Note: I have returned. In my personal opinion, this chapter is better than the last one. I thank anyone new here for coming, and I thank anyone familiar for coming back. This is the last bonding chapter, which means we can see what's going on with the Quintesson scouts, and we can move on with our lives. Hopefully the creative juices will flow better now. Enjoy!

This sent Bee into a fit of laughter that shorted out his already broken voicebox. His static coughs brought down the mood.

"Bumblebee, go see Ratchet," Optimus said, gently pushing the scout toward the doorway.

(Aw-skzzt-www! I wa-skrshh-o nex-sksst,) Bee whined, the static making it hard to understand him.

"Don't worry, scout. We'll get our turn soon," Thor assured him as he followed him to the medbay.

x x x x x

The walk was silent. Partially because Bumblebee's voicebox was broken, but also because they didn't have any common conversation points.

But mostly because Bee couldn't talk.

To get to the Medbay from the hallway, they had to pass the small section of the base dedicated to the lab. Which meant that they had to pass Ratchet.

"And just what do you think you are doing over here?" the medic asked.

"His voicebox is malfunctioning. We thought you might be able to fix it," Thor said. Bee nodded.

Ratchet looked Bumblebee over as if assessing if any damage had been done to him yet and sighed. He glanced at Tony to make sure he wasn't doing anything he had to yell at him for and said, "Come on. It's not as if you're interrupting me. Not that I've been interrupted before." He mumbled the last part.

Once in the Medbay, Ratchet had Bumblebee sit on the other berth, as Smokescreen was occupying the other one with Clint. Ratchet started scanning the scout's throat. "What happened?" he asked.

"He was laughing," Thor supplied helpfully.

Ratchet huffed and looked at the scout. Bee had the decency to look ashamed. He shivered as Ratchet passed the scanner over his throat again.

"Just needs to be recalibrated. Hold still," Ratchet said, kneeling to fidget with Bumblebee's voicebox settings.

"Have you two gone yet?" Clint asked Thor from his perch on Smokescreen's medberth.

"Not yet. Banner and the wrecker should be going at it."

They heard a roar coming from the sparring room.

"If anyone else comes in damaged, I'm going to rearrange their hydraulic systems," Ratchet grumbled. Bumblebee snickered at this, which earned his doorwings a sharp pinch from the medic. "Keep still. I'm almost finished.

A crash was heard this time, but it was much closer. It was followed by a muttered "uh oh" that everyone heard.

Ratchet got up and started walking to the lab. "Wait here. What are you doing over there, Stark?!"

The medbay was silent save for the occasional beep of a computer. Thor contemplated talking to his partner, but he didn't want Clint listening in. And Bee was unable to communicate verbally. Better basic questions than nothing though. "So... How are you feeling, scout?"

Bee, knowing Ratchet would be upset if he tried using his voicebox now, nodded and gave him a thumbs up.

Thor nodded. The god of lightning glanced at Clint and Smokescreen before speaking, "That's good." His hands moved while he spoke, and to the trained eye (or optic), they said, -Do you understand me?-

Bee's optics widened. His optical ridges moved down and his head tilted before he responded similarly: -You know Cybertronian Sign Language?-

-When I heard about Cybertronians, I was wild to learn everything I could. Mostly about your fighting abilities. It was the only reason I ever went into a library, besides dragging Loki out of it to spar.-

-I learned after Tyger Pax. Binary only has one volume, so it doesn't lend itself to stealth. CSL let me go on missions again. Neither are very good at emotion though. Especially with the mask on.- Bee's optics saddened.

'Don't be brash; this is a touchy subject.'

-Stories of your victory at Tyger Pax have already been written into history. You must be proud of that.-

The scout looked away. -I don't take much pride in it. I was just doing my duty to Cybertron.-

'And you made him sadder. Nice move.'

-Since coming to Earth, I have learned that battle is not glorious. Though I still have much to learn.- It was silent(er) for a moment. -My father will always be my role model and I idolized Optimus Prime for a time while growing up, but I admired the courage you had while facing Megatron. I still do, actually.-

Bumblebee looked back at him and smiled. -Thanks,- he signed. -I looked up to Optimus as my role model, but I always thought you were cool for being able to charge into battle fearlessly.-

This time the silence was companionable. However, Clint was now staring at them intently. "Is there some space code that I don't know that I need to know?" he whispered to his partner.

"I think it's CSL," Smokescreen replied.

"CSL?"

"Cybertronian Sign Language. I never bothered to learn it."

"Why not?"

"Even if you download the language packs, they don't help you 'speak' it. Didn't wanna practice, didn't wanna download."

Clint looked at him incredulously. "You can download languages?!"

"And they have a universal translator," Thor said, grinning.

"The possibilities..." he trailed off.

Ratchet strode back into the Medbay, grumbling all the while. "Now that's taken care of, one more calibration and you can go Bumblebee, Thor."

Bee nodded and held still so the medic could finish fixing his voicebox. Once he was done, the two of them were sent back to the sparring room.

"And if either of you come back after your spar with more injuries, I won't hesitate to add more dents to your helm!"

(We'll be careful, Ratchet!) Bee buzzed back.

x x x x x

They walked back into the sparring room just in time to see the finale to Steve and Optimus' fight. They then sat through the "catfight" Natasha and Arcee had, as Thor had put it. Finally, it was their turn. Bee held in his enthusiasm as he and his partner walked to the center of the room to face off. This wasn't something he had ever dreamed of doing, but it was certainly exciting.

But the moment Thor lifted his hammer, he knew he needed to plan. If the god of thunder ever got Mjolnir on top of him, his chances of winning would decrease drastically.

Thor was thinking along the same lines. As long as he either stayed out of reach or got too close to be dislodged, he could drop his hammer on Bumblebee and he'd have the fight in the bag.

'I'll just have to stay on top,' they both thought.

Thor charged first, swinging his hammer to gain some momentum before letting its inertia fly him to his opponent. Knowing blocking would be ineffective, Bee moved aside, but Thor changed his trajectory midflight to slam into his helm. Crashing to the ground, he immediately rolled until the god lost his balance and fell off, not giving him a chance to plant his hammer.

Bee jumped to his pedes, his optics widening when he saw Thor charge his hammer with electricity just slightly. He didn't plan on knocking him out like Clint did with Smokescreen, but if he could shock him into falling over, he'd have enough time to put Mjolnir on him.

With a flick of his wrist, a small burst of lightning streaked toward the scout. Bumblebee dropped to the ground with reflexes born from a lifetime of war, but the lightning was still attracted to his metallic frame. His self repair hurried to fix his fried circuitry, but Thor had already planted Mjolnir on his chassis. The pressure felt odd on his back. He tried to move, but the weight somehow increased without Thor doing anything, so he held still.

"So, little scout," Thor said. "Do you surrender?"

(I surrender to Mjolnir. You didn't do a thing.) Bumblebee whirred, his optics sparkling with mischief.

"You've got a fiesty tongue on you. I think for that I'll let you go." Thor easily picked up his hammer and stepped off of his opponent. Bee got to his pedes.

"And that's how it's done, my fine lady and femme."

"Just because you can light up a Christmas tree doesn't mean you're better," Natasha retorted.

"How about that, Bee?" Arcee said.

(My self repair can handle fried circuitry. Your leg's still leaking. I'm not going to have to face Ratchet.)

The realization dawned on her. "Oh Primus."

Everyone laughed.