"Hey Ratchet! Is there something up with Bee?" Sam asked the mech as he trotted into the medbay.
"He is acting odd, but I have not discovered the reasons behind his odd behavior." The emergency vehicle replied stiffly.
"He keeps running off with hardly any reason. Today, I had to let Mikaela and Arcee let me hitch a ride to the base. Could you help me out? Figure out what's bugging Bee? Cause he won't tell me." Sam begged.
"Hmm. He is due for a processor check… I just called him in for one. He should be here soon. Go play in the rec room, I heard Lennox announce something about a c o d tournament?"
"Aw, Shit! Really? I'm gonna go kick his ass! Bye Ratch!"
An hour and forty-three minutes later, Bumblebee rolled into the medbay.
"You're late. What have you got to say for yourself?" Ratchet asked, very annoyed.
"Piss off."
"Hm. British accent? Really?"
"That a problem?" Bumblebee transformed, staring up at the CMO defiantly.
"No, but your lateness is. Berth, now. Before I bash your head in."
Bumblebee obeyed reluctantly. Ratchet put him in sleep mode, and started rooting around. What he found actually didn't surprise him, so much as make him very disappointed that he hadn't found this before.
"Prime, I think you need to see something I found in our scout."
"So you're saying Bee was a Decepticon, and got reprogrammed by a rouge Autobot scientist?" Sam asked incredulously.
"Yes."
"You have got to be kidding. Bee? A Decepticon? I don't believe it in the slightest."
"I do…" a dark voice admitted. Ironhide stood behind them, looking almost sheepish. "I already knew, actually. Jazz made me swear on a life vow to never tell anyone who didn't already know."
"Figures. Jazz even manages to surprise us in the afterlife. Typical. I suppose the only thing left is to tell Bumblebee-"
"No need. I heard. I'll be out. Don't bother looking on the radar for me."
The yellow camaro was gone in a split second, only a cloud of dust in the desert.
"I see you've been informed of your original programming." A familiar voice commented from behind him.
"Obviously. The worst part is I don't remember more than a few fleeting moments of my life as a Decepticon." Bumblebee laughed harshly.
"Jazz was your commander. Mine too."
Bumblebee looked up at Barricade when the darker mech spoke.
"I'm sorry?"
"We were teammates. More than teammates. A covert ops team. You were our scout and comms officer. I was the interrogator and front liner. Jazz was the infiltrator and saboteur. Any covert ops team in the Decepticons had to be bonded to survive. The Autobots were very good at defending their bases, and we had to be very good at getting in to get past those defenses. To be that good, we had to communicate at faster than the speed of sound- thus bonding."
Bumblebee listened to Barricade in rapture, listening more carefully than he ever had listened to anyone before.
"When your programming was forcefully overwritten, it drove Jazz to defection. He made me promise to stay, so I could slip info to him. I did. Didn't you ever wonder why Jazz was so attached to you? Why I always found you in a fight to lead you from death? Why you never felt quite safe near any of the scientists on your side, especially Perceptor?" Barricade asked.
"Interrogator. I'm seeing it now." Bumblebee spat. Then his face fell.
"My life is a lie."
"No. your past is a lie. Only the darkest part of your original programming has been overridden. You're still the same you that you've always been, just more… peaceful. I remember this one time you beat the slag out of Blackout, and Primus, was he horrified that a groundling half his size beat him so thoroughly…
"Barricade. We're going to have a memorial for Jazz next week."
"Yeah? Don't play any sappy music, you know he hates it."
"Already covered. I want you to be there. I promise no one, not even Ironhide or the Fle- humans will try to attack you. I'll even warn Sam to not scream."
"I can't. Starscream will see it as fraternizing with the enemy."
"Don't be the enemy then."
"Bumblebee…" he sighed. "I'll think about it."
As it turned out, Barricade showed up to Jazz's memorial. He smirked at Bumblebee, who smirked back triumphantly.
Bumblebee had turned his optics back to the dark red-orange they used to be, in honor of his past.
"How disappointing, Barricade, you could have risen high into the Decepticon ranks, but look at you now. A pathetic little Autobot. Have they forced you to change your programming yet?"
"Nope!" he snarled, throwing the huge Mech off of him with surprising strength. "He's all yours, Prime!"
"Thank you Barricade. Why don't you go see to your Bondmate?"
"Will do, bossmech." Barricade grinned at the occupied Decepticon leader and flicked him off before speeding off to aid Bumblebee and their idiotic, teenager charge, Ladiesman217.