Categories > Cartoons > Transformers > Monsters in Disguise
Jasper, Nevada. Bumblebee remembered this place, for a long while this was his home-on-Earth.
He had friends here.
Friends he hadn’t seen for so long now…
Jasper looked different now, there was a purple glow to it and the buildings wern’t the same.
No. This wasn’t how he remembered it.
Dark purple fluid seeped out of the ground in thick sickly puddles. A volcano spewed out the substance creating tidal waves of the viscous stuff, the Energon-like substance flowed slowly around the crumbling buildings that had once made Jasper and twisted metal slowly arched through the skies like corpulent slugs. He recognised this substance.
“Bee…”
Bumblebee’s air intakes hitched as his memories continued to warp into a horrible nightmare.
“Bumble… Bee…”
Bumblebee looked around until a few feet away he saw it.
“...Bee…”
“Raf?” He whispered.
It was Raf but he was the same age as when Bumblebee first left to return to Cybertron all those years ago, but now he was pale and off-colour. Bumblebee tried to move but the purple fluid had ensnared his legs while he was taking in his dreamed surroundings. Raf didn’t move towards him but hugged himself tightly, he stood on a broken piece of rubble his eyes sunken and puffy behind his glasses, skin thin and limbs frail
“It didn’t work... Bee… Bad… Energon… Still p-poisoning me…” he gasped, his small body shaking with the effort of breathing.
“Raf!” Bumblebee yelled as he tried to swing out to the tiny human only for the waking world to force the nightmare from his processor in a jarring snap.
Suddenly coming back online, Bumblebee was greeted with a cavalcade of cans, old radios and small novelty lawn figures falling atop him. Still jarred by his dream Bumblebee seized up staring at the mess of objects sprawled out around him, quiet snickering brought everything back into focus.
“Sideswipe!” Bumblebee yelled as he transformed and stood up, gently tiptoeing over the mess. The snickering broke out into complete laughter
“Yes Bee?” Sideswipe poked his head around one of the several stacked shelves of collected items in Denny’s Scrap yard. Not that any of them ever called it that in front of him.
“Care to explain?” Bumblebee tried his best ‘stern look’ but the way the edge of Sideswipes lip plates wobbled told him it wasn’t working.
Sideswipe stepped out completely into the open area. It was a small corner of the Scrap yard maybe big enough for two and a half cars, it was far enough away from the main area that Bumblebee had hoped it would be perfect for a short, quiet recharge.
“What makes you think I did that?” Sideswipe looked innocently at the mess
“Oh? And just who else would have done it?” He tried another stern look which was equally as unsuccessful.
“Russell” Sideswipe answered to be immediately responded with a angry
“Hey!” as Russell appeared beside Sideswipe giving him a more successful angry glare. Sideswipe responded with badly concealed giggling.
“Wasn’t even that good anyway, nothing much happened” Sideswipe shrugged at him but Russell was unimpressed.
Equally unimpressed with both of them Bumblebee rolled his optics.
“The intended reaction is usually involuntary waving and startled yelling. If the videos of this ‘prank’ I have seen are to be believed” Slipstream joined the conversation as he approached the corner of the Scrap yard. He was walking along in a predetermined route, keeping close to the wall
“Well I figured that one out” Bumblebee frowned at the Mini-Con who calmly continued to follow the outer edge of the Scrap yard
“Uh, what’re you doing?” Sideswipe questioned as they watched Slipstream turn the corner behind Bumblebee.
“Master Drift feels uneasy, like something bad is going to happen soon so Jetstorm and I are patrolling the perimeter just to make sure” He smiled in response his answer not slowing his progress down for a moment as he calmly continued on with his job.
“I’d say it feels good not be the only one with an uneasy feeling but it doesn’t” Bumblebee quickly dropped whatever he was planning on saying to either Sideswipe or Russell about their prank attempt and made headway to their control centre.
Sideswipe and Russell exchanged a look and a shrug before Russell gave the Autobot a light bat on the leg for ratting him out.
Fixit manned the control centre scanning every available location repeatedly for Decepticons with Denny alongside him and Grimlock wasn’t to be seen. Drift hower sat atop the control centre cross-legged and completely stationary. Strongarm stood below and quickly responded to Bumblebee’s presence
“I have tried to inform him that from the right angles he could be seen by any potential passing human but he still won’t move” She informed him quickly.
“Yeah, sitting about like a statue! If he stays there much longer someone might try to buy him!” Denny tried making light of his behaviour.
“Drift?” Bumblebee began
“I can stay motionless for however long it takes” Drift answered quickly and curtly.
“Slipstream says you feel as if something is wrong too” Bumblebee decided to move past Strongarm and stand below, but in view of Drift.
Everyone, bar Drift, passed each other a look.
“So what’s up with all these ‘bad vibes’ you guys seem to be having? No bot’s said a word about them! Not to me anyway” Sideswipe spoke as if sensing Strongarm was about to say something and successfully cut her off from making a single sound.
“So, you feel there is something amiss as well?” Drift finally seemed to move but still remained where he sat.
“Yeah, if anything it’s just making me feel worse about it knowing you feel it too” Bumblebee sighed.
“Uh, did we miss a memo or something?” Russell looked to Sideswipe, who shrugged back.
“I’m sure the lieutenant knows what he’s doing. Right sir?” Strongarm answered the human.
“I’m not sure I do right now” Bumblebee was quick to admit “It’s just a bad uneasy feeling in my processor… Don’t any of you also feel this way?” He turned back to the Autobots.
“No” Fixit responded quietly from behind Bumblebee “I’m not even getting any Decepticon singles, sequels, uh signals today either”
“You’re just getting worked up over some gut feeling ‘Bee” Denny added “So is Drift, we all just feel uneasy sometimes, it happens! You’re probably just a little worked up now the teams back down to it’s original numbers and after everything that’s happened” He was even waving a hand nonchalantly.
“Our sensors work at a different rate than Earth sensors, I am certain something will happen soon and I am certain it is something of significance” Drift stated sharply, disliking Denny’s ‘lax’ tone.
Bumblebee sighed
“Yeah… You’re right Denny, I guess I was just a little disheartened at recent events… and stupidly just got worked up over a bad dream”
“A bad dream? Really?” Sideswipe threw his arms up “Our prank failed over a bad dream!?”
“What prank?” Denny asked sharply as if Sideswipe saying ‘prank’ told him that his ‘collectables’ were in danger of being damaged or already were.
Bumblebee watched as Denny approached Sideswipe and Russell trying to find out if they had broken anything ‘valuable’, Fixit stopped searching for Decepticons and instead performed some more repairs, Drift didn’t move and his Mini-Cons continued their perimeter patrol. Strongarm however put a reassuring hand onto his shoulder
“I’ll contact Grim’ see if he’s spotted anything on his patrol.” She smiled
“Thank you” Bumblebee smiled back, embarrassment slowly taking over his processor.
It was just a bad dream and a uneasy feeling, just because Drift felt uneasy too didn’t mean there was anything valid behind it.
He knew why he got worked up about it. Guilt. Suddenly seeing Raf in his dreams, and in such a bad way, made him feel guilty. He’d been on Earth for a while now tracking escaped prisoners but had made no effort to contact Raf. He didn’t even know where Raf could be anymore, or if he’d even still remember him. The contents of his nightmare only made the guilt stronger, the implication that Raf may have fallen ill to the effects of Dark Energon again, that the treatment he was given had failed, was an awful thought.
Dark Energon itself was an awful thought.
He never wanted to think of it again let alone know it was still causing harm.
He silently wished that Optimus could and would return soon.
The council on Cybertron heard of Optimus Prime’s resurrection and after the incident with Megatronus had immediately requested his appearance on Cybertron, both to explain what happened and hopefully keep the peace. Windblade too had decided to return to her old post on a different section of Earth, saying that her time with Bee’s team had taught her many things and she felt it best to return. They could cover more area that way and recapture more prisoners.
That left Bumblebee with his original team of misfits.
He had friends here.
Friends he hadn’t seen for so long now…
Jasper looked different now, there was a purple glow to it and the buildings wern’t the same.
No. This wasn’t how he remembered it.
Dark purple fluid seeped out of the ground in thick sickly puddles. A volcano spewed out the substance creating tidal waves of the viscous stuff, the Energon-like substance flowed slowly around the crumbling buildings that had once made Jasper and twisted metal slowly arched through the skies like corpulent slugs. He recognised this substance.
“Bee…”
Bumblebee’s air intakes hitched as his memories continued to warp into a horrible nightmare.
“Bumble… Bee…”
Bumblebee looked around until a few feet away he saw it.
“...Bee…”
“Raf?” He whispered.
It was Raf but he was the same age as when Bumblebee first left to return to Cybertron all those years ago, but now he was pale and off-colour. Bumblebee tried to move but the purple fluid had ensnared his legs while he was taking in his dreamed surroundings. Raf didn’t move towards him but hugged himself tightly, he stood on a broken piece of rubble his eyes sunken and puffy behind his glasses, skin thin and limbs frail
“It didn’t work... Bee… Bad… Energon… Still p-poisoning me…” he gasped, his small body shaking with the effort of breathing.
“Raf!” Bumblebee yelled as he tried to swing out to the tiny human only for the waking world to force the nightmare from his processor in a jarring snap.
Suddenly coming back online, Bumblebee was greeted with a cavalcade of cans, old radios and small novelty lawn figures falling atop him. Still jarred by his dream Bumblebee seized up staring at the mess of objects sprawled out around him, quiet snickering brought everything back into focus.
“Sideswipe!” Bumblebee yelled as he transformed and stood up, gently tiptoeing over the mess. The snickering broke out into complete laughter
“Yes Bee?” Sideswipe poked his head around one of the several stacked shelves of collected items in Denny’s Scrap yard. Not that any of them ever called it that in front of him.
“Care to explain?” Bumblebee tried his best ‘stern look’ but the way the edge of Sideswipes lip plates wobbled told him it wasn’t working.
Sideswipe stepped out completely into the open area. It was a small corner of the Scrap yard maybe big enough for two and a half cars, it was far enough away from the main area that Bumblebee had hoped it would be perfect for a short, quiet recharge.
“What makes you think I did that?” Sideswipe looked innocently at the mess
“Oh? And just who else would have done it?” He tried another stern look which was equally as unsuccessful.
“Russell” Sideswipe answered to be immediately responded with a angry
“Hey!” as Russell appeared beside Sideswipe giving him a more successful angry glare. Sideswipe responded with badly concealed giggling.
“Wasn’t even that good anyway, nothing much happened” Sideswipe shrugged at him but Russell was unimpressed.
Equally unimpressed with both of them Bumblebee rolled his optics.
“The intended reaction is usually involuntary waving and startled yelling. If the videos of this ‘prank’ I have seen are to be believed” Slipstream joined the conversation as he approached the corner of the Scrap yard. He was walking along in a predetermined route, keeping close to the wall
“Well I figured that one out” Bumblebee frowned at the Mini-Con who calmly continued to follow the outer edge of the Scrap yard
“Uh, what’re you doing?” Sideswipe questioned as they watched Slipstream turn the corner behind Bumblebee.
“Master Drift feels uneasy, like something bad is going to happen soon so Jetstorm and I are patrolling the perimeter just to make sure” He smiled in response his answer not slowing his progress down for a moment as he calmly continued on with his job.
“I’d say it feels good not be the only one with an uneasy feeling but it doesn’t” Bumblebee quickly dropped whatever he was planning on saying to either Sideswipe or Russell about their prank attempt and made headway to their control centre.
Sideswipe and Russell exchanged a look and a shrug before Russell gave the Autobot a light bat on the leg for ratting him out.
Fixit manned the control centre scanning every available location repeatedly for Decepticons with Denny alongside him and Grimlock wasn’t to be seen. Drift hower sat atop the control centre cross-legged and completely stationary. Strongarm stood below and quickly responded to Bumblebee’s presence
“I have tried to inform him that from the right angles he could be seen by any potential passing human but he still won’t move” She informed him quickly.
“Yeah, sitting about like a statue! If he stays there much longer someone might try to buy him!” Denny tried making light of his behaviour.
“Drift?” Bumblebee began
“I can stay motionless for however long it takes” Drift answered quickly and curtly.
“Slipstream says you feel as if something is wrong too” Bumblebee decided to move past Strongarm and stand below, but in view of Drift.
Everyone, bar Drift, passed each other a look.
“So what’s up with all these ‘bad vibes’ you guys seem to be having? No bot’s said a word about them! Not to me anyway” Sideswipe spoke as if sensing Strongarm was about to say something and successfully cut her off from making a single sound.
“So, you feel there is something amiss as well?” Drift finally seemed to move but still remained where he sat.
“Yeah, if anything it’s just making me feel worse about it knowing you feel it too” Bumblebee sighed.
“Uh, did we miss a memo or something?” Russell looked to Sideswipe, who shrugged back.
“I’m sure the lieutenant knows what he’s doing. Right sir?” Strongarm answered the human.
“I’m not sure I do right now” Bumblebee was quick to admit “It’s just a bad uneasy feeling in my processor… Don’t any of you also feel this way?” He turned back to the Autobots.
“No” Fixit responded quietly from behind Bumblebee “I’m not even getting any Decepticon singles, sequels, uh signals today either”
“You’re just getting worked up over some gut feeling ‘Bee” Denny added “So is Drift, we all just feel uneasy sometimes, it happens! You’re probably just a little worked up now the teams back down to it’s original numbers and after everything that’s happened” He was even waving a hand nonchalantly.
“Our sensors work at a different rate than Earth sensors, I am certain something will happen soon and I am certain it is something of significance” Drift stated sharply, disliking Denny’s ‘lax’ tone.
Bumblebee sighed
“Yeah… You’re right Denny, I guess I was just a little disheartened at recent events… and stupidly just got worked up over a bad dream”
“A bad dream? Really?” Sideswipe threw his arms up “Our prank failed over a bad dream!?”
“What prank?” Denny asked sharply as if Sideswipe saying ‘prank’ told him that his ‘collectables’ were in danger of being damaged or already were.
Bumblebee watched as Denny approached Sideswipe and Russell trying to find out if they had broken anything ‘valuable’, Fixit stopped searching for Decepticons and instead performed some more repairs, Drift didn’t move and his Mini-Cons continued their perimeter patrol. Strongarm however put a reassuring hand onto his shoulder
“I’ll contact Grim’ see if he’s spotted anything on his patrol.” She smiled
“Thank you” Bumblebee smiled back, embarrassment slowly taking over his processor.
It was just a bad dream and a uneasy feeling, just because Drift felt uneasy too didn’t mean there was anything valid behind it.
He knew why he got worked up about it. Guilt. Suddenly seeing Raf in his dreams, and in such a bad way, made him feel guilty. He’d been on Earth for a while now tracking escaped prisoners but had made no effort to contact Raf. He didn’t even know where Raf could be anymore, or if he’d even still remember him. The contents of his nightmare only made the guilt stronger, the implication that Raf may have fallen ill to the effects of Dark Energon again, that the treatment he was given had failed, was an awful thought.
Dark Energon itself was an awful thought.
He never wanted to think of it again let alone know it was still causing harm.
He silently wished that Optimus could and would return soon.
The council on Cybertron heard of Optimus Prime’s resurrection and after the incident with Megatronus had immediately requested his appearance on Cybertron, both to explain what happened and hopefully keep the peace. Windblade too had decided to return to her old post on a different section of Earth, saying that her time with Bee’s team had taught her many things and she felt it best to return. They could cover more area that way and recapture more prisoners.
That left Bumblebee with his original team of misfits.
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