Chapter Text
Bumblebee vented deeply and let his helm rest on one of the rock faces behind him. It felt like he had been sitting here for megacycles now. The landscape had not changed in the slightest, and the memory of him getting pummeled to a pulp still played over and over. He had learned how to drown it out for the most part, but it didn’t get any more pleasant to watch in the slightest. A few yards away, Megatron was pacing back and forth like a caged animal. Bee knew that if both of them were here it was probably because Ratchet had put him into some sort of stasis or shut-down. He was partially glad that Megatron was stuck here with him because he knew that that meant he wasn’t able to cause any trouble. However, he also hated being stuck in such a place with the leader of the Deceptions. Every few klicks the warlord would glance over at him and mutter some vaguely threatening sounding words. Bee just hoped that his temper would hold, and that he wouldn’t try to abuse him in any other way. After Megatron passed a little too close and left his servos shaking and his spark thrumming nervously, Bee wished he could hide somehow, but after a particularly strong surge of anger he also decided that he wasn’t afraid to fight.
“:I wish to Primus I could smack that glower right off his faceplate:”
“What did you say, puny Autobot?” The irate Decepticon yelled, whirling around.
“:I didn’t say anything:” Bee raised his servos hurriedly. “You probably heard that.” He gestured to the repeating memory.
Megatron growled, but he didn’t argue or lash out. That was good. As much as he hated to admit it, Bee had felt his spark skip a few beats when the warlord had faced him. He sighed again, and closed his optics. He hoped that Optimus and Ratchet would figure out something soon.
More time passed, and the two bots continued to do whatever they could to distract themselves and stay out of the other one’s way. After a while, a sudden electric feeling rushed through Bee’s frame, causing him to open his optics and look at Megatron. The warlord had his optics squeezed tightly shut, and he seemed to be concentrating on something. The electric feeling rushed through him again, and Bee shivered. He looked at the landscape around him, and felt a twist of worry in his chassis when he realized that it seemed to be shivering too. The cliff-faces seemed to shimmer, and for a brief moment the nightmarish memory seemed to stop. Bee realized with distress that that meant that he must be coming back online. If he came out of stasis, Megatron would take control of his body again. He wished that Ratchet had left him in power-down mode for a while longer.
“Ha! Yes! Yes, finally!”
The sound of Megatron’s cackling laughter caused the Autobot to jump to his pedes and face the enemy. His optics were wide-open now, and he was staring at Bumblebee with a look of glee and satisfaction in them. Bee was hit with the realization that it wasn’t Ratchet who had gotten him out of power-down mode; it was Megatron. He watched in horror as the grey bot’s image seemed to shake slightly, and then become solid again. The older bot wiggled his servos and grinned at the smaller bot.
“Well, well, Autobot, it seems as though I will be taking my leave.” He laughed again. “If you could only see the look on your faceplate.”
Bee beeped angrily at him, and fought the urge to punch the warlord. It wouldn’t do anything anyway.
Megatron’s grin dropped suddenly, and he leaned in closer to the other bot. “After the last stunt you pulled, I won’t be giving you a window to look through, scout.” His voice dropped even lower, dripping with malice. “If you try to interfere again, I promise you that you will suffer in ways that are incomprehensible.”
Bee tried to come up with some smart retort or comeback, but found that his voice simply wouldn’t make a sound. He fought the terror in his spark, and stared silently at the bot standing in front of him, arms crossed and optics narrowed.
“Very well. I see my message has made its way to your processor.” Megatron stepped back and smirked at Bee. He started to walk away from him, but briefly paused to look at the image of him ripping Bumblebee’s throat apart. “I think we should switch things up, don’t you?”
With a wave of his servo, Megatron was gone, and in his place was a new image. Bee felt a lump in his intake at the sight of his team, and felt coolant start to pool in his optics. He wanted more than anything to rush into the arms of his family, but he knew that they weren’t real. They were just another cruel illusion conjured up by Megatron.
“Bumblebee.” The image of Optimus stretched his arms out to the scout, and the others all smiled at him encouragingly.
Bee fought the urge to run to them, and took a small step back. This is too good to be true. Something is gonna go wrong, he thought. He was proven correct a moment later as another image of Megatron appeared and tackled Optimus to the ground. There were other Decepticons there too, Soundwave and Starscream among them, and they jumped the other team members a second later. Bee watched in horror as Arcee’s jaw was ripped off by Soundwave, energon spurting freely into the air. Bulkhead’s arms were ripped off by Breakdown, and the Decepticon then went for his head.
“:No!:” Bee raised his blasters and charged at the fight.
Ratchet screamed in pain as Knockout’s many tools tore him apart. Saws, drills, and torches pulled his plating away, attacking the fragile machinery underneath it. There was blue everywhere. It spilled onto the floor, making puddles that the bots all slipped on.
“:No!:” His hands passed right through them. The shots from his blasters were harmless.
Optimus yelled as he wrestled with Megatron, but the grey bot pinned him to the ground. The warlord hit him over and over, denting the metal of the other bot and chipping away his paint job. Megatron raised his cannon, and fired a clean shot right through the Prime’s head. When the smoke cleared, there was nothing left of it. The Prime’s helm was completely gone, and a few pieces of twisted, melted metal were all that remained.
“:No!:” Bumblebee couldn’t take it anymore. He fell to his knees and pressed his servos over his audial processors tightly.
The image of Megatron stood and wiped the energon off the end of his cannon. He stepped a bit closer to Bee and glowered down at him.
“This is exactly what I’m going to do to your precious little team, scout. Do not try to interfere again, or I promise you their fate will be even worse.”
The images of the Decepticons disappeared abruptly, leaving the bodies of the fallen Autobots on the ground. Bumblebee crawled towards them, and tried to pull them closer to him. He tried to cradle them to his chassis as he sobbed uncontrollably. He desperately tried to hold Arcee’s servo, tried to wipe away the energon on Bulkhead’s faceplate. He could not hold them, he could not care for them. His servos passed through them like a ghost. He couldn’t stop the energon.
Oh Primus, the energon.
It was everywhere. It coated the ground, it coated the bodies. It filled the air with a cloying metallic smell and seemed to take the air out of Bee’s chest. He tried to cry out, he tried to say something, but it felt like his vocalizer had ceased to exist. He reached up to his throat, grasping desperately at it to feel if it was there. He needed to feel it. He needed to—
:This isn’t real. This isn’t real. This isn’t real:
He could feel his processor trying to rationalize what was going on, but he was out of control. He could feel himself spiraling as the panic in his spark became too much. Suddenly, the images of the dead Autobots were gone and there was nothing there. Bee carefully got to his pedes and shakily started to walk away.
:It’s not real. They’re okay. It’s not real. They’re okay:
If this nightmare was anything like the last one Megatron had created, it would likely be repeating itself in a few moments. He kept walking, his stabilizing servos threatening to give out from underneath him, desperate to get as far away as possible.
“Bumblebee.”
Bee’s radio wailed at the sound of Optimus’s voice, and he collapsed to the ground. He continued to crawl away, dragging his frame away from the horror behind him. He heard the sound of the fight, the yelling and screaming, and then the boom of the cannon as it fired. He heard Megatron’s voice again, and screwed his optics shut tight. He crawled until he felt his helm press up again something solid. He cracked open one optic and saw that he had reached the end of his and Megatron’s mindscape. There simply wasn’t anywhere else to go. The little bot curled up into a ball, and closed his eyes again. He stayed like that for what felt like hours, trying to block out the sounds of murder around him, and trying to regain a grip in what little sanity he had left.
Primus, he wished this was over.
“You are correct, Rafael.” Optimus Prime glared at the bot in the containment chamber. “That is not Bumblebee.”
Miko, and Jack gasped, turning to their respective Autobot companions for some sort of confirmation. Arcee growled and stalked up to the chamber.
“Listen here, Megatron. The second, the fragging second, you are out of Bumblebee’s body I am going to tear you to fragging pieces. I’ll rip your cannon off your arm and shove it right up your a-”
“Arcee! There are younglings present!” Ratchet snatched Raf off the ground and covered his ears as best he could.
Bumblebee, Megatron, only laughed. It wasn’t the friendly, happy laughter that Raf heard when he showed Bee funny videos he’d found online. It was unnatural in every way, and seemed to grate on the nerves of everyone present. Bulkhead shivered, and instinctively pulled Miko closer to his chassis. Arcee scowled, her denta gnashing together and servos balled tightly into fists. Raf was almost sure he could see smoke coming from her helm. Optimus quickly stepped forward and pushed Arcee back from the glass.
“Calm down, Arcee.”
“Calm down? Calm down? Are you serious, Prime? How could anyone be calm right now?” Arcee looked ready to explode, but another look from Optimus seemed to convince the smaller bot to take a break. She huffed and came to stand by Raf and Ratchet. Her shoulders were still tense, and she tapped on of her pedes impatiently.
“What are you doing, Megatron?” Optimus turned to face the prisoner again. “What is your goal with Bumblebee?”
The yellow bot beeped and whistled back at Prime, and started to pace slowly around the chamber.
“Ratchet, what’s he saying?” Raf looked up at the medic anxiously.
Ratchet didn’t respond immediately, as he was staring intently at the exchange in front of him. “What?”
“What is Bee- Megatron- whatever, saying? I can’t understand him anymore.” Raf felt a lump in his throat at his own words, and rapidly tried to swallow it.
“I’ll translate later. I need to listen right now, Rafael.”
Raf sighed and looked at Jack who had climbed up to the landing beside Ratchet and Raf. Jack shrugged helplessly and turned to watch the other bots again.
Raf watched as well, and realized that Optimus’s servos were slowly curling into fists. He was pretty sure that Megatron must have said something bad, because Arcee gasped and Bulk yelled, Why you little-!
Ratchet hurriedly put Raf down next to Jack, almost dropping him, and stepped forward to place his body between the cell and the angry Autobot.
“Bulkhead, no!” Ratchet spread his arms wide and glared at the other bot. “He is still in Bumblebee’s body, you can’t hurt Megatron or you’ll be hurting Bumblebee too.”
Bulkhead hesitated, then stepped back to where he had been a minute before, still holding Miko in his hands. Ratchet sighed wearily, and turned to face the prisoner. He pressed some buttons on the side of the container, and then went back to his computers. A quick look told Raf that Ratchet was doing more scans while Bee was still online. He squinted at one of the screens and walked a little closer. It was showing Bee’s processor information, but it looked different from before.
“Ratchet.” Raf whispered as he tapped the Autobot on the shoulder.
“What, Rafael?”
“It’s different from before. The processor activity. There’s two different lines showing up. Don’t draw attention to it though, he’s watching.”
Raf had peeked over his shoulder to see Bee, Megatron, watching what he and Ratchet were doing intently. Ratchet nodded to show that he was listening, and after a few seconds passed he glanced over at the screen Raf had pointed to. His optics narrowed as he looked at it, and he reached up and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“I don’t know a lot about Autobot anatomy and stuff, but I’m guessing that that’s unusual.”
“Extremely.”
“What could it mean?”
Ratchet pressed his digits together and hummed quietly. “Well, it could mean- What I think it means is that Bumblebee is fighting for control. Or, he’s at least active somewhere in his mind.”
Raf felt a little surge of hope. “I hope you’re right.”
After a long time had passed, Bumblebee vented deeply and gradually began to uncurl himself from the tightly formed ball he had been in. He sat up slowly and looked around him. He could still see the gory scene before him, and he quickly looked away. As he tried to calm his racing spark he realized that the mindscape didn’t look the same. It was blurrier, especially around the edges, and it was much smaller. It appeared that when he had been scrambling away earlier, he had reached the end of the area. Bee tilted his head to the side as he thought for a moment. Was it possible…? Could it be that Megatron, while creating a bigger, busier scene to distract him, had lost control over a bigger area of his mind? Bee started to think harder. How was it possible for Megatron to break free from stasis, and could he do that too?
“:Maybe- maybe it doesn’t have to be that, but something else:”
He closed his eyes and willed his mind to find Megatron’s. Megatron could hear Bumblebee’s thoughts, he could see into his mind, and that gave him a huge advantage. He could see all of Bee’s plans and fears, all of the things he was afraid of and what he loved most. If he could work his way into Megatron’s mind, if he could hear and see what Megatron was thinking, it might level the playing field. Bee exhaled and tried not to let his fear of the Decepticon get in the way of this new plan. He needed to do this, he needed to get out of here.
He needed to stop Megatron, no matter the cost.
Bumblebee felt his mind gently make contact with Megatron’s, and he held his breath, hoping that the other bot wouldn’t notice. After a few seconds, Bee pushed a little deeper. Maybe, if he didn’t say anything Megatron wouldn’t know he was listening at all. He started to hear the whispering of voices, all of them familiar to him.
“What is your goal with Bumblebee?” That was Optimus for sure. Bee felt a wave of relief rush over him at the sound of his leader’s voice.
Megatron laughed. “Your little scout? Well, the same as the rest of you, of course. I will kill him. However,” the Decepticon had a taunting tone in his voice. “His fate will be worse than even yours, Optimus. These servos that I control, hands that you may associate with gentleness and friendship, will be the very servos that end you, Prime. He will have to live, although briefly, with the knowledge that he is what ended the Autobots.” He suddenly looked away from Optimus and grinned at the other people in the room. “And their allies, too.”
Bumblebee almost cut the connection in shock. Raf, he thought desperately. Jack and Miko. He’s gonna kill them too. He pushed himself to his pedes and started to pace again. He needed to stop Megatron somehow, anyhow. If he fought back again, Megatron would surely give him an agonizing death. Or worse, conjure another horror for him to watch until he completely lost his sanity.
“:Unless…:” Bee stopped suddenly. “:Unless:”
There was a way to prevent that from happening. He could stop Megatron once and for all. The Autobot summoned every ounce of strength he had left in him, all of his anger, frustration, and hurt, and channeled it all into pushing against the now smaller walls of Megatron’s mind. The warlord felt it immediately, and Bee felt his rage and hatred slam into him like a brick wall. He ignored it as much as he could, and pushed again. This time, he would win. This time-
“:Agh!:” Bee leaned against the glass of the container to keep himself upright. The sudden transition back into his own frame was jarring, and it left him shaking.
“Bumblebee? Is that you?”
Bee slowly raised his head to look at who was in front of him. Optimus had bent down a little lower, and was gazing at him questioningly. There’s so much concern in his optics, Bee thought. So much pain, and I’m causing it.
“:I’m so- I’m sor-:”
“It’s him!” Ratchet came hurrying over to observe him. “The processor info, it’s him, Prime.”
Optimus’s face lit up and he bent closer to look Bee in his optics. “Save your strength, Bumblebee. Don’t try to talk.”
“We’re here, Bee.” Bee shakily turned to see the others, Autobots and humans, pressing up against the glass, looking at him anxiously and excitedly.
Oh no. Oh Primus. He didn’t want them to see.
“See what, Bee?”
Bee bent over as a new painful wave of Megatron’s anger rushed through his mind. He cried silently, and saw a little liquid drip down on the floor. His spark was racing in his chest, and it ached too. He hated this plan. A feeling of desperate hopelessness lay heavy in his spark-chamber, but he had long decided that it needed to be done. There was no other way. He needed to do this. He closed his optics.
“Bumblebee?”
Bee apologized to them internally, asking them to forgive him. He needed to do this right now or Megatron would get control and never let go. He wouldn’t be Bumblebee anymore, and he couldn’t let that happen. That was more frightening to him than death. He heard the whir of one of his blasters as it activated, and he tucked the slightly warm barrel under his chin. It was funny, he thought. The blaster was placed right above the vocalizer that Megatron had destroyed. Megatron might have taken his voice, but Bee wouldn’t let him take the rest of his body too. He prayed that Primus would guide him to the Well of Allsparks quickly, and pressed the blaster more firmly into position. He heard people screaming. Cussing, too, he thought. Screaming and crying, and he felt really bad.
I’m so sorry, was the last thing he thought before he fired.
Bumblebee felt something slam into him at the speed of light, knocking the blaster away from his head. The blast hit the ceiling, causing a wire to snap and rain down sparks. His optics flew open, and he found that the something was none other than Optimus. The much bigger bot was holding Bee in his arms tightly. The grasp was something between a tight embrace and a headlock, and although he struggled, Bee couldn’t free himself.
“Ratchet! Now!” Optimus yelled.
Bee’s radio wailed as the medic attacked him from behind, attaching all sorts of wires to Bee’s helm. The yellow bot screamed as he felt Ratchet’s digits grip tightly at his plating, and then suddenly press into the area on his head that controlled stasis and recharge. He felt coolant running from his optics as his body began to power down, and it dripped onto Optimus’s chassis.
“:Why…?:”
Optimus looked spark-broken. He pulled Bee closer to his chest and whispered to him as Bee’s optics started to dim.
“It will be alright, Bumblebee. It will be alright. We will defeat Megatron, I promise.”
Optimus sighed deeply as the bot in his arms went completely limp, and he brushed the few stray tears on his scout’s faceplate away. The optics of his scout had gone dark again, and they stared sightlessly up at him. Optimus’s spark was racing in its chamber, and he was certain that it wouldn’t calm down for a very, very long time. He cradled the bot closer to his chest and stared silently at the rest of his team. Ratchet, seeing that the crisis was averted, dropped to the ground, put his head in his hands, and gave a very shaky exhale. Arcee was trembling violently, and there were tears streaming down her face. Bulkhead had turned his body away to shield Miko, and was looking over his shoulder with a look of horror on his face. Miko was yelling at him, begging him to tell her what was going on. Jack had his hands firmly over Raf’s eyes, despite his protests, and the older boy’s face was the whitest Optimus had ever seen.
Optimus, after looking around the room, spoke up quietly.
“Bulkhead, Arcee, I need you to take the children out of here. I would like you to stay with them for a while as well.”
“What? No, I want to be here, Optimus!” Arcee’s anger quickly resurfaced, and she swiped at her face quickly. “I need to be here!”
“Please, Arcee.” Optimus’s voice was impossibly quiet. “Please listen to me and trust me.”
Arcee seemed to be battling internally, as many different emotions raced across her faceplate, but after a moment she sighed wearily and turned towards the door. She waved her hand at Jack and Raf, and they hurried to follow her. Well, Jack did anyways. He guided Raf out of the room still covering his eyes tightly. Optimus was almost certain he saw the younger boy crying quietly. Bulkhead shuffled after Arcee with Miko held firmly but gently in his servos. Miko, usually so talkative, was silent now. The sound of the doors sliding closed behind them echoed through the room.
“…Optimus.” Ratchet raised his head from where it had been resting in his servos.
“Yes?”
“The charts, they said- They said Megatron wasn’t in control, but Bumblebee.”
“I know.”
“You know? How do you know?”
Optimus vented wearily. “I know because he was trying to talk to me. I heard him trying to apologize.” He rested a gentle hand on the smaller bot’s helm. “And because it is something Bumblebee would do if he thought that there were no other options.”
Ratchet let his helm drop back into his servos. “You’re right, and I hate that more than anything. What are we going to do, Optimus?”
“I pains me to say it, but we must let Megatron remain in control. He will not want to kill Bumblebee until he is out of his body.” Optimus gently lowered Bee to the ground and stood slowly. “That will give us more time. It will keep Bee safe.”
“Do the others know, do you think?”
“I think Arcee and Bulkhead might know, but I will not tell them directly unless they ask.” A look of pain suddenly came over the Prime’s features. “We can’t tell the children, Ratchet. We-”
“I’ll tell them that Megatron was in control.” Ratchet struggled to his pedes as well. “Jack might not buy it, but if he has his suspicions I doubt he will tell the others.”
“Thank you, my friend.”
They both exited the chamber and stared solemnly at the little yellow bot on the floor. He looked so small. So vulnerable. Ratchet made an odd sound and turned away from the glass prison. Optimus walked over and stood behind Ratchet as he resumed looking at his computers, and put a servo on his friend’s shoulder. Ratchet stopped for a moment, and then continued working. Neither one said anything, there was nothing to be said that could soothe the hurricane of feelings they were both caught in. The only sound in the control room was the sound of a keyboard tapping away, and the beep of the machines that were connected to the prisoner. Optimus Prime walked back to the chamber, and gazed thoughtfully at the bot inside.
“You!”
Bumblebee flinched as the Decepticon’s fist flew harmlessly through his frame, and then straightened to stare at the enemy with steely optics.
“You ruin everything, you pathetic sparkling! What were you thinking? I am going to-” Megatron suddenly stopped when he realized that his acidic words seemed to have no effect on the bot standing in front of him. He narrowed his optics and looked, really looked, at the yellow bot. The Autobot stared back at him, completely motionless.
“Perhaps you’re stronger than I give you credit for, scout. Your plan would have been costly for both of us. Therefore,” he stepped closer, but the other didn’t move at all. “I can’t allow you to gain control of this frame again until I am free from it.”
The warlord had to admit, he was surprised when the other bot didn’t acknowledge his words in any way. He just turned and walked away from him. The grey bot watched him go, and made no move to follow him. He also didn’t conjure any sort of new image. The Decepticon could recognize, with some cruel satisfaction, that the damage had been done. What the Autobot had nearly done while he was in control of his own body was testimony enough to that.
Bee couldn’t feel his stabilizing servos moving, but he knew he was walking away from the other bot. Once he was far enough away, they seemed to determine, they decided to give out. Bee sat down heavily, and sighed shakily. He had failed. He had failed, and now Megatron was going to win. If he had just been a little faster-
No, he couldn’t have done it. The children were there, they were watching.
Bumblebee put his helm in his servos and tried to hide the liquid that was pooling in his optics again. Primus, he felt so weak. He just kept failing at every attempt to escape, and was left a soggy, helpless mess. He gritted his denta together and resolved that he wouldn’t cry again. He needed to stay strong. He blinked a few times, wiped his faceplate, and lifted his head resolutely.
On the bright side, Ratchet had powered him down again and Megatron couldn’t do any more damage. However, that would only hold the Decepticon back for so long, as seen before. Bee sighed, and rubbed his chassis. His whole frame ached, and he felt so, so tired. He was certain that he wouldn’t be able to fight Megatron for control again for a while at least. Well then, he might as well get comfortable. Bumblebee lay down and curled his legs up to his chest. Megatron glanced briefly over his shoulder, but turned away again. Good, Bee wasn’t in the mood to deal with him. He gave himself a mental pat on the back for not crumbling in front of the Decepticon earlier, and resolved that he would just continue to tune him out as long as he could. Megatron didn’t seem interested in making another waking nightmare either, so that was also great.
:Maybe I can get a little rest:
He tried to anyways, but whenever his closed his optics all he could see was the horrified faces of his teammates. He thought of how devastated Optimus had looked when he had tried to fire the blaster, and felt a twist of guilt in his stomach. He hoped that Raf hadn’t seen it. He hoped that Raf thought it was Megatron. One half of his processor told him he was brave for trying to sacrifice himself and end Megatron, but the other half kept telling him that he was a coward. He wasn’t sure what to think. He thought he was making the right choice, but seeing their faces…
It made him wonder.