Work Text:
The team had gathered an energy signature back on their base. It was an AllSpark shard signal and they all went to the location hoping that they’ll be able to track it down before the Decepticons could gain the shard.
The area the Autobots found themselves in was abandoned. Seems like no human or animal had been there for years considering the state of the buildings around. They were all crumbling with plantlife growing around them, yet they seemed stable.
Sari wasn’t able to come with them as she needed to help her father with something back at his lab. Though, she did mention that the location was known to be the source of some urban legends in the city.
“Looks like we’re here.” Optimus announced as they arrived.
“So, what’s the plan now, bossbot?” Bumblebee looked around the area and immediately understood Sari’s statements. This place was creepy.
“Find the AllSpark Shard and make sure you’re on the comms at all times.” Optimus replied.
And yet, they didn’t split up. Not yet, exactly. They don’t understand why but the back of their minds were telling them to stay together.
Earth was a strange and unusual planet. Filled with organic lifeforms and strange weather that the Autobot never experienced, Team Prime was able to learn to live in this new environment and had proudly called Earth their home. They have defended the planet from the Decepticons, while also defending Detroit from any human villains that the city faced.
They also made friends with the humans on Earth, especially with Sari and her father, Professor Sumdac. The former they looked after during a period of time when her father was held captive by the Decepticons.
Unfortunately, despite the time they spend on Earth, they didn’t learn a lot about the Earth. Prowl was the one of the few to learn about the environment of Earth, but that knowledge wouldn’t be helpful for what’s to come. Maybe if they had done more, they probably would have found out about the Magnus Institution and all of the statements that were given in.
Though, to be fair, they would have most likely played off as urban folktale of the planet. How would they be able to truly change what’s about to happen?
Out of the abandoned buildings, there was a cave. It seems to be like any other cave except for the fact that it seems as though an AllSpark shard signal was coming out of it.
“Well, it’s in there.” Ratchet told the others.
Optimus analyzed the size of the cave. “Seems too small for most of us to get in.”
“But I could go in!” Bumblebee excitedly pointed out. He could go in the cave and find the shard easy-peasy.
“Prowl could also go in as well. It’ll be better that way.” Optimus suggested.
Now the two bots don’t always get along so well despite being friends. With one having a loud and excited personality and the other being more quiet and more philosophical, their clashes in personalities usually leads to arguments between the two. Not to mention that they don’t really work that well in teams. However, they are willing to place that deep inside of them in order to grab the AllSpark shard before any cons show up.
And so, the two bots descended down into the cave. It was large enough for the two of them, yet it feels small. Turning on their lights, they venture deep into the cave.
It was moist with water dripping down from the ceiling. There were large stones everywhere causing the two bots trouble in navigating around the cave as they tried to find the shard. As they entered deeper into the cave, they made sure that their comms were still online as they followed the map provided to them to find the shard in the cave’s maze.
They were nearing the location of the shard when something caught Bumblebee’s eyes.
“Do you think something could be here?” Bumblebee asked, trying to mask the small amount of fear he felt.
Prowl looked at where Bumblebee was looking. “Could be an animal living in the cave. You see, there’s hundreds of different an-”
“Ok, let’s find the shard.” Bumblebee didn’t really want to hear Prowl’s nature documentaries.
Prowl scowled but decided to continue on to the shard rather than start an argument. Yet, Bumblebee still couldn’t shake off that feeling of fear. It isn’t uncommon, not that he’ll admit it, but this fear is different from the ones he experienced. This fear seems like something’s almost gripping onto it and will never let him go.
He tried to ignore it, of course, but it’s still there.
The two made sure to keep a comm link with the others to ensure communication between the two groups. Once they reached the location of the shard, they saw that it was buried underneath some rocks. Prowl started to dig it out carefully and Bumblebee was about to join him when he saw something again on the left side of his eye.
There was another opening that led to another area of the cave and at that moment Bumblebee thought he saw a hand slithering away from the entrance. Another strike of fear filled Bumblebee as he continued staring at where the hand was.
“Bumblebee!” Prowl shouted, “Would you help me get the shard?”
If he could, he would have. Unfortunately, it seems whatever he saw seems to have their grip on him. Bumblebee then ran towards the entrance, after all it could have been a human who had gotten lost down here.
He didn't even listen to Prowl’s calls as he went deeper into the path. He cried out towards the human as walked through but found nothing. He didn’t stop until he hit a dead end.
‘Great my mind was just playing tricks on me.’ Bumblebee thought as his servo facepalm his helm.
Worse than that, he would most likely face a lecture from the others for running off like that. In fact, it’s strange that none of them had said anything yet. He pressed his comm, but all that returned was static.
‘Great, my comms out.’ Bumblebee continued on the way he went on believing that the depths of the cave had caused his comms to go out.
When he reached the area connected to where Prowl would be, he stopped. Where the entrance should be it wasn’t there. The only thing there was the cave's rocky wall. He once again tried to gain communication with the others but static once again responded back.
Bumblebee wasn’t panicking! He was not! He must have taken a wrong turn somewhere or he had gone further into the cave than he thought.
So the young Autobot continued on his way in the cave. Several times he tried to gain any communication from his team but none came. Each turn he took, each path he took had led him no closer to his wanted location.
That had been megacycles ago. At least, it seems to be megacycles ago or maybe it was more. Bumblebee wasn’t sure how much time had passed. It seems as though time had either stopped or was moving quickly.
He still was unable to find his path to Prowl or to the entrance of the cave. He also had no luck gaining any sort of communication. He was losing energy and would need to recharge soon. At his point, Bumblebee did start to fully panic.
He dropped onto the floor of the cave as he started hyperventilating. He’s lost in this cave, he has no way of communication, and now he would most likely die down here.
Lubricant started to well up in his optics as he cursed himself for getting himself in this situation. He shouldn’t have ran off. He should have at least told Prowl about what he saw. Why didn’t he? Why did he decide to run off like that? For all he knew he could have mistaken that hand for one of those animals that Prowl tried to talk about.
Bumblebee curled onto himself as he started to cry. That fear that had started since he saw the mysterious hand had been building during his tour in the cave. It has grown into a suffocating feeling that is starting to choke him down.
He didn’t know how long he stayed in that state before he heard something echo in the cave. His helm snapped up and right in front of him was another entrance that led to a dark path in the cave. It wasn’t there before though he probably didn’t notice it before.
On the dark path Bumblebee could faintly see two eyes looking back at him. They look like a human’s eye. That fear came back again but Bumblebee swallowed it down trying to put on a brave face for the human there.
“Hello.” Bumblebee said “Are you lost?”
The human didn’t speak but Bumblebee believed that they could be a little scared.
Despite the back of his mind telling him to stay away, Bumblebee placed himself on one knee and spread a hand out towards the human. “It’s ok, I’m a good guy. We could help each other find a way around this cave. Everything will be ok.”
The eyes disappear causing Bumblebee to once again feel that fear. Two large, long, sharp black hands pop out of the darkness and quickly head towards Bumblebee. All he had time for was to scream before everything went dark.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Three days. Three days had passed since Prowl and Bumblebee descended down into that cave and only one of them had come up with the AllSpark shard.
Team Prime had been searching other caves around the area to see if they could find Bumblebee there. Sari even came with a map of the underworkings of the cave. Prowl had felt that it was his mission to try to find Bumblebee more than the others due to the guilt he felt.
However, they have been unsuccessful so far. At this point, it seems like it’ll take a miracle to find Bumblebee. The team wasn’t exactly sure what had happened. Prowl noted that Bumblebee was in the same area as him looking at another entrance when he seemingly disappeared.
As he tried to comm Bumblebee, all he got was static. It was the same with all the others. They were just glad that the Decepticons hadn’t shown up yet.
One this third day, it was nearing 3pm. At this point, they weren’t sure what to do and were discussing the possibilities of contacting the Elite Guards to help with the search. It was this moment when they heard the comms turned on and a voice called out.
“Guys? Is anyone there?”
It’s him. It’s Bumblebee.
“Bumblebee! Oh, little buddy are you ok?!” Bulkhead shouted out, the relief clear in his voice.
“Yeah, sorry. Got in too deep in the cave when I lost access to the comms then lost my way.” Bumblebee explained.
Optimus and Prowl sigh in relief as Ratchet begins asking Bumblebee for any possible injuries that the bot may have gotten. All he had were some dents and would need some fuel soon.
“Where are you?” Sari asked as she looked at the map.
“I think I’m nearing the entrance of the cave. I see light.” Bumblebee answered.
Prowl immediately starts scrambling down into the cave. “I’ll be right there. Just stay put and keep the comm on.”
I suppose it’ll be at this point that I should mention that if anyone here was unaffected, they would have noticed that Bumblebee’s voice was an octave too low for it to be his voice. Though it could have been excused with the conditions of the cave affecting his voicebox.
If one of them was unaffected, they would have noticed something much less inexcusable.
They would have noticed, from the moment the Bumblebee in the cave reached the light, that he looked different from the Bumblebee they knew. For instance, he is taller than the other Bumblebee, almost reaching Prowl’s chin rather than his chest. There were no black stripes on him either and his horns were longer and bigger.
The bumper of his autoform is now on his chest, much like Jazz’s. The top of the car is now on his back. His now exposed stomach had two strange marks on each side almost as if something had grabbed him there.
Out of all the differences, the biggest one was his color. Bumblebee had a rich yellow color, but this imposter instead sports a dark blue color.
Yet, none of Team Prime sees anything wrong. For them, Bumblebee has always looked like this. Had always had a bit of a deep voice. The pictures they have would show proof of that.
So of course everyone didn’t think twice as they tried to help Bumblebee and made sure he was ok. They had him enter their base. They gave him treatment. They gave him a stern lecture. And if they noticed that Bumblebee transformed into a Volkswagen Beetle instead of a sports car, well no one said anything.