had both arm-mounted guns ready to open fire at point-blank range. "I just want to see if it's true; is that minibot really sparked by our glitch creator?"
"It's true, I saw his spark myself." He frowned when she demanded proof but he didn't trust her near the carrier. And he was certainly not going to let her into his processor just so he could show her an image. "You have to take my word."
The femme sneered before throwing his words right back at him. "Then you'll have to believe my words, also! But Starscream isn't taking this lightly; he's convinced the Autobot tricked him and isn't going to stop until he sees the proof for himself." In her short cycle she had never seen the violet seeker as anything but a yellow-chassis coward who would hide behind the nearest bot while begging not to be harmed. No, the mech before her was the completely opposite and the protective rage in his optics was enough to scare even her.
"If he harms Bumblebee or the sparkling, I'll tear his artificial spark from his chassis myself," he growled lowly.
"How's the kid?"
Psyche looked up from the datapad and cycled air softly, leaning back in her seat. "Depends, right now he's sleeping but no one should have gone through the slag he went through. And if we ever find that pathetic excuse for a mech I'm tearing him apart circuit by circuit and Primus help anybot that tries to stop me."
"I was afraid of that," Ratchet muttered and pulled another chair closer. They were currently in his quarters since Skyfire was fixing Prowl's audio receiver in the medbay next door. Neither of them said anything for several long kliks and he knew even if he asked the femme wasn't going to tell him anything Bumblebee told her. "What's your diagnosis?"
"Not sure where to begin… severe neglect and abuse, he could almost be classified with BBS with some of his symptoms I've noticed," she said as she glanced down at her datapad.
"Battered bot syndrome… Psyche, I'm worried about the sparkling. Is, are we gonna have to watch him?" That had been one of his biggest fears since he found out and he was afraid of hearing her answer.
"Surprisingly no. Regardless of who the sire is, Bee is determined to keep the sparkling and raise it by himself if he has to. I believe this stems from his own experiences as a sparkling himself; but if anybot catches on that half its coding is a Decepticon-"
"I got it. Then… he's not safe. Neither of them are safe here or on Cybertron." He held his servo up when Psyche looked ready to say something. "just, hear me out. Starscream has been trying to overthrow Megatron even before we crash landed here, but I also know that bucket-head will take any advantage he can get his servos on to make sure he wins this war."
"Do you think he'd really use an innocent sparkling like, some bargaining chip?" she hissed lowly.
"I think he'll use the kid as a breeder to ensure he had a ready army of loyal soldiers, ones he has personally trained and no doubt sired himself." He watched the datapad snap in half in her servos, knowing that she was imagining a certain mech's helm in its place. "For now, the kid's safety is our top priority."
"Pitt yes it is! Skyfire can take us both to Torkulon if we have to!"
"Make that a last solution, Psyche. But I only know this city, I'm not sure if there is a place safe for him," he vented, feeling his vorns weigh even heavier on his helm. Both medics looked up when they could hear arguing behind the door that separated the medbay from his own quarters before it slid open. Prowl stumbled in, the protective plating from his damaged receiver missing, a few wires sparking but he stopped and nodded to them.
"I-I knOW WHERe Bum-BUM-BuMMbLEBEE—WILL be sAFe!" he said, his vocalization rising and falling in volume as though he wasn't able to hear very well.
"I'm sorry, I was in the middle of repairs," Skyfire said as he entered the room, a pair of standard-sized tweezers in his servos (though in his servos they looked miniscule). He was quick to grab the ninja when he tried moving only to nearly fall. "I'm sorry, again."
The white and red medic grumbled something inaudible as he rose from his seat and in a few moves as possible, had the black and gold ninja sitting medical berth and went about finishing the repair to his receiver. "Looks like the blow also did some damage to his gyro-stabilizer."
"teach him not to be so slagging nosey," the femme muttered but watched as the medic worked. Hearing the large seeker move to stand next to her she sent him a ping. ~Skyfire, you told me a seeker is not capable of hurting a carrier who's sparked, correct?~
~it goes against our base programming.~
~Can they delete the program or find a way to block it?~
~it's never been heard of, but I suppose it could… though the risks would be great.~ he paused and took a moment to look at her, his optics a sorrowful shade of blue. ~it's part of any seeker's original program. To even try and rewrite the coding, it would affect other parts of the processor, possibly even change their personality core permanently.~
~Fragging slag.~ She heard rumors that Starscream was once a brilliant scientist, but would he be stupid enough to do something that risky? And wouldn't that affect the AllSpark fragment he currently held? ~Okay, what if the seeker is the sire of a sparkling? Would the same programming activate? What if said seeker doesn't want anything to do with the sparkling?~
Skyfire's optics shuttered, blinking rapidly even as he slowly turned and stared at the floor, uncertainty in his optics. ~I… I… do not know… I, have never meet a seeker, who did not treasure a sparkling above anything else… I-I cannot… imagine one harming one on purpose…~
Psyche immediately felt guilty and reaching out gripped his large servo in her smaller one, holding it tightly. ~I'm sorry. I shouldn't expect you to know all the answers,~ she said quickly. Despite his large frame the seeker was a pacifist, he would never join the war and he enjoyed helping those on their neutral planet. He loved playing with the many sparklings and younglings and she knew, he wanted to have some of his own one day. He squeezed her servo back for a quick klik but it was his silent way of thanking her.
"There, done," ratchet said and placed the protective plating back on. "Now what are you talking about."
"I said, I know where Bumblebee and his sparkling will both be safe," Prowl said slowly. "Dinobot Island."
The femme looked at him in confusion, an optic ridge raised. "Whatbot island?"
"The island that nearly blew up under our peds those solar cycles ago," the medic explained, crossing his servos over his chassis. "And where exactly is he gonna stay? And what about the Dinobots? Who's to say those techno-organics aren't hiding somewhere, ready to attack?"
"Although a large portion was destroyed it is still inhabitable. When I went to help return the Dinobots to their island Skyfire was kind enough to scan the remaining landmass before landing to reveal no Cybertronium signatures anywhere," he quickly explained. "There is no sign of Waspinator or Blackarchnia at all. Now whether they're off-line or not, I do not know."
"Fine, so they're not around. I still don't see those walking flamethrowers accepting another bot to move into their home," Ratchet pointed out.
"We can simply asked them for their assistance," Skyfire spoke up. "I've had a chance to speak with them and while they possess very simple processors, they are willing to listen if you speak in simple terms."
"And they know Bumblebee, when they were temporarily staying here he made an effort to get to know them, even taught them how to play video games," Psyche pointed out. "They're like sparklings in complete third-frames. Would you banish a sparkling for acting out when no bot ever bothered to teach them right from wrong?"
"… I don't know them that well, but I guess I see your point," he mumbled but shook his helm. "But there's one bot we haven't thought to ask his opinion about all this." All three bots looked at each other before turning to him. "We have to talk to Bumblebee."
The yellow minibot stirred, rolling onto his back plates he slowly opened his optics, onlining them. He watched as his system reported everything as being normal and running at full capacity across his display. He didn't get up right away, instead he trailed his servo along his chassis, venting air softly as the plates shifted open and trailed digits along his spark casting. The gentle light and hum that filled the small room made him smile and if he focused on it, he could hear the even softer hum of his developing sparkling.
'I, think I had a dream about you,' he thought to it quietly, still smiling. 'I saw… a seeker. Strong, sleek, beautiful. I don't know how I knew it, but it was you. You looked so happy and carefree, you were born to fly…' Was it normal for a carrier to be dreaming about their sparkling? What if the sparkling was born a grounder like himself?
A gentle vibration filled his chamber and it made him moan ever so softly, face plates heating up. He pressed his digits firmly against the casting, rubbing just a little bit harder as his other servo slowly began tracing seams on his plating. He wanted to stop touching himself but he couldn't, and it was beginning to feel really good. Cooling fans were beginning to hum as his frame began heating up, sensory network were starting to run on high, Bee couldn't help but moan softly as his digits slipped beneath gaps of his armor and caressed wires. His logic circuits tried to tell him he shouldn't be doing this but there wasn't anything wrong with it. It was just his own servos, no one else just—him. Yellow digits slid down his chassis, stroking the malleable mesh of his stomach area then sliding to his pelvic armor. Now the heat had increased, pleasure nodes begging to be stroked and he obliged. He whimpered softly as his digits caressed his plating, stabilizers spreading he never heard his cod piece retracting or interface panel sliding open. Soft whimpers escaped clenched denta as his servo brushed over his pressurized spike, wrapping digits around it he began stroking firmly, smearing drops of transfluid but it wasn't enough until his other servo slid down and pushed his digits into his wet valve.
'O-Oh Primus—not enough! But so—so good!' he moaned lowly, eager to feel something larger filling his valve, thrusting in and out deeply, stroking his internal sensory nodes. His frame arched off the berth, servos stroking faster, harder, desperate to reach overload. With his optics off he imagined it was another mech doing this to him, their servos touching him, seeking out his pleasure. 'Ahh! Yes, yes deeper! Please!' he moaned as his frame arched again, digits sliding in as deep as they could, lubricant spilling free onto the berth. Th mech in his fantasy was starting to take shape and it was a tall mech, slender, but he was too tall to be Prowl. His servos nearly stopped when he realized the mech had wings but it wasn't Starscream. The attitude and coloring was wrong… so who…?
"I will protect you, carrier."
'S-Skywarp!' Bumblebee managed to keep from screaming out the designation as he experienced a small overload. Falling onto his berth he lay there, cycling air rapidly and waiting for his system to cool down before he withdrew his digits from his valve and spike. He didn't have to look down to see the transfluid on his frame, he could feel it slipping into gaps of his armor. After several long kliks he slowly sat up and swung his peds off the side before standing and grabbed a clean soft cloth. Luckily his chassis closed when he had stopped touching it or else he would be cleaning the evidence of his overload from his spark chamber.
'Don't think you'd like that,' he thought fondly to the tiny sparkling. Cleaning up his frame he had the protective plates slid close then cleaned off his berth. Tossing it to the side he sighed but he didn't want to go back to sleep. Looking around his room he looked at the door before stepping out. He didn't see anybot in the hall and Prowl's door was open but he wasn't inside. Venting softly he walked down but flinched when he heard something rather loud coming from Ratchet's room.
"I-I—OW WHER—BUM—MM—LEBEE—WILL—AF—."
"Oww! Was that Prowl?" he asked himself, rubbing his audio receiver he slowly made his way to the door and listened in. he couldn't make out a lot but he could hear Ratchet, Psyche, Prowl and the large seeker Skyfire. He pulled back and lightly touched a large square-shaped dent on the door but he was still debating whether or not he should knock. He didn't know what they could be talking about but he had a feeling it was about him. Frowning he touched his chassis, right above where his spark rested but he couldn't move away.
'If, they're talking about me, shouldn't I be in there?' Well, he had just woken up so maybe they didn't want to disturb him but he was awake now. He stood outside the room for several long kliks, debating whether to not to knock or go to his room before reaching out, intending to knock but blinked when the door opened and he could hear the voices much clearer now.
"They're like sparklings in complete third-frames. Would you banish a sparkling for acting out when no bot ever bothered to teach them right from wrong?"
"… I don't know them that well, but I guess I see your point. But there's one bot we haven't thought to ask his opinion about all this." There was a brief pause. "We have to talk to Bumblebee."
"Talk to me about what?" he asked and smiled sheepishly as four set of optics turned to him. "Sorry. I was trying to knock but the door was open."
"Are you alright, Bumblebee? Was there anything you needed?" the Cyber Ninja immediately asked, coming to his side, ready to help him in anything he should ask.
"I'm fine. Just tired of sleeping and staring at eh same four walls in my room," he admitted. He walked over the medical berth and sat down, looking at everybot in turn. "So, what did you want to ask me?"
"… Kid, I need ya to hear me out, a'right?" The minibot slowly nodded and the medbot took a deep breathe. "We think for the safety of you and your sparkling, you should leave Detroit. Not forever, but long enough until we can figure out what to do."
"If Megatron ever finds out that Starscream got you sparked, there's no telling what he would do and we refuse to take any risks," Psyche continued. "I already told you I will take you to Torkulon and I still stand by it. But your friend brought up another suggestion."
"I suggest you stay on Dinobot Island. No one knows the Dinobots are currently residing there and I believe they would be welcome to you if we simply ask them," Prowl commented. "But, the choice is yours, Bumblebee. Whatever you decide, we will accept."
The yellow mech blinked slowly and stared down at his lap. He, would have to leave Detroit? but that would mean leaving Sari behind. She was-is his best friend but would Dinobot Island really be safe? Would Starscream ever think to look for him there? He nervously began knawing on his bottom lip plate, weighing the pros and cons in his processor but after a bit he slowly nodded. "I-think it's a good idea." Looking up at them he smiled softly. "Grimlock isn't that bad. He's kinda reminds me of Optimus and Sentinel if you combined the two. He's really protective on what he considers his, and I get that, but it just means he'll protect it no matter what. And he does look after the other Dinobots even if he yells at them but they listen to him. And sure he fell for spider bot's tricks but that doesn't mean he's a bad bot."
Ratchet didn't seem sure but sighed and moved to stand before him then slowly reached out and rested his servo on his helm. "If that's what you want, but I want to make sure you have a place to recharge. And that also means no fighting and no racing until I say so, got me?"
"Yes, sir!" he saluted and managed to dodge the light slap aimed for the back of his servo. Oh it felt like it had been too long since he had laughed like that but he stopped when he realized something. "I gotta tell everyone else."
"I rather not let anymore mechs know about this but the more who know the better protected you will be," Psyche said softly she got up from her seat and walked to his side, wrapping her servo around him and hugging him to her side. "We'll be there for you when you tell them."
"Everyone?" he looked at them hopefully. Prowl smiled and reaching out took his servo in his own, giving it a tight squeeze.
"All of us."
A breem or two later found a nervous Bumblebee standing in the middle of the Autobots' living room, standing before the large flat-screen TV. Now he was regretting not having Prowl or Pysche standing with him but he told them he needed to do this. Looking at them he was greeted with encouraging smiles and took strength from that.
"I-I need to tell you all about what happened, when I had been captured by Starscream," he said, feeling a bit proud when his vocalization didn't stutter or burst into static.
"Are you certain, Bumblebee? You were adamant in not giving us the full details," Optimus said with a hint of worry.
"I know, but something happened and you have a right to know." It took everything he had not to touch his chassis or his stomach but he explained the lies that the seeker had told him, how he wanted his help in locating the AllSpark fragments so they could rule Cybertron together. He paused when Sentinel made a rude noise but continued. He also told them about how he had made a holovideo of his team calling him a glitch and how he was nothing but a nuisance to the team.
"But we'd never say that!" Bulkhead immediately said, jumping to his peds.
"I know that now but he kept playing it so much I started believing it. But I wish that was all he did…" he tried not to think about the way the seeker's servos felt on his frame and told them about everything else he had done. Including touching him and hacking into his memory bank, bringing up several painful memories he had sealed away. It was beginning to get so much he found himself stumbling over his words, bursts of static making it difficult to be heard he could not bring himself to tell them what happened. He felt servos pulling him into a chassis and clung to the frame tightly.
"It's okay, no one is going to judge you," Prowl said softly, trying to get him to calm down.
"I-I'm sorry *ktch*, I'm try-try-trying *ktch*," he stuttered softly. "I *ktch* can't…"
"Bee, do you want me…?" Psyche offered and the minibot quietly nodded. Nodding she cycled air deeply and simply said, "Starscream manipulated Bumblebee into interfacing with him." It was so quiet in the warehouse, the sound of the minibot's quiet sobs the only noise in the air. "He twisted his processor to the point where he believed anything the seeker told him, including how you mechs didn't care about him and were never going to come to his rescue."
"That's a lie!" Optimus shouted, startling everyone. "I would've never left him behind!"
"Calm down, Optimus. He knows that now but that glitch was playing processor games with him," Ratchet said firmly before the younger mech could go on a rant. "The signs were there but we didn't know what to do, I didn't know what to do."
"But, you is medic yes?" Jetfire asked.
"I heal external injuries, what he went through goes a lot deeper than anything I trained for." The medic nodded to where Psyche was sitting who was looking at Bee worriedly. "I called her 'cuz I knew she had studied processor damage on traumatized bots. If anyone could help Bee, it would be her."
"So that's it? He was acting out 'cuz he believed some Decepticon's lie?" Sentinel demanded sarcastically, crossing his servos over his chassis. "Another reason he never woulda made it as an Elite Guard!"
"Sentinel, shut your lip plates or I swear to Primus and Unicron I will weld them shut myself!" the femme snapped angrily as she glared at him. The large chinned mech stared at her before snorting and looked away. "Anyway, that's not why we're talking to everybot today. We, discovered something that may have put Bumblebee's spark in danger."
"Danger? What danger being?" Jetstorm asked worriedly. Psyche looked away, not feeling comfortable about saying this but before she could muster the courage the minibot spoke up so quietly it was almost inaudible.
"I'm sparked." Slowly, pale blue optics opened and he looked at the shocked faceplates and nodded slowly. "I, I'm really sparked. And the sire—it's Starscream." Silence filled the air, the words repeating in their processor. Bee nervously clutched at the ninja who continued holding him, looking at them in turn before settling on his commanding officer. "B-Boss bot?"
Optimus blinked and slowly with hesitant steps, walked up to the minibot. He stopped in front of him, watching as he turned to fully face him. He didn't say anything but slowly reaching up he quietly placed his servo on his shoulder joint and nodded slowly. "Bumblebee, you are not only a member of my team but you are also my friend. I'm sorry you had to go through something like that, but I'm sorry I failed you as your commanding officer. Can you forgive me?"
"Optimus…" Looking at him he didn't stop to think about his actions but he didn't care as he closed the small gap and wrapped his servos around him as tightly as he could. He wanted to tell him there was nothing to forgive but there was too much static to get his message clear. The Prime smiled down at the smaller mech and hugged him back, vowing to protect him and his sparkling.
"That sparkling needs to be deleted immediately."
Helms whirled so fast gears grinded against one another but all optics were focused solely on the mech who dared to speak such a statement. "What did you say?" Skyfire asked in a strained tone, digits twitching as though they longed to wrap around the other Prime's neck cables and snap his helm clean off.
"You heard him! He allowed himself to interface with a Decepticon—the second-in-command to Megatron himself!" Sentinel snapped, unaware of ignoring the furious optics focused solely on him. "That thing needs to be deleted and that mech arrested for treason!"
"Bumblebee has committed no acts of treason and I'm not about to let an arrogant glitch like you anywhere near him!" Optimus yelled at him and even pushed the minibot behind him as though to protect him.
"I give the orders here! Jetfire! Jetstorm! Arrest that traitor!" neither of the jettwins moved from their spot. "Did you glitches hear me? Arrest him!"
"We is not obeying your order," Jetstorm said calmly, his visor a dark shade of blue.
"We is not hurting sparkling or friend Bumblebee," Jetfire said firmly. "He is doing nothing wrong."
"W-What!?" His own subordinates were refusing his direct orders? Snarling he reached into his subspace and produced a pair of stasis cuffs and began advancing on the minibot. "I'll do it myself!" The moment he took a step towards them chaos broke loose. No one had ever seen the large seeker as more than a calm, quiet, non-violent mech. So it was a shock to everyone when he charged at the navy blue Prime and violently slammed him into the wall, a look of pure rage on his faceplates.
"You will not harm the sparked carrier!" he snarled angrily as a large servo began squeezing his helm tightly, trying to crush it. The Autobots rushed forward to try and keep the combiner from outright destroying the Prime but he was running on pure instinct right now. There was a flash of light and soon the gestalt form of Safeguard managed to pull the shuttle mech off. "Why are you protecting him?!" he demanded angrily.
"He is Prime, he is commanding us," the combiner said thought there was a slight hitch in their vocalization.
"Seekers do not obey glitches who threaten harm to a sparkling!"
The Autobots were too busy arguing with one another and once more Skyfire made to charge at the slightly injured Prime but instead found himself fighting Safeguard. Psyche tried to get her friend to calm down but he refused to listen. That left a still shocked Bumblebee unprotected, still frozen from the dark blue Prime's words.
"That sparkling needs to be deleted immediately."
No… this, was his sparkling. His! He didn't care if the sire was Starscream, he wanted to keep the sparkling! He wanted to watch it grow up and experience the joy of flying! He wanted her to live! His servos came up, clutching his chassis as tightly as he could. Her… he called it a her… did that mean-?
"This ends now, traitor!" Sentinel roared, energy lance held tightly in his servo, ready to drive it into his trembling frame but instead he watched as it sank into the thick forest green frame of the space bridge engineer/wrecker.
"B-Bulkhead!"
"R-Run, little bud-dy-dy-dy," he managed to sputter out even as one of his clawed servos grabbed the Prime's arm, keeping him from pulling the lance out.
"Let go, you outdated glitch!" But the mech refused to let go and when he tried to bring up his shield the other large servo closed around his arm, nearly crushing it in his grip. "Slagging Pitt!"
"R-Run!"
Bumblebee's eyes were impossibly wide but his own creator instincts were kicking into overdrive and they were telling him to get as far away from the Prime as possible, to find somewhere safe so his sparkling would be safe. Transforming his tires burned tracks into the floor as he bolt out of the factory, ignoring the worried cries of his friends, tearing through the streets of Detroit. He would lay down his own spark if it meant his sparkling—his daughter—would be safe.
~ To be continued… ~
Author's Notes: Another chapter done! I was having a hard time trying to get it done but I'm happy its completed. Now, I took some liberties with Bumblebee's past since they never went into detail about it so I figure growing up he was teased a lot and being a minibot didn't help. I also threw in a bit about Psyche's history and may or may not do a side-story about her.
Now, I'm sure a lot of readers want to kill Sentinel for what he just said. So did I but don't worry, the mechs and femme are not letting that glitch anywhere near Bee or the sparkling. Next chapter Starscream is gonna confront Bee about the sparkling and construction will begin on Dinobot Island for Bee's new/temporarily home. Later!