We had arrived back at Base a few hours later, but Arcee had to go to the Arctic on a mission to save the North Pole, along with Optimus and Bulkhead (long story for another day). Bumblebee was in power down mode.
I guessed that the traumatic experience of being in Megatron's mind (Arcee had told me about it) was having a temporary effect on his psyche. Luckily, Ratchet had figured this out too, so Bumblebee was officially in recharge for the next few days until further notice.
Jack and Miko had both gone back to their homes.
Raf, however, decided that he wanted to stay. Bumblebee was his family. He wasn't going to give up on him. I didn't have the spark to refuse the boy to stay by his best friend, so I let him. I thought it was sweet how much Bumblebee and Raf cared for one another.
In the meantime, I sat next to Raf on the floor as he told me about how his sister, Pilar, asked him how he got so good at racing games. He told her he knew a guy who knows cars, aka Bumblebee. I didn't talk much, but I was happy to listen.
Normally, I didn't really choose to hang out with people I just met, but, like I said earlier, Raf was good-natured, like Bumblebee.
"Wait until you see the new laptop I'm saving up for," He said excitedly.
Suddenly, I heard a whirring sound come from behind me. Turning back, I saw Bumblebee, walking out of the recharge chamber. His optics looked...different, like the pupils had gotten smaller.
"Bumblebee?" I said, quickly standing up. "What are you-"
I couldn't finish the rest. Bee grabbed hold of me by the throat, picked me up and threw me aside. I hit the wall opposite with a thud and collapsed to the ground like a rag doll.
"Bumblebee! Wait!" Raf shouted.
The scout ignored him, walking up to the Ground Bridge controls and typing in coordinates. I could see the portal open as Bumblebee walked through it and it shut down. Forcing myself up, I heard Ratchet run into the room as the bridge closed.
He rushed up to me, helping me get to my feet. "What happened? What did you do?"
"N-Nothing..." I replied in a weak voice. Involuntarily weak this time.
"Bumblebee just got up!" Raf exclaimed.
Ratchet shook his head. "He was in power down mode." He looked up to where the portal had closed. "Where does he think he's off to?"
Suddenly, in my head, I saw what Bumblebee was seeing; A memory, Megatron's memory.
Megatron casting down the last shard of dark energon on Earth and stabbing it into the ground. Then the floor breaking open and creating a chasm of purple glowing light. Surrounding them were the lifeless bodies of fallen warriors, but the blood of Unicron somehow brought them back to life.
"D-Dark e-energon..." I whispered putting my servo over my optics. "Bumblebee's gone to get Dark Energon. At a battle field."
"What?" Ratchet asked. "How do you know this?"
"I'll tell you later. But we need to find out where he is." Running over to the Ground Bridge controls, I looked at where he had gone.
"Those are the coordinates of our previous battle with Megatron's army." The Doctor explained.
"M-Maybe we should call Optimus." Raf suggested.
I shook my head. "Optimus is busy preventing a Polar Ice Cap from melting. We need to handle this on our own."
Ratchet walked over to the ground bride and fired it up again, unaware of what was at the other side.
The familiar yellow and black mech we all knew as Bumblebee came through it, a shard of the amethyst crystal in his hand. His optics, they weren't the innocent optics I had seen before.
Ratchet was the first to speak. "Bumblebee, what have you been doing?" As he walk past, Ratchet stopped him and grabbed his servo to take a closer look. "Dark Energon?"
Before any of us could react, Bumblebee clenched his other servo into a fish and smacked Ratchet in the face. The Doctor smashed against a wall. As Bee headed for the Ground Bridge control board, I tried my best to stop him by blocking his path.
"Don't do it, Silver," He begged me. "I don't want to hurt you."
I couldn't stand back and watch, "I won't let him do this to you, Bee. You're stronger than he is. You can stop him!"
I was determined to not let Megatron do this.
Expecting him to stop, I took a few steps closer to Bumblebee. Instead he punched me in the abdomen, with so much force it may as well have been a wrecking ball. I fell backwards, getting tired of being beaten up twice in one hour (there had been enough of that in school).
"Bumblebee, what are you doing?" Pleaded Raf.
The yellow and black mech grabbed him and put him on one of the ledges to the air vent systems.
"Bumblebee, please! I know you're in there!" He stumbled backwards as the scout put him down. "You have to fight whatever's making you do this!"
But Bumblebee wasn't listening. I could just about make out him running through the emerald glowing light of the portal before it closed, and he disappeared into the darkness.
Forcing myself up off of the floor, I held onto my stomach area, where the punch was.
"That's definitely gonna leave a dent," I murmured looking up from where I stood.
Ratchet groaned as he resumed consciousness. I rushed over to him as fast as I could, given the fact that I was in a lot of pain, and helped him up.
"Ratchet, Silver, are you ok?" Raf asked as Ratchet leaned on the rail for support.
"I'm fine," The Doctor reassured, going over to help the boy down. "More importantly is Bumblebee. I fear the time spent in Megatron's mind is causing him to think like a Decepticon."
Raf shook his head as Ratchet placed him down on the floor. "Bee's not a con."
"Strongly Agreed," I spoke up. "But we need to find out exactly what he intends to do with that shard of dark energon."
Ratchet paused. "The only one who knew of the dark energon...was Megatron."
"Bumblebee has Megatron's memories?" Raf questioned.
I suddenly realised what was going on. The figment of Megatron in Bumblebee's mind. Nightmares that followed him into the day. Being distracted all the time. It all made sense now.
"It's worse than that," I realised. "Megatron is occupying Bumblebee's mind."
Raf's eyes widened. "What?!"
"How could I have been such a fool!" Ratchet said in self-blame. "The cortical psychic patch acts as a two way convert. When Bumblebee returned to his mind, Megatron followed. Now Bumblebee... Megatron, has bridged to nearly the same coordinates Optimus used." He fired up the Ground Bridge as Raf an I took in what he had just explained. He began walking to the portal. "Stay here."
"No," The boy declared putting his foot down. "Bumblebee needs me!"
Doc sighed, turning back and holding out his servo. "Of course he does."
Normally, going on missions wasn't my thing. I hated fighting and being in a war didn't exactly help that.
Nevertheless, I chose to go with Raf and Ratchet to the Nemesis Warship. I'm not sure what I hoped to accomplish, being a medic who wouldn't know how to use a sword if the answer hit her in the face. All I knew was that I wanted to stop Megatron from controlling Bumblebee.
Together, the three of us bridged to the coordinates Bumblebee had used. We came out of the portal in a darkly familiar place; the Decepticon Warship. I followed Ratchet, who had Raf placed on his shoulder.
As we turned the corner, I saw something that I never want to see again. On the path ahead lay heaps of offlined husks of Decepticon soldiers. I put my servo over my mouth, like I was about to throw up.
"D-Di-Did Bu-Bumblebee do...th-this?" I stuttered, trying to stop myself from vomiting there and then.
Ratchet nodded. "I fear Megatron's mind is dominant. He clearly came here for one purpose: To use the dark energon to resurrect his own body."
"No, Bumblebee won't let him," Raf said diligently. "Like he didn't let Megatron hurt me back at Base."
Ratchet sighed as he set Raf down on the floor. "I hope you're right."
He walked ahead. I spun round to face Raf, putting a digit to my mouth to tell him to be silent.
Turning back, I saw Ratchet looking through the broken down door that stood in front of us. His expression was a mixture of terrified and shocked. Following his gaze, I could see Bumblebee attaching himself to a cortical psychic patch cable.
The other end of the wire was connected to...Megatron. Or at least what was left of him.
He was much, much more frightening in person. Taller than Optimus, but only by a metre or two. His frame gleaned metallic silver with some purple highlights. His optics, although offline, still gave the feeling that they could strike you dead if he got angry.
I was still contemplating the best course of action, so I didn't notice the doctor run into the room until it was too late.
"Ratchet!" Raf yelled from beside me. "Don't hurt Bumblebee!"
"That's not Bumblebee!" He charged for the scout, throwing a punch, but missing.
I couldn't say I was disappointed that Bumblebee didn't get hurt. After dodging, Bumblebee hit Ratchet with such force that it sent him flying across the room against a wall.
That's when I saw it. The image of Megatron forcing Bumblebee to transform his servo into a blaster and...and shoot Ratchet in the chassis, ultimately hitting his spark and offlining him.
Shaking myself, I broke free from the vision. I knew I had to act before it was too late.
"Bumblebee! Please stop this," I shouted as he turned to face Megatron. I walked into the room calm as possible. "I know this isn't you. I saw who you are, who you truly are. You're stronger than he is. You can fight Megatron!" I paused as he turned back to me. "You know you can."
We were standing yards away, but he heard me. His soft, ocean blue optics were there again, reassuring me. For a moment I thought he was back.
But his pupils shrank back to the smaller size as an agonising pain shot through me, as if someone had shot my centre. Looking down, I saw a gaping hole in my chassis. Close-range to my spark. My eyes widened when I saw the wound.
Clutching my wounded spark chamber, I fell to my knees as Bumblebee - Megatron - went back to attaching the cortical psychic patch, dark energon in hand.
"Bumblebee, no!" Raf's voice came from behind me. I saw the boy run in front of me. "Remember who you are! Remember me! I know you always listen to me no matter what."
Bumblebee's pupils grew once again back to their normal size as he battled against Megatron. "R-Raf...?"
"That's right, Bee," Raf said hopefully. "It's me."
I heard a raspy voice hiss...from inside Bumblebee's mind, 'Unbelievable!'
Megatron.
The scout tried to battle against the control of Megatron, putting his servo over his optics, trying to shake the nightmares out. He stumbled over onto the ground, closing his optics.
I knew I had to help him. I did all I could to push myself upwards and rushed over to Bumblebee, kneeling down next to him.
"Bee, you can do this," I told the scout, "Fight him."
But Bumblebee's servo clenched around the dark energon. Before I knew what was happening, his free servo grabbed my arm and flung me across to the other side of the room. I screamed, scraping the ground with a painful thud.
He threw Raf off of his other servo and turned back to Megatron's unconscious form where Ratchet was evidently trying to offline the warlord himself.
"Farewell, Megatron," He said, bitterness lacing his voice as he unplugged the medical cord that was keeping him alive.
But Megatron soon forced Bumblebee to charge at the medic, throwing him across the room with such force that Ratchet crashed against the wall before falling to the floor. I finally managed to push myself up off of the ground.
Raf looked worriedly at Ratchet as the black and yellow scout continued to walk towards Megatron.
The boy turned to his friend, "Bumblebee!"
I've heard a lot of horror-movie dreams from a lot of Autobots. I've seen the memory and the trauma of others. Stuff that I never thought could happen? It happened.
But never had I heard of what occurred next. Bumblebee turned back to Raf, his optics still shrunk to their unnerving, piercing size.
"Bumblebee can't hear you anymore."
Megatron's voice.
I almost froze. It was clear what that meant: It meant that Megatron's mind was totally dominant. It didn't matter what we said or did. Bumblebee was under the Decepticon's command.
Raf, although taken back, glared at Megatron. "As much as I want you to leave Bumblebee's body, I can't let you go back to your own!"
He ran towards the scout and leapt onto the cortical psychic patch cable, attempting to disconnect Bumblebee. Unfortunately, he was swung back and landed on the ground with a thud.
I don't know what could've possibly been going through my processor. Charging at Bumblebee, I grabbed his arm, trying to pull him away from Megatron. Needless to say, that ended with me being thrown against the wall (what is that, like, three or four times now? I lost count).
Seeing that no one else was around to attack, Megatron plunged the energon shard into his spark. A glowing amethyst light began to emerge. Megatron's entire frame began to shake as he returned to his own mind. His optics onlined to an unnerving scarlet-red.
Bumblebee shook his helm, free once again, before reluctantly looking up at the Decepticon leader.
"Oh, scrap," He thought aloud.
Regaining the strength to sit up, I instinctively backed up against the wall, trying to get as far away from Megatron as possible.
Several Vehicons ran into the room, pausing as they saw their leader get up from where he had spent months in stasis.
"Decepticons!" He proclaimed, "Your rightful lord and master has returned!" He glared as he walked past us, "Finish these pests," He ordered, "I have my own extermination to perform."
Megatron slowly stormed out of the room. Obeying their newly-returned master, the Vehicons powered up their weapons and began firing purple energon blast in our direction. Ratchet quickly picked up Raf, shielding him from the fire as he ducked behind a medical table.
Bumblebee managed to get in a few good shots at the Vehicons before glancing over at my hiding place in the corner. He ran over to me, motioning for me to get moving.
"Come on, Silver," He urged, "We don't have much time."
Nodding, I willed myself to go as fast as possible to where Raf and Ratchet were, Bumblebee following close behind.
"We are seriously neck-deep in it this time," The scout said, captioning the nightmare.
He continued to fire at the Decepticons as Ratchet protected Raf. For some reason, I had only just seen clearly how utterly and completely useless I was in battle. I had been shot, beat, punched and was about to black out.
In that moment, I realised how severe the effects of the energon blast to my chassis were. My optics began to flicker and my vision became blurred.
When punctured, the spark cannot properly pump energon around the frame – I was about to discover that.
Noticing my fading state, Ratchet carefully shook my shoulder, "Medical Officer Silver Sun, stay online. We cannot afford this if we want to get out of here."
I tried to force my optics to stay open, "I...can't..."
"Recite: what was Remedy's solution to involuntary stasis?"
I realised what he was saying, "To...increase alpha wave activity."
"Therefore, you must?"
"S-stay alert and...do not lose control of consciousness."
"Exactly," He said, "Do not fall asleep on us, kiddo."
I nodded, despite the fact that I wasn't sure if I could stay awake. I had to be strong. For once, I had to be less like myself and more like my sister. After he'd cleared the doorway, Bumblebee turned around. His optics widened as he saw my wound, seeing the injury properly for the first time.
"D-Did I do...th-that?" he couldn't even ask.
"Bumblebee, right now I am concerned more for escaping to get back to base than guilt," Ratchet told the scout.
Shaking himself from the realisation of what had happened, Bumblebee nodded.
To be honest, after that I didn't really recall much of what was said. I don't evenremember how we possibly managed to escape the ship.
All I know for sure is that we walked out of the room as fast as possible (which actually was the minimal speed to be able to use the word 'fast') and through the hallways of the warship. Ratchet carried Raf in his servo and helped me walk as Bumblebee scouted ahead, shooting any threatening Decepticons on site.
Maybe it was the confusion of having to navigate through the maze of hallways, maybe it was the daunting fear that we wouldn't make it out online combined with my lack of strength. Whatever the case and without warning, I began to feel my consciousness fading. No matter how many times Ratchet shouted for me to stay awake, I just couldn't.
I fell into stasis lockdown.