(Sorry the pic is a little blurry.)

When Bee woke back up, he found that his body was aching with a dull throb instead of sharp pain this time, which he was grateful for. His eyes opened lazily and he realized he was laying on his stomach, his paws curled up under him. Blinking slowly, he looked around and saw that he was on a hard metal berth, but none of the white coats were around. He felt something pricking his side, but ignored it for now. His gaze fell to a giant glass window that was on the other end of the room, right in front of him. His head shot up when he saw the humans on the other side, a few of them typing away at computers while others still watched him carefully. 

"Welcome back, 127," a man said through a mic on the other side, his voice echoing in Bumblebee's room. "We are about to begin experiment test 214. Are you ready to begin?"

Bumblebee shot his head around frantically, realizing that the thing pricking him was an IV, though nothing had been injected into him yet. He grit his fangs, his heart beating quickly, when he heard screams from another room in the distance. Panic flew through him as he recognized them to be Cliffjumper's. He swung his head back around to look at the white coats with wide, fearful eyes, still gritting his teeth.

Please, he begged. Please, no.

"Very well, then," the white coat said, his lips turning up into a slight smile. The mic turned off and he bent over and hit something from the other side.

Fire immediately poured into Bee's body as a strange liquid entered his body. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head as he began thrashing in pain, bile filling his mouth. He couldn't help but scream, scream as hard as he could, but there was no sound. His chest burned as he tried to make sound, make them know his torture. Every part of him screamed, pain and agony flying up every bone and muscle as he thrashed. He couldn't stand up, but if he rolled off, he would only hurt himself more. The only thing he could do was scream soundlessly and struggle and writhe under the blanket of agony, his eyes flying open and shut as he moved about frantically. Once or twice he tried to look at them pleadingly, begging them to stop, but they did not.

Then, just as foam was beginning to fall from his muzzle and he felt himself beginning to black out, there was noise. A catlike scream filled the room, the feline yowl full of agony and pain, too. Bumblebee realized that the noise was coming from him, and his eyes flew open again in shock. Pain still flew into him, but now he could scream, yowl, holler to his heart's content at the torture he was enduring. 

The white coats on the other side smirked in satisfaction, turning off the machine. Slowly, the pain began to subside, and now Bumblebee, his throat hoarse and raw, began to still, panting heavily as he spit foam out of his mouth. He finally lay sprawled out on the berth, his heart beating a thousand miles a minute, as his breathing came out ragged and quick, gasping for air. His eyes were lazily half opened in exhaustion as a door opened from beside him and a few white coats quickly rushed in. The kitten felt another prick and suddenly felt a little strength return to him, though now he felt like he was going to throw up. He swung his head to his side as he emptied his stomach of the horrible food from that morning, gasping for breath when he was done.

"Experiment 214 was a success," a woman said as she wrote something down on a clipboard.

The man beside her nodded and bent over a little, gazing into the exhausted cat's eyes. "How do you feel?"

Despite how tired he was, he narrowed his eyes and flattened his ears from where he lay. I feel like you just tried to kill me! he screamed, and surprisingly, there was sound. It wasn't speech. He could understand it, hear the meows and hisses that fell out of his muzzle. His ears pricked up in excitement, happy and overjoyed that he could speak. 

Well, in a way.

The man frowned and shook his head. "Scratch that. Only a partial success. While subject 127 is able to now speak like a regular cat, we can't converse in English. Still have no way of talking to him," he huffed, crossing his arms.

The woman sighed as she did as she was told, looking to the man when he was finished. "Take him back to Group 4. He can't handle anything more today, he's about to get shipped off to Jasper. Our people will have to take care of this there." She sniffed and turned sharply, exiting without another word. 

The man white coat groaned, harshly picking up the kitten and walking out just as quick as the woman had. Bumblebee hissed in pain, satisfied with the sound it made, but the white coat payed now mind as he rushed through the hall in annoyance. Bee felt his consciousness flicker in and out as they passed dozens of cages again, his mouth still wide open as he panted. He felt a little better when they reached his cage, noticing that Cliffjumper was already there, laying on the far side of the cage and sleeping soundly.

Ratchet immediately jumped to his paws again, flattening his ears and hissing, though Bulkhead and Wheeljack weren't far behind him in doing the same. "What have you done to him?!" the medic cat growled, his tail raised and prickling. Bumblebee felt a little comforted to see them all worried about him, knowing that he had made friends here.

The white coat huffed as he roughly shoved the yellow and black kitten back into the cage. "We gave you medical expertise, you find out," he spat as he slammed the door closed and stomped off, obviously annoyed.

Bumblebee panted slower, finally beginning to catch his breath, as the other cats hurried over to him with worried looks. "Are you okay, Bee?" Bulkhead asked frantically. 

"Move!" Ratchet ordered with a flick of his tail, getting to Bee quickly and crouching down to examine him. His eyes traced over to where he had been pricked by the IV almost immediately and he sighed. "Experiments..," he grumbled under his breath angrily. "I wonder what they were trying to give you this time."

"Cliffjumper said he was bein' given more speed before he passed out," Wheeljack piped in. "You think they did the same to the kit?"

Ratchet shook his head, unsure. With another sigh, he stood up and got even closer to Bee, bending his head down. The kitten felt his jaws gently clamp down on his scruff and slowly he was lifted into the air, though his feet were only an inch or two from the metal floor. No one said anything else as the older cat took Bumblebee away from the entrance and towards the back left of the cage, where he was harder to reach for human hands. The medic cat set him down gently and sniffed all over him again, his eyes serious.

"Your heartbeat seems to be relaxing a little," he said. "And you've nearly caught you're breath. Do you feel tense in your muscles?" 

Bee wanted to answer, show him what he could do now, but he was still panting, and could only shake his head. 

"Just weak, then," the older one said with a nod. "I don't see any twitching, nor foaming." He sat up with a sigh of relief. "It looks like you'll be fine, as long as you rest for a while."

Bumblebee heard a collective sigh of relief go around the cage, excluding the still sleeping Cliffjumper. He opened his eyes a little bit more and smiled at the older cat above him, his breath finally falling even. Optimus padded up next to Ratchet, giving the younger cat a small smile. He bent his head down and licked the top of his head for a few moments.

"I am glad that you were not harmed any further, Bumblebee," he said softly as he raised his head. "Thank you for looking him over, old friend."

Ratchet nodded to Optimus. "Of course." He stood up slowly, walking behind the yellow and black kitten, before settling himself down again, his body right up against Bumblebee's. Warmth spread over the younger cat as he felt the fur tickle him a little, the medic's tail going around his body slightly. 

Bumblebee turned his head and smiled to Ratchet as Optimus too lay down, not far from the two of them. I think.., he started with a mew, pausing to swallow, I think they were trying to give me a voice, like you guys, he meowed. Though all they managed to do was this...

Everyone's head shot up quickly in surprise, blinking at the mews that filled the cage weakly. Ratchet looked down at him, probably the most shocked, and blinked a few times, unsure of what to really say. Optimus' ears were pricked up in surprise, and Bulkhead and Wheeljack both sat up. 

"Hey, you can speak to us now!" Bulkhead cried happily, getting up and padding over to the kitten and older cat. 

Wheeljack got up and followed. "Well, it ain't no voice, but it's one way of communicatin'." He joined Bulkhead as the both of them sat back down in front of him. 

"Good for the kit," came Cliffjumper's voice. Bee lifted his head a little and saw that the red cat was beaming at him. "I would come over and congratulate you, but I'm a little tired at the moment," he said with a nervous chuckle. 

Bee smiled at him tiredly. That's okay. I am, too, he mewed. A moment later, he felt a large paw push his head back down quickly, surprising him.

"If you're tired, you should rest like I told you," Ratchet huffed from beside him. He looked up to the others that were all crowding the two of them and wrinkled his snout a little. "He needs rest, not a crowd," he grumbled.

Bulkhead and Wheeljack got up quickly, but the latter swatted at the older cat's nose playfully, earning himself an irritated hiss. Bulkhead snickered a little bit but urged his friend to hurry along, and both of them went and curled up by Cliffjumper to keep him company. Optimus got up after they left, his eyes showing a hint of amusement at Ratchet's grouchy behavior before he went and laid closer to the cage door, blocking them from most view.

Bee sighed softly as he shuffled into a more comfortable position beside Ratchet, closing his eyes and falling into a deep sleep without another word.

~

The young cat was rudely awakened when something grabbed his scruff sharply and pulled him up. His eyes flew open in fear, searching for the human arm that was holding him, but saw that there wasn't one in the cage. Instead, he saw that another crate was being held outside the door, open and waiting. He blinked dazedly when he saw the other cats getting up and reluctantly padding into the new kennel, curling up next to each other with sad expressions. Bee realized that he too was heading that way, though he was being lifted in air. He looked down and saw white and orange paws walking from under him, and figured it was actually Ratchet who was carrying him. As they got closer, he saw that one of the white coats was holding the crate and waiting for the last of them to get in, glaring at Ratchet with nervous eyes. Bumblebee's eyes adjusted to the dark in the crate as they entered, being set down against Ratchet's side again as the crate door closed and he felt them being lifted higher. 

Where are we going? he meowed nervously, glancing this way and that, even though there wasn't much to really see. 

Ratchet shuffled from next to him, laying his head in his paws with a sigh. "We're being shipped," he said quietly, sounding tired and annoyed. "Another lab is taking us."

Where is it? Bee asked as he tried to settle down, too, though his heart was beating a little faster than he wanted. 

"I'm not sure," the older cat huffed. His tail wrapped around the younger cat as the crate jostled more, and Bee heard the loud sound of something roaring to life.

What was that? he meowed loudly, getting more scared now. He heard the others shuffle a little behind him and wondered if they had fallen back asleep.

Ratchet groaned a little and lifted his head again, looking at the younger cat. "That was the truck," he explained as they began to move again. "It's the vehicle that's taking us elsewhere."

Bumblebee nodded his head, afraid of asking more questions and annoying all the others. He set his head back on his paws and curled up a little, feeling himself began to shake in fear. He didn't like this at all, and wished there was something that could take his mind off of it. He jumped a little when he heard Ratchet sigh, the medic bending his head down and beginning to groom the top of the kitten's head slowly.

"You needn't be worried," he huffed lightly, though his voice was gentle. "I highly doubt the vehicle will hurt you."

Bumblebee nodded, relaxing a little as Ratchet continued to groom him. He felt himself purr, feeling a bit happier when he heard the sound, and closed his eyes again. He finally calmed down again and sighed softly, grateful for the comfort that the older cat was giving him. Ratchet finished with a sigh, setting his head by Bee without a word and closing his eyes. Bee snugged the snout a little and purred some more, getting comfortable and then going still. He felt sleep slip into him and sighed softly as dreams began to fill his head. 

~

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