He hesitates. He does hesitate. His hand comes up to his badge. Bumblebee's badge. But his one good optic stays fixed on Optimus's, and his expression doesn't falter, even as he considers, very carefully, that he's been having second thoughts about this whole Autobot thing, after his confrontation – confrontations – with Tarn. He wants to demonstrate his commitment to change, and he wants to be held to that commitment the way that this badge forces him to be. But it's beginning to feel as if that's meant abdicating responsibility for the people who followed him.

Slowly, he lowers his hand.

"It is my sincere hope, Optimus," he says, "that I will not disappoint you."