Kabuki Outskirts – 3:29 A.M.
The sealed mod-case from the tech vendor sat on a table in Lucy's safehouse, pulsing with a faint golden glow. Bee stared at it like a dog watching a ticking bomb.
"It's not encrypted anymore," Lucy said. "I decrypted the root signature. You ready?"
Bee nodded once.
She slid the chip into the custom port just under his collarbone. The moment it clicked
ZTTZZZT-CHUNK-WHUMMM
Bee spasmed. Data flooded his optics. Code spiraled through his neural mesh, unlocking long-dormant subsystems. His HUD flickered like a failing screen… and then stabilized.
NEW MODULES ONLINE
– EM Pulse Core – Short-range Anti-Tech Shockwave
– Mag-Wheel Boosters – Extreme Speed Dash (Ground Only)
– Hardlight Audio-Projection – Tactical Distraction or Combat Overload
– Memory Fragment Recovered [Partial File: Cybertronian Echo]
Bee fell forward onto one knee, hand bracing against the floor. His chest pulsed with gold-blue light.
Lucy rushed over. "Bee! You okay?!"
He raised a hand.
🎥 [Soundbite: "Upgrades complete."]
Then he stood up taller somehow. Not physically, but in presence. He was no longer just a fast, funny mute with cool tricks.
Now?He was a spark with teeth.
A Bounty in Chrome
They didn't even make it out of the safehouse before the building shook. An explosion tore through the lower floor. Smoke and sparks flew up the stairwell.
Lucy cursed. "That's not a Scav team!"
It wasn't.
It was a bounty hunter, chrome-plated and twitching an ex-Militech soldier turned full-bore cyberpsycho. His optics burned red. Two industrial-grade mantis blades hissed from his back.
"I don't know what you are," he growled at Bee. "But someone out there wants your head."
Bee stepped in front of Lucy. He didn't flinch.
🎥 [Soundbite: "You wanna dance?"]
Neon Chase
The fight blasted out into the streets.
The bounty hunter leapt like a devil through traffic. Bee ignited his new Mag-Wheel Boosters, skidding around corners at blistering speeds, leaving burn marks in the asphalt.
Lucy covered him from above with quickhacks blinding optics, shorting legs but the psycho just kept coming.
Bee spun mid-run, raised his arm, and released the new EM Pulse
FWOOM!
A thunderclap of light surged from him, frying the hunter's optics and sending three nearby vending machines into meltdown.
"NOW!" Lucy shouted.
Bee extended his arm blade, and in one swift dash-and-slide beneath the psycho's swing, he sliced both mantis blades off at the elbow.
Then, as the bounty stumbled, Bee activated a new trick Hardlight Audio-Projection.
🎶 "This is how we do it!" 🎶
The soundwave struck like a battering ram. The psycho crashed into a light pole and didn't get back up.
Later… On the Rooftop Again
The city buzzed below. Lucy sat beside Bee, breathing heavy.
"You're not just chrome," she said. "You're something else. Something… bigger."
Bee tapped his arm.
🎥 [Soundbite: "Just doing my part."]
She looked at him, eyes searching.
"You ever think about who you were before all this?"
He hesitated. Then pulled up a faint memory barely a fragment. A strange planet. War. A name spoken in static.
🎥 [Soundbite: "Cyber…tron."]
Lucy leaned in, curious. "What does that mean?"
Bee shrugged… but his eyes glowed a little brighter. Like a star trying to remember how to shine.
She laughed. "Well, Sparkplug… whoever you are, I'm not letting you out of my sight."
She leaned closer really close this time and for a moment, it felt like they might kiss.
Then...
Text ping: UNKNOWN CONTACT – "Tell your spark to tread carefully." – R
Lucy blinked at the name. "Rogue?"
Bee just smiled.
🎶 "Ain't no mountain high enough…" 🎶