The morning had started out fairly normal. The bots had gotten out of sleep mode and checked up on the scanners for any possible Decepticon signals. Nothing so far. Bumblebee had seemed to be in some discomfort, but had thought little of it.

"Just a little stiff from sleep." he'd insisted.

In previous months, the lack of Decepticon activity had made the team antsy, but now it felt somewhat likely. The only known Decepticons on Earth were Steeljaw, a group of Vehicons that were waiting for Megatron's return, and possibly some other cons like Flamesnort that had been here on Earth for ages and had no idea that the war had been over for years.

Still, they knew Steeljaw would make a move eventually, and so into afternoon, Bumblebee, Cadet Strongarm and Sideswipe had gone out on patrol, leaving Fixit with the scanners, and Drift and Grimlock to keep an eye on the Scrapyard in case Steeljaw made a move against their home base again. Denny and Russell were still cleaning up from the last attack.

"Ah..." Sideswipe sighed. "...It's so good to get out on the open road and just drive! Taking Denny to the grocery store and back just isn't enough."

"Surprisingly, I agree with Sideswipe. I was getting what the humans call "Cabin Fever" just sitting around going over the police codes."

Sideswipe pulled closer to the police bot. "You, getting tired of studying? Are you sure you're not coming down with Brain Rust!?"

"Lay off her, Sideswipe." Bumblebee ordered as he pulled up between them again. "We all needed a drive."

"Are you certain you're alright, Lieutenant?" Strongarm inquired. "You've been lagging behind a little."

"Like I told you Strongarm, I'm fine. My wheels are just a little stiff from lack of use, that's all... If you're so bored, Sideswipe, you can always head back to Cybertron."

"Are you kidding? Cybertron's gonna be even more boring than Earth! At least here I don't have to worry about scraplets, or getting pulled over by some trigger-happy cadet..."

"That was one time, Sideswipe!"

"And several times here! Remember when Clampdown locked us up in that shipping container?"

"How can I forget? I was stuck chestplate to chestplate with you for hours...!"

"Enough...!" Bumblebee grumbled. "That was the past. We need to keep looking forward and not worry about past offenses."

"Remember when Optimus suggested we become ambassadors of Cybertron to Earth?" Sideswipe inquired. "How long do you think it'll be before they make it official and we can expose ourselves to the rest of the humans?"

"Probably some time, Sideswipe. We can't just jump in there, they'll think we're dangerous and will retaliate."

Sorry to bother you, Lieutenant... Fixit's voice apologized over the comms. ...But the scanners seem to be picking up another cybertronian signal near your position.

"Decepticon?" Sideswipe asked.

Unclear...The signal keeps flickering in and out, and I can't identify it.

"We'll look into it." Bumblebee informed. "Thanks, Fixit."
He looked ahead as the road split into two in front of them. "Strongarm, you and Sideswipe take the left side, I'll take the right. We'll radio each other if we find anything, and please...try not to break anything."

"Will do." Strongarm replied, then she and Sideswipe pulled away from Bumblebee as the fork got closer, then disappeared behind the trees.

Bumblebee gave a hard sigh, somewhat glad the two teenagers were gone for the time being. He wasn't about to tell Strongarm that the discomfort wasn't in his wheels, but rather his chest. A faint, but persistent pressure and throbbing behind his chest plate that wouldn't go away. As the road turned, the density of the trees between him and his teammates increased, until he was no longer able to hear their voices or wheels turning on the pavement.
He moved slowly down the road, keeping his optics peeled for a flash of metal, movement in the trees, anything to signal the presence of the signal Fixit was picking up, but all he saw was the darkness of the dense tree cover.

He'd gotten a mile or two down the road when the pain increased significantly. He grimaced, trying to ignore it, but it continued to increase until he finally pulled over on the side of the road. Strongarm was right, something was definitely wrong.

He drove into the trees a little ways until he was sure no humans passing by could see him, then transformed into robot mode to look himself over...

...That turned out to be a mistake.
_

"...So suppose we do get permission to expose ourselves, should we go to the government first, or just start with Crown City here?"

"I don't know." Strongarm admitted. "Didn't Blurr say that everyone on Griffin Rock knew about them?"

"Yeah, something about an alien invasion and having to blow their cover to save the humans... whatever, what about it?"

"How did the humans react?"

"They'd seen the Rescue Bots around for years, and knew that they were friendly and wanted to help people, so they took it really well. But us...We've been in hiding all this time, so I'm not sure how well they'd-"

S-Strongarm, Sideswipe...! Bumblebee stammered over the comms. C-Come to my position...Hurry...!

"Lieutenant? Are you okay?" Strongarm asked, but there was no response. Both bots slammed on their brakes and then twisted into a U-Turn to head back the way they'd come. "Hold on, Sir. We're on our way!"

"What happened...?" Sideswipe mumbled. "We didn't hear anything of a struggle or fight at all!"

"Let's just hope he's not too badly hurt..."

The pair came around the corner of the fork then took off down the road Bumblebee had taken. After a few moments of driving, they heard Bumblebee's voice cry out in the trees, and they transformed and hurried towards it. "We're coming, Bee!" Sideswipe called. "Just hold on!"

"Lieutenant, we-" Strongarm stopped as broke through the trees and saw their leader, panting and on his knees as a bubbling and pulsing mass of liquid metal protruded from his chest plate.

"Bee, are you okay!?" Sideswipe asked worriedly.

"No...!" Bumblebee whimpered. "It feels... Like my spark's giving out...!"

"D-Don't worry, sir. We'll get that off of you!"

"N-No!" Bumblebee shouted, stopping his cadet's advance towards him. "It's...It's c-coming out of me-Aaah...!"

"Fixit, we need any information you've got on an event involving liquid metal coming out of a cybertronian!" Strongarm relayed. "Quickly!"

Sideswipe bent down to his leader, putting a hand on Bumblebee's shoulder. "Is there anything we can do?"

Bumblebee shook his head. "I-I don't know...! Nnnnuh!"
He cried out in pain as the mass grew in a sudden spurt, his optics tightly shut.

"Fixit, hurry!" Strongarm warned, trying to keep her voice calm but failing.

I'm trying, Strongarm! But I can't find anything about what you're describing! Fixit replied.

"Keep looking. We don't have any idea what affect this might have on-"
A scream from Bumblebee cut her off as the mass suddenly jumped free of his chest, falling onto the ground nearby, and then their leader collapsed into Sideswipe's arms. "Lieutenant!"

Bumblebee trembled in Sideswipe's arms, his body hot and smoking in places and his optics glazed over.

"He's gonna be okay, right...!?" Sideswipe asked worriedly.

"I...I don't know." Strongarm admitted. She looked up to the mass and gasped as it started to take on a more stable form. More specifically, a sleek metal body, about the size of a small transformer, half their own height. "What in the Allspark...!? F-Fixit, activate the ground bridge. Bumblebee is down."

After a few seconds, the groundbridge appeared, and Sideswipe dragged the downed autobot through it. Strongarm started to follow, but paused as she looked at the body. Fixit might want it for study. She picked it up and then followed Sideswipe through the groundbridge.