How To Catch A Bumblebee

Chapter Three

A/N: So... I have this bad habit where I publish a chapter, and then go back later and change it completely. But I can't help it! I get so excited that I've finished a chapter that I publish it. Then, later on, I think of great ways I could change it! It's really annoying for me and you both. But I'll try to break that habit to make things less confusing. In other announcements, in TFP there is an Allspark, but I changed what actually happened to make it fit with the story. 

Let me clear something up, so that no-one's confused. At this point in time, Bumblebee is not an actual predacon. He has the enhanced senses, enhanced strength, enhanced speed, and enhanced stamina of a predacon, but he still looks like and has the vehicle mode of a normal cybertronian. Got it? Okay, after the world's longest authors' note, enjoy the story!

...

Bumblebee fiddled with the hard drive in his servos as he sat in the rumbling, empty spaceship. He knew he must have looked pretty strange. A young, bright yellow cybertronian sitting in an empty spaceship with a serious look on his faceplate, fidgeting with a hot pink hard drive. He was lucky his frame didn't resemble a predacon, or he would look even weirder. Fortunately, the spaceship was empty and on autopilot, so no bot was around to stare at him. 

He had completed repainting his frame joors ago. Bumblebee had gone from a dull, sandy-looking yellow colour meant for stealth, to a bright yellow that made him stand out. The paint job itself wasn't perfect, because one, Bumblebee was not a painter, and two, no-one had time to perfect their paint job in the middle of a war! (Except for Knockout, but that was different.) Anybot who's paint job was above decent would be kind of suspicious. 

He knew that some new paint wouldn't stop a few select Decepticons from recognising him, but Bumblebee hoped his new vehicle mode and Autobot insignia would throw them off. His Predacon insignia was more difficult to remove, so he left it where it was, hidden underneath the plating on his upper arm.

Bee had also disabled the cameras and tracking devices in this spaceship, so Shockwave wouldn't know where he was or what he was doing. He also removed the five (five!) trackers and/or recording devices that Shockwave thought he "secretly" placed on Bumblebee throughout the years. He wasn't stupid enough to assume that would be enough to prevent Shockwave from tracking him down, but it should delay him long enough for Bumblebee to completely hide his spark signature.

Bumblebee had downloaded fake Autobot files into the pink hard drive (he stole it from an abandoned store on a previous mission) a few cycles earlier. He just needed to upload the files into a computer that was connected to the Autobot mainframe to complete his cover story. The files looked something like this:

Designation: Bumblebee

Faction: Autobot

Gender: Mech

Rank: Scout

Skill set: Finding and gathering information, scouting unknown territory, sabotage, closed and ranged combat

Experience: Only a quartex (A/N: about a month) out of training, but graduated with top marks and has experience on the field due to Decepticon attacks on the training facility.

Additional Notes: Bumblebee is being transferred to Iacon due to a rise in the demand of soldiers in that area.

Unfortunately, the mainframe was part of a separate server that Bumblebee couldn't hack into remotely. He would have to work fast and without the Autobots becoming suspicious of him.

The reason for all this? He really didn't want Autobots constantly questioning, doubting and/or arresting him because he used to be a Decepticon. Plus, it meant no bot would have to know he was half Predacon, which was an added bonus.