Location: Afterlife – Rogue's OfficeNight City, 2075 – Days after the convoy hit
Bee stood in the shadows of the Afterlife's private back room, his optics dimmed to avoid drawing too much attention. The usual noise of mercs drinking, flirting, and flexing their chrome faded as Rogue Amendiares walked in.
Still sharp as ever. Eyes like razors. She didn't sit she didn't need to. She owned the room just by walking into it.
"You're the one lighting up Militech scanners all across the Net," she said, arms crossed. "Some kind of ghost... even the AI can't tag you."
Lucy leaned back on the couch, legs crossed. "Told you you'd get her attention."
Bee stood silently.
"You're not from here," Rogue said, circling him slowly. "Not Night City. Not Earth. Hell, maybe not even this dimension. And yet… you bleed like us. Fight like us. Protect someone like her."
She met Bee's optics.
"I've seen one like you before. Once. Long time ago. Black-market data from Arasaka's deep vaults. Called it an 'Anomaly-Class Construct.' Thought it was AI. But you? You're walking steel and feeling. That scares the corpos."
Bee finally spoke: "I didn't choose to be here."
Rogue's eyebrow rose. "No one does, choom. But you survive here? That's what makes you real."
She slid a shard across the table.
"You want answers about what you are? Go here. Underground tech archive. Netwatch tried to burn it a decade ago. Something survived."
Lucy took the shard.
"And what's the catch?" she asked.
"No catch. Just don't die before I figure out what else you're hiding." Rogue's smirk returned. "You're a walking mystery, and I like knowing what makes my city tick."
She turned to leave pausing just before the door.
"Oh… and Bee?"
He looked up.
"Next time you punch through an AV, try not to leave my name in the wreckage."
She left.
Later That Night – Abandoned Data Center, Watson
They followed the coordinates Rogue gave them. An old Netwatch bunker, buried under rusted monorail tracks and forgotten warehouses.
Inside: darkness, servers half-melted, black wires snaking along the floor like veins.
Lucy connected to the grid.
"Security's dead. But… something's still awake in here."
Bee's optics flickered. His systems pulsed. Something in this place recognized him.
ACCESS GRANTED: CYBERTRONIAN CORE DETECTED.
A hologram erupted from the far wall.
A map of Earth.
A cluster of off-world symbols Cybertronian glyphs hovered around it. One in Night City. Another in Japan. One… deep beneath the Atlantic.
Lucy gasped. "These aren't human. These are coordinates."
Bee's HUD blinked red.
WARNING: OBSERVER PROTOCOL ACTIVATED.
The room went cold.
From the dark, a metallic, spiderlike drone dropped from the ceiling eight legs, red optics, and a built-in railgun.
"Netwatch drone," Lucy hissed. "But this tech's… modified."
Bee's instincts kicked in. Blade out. He blocked the drone's strike and slammed it into a wall but the thing regenerated, plating shifting like liquid metal.
Another slash and a second drone joined the fight.
Lucy pulled out a prototype EMP grenade. "Bee, down!"
BOOM.
Sparks and static flooded the room.
The drones dropped. Still twitching.
But Bee didn't move.
He knelt.
Clutching his head.
Visions.
A war. Stars burning. A planet torn apart. Names - Optimus. Megatron. Bumblebee.A pulse. A fragment. A spark... buried. Forgotten.
Bee gasped as he came to.
Lucy grabbed his shoulder. "Hey talk to me. What did you see?"
Bee looked at her. Voice distant.
"Home."
Final Scene – Deep Netwatch Lab (Unseen)
A shadowed Netwatch analyst stared at the video feed from the ruined bunker.
"Cybertronian signature confirmed. Secondary energy spike detected."
A low voice from the dark: "He remembers."
The analyst paused. "Do we engage?"
"No," said the voice. "Let the spark grow."
A red-glowing visor flickered to life on the screen.
"When it's bright enough… we'll take it."