AN: I wanted to have this chapter for this story for two reasons. The first being that it helps the plot of the story and the overall plot of the trilogy. The second is because the two-part episode of Transformers Prime that this chapter is based on is in my opinion one of the most touching ones of the series, as it really gives you a sense of how dedicated Ratchet is to restoring Bumblebee's voice box and just making sure Bumblebee is well in general, but it also shows that even Bumblebee has days where he can't see a bright side and to see someone like Bumblebee so upset like that it really kind of makes you sympathize and feel for him. Anyways on to the story.
I do not own anything from either of the Gundam or Transformers franchises.
Chapter 16: Operation Cosmos
It was another in many peaceful days for the Autobots and the rest of the nation of Orb. To some that would mean that they were facing the calm before the storm, but for others it just meant that things were incredibly, undeniably, boring. Right now that especially held true for Bumblebee, as the young scout was currently taking on the task that would be considered the bane of any soldier's existence, monitor duty. The young scout was on this dreaded assignment as the other Autobots had taken to conduct routine patrols in different parts of the globe when they were not helping to work on the Omega II, and as such, even Ratchet was not able to remain at the base to man the Ground Bridge at all times, so the Autobots needed someone to fill in when they were not doing a patrol or working on the ship. Bumblebee had the unfortunate pleasure of drawing the short straw for that this morning and was now just hoping that Wheeljack would hurry up and get back from his patrol so the wrecker could relieve him of this irritating task.
Fortunately for him, Bumblebee did have one way to pass the time, and that was by contacting a certain Coordinator that was currently working at Morgenroete, and by talking he means trying once again to get Kira to take a break from his work for a minute. "But Kira, if there was ever I time I wanted you to take a break it would be right now! It's so boring here and the only other ones here right now are Arcee and Cagalli. I do NOT want to be the only guy here with two girls, Kira," Bumblebee whined.
"So what, you want me and Cagalli to double date with you and Arcee or something," Kira asked from his end of the comm.
"A, NO I don't want to double date or any kind of date with Arcee, so stop suggesting that I do! B, do you want to be left alone with those two for as long as I have been?"
"Yeah whatever you say Bumblebee," Kira smirked. "Besides I'm nearly finished with this program for the support OS and I want it to be finished by the time that the Archangel and Omega II are ready to head out again."
"I'm pretty sure that the Archangel will have to let you finish with your work before you leave, seeing as to do otherwise would be dishonoring the deal that the captain made with Lord Uzumi,"Bumblebee reasoned.
"Maybe, but I don't want to inconvenience everyone by making you all wait for me to finish this thing."
"Hate to break it to you Kira, but technically, we're already waiting for you and the Archangel to finish up so we can leave."
"Wait what," Kira asked, completely shocked. "I thought the repairs on Omega II weren't finished yet."
"Actually, we finished the repairs on the ship itself a while back. All the work that's being done on it now is just a result from Optimus requesting that we install a Ground Bridge in the ship so that we can use it when we need to and so we can avoid just having to rely on the one here at Alpha I," Bumblebee revealed. The idea behind having a Ground Bridge on the Omega II was definitely a smart move as the Autobots only had the one in the base at the moment so naturally there was cause for concern of what would happen if the base's Ground Bridge went down or simply if the base were attacked and they needed a quick escape to the ship.
"I guess that makes sense," Kira admitted. "Besides even if the whole double date thing wasn't what you were suggesting, I feel like it would be really weird."
"What the idea of me and Arcee being all lovey-dovey around you and Cagalli seems as strange to you as it does to me?"
"So you keep saying," Kira muttered.
"I heard that!"
"Sorry, but no it's not that. I actually meant the idea of me and Cagalli dating. For some reason it really weirds me out, and it kind of makes me feel a little sick to my stomach as well for some reason."
"You make it sound like dating her would be the worst thing in the world," Bumblebee observed.
"No that's not what I mean. It's just…I can't really explain what it is," Kira told him. "I feel like there is a connection between me and Cagalli, but it's not a romantic one. It's more like I feel like I knew her in a certain sense a long time ago, but it was so long ago that I can't remember it. Like a connection between you and a long lost family member or something if that makes any sense."
Bumblebee could see from the expression on Kira's face that he was serious about this. For some reason Kira thought there was something about his relationship to Cagalli that he felt like he should know but for some reason he did not have a clue what it was. "Yeah I kind of know what that's like," Bumblebee told him. "When I first met Cliffjumper in school back on Cybertron, I felt like we had met somewhere before, but I couldn't put my servo on it. It wasn't until later on that we found out our carriers had actually introduced us to each other once when we were really little kids, but since we only met that one time and did not see each other again for years the memory didn't stick."
"Do you think that might be what the deal is with me and Cagalli," Kira asked. Bumblebee would have answered, but he had to stop and answer an incoming call for a Ground Bridge from one of the Bots that was patrolling. Bumblebee quickly pulled down the lever for the Ground Bridge activation, and a moment after the green vortex had activated Wheeljack rolled in and transformed to robot mode.
"Hey Bee," the Wrecker greeted. "Anything worthwhile to report?"
"Nope just another dull morning unless you count me having to do an encore performance of 'Convince the Workaholic Kira to Take a Break' as exciting," Bumblebee replied.
"Well I guess that's better than receiving bad news," Wheeljack replied. "Still the fact that it's been so long since the last sighting of any 'Cons is really not sitting right with me. Well, I guess you'd better get out there yourself."
"Yeah, and it's about time to! I've been itching to burn some rubber," Bumblebee replied. Wheeljack just shook his head in amusement at the scout, as he knew how fond Bumblebee was of being able to just drive in his alt mode whenever he got the chance, a fact that was no secret to any Autobot that had ever met the scout.
"Well just be careful out there. You don't want to get your girlfriend all upset if you came back in anything less than good shape," Wheeljack teased as he activated the Ground Bridge to the coordinates that Bumblebee was to patrol.
"Yeah, yeah, and Arcee is NOT my girlfriend." With that Bumblebee had transformed and raced off through the vortex to his patrol route for that day.
"Uh, hello? Bumblebee, are you still there," Kira asked. Wheeljack turned and saw that Bumblebee had left his comm. line to the young man opened when he left.
"Sorry Kira," Wheeljack answered. "Bumblebee actually just left for his patrol for today. Hope he wasn't bothering you too much."
"Nah not really. He was just trying to convince me to take a break, but I'm really close to finishing this so…"
"Okay I gotcha. Oh and Kira." At Kira' questioning glance Wheeljack told him, "Take a break and come down here for a bit sometime before you pass out from working yourself to death." Wheeljack shut off the comm. line before Kira could protest. Wheeljack then chuckled to himself for bit after that, but it did nothing to save him from monitor duty or alleviate the bad feeling he was getting in his gut that something was going to happen today, and it would not be a good thing.
A few hours after Bumblebee had hit the road for his patrol, the scout was just cruising along a canyon road whirring a small tune to himself. "I've been beaten down Decepticons, all the live long cycle."
"Hey Bee," Wheeljack then interrupted. "I'm getting a weird energy reading near your location. It might be nothing, but we should still check it out. Bulk will be there soon in case you need backup."
"Roger that Wheeljack, but tell Bulkhead not to worry too much. I'll have this wrapped up by the time he gets there," Bumblebee replied as he accelerated toward the coordinates of the reading that Wheeljack had just sent him, barely registering Wheeljack's chuckle of amusement at his confidence.
As soon as he had arrived at the location and made sure no one was around to notice, Bumblebee quickly transformed and moved to get a better look at whatever was sending out the signal, but to his surprise, there was nothing there. Bumblebee raised an eyebrow in confusion at this, and moved closer to where the signal originated from, thinking that he just could not see it yet. He kept walking with a scanner out until finally he was right on top of whatever should have been giving out the reading, but he still saw nothing. The next thing he knew, Bumblebee had stepped on something that sent a major shock through his system until he fell unconscious.
Not a moment after the large scout had collapsed from his surprise shock, a group of men in black ops uniforms moved in on the scout as a helicopter flew in from above them. "Hurry it up, there's no telling how soon the others will be here or how long he'll be out," the leader told them.
The soldiers worked quickly, using something to cut through Bumblebee's armor and into the scout himself until they had reached what they wanted and pulled it out. It appeared to be spherical in shape for the most part and was gold in color. As soon as they had it out, the men placed the device they had taken out of Bumblebee into a containment unit that had been lowered from the helicopter and quickly left the area. A few seconds after the mysterious men had left, Bulkhead rolled up, and the first thing he saw was an unconscious Bumblebee on the ground. "Bee! Bee, are you okay? Come on Bee answer me," Bulkhead shouted as he shook the scout.
Finally Bumblebee came to and saw Bulkhead standing over him looking concerned. "Hey what happened," Bulkhead asked.
"I…I don't know," Bumblebee replied as he stood up slowly. "I was checking out the reading that Wheeljack picked up at base, there was this shock, and I fell into a temporary stasis."
"You sure you're okay though Bumblebee?" Bulkhead was no doctor, but he could tell that the scout did not look so good, and the way he was moving as he stood up was not inspiring confidence.
"Yeah Bulk I'm fine. Let's just see if we can catch up to whomever it was that attacked me."
"Alright, they probably didn't get too far anyways so we shouldn't have any trouble catching up to them. Let's roll," Bulkhead then ran back to the road transforming as he did and started to drive off. Bumblebee went to follow him, but then stopped short. He then seemed to focus hard for a minute, as if he was trying to do something that should have been easy for him, and nothing happened.
Seeing that Bumblebee was neither following him nor assuming his vehicle mode, Bulkhead stopped short and quickly reversed back to over to Bumblebee as he transformed once again. "What's the matter? Are we rolling or what," Bulkhead asked.
Once he asked that, Bumblebee seemed to strain in doing something again, and Bulkhead could see parts of him, such as his doors and chest shifting for a moment, before the reverted back to the way they were before. Bumblebee started to gain a panicked look as he trilled out, "Bulkhead, something's wrong with me! I…I can't transform Bulkhead! I CAN'T TRANSFORM!"
"Whoa, whoa, Bumblebee calm down, it's probably nothing," Bulkhead tried to reassure his friend, but he was anything but successful as Bumblebee continued to have a small panic attack while continuing to try and transform that was starting to worry him. He then quickly tapped his comm. link and called out, "Jackie, get a Ground Bridge to our location now, and tell Ratchet that we need him and his medical kit at the base yesterday! There's something wrong with Bumblebee!"
A few hours later, the entirety of the Autobot team had assembled at the base after receiving news of Bumblebee's inability to transform to vehicle mode along with Kira, Murrue, Cagalli, Miriallia, Tolle, and Sai. Bumblebee was sitting on an examination table as Ratchet scanned the scout trying to find the problem.
"Anything yet Ratchet," Arcee asked, worriedly.
"Nothing more than there was since you last asked me three minutes ago Arcee," Ratchet replied, clearly annoyed with the femme's constant querying of his progress in finding the problem with the scout.
"Do you at least have a hunch about what's wrong with him," Sai asked, almost as worriedly as Arcee.
"Well I'm hoping that this is nothing more than some minor damage to Bumblebee's T-Cog."
"His what," Miriallia asked, with a clear confusion that was matched by every other human that was present in the room.
"It's short for Transformation Cog, the biomechanical organ that all Transformers possess," Arcee explained. "It's what allows us to scan and change into vehicles as well as access our default weapons."
"And I'm hoping it's just some minor damage that shouldn't be too hard to repair," Ratchet finished. A moment later, Ratchet's scanner beeped, signaling that it found something, but it was not something Ratchet wanted to see on the readout. "By the AllSpark!"
"What is it? What's wrong," Kira asked, now getting more worried than he was before.
"Bumblebee's T-Cog isn't damaged. It's been removed," Ratchet exclaimed. That elicited gasps from everyone in the room.
"You mean…Bumblebee's no longer…able to transform," Murrue asked, not believing her ears.
"But…But Ratchet, I have to be able to transform to vehicle mode! How am I supposed to help you guys if I can't even access my wheels or my weapons," Bumblebee asked, obviously more upset than anyone else there.
"Don't worry about it," Tolle said, getting everyone's attention. "I'm sure that we can just whip up another T-Cog in no time, right?" After a moment, Bumblebee just buzzed in despair as he placed his helm in both heads, almost seeming to the humans like he was crying. Miriallia shot Tolle a look a second later for that. "What? What did I say?"
"Weren't you listening Tolle? Arcee said that a T-Cog isn't just a piece of technology like their weapons," Miriallia scolded.
"You're friend is correct Tolle Koenig," Ratchet snapped, clearly angry about his inability to help the scout. "If replacing something like a T-Cog was that simple then don't you think I would've fixed Bumblebee's voice box by now?!"
Before anyone could say anything else, Bumblebee let out a loud, sad whir that caused Kira and Cagalli to immediately race over to him and place a hand on one of his legs as Kira said, "Don't say that Bumblebee. You know that isn't true."
"He's right," Cagalli agreed. "You're definitely not useless."
Bumblebee gave the two a grateful look for their attempts to cheer him up, but still could not help but feel that it was a waste of their time.
"Whatever the case may be," Optimus declared, getting everyone's attention. "We must discover who the culprit behind this cruel and heinous act is if we wish to retrieve Bumblebee's T-Cog."
"But who would want to do this anyways," Elita asked, as she place a hand on her chin as she started to think. "The only other ones that know about and of the Cybertronians besides theArchangelcrew, Miss Erica, and certain members of the Orb government including Lord Uzumi are Z.A.F.T. and they're allied with the Decepticons."
"There might be one other group that could've done this," Cagalli declared with a scowl as she thought about it. At everyone's questioning glance, Cagalli elaborated saying, "What if Blue Cosmos found out about you guys?"
"I was under the impression those guys were only interested in 'the preservation of your blue and pure world'. Why would they do this to Bumblebee," Hound asked, having been in Banadia when Kira, Cagalli, and Waltfeld were attacked by said terrorists.
"Maybe because they think that they may have found a way to strengthen their cause after seeing evidence of beings that could be described as living technology," Murrue suggested with a grave tone.
"For the moment, it is the only lead we have, so we must follow it," Optimus declared. "Ratchet, you remain here and ask Lord Uzumi to use what connections he has to find any information on Blue Cosmos that may give us a location to where they may have taken Bumblebee's T-Cog if they are indeed behind this. Be sure to keep an eye on Bumblebee as well. The rest of us will start increasing our patrols to find what we can of the terrorist group as well, but from now on, we will do so in teams of two. I do not want any Autobot alone should we take the risk of someone else falling victim to a similar trap."
A moment later, the remaining Autobots were rolling out to find out what they could in order to track down the terrorist group and hopefully help their young scout, with the exception of Arcee who asked to stay behind and help Ratchet keep an eye on Bumblebee. Unsurprisingly, no one made any kind of comment on her decision.
"What do you mean it's not working," Murruta Azrael demanded. He had just arrived at top secret installation that the Earth Forces had allowed him to set up for special projects that were carried out by his scientists in Blue Cosmos to check on their progress of creating a machine with similar capabilities to the Transformers they now had many reports of. The idea of creating a mobile suit that had the capability to always have a weapon ready should it lose all of its other ones and be able to alter its configuration to any form was something that the top brass were more than interested in, and he had hoped that using the information he had acquired from an anonymous source about Transformer biology and the T-Cog in particular would have helped. Sadly it seemed this was not the case.
"Apologies Lord…," the lead scientist began, before Azrael interrupted him with a glare. "Sorry, Director Azrael, but we don't understand why the unit won't respond anymore than you do. We've done everything as you had specified us to right down to making sure the integration of the device your troops 'retrieved' was perfect and yet we have still not been able to make the machine so much as move let alone change into a vehicle."
"It should be possible though," Azrael ranted. "Why isn't it working?!"
At the sound of low chuckle, everyone turned to see Starscream standing in the doorway of the facility as he openly mocked, "So this is what you ended up doing. I must say I'm impressed that you even made it this far with your plans, but to see you set back by something so simple is just humorous in and of itself."
Before anyone could blink, a squadron of troops had surrounded the Seeker and had their rifles trained on him a moment later. Starscream did not show any concern for this however as he simply waved a finger saying, "Ah, ah, ah. Now is that any way to thank the one who told you how to acquire that precious T-Cog and just how to cut it out without damaging it?"
Azrael quirked an eyebrow in curiosity and immediately motioned for the men to stand down before turning to the Decepticon traitor. "Are you saying that you were the anonymous source that sent that information?"
"Indeed I am, and it seems you require further aid from me, Murruta Azrael," Starscream stated smugly as he strode into the room. "You see a T-Cog isn't technology. It is biology. Which means it will reject any power source other than energon."
Now Azrael was intrigued and wondering just how much he could get out of this being of another world. "Go on," he prompted Starscream.
"For we Cybertronians, energon is the fuel, the ammunition, and the lifeblood of all Cybertronians whatever their affiliation. You and I both currently need it, but I lack the means of effectively locating it, but once I supply you with the…particulars of its chemical make-up we can utilize your resources to devise a way of detecting new deposits. For us to share of course," Starscream explained. As he did, he slipped a small amount of energon from himself into the machine Azrael's men were working on. A moment later, the machine started to activate a fact that Azrael and the other scientists did not miss.
"Perhaps if the supply meats our significant demand…," Azrael began.
"Ah, intending to build an army are we," Starscream interrupted. After taking Azrael's silence as a confirmation Starscream told him, "I am no stranger to ambition, and I am also working on forming an army of my own, which is why I am here to suggest…an alliance, if you will."
"You provide us with the way to locate energon and create our new transforming weapons, as well as build up our forces, while we help you locate the very thing you need to survive and provide you with additional troops," Azrael clarified.
"And I can provide you with inside information on both the Autobots and the plans of the now allied Z.A.F.T. and Decepticons."
"But you yourself are a Decepticon. Why should we trust you?"
"Because unlike that fool Megatron, I intend to bring about the age of the true Decepticons, and I would not turn on you as soon as I am finished with you. Plus I am sure you are not one to ignore a valuable source of information on Z.A.F.T.'s plans and what should be done with the Autobots. After all, why settle for something that you can barely get anything out of when you can have someone that can provide you so much more."
Azrael smirked in eagerness at Starscream, as he liked the sound of what the Seeker was offering. He then extended his hand as he stated, "Then we have an agreement Mister…"
Starscream smirked as he allowed Azrael to grasp one of his fingers in a way to seal the deal with a handshake as he stated, "Starscream. Commander Starscream."
A couple of days later, there was still no news of a possible base for Blue Cosmos that may have been where said group had taken Bumblebee's T-Cog, and all the Autobots were starting to get more than a little worried. Though in Ratchet's case it was more annoyed really, and the reason had just asked him if one of the teams had found anything yet.
"No Bumblebee, Ironhide and Jazz haven't found anything yet, and Wheeljack and Bulkhead haven't reported in yet either," Ratchet replied.
"What?! Seriously," Bumblebee asked.
"Bumblebee! I will let you know the moment I hear something." Ratchet really hoped that would be the end of the scout's need to ask about their progress on finding his missing T-Cog for that day, but sadly he was wrong as not two seconds later Bumblebee was tapping his shoulder to ask him again. "Oh for Primus's sake. Will SOMEONE keep him occupied so I can get some work done?!"
Thankfully, Tolle and Miriallia came to the doctor's rescue. "Hey Bumblebee, how about a video game," Tolle offered, knowing Bumblebee loved to play video games as much as any human kid would.
Bumblebee was more than happy to accept, until he saw that the game the two were playing was actually a racing game. At Bumblebee's whir in annoyance and sadness, Miriallia instantly whispered, "Bad call."
"Oh yeah," Tolle realized. "Sorry Bumblebee."
"No big deal," Miriallia told Bumblebee. "That game is really boring anyways. Why don't we just watch some TV instead?"
"Sure okay," Bumblebee agreed, starting to cheer up again. A minute later though, they saw that the channel they had switched to was playing a commercial for a sports car that caused Bumblebee to cry out in despair.
"Yikes," Tolle whispered.
"No kidding. Taking the auto out of an Autobot is really not a good thing," Miriallia agreed. She then raced over to try and cheer the scout up. "Come on Bumblebee," she called out. "You're still just as amazing without wheels. I mean speed isn't everything."
A moment later, the familiar engine sound of Arcee's vehicle mode reached everyone's ears, and the blue femme skidded to a stop in the base with Cagalli aboard a second later. "Hey that's a new personal best Arcee," Cagalli declared as she pulled off her helmet and shook her head to free up her hair. "You reached one-twenty easy!"
The two then saw that they were under the gaze of a very ticked off Bumblebee and had the decency to realize they just made a serious mistake. Bumblebee just growled as he started to stomp away, catching Ratchet's attention once again when the medic saw where he was headed. "Bumblebee, where do you think you're going," Ratchet cried out in slight panic.
"I'm going for a walk," Bumblebee stated, and no one needed to understand his beeps and blips to know that he was growling it out.
"You can't just go for a walk," Ratchet half-shouted indignantly. "Even though a few people know what we really are, we are still robots in disguise! Leaving the base in this form puts you at risk of being seen, of us being discovered, and of Z.A.F.T. and the Decepticons realizing that both the Omega II and the Archangel were not actually chased away from Orb waters!" Ratchet then put a hand on Bumblebee's shoulder to guide him to his room as he continued, "You'll just have to remain in the base until-"
"What?! Until you can fix me Ratchet," Bumblebee demanded as he slapped Ratchet's hand away. The scout then stormed off to his room by himself, leaving everyone in shock since no one in the room other than Arcee had ever seen Bumblebee even a little upset let alone this angry.
"Yes Bumblebee. Until I can fix you," Ratchet replied softly as he looked down sadly. Though it was not meant for anyone to hear, Arcee still heard him say it, and before she could even transform so she could move to comfort him Ratchet stated, "I'm uh…I'm going to go and get Kira. He said he would want to stop by and see how Bumblebee was doing. Arcee you uh…you have the con."
Arcee watched sadly as Ratchet transformed and raced out of the base to the Morgenroete factory to pick up Kira and thought to herself, You still blame yourself for that don't you Ratchet?
A few hours later or so, Kira was sitting in the passenger seat of Ratchet's vehicle form just sadly watching the sites go by as they traveled slowly to the Autobot base. His thoughts were focused on Bumblebee and how sad and upset the scout was seeing as Ratchet had filled him in on the small scene that had taken place before he left to come and get him from Morgenroete. Even though he was nearly finished with his work on the support OS, Erica allowed him some more time to visit the base as she knew that Kira was more concerned about Bumblebee since the scout was the first Autobot that Kira had ever met and he wanted to be there for his friend.
As they drove, Kira found himself thinking of something he had not thought about in a long time since he first met Bumblebee and decided now was as good a time as any to ask about it. "Hey Ratchet," Kira asked. "What happened to Bumblebee's voice box? I mean how did it end up…you know the way it is?"
"It was…severely damaged in battle," Ratchet replied with a slight stutter.
"I figured that much out, but I want to know how it happened," Kira clarified.
"How do you think?! Tragically of course," Ratchet snapped before regaining his composure and beginning the tale. "It happened at Tiger Pax. Our brave scout was captured by Megatron's forces and interrogated, but he refused to provide intel and paid a grave price for his courage. Bumblebee was left for scrap, but Autobot troops found him and evacuated him to a triage facility where a field medic managed to stabilize his condition."
"Wow," Kira breathed. "So I guess we owe Bumblebee's life to the field medic then."
"That's one way of looking at it. But the medic…could've done better," Ratchet stated sadly. The way Ratchet said that did not go unnoticed by Kira, and made Kira wonder why Ratchet thought that or stated that thought so sadly until he realized something.
"You were that field medic weren't you," Kira gasped.
"Yes…It was my greatest failure both as a medic and as Bumblebee's friend," Ratchet replied. "And now I've failed him again."
"You haven't failed Bumblebee Ratchet," Kira protested. "You're still trying to give him his voice back and now you're trying just as hard as the other Autobots to find out where Blue Cosmos took his T-Cog."
"Perhaps," Ratchet conceded. He then paused for a moment to think as he then softly stated, "But maybe there's something else I can do."
A short while later, Kira and Ratchet had arrived at the base to find that Optimus and Elita had returned from their search efforts. Sadly, they were no more successful in their efforts than anyone else had been recently, which left Bumblebee once again stating that he was useless, something that Cagalli had immediately argued against for what little good it did. After Kira found out that Bumblebee was in his quarters with Cagalli, Arcee and Ironhide, who were trying to cheer him up, he headed there to do what he could for his friend as well while Ratchet approached Optimus to discuss what he thought of as he was driving Kira here. "Bumblebee is right to be less than hopeful, but you and I both know there exists a way to make him whole again," Ratchet told Optimus.
"A transplant," Optimus replied. "But that would require a donor."
Optimus was moving to continue on his way to the Omega II with Elita One when Ratchet spoke up stating, "You need look no further than the Autobot standing before you."
That caused both sparkmates to freeze in their tracks and turn to back and see that Ratchet was just as serious as his tone implied he was. "Are you sure about that Ratchet," Elita asked. "I mean the offer is generous to be certain, but your solution would just trade one Autobot's handicap for another's."
"I don't rely upon my T-Cog, not like Bumblebee does," Ratchet argued. "The ability to transform is virtually wasted on me. This is where I spend my days, where my thoughts and hands are of value, not my weapons or wheels. Our team can't afford to be shy even one warrior in the field."
"You make a compelling case," Optimus told his old friend. "But know that we will find Bumblebee's T-Cog."
"Optimus, I've read up on these Blue Cosmos terrorists and I know that they despise Coordinators who are merely beings of their own world with some genetic differences that grant them capabilities that Naturals don't posses, and we can only assume that they would be nothing more than savages to a Cybertronian. Who knows what damage they may have already inflicted upon it, or…or if I will be able to repair it?"
"Ratchet," Elita stated. "If this is about Bumblebee's voice box, you, Optimus, and I all know that you did everything in your power for him."
Ratchet froze for a moment before he scoffed, "Please, do you really think this is about my inability to restore Bumblebee's voice box? I…I just simply want to do what's right. For our scout. For the team."
After pausing for a moment to consider everything Ratchet had told him, and what might entail from this endeavor, Optimus finally gave Ratchet a conceding nod in agreement to Ratchet's plan.
A short while later, the other Autobots that were presently at the base had gathered together to make sure the surgery went smoothly. Since Ratchet was one of the patients involved, Elita had to act as his proxy in order to perform the surgery. This fact was very nerve racking for the dark pink femme to say the least, because while she did have extensive medical training she was not as good as Ratchet, and she never actually did an operation like this before so naturally she was entitled to being nervous.
"Hey does this mean that Bumblebee's going to turn into an ambulance from now on? 'Cause that would be really weird," Tolle commented, getting everyone to give him a look that clearly stated "Are you seriously asking that right now?" Tolle just shrugged and stated, "Just trying to diffuse the tension."
"Inducing stasis," Elita announced.
Before he fell into stasis, Ratchet heard Bumblebee buzz his thanks to the medic, to which Ratchet replied, "Ep ep ep! You can…thank me when…it's over." With that Ratchet fell into stasis.
"Okay Bumblebee, your turn," Elita announced. Before she had a chance to induce stasis for the scout though, the computer alerted them to an incoming transmission.
"Prime, its Lord Uzumi," Jazz called out.
"Autobots, I hope this isn't a bad time," Uzumi stated. "But I have just acquired information on a possible Blue Cosmos base that might be the one you have been searching for."
Bumblebee was up and off his bed instantly at that. "You are certain of this Lord Uzumi," Optimus asked.
"Yes. There is no mistake."
Optimus looked over to Bumblebee and knew that the scout would want to come with them, but without his wheels or default blasters Bumblebee would likely be a serious risk. All the same, Optimus knew his young friend would refuse to just sit by while his friends did everything they could just to make him whole again given the look in Bumblebee's eyes that showed he was not going to let anyone try and stop him from coming, not even Optimus himself. "Elita, interrupt Ratchet's induced stasis and man the Ground Bridge," Optimus ordered. "Autobots, prepare to roll out!"
Bumblebee looked around as the others moved to get ready and then asked, "What about me? Are you going to make me stay behind again?"
Optimus just gave Bumblebee a small look as he stated, "Did you not hear my orders Bumblebee? I said Autobots, prepare to roll out. That includes you, but I would advise you bring additional extra weapons this time to compensate for the lack of your ability to access your blasters."
Bumblebee trilled excitedly at that and headed for the weapons locker to do just that. Not a moment later, the Autobots were racing through the Ground Bridge to the Blue Cosmos base.
A team of Earth Forces soldiers who were directly under Azrael's command were moving multiple crates of energon into the base while the scientists in the base were transfusing the energon they already had into the prototype transforming mobile weapon. As this was going on, Azrael was watching on with a hidden glee and excitement that could only be matched by a kid in a candy store alongside his new business partner, Starscream. "I must say Commander Starscream, I was skeptical about accepting your proposal at first, but now it seems that we may be facing a very beneficial partnership from this one endeavor alone. I can only begin to imagine what the future may hold in store from working together with you," Azrael commented.
"Ah yes," Starscream agreed. "Energon certainly has a way of cementing a deal even with non-Cybertronians, and it will do wonders for both yours and our future army. In fact, we are mere moments from beholding the miracle of transformation."
"Now that is certainly exciting to say the least." Azrael then paused before looking directly at Starscream. "I must say though I find one thing rather curious. You provide us with the knowledge of how to extract these T-Cogs from Cybertronians, and yet you don't seem too concerned over what may happen if this experiment fails. What if it causes the T-Cog to be seriously damaged beyond its usefulness and we decide that we can't wait to pull one from another Autobot and instead take yours?"
Starscream merely scoffed at that notion. "Do you really think I would approach you with this information and then approach you for an alliance without having a few contingency plans in place? Unlike Megatron, I am no fool who takes unnecessary risks needlessly when there are better options. Why I find that many of our battles with the Autobots would have ended in the Decepticons favor had my former lord and master listened to me when he had the chance, and what did I get for my efforts of pointing that out afterwards? Nothing more than severe damage as I was treated as a bunching slab for Megatron to take his frustration out on."
"Well I certainly hope your contingency is as effective in protecting yourself as your need to talk so much is in being annoying," Azrael commented, clearly referring to Starscream's tendency to seem to never shut up.
"Uh…sorry. Old habits die hard. It's really something I normally do to ease my nerves and when one is on the brink of success…well they are more than entitled to some sense of nervousness," Starscream explained.
"Well I suppose I can't argue with that," Azrael agreed. Just before they could continue their conversation though, there was a loud bang that shook the whole facility. A few more bangs later and nearly all of the Autobots, save for the ones that had remained at their base, burst through the door, weapons drawn.
"Blue Cosmos," Optimus shouted. "I believe you have something that belongs to one of my men."
Starscream took a quick glance and saw Bumblebee was among the group. "Target the scout! Without his T-Cog he's unarmed," he cried out. Despite not knowing for certain which one Starscream was referring to when he said scout, Blue Cosmos was still able to get what he was telling them when they recognized Bumblebee and opened fire.
"Not as unarmed as you may think Starscream," Bumblebee buzzed in retort as he whipped out an Energon Battle Pistol and opened fire on the Seeker at once, with the other Autobots moving in and carefully firing shots of their own so that they did not directly harm any of their human opponents.
It was not an easy battle for the Autobots, considering that their opponents were humans, but they were able to do what they could against them as Jazz used an EMP grenade to disable the weapons they were using and Wheeljack slashed apart some supports to drive a few of them away from him. Many of the other Autobots were doing everything they could against the human soldiers without harming them, but even so they were all more than tempted after what they had done to Bumblebee.
Speaking of Bumblebee, the scout was doing very well for someone who had no access to his default weapons and vehicle mode. He made sure to use his Energon Battle Pistol as carefully as possible as he fired upon the enemy humans, and at one point used some fallen rumble to block their shots and disable one of the large cannons that they had rolled into the room at one point during the fight, eliminating the cannons before they became a problem. To be honest one would think that Bumblebee had been fighting without the ability to transform for some time now, but it was still not enough. Sometime during the fight though, Starscream had decided enough was enough and shouted out, "Stand down Autobots, or your scout's precious bio-mech will end up being scrapped."
The Autobots all turned to see Starscream had Bumblebee's T-Cog in his hand and his blaster pointed right at it. The Autobots were instantly on the defensive and deactivating and holstering their weapons. Starscream nodded to Azrael to evacuate his men at once, which the blond haired man gladly did as he warned Starscream to make sure he had the T-Cog with him. "Oh you poor little scout," Starscream mocked as he gazed upon Bumblebee's fearful face. "How it must pain you to be such a failure as an Autobot, to no longer be able to assume vehicle mode. It really is quite pathetic, so much so that I almost feel bad for telling them how to extract a T-Cog. Almost."
Bumblebee growled in anger at the Seeker, now that he knew who told Blue Cosmos how to take his T-Cog, and would have charged Starscream right then had something not stopped him. "You're wrong! Bumblebee's the best with or without his T-Cog," Arcee shouted.
"Ya got that right Cee," Jazz agreed. "In case you hadn't noticed, Bumblebee owned this battlefield like I own a dance floor when I got my groove on."
"I've trained a lot of Bots in my time fighting in the war, and I have never encountered a tougher Bot than Bumblebee," Ironhide added.
"As you can see Starscream, the only one here would be described as pathetic would be you, because you have no one to stand with you when you need them the most like how Bumblebee has had every Autobot here to support him in this difficult time. Even when it seemed like he did not want them, every Autobot was more than willing to go as far as they could for the sake of our brave, young scout," Optimus finished.
"Well then I hope he continues to have your support in the tough times he shall face soon enough," Starscream snarled as he charged his blaster. Before he could fire on the bio-mech though, he was hit by a hard fist to the back of his head, and the T-Cog was knocked out of his hand and into the waiting hands of Arcee. Starscream spun around and saw a smug looking Wheeljack standing there with a sword pointed at his throat. Not wanting to be taken out just yet, Starscream quickly fired one of his missiles into the ceiling case a large amount of rumble to start falling. The Autobots quickly made for the exit, allowing Starscream to escape in the confusion.
As soon as they were outside, Arcee walked over to her friend with his T-Cog in hand as she told him, "I believe this belongs to you."
Bumblebee gave a whir of joy and looked like he was about to cry with happiness at the sight of his T-Cog, and gave Arcee a big hug which Arcee returned a moment later. "Uh hey, what about me," Wheeljack spoke up. "I was the one who made Screamer drop the thing, don't I get a hug?"
"Let 'em have their moment Jackie," Bulkhead told his old friend. "Besides you'd punch him if he got even close to trying to give you a hug."
"Yeah you're probably right," Wheeljack admitted. Seeing that they had no further business at what was once a Blue Cosmos headquarters and research facility, Optimus contacted the base and requested a Ground Bridge while telling both Elita and Ratchet, who had finally come out of his induced stasis fully, to prepare for surgery.
A few tense hours later, Bumblebee was lying back on a bed with Ratchet running a scan over his patient, hoping that everything worked out alright. It turned out that his T-Cog had suffered some damage from Blue Cosmos poking around at it and Ratchet was not sure he would be able to repair it. The medic was still willing to donate his cog to Bumblebee, but the young scout refused saying that he could not and would not accept the offer. After deactivating his scanner, Ratchet turned around and told everyone, "I…did what I could."
Seeing that his old friend needed some reassurance, Optimus walked over and stated with full confidence, "Our scout could not have been in better hands old friend."
A slight whir drew everyone's attention over to the patient, and they all saw Bumblebee standing up and start to stretch and rotate his arms a bit. "Bumblebee easy," Ratchet warned the scout, but Bumblebee just continued with his small stretching as he tested his arms with a few swings. "Please recovery takes time," Ratchet now begged.
Bumblebee then held his arms out before him as he attempted to transform, but he was only able to shift some his body for a moment before it reverted back to how it was. "Huh," was all the scout could think of to beep.
"The damage was…severe," Ratchet told Bumblebee as he hung his head. Not wanting to give up though, Bumblebee attempted to transform again with a bit more luck but with the same results. Ratchet could hardly bare to watch as the scout seemed he was about to give up, but Bumblebee gave one more try and finally the familiar sound of his vehicle mode's engine reached Ratchet's ears. He looked up and his face lit up with joy at seeing that Bumblebee was able to successfully attain vehicle mode again.
The whole room became alight with cheers of joy and congratulations from both Autobots and humans alike as Bumblebee revved up his engine and spun around. He then opened one door and called out, "Hey Kira, if you're still able to take some time off anywhere you want to go?"
Kira grinned in excitement and joy for his friend as he replied, "Anywhere, just drive!" With that said, Kira had eagerly hopped into Bumblebee's vehicle mode, and the overjoyed scout gladly raced out of the base.
"Go easy," Ratchet called out after them with a chuckle. "Adhere to standard braking procedure."
"Whoa, from what the doc was saying, Bee's T-Cog was nearly ready for the scrap heap," Wheeljack commented.
"Hard to believe that Ratchet was able to repair it," Arcee agreed.
"That is not all that Ratchet repaired today," Optimus told everyone. Everyone turned to look at the medical Autobot who was standing tall and proud of his success and saw that Optimus was correct. Ratchet was able to repair both his friend's T-Cog, and his confidence in himself.
During that time, Starscream was leading both Azrael and the Earth Forces commanders to an undisclosed location, as Azrael had insisted that if Starscream was serious about continuing this alliance, then he needed to prove that they would not need to extract Starscream's T-Cog in order to further their plans. The men on the Earth Forces command staff were more than skeptical about the supposed enemy turned friend, so naturally Starscream should have been a nervous wreck. The surprising thing though, was that Starscream was incredibly calm and had a confident smirk on his face as he walked. At last they reached their destination and Starscream called out, "Sharpshot, we have guests."
Immediately the three Insecticons appeared from the cave that Starscream had led his new supposed partners to and they assumed their robot mode a moment later. "What izzz it Starscream," Sharpshot demanded.
"I would like you to meet some new business partners of ours," Starscream stated as he gestured to Azrael and the Admirals that had come with them. "And they're working on a very interesting military project that requires a donation of T-Cogs. Perhaps you could show them why the Insecticons would provide them with a near infinite supply of them?"
Sharpshot nodded, and then began to focus along with Hardshell and Kickback. A moment later, a duplicate of each of the three Insecticons appeared before them all and each one instantly transformed into their bug modes to show just what Starscream meant. "As you can see gentlemen," Starscream explained. "There is no need to harvest T-Cogs from either myself or my three associates, as Sharpshot and his brothers are able to copy themselves and thus produce perfect copies of their T-Cogs. I trust that shall be to your satisfaction?"
The admirals and Azrael muttered amongst themselves for a moment, before returning their attention to Starscream as Azrael said, "Starscream, welcome to the Earth Forces."
Starscream smirked as he stated, "For the preservation of both your blue and pure world, and our great and mighty Cybertron."
AN: So now you can see and have probably already guessed that the M.E.C.H. of this story is actually Blue Cosmos, and eventually Logos. Don't think this means that Nemesis Prime will appear in this story though, as you may not see that much more of their work with this in this story beyond modifying certain enemies that the Autobots and Kira will face. If you've seen Gundam SEED then you might know who I'm talking about, but please don't say anything and give it away? Now other than that I can't really say if there will be anything else they will do with that in this story, but the projects undertaken by Blue Cosmos and Starscream will actually be further expanded upon in the sequel to this story as they will have a more major part to play in the that story than they will in this one. It's all about overall plot, one thing that leads to another, and all that. Anyways, if you think that pretty much wraps up Decepticon Team Starscream then you are mistaken, and you will see why in the last chapter of the Orb Missions Arc, which is not next chapter, so preview time!
The past is meant to remain in the past, but for Arcee it seems that history is attempting to repeat itself. As the blue femme and Cagalli travel a forest in search of a new energon source, an old ghost from Arcee's past returns and throws the normally confident, collected warrior into a panic. Just what is it about this enemy that has Arcee so fearful for her life, or is it really her life that she is fearful for? Can Cagalli help Arcee combat this old demon, or will something happen that puts them both in danger of falling into a stronger web of despair? Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Prime…Chapter 17: A Spider's Web. Conquer that fiend who hides in the shadows as she stalks her prey Arcee!
Please read and review, and I'll see you next time!