Evasion

Chapter 7

It was late in the evening. The smaller of the two Nebulan suns had set, leaving the sky a dark purple-orange gradient. Bumblebee had returned a few cycles ago, but refused to tell Starscream of his encounter with Megatron. The flier just wanted to be with the smaller bot; for the two to just cuddle up with some Energon by a fire, and forget that anything bad happened. Bumblebee was fine with that.

If only it was that easy.

It started with branches snapping and bushes rustling. Something was in the forest. Larger than the wildlife, and no Nebulan would come out this far so late. Was it Megatron?

After the dozenth time of hearing something snap in the distance, sounding twice as loud with his heightened hearing, Bumblebee was getting paranoid. The next time he heard something, it was a lot closer than he was comfortable with. He dropped his Energon and shot up, Spark pounding in its chamber, and looked around through narrow optics. It was hard to see into the forest, but he swore he saw a silver blur dart out of sight. Starscream finally spoke up from their silence.

"Bee, are you okay?" He asked.

The yellow bot looked down at the flier. His optics shined brightly through the dark, his worry prominent. Bumblebee parted his intake, when a CRUNCH interrupted him. His helm shot back up, and he looked around again.

"Did you hear that?" He whispered.

"I... I did." Starscream mumbled.

He stood, still holding his Energon, and grabbed the smaller bot's arm. The yellow bot looked at him.

"Let's get inside. Whoever's out there doesn't plan to be nice." The flier said sternly.

Bumblebee quickly nodded. They hurried towards the ship, abandoning the fire and the spilt Energon. Suddenly, though, they heard pedesteps. Large pedesteps at that. Both bots froze and glanced at each other. Before they could turn around, they heard an unmistakable voice.

"I am sorry to be doing this, Bumblebee..."

Starscream and Bumblebee turned, spotting the bot standing right next to the fire. Despite the regretful look in his optics and stance, the flickering firelight made him look like a beast.

"...but a bounty, is a bounty."

More bots padded out of the forest, blasters raised and snickering. Bugbite was at the head of them all, stopping by his captain's side.

"Hey, ugly." He said, "Glad to see ya again."

Bumblebee stepped in front of Starscream and held an arm in front of his friend. He glared at the Mercenaries.

"So, you didn't die?" He growled, "And Megatron, you're attackin' two defenseless bots?"

"I know for a fact that neither of you are defenseless. You are too smart to be without weapons." Megatron said, "I am sorry to do this. Like I said, we are Mercenaries; we live off the bounties of others."

"W-we have bounties on us?" Starscream asked.

The smaller bot glanced back at his friend. He was absolutely terrified just standing before Megatron. The gunmetal-gray bot sighed, and Bumblebee returned to glare at him.

"Yes. For what reason, I know not, and frankly, I care not." He said.

"Now, you're gonna come with us peacefully, or we'll have ta use force." Bugbite said.

"Like Pit we'd actually go with you!" Bumblebee snapped.

Before anyone could react, the yellow bot transformed and drove straight into Megatron. The gunmetal-gray bot's pedes were knocked out from under him, then Bugbite's as Bumblebee drifted into him. Both bots fell, and the smaller bot stopped. The others started firing at him, but he drove at them. However, before he could hit any of them, a powerful blast hit his bumper. He shouted in pain, transforming mid-topple and stopping chassis-down. He groaned and lifted himself up, about to stand when a blaster cocking stopped him. Bumblebee looked up, seeing another Mercenary pointing a blaster at his helm, glaring at him.