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It was rare to get a quiet day in the scrapyard. Even rarer when the silence didn’t mean something borderline catastrophic was about to happen. But today was the B team’s clinically prescribed day off, which meant everyone was off doing their own thing.
If he could recall correctly, Grimlock had gone to explore some abandoned subway rails, something about making underground shortcuts to move more freely; Fixit decided to join Denny and Russell on a fishing trip, Strong Arm was away doing drills, and Sideswipe was off somewhere burning rubber.
Meanwhile, Bee had decided to stay behind, content to enjoy the peace before the next disaster decided to knock on their door.
‘Sides, with no one around he was free to play loud music and practice along his yoga training videos with zero judgment from the others.
Or not?
The approaching roar of an engine had Bee nearly smashing his poor radio to bits in a desperate attempt to turn it off. He was expecting Sideswipe, bored already and hoping to cause some mischief, but to his surprise, instead of a shiny red race car, a bulky blue patrol vehicle skidded into a reckless stop inches from scratching his paint off.
“Strong Arm, what-!?”
“I’m sorry sir!” She hurriedly apologized, “but I had to break protocol! A human was being stalked by a Decepticon down in the woods, and I–” her frame rattled, and Bumblebee felt his energon run cold, “I had no choice!”
As the gravity of the situation sank in, Bee noticed how the human was banging against Strong Arm’s doors, desperately trying to free itself from inside the young mech’s vehicle mode.
Scrap.
“Alright,” he said, trying to steady himself more than anything. He could feel the panic in Strong Arm’s field swirling around them. He had to keep it together. For her. “Alright, you did good,” his attempts to reassure the mech were not doing much to quell her rising worry.
“Our mission-!”
“Puts human lives as our priority Strong Arm,” He pressed, leaving no room for argument this time, “You did good, now,” the hard part, Bee invented “You have to let it out”
“But sir! Our secret”
Then exvented, “I know kiddo… Open your door”
Bee could hear the hesitant click as Strong Arm unlocked the driver's seat.
The human, a female with short brown hair, came tumbling out, thrashing about as she desperately tried to get back on her feet.
Bee noticed she was wearing a black full-body flight suit with orange accents and a pixie cut that seemed awfully familiar to him.
Wait a minute-
“Dani?!”
The brunette jumped and fell back flat against the floor, “Bee?!”
Bumblebee didn't hesitate, swiftly picking her up on his palm, relieved when she didn’t flinch away or fought against him, “Dani, holy scrap, are you ok?!”
“I– I’m fine Bee, especially now that you’re here, but a bot cornered us in the woods, and–
Us?! Bee’s engine hiccuped, more humans?
No, wait, if the whole Burn’s family had been with Dani, Strong Arm would've brought them along as well. Then who–
BLADES!
Bumblebee looked around frantically, the human’s words no longer reaching his audials. Blades and Dani were basically inseparable, and Bee had seen firsthand how protective the copter was of his human partner, but if she was here and he wasn’t...
“Sir?” Strong Arm’s voice lowly registered,” Do you… know this human?”
“Dani-!” Bee cut her off sharply, an entirely new wave of dread clouding up his systems, “The con’ that attacked you in the forest, what was he like? Do they have Blades?!”
“What?!” She sputtered, “Bee, what are you talking about?”
“Sir,” Strong Arm cut in again, this time making Dani jump back in his hand, “There wasn’t anyone else in the scene aside from the human and the decepticon, who’s Blades?”
Dani snarled, but before either she or Bee could say anything, an ear-piercing screech rang out through the junkyard.
Strong Arm was the first to take action, drawing out her weapon in an instant, “The depiction managed to follow me!”
That was enough for Bumblebee. Opening his windshield, he carefully placed Dani inside, the human trying to argue, but unable to do much considering her small size.
The lieutenant's mouthguard snapped into place, and Bee drew out his staff just in time to see the enemy dive in from above in a blur of orange.
He managed to duck out of the way, but Strong Arm wasn’t as lucky. The ‘con, a flying dinobot, managed to slam his cadet down hard, pinning her against the ground as it peered through her windshield.
Oh, Bumblebee had a horrifying realization.
He clutched his chest, ensuring himself that the glass was still intact, and sighed in relief when he didn’t feel any cracks.
Looking over, Strong Arm had managed to wrangle the beast off of her by the beak, but now that it knew his target wasn’t inside the police unit, it didn’t seem keen on holding back.
Bumblebee sprung to his pedes, determined to take the opening before the ‘con managed to break free, “Keep it busy, Strong Arm!”
“What does it look like I’m doing?!”
Struggling, it looked like she was struggling, but not for long, or so he had hoped.
By the time Bee reached them, the dinobot had managed to knock Strong Arm to her side, but the real kicker came when it let out a deafening shriek, strong enough to create soundwaves that launched his cadet half way crossed the junkyard.
And THAT was the straw that broke the turbo fox's back.
Enemy forgotten, the con’ turned just as Bumblebee swung his staff. It collided against the beast’s maw in a blow strong enough to knock it down on its face.
Bee watched it stagger back onto his front claws, his spark hammering against his windshield for some reason.
Wait, that wasn’t his spark, it was Dani!
The beast didn’t show signs of having his bearings gathered yet, so Bee risked a glance down at the human.
She looked panicked, but not for her own safety. No, she was hammering her fist as hard as she could against Bee’s chest, her muffled screams concerned and directed exclusively at the dinobot across from them.
The white and orange dinobot.
Could it..?
A groan from the bot had Bee taking an impulsive defense stance, Dani desperately pulling his emergency break in response. Every fight protocol was shouting at his processor to Do. Something. Attack. Neutralize. Anything!
He stood still
The bot’s vocalizer reset as he groaned again, and the lieutenant held his breath.
When it opened its beak, he was expecting another sonic attack, not the pained whine that had Bee dropping his staff and lunging forward to help his supposed foe.
“Blades!” The former scout dropped to his knees, carefully steadying the other’s strangely elongated helm between his servos, “You ok there, bud?”
The dinobot shook his head, his bleary optics focusing on his yellow paint job for a moment before squawking with excitement, “Bumblebee?!”
That… that was Blades! Any doubt left swept away when two large wings wrapped around him in an awkward attempt at a hug.
Bee retracted his mouthguard with ease.
“Bumblebee! Oh, Thank Primus! I need help! Dani’s missing and-WATCH OUT!”
The copter, no, not copter, suddenly pounced over him, shielding his frame with those enormous appendages that were new, and different, and–
Blades roared.
An angry, viscous sound so unlike him, Bumblebee could only stare in bewilderment.
“Lieutenant Bumblebee!” Strong Arm called out alarmed.
Scrap!
Without thinking, Bee grabbed him by the crest and switched their positions, keeping an arm out for his friend and another up in the air for his cadet.
Her fingers slipped away from the trigger.
“Stand down Strong Arm!, this isn’t what it looks like”
“Sir, the decepticon–!
“Where’s my partner?!”
“ENOUGH!”
When both bots stayed silent, Bumblebee opened his windshield. Dani slipped into his hand eagerly and jumped out of his palm as soon as she was within a safe landing distance from the ground.
“Blades!” She ran towards her partner, who slithered unnaturally fast to meet her halfway,
“Dani!” for as strange as the scene was, Bumblebee couldn’t help the all too fond huff that left his intake as the dinobot, (was he still even a copter?), nuzzled his beak to the human's cheek, “Oh, Dani, I was so worried! Are you hurt?!”
“Sir,” Strong Arm silently stepped beside him, “What if he harms the human?”
Bee almost laughed at the notion. Blades was no defenseless GoBot, that's for sure, yet, the idea of the timid and well-meaning field medic hurting anyone was an image he couldn’t fathom.
Then again, the primal hiss that ripped through the dinobot’s cord pipe was also something he’d never imagined hearing from Blades of all sparks.
“Stay back!” his friend snapped, curling himself protectively around Dani, “If you try to take her again, I’ll- uh, I won’t let you!”
Bumblebee saw how Strong Arm’s fingers twitch, a reflex she often got when she wanted to reach for her weapon, but wasn’t sure how to approach “Sir?”
Gently, Bee clasped her servo from where it brushed the hilt of her gun, “It’s alright Strong Arm,” he turned to her with a firm squeeze and a small smile “He’s a friend”
“You're friends with a decepticon?!”
Something about the accusation must've struck a nerve with the other bot, Bumblebee could hear Blade’s T-cog grating its seams as he transformed to his root mode. When the lieutenant looked over his shoulder, his optics were drawn to the very much still present rotors that fell long the copter’s (still a copter) back strut.
“Does this look like the badge of a Decepticon!?” Blades exclaimed in outrage. However, the moment he attempted to take a step forward, his legs buckled.
Bumblebee tried to dive in and catch him, but before he could touch Blades, the bot had already transformed back to his primal mode.
That was…Odd.
“Blades, are you-?”
“I'm fine, I'm…”
Dani hurried over to her pattern, exchanging a quick glance with Bee that had him swallow any query forming at the edge of his intake.
Later.
Alright, it could wait.
He still frowned, though.
“A rescue bot.”
Whatever tension left between all three bots dissipated the moment Strong Arm stepped forward, her jaw wide open in awe, “A rescue bot?! Unbelievable!”
Bee chuckled as Blades puffed his chassis to proudly show off his insignia. Now there was a familiar sight.
“Oh, you can believe it! Rescue team Sigma 17’s emergency medical technician Blades, reporting for duty.”
Strong Arm knelt to properly inspect the badge, her servos reaching over, before briefly looking up in search of permission to approach from the copter bot.
Blades seemed a little hesitant at first, but Bumblebee felt his field ease, allowing the much younger mech to ghost her digits over the red and yellow symbol.
“This is incredible! I read a great deal about the rescue forces during my time in the police academy. Their termination was considered one of the key factors that gave the Decepticons an edge in the war.” Blades flinched, but Strong Arm’s excitement kept her oblivious to the adverse reaction from the dino bot, “You're practically a living relic, sir!”
Bee winced. He knew his cadet didn’t mean any harm, but the topic was clearly a sore spot for the medic.
The event itself was a loss felt all over Cybertron. It cemented the segregation of factions as the only option for any bot still not affiliated with the uprising military movements. He remembers how hard Ratchet took it. The old mech would spend the hours tending to Bee’s damaged voice box lamenting how ‘he wasn’t there’ or ‘should’ve done more’ and Bee… He didn’t get it at the time. Not really. It took him thousands of years of losing; losing his voice, his friends, his home, to remotely understand.
Even then, waking up one day only to realize that the world as you knew it no longer existed, was a feeling he didn’t, and hopefully would never, know.
Or could dare to ask about.
An indignant huff broke Bumblebee out of his thoughts. For a nanoclick he worried all the fighting would start up again, but the playful grin painted on the dinocopter’s derma was a nice, if misplaced, surprise.
“Hey now, I may be a few cycles older than your lieutenant, but relic? Now that just hurts”
Dani snickered, “I don’t know, Blades, this form isn’t exactly helping you look any less like a fossil” she yelped when her partner pushed her down with his beak.
“Ugh, whose side are you on?” Blades whined, “Bee~! Help me out here, I'm getting ganged up on!
Bumblebee felt a treacherous smile tug its way to his own lips, “Alright, alright, lay off him, you two. Old bots are very irritable, you know”
Blade squawks and Bee can’t help but laugh, the small bite the dinobot gave his ankle only serving the others a reason to join in.
“Bunch of traitors” Blades huffed with no real heat, “And you called Me a decepticon”
“I’m so sorry, sir” Strong Arm offered sincerely once her laughter had died down, “I’m sorry to both of you, I never meant to cause this much distress”
“Hey, don’t beat yourself up over it. Besides, If I HAD been in danger, you would’ve totally saved me back there” Dani winked.
“She’s right you know,” Blades reassured, “Your spark was in the right place”
“No hard feelings?”
“None at all”
Bee took a moment to look at his integrated clock. The other’s would arrive soon.
“Hey, my team will be here any moment, you two got a moment to spare? Maybe we could help you out with… whatever it was you were doing in the forest.”
The flight duo perked up at the offer.
“Sounds great Bee!”
“Yeeeees! I’ll let Quick Shadow know so she can tell High Tide”
High Tide he knew, err, heard of. From Optimus. Quick Shadow he couldn’t recall, but Bumblebee was more interested in the names that weren't mentioned.
“...And Heatwave?”
Blades transformed, his weight leaning to one side heavily. He blinked at Bee, then looked at Dani. “Sure,” he shrugged, “Who knows, maybe he’d like to join us now that we’re relatively close to Maine”
Uh… Huh.
“If he does, tell him to leave Kade behind, ‘Kay? Once a week is enough for me.” Both the medic and lieutenant snorted. Those Burns never changed. “So, while he’s busy, why don’t you guys show me around?”
“Well, s’nothing fancy. Not like that training center of yours, but we’ve managed to make a home out of it, y’know. Strong Arm, would you mind? I think I’ll hang back for Blades”
“I’d be honored, right this way, uh…”
“Dani, Dani Burns, pleasure to meet ya’ Strong Arm”
“Pleasure’s all mine”
Bee watched as the girls walked away, chatting animatedly. It was nice to see them starting over on the right foot. Blades was still on his com, swaying slightly as he tried to keep his balance on one pede. He almost looked like one of Denny’s pink bird things standing like that. It’d be amusing if Bumblebee hadn’t watched him nearly fall over the moment he tried to walk.
With a heavy sigh, the copter bot hung his call and swiftly shifted into dino mode. His tired frown brightened the moment he laid eyes on the former scout.
“Hey”
“Hey yourself, Heat can’t come?”
“No, he’s busy working on setting up the academy.” the lightness in his tone told Bee that whatever had upset Blades had little to do with his commanding officer, “Did the others go on ahead?”
“Yeah, figured I’d wait for you though. The scrapyard’s not that big, but you’d be surprised how often Grimlock gets lost between aisles.”
“Heh, thanks.”
As they started walking, Bee noticed how Blades had to crawl four steps to keep up with one of his. He might not understand this new form the orange bot has adopted, but it seemed like flying short distances was out of the question. Not that he liked flying that much anyway if Bumblebee remembered correctly.
“Hey, uh, would you- I mean, would it help if, uh...” Bumblebee reset his vocalizer. The downside about being able to talk was when talking got awkward. He didn’t exactly know to to present his offer, so instead he patted his shoulder twice, hoping his friend would understand.
The dinobot tilted his head, confused for a second, but he got the message quickly, “Oh! Would that be ok?” A small nod from Bee was enough to convince Blades. It took him a little effort, having to tuck in his wings and all, but he managed to perch himself comfortably on the former scout’s shoulder. “Thank you for this.”
“Anytime, bud” Bumblebee tried to smile, but it didn’t reach his optics. “So,” He attempted to distract himself, “Who’s this Quick Shadow? Are they a new recruit?”
“New Recruit?” Blades laughed, “Oh primus no! Yikes, we sure do have a lot to catch up on”
They did, and that, for some reason, worried him. There was something off about the copter bot, Bumblebee just hoped it wasn’t anything bad.