I know, I know, I'm awful, but I've been swamped these last few days! Please forgive meee. On another note, this story is number 7 in transformersprime. Yes, you read that right, number 7!! Whaaaaaat! Thank you to all my lovely readers, I wouldn't be anywhere near here without you!
Okay, I'm done talking. Enjoy!
Episode 4 - Operation: Bumblebee (1)
[Amanda]
"Loop-de-loop, huh?" Arcee said as Bumblebee told a story and handed Raf the car he was using as a model. I left my Mustang in the corner of the base, where I knew it wouldn't get squished, and headed up the stairs to the platform. I'd been spending the past week reading books from the Atheneum of Cleona, working on my powers and actually succeeding. I still wasn't as strong as I wanted to be, but I could do a lot more than before.
"You have some brass bearings, Bumblebee." Bulkhead said and Bee buzzed happily.
Miko saw me walk up and shot me a grin, which I returned before moving in the opposite direction, to the lab where Optimus was watching what Ratchet had on his screen. I spotted some kind of metal device on the work table, a bad feeling overtaking me when I focused in on it. Whatever it was, my powers were telling me it was bad news.
"Here." The medic was saying. "The source of the ancient frequency we detected."
"An Iacon homing beacon." Optimus confirmed.
Arcee and the others walked into the lab. "What's an Autobot locator doing on that?"
"The Class-A Decepticon weapons confiscated during the war were sealed within vaults deep below Iacon." The Prime answered.
I looked up at him. "Where you worked as an archivist?"
He nodded. "Iacon was both a cultural center and a stronghold, which Megatron raided when Autobot troops were at their nadir. It stands to reason that, in anticipation of Iacon being overrun by enemy forces, these weapons were jettisoned off-world to keep them far from Decepticon reach."
No wonder I'm getting a bad vibe off of it.
"Clearly the beacons were added as a safety measure," Ratchet said. "Should the weapons ever be found by the undesired party."
Bulkhead clapped Bumblebee on the back. "Thanks to our hotshot stunt driver, this one's going in our vault."
"Do you.. think this is the only intel you supplied to Megatron?" Arcee asked the Prime.
He paused. "Arcee, you are right to ask, but I am afraid I do not remember."
My anger flared up again at the thought of Megatron taking advantage of him the way he did. I had to shove it back to avoid blasting something, or even melting through the metal platform.
"Optimus," Ratchet said. "Megatron clearly took advantage of your amnesia, but for all we know, this spark extractor is the extent of it."
Spark extractor?! That's what that thing is?!
"Have you stopped to consider that he might have suggested otherwise merely to plague your thoughts?" he finished.
I stepped forward. "I might be able to check."
Everyone gave me a confused look.
"I've been working on, well this." I lifted my hand and allowed a stream of silver dust to flow up. "I might be able to use it to find out what happened while Megatron had Optimus. Not right away, I'd need to practice and all, but-" I turned to the Prime. "Only if you want, though."
"Have you even tried looking into minds?" Ratchet scoffed. "It's not some party trick, this is one of the most important organs in the body. One wrong move could damage it permanently."
He's right. You barely know how to control small metal objects, how are you going to look into a Cybertronian's mind? You don't have the power to.
"I would be willing to." Optimus said, which surprised me. "We cannot leave this matter in the hands of Megatron. If there is any more information he has, we must know what it is."
~~
I sprawled across the couch at the base, a book on abilities from the atheneum in my hands. With the rest of the team out on patrol, the base was quiet, aside from an occasional mutter from Ratchet, who was working in his lab as always.
Any Champion of Cleona has the ability to control Cybertronian metal and the metal of their home planet, giving them an advantage should the battle for balance reach their planet. This ability grows and becomes stronger with time and use, allowing for a champion to control as much metal as they can within their ability range.
A champion also has more abilities that take more time to hone and perfect, thus making them more powerful. One of these abilities is the power to control the minds of Cybertronian warriors, though it is not advised. Another is the power to animate metal objects and inform them to obey one's will, though this practice usually ends with a group of animated objects fighting for freedom. The ability to look into a Cybertronian's mind is also within the power of a champion and, though it may seem daunting, is one of the quickest to learn.
I skipped a few pages until I saw more info on looking into the mind.
To peer into the mind of a Cybertronian, one must first know what they want to see. Looking into a mind that is not one's own is overwhelming and it is very easy to get lost, hence the reason one must know what they want to see first. After that, all a champion has to do is make direct contact with the subject, preferably closer to their head, and push what they wish to see into the mind of the subject, which should appear after a few moments of concentration. NOTE: Should any information not arise within 2 clicks, pull out of the subject's mind immediately and try again.
I reread the last passage over and over again, making sure I memorized all of it. But, before I tried anything on Optimus that could go wrong and hurt him, I needed to make sure I had a grasp on my powers.
"Ratchet?" I called, hopping off the couch.
"Hm?" He didn't look up.
"Have any scrap metal I could borrow?"
"Huh? Oh, yes, in the bin over here." He waved a hand absentmindedly past his lab bench, which I looked down to see a bin full of scrap metal. Holding my hands out, I took a breath and willed one piece of metal to float up to me. Silver dust poured out of my hands and down into the bin, wrapping around a piece of metal at the top before lifting it to me. Soon the metal brick was in my hands and I smiled to myself. Then I headed back to the living area, setting the metal brick down on the table before sitting crossed legged in front of it. I held my hands out to either side of the metal brick, willing the silver dust to coat it, and then envisioned what I wanted the metal to bend into.
What about.... A penguin.
That was random, but it works.
Making my thoughts clear and focus on the metal brick, I willed the silver dust to morph it into a penguin. After a few seconds, a shiny metal penguin sat in front of me.
"Good work." Ratchet's voice made me jump and I turned to see him watching me, an impressed look on his face.
I smiled slightly. "Not just some party tricks?"
"Almost."
"You have improved greatly, Amanda." My gaze went past Ratchet to where Optimus was walked towards us. I hadn't even heard him come in.
"Thanks, Optimus." I gave him a smile, which he returned.
"Would you like to attempt to recover my memories now or do you need more practice?"
I bit my lip. "I don't know if this is the best idea though. I don't want to mess up and-"
"I trust you, Amanda." He said sincerely and I took a deep breath.
"Alright." I walked to the edge of the platform. "Come here."
Optimus moved forward, bending over a bit so that I could reach his head. Once I did, my hands sparked silver as I closed my eyes and pictured what I wanted to see.
Show me when Orion Pax first emerged.
"Where are we, Megatronus?"
Megatron looked startled, but quickly recovered, offering Optimus a hand. "Don't you remember, old friend?"
"Optimus!" Bulkhead ran into view, along with Arcee and Bumblebee, all with their guns trained on Megatron. "Are you okay?"
But Optimus just looked at Megatron. "Why did he call me that? Who are they?"
"What did you do to him?" Arcee growled, catching on to what happened.
Megatron stepped back. "Our mortal enemies! We're outnumbered." A ground bridge appeared behind them. "Go! I'll cover you!"
"Optimus, Amanda, we have an emergency!"
I gasped, pulling back as my connection shattered. Stumbling back, I tried to regain my footing and senses. Optimus too looked reeled, but he was having a better time hiding it than I was. Bulkhead stood next to him, being the culprit to who broke my focus. Optimus gave me a concerned look, which I waved away as I brought myself back to the present, before turning to the wrecker.
"Bulkhead, what is wrong?" He asked. Bulkhead's gaze went to the lab.
"It's Bumblebee."
~~
Jack, Miko, Raf, and Arcee arrived at the base, joining us where we were all crowded in the lab, Bumblebee laying back on the cot as Ratchet scanned him over.
"You can fix Bee, can't you?" Raf asked, slight fear in his tone as he walked right up to the cot.
"Bumblebee was hit pretty hard," Ratchet assessed. "The stun may have fried his T-Cog."
Miko made a face. "Is that like a T-bone?"
"Not exactly." Arcee replied. "It's the organ that allows us to scan vehicles and transform."
"By the Allspark." Ratchet muttered. "Bumblebee's T-Cog isn't damaged... it's missing."
What?
"But the Decepticons transform too." Jack said. "Why would they steal it?"
He's right. It didn't make any sense, unless....
"Megatron may be known to raise zombies, but he's no ghoul." Ratchet agreed.
"If Megatron wasn't behind this," Raf started. "Then who was?"
The answer made me clench my jaw. "The ones who aren't Cybertronian but are obsessed with Autobots and Decepticons, obsessed enough to steal Breakdown's eye and try to gut Arcee when they got the chance. MECH was behind this."
Ratchet nodded. "It would appear their knowledge of Cybertronian biotech has grown more sophisticated."
"But why would they want Bumblebee's part?" Raf asked.
Bumblebee stood up all of a sudden, buzzing something at Optimus before starting to storm to the ground bridge, when the Prime put an arm out to clock his way.
"Bumblebee, please." He said, putting his hand on the scout's shoulder. "You're not presently equipped to handle this."
The scout wasn't happy with that, buzzing something irritably.
"You're mistaken, my friend." Optimus said in reply. "I do know what it's like to lose a vital part of oneself. And, as a result, I know the value of putting one's faith in the strength of those around you. We vow to do everything in out power to make you whole again."
"And if not, Ratchet can just make you a new cog thing, right?" Miko suggested, which ticked Bee off again, causing him to drop to the cot and put his head in his hands. "What'd I say?"
"Miko, a T-Cog is a biomechanism, not a scrapyard find!" Ratchet scolded. "If it were that easy don't you think I would have replaced Bumblebee's voice box by now?"
Bumblebee buzzed something else really quickly, making gestures at his throat.
"You're not useless Bee!" Raf exclaimed, running up to the scout, who just buzzed sadly and didn't look convinced.
"Alright, I say none of us transform until Bumblebee gets his cog back." Bulkhead declared.
Optimus shook his head. "Your spark is in the right place, Bulkhead, but I don't think now is the time to be limiting ourselves. Not with Megatron potentially seeking other doomsday devices. And, I fear, not while MECH uses Bumblebee's T-Cog for their own sinister purpose."
That made me clench my jaw. MECH was at it again and they hit the team hard by taking Bee's T-Cog. This was crossing the line, which meant it was payback time. I turned away from the others, pulling out my phone to send a quick text.
Get to the base asap. We have a situation.
A few seconds later, I got a reply.
On my way.
[Finn]
When I got to the base, Amanda was standing near the door to the elevator, intercepting me before the others could.
"What's wrong?" I asked and she filled me in on the situation. After she finished, she launched into her plan.
"We have the data to find these guys," She said. "I'm betting they're using Bumblebee's T-Cog for whatever weapon those scientists were working on and Cam should have been able to decode them by now. If we use what information is in those files, we could probably get a pinpoint on their location."
I nodded. "It's a longshot, but it might work. Any way you can get the files here so we can work at base or do we have to go to your place?"
She chewed her lip, a habit I was noticing her do more and more lately. "The others would ask where we're going or even insist on coming along, but I could bring them here if you have a laptop and are willing to let me install some security measures."
"I've got one," I jerked a thumb to the backpack I was wearing.
"Then let's get to work."
We seated ourselves at the edge of the living area, Amanda working away with my laptop and I took the moment to look around. Ratchet was at his computer, as usual, but there was more tension between his shoulders. Raf was on his own laptop, which usually calmed him down, but this time he just looked stressed. The other Autobots I assumed were on patrol, while Jack and Miko were probably at home. Then my gaze landed on Bumblebee. The scout really looked down and I remembered how thrilled he always got when he was in vehicle mode. From the few times I was driven here with Raf, I could already tell that transforming into the black and yellow Camaro was his favorite, even though I couldn't understand his words.
"Here." Amanda's voice cut through my thoughts and I sat on the armrest of the chair she was on. "I've installed a strand of Cam onto this, which means your laptop is now protected by the security walls that surround her. You don't have access to much, the processor couldn't handle anymore, but we can see everything from that USB we grabbed."
"I honestly don't know how you do it." I muttered under my breath as the files opened up in front of me.
"Magic." She said with a small smile, which I returned before opening up the WEAPON X52 file. The file froze for a second, a flash of encryption interrupting the load, then it opened up. I saw out of the corner of my eye Amanda do the same on her phone, her face filling with anger and stress as she read through.
You're not supposed to read her, idiot.
It's hard, give me some slack.
So I turned my attention to the file, reading through as quickly as I could without missing any details. While I did, I got distracted when Bumblebee approached Ratchet, buzzing something urgently.
"Optimus and Bulkhead haven't reported in yet," The medic said in an exasperated tone. Bumblebee buzzed something in reply, but that only worsened Ratchet's patience. "Bumblebee, I will let you know the moment I hear something."
Bee buzzed something again, not sensing the medic's shortening fuse.
"Oh, for Primus' sake." Ratchet turned to us. "Will someone keep him occupied so I can get some work done?"
Raf stood. "Hey, Bee. How about a video game?" The younger boy turned the tv on to reveal a car racing game. I mentally winced as Bumblebee buzzed mournfully.
"Bad call." I mouthed to Raf.
"Hey, no big deal." He tried, grabbing the remote. "That game's lame. Why don't we watch some tv?"
There was a commercial on for a new sports car. "The new Urbana 500. It won't just rock your world. It will transform it."
Even Amanda winced at that. Bumblebee's eyes widened before he clutched his head, buzzing loudly and angrily as he walked away. Raf, Amanda and I exchanged a look, and then Raf got up to follow his guardian.
"Bee, come on!" He said. "You're just as amazing without wheels! I mean, speed isn't everything."
At that moment, Arcee pulled in with Jack, who got off and looked up at her once she transformed.
"Personal best, Arcee," He said. "You hit 120 easy."
This is just getting worse and worse.
Bumblebee's angry eyes set on Arcee and Jack, who both made 'uh-oh' faces, before the scout stomped towards the exit.
"Bumblebee, where do you think you're going?" Ratchet demanded. Bee didn't even turn around when he replied. "You can't just go for a walk! We're robots in disguise. Leaving the base in this form puts you at risk of being seen and of us being discovered. You'll just have to remain in the silo until-"
Bumblebee cut him off, buzzing with even more anger. Whatever he said must have been as harsh as his tone, because Ratchet deflated a little as the scout whirled around and stormed off.
"Yes Bumblebee." The medic mumbled. "Until I can fix you."
[Amanda]
The next day, Finn and I were still looking through the files, trying to determine what was really going on. We figured a few things out yesterday, but there were too many distractions around base, too many prying eyes, all to avoid getting on Bumblebee's current short fuse. We did figure this though; MECH is building an army and is using what it learned from when they tore apart Breakdown and Bee's T-Cog to do it.
Currently the base was pretty much empty. Bulkhead was on watch duty, but mostly played games on a side computer, while Bumblebee was strolling around the back halls of the base. Miko was in detention (again), Jack was at work, and Raf had stayed at school for his coding club. Ratchet had just left to pick him up.
"Look at this." Finn said and turned his laptop towards me.
My eyes widened at what I saw. "This could be it!"
"What could be it?" Bulkhead asked, his attention and now Bumblebee's on us.
"Uh-" Finn started but I just shook my head.
"We might have just found where MECH is." I admitted, wanting Bee to know because, truthfully, he deserved to know. He buzzed excitedly and Bulkhead turned back to the computer.
"I'll alert the others." He said but Bumblebee cut him off. "I know you and I can handle it, Bee, but there's no reason to. What are you trying to prove?"
The scout stood up straighter, buzzing something firmly. It must have worked, because Bulkhead sighed in defeat.
"Amanda, man the ground bridge." The wrecker said. "Finn, comms are on you."
We both got to work, rushing over to the human computers next to the ground bridge. I put in the coordinates, opening the ground bridge as Finn set up the comm channel. Bulkhead went through first.
"Clear." The wrecker said over the comms and I nodded at Bumblebee, who ran through the ground bridge right after. I assumed he got through when Bulkhead said, "I still don't know how you talked me into this. You're worse than Miko."
Bumblebee buzzed something in a reasonable tone.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. Not every mission ends in a high-speed pursuit. But if Optimus finds out, this was not my idea. If anything it's Amanda's fault."
"I see how it is, Bulkhead." I piped up. "You're approaching the location, what do you see?"
"There's a cave in front of us. Wait- are you getting this?"
I frowned at my screen. "Beacon is... moving? This isn't the MECH lab-"
"It's coming our way fast!" Bulkhead interrupted just before a new voice got picked up.
"Catch me if you can!" A familiar, chilling voice said. Knockout.
"I'll get him!" Bulkhead said, then there was some mumbling before, "Okay, you get him!"
Finn gave me a questioning look, but I just shook my head. "Where there's Knockout, Breakdown isn't far behind."
"Sporting of you." Knockout's voice came over the comms. I'm so glad Ratchet made the comms so sensitive. Hearing one sided conversations never works out. "You're not even gonna try and shoot out my tires?" Bumblebee couldn't without his T-Cog and the Con almost sounded... offended. "Bumblebee! Where's your famous horsepower, huh? Show me some speed!"
There was a long pause before the Con spoke again.
"What's with the rent-a-car?" Now he really sounded offended, before he shook it off. "I'd stick around and make some donuts around you, but I have a delivery to make."
Bumblebee's shout made me look at the map, where I saw him flying off a cliff.
Scrap!