Axle was annoyed by the ruckus that woke him; Throttle was infuriated by it.
"What's going on?!" Throttle demanded in the fierce tone he usually reserved for enemies.
"This Scout is psychopathic! That's what!" Jax practically screamed, "He tried to shoot me!"
{If I had tried to shoot you,} the Scout replied quietly, {You would be dead.}
"SEE!? See what I mean!?" Jax waved a hand at Bumblebee, who appeared guarded but passive.
"Let's start from the beginning," Axle said, forcing himself to sound calmly diplomatic, even though he felt like socking the both of them, "Bumblebee, report."
"Him!? You're going to ask him!?" Jax cried before Bumblebee could respond.
"You be quiet," Throttle growled, and his menacing bulk was enough to silence the irate scientist.
But of course, Jax could not be silenced for long, and Bumblebee's explanation of his transgression was punctuated by repeated protests. Jax didn't dare accuse Bumblebee of lying, but he insisted his actions were perfectly reasonable, or that Bumblebee had misinterpreted them. Axle or Throttle silenced him each time, ignoring his protests until Bumblebee had reached his conclusion.
Well practiced at setting his personal feelings aside when he made reports on Decepticon activities back on Cybertron, it did not take him long, and he left it to Jax to explain why he had decided to act as he had. He also chose to omit the part where Jax tried to sway him. It had no relevance because Jax had not succeeded, but it might be seen as a larger crime than those Jax had already committed, though of course nothing compared to the one he had tried to commit.
Throttle, who had never shown any interest or affinity for humans, nonetheless looked sickened by the idea that Jax thought it was okay to kill them. It was clear from his eyes that he was remembering the raven. The raven had been bad enough. That was only a bird, and it had been an accident, but even so it had been clear Throttle felt guilt over it for quite some time. Jax had tried to kill humans, on purpose, in numbers. And this in addition to revealing himself to them in the first place. And that on top of leaving base camp against Axle's explicit orders.
It was necessary for Autobot soldiers to kill sometimes. But they killed because they had to. The Decepticons would, given the opportunity, not only kill them, but torture and enslave them, and then kill them once they were no longer of any use. This was not assumption or propaganda. Every Autobot here -except possibly Jax- had seen such cruelty, or at least its aftermath. All of them -including Jax- had lost friends to this war with the Decepticons. But Jax's intended actions were not those of a soldier defending his own, or his home. They were of a murderer, attacking those who could not defend themselves against him. And, even though Bumblebee didn't say it, Axle and Throttle could both assuredly read the underlying intent, to become as a god to mankind. And they knew full well that such was Megatron's aim, to become not only ruler, but supreme being. There was no end to craving for that kind of power. Megatron would always want more.
And, if Bumblebee's report was accurate, the same might be true of Jax.
It was more than a minor infraction. It implied a weakness of character that was beyond merely irresponsible. It was dangerous. No one understood the humans better than Jax. No one had observed them more closely, or held deeper affection for the species. The other Autobots had been preoccupied with preparations for the battle with the Decepticons they knew was coming. Throttle didn't even like the ravens, he found them messy and irritating, but he was horrified to have killed one. But Jax stood, clearly defiant, unrepentant, and determined to explain away his actions, not by denying having done them but by attempting to justify them to Axle; the highest authority available to him.
"I was trying to protect the helpless," Jax began, "That's what Autobots do."
{You made a judgment call based off of limited intel and no experience!} Bumblebee shot back.
"I understand more about humans than you could ever hope to learn, Scout!" Jax snarled, and there was an ugly look in his eyes Bumblebee hadn't seen in him before; a look Bumblebee knew to fear.
"You don't deny the accusation?" Axle asked impassively.
"Why would I deny it?" Jax demanded, but didn't wait for answer, and instead went on, "The people on this side of the river are only trying to survive. They aren't strong enough to defend themselves against the raiders from the other side of the river. They're going to be destroyed!" he took it further, "And who are any of you to judge me? All you do is gripe about the weather! You haven't even bothered trying to look at this planet and see the things in it that are worth appreciating! You don't know the first thing about humans! The people of Earth are like us. So much so that they're going to make our mistakes someday. Unless we put a stop to it, this world is going to die just like ours has!"
After this final shouted statement had finished ringing in their ears, a quiet descended. All of them had known, but nobody had actually said it. Not out loud. It was as if they had been ignoring a dam that was starting to overflow, but suddenly the dam broke, and thousands and thousands of gallons of water suddenly tumbled forth and became a flash flood, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake.
No one said anything for an amount of time Bumblebee didn't bother to measure.
In a strange way, it was the difference between knowing someone had been killed in action, and seeing the proof in their broken remains. None of them had seen what had become of Cybertron, and most of them never would. But somehow, acknowledging it aloud brought them to full awareness that their home was gone, that there was nowhere for them to go back to.
If we lose Earth, he realized, we lose everything.
It was evident to him that the others had all reached the same dark conclusion. Even Jax realized this, despite having much less time to think about and come to terms with it.
"What becomes of us if humans cover the Earth with war? What good comes from letting the raiders destroy that settlement? That's what will happen eventually. Ignorant as you are of Cybertron's history, surely you must all be capable of realizing that. If we wait, the humans will become more powerful. One day they will find out about us. If we let people like the raiders become the future of humanity, someday when they're powerful enough they will destroy us. We can stop that, here and now. We can end their age of warfare before it begins."
The others had heard Megatron's speeches before. But they had never been POWs. He had not spoken to them with eloquent and persuasive words, while his eyes lit with pleasure as his right hand inflicted horrific torture upon them. Without that bitter experience, Jax's words were more compelling. Even Bumblebee, with his experience and insight, felt somewhere in him a longing to listen to Jax. But that was a voice he had already silenced, and he was relieved to see Axle was not going to be swayed either.
"This is your complaint, Scout," Axle managed thickly, his mind still clearly on the conscious recognition of Cybertron's death, "Get up to the LDT and send a message to Cybertron. We'll let command decide how to rule on this. Throttle, you keep track of Jax. Jax, you do not leave camp."
There were groans of protest from Throttle and Jax. Bumblebee was already gone.
Bumblebee was relieved to have been removed from the situation. When he went for Jax, some part of him had given the order to kill, and he'd felt it again when Jax had tried to persuade him near the river. But he'd felt it most of all just now, because he had suddenly sensed how dangerous Jax would be if left alive. Jax had been the enemy, a threat to those Bumblebee had been assigned to protect. Even though Jax had been stopped physically, he was still able to talk, and others might be willing to listen. It was probably in this way that Megatron had first assembled his army. The compulsion to kill had been almost overwhelming, because Bumblebee had understood that -even disarmed- Jax had the power to be extremely dangerous. By less than a millisecond had Jax's life been spared.
Would that have been murder? Or would it merely have been elimination of a credible threat? Bumblebee didn't know, but he didn't want to be the one to make that call. Not anymore. He wanted... well, it didn't matter what he wanted.
You're one of the lucky ones, he reminded himself, You don't remember a time before the war. You don't even have any idea what has been lost in all of this.
Yeah, one of the lucky ones. Right. Considered inexperienced as a result of his youth, never taken seriously because he was after all only a Scout, fighting for a world he'd never seen and couldn't really believe in... yeah. One of the lucky ones. Sure.
He realized he was shaking. From what? Fear? Anger? Did it matter now?
Reaching the top of the cliff where the LDT sat, Bumblebee noticed that it had taken damage and didn't work. He felt momentary fury surging through him. Axle must have known about this! Bumblebee was not some constructicon! This wasn't his kind of work. It was demeaning.
He stopped himself, confused by his own anger, knowing it wasn't really meant for Axle, but not sure who was meant for. What was it actually the result of? Surely he couldn't be letting himself get bent out of shape by a soaked LDT. All it needed was to dry out a little. Take it apart, dry it off, put it back together. Take maybe an hour. Not a big deal.
He calmed down and set to work, but in a few minutes he felt the anger rising up again. This should have been fixed this morning! The soldiers at camp should have checked it, and repaired it. What was the matter with them, leaving communications down like this?!
Anger made him careless. Instead of carefully removing a portion of the LDT screen, he yanked it roughly. With a twang, it tore almost in two. Bumblebee swore at it. He hadn't been paying attention, so he deserved what he got. But he was still on the verge of pitching the whole works off the cliff.
His internal world was in turmoil, just when he'd been starting to put himself back together, suddenly all within him was chaos, and he couldn't seem to get control of his emotions.
Bumblebee was suffering from a pain he didn't understand. For in the natural course of time and not entirely uncomfortable association, Bumblebee had unconsciously bonded with the Earth-based Autobots. He had not realized it, for he felt distant and awkward, unable to fully integrate with these newcomers. It would not be accurate to say they had become his friends, more he had grown used to their company, tolerant of their quirks, and perhaps he'd come to welcome the sound of their voices as an alternative to the five years of isolation he had endured before their arrival. And it was Jax's voice he had heard most often of all. He had been frustrated and amused by Jax's antics, as perhaps a sensible brother feels watching the ridiculous behaviors of his irrational sibling.
It was the kind of bond that forges itself when no one is looking. They had not become his friends, it was true. But, despite a long lifespan and different way of coming into existence from humans, the process of bonding as family could be rapid and natural. Axle had become a father figure, Throttle a grumpy but well-respected uncle. Bumblebee was like a recently adopted son, who had just begun to find his place amongst the established family members.
And now his brother had broken faith, not only disobeying his father, but also breaking Law even higher than that, in ignoring the edict of the Prime. Worse, he seemed not to see the grievous nature of his crime, seemed not to recognize it as a crime at all. Bumblebee was hurt not only by the betrayal, but by the knowledge that his brother would suffer punishment for this, and that it had been he who'd brought Jax home to face the charges. He knew it was his duty, that honor and loyalty demanded nothing less than what he'd done, but it still hurt him deep in the spark, and he didn't understand why.
A thrumming overhead caused him to look up. An Autobot ship. More soldiers? Energon delivery vessel? Or had the evacuation begun in earnest? Bumblebee wondered.
The ship was coming in hot, the pilot probably hadn't taken Earth's peculiar atmosphere into account. Would probably line off in a... no, no it wouldn't. Then Bumblebee caught sight of the craft's tail as it swept by, and he saw that it was smoking. It didn't look like the results of a firefight, more like an unfortunate encounter with an asteroid.
Peering over the edge of the cliff, Bee saw that Axle was already mobilizing his troops.
Bumblebee felt rather detached as he watched the Autobots below scurry about. They didn't need him. And, if they did, they could always call him. The LDT might be out, but short distance communication was working fine. Looking up again, Bumblebee saw a pillar of smoke rising on the other side of the hill the ship had disappeared over. Not a long haul, they hadn't missed the landing site by much.
A shiver ran through him and he looked up, feeling as though a shadow had suddenly settled over him. But such was not the case. The sky, though dark in the predawn, was clear. The Decepticons might be on their way, but it didn't look like they'd be here tonight anyway.
Still, it served to make Bumblebee switch gears. The thought of Decepticons sort of steadied him, reminded him of who he was and what he was doing. He set Jax on the back burner, and went to work on the LDT. The emotions were neatly caged, and his actions became precise, mechanical.
Bumblebee got the LDT dried out and put back together faster than he'd anticipated. Showed what a bad attitude towards work could do, he supposed, making a project seem bigger than it really was. Even the screen he'd snapped had gone back together pretty well, no permanent harm done.
Bumblebee stretched and turned the device on.
"-say again, Decepticons inbound to your position," the voice on the radio said.
Bumblebee swung towards where the Autobot cruiser had crashed. He saw no Decepticon ship, maybe it had been downed by a missile from one of the Autobots below. But he didn't have to see it.
The war of Cybertron had come to Earth. The Decepticons had arrived.