Bumblebee hadn't told the rest of the team the news immediately, as it was late by then and he needed to rest and recover further from the hit-and-run he'd suffered from. Sideswipe was disappointed that he'd have to wait even longer for the news, but the rest understood Bumblebee's exhaustion.

However, they were right there when he came out of stasis sleep the next morning, awaiting the news, whether it was good or bad. "Nice to see you all too..." He muttered.

"Can you really blame us, Sir?" Strongarm asked.

Bumblebee chuckled. "No..."

"So what was it that Ratchet wanted to talk to you about?" Russell asked.

Bumblebee smiled a little. "...We've been given the okay to reveal ourselves to the humans, whenever we feel it is right."

"SWEET!" Sideswipe shouted. "When do we start!?"

"Not just yet, Sideswipe. We need to do this in a slow and cautious manner, we don't want to scare them into launching an assault on us."

"A wise decision, Bumblebee." Drift agreed. "From what me and my students have seen, humans can be easily startled into fighting against what they do not understand."

"We'll start with Crown City. Once we have their trust, then we may move on to higher levels in the government. Just like the Rescue Bots on Griffin Rock, we have to make sure that we don't intimidate them when we make our appearance."

"I can't wait to be able to just go into town and be myself."

"But with our secret exposed, keeping a low profile in town will become much more difficult." Drift reminded.

Grimlock grinned. "But I'll be able to help on missions much better now! No more hiding under a tarp, or pretending to be a crane..."

"Also...There's something you all should know."
All comments on the idea of exposure stopped as Bumblebee's voice echoed across the yard. It was sharp, like he'd had to force the words from his throat.

"Lieutenant...?" Strongarm questioned as their leader looked at the ground. "What's the matter?"

"...I haven't been fully honest with you, and I'm sorry... But I can't keep it a secret anymore. Oversight was right, I have been keeping things from you, but only because I..." He turned away from them. "...I didn't want to be the one to tell you..."

"Whatever it is, Bee, you can tell us." Sideswipe replied as he came up to his leader's shoulder. "We're a team, after all."

"Yeah! It can't be that bad!" Grimlock assured.

Bumblebee shut his eyes. "That day...The day we all came here to hunt down the prisoners...That wasn't the first time I'd met you, Sideswipe...Or you, Grimlock."

The dinobot and red sports car became still, staring at their leader with confusion. "What are you talking about?" Sideswipe asked. "I mean sure, I'd seen you before at the station when I was arrested before that day, but-"

Bumblebee turned to face them again, his optics moving from bot to bot as he spoke. "You know how when we go offline, they say we...'Become one with the Allspark?'"

"Yes." Strongarm informed. "What about it?"

"During the war, there was a theory that if the Sparking Wells were ever to reactivate, they may take old sparks and recycle them into new bots...New lives." Bumblebee was quiet for a moment. "...It was true."

Sideswipe took a few steps back. "Are you saying we were someone else before...!?"

"No...You've always been Sideswipe, and Grim's always been Grimlock, but your lives... This is your second life... That was Oversight what meant when she said that Grimlock was supposed to be dead, and assumed you'd been reformatted... We lost you both during the war."
Bumblebee placed a hand on the younger bot's shoulder, surprised that Sideswipe didn't pull away. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything before, but you two should know that if I hadn't met your previous lives, I probably would not have given you a chance, and you wouldn't be here right now."

Grimlock nodded. "I'm the only prisoner you gave a chance..."

"Yes... And I saw more in Sideswipe than just some delinquent out to cause trouble."

Sideswipe grimaced. "Yeah..." He looked uncertain for a brief moment. "...What happened to us...? I mean, before...How'd we die?"

Bumblebee shook his head. "I can't tell you that...It's not important and I don't think you'd be ready to hear that sort of thing. But...You both perished as heroes."

"Hmph." Sideswipe rolled his eyes. "Not heroes enough for anyone to tell the story about it..."

Bumblebee rolled his eyes. "Also, there's one more thing you need to know... The Council is sending a representative from Cybertron to check in on our progress."

"A representative?" Strongarm asked. "Who?"

"Someone I know, but I'll let it be a surprise."

Drift crossed his arms. "Why do I feel you're keeping it a secret for a ridiculous reason...?"

"You'll just have to see, Drift."

"So what's our first step, Sir?"

"I thought this over last night very carefully... And our first step towards exposure is to reveal ourselves to Hank."

Russell's head popped up at the name. "Hank? Why Hank?"

"She's in here more than any other human besides you two, and I think she could keep her mouth shut if it's for a good reason."

A creaking sound from the medical table caught their attention, and they turned, their minds back on the visitor already with them. "Knockout..."

Knockout moaned as he sat up, putting a hand to his helm. "What in the name of Primus...?"

"Helm-Ache?"

"The worst ever...!" Knockout looked over, and the faintest smirk formed on his faceplate. "...Well if it isn't the famous former scout..."

Bumblebee grinned. "Hi, Knockout...It's been a while."

"Well that's what happens when the High Council banishes you for being a former decepticon." Knockout slowly got up to his feet. "What're you doing back here?"

Bumblebee gestured to his team. "...Being in charge of this train wreck."

"Well, I wouldn't call it a Train Wreck..." Denny murmured.

"We've wrecked trains!" Grimlock expressed. "Does that count?"

Bumblebee rolled his eyes. "Knockout, this is Strongarm, Sideswipe, Grimlock, Fixit, Drift, Denny and Russell Clay..." He smiled as Flashdrive took a seat on his shoulder, "...And Flashdrive."

Knockout smirked as Bumblebee introduced Sideswipe and Grimlock, probably thinking of the same thing he'd just explained to the bots themselves, but his attention then went to Flashdrive. "Okay...You've got my attention, what's a sparkling doing here?"

"We're not exactly sure." Strongarm admitted. "She just..." She looked to Bumblebee, her expression asking if she should continue.

"She arrived here a few days ago." Bumblebee replied. Technically, it was true. "She's still too young to explain how she arrived."

"I see..." Knockout's expression suggested he wasn't convinced, but he decided not to pursue the subject for now. "Well it's certainly nice to see a friendly faceplate."

"I agree...Now," He placed a hand on the medic's shoulder. "Why don't we play a game of Catch Up? Starting with what you've been up to, since I'm sure that story's as long as ours."

Knockout sighed. "When the new High Council arrived, I did what I could to avoid being in their spotlight. They didn't seem to like anyone that supported Optimus Prime, myself included. I thought it was because I was a former Decepticon, but something about them just didn't sit right... I called them out on it, and that turned out to be a mistake. They gave me two options: Banishment from Cybertron, or Imprisonment... I chose the former. I wandered the planetoids in a little rickety ship I stumbled upon, which constantly needed repairs. I had to use most of the rations I had just to keep it running."

"Why not settle on one of the colonies?" Strongarm asked.

Knockout chuckled. "Out of the mouths of protoforms... All those colonists were aware that I was a former 'con. I was straining to get to Velocitron, settle there where nobody cares who you are, as long as you're fast... But I ran out of fuel...Then I spotted Oversight on the planet I wound up on. I was desperate, I figured I could capture her, bring her in, and possibly get some rations out of it."

"Bounty-Hunting."

"Yes...Like I said, I was desperate. I followed her here, and ran into that ragged Dog-Bot back there."

"Steeljaw..." Sideswipe muttered. "We're well accquainted with him."

"That fight would've gone very differently if I was in better shape, but I was too focused on Oversight that I ignored any warnings about my condition..."

"Well don't you worry, Knockout." Bumblebee replied. "You can get back on your feet here, and then when the representative arrives, he can take you back to Cybertron."

"Didn't you hear? I'm banished."

"Didn't you hear?" Sideswipe smirked. "Those Council members were cons and we booted them out! Ratchet, Bulkhead, Jazz and Windblade are the council now."

"Temporarily." Strongarm corrected.

"The point is..." Bumblebee patted Knockout on the back. "I'm sure they can repeal your banishment and help you get properly settled back home."

"We'll see..." Knockout murmured. "...What about this representative you mentioned?"

"They're sending them to oversee how well our team operates. I was sent back here by Optimus to capture the escaped prisoners of the Alchemor when it crashed here, and the rest of them joined me through varying circumstances. Steeljaw's the only one still at large, and that was after we captured him, sent him back to Cybertron and the old council sent him back to destroy us."

"I thought Prime went offline returning the Allspark to the Well of Allsparks."

"Not quite. It's a long story." Bumblebee placed Flashdrive down on the ground before putting an arm around the medic. "Come on, we've got enough energon to share while we catch up further..."

As the two bots walked off, Strongarm leaned down to Flashdrive. "You know who's coming, right?"

Flashdrive grinned, her hands tucked behind her as she swayed back and forth. "Yes...But Daddy doesn't wanna tell you..." She replied.

"As unhelpful as always..." Strongarm muttered.

Sideswipe glared at her, then patted the sparkling on the head. "Nice to have you back, Pipsqueak."

Flashdrive grabbed onto his arm and hugged it. "Thank you, Sideswipe..." And then she took off into the stacks.

Sideswipe smirked. "See? A little friendliness can go a long way..."

Strongarm cross her arms. "I'm still keeping an eye on her..."

"Ah! Why can't you-"

"Hey hey!" Grimlock pushed the two smaller bots apart. "Let's all be cool. As much as I like a good punchin', I don't like it when it's between teammates."

The pair glared at one another, then wandered off, and Grimlock gave a sigh of relief. There had been too much excitement recently, and he'd been acting as peacemaker and not Con-Puncher too often. He needed a break.

"Grimlock!" Flashdrive called from the stacks. "Wanna help me make a sculpture!?"

"Oh yeah! I'm comin', Tiny!"