Chapter 8: Oh For Spark's Sake
It took the other three insecticons to keep Bee away from the drones who were trapped in a corner. Hardshell tried to calm Bee down.
"BUMBLEBEE STAND DOWN! STAND DOWN!" Hardshell yelled knowing Bee was in "kill mode"!
Eventually Bee did calm down seeing he was getting nowhere faster. He was breathing heavily with anger.
"WHAT ARE YOU TWO FRAGGERS DOING HERE?" Bee yelled. "YOU GUYS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!"
"Wait you don't understand! We escaped before the explosion!" The once very angry one explained.
"Yeah, we saw that Dreadwing was planting all those bombs. So during the big fight we managed to escape Kaon and come here!" The more calm one said. "Bumblebee we've changed."
Bee was listening but he was still angry. Soundwave spoke up.
"So how did you get jobs here?" Soundwave said.
"Eh, we liked to mess around with weapons so we found a job here. Well, a very painful one that is." The first drone said.
"Yeah we heard how they were working for Airachnid, but Shrapnel and Kickback usually beat them on a regular basis." Hardshell said.
"In fact, I think they're overdue!" Shrapnel said growling a bit.
The drones gulped. Everyday they worked there, Shrapnel and Kickback would give them a hard time. But the drones thought it was worth it since they got to test out weapons and get away from trouble but now that Bumblebee was around they were terrified. They still blame Airachnid for their evil nature. Despite the insults and beatings they recieve, the insecticons help them to become better people which has actually been working.
"Are you fully calm Bee?" Soundwave asked.
"Yeah...I'm good...for now!" Bee said in a low tone while staring at the drones.
"Come on agents I will take you to the finished weapons room." Hardshell said.
Bee took a long stare at the drones until he disappeared into the next room. The drones were now dealing with Shrapnel and Kickback who were grinning at them.
"What?" One of the drones asked.
"We said you were overdue didn't we?" Kickback said as he and Shrapnel advanced on them.
"Why can't you guys just leave us alone?" The other drone said.
"Shut up and take your beating like a mech!" Shrapnel said.
As the insecticons jumped at them the drones escaped by ducking under them and running. The insecticons ended up bashing their heads against each other.
"HEY WATCH WHAT YOU ARE DOING!" Kickback yelled.
"SPEAK FOR YOURSELF DUMMY!" Shrapnel growled.
"DON'T YOU DARE INSULT ME YOU SCRAP-HEAP!"
"OR WHAT?"
That ignited a brawl between the two as the drones decided to join up with the rest of the group, even though Bee was there. It was better than facing the insecticons. They stayed behind Shockwave who didn't even look at them. Somehow Hardshell heard them coming.
"Let me guess, Shrapnel and Kickback were messing with you again?" Hardshell asked.
"Yeah, why do they want to hurt us so much?" One of them said.
"You deserve it!" Bee snarled without looking at them.
The drones whimpered and nearly cried. Soundwave and Starscream understood why Bee was angry...but it wasn't worth holding a 2-year long grudge against them. The drones were ashamed at what they did. But if they didn't do their job then Airachnid would've killed them. The group walked past more rooms. The sounds of blasting and crashing can be heard in almost every room, even in the berths. After a few more rooms, they finally reached a room that was marked with the word "DANGER".
"Well, here we are!" Hardshell as he presses a button on the door making it open. The door opens with a hiss and a cloud of smoke shoots out. Once it vanishes, the agents gasp at all the advanced weapons all stored on different shelves. They have all been cleaned and dusted. Hardshell proceeded to gather the weapons Optimus had ordered. Bee picked up a weapon and aimed it at the drones who flinched.
"He-he, scardy-bots!" Bee teased.
That did it, the drones were tired of the constant insults and abuse from everyone and ran off without a word. Bee was surprised and put the gun down. The drones ran off to their berths. Bumblebee noticed the drones had left lubricant on the floor from crying. When Bee noticed this he felt ashamed. He remembered that they have suffered from constant abuse and insults all their lives starting with Airachnid. Then Shrapnel and Kickback started it up again after Airachnid's death and Bee was just making it worse. The drones only attacked him once and didn't even plan on killing him. But Bee wanted to despite it being so long. Soundwave and Shockwave could sense Bee's sadness and walked to him.
"You okay?" Shockwave asked.
"No..I feel...worried now! Oh I shouldn't have done that! They don't deserve to be treated like this!" Bee said.
"Go talk to them!" Soundwave said.
"You're right I should, mind if I excuse myself Hardshell?" Bee asked.
"Go right ahead, apparently they left a trail of lubricant so you won't need help trying to find their rooms." Hardshell said.
Bee followed the trail that actually went a long way. Once it ended he found himself in front of a room. He looked through a little hole in the door to see the drones sitting on a bed looking at the floor. Bee looked at the floor himself, he urged himself to knock. One of the drones went to the door and spoke.
"What do you want? Here to beat us up?" He said.
"No, I..just want to talk!" Bee said calmly.
The drone forefully opened the door revealing himself to be angry.
"About what?" He angrily asked.
"Can I come in?" Bee said.
"Fine!" He said.
Bee sat in a chair across from the bed. He noticed the drones were staring at him, one angry, one sad.
"Listen, I have been wanting to apologize for picking on you like that!" Bee said. "It was wrong of me and not really in my nature."
"We forgive you because we have been wanting to apologize to you!" The sad one said.
"I forgive you guys too, you were only doing what Airachnid told you to do! But you understand I couldn't have told you about the relic right?" Bee said.
"Yeah, you were good, we were bad! But we've changed! We wanted to change. After we escaped we wanted to escape the city. Luckily we did since we heard about the Cop vs Criminal war going on." The now less angry one explained.
"But...we really are sorry, we just...got scared of you after learning you were the relic." The sad one said.
"I understand, let's just put the past behind us!" Bee said.
"Agreed I don't know if we are going too far with this but...friends?" One of the asked holding out a hand.
Bee didn't even hesitate and shook the hand.
"Friends!" Bee said.
"Thank You!" The other one said.
Bee then began to notice the numerous dents and bruises from their beatings. Hardshell always fixes them up and tries to keep the other two from getting near them but they never listen. Sometimes Kickback and Shrapnel would often get beaten up by other workers for their actions. Primus knows why the drones are lucky to be alive still. Back at the weapons room, Hardshell was finishing packing the weapons into a new trailer that Shockwave agreed to carry. Lazerbeak had separated from Soundwave to check out some deployer weapons. He found a bunch of boxes and looked inside. He was surprised to see different colored optics. He wondered, Breakdown was missing one, why not find one for him? However, just as he was about to pick one out he is accidently closed inside the crate by worker that was going to take the box to the loading room. Lazerbeak's chirps were muffled by the amount of optics and the type of crate. The crate was taken out of the room and onto a coveyor belt that went to the loading room.
"Lazerbeak, where are you?" Soundwave said after awhile.
"Where did he go?" Shockwave asked.
"I haven't seen him!" Hardshell asked.
"OH NO, LAZERBEAK! LAZERBEAK! WHERE ARE YOU?" Soundwave shouted but heard nothing. Luckily he was able to track down his location. "SCRAP! HE'S ON ONE OF THE CONVEYOR BELTS HEADING STRAIGHT FOR THE LOADING ROOM! WE GOT TO SAVE HIM!"
"Follow me, I know a quick way there!" Hardshell said as he and the other two ran down a hallway.
Bee and the drones caught up when they came from another hallway.
"What's going on?" Bee asked.
"Lazerbeak is being accidently taken away!" Shockwave said.
"Uh-oh!" The drones said.
As they entered the main room, they stop and see Breakdown trying to separate Kickback and Shrapnel who have still been fighting.
"Oh for spark's sake!" Hardshell face-palmed. "Bumblebee if you would please?"
Bee shot a warning shot right above them finally ending the scuffle. Breakdown fell down relieved.
"Come on guys we have to hurry!" Soundwave said.
"What happened?" Breakdown asked.
"We're trying to find Lazerbeak! He heading towards the loading room!" Shockwave said.
"Let me come!" Breakdown said.
Hardshell led them through another door and down another hallway, at the end of that one was another door. Hardshell busted in but they all got there too late. Lazerbeak's crate was already being taken away in a trailer by a worker that was transformed into a tractor rig simliar to Optimus. Soundwave fell to his knees.
"NO! NOT NOW! NO! COME BACK!" Soundwave yelled but the rig was far out of sight!
To be continued...