Chapter Text
"WOOHOO!" Bumblebee cheered, revving his engine as the triple-changer sank below the ice into dark waters.
"You did good kid, real good" Ratchet gave him a pat on the back and one of his rare smiles.
For all of the medic's rough exterior he wasn't very subtle about his care for his teammates. Bumblebee especially knew that better than anyone. Although he detested being regarded as such, Ratchet had a soft spot for sparklings, or really any young bots. "Course I did! Have you met me?" He jeered.
"Unfortunately." Prowl replied, his tone flat as usual, but with a hint of smugness that betrayed his calm exterior.
Bumblebee just crossed his arms and stuck his synthesizer out at the taller mech. Snooty as he could be he liked it when Prowl worked up enough of a personality to quip back. Seriously- was the dipstick that far up his aft that it fried his personality chips? A little banter never hurt anybody... Well except for Blitzwing, he smirked to himself, looking out at the lake again.
Apparently all it took was a little bit of his natural charm and he had triple-changers falling for him! Literally! He was about to remark as much to Ratchet and Prowl (mostly Prowl because it would annoy him) but he was interrupted by a loud blast.
Prowl and Ratchet had already been looking to the center of the island, worrying (what a shock) about what to do next when it happened.
The sound of whirring followed by an explosion had the entire island shaking violently, his stabilizers stumbling to catch him.
"What in Primus' name was that?!" Ratchet shouted.
"How the scrap should I know?" Bumblebee snapped back, still trying to reset his equilibrium circuits.
"It came from Prime's direction." Prowl muttered.
Bumblebee looked out across the lake when he finally regained his stability. Some weird glowy stuff was reflecting across the water, leading him to look up in confusion. Something was... Falling? Flying? Something was shooting across the horizon. Little blue streaks of light that looked like some kind of meteor shower, all of them heading towards Detroit.
"Hey guys! Check this ou-!" His vents caught and stopped.
There was a weird flicker in his cerebro circuits.
It was all his processor could register for the split second it remained online.
Something blazing hot at the back- and within nanoseconds at the front- of his helm. His optics went wide as the sensation travelled through him.
Something had hit him. Something sharp that tore through him and blazed a new path out the front of his faceplate.
It was electric, energy arcing across his helm into the entry wound and out the exit. In the shock of the moment he hadn't even had time to think before he lost the ability to. His optics drooped. His stabilizers lost control and he stumbled once, then twice, before crumpling.
It all happened so fast- the thing had rocketed into the back of his helm and burst out the front before he could even hit the ground. Wires and pieces of his processing unit blew out the exit wound with a sickly mix of energon
Maybe if the shard hadn't shattered his processor on its warpath through his CPU Bumblebee would still have had enough of a mind to notice how the thing- the shard- drew itself back inside his helm.
Maybe if it hadn't ripped apart all his circuits he could've called out to Ratchet before he fell.
...maybe he could've said goodbye.
But instead he hit the rocky beach with dulled optics and already offlined audials. Unaware of the world as his teammates rushed to him.
Ratchet didn't know what in the name of the Primus was going on, but he didn't like it.
That blast had come from Prime's direction, from Omega Supreme's direction. First instincts told him to fear the worst, but he'd learned well enough in the war that if an explosion of that size wasn't followed by the sound of thrusters or blades then the Decepticons had been on the receiving end.
Still, it wasn't enough for him to like the situation.
Then, something blazed past them from the direction of the explosion. Something small and fast- it whizzed between both him and Prowl at mach speeds, startling even the ever calm ninja-bot. Whatever it was was shrapnel from the explosion, they would need to get to cover just in case-
A sharp intake was the only warning he got.
"Scrap-" He muttered and his helm whipped around with speed that would make any other bot his age cringe.
The yellow minibot, still facing away from them, stumbled for a moment before collapsing forward to the ground.
"KID!" The medic burst forward to the young scout's side. He practically threw the young bot, grabbing his shoulder pauldron and flipping Bumblebee over to assess the damage. Not even a flinch. The new position now revealing a horrifyingly wide hole in his helm, still sparking and crackling with electricity.
The medic connected to his patient's HUD link, his warning display already reading across his vision and the monitor on his chassis showing off the young mech's spark rate. He tried to find anything he could do.
"Frag- Kid!" He fumbled for his tools but stopped short because the scout- the kid- he had this look. He knew that look. Optics half-shuttered and dark. He'd seen it far too many times, on far too many mechs. Belatedly he realized the line on his monitor was flat, having never found a spark rate to pick up in the first place.
He could hear Prowl creep up behind him, about to demand to know why he wasn't doing anything. Before he even got the chance the doctor turned to look at the other mech, sympathy and regret glowing in his optics.
He received his answer in the form of the color beginning to leech out of Bumblebee's frame, and the sharp hiss of hydraulics as they released their pressure, allowing the mech to go limp.
"Is the Allspark really gone?" Sari asked him, voice filled with wonder and confusion. She likely couldn't even comprehend how much that statement actually meant, what it meant for all Cybertronian kind.
"More like I... Dispersed it." He answered thoughtfully. In truth he wasn't really sure what happened. The explosion was undeniably destructive but it didn't feel like the Allspark was gone. It made him hopeful, even if he didn't know outright.
He gave the the human her key back. He was glad to have her forgiveness so easily. It was actually humorous, Bumblebee seemed to have been more offended on her behalf than she did. Although, he had been pretty harsh on him earlier.
With all his tough bravado it was often hard to realize the at the spark of it all Bumblebee was almost desperate for approval from any kind of authority figure. He was small and scrappy, not qualities that many on cybertron would find flattering, much less endearing. He also had the same temper that made many minibots notoriously hot-headed and it had a tendency to cover up most of his hurt.
He'd have to apologize to his scout more formally once they got back to the base. Although, it was likely the sub-compact was going to brush him off in favor of some video games. He likes to imagine Bumblebee appreciates the effort though.
He sat with Sari in peace for a moment, he'd have to go gather his team soon enough, likely they were all exhausted from the non-stop fighting and concerned about the explosion.
"PRIME! What happened?! What was that?!"
Speaking of his team... Prowl's voice crackled over his comm. With a sigh he answered the request, likely the ninja-bot wanted to know what the explosion was about.
"Prowl, you can disregard the explosion for now. I'll explain once we've all gathered on the beach." He replied calmly.
For a moment there was nothing but radio static before he answered.
"Well, whatever it was Prime..." The sleek motorcycle looked down at his younger teammate, previously yellow armor turned ashen grey "It just killed Bumblebee."