4 hours and 19 minutes until detonation.

Bumblebee was, by nature, a gentle soul. Though he always fought unwaveringly by his leader's side, his spark still ached with guilt as he took the lives of drones who were bred into unwaveringly loyalty to a vicious warlord. He was an even bigger sucker for humans, their squishiness and elaborate facial expressions often making him laugh in delight or feel pity for their fragility.

So it made him quite angry when human scum like MECH decided to exploit the delicacy of their own kind for their own gain. How dare they hold Raf and Rodgers hostage! He'd been on the path to becoming fast friends with the scientist, who had the rare gift of understanding him. When Rodgers was alone he was great company, being a very talkative man. The three of them had engaged in talk of video games, modern and old, due to the fact that Rodgers had been a video game tester in his early years and a game/app designer later on.

Rodgers skill was beyond technology, extending over to biology, chemistry, law and most importantly, astrobiology and exobiology. It was his expertise in these subjects that brought him to the attention of the government and Sanchez.

Sanchez had always been an extraterrestrial fan, almost to the point of being a fanatic. He had fought in the Iraq war as a young man and was a kind soul whose conscience was racked with guilt at the lives he took. Then his brother died. And with his sibling's death died Sanchez's once cheery nature.

After receiving his third Purple Heart, Sanchez was promoted through the ranks until he reached the rank of a Black Ops general. The war had taken away any trustfulness he once had. According to Rodgers, he'd jailed six of his own soldiers in the previous years in almost crazy displays of his so-called patriotic power. And now he was in control of an advanced species with weapons he could only dream of, on the side of an frighteningly indifferent murderous terrorist group of tech-obsessed, gun-wielding grunts led by a manic, and hoped to pin the deaths of thousands of people on the leader of the aforementioned species by detonating an atomic bomb powered by an alien substance stolen by aforementioned terrorists.

Well, thought Bumblebee as he again tested the strength of the thick, steel binders that secured him to an equally thick steel slab on the floor of yet another warehouse. It could be worse. How much worse exactly was something he was struggling to come up with.

He craned his head against yet another binding that covered part of his neck. He could just see Bulkhead out of the corner of his optics. The titan mech's arms, legs and shoulders were held down by even thicker steel than Bumblebee's shackles and was surrounded from a safe distance by no less than fifteen MECH grunts, all with electricity spitting guns trained on his helm, optics, torso, and joints.

Bumblebee couldn't find Raf, Rodgers, or Miko, which worried him. Apparently, one of his own guards noticed him awake, as his silent question was unexpectedly answered by the last man the scout wanted to see.

"Bumblebee, isn't it?" Silas smiled as he loomed over the immobile Autobot, the lights on his back shrouding part of his face in shadow and making him look even more menacing. "The small boy shouted it out upon awakening from his nasty little shock." He ignored Bumblebee's small growl of fury and continued. "In less than four and a half hours, the world will belong to MECH." He leaned in until his breath formed a slight condensation on bumblebee's faceplate as he spoke. "However, the world will descend in a small bout of madness first. And when everything goes to hell, the small are trampled underfoot first."

Bumblebee's optics widened as he understood Silas's implications and began to thrash against his bonds in hopes of breaking free and wringing the man's meaty neck. But despite his best efforts, he was powerless to do anything but watch Silas calmly stand up and walk away.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"We have a situation," said Ratchet, his voice even more stressed than usual.

"Sorry I haven't noticed," growled Arcee, as she swerved once again into the oncoming lane in an attempt to put some distance between them and their MECH assailants. Horns blared obnoxiously, and Arcee was forced to stifle the urge to transform and stick up her middle digit at the drivers like the kids at Jack's school seemed so fond of doing to each other.

"I've lost contact with both Bulkhead and Bumblebee," Ratchet said urgently. "And the second explosive that Bumblebee was tracking is now on the move along with the first."

"Arcee. Jack." Optimus's deep voice caused the pair's comms to vibrate powerfully. "Once you lose MECH and retreat to a more unpopulated area, we will send a ground bridge. From there-"

A sudden crack interrupted the Prime's orders, and caused Jack to instinctively duck. Arcee quickly ran a diagnostic and what she found left her outraged.

"My mirror! They chipped my mirror!" Despite the fact that a majority of her processor was devoted to figuring out a path via GPS, listening to her leader, worrying about Jack, worrying about her teammates, and trying to figure out what the frag MECH was up to, she still found a small empty patch that she could devote to griping over her mirror.

"Are those shots?" June's panicked voice came over the comm. "Jackson Darby, what is going on?"

"Nothing," Jack and Arcee chorused simultaneously.

Luckily, Ratchet interrupted before June could continue. "Optimus is right. We need you to go with Optimus and free the others. This disaster must be averted."

"Only Arcee," June's voice broke through again. "Jack is staying at base."

"Mom," Jack said quietly. "I have a score to settle."

Optimus spoke quietly, or as quietly as the noble leader could manage. "Jackson. Do not allow your vendettas to endanger the lives of your friends." His words were only met with silence.

Hello! How is it going? It's Lionfire42 and Transformers Prime season 2 is off to a great start! Episode 2 was epic! But back to work. As I writer, I only ask that you review. Oh, and can someone tell me how to use those gray little page separators? The X's are okay, but it makes the story kind of messy.

Oh, and I just realized that I was kind of sort of supposed to tell people that I don't own Transformers. But you people are smart enough that I don't need to remind you. However, just for the sake of it (and to avoid any potential lawsuits), I admit that I don't own Transformers Prime.