MY BABY BUMBLEBEE

An Unexpected Guest

"So this is where you live?" asked Smokescreen as he took a small step into the twins messy hab suite.

"Yeah, pretty sweet right," answered Sideswipe, flopping unceremoniously onto his berth, dumping his sweets in a pile.

"There are a bunch of empty rooms in this hall, so we have the place mostly to ourselves." added Sunstreaker as he gently placed his pile of goodies on the desk, and began to sort them by type.

"Doesn't it get lonely?" asked Smokescreen. He couldn't imagine having a room all to himself.

"Not really, why, don't you have your own pad on camlenut?" Sideswipe asked, head hanging upside down off the edge of the berth.

"Caminus dumb aft," corrected Sunstreaker, popping a rust stick in his mouth.

"Whatever," Sideswipe rolled his optics.

"No, I recharge Eleta's quarters, and I study in her office. She says she likes having me close, because she knows I'm safe." explained Smokescreen, sitting cross legged on the floor.

"What?" asked Sunstreaker, tone incredulous.

"Study?" sneered Sideswipe.

"You mean your with her all day?" Sunny continued in disbelief.

"Study?" echoed Sideswipe, rolling onto his stomach to make better eye contact with the strange bot before him.

"Yeah, she's my legal guardian ever since they saved me. Don't you guys have that?" asked Smokescreen confused. He fidgeted under the twins stares, doorwings held low, a nervous blush crossing his face.

"No we have run of the ship. Except when we've done something particularly naughty, then we get grounded and confined to quarters for a few hours." explained Sunstreaker.

"I don't think I could take it, being magnetized to someone like that all day, eulgh," shuddered Sideswipe, "No thank you."

"But who takes care of you? If you don't have a guardian, how do you get what you need?" Smokescreen asked in confusion. The twins glanced at each other.

"Well, everyone." started Sideswipe.

"Hound helps us with our fuel, and Jazz shows us how to maintain our finish." explained Sunstreaker.

"And Prowl and Ultra magnus make us follow the rules," elaborated Sideswipe

"Ratchet fixes out boo boos, and Wheeljack teaches us how stuff works." Sunstreaker continued

"Ironhide shows us all the best wrestling moves, and Blur takes us racing." added Sideswipe.

"And if there is anything else we need, like if we are sad or angry or if we don't understand something, we can always talk to Optimus." concluded Sunstreaker. Smokescreen sat quietly for a moment, digesting all the information.

"That actually sounds nice." he admitted, thinking of his solitary lifestyle with the camians. sideswipe hopped up excitedly.

"You can bunk in the room next to ours! We can be neighbors, and then we can do all kinds of stuff together!" he exclaimed. Smokescreen smiled.

"That sounds nice!" he agreed cheerily, wings raising to high up on his back.

"Come on, Bumblebee must have made his escape by now. Let's go find him." invited Sunstreaker, leading the way down the hallway.

Bumblebee rounded another corner, cheerily honking his horn. He was sure the twin's room was around here somewhere. He zoomed along happily enjoying the hum of his wheels on the smooth floor. It was just a left up here. Or was it a right? Oh well, it was only a matter of time until he found it. Bumblebee wandered the halls for quite some time. Eventually his pace slowed, and he transformed back into base mode to better get his bearings. He was lost! The ship had so many hallways, all of them the same color and dimensions. It was easy for anybot to get turned around. Bumblebee hesitantly rounded the next corner. If he didn't find someone soon, he was going to be very scared. Then he saw an odd shape at the end of the hall. It was about as tall as he was, long, and dark. Curiosity piqued and fear forgotten, Bumblebee happily toddled towards the figure. As he got closer, more and more detail became clear. It was an animal with a sleek tail, pointed audials, and bright red optics. It had funny purple badges on its shoulder.

'Kitty!" Bumblebee cried happily. Optimus had read him stories with kitties in them, they were nice animals!

Ravage slunk around the autobot ship. Infiltration had gone smoothly. During the camian's visit, the autobots had spent so much time preparing for a large scale frontal assault, that they had left themselves vulnerable to espionage. The fools! It had been all too easy for ravage to break in, and now he was headed to their main archive. All of the autobot's secret information at his claw tips.

"Kitty!"

The cry caught him off guard, and he whirled around to face the threat, claws ready and fangs bared. He faltered at the sight of a bright yellow bittlet. His intel had shown no civilians aboard the ship. If this bitlit got away, he could blab, and then they might raise the alarm. He had to be disposed of. Ravage readied his claws. The foolish bitlit was staring right at him, not two feet away. It would be easy, a swipe of the paw.

But something stopped him. Soundwave had just created a new eject, and something about this bitlit reminded ravage of the youngster waiting for him back home. He sheathed his claws and let the bright yellow bitlit scratch between his ears.

Bumblebee liked this kitty, it was a warm and nice, and made friendly rumbling sounds when he pet it.

"Good kitty," he beamed. Ravage flicked out his tongue and kissed the side of Bee's face. He was a sweet little thing. Made his spark ach for his family. The sooner this mission was over, the better. Then he could get back to the boss and greet the newest member of the team properly. With a flick of his tail, the cybercat continued on his way.

"Kitty wait up!" Bumblebee pouted as his new friend started to walk away. He quickly gave chase.

Ravage rolled his optics as the bitlit followed him. A quick check of his long range motion trackers told Ravage that no one else was near. The bitlit could stay, for now. And on the off chance they did bump into someone, it always helped to have a ready form of leverage.

The three youngsters wandered around the ship at a leisurely pace.

"Bumblebee! Where are you!" called out Sideswipe. They had checked in the rec room, and the med bay, and even Optimus's berth room. No Bumblebee.

"I'm starting to get worried sides, what if he got lost on the lower levels again?" spoke Sunstreaker.

"Is that possible, getting lost?" asked Smokescreen nervously. He knew the ship was big, but could somebody actually get lost?

"For bumblebee it is. Last time he wandered off Mirage found him on the lower levels crying. He had been wandering around down there for almost an hour." explained Sideswipe. The three bots put a little more pep in their steps as they headed down another hallway. They rounded another corner to see a quite unexpected site. Bumblebee, in the clutches of a decepticon war cat. The trio stopped dead in their tracks.

"Is that-" asked Sideswipe

"Ravage, yeah" choked out Smokescreen.

"And he's got Bumblebee!" exclaimed Sunstreaker.

Ravage froze at the site of the three young bots. His cover had been officially compromised, but why had they not shown up on his motion trackers. He cursed silently to himself. Now he was going to have to kill all four of them. Fortunately they were just children, and not fully trained autobots.

"What do we do, what do we do?" hissed Sideswipe shaking the older praxian by the shoulders.

"We have to call someone quick! And then get as far away from here as possible!" whispered Sunstreaker.

"But not without Bumblebee!" his twin protested.

The cybercat crouched low, sizing up his victims. Ravage targeted the one in the middle. He was the oldest, and the most likely to raise the alarm should he escape.
"Both of you calm down!" snapped Smokescreen. He eyed ravage warily. "When I give the signal, I need the two of you to grab bumblebee and burn rubber. You know this ship better than I do. Plot us an escape route." he instructed, voice calmer than he felt.

"What are you going to do?" asked Sideswipe.

"Something stupid," replied the praxian, raising his doorwings to shield the younger bots behind him. Ravage snarled as he prepared to pounce on his prey.

"Now!" shouted Smokescreen, darting forward.