Disclaimer: If I owned anything… I just don't own anything, 'kay?

This is another one-shot, but this is between Moonracer and Alexis because I need to develop more on the Towers femme's story-line and couldn't think of anyone else that could balance out her chipperness. Don't worry, it's non-romantic. If anyone reads this, some suggestions for other one-shots would be fabulous.

I'm and angel, I'm a devil
I am sometimes in-between.
I'm as bad as it can get
And good as it can be.
-Hilary Duff.

Formalities:

Moonracer looked up hopefully from her brother and the highly respected Decepticon scientist Acidstorm as the electric bell that chimed with each new customer rang and hope started to well up in her chassis. The restaurant they had chosen wasn't too pricy thankfully and the blue-green femme had convinced Billy via comm. link in utter desperation to send in one of his "siblings" an hour ago. Now, walking in and ignoring the prissy femmes near the door that sneered at her on the way in at the sight of her, was Alexis with what appeared to be a datapad with the directions to this place.

The green Seeker didn't look happy to be there and despite Moonracer getting up to greet her, she walked right over to the counter to order something she could stomach that was also in her price range.

Thanking Primus that neither Mirage nor Acidstorm had noticed her friend, Moonracer excused herself to get another round of classic high grade and walked over to Alexis.

"Thank you for coming all this way," Moonracer greeted, sidling up beside the other femme and making sure her brother and the advisor to her future sparkmate weren't watching, "Why don't you sit down with us and work your magic?"

"No thanks," Alexis declined, still looking over the moving electric letters of the restaurant's menu board. Inwardly, she sneered at the cost of it all and started looking for anything that was not only inexpensive but wouldn't make her wake up the next day passed out on top of Sentinel's peds cuddling what may or may not have been what was left of one of Shockwave's antlers. She did not want to experience that again, NO. Maybe they had those really good Rust Sticks that one could dip in her favorite cheap low grade…

Moonracer kept her stance but her voice was all but sinister and she whispered through clenched dentals, "What do you mean 'No thanks?' I need you to help me deal with my brother! Didn't Billy explain this to you?"

"Moonie," Alexis spoke calmly, "I'm not going to help you lie your way out of here. If you want out of this lovely situation you'll have to do it on your own. Tell him your feelings on staying at his home and planning the wedding or enjoy your drinks."

A desperate look crossed Moonracer's look and a sort of bitterness filled her voice, "Then what, did you come here to gloat because you knew I couldn't do this?"

Teal optics seemed to roll at her question, "No, Moonie. I am not that petty. I'm here to get something to eat and to enjoy the looks those little twits at the door give me when I sit down and start to bleed all over the table. My stitches popped on the way here," She informed, holding up her arms for the Towers femme to see, the breaks in her synthetic skin indeed dripping just a tiny bit from the transformation sequence, "Thank you for calling me, by the way."

Leaving Moonracer with that horrified look she gave whenever the blue-green femme saw one of the post-organics injured, Alexis finally stepped up to the counter to order, the blue Towers mech behind the counter that looked a lot like a waiter at a five star restaurant on Earth removing his glare when she started speaking to him.

"I'd like one of those Rust Stick Bowls. Small size. With the blue energon coating."

The mech nodded, ringing up the cost and handed Alexis her number, "You're number thirteen. That will be twenty-seven credits."

Walking away, back to the table with her brother, Moonracer couldn't help but feel some small satisfaction when the green Seeker gave a groan and handed the mech most of the credits she had, snatching the ticket from his servos.

"…and darling, your paint will need a few touch-ups. Perhaps some white or lilac highlights on your shoulders and hip plating? Oh, Acidstorm, did you get the mech's color scheme for me? I need to make sure they at least on color match for their servos."

"Yes, I've got it right here, but I'm afraid he's against having white for his highlighting. He may be open to lilac, but perhaps a dark blue would fit the both of them?"

"Maybe. But, you know, with his colors, I think our best bet would have to be…"

Through all of this talking, Moonracer had yet to get a word in edgewise. She stayed in the submissive position of sitting straight and her head held high to sip from her almost empty cup of energon. It wasn't as though what she had to say mattered anyway. This whole ordeal was out of her control and anything she had to say would be vetoed out, even if she was the bride. This was all about politics and she was simply a bartering chip.

She absently tilted her head to look back at the counter and saw that her friend was still standing there. She was watching Moonracer and the two mechs and cussing the service mechs under her breath at the same time. It had been thirty minutes and two other customers had been served before her. Moonracer supposed that they were in the same boat. The Towers femme was ignored because she was just an odd, pretty femme meant to be used by every other Towers mechanism, including her brother, and Alexis was ignored because the Towers mechs and femmes frowned upon anyone who was different.

As these thoughts spun in her processor, Moonracer suddenly got an idea and waited for an in for this conversation between Mirage and Acidstorm. If she played this right, she could make Mirage either outraged enough or embarrassed enough to not even notice or care when Moonracer got up and left. If Mirage still wouldn't let her go… Well, she would think of something. Her comrade would doubtlessly be waiting in the wings until she got her meal. There was no way Alexis was paying so much money without getting her food. Moonracer would know, she hadn't seen the green Seeker ingest anything in two days.

"And don't forget," Mirage said, Moonracer straightening even more when his sentence came in that haughty tone he used sometimes, "I know Megatron and his right hand mechs have to be there, but could we keep the flyers invited to a minimum? I enjoy your company Acidstorm, but some of your brethren leave much to be desired."

"Oh, but Mirage, I think the Decepticon flyers are hot," Moonracer spoke up in her perky, happy, don't-interrupt-me-slaggit voice that commanded anyone's attention, "In fact I'm friends with quite a few at the moment and already invited them to the wedding."

The energon Mirage was sipping sprayed from his lips at her words, the liquid splattering the table and causing Aicidstorm to move back in his chair and move his own drink out of the way. Mirage looked like he'd just seen Moonracer strip off all of her armor in the town square and sputtered, "Moonie! Wha-wha—"

"And furthermore," Moonracer started again, standing up from her seat, absently hearing Alexis start to cackle behind the ground femme and getting a little boost of bravery because of it, "I've been meaning to tell you that I'm actually seeing the Decepticon Skywarp for flying tours around Iacon after I get back to camp this evening. I won't be coming back home with you, brother. What do you say to that?"

Mirage seemed to have lost his words, mouth flapping like the lid on a mailbox.

Just as the blue and white Towers mech was about to finally speak, a bell sounded off and the three of them turned to see Alexis practically strangling the mech behind the counter after he told her the meal would be ready in three minutes. Moonracer tried not to laugh at how shocked the service mech looked and silently told herself that the mech was lucky Alexis hadn't killed him. She certainly was happy her friend hadn't, but he probably deserved it.

"Moonracer," Mirage finally spoke, a look of revulsion on his faceplates, "You cannot be serious!"

"I'm afraid I am," Moonracer replied, grabbing her seat and resetting it in front of her, "And I have to say, I'm not lying to you anymore. I'm staying at the camp until the wedding with or without your blessing. What's it gonna be, brother?"

The tall mech looked at a loss, but finally shook his head, disappointed, "I'm sorry Moonie. I can't give you my blessing."

A sad, but defiant look settled not only on the blue-green femme's face, but into her optics, making her look just a bit older and a great deal wiser all of a sudden, "I can live with that."

From out of nowhere, breaking the looks the siblings were giving each other, almost like a rock breaking through a window, a lithe green arm slithered over Moonracer's neck, a bag in servo as a weight settled behind the pretty femme, pleasant electric shocks tickling the blue-green femme as a voice she could identify very well now, spoke up, "Good for you, Moonie. Bravo!"

"Who the slag are you?" Acidstorm asked in utter surprise of the green Seeker in front of them, hugging his business associate's sister in what many would mistake as affection.

"Oh, just a friend of Moonie's," Alexis said in a sickeningly sweet voice, hugging the blue-green femme in pride. She gave Mirage a wicked smirk when Moonracer gave a little squeak at her friend's odd behavior, teal optics scaring the Pit out of the Towers mech as they narrowed at him deviously, "She and I are in boot camp together and I'm giving her a lift back."

Acidstorm, completely oblivious to the looks Mirage was throwing both of the femmes, tilted his head at Alexis, optics going from her, to the counter where the service mech was looking scandalized and a little roughed up, "Didn't you come in forty minutes ago?"

The happy smile on Alexis' face dissolved into oblivion and she was reminded of something, apparently, "Oh, yes. Thank you for reminding me."

Picking up Moonracer and slinging her over her shoulder like a sparkling, Moonracer laughing at the treatment and the look she could see on her brother's face, Alexis tightened her grip on the food bag and made for the electric bell attached to the door. Like she had done this before, the green femme put the bag into her mouth and held it with her dentals and without any real technical difficulties, her pointer finger created a dangerous looking ball of electricity.

Carefully, Alexis pressed the glowing finger to the sound modulator for the bell and the electricity was absorbed within.

A few seconds passed, the patrons at the front, the prissy femmes, the service mech Alexis had choked, Mirage and Acidstorm all looked rather curious at what was achieved from this. Nothing was happening, but none of them moved a circuit, the prissy femmes giving Moonracer a weird look as she kept giggling, obviously knowing something none of them did.

Without waiting for anything else, Alexis opened the door and the electric bell started making an unholy, narcissistic drone, causing all of the other mechs and femmes to clutch at their audio receivers and flinch back in their spots. Even when the door shut, with Moonracer waving good-bye to her previous company, the noise didn't stop. If anything it only got louder and the service mech started dialing for a repair mech.

"That wasn't so hard, now, was it, Moonie?"

Sitting atop Alexis' alt mode, like she was riding on the finest flying machine ever and looking for all the world like a pixie riding on the back of a giant green sparrow, Moonracer couldn't stop laughing. This was perhaps the first time in her life that she had gotten what she really wanted and it felt more than satisfying, remembering the look on her brother's face as she left, hanging over her friend's shoulder. His mouth flapping in the wind and totally ignorant of the impressed look Acidstorm had given his sister, Mirage had been the poster-boy for shock.

"Oh, you are so bad!" Moonracer finally managed to choke out, still laughing as Alexis did a small roll through the air as they passed under an awning, "I don't think I'll be able to go into that restaurant again, either. Not with the way you treated the service mech."

"Forty minutes for Rust Sticks. He's lucky I didn't send him to an emergency room or set the building on fire."

"Yes," Moonracer sighed, gripping the Seeker's wings as they did a dive rather close to some telephone wires, "I suppose that's true. Where are we going now?"

A resonating and warm chuckle ran through Alexis' frame as they did another dive, gaining altitude with a little spin, "To that neutral bar in Iacon I told you about. Skywarp's waiting to take you on that tour."

"But-but-but," The Towers femme sputtered, obviously confused at her friend's words, "You said you wouldn't help me lie my way out of that! How did you know I'd—"

"Because I know you," Alexis answered, "You're a ditz and a scatter-brain, but you were obviously set on getting the hell out of there if you were calling Billy to save you. You got stuck with me, but it was clear that you were still getting out. And here we are."

Moonracer was stunned into silence for a few minutes, enjoying the scenery as they flew over the city, from the provincial neighborhoods to the less than classy places. Thoughts of the words Alexis had used were making her feel warm and fuzzy. Odd, since she usually just made everyone mad.

"Do I detect a compliment in that little speech?"

"Watch out for that flagpole, I might let it hang you, missy."