Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Bumblebee grinned as he slid under the rapidly-closing door. Blasts hit the door as it slammed shut. A guttural roar came from the hall and he let out a cackle. 

“GET OUT HERE AND FIGHT!” The bot chasing him screamed. After another slam, Bee decided it was time to get a move on. There was a worrying creak from the locked door. He yanked a chair up and shoved it in front of the door. Sparks erupted from where the chair had been bolted down, but he ignored them. Looking around, he eyed the windshield. He was in the control room of the ship, and through the windows he could see out into the water. 

The ship had crashed some time ago, and Bumblebee had been jolted out of stasis because of course he was. Apparently, when they crashed, part of his pod had been damaged, and it woke him up after a few stellar cycles.

Now he was trying to get this psychotic Decepticon to leave him, and the rest of the Autobots, alone. He eyed the windshield again. 

Bee had a plan, but he knew Ratchet would be pissed. Both at him for damaging the ship , and for potentially damaging himself . 

Oh well, Bee thought, Ratchet’s not awake right now. And maybe I’ll have time to fix the windows before I wake the others up.  

He pointed an index finger at the window and sparked. 

Hopefully.

Lightning erupted from his fingertip and hit the window. Cracks spread through the entire front. 

He wished he could have safely done more, but it would have to do. He didn’t want to get lectured on “overusing” his ability again. 

Ratchet just doesn’t know how to have fun.  

He clambered onto one of the many consoles and got as close to the window as he dared. Leaning his weight onto his servos, he kicked out with all his strength. 

The window cracked a little more.

He kicked again. 

The window shattered. 

Water came flooding into the room, and he coughed aggressively as it entered his mouth. He ignored a computer sparking as he was slowly submerged.

Surprisingly, the water wasn’t acidic, like on Cybertron. At least it didn’t burn him, even if venting it was uncomfortable. He winced as the computers sparked a little more. He mumbled an apology to the ship and patted one of the consoles. 

He nearly leapt out of his paint as the door burst off its frame. The ship seemed to forgive him, as the console flipped up by itself and shoved him out the window. 

Bee sank for a moment, not entirely sure how moving around in the water worked. Cybertronian water wasn’t exactly safe to go in. He kicked out, and learning that it would boost him a little higher, repeated the motion. It wasn’t the easiest, but he learned well under pressure. Soon enough, he grabbed a hold of the front of the ship and popped up in the window again. 

The Decepticon was coughing as the water entered his system. He got used to it a little quicker than Bee would have liked, but that’s just his luck. The ‘Con glared at him. 

He gave a jaunty little wave, a wide grin across his face. 

The ‘Con’s face, which had been a pale blue, was now red. His monocle had been replaced by goggles, covering both eyes. The only reason he knew it was the same ‘Con was because the rest of him hadn’t changed, just the face. 

Bee’s spark dropped. This was Blitzwing, then. The certifiably insane triple-changer Decepticon. That’s who was trying to kill him.

It only got worse the longer he thought about it. 

*****

He knew about Blitzwing, unfortunately. He had learned a lot about Decepticons, both through snooping through Restricted libraries and through listening to Optimus' studying. 

[Optimus also had a bad habit of leaving his ID around, meaning Bee could get into just about anywhere when he felt like “borrowing” it.]

Blitzwing had three modes, Hothead, Random, and Icy. Icy had been who had originally been chasing him, until probably around when he slid under the door. 

Primus was probably having a nice laugh about all this. 

He yelped as a blast fired past his head. Plan forming, he gave another wave and kicked up, disappearing above the ship. 

Blitzwing growled and followed him, yelling in pain as part of his leg got caught in the window. 

The ship seemed to be protecting Bee, as it gave him more time to swim upwards by dropping part of the ceiling on the ‘Con’s foot. 

The Decepticon yowled again, before aggressively yanking his foot out and swimming after him. While Blitzwing was much larger than Bee, he was also much slower. 

Bee burst out of the water, gasping and coughing. The water was a lot heavier than air, and having both in his system was not ideal. He coughed out the rest of the water, giving himself a moment to inhale the air. 

He frantically looked around, hoping to find something solid to escape the water with. Primus seemed to like him again, as he found himself close to a beach. He quickly swam to it, managing to nail Blitzwing in the face with his aggressively kicking legs. The Autobot reached land much faster than the ‘Con, and enthusiastically climbed out of the water. He nearly fell over once he stood up, not expecting the sudden change in gravity. 

Bee sprinted through the sand, ducking as blasts followed him. He was getting really sick of running for his life, even if he’d only been doing it for a few stellar-cycles now. 

A blast destroyed the tree next to him. He flipped over it with a smile, hoping that looking happy would make Blitzwing even more angry. 

That worked, Bee thought sarcastically as several trees nearby were incinerated with screams of rage.

*****

Bee skidded to a halt as the line of forest he had suddenly sprinted into ended. All that was in front of him was a rocky mountain. He could hear Blitzwing behind him, cursing at the foliage. He scanned the area, grinning when he saw a cave. It was high up, high enough that good old Blitzy wouldn’t be able to see him. Blitzwing, even if he did see it, would hopefully assume Bee would hide closer to the ground, since he was small and unable to fly. 

Bee leapt onto a tree and began to climb. He swung off one branch into the rocks, scraping his legs and arms. Yellow paint chipped off, but it was minimal enough that he didn’t think Blitzwing would pay any attention to it. He reached up and climbed. 

Once he had reached the small ledge where the cave was, he turned back down to see where Blitzwing was. He was a lot higher up than he thought, but Blitzwing hadn’t seen him yet. 

Bee squatted on the ledge, leaning slightly over so he could see Blitzwing. The ‘Con had finally made it through the trees and stopped short at the mountain. Bee watched as the ‘Con looked around, confused. 

He scooted back slightly, cursing his helm for having horns. Why did he have to be bright yellow? And horns, really? Who came up with his design? 

The yellow was your idea. His processor helpfully reminded him. 

He told it to shut the frag up. 

At least it was night, and the yellow wouldn’t be as visible. 

He slid into the cave, allowing the darkness to completely cover him. His biolights and eyes still were glowing, and he wasn’t sure how well Blitzwing could see. He dimmed his eyes and shifted so his biolights were more hidden. He wished he could just turn them off, but that could mean shutting part of his system down (not to mention risking falling into stasis), and he couldn’t afford that right now. He wasn’t sure when the others would be released from their stasis pods, and he didn’t want to be missing when they did.

Chapter Text

Bumblebee remained still, pressed against the wall, hoping Blitzwing was gone.

It was awful. 

Sitting still in silence was not his forte. 

After he had waited for what felt like an eternity, he deemed it safe enough to try and return back to the base. Hopefully the entire ship wasn’t filled with water, that would suck to explain. 

Bee made his way back through the forest towards the beach as silently as he could. Once he made it back to the sand, he looked around before sprinting to the water.

He wasn’t really looking forward to going back into the water, but that’s where everyone else was. He hit the water and ducked under the waves as quickly as he could. 

As he swam he hoped he knew where the ship was, the water damaged the location beacons and it wasn’t like anyone else was awake to find him. 

*****

It took a few solar cycles, but he managed to find the ship again. He vented in relief as he headed towards the shattered front windows. He climbed back into the ship, letting a small smile slip through as the ship hummed in welcome. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll figure out a way to fix the window.” Bee promised the ship, patting the wall. A light flashed at him. He swam towards the ceiling of the ship, searching. He let out a quiet “ah-ha!” as he found the compartment he was looking for. 

The latch seemed to be stuck, though. 

“Could you open this?” 

A flicker. The latch didn’t open.

“I’ll take that as a no. Sorry for any damage to this thing.” 

A hum. 

He tugged on the latch as hard as he could. It splintered open, and he pulled out a pane of heavy-duty glass. 

He pulled it with him, yelping as it dragged him down. Once he managed the weight, he swam to the window and set the glass down. 

“I’m not entirely sure how to fix this.” He announced to the ship. Bee scanned the glass, focusing on the edges. 

“I’m gonna say I need to remove the shards and the seal.” 

The ship buzzed at him. 

“Well it’s not like I have a choice, the computers will be damaged. You know, more.” 

Another angry buzz. 

He ignored it as he grabbed a box from another compartment. Bee grabbed a shard floating by, wincing as it cut into his hand. Energon slowly dissipated in the water. 

A frantic buzz this time. 

“I need to get these so they don’t stab anything. I also don’t want it to stab me in the optic.” 

A resigned buzz. 

“Fine, I’ll do it after we get the water out,” Bee compromised, “If I get stabbed, I’m blaming you.” 

The ship seemed to accept that. Bee swam up to the window again, beginning the process of removing shards and putting them in the box. 

*****

He ended up with many more cuts, but eventually the window was glass-free. 

Bee moved the pane of glass over to the window, pressing it into the new sealant. It wasn’t the best job, but it would work until they could get back to Cybertron and get professionals to fix it. Once he deemed it as ‘good enough’, he swam over to the consoles. 

Bee scanned the computers, quickly running through the diagnostics. He hoped the computers would work enough for the drainage system to work. He held his vents as he pressed a digit to the button. Nothing happened for a few moments. 

The system kicked on, finally, and the water level lowered. He coughed out the water in his system as it emptied. Glass slowly fell to the ground, and he began picking it up. Moving it into the box, he decided incineration was probably the safest way to get rid of it, assuming the incinerators worked. 

It took a moment, but the incinerator turned on, and he was able to dispose of the glass shards. Bee was very glad most ships stocked extra windows. It was a little worrying how easily he broke the previous window, but hopefully it had just been damaged in their fight with the Decepticons. 

Speaking of Decepticons… 

Bee allowed himself a moment to panic. Blitzwing may have given up on him for now, but that wasn’t guaranteeing he wouldn’t come back to finish him off. 

Primus, Blitzwing knows where I am. And where the others are. 

Also, since Blitzwing had survived… 

The other Decepticons could have as well. 

Including Megatron. 

Bee took a vent and added that little detail to the list of problems he was going to dump on Optimus when the Prime woke up. He would feel bad, but he was very stressed and not at all equipped to handle this situation. He was equipped for scouting and either running or electrocuting his problems away. 

He headed to the medbay, where most of the stasis pods were kept. He examined his pod, hoping to figure out what had malfunctioned. 

*****

Now that he thought about it, the giant metal rod splintering the screen in his pod was probably what did it. It had shattered one of his horns, which was currently still stabbed against the wall. Distantly, he wondered how he hadn’t noticed that when he first woke up. 

He had been a little distracted, though. With the crazy Decepticon trying to kill him, and all that jazz. He wondered how Jazz was doing. He examined the pole again. Energon was still dripping down it. He felt his helm, noting the missing horn.

A little taller and I would have died, Bumblebee thought somewhat sardonically, Guess we’re lucky I was in that pod and not anyone else. And I’m lucky I only lost a horn and not an optic. 

Since the rest of the ship was at least semi-functional, it should be safe enough for him to wake the others up. 

He gave a cursory glance to the rest of the room. It was still pretty damaged, and there was a pole sticking through his pod, but it seemed stable for now. Bee pressed the button on Prime’s pod. 

A screen lit up. 

Ship too damaged for safe release.

Spark hammering in his chassis, he pressed it again. Ship too damaged for safe release. 

Frantically he tried Bulkhead’s. 

Ship too- 

He attempted to get Prowl and Ratchet out. Oh, Primus. They were stuck and unresponsive. 

Bumblebee was stuck, underwater, on a damaged and semi-sentient ship, on a random planet, with the rest of his team unconscious with no way of knowing when they’d wake up. He was missing one of his horns, (which had stopped bleeding in the water, but he could feel it begin to bleed again) and he was pretty sure he had more sluggishly bleeding wounds scattered around him. 

A light flashed in his HUD. 

Oh, and he was low on Energon, too. 

Chapter Text

Bumblebee looked through the Energon closet. There really wasn’t a lot, there was enough for maybe an orbital cycle for the entire group. 

But since he couldn’t get the computers to work, he wasn’t sure how he could order more. 

He also didn’t know when the pods would let the others out. What was considered “too damaged” and how could he fix it? 

Why was he stuck being awake? Why couldn't it be like... Optimus? Or Ratchet? Someone who always knows what to do.

“Can you let them out?” He finally asked the ship. 

A buzz, followed by a string of humming.

“I… don’t speak that.” 

Another buzz. 

Bee took it as a no. He examined the closet, hoping that more Energon would magically appear. He couldn’t just take extra, once the others got out they’d probably need some. He’d taken his Energon ration before the Decepticon attack, and before he’d been put in stasis. He wasn’t sure when the others had taken theirs, but it was likely they were all lower on Energon than he was. Stasis certainly wouldn’t help their energon levels. While it wouldn’t lower them too bad, it would still slowly diminish. 

As he looked at his Energon levels, he came to a decision. He could go another solar cycle without refueling, it would suck, but he could. To distract himself he could start fixing up the medbay and the other parts of the ship. He’d split his usual ration in half as well, if it was needed. 

Bumblebee would be fine. It just would suck for a little bit. Maybe he’d convince Ratchet to give him the flavored Energon when the medic woke up. Ratchet didn’t want to say it, but Bumblebee knew he had a soft spot for him. 

He ran a diagnostics scan on the ship. It took a breem, but it finally went through. It usually took a few kliks, which was incredibly concerning. 

Part of the engine was unresponsive, half of the lights were out, and several doors were broken. He was lucky emergency life support managed to work. He watched as more blinking lights popped up on the screen, each indicating another “immediate attention required” problem. 

Guess I won’t be recharging this lunar cycle. Bee was very sick of this entire experience. It was just one problem after another. 

Bee really wanted Optimus to wake up so he could just hand him all these problems. A sense of hopelessness washed over him. He wished he had been any of his other teammates. 

Optimus was good at fixing problems. Bulkhead was good at fixing ships, if he had been awake the ship could have been fixed by now. Ratchet was a freaking medic, and a war veteran. He’s dealt with worse, probably in his recharge. Prowl was used to surviving, and he knew enough that he could probably have gotten everyone out by now. 

Bee wasn’t good at any of that. He was fast and (quite literally) electric. He was top of his class with weaponry and agility, but that didn’t translate to survival. He could find an enemy base in nano-clicks, he could dismantle a bomb, but he knew next to nothing about this. He didn’t know much about ships, or how they worked, least of all how to fix them. He didn’t know how to wake up the others, he knew there was probably a medic override, but he didn’t know where or how to use it. 

He went back to the medbay, searching for Ratchet’s datapads. There was bound to be information that could help him in them. He’d look for datapads in Bulkhead’s room as well, maybe he’d find information on ships. 

He didn’t want to accidentally break the ship while he was trying to fix it. 

He dug through one of Ratchet’s drawers. The lights flashed at him as a warning. 

“I promise I’m not snooping!” He placated, glancing up, “I’m trying to see if there’s a medic override for the pods. You can’t get them out, and neither can I. Maybe Ratchet wrote it down somewhere.” 

The ship seemed to accept that answer and stopped flashing the lights. Thank Primus for that, Bee was getting a helmache. 

He finally located one of Ratchet’s datapads, and enthusiastically turned it on. He then groaned. 

It was password protected. 

While he didn’t fault Ratchet for using a password, why now?! 

“You wouldn’t happen to know his password, would you?” Bee asked the ship. The ship moved the desk into him reproachfully. 

“Yeah, yeah, I figured. Even if I promise to just use it for information? I’ll even tell him to change it!” 

The desk bumped into him again. 

“So you’re saying I have to figure out how to fix the ship? Wouldn’t it just be easier to tell me how to let them out so they can do it?” 

The ship did not dignify his remark with a response. He vented, setting the ‘pad down and heading out the door. 

The hallway lights were out, and Bee allowed electricity to gather in his servo, hoping to see the way in front of him. He stalked past Optimus’ room, down the hall past Prowl’s, and finally came to Bulkhead’s. He dissipated the electricity before he pressed a servo against the scanner, hoping it was working enough to open. 

It scanned about half of his servo before glitching out. 

“Can you open it?” He asked the ship. 

The door to Prowl’s room opened and closed. 

“You can’t access this far?” Bumblebee questioned, surprised. To his knowledge the ship could control all of itself. He assumed it worked the same way Cybertronians worked while in vehicle mode. He could control everything in him while transformed. 

It did raise some uncomfortable questions about what the ship really was, but he had been told not to question why the ship had… character . Even if he wanted to. 

He wasn’t sure if anyone else was fully aware of the ship’s sentience. He had some suspicions about Ratchet – he had seen him talking to it a couple times, but, maybe Ratchet was just insane. Ratchet was old, maybe he was reaching ‘crazy old mech’ status. 

Or maybe he just knew about the ship.

Did he know the ship’s name? Bumblebee didn’t. 

Bee forced himself to stop thinking about that and steeled himself. He held a servo up to the scanner and zapped. 

The scanner sparked and finished scanning his servo, and Bulkhead’s door slowly slid open. It only opened a crack, but it was enough for him to slide his fingers into. 

He gripped the door and yanked as hard as he could. The door creaked as it was forced open. 

He vented harshly as the door was finally open enough for him to get through. After taking a moment he slipped through. 

Bulkhead’s room was dark, and even though he pressed on the scanner for lights, nothing happened. He groaned, that meant his room was probably in a similar state. 

He recalibrated his optics, hoping he would be able to see better. Unfortunately, his vision did not miraculously change. 

Bumblebee electrified his servo again. He still couldn’t see very well, even with the lightning dancing around his servo. He glanced around before grinning. 

Ratchet couldn’t yell at him for abusing his ability if Ratchet didn’t see it, he reasoned. And the ship couldn’t tell on him, if it was in cahoots with the medic.

He lit his entire body up with electricity. 

His vision was now slightly tinged with yellow, but he could see just fine now. He just had to be careful if he touched anything. 

He scanned the room, noticing a datapad lying on Bulkhead’s berth. He vanished the lightning in his servos, but allowed it to continue crackling around the rest of his frame. Using his now safe servos, he picked up the ‘pad and turned it on. 

Bulkhead had a password as well. Thankfully, Bee knew his password. 

(It had been information Bulkhead willingly offered, despite what some bots may think.)

He quickly typed in “2127” and soon he was able to pull up the different forms Bulkhead had saved. He thought it was really sweet that a version of his number was Bulkhead’s password, not that Bee would ever tell him. 

He scrolled through heaps of different ship and space bridge schematics, worrying his bottom lip. He had no idea which type of ship they were on, and thus had no idea what he was looking for. 

The electricity sparking around him grew erratic as his emotions intensified. Fighting the urge to panic, he hit the search function and began trying different keywords to find it. 

Eventually, he found it. 

Orion* - Schematics 

Oh, apparently he did know the ship’s name. He hadn’t really been listening when they’d first been assigned to the ship. He scrolled to where the asterisk was defined. 

*home 

Bulkhead’s spark is too big , Bee mused, unaware that his sparking had calmed and now crackled at an even pace. He tucked Bulkhead’s ‘pad into subspace and headed out the door, dismissing his electricity. 

Chapter Text

Bumblebee took a running start and leapt over a puddle of water still on the floor. He had one of Bulkhead’s toolboxes in his arms and he held it tight as he skidded to a halt outside of the medbay. He peeked inside without much hope. As expected, the others were still in stasis. It had been a few orbital-cycles now, and repairs were slow going, even with Bulkhead’s notes and tools. 

He wasn’t tall enough to reach some areas, so several tables, desks, and chairs were stacked haphazardly next to damaged areas. There were quite a few pedeprints on just about every flat surface from his climbing. 

He set down Bulkhead’s tools next to a panel on the wall. The panel was supposed to open one of the storage rooms, but he had discovered that the panel wasn’t working when he had come down to grab more supplies. The datapad was on the floor next to it. He examined the panel, wincing at the electricity zapping out of it. He clicked on the datapad, searching for the specific panel on the ship. Bulkhead’s private notes were surprisingly detailed, he had even added characteristics the team had added on the ship. 

Bee’s room - electrical surges are common around here. Actually, they’re common wherever he is. I’m not sure if it’s intentional, but he’s definitely an electrifying presence. 

The surges were intentional. He spent a lot of time learning how to push down on the energy always thrumming through his body. When he was alone, he’d release it all at once, or he’d start sparking. If he didn’t repress it…

Well, better to have datapads act up then another bot's systems.

He eventually figured out what he was supposed to do with the panel, and pulled out a screwdriver and unscrewed several little box-looking things. He replaced what looked like a battery, reconnected the lights attached to the front of the panel, and screwed everything back together. He closed the panel and pressed on it. The screen lit up, and he pressed on it again. The door next to the panel opened without issue. Bee sat back on his heels, proud of himself for fixing it. 

The lights flickered above him, and he glanced up with a smile. He assumed this was the ship’s way of thanking him. He eyed the ‘pad again, thoughts drifting back to his difficulty in finding the schematics. 

The ship was alive, yet no one seemed to know.

Calling it just ‘the ship’ was getting annoying. 

“I have a question for you.” He announced, staring up at the light. It flickered curiously. He realized he needed a way to translate whatever it was saying. He thoughtfully looked around. 

“Okay, so flicker the lights if yes, and open the door if no.” 

The lights flickered in acknowledgement. 

“Do you have a name?” 

Bumblebee waited in apprehension, trying to watch the door and lights at the same time.

The lights flickered. 

He paused, trying to figure out how he could get the ship to communicate its actual name. 

“Is your name Orion? Like what it says on the schematics?” 

The door opened. He thought for a moment. 

“So your name is something different?” 

The lights flickered. 

How could he get the ship’s actual name? 

“There has to be a way you can tell me your name.” Bee commented, glancing around himself. 

The lights turned on, off, on, off, and on. After a moment, it turned on, off, on, off. The lights flashed once. Another pause, and two on-offs, followed by a flash. A single flash followed by an on-off. 

Bumblebee stared, trying to understand what it meant. Was it a code? 

“One klick,” he held up a finger before heading to Prowl’s room. Once inside, he snatched a datapad off Prowl’s shelf. Prowl didn’t have a password, he had probably assumed no one would be able to get in his room without his knowledge. 

Guess the ninja didn’t see this one coming, Bee thought wryly. He opened the file he needed. 

Codes and Code-Breaking. 

With a grin, he came back into the hallway. 

“Could you repeat that?” 

He wrote down the on-offs, flashes and pauses. He then matched it to different letters. 

“O-M-E-G-A?” Bee spelled out. The lights flashed in affirmation. “Your name is Omega?” Another flash. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Omega.” A box was shoved up against him affectionately. He picked up the pile of ‘pads and Bulkhead’s tools. 

“Okay Omega, I guess we have to find the next problem.” He hummed, looking at Bulkhead’s datapad. The next pressing issue would probably be to clear out the hallways and rooms of debris. That was probably why the others weren’t being allowed out. If he could clean out the emergency exits, maybe the pods would work again. 

He jumped over the puddle again, adding said puddle to the list of things he still had to fix. As his pedes hit the floor he held the toolbox up, hoping to keep from dropping them. 

Once he made it back to the control room, he set down the tools. He opened Bulkhead’s datapad again, feeling slightly guilty that he had been using it and reading Bulkhead’s personal notes, even if they had been helpful. An idea came to him as he spotted the ‘share’ button. He sent all the files he needed over to himself, and sprinted to his room to grab his ‘pad. He found the files on his ‘pad, and made copies. He went back to Bulkhead’s and deleted the edits he had made to the original notes, keeping the editorial for himself. He went back down the hallway to put away Bulkhead’s notes. 

After a slight pause, he went back into Prowl’s room and sent himself a copy of Codes and Code Breaking. He’d come back if he found he needed any more information. 

He was actually a little surprised to find that his contact had been saved in Prowl’s datapads. He had started typing in his code, but then his contact popped up. Aw, ninja-bot does have feelings. 

He set Prowl’s ‘pad down and left the room.

Once he had saved all the files onto his datapad, he rescanned the ship. Still so many problems. Can Optimus please wake up so he can deal with all of this?

With a sigh, Bumblebee headed to the medbay to clean up the debris and attempt to open the pods again.

Chapter Text

Unsurprisingly, the pods didn’t open. Bee ended up spending the next few joors picking up all the debris and trying to reorganize Ratchet’s things, half of which were scattered around the floor. 

He tried to remember where Ratchet had put his things, but he couldn’t remember exactly and hoped it was close enough. 

Bumblebee blankly stared at the bottles of medicines lined up on Ratchet’s counter. He had no idea where they went or what they did. He slowly put them back into one of the cabinets, knowing it was mostly incorrect. He’d just explain to Ratchet that he had tried to put them back after they fell. 

His HUD beeped once again, and he groaned. His Energon levels were even lower, now at a measly 5%. Bee left and headed for the kitchen. At this point, if he didn’t have more Energon, he’d probably fall into stasis, and even he knew that wasn’t ideal. 

If a bot fell into stasis they could die, and without medical attention, death was basically guaranteed. Especially if it was from lack of Energon. Their body would try to keep them alive, but it couldn’t be expected to work miracles. 

He opened the Energon closet. There were larger cubes towards the top, for mechs like Optimus and Bulkhead, who were larger and needed more. Ratchet’s was in the middle, and Prowl and Bee had the smaller cubes at the bottom. 

The cubes were sent pre-filled, to prevent wasted Energon and to make sure nothing would happen to an entire stock. He pulled out a small cube, and poured half of it into an empty cube from the first time he had to take Energon. 

His HUD flashed another warning. 

Stasis Imminent - 5%

Bee chugged the half-cube. 

Low Energon - 20%

Good enough. He searched the rest of the cabinets, hoping that there were Energon goodies, or an Energon goodie cake, he’d even take a space carrot, damnit! in there somewhere. Nothing. 

Apparently they were out of any food that wasn’t just plain Energon. How inconvenient. He’d kill a mech for an energy drink right now, too. 

Now that he wasn’t in danger of passing out, he rescanned the ship for the millionth time. Thankfully, the amount of problems had lessened over the cycles. His HUD flashed a recharge warning at him as well, but he chose to ignore it for now. He hadn’t recharged well since before the Decepticon attack, even when he wanted to. He mostly avoided recharging now, he didn’t want to leave the others unprotected. 

As he walked to the control room, he paused to look at the walls outside of it. Scorch marks from Blitzwing’s attack were still visible, despite his attempts at cleaning it. 

At least the doors and lights were working again. 

Bee vented. He had been alone for close to a stellar cycle now. 

He would work on the computers next, if he got Teletraan-1 to work again, he could contact Cybertron and potentially get them out of here. He would’ve done it sooner, but apparently ‘life support’ was the most important thing to fix.

He pulled up the specs for the main console on his datapad. He couldn’t quite reach the computer, and nearly leapt out of his paint when a chair flung forward and pushed him up. 

“Thanks, Omega.” Bee slowly spoke, digits tightly gripping the chair as he tried to calm his racing spark. A playful buzz. He ignored it and leaned forward, slowly removing the panel on the top of the computer. With the help of Bulkhead’s notes, he compared the images shown and the current computer to try and figure out how to fix it. It was slow going but eventually he heard it. 

The beautiful sound of electricity sparking through the wires. His own electricity buzzed back. 

He grinned, looking up to watch the monitor. The screen showed static, but it was still lightyears better than what it had been. 

He patted the console, grinning as the hum of electricity bounced from the console into his body and then back into the console. He gave it a little boost, and laughed as the screen finally showed the screensaver. 

Bumblebee let out a whoop of excitement as he ran to Optimus’ chair, and plopped himself down into it. Digits flying over the keyboard, he finally pulled up the comms. 

After a few klicks, the screen buzzed and a glitched face appeared. 

“-llo? Hello?” 

Bee perked up, recognizing Jazz’s voice. He was about to answer enthusiastically but reminded himself that he needed to inform him of what had happened. 

“This is the ship Orion, Bumblebee reporting.” He announced. Jazz’s face slowly came into focus, and the bot seemed surprised to see him. The repair crew had been missing for nearly a stellar cycle now, and now one of the members was finally calling in – but it wasn’t the Prime.

“Bee?! Where are you? Where have you all been? Why didn’t Optimus call to check in? What happened to you-” Jazz asked frantically.  

“Jazz!” He interrupted loudly. Jazz fell silent. 

“I’m the only one not in stasis right now, that’s why I called. I only just fixed the computer, literally just a few klicks ago.” Bee explained, a little desperate. They really needed backup. 

“What?!” 

“We crashed on this random planet after we were attacked by a bunch of ‘Cons. We called right before we crashed, when we were talking about the AllSpark?” 

“Oh Primus.” 

“Yeah, we crashed. We all went into stasis pods but mine malfunctioned and let me out early, but I can’t get the others out and I’ve been stuck by myself trying to fix everything-” The panic he had been repressing came out in the form of sparks. Electricity sparked around his servos as he talked. Little arcs of lightning were zapping around his helm and shoulders. 

“Bee, calm down! It’s okay, we’ll come find you.” Jazz tried to calm him down, noticing the usually small sparks becoming full blown lightning strikes, “Can you send me your coordinates?” 

Bee nodded and sent the location. 

“What all happened? What do you need?” Jazz asked calmly. 

“Um, we’re low on Energon, so we’ll need more of that and all the supplies we get with that… and uh, we need to get the front windshield replaced. I tried to seal it but it was a rush job.” 

“What happened to the windshield?” Jazz questioned, aghast.

“I had to shatter it to get out.” He didn’t elaborate, Jazz wasn’t sure he wanted him to. 

“Oh yeah, and the ship is currently underwater.” 

That was going to complicate things, Bee could tell. 

“Okay, stay on the line,” Jazz ordered, moving to send a message to someone else, “you said everyone else is stuck in stasis?” 

“The screen keeps saying that the ship is too damaged to let them out,” Bee confirmed. 

“Got it,” Jazz turned around, “First Aid!” 

Bee could see a red and white bot appear next to Jazz. 

“Can you help Bumblebee get the rest of the team out of stasis? Once Ratchet’s out it’ll be easier.” The black and white bot narrowed his optics at a datapad, “I need to go kill Sentinel.” 

The red bot vented. “What did he do this time?” 

“Didn’t report a reported Decepticon sighting, and now there’s a team stuck on an organic planet without enough Energon. Apparently the only one not in stasis is the youngling.” Jazz paused, ignoring Bee’s indignant protest as being called a youngling. “I don’t know how long he’s been alone.” 

“Bee, how long have you been out of stasis?” First Aid called out. 

“Since right after we crashed.” 

“Almost a stellar cycle.” Jazz whispered.

“Lovely.” First Aid vented. “At least Ratchet’s down there. Once we get him awake he’ll be fine.” 

“Hello?” Bee asked, annoyed they were talking about him like he wasn’t there. 

“Ah, sorry. Let’s get your team out of stasis.” First Aid smiled gently at him. Bee tried to not feel even more annoyed with the tone.

Why couldn’t Optimus have been the one awake?

Chapter Text

Teletraan released one of its computer monitors to follow Bee as he went through the ship again. He could hear First Aid’s murmurs as the medic took in the damage to the ship and the attempts at fixing it. Bumblebee jumped over a fallen pipe, one that he hadn’t been strong enough to move, despite many joors of trying. His landing wasn’t his cleanest, but in his defense, he hadn’t recharged in a few cycles, and his balance probably wasn’t the best with the missing horn. He could hear a slight gasp, and realized that the dents and scratches all over his body were probably on full display. His wounds were probably still bleeding slightly, he hadn’t exactly had time to fix himself. 

He chose to ignore it and continue to the medbay. 

Unfortunately, because Primus had a vendetta against him, there was a crash above him. 

“What the slag-” Bee began, before the landing door blew open. Water slowly filled the area, and Bee went flying backwards, crashing into the monitor. 

Blitzwing stood there, in all his Decepticon glory. Bee yelped as a blast fired near his head. 

“I just fragging fixed that from the last time you broke it !” He snapped as he watched the wall, and his hard work quite literally go up in flames. He watched morosely as a panel glitched out. He had spent a good few breems on that panel alone.  

Blitzwing paused for a moment, faceplates flipping to a dark black with red optics and a red mouth. 

“Oh, sorry. Zhat is my bad.” The face whirred again, switching to what he guessed was Hothead.

“PREPARE TO DIE,” Hothead screamed, holding up his arms, blasters out. 

“I appreciate the attempt, but your apology could use some work!” Bee yelled back, dodging. Belatedly, he realized First Aid was probably still watching. He glanced back at the monitor to see First Aid shouting something, but no sound came through. 

“Did you put my fragging monitor on mute, you absolute glitch-” Blitzwing ignored him in favor of trying to tackle him. Bee managed to nail him in the face with a well-timed kick, and as Blitzwing stumbled back, Bee leapt up. Aiming his hands towards the ‘Con’s face, he allowed electricity to flood his body. There was a yelp of pain and Bee rolled to the ground away from the now fallen ‘Con. 

First Aid’s shocked face greeted him, but since he still couldn’t hear the medic, he assumed it wasn’t important. 

He would be proven wrong, though, as First Aid was trying to warn him the Blitzwing was back up. The ‘Con swung his fist, and Bumblebee gasped as the sheer power in it sent him crumpling into the wall. He spat energon on the floor as he struggled to get up. 

“Mother-fragging glitch-” He was cut off as Blitzwing fired again and he had to move. “Damn it, I just fixed that, too!” Bee rolled again, avoiding the blast. First Aid was still watching in what appeared to be horror. Bee was a little embarrassed, he was getting his aft kicked on camera.  

A shot fired into the wall next to his helm. Bee internally groaned. Of all times, Blitzwing just had to choose now to kick the slag out of him . He was about to save everyone, be a hero and all that jazz. He just hoped he didn’t fall into stasis during this fight, that’d be… not ideal. 

He ducked and rolled again. He still had to figure out a way to get Blitzwing off the ship, and he wasn’t sure he had the energy (or glass) to do another shatter-the-window-and-swim-away trick. He wasn’t sure his body could take any more potential glass-infected cuts, either.

Blitzwing yelped as a storage closet opened itself and several pipes crashed down onto him. 

“Thanks, Omega,” Bee murmured to the ship, shakily standing. He gingerly touched his side, where Blitzwing had hit him. He winced at the light touch. He spat more energon out, the taste filling his mouth as he inhaled. 

His mouth being filled with his own energon probably wasn’t good, but unfortunately there wasn’t a whole lot he could do about it right now. At least he was finally getting Energon? Shame it was the wrong kind. Absently, he wondered why they had decided to call both liquids the same thing. 

He could also feel energon dripping down his helm, the blue liquid staining his paint. Lovely. The room spun around him, and he could see Blitzwing struggling to remove the pipes. 

Bee ignored his dizziness, and forced himself to sprint. Blitzwing followed him, and with some satisfaction, Bee noticed blue dripping down Blitzwing’s body as well. This part of the ship was still flooding with water, so he quickly closed the blast doors after Blitzwing had followed him out the landing. 

He kicked off, swimming as fast as he could despite his depleted energy. Primus, he was gonna need an Energon transfusion at this point. 

He focused on getting Blitzwing away from the ship and losing him. He ducked behind some funny-looking organic plant, and watched Blitzwing swim past him, cursing. 

He waited a breem. Nothing. 

It felt… too easy , but he was injured, he needed to wake the others up and make sure supplies were coming. Blitzwing wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

Suddenly, the thought occurred that maybe Blitzwing was trying to lose him. Maybe Blitzwing was back at the ship, and attacking his unconscious teammates, who had no way of defending themselves. 

Bee had been pretty sure old Blizty didn’t know anyone else was alive, during the first attack he had been yelling something about ‘finding Megatron’s body’ so he thought that it had been an accident that Omega had been discovered. But maybe Blitzwing had been purposefully revealing false information? 

Was Blitzwing smart enough for that?

Bumblebee did not want to risk it, swimming back to the ship as quickly as he could. He was feeling worse, and knew his Energon levels were getting lower. 

Stasis Imminent - 5%

He swam faster. 

Finally, he was back at the ship. He hurriedly climbed aboard, and waited for the water to drain out of the room before he went back into the main room. 

Stasis Imminent - 4%

He grabbed the monitor and sprinted to the medbay. He could have stopped to refuel, but he didn’t want to risk the others being alone for another attack. 

First Aid was speaking, but he couldn’t hear him. Bee smacked the monitor and it glitched again, before the sound came back. 

“-bee? What happened-” 

“HeyFirstAidyeahI’mbackbutIneedyoutojustexplainhowtoopenthestasispodsbeforeIpassout-” Bee was speaking around at Blurr’s normal speed, which meant First Aid heard about every fifth word. 

“Bee you have to slow down-” Bee muttered a string of incoherent curses. 

Stasis Imminent - 3%

“Sorry, sorry. How do I get them out? Let’s also be speedy about this.” 

“We’ll start with Ratchet, so he can use his code on the others.” First Aid started. Bee went over to Ratchet’s pod and waited for the next instruction. 

“Press the release button again,” First Aid continued, “Now press twice on the screen until it asks for a medical override password.” 

Bumblebee pressed twice, and the screen changed. 

“Move the monitor over there so I can give it my override code.” 

Bee obliged, pushing the monitor over. First Aid announced a long string of numbers and the pod let out a click as the screen disappeared. 

Stasis Imminent - 2%

Several tubes disconnected from Ratchet’s body and the door to the pod slid open. Ratchet’s biolights, which had previously been dull, suddenly brightened as his energon flowed normally again. His optics flickered, and Bumblebee waited for a moment as Ratchet’s body slowly recalibrated itself. 

“Ugh.” Was the first word out of the medic’s mouth as he got up. “What-” Ratchet looked around, noting the hastily repaired medbay, the monitor with First Aid on it, and… 

Stasis Imminent - 1%

“What in the Pit happened to you?!” Ratchet yelped.

Bumblebee grinned. “Well, hello to you as well.” 

Stasis - Locked

Bumblebee’s optics darkened as he hit the floor, not hearing both medics’ alarm.