Hidden Genes: chapter 2
A/N: OMG you guys are awesome! I Am so happy you guys like the story! :3 I was worried it might be to different and weird! Anyways, thank you to all of those who followed and added this to your favorites or Reviewed! You guys rock! And Merry holidays my freinds! On with the Chapter!
Bumblebee came to halt as he was faced with the canyon splitting into two directions, both ways looked pretty much the same but Bumblebee needed to make himself hard to track. The yellow bot looked left and right, both looked like any other sandy, dry canyon. That is until he spotted a shadowed cave on the right side, decently hidden by some boulders that had no doubt fallen over night.
Bumblebee grinned to himself under his battle mask, he didn't know why he loved caves so much but he did, there were almost no caves on Cybertron much to a younger Bumblebee's sadness, not that he could remember his younger years. Bumblebee pondered the blank place in his memory often, between the Cybertronian equivalent of ages 1-9 it was just blank and fuzzy with mixes of emotions yet no imagery. The young mech shook his helm as to clear his mind, now was not the time for such idle fancies as pondering, he had all night to do that.
Bumblebee gingerly squeezed behind the fallen rocks and into the cave. Most Cybertronians would say it was extremely dark, but Bumblebee was no ordinary bot or con so his night vision was drastically better, most likely because of his strange genetic coding. As he looked around the cave he realized it was rather small, not cramped but small. It was moments like this he cherished his tinier, lithe form. He held in a laugh at the thought of someone Megatrons size trying to fit in to the tiny little space. His slight amusement stopped when he thought of Shockwave and Megatron.
He sat down on the hard ground of the cave and sighed internally at his plight, Why must they torture him so? He never did anything wrong to them, and yet they would stab and prod him with needles and tubes. He only wanted three things in life: Be free of the Decepticons, Have a family who accepted him for who he was or rather what he was, and to know who his Sire and Carrier had been. He didn't think that was so much to ask of Primus and the universe in general.
Leaning his head back up against the wall he sighed out loud and glanced at the entrance of the small cavern he was situated in, he could make out the orange and dark yellow light of the sunset seeping through a crack. Bumblebee turned back and looked straight ahead of him at the other blank wall, It was gonna be a long night.
-Meanwhile out in the canyon with the Autobots and Starscream-
Optimus was still looking extremely shocked, the others had never seen him like this before. Suddenly Starscream found himself harshly pinned to the canyon wall and a angry looking Prime glaring straight into his optics. Starscream swallowed nervously and looked off to the side trying to avoid eye contact with his assailant.
"Where is he going?" Optimus growled slowly and menacingly, making a shiver go down Starscream's back and his wings twitch in nervousness
"I..I don't k..know-" The seeker was cut off by a light jostle of his fame "I swear! Why would I be tracking him if I knew!?" the SIC whimpered.
Optimus backed away letting Starscream drop to the ground before he put two fingers to his com-link and speaking.
"Ratchet give us a Ground bridge" Optimus ordered. A second later a Ground bridge opened, the blue and green light illuminating the sides of the canyon as it swirled and shimmered in place.
"Wait. Optimus what about him?" Arcee asked, being the first one brave enough to ask the Prime anything. The large blue and red mech looked at Starscream.
"You will leave and not bother Bumblebee again, or next time I may not be so forgiving, understood?" Starscream nodded frantically at Optimus's words and flew off. The Autobots entered the ground bridge to the base and saw Ratchet standing there expectantly. After he had closed the portal he looked at Optimus for an explanation.
"Arcee, Bulkhead could you two-"Arcee interrupted the Prime "We'll be in the training room if you need us" she stated before grabbing Bulkhead's servo and dragging him down the hall, making Optimus smirk subtly before he became grave again. He stood stood there thinking for a minute, or maybe it was ten, he couldn't tell. It was his fault wasn't it? He had taken the route, he had lost his son to the warmonger that was once his brother. He had not fought hard enough, he needed to fight harder. Every night he would think of that day and point out all his flaws and mistakes, what he could have done to save his only son. Optimus was drawn back to the present by a strange look from Ratchet.
"Ratchet I have some grave news" Optimus started "I...the signal you found, did you find out who it was? Was is it not blocked?" Ratchet nodded and showed Starscream's file.
"The other one...had no record" Ratchet told his friend, the taller mech shook his helm sadly.
"They...They changed him Ratchet, they experimented on him,gave him a collar like some wild animal, they took away his freedom, his voice, his memory..."Optimus sadly explained to his oldest friend, head down. Ratchet looked up at him in confusion and shock.
"W...Who Optimus? Who did they do such horrible things to?"Ratchet was almost scared to ask, but it was his job as the teams medic and Optimus's comrade to try and help anyway he could. Even if it meant being a temporary psychiatrist for the Prime, he knew how much talking about things could help, even if only a little bit.
"I...They've had him all these years, and I never knew. I thought he was..."Optimus continued to tell how he felt guilty. Ratchet stopped him with a hand on his arm.
"Optimus...What are you talking about?"
The Prime sighed and stepped away from the smaller mech, his back facing the medic. Ratchet was getting worried, Optimus tried to keep his emotions in check most of the time. It was some sort of coping system, Ratchet thought back to a time where his old friend was more open and happy, even in a time of war.
Optimus looked down for a moment before he turned back towards Ratchet optics full of sadness.
"Who Optimus?" Ratchet prodded
"Bumblebee, they hurt" Optimus took a deep intake of air "They took my son"
Ratchets optics widened considerably, he remembered the sparkling well, he was always so happy and peppy, he was also one of the two bots that Optimus used to let his walls down around. Ratchet's surprise quickly became anger, Ratchet had considered himself an uncle to the little troublemaker, and now all along, all his sadness and mourning had been for nothing. It also made Ratchet sickened, Bumblebee had been one of the last sparklings born during the war, and the Cons have been torturing him all these years. What sick bastards. Ratchet turned to Optimus.
"We will find him Optimus, And we will get him back!" Ratchet said, his tone full of determenaton
"Thank you, old friend" Optimus allowed himself to vent a breath of relief for the first time since he had learned of all this, he would get his son back.
No matter the risk.
Meanwhile with Bumblebee...
Bumblebee was getting bored. Extremely bored. He had counted the pebbles that were strewn about the little cave, He had watched as the shadows the light cast inside the cave got smaller and smaller. He had even tried to concentrate on the blank section of his memory. Zilch, again, but he wasn't really surprised, he never remembered anything.
Bumblebee subconsciously tugged at his collar, It was just a habit he had picked up and kept since he was young. When he was younger he remembered always hoping he would loosen it and maybe even get it off. He had never really given up, if only a little bit. Suddenly a thought came to mind, he never remembered a time when the annoying prohibitive collar hadn't been there. Always had it been present, through the torture, the tests, the long nights of soft crying, It was always there.
The small yellow bot fiddled with the clasp and got the same painful jolt of energy he always got, but he kept pulling and trying to undo it this time he was amazed at how silent he was being through all the pain. But finally it became to much and he gave, slumping up against the cave wall out of breath.
Lubricant started to gather in his bright Icy blue and yellow tinted optics, but he wiped them away as quickly as they had come. His mind began to wander to all the times he had felt the stinging buzz of the collar zapping through his frame, He wasn't fast enough, Strong enough, Good enough, a new excuse always came.
Starscream had been a cruel an hateful tester, always making up reasons to shock him or beat him, always smirking at him as he let out pleas of help or shouts of "stop". Shockwave was cold and maybe even worse then Starscream, he always forgot Bumblebee was a living being, always referring to him as "Project: Hybridia" never his real name. The one thing he ever remembered from his early childhood, his birth given name. He never really knew how he remembered such a small thing among all of his other empty memory.
Bumblebee slowly felt his optics power down, he would set out tomorrow for a place to live temporarily, he was never going back to that pit-spawned ship .Never. No matter the risk.