Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. That is all.

Chapter 2: In Disguise

Jack and Raf, along with their assigned protectors, got to Autobot HQ while the sun was still high in the sky, only having shortly begun its descent to its bed behind the horizon. They found themselves met by a warm greeting from Optimus Prime and a grunt from a diligently working Ratchet. They ascended to the couch and sat, while Bulkhead and Bumblebee lounged nearby. Raf had his laptop out, hunting for Cybertronian sightings on the web and Jack was playing a game, with Bumblebee picking up the controller sized for him and joined in. The femmes entered with Miko moving sluggishly, flexing her stiffened joints; Arcee had been harsh, but she'd gotten her used to using her new body. Raf's computer flipped closed and the game was paused as everyone who hadn't been present in the morning wanted to get a look at their resurrected friend. Bulkhead stepped forward with a thud and Miko looked up at him with a crooked half-smile. The weight seemed to lessen from those present at the flashes of the old Miko showing through in the new one. She leaned against the concrete platform and looked around at those assembled.

"Hey guys. Uh...sorry about freaking out last night. It was a lot to deal with. I'm doing a lot better now."

"You're doing better?" the half-pint hacker interjected. "Miko, you were dead less than 24 hours ago." Miko glanced over to the berth where she had seen her body, but it had been collected by a couple of men sent by Agent Fowler earlier in the day. It was presently winging its way to Japan so her parents could give it a proper burial.

"I've always bounced back quick, and I had a long sleep to think things over. Then Arcee had me running around that damn obstacle course so long I can't even feel my arms."

"Power down."

"Huh?"

"We don't sleep, at least not in the human sense. We power down. That's something else we're going to work on is your terminology. And the obstacle course worked, didn't it? Your coordination is where it needs to be for you to function."

"My arms and legs feel like they weight a hundred pounds each. Wait, they actually weigh more than that, don't they. Do I need a recharge or some energon or something, I'm feeling tired."

"Not a chance, your joints are just stiff. The upside to being as small as we are is energon economy. We need less energon than someone bigger. At some point, we've got to go find you a nice bike for a vehicle mode, then we can go for a ride so you can learn the rules of the road. It's relaxing to go out for a nice long drive on the highway."

"Cool! Most kids my age are studying for their drivers license, I'm going to turn in to a motorcycle." This brought a chuckle from most of the rooms occupants

"We'll go out later and find one, then we'll come back and Ratchet will do your installation." Miko looked a little nervous.

"Uhh...this is going to be my first ever surgery. Are you sure it's safe?" Ratchet looked insulted.

"Miko, who do you think you're talking to? I've been performing operations like this since before your culture met any outsiders. I'm installing a modified HUD, communicator, weaponry and a holorider unit. I could do this with my optics offline. I'm actually insulted that you think I could mess up such a simple operation."

"Sorry doc, I'm just a little nervous. I know you know what you're doin'. When are we gonna do this?"

"We can start now, if you feel up to it. You'll be in stasis for a couple of hours." She thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Alright." Ratchet guided her over to the medical bay and into the pod. He turned around and put up the privacy divider then set the pod into surgical mode, causing it to go horizontal, allowing him access to her entire frame. The head unit flipped up, her optics watching it nervously. He turned it on and there was a red glow, sending her into shutdown. Her optics dimmed and he went to work. Opening her spark chamber, chest cavity, helmet and arms, he went to the cabinet of parts, pulling out what he'd need and sizing it all up against her, putting some parts back and replacing them with others. He poked around in her head, particularly around where her visor was connected to her processor. He watched her energon pump distributing the life blood around her body. He returned to her head and hooked the smallest device he'd grabbed in, just below her processor and wired it to the her visor, both drawing power and sending information to the sub system. On the inside of her head half way up on the left side he attached a small device similar to a more angular kidney bean. He ran a diagnosis and shut her helmet. Next came her chest cavity. He grabbed a vaguely rhomboid item and hooked it in at the upper back. It nestled in, protected by the sturdier alloy of her spark chamber. Finally, he turned to her opened arms. The first to go in were slender cylinders with thicker anchoring modules at the back. These were followed by a pair of long, smooth, slender spikes. Due to the intricate nature of the systems he had to move with a painstaking, deliberate slowness and by the time he began his diagnostic and watched the new parts begin interfacing with their new home, 107 minutes had passed according to his internal clock. He turned her over gently and took a flat unit which attached below her wings, locking into place and blending in with the alloy there. As there were no sensitive internal systems involved in this final installation, it took less time. He turned her back over and reactivated her and, after 114 minutes of stasis, she returned to waking life. Her optics returned to full illumination and twisted, adjusting and coming in to focus like the zoom lens on a camera as they had when she first awakened. She looked up at him as he opened the divider, exposing them both to the attention of the others. She sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the pod berth. "Is...is it done?"

"Yes, everything is installed. Bring down your visor, I hooked your heads up display into that." She swung down her visor and everyone could hear a small, surprised 'oh'. Her optics seemed to widen as she looked at the various readouts. "I didn't know what to give you for weaponry at first. We don't have a spare set of proton accelerator cannons like Arcee's, a single neutrino stinger per arm wouldn't do enough damage to justify the weight on your arms, and I couldn't fit plasma disruptors like Bulkhead and Optimus have. What I gave you are ion blasters, very popular in the earlier days of the war, but many moved on to other weaponry. Each bolt is much smaller than from even Arcee's cannons, but the energon cost is nearly negligible and they fire at a rate of around 1200 rounds per minute."

"So I've got a machine gun in my arm?" She looked at her forearm.

"Pretty much. The ion blaster's an old reliable. Not so effective when you hit the thicker armor plates, but with the sheer amount of rounds it puts out, you have a much better chance of hitting more vulnerable spots. Getting it out is easy enough, you kind of have to just picture it out." Arcee took the moment to instruct her charge and Miko focused, screwing up her metal lips before there was a brief transforming sound and her hand slid back into her arm and the cylinder from before came out in its place, the barrel internally glowing blue, ready to fire. Arcee placed a hand on Miko's forearm and pushed it down. Miko withdrew the guns back inside her "You never pull your weapon unless you need to use it." Ratchet continued to prattle on.

"An ion blaster is lighter than a proton accelerator cannon, but bulkier. Because of this, there was no room for arm blades. What I installed instead was..." There was the very brief sound of transforming and metal sliding against metal and the spikes extended from their sheaths, extending to the length of Raf's body. They came out of the inside edge of her arms so they went past the palms of her servos. She looked at the wicked points on them, tapping the end of a digit against one. "...wrist spikes. Because the spikes are precision weapons and you won't always have a clear shot, I attached a weapon mounting on your back, in case we find you another close range weapon and you need somewhere to keep it." Everyone was so focused on the newly armed Miko, they didn't register Optimus getting a thoughtful look and leaving the room. Miko withdrew her spikes and began trying to look at her back where the mounting was. Around the time she started to look like a dog chasing her tail, Optimus came back, a huge energy axe in his hands. He twisted the handle, causing a button to appear. He pressed it and passed the weapon to Miko. She took it awkwardly, seeing as the thing was longer than she was tall. The blades extinguished and reformed, going from two energy arcs on the front to one, becoming noticeably smaller and then re-energizing in a pink shade. The handle seemed to fold in on itself, becoming narrower and shorter. When it stopped, she was holding a battleaxe, perfectly sized for her. She gave it a couple of slow, experimental swings before noting the motion Optimus was making. She copied him, placing her hand over her shoulder and the blades extinguished as the weapon attached to her new mounting.

"I wielded this axe in the early days of the war for Cybertron. It's a valuable weapon that can resize to fit its wielder, given to me when I first had to take up arms. I only hope it serves you as well as it did me."

"Now that you're armed, we can get you to training with them. A few months and we might just have you ready to be out there fighting cons."

"A few MONTHS?! I was thinking a week or two."

"Not a chance, rookie. It took us hours just to get you acclimated to your body. It's going to be quite some time before you're combat ready. We need to work on basic tactics, group manoeuvres, hand to hand combat, marksmanship, stealth and everything else a scout needs to know."

"Wait, scout? Why not warrior?!" This elicited a chirp from Bumblebee somewhere between angry and amused.

"As an Autobot fighter, your military career begins as a scout, cadet or specialist, depending on frame and skill set. Considering your size and lack of any skills that would make you a specialist, you're a scout. A few centuries of active duty and you'll be up for promotion."

"Centuries?"

"Remember that our lifespan is exponentially longer than that of a human. Bumblebee's easily the youngest of us, and in earth terms, he's pushing a thousand." The new youngest Autobot looked down at her body, finally having it sink in that she now measured her life span in millennia.

"I'm going to outlive everyone I know. I'm likely going to outlive my entire culture. I..." she sat down on the medical berth. "That's a lot to take." Optimus spoke up once more, his deep voice soothing her racing mind.

"Born of Earth, but adopted of Cybertron, you will be the daughter of two worlds. You will have a home wherever we are, and you can watch the progress of your birth world as we fight for ours. Some day the war will be over and we will look to the young to carry us into the future." He looked down at her, his stoic visage radiating warmth, wisdom and a sense of home, helping to put her whirring mind at ease. Arcee tapped her on the shoulder, nodding towards the ground bridge, the coordinates already set.

"Come on, hot shot. I don't know about you, but I've been cooped up the base since yesterday, I want to get out there. I've got it set to bridge us up on top of a mesa overlooking a fairly busy highway. We can camp out there until we see a nice motorcycle for you to scan." She smirked at the smaller femme. "Let's get you some wheels." She pulled the lever and the bridge flashed to life. She raised her hand and caught a bundle, tossed underhand by Bulkhead. It was some kind of fabric, but didn't flow quite right. She stepped through and a once more excited Miko followed. They appeared atop a high mesa with a bustling highway beneath them. Arcee set out the fabric like one would a picnic blanket or beach towel. It was dull grey with a concrete like texture and larger across than Optimus was tall. Over the course of a couple of minutes, it changed colour and texture to match the stone on which they stood until it nearly perfectly blended in. Arcee climbed under and was hidden from sight from above, with her face just short of hanging over the edge. Miko got in under and found that it was surprisingly cool under it, considering they were under the desert sun. She briefly wondered how hot it was and her visor flipped down showing the temperature immediately surrounding her as well as her internal temp. She flipped it back up on to her forehead and looked out over seemingly endless river of asphalt from the high vantage point. She was nearly vibrating at the idea that she would soon be able to transform into a bitching ride.

The three hours following their arrival on their perch dulled her enthusiasm somewhat. They had been laying there almost unmoving for the entire time and ever energetic Miko was ready to explode.

"This is soooo boring."

"I never said this would be fun, but we need to wait for a suitable vehicle."

"Liar. You've mentioned more than once how much fun it is."

"No, I told you how exhilarating it is to get on your wheels and drive, I'll be the first to admit this part is like watching paint dry. Just tough it out and I know something will come along soon. Hm...Maybe something like that." She gestured with her arm, pointing out a sleek, stylish motorcycle being ridden by a young couple.

"That? I'll admit the body is a masterpiece of Japanese engineering, but the colour scheme! It's green and orange."

"Uh, Miko, you do realize that when you scan it, it will be neon pink and black with purple highlights."

"Oh. Well, how do I scan it."

"Alright, to be safe, bring your visor down." The eye covering swings down. "Now focus on that bike, all of your attention on it. Examine every seam, every plate, every last detail. When you can't see anything but the vehicle, your t-cog should take over and scan it." She looked over and smiled when she saw that Miko's optics had turned entirely blue, the scanning process underway.

Miko stared at the bike, the basis for her coming transformation. She stared at it like an obsessive compulsive at a picture frame, as though she were trying to burn a hole through it with her gaze. Suddenly, it seemed to her that the riders and background disappeared into a field of blue. The bike spun around in her view so she could see it from every angle. It hovered in her sight and started coming apart, the parts floating around in an exploded view so she could see every piece of it. Before her optics, the parts seemed to shift, move around and change shape before reattaching. It took almost a solid minute before the altered parts came fully back together, but rather than reforming the motorcycle, they had become a slightly altered version of her body. The image of her seemed to shoot her a thumbs up before the process ended and the desert appeared before her once more. She looked over at Arcee and smiled.

"Arcee to base, bridge us back." She stood up, grabbing the sheet and tucking it under her arm. The bridge opened behind them and they stepped through, reappearing at base. The vortex apertured shut and Miko looked around to see the guys all staring expectantly at her. Arcee turned to her protege. "Now, to transform, just remember the bike, all those parts you saw, just picture them in your processor. Your t-cog will take it from there." Miko closed her optics and pictured the bike as she'd seen it only a short couple of minutes earlier. Her face screwed up in concentration before the trademarked sound played and her first transformation took place. At several full seconds, it was noticeably longer than most. Eventually though, a beautiful, sleek pink, black and purple sport bike was sitting in the middle of the room.

"This feels so weird. I've never not had legs before." Her engine revved and she rolled forward a few feet. "My head is inside me, how am I seeing?" Arcee reached down and tapped her on the front facing side of her rear-view mirrors.

"Your optics are in your mirrors in this form. You can change between seeing out the front of them or the back." Miko switched back and forth between looking out the front and back of her mirrors a couple of times before she looked at her empty saddle. She focused on it and, without realizing it, pumped a little power into one of the new devices, the one behind her spark chamber. She jumped slightly, at least as much as a motorcycle can jump, as a form flickered into existence on her saddle. A slim woman in a black motorcycle suit with a pink stripe going from her left shoulder straight down.

"Woah! Who's that?"

"That's your holorider, like my Sadie." Arcee proved her point by slowly swiping her arm through the woman's torso. Miko started focusing on the rider, causing her to start moving. She climbed off the saddle, seamlessly climbing off like a real woman, as though she could feel the metal of the bike beneath her. She stood next to the 'bike' looking down at herself before Miko got curious and she reached up, gripping her helmet and slowly pulling up. For several seconds the only sound in the room was a gasp coming from Miko's stereo. There, standing tall and holding her holographic helmet under her arm, was Miko, aged twenty something. Everyone stared at the illusory version of the grown woman Miko would never become who, at the real one's mental prodding, turned to look her illusionary eye to rear-view mirror.

"She's...me..." Ratchet turned from what he'd been working on.

"When I'm in a dark mood, I always find something to work on to get my mind off things, and last night I was in as dark a mood as I can remember. Once you came back, I found what to work on, it was the least I could do for you, to give you your self back."

"You did it for me?"

"Miko; you never stop talking, you're always underfoot and you're so loud that I often can't hear myself process, but you are a dear friend. I took images of you I had on hand and aged them up." Holo-Miko dissolved into motes of light when Miko retook her robot form. She stepped over and embraced Ratchet as best she could given the size difference. He froze for a moment before returning the gesture. When she stepped back Ratchet held out something. It was tiny in his servo, but less so in hers. She held it up to her optic an saw it to be a hot pink Autobot symbol. From behind his back he withdrew a welding unit. Optimus strode forward, his heavy steps drawing Miko's attention. She noted that the expressions had grown serious.

"Miko. You have been given the tools to communicate, defend and hide among humanity. You have begun the training that would be required to fight. This moment can decide the rest of your life. You are a Cybertronian, and regardless of your decision you will be welcome to continue calling this base home. It must be understood that not all of our race have sided with Autobot or Decepticon, but have instead chosen to remain neutral, outside this war. What you hold in your servo is the symbol of our cause, the mark we adopted to set us apart from the Decepticons. Your choice is thus; take the mark and join the war, or remain neutral. Your choice will not be held against you." Miko stared at the symbol before handing it to Ratchet and presenting her shoulder.

"Do it. I said it before, I'm in. Give me a little bit to learn to use my weapons and I'll be out there with you guys." Ratchet guided her to a seat on the berth and bent down over her, welding the symbol onto her wing

"Then we will begin." She felt his enormous servo on her shoulder. "I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. We fight for the realization of certain ideals. Firstly; the freedom that is the right of all sentient beings. Second; the end to hostilities with our brethren. Finally; we fight for the restoration of our home, the resurrection of Cybertron. Will you fight for these ideals?"

"I will."

"Those who surround you are your comrades. They are many and varied but they all seek the same goals. The second in command, Arcee. The medic, Ratchet. The demolitionist, Bulkhead. And the outrider, Bumblebee. Will you fight for them?"

"I will."

"This is Earth, our adopted home, inhabited by humans. Though small, they have incredible potential and I can hardly imagine what they will achieve if given the time to do so. Will you fight for them?"

"I will." Ratchet stepped back and shut off the welder. She looked over and was just barely able to see the symbol grafted onto her wing out of the periphery of her optic.

"Then rise, scout, and welcome to the Autobots." The sombre mood was broken and the others crowded around her. It was a short time later that Bulkhead and Bumblebee drove the boys home and those remaining at base retired to their quarters, it being late at night by that point. Miko lay splayed across her birth, looking at her nearly featureless ceiling. Before powering down, she ran a digit along the symbol attached to her wing, her optics glancing at the axe on her desk, a smile playing across her lips before she shut down for the night. She was in a better mood than she had been since her rebirth, and a single thought crossed her processor.

'Miko Nakadai, robot in disguise.'

A/N: Alright, I know I had you waiting a lot longer for this chapter and it's noticeably shorter than chapter 1, but my life has gotten busier and I can only really write in my spare time. I wanted to use this chapter to set up what will come in the future. The axe Optimus gave Miko is the one he uses in the War for Cybertron game, so google that if you need a better image. The romance aspect will begin setting in in the next chapter, so for those of you drawn her for that, there's something to look forward to. As for her coloration, if you look at Arcee; where Arcee is blue, she's bight pink, where Arcee is silver or pink, she's purple. Also remember that her plates are in different configurations and she is built differently. Finally, I need a little help; she can't exactly keep going by the name Miko anymore, she's going to need a Cybertronian name, but I can't decide what. I'm considering Firefly (because she's small, energetic and brightly coloured), Luminescence (which can be shortened to Lumina) and Hummingbird (again small, never stops moving and seems like she is almost outrunning her mind), but am totally open to other suggestions. Let me know what appeals to you guys, and I'll take it under consideration.

Ann: it seems to me that Miko doesn't really have a fighting style, she's basically a brawler, and we've seen that it's impossible to be a finesse fighter in the Apex Armour, even Arcee was a bruiser when she wore it for the battle of the Omega Lock. Miko having no style mean she's like clay for a veteran fighter to mould and shape, but I've given her an obvious nod to her favourite combat style in the canon. As for the blame falling on Starscream, it really isn't anyone's fault entirely. Miko shouldn't have been out in the open and Arcee should have been more aware of ehr surroundings, but Starscream is an easy target for blame, seeing as he is their enemy either way, but that will be addressed in a later chapter.