Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I’m sorry for gathering you all here, but NEST needs information on some of the unauthorized Autobots that have recently landed on Earth.” The official said, the frown on his face matched by the scowls and sneers of his audience. “You all have abnormal knowledge of Autobots or their customs, and we hope that you all will cooperate in helping those who defend YOUR planet from any ‘Visitors’ we may receive.”

The snort from Judy Witwicky was enough to earn a flicker of annoyance from the official but was quickly masked by his professional demeanor. However, Judy’s response had solidified that ripple of unified displeasure throughout the crowd.

“With all due respect, ‘Sir’-” William Lennox interjected, the spite in his voice rivaling that of a cobra, “- but it is obvious that none of us have any idea what any Autobots are doing on Earth.” His wrinkled hands gestured to the aged Witwicky’s, with Ron in his wheelchair and Judy with her walker. All of those present had once been close to an Autobot, but many years had passed since the tribunal had forced them to loose contact. All that remained of the group were full grown adults and those who were enjoying their ‘Golden Years.’

“This may be true. Formally, you all have had no record of contact with your Autobot…Cohorts in many years. However, as with the case of Arcee and Jack Darby, those rules can be disregarded.” The official growled out, the memory of the incident still leaving a sour stain on his memory. Lennox barked a taunting laugh.

“Case? Killing a 27-year-old and a Cybertronian for one contact with a FRIEND is a CASE?” Sam shuddered at the memory, his hands gripping his pant legs a little harder at the mention of it. “Yes, it was. They were both tried and found guilty of treason, according to the ruling that all Cybertronians are “hostile invaders until proven otherwise.” If she had wanted to see him so badly, she should have applied for a visa and a formal, authorized meeting.”

“Those ‘meetings’ are bullshit and you know it!” Ron shouted as best he could, his oxygen tank hissing with the intake that followed. “We can’t even tell them about our daily lives. Even if we sit in silence you all get suspicious. So don’t start your shit with us, ‘cause I don’t have enough years left to deal with this. So, what did you call us all for, and put it to the point.”

The official sighed with annoyance and shook his head. “Fine. Bumblebee has been spotted lurking around Crown City with at least 5 other mecha, but has never been seen with a human counterpart. The government knows it’s highly unlikely that he is here with a group that large without assistance. So, as former comrades of his, we want to know what he’s up to. You all are going to help us out.” The official said, carefully watching the shock pass over each person in the audience.

After several seconds of silence, a timid voice shattered the silence. “Bee...is here?” Sam asked with a voice remarkably small for such a stout man. The official nodded, and clicked a button to light up the projector. The first image was of Bee himself, taken from several hundred yards away. “This footage is from a surveillance camera at a Nuclear Waste Facility. The others mechs that arrive seem to be his entourage, and four of them will travel in groups of at least two at any given time, but the orange one you will see will often travel alone.”

The video started to play, and a strange warbling came from the speakers. Bee’s head turned as a green mech approached, the excited greeting earning a nod and a relaxed flick of the door wings resting on Bumblebee’s back. The green mech was followed by a blue bot and a red bot, the two of them shoving each other not-too-lightly and seemed to be in some form of an argument. However, more chittering and warbling was all that was heard. The childish behavior was stopped by a pair of short chirps from the well-known scout. “Is he…talking?” Sam asked in amazement, followed almost instantly by Lennox’s quick inquiry of “When did Bee get so big?!”

A fifth bot rolled up, a stern orange one, and listened quietly as Bee seemingly gave out orders in that strange Warble-speak once more. His wings flickered as he gestured to somewhere off screen. The red bot obviously rolled his eyes, and the blue bot immediately snapped into a salute. Bee gave them a look, and shook his head as the formerly arguing pair transformed and drove away. The orange one nodded once, and then headed in the opposite direction. Bee glanced back at the green mech and shrugged, earning a beaming smile and a warble chirp in reply. Bumblebee obviously laughed and shook his head before he turned towards the camera, long enough for everyone to see a stunning smile before transforming and pulling out. The green mech transformed into a T-Rex, who took off in hot pursuit of the yellow Camaro. The video cut to black after the green one left the screen.

“So, who wants to give us the names of his little friends?” The official said, frowning as if the word ‘friends’ had an awful taste to it. He was only met with silence and shocked faces. “…He’s been reframed since I last saw him.” Sam’s quiet voice echoed once more, garnering a few pity-filled looks. “Looks like it Sam.” Mikaela responded, softly patting his arm. The animosity between the two had faded over time, but they had never taken back up their previous roles as lovers. “I honestly can’t help you any. Bee has been…respectful… after I told him to stay away from me.” Sam said, shaking his head and putting it into his hands. “All I can tell you is he’s hit his 15,000 vorn birthday. He told me way back when that his next reframe was set for then. That, and he was talking to them in Cybertronian.”

The official shot him a dirty look for the utterly useless information and pursed his lips. “Judging from your reactions, you all were truthful about your lack of contact. Do you have any other advice or knowledge you think we might find useful? Please be aware that the withholding of information is formally considered treason.” The official stated with an evil smirk. Lennox frowned at him, and then sighed heavily. “From what I know about Bot body language, I’d be careful if you try to get between Bee and Greeny. Bee don’t smile for just anyone, so I’d assume they’re real close friends. The blue one reminds me of Bee around OP, so it’d be safe to assume that that one’s his student or an underling that has idolization issues. Red seems to be an energetic one, judging from how he was shifting the entire time, so he’s probably a scout or patrol troop. Orange is probably Bee’s new mentor... if he even needs one at this point. He could just be antisocial. Satisfied yet, Sir?”

“Very, thank you for your estimations, Colonel Lennox. Any assault teams will be informed of your assumptions. Now, as our resident language specialist, Mr. Esquivel, could you decipher any of their conversation?” The 30-something brunette glared at him from the back, and adjusted his glasses. “…I could understand the words “Stop it” when the red and blue were arguing, “Caution” and “Decepticons” while he was gesturing to the west, and “Kids” when the big guy was shaking his head at the end. I would assume there have been Decepticon landings on earth, and Bee and his new team are the ones responsible for cleaning up before you all noticed. I say team, because even without understanding the words I know what Optimus looked like when giving orders. Bumblebee is definitely in charge, and definitely is friendly with the big green t-rex.” He finished tugging at his cuffs on his sleeves as he stared into his lap.

“Thank you for your opinion, Mr. Esquivel. Does anyone else have anything else to note?” A quick glance around the room garnered nothing but angry and depressed looks. “Alright then. Thank you for your, cooperation, and remember that you all still remain on the government’s official watch list. Any discovery of withheld information or attempted contact with Cybertronians will result in a full treason trial, and you will be sentenced to death if found guilty. Have a wonderful day.” With a last spiteful smirk, he turned on his heel and left the broken group behind to be escorted out by the soldiers.

Chapter Text

“Good work today everyone!” Bee grinned as he closed the lid on the stasis pod. “We’ve been on a good roll lately, and I’ve got to say I’m really proud of all of the teamwork that’s been put forth. Enjoy the night off, and Sideswipe, remember that you have morning patrol!” Bee called out, shaking his head as the speedster jumped up and ran off before he could get the sentence out. A chuckle came from his right as Grimlock shifted his weight, lifting the stasis pod onto the specialty rack for loading later that night. “I’m just glad we actually have a full shipment for Jazz this time. He’s definitely appreciative of all the extra criminals off the street!” The green mech replied, stretching after placing the pod in its spot. “That’s because his lover’s a cop and Jazz benefits from a happy Prowl.” Bee said with a playful hip-bump to the larger mech. “Ohhhhhh, Jazzy’s gonna have a good night then!” Grim joked playfully, bumping Bee back and almost knocking him off his feet. That garnered a laugh of its own as Bumblebee stepped up to the command console. “I bet. Give me a minute to call him up and get the transport ready. This all should be over within an hour or so, and we can start fresh tomorrow!” With a grin to the mech beside him, bee fired up the communication line to meet with a familiar visor and beaming smile. “Already full mah mech?!”

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A sharp click sounded through the SUV, the recognizable sound of shaking hands setting a gun’s ammo chamber as the young soldier looked up at her commanding officer. “Remember that contrary to the government’s beliefs, most Autobots don’t want to hurt humans. However, they will if pressured to. We don’t even know if this group is military or civilian, because of the actions of a few. I can say that with some authority, considering I’ve served with them before. They will try to spook you into running, they will try to look intimidating, but they WILL NOT hurt you unless it’s an accident. Moving parts are kinda hard to stop. SO, spatial awareness and courtesy are how we’re actually gonna go at this, and if the boss asks, it was guns and yelling all the way!” Lennox grinned, nodding at the troops before him. They were his hand-picked squadron, all known for contempt towards the way their government treated the Autobots, and all trusted with the secrets that Lennox himself knew. “I knew Bee very well, and I know his spark. He won’t let us get hurt, but I have to get his attention before this all calms down. Watch for my commands and hand signals.” He finished, gripping the door at the back of the transport Jeep as it quickly approached the Junkyard that Bee’s team was confirmed to be staying at. The car rolled to a stop, and all six people quickly jumped out with guns leveled, while the driver followed as close as he could.

“GET ON THE GROUND AND WE WON’T SHOOT!” Lennox yelled, startling the man who quickly shoved a younger boy behind some garbage. “Whoa! What’s with the guns!?” he yelled back, putting his hands in the air. “Russell, stay!” He glanced towards where the younger boy had fallen, and Lennox lowered his gun a bit. “Okay sir, where’s the Autobots? Yes, we know they’re here, so cut the playing stupid part out. I need to have a few words with Bumblebee.” Denny’s eyes widened, and before he could open his mouth a strange whir filled the air. Lennox turned his head to see a yellow mech leveling an arm cannon at his team. The mech’s battle mask was in place and a dangerous look glimmered in his eye. The recruits visibly startled as they each turned, taken by surprise by the stealth of such a large being.

“You certainly have my attention. Point the weapons away from the Clay’s and we can talk peacefully.” Bumblebee said, his voice as solid as a rock. The soldiers looked towards Lennox, who simply nodded. The guns lowered, and the cannon powered down. Bee’s battle mask snapped back, and he gave the group a once over. “Seven people? This isn’t a strike force is it?” Bee asked, looking at the commander of the group with an increasingly confused look. “Government says yes, but you should remember that I’m not good at taking orders.” Lennox said with a chuckle, watching as the man in front of the building relaxed. “Also, sorry for the scare there. Its best to come out with the guns pointed than getting shot ourselves, ya know?”

Denny shrugged a bit and hesitantly looked over the Colonel. “Uh, you’re not gonna hurt us though, right?” He asked, his quivering hands still in the air. “Nah man, you’re good. Is the kid okay? Marie here is a medic if he got hurt in that fall.” Lennox gestured to the woman beside him, who nodded in greeting. Russell crawled out from behind the metal…artwork? And dusted his pants off, shaking his head. “I’m good. Lost a year of my life or so though.” He said with a shy grin, hiding behind his dad a little. Denny slipped an arm in front of his child, adjusting his stance to better cover Russell.

Lennox turned back to Bee, who was giving him the most confused look. “I should re… WILL?!”He shouted, his optics spiraling wide with shock. “Heya bee. Been a bit huh?” Lennox grinned up at the bot, watching as a grin broke across the grey faceplate. “Slag it has! How’s Annabelle?” Bee shifted his weight as his arm transformed back into a hand, and Lennox signaled for guns to return to rest. “She’s doing great. Got a good job, and dating a good man. Can you believe it’s been 30 years already?” Will smiled, shouldering his own gun as he looked bee over.

“Speaking of growing up, look at you young man! Voice and everything!” This drew a laugh from Bee, who looked towards the rack of toasters in embarrassment. “Yeah, I’ve grown a lot since we last saw eachoth- GRIM NO! BAD!” He suddenly yelled, easily clearing the group of soldiers as a growl permeated the air. Blue optics glared from around the corner as a large muzzle suddenly appeared. The sight of the fangs set into those jaws made several soldiers back up, and Bumblebee quickly stepped in front of the Dino’s path. “Easy Grim. They’re not here to hurt anyone. It was a misunderstanding!” The lieutenant’s panicked tone and his servos out to stop the t-rex from advancing further seemed to be enough for the Dino to lean up with a cautious look. “Good guys don’t point guns at kids.” Will blinked once in surprise, watching how Bee’s wings almost instantly set into a far more relaxed pose. “Yeah, but they’re military. You kinda get used to being shot, remember?” Bee softly rubbed his helm, shaking his head as Grimlock grumbled an understanding tone. He stared at the group of soldiers for another moment or two, and then moved to lie down and curl around the Clays.

The commotion from Grimlock’s arrival seemed to be enough to warn the others, as a bouncy red mech, a stern blue mech, and the calm orange one rounded the opposite corner. “Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh….” The red one froze dead in his tracks, staring directly at the group of militants in the middle of the scrap yard. “Beep boop?” He said, earning a face palm from the blue one. “Sides, if the lieutenant is in full bot form, I’m assuming our cover is already blown.” The blue bot had a surprisingly feminine voice, and ‘Sides’ gave her a dirty look. “Well how am I supposed to know? It’s not like I have telephonic powers.” The group gave him a mildly confused look, before the orange one quirked a brow. “Telepathic?” “Yeah that one. Close enough!” Sideswipe grinned, sitting down just to the left of the middle of the walkway. The glare from the other two was near simultaneous, and Bumblebee just shook his head and shot Grim a look out of the corner of his eye. A soft thump of his tail was the response. Bee grinned slightly at Will, and rolled his shoulders.

“Well, might as well give introductions. This is Strongarm, Sideswipe, Drift, Grimlock, Denny Clay and his son Russell, and fixit is on his way. We also have Slipstream and Jetstorm, who are the little bumps on Drift’s wrists. However, they’ve been asleep for about two hours and I doubt a bomb could wake them.” Bumblebee gestured to each of them in turn and took a seat beside Grimlock’s tail with a chuckle. “I’m bumblebee, as I’m certain you’ve guessed. You call me Bee though, as any friends of Will’s are friends of mine.” The soldiers glanced to Lennox, who went and sat between bee and Grimlock with a grin. “Well, I’m Colonel William Lennox, but you all can call me Will or Lennox. This is Marie, Daniel, Chris, Evan, Michael, and Anna. They’re all members of my personal team, and they’ve covered my ass more times than I can count.” Lennox watched as each member of his team nodded with their introduction, making themselves comfortable wherever a spot was available.

“So, how’s ‘hide?” Will asked with a beaming smile. “He’s been great. Ratchet’s been keeping his aft in line, like always.” Will laughed at that, listening to Marie and Anna strike up a conversation with Strongarm, whom had sat beside Sideswipe. “So, what did you guys come over for? I’m assuming it wasn’t a social call.” Bee leaned onto his knees, letting his servos hold his helm’s weight while he waited for Lennox’s response. “Ugh. Well, the pieces of shit that run NEST now are on your guy’s afts because of that stupid law that was passed, and we were technically sent out to bring either you or data. And no, we’re not wired. I wouldn’t allow it.” Bee made a displeased face, before giving him a bit of confusion. “What law? OH, is it that stupid “guilty till innocent” thing?” Will nodded, and Bee rolled his eyes. “And they wonder why we never apply for visas. You said they knew were we were hiding?” Lennox glanced over at the Clay’s, and shook his head. “Lie. They think you’re up the mountains about 60 miles. I told them to expect radio static because of minerals, so they won’t get answers from me. It’s abandoned after all.” He said with a wink, lightly jabbing an elbow into bee’s knee.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how…how’s Sam?” Bee asked quietly, leaning forwards a little so he could speak in a more hushed tone. “He’s been okay. Misses you a lot, and regrets ever letting you walk out of his life. But, he’s married with kids of his own, and he’s healthy. He got that normal life he wanted.” Bee smiled softly, nodding his approval. “Good. I’m really happy he got what he wanted, even if I wasn’t there to watch him get it.” Bee said, leaning back on his hands. Will smiled and patted Bee’s hand, taking a second to stare at the young mech. “You act more like Optimus every day Bee. How’s the big bot doing?” Will asked, eager to hear about the Semi’s antics. That grin fell quickly though, when Bumblebee took in a breathy chuckle. “He’s had an adventure, that’s for sure. He actually died for a bit, but came back. Yes, again,” laughter chimed out at Will’s exclamation of ‘again?!’as the colonel fell back onto Grim’s tail with laughter. Bee softly shook his head as Sideswipe suddenly yelled “RED IS TOTALLY A RACING COLOR!” Russell couldn’t help but laugh, shake his head in disagreement, and yell back "Yellow is though!”- earning a horrified look from Sideswipe. Russell freed himself from the tangle of Grimlock’s haunches, jogging over to join the side conversation.

Bee smiled with Lennox, listening to a quick story about how sideswipe reminded him of Annabelle. Will’s smile starting to hurt his cheeks as a very, VERY tiny orange bot came wheeling around the corner. “I’ve a Drive- a Pie- ARRIVED!” the little bot finally spit out after receiving a sharp whap in the back from Sideswipe, which almost sent Fixit careening into Russell. Quick thinking from Strongarm saved the boy from a rather nasty bruise, but Denny still rose to check on his son. All was forgiven with a quick, sheepish look from Sideswipe as Fixit rolled over to Bee, parking himself on the other side of Grim’s head, giving the mech an affectionate snoot rub as he was introduced to everyone. “Yeah, Lil' Fixit is the best mini to glitch a command control! He’s saved our sorry aft’s more times than I can count!”

“I highly doubt that is an accurate numerical system Sideswipe. We would have lost count cycles ago!” Strongarm interjected, grinning slightly at the red mech beside her. Sideswipe threw her a pout, yelling out “So mean!” and falling back with a dramatic flair. However, he misjudged the distance between him and the shelving, knocking his helm on the metal. Naturally, this caused a cascade of items, and one of them just happened to be an old trans-warp drive stripped from the Alchemor. The broken piece of junk had been frustratingly disobedient until that solid impact with Sideswipe’s faceplate and lit up into a graceful blue glow as it bounced into his lap. “Ouch! Slag that stupid thing…” Sideswipe murmured, leaning up just in time to see the drive flash a brilliant blue. Bee and the rest of the crew, however, got a perfect view of the surprised faces of Sideswipe, Strongarm, Denny, and Russel as they disappeared into a flash of blinding blue light.

“……oh slag.” Grimlock muttered, rubbing his eyes. Bee immediately jumped up, looking at the warp drive and seeing that it was now fully active. “Slag it to the pits!” he exclaimed, reaching down and carefully picking it up. A set of coordinates bunked up innocently at him, and Bee groaned. “Well, looks like they’re gonna have an adventure. This thing just blasted them back about 10,000 vorns …” Bee muttered, looking to the shell-shocked group around him. He barely managed to sigh before the screaming started.

Chapter Text

Denny groaned as he sat up, rubbing his head. “What…?” he looked around, noticing he was distinctly NOT in his scrap yard. In fact, he wasn’t anywhere he recognized. Instead, he was surrounded by a group of mechs who had very, VERY wide eyes. A series of twitter chirps, followed by a LOT of chaos and a loud shout a few seconds later. A pissed red mech approached, his gun drawn and a scowl that would drop the devil to his knees. Sideswipe looked up and his eyes widened, and Strongarm looked around in growing horror. Sides gave a long series of warble chirps, and Strongarm added in with only a slight hesitation. She turned her head as a tiny flash of yellow disappeared around the corner, and a series of growling chitters was the reply to…whatever the bots were saying. Within minutes, a white and red mech appeared, wielding a wrench and scattering mechs like a tornado. A series of warble chirps and some weird cables later, Strongarm was re-spooling her cable into it’s housing. The white mech nodded slowly, warbling something out to the red mech, who lowered his gun with a frown and a growl.

“Well, if this ain't slagged nothing is.” The white one said, startling Denny. He pulled Russell closer, who was sitting in a stunned silence through the whole ordeal. “Uh…dad...? What…happened?” he asked slowly, his grip tightening around his father’s arm. “I can answer that a lot faster than your sire can sparkling. You just got whapped with an active trans-warp drive thanks to Sideswipe here. My name’s Ratchet, and this big growly guy is Ironhide. You just fell smack dab into his training regimen. We’ll make sure you guys get settled in as soon as Optimus gets here. Cause it sure as hell is obvious you ain’t goin’ anywhere for a while…”

Denny looked up at Ratchet, then looked to Strongarm. “How does he…you were just..!” Strongarm gave Denny a sympathetic smile. “As Ratchet said, we’ve been blasted back a few thousand vorn. So, naturally, the war is still going on, and we just fell into a training session for soldiers. Which is why the gun was in our faces. As per protocol for being warped into a strange place, we explained what happened, and then Ratchet verified it through a hardline connection. He used my memory to both double check my honesty, and decisively conclude what had happened.” Denny nodded dumbly, looking up at Ratchet, who seemed a little glossy eyed. “I also gave him the codes I have for American English, so there wouldn’t be any context errors between your language and ours.” She finished, nodding her approval at how the situation was handled.

“When Sideswipe knocked that inactive trans-warp drive off the shelf, It must have locked onto the spark signature of someone in the group, and transported you all onto the Arc.” Ratchet finished for Strongarm, looking over at Ironhide. Denny nodded, then leaned back onto Sideswipe’s plating. “Sooo…we just time traveled.”

“Yep!” Sideswipe beamed, wiggling his pedes.

“and we don’t know when, or where we are.” Denny said slowly, pulling Russell a little closer.

“Yer aboard the Autobot Flagship “The Arc”. I honestly can’t tell ya “When” ya are, because yer culture ain’t even a thing yet.” Ironhide answered, crossing his arms and shifting his weight to his left pede.

“Any clue on how to get us back?” Denny asked with a hesitant grin.

“Nope!” and “Not a clue.” Were the simultaneous answers of the two standing bots.

Denny stared at Sideswipe, who was muttering things like ‘we just time traveled!’ and ‘How cool is that!’ for a solid minute before a realization dawned on him. “Oh. Actually, that’s bad.” Russell just face palmed, sliding down against his dad with a loud groan. A bark of a laugh echoed from Ironhide. “I like ya kid. Yer gonna get along well with Chirr-wic-click.” A blank look from the humans made him pause for a moment. Strongarm looked up at Ironhide in surprise “The Lieutenant is here?!” That made Sideswipe sit up straight and look around. “Bee’s here too!?” Ironhide and Ratchet both gave them a funny look. “Uh, I don’t know about a lieutenant, but Chirr-wic-click isn’t anywhere near old enough to be a soldier. Then again, you did come from the future… So I suppose, in all actuality, yes…uh… ‘Bee’ is here.” Ratchet stated with a slow nod. “And If and of yas hurt him, you’ll be dead before you can even blink.” Ironhide growled out, the glare crossing his features more lethal than any weapon. “uh, wasn’t plannin on hurtin Bumblebee.” Sideswipe gave Ironhide a credulous look. “He’d floor us any day of the week.”

After a quick confused look between Ratchet and Ironhide, the doors whooshed open to reveal a very tall semi, with a clashing red and blue paint job, carrying very familiar yellow mech. Denny’s eyes shot wide as Bumblebee tilted his head, taking in the scene before him before looking to Optimus with a soft series of chirps. A low warble was his reply as Ratchet got up, plugging a cable into Optimus’ arm for a moment or two while warbling at him and bee quietly. A nod and some readjusting later, Optimus let Bee plug into him and set his head on his shoulder. “It is my understanding that you all have had an interesting day. However, all the mecha on base has been alerted that you are not hostile. However, this is a war zone, so I recommend that you two humans refrain from traveling alone. Mechs will notice a minibot, but I would not place credits on them noticing a species as small as you, with all respect.” Denny nodded dumbly, and Russell simply stared at the semi before them. Ratchet looked the small group over, shaking his head slowly with a long sigh.

“…so my name is Bumblebee in their language?” A very soft voice caught everyone’s attention, and Optimus softly patted Bee’s helm, right between his horns. “It would appear so bitlet. Do you like that name?” A grin and a nod was his answer, as well as a laugh as tiny yellow hands caught the much larger blue one between his own. “Then we shall try to call you that more often.” Was the simple reply, and a wiggle prompted Optimus to set the minibot on his pedes. Denny continued to gape as Bee trotted forwards, dropping to his knees before the two humans. “Hi! Ratchet says you already knew my name, so what’s yours?”

A few introductions and a quick physical later, everyone was on their way to the habsuite area. Sideswipe was strangely quiet, watching as Bumblebee stayed close to Optimus. “-and over here is where you all will stay, I hope you don’t mind sharing a room, as we are rather tight on space right now.” Optimus looked mildly sheepish, but Denny waved it off. He was finally starting to get his mind around the situation, although seeing Bumblebee so small and clingy was really throwing him for a loop. They hadn’t even made it halfway down the corridor to the medbay before he had gotten picked up by Optimus! Thankfully though, Sideswipe’s tactless questionnaire saved the others from asking the awkward question themselves.

“So, are your legs broken, or do you just like it when Optimus carries you?” The group faltered in step slightly, taken back by the rather blunt, and mildly rude, question. Bumblebee, however, just hummed as he thought of how to word his answer. “Well, I’m little. I’m not really supposed to be running off on my own, and Optimus is bigger than me. It’s kind of easy for him to out walk me, so I usually get carried.” Bee smiled at the group trailing around them, squeezing his arms around Optimus’ neck a little tighter.

“I get that, but why’s it always Optimus? Ratchet or Ironhide haven’t picked you up once, and they’re definitely strong enough to carry a tiny bot like you.” Sideswipe shot back, earning a sharp jab from Strongarm. Optimus just smiled as he answered. “Well, that is because I am rather clingy. I’ve never really let others carry Bee. I have already become accustomed to carrying what little weight he has, and that has led to Ratchet and Ironhide having no need to carry him. Either way, In any kind of situation what he would need to escape from, he is to be handed to me. If it’s dangerous, the prime and sparklings are usually the first to leave.” Denny nodded. “Yeah. If something bad was happening I’d be hustling Russell out too.” Bee giggled and poked Optimus’ forehelm. “Nahhh! Its cause you’re an overprotective carrier!” Optimus chuckled himself, pressing his servo against Bumblebee’s back. “Absolutely, my little light. You’re the one thing on this ship that truly needs protecting. That being said, you all have had a very long day, so I won’t hold you any longer than necessary. Ratchet, Ironhide, Chirr-wi-/ erm, Bumblebee and I all share a room at the end of this hall. Should you need anything at all, please don’t hesitate to come to us!” Optimus said with a polite head nod, nuzzling Bee’s helm with his own as the tiny bitlet chastised him for using the wrong name.

The group nodded dumbly as the small group of mecha walked down the hall, disappearing around the bend. “Wait…carrier? OPTIMUS PRIME IS BUMBLEBEE’S CARRIER?!” Sideswipe squawked out, his optics as wide in shock. Strongarm’s mouth slipped into a gape of her own as her processor caught up with her, and both mecha looked back to the corridor that once held the Prime and his entourage. Slowly, a grin spread across Sideswipe’s faceplates. “Oh slag, we get to learn all about Bee!” He cheered, dashing happily into their new room. “And none of this will be used against him!” Strongarm said, holding the door for the clays as they stepped inside.

Chapter Text

                Sideswipe trotted through the fairly large living quarters of the hab suite and poked his head into the berth room itself. He immediately grinned, then sat on the berth farthest from the door, pulling his legs up to sit cross-legged as Strongarm lifted Denny and Russell to her own berth and sat beside them. “But seriously, did you see how tiny bee was!? How old do you think he is? Fifteen or twenty thousand?” Sideswipe asked, leaning back against the wall. Strongarm nodded slowly, thinking. “He was acting rather mature, but his mental relays are obviously still in development. I would guess twenty to thirty thousand. “ Sideswipe snorted. “How can you tell his relays are still developing? You didn’t even get to give him any coordinating tests!”

                “Well, I could tell by comparing his speech patterns from our bee and this one, and the pauses he uses when trying to figure out what he wants to say. For instance, he said ‘im little’ instead of a numerical age, which is indicative of a deficit in his logistic and conversational unit. A mentally mature mech would say ‘I’m only twenty-two thousand, so I'm not allowed to…” a dismissive gesture was enough to convey her point here. Sideswipe nodded and quirked his lips, his glossa barely peeking out with concentration.

                “Well, if Bumblebee’s just a baby right now, that means he hasn’t been trained as a soldier yet. Even… Rachet, I think his name was, said so.” Russell added in, getting a nod from Strongarm. “This is true. We should try to preserve as much of his timeline as we can, and refrain from talking about what all he has accomplished in his later life.” Strongarm said, nodding sharply. Sideswipe, however, widened his eyes and sat up. “No! We should totally tell him!” “No, we shouldn’t! If we tell him what will happen, it could alter the future!” Strongarm hissed out, frowning at the mech rolling his eyes. “Well DUH. Which is why we should tell him!” Sideswipe hissed back, putting his hands on his knees. “We could warn him about Megatron tearing his throat out! He could just like, not go to Tyger-Pax, and save himself from countless surgeries and pain!”

                Strongarm blinked, but nodded slowly. “That’s actually…Super sweet of you to think like that Sides. But, If we do that, his entire life could become unraveled. I know he’s mentioned that becoming mute was a serious challenge he had to overcome in his life. But at the same time, he’s so small. Maybe he could prep for it ahead of time?” She muttered, clenching her fist as her inner turmoil grew. “Well…” Denny started, scratching the back of his head. “Maybe we could not tell him. Maybe we could tell Ratchet or Ironhide that something bad happens to be later, and they need to be prepared for emergency surgery whenever he goes out? That way, they know to train him, and he would still have that major part in his life. Maybe they could even fix his vocalizer faster with the heads up?”

                Russell shook his head. “Guys, every movie ever says don’t screw with the past! Who knows how many other lives are gonna be affected by the changes we make? We don’t even know if telling anyone is gonna change anything! For all we know, telling him might be what inspired him to hunt Megatron down in the first place!” Frowns quickly spread around the room. “Slag kiddo, you’re right. I just don’t feel good about letting a bit that little get tore up though, ya know?” Sideswipe said, resting his chin in his servos. “Now that I think about it, he’s probably gonna go through a lot worse when he becomes a soldier…”

                Denny’s eyes lit up. “What if we just told Ratchet that he’s gonna have a tough life, and that he needs to be taught how to cope with things and not try to suffer alone! Optimus has said that he’s always been willing to accept help, so maybe that can be what we can help with. That way, we don’t break his timelines, but we still help him with what’s gonna happen.” Strongarm continued to frown, then shook her head as Sideswipe groaned and fell onto his side. “Geez, this went from fun to heavy in about three nano click.” Russel sighed, and nodded his agreement.  “Yeah. Optimus wasn’t kidding when he said we’ve had a long day. Maybe we should just sleep on it?” Russel rubbed his eyes tiredly, leaning against his dad with another heavy sigh.  “That seems like a good plan Russell. Growing boys need sleep after all!” He grinned, jumping slightly when Strongarm dangled a blanket in front of them, digging into her chest compartment for the two pillows she kept stashed in case of impromptu long drives.

                Denny accepted the blanket with a grateful smile, watching as the thoughtful femme also pulled out a small (in her hands) tote bag, full of toiletries and a few spare sets of clothes for both of them. Sideswipe snorted from across the room. “What else you got in there? A white hare?”  Strongarm shot him a dirty look. “Code 478-356 states that each member of a long term cover team must have at least one week’s worth of provisions in their subspace at any given time. However, seeing how diverse a human’s diet is, I’ve only packed a few items with a longer shelf life. It might not be the most healthy, but until Ratchet can find a supplement, it’s something.” Denny laughed out loud, taking the massive duffel bag in hand and almost falling over from the weight. “Well, in this particular moment, I am extremely thankful you’ve followed that particular code. I hadn’t even thought about food or water or anything! ”

                Russell also gave her a thankful look, quickly snagging a bag of Doritos from the duffel bag. “Dibs!”         

                As the food was sorted and clothes were accounted for- and only mildly grumbled over once they had realized how many articles had gone missing- sideswipe stretched out on the berth. How long had it been since he had actually lain in one? Or even recharged outside of his alt-mode? Primus, he was gonna sleep good tonight. His optics drifted over to the opposite berth, Sideswipe stared at Strongarm for a long moment before sending her a quick ping on her comm.

=Good call on packing all of that. I’ve never even thought about what would happen if we got stranded with them.

Strongarm jumped slightly as she received the comm, her optics glancing from the Clays to Sideswipe’s prone frame. She couldn’t help but feel her faceplates heat.

=Thanks. I remember because, in training, they actually did that to us once. Heading to help another camp, and we hit something that flattened our tire. We had to hike five hics to the other base, and it was the first and only time I allowed myself to be caught unaware like that.

Sideswipe nodded, deactivating his optics and humming softly.  

=Yikes. Still, smart on you for actually remembering to pack human stuff. I have some rations on me, so you don’t really need to worry about that. I burn through fuel kinda fast, and I’m not too fond of having my tank hit dry.

Strongarm winced lightly, unable to imagine that particular hardship. She relaxed into a prone position herself, watching as the Clay’s finished their rearranging and settled beneath their blanket.

=That doesn’t sound fun at all. I assume it happened early in your racing frame. I’ve actually never had the problem of my tank running completely dry. Also…um…I’m a little prone to sleep talking, so I apologize in advance if I wake you.

Sideswipe didn’t respond to the assumption, but nodded slowly.

=It’s alright. I very, very rarely get nightmares though. But, if I’m having one, don’t wake me up. I’ve got some damaged code that freaks out if I’m woke up during one. Bee knows, but I’ve never had a reason to tell you.

Strongarm shuttered her own optics as the room dimmed, sensing the occupants were settling into a recharge.   

=I’ll keep that in mind. Hopefully, though, you’ll recharge peacefully tonight.

Strongarm smiled softly and let her EM field extend over to Sides, unaware of the way he tensed before relaxing against the sensation. She felt his own field lapping against hers as his reply pinged her server.

=Same to you. I’m here if you need anything.

Sideswipe felt the happy agreement in Strongarm’s field as her consciousness slowly faded, easily letting his own relax into the grip of a lethargic recharge.

Chapter Text

“STOP YELLING!” Drift’s voice boomed over the scrapyard, his stern gaze leveling all the humans who were, to be honest, absolutely losing their minds. The sudden thunderous interruption, however, cowed them into a doe-eyed silence. Bumblebee respectfully nodded towards Drift, turning over the trans-warp drive in his hands. “We have the coordinates for when they traveled, so it’s simply a matter of rewiring the space bridge to become a temporal bridge instead of a…well, space bridge.” Bee said with an unnaturally calm tone for what just happened.

 “Screaming isn’t going to help them a bit. Now, Fixit, help me get the code worked out from the drive before It powers down. Grimlock, I need an active inventory of our Energon reserves. Also, see how much the generator has made today. Include it in the tally. Humans, I’m gonna need your help gathering any metals that are reflective. Large sheets work the best, as the radiation from the bridge isn’t gonna be very good for you. Let’s get to work and try to get them home ASAP. I don’t even want to imagine what kind of trouble those four are already in.” Bee’s wings twitched a little further downwards, and the orange minibot wheeled closely behind as Lennox got up and dusted off his pants. “Never a dull moment when chillin’ with the bots, that’s for sure.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                Strongarm awoke to a soft knocking on the door, rubbing her eyes as she crawled over the Clay’s and stepped into the main room.  The soft knocking was louder in here, and she opened the door to see Ratchet before her. “Good orn. Did I wake you?” he asked, grinning slightly at the mildly disheveled femme before him. “You did, but don’t worry about it. I probably needed to get up anyway.” Strongarm said, stepping aside and gesturing for the medic to enter. Ratchet nodded his thanks and sat on the couch. “So, based on the list you gave me yesterday, Wheeljack, Perceptor, First Aid and Myself have begun to prepare some supplements for the humans you traveled here with. Is there anything we need to know about medically, any conditions or ailments we need to be briefed for handling?” The Mech asked, leaning back against the seat.

                “None that they have ever mentioned to me, and that goes the same for Sideswipe. To my knowledge, everyone is in perfect health. Sideswipe does go through fuel a little fast, and he’s admitted this himself, but it’s probably due to his performance frame.  She said with a nod, while Ratchet gave one of his own. “It’s not common, but not unheard of either. He probably had better quality fuel as a youngling, and Is used to less refining.” Ratchet brought an ankle up to rest on his knee and tilted his head slightly to the left.

                “If you don’t mind me being mildly intrusive, what’s … Bumblebee like in the future?” Strong couldn’t help but chuckle. “He’s an amazing lieutenant. The skills he learned in the war put him high above his peers, and he still outsmarts most mecha around him with ease. He is more than a little awkward though, once you get to know him, but we know he tries. He’s got some pretty big shoes to fill with Optimus as his mentor after all…” Strongarm’s grin faded. “Is Optimus really his carrier?” she asked meekly, soothing her plating down in an embarrassed fashion. Ratchet simply met this with a chuckle. “Yes, Optimus is his carrier. Quite the doter too, but he’ll cuddle any mech or femme that holds their arms out. It’s just part of being a prime for him.  The matrix pulls him to be quite outgoing, even though his personally is far more reserved. Like you said with Bee, he’s awkward once you get to know him, but his intent is true.”

                Strongarm giggled softly at the thought, but bit her lip softly as the amusement wore off. “Hey, Ratchet?”  A quirk of a red brow was her response, as he straightened up a little further. “We spoke about this last night, and don’t know how much detail we should go into. Because if we ruin the future, something even worse might happen you know?” Strongarm nervously massaged the joints of one servo with the opposite hand, sighing heavily. “Bee…He… He took a lot of damage during the war. And even with a medic as good as you, some of his…injuries, took longer to heal than others, and that caused a lot of…hardships for bee. So, no matter what happens, teach him how to… cope with it. Okay? Because that adaptability is gonna save his life someday when no one else is going to be around to help him.”  She said, biting her lower lip component softly. Ratchet’s eyes were locked onto her, dilated slightly as he processed the information he’d been given. “I…see. So we won’t be able to protect him from the war…” the quiet hurt in Ratchet’s voice hurt Strongarm’s very spark, and Ratchet shuttered his optics for a moment. “I can understand why you don’t want to go into too much detail, but can you give me anything more? Anything I can prepare for?”

                Strongarm looked towards the door, smoothing her thumb over her seat. “His official files show three severe injuries in his life. Each of which was life-threatening in their own way. So, each time he goes out on a mission, make sure there’s a room prepped for emergency surgery. Those few seconds are gonna count.” She said, locking optics with the ambulance. Ratchet’s lips pursed, and his servos gripped and released a few times before he nodded. “Alright. I’ll keep that in mind. Judging from the glances you’ve made at the door, you all hadn’t come to a consensus as to what you can and can’t tell us, so I appreciate you giving me what you can.” Ratchet stood, using the armrest as a grip for a moment.  Before moving towards the door. He paused briefly, setting a servo on her shoulder. “Truly though, thank you. I can never put into words how badly his loss would affect us all.” Strongarm softly leaned her head against the red servo. “I can make a guess, considering how little he walked yesterday.”                

                 Ratchet snorted a laugh, shaking his head. “Yeah. Spoilt little slagger ain’t he? But, we can’t bear to rob him of his fun. He’s pretty much the official morale officer.” Strongarm stood with a grin of his own. “So I’ve heard from stories. Just wait till the pranks happen.” Ratchet gave her a horrified look as he made his way to the door. “Oh like slag he’s gonna prank. I need to have some words with Jazz it seems. Remind him about proper etiquette around bitlets.” Strongarm giggled, waving at Ratchet as he disappeared through the doorway. “That I will spoil. Ironhide looks great pink!”

                The door closed just after Strongarm saw Ratchet double over laughing, gripping the wall for support. Strongarm smiled, her field a whirr of happiness as she approached the Dispenser and poured herself a cube. Sideswipe quietly slipped out the door of the berth room, smiling softly when he realized Strongarm hadn’t seen him yet. His grin grew a little wider as he snuck forwards, grabbing her waist and whispering “Boo!” He barely caught the cube she dropped, having to shut down his vocalizer in order to not wake the sleeping Clays. Strongarm silently shook her head, faceplates betraying her amusement that she had been spooked. “One of these days, I’m gonna shoot you for doing that.” She muttered, taking her cube back from the speedster. He smiled in return, giggling quietly. “Totally not the worst that’s ever happened to me. Scooch!” He said, slipping in beside her to grab a cube of his own. She stepped back to the couch, sitting down as quietly as possible and sipping on her warmed Energon. She leaned back against the couch, watching as Sideswipe finished prepping his cube and trotted over, silent as a ghost before her comm pinged.

=So, I heard someone talking. What’d I miss? he asked, sipping his Energon and humming happily.

= Ratchet came by to ask if we needed to tell him about any medical conditions. He and some other mecha are already trying to develop a supplement for Denny and Russel.

= Did he come alone? Did you get to talk to him about bee?

=He did, and I did. Strongarm frowned softly, sighing into her cube. = I told him as much as I could while still being vague. The most telling thing I told him was that his official file said he had 3 life threatening injuries, and he should keep a room prepped for surgery whenever he goes out. I also stressed the importance of coping mechanisms.

Sideswipe finished his cube, setting it quietly on the table before him. = I trust whatever you told him. You’re way better with words than I am anyway, at least with important stuff like that.

Strongarm snorted, still sipping quietly on her cube. = Whatever you say, Gold Tongue. You’ve talked yourself out of trouble more times than I can count!

 Sideswipe grinned, leaning his side against the back of the couch, and rested his right arm on the back of the cushion. His right leg was up on the cushion now, but the pede was tucked underneath the knee of his left leg that dangled to the floor. =Being a smooth talker isn’t the same as being good with words. You know how to talk to people about stuff, I just know how to dig myself out of the trouble I’ve gotten into.

Strongarm smiled, finishing her cube and placing it beside Sideswipe’s. =I can understand where you’re coming from. You’ve never been very good at expressing yourself through words. Remember when you got all the minicons mad at you at once? She kicked at his dangling pede with her own, smiling as the red mech placed his left servo over his spark chamber with a playfully offended look on his face.

=ME? Offend the minicons? Neeevver~ He cooed, resting his head on his right arm with a large grin still in place. =So how’d ya recharge last night? I didn’t hear any talking, so I assume It was good.

=It was rather pleasant. I must admit I probably could have stayed in stasis in longer, but I still feel far more recharged than usual. I’d almost forgotten how nice it was to not recharge in my alt mode!

She grinned, watching as Sideswipe snorted an agreement. =I totally feel that. I don’t even remember the last time I fell asleep that fast. I woke up naturally though. I’m more of a napper than a crasher.

=I can understand that. Some mechs just have that programming.  A soft shrug was her answer, as the soft sounds of scuffling came from the berthroom.

=Well, looks like the peace and quiet is about to end.  She pinged Sideswipe, grinning and standing up so she could check on the Clays. =Looks like it. He responded, smiling softly at her back.

Chapter Text

Denny and Russell didn't take too long to get ready, the worst of the wait occurring while they were figuring out how to cook their breakfast. Eventually, they gave up, eating granola bars and drinking some water. Strongarm made a mental note to see if anyone had a Bunsen burner or something to spare, and pinged Sideswipe to make sure he asked if she didn’t.  Earlier in the night cycle, Optimus had taken the initiative to send the two new mecha a map layout of the arc, and a list of those they should probably talk to. First on that list were the two engineers of The Arc, named Perceptor and Wheeljack, the two working with Ratchet on nourishment for their human companions.

Strongarm lifted Denny and Russell into her hands before nodding to Sideswipe to lead the way. The trip down to the Labs was a fast one, and the group of four walked into an absolute warzone. There was fire retardant everywhere, along with two mech’s laughing hysterically as Ratchet wielded a wrench with hellfire in his eyes. A Red mech was lying in a frothy bed of retardant, and a white one was perched on the lab table, holding his leg and flashing his helm fins an amused pink.

“Hey! Newbies!” the white one cheered, waving his detached leg at them. Ratchet looked over his shoulder, nodding to them. “Good Orn everyone. This is an aluminum based retardant, so it shouldn’t be hazardous to your health. The dunce that blew his leg off is Wheeljack-“ Wheeljack happily struck a showboating pose. “- and this giggling twat is Perceptor.” Ratchet kicked some of the froth onto the red mech, who was finally calming down enough to roll over onto his side.

“By Primus, I can NOT BELIEVE you put Acetaldehyde next to the Toluene! They’re experimental ORGANIC COMPOUNDS, AND YOU- you KNEW you would turn on that burner!” Perceptor laughed, rolling onto his back and throwing two handfuls of the frothy foam into the air. Denny and Russel exchanged a confused look, and gripped Strongarm’s fingers a little tighter.

Denny tilted his head. “Uhhh…To be a protective parent, I don’t think we should be in here. If I remember right, Humans can very rarely develop cancer if we breathe in gas fumes.  And those don’t sound…safe.” Russell rolled his eyes. “You just don’t like the smell in here dad.”

Denny gave Russell a fathering look. “Russell. I’m your father. I’m SUPPOSED to worry about like- one and a million risks.” Strongarm nodded quickly. “Of course! Humans do have very strange neurological systems after all. Sideswipe, you talk to the two…uh…scientists, and I’ll try to go find this ‘Red Alert’ from security to introduce us.” Sideswipe gave Strongarm a panicked look, opening his mouth with a ‘Hey!’- But the copbot had already fled with a grin.

Sideswipe gave a nervous grin to the medic, who gave him a confused look. “What’s cancer?” He crossed his arms, staring the young red mech down. “Uh…I’m really not the mech to explain this.” Sides sighed, resting his fore helm in his palm with a sigh. “If my info is right, it’s some kinda disease human cells develop at random. They can get it naturally, through airborne stuff like chemicals, through their food, water, you name it. Apparently it’s hard to get, but somehow like, 40% of humans get it in their lifetime. It’s super hard to get rid of, and usually can kill them. There’s no real way to make sure they’re safe from it, but they worry about stuff like that. Especially the family units.”

Ratchet nodded slowly, as Wheeljack kicked more foam into Perceptor’s face. “And I’m assuming ‘Father’ is the term for ‘Sire’ in the human language? What does ‘Carrier’ translate to?” Ratchet shifted his weight, hoisting the giggling mech up by his arm with no effort, clicking a quick reprimand and shoving him towards the one-legged mech on the table.

“I believe its ‘Mother’, but Russell doesn’t have one that lives with him. I don’t know why, and I don’t think we should ask. I know she’s alive though, so I think she and Denny separated. The humans don’t bond like we do, they just make a legal promise to stay together. Apparently it’s common for humans to break this promise through a ‘Divorce’, but like I said. I don’t think it’s something we should ask about. It’s apparently super stressful, and very emotional. It’d be something they would confide in someone on their own.” Sideswipe jumped up onto a table of his own, kicking his feet softly and gripping the table.

Ratchet frowned slightly, and Preceptor gave Sideswipe a mildly horrified look. “Just a promise? That’s it?” Ratchet shot the young scope a look. “It’s a different race, and a different culture. Don’t judge. Thank you for the warning though, and I will add it to our list of ‘Do Not Discuss’.” Sideswipe nodded, taking a deep inhale. “So, how’s the foodstuffs comin? Breakfast was kinda interesting without anything to heat the food.”

Wheeljack perked up at the mention of science.  “Oh! It’s so interesting! That’s actually why we had the-“ “Basic Cybertronian Wheeljack. And I have a small burner you all can borrow, just pick it up from the medbay later.” Ratchet whapped Wheeljack with the wrench faster than a lightning bolt in the Catatumbo River. With a sad blue flash, Wheeljack’s shoulders drooped. “So mean Hatchet!” A mischievous flash of pink followed Ratchet’s glare, and Sideswipe mouthed ‘Hatchet’ to himself quietly in confusion. “But yeah, we have a nutrient packet figured up. We should have some ready for use by the end of the day. It’s really basic stuff, so it wasn’t hard at all. Just took a bit of science!”  This garnered him a mildly panicked look from both Ambulance and the Racer. “I’ll obviously test a packet for safety before it’s actually given to the humans. And I want a checkup three hours after ingestion.” Sideswipe nodded, swallowing softly under the stern gaze. “Yessir. I’ll leave you guys to it then.”

He nodded at the two scientists, averting his eyes as the smaller red mech slipped his arms around the legless one. “Uh…Have fun?” Ratchet snorted. “Security is the third floor, last door on the right. The password is ‘Crk-cllll-crt’.” Sideswipe nodded, making a beeline for the door. He nodded one last time before quickly slipping out the door. Perceptor slipped his legs over Wheeljack’s, tilting his head slightly. “He does not appear to like medical personnel, or scientific personnel. Maybe he had a bad childhood?” Ratchet shook his head. “That, or a civvie just got blasted into the past and was just left alone in a room of trained military personnel. I’d be nervous as the pit too. Now, let me look at you two morons.” With a firm grip on two silly scientists, Ratchet moved on.

Chapter Text

Strongarm softly tapped on the door before her, barely knocking once before the door wooshed open.  “Strongarm, Denny, and Russell. Please Enter.” Was the curt response from the absolutely TINY mech behind the comically gigantic security desk. Russell looked at his dad with a mildly concerned look. Strongarm stepped forwards, looking up at the huge firetruck looming over the smaller mech.

“I’m Red Alert, and this mech behind me is Inferno. I am the head of security, and he is my personal bodyguard. Any and every move you make will be watched and recorded with the upmost care, as with every mech that enters and lives in The Arc. Is there any medical or mental disorders we need to be aware of that may cause suspicious activity? This will be your only chance to come forward with this information, and any withholding of information will be grounds for treason if it is discovered later.” Red Alert stated, folding his hands on the desk. During the small speech, Strongarm had straightened, remembering the message Ratchet had sent to her she shook her head clearly.

“No one that had fallen through the time rift has any stated mental or physical disorders. However, on our base team is a mech who is now a rehabilitated parolee. He was a Decepticon known as ‘Grimlock’, but has not committed any crimes past property damage in the duration of his capture and subsequent parole. His charges were dropped by our Lieutenant Bumblebee due to his low Intelligence. I do have a copy of the entire team’s files on my hard drive if you would like a copy.” Strongarm stood at attention as Red Alert stiffened.

“Grimlock? The Dinobot Grimlock?” Inferno asked, the shock evident on his faceplates. “Yeah. He’s a goof, but he’s a good bot. He has a bad habit of accidently breaking stuff though.” Russell said, and immediately regretted becoming the center of the attention. Red Alert’s eyes bored through the two humans, scrutinizing the teensy beings in Strongarm’s hands for the first time. “And you two live in close proximity to him, with no deliberate harm or attempts on your lives.” Red Alert spoke slowly, trying his best to process this.

“Yeah. Bee was pretty cautious around him at first, but he warmed up when he realized Grim didn’t really mean any harm. He’s actually saved our skin more times than I care to count.” Denny said, patting Russell’s head softly. Red alert leaned onto his desk slightly more, tilting his helm to the right slightly.  

“I would appreciate the files of all your teammates. I will download them directly into my processor, and I can guarantee no one will see the actual file other than myself and Inferno. He and I merge on occasion to maintain control over a glitch in my processor. However, due to my occupation, he has agreed to safety overrides that allow me to wipe his memory core if I believe him to be compromised. If there is information that requires it, I will inform both Optimus and Prowl, which limits the spread to seven mechs in total. Those mechs are Optimus, who is bonded to Ironhide and Ratchet, Prowl, our second in command and tactical lead, and Jazz, our third in command and special ops commanding officer. Jazz is courting Prowl, and they work better as a team, as Prowl also has a unique glitch due to a fully integrated battle computer. Jazz knows how to back him off of those glitches, and thus is Prowl’s equivalent to my Inferno. All of the mechs I have listed however, are command staff, and all have the same overrides as I do. None of your info will be leaked, nor will it be used to compromise you or your team in any way.” Denny and Russel leaned against Strongarm’s fingers, blinking in order to process the stream of word that Red Alert had just released. Strongarm however, immediately nodded in acceptance.

“I trust your precautions Officer Red Alert. Do you have a preferred method of data transfer?” She was simply handed a data pad, thicker and far more high-tech than she was used to. She plugged in, and began the transfer. She glanced up, then shifted her weight. “Also…I don’t know if you have been informed yet, but as was mentioned in passing a moment ago: Bumblebee… grows up to become our commanding officer. He is the one that pardoned Grimlock, and his official file shows…injuries, he received over the course of the war you are currently fighting. Because of the nature of our intrusive timeline, I will be omitting that particular section from his file. It…” Strongarm cleared her vocalizer, shifting her stance into a more professional one. “If you would like to go through my personal memory files to get a basis on his personality, you have my full authorization and cooperation.”

Red Alert twitched hard, but Inferno placed a servo on his shoulder. A long silence preceded a simple “Understood. I will make an appointment with Ratchet later to have a witness for the data check.” Strongarm frowned softly. “I apologize for any insubordination sir. If you would like to confirm what I’m telling you, I spoke to Ratchet on the matter earlier, and remained vague with him as well. You can check any data with him, and I will be as giving with information as I possibly can. As I said to Ratchet however, Bee…Had some awful things happen to him. But they are a major part of who he is. His civilian profile is nowhere in depth as his military profiles, which I do not have access to, but they are still mentioned due to how they’ve affected him. The only things I am corrupting is the reasons why, not what happened as a result.”

Red nodded again, slower, and took a breath or two before Inferno’s servo slid off his shoulder. “It is alright, and I appreciate your honesty on the matter. For personal curiosity however…is he okay now?” Red Alert stared directly at Strongarm, but it was Denny that answered. “He’s a good mech. He’s a bit skittish, very insecure, and has a habit of pulling his stun gun a little quick, but he’s always the last to shoot, and is the smartest person I’ve ever met in my life. I’ve trusted him with my, AND Russell’s lives several times over.”

Inferno chuckled behind Red Alert. “He’s always been a good kid. Always been smart too. I’m certain Red will let Optimus and the others know what you’ve told him in the official report we’re gonna write, and we’re gonna make sure that anything we can avoid, will be avoided. But for now, you are dismissed.” Russell looked around at the mecha present, and Denny squeezed his hand softly. Strongarm tipped her head softly, jumping a little as a knock sounded behind her.

Red Alert looked at a monitor for a second, then activated the door. Sideswipe grinned as he saw Strongarm, bumping her with his hip. “Way to bail copbot. Leave me with the angry medic and the lovebirds!” Strongarm shot Sideswipe a stern look. “Don’t assume they’re together!” Inferno burst out laughing, and Red Alert grinned quietly. “Oh believe me, they are. Sideswipe, is there any mental or physical disorders that could be found suspicious? If you withhold any information now, and is discovered later, it will be used in a treason case.”

Sideswipe blinked at the complete personality 180. “Quick turnabout there little bot! But nah, no disorders. I do have some fuel intake weirdness, and I get hyper a lot, but that’s assumed to be because of spark and frame type. Nothing to be concerned about, it’s just natural for me.” Sideswipe shot him a pretty grin, looking at Inferno. “Bodyguard or Boyfriend?”

Strongarm kicked Sideswipe in the shin. A quick curse from sides and a chuckle from Red, and Inferno set both hands on Red Alert’s shoulders. “Both, if you need to know. If you happen to see him bolting down the hallway with his helm sparking, just get out of the way and ping me and Ratchet with his location. He hasn’t had a meltdown in a while, but it’s always nice to have the bases covered. And if you see anything suspicious or dangerous, always give us a ping. We’ll look into it, and let the important mechs know. Consider us your official 911.” He said with a quick wink, setting his chin between Red Alert’s audial horns.

“Other than that, you are both dismissed. If you happen to think of any information that didn’t come to mind in this conversation, you are always welcome to come submit it in both a professional or private setting. Security is never fully off duty, so the time and place doesn’t matter. I just need at least one other mech with me to confirm any Intel you give, and Inferno does count.  If you take this course of action, you will not be held legally responsible for withholding the details that were absent in this conversation, and any charges will be waived for that particular instance. You may however, be asked to sign a physical form as I cannot guarantee that conversation will be recorded with full audio, especially those made in a private setting. Other than that, Good orn to you all.”

Strongarm snapped into a neat salute, and Sideswipe gave a lethargic wave before they left. The door clicked behind them, and Sideswipe sighed heavily. “I’m gonna assume that’s the paranoia glitch guy?” He asked, stepping ahead of the femme and giving her a playful look. “Yes, he was, so don’t prank him. Also, off limits. He’s merging with that bodyguard of his for medical reasons.” She bumped his hip fairly rough, and he gave her a sour look in return. “Hey, I know better than to stick my spike in crazy! I leave that to the professionals!”

“Sideswipe!” Strongarm called out, absolutely mortified as he danced towards the rec room. Denny looked up at Strongarm, and poked her index finger. “So, are we not telling them about big bot’s voice and all that?” Strongarm frowned at Denny softly, and held him and Russell a little closer. “No. Those were very important moments in Bee’s life, and if they know, they might change it. Which might change the future. As much as it sucks, it’s better than him getting killed or permanently disabled. I’ve already spoken to Ratchet though, and told him to keep the med bay prepped for major surgery whenever he goes out. Hopefully that’s enough to help even a bit…” Russel slid deeper into the blue hand around him, and patted her plating softly in sympathy. Sideswipe walked backwards casually and tossed the two humans a grin. “Don’t worry too much guys. Bee’s a tough bot. I gotta admit though, he’s adorable as a bitlet! Wanna place bets on how many times the Big Bot carries him today?” Russell snickered at that, before stopping for a second. “Does Bit-lit and Sparking mean child in your language?”

Strongarm looked down in surprise, then grinned. “Yes. There are various stages of our youngling-hood, much like your race. The three umbrella phases are ‘Newspark’, ‘Youngling’ and ‘Mechling’. After those, you are considered a full grown adult, or plain ‘Mech’. These are pretty much ‘baby’, ‘child’ and ‘teen’, followed by adult. As with your species, there are a lot of slang terms for all those phases. ‘Sparkling’ can mean anything from a Newspark to an early youngling, and a ‘Bitlet’ would be used throughout youngling-hood and into Mechling-hood. The Mechling stage doesn’t have too many pet names, because usually the mecha get temperamental around then, so they’re usually just called ‘Mechlets’. The Bumblebee we are currently with would be a late sparking, or a very early Bitlet.  Our lieutenant, however, would be an early stage Mechling. I believe he just got his current frame upgrade 10 stellar cycles or so.”

Denny was staring up at Strongarm with the most blindsided look, and Russell was frowning softly with very wide eyes. “Okay. I think I get it. I had no idea Bee was THAT young though…He should be around my age! How is he in charge of a group already? Shouldn’t he be in school or something?”

Sideswipe gave them a soft grimace as he pushed the elevator’s call button. “Well, he grew up in a warzone. I’m certain Optimus got all his basic schooling in really quick, then moved into his military training once he started becoming a target.  But actually, Bumblebee is really close to your age. I’d guess him to be twelve to fifteen in human years. The Bee we’re looking at right now would be around four or five.”

Denny outright dropped back onto Strongarm’s hand. “They tore out the throat of a child. Holy shit, who does that!?!?” He looked over to Russell, who looked equally as horrified. “The same mechs who raze cities, and fight a war for four million years.” Strongarm said softly, sighing as the elevator stopped. 

Sideswipe softly poked Denny’s stomach. “You know, we should switch to a better topic.  Like I said earlier, who wants to bet on the carrying thing?” Strongarm sighed heavily and shot him a playful glare. “That’s a sucker’s bet Sideswipe. I don’t even know if he’d be awake this early. They might let him sleep in for all we know!” Sideswipe laughed as Denny sat up, pulling Russell into a tight hug- much to the younger’s chagrin-, as they entered the rec room.

All four in the group however, hesitated as they were immediately met with a finger to the lips of most mech in the room, as well as a point to the back corner where Optimus was seated.  He was speaking to a black and white mech, their red chevron framing their face in a very sharp manner. However, poking out of the soft looking pink blanket, was a yellow helm, resting on Optimus’ shoulder. Their entrance didn’t go unnoticed, as the semi waved them over with a soft- faceplate lacking- smile. Strongarm had to give a shocked Sideswipe a shove to get him moving across the room. Sideswipe sat next to the semi, and Strongarm sat next the obvious enforcer.

“Good Orn, I am Prowl. It’s a pleasure to meet all of you.” Prowl said in the softest voice Denny and Russell had ever heard, and Strongarm visibly stalled for a second as she set the humans on the table. She gave him the best salute she could without trying to seem awkward, and failed miserably. The Praxian merely nodded and dismissed her. “Slag you’re hot aint ya?” Sideswipe said, setting his elbows on the table.

“Yeh bet yer aft he is.” Came a voice seemingly out of nowhere, before a white helm with a blue visor appeared to Sideswipe’s left, startling him out of a few vorns of his life. Prowl frowned, shaking his head as Sideswipe sheepishly let go of Optimus’ arm. “Jazz, don’t frighten the visitors. Optimus, stop snickering.” Jazz simply waved a hand at him, sliding in beside Sideswipe. “I aint frightenin ‘em, I’m agreein’ with ‘em! There’s a difference Prowler!” He positively purred out, earning an eye roll from the semi between the two officers. “If you two are going to start the flirting this early, take the orn off.” He said in a playful tone, shifting the sleeping sparkling up a little higher. Bee quietly clicked, but snuggled closer and remained in recharge.

Prowl softly smiled, leaning closer to the humans. “That little click would be translated into a snore. Please hold it against him later.”  Jazz leaned back with a playful gasp, pretending to swoon. “Wish ya’d smile at meh like tha’!” Sideswipe grinned and jabbed his side with an elbow “I feel that!” he jested back, dissolving into snickers as Jazz dropped to a purr of ‘so saucy!” Prowl and Strongarm shared a look.

Bee suddenly shot up, causing all mechs to jump at his sudden squeaked Cybertronian. All of them broke into laughter, as well as half of the rec room. The humans looked back and forth, before Sideswipe attempted to explain between his snickers. “he just- he just screamed-eheheee!- a type of Energon goodie!” he finally choked out, banging his fore helm on the table to laugh more. Optimus chucked as well, petting Bee’s helm one more. “Dreaming of pancaked Energon hmm? I’ll ask Smokescreen and Bluestreak if they would like to make some sometime soon.” Prowl said with amusement in his voice, sipping his own cube. Denny smiled and shook his head, and Russel laughed out loud with a ‘that’s so cute!’. Bee looked back with bleary eyes, taking a second or two to register they were not alone. He squealed happily, shifting in Optimus arm’s until he was set down on his lap, facing the table.

Bright blue eyes looked up at Optimus, before a bright smile absolutely lit up the room. Everyone, mecha and human, followed that happy example. “Moooooorning~!” he cheered out, kicking his feet under the table. He was greeted with chuckles and returned greetings. “So, what’d I miss?” he asked, tilting his head side to side, holding the larger blue hands that encircled his waist. “Borin’ Bussness stuffs Baby Bee.” Jazz said, pouting and thumping his head on the table. Bee made a face, looking up at Optimus. “Ewwwww.” He said, trying to poke his carrier’s chin.  “Indeed.” The semi said, tipping his head down to smoosh his child into his stomach. Bumblebee grinned as he squeaked, flailing as Optimus smooshed him.

“What are we gonna do today? More patterns?” Bee asked, trying to bounce the larger hands in his lap. “IF you finish your sequencing.” The stern look he got only credited a long, over the top groan. “I haaaate sequencinggggggg thouuugh!”  Both Jazz and Sideswipe nodded in sympathy. Prowl however, fluttered his wings. “Sequencing is all throughout your life little one. From tactics to basic targeting, you’ll find some form of sequencing. It’s best to learn it now while you have a moldable processor, than trying to form new connections later in life.” Optimus nodded, and patted the yellow helm once more. “If it makes you feel any better, I hate sequencing too. But, like Prowl said, it’s important. And we all do things we don’t want to.”

Bee sighed, but nodded in a very familiar fashion for the four time-travelers. “It’s okay. I know why I need to do it. Doesn’t mean I have to like it though…” He pouted, before getting a mischievous grin. “If you can catch me!” Bee squealed, sliding down like the healthiest of snails and bolting out from beneath the table. Jazz quickly pulled Sideswipe up, giving the semi an out to chase the little one down the hallway.  He just managed to clear the booth as the little bot rounded the corner of the rec room.

The group remaining watched the two flee, and the two that had stood reclaimed their seats. “He’s so rambunctious!” Denny said, laughing openly. “It reminds me of the time our Bee got pegged by Quillfire!” Strongarm and Sideswipe both burst out into laughter, taking a full minute to compose themselves. “That’s perfect, oh Primus!” Strongarm giggled into her hands, and Sideswipe stamped his feet in a fit of laughter. 

Prowl shook his head, finishing his cube. “He is rather active when he first wakes up from his post-breakfast nap. It’s always the highlight of the morning shift.” He said, looking over at the mech filing in. “Tha’, or th’ way th’ mech scatter when Prowler turns on ‘is battle computer!” Jazz grinned, purring once more as Prowl rolled his optics. Sideswipe settled slightly, resting his head on his arms. “How long does it take you to boot that thing up? Forever?” He teased, tilting his head to a more rested position as Prowl’s door wings flittered.

 “Hardly. It takes about 4 nanokilks in total.  Two to actually boot, less than one to receive data, and the rest to compute the first action. Unlike the power down sequence, I do not need to reboot to activate it. So, I simply turn it on whenever it is time for my shift to start. This tends to frighten mecha, because I simply do not have enough processor to both function fully and run the battle Computer and Tac-net, so my emotional processing becomes subjugated.  It causes me to be rather emotionless and monotone, as only extremely strong emotions will cause it to reboot.”

“Sadly, this caus’s ‘I’m to crash. Jus’ not enough processor to pow’r it all.” Jazz chipped in, leaning back into a lethargic stretch. “Hedonist.” Prowl immediately stated, making Jazz break the stretch to chuckle. “Ya love it too~!” He outright purred, and Denny glanced between the two bots. “Keep it PG love birds! Bee might be gone, but there’s still a minor around.” He scolded lightly, covering Russell’s ears playfully.

Prowl’s door wings suddenly flicked up into a sharp ‘vee’, and his helm tipped apologetically. “Sorry about that. I did not mean to embarrass either of you.” Denny waived it off, laughing as a red-faced Russell shoved him lightly. “It’s okay. I’m just teasing you is all!” He grinned at the embarrassed Praxian, crossing his legs and setting his elbows on his knees. “So, you mentioned a ‘Smokescreen’ and a ‘Bluestreak’ earlier. Who are they?”

“Thos’ are Prowler’s kids from a previous unbond’ mate. Th’y were still plannin’ it when Praxius fell, an’ he pass’d along wit’ some of the’r other kids. Smok’y ‘s now tha oldest, and Blue’s his lil’ bro. Cute lil fraggers, but def’natly Prowl’s. Wicked sm’rt and pretty good lookin’ too!” Jazz winked one side of his visor offline and rebooted it, cracking a devious grin towards Sideswipe. “An’ Blue’s ‘vailable~” He cooed, causing Sideswipe’s engine to stutter out in an embarrassed fit. “Jazz! Don’t hook my children up!” Prowl gave him an exasperated look, his wings flicking straight back.

“Whaaaa~ He needs som’ love too~!” He crooned back, that devious look suddenly dropping as Prowl half-heartedly threw his empty Energon cube at the saboteur. Suddenly, the alarm began to blare as a loud explosion rocked the arc. Sideswipe quickly grabbed the humans as everyone jumped to their feet, and Prow’s optics flickered. All the mecha around him were a rush of movement and panic, before an icy monotone cut the air. “Report to assault stations and begin defensive maneuvers. Jazz, get the humans and the civilians to the safe room, and see if you can find Prime and Bumblebee on the way there.”

Prowl stood gracefully, gliding through the shocked mecha like a ghost before rounding the door with a sharp “NOW.” Jazz grabbed the two Cybertronians by the arm, pulling them towards the elevator in the back. “Don’t open tha’ door for anyon’. Thos’ tha’ need entranc’ hav’ the code.” He said, pulling them in and pushing the button at the very bottom. “When th’s door op’ns, we’re gonna run. Don’ stop for nuttin, aiite? Not even ‘f someone gets shot infronta ya.” He said, putting a servo on both of their shoulders. “An’ rem’mber, S’ gonna be Aiite!” He grinned at them, shoving them forwards the second the doors opened.

To the cadet and the speedster, the next few minutes were nothing but a blur of gunfire and screaming. Sideswipe kept Denny and Russell close to his chest, following the older Black and White through the maze of hallways until they ducked into a room and stopped. Jazz trotted over to the wall, activating a hidden panel and wordlessly shoving them inside. Just before the door closed, a semi’s familiar, booming voice echoed through the halls.

“WHERE IS BUMBLEBEE?!”

Chapter Text

It had taken a while for everything to calm back down. Optimus had never entered the safe room, and it had been almost forty five minutes since anyone had commed to check on them. Eventually, a solemn inferno opened the door. The four inside stayed rooted to the spot they had been sitting in, staring up at the large mech in silence.

“It’s gonna be weird round command staff for a lil bit, so sorry if someone snaps at ya. Bee’s… missin. The con’s musta nabbed him durin the confusion. So, I’m gonna escort ya to your room. I’d honestly recommend ya stay there for the rest of tha day. It’s mostly gonna be a lot of runnin, and tryin to find the lilbit. Alright?” His voice was uncharacteristically quiet for a mech his size, and by the derbis and dust all over him they had been searching every nook and cranny for the yellow sparkling. Strongarm nodded quietly, and stood on shaky legs. She gently picked up the humans, trying the best to keep her hands from shaking.

Sideswipe, as always, was the first to break the silence. “If it helps…I honestly don’t know of anything that happened to Bee this young. He’s never said anything about being kidnapped when he was little. But…I’m getting a feeling a gut feeling that Ratchet should keep the medbay prepped. If Bee didn’t tell us about it, it was either he was rescued okay, or it was something so bad he doesn’t mention it.” Inferno looked over Sideswipe’s trembling form, then nodded. “Prolly a good idea. I’ll comm him.  C’mon, let’s get you settled in.”

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the scrapyard, not much progress was being made. They had managed to get the coordinates off the warp drive before it had powered down, but getting the space bridge to accept them was a whole other beast in itself. Bumblebee dropped the welder as it zapped him once more, cringing as the current took even longer to subside from his servo. Grimlock looked over all those present in the yard, noting how everyone but the young lieutenant had fallen asleep long ago. He pushed off the rack of toasters as quietly as he could, using his mech form’s easier maneuverability to sneak around the sleeping troops.

They had all been a substantial help, running wire and dismantling various appliances to collect the needed parts to convert the bridge to something usable. This prolonged work had definitely ensured a long night’s sleep for both humans, and Cybertronians. Grimlock set his servos on the smooth planes of Bee’s shoulders and pulled him back softly. Bee tilted his head back, relaxing into the dino’s hold as he placed a hand on Grim’s own. “I’m scared for them Grim… I don’t even know if they landed near Autobots. They could be in Megatron’s holding cell right now, and this stupid bridge won’t work!” He growled out, barely resisting the urge to kick the control panel into submission.

“I know Bee. But you’re gonna blow something important if you keep shocking yourself. Take a small break with me. Lay down for a minute or two and let that charge dissipate.” Grimlock nuzzled the top of the Lieutenant’s helm, holding him a little bit closer as Bee fought his internal war. “How can you help ‘em if you’re out cold from blowing a gasket?” Grim muttered, one hand sliding down to encircle the thinner mech’s waist.

Bee sighed heavily, leaning his weight into the green mecha. “Have I ever told you how much I hate it when you’re right about stuff like this?” Grimlock gave him a soft grin, easily scooping the Youngling- who totally DID NOT squeak- into his arms. “Yeah, you have. But, it’s fun when I get to be right every now and then!” Grimlock grinned at Bee, who shook his head with a soft chuckle. Grimlock made his way back towards their nest, holding his precious cargo close. Bee just set his helm on Grim’s shoulder, but would never admit to how quickly he fell asleep to the larger mech’s ventilations.

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Lennox woke instantly with the sounds of a scuffling somewhere near him. Years of combat training helped him feign sleep as he cracked open one eye, looking over at the orange minibot that had taken over repairs. He was waving a servo, the sparking welding gun on the ground. The scuffle had probably been fixit burning himself and dropping the welder. He grinned slightly and stretched, letting himself wake more naturally.

Fixit looked over, grinning as the salt-and-pepper haired human woke. “Good Morning Mister Lennox! Did you recharge well?” He asked in his usual chipper tone, wheeling over to the Colonel so he didn’t have to wake the others with their conversation. “Yeah, I did. Still wish my body knew what ‘sleep in’ was though.” He chuckled, sitting up in his sleeping bag.  Fixit gave him a sympathetic smile. “The lieutenant is the same way. I’m honestly surprised he wasn’t awake when I got up. He must have stayed up really late working before Grimlock drug him to their nest.” The little orange bot parked by the older human, smiling politely.

“Their nest?” Lennox said, moving to a more comfortable sitting position. “They’ve gotta be real close if they sleep near each other.” Fixit giggled at the mention. “Oh absolutely! They’re courting!” He cheeped out, causing Will to give him a confused look. “What’s courting to you guys? Cause to us it’s dating.” Fixit stalled for a second while he thought.

“Well, Cybertronians don’t really ‘date’. We do have very close friends, and usually we interface with those close friends. It’s an open relationship for everyone, because there’s no stigma around it. When a normal mech begins courting, they stop those extra interfaces and go solely to those they are courting. To clarify that further, we don’t usually stay monogamous.  The usual is a trine, or three mecha together, all the way up to a gestalt, which can be up to six or seven. Bee and Grim aren’t normal however, because Bee isn’t old enough to interface. He still has a long way to go before that is even an option. But, they have more than their fair share of problems to work through, seeing how much survival coding Bumblebee has. Code like that makes it very hard for prolonged physical contact, and the trust problems he developed makes recharge very difficult when he’s near any other mech. I mean, at the very start of our team, Bee barely slept. He usually did patrols and inventory. About six months in, Grim started to court him. I suppose that nest was his courtship gift!”

Fixit giggled, wheeling back and forth excitedly. “I’m assuming that courtship is what precedes bonding? Ironhide had his hands tied, so he couldn’t really talk about it.” Lennox explained, shrugging his shoulder, Fixit clapped his hands together, lighting up like a Christmas tree. “Yes! It’ll be an extremely long time before they can bond, because bumblebee is a very long way from his Majority. But, it gives them plenty of time to make sure they’re right for each other before taking that leap.”

Lennox smiled, and couldn’t help it as it grew more and more. “I’m… its good he’s moving on from the war. When I knew him, it took him forever to warm up to me. He would outright avoid me at first, when it wasn’t necessary for us to talk or work together. But once he did, he became one of my most trusted friends. To think that he’s getting sweet on someone…” Lennox laughed, leaning back onto his hands. Fixit smiled with Will, looking towards the nook the two mech were curled up in. Will gave a happy snort, almost doubling over in glee. “Bee has a boyfriend~!” he cheered, looking back towards where Fixit was looking.

Lennox’s grin fell slightly, and a confused look crossed his face. “Wait, what’s majority? Is it like twenty-one?” Fixit couldn’t help the laugh. “Well, that’s the comparable note for humans. But for us, it’s actually one hundred thousand. Bee is still very, very young. I believe he just turned fifty thousand about ten stellar cycles ago, which would be pretty closeish to ten earth years. That’s when he got his Mechling upgrade. He is a frame ahead though, because of some injuries during the war. So he’ll be in this frame you see now until he’s about Eighty-five thousand, then he’ll be placed in his final, or adult, frame. Usually that last upgrade is right at majority but it’ll probably be good to give him the extra adjustment considering the height difference.”

“How tall is our boy gonna get?” Will asked, his grin growing once more. “The lieutenant’s final frame? He should be about a foot shorter than Optimus. That would make him maybe…six inches shorter than Grimlock?” William’s grin dropped into utter shock. “He’s gonna be that big?! Holy shit!” he said, leaning back and stretching out his legs. “Well fuck, he’s a tall bean.”

Fixit barked out a laugh, delving into hysterical giggles that woke those around them. Everyone took it well through, when it was explained and the nerves were soothed from the sudden awakening. The work on the space bridge recommenced, and it became a game to see how much could get done before the rest of the bot’s booted up.

Chapter Text

 It had been a long night for the time travelers. There had been no word from Bumblebee, or his captors.  Denny and Russell eventually fell asleep, but Strongarm and Sideswipe were wide awake. Over the course of the night, Strongarm had succumbed to the need to feel someone’s field around her, and had left the Clay’s on her bed to sit beside Sideswipe on his. They had remained silent, but their comms were alight with their conversation.

=I can’t believe they just nabbed him like that. What could a bot that young possibly have that would interest them? Sideswipe pinged her, leaning back against the wall.

=I have no idea. Maybe they have a prisoner they want back? Intel exchange? Strongarm replied, wrapping her arms around her knees.  = I really hope they don’t hurt him. He’s just a baby. He isn’t even old enough to be done with his basic schooling. He’s still working on sequencing and patterns for Primus sake!

= I know Strong. It can’t be that bad right? Otherwise they’d have to note it in his file, and they didn’t. So he’s gotta be okay. Even then, you saw how much Prime loves him. He’s gonna rescue him.  Sideswipe rested his helm on her shoulder, shuddering his optics.

=Maybe we can help someone in the morning. I’m certain something will need cleaned or counted or something. Maybe we can run Energon to the planners or whatever. It’ll be better than sitting in here beating our brains against the wall.  Strongarm said, leaning a little closer to Sideswipe, who nodded in agreement.

=But what about Denny and Russell? We’ll have to find someone to watch them, I don’t want something happening to them too. Sideswipe hesitantly put his arm around Strongarm’s waist, pulling her closer to his side.

=Maybe the bots we help out will have a place they can sit while we do the running and all that. I was thinking of going to Ratchet, maybe he needs help cleaning the medbay or something. I was supposed to go talk to him anyway before the whole…you know. Strongarm sighed, and curled into the warmth she was offered.

=Yeah… He said he might have something the humans can use for fire too, so try to ask for it. I’m gonna assume none of the ‘command staff’ have taken the time to eat since yesterday, so I’m gonna run them a cube or two each. Maybe they’ll have some minor stuff that needs done. Like Prowl has those two kids, so I might see if he wants me to make sure they don’t need anything. I don’t know if they're old enough to be allowed out and about, and Jazz seems to like him a lot. That Jazz is our Jazz later, so I can definitely do him some favors after everything he’s taught me.  Sideswipe sighed softly, pulling Strongarm down to lay on the berth.  The femme squeezed closer, trying her best to stay calm as she covered her face with her hands.  

 Sideswipe carefully set his hand on her waist, making sure he wasn’t near anywhere that would make her uncomfortable, and tried his best to relax. Strongarm however, eventually succumbed to the emotional exhaustion and slipped into recharge. Sideswipe found he couldn’t.  The feel of a frame beside his own was a familiar, yet strange one, and he found himself unwilling to wake her back up. ‘Frag, I didn’t plan on her actually falling asleep...She probably needs it though. She’s gonna worry herself silly tomorrow anyway.’ He thought, trying his best to breathe evenly. He looked down at the resting femme, and resigned himself to stay where he was until she woke back up.

He took to counting his breaths, the way he did as a youngling, and focusing on the pulsations in his spark. He rarely was able to take the time to calm himself like this, but he couldn’t really go anywhere with a femme out cold on his chest.  He offlined his optics, letting his spark reach out for the echo within his own. He honestly couldn’t guess what possessed him to try, Sideswipe did. And after a long moment, Sunstreaker pulsed back, and Sideswipe lost himself for hours in the sensation of a twin so very far away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Strongarm rebooted very slowly, her systems unwilling to reignite after recharging next to such a warm frame. She snuggled closer to that purring warmth, and breathed in as she booted up. Her optics slowly flickered online, and she took a second for her mind to catch up. She immediately stiffened, slowly pushing herself to a sitting position. She held her ventilations, trying not to squeak as Sideswipe’s limp hand slid down to her thigh. His breathing remained steady, so she carefully removed the lax servo from her thigh. She slid her legs off the berth, keeping her eyes on the resting speedster to ensure she didn’t wake him. She let out a soft sigh of relief as she cleared the berth, turning to check on the humans.

Who were holding a cell phone camera right at her.

“Morning Strongarm! Sleep well?” Russell asked, snickering as the femme’s face went as blue as the ocean deep.  “BY PRIMUS PUT THAT CAMERA AWAY!”  She hissed out, trying to grab the recording device from the tiny, giggling human. “Oh no, we have to record these memories!” Russell laughed, passing the phone to his father to get even more reach from the embarrassed femme. Sideswipe, however, stayed prone on the berth, so the video was cut and tucked safely away, and the humans were scooped up to prepare their breakfast.  Strongarm cast a quick look to the resting mech before she closed the door, but left him to rest.  Breakfast was a bag of chips and some tea, and more than a little playful ribbing from the humans.

“So, why did you and Sides get all snuggly last night?” Russell asked, throwing a corn-chip at the flustered femme. “To be honest, I…I needed some reassurance. Judging from how deeply asleep he was, I think he needed it more than he said. We’re both worried about Bee.” She said, sipping at her Energon without fully drinking it. “Like Sides said to Inferno yesterday, he has never once mentioned a kidnapping to us. So, he’s either completely okay, or something really awful is happening.” She said, swirling the cube slightly before setting it down and putting her head in her hands. “He’s just so small. There’s so many things that could kill him when he’s that young.” Her voice was barely above a whisper, and she took a breath before she stared at the humans before her.

“I truly don’t mean to frighten you, but there’s a reason we have such long childhoods. The spark chamber, the thing that guards our very essence, is extremely fragile. Even a tiny, one inch crack can kill a metrotitan with enough time. Someone with a frame as small as bumblebee… if you jostle him too hard, you could crack that crystal, and it wouldn’t take long at all for him to lose his gravity and die. And he’s in the control of mechs who want nothing more than to see that happen.” She said, leaning back against the couch.

            Russell swallowed hard, staring down at his lap. Denny couldn’t help but stare at Strongarm’s chest, but obviously was zoning out.  “Is that why our Bee always guards his chest when he fights? He usually has something in front of him, like his arm or he’s angled to the side.” Strongarm nodded.  “It’s because as I said, our spark chambers are mineralized crystal. They take a while to solidify, especially when it’s essentially guarding something as hot as a small star. But, once they’re formed, they’re very, very strong. The force that it would actually take to fracture a solidified spark chamber...” She shook her helm, and both the humans nodded in understanding.  “Definitely don’t want to be under that pressure.” Denny said, drawing a laugh from the femme. 

A sudden, muffled noise from behind the bedroom door perked everyone attention. Sideswipe slowly opened the door, playfully smiling. “Do I need to get a shield?” He asked, reigniting the teasing, but opening that spearhead to himself also.  They spent a few extra minutes on the lighthearted topic while everyone had their breakfast, and the bot’s happily made a show of personal space.

            “So, last night, Strongarm and I got to talkin about today.” Sideswipe started, setting his empty cube next to Strongarm’s and putting his ankle on his knee. “The bots are probably runnin themselves stupid trying to find Bee, so Strong and I wanna try to do some of the little things that they still need to worry about. I’m gonna run some breakfast to the ‘Command Staff’-“ He used the finger quotes he had so happily stole from pop culture with a happy grin. “-and see if they need any errands or babysitting done to make their lives a little easier.”

            Strongarm nodded in agreement, and leaned into the arm of the couch. “I’m thinking of going to Ratchet. If Bee is hurt, he’s gonna need as much help as he can get. Every hospital I’ve ever been in is always organizing or cleaning or something, so I’m certain he’s gonna enjoy the help for whatever reason. However, that leads to you guys. You can tag along with either of us, but you might have to spend some time sitting on your own. Are you okay with that?” Denny immediately nodded.

            “Of course. I’m personally going to say I would like to go with you, Strongarm, because like you said. Bee might be hurt, and humans have tiny hands. If he’ll even allow me to touch them, I’d like to really clean some tools or materials. That way everything is pristine and ready. The dad in me wouldn’t allow anything else.” Denny gave Russell a smile, ruffling his hair before pulling him into a suffocating hug.

            The younger boy flailed, pushing at his dad’s arms. “Will you stoop!” he groaned, eventually falling back to escape the hug. Denny laughed with his son, whining out a ‘nooooo!’ as he fell.  From where he lay, Russell immediately put forth a fist towards the speedster. “Runnin with sides!” he cheered, prompting the bump the Bot finished. “I honestly got super bored sitting around the room, but with everything that happened, I couldn’t really find the willpower to do anything. But today, I’m kinda hyped to get some stuff done, and helping out the big bots and getting Bee home faster seems like a great plan.”

            Sideswipe scooped the young boy up, pulling him close protectively. “Haha! We’re gonna do some bolting lil buddy!” Russell belted a surprised laugh, clinging to his fingers as the speedster bounced on his feet. Strongarm joined him, stretching out her hand for Denny to climb up on. Denny immediately gave Russell a pointed look as the bots moved to the door. “I want an update at some point so I know you’re okay!” He said, shaking his head as Russell took to cheering ‘Run It Run It!’ till Sideswipe joined in for a verse or two before twirling out the door.

            Denny smiled up at Strongarm, patting her index finger affectionately. “Well, at least they’re in a good mood to start today!” Strongarm shook her head, waiving at the two as they disappeared down the opposite hall. She pushed the call button for the elevator, stepping back as the doors opened to reveal two very tired-looking mech. She nodded in greeting with a polite 'morning' at to two frontliner’s as they stepped into the Hall.

The larger one gave her a half smile in return, patting her on the shoulder. "Avoid Conference Room Two and the Medbay unless you got a reason to be there kiddo. The big bots aren't in the mood for minor distractions." He warned, getting a sleepy chuckle from his stockier friend.

"Yeah. None of em have come out since they searched the ship for the lilbit. And Hatchet's on a warpath of cleaning the Medbay, so he's best to be avoided unless you'd like a wrench to the helm." He chipped in, bumping his friend with his elbow. The taller mech shot a glare at his companion, muttering something that sounded like 'that hurt fragger' under his breath. Strongarm nodded, smiling at the two politely. "Thanks for the warning. I'll definitely keep it in mind."

Denny waved at the two as they stepped into the elevator. "They seemed nice." He said, sitting in the bot's palm and kicking his legs softly. Strongarm hummed as response, and held him slightly closer as the doors opened. They walked to the rec room in relative silence, pulling a few cubes and turning the corner to the med bay.

 The femme squeaked sharply as she came close to running into Inferno, who had enough reaction to grab the younger bot's shoulders to keep her upright. "Sorry bout tha'." He said sheepishly, before realizing what she was holding. "Where ya headin with those?" He tilted his head and smiled as the femme smiled up at the firetruck. "Denny and I don't have much to do, since we're not in the duty roster. So, we're going to talk to Ratchet and see if there's anything he needs help with. Sideswipe and Russel are going to head up to the rest of command staff and offer to be their runner for the day, so you'll probably see him with a few extra cubes as well. Neither of us think that they've eaten since yesterday." Inferno nodded as that smile took a sad note.

"No one's done anything but scour the airways and informants for info. Your right about no one grabbing a cube. I just got Red and I's a minute ago myself. Believe me when I say Ratch will appreciate the help. First Aid said he was  sanitizing the bay about half an hour ago." Strongarm nodded and set her shoulders. "I appreciate the information then inferno. I'll let Sideswipe know you two have Energon, and if you need anything today, don't hesitate to ping either of us. We wanna help as much as we can."

Denny nodded quickly. "Same with me and Russell. We might not be able to do a lot, but we wanna help too. That little guy grows up to be one of our closest friends, and I don't wanna see him hurt." Inferno just put a hand over his chest-over his spark chamber- and gave them a bow. "I cant put to words how much that is appreciated. I'll put out a quick broadcast to everyone up top, and they need anything, they'll let you or Sideswipe know."

Strongarm flushed a light blue, but returned the gesture as much as she could with a confused Denny in her palm. The large firetruck passed them, squeezing her shoulder lightly before he made his way back towards security. Denny just looked up at the femme expectantly. "That bow is a sign of absolute respect and gratitude. Putting your hand over your spark chamber shows your gratitude, and the bow is a thanks. Doing both together is...it's important." She muttered out, trying her best to cycle coolant to her faceplate. "I cant even guess what the human equivalent would be. But usually the bow is given back to show you accept their thanks and remain sincere yourself." Denny just gaped up at Strongarm, feeling his own face flush slightly. "Oh. Didn't do it back!" He said, looking back towards where the red mech disappeared. A giggle broke free from the blue femme, her sensor panels wiggling ever so slightly. "I'm sure he understands." She said, patting the humans back with her pinky as she restarted her trek to the Medbay.

The rest of the walk passed quickly, and the door wooshed open before she even raised her fist to knock. She blinked in surprise, but Ratchet cut her off. "Inferno said you were coming. Honestly, I'd love some help today." He was cleaning a long scalpel, his eyes never leaving the sharpened tool as he inspected it for damage. "If you'd like, grab a rag. I wanna get these cleaned up." He said, jerking his head towards the table of cleaning supplies. Strongarm nodded, holding out her hand so Denny could jump down. The little movement made the medic look up in surprise, only to have two cubes thrust into his face.

 "Drink. Bee's gonna chew you out if you don't fuel." Strongarm said, watching the corner of his lips twitch before he shook his head and accepted the two cubes. "’AID. 'Mere!" He belted out, causing a small commotion from the closet nearby. A thin little mech wrenched the door open, bursting out with "WHOSE HURT" at full volume. The older medic laughed, and raised one of the cubes to him. "No one you crankshaft! We have voluntary help, and they brought us Energon. Drink up in case Bee needs us."

Denny watched as the smaller bot slouched against the doorframe, putting a hand on his chest. "You fragging rust bucket. I thought someone was hurt!" He said, pushing off the wall to take the cube with a pouty tone. Strongarm couldn't help but giggle, picking up a cleaning rag to begin on a clamp. Ratchet easily ripped a strip off one of the rags, before handing it to Denny. He looked around for a moment before spotting a pair of shears, before laying the tool in front of the human. Denny grinned at the medic before he set to work, watching as Ratchet inspected the edges of various other blades while he drank.

          Strongarm focused on her work, making sure she got every nook and cranny of the tool in her hands as she listened to the medics banter curses back and forth. Denny used his size to his advantage, making sure to clean as close to the joints as he possibly could, ensuring a deep, sparkling clean on the tool. “Any word on Bee yet?” He asked as he sensed a lull in the banter.

          Ratchet just shook his head sadly. “No. We’ve confirmed he’s been captured though. Optimus and Ironhide are figuring out ways to get him back with Spec Ops. They’re brainstorming for anything and everything.” He finished intensely checking  a curette’s hoop for cracks. First Aid cast him a sad look. “Honestly, they’re just trying to do something they feel is productive. Ironhide and Optimus aren’t really leading the conversation, they’re just there. It’s out of their respective departments, and they honestly have nothing better that could be done. Besides, when it’s your sparkling, sitting idly isn’t really easy.”

          Denny nodded sadly, using a large stroke to clean the edge of the shears, but being careful not to cut himself. “Why aren’t you up there with them Ratchet? He’s your kid too, and I bet you’d wanna know how they’re gonna get him back.”

          Ratchet just snorted a sarcastic chuckle. “Because I have something productive to do. As you all recommended to both myself and to a sharper extent Inferno, this is gonna be good or very bad. SO, I’m preparing for the worst. Bay 2 has everything I could possibly need for emergency surgery, and we’re polishing all of the tools that will stay in that room. I should have probably kept one at prep the entire time, but I’ve never…” Ratchet took a moment, breathing in shakily before giving up and putting his head in his hands. “I never thought they’d go after my sparkling. For the love of primus, he’s barely five thousand vorns old!” his voice was so brittle a hummingbird could break it. Denny nodded, patting the white thigh before him. "I understand why you're upset. I'm a dad too. It makes my heart stop every time Russell even trips, I couldn't even bring myself to imagine what you must feel right now..."

          First Aid simply leaned down and placed his helm against Ratchet’s shoulder, and Strongarm froze. For several seconds, it was quiet, before the clamp she was holding fell with a clatter. Both mech looked up at her in sadness-tainted shock, and gave the femme a confused look.

          “That’s not possible. We were only sent back about ten thousand vorns. That would make the Lieutenant thirty or forty thousand. There is no possible way he’s any younger than that!” Her voice was quiet and her hands had the slightest tremble, and Denny decided to scoot back a few feet incase she had a major glitch and fell over, like Fixit sometimes did.

          Ratchet quickly looked to First Aid before his gaze returned to the startled femme. “I know how old Bee is right now. His separation was in the Cycle of Rebirth, on the nine-hundred and seventy-eighth orbital phase of the Sea of Rust’s four million, six hundred and eighteen, eight hundred and fourty-fourth rising cycle during the reign of Optimus Prime. That makes him five thousand and fourty six. Perhaps you were blasted back further?” The masked mech said quietly, glancing back and forth between the other two.

          “Let’s do it this way. When were you born Strongarm? If Bee is as old as you think, you should be fairly young right now as well.” Ratchet said, setting his own tool down.  The femme nodded and gripped the berth below her to try to stop her trembling.

          “I was separated in the Cycle of Decay, on the two hundred and seventeenth orbital phase of Luna 1’s four million, four hundred and one thousand, six hundred and seventy second passing during the reign of Optimus Prime. As of right now, I am two hundred and thirty two thousand, two hundred and ten years old.” She said quietly, feeling her ventilations pick up.

          “Optimus died and lost the matrix during the died during the Cycle of Sustentation, on the seven hundredth orbital phase of the smelting pit’s four million, six hundred and thirty-third thousand, eight hundred and twenty-first boiling. He has since returned to life, but opted not to reclaim the matrix. The day we were sent back here was the Cycle of Dormancy, on the third orbital phase of the sixty-ninth cycle of darkness during the reign of passing...”  

          The silence in the room was deafening as the bots did the math. Ratchet was the first to answer. “No, I’m right. It’s about ten thousand vorns back for you all. How in the pits is Bee a soldier at fifteen thousand!?” He growled, and Denny watched the white and red armor fluff slightly with his growing anger.

          “No. No no nonono. Theres no way bumblebee is a lieutenant at that age. He physically couldn’t have the brainpower. It can’t be right.” Strongarm whimpered, beginning to shake harder as her mental cortex raced to catch up. Denny felt his blood run cold. “I…I’m honestly scared to ask, but why is fifteen thousand so different from forty or fifty thousand?”

          Ratchet didn’t even look over to the small human as he answered. “At forty thousand, the processor is fairly developed. He could do upper level sequencing and his pattern recognition algorithm would be fully functional. It isn’t a fully grown mech, but Bee would be getting there. At fifteen thousand, he should still be line feeding, and beginning to do mid-level sequencing. His pattern recognition shouldn’t be anywhere near complete, but enough where he could read and write at a fair rate. seven thousand, he should be beginning to process both.” He said, watching as First Aid put his hands on the shaking femme’s shoulder.

          “However, Bee is rather gifted already, which is why he’s recently started both.  He has always developed a little faster than the average sparkling…” He drifted off, his eyes going wider. “By Primus…the matrix!” He bellowed out, jumping up. First Aid froze entirely. “You don’t think…” He said hesitantly, looking at the older mech.

          Ratchet griped the table and tried his best not to fall over. “I need to talk to Optimus. Things just got a lot worse.” Denny yelped as First Aid immediately scooped him up, yanking the shell-shocked femme to her feet and following Ratchet as he began his sprint down the hall.

Chapter Text

Sideswipe held Russell close as he made his way down the hall of the Arc, towards Conference Room Two. He had greeted those who had greeted him, and kept surprisingly good time as he went down the long halls of the space ship. Russell was excitedly standing in his hands, asking him various questions about everything that came to his mind. The speedster’s step hesitated slightly as he got a ping from Strongarm, before nodding to himself and regaining his gait. “’Perently Inferno already got his and Red Alert’s cubes, so we won’t need to run them Energon. Strong told them to ping me if they needed anything, so I probably won’t bug them unless they need us.” Sideswipe told the smaller brunette, who shrugged casually. “It’s okay. I’m glad they actually remembered to eat.” Russel agreed, relaxing into the hand supporting him slightly more.

They waved to a dopey-looking blue and white mech. He lethargically waved back, a wide grin splitting his face as he watched the two pass.  “Yeah. I hope the others don’t get mad at us for interrupting.” The small human shifted his weight, looking at the door Sideswipe had stopped in front of. “I doubt they will. Just make sure you casually forget if you hear something important, kay?” The racer shot him a wink before knocking on the door of the conference room, waiting a few seconds before it wooshed open before him.

            “Something wrong, Sideswipe?” A familiar monotone asked, and the entire table stared at the red mech. “Well, Russell I have nothing to do since we’re not on the roster. So, I figured you guys might have some little errands you need done. Like, maybe, Energon.” He said, shifting his weight with a grin. Half the mech in the room had the decency to look halfway sheepish as they checked their fuel levels. Sideswipe lifted Russell to his shoulder with a quiet ‘Hold on tight.’ as he began unloading his subspace of the officer’s morning rations.

            Tired grins broke out around the table, and he was thanked as he handed Energon to each mech. “So, does anything need done that I could actually do? Prowl, are your kids old enough to get their own Energon and all that?” The racer asked, leaning against a wall by a slim blue and white mech. Prowl blinked for a few seconds, obviously recalculating some algorithm in his head. “…Yes. My children are all able to care for themselves. Thank you for asking though.” He said, cracking the cube before him open to take a sip. Jazz grinned at the mech, tilting his helm slightly. “Ah’ve got an errand for ya if ya could! Earlier, we needed some data pads from Prowler’s room, but we was too busy ta go get it. Think ya could get it for us?” Sideswipe immediately nodded, straightening up. “Sure! What’s the code and where do I find them?”

Prowl cast a glance to the other black and white, before pinging the young mech with a code. “The pads are in a box on my floor, located beside my work table. Feel free to leave your human with us if you would prefer, that way he does not fall and harm himself.” The Praxian said smoothly, clearing a place beside him for the tiny human child. Sideswipe looked to Russell, who gave him a thumbs up. “That sounds cool! I can’t speak that clicky-talk they do, so they don’t have to worry about me eavesdropping. Also, if they need something else quick, I can text you and you can grab it on the way!” Sideswipe nodded with a grin and set the human down on the absolutely ginormous desk. The human grinned at the assembled mech, who grinned back softly at the smaller’s happy demeanor.

“Back in a flash!” The crimson bot gave a thumbs up to the human, who returned the gesture before he disappeared out the door. Prowl immediately turned to Jazz. “And why did it have to be MY quarters?” He asked, quirking a lip ever so slightly. Jazz just purred and stretched out on the desk. “Cause youuuuu dun leave an’thin dangerous out~!”  Optimus groaned and shook his head, barely resisting the urge to face palm. Russell laughed as he sat down. “Test run huh?” He asked, looking up at the tactician. He was met with a snort from the tall blue and white mech. “Naturally. There are two types of mecha whom would willingly walk into a military meeting. A spy, or a moron. We are simply determining which he is.” The mech’s voice was like freshly melted gold, smooth and rolling in all the right tones. Optimus cast him a look.

“Mirage, There are also mech who are used to high levels of activity, and simply would like to help as best they know how. It’s not exactly like we could have him put on patrols to burn his energy.” The semi chided. Mirage gave him a telling look, but let the matter rest. “It dun matta’ cause Red’s watchin ‘em like a hawk. If he does anything ‘cept what we asked, we know he can’t be trusted!” Jazz said, his grin growing a bit. “Specially cause Ah happen to know there is TWO boxes on the floor by Prowler’s work desk. We’re gonna learn ‘lot bout him based on what he does.” The Polyhexian literally purred this out, causing the Praxian’s wings to flutter lightly. Russell snickered, and stretched his feet out before him. “Sneaky Jazz! Side’s is a good mech though. If my word means anything to you guys, you can trust him.”

Optimus smiled at the boy, and Russell couldn’t help but shyly smile back. “Your word means much to me, but sadly this is a war. Words don’t mean nearly as much as an action does.” Optimus looked down at his datapad as it flashed once, and the large mech chirped out a long series of warbles. The mech’s collected around the table launched into what seemed like an argument, and Ironhide moved to sit beside Prowl- Next to Russell. “Sup kiddo. Sorry for pointin a gun at cha when ya first arrived.” The older mech grinned slightly, earning a pat on one of his servos. “It’s okay. You were protecting your bots. Why aren’t you talking to the others in the clicky-talk though?” His head tilted slightly, and Ironhide shook his head softly. “A weapons specialist isn’t of much use righ’ now.  I just can’t bear to do anything but wait for news with Optimus.” A long sigh came after the statement, and the Green mech beside Mirage patted his arm sympathetically. “Thanks Hound.” ‘Hide said quietly, patting the green servo with his own twice before dropping his hand back down. “So, what does everyone do?” The boy asked, looking around the table.

“Well, ya know Prowl, Jazz and Optimus’ jobs. Raj an Hound are Spec Ops with Jazz. They and Jazz are gonna be the lead team that’s gonna get our lil bee back when we figure out ‘xactly where he is.” He said, getting a soft grin and wave from the green off-roader. The human grinned back at him, and Mirage quirked his lip plates as he was gently jabbed by his green cohort. Hide snickered softly, and rolled his optics. “They work well together cause they’ve been bonded for so long. You’ll see ‘em pester eachother a’lot, but steer clear if someone else tries. Hound is territorial.” He said, earning a kick to the chair. Prowl shot Hound a look, who outright laughed unapologetically.  

Jazz chirped something, and Raj hesitated before he launched into a long stream of warble clicks. Soon after he finished there was a low sounding thump at the door. Everyone looked up and the door opened once more. Sideswipe was holding two large boxes, stacked full of datapads. “Uh, there was two boxes. Also there was three laying on the desk, and I didn’t know if you’d want them too. They’re on top of the top box, laying sideways.” He adjusted his grip slightly, beaming over the boxes. “Great! Good work Sides!” Jazz chirped out, tilting his head once more as his visor glowed.

“Where would ya like em?” The racer asked, glancing at the messy table. “Don’t wanna set em on something important.” Prowl’s wings flicked, and he gestured between him and Jazz. The latter was already on his feet, taking one from the speedster to sort through. “Thank you Sideswipe. Your help is greatly appreciated. If I may ask though, why did you bring the three pads from the desk as well?” Optimus chimed in, folding his hands on the desk politely.

“Well…the mech that raised me always taught me to be thorough.” He said slowly, biting his glossa slightly. “I figured if he was sorting stuff by at the desks, those might be reports or something that haven’t been sorted yet. So…Maybe they were important? ‘Sides, I don’t think he liked me bein’ in his room, so it never hurts to try to make the most of the trip.”

Mirage’s gaze bored through him. “You hesitated before you answered.” Sideswipe shifted away from the intimidating racer. “Yeah. I don’t particularly like the mech that brought me up. I usually call him…uh…things that aren’t suited for ‘decent company’, to steal some of Strongarm’s words.” Sideswipes cheeks flushed slightly, glancing at the Prime in the room. Jazz, Ironhide and Hound burst out laughing as Prowl broke a tiny grin. “Ohhhh, he wanted to call him a vrr-ch-chr-zzt!” Optimus gave Jazz an absolutely shocked look, but Prowl had smacked him upside the helm with a datapad before the Prime could get a word out. Russell laughed as the Polyhexian pouted dramatically. Sideswipe barely held back a grin as he tried not to laugh.

“Oh, that’s still being too kind for that pile of slag.” Optimus nodded, and tried to ignore his whining third. “I assume is not spark of your spark then, due to your wording?” Sideswipe shook his head, grimacing lightly. “Pit no. I was abandoned a bitlet, and he just so happened to have found me. He took us in, but I honestly don’t know why. He obviously hated sparklings.” Sides said, shrugging dismissively. Optimus nodded, but continued to stare. “I … don’t mean to pry, but you said us.” Sideswipe stiffened slightly, before shifting his weight. “I…did, didn’t I?” All the eyes around the room were locked on him, and even Russell glanced up at him. “Care to define ‘us’?” Hound asked, giving the speedster an empty, polite smile. Sideswipe hesitated before obviously caving and answering. “I meant ‘us’ as in my brother and I.”

“I didn’t know you had a brother. I didn’t even know you could HAVE brothers!” Sideswipe blinked, before staring at the human for a second after his outburst. “It hasn’t come up.” Sideswipe gave Russell an attempt at a sheepish smile, but his nervousness obviously flopped the action to an anxious grin. 

Optimus stared at the speedster for a long moment, before looking the young mech over. “Sideswipe?” Blue eyes immediately snapped up, his smile remaining, but loosing much of its focus as he responded to his name. “What type of brother is he?” Sideswipe stared for a second, and reset his optics as he processed the question. His stance immediately became far less confident, and far, far more nervous. “Um…my older brother.” He replied weakly. Optimus nodded slowly, before looking him over as if he were a bomb on an Energon cargo-hauler. “Sideswipe, I must assure you we don’t judge in this room. You cannot help how you developed.” Sideswipe was obviously anxious, and Russell was looking in the room with a growing concern. Sideswipe cleared his intake slightly, before averting his gaze to the floor. “He’s my twin sir.” Russell looked to sideswipe in surprise. “You have a twin?! That’s so cool!” The boy perked up immediately after the sentence, his grin growing exponentially. Sideswipe just gaped at the child in bewildered surprise. Mirage however, folded his hands on the table, and did his best to burn a hole in the metal with his gaze. Hound quietly placed a hand over his bonded’s while he worked through his surprise.

“…cool?” Sideswipes voice was tiny, but Russell didn’t seem to notice. “Yeah! I bet you’ve had so much fun with him! There’s a pair of twins in my class that like to switch outfits during recess to prank the teacher. It’s always hilarious when she finally realizes!” Russell laughed, and Sideswipe had to lean against the wall for a moment. “I have never in my life heard anyone call being a Twin…cool.” Mirage said, doing a poor job of hiding the distaste in his tone. Optimus gave him a hard glare. Prowl however, beat him to the question he was going to ask. “I’m going to assume it’s not simply a frame twin.”

Sideswipe took quite a few seconds to answer. “You’d be correct sir. He’s…my split spark twin. He’s older than me by only two kilks.” This time, it was Ironhide’s time to be surprised. “Two kilks? That’s it?!” He turned to the red mech who was leaning heavily on the wall, seeming to hope that it would swallow him whole. Optimus immediately perked up however, and cut into the conversation. “Russell… You did not know he had a brother.”

Russell looked over to the semi, and nodded. “How long has he been with you?” The young boy blinked a few times, before looking at the ceiling while thinking. “Um…about two years?”  He said, before nodding. It seemed right. Optimus stared directly at the human child. “Has he always been excitable or hyper?” Russell snorted. “Well yeah. He’s always running around or dancing.” Russell tilted his head. “Why?”

Prowl tilted his head, and Jazz’s visor lit up. “How long does a vorn translate to in Earth years?” Sideswipe was visibly nervous now, shifting his arms behind his back and clasping them together, his servos digging into his polish. “…bout 87 earth years.” Ironhide tuned to face the speedster fully. “…Sides, When was the last time ya saw yer bro?”

Sideswipe shifted again. “Last week. We talked when I had an off patrol. Everyone was asleep, so I used the console for a bit.” He barely managed to hold the older mech’s gaze. “I meant face to face an ya knew it.” Prowl’s pose was prim and proper, but his door wings suddenly hiked up high. “Um… like…”Sideswipe started, but jumped when the door banged open. Half the mechs in the room jumped as Ratchet barged in at top speed, followed by a rather winded First Aid, holding a shaken Denny and half dragging a glassy-eyed Strongarm.

“Optimus, we have a problem.” Ratchet put his hands on the table by his bonded, who was giving him the most cowed look. First Aid set Denny on the table beside his son, and hesitated when he realized how close to the corner the speedster was standing. Sideswipe expertly deflected it with a grin. Strongarm leaned against the wall beside Sideswipe, before sliding down onto her aft. Sideswipe gave her a half panicked look. “Uh…Strong? You alright?” He asked, kneeling down and putting a hand on her shoulder. “No. She aint. She’s in shock, and she’s workin through it.” The mech in the room suddenly had something new to keep their attention for a few seconds. “And why is she in shock?" Prowl asked, his wings fluttering.
            Ratchet sat in the empty chair beside Optimus. “We were talking in the medbay, and we realized something important. Bumblebee is their lieutenant.” The white mech said, looking around the room at the blank faces. “They were jumped back in time about ten thousand vorns.”  He added again, and sighed when he was met with more blank faces. “How could a fifteen thousand year old mech possibly become a military lieutenant?” Ratchet growled out angrily, and every mech went still. 

“Aw hell no.” Jazz said, sitting up. “Aint no way. Maybe they misread the label.” Ratchet shook his head. “We’ve done some math. Bee is a classing police officer in ten thousand vorns. Any idea how that could happen? How he could possibly have the processor for that feat?” Optimus went as pale as he possibly could. “Oh no.” He looked at his bonded with a desperate face. “Don’t tell me what I think you’re gonna tell me.”

Everyone else just gave Ratchet confused stares, and was met with an exasperated sigh. “We all know Bee is ahead developmentally. Way ahead. And it’s no wonder, considering his carrier’s spark is that of an outlier. But that alone couldn’t possibly put bee so far ahead. However, we’ve been blessed with something that could.” The medic triggered the door locks, frightening a few mech in the room as the soundproof barriers slid into place. “It would be extremely helpful if he spent a vorn snuggled up to the most powerful source of knowledge our kind as.” Ironhide leaned forward on the desk to give Ratchet a surprised, and increasingly horrified look. “Oh primus. The Matrix of Leadership!” He whispered, and Prowl’s wings hit an all-time high. “Ratchet…are you sayin that little bee is a Prime?” Hound asked, and both Denny and Russell looked up in surprise.

“Actually…that would make a lot of sense.” Mirage said, nodding slowly. “He is the first child ever born to an active Prime, so it shouldn’t be so surprising that he would be also born a Prime.  If he wasn’t, the matrix would have terminated him along with every other sparkling a Prime as conceived.” He added, looking to his lover. “Exactly. And to make it worse, we already have evidence of his prime hood.” Ratchet, stood up, beginning to pace around behind Optimus. The semi leaned forwards, and placed his helm in his hands. “Oh scrap, the nightmares.”

Ironhide stiffened. “Oh slag, if those were visions…” the weapons expert shuddered, and Ratchet covered his face with his hands.  Jazz stayed mysteriously quiet as the panic grew in the room. Several more minutes of shell shocked debating later, Jazz snapped his fingers sharply as he inhaled shakily. “Sorry to be mean newbies, but you gotta go. We’ve got a confirmed location, and it aint pretty. Shockwave’s got baby bee.”

The mention of the name, and the look on Jazz’ face was more than enough for Sideswipe to quickly grab the humans and haul Strongarm out by her upper arm. The trip to the habsuites corridor was a painfully quiet one. As soon as they were in the room, Sideswipe leaned over and let Denny and Russell jump down onto Strongarm’s berth. He then carefully steered the shivering femme to his own berth, coaxing her to lay down. She took a few shuffling steps forward, before her processor simply couldn’t handle the strain and she collapsed into stasis.

Sideswipe managed to catch her, and use her momentum to get her onto the berth to reset. As soon as she was laying down, he covered his face with his hands and stepped back, bumping against the opposite berth and sliding to the floor. He rested his hands on his knees and focused on his shaky breathing for a moment.  Denny was the one brave enough to break the silence. “I assume…Shockwave isn’t a good guy.”

Sideswipe just shook his head silently, keeping his helm on his knees. Russell peeked over the edge of the berth, and hesitantly asked “Are you…okay?” Sideswipe shook his head again, and forced himself to stand. “Guys… I need…a minute. Or ten. I’ll be back.” The speedster retreated to the door before the humans could get a word out, and they exchanged a worried look as the auto lock closed the berth room door behind him. Sideswipe went to the far end of the room, sitting himself in the nook between the Vidscreen and the wall. He returned his helm to his knees, and took deep, shuddering breaths as his spark pulsed in his chest. Everything in him was screaming to RUN, but he knew he couldn’t. Sideswipe tried to calm down, and let his mind drift to what his twin would do when they were younger.

Within the room, Denny looked to his son.  And boy, did he have some questions.

Chapter Text

It took more than ten minutes for Sideswipe to collect himself. He glanced back at the door to the humans, before taking a shuddering breath. He stood and went back in the room, startling the father and son duo at his abrupt entry. “Sorry about that guys.” He said, sitting beside them on the berth. Denny looked up to Sideswipe quietly, before looking to Russell and nodding. “Go ahead and ask Russell. I already know what’s comin.” The speedster said, giving the two humans a weak grin.

Russell nodded slightly to himself, and readjusted to make himself more comfortable. “Who’s Shockwave?” He asked, staring up at the red mech expectantly. Said speedster stared at him in absolute shock for a solid five seconds before his eyes went wide. “Okay, I didn’t know what’s comin.” He said, leaning back against the wall. Denny laughed, readjusting to lean on the mech’s knee.  Russell grinned too, before it quickly fell. “Well, I just so happened to be staring at you when Jazz said the name. For just a second, you looked absolutely terrified.  I mean, you openly taunt Thunderhoof on a regular basis. What’s the deal with this guy?” Sideswipe shifted nervously before clenching and unclenching his fists.

“Shockwave is…a scientist.  He’s well known for experimenting on other mecha, and is one of the most terrifying mecha to ever swear loyalty to Megatron.” Sideswipe looked to Strongarm for half a second, before exhaling hard. “I know… a little more about him than I probably should. He’s the mech that took in my brother and I when we were little. The only reason he did it is because split sparks are very, very rare in Cybertronian people, and he wanted to see how we ticked.  We lived with that monster for almost sixty thousand vorns before we got a chance to escape.” Denny absently rubbed the speedster’s knee as he talked. “Once we were out, we realized really quickly that we weren’t…normal. Processor wise. I’m sure you’ve noticed, but I’m very…jittery?” He said with a questioning tone, obviously looking for the word he wanted. “You get the point. I’m like that because of things he…did. He wanted to see how much stress he could put on a frame before the spark started having- …complications. I went through a whole slew of physical testing, and most of the time I had to guess why. My brother…he got the mental side. He’s not…” Sideswipe’s plating flattened as far as it could go, and Russell gave his dad a concerned look.

“He’s not okay, is he?” Denny said, patting the Red knee before him. Sideswipe just shook his head. “He’s in a maximum security prison for murder. Would have hit the death penalty if he didn’t get the insanity label. I’ve tried to get him out, to make an appeal, but they just started chasing me too, claiming I was involved. That’s what I was doing when I met Bee and Strong. I thought for sure they would turn me in, and then I’d never see my brother again.” Denny furrowed his brows, but questioned him a second later. “If you two are rare spark types, wouldn’t they have to put you together?”

Sideswipe burst out laughing, taking almost an entire minute to calm the hysterical sound. “Pit no! LEGALLY they’re supposed to. If we’re apart too long, our sparks begin to lose their synch, and we’ll die. However, most mech would want that. Split-spark twins aren’t necessarily wanted by most carriers.” He watched as Denny balked. “How the hell could you not love your child?!” The older male was obviously disturbed, and it took Sideswipe a second to realize it wasn’t sarcasm.

“I-… We…” He leaned forward, and put his elbows on his knees to let his hands dangle free. “Split-Spark twins are seen as evil by every religion on Cybertron. We’re a single spark, which got cleaved in half whenever we went to be separated from our carrier’s spark. My brother and I were even rarer, splitting while still in development. It’s the only reason I haven’t died yet from prolonged separation, because we had that extra time to get used to being separate. We still should be together, but we handle being apart way better than everyone else. But the religious ‘lore’ states-“He got a dirty frown on his face, obviously far too used to hearing this particular story. “- That split-spark twins were once the perfect being, but they had snuffed Primus by letting Unicron into their spark. When they died, and became reborn again, Primus punishes them by taking what was once perfect and cleaving it in two, forcing them to spend their lives in pain for their previous sin. My brother and I are even worse, because we weren’t even ‘graced with the full development time’, because we split about a quartex before separation. Most mech take that as a sign our ‘Sins’ are far worse than those of any other twins. To a normal mech, we’re the worst of the worst. Sadly, Sunny’s mental problems don’t help our case at all. He’s super aggressive, and Primus forfend if you touch his paint. He’s got a complex about it.”

Russell and Denny were giving him horrified looks. “That explains why you were being so dodgy in the room…” Russell softly gripped the large pinky of the mech, watching him give a sad smile. “I’m honestly shocked that blue guy-Mirage, didn’t shoot me on the spot. He looked like he wanted to.”  The racer said dismissively, Causing Denny’s hair to stand on end. “This is normal for you. People trying to kill you, being shut down because of how you were born… how you were raised.” Denny muttered quietly, before standing with a determined look.

Sideswipe gave him a surprised look as the human climbed up his chasis, to put his arms around his neck. “Well, you’ve always got a home with me and Russell. And when we get back, I’ll see if I can find a way to get you to see Sunny, without letting too many details loose. And no matter what anyone- bot OR human- says, you’re NOT EVIL. You’re not bad because of how you were born.” Denny pulled back to stare into Sideswipe’s shocked faceplates. “And I’m absolutely certain, that no matter what the reason was that caused your brother killed that mech, he isn’t bad either.”

Sideswipe stared at the human for a long moment, before pulling him close with one hand, he shook lightly, his ventilations catching in a very recognizable manner. The speedster put his free elbow on his knee and covered his optics, trying his best to bring his ventilations under control. Denny just patted his helm, muttering in a fatherly tone. “It’s okay. You let it out. I don’t know if Cybertronians cry, but this feels like a cry, and that’s okay. You do that.” He said, and Russell set his head on the knee before him silently. They stayed like that for quite some time, before Sideswipe finally managed to get his internal temperature under control.

“Thank you Denny…I-“Denny shook his head and held the fingers around his waist. “It’s okay. I get it. You don’t need to explain it to me at all.” The Cybertronian nodded, taking a shuddering ventilation before lifting the older and setting him down on the berth. “I think I need to go talk to command staff. If they’re super lucky, they might be able to get in the hole Sunny and I got out of. I don’t know if Shockwave ever found it or not, but if it’s still there it leads them almost straight to his lab. And I would put good money on that being where he has Bee.” Sideswipe clenched his fists to hide the shaking. “You guys stay here. If I’m not back in an hour, they probably killed me for my information, or threw me in whatever jail they have for safe keeping. If that happens, explain everything to Strongarm. Just make sure she’s sitting when you tell her, unless you want a femme-shaped dent in the floor.” Russell shook his head, reaching for the mech as he stood.

“Hey, Sides, no! Don’t get yourself killed!” His voice shook with the sudden fear, and Sideswipe dismissed it with a shaky grin. “I owe my life right now to Bee. I’m considering it as paying it forwards.” He said, before exiting the room to both humans yelling at him. He took a deep breath as he stepped out into the hall, exhaling shakily as he pushed off and made his way back to the conference room. He knocked hesitantly, not even bothering to smile as the door wooshed open.

All the eyes in the room drilled into him as he took a deep breath. “Guys, we need to talk. I might have some useful info for rescuing Bee.” Optimus straightened, and Ratchet gave him a surprised look, before gesturing to an open chair. Sideswipe pulled it away from the table, before sitting in the most non-threatening way he knew how. Then, he swallowed hard and told them his story.

Chapter Text

            Jazz stalked the streets silently, Mirage and Hound following close by…somewhere. He pressed himself into an alley as a security drone hovered past, before peeking around the corner once more. He looked left and right, before bolting across the street as fast as his legs could carry him, and disappeared into a hole in the wall. He didn’t stop moving for even a second, climbing pipes and stray bits of concrete like it was his birthright. He eventually came to rest on a pretty wide ledge, remaining alert until both his cohorts joined him. They nodded to each other, before Jazz carefully pressed on the panel on the wall.

Which slowly opened, silent as a dormouse. Jazz glanced back to Mirage, who seemed mildly impressed.  The former noble tipped his head concedingly. Jazz nodded in acceptance, and slipped through the crack he had made. The room he had found himself in was surprisingly dusty, the lights obviously on energy saving mode. Hound and Mirage followed their leader, closing the makeshift door as the three activated their stealth mods before venturing any further. They lied in wait until a cleaning drone flitted through the doors, taking the opportunity to escape further into the labs they had invaded. It was a fairly easy trek to find the new ‘main’ lab, and their Sparks sent a powerful pulse at what they saw.

            Their tiny Bumblebee was laid out on a table, with his arms out to the side and his legs at a natural angle. He was held down by a series of weighted straps, spanning around his throat, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles. Any untouched piece of plating had been flayed open, exposing the inner working of his arms, legs, and chest.  His fuel pump sat in a medical swing beside his frame, lying low enough not to stress the tubing and kill its owner. Any loose plating was pinned open with little pins, the tops of which were painted a tank-rolling shade of yellow- a match to his lively plating.

            Jazz stared in horror as he carefully circled the tiny frame, freezing dead in his tracks when he realized the small mech’s helm had been opened as well, and there were various wires feeding into his cortex.  He refrained from touching the small bitlet-and by the pits did he want to-while he carefully looking over each major component as they sat in various open containers near the body. Everything Bee was made of was laid open for display, and the little mech was conscious. He was staring up at the ceiling with a glassy look, his organs pulsing in time with his spark as he took deep, shaky breaths. He tried to jump as the door swooshed open again, permitting a familiar purple figure entrance. Behind him stalked a much larger grey one, who hesitated at the door. Jazz and his team found spots near the wall to watch.

            “By the pits, you really looked him over.” Megatron stated, approaching the tiny frame slowly. Bee tensed up, but to Jazz’s immense pride he didn’t cry out. “Of course I did, Lord Megatron. You had asked me to find useful data under any means possible. Sadly, all the effort was for naught. He truly knew nothing of any importance whatsoever. They had made it a point to not speak of it around him.” That voice dripped of emotionless indifference, and he watched is master step into the view of the child on the table. “Now now, look at you. Conscious are we?”

            Shockwave merely stared at his master. “He was never unconscious sir. I thought he might be willing to give info as I proceeded with my examination, but he had nothing to give. I have however, collected much data on sparkling frames.”  Megatron froze for a moment before regarding his scientist. “Don’t you think that is a little extreme? He is a sparkling after all.” The gladiator looked towards the tiny mech on the table, who was staring at him in absolute fear. They held each others gaze for a long moment.  “Put him back together as much as you feel is necessary. Get him in functioning order. I will borrow your console and see if the Autobots have any data they are willing to trade for his life. I wouldn’t invest too much effort however, they might already consider him a lost cause.”

            Shockwave nodded respectively as his master passed, before approaching the tiny child. He stroked his trembling jaw with a thumb, before turning to work. “It is a shame really. Your screams have really brought life to this lab I call a dwelling. Perhaps, later in your life, we could meet again. It would be interesting to see how you grow.”

            It was a long joor as the Autobots watched their little light get pieced back together, and it grew harder and harder to sit as they heard his quiet cries. “Hush now little one. You don’t want me to shock you again, do you?” Bee just shuttered his optics hard and did his best to suppress the noise. He failed once or twice, and the mech in hiding had to hold each other back as the bitlet screamed with each following shock. After a perceived eternity, the mech had finished putting the organs back in their proper place. He removed each pin-one by one- and set them in a jar beside Bee’s head.  Jazz could see how much he purple mech enjoyed dropping them in, one by one. And by Primus did he want to slug him.

Up and down his frame, from each leg and arm they came, and the flaps of dying plating were tacked together with two or three spot welds to hold them shut- Good enough for transport, but not enough to waste precious material on something the Autobots would undoubtedly fix themselves. “It is such a shame I was forbidden from tampering with your processor. It would have been quite interesting seeing how that mind of yours developed.”

            The welds were finished, and Megatron stormed through the doors. “They’re ‘thinking’ about what information they wish to trade.  I gave them two joors before I demand an answer.” The warlord growled, looking over the now reassembled sparkling on the table. “It’s a shame, that his life must be weighed against that of data. Such a bright spark, potentially wasted by the carelessness of an Autobot army. You were born to the wrong side, little one. Please remember this moment as you grow. That  your own carrier had to debate about the worth of your life.” Megatron looked him over once more, before gesturing for shockwave to follow. “That is, If the Autobots deem you worthy to continue enjoying the right to your life. Shockwave, let’s take our Energon, and you can tell me what your research has found.” Shockwave nodded, before his antennae perked up slightly. “Of course, my lord.”

            Jazz crept closer as soon as the door closed. He carefully set a servo on top of the bitlet’s own, causing the little one to jump. “Hey, is aiite.” He whispered, working at the strap around Bee’s throat. Mirage and Hound began to unlatch his arm and feet. “We’re here ta get cha out bitlet. Op has missed the slag outta ya.” Bee just stared with open eyes at the empty space the mech’s voice drifted from. His head lolled back towards the ceiling, and Mirage gave him a concerned look. Once the unstrapping was complete, Jazz slipped his arms under the unusually stagnant sparkling and lifted-looking down in concern as the little one tensed with a sharp cry. Mirage took a horrified intake, and Jazz looked down.

            Only to find a massive, Energon covered spike in the center of the table. Their optics widened as they looked to Bumblebee’s back, stalling in horror as they saw the ethereal pale gold light of his spark. “Oh Slag!” Jazz yelled, and Mirage masterfully grabbed some unused cleaning cloths and stuffed the wound.  Hound had already hacked the door, and the trio were bolting down the hall at top speed. They did their best to keep their disruptors on high, effectively covering the quaking sparkling in Jazz’s arms.

            About halfway down the main corridor, the alarms began to blare. Bumblebee continued to shake silently, the tremors the only sign the paling bitlet was still online. They barely managed to hack the door to the spacebridge as they saw Megatron round the hallway, his deadly red glare looking for whatever could have caused the alarm to trip. The three mech hoped he didn’t see the door close, but took no chances. They uploaded the coordinates to the bridge as fast as they possibly could, standing on the ramp as the bright flash signaled the bridge’s activation. The last thing they saw before dashing through was Megatron’s enraged visage as the door opened.

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Strongarm bolted towards the conference room, holding the Clays close as she made impressive headway. Any mecha she passed stepped to the side in surprise, calling out various warnings as she sprinted passed them at full speed. She finally reached the room, pounding on the door as her servos trembled. “Don’t hurt him, please!” She cried through the door, which finally opened before her. She almost fainted when she saw Sideswipe sitting in a chair. Ratchet appeared in her field of vision, taking the humans and passing them to Ironhide. “Hey, it’s alright. Deep breaths femme. No one’s gonna hurt him.” The medic said reassuringly, and Prowl’s doorwings twitched.

First Aid quickly pushed a chair behind her, helping Ratchet get her situated in the chair as she shook “By Primus- I thought- He isn’t-“ Her vents hiccupped at this point, and Sideswipe let his field lap over hers reassuringly. “Sorry Strong. I didn’t mean to freak you out. I’m kind of under chair arrest right now. No comms or anything allowed.” The femme looked over to the racer with the most exhausted look. “I don’t mean this to be offensive, but I will be SO happy when this is over.” She said, putting her head in her hands. Ratchet chuckled lightly, rubbing her back. Ironhide carefully set the two humans on the table before shaking his head. Everyone jumped as an incoming call lit up the screen.

“He said TWO joors.” Prowl growled, before accepting the call. Jazz’s face lit up the screen, and he was obviously running. “Ratch, get the bay ready! Bee’s chamber is compromised!” He outright shouted, and it became apparent that Mirage was running alongside him with the camera. “I’m not stoppin’ for slag, so ya’ll haveta tell Red I’m comin! That vrr-ch-chick-zzt-kerr-brrrrrrrt-“ Mirage cut the obvious curses off with a sharp “Focus Jazz!”-“ Fu’kin’ slag-eatin’ ment’ly twist’d slagger booby-trapped the table! Bab’ Bee took a spike right ta tha back!” A tiny flash of dim yellow appeared on the bottom of screen, but disappeared quickly. “And fer the love of frag hurry! Ahm loosin’ ‘em!”

The video cut there, but the sudden flurry of movement was just as abrupt. Every mech in the room bolted for the door, and Prowl had the decency to scoop up the humans on the way out. The trip down to the med bay was fast, and Ratchet was certain his spark chilled a few degrees as Jazz rounded the corner with his sparkling.

He was limp in his savior’s arms. Greying plating hung open obscenely as the running motions had broken open the useless tack welds, and Jazz’s hands were the only things keeping his internals from spilling everywhere. He turned sharply into the bay as Ratchet barely coughed out ‘two!’. Optimus outright fell to his knees, and Prowl’s doorwings dipped so low disappeared from view. Ironhide however, kept running, tailing the two medics and the lone spec op agent. Mirage and hound leaned against the walls, their fans screaming in exertion as they looked at the horrified faces of the humans. This time, it was Sideswipe that fainted, and Strongarm barely managed to catch the red mech.

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            It was several joors before any word was heard from the surgery room. It had taken Sideswipe a long time to reboot, but when he had he suggested everyone move into the main medbay. Dumbfounded nods were his only agreement as the silent group moved to sit on the various berths. This was how the mechs and humans were found when Jazz and Ironhide were evicted from the Operating room. Every pair of optics was on the Energon stained pair.

            “He’s gon live. They’s riggin up a containment chamber now, so we’s rather us’less.” Ironhide muttered, almost like he was frightened to speak at full volume. The sound of various airlock brakes releasing filled the air, and Denny fell back onto the berth with a ‘thank god’. Russell laid his head on his dad’s chest as Ironhide and Jazz moved to their respective lovers.

            Optimus pulled the old warrior close, tucking him close as they both took shuddering breaths to calm themselves. Jazz simply crawled into Prowl’s lap, resting his chin on his exaggerated bumper. This action was met with soft strokes to the Polyhexian’s sagging doorwings. Thanks to the silence, it was easy to hear Ironhide talking to his bonded. “-But slag, he’s so torn up. He cut him open like a turbofox in a preliminary class, and he doesn’t show any signs of druggin’ or nuthin. We’ve never been so lucky yer his carrier. ‘f his spark wasn’ so strong, we wouldda…” Optimus tightened his grip on the muzzled fighter, rubbing his back soothingly.

“But he didn’t. He’s still alive, and he’s safe thanks to everyone’s Intel and actions. He’s going to grow to be strong, beautiful, and absolutely brilliant, and if Primus is merciful, he will someday forget this ever happened. But for now, he will need us more than ever.” The semi muttered back, letting the stout mech curl closer into him. “Besides, his sire is the best medic to ever grace Cybertron. Ratchet will not let our child die.” He pressed a soft kiss to the other’s faux hawk.

            Denny carefully sat up and looked around at the couples in the room, noting how closely they all sat- or in two cases, how they outright pressed against one another. Mirage and Hound had actually fallen asleep, and were recharging in the floor beside the berth nearest to the door. Prowl had taken to curling around Jazz in a surprising display of flexibility on both parts, and had offlined his battle computer during their long wait. The cuddles that followed had surprisingly not earned any teasing from the semi in the berth beside him, but Denny doubted he had noticed. The semi had spent the entire time either pacing, or sitting in the edge of the berth with his head in his servos.

Sideswipe, surprisingly, was laying down with his head in Strongarm’s lap, her right hand resting over his spark as her left softly stroked his helm. Russell looked them over with mild surprise. Strongarm had not taken the news that Sideswipe was a split-spark twin very well. There had been a long denial, and a few panicked accusations before the gravity of the situation sent the femme into an outright panic. After she had accepted the facts, she had grabbed the earthlings and fled to the room prepared to volley for the speedster’s life. Denny looked over just as Sideswipe slightly leaned his helm into the stroking touches. The pair were obviously talking via their comms, but the humans didn’t mind. They had a lot to talk about anyway.

And so they continued to wait, and the medbay stayed frighteningly quiet as they did.

Chapter Text

Bee laughed when he finally rounded the corner of the shelving. He had slept in rather late, but Grim’s warm frame beside him was more than incentive for the young bot to take an extra joor of rest for himself. However, while he was asleep, apparently a competition of some sorts had erupted, leading to the ex-scout discovering a…erm…beautiful rendition of Martin Garrix & Bebe Rexha’s ‘In The Name of Love’. Lennox was currently belting it into the clamp of a welder, while Jetstorm and Slipstream cheered encouragingly.

The humans were curled up on the ground in laughter, and Fixit took up the complementary lyric as the singable part of the pre-chorus rolled around. Drift nodded quietly from his claimed corner of the scrapyard, having given up meditating when the song battle broke out. He stayed where he was, watching the older Colonel break out his best dance moves for the younger cadets. Said Colonel eventually noticed the grinning yellow bot and immediately dropped the welder’s clasp.

The laughter around the scrapyard was deafening, and Bee couldn’t help but join in.  “Well, THAT was certainly something to wake up to!” He snickered, and Lennox threw a handful of dust at him. “Frag off beepy!” He groaned out, laughing again as Bee gave him a horribly affronted look. “’Scuse me, I’m passed that!” He grinned at the Colonel, before dropping to lie on his stomach.  Playfully, one of the cadets whipped out her phone to record a video of what was undoubtedly about to be a funny moment.

“Ugh, you’s always beepy to me.” Bee let his helm drop slightly as he laughed.  “Who’s a good beepy? Is it you?” Lennox crooned, before Bee lit up mischievously. All of a sudden, Bruno Mars’ ‘What I Like’ came blasting out of his speakers- “-is it me? Say it’s us, and I’ll agreeeee baby~!” Lennox burst out laughing, waving his hands to get bee to stop, but the Camaro didn’t. He turned up the volume, doing a really cheesy dance with his hands as he started to sing along. “Jump in the Cadillac, Girl, let’s put some miles on it! Anything you want, just to put a smile on it~!” He crooned out, and Will had to sit in order to put his head on his knees.

Jetstorm was absolutely dying with laughter, and Slipstream was doing his best to keep in under wraps. A loud grumble echoed as Grimlock barked out a laugh, seeming to have come in at the perfect moment. Bee busted up laughing as well, and the music played on as Grim came over to sit beside the snickering scout, who deemed it proper to shift the focus to the green mech. “Gold jewelry shining so bright~ Strawberry Champagne on Ice~!  Lucky for you that’s what I like, that’s what I like~ Lucky for you that’s what I like, that’s what I like~” Grimlock laughed out loud, thumping the scout on the back. Bee couldn’t seem to hold it back anymore and cut his speakers, curling up on his side to laugh it out with Lennox.

Grimlock grinned as he rubbed between the wings. “Do I got some competition?” Bee laughed harder at the sentence, and Will absolutely fell over while shaking his head. “Christ no! I’m not fighting you over beepy!” Bee gave him an exasperated look, before pushing himself up with a few remaining giggles. “Geez Will, break my spark.” He said with a grin, leaning against Grimlock affectionately. The larger mech smiled down at Bee, the look innocently intimidating with the rows of jagged dentae reflecting back at the happy scout. “Well, I’d fight for ya Bee!”

The scout went absolutely blue in the face as the comment caused an uproar of laughs and coos. Especially from the girls. Marie giggled and leaned against Anna, who did her best to keep the camera steady. “They’re so cute, I’m gonna die!” She squealed out, finally getting Anna to bust up laughing and cut the footage as Grim nuzzled Bee’s helm.

“Ohkaaayy, how about we get back to work?” He squeaked out, absolutely failing to circulate the coolant to his face. Grins were found all around as they all jumped back into the work, determined to make headway to get the missing members of the group home.

Chapter Text

            Denny started as he woke, blearily trying to remember when he had fallen asleep. He looked down to Russell, who was still curled up beside him. He grinned softly, smoothing his hand over the smaller’s dark brown hair. He then looked up, scanning the room to see what had changed during his unexpected nap. Mostly, nothing had changed. Strongarm and Sideswipe had decided to join their human counterparts at some point, and were snoozing on the same berth they had been occupying earlier. Strongarm, however, had fallen over at some point, and Denny chuckled as he wondered how embarrassed Sideswipe would be when he finally woke. Mirage and Hound were gone, and the older human assumed they had retired to their own beds after they had woke.

            Optimus, however, was missing entirely, and Ironhide could be seen in the window to Bee’s operating room. He would definitely put money on Optimus joining his husbands- what was that word? Bondage? BONDED, right- in the room with their child. Denny relaxed once more, pulling his own son closer subconsciously. He found himself staring at the wall between him and Bumblebee blankly, too tired to think, but his fatherly instincts wouldn’t let him fall back asleep. He sighed heavily and looked towards the ceiling, letting his fingers run through Russell’s hair. He shuddered lightly, staring down at the boy beside him. His throat tightened as he remembered Bee’s limp frame in Jazz’s arms.

He had looked like he had been mauled, and Denny could feel his blood chilling again as he thought of Russell in that situation, and of him having his throat torn out and rendered mute, of being shot and blown apart, and Denny found himself staring at the door once more. Bee’s will to live had to be one hell of a thing to make it through injuries like that and keep going.  All of that, and he was still younger than Russell.

            “Copper for your thoughts?” A strange voice echoed from behind him, and Denny looked back at the slim mech in the doorway. He couldn’t help the small grin that broke free at the attempt of a human reference. “The saying is ‘Penny for your thoughts’, but extremely close!” The invading bot giggled lightly, bowing at the waist with a flamboyant touch. “Close enough! But truly, I doubt that wall did much to you. It’s rather stationary.”  He said, quietly coming to sit at the foot of the bed. Denny was once again surprised by the silence and gentleness of the Cybertronian race.

            “I just was thinking of Bumblebee.” He said, glancing back at the wall. First Aid simply set his hands in his lap, relaxing slightly as he settled in to listen to the troubles of this small organic.  “I’ve had it explained that right now, he would be compared to a 5 year old on Earth, and he’s currently being stitched up after someone decided to use him for a science experiment. I also know some of the things that’s gonna happen to him. I know how beaten up he gets by this war, and you would never, EVER guess he had things like… like this happen to him!” Denny’s voice grew more and more distressed, and he took a deep breath as he returned to stroking his son’s hair.

            “Right now, our Bee, would be around Russell’s age. Russell’s biggest concern is football games, and Bee’s had-“ Denny forced himself to stop. First Aid cast his gaze to the floor, before venting softly. “I can understand. As a creator, you’re worried for him. You have that instinct to protect your young, and it’s difficult to learn exactly how hard someone you’re close to has had it. Am I correct?” Denny nodded, and kept his gaze downwards. “I think what bothers me the most is how…calm he is. He rarely talks about the war, yet he gets along with Grim so well. Christ, If I was regularly hanging out with someone who supported people that could do…that…to a child.” Denny shuddered, clenching a fist around the berth padding beneath him.

            First Aid considered what he said before he spoke. “Bumblebee has never been… normal. He’s always been exceptional with dealing with things, and he adapts at a rate I have never seen before in my life- and I’m a member of a combiner gestalt. It doesn’t get any more adaptive than five separate mechs becoming one gigantic mech. At the same time though, he’s…” First Aid rolled his wrist, obviously searching for the words he wanted. “Bumblebee doesn’t exactly…” He sighed heavily before looking at the human beside him. First aid gave him a tired, flat look. Denny readjusted, but respectfully stayed quiet so the mech could speak. After a moment, the Protectobot sighed again in frustration.

            “As I’m certain you realized earlier, Bumblebee is very unique. Even for a Cybertronian.  The Matrix of Leadership, the artifact that all Prime’s carry, is very powerful. That about of sheer power can be…damaging… to a spark. That’s why Primes are so treasured. The sheer energy that the Matrix emits frequently kills those who try to wield it, because even the strongest type of spark we produce could still buckle under the influx. This being said, a Newspark is extremely delicate. It was widely believed that Primes become Sterile after accepting the Matrix.” First Aid cast a soft look towards the operating room.  “No prime has ever carried a Newspark to term, and the longest recorded gestation before Bee’s was only a quartex. And yet, Bumblebee had virtually no complications. He was a healthy, happy Newspark that survived being carried by a Prime. He is the first and only sparkling to ever succeed that feat. Most sparklings his age are still learning to walk, Yet Bee can speak fairly fluently, walk, run, and has even started his basic education.  He’s mentally the equivalent of a fifteen to twenty thousand vorn old youngling, not that of a five thousand vorn old Newspark. We have always glanced at the matrix whenever he did something abnormal, then dismissed it.” First Aid leaned back onto his hands.

            “Primus, he’s already a frame ahead as well. He’s physically developing far, far faster than he should, but he’s showing no advanced development in his spark. His spark actually grows at a slightly slower rate than usual, and he runs a little hot for a spark his age, but overall he’s exactly where a five thousand vorn old should be. It makes no medical sense why he is developing like he is.” First Aid laughed quietly as Denny gave a sympathetic shrug. “It does cause concern for his future though. If his body keeps pushing him, it could severely impair the rest of his life. For instance, IF he continues his pace, he could reach his sexual maturity at eighty thousand. Maybe even fifty. For translation, that would be like… a fully legal adult at fifteen or sixteen.  Our reproductive systems are the last thing to develop in our frames.” Denny’s eyes widened as he leaned against the wall. “Christ that’s young. Why is that a problem though? Would it shorten his life span?”

            First Aid nodded with slight hesitance. “Logically it could, but not by much. It is no different than any other slow burning sparks. Where his problem lies is with his mentality, and now with his spark casing itself. Bee has always pushed himself. Especially when he feels like he needs to get something done. It’s an awful trait he learned from both of his sparkline creators, and his primary benefactor.“ First Aid gave him a playful look, before hesitating at Denny’s blank look. “That probably doesn’t make sense if you don’t know how sparklings are made. I’ll explain that in a little bit.”

            “But anyway, Optimus, Ratchet, and Ironhide are all very hard workers, who will frequently dismiss their own needs if they believe someone needs it more. Naturally, Bee is learning that habit himself. I pity whomever bonds with him, Primus knows he’s going to be a handful.” Denny laughed aloud, shaking his head. “You have NO Idea. He’s currently…uh…dating a bot, and because I know what’s coming, no, they’re not sexually active.” He grinned at the mech, who’d armor had already begun to fluff before he continued. “He’s CONSTANTLY being reminded to take his Energon or sleep, or even just take ten seconds to breathe. He’s definitely a worker Bee, and is a good Leader.  However, if you have any advice on how to get him to stop for a bit, feel free to share it. Sides and Strong over there always tease him about it.”

            First Aid glanced at the two sleeping mecha on the berth beside him before continuing with a playful glint. “Usually we guilt trip them. Do so mercilessly, and they usually get embarrassed enough to submit. If that doesn’t work, just let him do his thing. There’s no stopping him.” Both smiled and nodded in cahoots before Denny brought the conversation back. “To continue though, you said he could have problems with his spark?” First Aid put his hands up as he remembered the conversation. “Right, right! The problems will stir from the fact that Shockwave rigged the table to kill him if he was removed. Thankfully Jazz had lifted him rather quickly, or he would have died instantly. But, the spike on the table did have enough time to puncture the spark’s chamber- A dense crystal that protects our sparks. Due to his age, his was still developing, and the loss of what little structure he had means he needed a replacement chamber. Thankfully, we do have the technology to make containment chambers. Wheeljack and Perceptor did a remarkable job getting one together so quickly. He will survive his injury, but he has to begin rebuilding that chamber again from scratch. Because of the way these develop, he will probably have that containment chamber installed until well past his majority. The problem is that this is machinery, and any kind of crack or leak will kill him. So he will need to have his spark watched very closely, and make sure he doesn’t miss too many meals or stress himself too much.”

            Denny nodded, making a mental note to tell Grimlock later. “His boyfriend will surely have an absolute ball with an actual excuse to pamper Bee.” He found his grin widening as First Aid laughed. “Oh no doubt! I don’t personally think he will have too many problems though. His spark is remarkably strong due to the fact that Bumblebee was born in resonance to the Matrix. By Legal standards, I suppose been a Prime since before his separation, so the strength of his spark is not the question. As we realized recently as well, even without current possession, the Matrix still holds a strong grasp on little bee. He should live a long, happy life.”

            Denny’s eyes lit up, and he subconsciously leant forwards. “That reminds me, in the conference room, someone-I forget who- mentioned something about visions. What did they mean?” First Aid lolled his head to the side as he obviously grasped at straws. “Well…This is going to be vague, and I apologize. I don’t know too much myself about this. Primes will often have special…abilities. Optimus, for instance, has an uncanny ability to hold mech’s attentions. Even just walking down the hall, mech’s are drawn to stare- or even follow in some instances. Vector Sigma, a prime from long ago, gave his spark to Cybertron because it was so powerful, it had the possibility to create life at a scale never seen before after the Matrix had been removed. Micronus Prime, supposedly, could both levitate and see the future in very controlled bursts. Little Bee has notorious bad dreams, but with frightening detail. He has had dreams of warzones, but has never visited one in his entire lifecycle. We were convinced they were spurred by the stories he had heard from other soldiers, but with the information you and the others gave us earlier…It could prove true that he is a visionary Prime as well. If he is though…The future has many more distressing moments before it is done with us.” He pulled his plating in close, shaking his helm. Denny had to take a second to force his question out. “What…kind of dreams does he have?” First Aid gave him a pitiful look before answering.

             “The one that recurs the most is the dream of the crowd: He is kneeling on some stage, bound at the servo and pedes. All around him are Decepticons, cheering and yelling for some kind of Energon to be spilled. Megatron is beside him, grasping the back of his neck and holding his helm up as they listen to the audience. After a moment or two, he commands silence from the crowd, and lifts Bee up by his throat. He has actually drawn pictures- again, with frightening detail- of Megatron’s hand coming towards him. The dream always ends with ‘more pain than he could ever feel’, to use his own words. For his sake, I hope they are nothing more than dreams.” First Aid sighed heavily, before looking over to his human companion- who was pale as first snow, gaping at him with wide eyes. After a moment of silent mutual staring, First Aid felt his spark grow cold with fear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Ironhide sat at the edge of the bed, carefully holding the tiny, freshly-welded servo. Optimus was in a light recharge in the chair, but was bent forwards to rest his helm next to that of their sparkling. Ratchet was silent in the other chair, watching the various monitors. Ironhide sent a gentle pulse of love through his bond, and Ratchet easily sent one back.

=It’s okay Ratch. We got him back. He’s gonna live thanks to you. The grizzled red mech stood silently, before moving forwards and slipping his arms around his bonded’s shoulders. Ratchet leaned back into the embrace, not taking his optics off the screen.

=We still don’t know how they got in. It took Three Cycles to get him back. If it wasn’t for Astrotrain’s arrogant aft, who knows what would have happened to him. How long it would have taken… Ratchet took a shuddering vent, before Ironhide tilted his helm towards him to claim a kiss.

=It’s okay Ratch. Astrotrain is an arrogant aft, and we did get him back. Physically, he’s okay. An when he wakes up, we’re all gonna be here to protect him and help him whatever happened in his helm.

            Ratchet softly caressed the warrior’s face with a servo, letting the EM field of his lover wash over him for a few nanokilks. Optimus however, decided that moment was ideal to begin his boot up cycle, and both mech looked towards their younger lover as his optics flickered online.  He stared at his sparkling for a long moment before leaning up and pressing a soft kiss to golden plating.  Ratchet and Ironhide both pulsed their affections, finally obtaining the young prime’s attention.

=How long was I in recharge? The semi looked back down to the bitlet on the berth, softly tracing the welds on his chest plate.

=About 9 Joors. He hasn’t moved or shown any kind of consciousness, but the anesthetic should have worn off a joor ago. I don’t see any cause for concern though. He’s been through so much, and is probably just as exhausted as you were. Ratchet’s voice rang as tired over the bond, and Optimus gave him a soft smile. =As we all are. Perhaps you should rest as well? 

             Ratchet scoffed, but playfully lashed him through the bond. Optimus slipped his servo over that of Bee’s. He rested his helm against his sparkling’s, listening to his soft intakes for several moments with shuddered optics. Ratchet shifted in his chair, and Optimus began to lean up to check on the sire of his sparkling- Who was curled into their third’s chest, quietly shaking. Optimus gave them a silent pulse of love once more, before looking down at his child once more.

Whom was staring directly at him. He opened his mouth to call for Ratchet- but a tiny hand squeezed his own as his bond with his bitlet lit up. =Carrier, I saw what happened.

Optimus softly stroked his helm, giving him a sad look. =Ratchet can wipe the memory if it was too disturbing.

=That’s not what I meant.

Optimus’ look grew more concerned. =What do you mean then, my little light?

=I knew what would happen before the caught me. The dream of the blue room, it was all there. The one-opticed mech with the yellow pins. His name is Shockwave. Everything he did, I knew what was coming. I knew how he’d make each cut, and I knew how much it would hurt when he did. The dream was right carrier. Ultramarine optics bored into the Sapphire ones above him, and Optimus felt his spark clench.

=That…I see. He shuddered his optics, before he rested their fore helms together again. He felt Bee begin to shiver. All he could do is squeeze his child closer, as he reached for his lovers at the core of his spark.  

Chapter Text

Grimlock smiled down at Bumblebee as he slept, pulling the limp frame closer as the youngling softly 'chrrrr'ed in recharge. The dinobot had slid his legs beneath the younger's knees earlier, and was now contently curled around the resting mech. He traced a claw along bee's jaw, pressed a kiss against his temple with a happy purr. He let that servo slide down, carefully rubbing his back as he let his eyes drift around the open part of their nest to check for anything dangerous. Seeing nothing of any hazard to the mech in his arms, he contently set his chin down on his shoulder strut, allowing his helm to lean against Bee's neck cables as he began to power down as well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lennox stayed quiet as Grimlock surveyed the area around the exposed portion of the nest, staying silent after the bot's helm has disappeared beneath the side. He couldn't help but think if the nest before him would be similar to those an actual T-Rexes used to make, and wondered if they were as... elaborate, as this one.

Denny had quite a large scrapyard, and not every part was used frequently. Actually, about half the yard was unusable scrap that was slowly sold off for either parts or just their weight in metal. Being the gracious host he was, he had offered the bots free run of the 'useless' portion of the yard, and each of the team had formed their own little 'room'. Grimlock's room was the farthest from any other, and rested back in the 'industrial section'- where racks upon racks of heavy metal sit to rust. Broken down refrigerators, engine parts, spare metal slats, car frames and other junk sat as silent testimony to years of salvage work. To be simple, it was all the heavy metal stuff Denny didn't want to fall on Russell, and big enough to survive Grimlock's accidental denting.

The dino had lined the fence with the solid pieces, and made a small little nook at the very back corner of the 'room'. In that little nook is where he made the nest. It's just a bunch of useless shredded fabrics and rubber, such as old bedding, a LOT of popped tire rubber, worn out hoses, shredded pillows, tarps, pretty much anything 'soft' by cybertronian standards all painstakingly tucked, folded, and weaved in with small bits of broken steel to hold the structure up. In a feat of impressive balance and foresight, the dino had also used the open edge of a shelf, a rather large piece of aluminum, and a mangled car frame leaning against the massive fence to create walls and a roof for the nest. The effort into this single little nest was massive, and far more than Will ever would have put past the Dino he had come to know.

He slowly crept forward, using years of experience to stay utterly silent as he approached the edge of the nest. He was almost too short to look over the edge, but luck was on his side today. His stealth was rewarded with the sight of an unconsious Bumblebee curled up on his side, his legs dangling over larger green ones as his wings lay stretched out behind him. Grim's left arm blanketed the lieutenant's side, his wrist resting in the soft dip of Bee's waist as his servo rested against the small of his back. His other arm pillowed Bee's head, and curved around to rest between his doorwings-supporting the suspended one. The green mech's helm was the most surprising to Lennox, as it was pressed into the nook of Bee's neck, obviously breathing hot exvents against the cabling. 'Christ, that must be some crush to let him huff all over his neck like that...' The human thought, pulling out his phone and double checking that it was on both the 'silent' and 'no flash' modes.

He quickly snapped a picture, grinning to himself as he made his retreat for the night. He couldn't help the sinful look of pride when he waved the phone in Fixit and Anna's faces. Then quickly retreated with a Cheshire smile as they demanded duplicates, for "Scientific Research". 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Awareness came early for the courting couple, Bee's coding forcing him awake just before daybreak. He took some time to actually move though, savoring the warmth of the large frame before him as the sun crept towards daybreak. He softly stoked the dino's sensory horns, smiling as the green mech kicked his foot repeatedly. Bumblebee softly kissed the crest of his helm while he caressed large shoulders. He was squeezed closer as Grim burrowed into his neck, before the younger mech felt his counterpart's frame stiffen in a stretch. 

Grim slowly released his tightened hold of the smaller mech, grinning lazily at Bumblebee. The yellow bot grinned back, softly patting Grimlock's cheek as he greeted the other. " Morning Grim. Slee-Mmph!" Bee stiffened as Grimlock kissed him suddenly, before slowly relaxing into the other. It was a languid kiss, and Grimlock found himself purring as a feather light touch caressed his cheek. He tilted his chin into it, using the angle to deepen it ever so slightly as Bumblebee gave a quiet moan and shuttered his optics. 

Grim felt Bee's other arm slide under his helm, and willingly let the other readjust to loom over him slightly as a green servo explored the expanse of Bee's back. Bee pushed on Grim's shoulder lightly, coaxing the distracted dinobot onto his back as said mech's servos lightly  massaged the base of Bee's doorwings. Those same doorwings fluttered excitedly as Bumblebee braced himself up on his elbows, expertly shifting his balance so his knees could rest on either side of Grimlock's hips.

Grim grinned into their kiss, drifting his hands down smooth sides to grasp golden thighs as he licked Bee's lower lip. Bee shuddered softly, pressing their lipplates together again without opening his mouth. Grim let a chuckle rumble in his chest before he squeezed the smaller's thighs, claws scraping slightly against the sensitive armor where his legs touched. Bee jolted slightly, gasping and beginning to move back to reprimand the bot before Grim lurched forwards, pressing his glossa in and earning an embarrassed squeak from the lietuenant. 

Grimlock pressed a servo between his doorwings, keeping him there as he coaxed Bee's tongue with his own. Thanking Primus for a quick processor, Bee shyly pushed back against Grim's glossa, shuddering as the taste of the elder exploded across his sensory network. Grim carefully pushed himself up into a sitting position, holding Bee close with one servo on his thigh, and one between his doorwings to keep the yellow mech where he was wanted. Bee slid his arms around Grimlock's neck, gratefully allowing the other to lead in the kiss. 

It wasn't too long before Grim's cooling fans clicked on, and Bumblebee pulled back from the kiss. Grimlock absently chased him, pulling him back for another kiss and earning a grateful noise from his team leader. Bee pressed their forehelms together, panting as he cracked his optics to give Grimlock an amused look. "A very good morning I take it."

Grimlock gave him a jagged grin before kissing his chin lightly, watching with half-shuttered optics as Bumblebee shuttered them fully again. He kissed up to his audial input, then nipped little at the joint of his helm and his neck. Bee's grip tightened with a shudder, his helm tipping back ever so slightly as Grimlock pressed hot kisses to his throat. He didn't put too much effort into pushing the dino away until he started growling quietly, then Bee used his pointer finger to angle the large helm upwards for a chaste kiss.

Grimlock let another happily possessive rumble echo in his chest. "Mornin' bee-autiful~" he purred, earning a quiet laugh from the mech on his lap. Grimlock pressed their helm crests together once more, both of them offlining their optics to savor the feeling of each other so close.

"So, that kiss was a bit more... interactive, than the others." Bee teased, nuzzling his nasal ridge against Grim's. Grim gave him a steamy grin as he gripped Bee's waist. "Yeah. Felt good too, didn't it." He purred, earning an emarassed laugh from the younger. "Yes, it did. As nice as it was though, you were starting to get revved up. We should probably keep that one in our little corner we have here." He lightly purred back, kissing grim's cheek as he leaned back, his servos trailing down the green expanse before him.

"Prolly. We probably shouldn't do it too often either. I could get carried away with that." Grimlock admitted, taking Bumblebee's servos in his own and kissing each of his knuckles. Bee just gave him a patient smile, before stealing another soft kiss from the T-Rex. "You won't hurt me Grimlock. I know it in my spark."

Chapter Text

 Denny was carefully scooped up by First Aid, who took a careful vent in as he turned towards the door. They had spent several minutes in silence, both trying to find the words they so desperately wanted to say but both finding themselves lacking. Eventually, Denny had barely choked out “Maybe we should talk to the big bots…” as the red and white bot nodded dumbly.

 They quietly knocked on the door to Bumblebee’s operating room so as not to wake the sleeping sparkling, but were surprised to see him fully awake and cradled in Optimus’ arms. Both were obviously comfortable, as Optimus had taken over the berth and Bumblebee was contently resting on his carrier’s chest plating. Ratchet nodded to his protégé, nodding to the open chair beside the berth. First Aid sat with a thankful flare of his EM field. Bumblebee smiled softly at the other medic, raising his fingers of his right servo up from his chest plate in a lazy wave.

Denny gave him a gentle smile, before looking over to the tired-looking medic and the Red warrior on the observation chairs that had been pushed to sit side-by-side. Ratchet’s helm was resting lazily on Ironhide’s shoulder, and the latter had slung him arm over the white chassis to hold him closer. Both looked mildly disturbed.

“So, what happened First Aid. You look like someone recommended you repaint into a dark green.” Ironhide teased, giving him a grin as the other medic gave him a horrified look. “Pit no, you cog!” He hissed, causing both Ratchet and Optimus to chuckle, and Bee to crack a small smile. Denny was the one to bring the topic back around. “Actually, I’ve decided to go behind Strongarm and Sideswipe’s backs on something, due to what First Aid has told me. I actually…well, I thought Bee would be asleep, but it’s up to him if he wants to hear what happens to him in the future.”

The three bonded mech shared a look, and ratchet sat upright. Bee hummed quietly for a moment as he considered what he wanted to say. “I think I already know. Can I guess?” Denny nodded, and Bee readjusted- with Optimus’ help- to face the human better. “I’ve always dreamed of six things. The first one was a dream of a surgery, and I’ve…um…Recently realized that it just happened. The second one is a dream where Megatron’s gonna hurt my neck really, really bad. The third one isn’t really specific, but I know this really tall, dark mech is going to mess with my head.  Those three show up at least two or three times each in an orbital cycle.  But there are three other ones that don’t make much sense, but show up a lot as well. I’ve had these maybe two times a vorn as long as I can remember.”

He smiled softly, and Optimus softly stroked along the welds on Bee’s chest. “The first is a green planet, with these bright blue pits of water. There are two things- People, as I can now assume- that are with me. One’s a younger male, and he always smiles really big when he sees me. The other is a female with really sharp eyes. She smiles at the boy the way the boy smiles at me. The second is about the same two I think, judging from the way the first made me feel. I’m just sitting on a cliffside on this really browney-red landscape, and there’s a lot of tall rock formations around me. I’m really sad, and this blue and pink femme just pats my servo as three smaller humans- around Russell’s size- all start yelling at me. They sound happy, and I now know that they’re yelling ‘bee’. The third was the first dream I really remember having, and it’s also the rarest one I have.”

Denny continued to listen with wide eyes, absolutely shocked by the accuracy of these “dreams” the little bot before him had been having. Bee either didn’t notice, or didn’t care as he finished. “The third is Cybertron. It’s all lit up and pretty, and I’m on some balcony of some sorts. I’m really happy, and I’m just watching the bots below me bustle around to wherever they need to be. Then, someone really big comes up and hugs me from behind, and quietly nuzzles the side of my helm with this really deep purr- it almost sounds like a growl, but it’s not. Whoever it is just stands there and watches with me, and we’re both just really happy about it. To be really truthful, I think that mech is going to be my Conjux.” Bee smiled and held Optimus’ hand while Ratchet and Ironhide gave him a soft grin of their own. Denny just leaned back against First-Aid numbly. Bee giggled at his reaction. “I guess I was right?”

Denny took a deep breath, and awkwardly patter First Aid’s servo. “The first big injury ever listed in our file is severe spark damage. I’m going to assume that’s from shockwave’s little table trick. The second is Megatron…He captures you while you’re on a mission. He tries to get you to submit to him in front of everyone. He-…He tore your throat out Bee. You were mute for years after that.” Optimus’ eyes widened, and he pulled Bee impossibly close. Ratchet and Ironhide’s plating immediately ruffled. The third one is…eerily spot on in it’s vagueness. Sometime after Megatron gets you, one of his officers- Soundwave- gets you again. He hacks you to try to get information, and he…he messed you up really bad. He made you your own worst enemy. Your file calls it an ‘unintentional result’, so I assume it’s something that wasn’t supposed to happen. The other three, I have no clue about. You- future you that is- has told us about previous team’s you’ve been with, so I’m assuming the humans are members of those teams. The ‘big mystery mech’ however, I’ve got a really good idea of. And THAT, I’m not going to spoil!” He grinned, watching the little bot give a playful groan.

“C’mon, tell meee! What’s your guess!” He giggled and kicked his feet lightly, making Optimus huff in exasperation at he took the effort to hold the injured bitlet still. Ratchet cut in with a sharp “Welds!”, and Bee settled into a giggle. Denny bit lit lip, before he leaned back so the other medic couldn’t see the phone screen clearly. “First Aid, don’t peek. Tell me if this sounds familiar, okay?” He asked, pulling up a video and covering the screen with his hand. He turned the volume all the way up, and everyone quietly listened to the audio that was being played.

A sharp yelp played as a chorus of laughter broke free, and there was a sharp clang of something small being smacked.

“H-hey! Keep the servos off the wings!”  An almost familiar voice chided, and everyone glanced to the grinning little one in Optimus’s lap.

His eyes widened as a playful growl permeated the air, and his feet kicked excitedly.

“Make me little mech.” Bee heard himself laugh, and some shuffling followed.

“Oh, big bot here. Think you can take me down?”

“I don’t know about that, but I can definitely embarrass you!” A loud roar echoed from the tiny phone, as well as the sounds of sharp blows and equally sharp squeaks of embarrassment.  The video cut as Russel yelled “Bite him Bee! See how he likes it!” while laughing near-hysterically.

            Denny put his phone away, and Bee was smiling bright enough to re-ignite a sun. “That’s him!” He outright cheered, squeezing Optimus’ hand to the point the semi had to rescue his servo from the surprising grip. Denny laughed and tilted his head from side to side as he thought, then replayed the video, watching it closely from beneath the cover of his hand.  “Well, my filming skills are pretty shoddy, so you can’t really see who it is. How about I just let you have a copy of the footage?” He asked, almost regretting it as the sparkling almost jumped from his carrier’s arms. First Aid affectionately rubbed the human’s back and pulled a datapad from his subspace pocket.  “You should be able to upload it via the wireless network. I’ll get it set up for you.” He said, easily operating the pad with one hand. “Thanks. I half think Bee’s gonna blow something if I don’t give him the video fast!” He snickered, looking through the Bluetooth setting to find the correct channel. One quick upload later, and Aid tossed the pad to Optimus. Bee almost caught it before the semi.

They all grinned as they heard the video boot up once more, and played at a much lower volume as Bee smiled at the screen. “He’s green Optimus! And he looks like he’s our size!” He chirped out, settling back with a wide grin. Denny couldn’t help but smile in return, watching as Bee leaned in to listen closer. Optimus rubbed between his sensory horns once more, smiling down at his bitlet before casting Denny a thankful look. The human was more than a little surprised when he got a text from an unknown number right afterwards.

“I apologize for hacking your personal device, but I don’t want Bumblebee to know I’m talking to you about this. Thank you for giving him the video. Of all of his dreams, that one is the one he cherishes the most. The one on the balcony of Iacon with his bonded has been almost the only current in his short life, and he clings to it with an intensity I have never seen in a mech before. That single little video means that possibility of the future is real, and the hope it gives him is something no one will ever take from him.”

Denny flushed lightly as he glanced up to the gaiety sparkling, who was playing the video on repeat. He hesitated before sending his response.

“I’ve already told you a lot, so it’s kind of all in now I suppose. A lot of mech don’t like the bot who’s courting Bee at my point in his life, because the green bot is a former Decepticon. They met because the prison ship he was on crashed, and Bee’s team is the one capturing all the criminals. His stasis pod was broken, and Bee decided he wasn’t actually a threat like the other Decepticons. He just broke things because he’s a big, clumsy goof. Bee…he trusts Grim though. They even share the little nest he made Bee as a courtship gift, and they recharge together every night. But Grimlock is his name, and I’m telling you however bad he acts right now he’s going to change for the better. If you want proof of that later, I’ll show you when Bee isn’t around. I’m telling you this because you’re not around when Bee makes the decision to accept Grim’s courtship, and he had a really long argument with himself before he did. You’re opinion means a lot to him, and maybe even more than you could even guess.

Optimus outright froze as he read Denny’s reply, and slowly turned to bore his optics into Denny’s very soul.

I appreciate your honesty. If you truly do not mind, I would very interested in seeing those videos later. As of right now, Grimlock is a truly terrifying Decepticon warrior. He and his Dinobot brothers are well known for eating mech alive on the battlefield. As much as my maternal instincts tell me to hide Bumblebee far away from that mech, I would be hypocritical of my own cause if I did not offer him the chance to redeem himself. Recorded proof would certainly put my mid at ease.

Denny nodded, and everyone quietly watched Bumblebee as he downloaded the video into his processor.

Chapter Text

Will put the last bag in the car, and turned to watch his team give hugs to the bots they had come to know. They were running out of time for an 'acceptable scouting mission', and finally had to pull out before the higher ups got suspicious. Anna and Marie gave Fixit a crushing hug, before squealing as Jetstorm and Slipstream deployed to create a human-minibot dog pile. Drift didn't even scold his students, quietly standing with the absolute tiniest of grins as they said their goodbyes. Will quietly stepped over to Bumblebee, tapping his knee before nodding to the less-noisy corner. Bee gave him a quiet grin, scooping the human up and stepping just behind the shelving to gain some privacy.

"Sup Will?" Bee asked, grinning as the remaining humans completed the dogpile.  Will chuckled as he spied through the shelving, but turned back to the mech before him. "Not much. Just wanted to have a minute with you, since everything's been so busy. I know this is gonna sound corny, but I'm a dad and you're gonna hear it." He gave the chuckling mech a stern finger-wagging, before cracking a grin himself. 

"You're doing good here Bee. You've got a good group of bots-even if the youngin's never listen, but that's all of em- but you've got the same spark as Optimus. I can see it in your eyes mech. Just keep pressin on, and you will do good in your life. Okay?" He gently patted Bee's wrist, smiling wider as one of his fingers pressed against his back. "And speakin of later in life! Relationship talk!" 

Bee went blue in the face as he got a mildly horrified look. "Now, when two people love each other veeery much-"  Bee burst out laughing, trying to push his pointer finger over Will's mouth. "By Primus I know about interfacing!" The mech 'definately did not' squeak out, his wings fluttering embarrassedly as Lennox hugged the invading digit close. 

"I know, I'm teasin! But as a dad, and seeing how 'Hide ain't here to ream ya, I'm gonna take a stand. Grim seems really nice, but I've seen things go bad with good mech before. You've got a good head on your shoulders, and I know you're gonna use it. But, I know how you get. There are three really good pieces of advice I've heard for a relationship like yours." Will sat and crossed his legs, holding up one finger to the embarrassed lieutenant before him to begin the count.  

"One: Don't feel guilty if you don't want to do something. Two: If Grim asks if you're up to something or if it might interest you, please remember you have every right to say no. Three and three-point-five: You aren't a bad boyfriend if you don't want to, and don't ever let him pressure him into doing anything. I can probably think of more numbers if you need me to." Will gave Bumblebee a very pointed look, and the younger mech grinned patiently.

Lennox took to subconsciously rubbing Bee's finger with his thumb as he continued. "I honestly hope you never have to worry about those kind of problems, but it's always good to hear it from someone else. You know?" Will squeezed the fingers tightly, watching Bee's grin turn soft and he nodded in both understanding and acceptance. Will grinned and nodded back, before holding up a second finger. 

"As a flip though, don't hesitate to mention things to him. Communication is honestly what makes a relationship work, and if you are curious or interested in something, bring it up man! If you're not sure how to word it, just drop it on him. When you dress things up, that's where the problems start." Bee blinked in surprise, then tilted his head as he listened closely.

"If you think something DID get misinterpreted, or if something did upset you, don't let it get to where it's a fight. That's the advice that's been getting me through my marriage. Once the screaming starts, there's no progress to be made. Tell him you need a bit, then go for a walk, eat your lunch, wax your paint, whatever you do to calm down. Then go talk once you've got your head on straight. Try to see where he's coming from. If it ever gets really bad and you need to get away, you're ALWAYS welcome in my home. I've got a ranch now, so I can hide you for a bit if you need some air. Fuck the government, you've never lost your home with me bitlet." Will reached out and patted Bumblebee's cheek, who closed his eyes for a moment before answering.

"Thanks Will. I'll definitely keep that advice in mind, and I appreciate you'd still let me anywhere near you. I really do." His voice got quiet, and he brought Will up to his helm to press them together. Will smiled as he bumped his forehead against Bee's, patting his cheek with his hand. "Bee, I've never stopped letting you near me. I may not have been there physically, but I'll never forget how close we were. You all helped me raise Annabelle as much as you let me help raise you. No stupid suit is ever gonna take those memories away." Bee laughed and hung his head quietly, and Will stroked his helm gently. "Take care of yourself for me. I want to see you happy and healthy next time we meet, not in a mess of tears after you let guilt push you past your boundaries."

Bumblebee gave him a blinding smile. "I promise you, I'll take care of myself. We've already had several talks about boundaries and what I'm not willing, or even physically able to do, and he's really understanding after he completely comprehends what I'm trying to say. He always asks a ton of questions as well, and will tell me where he's at with his thought process so I'm certain he understands completely. If you don't mind the TMI, want me to go through our agreements? You might be able to give me some new feedback on it." He shifted his balance, trying his best to keep the flush from his faceplates. Will just nodded with a smile, and Bee carefully sat on the ground. 

"Well, the number one rule we have is no surprises. If we want to try something, it can't be 'in the moment'. We have to sit and talk it out in detail, THEN, if we think it'll work, we can try it more spontaneously. We've agreed not to do anything really...uh...intimate in public, so no one could use our relationship against us. No hard-line as of right now, no interfacing until I'm cleared by Ratch, no damage deeper than the plating, and no tip-toeing around problems." Will's brows shot up as he gave a soft frown in surprise, before nodding slowly once more. Suddenly, he started to chuckle.

"I'm beginning to feel like a bobble head with all the nodding I'm doing." He muttered, and Bee barely managed to hold back a laugh. "Gonna dress in drag and do the hula?" The mech asked, and Will immediately failed his attempt at keeping quiet. He took quite some time to calm down, and Will eventually leant back against Bumblebee's fingers.

"Oh my god, I wasn't expecting that. I was wondering where my lion king disk went. Anyway, got a question or two about your 'rules'. First up, Why no hardline?" Bee canted his head before grinning. "That's actually a good question! That's something I was insisting for his safety. I don't want him to feel like I'm coercing him with code by using some kind of underhanded spec-ops tactic to change his mind on something, and I don't want him accidently springing some self-preservation coding and getting his firewalls shredded. Ops code never has been nice to deal with, and I could really do some damage to his systems if he triggers the wrong line."

Will gave a surprised look, before giving a noise of approval. "That's...actually super smart. Makes hacking you a hell of a lot harder. So, what about the 'deeper than plating' damage comment? We getting into pain play little bee?" Will gave the servo he was sitting on a sharp kick with his heel- never enough to actually hurt the mech though.

The mortified look was more than reward.

"Um, not right now. That rule is because of his claws. It kind of falls into two places?" The yellow mech seemed confused for a moment, but got it settled in his helm. "Part of it is the 'nothing to hold against us' rule, because if he claws half my plating off when we get to- uhm...heavy petting, it would be kind of obvious." He ducked his helm lightly, his flush returning.

Will gave him a wolfish grin, and Bee fluffed his plating as he continued. "It also is because I don't really like being severely damaged? Like, injuries hurt. I'm open to trying new things, but I've had enough organ damage. Then there's also the side note we're currently hunting Decepticons. It would be slightly more difficult if I was constantly covered in welds." Will gave a conceding shrug. 

"Yeaaaah, several good points there. Just wanted to make sure you weren't being roughed up. But you keep mentioning that you don't want things to be used against you. What do you mean?" Bee shifted so he rested his weight fully on the shelving behind him.

"Well, I might be a Lieutenant for the enforcers, but by military and social standards, I still hold some serious rank. At the end of the road, I'm still Pupu's, and I'm still in consideration for the matrix. I just don't want Grimlock's opinions discounted because he is with me, and I don't want people to discount my opinions as influenced by him."

Will gave him a blank look, before gesturing one finger in a circle in an unspoken 'continue'. Bee gave him an empathetic grin.

"As sweet as he is, Grimlock is still a former Decepticon. I know several Autobots that would ignore me completely and argue that I was compromised just from a friendly contact with him. You should have seen the scandal caused by my friendship with Knock Out." Bee rolled his optics, and Will gave him a sympathetic look.

"But, on that same flip side, some mech will completely ignore his personal ideas and argue that I fed them to him, or told him what to say. Then there's the political aspect of it. Someone could use that relationship as the base of some serious blackmail, or a full on campaign against us. Honestly though, I'm less concerned about that. Both Grimmy and I are pretty well settled mech, so we can usually brush off the negative stuff pretty easy. I would still kind of like to stay out of the limelight for a little bit." That particular threat was dismissed with lazy shrug.

Will sighed with a mildly annoyed facial expression. "Yeah...I could feel that. Especially with your creators being some political heavy hitters. Anything you do is gonna be watched, so you've gotta take some extra precautions. I can understand where you'd wanna be careful." Will leaned back onto his palms, frowning lightly. "Kind of sucks though. Even when you're on your own, you still have to worry about shit like that."

Bee snorted in a half-amused agreement. "Yeah. Last thing I need is for someone to try to undercut Grimlock, or discredit me and use my personal life to do it.  I have enough to worry about with the professional side." The off-hand remark was punctuated with a groan, and Bee readjusted his back against the shelving. "I honestly think the risk is worth the reward though. Yeah, the age gap is extreme-even by Cybertronian standards- but I do... love him." Bee flushed blue as Will leaned his head on to his now-folded hands with a delighted grin.

"He's good to me, he doesn't try to use me in any way, and he... He understands I fought in a war. He knows exactly what it's like to wake up and immediately check for someone with a gun. He understands when I hear a bang, sometimes it takes me a bit to calm back down. Sometimes need to walk it off. He..." Bee sighed in annoyance as he struggled with the words. "He knows what it's like to be a soldier, and he knows that that was my entire life. He's willing to work with me on the things I can't forget, but he still wants me to move on and become something other than the Primal Designate, even if that one is under wraps a little bit."  

Will patted Bumblebee's palm with his hand gently. "It'll work out Bee. I'm sure as hell not saying it'll be easy, but if you give it the chance, it will smooth over in the end. " Both looked up as a green snoot poked past the racks, and Grimlock transformed with a wide smile. "Found ya! Am I busting up a serious moment?"

Will gave a theatrical sigh, and Bee patted the ground next to him. Grim happily took the invitation as it was meant. "Good timing actually! We were just talking about you big guy!" Grimlock perked up like a deiseldog being offered a treat. "Ohhhhh, bout what?"

Bee groaned and leaned against the larger, covering his face with his free hand as Lennox 'casually' stretched. "Oh you know, how if I ever find out you're abusing him, you won't survive till the next sundown!" He chirped happily, before his expression got dark and serious. 

Grim just blinked in surprise before belting out a surprised laugh. "Will, trust me. If I ever tried to force Bee to do something he didn't want to do, I'd eat the dirt before I could finish the sentence." Bee gave him a horrified look as he cut in with "I won't hurt you!"

He was immediately given flat looks from his cohorts, but Will put it to words first. "If you don't hit him for forcing you into anything, I'm hitting both of you with my Jeep. Same to you big guy! Don't let him pull a smart one on ya." Will gave them both sharp looks, but Grimlock just let that wide smile return. "Bee won't hurt me. He's too good for that." Bee just made an absolutely embarassed sound as Grim pulled him into a crushing hug. 

Will out right laughed as the green mech snuggled into the smaller, eventually coaxing the lietuenant into turning to rest his back against him. Grimlock happily thumped his chin onto Bee's shoulder as a possessive servo circled his waist. 

"How much work we got left on the bridge?" Grim asked, softly stroking Bee's abdomen with a thumb. "It's physically done. I want to make sure the coding looks correct before we fire it up though. I don't want to wind up in the wrong century." Bee gently booped Grim's snoot, and the larger purred contently for a moment. 

Suddenly though, the purring stopped. "Wait a sec, you're not going back in time." Grim said, rearing up with a surprisingly stern face. Bee just gave him a confused look. "Of course I am. Who else is going to go? Drift was far too prominent in the Decepticon rank to ever hold a cover, Jetstorm, Slipstream, and Fixit have no military background-" 

"And you are the only one who knows how to read space bridge long code stuff!" Grim cut him off, giving the other a frown that borderlined on a pout. Will just bit his lip to keep from laughing as Bee's processor screeched to a halt. 

Christ, he could almost HEAR the gears grind to a halt as Grimlock continued to serve up some common sense.

"I haven't changed my plating since early in the war, same colors and everything! All I have to do is figure out if they're with the bots or the cons. If they're with bots, I can have some medic check my coding. I know Strongarm would have everything registered and set up already, and they should be able to vouch for me really quick. If they're with the cons I just have to paint green over my bot symbol thingie. Then I can just walk in and get them! I'm totally the best choice for this!"

Bee started several times as he scrambled for something to counteract his argument, but eventually his wings flicked back against Grimlock's chest. "I honestly didn't even think of that...this is why I love you Grim." He muttered, grinning as the other mech beamed. He squeaked as Grimlock surged forwards, stealing a kiss from the outsmarted mech.

Will clapped his hands with a laugh, hopping down as Bee softly stroked the other's cheek. The kiss broke quickly (...ish, and Bee was certain Will would never let him live it down), and Bee set his helm against Grim's shoulder with a happily dazed sigh. The colonel was grinning so wide his face might split. A sharp beep got all of their attentions though. "Well, fuck. Looks like it's go time." Will said, and stepped up with his arms open.  "One for the road. Both of ya!" 

Grimlock gave him a confused look, but Bee just lifted the human with a laugh to pull him against their faces. Grim laughed and caught on quickly, hugging the human between him and his lover gently. "Be good you two. Keep being adorable. I'll find a way to fill everyone in for ya." Will said, closing his eyes to savor the hug for a few seconds. He pulled back, patting their armor with one hand each. 

Bee stood and Grim followed as they stepped back into the main scrapyard. "I'm glad I got to meet everyone. Tell Denny and Russell they're more than welcome at my house for me, okay? Hopefully next time I'll actually get to talk to them!" The man laughed out, earning an amused wing-waggle. He had to jump the last foot after Grimlock pinched one of the shiny doorwings, prompting a very embarrassed Bee to turn on him. 

A few coos and cheers later, an even more embarrassed Bee was trapped in another hug. Drift just shook his head and chuckled.  

"You should know better than that leave a Dinobot unsupervised behind your door wings. This happens far too frequently." The older mech teased as a flustered Bee finally freed himself from Grim's tight hug. 

"I can't help it, they're so wiggly!" The green mech beamed, and Bee just gave him an exasperated look as he took a few steps to the side. "Can't even put Will down without being hugged." He muttered, crossing his arms over his chest plate, and looking the opposite direction of Grimlock. His pout just so happened to land on the jeep- directly on Anna, who yet again had her phone out. His faceplates had a bright blue tinge as he realized he was being recorded once more.  "You and that slagging camera! Give it!" 

Anna squealed and jumped into the back of the jeep, and Marie eagerly dove in after her to 'run interference'. Will shook his head and called for everyone to pile in. With a few final goodbyes and enthusiastic waves, the humans departed, and the Bots went on with their preparations for Grimlock's time jump.

Chapter Text

Bumblebee scrolled through the coding one last time as Grimlock double-checked the nest. Why? Bee couldn't guess. Grim was very protective of their nest, and Bumblebee had given up on understanding why months ago. He downloaded the coordinates onto a data pad, and stepped away from the command console to give them to Grim. He snickered as he rounded the corner to see Grimlock- in dino mode- rolling around on the nest like an overgrown dog.

"What are you doing Grim?" Bee crossed his arms and laughed, and Grimlock froze his rolling to loll a massive tongue out the side of his maw. "Made the nest. It's soft again. Had to make it smell like us though, so come help." Bee doubled over slightly as he belted out another laugh, before stepped up to lie beside his love for a moment. Grim pulled him close and Bee caressed his lower jaw in return. "Everything's prepped and ready. I have the codes for you whenever you're ready to warp back. It's set for three days from now, so you should have plenty of time to find them." Bee scratched under Grim's chin, and the dino pressed his helm into the affectionate servo.  

Bee smiled as Grim's helm pushed even more, and the lieutenant willingly readjusted onto his back so the massive dino could cuddle onto his chest. Grim sighed happily, pressing his audial above Bee's spark to listen for a long moment. He gripped Bumblebee's hips with the smaller hands of his Dino form, kicking a leg underneath Bee's and pulling him all sorts of close to savor the feel of the younger. Bee kissed right between the break in his golden crest, settling his arms around Grim's neck and down beside his spine. "You're gonna take care of yourself, right?"  

Grim purred, squeezing Bee a little tighter. "Course I will Bee. I gotta come back to you after all." Bee smiled, laying his helm down on their nest. They spent another long moment in silence, Bee's optics eventually powering down and allowing his field to mingle with that of the loudly purring dino. Bee traced the joint of Grim's shoulder, nuzzling the top of his helm once more. "Got a game plan, or are you winging it?"

Grim snorted a laugh, shifting his helm to look up at Bee. He thumped his helm back down on Bee's chest, but maintained eye contact. "Well...I'm gonna go through the bridge, I'm gonna find everyone, and I miiiight punch someone... Depending on how it goes." Grim gave him a fanged grin, and Bee burst out laughing. "Well, if it's a bad guy, punch them extra hard for me." Grim's tail thumped so hard it shook the nest. "I can do that!"

Bee giggled as Grimlock pressed his chest against Bee's middle to half-crawl up the smaller mech. Bee huffed exasperatedly, but allowed the dino to cover him near completely. "Comfortable?" Bee didn't get a response, but Grim snuffled his throat happily. Grim growled lightly as he licked up Bee's throat, causing the younger to shrill in surprise and squirm. Grim purred loudly, and Bee whined out a few chirping notes. Grim finally rolled off the smaller, and gracefully accepted the smack to the tummy that followed. Bee sat up and groaned as he removed a rag from his subspace, wiping down the drool that the massive tongue had left. "Fraggin gross Grim. Slimin' me!" Grim allowed the tongue to roll out the side of his mouth once more, and Bee did his best to pinch it before it disappeared back into the toothy mouth. Bee smiled back, setting his servo back down onto his knee.

Grim transformed and pulled Bee into a hug, squeezing him tight for a long moment. "Stay safe while I'm gone, Bee." Bumblebee trilled in surprise while the sudden mountain of mech moved. He quickly recovered, easily sliding his arms around Grimlock's neck. "I will. I've kept myself alive this long, and I don't plan on dying anytime soon." Bee pressed their fore helms together briefly, then Grimlock pulled him to his feet. "We should get goin. I'll never leave our nest if we don't." He muttered the last part under his breath, but Bumblebee heard it. He just smiled, rubbing the small of Grim's back as they stepped back into the main part of the scrapyard. 

Everyone had gathered to send Grimlock off, and the mini bots all mobbed him in a unified hug- all squealing as he picked the three up in one massive hug. Grimlock spun them around, and Drift eventually stepped up to free his students and Fixit. Grimlock reluctantly let them go, but everyone present burst out laughing as he caught the samurai in a hug of his own. He heaved the orange mech upwards and gave him a massive smile as the mech squirmed as best he could.  Everyone stared at Bumblebee quietly, but he just stepped up to the control panel to turn on the bridge. 

The bridge started to whirr as he stepped up to Grimlock, handing him the data pad with the return coordinates and smiling at him softly. "Be safe Grim. I'll see you in three days." Grim nodded, subspacing the data pad and staring at him for a long moment as he shifted his balance from pede to pede. Fixit gave them an exasperated look as Jetstorm contemplated shoving the two mech together. Bee beat them to the punch though, and he surged forwards-kissing Grim fully and slipping his arms around the Green Mech's neck. Jetstorm and Slipstream let out a happy ' Whoop!', and Fixit cooed happily as Grimlock slipped his arms around Bee's waist, holding him close incase the younger tried to escape too early.

The 'FOOSH' of the bridge thankfully covered the noise of sadness Bumblebee made as he reluctantly ended the kiss, pressing their helms together one last time. Grimlock kissed his forehelm before he stepped back, leaning into the feeling of Bee's servos dragging across his cheek. Grimlock let his servos trail off Bee's hips, smiling as the younger flushed a bright blue. Grim stroked a servo beneath Bumblebee's chin, sending Bee one last little pulse of love before turning and stepping through the bridge with an enthusiastic wave to everyone.

Bee watched him disappear, staring for a long moment after the near-hypnotic light of the bridge had closed with a flash. Drift quietly squeezed Bee's shoulder, and Bee gave him a despondent grin. The minis shared a glance, but Drift quickly shut their planning down with a glance. Bee quietly stepped onto the command console to pour over data. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grimlock stepped through the bridge and immediately looked around, finding himself in some kind of training room. The walls were a garish orange, but there was no mecha in sight. Grimlock looked around carefully, making sure to peek around the corner before stepping into the hall. He took a guess, hanging a right and beginning down the hall. The paint on the wall was pristine, save for a few dents, but Grimlock knew the Nemesis would never put that much effort into the paint of a training area.

He eventually the hallway turned to the right, and Grim began grinning widely as the alarms suddenly blared all around him. Grimlock flopped down on the ground with his servos out to the side, stretching his legs out and wiggling his pedes happily. It only took two minutes before reinforcements arrived, guns pointed and concerned looks all around. Grimlock beamed a smile, doing his best to look non-threatening. "Hi! I'm lookin for some bots! A mech and a femme..." 

The two soldiers looked at each other in confusion, their gaze dropping to the Autobot symbol blazed onto his green plating. An amusing 'call' was made, and after several minutes of 'YES. DINOBOT GRIMLOCK.' and 'I know what an Autobot symbol looks like!', the happy dino was escorted to the medbay. Ratchet stood with his arms crossed as the strange entourage entered, and couldn't help the snort when he caught the green mech's wide grin. "From recent experiences around here, I'm assuming you must be the new and improved Grimlock. I'm CMO Ratchet. Get up on the table if you would be so kind, and the front liners stay till I get you confirmed as a time-traveling Dinobot, not an eat-my-face Dinobot." 

Ratchet hooked the chipper mech up to a protective bypass before hooking himself into it. It was a long, tense moment for the Autobot entourage as Ratchet began double checking data, but the medic found himself reassured as Grimlock willingly dropped his firewalls like flies. Ratchet hummed appreciatively, checking through several time stamps and data files, before snorting a laugh as he found several hundred image files of a familiar scout in various poses and states of awareness. All of them seemed to be 'in the moment' shots, such as explaining a map or snuggling close to begin recharge. Grimlock just grinned widely at Ratchet's rumbled laugh, gently coaxing him to a few where Bee was obviously fed up with something, or completely exasperated. The medic stopped there and unhooked, patting his shoulder as he helped the Dino lean up. "He's clear."

The guards visibly relaxed, lowering their rifles as Ratchet sent a ping to the resident time-travelers.  Grimlock stretched before swinging his legs over the side of the berth, kicking his pedes happily. Ratchet sat on the berth across from Grim, allowing himself to relax after the near panic of Grimlock's unannounced arrival. Red Alert would be a joy later. "I've already pinged your friends. Ironhide is bringing them over."

Grimlock perked up happily, fluffing his plating in absolute happiness. "They're all here?" Ratchet nodded, still grinning at the bot before him. "Yeah. They've had one pit of an adventure too! We've all had a rough few days, so sorry in advance if someone snaps at you- or shoots you." He added on with a mildly sheepish chuckle. Grimlock snorted a laugh. "Bein shot isn't the worst thing thats ever happened to me. I'll just come to you." Ratchet nodded his approval, and hummed quietly. 

"I want to ask you a question while we wait for them. That is, if you're alright with that." Grimlock nodded happily, leaning on his servos after resting his elbows on his knees. "What made you become an Autobot after so long of being a Decepticon?" Grimlock rumbled a laugh but answered fairly quick.

"To be honest, It was all Bee. I got put in that pod all sorts of angry at Megatron for turning his back on all us Dinobots. Then my pod turned off kinda halfway and someone was gettin' punched. Even though I had just woke up, I know the sound of a fight. Turns out it was a mech named Underbite causin problems . I've wanted to punch that mech for vorns! So I got him mad- He tore up my pod, and sent me flyin'. I went after him to rough him up in return, and...well, I got knocked out." Ratchet outright laughed, and Grimlock gave him a toothy grin. 

"I wound up helping-well, I was gonna hunt him down anyway, so Bee kinda had to put up with me- but Optimus showed up and punched him instead. I helped everyone get him back into the pod. After all that happened, I really didn't want to go back in that pod. Bee was nice and put me on this probation thingie instead of putting me back to sleep." He said, shrugging. He gave the mech by the door a grin as they gave him horrified looks, but stayed silent. Ratchet dismissed them with a ping, and they happily left as fast as their pedes would carry them. Grimlock didn't take it to spark and continued.  

"While I was on probation, Bee kept me close. He actually took the time to teach me to be way more than what Megatron wanted me to be. By the time it was over, I cared more about what Bee thought than...well, anyone. Takin' the brand for real just seemed like the next step I was supposed to take. So, pretty much, I did it for Bumblebee." Ratchet's smile grew wider and wider as Grimlock spoke, and he kept silent as the door opened. Ironhide, Sideswipe, and Strongarm- who was holding the humans- entered the medbay. Sideswipe was nearly bursting out of his chasis, grinning widely and throwing his arms open as he bolted forwards. "Grimlock, you beautiful bastard!"

Grimlock bounded upwards, pulling him into a crushing hug and spinning around. "Eyy, you ain't dead yet!" Strongarm laughed, trotting forwards as Russell yelled "Griiiiiiim!" Grimlock held open one arm, pulling the femme closer while still suspending a laughing Sideswipe in the other. Ratchet leaned back on his hands as Ironhide sat beside him, chuckling deep in his chest. "Theirs?" "Yup. He's got some pretty cute image captures of our baby bee all grown up too. He looks a lot like Optimus." Ironhide smiled lightly- barely a twitch on the side of his lips, and turned back to the group of half-cuddling, half-clinging mecha.

"-nd then Will got into some weird karaoke stuff, so Bee just floors him with some song about liking stuff. Then, we went on patrol, and when we got back Jetstorm had rigged the command console to play that song Fixit hates about barbies! Drift had turned off his audios though, so he didn't care. Oh! He actually let the minis dogpile the humans when they left! Bee was kinda sad, but it was okay later. He just went over the codes or somethin, and I made the nest. It needed to be fluffy for him, but I honestly don't think he's gonna sleep. He can go way longer than three days without sleepin', so he's probably just gonna read stuff. Hopefully Drift will sit on him or something. That's what I do when he won't sleep. But that's what you missed!" Grim beamed, and Sideswipe groaned with an exasperated cry of 'I can't believe I missed all that!'

After Grim was finished, Strongarm lifted her helm off of Grimlock's shoulder. "Did he by any chance give you anything to get us back?" Grim shook his helm yes, and pulled the datapad from his subspace. "This has coordinates that are good three days from now. I thought it would take longer to find you guys, but Bee was real good with the code that the warpy thing left." Sideswipe snickered, cooing as he leaned into the arm around him. "Smart and cute~!" The quartet all laughed at the intentional throw-back, and eventually Grim sat them all down on the berth, and gave Ratchet the datapad before flopping down between them. Sideswipe failed to hold in the squeak as he cleared the berth from the weight displacement.

Grimlock caught the bouncy speedster and pulled him back onto the berth, before scooping up Denny and Russell. The two humans squeezed close, and the dino beamed as he held them. Ratchet couldn't help but grin as Strongarm tiredly flopped her helm back onto Grim's shoulder. Ironhide grunted as he leaned back onto his servos, shaking his helm. "I'm too old for this slag. You told him about everyone bein' jumpy yet Ratch?" 

Ratchet rolled his optics with a snort, before roughly bumping the other with his shoulder. "Course I did, I'm not a fraggin' moron. Besides- I literally just got done with his security check, smart aft. Leave the gun-jumping for the battlefield." Ironhide rolled his optics, bumping him back hard enough to make the medic sway slightly. "Weeeell, sooooorrrrryy! Didn't mean to scuff your paint there grch-vr-krrt!"  

Ratchet shot Ironhide a poisonous look, suddenly un-subspacing a wrench. Ironhide floofed his plating, immediately jumping up from the berth in an act of self-preservation. "Call me that again youngin! I'll show you grch-vr-krrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt!" The group on the table burst out in horrified laughter as Ratchet flung the wrench at Ironhide's helm, immediately taking up chase around the medbay.

After about two laps, Ironhide managed to jump onto a berth, using the momentum to pounce the slimmer mech and try to take the newly-unsubspaced wrench. After a few moments of revving engines and shouted curses, the door at the far end of the medbay creaked open. 

Chapter Text

The group of mecha on the berth all turned to look as the door quietly creaked open, and everyone but Grimlock gave sheepish grins or a quiet 'hello' as the semi stepped out into the main bay. 

Grimlock froze entirely, his jaw going slack as he stared at the teensy sleeping sparkling that was barely noticeable in the semi's massive arms- and all the welds crisscrossing his frame. Optimus didn't seem to notice, however, and made a beeline to his quarreling mates. A series of hushed chirps and beeps followed, and Sideswipe looked up at the dino with a knowing grin. He quickly elbowed Grim's side, using a finger to close the nearly-unhinged jaw before the Prime noticed his expression. 

Ironhide was the first to get up, snickering and stretching his arms over his head before wincing at the dents on his back. Ratchet gave Optimus an embarrassed look, but easily brushed it off in favor of giving the little mech in Optimus' arms a thorough once over. Ironhide shrugged as he came to sit back down on the abandoned berth while the other two fussed over the sleeping sparkling.  

"Sorry bout tha'. We've all been a little more...erm, rambunctious after we got Bee back. Weight off the pauldrons ya know?" The old mech flopped down in the middle of the berth, finally taking in Grimlock's shell shocked expression. "Aiite there big guy?"  Grimlock nodded slowly, unable to tear his optics from the three. "That...is that Bee? Primus, he's gotta be an itty bitty sparkling!  Why's he all welded up when he's that small?"  Ironhide's optical ridges shot up as the concern in Grimlock's voice grew, and leaned back slightly. 

"He is pretty young, and he just had one pit of a week. He's just over Five thousand vorns old." Grim's jaw threatened to fall to the floor, and he just muttered "five thou-...oh. Ohhhh." Grim's optics flashed before his jaw snapped shut, growling viciously while his grip tightened on the berth dangerously.

Sideswipe gave a slightly worried look down at the crumpling berth beneath Grimlock's servos, and he lightly thumped his fist against the Dinobot's shoulder. "H-hey now big guy! No need to hurt the berth. What's wrong?" Grimlock glanced down at Sideswipe as he began to speak, before looking at his servos in surprise. Russell shuddered as the metal squeaked with the released grip. "S nutthin. You guys figure out how Shockwave got him yet?" 

Everyone in the room, even Strongarm, gave him a shocked look. Ironhide immediately fluffed his plating as his field lashed in a pained surprise. "How'd you know it was Shockwave mech? Ratch said he hasn't briefed ya yet." 

Grimlock rolled his optics and gave him a flat look. "Former Decepticon. Megatron's gonna be bragging about catching 'em for vorns. But I know details cause me and Bee-well, our Bee- have talked 'bout it before."  Ironhide slowly moved his servo from his thigh, but the telltale fop warned everyone he had reluctantly put the gun away. Strongarm was the first to recover in terms of the time-traveling group. "He's talked to you about this?! Why hasn't he mentioned it to anyone else? I think information about him being captured and-" Grimlock cut her off with a sharp look.

"Bee ain't gotta tell ya nothin' if he dun wanna. He told me because I'm kinda courtin' him, and he decided I needed to knooowww... booouutt... It..." Grimlock snapped his jaw shut, and glanced over with a sheepish grin. The creating trio were all giving  him rather stern looks, and Ironhide looked ready to shoot him again. "Uh...you told em 'bout that yet guys?" Ironhide growled deeply as Denny flushed. "U-uh...I told Optimus..." Strongarm and Sideswipe gave each other mildly panicked looks, before eyeing the bristling soldier. 

Ratchet, thankfully, was their saving grace once more- with a lightning fast wrench to the helm. "Wake him up and you won't wake up tomorrow!" Ironhide turned his glare to Optimus, who obviously switched the conversation to comms. Ratched continued with his servos on his hips. "I haven't been told outright, but I made an assumption based on some of those image captures you have saved." Grimlock flushed as Strongarm wheeled on him. "Image captures!?"

Ratchet snickered as Denny and Russell quickly clambered onto Sideswipe's hands, and the femme whipped out her trusty code. "Taking image captures of upper-level personnel directly violates sections 3796.58, 3886.92, 4256.21, 4337.66 and 4337.67, 615-" Ratchet's bark of laughter broke her from her reading. Strongarm gave him a surprised look, and looked around at the surprised trio. Even Optimus looked surprised. "Did you actually memorize the Autobot code?!"

Sideswipe cut her off with laughter of his own. "Oh yeah. She keeps running lists of the ones we break too! You should see  how long my list is!" Ironhide looked like he was torn between punching Grim and sinking to the floor in laughter, but someone else's giggle cut the tension first. 

"You and Prowl would get along great!" Bee chirped, peeking over Optimus' arm. Optimus looked down in surprise, before clicking his battle mask back to nuzzle his sparkling. "Were we too loud little one?" Ratchet immediately initiated a scan, causing Bee to shudder and give him a glare. Ironhide snorted a laugh and scooted over to make room for Optimus to sit. 

Grimlock took the chance to look the little bot over once more, grinning widely. Bee finally got situated in Optimus' lap, grinning up at him before turning his gaze onto Grim. He gave the dino a small smile in return, kicking his pedes slightly. "I haven't met you before. What's your name?" Denny grinned and patted grimlock's thumb with his hand. "This, is Grimlock. Grim, you already know Bee. Before you worry though, this is our Grimlock." Bumblebee name a soft noise of acceptance, thumbing a weld on his wrist. "How'd you get here then? I'm certain I would have heard about you earlier if you had come with everyone else. 

 Ratchet sighed and handed over the datapad with the coordinates before rubbing his helm softly. "Here's a challenge, see if you can figure it out. I've already got a copy downloaded anyway." 

Bumblebee absolutely lit up, reaching up to grab it before Ratchet had even finished speaking. Optimus protectively clasped his hands around Bumblebee's stomach, letting the sparkling rest against his chest while he read. With the little one promptly distracted, the older mech all turned back to the group. "As exciting as this has been, we should probably let you all catch up. I'm sure you all have far more patience than me, and quite frankly I'm sick of having my bay crowded. So everyone but Optimus and Bee need to fuck off."

Ironhide snorted, but Ratchet leveled a look at him that convinced the warrior to hold back his chuckles. Instead, he stretched leisurely before standing, nuzzling Optimus and Bumblebee in turn before heading out the door- grabbing Ratchet's aft on the way out and fleeing at top speed to avoid the wrench that followed him.

Sideswipe laughed at the scene, nodding his goodbyes to the pair on the berth. Bee was too busy looking at the screen to respond though, biting the tip of his glossa while he concentrated. Strongarm followed with a soft smile, and Grimlock chuckled before reaching out to rub between his audial horns.

"Ehehe, good to know you kept that little habit when you grew up. S cute~" He laughed out, flashing Bee a dazzling grin as he left.

Bee went rigid at the the touch however, his optics flashing up towards the green mech in surprise. That half paralyzed look followed grim out the door, the tip of his tongue still poking out of his mouth. Just before the door clicked to a close, Grim glanced back to meet the wide eyes of the sparkling- who had half crawled up Optimus' chest and was giving him a smile that could charm Unicron. Grim couldn't help but grin back as the door clicked shut.

Chapter Text

Grimlock happily followed his teammates, holding Russell and Denny close to his chest as his spark practically buzzed with excitement. Sideswipe was messing with Strongarm- who was completely okay with it for some reason. Grim watched closely, figuring the Femme was just outright exhausted from all the stress that's been on her shoulders lately. Ironhide seemed nice enough, but the mech was still watching Grim with a very close optic. The older mech bowed out from their small group near the training rooms, muttering under his breath about 'whipping some lazy minibots into shape.' Grimlock laughed loudly, and Ironhide disappeared while failing to fight back a grin. The trip to the room was blessedly uneventful, and Sideswipe sat beside Strongarm on the opposite berth, allowing the dino to relax against the wall. 

Sideswipe stretched as he half-lounged on the berth, not commenting as Strongarm leant against the wall behind her- using his pedes to support her lower back. Grim kept his comment to himself though, grinning as Russell full-on-lounged in the crook of his arm. Strongarm was the one to break the silence though, crossing her legs to gain more support. "So, what did we miss at the scrapyard?" 

Denny looked up at him with pleading eyes, and asked "Is it still there?" Grimlock half-doubled over with laughter, shaking his helm. "Well yeah it’s there! The new humans were actually pretty chill. The long story is that the main guy- Lennox- was part of that big Chicago thing that happened. He helped Bee and Optimus and that Sam kid bring down Megatron. He and Bee got real close cause he was Ironhide's driver, and Sam's babysitter I guess? He was a teenager at the time, and he got along best with Will." At the look of confusion, he quickly clarified. "Lennox is Will." 

"Ohhh, but the Government is onta us. Bee is kiiinda pissed about it, but you two are gonna need to be careful. Apparently they're wonderin who we're hangin' with, they just don't know who you are yet. There was a thing that actually got passed sayin its treason to talk ta us. Bee knew about it, but didn't think we'd be here long enough to mention it. Then he forgot. He hasn't had the chance to talk to ya bout it, but I'm guessing he will when we get back. There's still time for us to bail before they realize you two are involved."

Denny whistled lowly, but gave Russell a long look as a frown grew. Russell snorted. "Dad, you don't watch the news, or talk to people. We don't even have internet." Both the young teen and Sideswipe shuddered. "You could just say you've never heard of the thing and no one will be able to prove otherwise." Denny shut his mouth with a surprised look, before tipping his helm with a 'hmm'. Grimlock snickered before continuing. "Also, apparently Bumblebee was called BEEPY by Lennox.  He refuses to actually react to it, but he just grumps at Will when he calls him it. He has our main comm. Soooooooooooo~ if he asks for Beepy he wants Bee." Sideswipe half squealed before dissolving into laughter, Russell right behind with a cry of "BEEPY! OH MY GOD". 

Grimlock grinned widely, kicking his pedes happily. "Yeah. Mostly it's just been a lot of work making the ground bridge a time warp, and Bee's been draggin himself through the pits trying to get the coding done for this. He's probably not gonna recharge at all till we get back..." Grim frowned slightly, and Denny patted his servo. "He'll get a good nap in. Drift will tie him up before he allows Bee to work himself into stasis. He did it to Strongarm, remember?"

Strongarm's indignant cry brought a smile bubbling back to the surface, and Sideswipe playfully kicked the older femme. "Puh-lease Strong. He had to bind you with a girter!" Strongarm muttered 'I'll show you a girter' under her breath, shoving at the offending pede. Sideswipe just squeaked (did not!) as he was pulled flat onto his back. Sideswipe deemed it appropriate to kick his pedes onto Strongarm's lap, and the femme responded by glaring at the grinning mech. Grimlock just grinned widely at the two.  The green mech looked down to the two humans in his arms, tilting his helm. "But nuff bout us, we didn’t do much. You guys look like you been through hell."  

Russell laughed, relaxing further into Grimlock's arms. "Well, I'm just gonna give you the short version. We got here cause we dropped right in on Ironhide's training. He took us over to medical, where Sides and Strong were checked in. For a while, they worked on trying to get us back, but Bee got captured and they got distracted. We took some time to do just basic stuff for the bots- cleaning the med bay and running everyone energon for example. When we got bee back, he was in surgery for a long time. Then you got here. So, a lot. but not a lot. Ya know?" Grimlock puffed his cheeks out with wide optics, then exvented slowly. "Yeaaaah. That sounds busy." 

Sideswipe laughed at Grimlock's reaction, and sat up a bit as he gave Strongarm a hesitant look. The femme patted his knee reassuringly as he sat up fully. Sideswipe shifted so he was sitting cross-legged, before taking a long vent. "Yeah...also, I kiiinda... I need to tell ya somethin'." Grimlock immediately looked up, glancing between him and Strongarm. The dino quirked a brow, a wide grin starting to grow. "Uh huuuhh. Go on." Sideswipe gave Strongarm another glance, and she gave him a small smile.  Sideswipe turned his grin on Grimlock, his iconic self-confidence cracking like a dam. "Well...I'm kind of a split-spark twin."

Grimlock reset his optics twice, as the grin slid off his faceplate. "Bull...seriously?" Sideswipe scratched at his plating lightly, absently picking at his paint. "Y-yeah." Grimlock gave him a half-confused, half-wary look. "Uhhhh...I thought twins couldn't survive if they got separated?" Sideswipe took several minutes to answer this next part, shifting several times before finally finding the words to reply. "Well...we kiiinda have practice apart...Shockwave wasn't exactly the best up bringer." 

THAT made Grimlock do a double-take. "Wait! You're SHOCKWAVE'S creation?!"  Strongarm was pleased she didn't laugh at the twin looks of horror between the mech, but sideswipe quickly added "Fuck no!". Sideswipe gave a horrified laugh, shuddering his plating. "Pit no. My creators gave Sunny and I to him because they thought we were pit spawn." Grimlock let out a long 'ohhhhhhhh' before joining Sideswipe in laughter. With the tension successfully broken, Sideswipe half-collapsed against the wall in relief. "Does Bee know you gotta twin?" 

Sideswipe shook his helm before thumping it against the corner. "Nah. Strong and I had a long...long talk about it over comms when she calmed down, and she convinced me it was best if I told everyone about Sunny. So, I'm workin' on it. I'm gonna tell Bee alone before I tell Drift and the minis. I... think they're gonna have the worst reactions..." Grimlock hummed a note of disheartened approval. "I can see it. Drift's kinda...yeah." The two shared a look, knowing how the samurai took to his old-time morals. Grim tried to change the subject though, shifting slightly to the left. "So, Who's older?"

Sideswipe grinned. "Sunny is. He's the bigger half too." Grimlock gave a slight nod, before his brows furrowed. "Wait. Where is your brother?" Strongarm shifted slightly this time, setting her legs to the side at an angle. "Well...he's in jail. For murder. He killed a mech that was threatening us after we escaped from Shockwave, and somehow managed to get insanity for it. He's locked up real tight now, and last time I checked he was heading to the Main Iaconian for attacking a guard. That happened back when we could still talk." Grimlock winced. "Yikes. Yeah, I'd bet there was some guards beatin' up on him. The Main isn’t really a good place... I'd talk to Bee. He's got a little more weight than he likes to act like he's got, so I'm certain he'd be able to help somehow. Even if he couldn't he's got some friends in high places. They might pull some strings if bee batted his wings right."  

Sideswipe gave Grim a disheartened chuckle. "I know Bee's a war hero and all that, but I really don't think any amount of wing wagging is gonna get me a visit with my brother when he's been deemed a 'threat to himself and society'. I just... Well, to use Strong's words, it'd probably be better if you guys knew why my spark went out with no real warning. It shouldn't happen for a few vorn still, but it never hurts to start opening up. Well, physically." Sideswipe shrugged in his usual nonchalance, but Grimlock gave him a toothy grin.  "I ain't gonna say a lot, cause it's not my place- but I bet you don't know exactly what Bee's wing-wagglin can do."  

Russell snorted to cut into the conversation. "Well, I'm gonna side with Grim. If Bee's got a possibility of being a Prime, he's gonna have a ton of pull." Sideswipe gave the boy a sidelong look. "Russell, If Bee was a prime they wouldda had the matrix in him within a quartex after Optimus' death. Even if they didnt because of his age, there is NO way they would let the Primal Designate wander around without like, a gajillion guards. He probably is just an outlier." Denny hummed and looked to the door, his parental instincts kicking up once more. Strongarm gave a quiet 'weeelll...' before pausing, seeming to try to find her words. Sideswipe stared at the femme, staying quiet so she could give her piece.

Grim grinned slightly, sharing a glance with Russell. Russell gave him a confused look, before a surprised grin spread across his face. "I mean, he could still be a prime. Technically speaking, he was with 'a gajilion' guards- he was in the police academy. There are very, very few places a bot could go that wouldn't have at least five sets of optics on them, and technically...we kinda...snuck off? This isn’t exactly a sanctioned trip..." Sideswipe sat up with that, his helm tilting. "Yeah, you're kinda right there...Oh shit, is Bee actually a prime?"

Denny rested his head against his palm. "Well, if he was, it would certainly clarify why he's so obsessed with living up to Optimus' expectation- I mean, that and he's obviously a mama's boy." The whole room broke out into laughter then- crying and kicking pedes included. As the laughter finally died down, so did the conversation. Grim told stories of the karaoke machine, Sideswipe told him about Jazz' beau and how he had to see him, and Strongarm relaxed for a minute- Eventually being the first of the group to fall into a long, sound sleep. 

Chapter Text

Optimus sighed as he lifted Bee into his lap fully, and the whiney sparkling turned the puppy-eyes upon his creator once more. "Please pupu, I wanna go see hiiiim!" Ratchet didn't even bother to hide his laughter, leaning back with full-on belly-busting giggles. "Primus kid, you don't even know if he's the mech from your dreams! He's just a future partner!" Bee turned on Ratchet with the flattest glare the medic had ever seen on a child.

"Sire. He could be, and he could not. That doesn't mean I shouldn't treat EVERY partner like they're the one from my dream. I have the chance to MEET someone I'm actually gonna be with later! If I talk to them now, it could give me some insight on if they ARE the one! I don't know anything about future me! I could stop having the dream! I could get processor damage and forget all about it! I could-" Ironhide's laughter cut him off this time, and the sparkling crossed his arms and pouted. Optimus rubbed his servos between Bee's audial horns, carefully hugging the little one closer. "Bee, dearling, I'm not saying you cannot see him. I am simply saying you must wait until they wake up."

Bumblebee grumbled quietly, seeming to resign himself to pout until the time-traveling mecha woke for the orn. To his absolute despair, it wasn't until well into the lunch break until a bouncy red speedster lead the small procession into the mess hall. Another round of laughter bloomed from his creator as Bee suddenly became the picture of innocence, smiling widely at Grimlock the group as they approached. Sideswipe seemed to pick up on the poorly hidden snickers and silently nudged Grimlock in the booth first to sit beside the sparkling.

"Happy now Mister bust-a-bracket?" Ironhide teased, taking a swig of his Energon. Bee just gave him the calmest, most polite smile. "Whatcha talkin about sire?" Ratchet choked on his own ration as he started laughing again, with Ironhide doubling over to join him in laughter. Grimlock looked down at Bumblebee, who gave him a wide grin. It didn't take too long for Optimus to ping Grimlock to ask if he would hold Bee, and the ecstatic sparkling clambered into the highly amused Dino's arms. Ironhide did his best not to laugh, but failed miserably as Bee quietly struck up the tamest conversation he had ever heard from the sparkling. “So, what's your favorite color?" "Hehe, I'd have to say blue. What about you?" "Well, I was gonna say Yellow. It might change though!"

Ratchet threw his helm back as Sideswipe whistled lowly, giving Bee an amused look. "So, how long was he pitchin a fit for?" Optimus gave the speedster a half amused look, before turning the look to his youngling. "Since you all retired last night. He was very eager to talk to Grimlock after yesterday." Grimlock quirked a brow at the sparkling, before a grin crept across his face. Bee gave him an embarrassed smile, ducking his helm slightly in mild embarrassment. The dino easily continued their conversation for a few moments, learning a few minor details about Bee- such as his favorite word being 'moist' because 'Jazz keeps saying he'll throw me out of an airlock if I say it too much'- before absently stroking along a weld on the smaller's wrist.

"That reminds me, have you guys figured out how Motormaster got in the Arc yet?" Grim asked, and most optics turned to him. "Sadly, no. Our security director- Red Alert- is still going through all the security footage." Optimus said, clasping his servos together in an obviously nervous gesture. Grimlock hummed, squeezing his arms around Bee a little tighter. "Turn Special Operations loose on a mech called Fasttrack. He's a dupe. Motormaster bragged for like, at least a quartex about his 'his guy' got him in." Optimus' optics spiraled open slightly in surprise, before nodding slightly. The slightly distracted gaze was more than the bot's needed to know he was contacting Red Alert.

Bee spun the conversation in an interesting direction though, giving him a disarming smile that completely miss-matched the question. "So, why did you choose become a Decepticon?" Grimlock grinned a toothy grin, humming lightly as he thought. After staring at the youngling for a few long seconds, he responded. "Well, I kinda didn't have a choice. At the beginning of the war, it wasn't really an option for me to be an Autobot-They didn't stand for what the bots do now. By the time they shifted that purpose, I had been a Decepticon too long to become a Bot. I also still like punchin stuff. So, that too!" The wide smile made Bee giggle, and Optimus gave Ratchet a concerned look. The medic just shook his head lightly and downed the rest of his Ration.

Bee smiled and (very, very casually) snuggled into Grimlock's chest, watching the older mech with intense optics. Russell shared a look with his dad, who was barely holding back his own laughter. "So, what's on the agenda for today?" Denny asked from his place before the blue femme. Ratchet shrugged. "Well, Future-Bee kind of handled it for us. The science crew actually worked through the night to get you all back to the future, so the bridge is almost done. We just have to wait for the coordinates to activate, then send you through. In the meantime, it's back to routine. Repair dumbafts, deal with this pest"- he reached across the table to pinch at a squealing Bee's cheek plates. "And kick Megatron's aft next time he tries something stupid- which will most likely be by the end of the week since I've been doubting his mental capacity since about five vorn in."

With another round of laugher, the lunch break ended. With a bit of begging and more Puppy-Optics, Grimlock became Optimus' unofficial aid for the evening, Sideswipe, Denny, and Russell went with Ratchet for cleaning and maintenance, and Strongarm went with Ironhide to practice some bare-servo combat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bee sighed for the trillionth time today, staring at the bridge from where he sat beside the command console. One arm was cushioning his helm, and one leg was tucked beneath the knee of the other as it dangled off the platform. Fixit watched quietly as he and the two other minis sorted, glancing between the three of them as they continued their work.

After another hour of that deadpan stare, Drift had finally had enough. Calmly walking over to their suddenly lack-luster leader, he simply gripped the younger's arm and yanked him to his pedes. Bee yelped as he overcorrected, but Drift caught him easily enough. He didn't even give bee the time to complain before he cut him off. "You have been sulking long enough Bumblebee. You have done everything in your power to bring our team back, and now you must leave it in Grimlock's servos." Bee simply clenched his jaw, nodding once as his gaze drifted downwards defeatedly.

"You're right..." Drift's expression softened, as did his grip on his leader's arm. "Let us go on patrol... before you drive yourself past the point of insanity with all this worrying." Bee met his eyes with a surprised look, but smiled softly. "That...sounds good actually. Something to do." Drift nodded to the minicons, allowing Bee to transform and pull out ahead of him.

The orange speeder followed the younger mech onto the road, giving him some quiet time as they approached their usual walking route in the woods. After Bee transformed, he turned back to look at drift with a soft smile. "Sorry about the...well, the sulking. I tend to get trapped in my own head, as I'm certain you've noticed." Bee gave a soft shrug of a smile, and Drift merely shook his helm. "It is alright. I apologize for the mech-handling though. I felt as though you would not listen unless you were physically removed from your sulking state."

Bee dismissed it with a wave, falling into step beside the samurai. "It's fine, you didn't hurt me anyway, and you're probably right. I got my sire's melancholy for sure..." Drift grinned lightly, looking around carefully as Bee tried to drag himself out of his depressive state. Drift stepped beside Bee quietly watching him out of the corner of his optic. Bee looked over the orange mech. "How do you...I guess what I want to ask is how do you keep it from bothering you?"  Drift hesitated a step before catching himself. 

"It still bothers me Bumblebee." he chuckled at the sudden flush of Bumblebee's faceplates. "I didn't mean-" "It is alright, I know. It does not 'bother' me because I am...admittedly not so productive when I allow my emotions to continue unchecked. As my students could tell you....I had very little 'filter' in my younger vorns. I do not like the mech that I was, and I know the fastest way for his return would to be to allow my emotions to slide. Some may decide I am 'stuck up' because of this attitude- but it is still may leagues better than who I was."  

Bee nodded quietly, thinking it over. "On another note, I have far less invested than you do at the moment, so I can afford to be more apathetic...I have no applicable skills to help rescue them, and I am not...involved, with anyone that was warped to the past. You, however, have both. It is much easier for your conscience to gnaw at your spark than it is for mine. I feel unhelpful due to a genuine uselessness. You feel unhelpful because you could do so much, but there are only so many actions that can be followed to fruition." Bee stared at him for a long moment, before allowing his gaze to drift downwards once more. "I...You're not..." Bee's shoulders sank slightly. "You're right. That actually makes a lot of sense. I really don't mean to be rude, but there is more I could do..." 

Drift gave Bumblebee a rare smile, slowing to a stop. Drift clasped Bee's shoulder before pulling his chin up to face the elder fully. "You allow yourself to worry too much. It might have gotten you through the war to be overly-cautious, but outside of a bloodstained life that attention to detail leads to nothing but insanity. You are not a failure if one or two options aren't followed through to its fullest. You are not a failure for somehow not preventing this, and you have been nothing but exemplary in trying to get them back. Now, you must trust Grimlock to complete what you have started. He has all the tools he could need at his disposal, and any success is now in his own shoulders. What you must do is stop those monsters in your spark young one, before they consume you whole."

Bee nodded once, putting a bit of pressure into Drift's hand before it returned to his side. Drift could tell by the rekindled light in Bee's optics that their talk had helped. The rest of the patrol went rather normally, Bee even racing Drift a little down the abandoned dirt road Sideswipe adored. By the time they returned to the scrapyard, Fixit and the other minicons were overjoyed to see the usual grin back on the lieutenant's faceplate. They gave him a quick greeting as he headed back to categorize more inventory. 

Slipstream and Jetstorm both smiled widely at their master, before Jetstorm blurted out the question he had obviously been holding back. "How did you cheer him up master? He was so..." Slipstream cut in to save the other mini from an embarrassing slip of the tongue. "Lackluster."  Drift looked down to his students, and absently noted Fixit 'purposefully' sorting- also known as absolutely eavesdropping. "Sometimes, Bumblebee acts much younger than he should- moping around the base like that was completely unnecessary. To deal with this, you must identify what would be causing this reaction. In this instance, it was the helplessness that comes with waiting. As I've told you both before, each mecha will require their own approach to conflict. Bumblebee's best approach is a private conversation. So, I pulled him aside and spoke with him about that particular feeling of helplessness." 

The two shared a long glance, and nodded. "Like with Strongarm, the best way to bring matters to her is to blend facts and emotion?" Slipstream asked, and Drift paused for a moment. "Not quite. Strongarm relies on the data to come to her conclusions. It is simply the way her processor formed.   With Bumblebee, he was a mech raised in the throes of war. That means he must balance the lack of ability to cope with a helplessness bred by stagnation. If he loses sight of things to do- especially during an emotionally trying time- he simply has no memories of how to cope. After all, if something bad happens during war, there are a thousand other things to do. In short, you must balance that need for direction with helping him to create the ability to cope... Much like you would with an underage sparkling." The twins nodded once more, and Fixit quietly said 'ohhhhhh' under his breath. 

Slipstream cast a saddened look towards the racks where Bee had disappeared to. "It...is actually rather depressing to think of how much the war deprived Bee of his development."  Jetstorm cut in with another abrupt question. "Why didn't Sideswipe and Strongarm become like him?" Drift inhaled slowly, tilting his helm slightly to the right. "I would assume it is because they had somewhat normal youngling hoods. I do not know how Sideswipe was raised, but I know Strongarm was rather sheltered. They had the ability to develop those emotions fully, where Bumblebee had to develop survival instincts instead." 

The scrapyard fell silent with contemplation as the busywork continued. 

Chapter Text

Early the next morning, Grimlock slid into the usual booth beside Optimus and Bee, grinning widely as the sparkling clambered into his arms. Optimus, Jazz, and Prowl greeted the group easily, consuming their rations with the normalcy the time travelers had come to enjoy. After half an hour or so, they were joined by Wheeljack, Perceptor, Ratchet, and Ironhide.  Sideswipe grinned widely as they all pulled up chairs, perking up as Ratchet handed him a datapad. "That's got your results on it. Find me as soon as you can when you get back, and I'll keep a watch on your health after that. I'll also see what I can do about Sunstreaker." Sideswipe nodded, tucking the results of his full physical into his subspace to read when he had some privacy later. 

Strongarm greeted the group happily, before launching into a conversation with Ironhide about the proper way to hold your fists during various forms of hand-to-hand combat. Perceptor gave a rather animated description of how the bridge would work to the top three command officers. Technically two, because the leer Jazz was directing towards Prowl- who was pointedly ignoring him- was not one of a mech listening to quantum mechanics. Grimlock just sat quietly with a sleepy Bee curled up in his arms. Bee rested his helm on Grim's shoulder, enjoying the warmth in the early hours.  

Optimus watched out of the corner of his optics, thankful for the battle mask covering the pleased grin that split his faceplate. As cute as it was, Bee was not very good at trying to stay awake and soon fell back asleep. By the time all the fuel was consumed by both the bots and humans, Perceptor was mid-rant on something about scattering molecules across a temporal plane. Wheeljack's fins flashed a light pink as he readjusted in his chair, but Ironhide was on him within a second. Smacking the scientist upside the helm and effectively re-routing his helm back to the conversation, he leveled his mate's friend with a heated glare. "Save it for the berth loverbot. Bee don't need to see you two canoodle over science talk!"

Laughter broke out all around, but Grimlock cut off as Bee's breathing began to pick up. Optimus was quick to notice as well, and Ratchet switched seats with Strongarm so he could thoroughly check the little one. "It's just a dream. It wouldn't surprise me if it was a nightmare given all he's been through lately." Grimlock muttered, shifting the sleeping sparkling to hold him a little tighter. Ratchet agreed with a grunt, but prompted for more information with a flat stare. "Bad dreams are common with our Bee. I mean, he's kinda been through the pit, and It's always worst right after he's been stressed out. I don’t think you gotta be smart to guess that started early on." Optimus' gaze turned sorrowful, and Ratchet rubbed the sparkling's back lightly. Grimlock gave the medic a grin as Bee settled back into a deep sleep, and the conversation returned to normal topics. 

Within minutes, Jazz and Sideswipe wound up flirting with Prowl a little... Strongarm and the other Enforcer doing their best to reign in the two giggling mech. Perceptor eagerly restarted his explanation, and actually managed to finish it before Wheeljack nuzzled his helm into the side of his scope. It was at that point Ratchet chased the two out with the threat of a wrench, and the escape quickly became a chase as the microscope squealed and ducked towards the habsuites. Ratchet and Ironhide exchanged a half-amused look, shaking their helms. 

Jazz was quick to jest though. "Weeeeeelllllll, at least they're heading TOWARDS the habs this time! Remember when we caught them in the broom closet?" Ironhide snorted and chipped in "Or the lab… On the table...." Optimus rested his servos politely on the table, but the look in his eyes was that of mild horror. "Or the hallway. I must admit, I've never seen a mech overload from being told their formula was wrong." The entire table dissolved into laughter once more, and Grimlock gave them all a toothy grin. "Yeah. Our Big Bee has talked bout em a bit, and they're still pretty...ehehe~" Ironhide tossed back the last little bit of his fuel, shaking his helm after he swallowed. "Yeah...Who knows tho, It might get better when Percy starts his sniping training. That, or the lovely boom-doc is gonna develop a gun kink." Prowl burst into quiet laughter, covering his mouth with his hand as Jazz leaned in to coo at him for the rare occasion. 

Prowl was quick to get his giggles under control however, and did his best to capture Jazz' wandering servos- "No, I am not ticklish, cease and de-cist!" The tickle-war was quick to end though, as Bee suddenly bolted upright with wide eyes and a gasp. Optimus instinctually reached out to stroke his sparkling's helm. "It is alright little one. Simply a bad dream." Bee didn't really respond to Optimus, whipping his helm towards the door with an intensity that shocked the entire table into silence. Glances were exchanged quickly, and Ratchet leaned back into the sparkling's field of vision to try to get his attention. "Bee? You Alright?"

"Down." Grimlock seemed surprised when Bumblebee immediately began wiggling, trying to escape his hold. "Okay, okay, I'll put ya down." The second the sparkling's pedes touched the ground, he was trotting towards the hallway. The entire group stared in shock for a long moment, before scrambling to follow- the events of recent too fresh to leave him to his own devices.  Optimus caught up easily enough, looking over the smaller in mild worry. "Did you have another dream little one?" Bee nodded once, before suddenly looking up to his carrier and reaching up. "Uppy." 

Optimus stifled a giggle before lifting the smaller, waiting patiently for direction. "Go to the gun room. The big one." Optimus hesitated a moment, but obliged the younger's request. "May I ask why?" Bee's intense stare held down the hall for a long moment, but he eventually answered with "I gotta check for somethin'." Sideswipe and Grimlock shared a look but shrugged it off. Denny kicked his feet from his place in Strongarm's servos. "Whatcha gotta check for Bee? Something from your dream?" Russell asked, sitting beside his father. "Yeah." Ratchet frowned deeply, but Ironhide beat him to the sentence he wanted. "Use your words Bee. Whatcha lookin for?" 

Bee stayed quiet for a long moment, before hesitantly saying "A rock." That made Optimus stop in his tracks and give the younger a surprised look. Ratchet just looked at him like he had blown a circuit. "A... rock?" Bee nodded, but held Optimus' gaze. Strongarm shifted nervously. "What...kind of rock?" Optimus was obviously hesitant to ask that question, but Bee seemed even more hesitant to answer. After a solid twenty second staring contest, the young mech caved. "The dark energon shard you have hidden in the rifle case. I had a dream it was gone." 

Ironhide's shocked responce was an immediate "how the fuck-" before realization set in. The group suddenly doubled their pace down the hall, opening the vault to look in the unlabeled case carefully tucked in the corner- to find it was empty. Bee was silent as he stared down at the empty case. "....Megatron is gonna be a problem later." He muttered, and Strongarm stood rigid in shock. Sideswipe snapped his jaw closed, leaning back against a box of ammo. Everyone's attention drew to Sideswipe as he fell backwards through a hole in the wall. Ironhide pulled a gun as Ratchet pulled him back into the room, and Bee stayed silent in Optimus' arms.  

Ironhide snorted as he came back inside. "This tunnel leads straight outside. Guess we found out how the cons got in...They probably came for the shard, and got lucky when Bee ran passed on his way to the bridge. This hall leads to a side entrance that Optimus usually uses." The quick explanation was to clarify for the younger mecha in the room. Bee leant his helm against Optimus, hooking his servos into the transformation seams on his chest. "I guess it's kind of a good thing I wasn't the one the cons wanted when they broke in. It would be kind of inconvenient if I was." 

A solid five second of half-amazed silence was proken by Grimlock doubling over with laughter, and the others were quick to follow. Sideswipe was absolutely tickled though, shrugging in an exaggerated fashion. "Oh geez. People kidnapped me, and might do it again. How inconvenient." Ratchet had to sit down on a crate from laughing too hard. Bee pouted slightly, nuzzling his helm against Optimus' shoulder. "Well it is. I didn't even get to do my patterns this week!" Everyone had to sit at this point- Optimus sliding down the wall as he held Bumblebee close. 

Ratchet shook his helm, comming Red Alert to inform him and maintenance crews of the hole in the wall. While this was settled, Ratchet called for the mecha to get one last physical before they left. Prowl joined them in the medbay, sitting in his usual proper posture. It was mildly tedious to watch all of the mecha get a full physical- Strongarm passing with flying colors, and Grimlock being lightly scolded to eat either more fuel, or fuel made for his body type. Ratchet dismissed Sideswipe with a gesture towards his subspace. Sideswipe grinned and clasped his hands behind his back, rocking back onto his heels as he turned and flounced out of the room with the flair all his own. 

Strongarm sighed as she lifted Denny and Russell back into her servos, following Sideswipe out. Grimlock grinned at Bee as he walked out with Optimus, followed by Ratchet and Prowl trailing towards the end. They wound up down in the bridge, waiting on the two scientists to finally wander their way back up to start the bridge. Sideswipe sat in the corner and pulled out the medipad to scroll through the results of his physical, Strongarm sat beside Ironhide to get pointers on how to taze a mech into submission, and Denny, Grimlock, and Russell all sat beside Optimus to help catch Bee up on his schooling- The two humans however, backed out quickly when they realized his idea of 'sequencing' was actually high-level algebra and statistics. Russell moved to sit beside Prowl, Jazz, and Ratchet. 

The three older mech were talking about some kind of kindling, so Russell ignored it for the most part as he played a game on his phone. He didn't have any interest in firewood after all. It wasn't until Bee's name was mentioned that he started to truly eavesdrop on the conversation.  "So, do ya think 'e'll be able ta carry later? Or ya think the damage will have em floored?" Jazz asked, leaning back on his palms. Ratchet sighed heavily, shrugging. "I honestly don't know. It just depends on his spark later. He should be young enough where he won't have any real repercussions of his injures. I can guarantee he'll still be able to bond, but he's got difficulties with the matrix to overcome if he wants that." 

Prowl nodded, replying after about three seconds. "If he is truly dedicated to a bond, he has an 82.67% chance of successfully bonding if he continues upon the recovery path you set. If he does not, those odds could sink as low as 32.97%. Given the civilian coding of our guests, I'm assuming this war is almost over, or- if Primus is merciful- it is completely over. That window gives him plenty of room for recovery before he gets his final frame at eighty-five thousand. My personal calculations suggest the higher rage has more probability."  Ratchet nodded, exhaling slowly. "In the end, it doesn't really matter what the probability of it all is. He's gonna heal how he's gonna heal, and I'm just glad he's going to survive this whole thing. Gives comfort to my old soul to know all this effort to keep his safe is worth it. Even IF he does get some injuries."  

Jazz hummed quietly. "Well, on that note. Would he still be able to merge for fun? I mean, like wit tha matrix bein a bit of a spike-blocker." Ratchet stared at him for a long moment before realizing what he had asked. "Oh! Bee...well. That's a good question. I won't be able to give an honest answer until I look at his spark when he actually wants to merge. In the case of most younglings though, it’s usually encouraged. It helps a young spark to become stable and accustomed to the separation, as I'm certain you both know. So, by my best guess, I would probably encourage him to find a mech he could get that comfortable with." 

Jazz glanced back towards the youngling, ginning as Bee grabbed Optimus' servo and attempted to clamber onto the semi's lap. He wound up failing, falling back into Grimlock's waiting arms. A squeal and a round of giggles later, Denny worked to get his attention back into the datapad. Prowl just smiled lightly as Jazz nuzzled into his shoulder. "Yeh. Seein' lil' bee allatha time just makes me eager for bitlets of mah own." Prowl chuckled and shook his helm. "I just imagine when all of my sparklings were little. It was truly a blessing to see them grow."

Russell continued to 'ignore' the mecha, grinning quietly to himself as he beat another level. Jazz noticed the grin, and leaned in for some nosing of his own. Prowl snorted a quiet laugh as his lover got into the racing game rather quickly, to the point he winced when Russell smashed his car into a wall and groaned loudly- before laughing as he realized Jazz' mortified cringe. "Sorry Jazz. I can change the game if it bothers you?"  

The ops just shook his helm, waving it off. "Nah. Ah enjoy a good game as well as others do! Pretty realistic though." The second part of the sentence was quieter as he leaned in to watch the next round. Wheeljack and Perceptor tried their best to slide in undetected, but Ratchet called out his friend the second the engineer stepped through the threshold. "Oh my, look who dug his head out of Percy's coding long enough to grace us all with his presence!"  

Perceptor made a flustered noise as his faceplates flushed, and Wheeljack flashed his fins in amusement. "Hey now party ambulance, let me have my own fun! It's not my fault you settled down!" Perceptor ignored the half-pointed gaze with darkened faceplates, scampering over to the controls to double-check the data input.  With a few more jests tossed between the former classmates, Wheeljack eventually tried to flop on the medic's helm- the ensuing chaos scrambling the groups as the engineer fled for his life. Grimlock wound up holding Bee once more, eagerly accepting the smaller arms around his neck. If anyone saw the affectionate nuzzle, it was politely ignored. 

Wheeljack eventually dove behind the command console, hugging Perceptor close as the smaller whapped him on the helm with a spare blueprint that was laying close by. "Don't use me as a shield! I don't have the proportion or the mass to cover your alt!" The horrified face of the scientist was enough to cause another round of laughter, and Ratchet gave up his chase and lean into Ironhide's side. Jazz wound up lying on his back, howling with laughter. "Ohhhhh, Be happy we got a medic! Better get over there Ratch', cause I bet that burn hurt!"

Russell burst out laughing then, joining in with 'burrrrn!' as he and Jazz bumped fists. Denny shook his head from his place beside Strongarm. "At least some things transfer species." The femme said nothing, but her grin betrayed her hidden amusement. Perceptor finished the checks quickly though- even if he had to take a quick nuzzle-break with a happy Wheeljack- and the group of time travelers made their way to stand before the bridge. With a flash, the bridge was activated. The swirling light reflected an unnatural blue, and Bee gave Grimlock one last hug before he was passed back to Optimus. Grimlock leaned in and bumped Bumblebee's helm with his own, whispering to the sparkling quietly. "Take care of yourself Bee." 

A quiet trill was his response, and the group waved goodbye to everyone before making their way through the bridge. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a long, tense moment as the bridge lit up in the scrapyard. Bumblebee slowly stepped away from the control panel, sharing a glance with Drift when nothing immediately came through. He could feel the panic rising in his throat, shooting ice through his lines as he braced himself for the worst-

Only for Sideswipe to flounce through the gate, followed by Strongarm-who carried Denny and Russell-, and Grimlock bringing up the rear. The smile that broke his face reflected in the relieved drop of his doorwings, barely managing to stay standing as the bridge flashed closed. The minicons squealed as Strongarm lowered Denny and Russell to the ground, and Grimlock took the moment of distraction to slip over to Bumblebee and hug him close. He pressed their forehelms together, and no one bothered to tease them about the gentle kiss that followed. 

Sideswipe being Sideswipe however, crossed his arms and grinned widely after they had broken apart. "So big bot. Who knew you were such a cute kid?" With a growing look of horror, Bee's servo raised to cover his faceplates. "...Oh Primus."