More than Meets The Eye
It was just after noon in New York City, on a clear sunny day in late June, 2015. In a cosy little cafe in Central Park West, a small group of women sit and chat, although they are much more than they seem. They had been given the day off and had chosen to rest and relax in New York City.
"So Stella, did ye ever get tha' heat regulator thingy o' mine finished this mornin' or what?" A Scottish redheaded woman asked from across the table.
"At this present time, it is not yet ready." answered a young blonde Englishwoman.
The redhead decided to order another round of food and drinks, and then makes a quick glance at a pink haired Cajun woman, as if to ask, 'do you have a problem?'
"Again wit' dat stuff! Ugh, give me energon any day. Ya know Rusty, if ya not be havin' dat organic food processor built into ya Biomode shell, ya might actually look good, but no, ya be a big, fat and ugly overgrown mechanoid cow." Her name was Casey or CJ for short.
Rusty looked menacingly over at CJ. "Lass, ye lucky I'm so starvin' righ' now, otherwise I'd be cleanin' ye clock from here te Delta Six an' back again, ye pint sized pink pansey." She raised her fist as if to start a fight.
"I be likin' ta see ya try Rusty, would ya be wantin' to show off in front of all da humans now eh? Besides ya always be hungry!"
Rusty realized that CJ was right, the team had standing orders not to exert themselves in front of the humans for any reason, but to remain hidden, not that she was one to follow orders anyway, but she was in enough trouble from their boss anyway. At least that's what their orders were from their commander, who was noticeably absent from Earth, away on business to Delta Four, or so they thought.
The blonde Englishwoman, named Stella, then piped up, "Ladies, if you could please keep your decorum until we get back to the base, I would be much appreciated."
Rusty turned to her, and mockingly stated, "Who died an' made ye queen of the universe lass? O' tha's' right, mummy dearest left her fav'rite in charge of us wee bairns, di'n she Stella, am I righ'?"
Another woman was seated next to Rusty, an African-American named Felicia with a Texan accent. "Ya'll are nuts. Rusty, let it go, she cahn't help it if she's the best femmebot for the job, now can she? I know ya'll don't lahke bein' ordered about but ya'll gotta put up with it till mah sister gets back."
"Felicia is indeed correct Rhiannon, let it be. We will discuss this at another time perhaps." Stated Stella calmly.
Rusty first glared at the blonde, then pushed away Flicka's hand, which was on her shoulder, and got up to retrieve her order. A news report on a television screen behind Rusty began a story.
"Thank you most kindly for your generous words Aunt Felicia, but I think we should be listening to this." Stella motioned for all to watch the television set, for the local news bulletin.
"Good afternoon folks, this is Arnie Grey comin' at ya from atop northern Manhattan in our sky spy chopper cam."
Rusty took her order and then went outside to finish it, before hearing the last of the bulletin. Flicka tried to stop her, but she was pushed away.
"She's gettin' mahghty antsy about us all havin' ta hold back all tha time, ah mean hidin's just not her style. One o' these days if not soonah she's goin' ta' break our covah," Flicka said.
Stella nodded and returned her attention to the screen, where Arnie Grey continued his news bulletin. "It seems those Decepticons are at it again folks." The screen showed a film of the Autobots and the Decepticons duking it out north of Central Park.
Then another woman in the group, Vanessa, who had been drinking and reading a newspaper outside, came in as Rusty was leaving, roughly pushing past the newcomer. "See ya Rusty, have fun, wherever it is you're going. Don't break anything, will ya?" She said aloud.
"Och, kiss me' tailpipe, Nessie ye headcase." Rusty said to Vanessa in a very gruff manner as she stormed off up the street, unknowingly in the direction of the fight shown on the news.
From the television: "The Autobots are putting up a good fight now that the Police have started to evacuate the area of most of us little humans," said Arnie jokingly. "This is gonna get real heavy and expensive in the damage department when they're done." he added.
Seeing what was happening on the TV, Vanessa remarked without taking her optics from the action, "We goin' or not? Both the humans and the Autobots could use our help."
Stella agreed. "Yes, they most certainly will, but keep it down, alright? We do not want the humans to get suspicious and we most certainly do not want any of the Cybertronians discovering who we really are. Those are our orders from the commander, is that understood? And Vanessa no matter how much you will want to, please do not reveal yourself to your old comrades."
All nod in agreement, especially Vanessa. "Right. Vanessa, you go outside to the alleyway and transform out of your Biomode shell and into your vehicle mode." Stella then hastily left, but continued from outside. "Casey, come with me. Felicia, pay for our meal, then join us in the alley. We will pick up Rusty on the way there if she hasn't already broken our cover as I suspect she may have."
Out in the alley, a talking Van commented to Stella. "Hey boss, we won't need to pick up Rusty, she's already there. I picked her up on my scanners and it seems she wandered into the fight on her own without realising it."
"Well dat'd be a first!" said Casey surprised.
"Blast, she will break our cover, I know it. Vanguard, let's go." Stella replied.
Casey got in the back and motioned for Felicia to get in as well, as Vanguard started up.
"Felicia, move it now!" Stella yelled to Flicka, as she also jumped in the back of the van, which Vanessa, or Vanguard as she now was, left her rear door open for Felicia as she started to move out of the Alleyway.
A lone news chopper was flirting with danger so close to a mighty mechanoid melee of Autobots vs Decepticons, in the streets of New York City, northern Manhattan. They were able to get an unprecedented amount of news footage as they had dared to fly that close to the action.
"Are you sure we should be this close, boss? I mean, what if one a those Decep's decides to make us go bye bye? I mean I got a wife an' kids you know!" asked the chopper pilot.
"Yeah Arnie, I mean this is great footage and all but what if, you know? I wanna go home in one piece?" Arnie's cameraman had a worried look on his face. A stray blast shot past them from the foray below, as he voiced his concerns and anxiety; his cousin had been killed in a similar way. The Decepticon blast had been from one of them, attempting to destroy the news chopper and rid the fight of what they saw, the humans, as a nuisance.
"Nah guys; we'll be fine, I promise," replied Arnie. The cameraman and the pilot both looked at each other and shook their heads. Then the pilot spoke up again. "Now where have I heard that before?"
Just then, another stray laser blast came out of nowhere, narrowly missing the chopper. "That's it, I'm outta here!" said the pilot, as he straightened out the chopper. "I'm settin' this baby down right now and we are all goin' home; let someone else film these guys fighting for once!" And with that, the pilot set towards the top of their news building, and disappeared from view.
Meanwhile, down on the street, chaos ran amok. Blaster was currently engaged in a tussle with Ramjet on the ground, after having knocked him out of the sky with his electro scrambler gun, temporarily damaging his flight components.
"So Ramjet, not so tough, huh? You gotta dance to my sweet tunes now!" commented Blaster.
Groggy and dizzy from being shot with Blaster's gun, Ramjet slowly came back online to see who it was that had shot him from the sky, only to look up and see Blaster standing over him. He got to his feet and replied, "C'mere, you over grown beat box, so I can beat you into tempered slag."
"Don't knock the beat till you feel the heat!" replied Blaster laughing, as he put his gun away, only to continue with a fierce hand to hand melee with the Decepticon soldier.
A few streets away, Hot Rod and the twin brothers, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, were chasing the Stunticons in high gear.
Meanwhile, Rusty unknowingly wandered right into the area where the Autobots were fighting. And right into the path of the Decepticon called Wild Rider. He had just sped around the corner of a street to get away from Hot Rod, who was close on his tail, and who in turn had Motor Master on his.
Not caring about the human in front of him, Wild Rider commented, "Oh look! A fleshling speed bump."
He increased his speed and aimed straight for Rusty, only to be surprised as she catapulted herself over him and right into Hot Rod's path, "Oh slag!" commented Rusty as she saw Hot Rod crash into a fire hydrant in an attempt to avoid her.
Wild Rider continued his driving, laughing like a maniac at Hot Rod's predicament. Rusty, who had now recovered her bearings, had Motor Master bearing down on her before she was able to check on Hot Rod, and in a split second, she engaged her ram bolts to stop him dead in his treads. Motor Master not caring at all about the human in front of him, and well possessed of his own superiority just kept going and sped up. But he was knocked offline from the damage of hitting Rusty full on, as he thought that was what he had hit, was just an ordinary human; when in fact, she was not normal. Rusty had super strong reinforced armour; she could survive almost any impact with it. Including a head on collision with the leader of the Stunticons. Dead End and Breakdown zoomed past, oblivious to their leader's predicament.
As Drag Strip drove by, he said mockingly, "Well I guess I'm the better one of us both after all, eh fearless leader?" He continued to drive away, laughing all the while. Motor Master just sat there in the middle of the road, motionless and unable to reply to Drag Strip's retort and also unable to move.
Sunstreaker and Sideswipe then pull up surprised to se the condition Motor Master is in and then see Hot Rod, who had just recovered from the dizziness of his crash into a hydrant.
He slowly gets up and comments, "You know, I could of sworn there was a human in the middle of the road a moment ago, she was just there," Hot Rod said to the twins, pointing to Motor Master's caved in front grill. "Right in the middle of the street, she jumped right over Wild Rider and I had to swerve to avoid her, and crashed...but?" Puzzled, Hot Rod rubbed his sore head.
Sunstreaker said with a smirk, "Well, maybe you're just imagining things, seeing as how you like humans so much?"
The twins helped Hot Rod up, and then looked at the damage to Motor Master's front end. It was like he had hit a tree, and his entire front end had been caved in, to a human-sized dent.
At that moment, Rusty had gotten her bearings back again, and had begun to get herself out of the trucks' damaged chassis. "Well, I suppose they jus' don't make 'em like they used te," she said jokingly, not noticing the three Autobots staring at her. She was amused that she had not a scratch on her, but her clothes were ruined and cut up. She noticed the three Autobots and said smiling, "Hi!" Rusty looked up at them. She stopped for a moment and looked luridly at Sideswipe and winked.
He in turn wasn't fazed by the action but looked at his brother to ascertain a meaning to the gesture. Sunstreaker just shrugged. "I suppose ye wonderin' how I survived tha'?" She motioned to the damaged truck. "Well, don' s'pose t'is nae point in hidin' nae more!"
The three were confused as to what she meant, until they see her transform from a human and into a tall and bulky, red and black armoured, Autobot female.
"Whoah!" commented Sideswipe, with a smirk on his face, "That's one tall femmebot!" Burnout was indeed tall. Even though she had a sports car alt mode she stood at least a full head taller than Hot Rod and the twins, and looked very heavily armoured by the looks of her.
Sunstreaker added jokingly. "And here I thought humans weren't good for anything... except maybe Pretender shells!"
Burnout smirks at Sunstreaker's comment and adds, "Ye havnae seen nothin' yet ladd!"
Jazz, Mirage and Cliffjumper were pinned down, and with the other Autobots elsewhere, they were finding it hard to do anything to help relieve their situation. They were currently under heavy fire from Thrust, Dirge, and Soundwave.
Mirage turned to Jazz and said, "We can't hold out like this for much longer."
"And as much as I hate to agree with you Mirage, you may be right, but our Auto-buddies'll show up." says Jazz.
Soundwave had ejected Ravage, Laserbeak and Rumble, but this had left him open to attack.
Cliffjumper nailed Soundwave with his Glass Gas gun. "Ha ha!" he exclaimed excitedly, "Got one! Now to get more of 'em!" Cliffjumper jumped out from their cover and transformed, raced down the street and managed to knock Ravage and Rumble out of the way.
Mirage then took the opportunity to use his abilities to disappear leaving Jazz on his own. Having nothing better to do right now, Jazz decided to provide cover for his friend Cliffjumper.
Back down the street, Vanguard, with Felicia, Stella and Casey in tow, had arrived just in time to see Rusty transform into her robot mode as Burnout. Stella eyed off Burnout as she got out of Vanguard's front seat. Burnout explained what happened. Stella was not the slightest bit impressed.
"It still does not change the fact that you disobeyed direct orders and broke cover, Burnout, and..." Stella broke off, as she noticed a silver-haired figure atop a nearby roof.
'Don't worry about Stella, just do what you have to do' said the figure.
'As you wish Commander Drake' replies Stella.
Before the female figure started to fade out, she adds, 'Stella, be sure not to use anything but your car mode ok. I don't want them seeing anything else right now.'
After she disappears Stella sighs. The others turned to see who it was but miss who it was Stella was looking at. Although they had said several things it had only been a short moment. "New orders; cover has been broken, and now that we are in the open, we fight." Bellows Stella.
The others are quite happy with this, and don't bother to hide their enthusiasm. "Casey, Felicia, you go and help the humans and see if you can find out why the Decepticons are here; take Quarterback and Quicksilver with you," Stella ordered, "but leave Hawkeye, Nightshade and Dog Fight with us." Stella knew what animecha partners Felicia had with her as she had seen which ones she had stored away before they left their base earlier in the day, that and she had been playing with them in Central Park earlier with their holomodes on.
Felicia ejected the animechs from her system through light fixtures in her hands, and they came online as their forms materialized into solid metal masses. "Gotcha," replied Felicia. She and Casey mounted up and raced away on Quarterback and Quicksilver, leaving a hawk, a large dog and cat behind.
"Burnout, Vanguard, you're with me," said Stella.
Sideswipe looked at the white van with the Autobot insignia as Vanguard transformed, and wondered to himself, 'Vanguard?' He pulls his brother aside and asks him, "Hey wasn't that the name of Trailbreaker's little sister?"
Sunstreaker replies, "You idiot, I don't want to know why you brought that up and nor do I care."
"I'm in, boss!" said Vanguard to Stella, and raced off with Burnout and Hot Rod, who reverted back to her vehicle mode and followed close behind.
Sideswipe was just on the verge of leaving. "You coming, bro?" he asked his brother.
Sunstreaker raised his hand as if to say, 'wait a minute', and then asked Stella, "Well, I suppose you must be just human, since you haven't done anything yet, or do we have to carry you to the battle, hmm?"
Stella looked up at him and said not a word. Sunstreaker was baffled by this, but didn't show it. She pressed a device on her left wrist with her right hand and then transformed into a tall, slim, beautiful, white femme. She checked her weapons systems and various other items and programs on her wrist guards then turns to the twins and says, "My designation is Sunstar." Then she transforms and drives off after the others.
"Whoa bro, a mech who's better looking than even you!" Sideswipe teased jokingly.
Sunstreaker only pretended to not be affected by what his brother said, but even he couldn't help but notice how better looking Sunstar was. "As if anyone could compete with my good looks!"
The twins also transformed and followed, as Sideswipe added, "There's femmebots coming outta the mechworks today!"
Jazz sighted the arrival of his comrades, as well as the females with them, and wondered who they were. "What the..?" he commented amusingly.
Hot Rod said, "Look what we found lying around the place!" as he motioned to the new arrivals.
Sunstar drove right past and set her sights on the jets, Dirge and Thrust. She rammed Ramjet while in still in vehicle mode, and then she transforms to her robot made and takes off after the other two still on the ground, dispensing them with ease.
Blaster, relieved at a break in the fighting, turned his sights to Soundwave, who had only just recovered from Cliffjumper's Glass Gas. "Care to dance, Decepti-crumb?" he said mockingly.
Soundwave replied, "Anytime." and then the two of them began to tear up the street with their sonic blasts.
Vanguard covers her audio sensors and says jokingly, "Almost makes me wish Sound Track was here!"
Cliffjumper rejoined Jazz, wondering who the newcomers were as he eyed them with suspicion. Mirage also turns up from nowhere as usual and joins his comrades after dispensing a Decepticon from his stealth mode.
Sideswipe said, "We brought some extra help. Don't know who they are or where they're from, but we brought 'em anyway. They're Autobots apparently?"
Burnout turned away from the group of Autobots to notice the four remaining Stunticons close by, who had just turned up again, and she said, "Oh good, ye have punchin' bags in this gym." She clicks her fingers joints like cracking her knuckles and glares at them menacingly.
They notice her but aren't fazed. Wild Rider yells out, "Bring it on Auto-bitch!"
Burnout raises her brow and smirks at the Decepticon, "As ye wish ladd!" She starts running towards them, then catapults herself of a piece of torn up road and slams herself hard into the ground, using her fist to cause an earthquake that shakes everything in the immediate vicinity, and shaking those Decepticons to the ground. "Thought I'd shake 'em up a bit!" she says amusingly to herself, hoping someone would hear her great feat.
Felicia's three animechs went straight for Soundwave's minions; Nightshadow against Ravage, Dog Fight helping Steeljaw against Rumble, and Hawkeye setting her sights on Laserbeak.
The Decepticon however, found it hard to keep up with, or even catch, the fast and agile mech hawk. She dashed here and there avoiding every shot Laserbeak fired at her, some only missing by mere microns, and some even singeing her metal feathers. She eventually dodged the fire enough to lead Laserbeak right into the oncoming fire of his cohorts, right into Laserbeak's sight, downing the metal Vulture.
Dog Fight, a seasoned pit fighter mech from this group of three was having immense fun. He hadn't been in a fight for a while, only content to be Felicia's pet as they wouldn't let the champ fighter participate in any pit Fights any more due to his grand winning streak. He got close enough to Rumble and when he was distracted by Steeljaw, leapt up and grabbed Rumble by the throat area. No matter how much the Decepticon tried to break free he couldn't get the dog to let go. Dog Fight only let go when several of Rumble's fellow soldiers started firing weapons blasts at him, but by then the damage was done, Rumble's neck was ripped wide open. When he was satisfied with his work he quietly pranced along with his tail wagging to another Decepticon target.
Ravage was not particularly enjoying his prey. She was every bit as skilful and talented in combat as he was, not that he'd ever admit that. He lost sight of her several times, only to become frustrated, and then getting caught offguard when she pounced on him from nowhere. She continually dodged his attacks till at last she just sat there upright like a playful little kitten would and dared him to attack her without her retaliating. But each and every time she dodged and he became more frustrated than ever.
The twins and Cliffjumper joined Burnout to fight the Stunticons, and made short work of them, as did Sunstar and Vanguard with the jets as they both made sure the seekers were permanently grounded. But no one had noticed the entrance of Blitzwing. He targeted the Autobot group, and proceeded to fire on every Autobot he could see, getting a square shot at Burnout and tossing her clear across the street, but without so much as a scratch. "Is tha' the best ye got ladd?" she says when she gets up.
And Astrotrain, who had just retrieved Motor Master and was a little late to arrive, started loading up the other Decepticons who were wounded. Both Vanguard and Burnout helped to protect everyone from the blasts; Vanguard with her super shields, and Burnout with her diamond hard chassis.
"Just like old times, eh, Jazz?" said Vanguard.
Jazz looked at her, finding her familiar. But for a moment he recognizes her and knows something isn't quite right. "No, it can't be... Vanguard?"
Mirage turned to look, as Cliffjumper added, "What? You mean Trailbreaker's crazy little sister who we declared dead?"
Vanguard nodded. Jazz looked her up and down laughing all the while. "It can't be you; I mean you're still..."
"Alive, yeah... had a little accident in the Delta system when I arrived there... got given a new body shell," Vanguard said with a smile. "This new armour suits me better, but the voice is still the same don't you think?"
"I'll say," added Cliffjumper laughing his vocalisers off. When he was done he turned serious. "But it still doesn't let you get away with deserting your responsibilities. You're still an Autobot soldier, and why in the Infernal Pit didn't you come back, we could've used you during the war?"
Vanguard smiled at Cliffjumper, and gives him a friendly punch on the shoulder. "I had my reasons, which I'll tell you guys another time ok, but right now," pointing to the Decepticons firing at them, "We better take care of these guys, eh Cliff'? By the way it's great to see you all again!"
Cliffjumper sighed, and shook her hand as it was offered. In doing so, Vanguard lost her concentration for a moment, and with her shield down, a blast hit Burnout in the back as she turned, and slammed into the wall right against Sideswipe, face to face. Blaster had a good laugh at her current position as well as Sideswipe's. "Lookin' for a girlfriend are ya 'Swipes?".
Sideswipe commented back, "Yeah they're all just droppin' at my peds for the chance!"
Burnout commented to Sideswipe with a smirk, "Hope I'm not imposin,' lad."
Sideswipe, however, could not contain his amusement and answers, "Nah, you're welcome to any time lil' lady!"
Sunstreaker laughed his head off at his twin bother. And then joins him.
Vanguard hearing what Sideswipe said, "Geez! Little? Burnout is anything but!"
Burnout moved and glared at Vanguard as she got up. And with the shields down, Sunstar took the opportunity to attack Blitzwing with her solar cannon. Blitzwing transformed into his jet mode, barely getting away after he'd taken too many blasts from her weapon and had decided to retreat instead.
Sideswipe commented jokingly to his brother, "Not only does she look better than you, bro', she fights better, too!" He laughed.
Sunstreaker glared at him with his cold optic stare. "Now it's your turn to shut up." And punches Sideswipe across the jaw.
With the Decepticons gone, the mechs relaxed a little. "I'm wonderin' what that lot was after?" Vanguard said. "From what I remember of them, it can't be anything good!" She was busy helping Burnout and Jazz keep the twins apart also.
Just then, Casey and Felicia showed up, and dismounted from their mechanical horses. At least they were mechanical on the inside. Their holo emitters covered them nicely and made them look like for all the world, ordinary horses to everyone else.
Casey stated, "Dey be after dat new prototype energy converter de humans be working on 'ere." She pointed to an old building. "Dey be keeping it 'ere till tomorrow, til' dey ship it to a military facility."
"Good old Casey; always knows everythin' before even we do!" said Felicia jokingly, as she returned her animech to her storage unit. "Now ah now whah tha boss gave ya tha comms officer job!"
Casey smirked, and then continued, "I got de info from one o' dose officers back dere where we were. De humans'r just as easy ta charm as de mechs bein' ya know!"
Sunstar commented, "We will have to make a report of this when we get back to base," unaware that Sunstreaker was looking at her. As they met optics, he looked away from her, but Vanguard saw him looking, and snickered.
She nudged Sunstar, and told her, "Well I guess 'Streaker still isn't used to other mechs being better lookin' than him!" Sunstar looked at her confused. "Forget it Stella, you won't ever get it, will you?" With that Vanguard walked off, but not far.
Sunstar had moved away from the group and was waiting quietly off to one side for them to come along.
Felicia had recalled her animecha and resumed her Autobot form. Blaster had started to ask her about how she stored them away if they weren't part of her like his partners were, but all she did was smile and wink at him. She did a complex series of fancy dance moves and transformed into her vehicle mode, a red Porsche. "Tha name's Flashdance ya'll, remember it. C'mon Casey, ya'll gettin' in or whaht?" She opened her drivers side door for the pink haired dark skinned human with the Cajun accent.
Casey was disinclined to show her mecha form to them as she wasn't an Autobot; she had been told not to show her mecha form outside their base. "I be ridin' wit' Burnout."
"Anyway boys, it's been nice seein' you all again. Don't call us, we'll call you, ok?" Vanguard calls out as she presses a warp gate activation device on her wrist.
Sunstar waited by the gate as they went through one by one.
First Flashdance in a flashy show of light emitters on her vehicle chassis.
Then shortly followed by Vanguard, who had by then said her goodbyes to her old friends and transforms into her vehicle mode and drives through the gate.
Sunstar was still waiting patiently for the last two. Burnout and Casey. Burnout had been cleaning herself off at a fire hydrant that had been smashed open in the fight. As she passed Sideswipe she winked at him. Then transformed and opened her door for Casey. She promptly got in and Burnout smoked her rear tyres showing off and rocketed herself through the gate.
Sunstar walked backwards through the gate bowing to the Cybertronian Autobots as she did so and disappeared from view.
When they had gone Jazz exclaims, "Well it certainly has been an interesting day, hasn't it!"
"I'll say!" responds Hot Rod.
"Now I suppose we'll be staying to help the humans clean up?" asks Sunstreaker, "The least those femmebots could've done was to stay and help."
"Why so you could look at them some more?" retorts his twin brother.
Sunstreaker ignores him and says to Jazz, "I suppose you haven't yet noticed that Mirage is missing?"
"Probably followed those femmebots through their warp gate. He had plenty of time to disappear and do that." Comments Cliffjumper, "I'm glad I'm not the one who has to make the report to Prime, eh Jazz?" Cliffjumper starts snickering.
Jazz playfully slaps him on the shoulder joint and says, "Well that's ok buddy, I am the team leader after all. And it was so good of you to volunteer to help me type that report!" They both start laughing. "Hopefully Mirage will report in to home base with any info he would've gotten from the femmebots."
"If that is where he went?" Comments Cliffjumper.
Jazz gets the group organised and they all start helping the humans who have just started coming back into the area, to clean up the mess in the street from the fight with the Decepticons.
Back at the femmebots base in Washington State, they had arrived home.
Burnout was the first to comment on the day's action. "Now tha's the kind o' rough stuff I been waitin' fer," she said excitedly. "Nae more hidin' behind these human shells, we can join the others in their fun now." She sighed. "I'm gonna go have a hot oil bath in me' quarters," and turned to leave.
Vanguard had also gone somewhere, most likely off to her private quarters.
But Sunstar, Flashdance and Casey remained near the wall where they had made their entrance with the warp gate, and then the three started walking towards their recreation room.
"Somethin' botherin' ya'll Stella?" asks Flash'. Sunstar had in the meantime reverted to her Biomode and was conversing with Casey. Flashdance shortly followed suit.
Stella looks around for a bit then says, "I am sure it is nothing."
Casey commented, "We only 'ope she be right, but dat only bein' a momentary allowance on de boss lady's part." She turned to Stella and continued, "Am I bein' right, is dat who you be seein' when we be in town?"
Stella turned to Casey and replied, "Yes." Casey had transformed to her mech form Joyride and run off ahead of the both of them after she'd noticed the return of Sound Track to the base from her mission on Delta Prime. Once she was out of site Stella turns to Felicia and says, "That something was, that I sensed someone else come through the gate with us."
"Oh that! Ya'll needn't worry 'bout that, it's only Mirage!" She chuckled a moment, not realising that Mirage himself was watching them quietly in his stealth mode not too far away and listening intently, "Ah saw him come through that warp gate alrahght, rahght aftah ah came through. He's an Autobot, what harm could he do here now that they know we exist?"
"I suppose you are right." Stella says flatly and she wanders off to join Joyride, where ever it is she had gotten to.
When Felicia was alone she started talking to herself, "Well ah don't know about y'all, but ah'm gonna go get me some energon from the bar," she remarked, "Y'all are welcome to join us, Mirage!"
Mirage, overcome with a little shock that they had known he was there the whole time, turned off his stealth and faced her. He asked Felicia, "How can you see me while I'm in my stealth mode?"
"Ya'll ain't the only one who can use lahght ta disappear!" She giggled. She reverts back to her Autobot robot mode and demonstrates, disappearing then reappearing once again. Then she beckons him to follow, "C'mon ah'll introduce ya'll ta everyone else." With that he follows her to another section of their base.
