Flight of the SeekerBee Chapter 2, a transformers/beast wars fanfic

Ooooooooooo hello.

yes, well i told you there'd be another chappie of this.

Least i think i did.

OH WELL HEY GUESS WHAT THERE'S ANOTHER CHAPTER OF THIS and it's looooong 83

THIS IS FOR KAITIE.

SHE MADE SEEKER!BEE.

GO WORSHIP HER. NOW. www. weeping-cheetah. deviantart. com

SO about the chapter. Action scenes are actioney. Also i like starting chapters with smut and fluff. Would like to say i could do it with every chapter, but i just can't with the next. Oh there will be smut. But just not at the start.

ANYWHO go ahead and enjoy, i talk too much.

Any questions or confusions feel free to ask, i know it might get confusing, i'm not sure i've properly revealed eveything as i see it in my head, so yea, ask if you need to.

~Death Out

Bumblebee cycled online… sort of.

He let his processor hover in that wonderful space somewhere between coming out of unconsciousness and truly booting up. He left his systems on stand-by and let his meta perceive the situation.

He didn't want to move. Apart from being contentedly drained from their night's activities, Bumblebee was quite eager to remain pressed against the other four warm bodies.

Usually, he would nestle himself under the pile of mechs, happy for the warm pressure to engulf him. But with his wings now out, he couldn't practically take the risk of them being lain on or squashed or pinched, that would certainly not be comfortable.

So instead, he found himself looking up at the ceiling, wings splayed over the chassis of a Datsun and a Porsche, the thruster and tail on his back nestled snugly between the two officers who each hugged a wing to them. Pinning him to the black and white mechs were the twins, each of them splayed over Jazz and Prowls legs, both cushioning their helms on opposite sides of Bumblebee's midriff.

Bumblebee cycled softly, contentedly. He Didn't want to wake any of them, he didn't want to spoil this… he would happily lie like this for cycles, feeling the thrum of sparks under each wing and the soft ventilations over his stomach plating, the comforting pressure of the toughliners each embracing one of his legs, as though they'd fallen into recharge still fighting over him.

He let a soft smile creep over his faceplate. His own arms were reclined back above his helm, servos laying idle near Prowl and Jazz's faceplates.

With a contented, soft sigh through the vents behind his helm, Bumblebee nuzzled his faceplates into the neck cables nearest him… he thought they might be Prowls… the soft purr of the Datsun's engine under that wing told him it was. Slowly Bumblebee allowed himself to cycle offline again. As a grounder he used less energy, and he'd been in that mode so often for so long he'd forgotten how much more recharge he required as a seeker. His energy usage was admittedly more efficient, but it was also higher. The extra off-duty time given to him by Ratchet was much appreciated.

The next time Bumblebee onlined, it was not by way of some well ingrained routine. His optics blazed online and he gasped. It took him a moment to figure out just what had forced him back to awareness so quickly. But as a shock of pleasure raced through his circuits he was quick to determine the source.

Looking down his own chassis, he felt a shiver of heat and lust spread through him to find Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were awake, and had, while Bumblebee was still in recharge, opened his interface panel and coaxed out his now pressurised spike. They were both licking it as if savouring a rust stick. Sunstreaker looked up at Bumblebee's bright optics and, with a coy smile, he pressed his pert lips right over the hub of Bumblebee's cord and sucked, a surprised keen escaping the mini-jet as he felt the golden mech's glossa dip into the connective pins inside the tip. Sideswipe, all the while, was running his glossa up and down the underside of the black and yellow spike, caressing the sensor nodes, and Bumblebee began to writhe, now registering lightly pawing digits and lips being pressed to both his wings.

Sunstreaker's ministrations, now that he was online, quickly picked up in intensity.

He placed a servo on Sideswipe's helm and pushed him down, the red twin not really resisting as his faceplate was shoved towards Bumblebee's port. Sunstreaker held it pressed against Bumblebee's bare interface circuitry and Sideswipe began ravaging the valve with his glossa expertly, drawing a wail of pleasure from Bumblebee.

Sunstreaker, meanwhile, had slid all the way down his spike until it was entirely engulfed by his mouth. He lashed it with his glossa as Jazz nipped along the edge of one of Bumblebee's wings, the small triple changer not caring if anyone could hear him while he loudly voiced his ecstasy.

The others didn't seem to mind it at all. And Bee wouldn't expect them to, he knew from experience the effects his cries of pleasure had on his lovers.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe moaned in tandem around his spike and into his valve.

Bumblebee squirmed uncontrollably, whimpering and whining in ecstasy, hips twitching and quivering under their onslaught, while Prowl and Jazz dove their fingers into every chassis seam they could find, mouths nibbling along the edges of his wings.

The broad input of pleasure signals worked Bumblebee up faster than he could control, and after less than a klik of their combined efforts, he overloaded spectacularly, arching up and writhing as he cried out loudly.

Sunstreaker moaned as he felt the tingle of electric discharge in his mouth from the twitching spike, and Sideswipe eagerly lapped up the sudden gush of lubricant from the small jet's valve as it clenched excitedly around his own probing, lapping glossa.

Eventually, with a moan of satiation, Bumblebee collapsed panting onto the bodies beneath him, hips and wings still twitching.

"I could get used to having mini-seeker for breakfast every day." Sideswipe purred as he rested his chin on Bumblebee's thigh with a broad, goofy grin.

Bumblebee heard Jazz chuckle somewhere underneath him.

The seeker in question merely gave an exhausted moan and shuddered at the pleasurable thought, which caused the rest to grin.

Prowl was still stroking one of his wings. He seemed to be mapping it intently, and Bumblebee didn't mind the tactile attention or curiosity at all.

"So, what kind of jet are you? 'Cause I know you aren't big enough to be an F-15 like Screamer and his wing-nut trine." Sunstreaker asked curiously, leaning on the small mech's other black thigh.

"I'm the same type as Skydive, but I have a different engine build to my thrusters, so I'm probably faster than him. I can never remember what model it is… I don't really think about it enough because I can't take that form much. Actually… you know I think I've only used it twice since we crashed on earth."

"Skydive is an F-16 fighting falcon. A much nicer model than the F-15's in my opinion." Prowl supplied quietly underneath Bumblebee with a purr from his engine, making the smaller mech mewl.

"So… are you going to try and keep this a secret from the rest of the Ark? Or do you think Optimus will want you to let the cyber-cat out of the bag now that the other seekers on earth know anyway…" Sideswipe mused, expression sobering.

"I don't know… I think… I'd like to keep it a secret as long as possible, but then telling everyone sooner means there's more time to gain their trust before another battle. It's just, I kinda like having you guys know when no-one else does."

Jazz hugged a wing to him, engine revving gently. "mmmm I kinda like the thought of that too. Plus, if ya expose yerself as a jet, Optimus might wanna move ya into the air-squad, and what am I gonna do without my favourite little spy?" The saboteur pouted.

"I don't think he'll do that. He knows what an asset you are to special ops, it's likely he'd just get you to do some training manoeuvres with the aerial bots like he does with Powerglide and Skyfire, so you can collaborate when necessary." Prowl reassured them, and Bumblebee stroked a hand over the tactician's cheek-arch affectionately.

"I have to admit, the thought of flying with the Aerial bots is tempting… I don't even know how long it's been since I've flown with anyone else… and it's been maddening to see them do drills and not be able to jump in, they need SO much work on their execution!"

The others all laughed at this. "Don't tell me you're one of those hot-shot seekers that has to tell every other flyer how to do it properly?" Sideswipe moaned playfully.

"It's not a crime to want to improve the technique of fellow jets. Especially when that lot haven't had any proper training. They all need one-on-one, I mean Silverbolt isn't bad, when he forgets to be afraid of heights, but the rest have some seeeerious issues." Bumblebee explained a little defensively.

"And here I thought I was the only one noticing it." Prowl said quietly and Bumblebee wiggled the wing in his grasp playfully.

But as Prowl stroked along it's edge in response, the initial wave of pleasure it sent through Bumblebee's systems triggered a notification in his HUD.

"Ugh… wow, my tanks are really low." the small jet muttered regretfully.

Jazz, slightly surprised by this given Bumblebee had normally been fine for morning second rounds, did his own brief scan of the minibot atop him and frowned to find Bumblebee was quite right.

"Ya sure that's right? Normally yer levels ain't that bad after a night like that." the saboteur said with clear concern.

"Yea, it is actually normal… even I forgot just how much more energy I use as a seeker. I'll probably adjust a bit more again given time, but it's been ages since my turbines have been online. Even just the sensor net in my wings takes more energy to run at full function."

"Well then, come on guys, we've got a hungry seeker to refuel." Sideswipe said with a grin and a pat to Bumblebee's leg before he extricated himself from the mech pile and they all began moving to de-tangle without hurting one another.

Prowl's door-wings flicked and he straightened when they were drying off, having taken turns in Jazz's private wash-racks.

"Mmm. Optimus is requesting a de-briefing with us and Bumblebee if he's fit to later this morning." he revealed to the curious minibot and Porsche beside him.

"Yeah, that's fine, why wouldn't it be?" Bumblebee said bemusedly.

Prowl smiled slightly, communicating over his comm. Link with their commander. When his optics re-focussed on them they knew he had closed the comm. "He just wanted to be sure you'd had enough recovery time. He wasn't sure you'd actually had much time to rest last night…" the tactician trailed off, and Jazz chuckled as a flush of orange heat tinged Bumblebee's faceplates.

"That's our Prime, doesn't miss a trick that mech." Jazz quipped happily.

"When does he want to see me?" Bumblebee asked sheepishly, awkwardly trying to dry off wings he hadn't even had to wash in over a year.

"Anytime this morning is convenient. And he wanted all five of us present. Ratchet will also be there."

Prowl explained, nonchalantly taking the towel from the mini jet's servos and running it in gentle circles over the black wings.

Bumblebee couldn't help the purr that left his engine at the soft drying strokes, and it calmed his slight nerves despite himself. "I suppose I did kind of expect him to want to talk about this… probably wants to discuss how we're going to break this to the rest of the crew."

"What's to discuss? Why do they have to know?" Sunstreaker pouted as he and Sideswipe stepped out of the wash racks, starting to dry themselves off as the other three finished.

"We already talked about it Sun, it's because the rest of the seekers know now, and I don't think they'll keep it to themselves bro, you know what they're like." Sideswipe said sagely. Sunstreaker put on his customary grimace. "Who's going to believe those stupid slaggers though? I bet old Megatron is proclaiming them all insane right now."

"Yea, but that's the thing Sunny," Jazz replied gently, "What if he does believe them? Megs doesn't like to listen to his Seekers, but he did hang around the Vos towers for quite a while when he was recruitin'-"

"-And I was… kinda… famous up there for a while. If he ever heard rumours about a mini-jet, he wouldn't doubt them now." Bumblebee added to Jazz's statement.

They all gave him a slightly surprised look.

"Heh… well I didn't know that… but it don't help the case either. Point is, if there's a chance Megs DOES believe them, he ain't gonna care if it's a secret to the rest of the Autobots. He's gonna want to capitalise on the last Seeker not under his control. He don't want a Seeker, mini or otherwise, able to help our own fliers." Jazz finished explaining. The Twins wore identical expressions of grudging understanding.

"And if everyone finds it out from the Decepticons before I reveal myself, no one's going to trust me any more… half of them are probably already going to have trust issues with me even if I tell them. Cliffjumper especially, given I was his room-mate for so long and he doesn't know a thing about this."

Sunstreaker growled softly. "That little slag-sucker can go socket himself if he blows a gasket over this."

Sideswipe made a derisive noise. "He probably will too. If he takes one step out of line where Bee is concerned, I'm gonna-"

"You aren't going to do anything Sideswipe. If Cliffjumper takes issue with it, he can take it to his commanding officer." Prowl said in his authoritarian tone, flicking the last of the water off his door wings.

"And if Ironhide also has a problem with it, I'll just demonstrate some reverse jet-judo in the sparring room and settle the matter that way." Bumblebee said with a mischievous smirk, the others giving him surprised looks, the twin's optics lighting up gleefully while Jazz chuckled softly and shook his helm.

Prowl merely sighed through his vents.

"Incorrigible, the lot of you. I don't know how I got so deeply ensconced in this group."

"Ah, you wouldn't have it any other way Prowler. You know what they say, friends close and enemies in your berth, best way to keep an optic on us." Sideswipe chimed, throwing an arm over Prowl's doors and shoulders, pulling him into a sudden, messy kiss on the cheek-arch, making the colour rise slightly to his faceplates.

Bumblebee giggled as Prowl gently shook Sideswipe off, giving him a light smack on the aft for his cheek. "I don't think that's quite how that expression goes, but you have something of a point." the tactician smirked.

"Come on, my tank could do with a top up too. Let's get moving before my brother molests the SIC any further." Sunstreaker sniggered.

With a sigh of his vents, Bumblebee reluctantly tucked away the evidence of his original alt. mode back into the specially crafted sub-space compartments, and filed out the door of Jazz's quarters with the others. "At least once everyone knows, I won't have to put my wings away anymore. And frankly, that'll be worth any kind of weird looks or remarks. At least you guys won't care."

Jazz grinned mischievously, "Yea, but then ya got to worry about them being unprotected from random molestation… they are very pretty." The saboteur purred, and Bumblebee couldn't help the shiver of pleasure that ran down his back strut at the suggestive tone and the thoughts it induced.

"If we tell 'em all at once in a conference style meeting, we can field questions and quash any rumours or false ideas before they start. Although we may want to make a point of stressing' that everyone keep their weapons sub-spaced. The last thing I want is a jumpy, trigger happy bot injuring Bumblebee before he has a chance to explain himself." Jazz reasoned calmly, not letting a trace of his deep emotions around the subject show through his professional tone.

Optimus Prime nodded slowly as he considered the idea.

"It does seem the best course of action… But I also like Prowl's idea of stepping the revelation, starting with physically showing the command staff, then having them explain it to their teams before the official Ark wide meeting and reveal. If all the officers are on-side first, there is more support if anyone else gets out of servo."

Jazz nodded. He, Prime and Prowl all looked to Bumblebee for confirmation that he was onboard with the idea.

"Sounds like a plan." Bumblebee smiled, but they could still see the slightly nervous edge to his forcibly calm expression.

"Don't worry Bumblebee, I'll reconfigure anyone if they want to physically take issue with you." Ratchet reassured him, with approving looks from the twins, which pulled a genuine smile out of the mini-jet.

"The question now, is how much of your personal reasons for your own reconfiguration do you want to make known? While it would help the rest of the crew understand and accept the truth a little more easily, I realise it is not an easy subject, and I understand completely if you don't wish to divulge your past publicly." Optimus continued in a gentle tone.

Bumblebee nodded gratefully, but his expression was unsettled once more.

"I'm not really sure how much I want to say. I mean, I have to say it was because of Sunstorm, but I don't think everyone's going to believe I completely changed myself just to hide from one jealous seeker. But if I mention that we were together, even if it was before the war, bots are going to think I'm a Decepticon spy… I can only imagine how hard it's going to be convincing Red Alert alone…" the small yellow mech said morosely, faceplate showing clear anxiety now.

"It isn't going to be easy. But you already have the support of three officers and the Prime, and that's a pretty good start. We'll bring them around Bumblebee, your history on the Ark has to count for something too." Ratchet said encouragingly, and given that the medic wasn't one for false hope, Bumblebee felt his worries eased at least a little.

"Yea, but bots tend ta conveniently forget history in the face of something' this big comin' out. Ya gonna have to make sure an' remind them you're still the same Bumblebee." Jazz said reasonably.

The minibot actually gave a nervous laugh.

"That's gonna be a bit hard… I mean, I'm not going to be a whole lot different, but… I'm not sure you guys know quite what happens to seekers when they have their wings out. I'm about the only mech that knows the difference, and I'm sure Perceptor is going to want to study it when he finds out, but I DO act different when my seeker form is online."

"Online? I thought the changes were only physical, do you mean you… switch being a seeker on and off?" Prowl asked with clear confusion, obviously struggling to understand a factor he hadn't known about.

"He doesn't switch it off, no, but the flight frame base programming goes into sleep mode and doesn't effect his higher processor functions when his jet form is concealed. It helps him use less energy in ground mode." Ratchet explained.

"So… how different ARE you when your wings are out?" Sideswipe asked curiously.

Bumblebee shrugged. "I don't really notice the changes so much myself usually, but I will once I'm able to stay in my triple-changer mode most of the time. I'm like me, but a seeker version of me… only not evil like most other seekers are these days… I'm not making much sense am I?" Bumblebee petered off apologetically.

Ratchet just chuckled and shared a knowing look with Prime. "He won't be different enough for the rest of the crew to stop trusting him, but it will be a bit surprising." Optimus rumbled good-naturedly, and Bumblebee flashed him a sheepish smile.

Sunstreaker suddenly started to chuckle, and the others looked at him as though he'd blown a circuit.

"Oh Primus… the aerial-bots aren't going to know what hit them when air-commander Bumblebee gets on their tails about their technique." He said with a wicked grin spreading over his faceplate.

Sideswipe's expression matched when he caught on, and even Prowl allowed himself a smirk at the mental image.

To most of their surprise, Ratchet followed suit with a smile. "Actually, I've been thinking about that. It's the subject for another meeting altogether, but Prime and I have already discussed our desire for you to help train the aerial bots, once the crew knows about you and you can get some of your own personal practice in. I was actually hoping you could mentor them a bit. Everyone knows they have a certain guilty awe for seekers."

The medic's tone was professional enough, but his expression belied some deeper meaning to his words that Bumblebee was almost hoping he had imagined. He was distracted though by Prime addressing them again.

"Well, if you're feeling comfortable that we have covered all our bases on this plan Bumblebee, any objections to making the first meeting with the command staff later today?"

Bumblebee nibbled his bottom lip for a moment before resolving himself and shaking his head.

"Better not to put it off I suppose. Tell me a time and a place and I'll be there."

The Prime smiled warmly behind his mask, the expression reaching his optics. "Good. I think back here will be just fine, say in about, three cycles? Prowl, I'll need you to get the message out to the other officers. The rest of the plan can be scheduled after we've… settled the first meeting." he said with an anticipatory sort of reserve, and the rest nodded in understanding.

"Is there anything you wanted me to do until then sir?" Bumblebee asked as they stood and stretched their joints a little (the meeting hadn't been long, but their activities the previous night had still effected them).

"Other than take it easy, no Bumblebee, you can use the time to work out a meeting strategy if you'd like though. But you did still suffer a rather substantial amount of damage yesterday. I really don't want to go against my CMO's orders and load you up with duties at the moment."

Bumblebee smiled as Ratchet grumbled something about damn right you'll follow my orders, if only you would when it's your own health, which seemed to nearly draw a chuckle from the Prime.

"Ya can hang in my quarters for a while if you need to chill Bee." Jazz offered as they walked out of the meeting room and off to their respective shifts (the Twins had training with Ironhide for the next 2 cycles and would likely seek the minibot out again to help bolster him before the meeting).

"Thanks Jazz, I might come by in a cycle or so, I want to sort some stuff in my quarters first." the beetle replied calmly, but he knew the soft thrum of nervousness in his tanks would only increase within the next three cycles.

"That's cool, I'll just be filing reports." the saboteur replied with a shrug.

"For 3 cycles? How many reports do you have to go through?" Bumblebee asked with a slightly dubious tone.

Jazz grinned sheepishly. "Not a whole lot, but ya know I'm no good at it, takes me ages. I might be Prowl's long-term lover, but that don't mean it's made me any better at filing reports, that's still his field. And he won't do any for me, says the only way to get better is practice, tight slagger won't even do it for favours."

"I heard that." Came the tactician's voice from around the corner up ahead of them where he'd just turned on his way to go about informing the other officers of the upcoming meeting.

Jazz and Bumblebee both snickered because there was absolutely no malice in the Datsun's tone.

The Porsche and Beetle parted ways at the next corridor junction with a swift kiss before Bumblebee headed off to his shared room.

It was thankfully empty when Bumblebee got there, Cliffjumper apparently already out to whatever morning shift he had.

Bumblebee had been hoping for this. Stepping over to the locker in the corner just left of the door, he entered the combination, opened it up and pulled out a long, black, un-assuming sub-space case.

He took it over to his berth and laid it down like a precious artefact.

How long had it been since he'd even just looked at them? Thinking about his eventual reveal all morning had brought the memory of them back to his CPU. One of the perks of being known to the rest of the Ark as the seeker he was, was that it meant he'd be able to use them again in all likely-hood.

And it had been more than once that he'd missed them.

Bumblebee brushed absently at the few rust spots on the black metal box before he entered another number code on the case and flicked open the lid catches.

The yellow mech vented a soft sigh when he set optics on his old, specially crafted laser cannons.

They used to be mounted on his shoulders, just like the weapons of other seekers. They were smaller though, sleeker, and much nicer to look at. With smooth gold and black paint to match his old colour scheme, the lasers had a single aero-dynamic finial on the body to offer less resistance under the wings in jet mode, and atop the nozzle of each was another similar piece of metal, but shaped like a black barb.

Bumblebee couldn't help but smile, running a servo over one of his old 'stingers'. So much more accurate than the pulse rifle he'd been using for stellar cycles now, and they packed more of a punch too.

The thought that he'd finally be able to use them again helped ease his anxiety over the coming reveal.

Picking one up he scrutinised it thoughtfully. He would have to get them re-painted to match his normal yellow now. Sunstreaker could do it for him, he was sure the twin wouldn't mind. Although, he mused with a nervous smile, the front-liner might be more inclined to try and convince him to repaint himself to match the cannons once more.

He'd never revealed to the others, not even Sunstreaker, that he had once been a very similar shade of gold to the handsome artisan.

Bumblebee snorted. It was so long ago, and he was so far removed from the mech he had been, it was like it was a different bot's memories he held. He'd had two names, when he was a young seeker fresh to the Vos towers. Everyone but his creators had known him as 'Stinger', which made the calling of his cannons the same name seem sort of silly, though he'd never minded much. But his progenitors, both ground mechs, one a commoner, the other a wealthy noble, had always affectionately known him as Bumblebee.

Officially speaking, Stinger, the little 'prince' of Vos as he'd come to be known, had died in the vorn before the war truly broke out. The minibot's optics dimmed as he ran his black digits lightly along the barrel of one of his old weapons.

His creators had known about his issues with Sunstorm… had done their best to help, but had both been caught in a Decepticon attack before his reformatting and reported off-lining. The attack had never been put down to the 'Cons, but Bumblebee knew better. It had been one of the first air raids. He'd heard whispers in the towers… it had galvanised him into his desperate actions.

He knew his creators wouldn't have minded his choice to hide by turning himself into a grounder, but they had so loved his wings… both had worked so hard to have a sparkling that could fly the way they never could.

Just thinking about them… about the fact that Sunstorm had made him all but abandon that form they had worked so hard to give him… his optics surged and spark throbbed a little.

He took the stinger in his hand and held it to the opposite shoulder joint. Frowning, he realised he'd have to consult Ratchet about reattaching them to his triple-changer mode. His rear wheels now occupied the space they were meant to be mounted on, so they'd have to find a way of either integrating the wheels with the weapons or moving them to the other side of his shoulder, but then that would-

Bumblebee's train of thought was broken by the sound of the keypad to his quarters being used.

He swiftly stashed away the stinger and closed the lid of the case just as the door swooshed open to admit Cliffjumper.

With practiced ease that came from being a special ops agent, Bumblebee instantly schooled his features so it looked like nothing out of the ordinary was going on.

"Hey CJ."

"Hey Bee."

The other minibot considered him for a moment, but Bumblebee merely threw him a swift half smile and slid off his berth nonchalantly.

Bumblebee could tell instantly that despite his unassuming act, Cliffjumper was going to bring something up with him.

It wasn't like his room-mate was difficult to read. If Cliffjumper had a strut to pick, he would never mess about. If he was acting normally, he'd be in his own little bubble, not moving slowly and awkwardly over to his berth like he was, half full energon cube in hand, throwing the yellow beetle looks.

Apparently though, the red bot wasn't keen on the topic he wanted to talk about, because Bumblebee had to go about casually returning his sub-space case to his locker before turning to the other minibot.

"OK, spill it. What's up?"

Cliffjumper frowned at Bumblebee, who stood with his servos on his hips and an orbital ridge slightly raised.

The red mech huffed through his vents and looked Bumblebee up and down for a moment before answering.

"So what's the deal?"

"The deal with what?" Bumblebee replied blankly, trying not to sigh through his vents in exasperation.

"With you and the Seekers. What'd you do to frag them off so much?"

Bumblebee knew it wasn't meant to sound accusatory, but Cliffjumper was so paranoid about turncoats that he could rarely manage to ask anything like this without it sounding like he was suspicious of some plot.

"There is no deal. One of them knew me from a raid mission I went on to Cybertron a few years ago, and thought it would be funny to get him and his buddies to gang up on me."

The spy always hated just how easy it was for him to fabricate lies to his friends, especially given Cliffjumper would be learning the truth all too soon anyway.

Apparently, sooner than Bumblebee anticipated. Cliffjumper drained his cube, set it aside, crossed his arms over his chest plate with a deepening scowl and said "I'm not buying it."

The yellow mech's orbital ridge arched again and he moved to lean against his berth. "OK, fine, why don't you buy it?"

Bumblebee wasn't going to waste time trying to convince Cliffjumper of the truth of his supplied answer… he wouldn't insult him like that, Cliffjumper was no idiot, and what's more he seemed to have a way of seeing right through the special ops act sometimes, no matter how convincing. It probably came from living in close quarters with one for so long.

"If it was just Seekers messing around for the heck of it, you wouldn't have had your little contingent of bodyguards so worried."

"Don't call them that, they're friends, not bodyguards." Bumblebee said scowling.

Cliffjumper smirked slightly. "Yea, sure, friends… look I know you're at least fragging the twins, and Prowl and Jazz got chummy to make sure they didn't mess you up somehow-"

Bumblebee snorted derisively, something very few mechs besides Cliffjumper could make him do. "Oh sure CJ, you've got it all worked out. I totally need protecting from the Twins, Prowl and Jazz just got friendly to uphold the chastity of my spark, there's no way they could just all like hanging out with me. Pfft. How do you know I'm not fragging all four of them?"

"Oh don't start getting stupid on me Bee, I'm trying to have a serious conversation with you here."

Bumblebee let out a small 'tch' sound, leaning his servos back on the berth to support himself. The red minibot had picked his first lie, but failed to at all recognise his truth bluff. Just goes to show how seriously he really takes me. Just like most other mechs, but at least it makes my job easier if mechs are constantly underestimating me, annoying as it can be, like right now…

"Look, I know something is going on that you're all hushing up," the other minibot continued, " and it has to do with you and those seekers. I SAW those four charging across the battle field after those jets like they thought you were gonna be dragged into the pit. I saw you when Ratchet brought you in, you were physically attacked. Seekers never touch a grounder with anything more than their laser fire unless they're holding a personal grudge of some sort."

"Oh so you're an expert on Seekers now?" Bumblebee said snidely, unable to help himself, giving Cliffjumper a too cold glare. Frag keeping him happy and frag lying, I could not be bothered with this right now, why can't he just hold it all in for once and wait a joor to find out the truth with everyone else?

The very thought made Bumblebee's tank churn with nerves and his irate expression dulled a little.

Cliffjumpers however, did not.

"You're never usually this defensive. I know whatever's being hidden has to do with you. And don't give me any of your 'Special Ops only' slag. I've been your room-mate and your friend for how many vorns? I've let you have your secrets, I know it's all in your job, but this time… this time I'm worried, after seeing what those seekers did to you, only to have you bounce right back like it's nothing, I know something's wrong, it doesn't add up. You CAN tell me stuff you know Bee… you can TRUST me."

Bumblebee shook his helm, regret snaking into his annoyed expression.

"It's not a matter of trust Cliffjumper. I'm not going to tell you nothing is 'going on' as you put it. But right now, despite how long we've known each other, this is really just… none of your business."

"It is if you've become a seeker target." Cliffjumper said gruffly.

Bumblebee did a bit of a double take. "Sorry, What?"

The red bot's posture became stiff but his frown was resolute.

"If the Seekers are going to be targeting you in battle, anyone around you could cop the fallout. You shouldn't be in battle if you're going to endanger whatever team you're fighting with. Does Prime know about this? Or is your privacy worth too much to inform him of the issue that could affect several of his troops?"

Bumblebee could not believe the timing of the Decepticon attack alarm. It was both a relief and a worry. The thought of fighting right now was not appealing, but at the same time he was sure he had been about to jump up and punch Cliffjumper in the faceplate.

The red minibot shot up, threw him a look that clearly said this isn't over, before he grabbed his rifle and raced out of the room.

With a hard ventilation, Bumblebee straightened and grabbed his own weapon, but as he turned to follow Cliffjumper's path, he froze momentarily, eyes on his battered black sub-space container.

The decision took all of an astrosecond, and he wasn't even sure why he did it, but he hastily threw open the lid and stashed his 'stingers' into his subspace units before racing out of the room.

It wasn't like he could use them, really, but just the thought of having them with him again seemed appealing… almost calming.

Bumblebee ran through the corridors, joined by a few other mechs heading for the front entrance.

When they arrived, there were no officers, but Cliffjumper, Bluestreak, Brawn, Gears, Powerglide and Wheeljack were there, and more were likely on the way.

Wheeljack and Powerglide were jogging out into the open desert, optics on the sky as a figure came closer, trailing smoke.

As it got nearer, Bluestreak trained his sights on it, but lowered his rifle again a moment later as Skyfire's emergency hail came over their open comm. frequency.

-hits taken, one severe, trailing fuel. Incoming Decepticon jets tailing me, hope you guys are ready on the ground, these 'Cons are mad, I have no idea what they're here for, but Megatron and a few others are following them. Primus!

The line crackled with a burst of static as Skyfire was forced to do some evasive aerial acrobatics to avoid enemy seeker fire.

Bumblebee hissed in sympathy, watching the approaching form dip, swoop and barrel-roll while clearly injured to avoid strafing laser fire from behind.

Bumblebee knew he should have expected it… but when the sound of those familiar engines began to reach his audios a shudder of repulsion, fear, and an anger so intense it surprised him, welled in his spark and his servos shook where they gripped his rifle tighter.

"Autobots, front and centre, we gotta cover Skyfire so he can come into land!" Wheeljack called out to those who had assembled, just as Huffer, Windcharger and Warpath arrived.

"Alright, lets, WHAM, blast those 'Cons outta the sky!"

"I thought those Seekers usually took at least two or three joors to lick their wounds, they musta bullied that medic of theirs pretty viciously to be up and about after what I heard Sides and Sunstreaker saying they did to them yesterday." Powerglide said, priming himself in a position where he could transform and take off to assist with aerial cover where necessary.

Bumblebee, running across the field behind the line they were forming, felt a pang of dread run cold through his spark.

Primus please don't let him go up there alone, Sunstorm will tear him apart, then throw him to the rest of them, this shouldn't be happening, he's come after ME, and it doesn't matter that Prime and Prowl and Jazz all know, Cliffjumper is right… mechs are going to get hurt because of ME, my FRIENDS will get hurt because of me…

"Incoming! Wait for my signal!" Wheeljack called across the field. Bumblebee took up position on the end of the line, training his sights on the horizon under the approaching form of Skyfire.

The least he could do, despite the horrible gripping fear around his spark, was try to blast the slagger out of the sky before he could land and wreak absolute havoc on anything and everything.

As soon as Skyfire's roaring, smoking engines passed overhead (low enough to shake the ground on which they stood), Wheeljack cried out "OPEN FIRE!".

Even over the sharp sounds of laser fire and plasma discharge, Bumblebee heard it. The distinct high pitched whine of his turbines… the screeching cry, at first a faint echo that then began to bounce off Mt. Saint Hilary itself the closer he got. It grew louder until the raging torrent could just be made out high over their heads as the first wave of Seekers drew close enough to open fire on them.

Bumblebee's spark pulsed wildly, rifle searching the skies for him. He could hear him, how could he not see him? Where was the fragger?

The cone heads were the first in his sights, but he only spared them a few rounds of fire before scouring the blue expanse above him with his optics again.

The sound of the golden seeker's engines was bouncing off the mountains, he couldn't pinpoint the direction of their origin. Cannon fire peppered the ground 20 feet in front of him and he fended off the second wave of seeker shots, this time from the elite trine. Why the FRAG was Starscream's lot in on this?

Frag, FRAG, this is too soon, they want me already, away from the Autobots, before anyone here knows, before they can utilise my skills…

As ground troops began to get nearer, a few bots broke formation and decided to head out to meet them.

Bumblebee looked around, realising more autobots had emerged from the Ark to join them. Ironhide had arrived with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe in tow, who strangely enough didn't follow Cliffjumper, Gears, Brawn and Warpath out on their advance to greet the enemy who approached on land.

"COME OUT LITTLE STINGER! COME AND FACE YOUR DESTINY OR I SHALL DESTROY THEM ALL! I WILL RAIN PIT-FIRE DOWN UPON THESE AUTOBOTS UNTIL YOU SHOW YOURSELF TO ME! YOU CANNOT HIDE FOREVER BUMBLEBEE!"

Several mechs turned their heads Bumblebee's way as the bright yellow Seeker appeared, screaming around the side of the mountain and throwing laser fire after the small band of breakaway autobots who had not anticipated any of the seekers to attack from behind so soon.

It all seemed to work in sickening slow motion for Bumblebee.

He watched, horrified, as Cliffjumper and the others rose out of vehicle mode, coming to a skidding halt to turn and fire on their assailant as the glowing form of Sunstorm bore directly down towards them, screeching and cackling and howling in mad rage and delight.

Whether his decision was conscious or not, Bumblebee couldn't be sure, but he knew he heard a chorus of 'NO!' from the twins as he transformed and shot off towards the other four coming under attack.

Laser fire arced overhead, exchanged between the Decepticon Seekers and Triple changers with the Autobots on the ground still rallying into their defence patterns.

Megatron himself could be heard, apparently yelling at his entire aerial team about being insubordinate, but seemingly willing to fight anyway.

The Stunticons had come along, and somewhere from the direction of the Ark there was the sound of more mechs bellowing his name, but all Bumblebee saw was Sunstorm.

The Seeker had apparently had his minor damages seen to since the other day when Bumblebee had kicked in one of his heel cones and Sunstreaker had shot him in he back.

But Bumblebee cursed himself… he wasn't fast enough. He saw, his engine whining with fear, Cliffjumper charge towards Sunstorm, only to hit the radioactive field and skid to a halt. But Sunstorm merely laughed and shot at him nearly point-blank as he reeled from the disorientating effects of the radiation.

The red minibot's cry of pain from the shots hitting his legs was echoed by howls of rage from his companions, all of which had to duck out of the way as Sunstorm swivelled around, firing all around him and cackling like mad.

Bumblebee red lined his engine, surging forward with a wave of rage as he heard Gears shout in pain as he too was hit.

Cliffjumper, being Cliffjumper, swore and cursed and threatened Sunstorm, who turned on him with a wicked, manic grin and began to move closer to him.

"Oh, I am SO going to enjoy seeing my Sweet Bee's face when he sees what I'm going to do to you… I'm going to make an example out of you, show him what I think of this frame type he's chosen to soil himself with, and when he comes I'm going to rip it off him and stick it on you, because by the time I'm done all your own armour will have melted to nothing but cheap sla- OOF!"

Sunstorm was bowled over as a mech collided with him.

Bumblebee transformed after ramming the seeker, rolling with his inertia and leaping between the flier and his room-mate.

"B-Bee?" Cliffjumper managed to gasp out through his pained ventilations. He was beginning to bleed out over the desert, the close range shots to his legs having pierced energon lines.

Bumblebee threw a terrified but apologetic look over his shoulder before turning to face the rising form of a growling Sunstorm.

"The games are OVER my precious Stinger… submit to me, or I will destroy everything, and then I will destroy YOU."

And to emphasise his point, the towering seeker with flaming white-gold optics pointed both arm cannons at Windcharger and Warpath, both of which had surrounded him to little avail, the Stunticons coming up fast to encircle them all, cutting them off from the main contingent of Ark autobots.

Bumblebee's own optics flared white.

He had very few options here… if he didn't submit, he had no doubt Sunstorm would be true to his word… but like PIT he was giving into that maniac now.

He was too close… so close to having a freedom he hadn't felt in forever, and in his mind there was now only one logical path, no choice, and maybe he was taking the easy way out, part of him thought…

But frag it all to the Pit, he was a seeker, and if he was going to die today, that was how he was going to die.

"My NAME, is not STINGER. He died a long time ago. I AM BUMBLEBEE, AND I'M NEVER GOING TO SUBMIT TO YOU, YOU INSANE FRAGGING PRIMUS WANNABE!"

Bumblebee let loose the locks on his sub-space compartments, and with a tingle of relief, excitement, dread, anger… he flared his wings and ignited his main thruster, firing his engine to growl at Sunstorm in a classic show of pure Seeker aggression.

He didn't look at the other Autobots surrounding him, but he was hyper aware of the tense stillness and shock that had stilled every mech around him but Sunstorm, who sneered dangerously at the display.

"Very well, we do this your way, Bumblebee." He hissed, and with a growl, lunged at the minibot.

In a movement faster than any of them could track, Bumblebee fired his heel thrusters and shot straight up, opening his subspace compartments as he went.

It took all of five astroseconds to lock his stingers onto his wings before he transformed again, this time into his jet mode.

Oh PRIMUS but it was intoxicating… he wished desperately that he was not doing this in such a dire situation, because the air flowing over his frame was so very delicious and all he wanted was to spin through the sky and revel in the warmth of the sun on his plating… but behind him he heard Sunstorm's engines roaring in pursuit…

Heh, the mech might have the advantage over him in root mode, but in the air… not even Starscream was going to be able to keep up with him. He hadn't been the 'Prince of Vos' for nothing.

Bumblebee turned off from his vertical ascent, spinning and absorbing G-forces that would have had Powerglide spiralling out of control, but Bumblebee simply levelled out and went for it, arcing around to head past the mountain and draw Sunstorm away from his friends.

Apparently, however, he had fallen right into a trap.

The moment Bumblebee was in the air, every single seeker and triple changer was converging on him.

With a furious roar of his turbines, Bumblebee shot straight up again, dodging and spinning to avoid the laser fire peppering across his flight path as he headed for the lowest level of clouds.

Once he was high enough, he stopped his engines dead, did a graceful twirl in mid air, righting himself above a cloud, before freefalling nose down through his cover.

He ignited his thrusters again the moment he burst from the bottom of the cloud and brought his stingers online at the same time, firing straight into the form of Blitzwing, who had been stupid enough to follow directly behind him.

The triple changer cried out, his cockpit glass shattered and wing smoking, and peeled off to the side, exposing Skywarp, who had been right behind him.

Bumblebee surprised him so much one of his stinger cannons got a whole three shots into the black and purple flier's left wing before he warped away.

Bumblebee continued his steep dive, pushing faster and faster, watching out of the corner of his sensors as Sunstorm spotted him and came for him on a diagonal collision route.

Bumblebee turned towards the golden Seeker's flight path, too quick for his burst of laser fire, hearing him screech in anger as Bumblebee's now horizontal course forced Sunstorm to turn upside down and roll to straighten out, costing him speed.

Bumblebee never stopped to consider his moves… they came to him as naturally as he had never had to leave the skies. Barrel rolling, he twisted up and looped around Astrotrain, who was no where near agile enough to attempt to follow.

Starscream on the other hand, fancied his chances, and came screeching down from above, firing his cannons and engaging in what could only be described as a kind of aerial dance with Bumblebee.

They twisted around one another, trying to get a shot in without ending up in the other's firing sights.

Bumblebee could have been imagining things, but he could have sworn from Starscreams cackling that he was far from getting agitated by the deadlock manoeuvring… in fact, he seemed to be enjoying it.

To an extent, the challenge did appeal to Bumblebee's seeker nature, but his situation was too dire to truly enjoy it the way the Decepticon air commander seemed to.

He ended up leading Starscream along and nearly crashing him into Astrotrain, who's comparatively clumsy flying was turning out to be more help to Bumblebee than hindrance.

His firing of a missile in Bumblebee's direction was not however, and the yellow and black F-16 had to do a triple loop-the-loop to shake the rocket and then the strafing fire that followed, before using the momentum to spiral his way upwards and make another dive-bomb towards the space-shuttle decepticon.

From there, it took a series of gyro-boggling moves to avoid the fire of all the other decepticon fliers.

While Bumblebee's anger spurred his energy and he hit both Astrotrain and Sunstorm's green companion (he vaguely recalled the mechs name as being Acid-rain) badly enough to force them to the ground with Blitzwing, the fear was creeping back into his spark.

I can't hold out forever, I can't keep this up if I run out of energy, and Sunstorm is going to offline me… I won't submit, ever, he must see it now, I revealed myself just to prove it to him, just to escape… no, to FIGHT him… Primus, this was inevitable really… as long as I can take him out before… or when he takes me out… as long as I can do that, I'll crash into him if I have to, but I can't let him walk away from this, or he'll destroy them all…

Where are the Aerialbots? He needs support up there, NOW! Prowl hollered across the comm. systems, watching the spectacle above them with horror and dread filled optics.

He had prayed that this wouldn't happen, that the Decepticons would take too long to recover to launch an attack before the Ark was aware of Bumblebee's true identity and a contingency plan to safeguard him had been made.

But he had to admit, somewhere underneath the sheer terror he felt watching his smallest lover rise into the air and perform breathtaking manoeuvres, that he was in absolute awe of this… Seeker Bee.

He had never seen flying like it, and it made something in his spark flare with fierce pride and affection.

We're coming! We're coming, we had to help Skyfire put out a fire in his hold, what's the situation like out there?

Silverbolt's anxious vocals reached Prowl and he scowled despite himself.

We have a single Autobot seeker being tailed by every Jet the Decepticons have brought with them, and that's all of them! He needs you now, get your collective afts out here!

Prowl could almost feel the slack jawed surprise on the other end of the open comm. Even Jazz gave him a look as Silverbolt's stammered 'yes sir' was yelped back.

Prowl, sir, not to be insubordinate, but clarification please? There are no Autobot seekers… I shall be able to assist momentarily, my damage is minor, but what is the targeted mech's identity?

Skyfire's confused, deep voice came over the channel as Prowl managed to break his gaze from the sky to head across the field behind Jazz, towards the four mechs still surrounded by stunned looking Stunticons.

Mech's identity not important right now, he just needs aerial support immediately. The sooner you can get back in the air, the better, the trines aren't holding anything back, but do not approach the yellow and white seeker, designation Sunstorm, he emits fatal radiation.

Prowl responded, his vocals evening to normal as he fell back into his professional mannerisms.

Me Swoop tough Dinobot! Not scared of big nuclear yellow bot!

Came a raspy exclamation across the comms.

No! Swoop! I never designed you to withstand that kind of radiation, abort your attack, abort! Wheeljack cried frantically across the line, breaking from formation to head in the same direction as Prowl and Jazz, who kept glancing up at the chaos in the sky.

It was to both their relief and regret that the cone-heads all converged on Swoop before he could even enter the main aerial fray.

It was Just as well the ground bound Decepticons were as mesmerised by the deadly mid-air ballet above them as many of the Autobots were, or they would be suffering heavier injury tolls despite the fact the Autobot ground troops outnumbered Decepticon ones.

Even Megatron himself seemed more interested in the aerial battle than the fact Prime was converging on his position.

Bee, quit fooling around and lead them down to our level already! Do you want help or not?

Sunstreaker's voice hollered over the comms. He was the first to address the minibot since he had leapt into the air. The open comm. seemed to snap many of the other Autobots out of their shocked or confused stupors as well, and the fight suddenly raged on the ground.

Bumblebee was too focussed on not getting hit by attacks coming in from all sides to answer, but the whistle of his engines got closer as he flipped mid air and streaked through Starscream and his wing mate's formation.

It didn't take Bumblebee long to spot the Twins as they raced towards their favourite rocky outcrop to the left of the Ark's entrance… a launching pad for many a session of Jet judo.

Starscream peeled off in some notion of heading Bumblebee off, and Sunstorm's blue trine-mate took up position with Thundercracker and a slightly smoking Skywarp, but Bumblebee pulled up sharp, looped and fired as the following jets flew beneath him.

He landed a hit on Thundercracker and the other blue seeker's wings, but Skywarp teleported, and fearing the black mech's appearance right behind him, Bumblebee threw himself into another set of gyro boggling evasive manoeuvres.

He had been right to do so, hearing Skywarp cursing at a miss-timed appearance and Starscream yelling at them for being idiots who couldn't even catch an insect of a jet.

Bumblebee, seeing the Twins had reached their critical position, put on a bust of speed, heading straight under Starscream, the other seekers back on his tail as he took a straight line low to the ground.

Bumblebee still couldn't think of anything to say over the comm. to the twins, still busy dodging rear laser fire and rockets being fired by Astrotrain from above.

He went into a spin to make it harder for the other fliers to hit him, and spotted the crouching forms of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker as he flew over them.

A moment later there were cries from Thundercracker and the other blue jet as they found themselves being latched onto and ridden rodeo style.

In the meantime, Bumblebee pulled up, only to find Starscream and Sunstorm waiting above him.

Killing his engines again, Bumblebee twisted downwards, swerving sharply and rolling once more to pull out of a dive that would have him crashing into either Astrotrain or the ground.

He felt the heat of laser fire brush over one of his tail fins and put on a burst of speed, pulling up in a diagonal arc and noticing Starscream pull across the sky to give chase.

Bumblebee was getting tired of this game… if Starscream wanted to have some fun, Bumblebee would give him a challenge alright…

"AIR COMMANDER MY AFT! YOU FLY LIKE A CARGO SHUTTLE!" the minibot cried across the air as he swooped into a feint before twisting into the opposite direction.

He mentally sniggered as he heard the shriek of outrage behind him.

Unfortunately, Starscream seemed twice as sharp when insulted, and Bumblebee found his wing sensors starting to feel boggled by the amount of times he twisted them through the air, wind dragging over him at incredible speeds.

Eventually, Bumblebee worked his way upwards before freefalling, Starscream right on his tailfins,

That's right you idiot, you think I'm doing this to rest, you think you can catch me in the straight line descent, but can you catch yourself? Ha! Lets see!

The sound of more jets momentarily distracted Bumblebee, but a quick sensor sweep told him it was just the aerialbots coming into the fray.

Tch, nice timing guys…

They headed his way, and the spy suddenly realised they could easily frag up his manoeuvre.

Stay back, I've got this one. He sent swiftly through the aerialbots comm. link, unable to articulate anything more detailed.

You're going to crash Bumblebee! Pull Up, we'll cover you-

Bumblebee actually growled through the communications line at Silverbolt, not meaning to, but unable to stifle the flare of indignation he felt being told how to fly by the essentially much younger and much less skilled concord.

Shut-up and watch.

Bumblebee fired his thrusters full throttle and streaked towards the ground, hearing the stunned cries of not only the aerial bots, but a few of the mechs on the ground.

He was flying right towards the Combaticons, who hollered and ran, believing he was going to crash right into them, but as he heard Starscream using all his power to catch up, Bumblebee focussed absolutely all his attention on the task at hand.

He watched his meters, intent on the exact altitude…

100 feet…80...50...30

"NOW!"

Bumblebee threw himself into a spin and pulled up as sharply as he could, still firing his engine at full throttle to help pull him out of the turn and fight gravity.

He heard Starscream screech in horror, having been so intent on Bumblebee's freefalling form that he hadn't paid attention to just how close to the ground they were.

He tried to pull up completely but it was too late, and he was too heavy, the inertia sending him nosecone first, ploughing through the dirt of the desert floor.

Bumblebee heard cheers and whoops and exclamations of awe over his comm. Link from the aerialbots, and was for a moment so elated at his success at out-flying the Decepticon air commander, that he lost track of Sunstorm.

Bumblebee cried out as searing hot pain rent the tip of one of his wings and he wavered in the air, twisting away from the fire that had hit him.

The cackling golden seeker came roaring through the sky towards the aerialbots, who were forced to scatter, but the mad seeker turned on them and pursued Skydive, who's lightning decals made him stand out among his brothers.

"Aghh! Get him off! Help!"

Bumblebee felt a shiver of fear run through him as Skydive screamed, Sunstorm having changed to root mode to grab onto Skydive's wings. The minibot knew, even though the insane jet's radiation didn't affect him, that it was agony on others, and on the wings of another flier…

It did not bear processing.

With a growl of his turbines Bumblebee shot straight for the pair, not firing until he could get a clear shot at Sunstorm without hitting Skydive.

Sunstorm relinquished with a grunt of pain, one of his arm cannons getting shot off his shoulder while another shot tore open one of his side helm vents.

He changed back to jet mode and tore after Bumblebee, leaving Skydive crippled and falling out of the sky.

Fireflight and Air-raid caught their brother and took him to the ground, his wings warped by the heat of Sunstorm's radiation.

When Silverbolt and Slingshot made to chase Sunstorm and help Bumblebee, who's wing was smoking slightly and stinging like pit, the glowing seeker turned on them and began firing like mad.

Bumblebee turned and fired his own stingers at Sunstorm, who twisted away and went to ram into the lower flying Silverbolt.

"NO!"

Bumblebee went to knock Sunstorm off course, but the Decepticon jet was disrupted by a large burst of laser fire coming between him and the concord.

Bumblebee heard the sound of the shuttle's engines before he saw Skyfire, but the presence of the huge white and red flier was something of a relief…

Until Sunstorm decided to focus his attention on the newcomer instead, cackling and shooting upwards.

Skyfire was good, and older, and more experienced than even Bumblebee, but he was a different class of jet, and while manoeuvrable and quite agile in the air for his size, there was no way he could keep up with Sunstorm's assault.

Silverbolt and Slingshot had their servos full dealing with the re-appeared Astrotrain, so it was up to Bumblebee to go to Skyfires aid.

The mini-jet powered upwards and dogged Sunstorm in his attack, firing whenever Skyfire wasn't in danger of being hit as well.

Sunstorm merely screeched with insane laughter and changed to root mode again, landing on Skyfire and slamming a fist into his cockpit.

Skyfire growled in pain and rage, turbines whining with the agony as he tried to shake the golden seeker off him.

Bumblebee swooped in to try and knock Sunstorm off, but someone else beat him to it…

"Get offa him ya ugly overgrown turbo-vulture!"

Bumblebee watched, horrified, as Powerglide slammed into Sunstorm's cockpit, cracking it, going so fast he either didn't notice the radiation field or decided to ignore it.

Unfortunately for him, Sunstorm brought his flailing arms around to claw into Powerglide and latch on,

"AAAAAGGGGGHH!"

"'GLIDE, NO!"

Bumblebee chased the falling, spinning pair, watching, horrified, helpless, as Sunstorm mercilessly tore one of the red bombers wings right off and threw him from himself, flinging the detached wing in the opposite direction.

Bumblebee forgot about Sunstorm once more and tore after Powerglide to save the semi-conscious mech from a fatal crash.

But Sunstorm had come straight for him and grasped at one of his tail-fins. Bumblebee cried out and twisted, firing his tail thruster right in the jet's face, but the golden flier merely cackled.

The spy, grasping at old coding and programming, managed to send the command to his stinger cannons to about face on their mounts and fire into the mech behind him, all the while he watched in horror as Powerglide continued to fall to earth.

A wave of intense relief flooded his spark as Skyfire tore down past them in root mode, easily going fast enough to catch the other flier.

Bumblebee's rear fire hit it's mark, and he heard Sunstorm's cockpit shatter in earnest, the jet screeching in pain as stinger fire tore open a shoulder vent and pierced two smoking holes in one of his wings.

They separated and wheeled around to face one another, circling further apart in the air, the glowing seeker back in jet mode and whirring his thrusters in a menacing manner.

It was just them now.

Astrotrain and Skywarp were busy with the remaining aerialbots, Thundercracker and the other blue seeker had been grounded by the Twins, and Skyfire was racing Powerglide back to the Ark for emergency medical attention.

The cone-heads had long since abandoned the dog-fighting (after grounding Swoop) in favour of harassing the Autobot ground troops, but even if they were bothering to remain involved in Sunstorms campaign, they would have stayed out of it right now.

Both of the yellow seekers had smoking injuries, and both had lost significant amounts of power either from hard flying or draining injuries.

But it was always going to come down to this… HE wants me, and Megatron doesn't care, and neither does Starscream, so long as I'm not with the Autobots… dead or alive, they were always going to let Sunstorm make the decision…

"So what is it going to be?" Bumblebee hollered across the air to the practically vibrating larger seeker, who throttled his turbines loudly in response.

"You will be mine, or your friends will die and you will be mine, either way you cannot escape me anymore, sweet-sting. If you cannot see now that it was meant to be, then I must FORCE you!"

They swirled around one another, twisting and wasting energy in a dead-lock, neither able to target the other, before falling back into a wider circling pattern.

I am not and will never be yours! I would rather die than see you hurt any of them, and if I go I'm taking you with me!

Bumblebee had to speak across the seeker comm. frequency.

He heard snickering that wasn't Sunstorm answer him back and Skywarp's brash voice came through.

You sound like you have some kinda trine to protect. You're all alone little fly boy, no one's gonna help you, and if you don't come with us all your little grounder friends are gonna die.

Bumblebee refused to acknowledge Skywarp with anything more than a growl across the communication line.

He is quite right my sweet-Bee, these mechs are not worthy of you! They have afflicted you with a filthy ground-pounder form, brainwashed you out of the sky where you belong, with me! Have you forgotten what you are, my Stinger, prince of the skies? They are unworthy!

This time Sunstorm was projecting his voice over the general comm. line, an open communication usually used to trade insults among factions during battle, and Bumblebee quivered with rage.

Every injustice, every torturous moment he had spent getting used to his ground mode, the nightmares of never again flying, the darkest memories of being assaulted, raped, nearly having his spark tainted by the insane seeker across from him, welled up in his spark and made him fire his engine in a such a way that a low, menacing buzz travelled through the air.

YOU drove me to that! You made me give up the sky just to escape you, and you know what? I'm GLAD I did it! Every ONE of those ground pounders is a hundred times the mech you are, and I'd rather have my trine among them than bond to a spark as unworthy as yours!

Bumblebee yelled across the line.

Sunstorm let out a piercing shriek of rage.

HOW DARE YOU INSINUATE A GROUNDERS WORTH OVER MY OWN! I WILL SHOW YOU BUMBLEBEE, IF I CANNOT HAVE YOU, NO ONE CAN! LET'S SEE YOUR PRECIOUS MUD WALLOWERS SAVE YOU!

Prowl and Jazz knew they had a duty to keep their private relations off the battlefield. They had already broken their own disciplines yesterday, abandoning the main fight and going after Bumblebee, and they had been damn lucky it hadn't cost anything in the main battle.

But this time they were in the thick of it, leading teams against both the Stunticons and the late arrived Combaticons.

And when the confrontation in the air spilled over into the general communication frequency, it was true they were not the only ones to ignore the battle and look up.

But along with the Twins, theirs were the most horrified faces… simultaneously they felt their joints lock and their sparks surge with icy dread.

Mirage jumped in front of Jazz and shot the advancing Dragstrip off his collision course with the stationary mech, but the saboteur barely seemed to notice.

Likewise Prowl was half tackled by Bluestreak to save him from Swindle's firing line.

"Prowl??" the gunner gasped, giving the other datsun a small shake on the shoulder and wide optic'd look of worry.

Prowl's own optics widened in horror, fixed on the sky, and he reached a servo out hopelessly with a strangled "No!"

It was then that the whine of jet engines really caught everyone's attention.

It was as if the whole desert was frozen in time for a moment, and all gazes were drawn irrevocably upwards by the terrible screeching cry emitted by the insane seeker.

The two yellow jets were flying right towards each other, full speed, and once in range, both let their cannons loose.

"NO!"

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe could be heard awfully clearly over the sound of Sunstorms shrieking and Bumblebee's enraged shout as neither jet swerved away.

There was a tank churning sound of metal screeching against metal as they collided, and Jazz couldn't help the devastated keen that broke from his vocaliser, sending him to his knees.

Both Jets had torn each other's plating open with close range weapons fire, and as they collided, Bumblebee had tried to scrape his undercarriage against Sunstorm's broken cockpit to send him out of control, but the golden Seeker's tail had sheered one of his own wings, sending him into a spiralling, uncontrolled descent.

The crash was hard, and far removed from the rest of the Autobots. But Bumblebee was still online, and he had had the satisfaction of seeing Sunstorm going down in flames, his damage worse.

Bumblebee tried to right himself… his immediate elation at having so viciously disabled the mech who had hurt him so much draining very quickly as all the warnings in his HUD lit up and the pain hit him.

He gasped and collapsed onto his back, servos shaking and seizing up slightly from the excruciating wounds making themselves known.

The sheered wing had been nearly torn away as he had transformed and hit the ground in root mode.

The stinger cannon on that wing had broken off somewhere, and the other wing was badly scraped and slightly warped. Not to mention the laser burns on both wings, and the gouges torn into his chassis. He was bleeding out, but only very slowly. No major lines had been ruptured, but his remaining stinger was offline due to some kind of control line break.

One of his shoulders was miss-aligned at the joint as well, and made a horrible grinding noise when he tried to move it.

With a groan, Bumblebee decided to wait for help. He knew they had seen him go down, he knew Ratchet would make sure to get to him, or Wheeljack would fetch him for the medic…

He did not expect the whining ventilations or angry screeches of an approaching, flaming jet.

Bumblebee twisted on the ground, wincing, his spark filling with absolute and horrified dread as Sunstorm limped across the desert towards him, optics white and ablaze with insane fury.

Bumblebee struggled in earnest to drag himself backwards out of the furrow he'd created in his crash landing.

But there was no way, with pain shooting through every limb with every small movement, that he was going to be able to escape the approaching, alit, and maddened jet.

It was… honestly quite the sight to behold. Sunstorm was apparently quite impervious to the flames rising from his damaged but still intact wings (intact but full of holes from Bumblebee's stingers).

If the minibot didn't know the truth about the mech's insanity and absolute cruel selfishness, he might actually believe he was some Primus deigned deity… but a god of the pit rather than some immaculate image of perfection as the seeker had always claimed himself to be.

Defiant to the golden monster to the end, Bumblebee growled and kicked his working leg out at the towering form as it approached. But absolute terror was welling in his spark as he looked straight into the blazing white optics.

Something in Sunstorm had snapped. All his sanity had finally left him, and now he looked ready to either strike the killing blow, or…

Bumblebee shuddered… he knew what else that look meant. Sunstorm seemed ready to claim him, though it seemed ludicrous to think Sunstorm would be ready to rape him again in their current conditions, he wouldn't put anything past the crazy fragger… which only intensified his fear.

Sunstorm sunk down to the desert floor, his injuries making the spy wonder how he'd even managed to walk as far as he had, but it seemed his heel thrusters had gotten him part of the way and he'd avoided a crash as hard as Bumblebee's after all.

"Mine… forever…you are mine…" He was rasping his insane litany as he crawled over the minibot's form, ignoring or batting away Bumblebee's kicking leg and clawing hands.

"Get OFF me you crazy FRAGGER! HNNGAAAAAH!"

Bumblebee cried out, cringing away and trying to shield himself from the burning heat of the flaming body above him as Sunstorm settled his knees over the smaller jet's legs and pinned his servos down with one hand, digits on his other servo reaching to bite down into the chassis beneath him, the insane hunger clear in his optics.

Bumblebee writhed and screamed as Sunstorm tore into his chest plating, feeling disgustingly helpless and overwhelmed by the pain.

"Open for me, my precious love… you will be MINE, FOREVER MINE!"

Bumblebee cried out and gasped, chocking on a whimper as the jet ripped open the last of his chest armour, revealing his spark.

He watched in absolute terror, whole body wracked with tremors, as with a reverent but vicious hunger, Sunstorm lowered a servo towards his open chest plate.

He keened in agony as a golden digit made contact… the pain was deeper than any of his injuries… he felt keenly as if he had just betrayed Prowl and Jazz… even the Twins… he hadn't even bared his spark to them, hadn't spoken of it yet though he'd been wanting to… and here he was, his very core lain open to the mech who had ruined his former life, and at the contact point memories were triggered, flowing forth to the other seeker out of his control.

He knew he had no control over this, but the betrayal was evident nonetheless and strong in his spark. Memories and feelings flickered over to Sunstorm, who's damaged turbines whirred sickeningly above him.

The heat was actually beginning to hurt Bumblebee's spark, the smell of burning energon and oil filling his olfactory sensors until he shut them down.

He cringed, keening weakly in pain and off lining his optics. He tried to writhe away from the contact, but Sunstorm broke it himself with a growl.

"All these useless memories of THEM! How could you, my prince??? How could you soil yourself with them? The disgrace, the indignity, they are FILTHY and you let them have you like some cheap pleasure drone??? No more! NO, my sweet-sting, once you are mine, I will cleanse you of them…"

"CALL HIM OFF, MEGATRON!" Optimus boomed as they neared the crash sight where the golden seeker was towering over the smaller form of Bumblebee.

The maddened seeker was flaming and had somehow increased the power of his radiation field so that it was near impossible to get anywhere within 20 feet of the mech without plating starting to warp.

"Why would I do that Prime? This is a private matter that pre-dates even our war, it is not my business to intervene!" the Decepticon leader crowed smugly.

He was not prepared for the vicious response he would get from the grossly enraged Prime as they witnessed the flaming seeker invading the smaller jet's spark with his touch.

"CALL. Him. OFF." Optimus growled dangerously after smashing Megatron around the head, pulling one of his arms behind him and locking a large blue servo around his throat.

Megatron merely gave a strangled, dark chuckle as he struggled in the Prime's grip.

"You honestly think he'll listen to me? We weren't even supposed to attack today, but that unstable fool just wouldn't wait, and the rest of my troops didn't take much convincing to go another round for vengeances sake."

The sound of more Autobots following the two leaders greeted them as tires scratched across the dirt and transformation sequences where heard.

"BUMBLEBEE!"

Prowl and Jazz had been released like a pair of angry hounds by their subordinates, Mirage and Bluestreak taking over their attack fronts and urging them to go and help Prime and Bee.

As it was, they felt utterly helpless… they couldn't get anywhere near the flaming form of Sunstorm, and Bumblebees cries of agony as his spark was assaulted by the radiation cut the to their very cores.

The sound of more mechs approaching didn't draw their attention, but Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were livid as they transformed and hurled abuse at the crazed golden seeker.

Wheeljack, silent as he transformed next to the Twins, was the only one there who had a hope of helping the minibot, and he knew it…

But he had never seen anything so… so horrific, so terrifying, and as he watched, Sunstorm loomed over his mauled prey, the shattered cockpit splitting slowly, and panels ground against one another as the larger seeker bore his own spark with a manic glint in his optics.

Bumblebee's keens of pain turned to louder cries of fear and protest.

Wheeljack couldn't allow this… not if he could help it, and Ratchet had warned him about this, had told him to prepare some kind of end-game strategy to destroy the radioactive seeker, but… he had never factored in this kind of scenario, the proximity of the Decepticon to Bumblebee, his small friend's spark exposed and in imminent danger of being either permanently violated or snuffed out altogether in an agonising manner.

"Wheeljack! Come on, we need to DO something!" Sideswipe nearly howled at his side, his voice more desperate and pleading than he'd ever heard it.

Wheeljack keened, shaking, watching Bumblebee try and fight Sunstorm off, but he was too damaged, to weakened…

"I… I can't, I can't fire the necessary missile, I might hit Bumblebee!"

"Give it to me." Sunstreaker ground out.

"W-what? But-"

"Just give me the damn launcher Wheeljack, there's no time!" The golden twin snarled, a desperation to his tone that was only ever there if Sideswipe was in mortal danger.

"What if you hit Bumblebee???" Wheeljack keened desperately, handing over the small radioactive-resistant rocket and the bazooka like launcher.

"I won't." Sunstreaker said, and his tone was so absolute, Wheeljack could only hope to believe him.

"Do not fight me Bumblebee, or you will perish. Come to the light, become one with me, bond to me, the way it was always meant to be!"

"NO!" Bumblebee gasped and cried out as Sunstorm got lower, raking a servo down the smaller jets most damaged wing as the spy shielded his own spark as best as he could.

Bumblebee whimpered as another flare of radiation burnt at his core. His plating and internals were impervious to the radiation, but apparently his spark was not without the protection of his armour.

"You will be forever in Primus' favour my little prince, why do you fight it? How can you refuse? You WILL bond with ME!"

The Jet tore Bumblebee's arm away from where it shielded his core, and lowered himself with a rapturous expression.

Bumblebee felt his vocaliser seize up completely as he saw the flaming golden spark, like a small supernova, descending towards his own bright blue orb.

He was shaking like mad, knowing that the moment that spark touched his own, he would be consumed by the mad fire that was the insane seeker above him, and he would never submit to it… refusing to bond would kill him, and maybe it would kill Sunstorm too, because he would not back off if he thought he could force it.

It was going to be the most painful death he could imagine, and the only thing that went through his mind was the agony of losing his future with Jazz and Prowl and the Twins…

No, please, Primus, what did I DO?

The chassis above him suddenly reeled back from the force of an explosive hit to his back.

Sunstorm screamed and threw back his helm, fixing the culprit with an enraged glare.

Sunstreaker growled right back. Lining up for another shot at the now exposed spark of the seeker, having just blown the plating off the top of his wings with a glancing shot.

Bumblebee wasn't quite sure what seized him in that moment…

But the repulsive seeker's spark was right there, in front of him, and it was his only chance.

Bumblebee lashed out, thrusting his working servo into the parted cockpit, seizing the flaming golden orb and crushing it in his small, scratched black servo.

The moment he'd done it, he wished he hadn't. His own scream was drowned out by the unholy shriek that came from the still blazing seeker as he jerked and spasmed.

Bumblebee felt liquid fire shooting through his frame from his servo, a thousand memories and emotions, all overwhelmed by a consuming heat and madness and chaos contained within the creature above him, flowed through the small mechs body. Bumblebee's processor reeled, but he felt the life-force in his servo break and shatter in his grasp, suffocated. Ultimately, it imploded and expanded on a sub-atomic level, the shock of the abrupt destruction of Sunstorm draining all strength from Bumblebee.

He went limp as the flaming corpse collapsed on him.

His CPU was spinning and his servo felt as if he'd touched the surface of an electric powered sun. Memories, horrible and wonderful and terrifying and gruesome, all the emotions that went with them, none of them his, flitted disjointedly through his meta, dissipating gradually as the codes terminated with the life-force they had been attached to.

Bumblebee realised after a moment that there was a rather loud noise disturbing him… and then a moment later he realised it was his own vocaliser, and he was crying out in pain. He could barely move, and the radiation from the greying, heavy, burning body pressing down on him still seared at his exposed spark.

His other injuries seemed twice as painful now as well, and he couldn't have stopped his vocalisations now if he wanted to.

Over them, he heard frantic voices, felt the reverberation of huge metallic feet getting closer, and after about half a klik (that seemed like an eternity to him) the hot, dead weight above him was lifted and tossed aside.

Bumblebee hadn't realised his optics had shorted out until there were voices above him and he couldn't see the mechs in question.

He felt a servo grasp his own and thought he recognised the tapered, careful digits of Prowl, while he could hear Jazz panting a soft litany of "It's OK Bee, you're gonna be OK, we're gonna get ya to Ratchet." As he tried to carefully shut some of Bumblebee's panelling over his exposed spark.

By the time Bumblebee felt two large, careful servos scrooping him up, his cries had dulled to weak whimpers, and he half offlined as he was carried across the desert by a huge mech he couldn't identify until he spoke.

"Please, Bumblebee, it is not yet your time to join the Matrix, stay with us."

Bumblebee could not answer, and the jarring motions to his horrendously damaged and sensitive wings sent him fully into stasis as he was raced back to the Ark and Ratchet's awaiting care.