Deep within space, a shuttlecraft was speeding across the asteroid belt and crashed right into an asteroid. Moments later, a green car exited from the crashed shuttle, and directly behind it was Sentinel in his original vehicle mode.
"Halt! In the name of the Elite Guard, I order you to hold!" Sentinel roared.
Hovering directly over the asteroid was the Steel Haven.
The green car then transformed into a bot that resembled Bumblebee. He then quickly began to climb the asteroid to a rocky cliff. Sentinel then transformed into robot mode, and the bot fired his stingers at him.
Sentinel quickly activated his shield and carried on with his pursuit. The bot jumped over the cliff and transformed into vehicle mode, using a combination of his speed and the surface to launch himself into the air.
Sentinel then jumped into the air, transformed into vehicle mode, and performed the same manoeuvre. The moment he hit the ground, the bot transformed to robot mode and ran off, and Sentinel quickly did the same.
They began jumping from asteroids until they landed on top of the Space Bridge.
"Now what you say you come along quietly?" Sentinel suggested pulling out a pair of stasis cuffs.
The bot raised his hands, but then he quickly switched to his stingers and fired at the Space Bridge controls. This caused the Space Bridge to short-circuit and shake, causing Sentinel to be thrown off. He looked up in time to see the Space Bridge activating, and the bot gave him a mock salute before jumping into its vortex.
At the Autobot base on Earth, Ultra Magnus contacted Optimus and his team.
"Ultra Magnus to Optimus Prime. I have an all sector bulletin for an escaped convict," said Ultra Magnus. He then produced an image of the bot Sentinel had been pursuing. "This Autobot traitor was caught spying for the Decepticons."
Bumblebee gasped. "Wasp!"
Bumblebee immediately began thinking back to the day he was about to attend Autobot Boot Camp. Of course, back in those days, he hadn't been given the name Bumblebee.
The yellow mech just stared up at the poster advertising the posts at the Elite Guard.
"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about!" he said. "I am so Elite Guard material."
"In your dreams, subcompact," said a snobby voice and saw a green mech. "You won't even meet the height requirement."
The yellow mech narrowed his eyes. "Well, your no luxury shuttle yourself," he said, gesturing that they were practically the same height. "In fact, it looks like we were both forged from the same protoform mould."
"You poor sad bot, it's not how you were forged. It's who you know."
The yellow mech then leaned towards him. "So? Who should a bot know around here?"
"I'll give you a hint; it's not you."
He then walked off laughing.
Ultra Magnus looked at Bumblebee. "You know this bot?"
"Slag, yeah, sir," he added quickly. "He hates me."
"Then I suggest you keep a lookout for him in the unlikely event that he shows up on Earth," Ultra Magnus advised.
At his base, Megatron had contacted his spy.
"Congratulations, the breakout was a success," said Megatron. "It's all over the Cybertronian feeds."
"Thank you, Lord Megatron," said the spy, but the transmission was rather garbled. "Are you sure we should be communicating?"
"Your signal is being scrambled; no one on Cybertron could possibly pick up this transmission," Megatron assured him.
Unbeknownst to him, Professor Sumdac was fiddling with the transmission.
"No one on Cybertron, perhaps," he said to himself quietly. "But someone on Earth just might."
Bumblebee and Bulkhead were on monitored duty, and Bumblebee, in particular, found this very boring.
"Argh, monitored duty, is there anything worse than monitored duty?" Bumblebee moaned.
"Scraping space barnacles… washing out Sari's old sucks… getting a wheel alignment from Ratchet?" Bulkhead offered.
"It was a rhetorical question, all right?"
It was then that they picked up an unknown transmission, and they soon realised it was coming from Megatron, though it was very gargled.
"Construction project… Double agent on Cybertron…" said Megatron.
"Autobots suspect nothing… complete surprise… total annihilation…" said the spy.
"That was… Megatron," Bumblebee gasped.
"Whoa," said Bulkhead. "But who was he talking to?"
"It had to be Wasp; you heard him say my double agent on Cybertron."
"Yeah, but…" said Bulkhead uncertainly.
"And Wasp just escaped from prison; that can't be a coincidence," said Bumblebee folding his arms. "All I have to do is trace that signal, I'll not only find Megatron's hideout here on Earth, but I'll nail that traitor spy bot Wasp on Cybertron."
"Uh, don't you think we ought to tell Prime about this first?" Bulkhead asked.
"By the time he gets back from patrol, the trail will be called," said Bumblebee pushing Bulkhead outside. "We've got to move now!"
"I don't know; it's an awfully big job for just the two of us."
"You know that your trouble, Bulkhead," said Bumblebee as he walked to the door. "You never dream big; you always thought small."
Bumblebee then began thinking back to the day that he turned Boot Camp; there were four other bots in his squad. Sadly one of them was the green mech that made fun of him earlier that day, and he was currently sparring with an orange mech, who apparently was able to harden his armour.
"Hey, guys, can I try?" Bumblebee asked, approaching them.
The two of them just merely laughed at him and turned their backs on him.
"Hey there, little fella," said a voice, and he felt someone tapping on his shoulder. He turned around and saw a very large green mech standing over him, chewing some wire. "Can you scan a picture of me with these big tall buildings? They'll never believe this back home."
"Uh-huh, first time of the Energon Farm?" the yellow mech assumed.
"How'd ya know?" the big green mech asked, surprised.
"Looks like the hybrid found himself a new friend," the small green mech sneered. "A total mudflap."
He and the orange mech laughed.
"Him?" the yellow mech moaned. "No, no, he's not my friend."
Sadly the big green mech then wrapped his arm around him. "Not yet, buddy. Give it time!"
"Attention!" a voice boomed. All eyes turned towards Sentinel, who was clearly going to be their drill instructor.
Quickly all of them immediately lined up in a row and stood to attention.
"I am Sentinel Minor, your drill sergeant! But you linchpins will address me as, sir!" Sentinel barked. "Is that clear?"
"Sir! Yes, sir!" they yelled.
Sentinel then leaned in towards the big green mech. "Wipe that smile off your face, Dullspark!"
"I'm not smiling, sir!" he said quickly. "My jaw just tempered that way, sir!"
"Forget mudflap jaw, check out the asteroid size chin on Sarge," the yellow mech quietly.
Sadly for him, Sentinel heard every word. "You've got a comment, funny bot!"
"No, sir!"
"Why does a weak jointed slow processor hunk of junk like you want to be an Autobot recruit?" Sentinel demanded.
"To be an Elite Guard warrior and kick Decepticon skid plate, sir!"
"You can kick my motherboard if I held it in front of your foot!" He then turned toward the rest of the recruits. "Each of you sound off! Why do you want to be here?"
"To be an Elite Guard Intelligence Officer, sir!" said a grey mech.
"To be an Elite Guard Shock Trooper, sir!" said the orange mech.
"To be an Elite Guard Commander, sir!" said the small green mech.
"Well, uh… I was kind of hoping to be a certified Space Bridge Technician, sir," said the large green mech.
Everyone then immediately laughed at him.
"Muted micro brains!" Sentinel roared and then sneered at the large green mech. "Space Bridge Technician? Now here's a bot who knows his place…" He then turned down towards the yellow mech. "…you should try to be more like your friend here."
"He's not my friend, sir!"
"We're all friends here, cards in the great big Autobot machine," said Sentinel as he walked up and down until he stopped in front of the grey mech. "Show me what you've got!"
The grey mech arms and legs then extended.
"Not bad; I'm going to call you Longarm!"
He then moved on and marched up towards the orange mech. "Show me your stuff!" The orange mech then hardened his body. "That's it?"
"Hit me with everything you got, sir!"
Sentinel then activated his shield and struck the orange mech with all his strength, but attacks merely bounced off his armoured body.
"Well, nice plating… Ironhide," said Sentinel.
The small green mech then stepped up to the plate and activated his stingers. He then fired a pair of targets with pinpoint accuracy.
"Nice stinging," said Sentinel looking impressed. "Welcome to the platoon… Wasp."
The yellow mech then stepped forward and activated his stingers. "I'll show you stinging."
He then fired his stingers but missed the target instead struck a tower which then collapsed.
"You are nothing but a bumbler," Sentinel roared. "From now on, your name is Bumblebee!"
"Bumblebee?" said Bumblebee looking disappointed.
Sentinel then brought his face towards him, so they were just inches apart. "You got a problem with that, cadet?"
"Sir, no, sir," said Bumblebee.
Sentinel then felt a massive pain in his head as the large green mech had just accidentally hit him on the back of the head with his wrecking ball.
"Ooh, sorry, sarge, sir," he said awkwardly.
Sentinel then glared up at him. "And you… you're all bulk and no brains… your Bulkhead! Now drop and give me 20… all of you!"
They then began transforming from big to robot mode 20 times.
"Every time one of you worthless grease sneers messes up, the entire platoon is going to suffer," said Sentinel as he walked up and down. "Because the grand machine, if one cog does not work, none of the cogs do."
A few moments later, both Bumblebee and Bulkhead were assigned oil change duty, much to Bumblebee's annoyance.
"Oil change duty? I'm not meant for this!" Bumblebee yelled. "I'm meant for great things!"
"It beats shovelling Engergon dust back on the farm," said Bulkhead as he carried two barrels of oil. "And Space Bridge experts need to know all about oil."
"Space bridge? That is so weak," said Bumblebee and then placed a bucket of oil on his head. "Oh, look at me, I'm mudflap working on the space bridge."
Unfortunately, he then slipped into a puddle of oil and then crashed into a tower of barrels of oil. To make matters worse, Sentinel was directly behind said tower when it collapsed on top of him.
As a result, the entire platoon was back outside doing transform ups.
"Put your servos into it!" Sentinel roared, who was currently covered in oil. "You call that transforming? I've seen protoforms transformed better than that! By the way, you can thank the yellow jack and the green doofus here for those extra transform ups."
"Way to go, numbmodes," Wasp muttered.
"Take it easy on him, Wasp," said Longarm.
"I didn't give you the work; Sarge did," said Bumblebee.
Sentinel then approached him. "I got a special job for you, stingless."
Later that night, Sentinel had Bumblebee stand in the great square on 1 foot, holding out a couple of barrels and forcing him to say rather insulting things about himself.
"I am a worthless oil stain; I am a worthless oil stain," said Bumblebee repeatedly. He then dropped the barrels. "Why am I doing this?"
He then began to walk off when he heard something in one of the nearby warehouses.
"What's that?" he said and went over to the warehouse to investigate.
"Megatron, will speak to you now," said a voice.
"You have disguised yourself well, my spy bot," said Megatron over a communicator. "The Autobots would never suspect that they have a traitor among their you cadets."
Bumblebee's eyes widened; one of them was a Decepticon spy, but which one?
"Now that you have infiltrated the Autobots, you must climb through their ranks and destroy them from within," Megatron ordered.
Bumblebee then immediately jumped out of his hiding place, stingers armed. "All right! Show yourself, traitor!"
However, the entire warehouse was empty, and then he saw exiting the building was Wasp.
"Wasp?" he stared.
It made a lot of sense, Wasp's condescending attitude and the fact that he inspired to become an Elite Guard Commander. As a commander would have access to all of their defence plans and secrets.
The next day while Wasp was practising against Ironhide, Bumblebee approached Longarm.
"Pst, Longarm got a nano click?" Bumblebee asked.
"For you, no way," said Longarm as he walked away.
"Look, you want to be an Intel bot, right? I just need to know how to report a suspected spy?"
Longarm stopped in his tracks and turned on him. "You think that there is a spy bot among us? Who?"
"Promise you won't say anything, okay?" said Bumblebee leaning towards him. "But I think Wasp is working for the Decepticons."
"You have proof of this?"
"Not yet; you think I should tell the Sarge?"
"No," said Longarm. "If you tell Sentinel, he'll just take all the credit, but if you can deliver proof that Wasp is a spy, that's the kind of initiative that could put you on the fast track for the Elite Guard."
Bumblebee beamed at the prospect.
Back in the present, Bumblebee had managed to convince Bulkhead to assist him in tracking the signal. They were currently driving around the outskirts of Detroit.
"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," said Bulkhead. "We need to tell Prime about that transmission."
"Wait, I think I got a lock on Megatron's signal," said Bumblebee ignoring him.
He then zoomed off, inadvertently spraying Bulkhead with mud.
"How come you've always got to do everything the hard way?" Bulkhead muttered.
Bumblebee stopped and transformed to robot mode. "What are you talking about? I never do anything the hard way."
He then suddenly found himself sinking into the mud, much to his embarrassment.
Back at boot camp, Bumblebee was doing everything he could think of, trying to gain proof of Wasp's betrayal. He had set a trap next to the warehouse, expecting Wasp to show up and trigger it.
"This is going to be perfect," said Bumblebee to himself. "When the spy bot steals the box… bam!"
However, to his horror, instead of Wasp appearing around the corner, it was Sentinel. Naturally, he noticed the box with the Elite Guard logo on it.
"Who left this out here?" he said as he bent down to pick up the box.
The moment he did, there was an explosion of pink paint from him head to toe. He looked around and saw an awkward Bumblebee waving behind some barrels.
Moments later, Sentinel had the entire platoon outside doing transform ups.
"26… 27… 28…" he shouted.
Bumblebee then set up some surveillance equipment around the warehouse; the next time the spy contacted Megatron, he would record the entire conversation.
"Gotta slip up some time, spy bot," said Bumblebee excitedly. "And when you do, I'm going to catch it all with this microphone."
Sadly, he was so busy fiddling with the microphone that he failed to notice that he switched on the receiver, meaning the entire conversation would be heard throughout the camp. Also, to make things worse, Sentinel had just entered the warehouse with his aid Cliffjumper.
"You would not believe the glitches the commander saddled with me with this time," said Sentinel. "I'm starting to think that Ultra Magnus is a few circuits shy of a full processor. You know what I mean? Oh sure, he was the bot back in the day, but now Ultra Magnus is just a rusted out obsolete model solely in need of an upgrade."
He stopped when he heard the echo of his conversation. "Uh, where's that echo coming from?"
He then stepped out of the warehouse right at the same time as Bumblebee, who was carrying his microphone. Bumblebee was so shocked to see him that he dropped his recording of the conversation, and Bumblebee could only smile, giving him a small way.
Sentinel out the entire platoon on the parade square again, making them do transform ups.
"147… 148… 149…" he yelled.
After this, and always with all the transform ups they were forced to do, Wasp and Ironhide approached Bumblebee.
"We wanted to thank you for all that extra punishment, piston rod!" said Wasp.
Ironhide then held him down, and Wasp pulled out a drill.
"Hey, wait! What are you—" Bumblebee then cried out as Wasp began to detach his legs. "Okay, funs fun, now give them back!"
"Want them back, go get them?" said Wasp tossing his legs onto the highest shelf. He then approached the smallest closet. "Or better still, staying here with all the other useless junk."
Ironhide then carried Bumblebee towards the closet as he struggled to break free.
"Hey! No! No!" Bumblebee cried.
Wasp and Ironhide laughed as they closed the closet door and ran off.
"Hey! Anyone!" Bumblebee yelled. "Hello?"
The closet door then opened, and Bumblebee was relieved to see Longarm.
"Why do they all hate me?" Bumblebee moaned as Longarm carried him out of the closet.
"Because one of them is a spy and knows that you're after him," Longarm explained as he retrieved Bumblebee's legs. "Don't give up, Bumblebee."
Back in the present, Bumblebee and Bulkhead were now driving through the valley, still following the signal.
"Will you give it up, Bumblebee?" Bulkhead yelled tiredly. "We've been at it for megacycles, and we're still no closer to tracing Megatron's signal!"
"You want to quit on me?" Bumblebee fumed. "Why am I not surprised? You are always more interested in space bridges than helping me. Some friend."
"I'm not talking about quitting; I'm talking about going through proper channels!" Bulkhead yelled, transforming to robot mode.
Bumblebee himself then transformed to robot mode. "If you don't want to help, fine! I don't need some small-minded, no dreams bot dragging me down!"
"Oh, if that's how you feel, you and your big dreams can face down Wasp and Megatron and any bot else you want for all I care!"
Bulkhead then walked off angrily.
"Just slowing me down anyway," Bumblebee muttered.
At boot camp, he and the other cadets began going through a training exercise. They were currently standing in a fake war zone, and Sentinel was giving them their orders.
"Listen up, crankshafts!" he yelled. "This is a simulated combat exercise! I want to see you at least pretend to know what you're doing! Now move out!"
The cadets immediately began making their way through the war zone with Bumblebee upfront. Wasp checked to see that Sentinel wasn't looking when he pulled out a grenade and pulled the pin.
"Hey, Bumblerbee, think fast!" Wasp yelled, tossing a grenade at Bumblebee.
Bumblebee caught the grenade and then quickly tossed it away.
"Grenade!" he yelled and immediately ran for cover.
Sadly the grenade bounced all its way towards him and then exploded. However, instead of an explosion, Bumblebee found himself covered in pink paint.
Wasp laughed as he and Ironhide approached him. "Bot, you really are a bumbler. It's not live ammo; this is simulated combat."
It was then that turrets aimed at them and then fired pink paint at them. Instantly both Wasp and Ironhide ran away to avoid them, leaving behind a depressed Bumblebee.
Bulkhead approached him. "Hey, little buddy, need a servo?"
"Listen, I'm not little, and I'm not your buddy, okay!" said Bumblebee angrily as he rose to his feet. "I'm on the fast track for the Elite Guard now, and I don't need some overgrown Energon guzzler messing it up for me."
He then transformed to vehicle mode and drove off, and Bulkhead just looked on until he got hit by pink paint from one of the turrets.
Bumblebee transformed into robot mode and began making his way through the pretend war zone. He then came across a couple of turrets that opened fire at him, and he quickly dived for cover. It was only then that he remembered that they were using fake ammo.
"Right, silly me, no live ammo," he said. "Simulated combat."
Unbeknownst to him, an unknown figure had made his way to the turrets and switched on the live ammo.
The turrets then fire at Bumblebee, destroying the rubble he was hiding behind and knocking him to the ground.
"But that one realistic simulation," he said.
He then saw several turrets aiming at him and opened fire. He quickly got to his feet and began dashing across the battlefield but soon found himself pinned.
"Hold on, a little buddy!" a voice yelled.
Bumblebee turned and saw Bulkhead in his vehicle mode, rushing towards him. He quickly scooped up Bumblebee and took him to safety just before the turrets destroyed his cover.
Bulkhead then transformed to robot mode. "Sorry, didn't need to call you, little buddy."
The turrets continued to fire at them, and Bulkhead pulled out his wrecking ball. He swung it around over his head and struck a nearby tower causing it to topple towards the turrets. Unfortunately, Sentinel had chosen that moment to arrive, and the tower was falling towards him.
"Oh, slag," he said just before the tower landed on top of him.
"Maybe I should apologise to Sarge for that?" Bulkhead asked, looking at Bumblebee.
Bumblebee had a strong feeling that Sentinel would not be understanding. "Uh, Bulkhead, some apologies are better left unsaid."
Two of them quickly dashed off just before Sentinel pulled himself out of the rubble.
"When I find the bot that buried me under that building, I'll drum him out of the Cybertron service so fast it will make his gyro spin!" he roared.
Bumblebee was still chasing the signal making his way across the mountains now.
"Big lug would have killed his career right there weren't for me, and he never even thanked me," Bumblebee muttered.
He then slipped on the ledge and fell down into the ravine, and soon found himself pinned against a number of boulders. He tried to pull himself free, but the rocks were too heavy, and then he reached for his com-link.
"Hello, guys, I'm stuck!" said Bumblebee. "You hear me? Guys!"
Back at boot camp, Bumblebee was at his rocker when Longarm drove up to him and transformed to robot mode.
"Bumblebee, I just heard that there is going to be a surprise locker inspection," he said. "This is your last chance to expose the spy bot before Sentinel takes all the credit."
They then heard Wasp driving into the barracks and saw him transformed to robot mode.
"I'll distract him; you get his key," said Longarm.
Longarm then extended his leg across the floor, and Wasp tripped over it. Then when Longarm retracted his leg, Bumblebee rushed over to Wasp to help him up.
"Let me have you up there, Wasp," said Bumblebee as he stole his locker key.
Wasp shoved him away. "Keep your servos off of me, gear grinder."
He then walked off, unaware that Bumblebee had successfully taken his key. Then when Wasp was busy going through one of the supply closets, Bumblebee opened his locker. When he opened it, he found a Decepticon communication device.
"You!" Sentinel roared as he entered the barracks with his arm in a sling. "What are you doing in Cadet Wasp's locker."
"Exposing a Decepticon spy, sir," said Bumblebee pointing into the locker.
Sentinel leaned over and looked into the locker and saw the Decepticon communication device.
It didn't take long for Sentinel to arrest Wasp for treason. Cliffjumper was now pushing the restrained Wasp through the parade ground where the other cadets and Sentinel had gathered.
"But I guess that I am innocent, I tell you!" Wasp yelled as he desperately tried to free himself. "You're making a big mistake, all of you!"
"Muted traitor," Sentinel glared, leaning towards him and then ripping off the Autobot symbol on his chest.
"I'll get you, Bumblebee! If it's the last thing, I do!" Wasp threatened.
Cliffjumper then carried Wasp away.
"Well, that took spark, kid," said Sentinel turning his eyes to Bumblebee. "I may even have to rethink your name. What was it again?"
"You're in, buddy," said Longarm leaning down to Bumblebee. "You're bound to get that Elite Guard posting now."
"Speaking of spark," said Sentinel, approaching Bulkhead. "Says no bot has come forward to declare responsibility for dropping that building on my head. I'm just going to drum the biggest loser out of the platoon for good measure."
He then reached over, prepared to rip Bulkhead's Autobot symbol off, when Bumblebee quickly stepped forward.
"I did it!" he yelled. "I was the one responsible for knocking the building down on top of you. This is going to affect my Elite Guard's assets, is it, sir?"
Sadly it did; Bumblebee was now stuck on the Space Bridge Maintenance crew. The only upside was that he was on the same crew as Bulkhead, who was rather excited.
"Yes!" Bulkhead cheered. "I have arrived, a bona fide Space Bridge technician!"
Bumblebee just sat there and sighed.
Back in the present, Bumblebee was still trapped beneath the rocks.
"Good old, Bulkhead," he said. "I should never have been so mean to him. His spark is always in the right place. I just wish I could tell them just how much our friendship has meant to me, even if you never dream big."
Then a large shadow covered him, and when he looked up, he saw Bulkhead. "But I did dream big, Bumblebee," he said and began moving the rocks. "I dreamed about becoming your friend." He then extended his core and helped Bumblebee up. "I followed ya. I couldn't leave you all alone out here like that. I should've, but I didn't."
"Bulkhead…" said Bumblebee, still a little shocked that he came back. "…I want you to know that our friendship is worth more to me than any amount of glory or membership in some elitist guard."
"But I already knew that."
The two of them transformed into vehicle mode and made their way home, unaware that they were several feet away from Megatron's hideout.
Once they were back at the plant, they informed Optimus of the transmission and then contacted Cybertron, where they were greeted by an old friend.
"First, let me say it is to see my old friends Bumblebee and Bulkhead again," said Longarm.
"Nice to see you to Longarm, or should say Longarm Prime Head of Cybertron Intel," said Bumblebee and sighed. "Huh, nice to see that one of us achieved his dream."
"Ah, it's never too late, Bumblebee," Longarm smiled. "Can you tell me anything more about the transmission you intercepted?"
"Well, it was pretty scrabbled. But Megatron said something about a construction project."
"Hm, could mean anything," said Longarm looking troubled. "Rest assured; however, I will weed out this evil double spy bot where ever he might be hiding."
Wasp was still at the Space Bridge; here actually jumped behind the vortex and hid behind some rocks. He was now just sitting there on the asteroid, huddled up in a ball.
"Bumblebot, not hide from Wasp," said Wasp, his mind clearly broken and continuing buzzing like an actual wasp. "Wasp swears he find Bumblebot. Wasp, make Bumblebot pay for RUINING WASP'S LIFE!"
At the same time, in the Decepticon base, Megatron was talking to his actual double agent.
"Are long stellar cycles of planning will now come to fruition. I knew your size altering power would allow you to blend in perfectly with the Autobots," said Megatron talking to Longarm. "Well done, my loyal servant Shockwave."
Longarm form then began to change, becoming even larger. His arms became giant claws, and he produced a pair of antennae and a single red optic.