Cybertron's two moons here high, casting their silver glow against a black sky and the sounds of horns could be heard blasting

Cybertron's two moons here high, casting their silver glow against a black sky and the sounds of horns could be heard blasting through out Dark Mount.

Starflower stood with her back pressed against the wall, peaking carefully around the corner to the Emerald hall.

Today a new Decepticon was being sworn in, his name was Turbo.

Starflower strained her neck to get a better look at the small, skinny, light green colored robot.

"He doesn't look very tough." Starflower whispered to herself. "If he wasn't a transformer, I'd swear he was just a kid."

With great caution, Starflower eased her way in, standing quietly along the back hall, watching.

"Come to me, Turbo." Megatron instructed, holding out the Decepticon symbol, which was to be branded on his metal chaste.

The thin robot stumbled forward, shaking.

"Hold out your arm and I will have Thundercracker brand this to you, making you one of us forever." Megatron said, reaching down for Turbo's arm.

Starflower watched in horror when the little robot gulped and quickly fainted into a heap of rubble at Megatron's feet.

"What the slag is this?" Megatron cried. "First Black Moon sends us a retarded femme and now a sniveling weakling? What are we being reduced to here?"

"Hey, at least Starflower found a way to make her body useful." Thundercracker spoke up, causing the other Decepticons to nod their heads in unison. "She just got done waxing my floor and boy what a job she did making it shine!"

"I know, you should see the job she did painting the southwestern wall of my quarters." Astrotrain added, squaring his shoulders. "Not an uneven streak on the whole thing."

The other Decepticons all whistled and made mocking cat calls, causing Starflower to shrink away, embarrassed.

All of them, howling and laughing, except one…Starscream.

Starflower thought back to the other night when she was in his quarters to "clean".

(Flashback)

She had just finished waxing Thundercracker's floor, which didn't even need it by the way, spending the whole day cleaning, polishing and scrubbing while all the other Decepticons groveled after her.

Entering Starscream's quarters, Starflower knew she was in for a real treat, for she didn't have to do anything with his filth. Yep, he believed in doing it all.

Starflower sighed, resting on his recharging unit with her aching feet up while he swept the floor.

She painted the tips of her wings neon pink while he filled in the cracks of his wall with plaster, sanding them over.

She sipped on an energon cooler and wrote letters to her Earth mother while he mopped and waxed the floor.

She thumbed through a Transformers magazine, gazing at the pictures of Optimus Prime posing seductively while Starscream redid the shelves in his closet.

After she was good and rested, she thanked him with a wink and then leaving, she put on her best acting performance to fool the other Decepticons so that they wouldn't know Starscream babied her so.

Falling out into the hall way, Starflower clutched her bucket to her chest, heaving and panting.

"By the Matrix, I have never seen so much dirt and grime!" she cried. "I can't keep up with it all! Starscream is such a slave driver! My back is killing me and I still couldn't get the muck up off the malevolent floor!"

The other Decepticons formed a circle around her, their optics wide as they watched the scene being acted out.

"The floor will do for now!" Starscream screamed, forcing false anger. "But the next time I had better see my own reflection in it!"

"Yes sir," Starflower stammered, gathering up her bucket and slipping away as she heard the other Decepticons praising Starscream for letting her know "who was boss".

(Back to the Present)

The lingering cat calls shook Starflower from her thoughts, causing her to gaze back at the poor boy-robot still lying in a pile at Megatron's feet.

"Get up, you lazy lout!" Megatron fumed, kicking the boy on his side.

Turbo shook his head, sitting upright and peering around.

"Where am I?" he asked, his optics puzzled.

"You're still in my throne room, also known as the Emerald room." Megatron answered. "What do you transform into?"
"Transform, I don't know actually." He answered honestly.

Megatron rolled his optics while the other Decepticons snickered.

"Transform and we shall see."

Starflower watched as the green robot shook, grunting and twisting, but it was of no use.

He did not transform into anything.

"Can't you transform?" Megatron asked.

"I don't know." Turbo shrugged. "Maybe I don't know how to change my own form."

"It is just as I thought." Megatron grumbled. "Black Moon sent us another retard."

Starflower's spark went out to the young transformer, for she knew what it felt like to be the outcast, she still was most of the time, when she wasn't cleaning.

"Cleaning," Starflower said to herself, thinking of a way to help the boy fit in.

Waiting in the shadows, Starflower stepped out and made her known once the room had cleared.

"Turbo?" she said softly, approaching him.

Looking up, he cringed. "Who are you?"

"My name is Starflower." She said, noticing similar characteristics to him that she once had on Earth. "Were you human once, Turbo?"

"Yeah, I was a seventeen year old guy." He said mournfully.

"Why, you're just a kid."

"I am not a kid!" he retorted. "I turned eighteen just before I was killed."

Starflower grinned. "Ok, you're not a kid. I watched the swearing in, it didn't go so good."

Turbo sighed heavily. "They hate me."

"They hate everyone, that's why they're Decepticons." Starflower remarked.

"Great, I feel a lot better now." He moaned.

"Don't worry, I know of a way to make you fit in." Starflower said cheerfully. "Come with me, you're going to be a cleaning assistant."

"Cleaning, how will that help?" he asked, rising to his feet.

"Trust me, these guys are a sucker for cleaning." She laughed.

With all their cleaning gear intact, Turbo followed Starflower to the first room down a long corridor of quarters.

Knocking hard, Starflower stepped back as Thundercracker poked his head out.

"Yes?" he said, smiling. "Is it time for another cleaning? My goodness, don't you ever get enough?"

"I never get enough of cleaning." Starflower said, reaching behind her and yanking Turbo around. "And I have an assistant, too."

"An assistant," Thundercracker said, as the two went into his quarters. "Isn't there anything that you won't do, Starflower baby?"

"Grab this and get busy polishing his computer screen." Starflower whispered to Turbo as she handed him a rag.

Turbo went to the small metal desk, wondering why he had to polish the screen when it already gleamed, but he did as he was told.

Running the rag along the corners of the computer, Turbo squirmed when he turned around and noticed Thundercracker with a flushed look about his face.

Moving to Starflower, Turbo reached down and grabbed up her bucket of cleaning solution, holding it out for her when he noticed her wiping down a mirror.

"Let me hold this for you." He offered.

"Lord the Matrix!" Thundercracker replied, shaking. "He's going to hold it for her."

With a slight turn to that remark, Turbo wrinkled his face in bewilderment.

"What's wrong with him?" he whispered back to Starflower just as she dipped the rag into the cleaning fluids.

"Just clean and don't even attempt to understand it." Starflower said.

Turbo grabbed hold of a broom and swept the cosmic dust towards Starflower.

"If you want to hold the dust pan for me, I'll sweep this up, Starflower." Turbo said, shuffling the broom her way.

Starflower tucked away her rag and stooped over, holding the dust pan in place while the boy swept.

Glancing over his shoulder, Turbo grimaced at Thundercracker as he suddenly overloaded.

"What's he doing?" Turbo whispered back, alarmed.

"Uh…nothing. It's time to go to another room." Starflower said, grabbing up her bucket and shoving the innocent boy into the hallway.

"Come back anytime and bring your little boy-toy." Thundercracker shouted after them.

"What did he mean by that?" Turbo asked, following Starflower to the next room.

"Believe me, you don't want to know." Starflower said, pounding on the next door.

"I don't like him, he's weird." Turbo said, shuddering.

"They're all weird, Turbo." Starflower whispered back as the door slid open.

"What brings you here?" Starscream asked, looking at her knowingly.

"I've come to clean that floor." Starflower said, pulling Turbo to her side. "And this little guy is going to help me."

"What are you talking about?" Starscream said, taken aback. "I don't clean for guys!"

"This is different." Starflower whispered to his cheek. "You know…since I don't really clean, you do it."

"That doesn't matter; I only do it for femme's, not males!" Starscream cried in disgust. "What do you think I am a homosexual?"

"What's he talking about?" Turbo asked innocently, causing Starflower to cringe uneasily. "Why would he say that? We're only cleaning his room."

"I don't clean for men, besides my doing all the cleaning was supposed to be our little secret." Starscream pouted, clearly offended. "I see how much that really meant to you."

Swallowing hard, Starflower turned around only to see that Turbo had disappeared.

"Turbo, where are you?" she called out, whirling her head in all directions.

Rushing down the hall, Starflower became frightened as she continued to call out for the young transformer.

"Fine, go and run after him!" Starscream cried out. "I didn't want you anyway!"

Starflower ignored him as she scurried from room to room, looking desperately.

Stopping abruptly in her tracks, Starflower gazed in horror when she found Turbo sitting in Soundwave's room, the little cassette transformers forming a circle around him.

"Turbo," Starflower cried, rushing to his side.

"Oh, hey Starflower, these little guys say it is ok for me to clean their room." Turbo replied, looking up at her.

"No, come out of there." Starflower said, jerking Turbo up by his arm.

"Hey, it's the retarded dame." Rumble remarked, hands on his metallic hips. "She's already bossing the kid around."

"I can clean your floors." Turbo offered, dropping to his knees with a rag. "Starflower taught me real good."

"Ooooo, I'll bet she has." Frenzy laughed as Soundwave began to shake and vibrate from his recharging unit.

"You don't want to clean for these guys." Starflower whispered harshly. "They're queer."

"Starflower, you surprise me." Turbo mentioned his optics wide. "I didn't know you were homophobic?"

"I'm not, but these guys' give homosexuals a bad name. No decent homosexual I know would claim these guys as one of them, believe me!" she said, pulling on Turbo's arm.

"Kid, tell that broad to leave you alone." Rumble said. "The last thing you need is a dame telling you what to do."

"Stop filling his head full of stupid ideas." Starflower said, shaking a finger at them.

"Yeah, being P-whipped is a much better solution for him, huh?" Frenzy challenged, staring up at her haughtily.

"What the hell do you know about being P-whipped?" Starflower said smugly. "You're gay and besides, a …vagina is something a human woman has."

"What's a vagina? I was talking about him being all polish whipped." Frenzy said, casting Starflower a strange look.

"Lord the Matrix." Starflower murmured, covering her face in her hands and then looking up she gasped to find Turbo gone again.

Hurrying out into the corridor, she sighed with relief to see him standing at the back door of Dark Mount.

"Turbo, you have to stop running off like that." Starflower cried, rushing to his side.

"I'm sorry, I just don't fit in here." He said sadly.

"Give it time." Starflower tried to encourage him. "It took me quite a deal to be accepted."

"I'm sorry I caused you to worry, I didn't know Soundwave's friends were "that way"."

He said, his optics wavering. "I'm sorry I caused Starscream to be mad at you."

Starflower was touched, for Turbo truly was the little brother she never had.

"It's ok." She smiled. "I just didn't want you mixed up with the wrong crowd and don't worry about Starscream. I don't care about him; it's your safety that concerns me."

"That's something else I wanted to say, too." Turbo said, opening the door and stepping out into the darkness of space. "I think I'm going to try the Autobots."

Starflower laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I do understand and I think you'll have an easier time fitting in with them."

Throwing himself in Starflower's arms, he gave her one final hug and then eased back, going on his way, waving.

Starflower waved back.

"Take one piece of advice from me when you get there!" Starflower called out. "The Autobots love dirty laundry about the Decepticons! Also, if Optimus Prime offers you his one recharging unit take it and say nothing, no matter how much you see him start to suffer."

"I will!" he cried, running off in the direction of Iakon.

Starflower stood watching and waving until the boy was out of sight…smiling.

END