"I am the son and heir of nothing in particular. You shut your mouth, how can you say I go about things the wrong way?"

The Smiths

Chapter 14: Suspicion

"I tell you, Megatron, there's something's wrong with Starscream," Skywarp intoned.

"Elaborate." They were gathering energon cubes at the modified ship. Starscream radioed Megatron after their retreat to inform him that, as commanded, he and the Constructicons were re-assembling the space bridge elsewhere, and that Skywarp would report in his stead.

"He's up to something. He used to sit around and tell us all how he would take over everything, but now he's always by himself. The jets, the tapes, even Soundwave hear him talking to himself all the time. He never does nothin' he used to. He also used to fight back when we made fun of him, right Dirge?" Dirge, a cone-headed jet, nodded. "He's too quiet now. Softer, somehow."

"You are right!" Mishap had reported this. He did not think anything of it, until now, preferring to assume it was Starscream being himself. The odd thing was the obviousness of it. What changed his behavior so noticeably?

"I think the Autobots are controlling him. I saw an invisible...thing flying over him during the battle. When I told him to watch out, it shot me."

Megatron thought deeply for less than a second, concealing his true reaction. He turned abruptly to Soundwave. "Soundwave! Get Laserbeak to spy on the Autobots. We have to make certain they are a few light years behind us." As Soundwave commissioned Laserbeak Megatron addressed his informant. "Good work, Skywarp."

Kneeling before her leader, Mishap defended his accusation of her getting lazy. "It was raining."

"You had no reason to be on top of him!" Megatron yelled.

"Starscream has been talking to himself again," she replied quietly.

"You speak out of turn," he corrected. She apologized. "What does he say?"

"Incomplete sentences, mostly. He's been playing with the modified ship plans a lot, although you approved the final plans last week. Unless there's something I don't know?"

"What you don't know could fill a black hole. Take me to his laboratory," he commanded, pausing to consult the computer. Most Decepticons were in the common room, socializing. "Shiftless brutes!" he muttered. "Come." She followed him throughout the hallways to Starscream's lab, with difficulty. Megatron was faster and more agitated than her usual prey. He didn't hold her hand, either. The door closed behind them with a thud.

Visible, Mishap presented the plans on Starscream's personal computing device, opening with his password. She showed Megatron his modified modified spaceship plans.

"So he desires a giant laser function on it as well," Megatron supposed. The plans were complicated lines and angles and notes that came together quite nicely. Starscream, like his mentor, had a watchmaker's ability to work on minute parts and see the whole at the same time, making a brilliant plan feasible. His faults were unrecognized until the cold light of reality hit him, or his master's fist, depending on implementation. Megatron uploaded the files to his own computer, turned and walked out. "Follow," he snarled. Invisible again, Mishap trailed her leader out of Starscream's lab to run into the subject in question. "So you wish to modify the modified ship," Megatron growled.

"Megatron? I-I-I-"

"Stop your sniveling! I was about to commend you."

"You were?"

"This laser can be used against those irritating Autobots." He smirked evilly. "We can dispose of them permanently."

"Th-Thank you, Megatron." Starscream was amazed. "But how did you know of my plans?"

"I told you to watch your back." Megatron turned away from his second-in-command.

Mishap returned to Megatron's throne room, manifested, and awaited orders. He presented her with another vial. "Oh sweet Primus," she whispered. It called to her. Her metallic skin went hot.

"I believe you are overdue." He held up the one object Mishap had not believed she could physically react to: the sight of her evil ruler grasping the robot equivalent of crack.

"Your Excellency, I thank you for such a generous gesture." What was she going to do? Her CPU raced, but all were dead ends. She had to avoid that thing, no matter what.

"You are welcome." His voice darkened significantly to match his garnet optics. "Now come and get it."

"Sir...I suffered from side effects not desirable a second time," she explained, walking towards him anyway. "I would like to assume..." She took the vial, optics locked in his. "...perhaps you are in need of a replacement yourself?"

His jaw dropped. "You are a dirty, dirty little femme," he moaned in the same dark voice as he eagerly opened his chest cavity. This was more like it! Megatron waxed nostalgic about a time when he had two or three of her kind a DAY and never got enough of it. Mishap tried to smile, although she really wanted to tear him apart with her bare hands. He had six holes, all filled with vials at various levels. Mishap removed an empty one and prepared to keep her job.

When she left she turned a corner and bumped into Starscream.

"I know you're there. I heard what was going on." He actually looked more hurt than disgusted. Mishap remained intangible, dismay mounting. She felt defensive for doing what most of the mechs here do on a daily basis: keeping their commander happy.

"I have a job to do, Starscream," she explained, not moving. "If I betray you, I feel terrible. If I betray me, I hate myself. If I betray Megatron, I'm DEAD." He folded his arms and glared. "You would do the same."

"Not to you," he said so gently that Mishap was astonished. Her voice faltered.

"I tell him-well, anything I know he won't-use against you...you KNOW he likes to steal your ideas for himself." He remained silent. "I'd rather him use you for that than give him an excuse to kill you." Still nothing. "You are being unreasonable."

Starscream brooded. "Did you get your reward?"

"I refused it. Megatron took it."

Starscream whirled around and stalked to his room. Mishap raced after him. Halfway there, he reached out his hand to take hers.

Chapter 15: Shadowboxing

"Decepticons assemble!" Megatron's radioed voice cut through the fog of the Starscream's night of recharging. He gently shook the already online Mishap awake.

As they dashed through the dark corridors Mishap redoubled her steps to keep from trailing and pondered the amazing way the same amount of energy can recharge two robots, the only result being Starscream's level of agitation lowering significantly. Mishap's regular plate sharing not only kept him from over-energizing, in their very rare pre-offline conversations she occasionally soothed his fractured ego from attacks it received from the silver mech in charge. Megatron spared no expense in riling his meticulous Decepticon. Today was no exception.

"Starscream, your meandering construction of the modified modified ship tries my patience." They were not even through the door yet!

"We're going as fast as we're programmed," Starscream huffed. "I need more workers!"

"You need more shots to your afterburners!" Megatron snarled. "I want this project completed! NOW!" The meeting broke up posthaste. Flying out of the tower, Starscream led his Decepticons to the construction site.

"Starscream, I thought we'd be done by now," Rumble groused, preparing himself for the standard issue of obscenities, along with the obligatory 'Pipsqueak.'

"It's not assembling the way I expected," he replied absently as they landed. Perusing the plans again, as though to see a new porthole to clarity, he missed the exchanged glances. He looked up in disgust as Skywarp made a nasty comment. "Back off man, I'm a scientist!"

Mishap took a seat. This was one of the times she was thankful she was a spy instead of one of them. Starscream was terrible at giving directions, especially when he was reeling from an attack from Megatron. His compatriots scowled at his illogical delegations. He ignored them. If there was one thing Mishap had learned from her years in the pits, it was that shutting off your optics to blatant and latent cues of your workforce was a bad idea. They continued working, although there was overt internal dissent. Mishap suddenly wondered if this was some scheme of Megatron's to quash Starscream's status with his fellow co-workers. If this were the case, she did not want her charge to be the victim. The moment no one was around Mishap whispered to Starscream one of the obvious flaws in his execution.

"What do you know?" he snarled.

"I worked with rebellious slaves and the politically oppressed while you lay inert on the floor of an Autobot ship!" she snapped. "I bet you I'll sleep on the ground a week if my control is better than yours."

"That is not necessary," Starscream returned. "If you are wrong, if you are correct, it does not matter: Megatron desires my failure."

Oh, no. "That's not true. He would have put another in charge if he did not-"

"This is not the first time, nor will it be the final." Starscream turned to answer Rumble's question. Rumble was perplexed, causing more hostility in their dialogue. That was not Rumble's job, it was Ramjet's. Starscream didn't care. Mishap repeated Starscream's request in better semantics as a murmur in Rumble's ear.

"Mishap! You're still here!" He was delighted. It was a nice change of pace. With a pang she thought of Optimus' silly greeting. Megatron had her here for business, the pits had been impersonal, and the upstarts who revived her only spoke with guns and soldering irons in their hands. Starscream yelled at her. Short of this diminutive Decepticon, only Mirage had really given her the warmth and respect that made her feel appreciated.

"Shhh..." she whispered, a smile in her voice. She glanced at Starscream, but he had turned away. "You are one of the few who knows this." She followed him to the back of the tower, where the others were engaged in various levels of activity.

"So who else knows?"

"The blue mech you live in-Soundwave."

"That's nothin'. He's just an empty tape player. WE control him." He gestured to Frenzy and Buzzsaw, who were trying to solder a mirror in place.

"Oh." This was a harsh dismissal of the Decepticon who housed and protected him. "So how are you?"

"The same. Megatron thinks his gesture of a vacation will carry our good feelings toward Starscream. Ain't no way! We didn't want to come back here to HIM."

"I'm not surprised. I'll work on him."

For the next week Mishap tried to get Starscream to phrase his commands correctly and give assignments that did not generate protest. The least he could do was stop calling everyone 'idiot.' Occasionally he parroted what she said, mostly he ignored her. When something went wrong, and he saw how her way had been right, he was impossible. Her discovery of a major design flaw, and her perfect response to his taunt to fix it, sent him over the edge.

"Who asked you?" he bellowed. Mishap was glad he could not see her grin.

"You did."

"I've had enough of you! Shut up and act like a real spy!" Starscream childishly turned away.

"As you wish." Mishap leapt on a nearby rock and gave Starscream enough rope to hang himself.

By the end of the project, nothing had been properly accomplished. Mishap's careful management and brilliant ideas had been ignored in the name of pride. At least, she thought it was that way. For some reason it was easy to blame Starscream when even fate did likewise. Tensions ran as high as Megatron's temper.

"Starscream! You are as useless as a human! The Constructicons are taking over and YOU go back to headquarters! I assign you-"

"No!" He knew what was coming.

"Guard duty." The Decepticon leader looked over at the heap of scrap metal that was SUPPOSED to be annihilating their foes and felt his energon boil. "Until you reclaim my favor." Several witnesses snickered, upsetting Starscream further. Megatron couldn't do this! "Yes I can! Get out!" Humiliated, Starscream transformed into a jet and flew away from the laughter.

"I suppose you're happy now," he grunted to his companion.

Silence. She was acting like a real spy.

Cheesy Flashback #8

As Swindle came into the laboratory the screaming ceased. "You've been here for a long while, robot spy," he greeted the cowering blue figure in the corner, eclipsed by the giant Decepticon over her. "I bring news."

"What is it?" Vortex handed the female a fraction of the energon cube Swindle provided. He consumed the rest in one swallow.

"It appears the Autobot prisoners were rescued in a smoke attack."

"Well, then." Vortex seemed uninterested. He turned back to the task at hand.

"Wait, Vortex, if you please." Swindle stepped in between them and looked into the former Autobot's violet eyes, certain that the chip he installed in her would work now that there really was no hope. "My dear, it would appear that your friends have all been accounted for. There is no attempt to rescue you. You are dead to them."

"No!" She bent her knees to her head, entire body folded in half, optics squinting in anguish.

"Yes. Search your solenoids. You know it to be true."

"I'll never join you!" she cried, hands in fists.

"So be it. Vortex, kill her." Swindle turned away, disgusted with his creation. Vortex raised his arm to strike her.

"Wait!"

"Yes?" You could visually enjoy the spectacle of her resolve crumble.

"I'll...I'll join you." She said it so softly Swindle could only read her lips.

"Excellent." He turned to Vortex. "Keep her company. I'll get the sigil and call the others in as witnesses." He turned back to her. "With your new body and your new affiliation, I believe you need a new name, my survivor of mishaps." He smiled at the girl, whose optics remained on the ground as she trembled in misery. "I'll give it some thought." He left the room in a better mood than he came with.

Chapter 16: Duty

For the next four months, as the Constructicons raced to refurbish the modified modified ship, Starscream languished in the most irritated fashion. He hated guard duty, especially while the others battled Autobots, gathered energon from other sources, took yet another trip to Cybertron, even conquered a major city (until Autobot interference). There was nothing to guard on an underwater base. This was punishment, a lonely punishment that denied him the fun of being a warrior.

Starscream patrolled the area and watched the radar. Alone. His stealthy femme obeyed his earlier mandate, ignoring his later demands to communicate with him. The only reason he knew she was still around was that no matter what erratic time he finally sank onto his recharge plate the minute he appeared offline he felt a lighter body cuddling up to him.

Mishap had ALWAYS been one for chatter. Starscream lay on his recharge plate with her, listening to the hum of the Decepticon base, and wished that she would say something, ANYTHING, to break the wall of silence that seemed to be her retaliatory method. He used to resent the intrusion, but when he didn't talk to anyone for days at a time, it would have been a welcome relief. She often wished he talked less to himself, always muttering incoherently. Mishap could never think with him babbling like that, leading her to converse with him (at least in the beginning; now, almost an earth-year later, it seemed second nature). Starscream was talking right now as he turned over in his offline mode. These last few months she could see the fatigue etch his face as he patrolled the base as punishment for failing Megatron. She stubbornly ignored his bid to converse, just so she didn't have to be his personal therapist. He knew what was wrong, why didn't he figure it out? He was disappointed with his position, and upset with her for being underfoot, even though she was invisible; still mad at her for trying to get him to be a more personable overseer. Tonight she heard him mumble how he doubted his abilities, making her feel guilty about trying to 'fix' him as an ego trip. Maybe he needed her to be there for him more than he needed a personality change, the same way she needed her brother so long ago.

He moaned again, changing position. "Megatron! No! Mercy!" he screamed, thrashing his arms and legs. Mishap unsuccessfully tried to get out of the way, but she was pinned down. His bad dream stopped as suddenly as it emerged. His body stiffened and he whimpered a little. Mishap leaned over and wiped some of the coolant off his forehead. His nightmares had been gradually increasing in both length and frequency since guard duty began. She hoped he would be over them soon. To help, she whispered in his audios that he was doing a fine job, he was a great warrior, and that Megatron was proud of him. She heard him sigh. His whole body relaxed.

At long last, the Decepticons jauntily returned from their endeavors with energon to spare. They had set the Autobots back a good two years!

"I had that blue car, the one that can fly, in my sights, when-"

"BAM!" Thrust interrupted Thundercracker eagerly. "I arced down and NAILED him! Scratched his paint!" They broke into dirty laughter. "Starscream, you shoulda been there!"

"Yeah, that null ray of yours woulda come in handy!" Skywarp added, handing him a cube. Starscream smiled uneasily. This type of camaraderie only came when they were in a very good mood. Still, it was moldy bread in the mouth of a starving man.

"Our next battle, perhaps."

"Yes," commented Megatron, who always made it his business to command the conversations surrounding him. "You are welcome to relinquish guard duty, as your modified modified ship was not as hopeless as I expected. Repairs notwithstanding, it is a work of genius." He held his cube aloft. "To Starscream, and the destruction of the Autobots!"

"To Starscream!" They drank eagerly. This energon was derived from an oil field; the BEST kind to imbibe. They spent the rest of the night getting over-energized and silly.

The end of the night, as he felt her settle in with him he timidly suggested that she didn't have to be unseen. To his pleasure she complied. Expressing his appreciation, he stroked her arm, wondering if she would converse with him. "This has to be a trying time for you," he commented, voice slightly slurred. "Following a jet around as he stands watch."

"This is not what I expected to be doing when I joined," she replied, "but it's better than I hoped for." This made Starscream puzzled, as well as another emotion he was unfamiliar with. Her squelched it by asking what had she expected.

"Death." She shifted a little, redistributing her weight to a more comfortable position. "What did YOU hope for?"

Starscream shrugged. "Besides power, glory to the cause. It's all I've ever known. I was created a Decepticon."

"Have you always been under Megatron?"

"He was at our creation. He told us we could follow our own paths but every one of us KNEW we wanted to be Decepticons. For awhile I was a scientist on my own, but that was a minor amount of time; I was built to be a Seeker jet. You?" He had no idea why he was being so attentive to her. Usually they talked about him, or argued. Maybe it was the loneliness of guard duty that had finally overtaken his narcissism. Perhaps he liked bedtime stories.

Mishap was quiet so long Starscream wondered if she did not want to tell him. "We were doing double patrol on the Southern Hemisphere of Cybertron while the rest of our teammates scouted for more energon," she began. "Somewhere near the Mekong Delta. My group-Powerglide, Bumblebee, my-um, co-created-" Mishap did not want to admit her relation to Mirage. She cleared her voice box. "-a few others, had intercepted a distress signal from a Decepticon energy convoy that had lost a truck due to an engine problem. We hoped to pre-empt the aid.

"When we got there the truck was abandoned, which Mirage suspected as dubious. The rest of us surrounded the truck with weapons drawn. The minute we lifted the hatch we saw the bomb they'd placed. I was in the front, so I bore the brunt of it. After it exploded I could hear Decepticon voices ordering the others to drop their weapons.

"I was in a lot of pain. Through the smoke in my eyes I could see them capturing the others and putting them on a transport. When they finished carrying my friends away, they turned to me." She paused for a moment to let the emotion pass. Starscream ignored it.

"They knew I was a spy and a high-ranking officer because of an Autobot turncoat who had tipped them off. Since they were unhappy with Megatron, they thought they could use me. They brought me back to life, repairing me with Decepticon parts. They told me the others thought I was dead, and that they had escaped in a raid."

"I remember that," Starscream said, recalling the day an intense smokescreen descended into their base, causing mass confusion. When the atmospheric mess had cleared the prisoners were gone, as well as vital CD plans.

"When they 'asked' me, as part Decepticon, to join, I thought I could always rejoin the Autobots, but I think the Decepticon parts of me wouldn't allow it. I had died, and re-functioned to forgo my past life as Oasis. I was trying to make sense of something that for some reason never became clear. They renamed me Mishap, and put me in the pits until they could use me. They left me there for what seemed like forever. I tried to get out a few times, but for some reason...I couldn't...it felt...wrong. I think they re-programmed me, but I was not sure. I tried to forget my past life until Megatron called me up from the Cybertonium pits."

"Their plan to use you backfired when their group was destroyed." This was part of the history they taught the incoming Decepticons: The Rebellion of Faction 7. The traitors had been found, bodies destroyed, and their personalities placed in holding chamber 217.

"I am still, mostly, an Autobot, but I can never free myself from your race as long as I have Decepticon pieces in me. I owe them a debt."

Starscream thought of Skyfire, his best friend who had deserted him almost immediately to uphold paradigms closer to his own, ignoring any honor he owed Starscream for his resurrection. That had been a poorly handled situation, with Starscream's wrath annexing his logic. Skyfire was lost forever, refusing any acknowledgement of their past camaraderie. He related this tale to her, juxtaposing the two philosophies. "Your loyalty is commendable," he praised.

She did not seem to like this compliment. Mishap wished that Starscream had actually listened to what she said, instead of only the part about owing them her life. He would regret being so quick to praise her. "Would you say that if I returned to the Autobots?"

Starscream pondered this. "Although you are both, I would not say the same upon your defection." He deliberated. "I would have to kill you."

"What!" Mishap sat up and turned the light on to get a better look at him.

"You would be betraying our cause. There are many causes we fight for. I live and die for the Decepticons."

"I thought your only cause was yourself."

"On one level, yes. But the Decepticon cause comes first. Should you impede that, I shall have to destroy you."

Mishap regarded him carefully, energon converter working into overdrive. There was something intoxicatingly similar to Megatron in his expression. She fought the urge to pull her gun out of subspace to shoot him in the face and settled back down next to him, feeling his hand on her arm for the first time. "Why are you doing that?" she asked.

"I don't know. Should I stop?" He had felt an urge to do it and followed through. He wanted to do more.

"No... I-um-well, that is-" New subject!

"Shh!" Starscream sat up and listened in the hallway. Mishap became invisible as he crept to his chamber door and bent his head against it intently. Nothing. He gave up and came back.

"I don't think you'll ever learn to care about anyone else but yourself," she sighed, thinking about their conversation.

"Even if I did, where would it take me?" he demanded. "I'm a Decepticon. Autobots allow emotions to rule them. That is how we gain the upper hand."

"By being soulless?"

"Yes."

She sighed. "If you had one friend, I bet you would be happier. Maybe even understand the Decepticons you're trying to lead a little better, too."

"I have no need for friends." He turned the light off, discussion finished in his mind. "We are soldiers, and this is the army."

"What if we started our own army?"

Now he was confused. "What?" He turned the light back on, upright and glaring. "Are your circuits still scrambled from that hit? Open up!"

Mishap kept her chest cavity panel tightly closed and smiled at him slightly. "There are outcasts everywhere, Starscream. Beings from every galaxy eager to form a group to challenge their oppressors."

"An army of losers?" he interjected. She had no contribution regarding that.

"What about just you and me?" This was not how she'd wanted to ask him. The crushing pressure of which side to choose, and the window of time she had before antipathy from both sides concluded her useless, was short. She was constantly nagged by that familiar feeling that there was no hope and that she should stay where she was. If only she could follow through with her favorite fantasy, where they went away to a place where there was no war and no abuse. She had been without direction, stuck in limbo for too long. Mishap saw something similar in this tricolor F-15, a mech who did not seem to fit into any of the rigid social structures of two warring factions. After the fraternity of tonight's party, she doubted he would desire any type of desertion any time soon. She always had the Autobots to save her. This thought came up with greater frequency the longer she stayed on this horrible planet. Maybe Megatron would discharge her, and she could find a place to hide somewhere. She wished the one lying beside her favored this idea.

"We are warriors, not humans." He was sorry he started this! She was as bad as Thundercracker. "Nobody pairs off."

She sighed, noting the difference between his attitude NOW versus the confrontation outside of Megatron's office they had awhile ago. "Well, when I'm gone your hypothesis will be tested."

"When are you leaving?" he asked tonelessly.

"Whenever Megatron feels like it." She went offline, afraid of his response. Starscream watched her drift off, his eyes glowing in the dark. An old Cybertronian saying came to mind.

"You need to make up your mind, little femme, before the Sharkticons eat you up."

Chapter 17: Discovery

Starscream had been, at long last, allowed to survey the completed modified modified modified ship. "A decent job," he lauded. "One I could have done if I had competent workers."

"Staring with yourself," snarked Megatron, CPU pounding from last night. He had to quit trying to take over the universe the 'morning after.' "Soundwave! Prepare the laser!"

"Preparing: laser." Soundwave pulled a lever that began a chain reaction of pulling energy from the sun. Instead of placing this power into concentrated cubes, the modified modified modified ship transferred this fuel into a potent laser blast.

"Point the laser!"

"Your laser-pointing days are over, Megatron!" Optimus Prime proclaimed. From every corner of the jungle the enemy emerged. "Autobots! Attack!"

"Fire!" yelled Megatron. Why did they always wait until he had completed his weapons to attack? He guessed he shouldn't complain. It was to his advantage that they were so incompetent.

The modified modified modified ship swelled, gaining heat and glowing red. That was not supposed to happen. The tip alone was designed to change color before discharging. The whole thing shook. Rumble lost his footing, complimenting the laser's technique of seismic waves.

"Take cover!" yelled Mirage suddenly. The Autobots ceased their battle and disappeared the same moment the modified modified modified ship began to break apart.

"It's going to explode!" Dirge screamed. The Decepticons, excepting their leader, fell to the ground in the terrifying quake.

"You never test anything!" Starscream reprimanded Megatron, who responded by firing his ion cannon at the mech. It missed, thanks to the trembling earth disrupting his equilibrium, and struck Dirge. As suddenly as it threatened destruction, it quivered to a dormant halt, the accumulated power dissipating safely into energon cubes. "Who turned it off?" Starscream asked, searching the area. "No one was by the controls!" Then it hit him. "Mishap!"

"No! The opposite of that," corrected Skywarp, confused. "It was a good happening."

"Exactly," growled Megatron, eyeing Starscream's flustered expression. He had no more time to comment because a huge red, white and blue metal object tackled him to the ground. The two grappled, rolling downhill. Their associates followed suit. Hand to hand combat ruled: Hound took on Starscream, Jazz, one of the Constructicons (Scavenger), and such. Mirage took on Rumble, leaping out of the way of the giant canyon he created. Launching the missile perched on the shoulder, his aim was exceptional. That would put the pipsqueak out of commission.

"Whoa!" yelled Rumble as an invisible being yanked him in the air, free from the damaging attempt. "Is that you?"

"Lay off Mirage!" was the response. "Go annoy Bumblebee."

Mirage stared in disbelief. "What are you doing?" he demanded his sister.

"Like I told Powerglide, I have some friends," she explained, returning to her brother. Before he could reproach her, she provided him with a radio frequency.

"What's that?"

"It's mine. Whenever you want to contact me, use that." He asked why she chose to provide this. "Megatron keeps putting me in...strange positions. I haven't been out in six earth months. If I want to contact you, I want to have a medium to reach you, even in deep space. Now duck!" Mirage kissed the earth in time to avoid Thundercracker's blaster ray. Mishap shot the blue Seeker herself. "Mirage, if I can make it out of here without dying, I hope you don't forget that no matter my affiliation, I will always be devoted to you."

"Get out of here! Neither of us will benefit from being destroyed by Decepticons." Oh no, he was channeling Optimus. He sensed her fly away to await the inevitable call for retreat. "I never forgot!" he called.