Chapter Text
50 Stellar Cycles have passed since they've awoken from Stasis. Orbital Cycles, or in this case, months to a year have passed since they've been on Earth, in The City of Detroit. The Autobots have been named heroes on Earth and in Detroit, stopping both earthly villains and Decepticons, protecting the organic humans and The Allspark. A few weeks have passed since they first got in touch with The Elite Guard, Ultra Magnus with them. After saving the day once again, proving Megatron was still indeed online and thanks to Starscream dropping in, The Autobots continue to remain on Earth as its protectors, to continue stopping the Cons at work and to stop Megatron.
To think that they were once a simple Spacebridge Repair Crew. Being a hero may not be in any of their programming, but they don't need to have that to keep saving the day.
Optimus Prime, doing all he can as a leader to lead his team to victory, making sure the bots he calls family are safe & full of hope.
Ratchet, doing all he can to continue providing medical aid for the team, despite his constant grouchy attitude.
Prowl, the ninja-bot who helps fight with great skill and learns all he can about organic life.
Bulkhead, the giant sweetspark who does all he can to not break things in sight....though, breaking stuff can be pretty fun.
Sari, while not being neither a bot nor an adult, the 8-year-old has been a great help by being a guide for The Autobots on Earth, and she's there to give them a fixer-upper with her Allspark Key. Even though her father, Professor Sumdac was still missing, she tried to make the most of it.
Then there's Bumblebee, the young speedster and scout of the team. He gives it his all to save the day, though his obnoxious personality can get in the way of that. Bee enjoys the feeling of being a hero, it fuels his hopes and dreams, to become an Elite Guard. Until then, he tries learning to take it day by day, and enjoy these moments on Earth with his team. Today being one of those days.
It was early morning in Detroit, the sunlight beaming through the old, cracked windows of the abandoned warehouse, where the Autobots are staying at their secret base. Bumblebee was in his room, asleep on his berth as the sunlight shines through the window, hitting his faceplate. Bee groaned and turned over, putting the pillow he was laying his helm on, over his face to block out the sun. Unfortunately, his processor began to run, waking him up even more. Bumblebee sat up and yawned, stretching his joints a bit as his gears began running, he rubbed his optics as they came online.
Bee blinked a few times, more thoughts running through his processor, that's when his optics got wide with a huge silly grin growing on his faceplate. Bumblebee immediately jumped out of bed and headed out of his room, trying to be quick and as quiet as possible. Grabbing a bucket and filling it with cold water, a few long pieces of wires, and made his way to Prowl's door.
'This is gonna be hilarious...' Bumblebee thought to himself as he struggled to place the bucket on top of the door. Once he set up his master plan prank, all he had to do was wait for the ninja-bot to walk out. He quickly went around the corner of the hallway, peaking and watching. After what felt like stellar cycles, Bumblebee heard the door to Prowl's room slide open. Bumblebee watched with a silly grin as Prowl stepped out of the room.
However, the ninja-bot moved quicker than the falling bucket. Prowl gracefully yet swiftly did a back flip and kicked the water-filled bucket away, barely any drops of water hitting him. Prowl stood back up and Bumblebee was jaw dropped, coming out and groaning.
"Come on! You always gotta ruin the fun!" Bumblebee whined, pouting as his fun little prank had backfired. Prowl ignored Bumblebee's expression and started walking down the hall, passing him.
"Maybe instead of wasting time acting like a sparkling, you could use that time to learn something useful." Prowl spoke, Bumblebee got more upset at his comment.
"Hey! I am not a sparkling!" Bumblebee scowled, Prowl smirked a bit.
"Then start acting like a grown mech. Maybe when the day comes for when that happens, I might consider treating you like one." Prowl calmly spoke, feeling a little humor from seeing Bumblebee get more upset at him. Bumblebee groaned and just made his way over to the couch, turning on the TV and his video games to play.
He put his focus on the video game, forgetting about his failed prank and just distracting himself. The others started coming out of their rooms, Optimus and Ratchet discussing some important stuff that Bumblebee didn't really care much about. Bulkhead came out to drink some oil and come over to sit next to Bumblebee, watching him play and make small talk with his little buddy. Sari soon coming to join Bumblebee to help out, but also to try and kick his aft in the game.
After a few breems, the alarms went off. Criminal activity was happening in Detroit, the team had to get ready to tackle whatever was coming their way. Optimus checked the monitor screens and messages, seeing what the situation was about.
"Seems like Nanosec has made a return. We better get a move on before he outruns us." Optimus explained, seemed strange though since the last time they saw the speedster human, he was grey, old, frail, and could hardly walk. Bumblebee thought this would be an easy job then, just catch an old guy right?
~~~~~~~~~~~
Nanosec was dashing through the streets of Detroit, having just committed theft and robbery within the blink of an eye. He dashed and slid down the roads, leaving nothing but dust and an orange blur.
"That's right! Nanosec is back baby! Hand rested and rit!" Nanosec yelled, smirking and continued dashing through the streets. The sounds of police sirens and loud honking from a fire truck started coming closer his way. Nanosec looked back and saw a well-known familiar set of vehicles chasing after him, it was The Autobots, here to try and stop him. It was a surprise to see the speeding villain so young and normal again after the last encounter with him months ago.
"How come he looks young again?" Bumblebee questioned, Sari was in the driver's seat and buckled up to him.
"Hmm, Wrinkle Cream?" Sari replied, just as curious and wondering the same thing as Bee. Questions would have to wait though, Nanosec started speeding up ahead, dashing in front of other vehicles, making them crash in an attempt to slow down The Autobots. The team drives past the crash scene, still pursuing Nanosec.
"A high-speed pursuit is posing a dangerous pursuit to innocent organics." Prowl had noted.
"Agreed. Bumblebee, take a side street and circle back to cut off Nanosec's path to escape." Optimus ordered, but the yellow & black car ignored his order and sped up ahead, following behind Nanosec at high speed. Sari was confused by his action.
"Um, Bumblebee. Hello? Prime said-!"
"I don't need some fancy flanking maneuver. I got the speed~." Bumblebee was confident in himself, feeling determined and so sure that he was gonna catch Nanosec before the speeding villain even knew it. After all, he is quite the star, the fastest mech on the planet Earth. He totally got this one. However, Bumblebee failed to notice a beam being shot towards him, hitting him and Bumblebee started to slow down, unable to move and unable to do a thing. Almost seemingly offline.
"I'm either faster than I think or that gearhead is slowing down." Nanosec spoke to himself and dashed away. Bumblebee's sudden stop made the other Autobots nearly crash into him, they all slammed on their breaks, but still crashed a bit into each other and what was around them.
"Hope you lame-o's are insured!" Nanosec shouted to them as he made his getaway and escaped. After a few nanokliks, Bumblebee slowly came back to, his systems and gears working normally again. He drove a bit in front of the team, feeling a bit nervous as he know he screwed up again, but didn't know what happened.
"Oh, those outta buff right out." Bumblebee nervously commented, The Autobots transformed back into their robot modes, Bumblebee staying in his vehicle mode. Optimus was understandably disappointed with the speeding scout.
"Bumblebee. You disobeyed my order. I called for a flanking maneuver, we're supposed to work as a team." Optimus scowled at Bumblebee.
"Well, team's gotta go with the best player, right? Or at least the fastest~." Bumblebee replied.
"Then why did you hit your breaks?" Prowl questioned, to which Bumblebee didn't know how to answer.
"I didn't...I'm...well, I'm not sure what happened. But if you hadn't been tailgating me, you wouldn't need to have those dents pounded out!" Bumblebee answered, he didn't know what caused him to just shut off like that, but it wasn't his fault. Optimus rolled his eyes, shaking his head at Bee's reasoning and excuse, not believing it.
"Mhm, so now you're shifting the blame to us?" Prowl asked again, he also didn't really believe Bumblebee's reason and excuse.
"Alright, we're heading back to the Plant. I'll alert Ratchet that he's got some repairs to do, including a full diagnostic on your drive train." Optimus said and pointed at Bee, Prowl & Bulkhead looked at him too. Bumblebee couldn't believe it.
"What? You think this was my fault?" Bumblebee asked, Optimus didn't look his way and transformed back, not answering him, and Bulkhead & Prowl followed Optimus' lead.
"If the hubcap fits." Prowl commented, continuing to follow Optimus in their vehicle modes back to the base. Bumblebee watched them drive away, feeling upset and embarrassed. Bumblebee didn't know what happened and he was this close to stopping Nanosec, sure he disobeyed orders and caused the others to crash, but it wasn't his fault.
"Fine...then I'll just go find Nanosec on my own." Bumblebee spoke to himself, feeling a bit hurt. Sari was silent throughout the ordeal, just now speaking up.
"But, you guys are a team." Sari stated, hoping Bumblebee would understand.
"Which is why I can't let them think their star player is losing his touch." With that said, Bumblebee sped around and drove in the opposite direction, now determined to find Nanosec and prove he's still the best.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The whole day had passed, the same problem was becoming reoccurring, and clearly intentional.
The second time happened when Bumblebee was on pursuit to try and stop The Angry Archer, only to be hit with the strange unseen beam again and being shut off. When coming too again after Angry Archer made his escape, Bumblebee still didn't know what happened, neither did Sari.
Then it happened again when facing and attempting to stop Professor Princess, the bratty little villain got away after another mystery beam hit Bumblebee to make him stop and come back on nanokliks later. This time, Sari did catch a glimpse of it, now knowing somebody was sabotaging them and helping the other villains get away. Sari suggested they get the others to help out, but Bumblebee was determined to do this himself. He had to prove he still got it the best and was the best.
Night came, Bumblebee and Sari managed to track down the suspect behind the mystery beams that slowed him down, a new villain by the name of Slow-Mo. Slow-Mo had one of the Allspark Fragments, which she was using as her own weapon to cause Bee to slow down, getting the other human villains together to form a team, The SUV. However, that wasn't all that was going on in the night.
After another pursuit and stalking down the group, watching from a distance, they see the villainous group making some sort of contraption, a machine for who knows what. Listening as best as they can and watching, they see that their little getaway vehicle is actually a Decepticon. Swindle, an Intergalactic Arms Dealer Con who will sell and trade anything for the right price, and one of Megatron's best suppliers. This was not good.
"Their getaway car is a Decepticon? We gotta call Prime, get some backup!" Sari said with worry, watching with Bumblebee from afar.
"You're right, right. Yeah I'll do that. But first I'm gonna take these creeps down myself!" Bumblebee smirked and was ready to jump into action. Now was his chance to show he's not a screw-up. He quickly and quietly grabbed Sari, transforming into vehicle mode and driving to the scene of the crime, up the building. Bumblebee couldn't get close though, as Slow-Mo was shooting her slow-down beams to try and stop Swindle, but it was no use and the beams bounced off of a protective shield he had around him. As Bumblebee backed away for safety, Sari jumped out and hit his car door.
"Ok, no more arguing! You either call for backup or I do it for you!" Sari fussed at Bumblebee, as he transformed back, but didn't call for backup.
"Sari, I can handle this. Just trust me. I don't need backup." Bumblebee argued back, before Sari could protest, Bee was already running out to stop Swindle. Sari groaned and pulled out her phone, dialing for Optimus and the others immediately.
"Now, I really don't want to ask again for that timepiece!" Swindle yelled at Slow-Mo, aiming his canon at her, ready to fire. Slow-Mo refused to hand it over though.
"You wouldn't risk blasting me and destroying this!" Slow-Mo yelled back at the Con. Swindle hummed and soon smirked.
"Good point." Swindle then raises his other servo and activates another module installed on him, using it to quickly take the fragment from Slow-Mo, leaving her shocked.
"But now~..." Swindle aimed his canon again, charging it up and blasting at the ground, making Slow-Mo fall through as she screamed, joining the rest of the villains down below. Swindle turns to the machine, ready to install the fragment into it, but his hand gets blasted by bolts of electricity. Swindle hisses as the Allspark fragment is knocked out of his servos, he turns to see a shiny yellow Minibot aiming his stingers at him. Bumblebee was in battle stance, ready to fight.
"So how much would it cost for you to go away? Or come surrender before I fry your circuits?" Bumblebee joked and tried saying it cooly, standing epic and doing his best to look intimidating. Swindle was annoyed, but couldn't help laugh at how ridiculous the Minibot looked. This tiny Autobot? Trying to stop him? Stand up to him? How laughable. Bumblebee didn't appreciate being laughed at though.
"Haha! Now now, I'm sure we can work something out~, just walk away before I accidentally step on you little guy. Let the grown-up get his work done." Swindle insulted and joked back, Bumblebee glared at him.
"The name's Bumblebee! Now stick them up!" Bumblebee yelled at Swindle, charging up his stingers.
"Now I really don't enjoy it when small nuisances waste my time, but since you insist~..." Swindle raised his servos up in the air, only to lower his right one quickly and blast his canon at Bee, who quickly jumped out of the way. Bumblebee tumbled on the ground, quickly getting back on his peds and firing at Swindle. Swindle used his bubble shield to protect himself, keeping it active, and started making his way over to the Allspark fragment. Bumblebee couldn't let him grab it, he quickly dashed and shot his bolts at the fragment, moving it further away, giving him time to hurry and grab it.
"Oh no you don't little guy!" Swindle lifted his canon again, charging it up and firing to slow Bumblebee down. Bumblebee quickly dodged, but stumbled and fell face forward on the ground. Swindle lifted his left servo and used his magnetic module again to grab the fragment. Bumblebee got up on his peds and shook his helm, trying to focus and looked over at Swindle, without much thought, he quickly dashed over to the Con.
"Gonna take a lot more than that to stop me!" Bumblebee shouted, jumping at Swindle, who swiftly dodged out of the way, watching with amusement as Bumblebee collapsed.
"Honestly, don't you know when to pick on something your size? Or is your ego that much bigger and taller than you?" Swindle teased the Minibot, aiming his canon at Bumblebee again, ready to fire, but the scout moved faster. Bumblebee quickly got back up and rolled out of the way, aiming his stingers and shooting at Swindle again. The bubble shield was still active, however, the electric shot bounced off the shield, bouncing off a few more objects, and finally hitting the machine. Swindle was jaw dropped, the machine now destroyed, circuits frying and catching up into flames. Swindle glared back at the Minibot.
"HA! How's that for size!?" Bumblebee gave a slag-eating grin, feeling mighty confident about what he done. Swindle was pissed, he was so close to getting a good deal with his favorite & best customer, and this Minibot just had to ruin it.
"First you interrupt my work before I can even sell this baby to my best seller! Then you ruined it after all thay hard work! You want this timepiece so bad!? Come & get it!" Swindle waved the fragment in his servo, teasing and tempting Bumblebee to just try doing another stupid move.
Bumblebee didn't hesitate, he was gonna stop Swindle, he was gonna prove himself. One way or another. Bumblebee dashed towards Swindle, firing and shooting more electric bolts at Swindle, even though the bubble shield was still protecting him. Swindle aims his canon at the charging Minibot and starts firing, Bee is quick on stabilizers and dodges the beams. Bumblebee runs circles around Swindle, moving faster & faster, even transforming into vehicle mode to do donuts around him.
"Try keeping up, ya buckethead looking fragger!" Bumblebee taunted, getting a good chuckle as he kept swerving around the Con, getting Swindle dizzy & distracted.
"Ok, now your playing dirty!" Swindle tries to hit Bee with his canon beams, but he kept missing. The amount of shots had builded up quite a cloudy & dusty scene, making it impossible to see up close, but Swindle soon notices that the minibot had stopped running circles around him. Swindle thought he managed to hit Bumblebee, lowering the bubble shield to look & see if he gotten rid of the Minibot.
Unfortunately for Swindle, that gave Bumblebee the chance to strike. He shouted and pounced onto Swindle, trying to take the fragment from his servo.
"Agh! Ew! G-get off me!" Swindle shouted, trying to shake and slap Bumblebee off him, but it was no use. Bumblebee charged up his stingers and shocked Swindle's servo, making him hiss & drop the fragment. The Allspark fragment had fallen onto the ground and gotten kicked away, causing it to fall off the edge of the building they were on. The 2 immediately stop their struggle and rush over to where the fragment had fallen.
It fell off the building and onto the empty street, bouncing and rolling off the sidewalk and near the edge of a sewer drainage. Both mechs watch with worried wide optics, praying to Primus the Allspark Fragment doesn't fall....unfortunately, it falls down into the sewers. The Allspark fragment was now lost somewhere in the filthy sewers, both mechs couldn't believe it. All of that struggle and hardwork, just for it to fall down the drain. Literally.
"Well...that ruins my evenings plans." Swindle commented, but unlike him, Bumblebee however still had a chance to make it right by stopping Swindle still, to capture him into Autobot custody. Before either one makes a move, sirens were approaching their direction. It was the police & the Autobot team rushing to the crime scene. Swindle could take them on if he wanted, but he didn't want to get his servos dirty. Besides, time is money, and he couldn't waste anymore of it.
Swindle immediately stood up on his stabilizers, grabbing Bumblebee roughly and looking him in the optics, giving a bit of a smirk despite being upset with this evenings fiasco.
"As fun as this was, I gotta bounce, and so do you. Next time though, actually buy something." Swindle teased and tossed Bumblebee off the building. Bumblebee screamed as he fell, hitting the ground pretty hard, groaning in pain. Swindle quickly & swiftly transformed into vehicle mode, using a gadget to turn invisible, and driving away.
The Aubobots & Cops arrived, Fanzone telling his officers to hurry & catch the human villains while they still can. Meanwhile, The Autobots transformed and rush over to Bumblebee.
"Bumblebee, are you alright?" Optimus asked with concern, Bumblebee groaned & sat up, rubbing his helm.
"Y-yeah Bossbot, I'm good." Bumblebee reassured him, standing up on his peds and dusting himself off. Ratchet did a quick checkup on him, just a few dents, but nothing too serious thankfully.
"What exactly happened little buddy?" Bulkhead asked, before Bumblebee could answer, Prowl spoke up.
"And where's The Decepticon? Sari called us for backup, but didn't get time to explain." Prowl asked & explained, that's when Bumblebee realized his mistakes. How was he gonna explain this to the team?
"I'll tell you what happened! Since he rushed off to go handle this all by himself!" Sari yelled, rushing over to the group after finding her way to them.
Bumblebee was fragged. Sari explained everything, of what she saw and what Bumblebee did. Needless to say, the team grew less concerned and more upset. Swindle had gotten away. The Autobots couldn't stop him in time. While the so-called, "SUV" was captured and taken into custody by Fanzone, it still wasn't a pleasant victory for them. Bumblebee looked at his team with a nervous sheepish small smile, he could feel the anger just dripping off them. Even Sari was upset at Bumblebee, but not as much as the other mechs.
"Soooo...I call that a win, haha...I mean, sure could've gone better, lost an Allspark fragment in a sewer drain, Swindle got away, but the day is saved, so-!" A loud clank rang out, as Ratchet smacked Bumblebee in the back of his helm, hard enough that he could've left a dent, but enough to make Bee shut up.
"Can it already! What were you thinking!? Why didn't you wait!?" Ratchet fussed at Bumblebee for acting so careless.
"I did what I thought was best! You guys are too slow! I was the only one here, somebody had to do something!" Bumblebee argued back and defended himself.
"So you thought the best response was to act illogical and be egotistical? Cause your choices let Swindle get away and lose an Allspark fragment." Prowl commented, clearly annoyed at Bumblebee too.
"Cut me some slack will ya! We can still get the fragment and who cares about Swindle!?"
"Because that's another Decepticon on the loose! Swindle is a Intergalactic Arms Dealer and one of Megatron's suppliers! Can't you think of anything useful in that processor of yours!?" Ratchet scowled and countered back at Bee's argument.
"B-but I-!"
"Look, little buddy, you should've just waited for us. You really put yourself at risk and let him get away." Bulkhead calmly explained, Bumblebee couldn't believe it, even his own best friend argued against him.
"Still though! I did what I thought was best! He could've left with the fragment!" Bumblebee yelled, throwing his servos up in exaggeration.
"Yet you thought juggling and running around in circles with that weirdo was a good plan?" Sari stated, not helping Bumblebee out with this one.
"I just thought-!"
"Enough. Bumblebee, when are you going to take this seriously? I am not pleased with how you handled today's situation. Not just with Nanosec, Professor Princess, Angry Archer, nor with this now Slow-Mo, but the fact you poorly took on a Decepticon knowing there wasn't a good chance at winning. You may have stalled and gotten the Allspark Fragment away from him, but that doesn't excuse the fact you let your ego get the better of you and let poor decision-making get out of hand." Optimus glared and spoke in a serious tone, expressing his disappointment and just how upset he was.
Bumblebee was jaw-dropped, hurt, embarrassed, and was mad. He did his best, he did what he thought was best, he couldn't let Swindle nor the SUV get away with their crimes. What else could he have done? He wasn't one to wait, sit, and watch. Bumblebee just acted, he thought he did well enough, why couldn't his team see that?
"...B-But, I just-!"
"Just save it. No excuses, no buts, it's, ands, or's, nothing. I expect you to be a better team player next time." Optimus said, turning around and transforming to head back to the plant. The others following his lead, and Sari getting into Bulkhead's vehicle.
"And YOU are going to be the one to find that Allspark Fragment in the morning!" Ratchet fussed at Bumblebee, saying it as a form of punishment. Bumblebee watched as they all started driving away, not following them immediately and staying behind.
Man...did that hurt.
~~~~~~~~~~~
A mega-cycle had passed as Bee made his way back to the plant slowly in vehicle mode. He transformed and wanted to go inside, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. Bumblebee was still mad at the others, a mad little at himself, but he still didn't think he was wrong.
Just who did they think they are? Somebody had to be a hero, Bumblebee is a hero, and he acted like one. Sure, he got a little in over his head, got made to look like some fool in front of Swindle, lost the Allspark Fragment when it fell into the sewers, and Swindle got away....but he did a good job....right? Bumblebee vented deeply, he looked up at the doorway to the base, he didn't want to go inside, even if the others were possibly already in recharge, he didn't wanna be near the same spaces as everyone else.
Bumblebee turned around and sat down on the ground, thinking to himself and looking up at the stars. Maybe he should've waited, maybe he should've done something else, maybe his team was right. That he let his ego get the better of him and screwed up big time. Acting egotistical, illogical, made everyone disappointed in him. Not even Sari would back him up. Bumblebee frowned and looked down at the ground, closing his optics for a brief moment.
Soon, a loud rattling and shuddering sound was heard, Bumblebee looked back and saw Optimus coming out. Optimus was about to go out to comm link and look for Bumblebee since he thought he hadn't returned yet, but was surprised to see the scout was outside. It was...awkward, to say the least. Tension in the air.
"Um, hey." Optimus awkwardly greeted Bumblebee, who gave a glare and looked away from Prime.
"Hi..." Bumblebee replied grudgingly, as a now tense and awkward silence formed between the 2. Optimus debated if he should leave Bumblebee alone, but he did wanted to speak to him about today.
Bumblebee stayed in place, looking up at the stars, looking back down at the ground, and back up at the stars. Optimus took a deep yet quiet vent, looking at the scout, wondering if he had been too harsh on him. Optimus stood there for a few nanokliks, before he started moving towards Bumblbee, standing behind him.
"Um...may I join you?" Optimus asked, trying to sound casual. Bumblebee just shrugged.
"Do what you want." Bumblebee replied, sounding a bit bitter, clearly still upset over what happened today with the SUV team, with Swindle, and with his team. Optimus sits down next to Bumblebee, glancing at him, looming at what's around them, looking at the stars, and then glancing back at Bee.
"Do you...want to talk about what happened?" Optimus asked, wanting to see if Bee needed to vent it all out, if the scout would talk about it at all.
"About what? About how I screwed everything up cause of my "egotistical" and "illogical" behavior? That Swindle got away cause of me? Or cause you just want to keep scowling me for all I've done wrong today?" Bumblebee replied sarcastically with a harsh tone, very much upset just having to remember what the others had bashed him for earlier, and wondering if it really was his fault. Optimus was silent for a few nanokliks, trying to find the right words to say before speaking up.
"Bumblebee...maybe we were too harsh on you, you didn't deserve that and it wasn't your fault...but you should've made better choices." Optimus reassured and explained, but it didn't lighten Bee's mood.
"Yeah, sure, better choices as in hide and call for backup while they got away with everything. I just wanted to show that I can handle things on my own. I'm not a screw-up, ok?" Bumblebee raised his voice, now looking down at the ground, his digits playing with the tiny pebbles and rocks.
"I'm just saying things could've gone differently is all, but it's not your fault. You acted and did what you thought was best. Yes, Swindle got away, but you did catch the others. Besides, we were all just worried about you, facing a Con on your own and making dangerous, risky choices on your own, you could've gotten hurt, or even gone offline." Optimus explained again, not trying to sound like he was scowling or telling off Bumblebee. Bee groaned and thrown his servos up in exaggeration.
"I know and I get it! Just, y-you didn't have to go off on me like that, none of you did! I get it, it was stupid! But somebody had to do something! Even if it was me and me alone in the moment! Isn't that what heroes are supposed to do!? Or...am I not cut out for it?" Bumblebee went quiet, frowning, he slowly looked up at Optimus, who could tell this was bothering the scout a lot. Optimus thought to himself, they are suppose to be a team, he's suppose to be the leader and set an example.
What if Bumblebee wasn't learning that well cause of him? Thinking if he needs to train him more, teach him more. The speeding scout is young, but still is grown enough to know better. Optimus placed a servo on Bee's shoulder and did his best to give a meaningful look, to show he understands.
"It's never easy being a hero. It's not in any of our coding. Yet, were still standing and were still here together as a team. You're a hero Bumblebee, you just made a few mistakes, but nothing you can't learn from. I'm proud of you, I'm sorry if I don't say it enough, and I'm sorry if I don't set a good example for you. So I will take responsibility for what happened today, alright?" Optimus spoke, making Bumblebee surprised. Did Bossbot really think he wasn't a good example, not a good leader? He didn't mean to make him feel that way.
"N-no, I...it's my fault. I could've done better. I'm sorry, Bossbot. You're a good leader, I just don't listen when I should." Bumblebee said, admitting his wrong. Bee won't learn overnight, but he knows he could've done something else when facing Swindle.
"Still though, as the leader, I need to set an example and teach you more. Just know that I'm glad you're safe and ok, but let's not repeat today. And I promise the next time you do something reckl-! Um...unplanned, I won't get mad." Optimus promised, using his other servo to gesture a cross over his spark. Bumblebee couldn't help but smile a bit.
"No need to be cheesy, but...thanks. And, sorry, again." Bumblebee apologized once more.
"No worries...you wanna come inside and recharge? It's pretty late." Optimus offered, but Bumblebee shook his helm no though.
"Nah, not yet at least. Just wanna stay out here a bit longer." Bumblebee looked up at the stars. Sari once told him that scouts use the stars to navigate their way through the areas they were in once nighttime came. Bumblebee thought it was silly, but it was still nice & calming to look at. Optimus looked up with him, making small talk about the stars with Bumblebee. It was peaceful, most of the tension was gone, but some of it still lingering in the back of Bee's processor.
Bumblebee knew he wasn't the smartest, knew he didn't make the best choices, knew he was young and inexperienced with all this now hero & war stuff, but he wanted to be there to help the ones he loved & cared for the most. To hopefully live up to his dream as an Elite Guard, maybe rub it in Sentinel's stupid big chin aft face, and prove he is still gonna be the best star player.
Yeah. Bumblebee totally got this.