Chapter Summary: Bumblebee fully wakes up on the Nemesis.

{Nemesis}

The bridge was silent following Megatron's declaration. The Vehicons looked blankly at each other before Dreadwing led them in a salute, "Hail Megatron!" echoed through the room. Megatron acknowledged them, waving them back to work before looking at Soundwave.

"We cannot afford to lose a moment, Soundwave, we do not know how deep he has entrenched himself in this system." Soundwave brought up the picture of a mech on his visor, "Yes, that is who I mean." Soundwave then played several images of Megatron killing the mech. "Yes, I thought I had killed him, but I shall not make that mistake again. Dreadwing, double the patrols throughout the ship, no one goes anywhere alone, and Soundwave will make entirely new security codes and lock down vital parts of the ship to top personnel access only. Then, Soundwave, you must work with Knockout on building a defense program against this slave code and any that will bear his signature. This was but a prototype, he will modify now that we have freed the Autobot scout." Megatron gazed out the port window, his posture stiff as dark memories stirred in his processor, "We cannot underestimate him, nor the human: Silas. Such actions in the past have only left us vulnerable for an attack such as this."

Soundwave brought up the Autobot symbol on his visor, indicating the team on Earth not the one currently in the Decepticon medical bay. "Yes, they are unaware of the danger but Prime would not believe me if I told him. The council made sure of that. When we have a defense program established I shall make contact with Optimus, until then, carry out my orders."

"Lord Megatron?" Knockout's voice came over the intercom system. "I have found what you charged me to find and I am also ready to bring Bumblebee out of recharge."

"Very well, Knockout, I am on my way."

Knockout disconnected his equipment from Bumblebee and tapped a finger against the restraints. It would probably be better to leave those on until the scout acknowledged that they were not going to hurt him. Yes, they did not need Bumblebee to be jumping around the medical bay like a panicked sparkling and most likely scratch up the now unblemished plates.

The medic had sanded all the scratches, revealing Bumblebee's silver-plating underneath the paint, but he had refrained from getting rid of the unflattering paintjob all together. For one Bumblebee still needed a thorough run through the washer before the unwanted paintjob could be scraped off and second, no way was Knockout going to do anything to the mech without his say so, unless it pertained to the scout's continued health.

Megatron entered the medical bay and surveyed the recharging Bumblebee for a second. The scout's frame had improved greatly since he had first been brought on board but he was by no means fully recovered. The ex-gladiator knew, better than anyone, the inner scars that would not heal as quickly as the outer tears.

"What did you find, Knockout?"

"While accessing Bumblebee's main frame I came across two locked files. Both were keyed to medical release codes only, which immediately caught my attention. As you can see, one was for his battle mask, I hazard a guess that he locked it in place prior to the slave code being introduced to his system. The second was a folder of memory files, all of his human ward."

"He locked those memories away were not even he could touch them?"

"Correct, Lord Megatron. This lock was done only a few hours before you took him." Megatron's eyes showed his unease at the revelation, "Yes, something happened after the slave code was downloaded into his system, while he was still in Silas' clutches, that made him do the one thing he could do in his present state to protect the boy."

Megatron folded his arms across his chest, "Do you think he has sufficiently recharged?"

"Given the time his systems have had to rest since you forced stasis lock on him I would say yes, Lord Megatron."

"Wake him then."

Knockout brushed a finger gently between the front neck wires and Bumblebee's blue optics came online.

[Wha—] Bumblebee did not finish, his eyes widening as he heard the half beep emerge from his radio.

"Bumblebee?" Knockout prompted.

[Sorry, it's just, I couldn't even use my tones before.]

"Do you remember everything that happened, little scout?" Megatron asked.

Bumblebee shuddered, [Yes. You helped me, you erased the code, I can't hear his voice anymore.] The scout's optics shuttered briefly, before looking at Megatron. [Why did you help me?]

"Would you rather have preferred that I left you in Silas' clasp?"

[No!] The beep was blared, fear filling the blue optics that looked at the two Decepticons. [Any fate must be better than that. I couldn't move, I couldn't fight him no matter how hard I tried to stop him. I couldn't stop myself from kill—]

"None of that, Bumblebee," Knockout said. "You were not responsible for the humans' dying."

Bumblebee wearily looked at the medic, [Never thought you'd give me a talk on responsibility.]

"My, what big words you know, youngling," Knockout said.

"Knockout has some memories he would like to return to you," Megatron said. "These are memories that you locked down so that Silas could not get them."

Bumblebee narrowed his eyes as he tried to concentrate, [I… I had to protect something.] He looked at Knockout, [Did I?]

The young mech looked so hopeful that he had succeeded that Knockout could not delay in answering, "Yes, you did. Now, with your permission," the medic transformed a servo into an instrument to access the medical port, "I will unlock them for you."

Bumblebee eyed the servo warily, [They… They are important memories, aren't they?]

"You'll remember someone, who, I daresay, means a great deal to you and is your friend."

Megatron watched as Bumblebee finally nodded and Knockout tilted the small 'bot's head to the side. It took a second for Knockout to find the locked memory file and open it and they watched as Bumblebee's eyes dimmed as the files were restored to his processor. Then Megatron looked away as the scout's body twitched and he warbled sorrowfully.

[Raf. I forgot Raf.] He shook his head, [I had to do it, though, I had to protect him, keep him safe.]

"Why?" Megatron asked, "Why did he need to be protected to such extremes?"

Bumblebee trembled, [MECH, Silas, they wanted a human test subject, organic slave coding. Had to protect him! There was a mech, Silas had a mech, could access my processor, find Raf. Wanted me to bring a human for testing, had to protect Raf!]

Most of Bumblebee's beeps and whistles escaped translation the first time through as the scout was panicking. Megatron got the gist of what the scout was trying to say though and felt the sickening dread that had been growing in him since he had discovered the maker of the slave code suddenly escalate. Everything was turning out worse than he had originally thought.

"Bumblebee, you must calm down. Your charge is safe, Raf is safe," Knockout grabbed hold of the scout's head, making him look at the medic. "You have not failed your guardian duties, the boy is safe."

Bumblebee was barely aware of how he could access his fans to cool himself down. [You are sure?]

"Absolutely," Knockout promised, uncomfortable because not only was he making a promise but he was doing so to an Autobot. But patients came first, then personal feelings.

Megatron turned to leave, "Take him to be washed, Knockout, and if he wishes to change his paint and alt mode he may do so."

"Yes, Lord Megatron." As soon as the Decepticon lord was gone, however, Knockout deactivated the security cameras and turned to his patient, "Bumblebee, I give you my word as a medic that anything you tell me I will lock under doctor/patient confidentiality unless it is something dangerous or will affect the crew of the Nemesis. Now, I will take you to the wash racks, but I just wanted to offer my services in removing a certain inscription from your dashboard." Bumblebee looked up in alarm at the medic, "Yes, I know it's there, Bumblebee, and if you allow I will get rid of it. I did not tell Lord Megatron simply because I know that very little has been private for you since you were captured or brought here. You deserve a little privacy and not everyone needs to know about such a thing anyway."

Decepticons: 7

Autobots: 4