"Obstacles are inefficient, follow your intuition, free your inner soul and break away from tradition."
Black Eyed Peas
Chapter 1: AssignmentDeep within Cybertron's core is a scalding hot Cybertonium pit. This element, found only on the planet, is vital for robot sustenance. Decepticons slaves mine it, mostly prisoners of war and former political insurgents. Working deep within, at the controls, overseeing basic functions, toiled an unidentified robot. She was a gorgeous shade of indigo, with blue accents. Purple eyes belied her affiliation, luckily the matching Decepticon icon gave it away. She had a body pleasing to the eye of any mech, although there was no time for appreciation. There was work to be done. She could already feel coolant pouring down the back of her neck as the oppressive heat assaulted her early that day. An occasional drone passed to pick up the collection the slaves accumulated. No one really acknowledged her, not even the robot behind a window next to her. This job made her feel forgotten.
"Mishap! Shockwave to Mishap!"
The femme-bot started from her boredom and flipped the visicom switch on the usually dormant computer. "Mishap here. Greetings, Shockwave." After what had seemed like an eternity asleep, contact with the outside world was am alarm's shrill reminder. Mishap was pleased. "It is good to-"
"You may dispense with the pleasantries," he broke in rudely. "Report to my control room in four thousand astro-seconds." His visage zipped away, leaving a blank screen.
"Holy smoke." If Megatron himself had appeared before her and informed her she would produce the son of Primus Mishap could not be more shocked. After 5 million years of circuit-numbing labor, she was getting an assignment! She leaned on the consul and pondered her fate. What if it was a fluke? Something short-lived? Her ticket out of here?
Mishap waved to her co-worker on the other side of the window, who had a quizzical expression; probably mirroring hers. "I've been called up!" she exclaimed. She saw the envy in his face for a microsecond, then a smile and a wave. Mishap felt a pang of regret as she raced through the empty halls to the tube transportation. She had worked with him for a million years. She never learned his name. Would she see him again?
Shockwave looked up from the controls he operated and nodded at her arrival as a greeting. She stood behind him and arranged her face in a less-than eager expression. He waited a moment and pressed a button.
"Calling Megatron! Shockwave to Megatron!"
Megatron? The robot who had motivated evil forces to take her prisoner and force her to labor for a lifetime? She had sworn an oath to him and taken a new symbol to avoid death. Most Autobot spies were destroyed via torture, but for some sadistic reason a few underlings thought re-aligning her format would help them politically if they could attempt an uprising. These subordinates had been scattered and lost over time, and somehow she had been placed in the mines. She was alive, and safe, and from what gossip slowly filtered down to the workers below, her only brother lived on Earth with the Autobots.
Megatron's handsomely sinister face appeared on the screen. Mishap concealed (poorly) a gasp of fear and attraction. He had a good looking countenance for such a hated robot.
"Are you there, Megatron?" Shockwave pressed a few buttons with his working hand.
"Copy, Shockwave." His gravelly voice sounded different from what Mishap expected. "Is this the one?"
"Hail Megatron! Yes, she was the one so highly recommended by her peers." Her "peers" had been few and far between. She was stymied. Megatron looked at her expectantly. Was she supposed to say something? Support Shockwave's statements? Mishap nodded, assuming nothing. The large purple robot in front of her beckoned.
"Hail Megatron," she declared, voice steady despite the fear surrounding her. She could act better than the other robots of her station. She had several talents.
"Are you the one they call Mishap?" her leader inquired.
"Yes, sir."
"Are you still artful in reconnaissance, invisibility, and behavior interpretation?"
"The best, sir." She still turned invisible when she wanted to spy on slaves. No revolts had occurred under her watch, due to this ability; also reading their motives and interpreting them to influence a quashing of all hope of revolt was a great talent. Management had its upsides.
"Excellent." He was pleased. Mishap was somehow relieved, but now what? Luckily Megatron was not one to beat around the bush. "I tire of my second-in-commands attempts to usurp me!" He scowled disgustedly.
"So why don't you kill him?" It was out before she realized it.
"I ask the questions!" Megatron snarled.
"Yes, sir." Mishap tilted her head down in a modest fashion. This guy had a short fuse.
"I need you to watch him. He is too intelligent to be left alone, but too necessary to destroy. Follow him. Report to me." He paused to make sure she was listening. "Do you accept my commission?"
Did she! "I welcome your challenge, Lord Megatron, and I will not fail." Her eyes glowed fiercely.
"Good. Shockwave, open the Space Bridge and bring her to earth."
Shockwave nodded and gestured her to enter a doorway. She stood in a small circular room and watched the door close in front of her. The felt a life force inside her stir and she smiled.
Her life was beginning again.
Cheesy Flashback #1
"Patrol is such a waste of time!" Sunstreaker was listlessly driving in circles as Oasis checked her arm- transmission to see if Prime was going to notify them of their shift's end. She holstered her gun, exhausted at the longest land patrol ever. They had investigated every piece of their assigned area four times. It was a fruitless duty, and both Autobots were hoping for a long break; Sunstreaker wanted to wax himself, Oasis wanted to see what the boys were doing tonight. Hopefully they wanted her around this time. Mirage had not spoken to her in a very long while.
"This is 'sunny garden,' reporting flawless skies in coordinates 1800-2255-288. Copy?"
"Copy, 'sunny garden,' this is ' soaring drone.' Coordinates 1800-2223-334 are flawless as well." Powerglide and Bumblebee were just as bored as they were. When the shift changed Oasis was ready for a party.
"Calling 'sunny garden' and 'soaring drone,' this is 'phantom menace.' We, as well as 'strong near-miss' and 'lift hook' have just received a 'bellow' from a 'bogey' and plan to 'bring in da funk'."
Sunstreaker hit the brakes. "What on Cybertron was that supposed to mean?"
"You should have objected to Blaster making the code, like the rest of us, when you had the chance," she reprimanded him, grinning. "Nobody but Mirage and I said anything, and now you all look pretty stupid when you don't get what's going on." She turned back to her comlink. "Copy, 'phantom menace,' 'sunny garden' is 'tuning the horn', as soon as you give us 'a key'." Once coordinates were provided, she turned to her partner. "Let's go, we're hijacking an energon truck."
"Aha!" Now they were going somewhere.
Chapter 2: The Target
"What is this place?" Mishap had never seen anything like planet Earth. Everything was unknown. Sun too close, Nitrogen-based atmosphere, carbon-based life forms...Mishap's scanners left nothing unturned. Her coloring looked different, too; a much lighter, royal blue. She barely recognized her own arm. There was something else in the air, too.
A small, bluish-purple Decepticon reluctantly greeted her. He sullenly told her to follow him. As they flew in the air she asked what he was called.
"Rumble," he supplied. "Ya wanna see why?" Before she had a chance to react, he swooped out of the sky, changed his arms to piston rods and mercilessly pounded the ground, "arms" alternating. The earth opened up, swallowing trees and dirt. Mishap expressed a reasonable amount of admiration.
"That's gotta put a cramp in the Autobot's style," she complimented him. He grinned, looking at her in the eye for the first time.
"Yeah," he bragged. "Nobody tumbles with Rumble!"
"I know I won't," she promised, looking slightly afraid of him. The small Decepticon was delighted. Others called him 'Pipsqueak' and bossed him around. This femme seemed OK. They exchanged a small smile. Mishap was glad she still had diplomatic skills. This unlikely ally may come in handy later.
"So how's Cybertron?" he asked eagerly.
Megatron's Decepticon base was underwater. This pleased Mishap. It seemed more like home. Rumble led her to a metal door. After a brief wait, it lifted quickly, allowing them to walk into Megatron's main throne room.
Metal. A computer with a large screen on one wall. One large blue robot turned a pushed a button on his shoulder. Rumble leapt into the air, transforming into a rectangular shape and disappearing inside the blue Decepticon. Mishap saw this from the corner of one amethyst optic. Her attention was drawn to someone else.
Megatron sparkled with more menacing charisma than her first sighting of him on a screen. He was evil. And hot. Mishap kneeled immediately.
"All hail Megatron," she said in a hushed voice. Mishap tried to keep a small tremble audible to flatter him further. She saw him smirk. To her surprise his reaction actually formed a knot of revulsion in her transistors when he did that.
"Rise, new recruit." Mishap rose and smiled a beautiful smile. (One of the advantages of being a female was the undisguised admiration of the males.) Megatron looked at her, seeming lost in thought until something caused him to jerk his head at an object behind her. "Do you understand what you are to accomplish here?" He looked her in the eye. It chilled her circuits. Seeing him on a telecom and being in the same room with him was a vastly different experience.
"I follow someone around. We have not discussed living arrangements, the length of my stay, what's expected of me, breaks, compensation-"
"That is all minimal," he interrupted, glancing around her again with a strange expression. "Report to me in this room in two astro-days. Now, become invisible, your target arrives."
Mishap immediately disappeared and awkwardly stood beside her leader. He oozed a dark aura that was both striking and exciting. Could he feel her presence? The blue robot saw an indiscernible signal and pressed a button. The door opened. In marched a decent-looking Decepticon of red, silver, and light blue. Like her, he appeared to be a flying vehicle, except his wings stayed outside of his body. Agitation marred his dark gray face, rendering whatever handsome features he might have had useless. Megatron wasted no time causing this creature misery.
"Would you care to explain your lack of participation in last night's energon gathering, without your usual lies?" Megatron asked antagonistically, voice dripping with sarcastic contempt.
"I was working on Devastator's laser blaster," he returned, irritated. He had a weasel-like voice. Mishap shuddered slightly. "There's a malfunction in its trigger receptors – "
"Spare me your excuses!" his leader shot back. "You will aid us when I command you to! Dismissed." The robot moved to leave. Mishap followed, overtaking him and slipping out the door before he did. "Starscream!"
The robot paused expectantly.
"Watch...your...back," their chief warned menacingly.
Starscream had nowhere to take this. "Yes, my lord."
Megatron waited until he no longer felt Mishap's presence. He grinned sadistically. "She will do nicely." He burst out into maniacal laughter.
Chapter 3: Mishappens
Using every trick she'd been taught by her creators, Mishap was the perfect stealth artist. Unfortunately, Starby (or whatever his name was, she didn't hear it often) was boring. All he did was follow the others around in their tasks, play combat games with his fellow airplane friends, or sit in a lab all day and tinker, muttering to himself. One day he got in a heated discussion with Megatron after they lost another battle to the Autobot: they would have won if Megatron had brought him along. Stargeezer stomped off to his chamber and slammed the door, nearly squashing Mishap after him. Inside his room was a hard copy of the structural layout of Cybertron's Decepticon headquarters fastened to the wall. He angrily flipped it over to reveal a picture of Megatron. Shooting it with his null ray, the poster taunted him more with comments such as 'You missed!', 'My motherboard could do better!' and 'Starscream, turn on your optic sensors!' Mishap had to bite her finger appendages to keep from laughing out loud when he finally shot it enough times that it said 'You should be leader!'
Starscream flopped on his recharging plate. As energy coursed through him he silently stared at the ceiling, tapping his fingertips endlessly. He seemed so vulnerable at these moments. Almost like an –
Mishap suppressed the thought before it emerged. Decepticons were cold-hearted bullies, caring only for themselves. She was there to find a way to security with freedom, no more no less. If Megatron liked what she did, he may allot her a better position on Cybertron, one less menial. If her situation didn't seem so hopeless, maybe she could find her brother.
The underground battle station followed the physical laws of earth, to maintain a sense of perspective in the warriors. The lights dimmed at six PM. Darkness of night fell quickly here on this strange planet, with its 24-unit days. Mishap wondered if she would ever adjust. When would she get some energy? She knew she had to report soon, maybe she would get some then. It did not appear that this was part-time employment.
Starscream's eyes glimmered in the dark as he climbed out of his recharge plate. On silent feet he sauntered out of his room and down an unlit hall. Intrigued, Mishap followed. She chased him deep into the bowels of the city-like base. The dark and damp oppressed her circuits. Gloom encased her, making it difficult to read the depth of the area or the proximity of objects. Twice she hit something, sending her prey into a nervous reaction. At long last, he stopped. Starscream entered a chamber, pushing a few buttons. The doors closed and it filled with water. Realizing what he was doing, Mishap flew to the upper levels to catch him before he swam away. She was out of the base, in the air, when looking around she spotted a glint in the sky. Her radar told her it was nothing, so on a hunch she followed it. Praise Primus, it was Starscream! What was he up to?
Mishap transformed into the jet-like apparatus she was on Cybertron and gunned her engines. She was ill prepared for transformation, neglecting it for so long. She put on her cloaking device as she doubled her output and hoped for the best.
Far away, on a remote island, Starscream glided to the ground with barely a rustle from the palm trees above him. Mishap slid in the air and landed less than 10 meters from him, not as gracefully. She had to work on that. Glancing around, Mishap saw her target walk over to a rockier part of the beach. To her amazement, Starscream leaned over a rock and split it in two. There, in a niche before him, were many robots. Strong, powerful robots; NOT DECEPTICONS. Still under construction.
'What do I do now?' she thought. Megatron had not been specific. It was awhile before she was to report. It might be too late by then. Should she radio for backup? Go and find...who? Merely watch?
She decided on none of these. After pondering for what seemed like forever, she made her move. Silently, delicately, on the lightest tread ever, she walked over to where Starscream was soldering the ugliest robot and watched him for a few seconds before aiming her blaster at a key spot, one that especially would not bring her harm. She pulled the trigger.
Fire erupted in front of them as everything exploded. Leaving Starscream wherever he touched down, Mishap shook herself off and destroyed the evidence of the other robots. As the island burned Mishap turned her attention to the creator of this problem.
Starscream was badly injured. Sparks flew from his chest cavity. Mishap tried to revive him. Nothing. No noise, no movement, nothing. Knowing robot care basics, Mishap shut off his main power line, working fast to mend torn circuits. Most needed replacement. Quickly. Heaving a sigh, Mishap transformed again, precariously balancing the traitor on her back for the long, slow journey ahead.
Cheesy Flashback #2Most of the Autobots were being loaded onto the prison van, destination: the laboratories for special experimentation. It was hard to see if anyone escaped due to the smoke everywhere around them from the explosion. Swindle gazed around the blast site, where their well-placed trap had aided in the capture of at least nine Autobots. As he looked at the wreckage blending in with the background of a decomposing city, he noticed a small blue heap. Normally a pile of scrap would not catch his optics but this scrap was still moving. He motioned to Onslaught; the only other mech not employed in prisoner transfer, to help him investigate. Swindle leapt over a pile that had formerly been their decoy truck and bent over the smoldering female.
She was a mess: her entire midsection had been ruined, splitting her in half. One arm had come off, and her blue eyes had crumbled. It was fueltank-churning. Swindle called Vortex over to aid them in picking the pieces up.
"I'd prefer not," he called, safely ensconced in the truck. "Brawl is closer."
Brawl sauntered over and saw something in her face. "By Primus, is that one of the Autobots Deep Pipe described?" Deep Pipe (not his real name) had highlighted the team that would try to intercept their convoy; of several mentioned was the female spy Oasis. No pictures had been provided, merely a brief account. Her head fell off at his touch, and he scrambled to retrieve it. She moaned as he squeezed a few wires below where her neck should have started. "Who are you?" He asked her. The only thing the POW's gave were their name, rank and serial number.
"Oasis, First Lieutenant, number 8-675-309."
"Ah!" Now they were getting somewhere.
Chapter 4: Distractions
Starscream awoke with a start. Who turned him off? How did he get repaired? Where were his Conscripticons? He sat up and looked around, noticing he was alone in the sickbay. How did he get there? A flashing light caught his attention; something on the table next to him. It was boomerang-shaped, pink. It blinked and from it he perceived two voices, one male, one female. The male voice was very familiar. Starscream plugged the pink thing into his audioreceptors.
"You have done well in your tracking of Starscream," Megatron commended. "Especially this new information you give me. But what proof do I have that the robots he was building were really for me?"
Starscream's jaw dropped. A spy? When? Where? Who? The robots were to aid his coup! Surely Megatron realized that! He was doomed!
"Actually, I don't; but I heard him talking to himself the whole time. He was mumbling about a lot of things that could be the gestalt of that," Mishap replied. She was standing in front of the most powerful mech in the Universe, and telling him lies. Why not? Although she had been very truthful to her leaders in the pit her dislike of this megalomaniac seemed to lead her into dangerous places. She had already explained that Starscream had been making them as an asset to the Decepticons. A curry for favor. Unfortunately, his lack of competence (something she witnessed in the labs countless times) caused them to blow up in his face. This was her surmising, based on what occurred. She could be wrong. After he berated her for nearly blowing her cover, if not for Soundwave's happening to be at the controls when she arrived, Megatron asked probing questions about the events, each one a new angle of perception. Forcing her into repeating this story different ways was a ploy to find inconsistencies, and Mishap was not falling for it. She had not kept slaves riveted in tales of adventure all those millions of years for nothing.
"I see," said Megatron, stroking his chin. "What puzzles me is- your obvious cover-up to keep me from uncovering the truth!" He pointed his ion cannon at her head. "What was Starscream really doing there?"
Mishap stared at him, light violet eyes steady as she waited until he sat back down. Megatron's blood red optics glowed with annoyance. She had to process quickly, appeal to something other than his paranoia.
"Why did you bring me here, Megatron?" she asked, tone implying this was rhetoric. Her expression said something lustful. "To spy on Starscream? To fulfill your need...for an excuse to terminate him? You need no such rationale." She stepped forward, looking desirous. "You, the great leader of the Decepticons, seem to require my services for other purposes." She dropped to her knees and crawled the few steps to his throne. He leered with interest. Fear entered her immediately; this robot could kill her. "Starscream fears you," she said in a low, soft assurance. "He knows any day will be his last. Your accolade is all he desires." She decided to do the unimagined. Face level with his lap, she raised herself to a position on her knees in front of him. His expression didn't change. "He knows where his loyalties are," she purred, hands on his knees. He felt as cold as deep space. "So do I." She leaned even closer. Megatron's mouth opened and a faint groan, almost a sigh, escaped. She parted his legs farther and let her hands travel closer to his upper thighs. "Or would you prefer a more pleasant subject?"
Starscream had not moved. If he were human he would not breathe. What were they doing? He could not find out because just then Hook came in to discharge him and send him on his way. He raced out, clumsily fumbling to re-plug the pink transistor.
"Your logic satisfies me." That smirk was back. Mishap counter-intuitively gave her best winning smile. "The rest of you will have to wait. Fetch me Rumble and return to Starscream."
"Yes, your excellency," Trying no to let her relief overtake her, Mishap put on a small pout and slunk out of the throne room. Once the door slammed shut behind her she leaned against the hallway wall and shuddered uncontrollably.
Chapter 5: Revelations I
Starscream slowly lowered the transistor. How long had there been a spy? What did Megatron want? Mostly he panicked. He threw the pink thing against the wall, where it shattered.
"What is going on?" he cried, pacing his chamber. "Who is this spy?" Whoever she was, she would not get near him!
The door pounded, causing him to jump. Rumble's head poked in. "Megatron demands your presence now!"'
He was going to die! He had to get out of here! Rumble maliciously watched him melt down. Suddenly, he shook his head and turned away. "Later," he said, walking off.
"Starscream!" a female voice whispered.
"Show yourself, you pile of scrap!" The voice came from nowhere, irking the jet as he swung around wildly to locate it.
"Do you really think I will, after you talk to me like that?" she mock-sadly replied. "I'm sorry I saved your life twice!" Starscream began his long journey to hell. She followed, hurrying to catch up. "You heard what I told him, right?"
"Yes. I suppose you want my gratitude. Unfortunately, Megatron will not accept my advances towards his person," he snorted sarcastically, forgetting the time –
"If you go in there arrogant and defensive, as you always are, and repeat the same story I did, which I KNOW you heard on the transistor, then he has nothing to accuse you of."
The bell went off in Starscream's head. "Of course!" he exclaimed, Megatron's throne room door looming above him.
She spoke the minute he returned to his chamber. "You," she sighed, "Are brilliant!"
At his confrontation Starscream had confessed his greatest desire was to win Megatron by proving his genius. Not being able to succeed, he had assumed a small present of more Decepticons would win his favor.
"Well it didn't!" Megatron thundered. "It blew up in your face!"
"How did I get out of there?" Starscream inquired.
"You radioed for help," came the less-than-smooth lie. Megatron waved his attendant away. "We found you."
"Where?" Starscream asked slyly.
"Get out of here!" hollered Megatron.
"How did you know what I said? Were you there?" He did not like having to talk to an imperceptible being.
"No." She was not about to admit the advantages of her invisibility. "I just know you."
"You were spying." Starscream stopped looking at the area around him for a source of the dialogue and lay down on his recharging plate. Reaching over to the nearby table he selected a CD and pushed it into an unknown slot. His optics dimmed.
Mishap sat on the floor. This was almost as tedious as her mining job. Twice she was tempted to ask what he was computing, just so she didn't have to listen to him mutter to himself. His face looked better now than it did when she met him. Blissful, almost. Very handsome.
Megatron was finally alone with his thoughts. Sitting on his throne, he contemplated his latest employee. 'Wonderful girl; either I'm going to kill her or I'm beginning to like her,' he thought. Clever, quick thinking, horny as an earth rabbit. He smiled at that. Her attempt to re-route his thinking system was laughable, but he let it go when he decided to hear what Starscream would say. She had a convincing style. No one functioning could resist such a come-on from such a ravishing creature. Why she felt she had to protect her ward made him suspicious until it occurred to him that job security was a good objective: no Starscream, no reason to stay here. He refused to believe that Starscream had been making him a "present" but could accept that he had been blown away by her sabotaging his endeavors. This setback, although temporary, would keep his second in command docile (or paranoid) for a few weeks. Long enough for Megatron to figure out what Mishap was up to. And see if she would do what he wanted her to do.
Cheesy Flashback #3
"You need a shot to your afterburners, loser!"
"Easy for you to say NOW, sis, but the race isn't over yet and YOU HAVE NO STAMINA!" Mirage was laughing as he kicked his gears higher and whizzed past her. She gasped in indignation, and for only a moment, was lost in a cloud of dust. "You are going to lose this race or ELSE!" She drove her blue car-like self as fast as she could through the piles of scrap and empty streets of abandoned Autobot cities. There was not much left that was in Optimus' jurisdiction. Oasis wondered what would happen if they were caught out here. Luckily, it was the middle of the night. Decepticons had the luxury of recharge hours. Oasis felt her engine slow as she realized her brother knew her far too well. Blast! When she finally WALKED into Autobot headquarters cafeteria he was waiting with Sunstreaker and Powerglide. All three playfully applauded her arrival. Mirage handed her a mug of hot energon.
"Thanks." She accepted a proffered mug of tasty beverage and sat at the fourth seat. Behind them was a table of femmes, laughing and joking about Firestar's relationship with Inferno. Oasis ignored them. These females were foreign to her. She had spent all of her life with her brother, and later his friends, being one of the guys. She was ill-prepared one day when Mirage told her she needed female cohorts. After a long argument he allowed her to tag along, as she had since the beginning, and now that she was older and being noticed by top brass she was glad she had. A lot of the officers around her were now her friends. She almost pitied the femmes. By forming a sexist clique they were only harming themselves.
"Look at the aft on that one," Sunstreaker grunted, head jerking to a green and yellow female who had stood up to refresh her drink. "Not bad at ALL!" They followed with dirty laughter. Oasis ignored them, assuming that she was not meant to comment but was allowed to listen, reinforcing her belief of being accepted.
"I like that one," Powerglide, with his usual lack of tact pointed to a female with soft seafoam armor who at the same time was looking at them.
"Why don't you go talk to her?" Oasis asked. She was bored with the mechs constantly hooting and hollering over who they would do what to and never following through. Powerglide reinforced this by stammering and claiming that he heard she was a real bitch. Sunstreaker snickered.
Oasis rose, calmly, and walked over to the group. Their conversations ceased as she approached. Whatever. "Good evening, ladies," she began. A mature light blue female smiled at her politely. The rest stared warily.
"Hello," the azure femme greeted. "I'm Chromia."
"Hi. I'm Oasis. I thought I would tell you.." she dropped to her knees, table level, and conspiratorially lowered her voice to a whisper. "Those guys over there think you all are REALLY special. I was wondering if you wanted to come with me to get to know them, 'cause they're kinda shy." She gestured to the mechs, who were nervously getting up from the table as she spoke. "Hey!" she hollered, giving them a LOOK. They sat back down. "OK, they have no social skills. Could you do me a favor and help me out?"
The seafoam one rose first. "Sure!" she said. The green and yellow one followed, as did a light purple female. Oasis led them over to the boys, gesturing to each one as she named them. "Meet Powerglide, Sunstreaker, and Mirage." As the women grabbed extra chairs and sat down Oasis left to allow the energon to be processed, assuming her brother needed no help in talking to a female. She was wrong. He chased after her after five minutes.
"I didn't appreciate that, Oasis. If I want to hang out with a crazy Autobot named Nova, I will." He caught up with her in time to see her shrug. It was not her fault that Nova was a common (stereotyped) femme name, or that this particular female fulfilled said stereotype.
"I'm sorry, bro. I thought you might like to get to know another girl besides me."
"I do; just not today. Right now I'm happy with my life the way it is." He reached over and took her hand. Oasis was surprised. They used to do that to find each other when they were both invisible, before they learned to sense the other's presence. One day they decided they were too old for that.
"So, what's on the agenda today?" she asked, feeling recharged. That was good energon!
"Not much. The Decepticons get up in a few hours."
"Perfect!"
"Why?"
"Rematch!" she claimed, transforming. Mirage laughed to catch up to her.