Chapter 2: An Unusual Request
I brought my sword down onto Arcee, whose arm blades were raised at the ready, catching it between them. She wheezed in reaction when I thrusted my left leg forward into her stomach, sending her sliding back through the sand a few meters, leaving a small trail in the ground.
"Are you ready to give up yet?" I asked her in a mocking manor. She stood on one knee and took deep breath in before standing up again. "Not even close" she replied, blue optics burning with fierce determination.
She rushed at me again and threw her left arm forward, intending to cleave at my head. I brought my sword up and blocked it effortlessly, sparks shooting out of the impact.
Her other arm blade went sliding in, intending to slice through my chest. I barely had time to throw my body back in an attempt to dodge it, but I felt it nick my breastplate anyway. Standing back after the attack, I looked down at the barely visible scratch that now faintly ran across it.
"Impressive" I said, feeling my hand across the mark. "I've never seen very many bots who were able to-" I was cut off by the sight of Arcee grunting as she threw her fist at my face, just missing as I moved her intended target to the right.
I jumped back until she was out of range, and we stared at each other again. I was breathing calmly, and she was panting heavily.
"Attacking an opponent while he is monologuing..." I began, looking into her optics. "...Very clever, but, alas, you were not fast enough."
Her body went into a relaxed position as I had done, and she put her arm blades away. "You're toying with me, aren't you?" She said, trying to calm herself down. "Not toying" I snapped. "Testing."
"For what?" She asked again, calmness fading. "Like I said, I cannot tell you that" I replied, lifting my sword again. "Do you wish to continue?" "Yes" she answered, arm blades snapping out again. "Very good" I spoke softly, getting back into another combat stance.
This time, Arcee charged at me, and I stood still, getting ready to counter her attack as I had previously been doing. Just before she could reach me, however, much to my surprise, she randomly stopped, just a few yards ahead of me, and her arm blades disappeared.
Confused, I got out of my combat position, and saw an expression of worry spread on her face, followed by her placing her servo to her intercom. "I... I'm here" she spoke nervously in it. "Don't worry, I'm fine" she said again, turning her head away. It didn't take long for me to realize that someone at the base was contacting her. I struggled to hold in my laughter at the mood-killing it made.
"What am I doing? Oh, just... Eh... Looking at uh..." She looked back at me and the smirk I wore. "Just looking at the scenery, nothing else."
"Didn't think lying was in your profile" I whispered to her, sticking my sword into the ground and leaning on it. "Hey, shush, you!" She growled at me, taking her servo off the intercom for a brief moment.
She turned her head away and started talking into it again. "No, I'm not talking to anyone... Except for you of course. You know what? I'll tell you everything when I get back, happy?"
She growled as she ended the transmission and stared back at me. "I take it the duel is off?" I asked, smile fading from my face. "Yeah... I gotta head back. I've been out too long" she said, almost glumly, as she turned to leave.
I took my sword out of the and and sheathed it on my back when she turned around again. "If you really are a Decepticon, why didn't you try to terminate me?" She inquired, raising an optic-brow in curiosity.
"The answer is simple" I replied. "I go by a single, strict rule in life. I believe that I should not destroy, deactivate, or otherwise kill when not necessary. Also, I never said I was one."
"You sure don't sound like a Con" she said again as she reached the road, transforming into he vehicle form. "Either way, though, I'm telling my friends about you, and our little "encounter.""
"Do what you will" I replied in an uncaring manor. "Just remember this: If you ever want to do a rematch, all you have to do is say so. I have optics and audio-receptors everywhere."
"Hmph. Good to know" she huffed as she started her engine. "Happy trails, "Phase-Out." No promises, but I hope I get to face you again."
With that, she drove down the road, and was soon out of sight, once again leaving me alone with nothing but the stars to keep me company.
Exploiting the tactic I previously used to beat Arcee to her last destination, I drove directly back to the base, avoiding the road completely, and activated my cloaking device as I neared it. I stood next to the hidden entrance, and right on schedule, I saw Arcee's blue motorcycle form speeding down the road to it.
The two, large, hidden doors opened as she neared them, and as soon as she went through, I ran in myself, before the doors could close again.
Home free, I stealthily passed through the living area, and toward my chambers as Arcee began telling Ratchet of the events that had transpired. I uncloaked just outside my room, and slipped in it, only to meet my holographic counterpart, still fulfilling it's role of making me look as though I was still here, in a powered down position in the corner.
As I shifted into Mirage's form, I watched as the hologram vanished, it's job fulfilled. I sat in the corner it was previously in, and began to power down myself.
"That was quite the night" I said to myself, back in Mirage's voice, sensors fading as started to fall asleep. "Quite the night..."
Just before sleep's caress could overtake me, I heard a loud, pounding knocking at my door, waking me up again. "Mirage. You awake?" Bulkhead's voice said. "I am now" I replied in a surly tone. "What is it?"
"It's Arcee. She said she ran into a Con on the road! I think you should come listen to her story" he said again. I heard his footsteps clank away as I rose off of my bed. "Ah, ha, ha..." I laughed sarcastically, leaving my room. "I wonder how this will turn out."
I walked down the hall until I came across Arcee, Bulkhead, and Ratchet in the living area. They all looked at me when I yawned out loud. "Mirage, you'll never believe what happened to me!" Arcee said, a serious expression on her face.
"Bulkhead told me you saw a Decepticon on your patrol" I began to say. "Funny how one of those actually turned up something"
"This is no laughing matter" Ratchet growled, shaking his servo at me. "If that really was a Decepticon, it means they found us! Don't you, of all bots, know how important this is?"
"Ratchet, like I said before, I'm not completely sure if it even was a Decepticon" Arcee said back to the old medic. "Just because you didn't see any Decepticon symbol, or anything like that doesn't mean he wasn't one of them" Ratchet retorted.
"You don't get it" Arcee replied. "This bot, Phase-Out he said his name was, could have extinguished my spark in one fell swoop. Instead, he simply waited for me in the middle of the road, asked to duel me in a rather sporting manor, and let me leave when I got your call."
"How do you know he could've killed you?" Ratchet asked, narrowing his optics. "Because, to be honest, he kicked my can in the fight we had. He said he wasn't going to hold back, but I've never seen a bot so relaxed in the middle of something so tense."
"Do you think he's rogue?" Bulkhead asked, shrugging his shoulders. "We can never be sure" Ratchet said, face becoming less stern. "We should boost up security measures around here, just to be sure."
"Oh, and another thing" Arcee suddenly said as Ratchet finished. "Phase-Out told me that if I ever wanted to challenge him again, all I had to do was say so."
"Really?" I replied, false surprise in my tone as I folded my arms. "He sounds like quite a cocky fellow."
"He also said that if I ever were to beat him, he'd tell me all about his plans" Arcee continued. "Considering everything else he did, I personally think he's telling the truth. This brings me to another thing..." She trailed off, turning to me.
"Mirage, do you think you could train me in the art of Metallikato?" She asked. This question caught me off guard, and I struggled to think of what to say next.
"You... You do realize what you're asking, right?" I sputtered. Her expression remained defiant. "This bot that I faced showed exceptional skill with a sword" she said again. "He treated the combat moves I used against him like they were a sick joke."
"Metallikato is not just some... Thing you can learn in just a few days! It takes months, if not years to master even the least complex of techniques!" I nearly yelled, shaking a pointed finger at her in outrage. "If there's anything I've learned in the centuries it took me to master it, it's that you must devote your entire life to learning it!"
"I learn quickly" she replied with a smile. "Quickly, eh?" I scoffed. "I thought I would too, when I was first being taught by master Bludgeon a few hundred years ago. That didn't happen."
"Were you a trained soldier?" She asked me. "No... I wasn't..." I revealed, turning away. "I was raised arrogant, and uncaring. I'll still never understand why Bludgeon chose me to be his pupil" I said again, looking into Mirage's memories.
"If you were like that, why can't you train me?" Acree spoke again, walking up to me. I looked back at her, both our optics locking like the sights of a blaster.
"You have no idea what you'd be getting me into" I said, coldly. "What in Primus do you mean by that?" Bulkhead asked, curiously. "I had a student, once" I replied, looking into my own painful memories. "And it's a subject I don't want to talk about."
I began walking down the hall to my room, before I stopped and turned again. "My student started out like you, Arcee. The experiences I had with her are some I'd rather not want to relive again" I said, looking back at her. "What was her name?" Arcee inquired, a hint of unsettledness in her voice.
"If you really must know... Her name was Winglancer" I whispered just loud enough for them to hear.
With that final word, I went, unimpeded, down to my room. As I sat down on my bed, a feeling of uneasiness coursed through my mind.
Why does Arcee remind me of her? I asked myself repeatedly as I tried to power down. No matter what I tried, however, I stayed awake through the whole, sleepless night, the painful memories of my checkered past haunting me like a restless spirit.
