Author Note: This is the first of the "Twenty-Eight Character" Meme that's been floating around LiveJournal for a while now. The premise is that you choose a character then friends and visitors to your blog claim one (or two) of the items on the list. The owner of the list then writes a short (100 - 300 word) ficlet on the claimed topic.

My chosen character, as you can see, is Smokescreen. I chose him because the poor boy never gets enough love. This 'story' will grow as people claim, or as inspiration convinces me to claim something myself.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Transformers. All rights and licenses belong to Hasbro, Takara, and IDW. I make no money off this, so please don't sue the poor fangirl.

It was a quiet day in the Ark and the Autobots were getting some much needed rest. Smokescreen and Mirage sat comfortably in The Oil Bar, enjoying a glass of high grade and a quiet discussion.

"I just got a call from my broker. He suggests that we put more into biotech, computers, and, believe it or not, auto parts," Smokescreen said.

"Auto parts?" Mirage snorted. "You're kidding, right?"

"Yeah, I thought so too," Smokescreen replied, "but he says he's on the level. … Oh, and he also suggested a couple of general contractors that just went public. Apparently they're doing quite well."

"Oh?" Mirage asked, raising his optic ridges. "And how well is quite well?"

"Up 15.05 this morning," Smokescreen replied, taking a sip of his energon.

The quiet of the lounge was suddenly broken as Carly strode in and stopped at Smokescreen's feet, hands on her hips. Mirage put down his glass of energon and looked at his drinking companion.

"What did you do?" he asked.

"Me?!" Smokescreen said. "I didn't do anything!"

"Didn't do anything?!" Carly cried. "How can you even begin to say that?"

"What?" Smokescreen asked, looking around confused. "What'd I do?"

"You taught my son to gamble, that's what you did!" Carly yelled, pointing at finger at the Datsun.

Mirage snorted and shook his head. "You taught Daniel to gamble? He's only six."

"I … no, I didn't teach him to gamble." Smokescreen said, indignantly. He was putting on an air of innocence, but he was still backing away from the small human.

"Oh, really? Then where did Daniel learn the words 'Ante Up'?" Carly asked, staring up at the bot defiantly.

"Uh … television? The internet? … There are a hundred places he could have learned. Why blame me?" Smokescreen asked, looking to Mirage for back up. The Ligier simply shook his head and returned to his drink, trying unsuccessfully to hide a smirk.

"No way, mister! I don't believe you for an instant! You taught my son to gamble! He's six, for Christ's sake! I can't even begin to tell you how irresponsible that was! I will be damned before I EVER let you baby-sit my child again!" Carly yelled and stormed out of the room.