New chapter! Finally a new chapter!
So yeah, I had this thing done for about a month...but I finally got the kick in the rear end to put it up but here it is now!
Hopefully you'll enjoy and after the ending surprise I do hope you still stick around for the fallout from this chapter! Also another note, we are only a few chapters away from adding Barricade in! Are you excited because I sure am!
Enough delay, it's time to read! And reviews...pleeeeease.
"Aww, come on Jazz. Give him some leeway. Bend the rules just this once," Sideswipe whined to his third in command.
"Yeah, even he said he feels fine," the golden twin added.
Trying not to laugh at the duo's newest attempt in trying to free him, the youngling kept his attention focused on the holo showing before him while his temporary guardian fended them off.
"For the last time, no," Jazz answered tiredly.
"When did you get all the fun sucked out of you?" Sideswipe pouted.
"Why don't you two go do something productive for once and leave the kid alone," the saboteur sighed, rubbing his optics in frustration. Sometimes the twins were a bit much for any mech to handle.
Reluctantly they left, shoving each other out the door as they argued about who said the wrong thing.
"Sorry Bee but you really need to keep to Ratchet's guidelines. You're still only twenty orns into recovery and Hatchet says it will take much longer to be fully healed."
"Don't worry about me Jazz. I'm fine," Bumblebee said flashing his infamous smile hoping to change the older mech's attitude.
"Why do I even bother?" Jazz sighed, "come on, it's time for more energon."
"Go relax," he told Bumblebee as they entered the empty mess hall, "I'll get ya a cube."
Dropping into the closest seat, the youngling kicked up his feet on Jazz's chair earning a smile when the saboteur came back and brushed them out of the way before sitting down. Jazz gave Bumblebee a few moments before he started discussing the plans for his training but by the time he got to the details of his returned he paused when he noticed the small mech refused to consume anymore energon.
"What is it?" Jazz asked in concern as he saw the sickened look.
"I'll be right back," was barely forced out in reply followed by a groan as the youngling darted out.
With a heavy sigh, Jazz disposed of the partially consumed energon and followed after his young charge. It seemed recently that this scenario reoccurred at every fueling. First Bumblebee could not handle taking in too much energon and after he ran off Jazz would usually find the poor youngling doubled over and purging up the unprocessed energon. It was infuriating that all he could do was watch while the equally frustrated CMO still searched for the cause behind it.
It took a klick to locate the youngling and for the next breem Jazz stayed with him until his tanks calmed, "I'm fine," he muttered, slowly straightening up even though his legs shook underneath him threatening to collapse.
"Sure ya are kid," Jazz sighed, pulling Bumblebee's arm around his shoulders and supporting him to the medbay.
Ratchet didn't even have to ask as soon as he set his optics upon the two arrivals.
"He still can't keep it down," Jazz told him with another heavy sigh and helped Bumblebee onto his berth.
"I'm fine," the smaller yellow mech repeated, he was getting tired of the older mechs always talking about what was going on with him when he could speak for himself.
"No, you're not," Ratchet grunted, moving to hook up a new energon drip for the youngling, "what you need is rest."
"I'm always fragging resting," he grumbled.
"Language youngling, and hush. You need rest and you are going to get it."
Bumblebee pouted in silence. He knew it would be pointless to further argue against the medic and really he was tired. Tired of the pain, tired of being under constant watch, just tired of being tired. Why couldn't he be better already, or to be able to do a simple task without supervision? However, questioning once again was shoved aside as soon as he spotted the sedative that suddenly appear in Ratchet's hand.
"Do you really have to knock me out," he hated the drugs, they compromised his memories and slowed his reactions.
"Yes, you're systems are too stressed to allow a proper healing recharge," he answered, quickly injecting his young patient while simultaneously cutting short further argument when Bumblebee passed out as soon as the drugs hit his systems.
"Finally," Ratchet sighed and doubled checked over the youngling before leaving him to his rest.
However, the drug wore off faster than intended and within a joor the young spy was sluggishly fighting his way back to the land of the online.
"Ratchet?" he called when he didn't see the CMO right off.
There was a brief sound of shuffling to his right, "Bumblebee," the medic sighed coming into view, "you should be resting."
Ignoring Ratchet, the youngling studied the CMO for a moment. The older mech was completely exhausted, as if he hadn't recharged in orns, which was probably a pretty accurate assumption.
"Are you alight?" he asked quietly.
For the longest moment, Ratchet could only stare at Bumblebee before he shook his head and answered, "you never think of yourself before others do you? You're the one who is suffering still after orns of agony and still, somehow, find it in yourself to worry about me."
Bumblebee could only shrug. Ratchet sighed again, "I'm alright Bee but hold still. I am going to check some of your systems while you are awake."
However, before the medic could get started, he was interrupted by the harsh blaring of the ship's alarms over head followed by Optimus' deep voice rumbling, calmly giving instructions to those listening, "emergency in the docking station. Require CMO's immediate presence. All other Autobots report to their stations. Decepticon attack is imminent."
Snarling at the sudden change Ratchet hesitated not wanting to leave his young patient alone.
"Go on," he reassured the medic, "I'll be fine."
Grunting, the CMO knew he couldn't argue otherwise and darted out to answer the call.
As soon as the door closed, the youngling found he had been left to complete silence. Wondering what was happening his imagination ran wild, but even the vivid imaginations of younglings held no competition against full exhaustion as he could remain online no longer and slipped back into recharge. Suddenly, it felt as if he hadn't even closed his optics before they opened in shock to shouting.
"Get him into surgery NOW!" he heard Ratchet bark loudly to the other medics.
Jolting up, Bumblebee wondered just who was being brought into the medbay for treatment and gasped. Ice cold gripped his spark as fear filled him at the sight of the destroyed frame of his guardian was rushed past him. He had never seen the tough old mech so badly damaged before. It couldn't be possible. Not Ironhide. He was too tough, too strong to get hurt. It was a joke, or a prank. It had to be, nothing could hurt Ironhide!
Despite what he believed, despite what he wanted to hope, it was quickly becoming apparent that the universe was set on showing just how destructible his guardian was as the medics frantically worked around the massive black frame of Ironhide.
"First Aid, get the energon lines hooked up now! Hoist, get the charge ready. His spark is fading!" Ratchet yelled as he worked diligently yet still managed to keep his medics in line while being able to spew out a minimum of fifty curses between his orders all at once.
Unable to remain sitting as he watched, the youngling quickly slipped of his berth and silently crept closer. As he approached, Ratchet's cursing increasingly worsened and their activity went from controlled to frantic in a sparkbeat as line after line was connected to the black unmoving frame. Energon stained hands skirted quickly over the large mech flicking smaller drops upon their clean chests and to the ground below, adding to the pooling energon beneath them. They were desperate and the youngling could instantly pick up on their fear as dread tightened its grip even further on his spark until he lost the ability to draw an intake. It was happening, right before his very optics, the nightmare that haunted him all his life was coming true. He had never once told his guardian of the troubling dream but now, now he wished he had! Maybe this could have been prevented, maybe Ironhide wouldn't be here laid out before Bumblebee bleeding and dying as the medics openly displayed their apprehensiveness of the situation, and more clearly, hesitation towards believing anything they did could actually save his life. Only Ratchet held the firm look of determination, refusing to let any hopelessness set in.
First Aid was trying, trying so hard to find the strength in his spark to follow Ratchet's example but the discouraging attitudes radiating from the other two medics had begun to sink into the very core of his frame and near caused his joints to stick as he struggled to keep moving and fighting for Ironhide's diminishing life. The scientists had given in, finally stepping back leaving the two more experienced medics working alone. This wasn't their true profession; they were temporary medics for whenever the CMO became overwhelmed with an onslaught of patients after battles, never before had they been asked to put their sparks on the line while their friend die in front of them despite all they had to a great extent tried to do. Not once had they been asked to be strong and in the time of desolation their sparks had bowed under pressure until they gave up.
Bumblebee flinched as the short beeps of Ironhide's monitored spark began an excruciatingly slow decline and the frost filling his spark trickled out slowly to the very tips of his fingers until every single inch of him had grown stiff, ceasing his unknown shaking. It was then he had noticed a hard silence had filled the room suffocating all those at hand beneath its weight; Ratchet's cursing had ceased. With each beat of his guardian's spark growing weaker, Bumblebee felt himself slipping away, the medics began to fade out of his vision all feeling in his frame was obsolete, just the one sound became his world. In such a short time, the soft delicate beating had become his own lifeline, until…
Silence…
Silence…