Chapter Text
“Your futile attempts at usurping our leader have finally caught up to you.”
Starscream whipped his head over to Soundwave, his optics widening with an incredulous rage. The Decepticon’s steeled gaze pierced through the Seeker’s own. “What!?” He exclaimed, his wings hiking up with pure fury. “What makes you think that you get a say in who leads the Decepticons to victory!?”
His helm twisted and turned away from Soundwave to look at the other Decepticons behind him; Rumble, Frenzy, Shockwave, Blitzwing, the Combaticons, the Coneheads, everyone that was under Megatron’s rule.. All he could see were ashamed faces, or none at all. The only two he didn’t see from the crowd beginning to surround him was Skywarp and Thundercracker. His trine, then, should keep him from this growing chaos around him…
“All you’ve done since Megatron disappeared was play leader!” Rumble barked back, and to Starscream’s dismay, he heard agreements.
Soundwave stepped in, having Rumble follow along with crossed arms. “Lord Megatron will return, and we will be at our best, as if he was gone for just a moment. You will not do that for us, Starscream.”
He opened his mouth to retort, but Shockwave is quick to follow along. His words made him bristle.
“Your leadership will only leave us worse off. You will not think of the bigger picture, you would risk everyone’s lives for your own selfish gain.” Shockwave’s steps felt like earthquakes, and instinctively Starscream backed away, his optics flashing around the ship’s hull to find an escape route. They’re crowding around him, and Starcream could hear every intake, every gear rotating in his body. His wings were twitching above him, itching to get out of there. “The logical choice of this matter is to set you aside.”
Shockwave circled him, his emotionless yellow gaze burning into Starscream’s retinas. “Megatron was able to handle you by keeping you at bay, but because he isn’t here to do so, you’ve continued to show your inability to lead us. Soundwave and I have been debating the circumstances of your exile in great detail. Either you leave,” His pedes stopped, and his singular eye stared him down, “Or we force you to, by any means necessary.”
Silence filled the Nemesis, except for the harsh exhausts from Starscream’s chassis. All of the other Decepticons watch him heave for air, with the closest being Shockwave, his right arm inching upward towards his helm. “Go on.” The deep rumbling of Shockwave’s voice went straight through Starscream’s spark. “Make your move, Starscream.”
He grit his denta, optics turning towards the purple Decepticon. If there was anything Starscream wanted to do, he wanted to rip apart the head of Shockwave, slam the pieces down on the ground, and barrage his null rays over and over at his body until he was nothing but a speck of dust. That’ll teach the Decepticons not to betray him.
“You… You fools!” Starscream finally growled, breaking his contact with Shockwave to whip his head towards the others. “None of you are capable of leading this team towards victory! You’ll all fail, and you will fall to the hands of the Autobots. Even you, Shockwave.” His finger whipped back to him. “Just because you have the brains doesn’t mean you have the capability to lead.”
Shockwave doesn’t even move, a pillar in front of Starscream’s heaving and shaking frame. The fury had his wings puffed out. Yet, with this showcase of rage, Shockwave was still emotionless, and it makes Starscream shake even more. Instead of looking back at him, he turned away from the Decepticons to make his way out of their burning gazes. “All of you will get what you deserve. I will come back stronger, and you’ll see the mistake you made exiling me from the Decepticons.”
Starscream stomped out of the cockpit of the Nemesis, his body tensed and ready to punch anything that got too close to him. What do they know of leadership!? They are all loyal to that bastard Megatron, and he somehow came above Starscream despite his disappearance! They’re losers!
He shouted as his hand punched a wall once the doors of the cockpit closed behind him, the impact denting the surface of both his knuckles and the wall. Sparks flew along his fingers, and the pain that shot through his sensors is enough to keep his mind from wandering further than it already was. His HUD was already yelling at him to go into stasis repair for the injury, but with what little time he had on the Nemesis, he deemed it unimportant. He’d worry about it later.
With the Nemesis having been the Decepticons’ home ever since they fell on Earth, he had plenty of personal belongings to take with him; from buffing materials, extra weaponry and much more. What’s the point of any of them if there’s nowhere to store them? The Cybertronian body can only store so much, and he himself wasn’t the kind that had built-in weapons and assets. Ever since the war started, it’d been much harder to find anyone who could even rebuild you, let alone give you what’s basically a cosmetic upgrade. Starscream either had to get clever with his storage, or leave everything behind.
The trek back to his berth was a long and tense one. Decepticons of all ranks would glare at him or not bother looking at him at all, further fueling Starscream’s paranoia. He’d rather be angry and fight every single bot in the hallway that led to his berth, but with the hanging threat of death over his head, he could only set his jaw and walk it off. He’d had worse looks than these. Yet, these stung much more than some rando’s glare would.
He stepped in front of the entrance to his berth, and the door immediately slid open after a few combinations to the lock on the side. He trudged inside and inspected the small space, searching for anything that was worth bringing during his exile. With this, a sudden thought popped into his processor. Maybe Megatron would come back, and he’d be reinstated as the Air Commander again! How he hated to have him come back, but Megatron kept him around for a reason. Whether the reason is a punching bag or a worthwhile accomplice, Starscream wasn’t certain. Right now though, that thought gave him just a small amount of hope.
He hated Megatron, with every fiber of his being, but one thing that he was grateful for from the tyrant was that he gave him nearly infinite chances to backstab him. Sure, they all ended in Starscream in the medibay with his spark hanging out, but he always got back up again, ready to scheme against him. With Megatron gone, Shockwave and Soundwave took his place, a place that was rightfully Starscream’s, but the rest of the Decepticons were quick to follow the two. A loyalist to Megatron and a scientist, leading them to their dooms. If it were him, they’d rise far above anything Megatron could’ve accomplished.
Nothing of interest seemed to jump out to him in this room. All he could do was stand there in the doorway, and watch as the harsh beams of the hallway washed over his belongings. His room, now nothing but a waste of space.
This was useless.
Starscream backed out of the room and the door slid shut, leaving him to stare at the purple exterior.
“Starscream?”
A familiar voice rang in his audio processor, and he quickly turned his body to find Thundercracker and Skywarp standing side to side, with disapproving looks. He sharply fixed his face into a scowl.
“What, now you two are going to scold me about how I failed our trine?” He growled, stepping forward. The two seekers backed up as he did.
“No, but we were told to escort you.” Skywarp responded. The disapproving look faded into one that Starscream couldn't read. It made him seethe with an unnamed feeling. “And we had a feeling that you’d be here…”
“Well yes, of course, considering I am exiled from the ship. However, I want nothing to do with any of these items. I’ll be back, and you can promise that.”
It was Thundercracker’s turn to speak, his wings slightly lowering down his back. “I know we all hope that Megatron comes back, but what if he doesn’t, Starscream? You can’t expect us to back you up for everything.”
“Yeah, especially since you’ve even got Shockwave on your tail.” Skywarp added on, scratching the back of his helm.
Starscream chuckled, then shook his head. “You think I need Megatron to come back here?” He did, but they didn’t need to know that. “Shockwave and Soundwave will see just how difficult it is to lead these bunches of idiots,” Skywarp’s optic twitched, “and then they’ll come to me on their hands and knees, begging for me to help them.”
They both rolled their optics to his bravado. “Well, that’ll be in the far future.” Skywarp murmured. “Right now though, we have to get you out of here, or we’ll all get in trouble.”
“How selfless of you.” Starscream snarked, placing his hands on his hips.
“Like you’re one to know.” Skywarp retorted, leaning down to glare upwards at the seeker.
Thundercracker sighed and pushed himself in between them, his hands against their chests. “Alright alright, you two. We’ve got things to do. Starscream,” He turned to face him. “I don’t think Megatron’s gonna save you this time.”
Starscream bristled at the comment.
“What I do know is that you can handle yourself. So, as long as you’re online, I.. can speak to you in our private chat. Our Seekers chat.”
Skywarp looked like he wanted to protest, but Thundercracker's hand shifted from his chest to his unsure face, shutting him up with a finger to his orifice.
“Thoughtful, but unnecessary.” He answered, shutting his optics. Thundercracker and Skywarp were capable soldiers, but their empathy got the best of them. It made them do brash things, such as whatever plan Thundercracker had to continue communicating with him. He opened his optics and stared down, only to keep himself from facing the blue seeker. “We both know that Soundwave has audials around every corner. You’d risk us both getting into more trouble.”
He heard an exhaust, and Thundercracker’s hand slid off of his chest dejectedly. “Yes, you’re right. Let’s.. Let’s get going, then.”
The walk to the stern of the ship was a silent and tense one.
Thundercracker and Skywarp were ahead of him by a few meters, with both of their taut wings expressing their tension. He probably didn’t look any better, paranoia fully settling in by his raised wings and grinded denta. Almost all of the Decepticons are backstabbing traitors, so why was he getting the short end of the stick? Because he expressed it far more than the cowards? Pathetic.
His mind wandered over to Thundercracker’s words, however. I don’t think Megatron could save you. The words pierced through his spark.
Thundercracker read him immediately. His trine are not dumb by any means, but they know better than to assume anything of Starscream. This was a whole other level, and he found it disrespectful. Incredulous… How dare he? How dare he read him so effortlessly, to know just what Starscream was hoping for? It maked him clench his fists, and a sharp pain stabbed through his servo up to his shoulder. He winced, glaring down at the shifted metal of his knuckles. The pieces were slightly out of place, as if the damage from the wall had popped them out of their sockets. It'd be a struggle to get these back into working condition now that he's on his way out the door, but he can hang on as long as he can until Megatron gets back. He had to.
He shifted his attention somewhere else. The hallway was a drabby purple all around-- with the Decepticon insignia being purple and the Nemesis following along, you would think that Megatron loved the color. Maybe he did, and no one ever asked him. The problem with a ship being one solid color, one dark and broody like this color was, is that it made his eyes sore. If there’s one thing that this exile was good for, then it would have to be getting out of this ship and into the sunlight. Earth is no Cybertron, but it’ll have to do.
Starscream’s audials picked up Thundercracker and Skywarp’s quiet chit-chatting, pointedly keeping him out of the loop. Even if he was getting kicked out of this ship, they didn’t have to be so hush-hush about everything around him. He’ll be back, he knew it.
Their footsteps paused as they got to the hangar, with the two turning back to Starscream.
“Alright, Starscream.” Skywarp stepped to the side. “Up front.”
Immediately alert signals pinged through his processor. He scrunched up his nose in distaste, and glared at him. “What, you can’t trust me to be in the back?” Starscream hissed.
Skywarp's unimpressed look is enough of an answer. “You’ve led us dozens of times, why is now any different? Think of it as our last flight.”
Starscream barked out a laugh. “Right. Because you adore me so much to send me off with hugs and kisses.”
“Look, Starscream,” Thundercracker sighed, his fingers having reached the bridge of his nose once Starscream turned his helm over. “Don’t make this complicated. Just do as he says, and things will go smoothly.”
Three seekers stared at one another, wings hiked. In Skywarp’s case, he seemed ready to activate his power and teleport away from Starscream if necessary. With the tension so heavy in the air, he almost thought he would. Maybe then he could make a run for it instead of whatever plan these two have in mind for him.
Clicks turn into minutes, until finally Starscream relented with a huff, rolling out the ball joints in his shoulders. “You make me weary of what you’re planning, Skywarp.” He stepped in front of the two seekers and immediately, the hangar’s doors opened. It’s slow, painfully so, as if it was mocking Starscream of his predicament. He was itching to leave, itching to come up with a plan, all to get back at Shockwave and Soundwave, and rightfully take what was his-- they can’t stop him from becoming leader of the Decepticons, damn it!
Wind gushed out from the gangway, making Starscream squint his optics. It howled through his audials, the sound relieving a smidget of the tension in his body. The grunting and groaning of the door opening finally stopped once it opened at its max capacity, leaving Starscream to stare down at the tops of trees and a sunset orange sky. It looked like the perfect day to soar through the skies… Maybe he’ll have more time to, now that his responsibilities are shelved for another day.
His musing was suddenly cut short as he heard gears turn, the telltale noise of a mech raising an arm; a weapon.
Starscream whipped his helm, but it was too late, as a flash of red obscured his vision, and searing pain shot through his back. He made a noise of shock, and stumbled forward, where the gangway lay open for him. As his vision returned, blurry silhouettes of Skywarp and Thundercracker stood above him. The pain made him kneel down, turning away from the two to rest his good hand on the floor below. He heaved out a choked sound.
“It’s nothing personal, Screamer, but orders are orders.” He heard Skywarp’s voice, devoid of any emotion. Thundercracker stayed silent. The clicking noise continued, and a hum of a gun roared through his audials. Energon coursed through his body. “Shockwave and Soundwave knew you’d be more harm than good, so.. In their words, ‘What do we have Starscream here for?’”
“Go on then!” Starscream spat, betrayal contorting his face, but he couldn't bear to look at Skywarp. “Take the shot, if you want to work under those… those lackeys! ” The heat of the gun was burning the left side of his helm.
“Better than what you would’ve given us.”
Starscream didn't even hear the shot, but he felt it. It felt like everything was ripping apart from his shoulder, wires, scorched metal, and energon flying past his vision and getting sucked out of the vortex the gangway created. If he made a noise, he certainly didn’t notice. The pain took most, if not everything from him.
Weakly, Starscream slumped down and slammed his head to the ground. He was laying in his own pool of energon, bleeding through the wound in his shoulder that just barely kept his internals intact. What good would this do for the Decepticons!? Why did Skywarp have to pull the trigger!? Why, why!?
Betrayal didn’t cut what Starscream felt. He felt rage, anguish, and worse off, fear. He didn’t want to die. Not like this, not on his knees with a view of a world that wasn’t his own. He had so much more to do, things to conquer, places to fly through. All of those ideas and plans were slipping right through his hands, flying right through the gangway like the pieces of metal that were shot off of his body just mere minutes ago.
I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die…!
Skywarp’s heel pressed against the injury on his back. A wet squelch came from the wound, like the piping that his energon coursed through was barely holding on. The pain was too much to bear, as his optics shut off.
And then, he was pushed out.
There was no solid ground underneath him anymore, just harsh cold air biting at his open wounds. He didn’t dare online his optics, or else he’d come face to face with the certain doom that was hitting the ground at breakneck speed. Out of instinct, his wings twitched to catch the air underneath them, but it was useless as he tumbled through the sky. With his sight turned off, all Starscream could do was feel, smell and hear. He could feel the wind coursing through his body; his vents, the wounds, his face, it all stung from the biting cold. He could smell smoke, presumably his own internals singing from the gunshot. The wind whipped across his audials, and the more they went through his vents, the less he could decipher as his own body’s sounds, or the wind’s.
Despite everything, his body still tried to catch onto something . His HUD would blare over his dark eyes, advising him to pull up, or land with safety gear, but it was of no use. He was going to fall to his death.
What a pathetic way to go out.
His heavy body spun around and around, too fast for him to bother checking what was up or down. Starscream just focused on his HUD, screaming at him, pull up! Pull up! Pull up! Energon readings low, took considerable damage to his back, left shoulder, and to his right hand… He’d be lucky to die in one piece, let alone survive.
Starscream didn’t have a chance to brace for impact, as his chassis immediately slammed into earth, metal bending with loud whines and glass shattering from the harsh impact. A large ERROR sign warped through his HUD, before it blackened out, leaving him to feel as his body tore apart, bouncing multiple times through the peat.
“Alright, Bee. Your turn.”
Bumblebee’s optics squinted, staring down at the hologram. Chess pieces were splayed over a checkerboard, with the white pieces getting scarily close to the black pieces’ side. He quickly slid a glance over to Cliffjumper, who sported a confident grin. If there’s anything he knew about this mech, it's that his competitive nature far surpassed his own.
He hummed. A digit rose to press a chess piece, highlighting it on the hologram. He had to play his cards right, or else he’d lose... Not like Cliffjumper’s pieces were already deep into his territory. He scanned the board for a good spot, but nothing seemed efficient. He was practically cornered on all spots, and his knight was the only one left to make a move. Thing is, what if he made the wrong move? He could always forfeit, and leave Cliffjumper annoyed by the fact he gave up; at least there was some fun in bickering with his spark brother.
Cliffjumper sighed, his pedes bouncing with impatience. “You don’t have to be so slow, you know!”
“Hey, I gotta have the right choice.” Bumblebee shrugged, never leaving his optics off of his piece. “All part of a scout’s training.”
He heard Cliffjumper blow a raspberry.
The piece followed his finger as he slid it from one tile to another, successfully taking out one of Cliffjumper’s pieces. His piece immediately locked in place, giving Cliffjumper his turn and immediately he took it, a finger dragging his next piece over Bumblebee’s. His knight burst apart with an 8-bit explosion noise, and the hologram flashed a ‘ you lose!’ right in front of his face.
“I’m just that good.” Cliffjumper chuckled, leaning against his chair.
Bumblebee rolled his optics. “Don’t stroke your ego, Cliff. You know that if you asked Skyfire to a game, he’d leave your aft on the floor.” He took pride in seeing Cliffjumper curl his nose in distaste.
“Skyfire’s just another league, dude! He makes it look easy!” As he talked, Cliffjumper turned to his desk to type something into Teletraan-1. Right, besides playing games to pass the time, they were also supposed to be on watch duty. “Maybe he’s just used to being on the opposite side and takes it to his advantage.”
“Har har.” Bumblebee sarcastically laughed. “You keep forgetting he was only a Decepticon for a day.”
“One day is enough.”
Cliffjumper’s typing filled the silence that Bumblebee left. A radar popped up in front of them, and Bumblebee watched as Cliffjumper pressed a button to scan through the area. A line swirled in the middle of the radar’s circle, searching for anything out of the ordinary.
“You know, considering Wheeljack experiments on everything, why doesn’t he upgrade this piece of junk?” Cliffjumper murmured, leaning back against his chair. His arms slid up behind his head. “This tech is ancient by now.”
“This ‘piece of junk’ is all we have that keeps us from getting caught.” Bee responded. As if on queue, Teletraan-1 began to hum, like this process was overheating its processor.
Bumblebee doesn’t even bother looking at his brother. He knew that he was making a face, an ‘ I told you so’ face.
“You were saying?”
“You know, you’re pretty mean when you want to be proven right.”
“Ouch. Saying that to your spark brother like that… you could kill me right here.”
Bumblebee rolled his optics for the second time this session. “Yeah yeah.” He waved him off.
Ever since the Autobots had heard of Megatron’s disappearance from the Decepticons, they’d been searching for the Nemesis. You’d think that a giant purple space ship would be easy to locate, but it’d been further from the truth. With flying alt modes in the Autobots sparse, Skyfire had been their only choice of searching through the skies. The rest of them had been on the ground, hoping to find something, anything that could pinpoint them of its location.
He could tell that Optimus had been getting on edge from their lack of success. Really, Bumblebee couldn’t blame him; if your arch nemesis for four million years just up and poofed from existence, leaving nothing but his team and his ship out in an unknown world, you’d think this would be easier on them.
Sure, it was one problem out of possibly hundreds that the Autobots had to face. The Ark wasn’t anywhere near capable of flight, and from their fighting across Earth, space bridges stopped becoming a safe travel option. If they got their hands on the Nemesis, they could lock the Decepticons up in its cells and use it to go home, but where would they get the energon? Cybertron was millions of lightyears away, and it’d take far too long to mine enough energon from Earth, even with a human’s help.
So, here he was, sitting with Cliffjumper by Teletraan-1 in hopes that they’d find something to get them out of their boredom.
Cliffjumper continued bouncing his knee, watching the radar spin once, twice, then one more time, with nothing interesting popping up. Bumblebee could tell that he was five seconds from finding something else to do, and he’s soon proven right by Cliffjumper turning his chair to have his back facing the super-computer.
“At this point, I might just take a quick snooze.” He sighed. “It’s gonna be the same like all the other times we’ve been sitting here looking for something to show up.”
Bumblebee nodded, and leaned against his own chair. “I won’t stop you, bud. I’ll watch for a bit.”
A hum is returned, and he heard Cliffjumper’s vents power down into sleep mode. With Bumblebee now the only optics to watch the radar, he grabbed hold of the arms of his chair and scooted it closer. Maybe they’re looking for the wrong thing.. The Nemesis had a cloaking device, he knows that for sure, but finding any sort of wavelength that the ship used to communicate with its fellow passengers might be the wrong decision.
His hands hovered over the keyboard, then he tapped through it to instead search for life signs. Who knows, maybe the Decepticons were out there, still searching for Energon despite their leader’s disappearance. He pressed the search button of the radar to circle around the area.
A green dot blipped in the bottom left quarter of the circle. Surprised, Bumblebee squinted his optics and pressed the button again, starting up another scan just in case it was just Teletraan-1 being buggy. No, the dot popped up again, and so Bumblebee shot up and out of his chair, startling Cliffjumper awake.
“This is Bumblebee to Optimus!” His hand flew to his helm to press against his audial. “We’ve found something!”
“Wha-? We have?” Cliffjumper slurred, his vents picking back up again.
“Yes!” Bumblebee grabbed hold of Cliffjumper’s chair and swirled him back to face Teletraan-1, still circling through the radar and showing the out of place green dot. He pointed at it. “Look!”
“Holy crap.”
“ This is Optimus speaking.” Bumblebee’s head rang with Optimus’ deep and commanding voice. It looked like Cliffjumper got the same voice message, as he stiffened and looked around the cockpit. “ Has Teletraan-1 found the location of the Nemesis?”
“No sir.” Bumblebee shook his head. His finger tapped the glass screen of the radar, then his optics raced around the grid. “We found a Decepticon somewhere in our territory, though. Could you get Skyfire to take a look?”
“ No. He’s already busy in another section. I’ll be there in just a moment, hold steady.”
He nodded, and the radio cut off with the sound of static.
“Just one Decepticon?” Cliffjumper crossed his arms, tilting his head in confusion. “Usually you’d at least see three. You know, considering the Seekers and Soundwave’s little cassette-bots.”
Bumblebee hummed at his question. The radar is still picking up the Decepticon, so he broke his attention away from the screen to face his brother. “I agree with you. Something’s not adding up..”
“Seriously.” As the two sat in silence for a moment, Cliffjumper’s optics widened, with fear written all over his face. “What if it’s Megatron?”
His optical ridge furrowed. “Then we have to get there as soon as we can. If Megatron’s back, then we’ll need to have all the firepower we can get. The Nemesis would certainly be coming to his aid.”
As if right on queue, the doors to the cockpit opened, catching both Cliffjumper and Bumblebee’s attention. Optimus quickly strode inside, with Ironhide and Wheeljack in tow, their helms immediately turning to the radar. He stood up from his chair and greeted Optimus, who nodded in return. The giant bot leaned closer to the radar and rested his digits on his chin.
“So how’d you find it?” Wheeljack asked, breaking his attention from the radar to look back at Bumblebee.
“Instead of searching for a ship, I decided to switch it to life signs.” Bumblebee explained. “I know we’re looking for the Nemesis, but we’ve probably had the Decepticons right under our enstrils. Thing is, it’s only showing one lifesign, and nothing more, so Cliffjumper and I had the thought that maybe it’s our worst fear, back in action.”
“We certainly don’t need that!” Ironhide exclaimed.
Optimus nodded. “You’re right.” His booming voice had them all turning towards him. “If Megatron returns, then we’ll have to go back into fighting. Our resources are dwindling by the moment, however. We’d certainly have no chance to face him.”
The Autobots looked at Optimus, all with different expressions. Cliffjumper looked nervous, Wheeljack had a scrutinized face, and Ironhide seemed to purse his dermas in what Bumblebee could see was agitation.
“So what do you want us to do, Prime?” Wheeljack turned back to the radar. “We can’t exactly go in guns blazin’. It’d leave us with less resources than we already have.”
At that, Optimus’ gaze lowered to meet Bumblebee’s. “We’ll send in a scout.”
Bumblebee, taken aback, checked on Cliffjumper’s own reaction. His brother only shrugged. He knew exactly what he’s thinking: ‘ Can’t talk back to the bossman.’
Alright, then if he had to do this, he’ll do it. He steeled his nerves, pushed his worried thoughts in the back of his processor, and sucked in a deep breath. “What do you need me to do?”
“Right at the moment, all I need you to do is inspect the area.” Optimus turned towards the radar and pressed his finger onto the dot. “It’s in section four, so that’d be around two megacycles to get you there from the base. If you find anything out of the ordinary while you make your way over to the Decepticon, you tell us.”
“Got it.” He nodded. “Do I need to take anything?”
Wheeljack spoke up. “How about a portable scanner?” He opens a compartment from his waist and brings out a dinky little device with gray metal and glass. “That way, you can find anything that your usual radar can’t find.”
“This one won’t blow up, yeah?” Ironhide gruffed, and Bumblebee couldn’t help but chuckle a little at the snide remark.
“It’s only some wires connected to a motherboard! Of course not!”
“Then if that’s all we need,” Optimus placed his servo on Bumblebee’s shoulder. The gesture made him tense. “Bumblebee, you’re free to go.”
“Thanks, Optimus.” Bee smiled up at Optimus, and pulled his hand off of his shoulder. “I’ll be on my way, then.”
“Stay safe.”
Once Bumblebee was out of the base, he instantly transformed, just to make the travel to the section easier.
Most of the drive was through empty terrain, minus a few rocks he’d bump onto.
His Volkswagen Beetle alt form was perfect for sorts of things, especially in the cities. He’d be able to hang low, and watch anything from the comfort of a parking spot or stop light. When it came to tougher terrain, like the rocks that peppered the mountain the Ark rested under, it was a bumpy ride.
The section he was driving to was in a forested area of their territory. Earth’s forests were great for coverage, after all, and if this Decepticon is in such a place, they must know that. The trees in particular were great for hiding from flying bots, and the shrubbery underneath them could obscure any view if you were a minibot. Thankfully, Wheeljack’s scanner could detect lifesigns despite the cover, so this should be much easier done than said.
He revved his engine and sped up. The scenery around him began to change from red dirt and rocks to patches of grass. He’s closer, but still too far away from the lifesign. As the patches of grass turned into soft carpets, Bumblebee slowed down, letting his tires glide over the ground with a quiet hum from his engine. It should take about, what, fifteen human minutes to get to his destination? He could speed it up to make it quicker, but he still felt put off by a singular Decepticon out here on their own.
“Cliff?” Bumblebee pinged through his comm, swerving to the side and away from a cluster of bushes.
“ Hear you loud ‘n clear.” Cliffjumper responded, his voice warped from the communication device. “ Found anything yet?”
“No, I’m just a little bit worried.” Bumblebee admitted. Something felt wrong about this, but he couldn’t put his finger on why. “Y’know, because it could be Megatron, or it could be someone else entirely.”
“ Chill out, Bee. Why’re you getting so nervous for? This is just like any other time you’ve gone out scouting.”
“I know that!” A particular bump sent him hovering over the ground, so he slowed himself down a little bit more. Maybe he hit a root? He should be more careful in these clustered spaces while in his alt mode.
“ Maybe Optimus thought too highly of you.” Cliffjumper replied snarkily.
However, Bumblebee didn’t comment on the offensive reply, feeling his tires dip downward in an unnatural manner. That’s not right.. He’s nowhere near any trees with holes in them, and the ground doesn’t just dip that sharply! His body morphed and transformed, and his pedes stepped into the crater of dirt. He backed up and inspected it, finding that patches of grass were violently torn out of the ground, and were strewn everywhere around him. As he looked up, he found even more holes in the earth, a skidmark that had pieces of metal deep in the mud, and finally-- Bumblebee’s eyes widened in shock.
“ Now I know you didn’t take that seriously, Bee.” Cliffjumper’s voice popped back up into his audials again, but Bumblebee couldn’t comprehend the words, as he tip-toed to hide behind foliage.
A broken metal mound was smoking and bleeding in the dirt. From the wings, he could tell it was a Decepticon Seeker, but which one he couldn’t tell, as the mud smeared all across the paint job of the mech’s body. A lighter colored body, however.. Skywarp and Thundercracker were more vibrant colors, so Starscream might be an option, but.. That didn’t make sense. Maybe it was one of those conehead Decepticons..?
“ ...Bee?”
He inched closer, his optics scanning for any dangerous threats. When his HUD came back with nothing, Bumblebee trudged out of the foliage and pulled out Wheeljack’s scanner. It turned on with the press of a button, and immediately it began to beep, searching for any Cybertronian lifesigns. His arm raised upwards to the crumpled up heap of metal, and the scanner flashed a bright grid light over it.
Status: Alive, Offline.
Energon Consumption: 96% depleted. Fuel intake and/or recharge recommended.
Damage: Severe damage to left shoulder, spinal strut, due to weapons ammunition. Internal damage around 50% of the body. Stasis Lock recommended.
What in Primus’ name did this? To a Decepticon, no less! Bumblebee squatted down to further inspect the paint job, his digit gingerly sliding across the exterior to wipe off the mud. His servo rose up and he grinded the dirt in thought in between his index and thumb. It felt sticky, as if it had made contact with energon. Well, considering it was everywhere along the ground, it wasn’t surprising. With the mud off of a small portion of the paint job, he saw a deep blue underneath it, and his pipes went cold.
“ Bumblebee!”
Bumblebee jolted, his helm whipping back and forth. Right, Cliffjumper! His vents sucked in air, and he pressed against his audial, voice shaking. “Sorry, Cliff. I just got to the lifesign on the radar.” He gulped any fluid in his throat, and, while still in a squat, Bumblebee backed up, as far as he could before the base of a tree bumped his back. He slid down to his aft and held onto the scanner as if it were a weapon in his hand.
“It’s Starscream… And it looks like he’s in need of immediate repair.”