Imma Bee Ch. 8

******
Imma Bee Ch. 8

The next morning had found of the Autobots, minus Bumblebee and the Twins, gathered together in the main consol room. The mutated minibot had absolutely refused to leave the security of his hive and Sari didn't want to push him, seeing as it took hours in the previous night to get him to finally calm down and fall asleep. Which naturally made things a little tricky for Ratchet since he wanted to do an examination of the scout in order to see exactly how advance the fusion was. Not to mention that the now techno-organic minibot was much larger and heavier made the idea of carrying him to the med-bay like he used to, a little tricky.  Optimus had decided it was best to record all that they had learned about this incident if for nothing more than to have a better understanding of the whole situation.

The young leader had just entered all of the most recent data Prowl had on this incident into a private and heavily encrypted file. That way, no robot without the proper authority would be able to read them. "Right, now, Prowl, you said that Bumblebee tended to switch between robot mode and organic mode at random intervals and that the most common trigger is nutrients?" This was going into his personal banks so that should the need arise, they'd have a handy trump card to offer the Elite Guard rather than have the scout taken away.

"Yes." The dark cyber-ninja stated clearly as he carefully read over the information on the screen in order to make sure it was copied correctly. "The thinking process of the organic is very basic. Whenever he's in the presence of his other's half natural food source, his behavior pattern changes to that of the insect he's merged with." It wasn't that he didn't trust his leader; it was only that the accurateness of this information was vital and couldn't afford to be misinterpreted. "The longer he's engaged in his organic half's habits, the longer he stays in that mode." Considering how this will literally affect the life of one of his comrades, he felt he had a duty to make sure there were no misunderstandings in the data. "However, the trigger works both ways. If he recognizes anything he would normally interact with on a daily basis, he would then come back to his senses."

Prime had figured out the full grasp of the situation himself the night before, hence today's special assignment. "Okay, so far we know that Bumblebee's been like this for nearly a daca-cycle." With the suspected timeline in place, now it was time to see exactly what kind of effect this forced modification had on the scout's well being. "I know you haven't had a chance to examine him, Ratchet, but do you have an idea how this could be effecting his processor?"

"From what I've been able to get from the scan I had been able to take from the fight, his processing matrix is having some trouble intergrading the new organic coding." At least from the initial field scan had been able to tell him that much from odd reading he had gotten from the processor. "The fact that he's switching back and forth between programs shows that both are fully installed and battling for the default position." The idea was much like an advanced upgrade that had been placed in a data system that wasn't meant to have it. "From what Prowl had mentioned before, its gotten to the point that the organic half can be triggered directly with the right incentive and be turned off the same way. From the looks of it, I'd say that his system created s sort of self developed fail-safe in order to regulate the two programs without overwhelming his central matrix." A rather impressive feat for a robot so young all things considered. However, if its anything like the personality glitch that plagued Blitzwing, then they may have a real problem later on. "I'll have to perform a more detailed scan to make sure, but the way its operating so far, chances are with enough time, they'll work themselves out in a way that'll benefit his new form best." With any luck this 'safety feature' will sort it all out.

All of this was met with a nod of acceptance and quickly typed all new information into the database. "Alright." The Prime stated once he was satisfied with the input and turned towards the smallest of their little family. "Sari, you've mentioned that Bumblebee had been like this before he even came to your room?"

"Yes." The tiny techno-organic stated with absolute captaincy. "Wings and everything right when he showed up." It may not have been much information, but at least it gave them an idea of how long Bumblebee's been like this.

Jazz had been listening very carefully throughout all of this and had recorded and saved everything as he did in a personal memory file, but even with all of this new information, it still didn't answer one important question. "So, you have no idea how Bee got… Modified?"

At this the red head could only shake her head as an answer. "Not a clue. But whoever did this to him, came right after him when he got away." Of that she had been absolutely positive of. "And from what I've been able to guess from the way he kept looking up at the sky before venturing out onto the balcony, they could fly like he could." The way the mutated minibot had constantly played look out before even stepping outside for anything left little room for doubt on that aspect.

"It's got to be the Decepticons." Bulkhead had insisted again from his position near the conveyor belt. There just weren't any other beings on this planet that could fly high and fast enough to swipe his little friend without a trace like he had been. "But why would they do this to Bumblebee?" What didn't make any sense to large green Autobot is, why did this incident seemed so personal?

This idea hadn't been completely lost on his teammates either. "More importantly, how did they even pull it off?" Ratchet had added with the seemingly ever-growing list of questions. "Last time I've checked they weren't in the habit of experimenting with organic coding." This entire scenario had seemed far too random and out of place to be the work of the Decepticons.

Which was seriously concerning the present Elite Guard greatly. Decepticons were known for their harsh interrogation tactics and would even go as far as to hack into a bot's processor for information. From an outside point of view, the botnapping that had been mentioned could have been an attempt at trying to locate the Allspark shards that were kept well hidden within this very base. It would make sense that they would go after the smallest of the group, believing him to be easy to interrogate for information on the whereabouts of their Allspark fragments. But this… This was above and beyond any possible intelligence gathering. Sure the possibility of it being a new form of torture it still high on the list, but something about all of this seemed a bit more complicated than that. It seemed too extreme for an interrogation tactic. Something about it felt more personal than anything else, but at the same time it was just too elaborate for simple revenge. Spark this would be a lot easier he had at least had a solid lead to go by.

It was then that Optimus had suddenly spoken and gained the attention of everybot in the room. "At least not all of them." He has had his own suspicions on the matter and the piling evidence had been eerily similar to another incident that resulted in the exact same outcome. "There's only one Decepticon I know that has the capability of doing this." Only one robot that would have had the knowledge to pull it off successfully, and the motive for doing so. "Blackarachnia."

The name had been recognized almost instantly by the white armored cyber ninja. "The spider lady?" He had read what little was filed on that particular Decepticon ever since she had been spotted the night they were casing after the escaped convict, Wasp, had eluded them to this planet.

"This wouldn't be the first time she has done this." The young leader had stated as he backtracked to a certain once femme friend of his. "And so far she is the only one that's managed to pull it off." The Prime began to explain as he backtracked in his processor to the very last time he had seen female Decepticon science officer. "She's a techno-organic herself but hadn't always been like that." This entire ordeal seems to have her name written all over it. "She's desperate to find a way to revert back to her normal Cybertronian form. And she'll go to any length to achieve that goal regardless of the consequences."

Jazz nodded and began to take notes of his own. This could very well be the lead he had been looking for and he was not going to pass it up. "I guess I can understand that…" Desperation could drive even the best of bots to drastic measures. Chances are she joined the Decepticons because they promised to cure her. "But why would she even do this to Bumblebee?"

At this, Optimus had locked his gaze with Elite Guard in all seriousness. "The last time she tried to cure herself was the night your team came to search for Wasp." The look gave the white armored cyber ninja a glitching feeling deep in his gestalt tanks. "She needed pure cybertronian technology to test a theory she had."

Had he just implied what Jazz thinks he was implying? "You don't mean…"

Optimus confirmed his fears with a nod. "She had the Dinobots botnap Wasp that night order to use him in her latest experiment." The Autobot leader could still remember that night all too clearly. "I'm not sure how, but she had managed to harness a good deal of transwarp energy and used it to fuse his circuitry with that of an organic life form." Ingenious engineering all things considered. Elite-one always did have a processor for such things. "The idea was that if she could find a way to create a fusion, then there'd be a way to reverse it."

Jazz had nearly frozen when he figured out the reasoning behind the motive. "Which in turn should have meant that the same trick ought to work on her." This was worst than he had fist thought. It really wasn't just an isolated incident. This had happened before… with an actual robot test subject. And the leader of the Earth team knew about it! "Why haven't you alerted the Elite Guards about this before, OP?"

That question had caught the Prime off guard and had him turning towards the ninja-bot. "You mean Sentinel didn't tell you?" He thought for sure that his former friend had filed a report of the incident since it resulted in the escape of a dangerous escaped prisoner. "He was there when it all happened."

Jazz stated evenly as he did well to hide his ever-growing suspicion. "No, he conveniently left that part out in the report." So his own superior had knowledge of this a well and chose to keep it secret. Why?

The answer seemed to have a concern and sobering effect on the young Prime. "Probably didn't want to be reminded of it." He could easily guess why Sentinel had never mentioned the incident… and he'll be slag before he reopens that chink in the armor. "He never did like organics."

Apparently loyalty to a friend runs deep even if you couldn't stand each other's plates. "Hmm…" Although he could tell that there was more to this story than meets the eye, somehow he doubted he'd get anything else by persisting. "Can you think of anyplace where she might be hiding?" Best to get right back on topic and focus on the real problem on servo. "Maybe there's a way to find out for sure wither or not she was involved." If there was a chance this particular Decepticon was involved, then maybe he could investigate a few theories of his own.

"There's was an old abandoned laboratory on Dinobot Island." The fire truck based robot offered with a thoughtful rub of his chin. That place has caused more trouble than it's worth as far as he was concerned. "But after what had happened during our last encounter I doubt there's any trace left of it." He had been positive that the section that had been cut out of the island during the explosion had held that actual genetics lab. Primus only knew where it was now.

And seeing as the twins had never gone inside the lab itself, there had been no other witnesses to challenge what had been filed in the report. Jazz fell silent as he went deep into thought about the current situation. Too much speculation, not enough information, and the only real clue was the first hand witness of a similar incident that had no record of its existence. Worst, there were also too many possible theories that could arise from this. One being that if this kind of mutation could be perfected, duplicated, and administered to willing soldiers… Considering the natural spark signature dampening attributes, the enemy could very well create an invisible army with abilities the Autobots couldn't possibly prepare for. Worst yet, he couldn't possibly voice his concerns to Autobot HQ without putting an innocent victim in danger. Bumblebee needed a cure, but if the headquarters ever found out about him without an accurate explanation, he'll likely be confided or even terminated out of fear.

Still… If this island really was a large research facility at one point… Then there is a high probability that there might be more then one lab somewhere down there. Then again, if the laboratory wasn't on the island, then this could all be one giant glow-orb chase. Unless… there was the slightest of chances that the Jettwins might have seen more than they first thought… Then he just may have just the lead he needs to start running a personal investigation of his own.

******
Spare Room

In another part of the base, Jetfire had been spending all of his time tending to his depressed twin. They decided it was best that the two of them avoided the other Autobots for a time, especially the loud, tiny, angry organic. The wind brother had been hunched over at the edge of their berth while hugging at his knees to his cockpit. Although it may appeared that he was brooding about having to stay in his room like a sparkling that's been disciplined, his dear sibling knew all too well the inner turmoil that plagued him. Through their unique bond he could feel the deep spark wrenching pain that could only come from self-loathing. He just couldn't believe what had come out of his own oral processor.

"Brother…?" The brighter color of the pair spoke attentively as he tried to reach out to his dear brother to give much needed comfort. "You is alright…?" As much as the elder tried to shield his pain from the younger, he could still feel it.

The darker color of the two hadn't answer right away and opted to outtake a deep sigh before doing so. "No bother… I is most full of shame…"

The fire sibling could guess the cause fairly easily. "Is it being because of bad word saying…?" At this the older twin nodded gloomily. No bot else that has ever function knew Jetstorm as his brother did. "Oh brother…" Jetfire knew all too well how hard his sibling had tried to be a good role model for him and something of this magnitude would affect him greatly. "You is not meaning to say."

"I knowing so brother, but still I say…" The wind-wielding twin couldn't have mentally kicked himself harder if he had tried. How was he suppose to set a good example for his slightly younger twin if he couldn't even control is own oral drive. "Other bots be to us saying that lots time…" He mentioned as his memory files decided to back track to their earlier cycles in the Elite Guard.

His lighter colored counterpart grunted in agreement. "Yes…" He too knew of what his brother spoke of. It never ceased to amaze him how most other bots would up and target others just because they were different. "Because we being upgrading for flying." If he recalled correctly, there was no rule or law that stated that an Autobot couldn't be allowed to fly.

Jetstorm felt and understood his twin's frustrations. "Even before we is upgrading they too be saying."

Even as sparklings the two of them have been targeted and mocked by others of their generation because of their unique bond. The two of them could be doing completely different things, at different times, with different bots, and the other would know exactly what had been said and done. The other little youngling didn't like that at all, seeing as the two of them would always double team on any bot that had tried to mess with either of them, and they would always be able to back each other's story with such detail that the adult would never suspect them of stealing from the egergon goodie container. Least all this reminiscing had provided them with a decent distraction from their current troubles. Fact is they've been bringing up old memory files for so long they nearly missed a knocking sound at their door. The two of them blinked for a few clicks before they remembered that on Earth, doors don't slide open and have to be manually opened.

As usual the twin flyers went to the door together and opened it to find none other than Jazz, casually standing in front of their room. "Hey bots."

"Mr. Jazz, sir!" Instantly the two had stood at attention and saluted their superior.

The action brought a small smile to cyber ninja for the two of them were always trying so hard to be respectful. Which of course made last lunar cycle's out burst all the more troubling. "Didn't see you two at the meeting."

The statement had Jetstorm frowning and looking downcast in a clear display of shame. "I is not thinking-"

"We is not thinking other bots be wanting to be seeing us." Jetfire quickly interrupted, not wanting his twin to go through this alone.

It had been just as the white armored Elite Guard had suspected and it wasn't hard to figure out the reasoning behind the sudden shyness. "Guess you two feel pretty bad about the other cycle."

The statement had been met with down casted expressions and shamed filled frowns. "Yes, sir."

"Hmm." The Elite Guard could tell right away that he had help the younglings work through this little problem if they were going to help him in his investigation. "C'mon lets talk about it." With a servo on the shoulder of either twin, Jazz lead the two back towards their temporary berth and sat them all down. "Now I know you two were pretty scared when Bee grabbed at ya." Slag, considering the kid's now found size; if he were in that situation he's probably crash of fright himself. "But ya got to understand that he wasn't exactly himself at the time." If anything he had to at least get them to see that there was a personality glitch involved in all of this other wise they'll panic every time either of them are in the same room as the scout.

The blue brother of wind nodded to show that he both fallowed what the ninja-bot was saying and that he understood the message. "We is understanding Mr. Jazz sir…"

It had been the orange brother of fire that began to tense and curl into himself by pulling up his peds and hugging at his joints. "It only… Seeing organic so large…"

It had been then and there that Jazz realized the connection. "Aah, I get it now." Now that he had thought about it, he should have seen it before. Being twins, when one reacts one way, its felt by the other instantly. "It wasn't just the whole grab and dash deal." Jetstorm had been completely hysterical when his brother had disappeared and kept yelling that he was being attacked and needed help. "It was all those crazy story that were hardwired into both of ya." No doubt made all the more real to the two from Sentinel's supposed experience and that last cycle's encounter. "Look I can understand how ya felt. Spark, I was scared when Big Bee pounced on me."

"You was?" The two questioned in perfect unison as they stared in awe at their superior. They never dreamed he of all mech would be afraid of anything.

The elite ninja, not too proud to admit to such a thing, nodded in confirmation. "You bet your chrome finish I was." He could still clearly remember every single detail of he mad struggle with the angry hybrid. "I was seen as an enemy, and believe you me you do NOT want something that big coming at you with that way of thinking." With any luck the incident won't be repeated, but at least now he knew with this particular creature he could distract it with fuel. "You two were lucky his organic half mistook you for it's own offspring. Least then you two were kept safe and didn't have to go servo to servo with him." That too was good information to know, for it at least proved that the attack was mostly defensive and that it will protect what it considers it's own. "Heh, I can still feel the impact of his kick, and he was only pushing me away." That statement was followed by Jazz rubbing at his recently repaired chest plate as he recalled the power behind those legs. "I don't even want to think about how a direct hit would have felt."

Now that it had been brought up, the twins recalled their own encounters, although terrifying, were relatively mild compared to what Jazz had described. "We is not before thinking of that…" Jetstorm stated as his memory file showed that the worst the techno-organic had done was simply picking him up and scared the ever-pulsing spark out of him.

"I am thinking now we is most lucky." Jetfire agreed when his own memory revealed that the huge bee-bot had only grabbed at him during his struggle with it. It never bit at him or tried to rip him apart, or grabbed and lifted him only to later tuck him away in a warm chamber.

"You don't know the half of it." Jazz confirmed without a hint of doubt in his processor. Honestly if a creature that big wanted to have done harm to the younglings, it would have without question. "Now, do you two remember when everything calmed down and Bumblebee finally came to his senses?" Now that he had them reassured, it was time to see how well their observation skills were. "Remember what he did?"

As he had hoped the two gained a sort of far off look in their young optics as the began to bring up and search through their memory file for what he was hinting. He wasn't disappointed when Jetstorm spoke first of his observation of the hybrid's first reaction. "… He behind hiding Cycle Motor…"

Shortly after that had been said his slightly younger twin noted another reaction of the bee-bot during the time in question. "… And he is very frighten looking…"

"That's because he was scared." The white armored Elite Guard had explained, as his expression gradually got serious. "Of us." This idea seemed to surprise the two, obviously never dreaming that a bot that wasn't a criminal would have reason to fear them. "Of how we would react if we saw him like that." The ninja-bot knew he was going to have to stress this point as much as possible in order to get the younglings to realize the exact size of the matter at servo here. "This whole techno-organic thing is as strange and frightening to him as it is to you two. Only he's worse off because he's actually living it." These little facts caused a hard frown to appear on Jazz's faceplate as he could only imagine what had been done to the minibot to make him like this. "He never asked for this to be done to him, and now he's being forced to live with consequences of it." The scout was only a youngling after all and couldn't defend himself as well against a fully formatted and armed Decepticon. "Without a cure, he won't be able to fuel the same way, he'll be more vulnerable to temperatures, crud, he can't even go back to Cybertron for help looking like that."

The twins picked up on the name of their home world instantly. "Cybertron?"

"Yeah. Every bot back home is just as scared of organics as the next." The guard stated as a matter of fact, knowing that he didn't really need to explain the reasoning behind the idea. Organic world had been strictly off limits for millennia before the Earth Autobots were discovered. "And if our first reaction was to fear him, can you imagine how the rest of Cybertron might react?"

It didn't take long at all for the two of them to come to a conclusion. "Not good…" Jetstorm stated as his imagination created a simulation of a few possible outcomes that may be the most plausible. "Most very not good…"

Jetfire stated in both realization and concern when he came to his own conclusion. "They be wanting hurting him…" He remembered that their own current Magnus's usual first reaction to anything organic is to attack.

"That is a very high possibility." Jazz stated once it was clear that the two of them had gotten a full grasp of the situation at hand. "And as members of the Elite Guards we can't allow an Autobot citizen to come to harm." His stated firmly and emphasized this point by slamming a fisted servo into his flattened metal palm. "Especially when said citizen is a possible victim of Decepticon torture."

At the mentioning of their deadly enemies, the two young flyers were immediately at attention. "Decpticons?!!"

"Optimus thinks he might know who did this to Bumblebee and if he's right, it was a Decepticon scientist." The elite ninja bot stated as he stood and began to pace in front of the twins.

The two flyers were completely taken back by this new information, yet there was one thing that still puzzled them. "But… Why would Decepticon science person be wanting to doing this to Yellow Bumble?" They both asked in unison.

"According to OP this Con's also a techno-organic which is a serious chink in her armor." The senior officer began to explain as he went over his recorded memory one more time for details. "Wants to go back to being all robot and is using fully functioning mechanisms as test subjects. Trying to see if she can turn them into techno-organics, like herself, and then change them back to their original forms." With any luck, the young Prime's suspicion that there has only been one other successful test subject was true and they wouldn't need to deal with any more traumatized victims. "Goes by the designation: Blackarachnia."

The two had recognized the name from their last visit to Earth during their pursuit of the escaped convict Wasp. "The spider lady?!!"

Just the reaction Jazz had been hoping for. "You know her?" Maybe now he can get a little more intelligence on this Con.

"No, but brother and I is before seeing her." Jetfire stated as he began to recall the exact time he had heard the name and seen the robot it had belong to.

It was Jetstorm that had remembered the exact time and place. "At island of Big Bots when we be chasing after Two-timer Wasp." He remembered that lunar cycle very well. Sentinel had personally taken them on the mission himself to the island in order to pursue the elusive criminal. "Was hiding in big hole in rock until Sentinel Prime Sir and Optimus Prime Sir is out chasing her."

His brighter colored brother remembered the encounter well because of the sudden fight that broke out after they had managed to subdue the Dinobots. "She being fighting with Big Bug Thingie and then, boom! No more bug thingie or spider lady."

Alright, apparently they weren't exactly the witnesses Jazz had been hoping for, but at least now he knew for a fact that there had been a reason Wasp had sudden disappeared altogether that lunar cycle. "Did either of you bots see what went on inside the cave?"

"No." Jetstorm had stated after a click of backtracking through his memory banks. "Sentinel Prime, sir's, orders we be distracting very big bots so he be alone in going."

As always, his slightly younger twin brother had been quick to confirm his claims. "Yes, we be very good distracting very big bots."

"I see…" Once again it had seemed their over ambitious leader had attempted to take all the glory for himself, only for it to have blown up in his face. "Well then, I guess the only way to find out for sure wither or not this femme's really was involved or not is to talk to Bumblebee." Primus help them, this was going to be awkward.

The declaration had not been met with very much enthusiasm from the normally energetic brothers. "Oh… I is thinking he may not wanting to be seeing us…" The blue wind plane had stated nervously while rubbing at the back of his helm. The incident of the lunar cycle before was still very fresh in his processor; as well as deep hurtful expression of the bee-bot's optics… leaking…

Naturally his slightly younger sibling had sensed his twin's discomfort and dutifully went to stand by his side. "Yes… I thinking that everybot is to be having more comfort is we not being there." After what had happened, it would be far too awkward to show themselves now.

"Come on you two." The white armored elite ninja gently lectured as he tried to reason with the two younglings. "You can't just avoid this problem." If he was going to help find a cure, he first will have to mend the bridge between all the younglings. "You got to work through this in order to make it right." If experience taught him anything, is that the younger generation almost always relate better with those that have similar insecurities. "As seeing how Bumblebee didn't make the scene at all this solar cycle either; I'm betting he thinks everybot will be more comfortable without him around." After what had happened the last time he was among them, Jazz was positive the bright yellow hybrid had been too self aware at the moment to reveal himself again. "Especially you two." To emphasize this theory he glanced over at the twins with an empathic look.

That took the two of them by surprise. They couldn't believe it. "Yellow Bumble is too hiding…?" This was the same bot that had bounced right back from being hunted down by the Elite Guard after being mistaken for an escaped convict. "He is too being in worriment of other bots thinking?" Yet that one word… That one terrible word… hurt him as much as it did them?

"Afraid so…" As the senior officer had hoped, this concept seemed to have a bit of a sobering effect on the two. "I think it would be a good idea if we all go down there together and apologize to'em." Jazz stated as he once again wrapped a servo around each flyer and began to steer them towards the door. "Kid's gonna need all the friends he can get right now and we got to at least find out what he knows so that we can help him." Now would be the best time to have the young bots get together for one big sappy apology fest and end this bit.

The Jettwins both nodded simultaneously in agreement. "Yes sir."  This whole scenario was much bigger than the petty fears brought on by the scary stories of their sparkling cycles.

As their superior had mentioned before, Bumblebee had no more control over his 'condition' anymore than they had any control over the fact they were upgraded with Decepticon coding. That word… It was one thing to be called such a thing out of distrust for anything having to do with their enemy… But for a bot to be actually viewed as such for something that was forced onto them without any choice… The little Autobot was in far more danger of being feared and hated then the two of them have ever been. And with so few allies, he'll need all the protection he can get. At least until a way is found to reverse what had been done to him. Until then, the least the two of them could do to make up for that hurtful word, is to befriend the modified yellow scout all over again and help him through these trouble times.

However, just as the three of them opened the door to step out, and very small and oddly excitable figure ran right up to them, almost causing the lead guard to loose his balance from trying not to step on her at the last nano. "Is he here?!!" Sari shouted in a clear display of distress. "Is Bumblebee here?!!" The pint size techno-organic went as far as to run in between Jazz's legs to get inside the room, causing the twins to back up out of instinct when something rushing by them, and began looking around franticly. "Please say that he's here using Jetfire as a teddy bear!"

"What is brother/me using as?" The two brothers questioned awkwardly as they have never heard the term 'teddy bear' before.

More concern about the panicking miniature civilian than the vocabulary lesson, Jazz thought it best to stick to the subject. "He ain't here." The white armored elite guard stated as he watched the girl run around looking literally every way her head could turn. "We haven't seen Big Bee since the last lunar cycle." He explained wondering why the sudden urgency to find the scout. "Why? What's wrong?" If experience has taught him anything, is that bots act like they're malfunctioning when there is either really good news, or seriously bad news.

"He's gone!" The red headed teenager had cried out in utter anxiety. "Bumblebee's missing!" Her increasing distress showing in her facial expression.

Definitely bad news.