PLIGHT OF THE BUMBLEBEE chapter 2: aftermath
"Auugh!"
Arcee woke with a start, nearly rolling off the berth she was lying on. She grabbed a bar near the berth and steadied herself as she looked around, trying to assess her location. She was in the medbay, together with the other femmes she had been with. Greenlight was standing with crutches, her broken leg held together with a splint. Chromia was in Ironhide's arms with bandages over her bare chest, a worried expression on both their faceplates. Elita was standing in the medbay, looking sad, and Moonracer was shuddering, looking upset.
"She's online!" Elita said, smiling as the femmes gathered around Arcee's berth. "How are you?"
"I feel…tired." Arcee said as she stretched. "What happened?"
"You got shot in the helm." Greenlight said as she limped over to Arcee's berth. "You were in stasis all night. How do you feel?"
"Sore and aching." Arcee said, licking her glossa. "Why does my mouth feel so dry?"
"You were under a lot of stress, sometimes that happens." Ratchet said as he waved a scanner over her. "What do you remember last?"
"I just remember escaping the Decepticons and…Nightbird! That traitor!" Arcee growled, sitting upright and wincing in pain as she grabbed her helm.
"Primus, Arcee! Be careful!" Ratchet said as he gently rubbed her helm, which Arcee realized was wrapped in tight gauze. "You suffered a major helm injury a few hours ago, you're lucky your armor held."
"Yeah…" Arcee said as she winced. "…we were lucky to get out of there alive."
"What happened?" Optimus Prime's voice asked from around the corner as he entered the medbay, walking to Elita's side and placing a hand on her shoulder.
"We were ambushed." Arcee said. "Nightbird was a traitor, she shut down Iacon's defensive shields and attacked us. We barely got out of there with our lives, not to mention our dignity."
"How did you get out?" Optimus asked, concern in his voice.
"It wasn't that easy." Arcee said, trying to sit upright. "If it hadn't been for Bumblebee, we wouldn't have made it."
"Bumblebee?" Optimus said. "He was there?"
"He didn't come back?" Arcee asked, her spark pulsing faster with her fear.
"No, I didn't see him anywhere." Optimus said, sounding worried. "Where was he?"
Arcee's spark sunk, feeling her oil run cold.
"He…he insisted we go ahead through the tunnels, told us to go on ahead while he held off the Decepticons." She said, her servos shivering. "He saved our lives, maybe our dignity as well. He was so brave."
"Nobody saw him after the battle?" Elita asked. "Was he…offlined?"
"No." Optimus said as he looked worried. "There were no corpses aside from the Decepticons."
Arcee gasped.
"He must have been captured." She said, her spark pulsing faster.
"Damn…" Optimus said as he looked at the ground and activated his comms. "…Prowl, Ironhide, send a search team out to Bumblebee's last known location, try and get a tracker lock on him."
Arcee's spark hurt as she thought of Bumblebee, injured and in the hands of the Decepticons, at their tender mercies…the thought made her tanks lurch.
"Will he be all right?" Arcee asked.
"If he's still alive." Elita said. "But if not…well, I've seen what Decepticons to their prisoners. He will be begging Primus for death, I'm sorry."
Arcee felt her spark break as she thought of Bumblebee, his adorable personality and funny laugh, and what she planned on telling him after the operation they had to pull off…her spark hurt at the thought of him dead, gone to her forever.
"We'll find him, don't worry." Optimus said as he placed a servo on Arcee's shoulder. "A good soldier never leaves a mech behind. We'll find him."
Arcee prayed he was right.
To be continued.