Honesty is the Worst Policy- A TFP Fanfic

Chapter 2

All things said, Optimus' recovery was going better than expected. He had been confined to the med bay by Ratchet and forced to just sit there and let someone else be the Autobot's temporary leader. He would've totally picked his own kid, if that kid wasn't currently having a mental breakdown, not wanting to talk or even go near Optimus and refusing to come out of his room until his mind has completely processed all the possibilities. So now the obvious choice was Arcee, who gladly took command for the next few days. Optimus loved to watch his team get along and come up with their own unique strategies, but it wasn't as fun on a berth in the med bay. Jack, Miko and Raf were usually off with their guardians, doing only Primus knows what. But ever since the incident, and Bumblebee locking himself in his room, all Raf really got to do was play video games and help Ratchet with his work. Optimus felt bad, but unfortunately for him, all he could do was talk really. Luckily though, he should be free to leave sometime today. 

The groundbridge flared open, the blue and green hue illuminated as the Autobots, led by Arcee, returned back to base. "Sorry Optimus, but we found nothing. It was a false beacon." Arcee declared, slightly annoyed.

"Not true, there were some vehicons, we scrapped them pretty good, probably the most exciting news we've had all week!... Right?" Smokescreen piped up.   

Arcee scoffed and walked off in the direction of the training room. Optimus couldn't help but smile a little at Smokescreen's words. Sure he was a warrior, but he was still young and outgoing, it's been rare to find a bot able to fit perfectly under that category ever since the war made itself the center of attention. The only other one that the Autobot leader could think of was Bumblebee, but his case is a little different than Smokescreen's. 

Arcee made her way over to the training room, right past Bumblebee's room. She could understand what Bumblebee might be feeling, but that didn't really help the situation. As she walked past, nothing could be heard coming from behind the door almost like no one was in there, maybe there was nobody in there but then, where would 'Bee have gone? Arcee stopped in front of the door, her mind no longer on training, she was curious on why Bumblebee was so quiet all of a sudden. The blue femme hated what she was about to do, she didn't want to disturb their youngest member, but he's also been in there for the past two days or so. 

"Bumblebee, is everything okay?" she asked, knocking on the door. Her question was answered with silence, so she tried again. "'Bee, please, I just want to talk." Her voice was gentle but loud, and her knocks were soft, but still nothing.

Now fear was starting to settle in her spark, she only tried twice. Maybe he just didn't hear her, but she was talking loud enough for anyone to hear through a door. He could possibly be ignoring her, but that is one of the last traits you would ever find Bumblebee doing. "Listen 'Bee, you're scaring me and if you don't open this door in the next ten seconds I am coming in." 

Still nothing, two second, three, five, eight, ten seconds and nothing but silence. Arcee let an extra ten seconds go by just in case, and when nothing happened she slammed her servos on the door and forced it open. The lights were as dim as they could possibly be and a few things were scattered across the floor and shelves. What caught her attention was a small yellow plating slightly shaking in the corner across from the door and behind the berth. 

"Bee?" Arcee asked, gently.

::You said ten seconds, that was twenty.:: he replied. 

"Is everything okay?" 

::I don't know, is it?:: Bumblebee countered, coldly.

"Okay, um, let me rephrase this. Are you okay?" Arcee tried.

::What do you think?:: Bumblebee asked, never taking his eyes off the wall in front of him. 

"Well if you're asking me then no, you're not okay, mister 'I refuse to even answer a simple question'" Arcee said playfully, but really meant it.

She could hear a small scoff come from the scout intake. She felt stupid, but Bumblebee has been cowering in this room for the past two days and it's getting a little annoying. "Alright, if you refuse to talk to me then that's okay, but you and Optimus need to have a conversation. I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I send him in, he should be released from the med bay in the next couple hours, so I don't min-" Arcee started, but was interrupted.

::No, don't you dare!::  Bumblebee finally turned to her to meet optics and the blue femme finally got a good look at him.

The yellow bot was shaking on his pedes, an indication that he's been sitting for much, much more than a few hours. His plating was covered in small scratches, more than usual at least and his expression betrayed his attempts at being threatening. Arcee took a step closer to the side so she could see the full wall behind the berth. At the bottom of the wall had small carvings of letters creating the words, 'betrayal' and 'hate.' There was a knife near the writing, "well that explains that I guess," Acree mumbled under her breath.

::Just no, okay? I don't want to go anywhere near him right now,:: Bumblebee stated crossing his arms. 

Arcee facepalmed and sighed, "look 'Bee, you can't stay in here forever, and you need to sort things out with Optimus before this gets any more anno- I mean worse. He's worried about you, we all are actually."

"Cool," Bumblebee scoffed, turning his helm from Arcee to the door. The blue bot quickly notices and smirks, 'he does care a lot'  she thought. "well I guess I'll be going then, just think about it okay."

Bumblebee nodded slightly as Arcee left. As soon as she was out of sight, he collapsed on his berth and sighed in annoyance. 'What is wrong with you? Optimus and the others are worried about you, and you're just sitting in here. Get yourself together, you idiot, and go out there now.'  he was arguing with himself in his own processor, Bumblebee eventually stood up and without hurrying, made his way to the main room. When he got there, he wasn't met with an unusual sight. Ratchet was nowhere near the monitors, instead he was having an actual conversation... with Smokescreen. Arcee was talking with Optimus and Bulkhead was now playing games with the human children. The yellow scout wasn't in the mood to explain what he's been doing for the past two days, so he decided to try and sneak over to the med bay as silently as possible. Unfortunately his actions didn't go unnoticed, "Bumblebee? I was so worried, where have you been?" A certain young human partner of his asked with relief written all over his face.

As much as Bumblebee loved Raf, the only thing he wanted to do was call out a few things with one red and blue leader. But it was Raf, so he forced himself to say something at least, ::hey Raf, good to see you and maybe we could spend time together later. But right now I need to have a chat with Optimus::

With a simple nod from his partner, Bumblebee continued to the med bay, catching a few glances from the other Autobots along the way. Upon seeing the yellow mech approaching, Arcee excused herself with a smile and joined the others to watch the whole thing go down. Ratchet didn't tell any of them to leave or lecture them on privacy, in fact he was there watching it happen with all of them.

::Optimus, you and I really need to talk.:: he beeped menacingly.  

---

"So what's the plan, my liege?" Starscream asked.

"I'm getting my son back, and no one is going to stop me!" Megatron announced, and his crew cheered.

Starscream only rolled his optics in disgust.

"Are you disagreeing with me Starscream?" Megatron demanded.

The seeker shrank with all the optics he managed to catch, "No my lord, why would I do that?" he asked taking a small step away from the warlord.

"Good cause you're going to be a vital part of this plan." the silver mech declared.

"Really?" Starscream got a nod in response. So he turned to Knockout, "I think Megatron has just officially lost his mind."

Knockout grinned, "Oh absolutely."