Transformers: Eradication

Part 40: Bumblebee's Sting

At the construction site Starscream arrives to attack Optimus Prime. He triumphantly announces his victim's demise.

(triumphant) "At last you will pay for everything you've done Optimus Prime!"

As he looks to where he is it is apparent that Optimus had broken free. It seems like he only just missed the leader of the Autobots by a few minutes. Over in Queens the Wreckers are driving along looking for their next big fight. It comes in the form of Laserbeak. The bird fires at them in the road, but they all drive out of the way. In any normal circumstance Laserbeak might have won, but these are the Wreckers after all. The moment Laserbeak turns around Roadbuster pelts him with rockets. The bird crashes to the street defeated. The Wreckers don't even bother finishing him off because he isn't deemed as a big enough threat. As they drive by the notice a particular mothership dropping down to the street ahead. The three take cover and watch the ship land.

Topspin: "Just what are these guys up to?"

Road: "I don't know."

Leadfoot: '"They're breaking protocol. Motherships never land like that unless there is an emergency."

Topspin: "We're the emergency!"

Leadfoot: "I'd agree, but there's no way."

The ship opens up a hatch, and from the corner of the building nearest to it Motormaster and Vortex go inside.

Road: "I've never seen a Decepticon looking like that before."

Leadfoot; "He looks tough."

Topspin: "So does his friend. Looks like he might be a helicopter."

Road: "I think we got another fight on our hands."

Leadfoot: "Then let's give them a warm welcome."

Back at the battle with Bumblebee and the Dreads the psychotic Crankcase kicks aside Tomahawk's body and observes his head.

Crank: "Of all the people I've decapitated with that claw that one will hold a special place in my spark."

Bee: (shaking) "You killed my friend!"

Crank: "He was weak. He deserved to die. I am hunter and he was the prey. Don't worry though, you're next. I'll make sure you'll see him again very soon."

Bee: "You're going to pay for this!"

Crank: "What are you going to do? kill us? You already squandered that opportunity."

Bee: "I.... I.... I'lll."

Bumblebee quietly cries to himself. never before has he felt so helpless. The Dreads laugh at him, but then Bumblebee hears again from Spike, who gives him a motivational speech.

Spike: "Bee, I know you feel bad, but there is only one way you can stop this. You need to let go. I know you're holding back. I get it, you're a gentle soul that doesn't want any blood on his hands. You want to see the good in everyone. You want to believe that there was good in Crankcase. You need to know not everyone will have a change of heart like Leadfoot, or a heart of gold like Splicer. There are just some people in this world that can't be reached, and Crankcase is one of those people. You need to let it go. It's okay to be angry some time, and it's best if you let it all out. The only way you can make it out of this is if you don't hold back. Don't do it for me, but do it for Huffer, Tomahawk, and most importantly... do it for you. You can do this, now take your life back into your own hands!"

Bee: "You're right!"

Bumblebee breaks free from the rubble . He is battered, but then again so are all of the Dreads. Crankcase raises one of his four eyebrows.

Crank: "Well that's interesting."

Crowbar: "I'll finish him off."

Crank: "Don't bother. He's not even worth gazing upon. Hatchet, go ahead and finish him off. I don't care how big the mess is."

Crankcase and Crowbar start walking away, and Hatchet instantly goes on the offensive. Bumblebee is ready and slides his ax into his hand. As Hatchet snaps at him he sidesteps out of the way. It is clear that his injuries has slowed him down enough for Bumblebee to avoid taking any damage. He shoots his cannon into the beast's side and fires a missile into its front left leg and it gets blown off. The beast falls over, and looks up just to see the Autobot do a flip in slow motion above his neck, and with a mighty slash of the ax Hatchet is decapitated. Crankcase and Crowbar didn't hear him die as his head rolls along the street.

Bee: (screaming) "HEY!"

The two turn around to see the dead hatchet's body with Bumblebee catching his second wind.

Crowbar: "Well that's a shocker."

Bee: "If you want to kill me you got to do it yourself."

Crankcase cracks his neck in preparation.

Crank: "You leave us no choice."

Crowbar: "You're going to die, boy!"

The two attack Bumblebee at the same time. They are tired like bumblebee, but two against one is hardly a fair fight. Still Bumblebee puts up the best fight he can. His ax swings graze Crowbar's face, but Crankcase kicks him in the back and Crowbar's hair whips him in the chin. Crankcase shoots him down and back him up near the pile of rubble that Hatchet created before the late Tomahawk arrived. The two are ready to fire and end this battle.

Crank: "At last you die. Then I'll just find someone else to kill."

Two small yellow spheres are shot at their feet, and they explode. Crankcase and Crowbar recover by rolling. The mysterious attacker jumps off of the rubble and is revealed as Ratchet. he won his battle with the Insecticon drones and is here to help.

Ratchet: "Get away from him you little shits!"

Bee: "Ratchet?"

Crowbar: "So now we have this guy."

Crankcase: "A tired novice and a hasbeen medic against two of the best hunters. They can come in droves if they wish. We'll kill them all."

Ratchet: "Back in my day I was kicking can openers like you before you ever crawled out of your holes."

Crank: "That was the past. Now allow me to introduce the present."

Ratchet: "We only have one shot at this."

Bee: "I'm with you all the way!"

Ratchet is tackled by Crowbar and Bumblebee is once again facing Crankcase. Crankcase wastes no time and clocks Bumblebee and grabs him, raising him above his head and tries to pulls a Bane with Bumblebee's back. His back doesn't break but he is hurt. Crankcase continually kicks him while he's down. Bumblebee grabs his ax and chops down on Crankcase's foot, and his screams of pain buy him enough time to get up and resume the fight. Ratchet is dodging as many of Crowbar's hairs as he can, jumping or rolling over as many as he can, but one trips him up. As he charges toward the medic Ratchet shoots him back so he can recover. Crowbar attacks with his hair again, but this time Ratchet has his buzzsaw cut off one of his many hairs. Crowbar is not a fan of this and whips Ratchet down. Bumblebee is keeping pace with Crankcase, and he even slices him in his chest. He punches Crankcase down, but Crankcase rolls forward and grabs him. He headbutts him about five times before slamming him on top of the car. He continues beating his face in until Ratchet gets an opening in his fight and shoots Crankcase in the back of his knee. Bumblebee kicks him away, and Crowbar decks Ratchet for shooting at his brother. Bumblebee blocks a punch with his ax and swings at his face, and in slow motion Crankcase dodges it. He loses one of his hairs, and he punches the Autobot in the throat. He then jumps up and wraps his legs around the Autobot's head. He uses his weight to bring him down and tries using his legs to snap Bumblebee's neck. He's slowly getting the job done, but Bumblebee bites his leg. He breaks free and stabs him in the shoulder and slices upward on his chest. Crankcase shoots the ax out of his hands, and the claw shoots out and grabs Bumblebee by the chest, The claw tears some pieces off of him, and he kicks the Autobot down. Meanwhile Ratchet is getting slammed by the hairs, and he grabs one and slam Crowbar onto the ground. Crowbar jumps up and kicks Ratchet down, but his buzzsaw is ready for him and it cuts him across the chest. He has Crowbar pinned to a wall, and the saw inches closer. Crankcase sees this and shoots the doctor in the back and then uppercuts Bumblebee. It seems now the tide is turning in the Dreads favor, and then the Autobots pull a risky move. They switch opponents. Bumblebee's speed catches Crowbar off guard, and he gets punched in the stomach and gets grabbed from behind. Bumblebee grabs his arms and pulls them behind his back, and then he jams his knee into Crowbar's back. He shrieks in pain before Bumblebee finishes him by bashing his elbow down on his neck. Ratchet isn't doing as well against Crankcase because they both keep shooting each other, Now with Bumblebee joining in the Decepticon is having a much harder time. He jumps and does a split kick into both their face to knock them down, but Ratchet fires a sticky grenade that destroys his claw gun and slightly damages his arm. Bumblebee ends the fight by firing a cluster of missiles into his chest. He bounces across the street and lands on Crowbar.

Ratchet: "Excellent work."

Bee: "Thank you."

Ratchet: "I'll be sure to patch you up after we're finished."

The two are ready to put the Dreads down like the animals they are. Crankcase begins his pleading routine again.

Crank: "Don't kill us!"

Bee: "We're not falling for that again. You're going to die now."

Crankcase slowly reaches for something behind his back. Ratchet sees this and gets in Bumblebee's way. It's a spiked object that they had in the movies. It imbeds itself in Ratchet's right arm. Crankcase beats Ratchet down and defeats him by stepping on his chest. Ratchet is too injured to even get up. He attempts to remove the spiked object from his arm, but the barbs are like that of a porcupine with a hook-like bend in them. Crankcase jams the other object into the left side of Bumblebee's chest, but at this point the Autobot has had it. He shots Crankcase in the leg, and gets behind him. He points his cannon behind his head, and the shot blows off the entire right side of Crankcase's face. Bumblebee grabs what's left and throws him on top the car. His body lands stomach-first in the roof of the car. His arms droop over the sides as his remaining two lights go out. The wounded Bumblebee goes over to Ratchet, but then another hair whip slaps him in the face. Crowbar still has some unfinished business.

Crowbar: (shrieking) "You think you can just go killing us all willy nilly? I got news for you, it isn't happening!"

Crowbar's hairs ensnare themselves around Bumblebee. The hairs begin to constrict him like snakes to their prey. Bumblebee is getting crushed to death. Ratchet sees this happening, but his vision is blurred from the damage. In a last ditch effort he fires three of his sticky grenades while Crowbar's back is turned. One lands on his rear, the other on his back, and the last on the back of his head. Crowbar is laughing his head off from Bumblebee's impending doom. He stops crushing him when he hears the pulsing from the grenades.

Crowbar: "What the heck is that?"

It's too little too late for Crowbar. Before he can even ponder what is making the noise he explode. All the pieces and hairs fall to the ground with one hair falling much later than the rest for comedic effect. The hairs that were crushing Bumblebee fall off, and he is now free. The limping Autobot comes to the aid of Ratchet. Suddenly the objects that are embedded in them start flashing some red light, but the lights flash at an infrequent pattern.

Ratchet: "I have a bad feeling about this."

Someone kicks Bumblebee down. He rolls back and sees that Crankcase is still alive. Even with half of his face missing he just won't give up.

Crank: "You think you've won? I'll take you out once and for all."

Bee: "I'll admit. You are one tough son of a bitch, Crankcase. I can't let you hurt anyone else anymore."

Crank: "How pathetic. You pledge to save other but you can't even save yourself."

Bee: "Only way to find out."

Crank: "Indeed. Let us finish this once and for all!"

Bumblebee and Crankcase engage in what is their final battle. The first thing Bumblebee does is run for his ax, and he fires rockets to buy himself some time. Crankcase slides under to protect himself and throws a car at the Autobot. It lands on top of him, and Crankcase leaps on top of it. He punches a hole through where the engine is, and he pulls out Bumblebee. He is gripping his neck tightly. With his free hand viciously punches his face. He slams him on the back of the car and kicks the car away so he can slam him on the ground. Bumblebee does a swift kick to knock Crankcase down. He slices down with his ax but Crankcase rolls away to dodge. He tries to punch Bumblebee but is just short from hitting him. He raises his ax, but Crankcase grabs it and breaks it. He whacks Bumblebee in the face with the handle of the ax. He knees Bumblebee in the chest and slams his hands down on his head. Bumblebee retaliates by shooting him in the chest a few times to disorient him. He punches him in the remainder of his face and kicks him down. Crankcase gets angrier and kicks Bumblebee to a glass window. There are many windows nearby as well. Crankcase keeps trying to punch Bumblebee, but he keeps missing and goes through the windows instead. He grabs a shard of glass and stabs Bumblebee in the cheek with it. Bumblebee claps his hands on the sides of Crankcase's face and throws him into a streetlight. While he is down Bumblebee grabs it and starts beating him with it. Crankcase grabs it as well and overpowers him and throws him across the street. Ratchet notices that the lights on his object in his arm are flashing at a much faster rate. Bumblebee catches Crankcase off guard with his speed and punches him in the face so hard it breaks his already disgusting nose. Blood gushes out, and he yells out angrily. He punches holes in walls trying to hit Bumblebee, but he eventually does a kangaroo kick to get him down. He jumps on him, and now that he is pinned to the floor he revs up the tire on his arm to grind on bumblebee's face. Bumblebee grabs the tire, rips it off, and hits Crankcase in the face with it. He tries to fire his cannon to destroy the rest of his face, but Crankcase grabs it, breaks it, and then tears it off. Ratchet sees Bumblebee's object's lights are flashing faster as well. All of a sudden Ratchet's starts beeping, and after about 15 second it explodes, blowing off his arm and damaging part of Ratchet's face. He is still alive though.

Ratchet: "Bumblebee, they're bombs! Get it out of you now!"

Bumblebee is still not faring well. Now Crankcase seems to be winning. It's some slow but hard punches are knocking him back and bringing him to his knees. Crankcase laughs in victory.

Crank: "At last you die, and then your doctor shall have the same fate!"

Bee: (weakly) "Not... yet!"

Bumblebee slowly gets up, trembling as he does, and in an amazing feat of strength he screams and tears the bomb out of his chest. Crankcase is of course surprised but charges to attack anyway. Bumblebee fires with his free hand and blasts off some of Crankcase's fingers. While he is distracted from the pain Bumblebee uses the opportunity and jams the bomb into Crankcase's face. Some of the barbs gouge out his remaining two eyes, and he is now completely blind. he flails around screaming and punching at nothing, hoping to hit Bumblebee if he can. The bomb starts beeping, and Crankcase let's out some last words.

Crank: (wailing) "I'll kill you for this, Bumblebee. You will never stop Megatron or his mission. I swear before the day is over I'll kill you and then-"

The bomb goes off, and so does the rest of Crankcase's head and most of the top half of his body. Finally all three Dreads are dead, and by a young scout that has proven himself to be a true warrior, and an aged medic. Bumblebee breaths deeply before collapsing. Ratchet finally musters enough strength to get up and rush to his aid. He uses what little tools he has to heal some of the minor injuries before calling in Wheeljack and Perceptor. They open a ground bridge for the two of them to enter, but Ratchet grabs his detached arm before going inside. Ratchet lays Bumblebee out on a table.

Spike: "Is he going to make it?"

Ratchet: "If I act now we can save him."

Wheel: "Hey, you're no condition to do anything. That fight messed you up too."

Ratchet: "I have to do something."

Wheel: "Then let us help you."

Jazz: "Are you sure you want their help? They've been doing a pretty crap job on me."

Wheel: "I'm about to do a crap job upside you head!"

The Autobots start healing Bumblebee up, and it looks like he will survive the battle.

Ratchet: "There is no way he's going back out there. he needs to rest."

Wheel: "Don't tell us you're going back there."

Perce: "I strongly advise against it."

Ratchet: "I've done my part., and besides, I'm needed here."

Perce: "Well let's hope the rest of the team can survive without you."

Back on the Eradicon's mothership they are socializing now that they are all reunited. Motormaster opts out and leans against the wall with his arms folded. His eyes are closed and his sword is planted in the ground next to him.

Vortex: "I'm telling you we need a theme song."

Dead: "A theme song? That sounds boring."

Vortex: "You are no fun at all."

Some strange noises are heard on the top floor of the ship. It even gets Motormaster to crack and eye open.

Drag: "What the heck are those sounds?"

Motor: "We appear to have visitors. Let's give them a warm welcome."