Operation Bumblebee, Part 1

Bumblebee questions his worthiness to his team after he is compromised.

Plot
Megatron arrives at a Vehicon dig site to oversee the uncovering of what was burried at one of the three locations on Earth that the Decepticons had Orion Pax decode. Optimus Prime and Ratchet observe this and attempt to prevent Megatron from taking the artifact, however Megatron threatens to take them all offline with the Spark extractor, a weapon created by the Decepticons on Cybertron and seized by the Autobots late in the war. As Megatron leaves the Vehicons to attack them, Bumblebee pursues Megatron through the Decepticon GroundBridge and snatches the Spark extractor from him before escaping with the others.

At the Autobot base, Bumblebee boasts of using his speed to outdo Megatron. Optimus and Ratchet explain that they located the Spark extractor due to a homing beacon implanted by Autobots before it, and several other artifacts, were sent off-world to keep them out of Decepticon hands during the invasion of Iacon. When Arcee asks if Optimus remembers the other locations he unintentionally gave the Decepticons, Optimus tells her he does not. Ratchet points out the possibility that Megatron had boasted of Orion giving them many such coordinates in order to play with Optimus's mind. Megatron, however, is furious at the loss of the Spark extractor and wishes he had done more than rip out Bumblebee's voice box on Cybertron, yet is comforted by Soundwave's reminder that they still have two other locations.

Later, Bumblebee and Bulkhead are searching for the source of an emergency beacon. Bumblebee arrives first, and is attacked by MECH. While Silas keeps an eye out for the approaching Bulkhead, a MECH surgeon works on removing something from Bumblebee. Starscream, having also followed the fake beacon, watches from above, and when MECH is done, proceeds to follow their helicopter. Bumblebee awakens just as Bulkhead arrives, and they agree to give chase. However there is a problem; Bumblebee is unable to convert to vehicle mode.

When Ratchet scans to see what the problem is, he realises that Bumblebee's T-cog is missing. As the Decepticons wouldn't do anything so petty as stealing a T-cog, the Autobots conclude that the culprits are MECH. Though Bumblebee is distressed and unable to help his friends, Optimus attempts to comfort the scout by reminding him that they will do everything they can to help him retrieve his missing part.

At their base, the MECH surgeon inserts the T-cog into their constructed robot. As Silas watches, the robot successfully scans one of their helicopters, however when they attempt to have it transform, it does not. Starscream enters the hanger and notes that their earlier work on Breakdown apparently taught them nothing, and as the soldiers take aim at him, he proposes an alliance; one in which he will provide them imformation. Silar decides to hear him, and Starscream explains that the T-cog requires Energon, and so in exchange for telling them how to locate Energon deposits, he must be allowed to share the spoils. Silas agrees, so long as there is enough to power MECH's planned army of transforming robots.

Bumblebee struggles to cope around the Autobot base, bugging Ratchet with demands of news. Raf and Miko attempt to occupy him, however the racing game they're playing only reminds Bumblebee of his speed, so Miko decides they should watch TV. Immediately a commercial for Bumblebee's alt-mode, along with the slogan "It won't just rock you're world: it will transform it" makes Bumblebee's frustration worse, especially when Arcee and Jack come racing in. Bumblebee decides to go for a walk to cool off, however Ratchet refuses to allow it since he risks exposing himself to humans.

Subsequently Ratchet is left to pick up Raf from school. While returning to base, Raf asks how Bumblebee lost his voice. Ratchet explains that at Tyger Pax, Bumblebee was captured and severly beate by Megatron when he refused to give information. When Bumblebee was later found, Ratchet had attempted to repair his voice box, but it was too damaged. What Ratchet omits to mention is that it was him, and blames himself for not doing better.

Meanwhile, Bulkhead picks up another Iacon homing beacon, and prepares to head out, though Bumblebee insists on going with him. Bulkhead relents, and as they close in on the source of the beacon, Knock Out drives out of a cave and Breakdown attacks Bulkhead, forcing Bumblebee to chase the smaller Decepticon. However his lack of a T-cog has left him unable to even deploy his blasters, so he attempts to pursue on foot. Knock Out is amused by Bumblebee's apparent refusal to transform, and coaxes him to do so. Bumblebee instead comandeers an old pickup truck, but even so is unable to match Knock Out's speed. As Knock Out tires of the games and speeds off to deliver the artifact he has collected, Bumblebee's pickup truck loses its back tyres and promptly drives over the edge of a cliff, taking Bumblebee with it...

Trivia

 * The reason for Bumblebee's lack of voice is explained, which follows the same plot as the Exodus novel.