TFA Warriors: Chapter 11

TFA Warriors
Chapter 11

The moment Bumblebee heard that voice and those words, ice filled his veins and he froze from his struggles again Lugnut’s grip. Even the BloodClan cats seemed to be affected.  Their muscles grew tense and their eyes shone now with alert and respect- and as fear as well.

The giant one called Lugnut, silently and quickly drew away from Bumblebee’s helpless form. The little warrior let out a sharp gasp and scrambled back on to his paws. Crouched and trembling, Bumblebee twisted his head left to right and back again, gazing at each BloodClan cat in turn, expecting one of them to make a move.

None of them did- at least, not at him. Instead, the Starscream and the she-cat slowly took a few pawsteps back, revealing a small corner of the alley, right behind the dumpster, in complete darkness. Bumblebee hadn’t noticed it before, but now all his attention was focused on the darkness.

There was someone there.

As this realization hit, a memory was brought forth into Bumblebee’s mind. It was one of his earliest, way back in kithood when he was still in the WindClan nursery. What the BloodClan she-cat had said was true. Tales of BloodClan were very popular in the nursery for scaring misbehaving kits. But there was one tale that stuck out in Bumblebee’s mind most of all.

“Momma! It wasn’t my fault!” a young Bumblebee had tearfully wailed, “I didn’t mean to fall on top of Prime Nova’s tail! Ironhide and Wasp pushed me!”

“I don’t care whose fault it was.” Goldbug had sternly scolded her son after apologizing to Prime Nova. “You shouldn’t be fighting with your cousin and making trouble around camp in the first place.”

“But he’s mean! And he calls me names!”

“Bumblebee, you and Wasp should try to get along. Don’t you know what happens to kittens that don’t get along with their denmates?”

“They go to bed early and aren’t allowed out of the nest until they’re as old as elders?”

“Close, but no.” Goldbug leaned in close to her tiny son and meowed in a low, creepy voice, “They get snatched up by the most evil, terrifying cat of all!”

The little yellow and black kit trembled. “W-Who’s that, mom?”

“Why, he’s none other than the leader of BloodClan. With eyes as red as blood and claws as sharp as an adder’s bite, the one creature- yes, I dare not call one as horrible as he a true cat-  that you should fear more than any is the one they call....”</b>

“Megatron.” Even though he was past kithood, the name still sent shivers down Bumblebee’s spine. Now, staring at the shadowy creature silently approaching, Bumblebee was aware that all the nursery tales his mother had told him were soon about to be proven true.

“Too bad that idiot, Prowl isn’t here to see.” Though, true to be told, at this moment, Bumblebee wished more than anything that BloodClan was nothing more than a scary nursery tale like Prowl said.

A giant black paw stepped out between the tall cat called Starscream and the she-cat. Bumblebee’s jaw fell open to unleash a tiny squeak of fear. His sky blue eyes were fixed on the gleaming claws of the paw- they had dog fangs fixed on them! The WindClan warrior gulped. Yet another rumor proved true. He wondered what other nightmarish horrors would become reality today?

A moment later, the rest of the nightmare made his way past the two BloodClan cats; it was Megatron, leader of BloodClan and the most feared and hated cat in all the forest. Bumblebee’s heart dropped and a large bile of fear rose in his throat as he stared up the large grey and red cat. Even more fearsome than his deadly claws was his face. It was white with black stripes on his cheeks and his eyes….those horrible red eyes….

Megatron gazed down at the pathetic excuse for a cat that his minions had captured and narrowed his eyes in distaste. Bumblebee squirmed underneath his piercing glare; it was like the blood-red orbs were draining all the warmth and strength from his body. Instinctively, he tried to back away but was only halted by the one of the three brother BloodClanners.

“Stay still, puny kitling!” The brother with the red fur on his face snarled down at Bumblebee and, with one large paw, pushed him back towards Megatron.

“I’m not puny!” Bumblebee hissed under his breath, casting redface a sideways glare. He didn’t like those cat brothers, especially redface. What did these guys want with him anyway? And how did the black-faced brother know his name? Had they been watching him and the rest of the team the entire time?

A wave of cold fear washed through Bumblebee at this thought. For whatever purpose, were these bloodthirsty cats going to try to capture his comrades next? His next few thoughts were interrupted when Megatron spoke.

“Starscream, is this really one of the forest cats that Cabaret reported,” Megatron hissed a deep, menacing voice as he slightly tilted his head towards Starscream’s lean form. “Or did you just screw up and capture a kittypet by mistake?”
Bumblebee’s fear instantly melted away into agitation and annoyance. How dare that red-eyed freak call him a kittypet! He was a warrior for the love of StarClan! A WindClan and the fastest one at that!  They could at least show a little respect!

He fluffed his tail out and screeched out in indignation. “Who are you calling a kittypet?! I actually live in the forest unlike you and your group of crowfood eating, Twoleg-loving, mouse-brained goons!”

A giant paw slapped him across the muzzle and a booming voice roared in his tiny, triangle ears. “SILENCE YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF CROWFOOD! DO NOT DARE SPEAK IN FRONT OF LORD MEGATRON UNLESS SPOKEN TO!”

It was that massive, one-eyed cat from before. Bumblebee winced and placed a paw over his, now slightly deafened, ear. He was still angry, but fear, once again, was the dominating emotion in him at the moment. Fearing anymore punishment, the irritable young cat held his tongue.

“My lord,” Starscream crooned in a voice as slippery as a snake’s. “I assure you that the runt we captured is of forest origin.  We saw him traveling with the Clan cats.” There was a curt edge in Starsceam’s voice as he added, “In fact, if you sniff him, you detect a hint of the foul odor of WindClan on his scrawny pelt.”

Bumblebee angrily dug his unsheathed claws into gritty, concrete ground and tried to resist the urge to pounce on top of Starscream, and claw the living daylights out of him. “Stupid BloodClanner…I’ll show you who’s the runt as soon as I as get out of here! And at least WindClanners don’t smell like Twoleg garage, you pigeon legged freak!” Of course, with his ear and snout still stinging from before, Bumblebee kept all of these insults to himself.

“The other cats called him Bumblebee! Isn’t that cute?” The black-faced cat meowed, baring his pointed teeth in a ghastly grin.

“Shut up, Random!” hissed redface.

“Make me, Hothead! Hahah!”

“Hush the both you!” hissed the blue faced one.

Random pulled a long face. “Aww, you’re no fun, brother Icy!”

“So…” Bumblebee quietly mused as listened to their conversation. “They’re called Random, Hothead, and Icy.” He let out an amused snort. What stupid names! Even if it didn’t help his situation much, Bumblebee was somewhat a little proud that he now had some information about these BloodClan cats. If…no…when he escaped, he could report it to Optimus and his teammates. He knew that the leader was Megatron- no duh, and the lanky one was Starscream. The she-cat had to be Cabaret. So the massive giant had to be- Bumblebee twitched his whiskers in thought- ….ah, Lugnut! He remembered the she-cat making a comment about him and Starscream.

Speaking of which, Bumblebee’s attention was turned to the she-cat when she began to speak to Megatron.

“I do believe I’ve heard of him before.” Cabaret silkily meowed to her mate. “I believe that he might be the cat that Shockwave had told us about from WindClan.”

A feeling of great unease swept over Bumblebee at her words, penetrated by shock and surprise as well. These cats actually knew him? How could that be when he had been kitted long after Megatron and BloodClan’s exile? And who was this Shockwave?

“Could it be,” Bumblebee hardly dared to think it. He curled his long, black-tipped tail around his paws and felt his fur tremble with wariness. “That Shockwave is Wasp?”

Wasp had been Bumblebee’s cousin, but had been exiled from WindClan as a traitor while they had just been apprentices. Bumblebee tried not think back towards that time, but his instincts told him that if Wasp had something to do with this then he was in deep trouble. The two cousins hadn’t exactly parted on good terms. Perhaps he had changed his name from Wasp to Shockwave after his exile. Though Bumblebee couldn’t understand why- Shockwave sounded even more ridiculous than Random, Icy, and Hothead.

“Is that so?” Megatron’s voice, like the rumble of a dark distant storm, brought Bumblebee’s wandering mind back into focus. The BloodClan leader’s crimson gaze was fixed once again on Bumblebee’s pitiful form. “Well, if this pathetic excuse for a feline is truly a warrior then he can be of use to us.” The large, sinister cat leaned down until his glaring face was close to Bumblebee’s. The little warrior was cast in the tyrant’s shadow as he spoke.

“Tell me, forest runt, what destination is your group headed?” Though Megatron’s voice was low, it had the ability to echo throughout the alley.

A tremor went through Bumblebee’s body but he didn’t say anything.

“We know your looking for the fallen star.”

Bumblebee’s ears shot up and his blue eyes blinked in surprise. “How?”

“It doesn’t matter how, pathetic kitling!” Starscream snarled from behind Megatron. “Just tell us where it is!”

“We don’t know where it is!” Bumblebee growled, neck fur rising. The air seemed to be growing heavier and crackled with tension; he knew that the way things were going it was going to get dangerous pretty soon. His teammates had to have noticed that he was missing by now and gone looking for him. He only hoped that he could buy them some time before it was too late.

“LIAR!” Hothead snarled, looking ready to pounce and tear Bumblebee apart that very second.

“I’m telling the truth!” Bumblebee meowed. His voice had risen to a high pitch as he tried to control his fear and panic. “We did go looking for it, but then we got captured by Twolegs and when we escaped them we ended up here.” He glared at Starscream and childishly spat. “And even if we did find it do you really think I’d tell a piece of fox dung like you?”

“Why you insolent little…” Starscream’s red eyes flashed with rage, but Megatron’s commanding voice rang out like thunder.

“SILENCE!” The alley fell into an almost deafening silence. Every feline eye was fixed on Megatron’s dominating figure. Bumblebee took a quick glance at Starscream and was surprised by the vast amount of hatred he saw glisten in the blood-red eyes- all directed at Megatron. The yellow warrior had thought that all the BloodClan cats were completely devoted to Megatron with all the “my lord” this and “Most High” that. Apparently that was not completely the case…at least, not with this cat.

But now was not the time for musing over BloodClan ties. Bumblebee’s legs seemed to bend like young tree sapling and his heart began to pound against his chest in fear when he saw the look on Megatron’s face as he loomed over him. Bee could tell he was quickly losing patience.

“Come on, where are you guys?” Bumblebee prayed to StarClan that his comrades would arrive soon.  His blue eyes shifted back and forth, casting a look at each nook and cranny of the alley, hoping to catch a glimpse of something- the green of Bulkhead’s fur or the blue of Optimus’ ears- anything to keep the flame of hope burning inside his furry chest.

He saw nothing.

“Are you scared, runt?” Megatron’s ominous voice asked. Bumblebee stared at him and said nothing- he knew he was scared and he knew that Megatron knew too. It was nothing more than a cruel jest.

“You should be. You are in the presence of the cat almost completely wiped out your weak little clan. You and I have never met and yet you fear the very mention of my name. In the forest, I am the very essence of fear. I am a legend.” He spoke these chilling words without a hint of boast. They were not exaggerations in the slightest and he- as well as every cat there- knew it.  

“If you do not start cooperating,” Megatron continued, red eyes narrowed and his words filled with deadly threat. “I will personally show you the true meaning of fear.” His lips curled back into the slightest of smirks, revealing his gleaming white fangs. “So what do you say?”

Bumblebee looked down at the ground and meowed in a shaky voice. “What do I say?” Two heartbeats later, Bumblebee looked up and, to everyone’s surprise, had a cocky smirk on his furry face as he boldly meowed.

“Well, I say that you are waaaay uglier than anything my mom ever told me about in legends. Especially from this angle down here.” He shook his head and let out a mockingly forlorn sigh. “I’m kind of disappointed to tell the truth.”

Once again, a silence fell over the alley, but instead of tension it was filled with shock over the vast stupidity that the runt was able to contain in such a tiny amount of space and unleash on the most feared cat in all of existence. Lugnut in particular seemed too shocked to even breath knowing that someone had dared to insult their glorious leader. It seemed too impossible of a fact for one such him to comprehend so he just sat in stone silence. The echoing silence came to an end when Random burst out into a fit of laughter.

“Hahahahaha! That was a good one! Hahaha!” It was quite a comical sight to see the fearsome BloodClan cat rolling on his back and waving his legs in the air between snorts and giggles. “Hehehe! Could we ask him to join? Hahaha! I’ve never seen Megatron make such a funny face! Hahaahahaa! Do it again! Hahaah!”

None of the others even bothered to shut him up though Lugnut did shoot him a scathing glare. They were too busy looking at Megatron and waiting for his reaction.

The BloodClan leader had, for the most part, remained motionless. The only indication that Bumblebee’s comment had irked him was the small, barely noticeable twitch in his left eye. Random, however, found it hilarious.

“He’s got spunk, you gotta give him that.” Cabaret lazily commented to her mate. She had seemingly grown bored with the whole thing and was stretched out and lounging on the top of the dumpster lid.

Megatron stared down at Bumblebee, who now seemed to realize just what big of a mistake he had made and was slowly backing away from the fearsome leader. The BloodClan leader glanced up at Cabaret.

“Cabaret, how many clan cats were in the group you spotted?”

The beautiful she-cat answered without opening her eyes.

“Five, my lord.”

“And how many does it take to lead a clan to a fallen star?”

The devious she-cat smirked.

“Just one, my lord.”

Megatron twisted his head back around towards Bumblebee and the little warrior, to his horror, saw the tyrant’s red eyes gleam. “I thought so. I’ve grown tired of this talkative runt.” The grey-furred cat rose to his paws, the sunset red of his legs padded towards the Bumblebee in agonizing slowness. “This won’t take long.”

The constricting claws of fear gripped Bumblebee when he realized that his extremely short life as a warrior was about to end right here and now. He backed away as Megatron stalked closer, tail between his legs, trying to think of a way to get of this terrible mess he had made. Oh why, StarClan, hadn’t he just kept his mouth shut?

“You also look scarier than I ever imagined too!” Bumblebee wheezed out a shaky laugh while still backing up. The murderous look on the BloodClan leader’s face didn’t falter nor did his steady pawsteps. “Come on! I was just joking!” Bumblebee’s behind bumped into the garage can and he stood still in a defensive crouch. “Can’t you guys just take a joke?”

“I CAN!”

“Shut up and let Megatron tear the puny kitten to pieces, Random!”

Megatron stopped when he stood over Bumblebee and raised one paw. Bumblebee’s blue eyes stretched with horrid fascination at their deadly gleam.  The young cat fluffed up his golden fur and let out a weak growl- he knew that it was futile trying to battle with Megatron. Even he knew that he was no match for the brutal leader. But he was still a warrior and he would die like one.

“Trying to fight back,” Megatron’s whiskers twitched in a dry amusement at Bumblebee’s boldness. “Very admirable.” With a swift motion of his paw, Bumblebee was knocked to the ground, completely winded. “But so very foolish. Send my regards to StarClan.”

Bumblebee struggled the upper half of his body up and caught a glimpse of Megatron raise his forepaw over his head, ready to bring down the deadly killing blow on his skull. The little warrior screwed his eyes shut at this point. He knew it was over. He would never find the fallen star and make it back to the clans and the only thing he’d ever be remembered for would be for calling Megatron ugly in his face- and then being killed for it!

“Why didn’t you come guys?” Bumblebee asked himself, seeing on the darkness of his eyelids. Had they got tired of him and left to search for the fallen star without him?

“No…Bulkhead wouldn’t do that.” Bumblebee knew in his heart his friend would never leave him. And never would the ThunderClan cat- the one he really needed most at the moment. Maybe…just maybe….

With only a few short moments of life left, Bumblebee raised his head and his young voice rang out throughout the dark place.

“OPPPTIMUUUUS!!!!”

There was silence and then his small ears heard the sound of paws scraping against pavement and a loud strong voice roared out of the gloom.

“WARRIORS! RISE AND ATTACK!”