Poisoned (BOOK TWO OF TRANSFORMED)

Chapter 7

Bulkhead's pov

It's been almost a whole week since we were turned back into humans. And what do we have to show for it? Nothing! As I walk into the main room, I can hear Arcee, Optimus and Ratchet talking. It sounds pretty serious. Bumblebee seems to be doing all he can to remember if he saw anything that day and smokescreen is... actually, come to think of it I haven't seen him all day... weird. All of a sudden, I can hear Bee yelling.

'Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit..... GUYS I JUST REMEMBERED SOMETHING REALLY USEFUL... maybe...' he starts freaking out.

"What is it Bumblebee?" Ratchet asks exasperated. Bumblebee had had a few moments like this before and they'd all been false alarms.

'Well, at first I thought I was just imagining things but now that I think about it... um, it might be best if Arcee weren't here when I say this though.' He mentions. We all look at her and she looks offended.

"Why can't I stay?" She asks, staring Bumblebee down. He stares back.

'I have my reasons and I'm sure you'll appreciate this idea once you understand why... but right now, please?' He says and she narrows her optics. I can tell she wants to say something but before she can, Optimus puts a servo on her shoulder.

"Arcee, maybe it's best if you listen to him... just this once. He cares about you, we all do, which is why we're asking you to leave." He says. Her fists tighten but she listens and walks off. Bumblebee waits until she's out of earshot/telepathic range.

'Just before I blacked out, I saw someone running off. Or at least, their legs... I think it was Airachnid... the legs were long and thin and I'm pretty sure there were eight of them.' He says. Ratchet starts to just walk off.

'Oh come on Ratchet, what's wrong with that suggestion?' He asks. Ratchet just turns to look at him.

"Bumblebee, Airachnid was sent off of this planet by Soundwave, by space bridge, so please, explain to me how she got back here. Last I heard, she was on one of our moons!" He says. Bumblebee crosses his arms.

'I don't know, but I do know what I saw.' He says. Ratchet shakes his helm.

'"Did you ever consider that you may have been a bit delusional before blacking out? Or that maybe you dreamed this?" He starts to get frustrated. Bumblebee groans.

'Fine, whatever don't believe me. Maybe the cons decided to bring her back, I don't know! But I do know what I saw, and what I saw was Airachnid!" He says and storms off. Just then, Arcee comes back in.

"Is it safe yet?" She asks and Bumblebee pushes past her and down the hallway. Probably to the training room.

"I'm going to guess that someone pointed out a huge flaw in his idea and he's getting frustrated because we're no closer to finding out who did this?" She guesses. We all just kind of nod. Except for Ratchet who just gives her a look. Arcee sighs and walks off to find Bee.

Arcee's pov

I end up finding Bee in the training room, punching a dummy. I take a step towards him and he stops.

'Why can't we figure out who did this? It shouldn't be that hard!' He says to me, frustration clear in his... voice/thoughts. I sigh and grip his face.

"We'll figure it out... don't worry." I say and kiss his helm. He smiles slightly and suggests something.

'Hey, wanna go for a drive?' He asks and I nod my head. The first time we were turned into humans, fowler brought us vehicles that matched our alt mode so we could get around. We didn't need to use them then but we never got rid of them incase the cure wore off or something like that. We hop into the Camaro, Bee driving obviously, and pull out of the base. We drive down the high way but instead of going into jasper, he takes a turn and goes off the road and onto the rocky terrain. He speeds up and starts doing a few doughnuts and other tricks like that. We decide to take a break and we sit on the hood of the car. We just sit in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the small slice of peace we have out here.

"So, want to tell me who you thought it was?" I ask and Bee looks over at me.

'Um, well... I didn't want you to hear earlier because I was worried it might trigger another flashback thingie...' he replies and I look away.

"Just tell me." I say and he looks unsure about this.

'Fine... right before I blacked out I saw the bots' legs. It looked like Airachnid but I could be wrong... according to Ratchet I am so I must be, right?' I look over at Bee and realize that he's being serious. I slowly start to feel myself panicking and the next time I blink, I'm back on Cybertron. Before anything happens though, I can feel myself being snapped out of it. I blink again and I'm with Bee.

'Cee, you okay? I'm sorry, I knew I shouldn't have said anything...' he starts going off about how stupid he is but I interrupt him with a hug. He hugs me back, and we just stay like that for a moment. As we're about to kiss, we hear something above us. I look up and see a helicopter. Before we can say anything, it starts shooting at us.

Bumblebee's pov

Arcee and I look up to see a helicopter. It looks a lot like Airachnid's alt mode... before I can say anything though, it starts shooting at us.

'Shit, shit, shit, shit.... get in the car!' I start yelling and we both hop in. I pull away as quickly as I can, and start driving in the other direction. Obviously it's a con, so we can't just go back to the base... I don't want to drive all the way into Jasper either though... shiiiiiiit. As I'm driving around, trying to figure out where to go, Arcee grabs the radio.

"Ratchet are you there?" She asks. All she receives is static though. She growls in frustration. "If you can hear me, we're being attacked by a Decepticon and we need a bridge back to the base. Now!" She yells. I keep driving, narrowly avoiding a few shots. Still no response and no ground bridge. Bad news, this is very bad news.

'Frag it.' I say and speed up. I start driving through the rock columns and trying to shake them off of us. I see a really wide one up ahead of us and decide to hide underneath of it, hoping that the con assumes we finally got a bridge. I stop underneath and can hear them flying over head. We see the con circle around in the air and suddenly they're coming right at us. I growl in frustration. I start the car again and rip out of the column, driving in the opposite direction from where we just were. Obviously this is not just one of their mindless drones. I drive through one of the columns and when I look through the mirror, they're not behind us anymore... I stop for a second and we both look around. Suddenly Arcee notices that it's right above us. I immediately put the gas pedal to the floor and we start speeding up again, racing out of there. More shots are fired, and although they keep missing, they're landing closer to us each time. Suddenly, something hits us. But it's not a gunshot it's... webbing? Shit I was right. I look over to Arcee and she looks like she's going back into that flashback state. I keep pushing on the gas, thinking that maybe we can break free. Unfortunately for us, we don't get loose before she fires at us.

'Brace yourself...' I say and just after that, we get hit by the bast and go flying through the air. The car rolls around a few times and I feel my legs getting crushed by something in the car. I look over at Arcee and it's like she's not even registering what's happening. She's still having a flashback... finally after a few more rolls of the car, it slides on the ground and comes to a stop. I look up and see Airachnid slowly making her way over. If Ratchet were here I'd say told you so but, now's not really the time to be celebrating that I was right. Primus, we are soooo screwed...