A/N: K, guys, rest assured I'm aware that this is going to disappoint some of you. But Bananabird approves, and frankly, that's all I care about. : )

So when Bananabird told me about Spy, I though it was brilliant, as did many of you, and at the end I asked her if Mirage was dead, which I know a few of you did as well, and she said, oh. I don't know. I guess? And I said, well, let's check. So I sent Star out to find him and she did, and this is what happened.

I sort of wanted to finish Equal and Opposite before I posted anything else with Star in it, but upon further reflection and with encouragement from Bananabird I have decided to make an exception for Aftermath. If you get lost, consult Equal and Opposite (the first chapter, at least). And this certainly won't make any sense if you haven't read Spy.

(Also, I had really awesome title cards in here for the chapters, but they were created in power point and inserted as pictures into word, so you don't get the benefit of the awesome font and red/black color scheme. bummer.)

Off we go!

The Truth You Can't Handle

By the time Star arrived on the scene, the shuttle was drifting aimlessly, completely dead. The attack had been swift, to the point, and unexpectedly powerful. They had planned on the transport being attacked, but not the way it had, with heavy artillery and stealth unbecoming of the Decepticons. She was the first of the rescue party to get there, but the 'Cons were already gone. So she floated through one of the gaping holes in the side of the ship and landed on the blasted, pockmarked metal of what had been the bridge, beginning the search for survivors.

She found the scanty few there were in what was left of the shuttle's small med-bay. There were five of them, two in critical condition, and their medic was working hard to keep them both online. He was immensely grateful for the femme's skilled assistance, and by the time the rest of the rescue team arrived they had managed to relatively stabilize both of them. While the rescue team hurried to evacuate the five mechs and get them to Iacon, Star slipped away to walk down empty halls in the shuttle, noting the signs of battle, checking the greyed chassis she came across, until she found herself in what was left of the brig.

There was a gaping hole in the side of the shuttle, tearing across three cells but centered on the one that until recently had been occupied. Star inspected the rend, and then turned to the far side of the brig, to the mess of twisted, scorched metal that used to be the side of the hull and part of the roof. Trapped beneath the wreckage was a single chassis, and the femme came to a stop where she could see it to grimly inspect the damage.

Mirage looked like he had been caught directly in the explosion, the side of his chassis that had been facing it charred black and laced with shrapnel. Star pursed her lips and scanned the mech, and was surprised to receive a faint pulse of life from him. He was in stasis and heavily damaged, but he was alive. So with a frown the femme began to move the debris.

Star was confused. She had thought she had known the mech, and never would have pegged him as a double agent. In fact, she still harbored significant doubt that he was. She had searched the mech after all, when Cliffjumper had accused him of being a traitor the first time around. And there had been no indication of treachery then. How could there be now?

When she had finally moved enough to get the former noble out from beneath the wreckage she laid him down to diagnose the full extent of the damage. He looked horrible, but was surprisingly stable. That wouldn't last long without medical attention, though. The femme stared, trying to decide what to do. From what Optimus had told her, there wasn't much doubt in anybody else that Mirage was the double agent, which meant the council wouldn't be open to any argument of hers. Still, something was not right. She could feel it. She needed to know for herself. She needed to talk to Mirage and find out the truth, and if she took him to Iacon then even if she did find out he was innocent there would be nothing she could really do for the mech before he was sentenced to the stockade or worse.

So as footsteps echoed down what was left of the hall to the brig Star grabbed the mech, found the manual switch for his invisibility mod and turned it on, and then shoved him out the gaping hole in the side of the ship. "I'll come back for you." She promised in a whisper as the chassis went floating off into space.

"Find anything Star?"

The femme turned from contemplating the breach to shake her head with a frown. "Nothing. They must have taken him."

The mech looked puzzled. "Well, that's a little odd. Why would they do that? Don't they normally just kill failures?"

"Well, yes." Star replied. "But he was a very prominent double-agent. They may have felt the need to inflict some Decepticon justice on him." She shrugged. "I don't know. I'm pretty sure he's been taken care of, anyway."

"Well then, good riddance." The mech nodded. "We're ready to head out, someone'll be back to tow this pile of scrap to the shipyard for salvage pretty soon and we got all the bodies and survivors off. You comin?"

Star nodded distractedly. "I'll catch up. I'm going to look around some more, see if I can dig anything up."

"Suit yourself." The mech shrugged and turned to leave as Star gently lifted off the shuttle and inspected the hull from the outside of the ship. She waited for the rescue shuttle to leave, and for the tow shuttle to haul the destroyed transport away, and then when there was no one there to watch she turned away from Cybertron and followed the faint pulses of signal to reclaim the invisible spy.

Mirage was disoriented when he woke up. Mostly because the roof was really far away and not orange.

And then he was sitting up a little too quickly, checking himself for damage and looking around to figure out where he was, because last he remembered there was a lot of exploding going on and he was set to be put on trial for crimes he had not committed. He was surprised to find half of himself still charred black, though most of the rest of the damage had been taken care of.

"So, Mirage,"

The noble whipped his head in the direction of the voice and was surprised to see Star sitting on another berth, though he was fairly certain she hadn't been there a moment ago.

"I think you've got a story to tell me." She finished.

"Star, you have to believe me, I'm innocent!" Mirage hurriedly claimed.

Star shrugged. "That's not what Optimus thinks, or what the evidence suggests."

"I know." The mech slumped a little, disappointed at the frosty reception. "But I didn't do it. I'm not a traitor! And I don't know how to convince you, but I really am innocent."

The femme gave him a grim look. "If you didn't do it, Mirage, who did?"

The mech stared at her helplessly, and then sighed. "I think I know who did it, it's the only bot who I think could have possibly done it, but I doubt you would believe me if I told you."

"Try me." She shrugged.

Mirage met the femme's unwavering gaze, took a deep vent, and said, "I think it was Jazz."

Slowly, Star tilted her head down, both optic ridges raising in incredulity. "That is a very bold accusation, Mirage."

"I know." The mech replied quietly, looking down. "But think about it. I didn't do it, so someone planted all the evidence on me and repeatedly maneuvered me into very suspicious circumstances. Unless someone else has higher officer access and is far cleverer than I've ever given them credit for, Jazz is the only one who could have."

There was a moment of silence in the small med-bay, Mirage keeping his head down and Star just staring at him until the femme got up and walked out, leaving the mech alone.

She strode out of the med-bay into a huge room filled with datapads, and a larger, much older-looking mech was waiting there for her. He glanced up expectantly from his large datapad, archaic quill stylus poised above it. The femme sat down across the table from him and folded her hands, optics fixed on the smooth metal. Alpha Trion waited.

"I sense no lie in him." Star finally admitted. "As far as I can tell, he's innocent. But he's also trying to tell me that Jazz is the traitor." She looked up at the wise mech. "Alpha… as much as I want to believe that Mirage isn't the traitor…"

Alpha Trion nodded in understanding. "This could very well tear Optimus Prime's team apart."

Star sighed, gaze dropping. Alpha began to write again, quill scratching across the screen of the pad with a familiar sound. "The Prime has been trying to contact you." The Archivist mentioned after a few minutes.

"I know. I guess… I'll go talk to him now."

Star got up with another sigh and wandered over to the large computer console. For a moment, she simply stood before it, thinking, and then she reached out and began typing. Within a minute Optimus had appeared on the screen.

"Star, I trust you have heard about what happened to the transport carrying Mirage by now." He kicked off the conversation quickly.

"I have. I was the first to arrive at the shuttle. I looked. He wasn't there."

The Prime leaned back slightly. "Are you positive?"

"Trust me, Optimus, I was very thorough in my search. Nothing."

"Well that can't be right," another voice chimed in, and Teletraan zoomed out so she could see the much shorter form of Jazz next to the Prime, frowning in confusion.

Star held up her hands. "That's what I thought, but I looked, Jazz. All over. He was just gone."

The saboteur cocked his helm in thought. "You think he coulda escaped durin' th'battle?"

"It's that or the 'Cons grabbed him so they could punish him themselves for his failure." She shrugged. "But space doesn't leave much of a trail to follow, and by the time I got there the 'Cons were already gone. I'll keep looking, don't worry."

"Please do." Optimus agreed. "And please keep us posted."

"I will. Star out."

She ended the transmission, and then stood there again for a while. He had acted completely normal.

But then, so had she.

Star let her head drop. There was nothing there except for Mirage's suggestion, but something was wrong. Something was different, though she couldn't say what it was. It was just a little nudge of unsettled suspicion, but it was enough.

With an abrupt snarl, she turned back to the med-bay and strode back in to sit on the berth again, frowning at the charred mech. He hadn't moved except to start rubbing at the blackened parts of his armor, and looked up at the femme hopefully. Star eyed him narrowly, calculating. He met her gaze, and didn't look away.

"I won't say I believe you." She finally told him. "But I will hear you out. Tell me everything that happened."

So Mirage told her, from the very beginning, and left nothing out.

When he was done she looked more troubled than suspicious of him. He took it as a good sign, but then she sat there and thought about it for quite a long time, and the noble-mech started to get restless. He looked around again, trying to determine where he was. It wasn't really a med-bay, it had too much other equipment to be a real med-bay, and he hadn't seen anybody else in here other than Star, so finally he turned to the femme and dared to ask.

"Star, where are we?"

Star sat up, pulled from her musings, and then stood. "Alpha Trion's med-bay."

"Laboratory, actually." The wizened mech corrected as he stepped in, moving to the counter and starting to look for something.

"Only evil scientists call it a 'laboratory', Alpha. Besides, it's a med-bay right now."

Mirage's optics were wide as he stared at the old mech. He had been unaware that the Archivist was still alive, and to be suddenly in his presence was strange indeed.

"So he's going to be watching you while I go try to figure this thing out. You stay put and don't give him any trouble, or else I'll have to give you some trouble when I get back. Got it?"

Mirage snapped his gaze back to her. "Yes." He said. She nodded.

"Good."

And the femme strode away.

She didn't want to believe him. It was ludicrous, after all. But maybe that was what made her need to be sure; the fact that Jazz would be one of the last mechs anyone would suspect. So she flew herself all the way to Earth, snuck onto the Ark, and for three weeks she sifted through Teletraan's data, meticulously searching the well-organized case files (courtesy of Prowl) and watching, always watching. Nobody ever saw her, she was never detected, and she never gave anyone any indication that she was there—not even Prime.

And as she searched, pieces began to fall into place and they all worked out to give her the same picture that Mirage had.

She didn't want to believe him. But the truth of the matter was… he was right.

She returned to Cybertron and Alpha Trion's underground archive, trudging in unannounced to sit across the table from both Alpha and Mirage as the Archivist worked away at his pad and Mirage read another. Both mechs looked up at her, one expectant, one fearfully hopeful.

"You're right." She said, and her voice was nothing more than a whisper. There was a weight in her optics when she looked up at a relieved Mirage. "It is Jazz."

The once more blue and white mech set his pad down with a deep vent, some sort of tension seeping out of him, and he tried not to smile too much. Star was convinced that he was innocent and that was great. For him. But Jazz was still on the Ark, and the whole team was oblivious to the wolf among them. They would have to devise a plan to change that.

And then to deal with the fallout of having one of their top officers and most trusted and liked Autobots turn out to be a Decepticon spy this entire time.

"So what are we going to do?" he asked.

Star closed her optics, rubbing at her face and blowing out a vent. She was still for a moment, and then something in her hardened and her optics were sharp crystals of ice when she opened them.

"We make him confess."