Bumblebee had been following the signal for nearly an hour. Every time he got close, it would vanish and reappear farther away. While he was only supposed to be doing recon, this seemed too important to pass up.

He really should tell the others about it first, though, so they didn't think anything bad happened. Then again, they were probably tracking his signal anyways.

<Bumblebee to base. I'm getting a strange signal on my scanner. Going to check it out.> He spoke through comms, revving his engine as he raced down the road.

::Understood. Use caution and call for backup if needed.:: Optimus's stoic voice crackled in response.

He was quite aware of Bumblebee's abilities as a scout and was therefore not too worried about having him investigate something by himself—especially since Decepticon activity had been at an all time low as of late.

<Will do. Bumblebee out.>

Part of Bumblebee was glad that Ratchet hadn't been the one who answered. He knew for a fact that the medic wouldn't want him wandering around on his own, even if he was perfectly capable of handling himself. It wasn't every day a signal like this one appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

Speaking of the signal, he'd accidentally blown right past it. He hit the breaks, his tires squealing on the pavement as he came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the road. He transformed and pulled a scanner out from his subspace.

"Hmm.. must be somewhere in those woods." He buzzed to himself, glancing up at the thick wall of trees just beyond the edge the road.

Navigating through the heavily forested area wasn't too hard, but it was no walk in the park either. Bumblebee was just glad he wasn't as big as Optimus. He couldn't imagine the struggle his leader would have to go through.

Every so often, Bumblebee would glance down at his scanner to make sure he was going the right way. It shouldn't be much further now.

Soon enough, his efforts were rewarded. He had stumbled into a clearing with a tall cliffside bordering it to the left. In the rock face, there was a large entrance of what looked to be a cave. Everything seemed natural... except for the purple glow casting off the interior.

Bumblebee frowned. He returned the scanner to his subspace and cautiously began to approach the cave. The thought of calling for backup briefly crossed his mind, but he ignored it. His curiosity had already gotten the better of him and he didn't want to wait around for the others.

He felt tempted to flick on his headlights, but then considered the fact that this might be a stealth mission. He would need the element of surprise in case the Decepticons were behind this, which they most certainly were.

Who else would have a creepy glowing cave in the middle of the woods?

The deeper Bumblebee wandered into the cave, the brighter the glow became. Soon, his entire frame plus the walls were bathed in a soft purple light.

"Great... what kind of freaky experiments are the Cons up to now?" Bumblebee lifted his head and saw that the tunnel opened up just ahead. He narrowed his optics. "That must be where the glow is coming from."

Once he reached the end of the tunnel, he was greeted by a strange sight. The cave had been transformed into some sort of laboratory. Machinery of varying shapes and sizes filled the vast open space, with intricate metal pathways that connected them. Off to the right were three large tanks of yellow fluid. Thankfully, that seemed to be their only contents.

The centerpiece of the entire lab, and the thing that was giving off the purple glow, was a massive pillar that was nearly as tall as it was wide. Its surface was rather plain, with matte black plating and grey accents. Several computer screens were clustered together on one side, while the other side bore an observatory window that allowed someone to peek inside the chamber. The glow seemed to be coming from inside the pillar.

Bumblebee stood there in awe. There was so much to take in, it was almost overwhelming. After a brief moment, he finally snapped out of his trance and cautiously began exploring.

"I need to tell the others about this." Bumblebee buzzed quietly as he climbed the stairs up to a platform.

To his right, he could see a large dashboard with an equally large screen. Words and symbols that he didn't know the meaning of flashed across the screen. It was Cybertronian, but the words were very complex and therefore way out of his experience level. He was a scout, not a scientist. Now he found himself wishing Ratchet was with him. That gave him an idea.

Bumblebee paused and reached up with one servo to press a digit against the side of his head. <Hey Ratchet?>

::Bumblebee? Is everything alright?:: Ratchet replied, though his voice was heavily corrupted by static.

Must be because I'm underground.

<Yeah... everything's fine. I just found something and figured you might be the best person to ask since it's more in your field.> Bumblebee said.

Ratchet was silent for a moment before speaking. ::Go on.::

Bumblebee approached the dashboard, studying the buttons for a moment before glancing up at the screen. <What does 'psychological diminution' mean?>

::What? Where are you reading this?::

<It's on a computer I'm looking at, which is in some sort of lab I stumbled across. Sorry, I probably should've mentioned that first.>

::You walked into a remote laboratory without backup?! Bumblebee, do you realize how much danger you've just put yourself in? You should've notified Optimus before even thinking of exploring that lab!::

<Relax! I don't think anyone's home. The place looks deserted.> Bumblebee stepped back and took another look around. <There's so much technology here! You would love it!>

::...........g.....t........o.......u.........n......o........w..::

<What? I can't hear you. There's too much interference.> Bumblebee flinched as static blared in his audio receptor. <Ratchet? Ratchet, are you there? Bumblebee to base, can anyone hear me?>

Nothing.

"Scrap... the signal's too weak. I can't get through to them." Panic swelled in Bumblebee's spark as he ended the connection. "I knew I should've called for backup when I had the chance."

With no way to communicate with the others, he'd have to navigate back through the tunnels in order to get a stronger signal. That meant he was stranded until then with no promise of a groundbridge.

The scout stiffened when his audio receptors picked up a faint noise behind him. He whirled around, his blasters unfolding from his forearms in the blink of an eye. He scanned the area once... twice.... nothing. Was he just imagining things?

"Okay... time to get out of the creepy lab, Bee. Come on." Bumblebee mumbled.

He kept his blasters drawn as he retraced his steps. If memory served him right, the stairs would be coming into view any second now.

Except he never reached them.

A shrill, distorted shriek was all that managed to escape his damaged voice-box as something grabbed him from behind and slammed him against the side of a machine. The last thing he saw before darkness consumed his vision was a singular red optic glaring down at him.

———

Hello and welcome to yet another angsty TFP book! This one will mainly focus on Bee instead of Ratchet because he deserves some attention (and because I've never written anything about him lol). I hope you enjoyed the prologue!

Also, psychological diminution essentially means something along the lines of lessening/reducing someone's mind. I don't know if that's actually true, since I just put those two words together, but you get what I'm trying to imply right? 😂