Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.


Sentinel: Okay, so are we going to get the usual run of excuses about why this took so long?

Authoress: *about to start normal run of excuses until he said that* Nope. I'm just going to say that life happens.

Fable: *smirks* Haven't you used that one before?

Authoress: I...*pouts* Fine. You win.

Trecke: *smiles* Oh, you are still the most gorgeous Authoress here my love.

Authoress: *blushes* You sure know how to flatter a girl Trecke.


Guest Review Response Section:

HappyKMPr: Thank you for the review! I normally don't like TFA Sentinel either. It was actually that fact that inspired me to write this. I wanted to experience a good side of him. But, that meant that I had to find a trigger point to change his personality. I figured Archa 7 was a good point (and before it).

I'll admit, Bumblebee has been hard to write for me, but I love the development that has started. You'll see in this chapter that there is definitely more to him and, while his mouth might not get him in trouble with Sentinel yet, it will eventually. His team is a more laid back team and Bumblebee is starting to feel that he needs to be more than laid back. You'll see the start of the training here, but there will be funny moments in training too. I just wanted to get some important issues out into the open first.

Can't answer that question yet (if Bumblebee will learn about the Archa 7 incident) but I will say that it will be a bumpy ride no matter what.

Again, thanks for the review, and hope you enjoy the update!


Chapter 6: Frailty of Life

Bumblebee's 1st P.O.V.

I felt my servos twitch in nervousness as I looked at the information in front of me. After the almost full-on fight that Sentinel and Optimus had almost gotten into the other solar, I thought that I should wake up early and look over the Autobot database on notes from the scouting association on how to be a good scout. While their more advanced stuff was secured for scouts who were registered under them, which I was definitely not, their basic database did give me some information that would be good to know to go into training.

But, from the information that I was reading...I couldn't even call myself a scout. Not even close. There were a number of skills that a scout should have developed and they were supposed to be careful about how they moved. I was definitely not able to do that yet. Honestly, I knew that I could if I trained, thanks to a few incidents with Prowl...mainly lost bets.

But, with how Sentinel seemed to train his team, I was sure that they would be testing me to see what I could do. I didn't like being so useless. It made me start to think back to boot camp. Abyssal, my boot camp instructor, was an aft that just liked to watch us run and liked to put us down.

Flashback:

"Come on you useless pieces of scrap!" The tall and broad mech yelled at us as we ran our practice courses. I could feel my intakes cycling as I dodged the lasers that, while harmless, would be counted against us. "I've seen bots with one leg run this better than you useless lot!"

I flinched as one of the physical barriers, a fist coming out of the wall, slammed into my side and I was thrown into Ironhide. "Hang in there." He said as he moved around me and continued running.

Ironhide wasn't a bad mech. We were friends for the most part but, with Abyssal's training course, you were counted as weak if you stopped in his course, even to help another cadet who had fallen. So, he had to move on.

"Bumbler!" I flinched as I realized that I hadn't gotten up fast enough. Scrap! I barely got to my knees before I felt a rough servo grab my neck cables and wrench me to my pedes. I flinched as I felt wires pinched. "If it wasn't for your speed, you would be completely useless. It wouldn't surprise me if they use you as cannon fodder to distract the Decepticons while real troops recover. You're useless!" He then roughly threw me ahead and I barely avoided falling again.

"Yes, sir sorry sir," I responded to the big mech quickly before starting to run away. I didn't want to be near him if I could help it.

My speed was all I had. So, I just had to get faster. I was going to be the fastest I could be. It was all that I was good for and I had to get faster. I wanted to be an Autobot soldier. I wanted to be the best. If I had to be fast to do that, then I was going to be the fastest. I didn't want to be cannon fodder.

The sound of a blaster charging behind me pushed me to go faster and I yelped as I felt Abyssal's shot graze my back and hit the barrier in front of me I slid under and continued to run. "You better keep running bug, or you are going to end up offline on the battlefield!" I shivered as his words echoed in my mind, and at one word in particular.

Offline.

I didn't want to offline. I had to get faster. A flinch traveled through me as I felt the blaster mark start to hurt. But, that didn't matter. I had to move faster. As I heard more shots start to be fired from Abyssal's own blaster and the sounds of my fellow cadets screaming rise, I felt my spark start to beat erratically. I had to get faster. I didn't want to get hurt anymore. I had to get faster.

End of Flashback.

"Bumblebee are you listening to me?"

I flinched and turned to see Ratchet standing there with an impatient look. Why was he looking at me like that? "Sorry, doc. Got...distracted." I then closed down the notes that I was looking at before looking at him. "What do you need?"

He motioned back to the med bay before saying, "I want to check you over to see if you are healing alright from the other solar."

With a nod, I followed the doc until I was on one of the berths in the med bay. Once I was settled, Ratchet took out one of his scanners and started it. Since it would be weird to just sit here in silence, and since I didn't want Ratchet asking about what I was doing when he found me, I figured I would ask about something that was bothering me. "Hey Ratchet, did you realize that things between boss bot and Sentinel were that bad?"

Ratchet hesitated in his scan for a nano before he continued the scan. "Honestly, I didn't realize it was that bad. For Sentinel to launch at Optimus for suggesting, from what I gathered, to forget what happened in the past, there must have been a lot more at play."

"Do you think that it has to do with what happened on Archa 7?" I pushed on since Ratchet was answering my questions. I wanted to get as much information from Ratchet as I could before I went and got some training from Sentinel and his team.

A nod was Ratchet's quick response. "I wouldn't doubt it, Bumblebee." He then plugged the scanner into the computer and, while that downloaded, he turned back to me. "Honestly, the files on the incident don't actually say much about what happened on the planet, and the trial didn't have much on it either. I tried looking when I joined Optimus and Elita but I didn't find much." Ratchet then sighed. "But, after the fight the other solar, I don't think that Optimus, Elita, or Sentinel will be willing to tell us about what happened."

Yeah, and that was why I was hoping that Ratchet might have some better insight that he didn't share the other solar. I was hoping that he had been holding back and the fight the other solar might have convinced him to tell me any information he was hiding. But, by the sound of it, he hadn't been holding anything back the other solar. This might make training this solar awkward but I had asked them to train me and I wasn't going to back off.

A beep came from the monitor that Ratchet had my scanner plugged into. Once Ratchet took it off, I took an initiative. "So, am I free to go doc?" Ratchet nodded and so I hopped off the berth. When I got to the door, since Ratchet was our team medic, then I felt that it was a good idea to tell him. "Oh, and doc bot,"

"What?" He asked me with a hesitant look.

I flinched at his tone but continued speaking. "Just wanted to let you know that I signed Fable's form."

I turned tailpipe and bolted as I saw the look of anger in Ratchet's optics. "You what!?" Yeah, it was probably a good idea to go on patrol for a bit.

Ratchet's 1st P.O.V.

That fragging slag-helmed idiot! I had shown him my form, and had given him all the warnings that signing one of those forms needed, and he had still signed it? But, as angry as I was with the idiot, this was his own choice. While Bumblebee was young, still a youngling in age technically, he was of age to make his own decisions and, in that same thought, the right to make his own mistakes.

I knew most of the team seemed to treat Bumblebee as an incapable youngling at times, even though he was about the same age as Bulkhead. It was his size with his age. As a scout-model bot, he wasn't sturdy when it came to large hits, like Bulkhead was, and wasn't as agile as Prowl was. But, his type model could use height to their advantage that most of our team did not realize. They were young, and I knew that they would see this eventually, but it would take time.

While I still planned on helping Bumblebee train when I could, I also knew that I had a lot of work to catch up on that needed to get done so I could do my part for the team. With Fable here, the psychotic mech that he was, he did remind me that there was work that I should have done that I hadn't done since joining Optimus' team. I needed to keep constant tabs on the state of my team's health, both mental and physical, and I hadn't given those kinds of exams to the team since I had joined them. So, I needed to find time to talk with Optimus and the others. Bumblebee was done, though he actually came to me. That was something new for me. Usually, I had to drag bots to get their exams.

And I had a feeling that was what I was going to have to do when it came to Optimus' and Elita's mental exams. And I had a feeling it would be more of a force to get them to the exam then I normally faced. With how interactions between the two teams had been, I had a feeling that I would have to dig information out of Optimus and Elita about whatever happened on Archa 7.

That was going to be a pain.

"Ratchet? Are you alright?" I turned and saw Arcee walk in. When I nodded toward her, because I really was, she sighed in relief. "That's good. I heard you yelling after Bumblebee and was worried. You haven't yelled like that in a while."

When I thought about it, she was right. I really hadn't been yelling like that lately so that might worry her. "No, I'm fine. I just think Bumblebee made a mistake in doing something, but that falls under patient medic confidentiality."

She nodded at that, but I could see confusion still in her optics. "Ratchet, why did Sentinel and Optimus fight like they did the other solar? I thought that you said they used to be good friends. But I didn't see that there."

I shook my head. "Something happened in the past between Sentinel, Optimus, and Elita that caused Sentinel to cut ties with the two of them. They haven't made up and, from what we saw the other solar, I don't think Sentinel is ready to make up anytime soon." And it was that answer that had me worried.

The tension between our two teams was noticeable and, with how unified the Decepticons seemed to be now, they would be able to pick up on the tension between the two teams soon...if they hadn't already. Decepticons were not idiots in general...and that was especially the group we were facing here. While the young bots on our team only knew Starscream as a backstabbing traitor that was prideful, I had heard of an almost completely different side of Starscream in my younger stellars during the fighting on Cybertron. A cunning strategist who could, at his peak, read the battle situation and make instant decisions that would, many times, cost us the battle.

If Starscream was making a return to that state of mind, then relations between our two teams needed to be fixed immediately. The next time we battled the Decepticons, I knew that they would see this weakness. And not only would they see it, but they would almost certainly use it against us.

And he wasn't the only one that I was worried about. Megatron was a fierce gladiator, coming out as a champion from the Pits of Kaon, and you didn't do that from brute strength alone. With the disarray that the Decepticons had been in when we had first challenged them, and defeated them, Megatron had been nowhere near the top of his game. However, with this seeming reunification of the Decepticons, that was another worry that we would have to face.

All-in-all, the point was that if the Decepticons now realized the dysfunctional working union between our two teams, then I had little doubt that we would be overrun and demolished.

Sentinel's 1st P.O.V.

Being inside this human medical facility felt strange. Micha and I were sitting in the seats provided in the waiting area as Raum was talking with one of the receptionists who was sitting behind the desk. Nothing seemed chaotic about this place so far and, from observation, I could already tell that not everyone who worked here shared Lizzie's view on how to act while working at a hospital.

Yes, the receptionist that Raum was talking to was cheerful, but the other two looked bored like they would want to be anywhere else but here. The one female closest to us even had her feet up while the other one was painting her nails. The male, who was the one talking with Raum, seemed to be studying Micha and me nervously along with Raum. The male seemed to realize that we were different, though how different I wasn't sure. And, until I was sure, I wouldn't react one way or another. The third person, another male, seemed to be asleep at his desk.

Of course, my mood this solar was not helped by the situation that happened the previous solar. The fact that Optimus thought he could get away with that...I just couldn't. Teams were supposed to operate independently and a well-trained team should be able to work with other teams in the field without pre-preparation. When a team couldn't work independently, then they actually were the fault on the battlefield. This worry that Optimus had with our teams working together just showed me how little prepared his own team was with fighting the Decepticons.

"Really? And you've only been working here how long?" Raum seemed to really be getting into his conversation with the

I was interested in where their conversation had gone so I moved closer to hear. "Oh, I've been at the hospital here for about three months. Before this, I was in a small town called Jasper for about three years. I was lucky to be hired on but I got my paperwork approved and I have gone from small-town guy to big city man." He then let out a laugh, which Raum joined in with. "Honestly though, if it wasn't for Lizzie, I don't think I would be even still working here."

That was interesting. How did Lizzie help this other human? "How did she do that?" Trecke asked as he walked up to him, seemingly reading my processor.

The human male jumped at that and looked nervous. "Well during my first month here, there was a problem with drugs disappearing from the pharmacy. Since newbie nurses get the short end of the stick and have to check all the locks before leaving, then I was immediately suspected. There was even evidence planted that said I did it."

"Still think you did, Evan." We all turned to the female doing her nails. "It was your pass-card that they found in the cabinet that had the medicine missing. Chelsea shouldn't have gotten,"

"Finish that sentence, Julie, and I'm going to start thinking that you have something to hide." We all jumped, even the sleeping male, when Lizzie's voice suddenly said that. Lizzie walked up to us, green scrubs on before she stopped at the counter with a glare at the girl. "Evan has been completely cleared of all wrongdoing in that case. Chelsea screwed up in her attempt on a very large point and you know it." She then motioned to the nail polish. "You have two minutes to get that crap out of my sight before I write you up. This is a hospital, not a nail salon." This Julie glared at Lizzie, who did not flinch in the slightest before she let out a huff and took her nail painting supplies away.

"Sorry for sleeping Lizzie," The sleeping male yawned.

Instead of looking upset at the male, like I thought she would, Lizzie's face softened. "I know Tim. Twenty hours of classes this semester and a part-time job here? It's a lot to take in. Try to get a little more sleep when you can. Remember, my place is always open if things get too hectic at your apartment." She then held out a key, seemingly as a reminder, before she put it away and turned toward Evan, the one that was telling us the story. When he didn't speak, Lizzie sighed. "Well, go ahead with the story. I think my guests would be pretty upset if I pulled them away during your story." She smirked after she spoke that.

Cheeky human. I was starting to see why Raum hooked onto her as he did.

Evan nodded toward Lizzie before he looked to us. "Like I was saying, the evidence planted said I did it. My fingerprints were even on the outside of the cabinet. But, I had an explanation for that, since I was supposed to take inventory. But, I couldn't explain how my keycard got in there. Lizzie was one of the few that believed I didn't do it,"

"I did too." The barely awake Tim waved his hand.

"You did too, of course." Evan gave to him. "Even though Lizzie's only job here is a receptionist by title, she is actually floor leader for us non-doctor staff and holds hiring and firing ability here." I turned to look at Lizzie in surprise, as did the others. Her face was red and she seemed to be avoiding eye-contact. Was she embarrassed? Why would she be embarrassed?

Raum decided to question that very thing. "Lizzie, you are a boss here?"

Lizzie's face grew a little redder. "Well, sorta. The director is actually in charge of firing people. But, he has me keep an eye on anyone who seems to be doing something against the hospital. Plus, he has me watch the floor and act as the floor leader." She then quickly motioned to Evan. "Now, get on with the rest."

She was trying to divert attention from herself. Guess we would let her. She seemed embarrassed enough for now. "Anyways," Evan continued. "Lizzie pushed the director to have the keycard be sent to an independent lab for testing. Turns out she had good instincts on that. The only prints on the card were Lizzie's since she had handed me the key that afternoon, and Chelsea's."

"What about your prints?" Micha asked. I was curious too. Wouldn't his prints have been on his card?

But, with how this Evan was shaking his head, that must not be. "No. Unluckily for Chelsea, when I had received the card from Lizzie, I had been gloved up so I asked her to put in in my coat pocket. I never got a chance to touch the card before Chelsea took the card out." He then looked at Lizzie. "If it wasn't for Lizzie pushing the investigation to the keycard, then I would probably be behind bars right now." He then let out a laugh.

Lizzie smiled, but I found myself studying her. She was turning out to be a very interesting human the more we interacted with her. We definitely needed to have another day with her like we did the other solar. That roller rink might be a learning experience we could use and Lizzie would be the best human, that I had met so far, to help us learn.

"Okay, storytime is over," Lizzie said before looking motioning to the three of us, badges in her hands. "You three with me. There's...someone I want you all to meet."

As the three of us put on the badges from Lizzie, I noticed Evan and Tim give each other knowing looks. Just who is it that we were going to be meeting? The three of us followed Lizzie to an elevator and, once we were inside, I noticed that Lizzie used her keycard on the slot in the elevator before hitting the X button on the keypad. "Patients, who have an unknown disease?" Ruam surprised me when he asked that.

"Someone did their homework on this place," Lizzie said to Raum. "Yes, this specific floor, though, is reserved for patients who have an unknown disease that is not contagious. So, no masks needed." The elevator then stopped before the doors opened. "This way." Lizzie then led us out of the elevator and down the very unusually decorated floor. It almost felt like I was walking into a home built for humans. "There aren't many people on this floor, so we try to make it feel as comfortable as possible."

"Just how many are on this floor?" I asked her, curious about how many of these humans had non-identifiable diseases.

"One."

I was going to ask Lizzie more about this one person when I saw a reason for me not to. There, sitting in a chair facing the window, was a girl with black hair, with a lime green streak in it. She hadn't said anything since we got in here and I was curious about that. "Hello there," Raum said as he started to move forward. I could hear a medic tone in his voice that he took when he met a sick person. Oh, he would probably ask to dissect her after she waved at him, but at least he started off on the right pede.

The girl in the seat shakily stood before turning toward us. She seemed to look curious at us for a moment, and I felt a little on the spot when she seemed to stare at me longer. However, after a click, she smiled widely and waved at us. "This disease Anastasia has, it causes her to not have a voice, along with a few other issues. But, she is the most talkative person I have ever met." Anastasia then did some hand motions toward Lizzie before Lizzie nodded. "Right, introductions. Guys, this is Anastasia Elpis. She can hear just fine so you just have to speak normally to her. I'll be your translator."

"The name's Raum Corvus." Raum spoke before he smiled widely. "Do you think that I can dissect you to find out how this disease works?"

Micha immediately slapped the back of Raum's head but, instead of being scared or nervous, this Anastasia simply made some hand signals to Lizzie. What was causing me to question her reaction was the smile that she had on her face. "Anastasia says that only if the hospital gives her body up when she dies."

While Micha facepalmed, Raum smiled and ran up to the sick human. "You are now tied for my favorite human." He was hugging her as he said this. "I'll make sure to take extra good care of your body when I get it."

This time, it was Lizzie who slapped Raum's head. "Back off Raum. You'll have to fight the hospital for it."

Instead of looking down, Raum simply smiled. "Won't be too hard of a fight."

Before that could devolve anymore, Micha took over. "While Raum has shown you the worst of us, I will introduce myself. I am Micha Fairfax. It is a pleasure to meet you my love."

Anastasia smiled at him and gave a few hand signals. "She says that she is glad to meet you too. Also, she wants to know…" Lizzie had been translating as Anastasia continued to sign and, while I wasn't sure what the mute human was saying, Lizzie must not want to say it. "I am not asking him that Stasi! You can just forget it." I was curious about that but, with the almost teasing look Anastasia was giving Lizzie, something told me that it was best for me to drop the issue.

Also, I realized that it was my turn to introduce myself. "And my name is Michael Lincoln. It is nice to meet you, Anastasia." I internally flinched when her eyes focused on me. They were green. She seemed to remind me so much of how Pandimala...well, her eyes were. Both of these humans reminded me of the femme. Maybe that was why I was already finding myself attaching to both of these human females, even though I hadn't known them long.

Anastasia made a few hand signals to Lizzie at that. "Stasi says that she thinks that it is great to meet you as well. All of you. She also says that she hopes you can come by more often." Anastasia must have said something else that Lizzie didn't want to translate because her face turned red before she shook her head. "Anyways, we can't stay long, unfortunately, because Lizzie's doctor likes her to have a lot of rest. If he found out we were here for too long, he would ban me from the floor for a week."

At that, Anastasia's eyes widened and she started to shoo us away. However, before they left, Micha turned to Anastasia and fell on one knee. "Oh Anastasia, my beloved, I will return to you no matter if I must scale this building!" And there was the love proposal from Micha. I was wondering how long that was going to take.

"Come on," I said, grabbing the lover by the scruff of his collar. "We need to leave her to rest so we don't have to do that." But, before I turned away from Anastasia again, I saw that she was sitting in a different seat, laughing silently as I dragged Micha away.

When we reached the elevator, the four of us got inside before Lizzie hit access to the ground level. While I didn't say anything during that meeting, something told me that there was another reason that Lizzie had us meet Anastasia. "Lizzie, why did you have us meet Anastasia?" It seemed like Micha was on the same mind, track that I was.

Before the elevator could reach the floor we were heading to, Lizzie reached to the control panel and flipped a switch. Immediately, the elevator stopped and the light above us went out. An emergency shut-off switch. Why was she using that? "I guess I should have known you guys would pick up on that." She let out a sigh. "I love you guys, honestly. I see you as friends. But, I was around during the Battle of Detroit."

She meant when Optimus' team took down Megatron. Something had to have happened during the battle that caused this meeting today. "What happened?"

Lizzie looked nervous for a moment before she spoke. "There was barely any warning. One minute I was just walking to the hospital for work, and the next there were explosions. Buildings were being destroyed left and right as that fight went on. It seemed like you Cybertronians had no idea about what was around you. I had to watch as so many people died, hurt by the debris from the battle. I know that you all fight the Decepticons, but until I met Raum in the park, I honestly had the same opinion on both Autobots and Decepticons. Neither of them bothered to look, to see who it was they were hurting. Just as long as they got there way, and claimed their victory." She then took a gasped breath. "When the fight was over, while most people were cheering for the victorious Autobots, I was with the teams who were gathering and counting the dead." Tears were falling from Lizzie's eyes at that and I felt nervous. I still wasn't good around femmes.

But, Micha had me covered as he put a servo on Lizzie's shoulder. Well, he at least reacted, unlike myself and Raum. "Lizzie, I'm sorry," Micha spoke.

To my surprise, Lizzie shook her head. "No, it wasn't your fault. I know that now. I didn't blame every Cybertronian, even while it was happening. But, I didn't have any other Cybertronians to base my thoughts on you all. I'm always ready to meet new people, but I have to admit that meeting the three of you was nerve-wracking. But, you all have shown me a better side to Cybertronians."

"Lizzie," I started, causing the slightly crying human to look at me. "How does that explain why you had us meet Anastasia?"

She seemed to pause at my question. "I felt like, given what happened...on that day, then maybe showing some of you just how frail human life is might help in fights in the future. As Anastasia shows, our own bodies can fight against us at times. This virus that Anastasia has could kill her at any moment. We just don't know. So, we can't afford your fights being careless. We, humans, know war, and know that there can be innocent casualties at times...but at the scale that fight was...that was careless. I don't want...I can't…" She then started to cry again.

Before I could think about what I was doing, I stepped up to Lizzie and pulled her close to me. Her crying, it was hurting my spark to hear it. Team Orion had really screwed up with that fight, more than what was reported, and we were seeing the results of that. Lizzie, a human who was so accepting of us when we met when, with her first experience with Cybertronians, all she had seen was the death of her own people. "Everything will be alright. I promise you," She looked at me. From next to me, I could see that Micha and Raum were nervous. "I will do everything in my power to make sure that human casualties can be prevented entirely while I am here."

When the elevator started moving again, I saw that Trecke had flipped the switch to return to ground level. I couldn't blame them. They weren't the best with femmes either. They were even worse than me when it came to dealing with them usually. Fable scared them and Trecke made them jealous.

Once the elevator reached the main floor, Lizzie let me go and backed up, still with red eyes and some unshed tears. However, she was smiling again and that was good...I think. "Thank you, Michael," Lizzie said, wiping away the remaining tears. We all handed her our visitor badges before stepping out of the open doors. "I'll see you all later?"

"You can count on it Lizzie baby," Raum said with a wink.

She nodded toward us before shutting the elevator door. She must have some work to do. "So, my love, my caesar," Micha started, "not that I don't love doing this, but we did promise my love bug that we would train him today."

I sighed as I was reminded of this. We did give our word to the yellow mini-bot and we would keep our word. "Come on," I said as I motioned them outside. The alley next to the hospital would be a decent place to release our soliforms. As the three of us walked there, however, I thought back to both of the human femmes we were now friends with. I had to make sure that I kept my promise to Lizzie. Humans shouldn't be second thoughts while we were here. This was their planet and we were the guests. Optimus' team, from how Lizzie had experienced them, had not set a good example.

I would make sure I did right.

Fable's 1st P.O.V.

The bug was nervous.

To get a better feel for his skills, we were having Bumblebee run a test run that was specifically set up for scouts. We knew, given the training he did with Team Orion, that this was not going to go well. However, we were doing this to see as much as we could about where to start with the bug. His records didn't hold much about his training during boot camp, which was odd but not completely unusual, and we needed to see how we needed to work with him.

Plus, as a bonus, we were planning on asking Bumblebee about his boot camp experience once he ran through the simulator. He would be tired and less likely to hold anything back from our questions. Knowing who trained him in boot camp would allow us to see if any other bots suffered similar poor training or if it was just Bumblebee. To allow a bot with Bumblebee's lack of training to get through boot camp...it was inexcusable on so many levels and I would take great pleasure in dissecting the idiot.

Anyways, Bumblebee was standing in the training room, battle-tense and waiting for the program to begin. You could tell by the look in his optics, though, that he was extremely nervous. Of course, that nervousness could be due to a number of factors. After the display that his leader dared to cause the other solar, he should be a little hesitant. But, we don't blame the team for the actions of a bot on the team. That Prime was just lucky that we knew our precious leader was stressed by being here with them as it was.

Another factor, of course, was the fact that most of the bug's team didn't like us and made it known. They would avoid us and, outside of the rarely allowed to be seen techno-organic of the team, they would go out of the way to stay away from us. A lack of visitors at this base was a usual occurrence. That was part of how surprising it was that the bug showed up that night.

Either which way, the bug was nervous and I knew that would not reflect well on his test. We had to interact with the bug more outside of training to help him relax around us. I should schedule a casual dissection exam to help him out.

I stood next to my Prime as the training simulator started its countdown. "This should give us a basic idea on where to go with him," Sentinel commented as the countdown reached its end.

As the bug moved out of the way of the blaster, I nodded but didn't say a word. I could tell, just by how the bug was moving, that he had done some research before coming here. We had watched past footage of the bug fighting to prepare for today and he was changing a few tactics that he used to fight before.

And that was the only positive I had.

The bug's moves were sloppy, and his awareness factor was down more than I was expecting. This run was similar to the one that was used to graduate cadets from boot camp. The fact that he was struggling like this made everything worse for my opinion of his instructor. Just knowing that Bumblebee was still alive right now was a miracle that would make me fall down and praise Primus, if I was that kind of bot.

As this training session moved forward, I noticed that Bumblebee was reacting strangely. Every time something shot at him, or something surprised him, he would get jumpier and jumpier. "Something's wrong." Trecke said. I could see that his shoulders were tense and that meant that he was extremely worried about something. Who knew that being in close quarters to my teammate so often over a short period of time would give me this insight?

But, to what he was saying, I knew that he was right. "He's breaking down." My leader said with a studying glance.

A scream coming from the training room caused all of us to jump and I looked to see Bumblebee collapsed and holding his helm in his servos. I barely heard my leader's voice, much less what he was saying, as I ran into the room and knelt down next to the bug before starting my scans. Physically, the bug was fine. But, when I did a light processor scan, his circuits were going haywire. He needed to get calm now or I would have to knock him out. Thankfully, I kept a sedative on servo just in case. Not one strong enough to knock the bug out but this would calm his systems.

I felt him flinch as I put the sedative in his lines. As he calmed down, the rest of the team came in and stood around us. Sentinel and Trecke knew that I wanted to talk to somebot first when something like this happened. Even though I hadn't been a part of the team long, we had an issue with this with Team Athenia. During one of our last training sessions together before they left, Ironhide had a breakdown similar to this. But, he wouldn't talk about why before his team left. I told him that I wanted an explanation the next time I saw him.

"I'll go faster. I'll go faster. Faster. Faster. Only good when I'm fast." Bumblebee said more to himself than us. "Must go faster. Must go faster."

"Bumblebee." The bug in my servos almost jumped as Sentinel's voice broke through his mantra. The bug looked up at my leader, and I could see the fear in his optics before Sentinel continued. "You are fine. Calm down."

Even though it took a few clicks, Bumblebee's intakes slowly calmed down. Even though I could still feel that the bug was tense, he was calm enough to talk to. "Love bug," Bumblebee's helm snapped to Trecke. "if you are ready to talk, can you tell us where your processor went during that training session?" I was sure that we all knew that this had originated from his boot camp. But, asking the bug that directly might be too risky with his current processor state. Letting Bumblebee bring it up himself would be best.

"Boot camp." The words sounded like it was cursed by Unicron. "Faster, I have,"

"Calm down bug." I calmed the bug as I felt him start to panic again.

Bumblebee took a few more intakes before he nodded, probably letting me know that he was calm again. "Bumblebee," The bug looked up at Sentinel. I could see fear in the bugs optics. "who was your boot camp instructor?"

At first, Bumblebee was quiet. For a few clicks, we all waiting in silence for the bug to speak. From what I saw of the bug's optics, he was debating. His chassis was tense since I was still lightly restraining him just in case he started to breakdown again. What was he thinking about? Were the memories from his experience in boot camp really this bad that he wouldn't even tell us the instructor's name?

After what seemed like a million stellars, I felt some tension leave Bumblebee before he spoke. "Abyssal." I could barely make out the name when he spoke the first time. It was not one that I was familiar with. When my leader and Trecke looked like they hadn't heard, I was going to repeat the name when the bug spoke up a little. "Abyssal."

This time, there was a reaction from both mechs from my team. Trecke tensed and his mouth turned into a hard line. Meanwhile, my precious leader's optics narrowed slightly at the name and I could tell that he was angry as it was. I had a feeling that, once we got Bumblebee's story from him, and I put him to rest in one of the extra rooms, I would get filled in on the mech.

"Love bug," Trecke knelt down to Bumblebee's level, "tell us about boot camp. Please?"

I would give Trecke one thing; when he asked a question, he made you want to answer. While there was slight hesitation on the bug's part, one solid look into Trecke's optics was all it took for the bug to burst open the cage that he had the information in and he spilled the story to us. It was hard to control my anger at what I was hearing about this mech. To willingly injure a new cadet as he did, and to get away with this for so long, it made me sick. When I met this 'Abyssal' he would not walk away unscathed. Whether it be mentally or physically, I would tear him to pieces.

My personal preference was physical.

Once Bumblebee finished his boot camp experience to us, I gave the bug a relaxant to help him calm down before I moved him to one of the spare rooms. It was still early enough where Team Orion wouldn't be wondering where the bug was yet. That would give the bug time to recover. I would recommend, once he woke up, that he speaks to his medic about this. While the medic didn't think highly of me, and that was easy enough to see, I did look up to him as an example. Plus, Ratchet was the bug's official medic and should be aware of this mental situation in his teammate.

When the bug was settled in the room, I quietly left and shut the door before going to the rec room, where Sentinel and Trecke were waiting for me. Once I sat with them, I asked what I wanted to ask. "Who is this 'Abyssal' and when can I meet him personally?"

From the focused look Sentinel had on his faceplate, I had a feeling that my second question was not important. "You haven't heard of Abyssal?"

I shook my helm at Trecke's question. "I had enough drama in the medical field and I wasn't allowed near operating tables much. My information on gossip outside of the medical field is sorely lacking."

Finally, my leader responded to my question. "Abyssal Major, who given Bumblebee's age would have not earned rank yet during his boot camp, is known for the number of bots who offline on the battlefield not long after they go through his training. Only the top two or three bots in each of his graduating classes, for the most part, survive even now. Since Abyssal has so many bots that he oversees and so many that are sent to the front lines, it was easy for some to assume that it was just because he sent so many bots from his training, which had high graduation rates, to the battlefields. But, this changes things."

Yes, it did. But, as I looked at my Prime's faceplate, I saw that there was something else going through his processor. "My precious leader, what else is your processor processing?"

He looked between Trecke and me for a few nanos before he let out a vent. "Before the incident on Archa 7," So, back when he was in contact with our second member, Pandimala. "his name was one of the ones that I considered for joining our team."

"I am glad that you didn't bring him in my dearest," Trecke started. "However, what caused you to not choose him?"

I had a feeling about what it could be. From the stories our leader told us about many of his choices before the incident, there was always one major factor that helped him. "When I told her about Abyssal, she suggested that I not bring him on." That was what I thought. Pandimala, from the stories Sentinel told us, had a special ability to spot a bad bot from just a little information.

"Did she say what was wrong with him?" Trecke asked.

To my dismay, Sentinel shook his helm. "No, but when I gave her the information I had on the mech, she was very adamant that I not have him on the team. She couldn't explain it to me, but she said that there was something dark about Abyssal."

I shook my helm but didn't speak. This Abyssal was a bot that I wanted on my table, and in as much pain as possible. Between the bug's testimony, our leader's information, and the fact that he made the official second member of our team...the one that I would never be able to meet, nervous was enough for me to strap him down and give him a painful offlining. He was the kind of Autobot that made me play with the notion of defecting before my current leader came on my scanners.

After a cycle of discussing more about Abyssal and Bumblebee's training moving forward, I went and retrieved the bug and escorted him to the warehouse base. While I did, I informed him that our next training session would be the next solar and I also suggested that he have a spark to spark with Ratchet about what he told us about his boot camp. His kind of mental breakdown could affect the team in battles and the medic of the team needed to be aware of the issue.

While that last part needed convincing from me, the bug reluctantly agreed to tell Ratchet once I informed the bug that the conversation he would have with his medic would be confidential. He might have been worried that his team might not understand, given that he was the only one from his team who went through Abyssal's boot camp. I also warned the bug, before we parted ways, that I wanted to do a full physical of him before the next training session began. He looked very nervous at that, but it was the normal nervous that bots had around me so I had simply smiled at him and told him to not be late.

As I drove back to the base, however, thoughts of everything that happened this solar went into my helm. Between the two breakdowns I was witness to, Lizzie's and Bumblebee's, I knew that life was a fragile thing and that Abyssal would learn that when I finally got my servos drenched in his energon.


Trecke: Well...that was quite deep and emotionally moving.

Authoress: *nods* I know. But, you all need to have these instances.

Sentinel: *nods* Yes, but your other story had a deep update too. Are you trying to depress everyone?

Authoress: *shrugs*


AN: And here is the next chapter! I know it got heavy, but it was the time for it. This chapter had some deep evaluating from the Autobots and we learn that the Battle of Detroit took a deeper toll than originally shown. Hope everything looked like crap. I decided to change a detail for later but, to do it, I had to work that change in here so it took longer to type than I thought.

Next chapter we will see some Decepticon stuff. Should be fun! Plus, who knows what information will come in to play?

So, here are the chapter titles for the next couple of chapters!

Chapter 7: Decepticon Peculiarities

Chapter 8: Diving into Humanity's Past

Chapter 9: ... (Find out Next time!)

So, since you all hang out here enough...I think, you know the drill. Drop a review, even to say hi! I love the reviews! They let me know how the story is going and where I might need to add some things later. Until next time, TTYL! *thinking too deeply*