This chapter was one of the harder ones I've had to write so I'm not so sure about it.
I promise there will be pairings coming but not for a few chapters so bear with me. All this is part of the developement to get to the juicy part of the story.
Again, any help or pointers you have would be taken gladly. Again, I am open to ideas as to what you guys like and will definatly look at each idea present to me.
So here we go, Chapter 2!
Optics flickering in surprise, the Decepticon leader regarded the three Autobots frozen before him. He hadn't been waiting for them.
Blur was the first to break out of the surprise and darted infront of Sunstreaker to block Bumblebee from the Con's optics. Sunstreaker tightened his grip when he realized why Blur was trying to hide them. The past encounters between the youngling in his arms and Megatron never went over well. The Decepticon leader regarded their actions curiously before jerking as if stung. He could feel a familiar presence that was not Optimus Prime. An evil smile slowly crossed his face when he knew now what the two Autobots were shielding from him.
"Give the bot to me," Megatron said calmly as if expecting them to follow his order immediatly.
"Never!"
Optics filling with irritation, Megatron stepped closer and looked over Blur's shoulder at the suffering form of Bumblebee. The youngling's optics were dull and he didn't even seem to notice what was occuring around him but Bumblebee soon felt the same familiar grip on his spark and his optics flashed and brightened in response.
"Megatron?" Bumblebee asked in shock, turning his head.
"Hello little one. I see you've finally filled out your last form."
With a weak, yet, determined push Bumblebee dropped from Sunstreaker's arms and faced Megatron squarely. He took a moment to let unsteady legs adjust before heading towards the Decpticon leader ignoring the cries of fear from the two Autobot's behind him as he approaced the larger mech slowly with each step.
"You always were foolish," Megatron said as the smaller mech came upon him without fear.
"Foolish? I just took down two of your decepticons."
"With great risk to your life," Megatron reminded.
"It's nothing," he said with a shrug, giving his beaten and energon covered frame only a glance before looking back to Megatron. At the moment his condition held no more urgency than a surface scratch to him.
The only response from the decepticon was the sound of two twin blades sliding out greeted by Bumblebee's own dualing blade as his friends stood by, not knowing what to do but refusing to leave the youngling alone.
"So you will fight and you will lose and that does not fear you?" Megatron asked quietly.
"No."
Giving the small mech a long searching look, Megatron shook his head slightly and the next second his weapons vanished back from whence they came.
"Very well. Next time I'll be sure to come straight for you," he promised then without another word turned and left the three mechs standing alone in the hallway.
"What? How/did/you? I/thought/he/would/kill/you," Blur asked in amazement once they could no longer hear the echo of the Decepticon leader's heavy steps.
Bumblebee shrugged, unsure as to exactly what happened as well but was grateful it was over and turned back to the two Autobots. For a moment he stood there as a familiar sensation pressed down on him and his next step sent him falling forward as the strength he had only moments ago began to rapidly fade.
"Bee! Stay online," Sunny yelled as he ran up to steady him, yet just before they could continue, the two older mechs suddenly heard a POP! followed by clinking metal and very disturbing grinding noise from within the little yellow mech. Instantly, Bumblebee collapsed, his frame curling up as he whimpered in pain while energon bubbled up from his mouth and down his chest.
Lifting the dying mech into his arms, Sunstreaker shared a terrified look with Blur before running as fast as he could towards the medbay. Blur swiftly took point ahead of him, keeping an eye out for and decepticons strays but only a breem later they had reached the medbay without contact and set Bee down on a berth.
"Bee, come on Bee. Fight," Sunstreaker begged as he watched the youngling fight to survive.
Amazingly, Bumblebee was still holding on to stay online but even he knew it wouldn't last long unless he found some anchor to hold him to the world of living. Optics darted around, searching the medbay franticly for a solid source of insurance, the youngling gasped in surprise when he saw it. Ironhide.
"Oh Bee," Ironhide groaned when he saw his beaten charge before him.
Quickly Sunstreaker gave the guardian his spot and stood by, waiting, watching, and wishing for the medics to hurry up.
"Hide," Bumblebee said, barely managing to get the whisper out past the energon he was still coughing up.
"No, don't speak," the black mech interrupted quickly to cut the youngling off from speaking further, yet despite his own strangled voice, he ran a hand soothingly over the small mech's helm to try and give him some comfort, any comfort till help arrived.
"I'm sorry," Bumblebee choked and it was a long agonizing astrosecond before the guardian could pull himself back together despite the overwhelming guilt that coursed through his frame.
"No, Bee. Don't ever blame yourself. You have NOTHING to be sorry for. It's my fault. If Sunny here hadn't taught ya you wouldn't have been able to save them."
Baby blue optics dimmed further as the youngling murmered again, "sorry."
Spark twisiting in terror, Ironhide realized his charge was fading fast towards the matrix and he was helpless to stop it. For a moment a part of him wanted to run, find the fraggin Decepticon that did this, and make him pay while the other was close to letting loose his rage and begin tearing the medbay apart. However, neither occured as suddenly, to the surprised of those present, large think energon tears fell from the tough and rugged weapon specialist's optics. No one, not a single living being had seen the seasoned warrior in such a broken state before.
"Bee, " he said quietly, bending low over his charge, "Fight, please fight. I can't live without you youngling. You make it and I promise I will train you personally."
Bumblebee gasped as the pained rushed back at him, fighting the darkness back down as he tried to hold on but with such a loss of energon, it was really only a matter of time before he did fall offline. For now, Ironhide had to settle with his charge's determined nod and a weak grin that accepted the promise. Thankfully, only a few breems later, the medbay's door slammed open as the CMO rushed in, searching around frantically for his patient. Right behind the medic, Optimus Prime went over to his two soldiers standing to the side, ready to hear just what had happened and was unaware when Rachet missed a step at the sight of the younger mech on one of his berths in such a harrowing condition. Throughout his medical career, the medic had seen some very bad injuries and life taking wounds. He also had taken it seriously to remember which were immediatly life threatening to react to it as soon as he saw it and as his optics came upon Bumblebee's damaged form, he knew that the youngling was quickly becoming one of the hardest cases he would ever treat. Also, much to the medic's surprise, he could hear that the small bot was still wheezing, his internal gears straining to work despite the futile struggle to stay alive.
"Alright," he grunted and turned to the three mechs talking quietly behind him, "I'm only going to say this once so listen up. Sunny, you and Ironhide will be guarding the door. There are still Decepticons out there and I'll be too pit-slaggin busy to stop working just to peg the walking scrap heaps in the aft. Optimus, you're going to be helping me personally, I suggest you sterilize immediately," for a moment they all stood there silently, "well what the frag are you slow afts waiting for! Git!"
Tearing his gaze away from the dying mech, Optimus headed over to the back of the medbay and did as Rachet said while Sunstreaker darted out with Ironhide quickly behind him. Blur, on the other hand, had nothing to do and remained untargeted by the CMO's order. Instead he chose to keep himself near the door incase any Decepticon strays happened to make their way in.
"Primus, this isn't good," Rachet sighed as his deft fingers worked impossibly fast to stem and close the various and numerous flows from damaged energon lines on the youngling so there was at least some chance to minize the energon loss and give Bumblebee more time.
"His reserves. They are beyond repair. We each have two just in case but Bee's have been damaged to severly. He needs a replacement," the medic murmered and continued, thinking outloud as he worked.
"The process could kill him," Optimus said with a frown as he finally moved next to the mech, waiting to be told what to do.
"He'll die without it," Rachet said, glaring up at the commander, irritated at the interruption of his thoughts, "We need our reserves but only one to function till I can get more and replace the second. I know you will want to volunteer, Optimus, but I need your help with him right now," making sure the Autobot leader understood, he barked at the remaining mech in the area that had nothing to do, "Blur!"
What's/up?"
"Get Ironhide."
Leaving only a blur of his image in the optics of the two Autobot's, Blur darted out the med bay door and Ironhide was there the next astrosecond.
"What's wrong?" Ironhide quickly asked, his optics flicking over to Bumblebee to check he was still alive.
"He needs a energon reserve replacement and you're probably the best candidate but it could risk your life as well," Rachet explained.
The weapon specialist didn't even need time to think it over and nodded.
"Stubborn aft. Well shoo! Blur will prep you. I've got slaggin more than enough work now with Bee," he said before snarling, "what the FRAGGING point of having three other slaggin medics if their uselss afts aren't even here to help!"
Over the next few breems Rachet gave instuction to Blur on what steps to take with Ironhide as he worked on keeping Bee alive simultaneously. At one point he found himself snarling Blur's instructions to Optimus and Optimus' instructions to Blur. Despite the possible repercussions, they decided the risk was worth it to correct him. With a surprise, Rachet paused for a moment to see that Bumblebee's optics were still lit up and locked onto Optimus, but he knew long ago the youngling held tremendous will power and went back to work.
"I've/done/it. He's/offline," Blur called.
"Optimus. Hold here and pinch this. I'll be back. Tell me know if anything happens," he said, guiding the commander's hands into the fragile bot's framework. Optimus did as he was told then looked back at Bee.
"Hey there. Feel any pain?" he asked softly.
A slow shake of the youngling's head and cough of more energon was his response. It wasn't exactly comforting and Optimus frowned with worry before he realize that Blur was at his side watching the youngling with a deep sadness.
"What happened?" Optimus asked.
The commander didn't realize just what he had asked and from who until Blur took a deep breath and launched into his reply with an unprecidented speed, "I/was/with/Sunny. We/heard/the/explosion/from/the/beginning/of/the/attack. When/we/went/to/go/look/they/ambused/us. Four/of/them. We/tried/to/hold/them/back/but/we/were/being/overrun/until/Bee/came/from/nowhere/and/refused/to/leave. I/didn't/see/the/two/Cons/sneaking/up. Bee/took/them/on/his/own. We/tried/to/help/but/there/were/too/many. He/did/really/good/at/first. But/it/wasn't/enough. They/double/teamed/him/and/I/thought/he/was/dead/but/suddenly/they/were. Then/after/he/killed/those/two/he/killed/the/last/one.
"Bee took down three decepticons?" Optimus asked in shock to the information instead of the realization that he understood everything Blur had just said the first time. Turn his gaze back to Bumblebee, he looked to the youngling for confirmation to the mech's story.
"Starscream," the youngling choked.
"We found him, offline," Optimus said with a nod, thinking over the scene, "He had no wounds and Rachet said it was from the work of a medic, or I guess what he taught Bee."
"I…I didn't mean…to kill…" Bee whispered, and his body shook violently as he coughed and choked on energon the next moment.
Groaning in distress at Bumblebee's pain, Optimus could do nothing to comfort the youngling with his hands still inside the little mech, desperately trying to hold him to life. Instead, he could only watch in horror as the youngling suffered, his body jerking violently as the energon stream from his mouth refused to end. His spark was weakening, fading away and Optimus let out a cry of frustration.
"Bee! No, please hold on," Optimus yelled, his own spark reaching to Bumblebee's and grabbed it tightly, holding it as close as he could. At the contact, Bumblebee's spark seemed to flare with more life but Optimus didn't risk it and held on, refusing to release the youngling's spark.
"Optimus? What's wrong?" Rachet asked, still working rapidly to get the energon reserve safely out of Ironhide. The process had to be exact since the weapon specialist had already been damaged and lost a fair amount of energon as well.
"He's fading. I feel him slipping away," Optimus said, his voice breaking as fear threatened to overwhelm him.
With a curse, Rachet worked even quicker. All he had left to do was solder the energon lines to prevent further energon loss before returning to Bumblebee. He cursed even lounder when those inside the med bay heard a shout outside followed by an explosion. The fight had reached the doors.
"Blur! Go, keep them out of here!" Rachet yelled, finishing up.
Not needing an order from Rachet, Blur was already running out of the med bay and ran into the middle of a battle between six of his fellow autobots against seven decepticons and Megatron himself.
"Hold/this/position!" Blur yelled to his compainions as he joined their side and they looked at him for explaination, "Bee/is/in/there."
His words were more than enough to refuel the weary sparks of the Autobots as they suddenly pushed their defense back into the offense with new strength and fury. No one hurt their youngling.
Half a joor into the brutal battle, Blur found himself flying backward before he slammed into the med bay's door after Megatron graced him with his presence and a one on one battle. The Autobot was no where near a worth oppenent to Megatron and was surprised he had lasted this long. With a groan he tried to stand and found he couldn't. Looking down he saw that one of his legs was twisted and mangled, the other out of joint. Blur was down for the count but he still had his cannons and raised them to aim at the approaching Decepticon leader.
"Where is my brother?" Megatron asked, bending low over Blur, pushing the pathetic cannons away.
Refusing to talk, Blur punched out instead but Megatron was quick to catch the hand in his own and with a squeeze, crushed it, making the mech cry out in pain.
"Tell me! I feel him nearby!" Megatron roared then his eyes lifted up and he smiled when he noticed the med bay, "Ah, off to comfort the little spy. I will have to give my regards."
"No!" Blur yelled but Megatron kicked him and he crumbled, offline.
Every other Autobot and Decepticon, distracted by the ferocity of the battle, never noticed the Decepticon leader entering the med bay.
Well? I must say this chapter was a bit hard to write.
Review. Please!