Old Friends, New Problems
Chapter 4
#Back at the scrap yard#%Bumblebee's POV%
Bumblebee mentally slapped himself for saying her name out loud because no sooner had he said it, Grimlock went into a panic.
"REM?! THAT'S REM?!" screamed the Dinobot, ducking behind the nearest pile of scrap (which happened to be a giant pile of washers and dryers), putting his servos on top of his head. "HIDE ME! HIDE ME!"
Bumblebee groaned and slapped a servo over his face in annoyance. Yep! He should've really been more careful with his words. Now he has a distraught Dinobot, two curious rookies (which was strange given Rem's history) and humans and a frozen Fixit. Made sense that he would know who he was talking about - he was the warden of a prison ship.
Russell turned and looked up at him. "Who's Rem?"
It was an innocent question, but still, Bumblebee couldn't help but sigh. "She is - or was a Decepticon assassin during the war. One of the best. She and her partner made exactly four hundred and seventy-three kills - eighty happen to be Decepticons who, in one way or another, betrayed the Decepticon Cause."
Russell's eyes widened in shock, as did Denny's, and turned to look at the picture frozen on the screen.
"But how is that possible, Lieutenant?!" asked Strongarm. "I studied every aspect of the war during my Academy days, and there were no records about a human with the Decepticons."
Bumblebee shuttered his optics, sighed and looked away. Boy, this was going to be a shock (for Strongarm, at least).
"That's because...there are no records, and never will be."
This time, Sideswipe was the one to be surprised.
"What do you mean, Bee? If this human's as dangerous as you say, then there should be at least some records."
Bumblebee shook his head and faced the teens. "I'm not going to lie to you guys, there were records, but they were deleted. And for a reason." He then turned and motioned for the still-cowering Dinobot. "Grimlock, can you please come out from behind there? She's not going to come and off-line you."
The green and black T-Rex poked his head up and over the pile of junk, and looked around fearfully before ducking back down again.
"No way, Bee!" he shouted.
"How do you know, Bee?" asked Sideswipe. Before Bumblebee could answer, though, Sideswipe's optics widened.
"Wait!" he shouted. "Just how do even you know all this?!"
Everybody, including Grimlock, turned to look at him.
Scrap!
Bumblebee reached up and scratched the back of his head. "She...told me."
"WHAT!?"
Slumping forward, Bumblebee slapped a servo on his face, again, and sighed. "This is going to take forever to explain..."
- #%-
Just as Bumblebee thought, it did take forever to explain, and it was just starting to get dark when he finished. Denny and Russell had left to go get some sleep, but the others still had questions.
"Let me get this straight, Bee," began Grimlock, still looking a little shaken. "Rem isn't Cybertronian?"
"Not entirely, no."
Strongarm stepped forward, servo raised. "Um, Lieutenant?"
Bumblebee nodded to the blue and white femme. "Go ahead, Strongarm."
Strongarm crossed her arms across her chassis. "If she's really 80% Cybertronian, then shouldn't she look more Cybertronian?"
Fixit nodded his head in agreement, as did Sideswipe and Grimlock.
Bumblebee frowned slightly. "Ever hear of a 'Con called Shockwave?"
"Shockwave? The Decepticon scientist?"
Bumblebee nodded before saying, "He's the one who created Rem, even used some of his own CNA. Shockwave engineered her to be what she is, and he -!"
BOOM!
An explosion suddenly lit up the area near the scrap yard entrance, sending things flying. The ground trembled slightly, knocking down piles of scrap.
"What the scrap!?" shouted Sideswipe.
They all (except for Fixit) ran for the entrance, thinking it was a Decepticon attack.
Skidding to a halt, they all drew their weapons and readied for battle.
They never expected a missile being shot at them, and attaching itself to Grimlock, shocking the large bot until he collapsed to ground, unconscious. Blaster fire came at them next.
For a moment, Bumblebee couldn't make sense of what was happening. Decepticons didn't have or use stasis missiles...Bee's free servo went to his right side, and the memory of losing his t-cog flared up, making his optics widen in shock and fear. And that's when he saw them through the smoke. Black suits, guns and goggles. And the were readying another missile.
"M.E.C.H..." he whispered.
It wasn't possible! After so long, after so many years, there was no way the organization was still around. Of course, he thought the same thing about Rem...so anything was possible.
The humans aimed the missile, and it was aimed right at Strongarm.
He rushed over and shoved the cadet out of the way, taking the hit.
Bumblebee screamed as the electricity seared through his neural net. The world around him spun, and he thought he heard Russell call out his name. He vision was going dark, just like it had all those years ago when he lost his t-cog. Then, he felt a servo on his cheek - but it was small like a human's. Turning in the direction of the servo, he saw the blurry outline of...someone. Who was it? He didn't know, everything was getting darker. Suddenly, a voice broke it's way through his darkening mind. It was very familiar. Sure, it was a bit different, but it was very familiar. It almost sounded like...
"R-Rem...?"
Then, everything went black.