"Hmm, and you're sure this is who you want?" Soundwave had presented Megatron with his latest plan. Megatron had suggested Soundwave either create a new cassette or reformat one. Soundwave's miniature army was wearing thin, having more duties and more mechs to watch over. Megatron would have offered him one of the troops, but Soundwave's suggestion was certain intriguing.
Soundwave merely nodded his reply. He knew whom he wanted for this. It would be difficult to capture this mech, but in the end it would be worth it.
"Very well, Soundwave. I trust you'll report back to me when your task is complete." Soundwave nodded again, now with Megatron's permission, he leaves to find what will be the newest member of his little family. Luckily, he knew all of Bumblebee's most frequented areas.
Bumblebee was out with Spike and Carly again. Today Spike suggested a picnic, both trying to attempt to romance Carly and show Bumblebee another common Earth custom. With permission from Optimus, they quickly packed their things and left. They decided to go to a local park, instead of just some random spot in the wilderness. Not only would it be safer, but then Bumblebee could observe even more about humans.
They arrived earlier than expected, and as the two humans weren't hungry yet, they decided to play a game. Spike and Carly decided to teach Bumblebee about soccer, thinking maybe that is more his sport as apposed to Basketball, which he was too short for, and football, which he wasn't strong enough for. Carly acted as goalie as Spike and Bee attempted to kick into the goal, which was just two trees. After a while, Carly and Spike were just too tired to continue. They decided to finally set up their picnic, finding a bench in the shade. As they unpacked they noticed they had forgotten something to drink. "We'll be right back!" Spike called after Bumblebee. He and Carly entered a nearby cafe to grab something bottled, Bee opting to stay behind and look after the food to make sure it wasn't stolen.
Soundwave saw his opportunity.
He had remained hidden beside a bench and remained undetected the entire time. Without transforming, he released Ravage and Laserbeak. He sent them off to attack while he remained hidden, able to release other cassettes if necessary.
It didn't take long for Bumblebee to notice the cassettes either. They attacked immediately, Laserbeak first heading in from above. Bumblebee managed to avoid it only to run right into Ravage and his jaw. Bumblebee shook his arm as violently as he could, trying to get Ravage off of it. Unfortunately, that left Laserbeak a perfect opportunity to hit his target. Falling breifly, Bumblebee managed to regain his composure and threw Ravage at Laserbeak, knocking him out of the sky.
During this commotion, Soundwave had transformed, quietly getting behind Bumblebee without him noticing. He grabbed Bumblebee from under his arms, then threw him over his shoulder. Bumblebee's gyros were spinning, and he wasn't able to get back up in time. Soundwave had him pinned down, his concussion blaster pointing at Bumblebee's forhead.
By now, Carly and Spike had noticed. They rushed over to attempt to help free their friend, but they weren't the only around. Ravage and Laserbeak blocked them off, nipping, biting and pecking at the two humans to push them back.
"Wait! Stop! I'll go with you!" the yellow bot shouted, desperate to keep his friends, and the surrounding human population safe. "I don't know what you want with me. But I'll go." Of course Spike was the first to protest, trying to push past Ravage, who in turn only knocked him down.
Soundwave stood there, pretending to consider his offer for a moment, letting the gravity of the situation really sink in. His concussion blaster was now fully charged and ready to fire.
"Your cooperation: noted." was the last thing Bumblebee heard before he was knocked out.
Bumblebee awoke in a strange room. He quickly recognized it as a med bay, and then realize he was strapped down as well. He immediately started struggling, trying to free himself. That is, until a blue hand settled on his helm, holding that down now, too.
"Cease." was the only order he was given. Needless to say, he didn't follow it. Or at least to the best of his ability he didn't. He managed to squirm still, despite Soundwave pushing him down, until the pain started. Soundwave was sawing off the horns atop his helm. That only made him want to struggle more, except the pain was too much to bear. He gritted his denta and waited for it to be over. Luckily enough for him, the other one was removed while he was still offline.
"These will be returned at a later time." was the only explanation the small mech was given.
"What do you want from me?" he cried out. "If I'm ransom, they won't agree! They won't trade any of our secrets and you can't get anything from me with your creepy mind powers! I know all the tricks!" Soundwave just ignored this outburst, fiddling with something on the table next to the berth Bumblebee was strapped down to.
"What is that?" he demanded. It looked like a cassette. Maybe Ravage or Laserbeak. They might have gotten damaged in the fight and Soundwave was repairing them now. Except neither of them were silver with yellow accents. This might have been a new cassette. When he got out of here, the first thing he'll do is tell Prime.
"Your new designation: Swiftsnout. These" Soundwave held up Bumblebee's horns to accent his point. "will be the only thing transferring from your old frame to your new one." He put the horns back down, picked up the empty cassette and inserted it into his tape deck, it being the only one in there right now, making sure his other cassettes would not interfere with this.
Soundwave's chasis then split open, down the middle. The sides of his chasis opening out, revealing the blank cassette, only hollowed out. Wires creeped out along the edges, ready to connect to whatever port they can find. Bumblebee began protesting, struggling and shaking, shouting at Soundwave, begging him to stop. Soundwave ignored him, opening up a medical port on the smaller mech's arm, connecting a wire and bypassing any firewalls he encountered. He sent a command to open Bumblebee's own chasis, quickly blocking the yellow bot out of his own systems.
With a click, Bumblebee's chasis split open wide, his spark revealed, glowing bright blue. Soundwave ignored that as well, at least for now. He busily connected himself to every port he could, plugging in wire after wire. The process was similar to interfacing enough, only instead of the mutual sharing and transferring of files, this was a total systems take over and excruciatingly painful. At least, it was painful for the Victim.
File after file, copy after copy. Everything that made Bumblebee himself was copied, transferred and even altered. Bumblebee would still have his memories, and most of his personality. Soundwave only altered his loyalties, making Bumblebee loyal to only Soundwave. After what seemed like an eternity to Bumblebee, Soundwave was nearly complete. All that was left was his spark. The formerly blank cassette, now filled with data upon data of Bumblebee, was pushed forward and out of Soundwave's chasis, landing atop of Bumblebee's spark. It pulled and pulled on it, slowly disconnecting it from his old frame and into his new. The little yellow bot could feel his systems shutting down, no longer having a power source to keep online. He had long since stopped shouting, now, as his old frame died, he cried and pleaded with Soundwave to stop this, to let him go. His please fell on deaf audials, and with a final snap, his spark was completely cut off from his yellow frame, now graying in its death. His spark was encompassed by the new cassette, burning brightly in his new housing, then shut off from the rest of the world again.
Soundwave closed his chasis, picking up the cassette and inserting it into his tape deck as he did before, only this time it contained sentience, an actual being. While inside, they experience their first symbiotic link. Bumblebee, now Swiftsnout, could now experience what Soundwave let him, and Swiftsnout could share his, only Soundwave could force his way completely into his mind, but not the other way around.
Via this uplink, Soundwave sent Swiftsnout data on how to eject, what happens when ejected, how to transform and information on his new frame. To accent this, he then announces "Swiftsnout, eject" and ejects him from his tapedeck. Mid air, Swiftsnout transformed into his alt mode, a lizard like creature that seemed to run mostly only its belly, which was heavily protected.
"Your alternative mode: inspired by Earth animal 'komodo dragon'. Your glossa: an added sensor. Your jaws: strongest asset. Your specialty: tracking." Swiftsnout listened, but couldn't bring himself to care. He wanted his old body back, he wanted to be Bumblebee again.
Allowing Swiftsnout to digest all of this new information, and to feel out his new body, Soundwave wordlessly picked up the horns from the Bumblebee frame, grabbed a welder and returned to where the lizard was testing out his tail. "Hold still," Soundwave ordered. He welded a horn onto each side of the dragon's head, giving him a keepsake at least from his old body. He returned the welder and cleaned up before addressing Swiftsnout again.
"Swiftsnout, return." Soundwave opened his tape deck for the cassette to enter. He tried to jump up, finding it very difficult in this mode. He did discover that even as a cassette, he was given antigravs, which he used to propel himself, transforming and returning to the tape deck. Through their link, Soundwave communicated that it was time to formally meet the rest of the cassettes.