Mixed-Up 2: Alternate Reality
Chapter 3: The Cave
Optimus wasn't sure what he had been expecting to see when he followed Bumblebee through the hole. While he had expected a cave he hadn't expected this cave. It barely had enough room for all of them and even then there wasn't enough ceiling space for any of them, except for Bumblebee of course, to stand upright. As they stood there, hunched over, in that cramped space Optimus's only thought was, I think I would have preferred the graveyard.
"Come on," Bumblebee said once they were all inside. Before they could ask what he meant by that he pressed one of the rocks that were protruding ever so slight from the wall and a section of the wall slid aside, revealing a doorway. Bumblebee stepped through then poked his head back into the cave and said, "Aren't you bots coming?"
"We're coming," Optimus sighed. "We're coming." He walked through the doorway only to stop still once he saw what was on the other side.
"Move out of the way, Prime," Ratchet grumbled.
Optimus nodded then slowly moved, allowing the other three Autobots to enter as well. They followed their leader in only to stop as well when they too saw what he had seen. They weren't just in a cave in the side of a rock mountain; they were in…well a trophy room was the only description Optimus could think of. The room itself was rather large with shelves lining the walls and two other doorways, each one going a different direction. The shelves, however, were the biggest surprise of all for they were filled with…parts; parts off other bots to be more specific. Helms, spare parts, and mods all decorated the otherwise plain shelves. In fact it rather eerily reminded Optimus of the time that he had seen the inside of a ship belonging to a bounty hunter by the name of Lockdown. But what was the most disturbing of all was that Optimus recognized some of the parts. For starters there was Sentinel Prime's sword and shield which Bumblebee had been using earlier. There was also a helm which had belonged to Optimus's girlfriend Elita One that resided not far away from a green set of stingers that looked just like Bumblebee's. Optimus thought he recognized several other parts as well including…was that really Ultra Magnus's hammer?
"Where'd all this stuff come from?" Bulkhead asked; his voice no louder than an awed whisper.
"A lot of different…places actually," Bumblebee called, having disappeared through one of the other doorways. He re-appeared a few minutes later carrying five cubes of energon. He passed them out then sat down on the floor, leaning his back against the wall.
Optimus looked at the cube in his servo then down at the rocky floor. He vented reluctantly then slowly, awkwardly sat down on the floor as well, being careful not to scratch his paintjob. The others joined him and Bumblebee then they all sat there, drinking their energon. The room was thick with tension; a mixture of nervousness and wariness as they eyed each other, silently assessing changes and similarities.
Optimus's first instinct after taking a sip of energon was to spit it back out. He didn't, however, but somehow managed to down the rest of it. He also watched Bumblebee who didn't bother to hide the fact that he was staring at them even though he could no longer see anything.
"This place looks like a used parts shop," Prowl commented.
"Very funny," Bumblebee said drily.
Once they had finished their energon they sat there just staring at one another. There were several things that Optimus desperately wanted to know but somehow he knew better than to speak at the moment, some inner voice was warning him. So he remained quiet and chose instead to study Bumblebee once more. Now that he was sitting down Optimus could see more plainly the fatigue and the pain that showed on his gray faceplate. The scars were also much more visible and some looked fairly recent. His head was leaning against the wall making it appear as if he were staring up at the ceiling. Exhaustion was written all over his frame and Optimus was surprised that he was still online instead of recharging or in emergency stasis. His mouth plates moved, as if he were whispering to himself; either that or he was praying.
The blue-and-red Autobot compared the picture of this Bumblebee to his mental image of the one that they had left behind and discovered that they did not match. Neither did the image of the other Bumblebee; the one that they had met after going through the portal the first time. Optimus discovered, with a sudden pang of sadness, that he missed that Bumblebee; he missed the minibot that had eagerly waited for them to come back and that had fought on the side of good. Even though he hadn't' said what side he was on Optimus strongly suspected that this Bumblebee wasn't on the side of the Autobots.
After another hour of sitting there and staring at each other Bumblebee finally rose to his pedes and said, "Come." Then he turned and disappeared through the other doorway, the one that he had not used earlier.
The Autobots exchanged puzzled glances then stood as well and followed Bumblebee. Optimus was relieved when he found himself in a hallway then immediately felt his shoulder struts slump when he realized there were three doors all of which, except for one, were closed. He was really starting to hate this place.
"Pick a room," Bumblebee told them. "You bots will have to share rooms." He continued walking down the hall until he reached the door that was open. A few seconds after he went into the room the door closed.
The Autobots argue over who was going to recharge with who and finally decided that Optimus and Ratchet would share a room which left Prowl and Bulkhead in the room next to them. They exchanged pleasantries then retreated to their respective rooms. It wasn't long afterward that they all fell into fitful recharge and didn't come online again until the next morning.
A/N: 5 reviews and sorry that it's so late.
A/N/N: I did an illustration for when Optimus was mentally comparing the different Bumblebee's and the link can be found on my profile. If anyone thinks they can do better then have at it.
A/N/N/N: Oh if anyone's confused why Optimus wasn't happy to see the other three doors it was because he didn't want to know what was behind them; he feared that there would be more parts from bots. Make sense? If not message or leave a signed review and I will get back to you.