Little Gladiator

Chapter 21: Family

"Argh." Orion slowly picked himself up off the hard ground and got to his pedes. A wave of dizziness washed over him as he stumbled onto the bench. He leaned against a cold, bumpy wall and was about to blackout again when a shot grazed his shoulder. He yelped and looked at the "wall" with dread. Galaxy and Starshot were both dead, a gaping hole replacing the brilliant sparks that once beat there. Just beyond them, he saw a red and gold mech bearing the Prime's guard insignia running away with a small bundle.

"Librarian!" someone called. He finally noticed the fight taking place right in front of him. "We could use some help here, Pax!" The voice belonged to Ravage.

Orion leaped to his pedes and transreadied the blasters hidden in his forearms. He shot down a mech that tried to run his sword through Scythe's unconscious frame and distracted him long enough for Sunstreaker to slice his helm off. Stunned, the data clerk watched the metal bounce to the ground, each clang getting quieter and quieter and quieter and-

"Pax!" Ravage called again. "Get your helm in the game!"

Orion shook the dread off and rejoined the fray. At this point, Jazz and Scythe had finally come to. Together, the drove off the palace guards until Scythe beheaded the last one.

Flicking her wrists to hide her scythes, she asked frantically, "Where's Bumblebee?! Bumblebee!"

"I remember seeing someone run away with something," Orion said. "It could've been Bumblebee, but I wasn't able to see what he was holding.

"What did he look like? Which way was he going?" Scythe asked. She pulled him down and shook him. "WHERE IS HE?!"

Jazz yanked her back and told her to call down. "We'll get our Bee back. Don't get yer turbos in a twist."

"He was well-built and had a red and gold finish, well-maintained," the data clerk said.

"A city mech?" Sunstreaker asked.

"Or someone who focuses too much on his looks, Sunny!" his twin teased. The yellow one rammed into him and they started to brawl.

This was a bad idea, as Scythe was already near her breaking point. "ENOUGH!" she yelled. "Do you want to lose your prankster-in-training? No? Then PAY ATTENTION!" The twins stopped immediately and hung their helms, properly chastised.

Orion continued, "He bore the insignia of the Prime's guard."

"Of course the coward would send another mech to do his dirty work," Ravage hissed.

"But if Sentinel wants Li'l Bee dead, why not have da mech kill 'im right den and dere? He had da chance," Jazz wondered aloud.

Scythe pulled their return tickets out of her subspace after some fishing. "It doesn't matter. What matters is that we're wasting time. Someone call Megatron," Scythe ordered. It seemed she was taking control of the situation.

"I called him the moment I heard the EMP go off. He's en route to Iacon right now. ETA 10 breems," Ravage informed them.

"Good. Mechlings, get a refund for mine and Bee's tickets. Go home on the shuttle and tell the others. Ravage, you go with them. Soundwave and Shockwave can monitor us from Kaon." Sideswipe and Sunstreaker have her a mock salute and hightailed it for the alt lot with Ravage hot on their pedes.

Scythe turned back to the other two. "Come on, boys. Let's get our little Bee back."

x x x x x

Bumblebee suppressed a whimper when he woke up. The EMP grenade had nearly fried his systems. Now he was stuck inside the small cab of a strange mech.

"Oh. I see you've woken up, runt," the red and gold said. "It's not my place to question my superior's orders, but if I were him, I'd have killed you on the spot."

"Who are you," Bumblebee asked.

"Shut up, weakling," he responded.

"My friends will find me. And when they do, you'll be roadkill!"

"Oh, they've done a great job of protecting you so far. Just ask your grandcreators." His kidnapper laughed menacingly. "Wait. I forgot! They're dead!"

"W-w-what?" Bee stammered. "No, no, no."

"I suppose you didn't see them, being unconscious. The other guards managed to shoot them first. They were about to kill you too, but I reminded them that Prime wanted you alive-"

"NO, NO, NO! Why does everyone I love get hurt?! The red mech killed my carrier! Then the pit master tried to kill me and my friends! Then someone tried to blow up me and Meggy! Then my grandcreators! Who's next?!"

Before the strange mech could do or say anything, something crashed down right in front of them. The mech had to serve to avoid crashing, causing the crying sparkling to be thrown to the other side of the cab. He was then sent flying when his kidnapper changed to root form.

Bumblebee braced for impact, but it never came. Instead, he found himself in the arms of the one mech he did and didn't want to see.

His doorwings drooping, the sparkling looked away as lubricant streaked down his face. "Go away, Meggy. You're gonna get hurt," he cried.

Worried, Megatron cupped his ward's cheek and asked, "What do you mean, Bee?"

"My carrier's dead. My grandcreators are dead. You're probably next. I don't want you to die!"

Megatron shot the guard without sparing him a glance. His servos strayed to his helmless neck out of reflex before his red and gold frame faded to gray. The gladiator hugged Bumblebee close to his spark. The sparkling did not purr like he used to.

"Do you hear that, Bumblebee?"

"It's your spark."

"Is it still there?"

"Well, yeah."

"And it will always be there for as long as you need me. I'm not going anywhere, Bee."

Bee sniffed and whispered, "Promise?"

Megatron kissed his helm. "Promise."

Bumblebee finally allowed himself to snuggle into his caretaker's neck cabling and purr contentedly.

"I love you, Meggy!" he whispered.

"Ooh, I love you too, Bumblebee. More than you'll ever know."

Their little moment was interrupted when the sound of engines came closer and closer. They looked up to see Scythe, Orion, and Jazz transform while still moving.

"Oh my Primus! Bumblebee! Megatron! You're okay!" Scythe exclaimed as she rushed them both. Megatron chuckled and altered his grip so they could all embrace each other. Orion and Jazz smiled fondly as they watched the pseudo-family sink to the floor in a shower of hugs and kisses, most of the latter being Scythe's

"Fer a seasoned gladiator, he sure is sweet wit' dem," Jazz whispered to Orion.

"I know," Orion replied. "I hope they stay like this forever."

"What? Sweet?" Orion chuckled and shook his helm at this.

"Family."