The Final Mission?

Chapter 4

Charlie was walking through the halls of the G.H.O.S.T base as she looked through several photos on her phone. There were several photos from her days with team Prime. She went from a girl fresh out of high school about to start College to a worker of a secret company who worked with cybertronians. Along the way she made memories she never would have thought she would have made. Shortly after team Prime went back to Cybertron. Charlie found who job had been flipped around completely. Fowlers team had been bought out and recruited for this new organization that was posted up in Witwicky. Charlie had no choice but to follow suit being the highly knowledge personnel she was. Having had personal encounters with the Autobots this new organization wanted her to work with them. They were always annoying her with stupid questions of her history with them. Overtime she'd learned to ignore them but recently they'd gotten worse. 

There were rumors Bumblebee was in the area and everyone was looking for him. Of course, when the rumors did start, she was immediately questioned if she knew where he was. As she continued walking towards her destination, she scrolled onto a photo she hadn't seen in a while and one she'd thought she'd gotten rid of. As she went to delete the photo, she stopped to look at it. A moment of sadness washed over her. In the photo Charlie was in the old Prime team base in Navada. She could tell from the photo where she was standing. It was the human section. In the background of the photo was Ratchet away at his work. Bumblebee was there photobombing her photo. There was another bot in the photo. A large toothy smile plastered across this faceplate as they were caught in Bee's arms. 

The markings were iconic to their style, but they seemed off. She could never forget the color of their optics. Her favorite color. The large canine was in the photo. Alduin

Shortly after Charlie's job with Fowler was taken over was when trouble started. Fowler pulled Charlie aside at some point during that time informing her about the buyout. Fowler told Charlie the company knew about her connection with the autobots and it would be smart to hide anything she had that would say so. It wasn't about the others though. It was about Alduin. It always came back to the grump. Fowler mentioned the new company had something in their files about Alduin but not much. For the most part he was a complete mystery. 

Charlie wouldn't deny Fowler did an impressive job on keeping the team invisible. Everything was found eventually. So as to keep herself safe and Alduin she got rid of any photos that might have had him in it. Even if it was just a pixel of his paint it was all gone. It was the hardest thing she'd ever done. Someone who'd had such a large impact on her life was gone both physically and mentally. Until now of course. 

She deicide to keep the photo as she pocketed her phone. She heard the loud steps of Optimus, Megatron and Elita as they entered the base making their way to their secluded area. As they walked by, she could tell something was wrong. 

"So, what was it that you needed the big guys for Elita?"

All three seemed to jump slightly at Charlies sudden appearance.

"It turned out to be a trick. I thought I'd found a Decepticon signal as well as tracks, but it ended up false."

Charlie could definitely tell something was wrong. Elita wouldn't have needed Optimus and Megatron for false tracks. 

"So, you called both of them out for false tracks?"

Megatron looked to Elita slightly annoyed knowing that Elita's story had holes in it.

"I had to make sure I was correct. There were a lot of them. The only way I could cover ground effectively was with OP and Megs around."

"You can transform wouldn't that have been easier instead of dragging them out there?"

Megatron let out an annoyed growl as he turned and got close to the ledge Charlie was on. 

"Do you intend to continue to bother us with these useless questions."

Optimus Quickly pulled Megatron back. 

"You need to calm yourself old friend." 

Optimus looked to Charlie seeing she wanted to know the truth, but he thought for a moment he could tell her as he looked back to Megatron and Elita. Megatron crossed his arms giving Optimus a stern look while Elita shook her helm. Leaving Optimus to sigh heavily.

"There were indeed a lot of tracks. The real reason we were out there was because Elita thought the tracks belonged to Bumblebee. So, we went out there to see if they were. As you know of course, Bumblebee was lost to one of the wars that took place on Cybertron."

Charlie looked at them in suspicion. Something wasn't right if she couldn't tell before she could now. All the evidence was there. She knew Bumblebee wasn't lost in a battle. Bumblebee was smarter than that. He always found a way out of situations. She knew for a fact Bee wouldn't be here. He'd most likely be back in Jasper watching over Jack, Raf and Miko while spending his free time racing. Their countless cover ups only left more questions. 

****

At the end of the night Bumblebee found Alduin laying in the cow field looking at the stars. Bumblebee walked over and sat down next to Alduin looking up at the sky as well. Staying silent as to not disrupt anything. It didn't take long for Alduin to speak up. 

"Do you- Do you every miss them?"

Bumblebee didn't answer right away. He knew who Alduin was speaking about. He wouldn't lie that he did miss Raf a lot of the time. Before Optimus called Bumblebee out of hiding Bee was laying low in Jasper. All though the young humans never knew Bee was there."

"I do. A lot."

They returned to silence, but it was quickly interrupted when Alduin spoke again.

"All though. I feel there are memories missing from those days."

"What do you mean?"

"I can recall all the memories with the kids but there seems to be one missing."

Bee gave a small laugh.

"It was probably Fowler. I'm surprised you blocked him out."

"It's not Fowler. I can still remember him." 

"Jacks mom?"

"No."

"Who do you remember?" 

"I remember everyone on the team. I remember Jacks mom. She had a thing for Optimus."

Bumblebee couldn't help but laugh. 

"Fowler was always on Optimus for something he did or didn't do."

"He really did always have a problem."

"Of course, there's Jack, Raf and Miko. After that it's all foggy."

Bee looked at Alduin was concern. Alduin quickly recognized this.

"What is that look for?"

"You don't remember Charlie?"

"Who?"

"Charlie? She was the human you rescued from Airachnid back in Jasper."

"I got a glimpse a human girl, but that name just doesn't seem right."

 "Why not describe her and I can tell you who it is."

"She a blonde, she had blue optics. She was always around when Fowler was around. She was close with the kids. After that is all goes grey."

"Somethings fogging that processor of yours. We'll figure it out."

"That didn't tell me who that was I'm seeing."

"It's Charlie. No doubt about it. Don't worry Al I'll make sure to get you fixed up while you stay with us."

"I can always count on you Bee."