Welcome back, everyone!

So the story is definitely recieving more support than I was expecting! I was unsure if anyone really still read TFP fanfiction, but our community is still thriving!

Hope you enjoy this chapter! It's following a similar plot line to 'Out of His Head', but with a few changes.

Enjoy!

Chapter Two: The Mind Control Dilemma

Silver's POV . . .

It was difficult to rest without knowing whether or not Bumblebee was going to be okay.

The thought of what he'd said to me still makes me shiver. About me being "unnatural". The abnormal qualities of myself are something I'd suppressed since I was fourteen orns old. And they somehow still haunted me at twenty-one.

Retracing my way towards the main room, I passed by Ratchet in the hallway.

"Morning, Ratchet." I greeted cheerfully, but still nervous.

My mentor gave a polite nod and stopped in his tracks. "Oh, Silver. Good morning. You should probably know about Bumblebee."

I tilted my helm in confusion. "What about him? Is he okay?"

"He's relatively fine." Ratchet gave a doubtful shrug. "But he's been put into a temporary stasis lock until further notice. We recently had an incident with a cortical psychic patch, and it appears that it affected him more than we first thought."

Ratchet informed me of the specifics, how often I needed to check on him and how often to refuel his energon supply. Every bot was different with how much energon they consumed, depending on their size, vehicle mode, and weapons use.

I asked about Arcee, since she hadn't been in the room when I woke up. Ratchet nonchalantly informed me that she was on some mission to stop a giant drill. Y'know, nothing out of the ordinary.

He headed down the hallway, likely to fix the broken contraption in his hand (I suspected that was the work of Bulkhead).

I continued on to the main room, and…there he was. Bumblebee was standing upright in the stasis chamber, optics offline as he recharged. His sparkbeat seemed to be normal on the monitor, but it still felt…odd.

I started doing the usual check ups when an unfamiliar voice chimed in happily.

"Hello!"

Jumping slightly, I glanced around the base, expecting to see another Autobot. But no one was there.

"...Uhm…down here?"

Turning my attention to the ground, I noticed a small human with spiky brown hair. I guessed that he was a child. He was wearing orange and brown clothes, and appeared to have his own set of safety goggles. Perhaps a scientist?

"Oh. H-Hello!" I knelt down, surprised, but intrigued. "Sorry about that. I forgot that not just Cybertronians reside here."

The little boy shrugged. "No worries! Are you Arcee's sister? She was telling us about you earlier."

I chuckled. "I hope it was all good things."

"Well…" he glanced away. "She was talking about how Bee attacked you last night…and that's why he's like this now." He gestured to Bee in the stasis chamber. "Is it true? Did he hurt you?"

My optics widened and spark ached while I tried to find a way to explain it. There was no real way to tell him what exactly happened without scaring him.

"I-It was nothing. Just a bit of stasis-walking." I brushed it off, thinking of anything I could to change the subject. "Uhm…what's your name? Are there any other humans here?"

"Oh, I'm Raf!" He began walking over to Bumblebee and sitting on a crate next to him. "I'm the only one here now, but there are three of us. Jack's at work and Miko's in detention, so it's just the four of us here today."

I tilted my helm, confused. "Four?"

Rafael nodded. "Yeah. You, me, Ratchet, and Bumblebee." He smiled. "He can still hear us, even if he's in stasis, right?"

The sparkache came back with a vengeance. I just offered a reassuring half-smile and nodded. As Raf began his schoolwork on his laptop, I headed back towards the computer in the med-bay to record Bumblebee's progress. He hadn't so much as moved in hours.

It had always felt eerie to me to have a patient in stasis. Especially where they're standing up. It was…off. It was unnerving. The way he just blankly stared, optics so dark that they looked…offline. He almost reminded me of an old friend.

The friend who'd first been travelling with me...

Shaking myself out of the reminiscent thought, I tried to keep my focus on the screen ahead of me. Arcee was still on the mission, but Ratchet would be back soon.

No One's POV . . .

Bumblebee stirred and shifted within his own mind, optics slowly onlining. Upon opening them, he came to terms with his surroundings.

He stood in a vast, empty plane. The ground was covered in rust, shaking at even the slightest movement. The sky was faded from a harsh red to harsher yellow. But it wasn't the type of sky you'd see during a sunset. It was the type he'd seen fresh after a battle. Littered with black smoke and the heavy weight of fear.

"Well, isn't this a familiar sight?" Megatron's raspy voice mused from…somewhere.

Bee spun around, trying to pinpoint where the Decepticon was hiding.

"Sh-Show yourself!" Bee ordered, only to back up a little bit.

It was rare for Bumblebee to hear his own voice. His mind wasn't bound by the same restrictions as his physical form. He remembered how he sounded. Before Megatron's torment.

A sly laugh echoed through the scout's mind. Heavy footsteps marched towards him. Turning back once more, he came face to face with the Decepticon leader. Piercing violet optics glared at him with a sharp disdain. Megatron cracked a sadistic smile.

"I don't blame you for your fear." He placed a hand over his spark, feigning empathy. "However, if it's any consolation to your feeble mind, this will all be over very soon."

"You're not going to get away with this..." Bee forgot his fear, stepping forward to face the Decepticon. "I'll fight you for as long as it takes if it means stopping you from coming back!"

Megatron circled the scout, chuckling with mockery. "Oh, but how will you be able to fight me..." He leaned in until he and the scout were inched from each other. "...when your friends are too busy fighting you?"

Silver's POV . . .

I liked how quiet the base could get. No talking, or even noise from the traffic of the nearby highway. I absent-mindedly typed at the computer, enjoying the solitude. Rafael had grown tired and was currently 'resting his eyes' on the sofa. I loved learning these new Human phrases.

In all honesty, I didn't really know what Ratchet typed all day at the computer. I was just trying to look busy. I heard the drawn-out sound of metallic creaking, followed by the slow rhythm of heavy footsteps.

"Ratchet? Is that you?" I didn't take my eyes off of the screen. "I got my work done."

I waited for a response, but heard nothing other than the footsteps. The steps grew closer until they stopped right behind me.

Confused to why my mentor wasn't answering, I slowly turned back. "Ratchet? What's wro-"

I cut myself off.

Standing in front of me was not Ratchet. It looked like Bumblebee, but he was nowhere to be found in the small pupils of his optics. Once again, their friendliness dissipated.

The most I could do to back up was leaning on the desk behind me.

"B-Bumblebee?" I stuttered. "Please tell me you're feeling better…"

He chuckled while still maintaining optic-contact with me. It was creepy. He leaned forward, face now inches from mine.

"Tell me, femme. What is your name?" His tone was raspy and mocking.

I gulped. "Y-You first…"

He laughed. "Oh, you will find that out soon enough. If the scout wishes for you to live, he has no choice but to obey me."

My optics darted around the room, looking for anyway to defend myself. As I turned my helm, I felt a strong servo on my jaw. The intruder harshly brought my gaze back to face him.

"And if you want him to live, you will not try to escape." The smirk in his tone was obvious. "Open that ground bridge to these exact coordinates."

I had no choice but to listen to him. Through his words, I could occasionally see his eyes flicker back to their normal, wide self, except wide with fear. Bumblebee was pleading for me not to listen to the one controlling him. But what was I supposed to do? I couldn't just let him die.

My fingers shook as I typed in the coordinates. The intruder pressed a gun barrel to my back.

"Your cooperation is noted." He grabbed my arm as I finished typing the coordinates. "I'm sure you understand that I can't just let you run off to your medic."

The intruder ushered me through the bridge. I reluctantly walked in front of him, hoping Ratchet would notice me missing soon. At that point, I was just grateful that Rafael hadn't been caught in the crossfire.

I didn't want to fight Bumblebee. And I knew we had to get the second consciousness out of him. But how? I didn't have the answer to that yet.

We arrived on the other side. My optics immediately widened as I clapped a servo over my mouth in horror.

Across the rocky terrain we'd just arrived in were the scattered remains of Cybertronians. Both Decepticon and Autobot lay among them. But they looked…off. The remains were ancient, but the energon spilling from them was recent. Perhaps a couple of months old.

The intruder glanced over to me. "Scared of a little energon-shed?" He chuckled again. "Honestly, I'm surprised you've made it this far in the war. Sparing you now would only be prolonging the inevitable."

I ignored his insults, still looking out at the devastation. He lost interest in keeping an optic on me. He knew I wasn't going to try running. As he looked among the bodies for something particular, I kneeled down beside one of them.

Asking how you could've saved someone as a medic was a good way to drive yourself crazy. But sometimes it was an impossible question to ignore.

Again, the intruder roughly grabbed me by the arm, dragging me to my feet.

"We don't have time for this." He hissed as he pulled me back through the portal.

I didn't believe that he would let either of us go.

Looking in his other servo, I noticed a glowing purple shard. It's texture looked similar to that of energon, yet wasn't any kind that I was familiar with. It was oddly mesmerising.

"You still haven't told me your name." I tried again to speak up as we returned to base.

"You know my name." He snapped. "You must've heard it a thousand times over within your short lifetime. Now these coordinates."

Panic started to sink in as I realised I had less and less time to stall. I was praying Ratchet came back in time.

"W-Well, I'd just like to know the name of my captor, y'know?" I tried distracting him as I started to type. "I'm starting to get an idea, but just in case-"

His patience wore out.

He grabbed my shoulder, spinning me around to face him. His servo locked around my throat as my optics widened. I tried clawing at his servo as he began lifting me off of the ground. In seconds, I couldn't feel the floor.

"I am Megatron." He glared. "Warmonger. Lord of the Decepticons. I am the reason you should be afraid of stepping foot outside of this base. I am the one who will eviscerate you and your scout if you do not learn when to stay silent and do as I say."

My optics began to roll back as my throat closed up. My arms started to get weak as my body went limp. Taking a twisted form of 'pity' on me, Megatron released me.

"Since you are my bargaining chip, you are safe for now." He leered over me as I remined collapsed on the floor.

"Silver Sun?"

Ratchet.

Groggy and optics blurry, I turned to the doorway. My mentor looked on in horror as Megatron stood over me. His expression swiftly turned to rage as he locked optics with Bee.

"Bumblebee!" The angry medic yelled. "I do not know what has become of you these last few days, but you must step away from Silver Sun before I knock you unconscious with a wrench!"

"R-Ratch…that's not Bee…" I tried to talk, but it barely came out in a whisper.

He didn't appear to hear me. "And what is that in your servo?"

He grabbed Bee's arm and pulled it to examine the shard he carried. It was very rare that I saw Ratchet unnerved, but the speed at which fear entered his optics startled me.

"Dark energon?" Ratchet's mutter only confused me more. "What are you planning on-"

Megatron cut him off with a swift punch to the abdomen. Ratchet stumbled, but quickly regained his balance. His worry reverted back to anger. He tackled Bumblebee into the wall near the med-bay.

I steadily got to my pedes, leaning on the control board for support. While they wrestled with each other, I turned to the board and started trying to contact the others.

"Base to Optimus?" I frantically called. "Bumblebee is-"

Something hit me in the back of the helm. My optics grew blurry as my legs gave way.

I collapsed to the floor.

For the second time.

This was not a great start to my and Bumblebee's friendship.

Everything after that was pixilated. Just short screenshots. I heard muffled voices, and saw the yellow mech leaning down to speak to me. I saw him typing in something - most likely the coordinates of his next target. He disappeared through the Ground Bridge just as I started to come back around.

"Silver Sun?" A small, scared voice called out.

Steadily turning my helm, I spotted Raf on the ledge near the children's hang-out spot. He was far away, but I could tell even from this distance that he was shaking. His wide eyes and terrified form was so familiar. For a second I saw Red Alert standing there.

As I sat forward, a deep feeling sank into my spark. I put a servo over my chassis, feeling how quickly it was beating.

Ratchet too was struggling to stand. The feeling grew. It felt like the moment between rage and serenity. When you're facing down everything, but find peace in knowing what you have to do.

For centuries, I'd been one of the few Autobots who'd managed to stay far from the reach of bloodshed and battle. But now, I knew saving a life would take more than a trip to the med-bay. As much as it terrified me to think of going into the metaphorical Predacon's den, it was clear I had to.

Fear was a luxury I couldn't afford right now. We needed to take action.

"Megatron followed Bumblebee back through the cortical psychic patch." I relayed as I helped my mentor stand.

"What…?" Ratchet clung to his helm in pain. His optics quickly reflected his realisation. "Of course! A cortical psychic patch works two ways! How could I have been so careless?!"

"It's not your fault." I reactivated the ground bridge. "That's why Bumblebee's been acting so strange. That's why it doesn't always sound like him. The only thing I'm unsure of is the purple shard." I turned to Ratchet. "You said it was Dark Energon? I thought that was a myth."

"We've learned to be wrong about many things during our time here." Ratchet shook his helm. "The Blood of Unicron runs in rivers upon this planet. And Megatron used it to revive armies of the undead and..."

The doctor trailed off. He turned to me.

"Silver Sun…" He spoke in a low whisper. "I fear that Megatron may be using the Dark Energon in an effort to restore his own body."

Rafael found the courage to speak up. "B-But…what happens to Bumblebee after Megatron's done with him?"

My eyebrows furrowed in worry and a morbid realisation. I'd never been held captive under the Decepticons, but from what I'd been told, it was rare to escape from it.

"I'm bringing Bumblebee back." I'd never used a tone that serious before. "With any luck, he can break free from Megatron's hold."

"And how are we supposed to do that? The rest of the team is unreachable!" Ratchet reminded me. "You've never even seen battle. Going to the Nemesis warship by yourself would be idiocy!"

My gaze dropped to the floor. He was right. I wasn't a fighter and never had been. The only thing I had of any real value was medicine, and what could that do? Heal Megatron to death?

As I was reconsidering the mission, I felt a strong servo gently place itself on my shoulder. Glancing up, Ratchet seemed softer, looking at me with a mix of understanding and worry.

"As your mentor and friend, it is only logical that I come with you." He assured me.

I smiled at him gratefully. He'd always been protective of me going on missions. That wasn't an issue when I was in the Academy, but times had changed. I couldn't stay away from the fight when people I cared about were in danger.

I'd only known Bumblebee for less than a day. But I liked to think I was a good enough judge of character to know that he was good at spark.

Perhaps I'd be able to get to know him after the battle. Y'know, when he was more himself.

But all that had to wait for now.

We had a scout to save.


Chapter Two finished!

Thank you again for the support and for staying to see how this story will turn out! I edit the chapters a bit before uploading them but sometimes miss things, so apologies for any spelling mistakes.

How are you all finding the story? There's so much I'm looking forward to adding, and I've already planned out the first 13 chapters ready for this to all tie together.

Think of the first three as the introductory ones to let you know where we are in the series. After the next chapter, I'll start adding in original ideas (still partially based off of the episodes of the series though!)

Thank you all for reading!

'Til All Are One,

GreyroseLegacy1