Smugglers 3: The Beginning Is The End

Chapter 3: Grown-Up Bumblebee

Despite Optimus's earlier worries they had managed to make it to Ambrosia without any further mishaps but Optimus didn't expect their luck to last for long even if Bumblebee was acting 'grown-up' today. Quite frankly Optimus wasn't sure how much more of that he could take. He'd give anything just to hear Bumblebee act…normal, well normal for him anyway. One would think that having Bumblebee act his age would be a good thing but Optimus was inclined to disagree with them. So far Bumblebee had snapped at every one of them, insulted Prowl, made fun of Bulkhead, told Ratchet off and called Optimus a 'sparkless idiot'. Needless to say they were all willing to pay dearly for Bumblebee to start acting like himself again, in fact Optimus would even be willing to listen to one of Bumblebee's temper tantrums.

At the moment they were in a store, stocking up on some much-needed supplies. Well, Bumblebee was stocking up on supplies, the other four bots grabbed whatever he pointed out, deciding that it was probably in their best interests if they did what he told them to do.

"Prowl, grab that," Bumblebee rattled off some mechanical sounding name that left Prowl staring blankly at him. Bumblebee sighed and said, "The gray box on the top shelf."

"Oh," Prowl looked up then nimbly climbed until he had reached the top and tucked the piece of machinery into a subspace compartment before climbing back down, having learned earlier not jump on or off shelves.

"Idiot," Bumblebee grumbled, rolling his optics before returning to his list.

Optimus heard a low growl and turned just in time to see Prowl's servo slipping into the section of his armor where he kept his shurikens. "Prowl, no!" Optimus hissed. Prowl snarled but his servo fell back to his side.

"Optimus, get that," Bumblebee pointed to an engine part just out of Optimus's reach.

The red-and-blue bot sighed and somehow managed to retrieve the part without breaking anything else. A major accomplishment.

"At least you didn't break anything this time," Bumblebee muttered.

This time it was Prowl who had to stop Optimus from using his ax. "Don't, Prime," the ninja whispered sweetly. Ratchet sniggered then froze when Bumblebee turned to look at him.

"We need more medical supplies, Ratchet. See if you can manage that."

Ratchet growled but did as ordered. Optimus really envied Bulkhead who was loading the stuff onto the ship and therefore did not have to listen to the yellow tyrant. Optimus really missed the temper tantrums right about now. Judging by the looks on Prowl and Ratchet's faceplates they felt the exact same way.

"All right, that's it," Bumblebee announced, allowing a small hint of a smile when he heard three identical sighs of relief and he had an almost irrestible urge to start laughing and not stop. Fortunately however he was able to control the insane urge and wiped all traces of good humor from his faceplate as he mentally prepared himself to haggle over the price.

Meanwhile, on the planet where Bulkhead had first run into Wasp, was a ship. A very badly damaged ship. The hull had a gaping hole in it and was no longer flyable despite the fact that the engines were perfectly fine. This was the result of flying through an energon storm which was all Skywarp's fault, at least according to Slipstream it was.

"It's all your fault," the Decepticon femme announced.

"How is it my fault?" Skywarp demanded. "You were the one in charge of piloting the ship!"

"You distracted me."

"How did I distract you?"

"By yelling in my audio sensors."

"I did not yell."

Blitzwing groaned and tried to ignore the argument as he had heard it so many times before that he could quote it word-for-word by now. Since he was bored he decided to reflect on how they had ended up here. Oh he knew how but he was still working on why. In his personal opinion (in Icy's opinion at least) he believed they were being punished for their sins, specifically they were being punished for betraying Starscream and selling out to the Autobots. Sure Starscream had been a traitor too but in the end he had gotten what he deserved. Thus Blitzwing was convinced that being stuck on a planet with Slipstream and Skywarp was his punishment. He only hoped that he didn't live too much longer. He couldn't take any more of their arguing. He sighed he heard Slipstream power her weapons and resigned himself even as Skywarp appeared behind him.

Despite the fact that he was the only bot on the ship Wasp still glanced around nervously as if waiting for someone to step out of the shadows and drag him kicking and screaming back to jail. Never, he thought. Never again am I going back there. If he didn't want to back he had to make some major changes to his appearance. First his helm would have to go as its shape was one of a kind and thus very distinctive. Second he would have to change his paint color, possibly get a new body altogether. Oh and change his voice. He would wait to make all of these changes until he had gotten his revenge on the bot responsible for sending him to jail; Bulkhead.

Bulkhead knew something was wrong; he could feel it in his tanks. He sat down the box he had been in the middle of loading and turned to survey the area. All he could see was another twenty boxes at least still sat on the ground, waiting for him to notice them. He scowled at the innocent looking boxes and resumed loading, his feeling of foreboding not going away. He had just finished with the last of the boxes when the door that led to the store opened and Optimus came out, Prowl and Ratchet on either side of him. But what caught Bulkhead's attention was the yellow minibot clinging to the bot in the middle with his faceplate buried in Optimus's chassis.

"What happened?" Bulkhead demanded, reaching out for his friend who eagerly attached himself to his big green bodyguard.

Optimus looked hesitant then said, "The clerk mentioned that a prisoner by the name of Wasp," Bumblebee whimpered loudly and began shaking, "and that's when Bumblebee had sort of a nervous breakdown."

"Wasp escaped?" Bulkhead echoed, running a digit up and down Bumblebee's back in a soothing manner.

"You know him?" Optimus asked, looking and sounding surprised.

"You could say that," Bulkhead answered. "I'm the bot who sent him to jail."

A/N: 15 reviews please.