Masquerade

Disclaimer: Oh Gawd, I gotta stop doing these. LOL. And yet...somehow I can't seem to do so. If you guys ever get tired of these, let me know. I have MANY ideas involving other pairings, but this one I'm particularly stuck on. But stay tuned. With a devoted fanbase, I tend to be much more motivated to do these a lot. :) Now granted, this was a series of ideas that I originally had for my fic NEVER WILL BE, but didn't work out for the intended plot. So this one will be an AU fic that will work around an alternate version of the whole events of Animated involving Shockwave. So. Yup. There you have it. I promise there won't me too much sadness this time. :)

"A single lie destroys a whole reputation for integrity."

-Baltasar Gracian

"A lie does not consist in the indirect position of words, but in the desire and intention, by false speaking, to deceive and injure your neighbour."

-Jonathan Swift

By: VampireQueenAkasha

"...all that unpleasant morality."

-Shockwave, Transformers Animated

Twisted Emotions

Cybertron

"Lord Megatron... I do not know if you can hear me, or if you're even still alive, but I will continue my report regardless. It's been many cycles since I have heard anything from the Decepticon forces. They have scattered across the galaxy, unfettered and unchecked. I have maintained contact with a few Decepticon units, most particularly Strika and her team. They have made the decision to attack the Elite Guard space bridges..."

Long Arm walked through the infirmary, passing several surprised patients and doctors before he stopped at the doorway of Red Alert's office as she was packing things up. Hot Shot was with her, helping with the packing. When he saw Long Arm, he smirked broadly.

"Well, if it isn't Mister Personality!" he teased.

Red Alert gave him a skeptical look. "Hot Shot, if you're not going to help, please carry these to the ship."

Hot Shot laughed and shrugged his shoulders. "Come on, woman," he teased, "It's just a joke." He faked an impassive look. "I do that." Red Alert gave him a warning look and he quickly scampered off. "I'm going."

Red Alert chuckled before looking at Long Arm. "My mother and father are coming to my office soon. I should warn you; she can be a bit...critical."

Long Arm smiled. "I think I can handle it."

Red Alert nodded, though she seemed mildly doubtful before standing when two Cybertronians walked into the office. Long Arm immediately noticed their similarities with Red Alert. Her mother was a small femme who clearly transformed into a road vehicle of some type. She had white, shining enamel and long heels that ended it tips. Her fingers were also quite long and she had a container in them. Her face was aged and her optics bright blue with "irises" swirling with a darker bluish tinge. Her helm was slightly flat with a bright red head crest.

Red Alert's father was taller and appeared to transform into what Long Arm could guess was also a street vehicle; perhaps some kind of plow. He had a dark red body with slightly thicker armor plating and his shoulders were finely tipped. His face was also filled with age and he looked distinctly similar to Alpha Trion with a small metal mustache and beard. He had long, curved legs that ended in wheels with spikes attached to them. Though Long Arm could definitely see where Red Alert got her gaze from.

"Hello there, doctor!" her father sighed. Red Alert went to shake his hand, but he smiled warmly and put his arms around her, paying no mind to the mech standing there watching. "No, give me the whole package. Come here."

Red Alert gestured to Long Arm when she parted from her father. "Mother, father; this is Long Arm Prime," she introduced, "Long Arm, these are my parents," She gestured to her mother. "This is Sill. She's a retired medical officer," Then to her father. "And this is Phaeton. He is also a retired war veteran."

Phaeton smiled and shook Long Arm's hand. "Former Red Sabre Squadon."

Sill scrutinized Long Arm with a mild wrinkle in her nose. "Hmm. A Prime. Well, I suppose you could do a lot worse."

Red Alert gave her mother a look. "Mother, please. You promised you were going to behave."

Sill shrugged and glanced back at her. "I'm only concerned about the well being of my only daughter," she argued, "You never know what kind of maniac you can be hooked up with these days. He could be anyone."

Long Arm felt a cold, stabbing sensation of dread at the suggestion from the older female. Sill was much more perceptive than he thought. That, or she was just being an overly critical glitch as Red Alert had warned him about. Taking a first glance at her, he did get the idea that she was just a stubborn, crazy old fool who ranted about everything and nothing. Perhaps his paranoia at detection was just overreacting.

Phaeton put a hand on his mate's shoulder. "Sweetspark, Red Alert is old enough to make her own decisions," he chided, "If this young bot makes her happy, then we would be impudent to interfere in any way."

Sill seemed slightly miffed and turned to Long Arm again, smiling. "Tell me, Long Arm; what is it that you do anyway?" she asked, "What is it that is enough to entice my daughter to associate with you?"

"I'm the Head of Cybertron Intelligence, ma'am." Long Arm replied passively.

Sill blinked and arched her optic ridges. "Really?" She glanced at her daughter. "Is he having me on?"

Red Alert laughed slightly. "No, mother. He's quite talented at what he does."

Sill murmured thoughtfully, somewhat annoyed by the flattery that Red Alert was giving this mech she never even knew about. She looked back at Long Arm and frowned thoughtfully. "So, you sit behind a computer desk, typing reports all day, feeling a sense of superiority because you happen to wave the title of 'Prime' like some sort of crutch?" She gave a gruff snort. "What a senseless thing to do with your life."

Long Arm actually looked annoyed, but quickly covered it up with a painful smile. "It's a matter of opinion, I suppose."

Sill shrugged before she smiled at Red Alert and offered the container. "I've made these Energon cakes for you, dear. If you get cold on those lonely nights at the space bridge station, they'll warm you right up."

"Thank you, mother."

Phaeton smiled and nodded to the two femmes. "Would you ladies excuse us for a moment?" he suggested, "Long Arm and I have to have a male-to-male talk alone."

Red Alert looked at Long Arm curiously, not knowing what her father was up to, but nodded in approval. "Okay." she said.

Long Arm followed the older mech into the halls and the two leaned against the wall.

"Red Alert talks about you quite a lot, young bot," Phaeton began, smiling.

Long Arm looked at him curiously. "What does she tell you?"

"She worries a bit," Phaeton continued, "But I think that's because you always seem distracted." He seemed to take that into consideration and tried to turn the conversation into a cheerful note. "She also says she loves the way you smile."

Long Arm chuckled, mildly uncomfortable. "Yes. Apparently, that's one of my redeeming qualities with her."

"May I ask you something personal?"

Long Arm looked hesitant, but nodded. "Of course."

"Do you care for my daughter?"

He didn't reply, just stood there, considering Phaeton's question. Truly, he didn't have an answer. He didn't even know if he did or not. Red Alert was a femme all her own; a charming one for an Autobot. But he knew that deep down in the pit of his spark that anything he said to her or did would always be a lie. In the end, she would come to learn of who he really was when the time came and he knew that she would hate him.

Autobots always did.

"I don't know," Long Arm finally said.

Phaeton looked surprised. "What does that mean?"

"As it sounds," Long Arm replied, suddenly very tense. He didn't like these questions and didn't enjoy feeling as if he was being grilled. "I'm sorry, but I just don't know." He took a deep inhale and looked at him with shame in his optics. "Sometimes, I wait every day, wanting to see this femme and I don't even understand why."

Phaeton chuckled softly. "I take it emotions don't come as easily for you as others."

"You have no idea..."

"It's nothing to be ashamed of. Sometimes it can be scary, but running to the person you care about is easier than running away."

Long Arm sighed.

You old fool. It's not that simple...

O

Red Alert watched the prepping ship from a balcony overhead. She smiled to herself, thinking of how amazing it was to finally move toward protecting Cybertron, even if it was a job as small as protecting a space bridge. Then, she felt the warmth of Long Arm's body as he stepped up behind her.

"I suppose this is goodbye then," he said, quietly.

Red Alert smiled and shook her head, leaning against the rails. "Not really. I'll be gone for a little while, but I'll definitely be back."

Long Arm looked down and noticed that they were suddenly very close together. Red Alert stared down before closing her optics. She smiled and felt herself leaning back against his chest. He moved forward slightly against her, placing a hand over hers against the railing, the tips of their fingers slowly and gently touching before lacing together. Red Alert could feel him smile against her audio receptor and she couldn't resist a small tremble in her body.

"You look beautiful..." Long Arm whispered.

She didn't respond as he gently smoothed his lips to her neck and remained there, taking in a deep, yet silent inhale. She didn't retreat as he slid an arm around her from behind and turned her head to look back at him. Long Arm almost faltered at the intense, feminine look she gave him; her optics were slightly closed as she stared into his optics. No one had ever looked at him that way before and he felt himself tugged forward, ignoring the warning alarms in his head. It was too late to stop himself as he found his mouth pressed against hers.

Red Alert felt herself drawn to the mech's lips; they were soft, gently rolling over hers and she could not remain in this position any longer. She turned properly, parting their lips for a few seconds before connecting them again. Long Arm reached up and placed a hand at the back of her head, pulling her closer. She gave a shuddering sigh, parting from his lips to take a cycle of breath; Primus, he definitely knew how to kiss. It left her dizzy and slightly trembling.

Long Arm stared down at her, his optics darkened. He faintly smiled and she returned it.

"I have heard that a goodbye kiss is customary," he finally said; his voice was lower than usual, "Did you like it?"

Red Alert nodded dumbly. "Y-Yes. Yes, I did."

"Good," Long Arm replied, "I hope to keep in contact with you. Perhaps you could reach me and give me your status every now and again."

"I'll be sure to do that."

They stood there awkwardly for a few moments and Long Arm gave a mildly uncomfortable chuckle. "I should be going then." he said.

Red Alert nodded. "Me too."

They immediately parted ways with Long Arm giving her a passing glance and a small wave before she returned the gesture and disappeared to the ship docks. He took a deep inhale and considered this passing for the best. Not just because it would be easier to rid himself of the annoying ache he had around her, but the incessant doubts lingering through his processor. He was obeying Megatron's wishes, regardless of his death and following them to the letter.

So why did he feel a strange sickness about what he was doing to her?

It may have been because she granted him much more than trust. She was slowly-very slowly-opening herself to him in ways that others didn't. But this was what came with war and the necessity to win at all costs.

Some would get hurt in the end.

O

Moonracer sighed, leaning in her bath and was annoyed by the sound of someone knocking on her apartment door. She groaned and leaned her head back, not willing to remotely get up. It could have been Ultra Magnus and she would have never given him the time of day.

"Primus, who is it?" she shouted.

"Long Arm..." came the voice behind the door.

Moonracer sat there in her bath, furrowing her brow plates before she sighed. "Hang on a nanoclick!" she yelled.

Long Arm waited outside of the apartment, shifting restlessly in his position. He dared to cast his glance around the halls before Moonracer opened her door and looked surprised to see him. He smiled uncomfortably and gave her a small bow.

"Ah, hi, Moonracer," he said, "Is this a bad time?"

She shook her head with a weary laugh and stepped aside to let him enter. "Nah. I was just relaxing," she replied, "I had nothing better to do. Come in."

"Thank you," Long Arm said, stepping inside. "I wanted to speak to you about something."

Moonracer walked over to a storage unit and removed two filled containers of oil. "Go ahead. I'm all audios."

She offered the container to him and he took it. "Well, I wanted to talk to you about Red Alert."

"Ah. Yes." Moonracer said, smiling and raising her container, "The true romantic. A toast to your new acquisition, by the way." When he didn't budge-too bemused by those words-she rolled her optics good-naturedly. "Just pretend, for Primus' sake."

He shrugged and did as she said before continuing. "We have had a few nice encounters as I'm certain you are aware, but since you have been her friend for a long time, I thought the opinion of a female would be more efficient to help in learning about her." He chuckled weakly and took a sip of his drink, seemingly embarrassed and even ashamed of himself. "I've just never had to deal with these feelings before..." He cut himself off, noticing that she had been listening intently with a small smile on her face and he sighed. "I should not be bothering with this."

"It's okay, Long Arm," Moonracer told him reassuringly, "We're all friends here. I'm loaded with insight on this sort of thing."

Long Arm sighed. "I just do not know if I could offer anything that would be appealing to a femme like her..." he said.

"Really?" Moonracer said, surprised, "If you can't offer love, then what else is there?"

Long Arm shrugged his shoulders and set his drink down on her desk. "I love what I do, Moonracer," he told her; silently referring to the task of being a Decepticon spy. Of course, she wasn't aware of that as he kept it conspicuous. "Unfortunately what I do does not allow for any relationship to blossom. And yet, I cannot resist the urge to attempt to do so, especially with someone like Red Alert. It's never happened to me before."

"Never hap-What, you can't say you've never been with a female before." Moonracer joked. When he looked dead serious and said nothing else, her optics widened in disbelief. "No way. You've never been with a female before. At all?"

"Like I said, my work never lets me become a part of something like that. It's been a very long time since I have had the opportunity to share anything intimate with another."

Moonracer pursed her lips thoughtfully. "So, what are you saying exactly?"

"Say that I had known something that Red Alert couldn't know being in the position that I am, but she could find out," Long Arm suggested. He paused thoughtfully and gave her a reluctant look. "Would she still feel the same way about me?"

"That all depends." Moonracer said, shrugging her shoulders, "Red Alert's never been the kind to hold grudges and usually takes a short time to cool off if she gets angry. She tells me there's no point in wasting time holding that all in."

"So what should I do?"

Moonracer smiled and leaned forward, patting his shoulder. "It's quite simple, Long Arm." she explained, "All you have to do is fulfill her every wish and desire; be a good mech for her and everything else will just flow naturally into place. It's a lot like clockwork, you see. It'll come together in time."

The entire time, Long Arm had been watching her intently, trying to make sense of this. Then, he licked his lips thoughtfully and tilted his head at her. "If you were Red Alert, what would you want in a mech?" he asked.

"Me?" Moonracer laughed. She paused thoughtfully and considered before smirking suggestively at him. "Well, if I were her, you'd definitely know what I'd want. Come on, Long Arm. You're a smart mech. You do the math. You know what femmes want."

Long Arm chuckled and arched his brows. The intimate suggestion did in fact make his spark skip a beat. "I don't think Red Alert is that type of femme to naturally jump into a berth with just any mech she crosses."

"No. But any femme could tell you that's what we enjoy." Moonracer argued. "But I think for Red Alert, sharing a secret-bad or otherwise-would just be in the timing. Charm her a bit and work her over with something smooth. She's a classy female and she goes for that sort of thing. When the moment's right, then that's when you tell her."

Long Arm was running his fingers absently along the rim of his drink, staring at the fluid within. "Sounds to me like you know what you're talking about."

"I'm an expert, of course." Moonracer joked.

"I appreciate your advice, Moonracer," Long Arm said, standing, "I should be going."

"Hey, you take it easy, okay?" Moonracer advised, giving him a mildly concerned smile.

Long Arm nodded briefly before he departed from her apartment.

O

Team Athenia arrived at space bridge 687-030 and as soon as Hot Shot stepped out of the transport ship, he threw his arms in the air.

"Welcome comrades to space bridge 68...something... something!" he announced, dramatically-forgetting the designation number of the bridge for a moment, "Population five Cybertronians and a slag-load of dust!"

Brawn looked around, scrutinizing the area with dismay. "So, this is it, huh?"

"Looks like it," Red Alert said, "Let's get unpacked and contact the High Council when we do. I want to have our first station to leave a good impression."

Hot Shot flashed her a grin as the others began to remove their belongings from the ship. "Hey, Red Alert; I think I figured it out."

She chuckled and bent down to take a box. "This should be good."

"You know what your problem is, doc?" Hot Shot teased, "You care just too much."

Red Alert smirked and placed the box into his hands; he grunted under the weight. "And your problem is that you don't care at all." she shot back, playfully, "Now take this to my office." When Hot Shot started to go, she shot a skeptical look in his direction. "And don't set it in the hallways where someone can trip!"

"No promises!" he yelled back.

Red Alert rolled her optics with dismay before taking a box into her hands as well. She followed him into the station where he was poking his head around, checking each and every room and office. He grinned and appeared in one of the rooms.

"Hey! I call this one!" he yelled.

Red Alert shook her head and stepped into the medical hall toward her new office. She started to gather her things from the box and paused at the presence of something in them that she hadn't noticed before; she picked it up and turned it in her hands for study. It was a data pad. Curious, Red Alert switched it on and Long Arm's face immediately appeared; it was a prerecording and it made her smile just to see his face again.

"Forgive me, Red Alert; but I felt that it was necessary to leave you with a little something," he said, "I have taken it upon myself to give you this recording of that song you seemed quite taken to. I do hope it's not a bother. I will speak to you later. Goodbye."

Red Alert just smiled at the gesture.

Hot Shot poked his head in the room. "Oh! Hey Red?" he said, sheepishly, "Is it possible for someone to blow their head off with too much accumulated rage?"

Red Alert looked surprised. "Uh, no. Why?" Then, she looked annoyed and sighed. "What did you do to Brawn now?"

"Nothing..." Hot Shot lied.

Then, Brawn's enraged voice practically shattered the air.

"HOT SHOT!" he roared from somewhere in the hall.

Hot Shot quickly hid under Red Alert's desk and she sighed, staring upward. "Hot Shot, tell me what is it like to live without shame and very little moral fiber of any kind..." she muttered, "Is it a good feeling?"

She could hear a smile in his voice. "Yeah...it is!"

Later, everyone was situated in their rooms and prepared for rest.

Rodimus walked into Red Alert's office, arms folded across his chest. He smiled at her as she was setting up her desk and knocked on the doorway once to indicate he was there. Red Alert was bent over her desk now and held up a finger from below.

"Hold on a minute!" she said. Then, she looked up and gave Rodimus a smile. "Hey."

"Everyone's asleep and I've put Brawn on duty tonight," he told her, as soon as she finished. "I was going to check the radar once more before I go to recharge. There were a few signals I was picking up. I'm sure it's nothing, but I want to check, just in case."

"Good idea. We don't want any nasty surprises."

Rodimus lingered a bit before he chuckled. "Hey, Red, listen," he began, "I hope things are going pretty well with you and Long Arm." He trailed off and watched Red Alert's lips part in a quiet sigh. "Let him know that if he messes it up, I'm coming after him." He gave a small laugh, indicating his humor, but Red Alert wasn't laughing; she just stared at him with a single optic ridge raised at the joke. "I'm joking."

Hot Shot had been quietly hanging out by the door in the hallway, grinning with pity at the poor attempt on Rodimus' part.

"Thank you, Rodimus," Red Alert finally told him, "But I can handle myself."

Rodimus sensed Hot Shot's presence and shot him a warning glare. Hot Shot ducked away with a laugh and the Prime looked at Red Alert with a small smile again. "Okay. Um...goodnight," he told her, with a casual wave. "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

Red Alert smiled and sat down at the edge of her berth. She waved back at him as he slowly shut the door. "Goodnight, Rodimus."

And with that, he walked out of the room with a sad look, hiding it from her so she would not see.

O

Shockwave sat impassively at his desk, staring at the blank computer monitor. Voices plagued his mind. His inner doubts twisting and haunting him as he pondered every single thing about the Autobot female. When he tried to think of other things, his mind always went to her. He could literally see multiple images of himself standing around the room, speaking in his voice, one at a time. Shockwave merely attempted to ignore them.

"Am I really happy?"

"No. Happiness is weakness."

"It isn't. She is okay. She is not one of them."

"But she will figure it out. And she will try to kill you."

"No. Not her. Not Red Alert."

"She won't understand."

"Break her spark. Break it like you always have with many others."

"Why? She did nothing wrong."

Shockwave sighed, shutting out his mind of the doubts that lingered. This was useless to feel the way he did. Why did he feel even a glimmer of remorse for his lies? Was it because Red Alert cared about him? No. She cared for Long Arm Prime. She didn't even know that the mech she had feelings for was a lie. So what did it matter if he hurt her?

"It matters because you feel something for her."

Shockwave closed his optic and took a deep sigh.

Every single emotion he thought he had suppressed was threatening to twist itself into chaos. Something was going to go wrong in the end. He knew it.

No. I won't let it.