"My brother He sit me right down and he talked to me And he told me: he thought I ought to not let you just walk on me. And I know, I know that my brother he meant well. But I don't know what's really true. I said: "Brother If ya only knew You'd be wishin' you were in my shoes." To keep on usin' me, keep on usin' me. Until ya use me up."

Bill Withers

"I know you're no good for me, but you've become a part of me. How can I fight a love that shouldn't be? When it's so deep, so deep, deep inside of me. My love reaches so high I can't get over it, it's so wide I can't get around it."

Martha Reeves and the Vandellas

Powerglide came back from aiding earthquake victims in Argentina in time to be put on patrol. "I just got here!" he complained.

"Sorry, buddy," apologized Jazz. "Nova got out of Starscream that Megatron's planning to get the Insecticons to make a raid of some kind in the South Pacific."

"I wish Nova could have gotten something more specific." He'd barely had any time with Moonracer as it was. Such vagaries meant more time searching a vast area.

"The good news is you get a partner."

"Not Skyfire!" Powerglide did not like going out with that flying refrigerator. He was no fun.

"Nope. Lyra."

"Oh yeah!" He forgot Lyra was a jet. "That'll be nice." Moonracer did not see it like that. She cried on Nova's shoulder while Powerglide tried to tell her it was not for that long, just a few weeks. What was the big deal? Moonracer continued to sob. Nova waved the mech away, smiling to herself as she comforted her best friend.

They had been out for a week when Lyra felt exhaustion creeping in. Mirage was right, she had no stamina. Powerglide was in rare form. He liked to play while he worked, so they had a lot of races, as well as follow-the-leader stunts. Right now they were flying low over a city in "Papua New Guinea." The warm air was pleasant as they flew overhead. Lyra could see dark green around the city, a lush tropic area that was beautiful. Still, she missed Cybertron.

"So how often do you come across something?" she asked him.

"Fifty-fifty." Powerglide radioed Optimus. "Nothing going on over there." To her: "Teletraan's speaking the right language again."

Something pulled at her hard enough to waver her flight pattern. "How's Starscream?" she asked, not thinking.

Annoyed silence. "I don't know. On my way out I passed the jail. Saw Skyfire in there."

"Ah, yes. Skyfire." She heard Powerglide snort. "What?"

"Skyfire."

"What about him?"

"Nothing. I just have to laugh at him. He acts like nobody else is in the room. He's a nut! When he's not in the lab doin' geeky stuff he's watchin' TV. He's a cartoon fan, ya know!"

Lyra did not know what Powerglide was talking about. She had no idea what a nut, cartoon, or fan were. "Is that bad?"

"Uh, yeah! A giant robot who watches a show for kids?"

What are kids? "Are all Autobots this intolerant of differences?"

Her phrasing surprised him. "I don't know...just, if you act weird, don't be surprised that we're gonna make fun of you. Uh-oh!"

"What?"

"Weather reports indicate a typhoon in our trajectory. I'm radioing the airport to get clearance to go higher." Lyra saw nothing in particular on the horizon. They flew up to the warmer stratosphere, where she had a clearer view of a mass of clouds below them.

"Wow, there it is...I didn't see that coming."

'And that,' Powerglide thought impishly. 'Is why you fail, young jet.'

Back at last! Powerglide e-mailed the report of Nova's tip being a dud. Lyra rushed into the detention center and nearly flattened Huffer. He looked at her suspiciously until, thinking quickly, she informed him she was here to relieve his shift. Once he was gone, she turned to Starscream.

"Where have you been?" he scratched wearily. He leaned against the wall, barely lifting his head. He looked low.

"What's wrong?" she asked, alarmed.

"They cut my energon supply."

Lyra dropped his hand. "They can't do that!"

Starscream glared. "You are a spy! You must have been interrogated before! Of course they can, and they will, unless I talk."

"I'm not a spy, I'm a scientist." It was not her voice. It was not her thought. She shook it off by saying, "I was only caught once. They rebuilt me to be a Decepticon. This interrogation stuff is all new to me. They STARVE you? What next? Will they beat you to a pulp when Powerglide's report shows…your...last tip was..." Lyra broke into a run to find the glider before he sent the report. Too late! He was walking outside Bluestreak. "Powerglide! Did you e-mail the report?" He nodded. "Why did you do that? Now there's going to be trouble!" she cried, forgetting to mask her ire. "You moron!"

"Hey! What's your problem?" Bluestreak demanded as an angry Powerglide folded his arms across his chest in annoyance.

"Starscream-" She couldn't finish the thought because she realized it gave away too much. "-was lying," she finished lamely.

"I know that. That's what I said in my report." Powerglide could not get what happened to Oasis. No, Lyra. Nova was right, she really was a weirdo. Whatever she was, he didn't want to be around it. Both walked past her, glaring. Bluestreak was ready to spread the word over her latest blowup at one of the last remaining allies she had.

Lyra ran back and saw the prisoner with new eyes. He was now lying on the ground, shutting off everything that wasn't vital, head resting on crossed arms.

"How long have they been doing this to you?" she asked.

"A month." He saw her holding her Autobot symbol. Time for some drama. "I didn't want to say anything."

She considered her charge on the floor. "I'm your interrogator! They never told me they were doing this!"

"They don't have to!" It was Prowl, who had been passing on his way from delivering Optimus the news that Perceptor had figured out the prototype formula. He had just run into the offended Powerglide and Bluestreak in the hall. "Do you have any idea what you're doing?"

She hung her head in chagrin. "Well, no. I was in a mine for five million years. I'm sorry I haven't kept up with the latest war techniques." The anger at Powerglide and the confusion of being caught made her dangerously sarcastic to this higher-up. Autobots may have a casual hierarchy, but Prime's officers still got respect.

He put a hand to his tired eyes. She'd jeopardized the whole purpose of holding Starscream prisoner. "Get out of here. You are to be reassigned, and you better hope we can salvage this. Nice try Starscream, you almost had her."

"That's what you think."

"Where's Huffer? He's supposed to be guarding over him, not you." Prowl radioed the missing Autobot. He looked over to see Lyra still looking at the Decepticon on the floor. "Get out! That's an order!"

"I'll think of something," she whispered to Starscream.

"You'd better." She walked out, Prowl escorting her to find Elita-1 for reassignment. "Or I'm dead."

"Are they going to torture him? No, my dear. We are soldiers, not bullies." The female Autobot shook her head. "But that is no longer your business. You have to be reassigned." Elita-1 had no idea what to do with her. Her whole being radiated disappointment in Lyra, she could FEEL the waves. "Why did Optimus give you this job, if you had no idea how to do it?" she pondered. "Well, I suppose..." she looked at Chromia, who shrugged. "Where is there a lack of people?"

"The laboratory," Mercuria, eavesdropping, supplied for them.

"Affirmative. I will radio Perceptor. Go over there now." As Lyra walked out, she heard a transmission come in. She was promptly called back.

"You are also, at Prowl's request, to stay away from the detention center until further notice."

"Yes Ma'am." Lyra hated having six or seven bosses instead of one ruler. The good news, if it was to be considered good, was that they all seemed to want the same thing.

Perceptor welcomed Lyra into the lab. What did she know about lasers?

"Not much," she answered. "Do you have a chip enlarger?"

"The best!" Perceptor hurried her over. "What do you know about it? It's broken."

"How to use it."

"Hmm. I think you might do better aiding Skyfire."

Lyra sighed. Would she ever get away from this guy? He was always staring at her, it seemed. Now she had to work with him. This would be a punishment like no other.

Skyfire was surprised at how little she knew. Although Lyra had accompanied Starscream in his lab, she never aided him in his endeavors. She knew nothing of chemistry.

"I suppose that we will have to start somewhere."

Concrete experience lacking, Skyfire classified her at Square One, below the Dinobot who had recently lost interest and quit to create this opening. For a good amount of time, Lyra managed to stay out of trouble with her fellow Autobots by remaining with this large, gentle mech; mostly because Skyfire himself avoided troublesome situations. He hid in the lab and tried to come up with an antidote to the new protective covering Megatron had. He decided that if she were to trail him around, which he enjoyed no matter the Autobot for some reason, he might as well tutor her in the ways of science.

Skyfire was an excellent teacher, allowing her first to hand him objects at his request. When she was familiar with the equipment, he guided her through the Scientific Method. He felt confident enough in her abilities to have her measuring chemicals and mixing nonflammable elements by the end of the month, when Optimus Prime called her into his office.

"How long have you been in the laboratory?" He asked.

"An earth month." She had witnessed another spy group go out in her stead, and come back empty-handed. A horrible discomfort inside her had intensified to the point she could hardly stand it. These came with great frequency. It helped to be by Skyfire. She had no idea why, but the emptiness that followed when the nagging pains ceased was more bearable when she hovered around the giant, even though she realized this was what a remora felt like when around a shark.

"Skyfire says you have an amazing aptitude. He is recommending you intern with Hoist and Ratchet to be a medic."

"I would rather be a scientist." It was a silent mumble, not even thought out.

Optimus was undeterred. "Mechanics is a vital part of science. You could learn a lot."

"Why not?" She was useless as a spy. Except...

Throughout the previous month Lyra lived two lives. In one, she toiled in the lab with Perceptor and Skyfire. In the other, she scavenged desperately for energon for Starscream. Half-consumed energon mugs were spirited away from the lab and pocketed into subspace. Full mugs she pretended to drink but really hid went as well. When everyone in the base was at their busiest, she disappeared. Starscream nearly blew her cover the first time he saw a disembodied mug hovering around his face. ("This stuff tastes terrible, Mishap.") She had to make sure whoever was watching him really didn't watch him. Cliffjumper was a watcher. Sideswipe and Powerglide were not. While the small red Autobot spent the whole time staring at Starscream, weapon drawn, the two larger robots took this time to call their friends in to hang around. Within a large group of robots, all there to have a good time, nobody looked at him, freeing her to render aid amidst the chaos. Because this factoid was, until recently, unknown to her patient her arrivals were completely random to poor Starscream. The Decepticon prisoner never knew what was coming until it arrived, making him jumpier than usual.

Nova walked in one day and saw him pacing his cell. "Aren't you supposed to be dying?"

Starscream jumped. "WARN me when you do that!" he yelled. He ran over to the bars. "Did you bring it?"

She held up the small container of oil. "Sunstreaker's been getting it for me."

"Ahhh..." Now his joints would stop creaking like an old mech's.

Nova watched him. Starscream told her stories of his life as a Decepticon while he oiled. She rationalized that they were entertainment. This week, the subject was his youth.

"We were all great friends together at Cybertron Academy when the first Great War began. Skywarp loved practical jokes. We used to put fish under the professor's beds and kidnap people and dye the fountain green."

Nova giggled. She looked over at Beachcomber, who was seriously watching them as they spoke. How long had he been there? Her chronometer told her it was fifteen minutes past her shift. "I should get going."

Starscream nodded. Mishap would not come until later. He couldn't wait. He craved that nasty tasting energon. Too bad Mishap wasn't as much fun as Nova. Then again, Mishap had heard all his stories twice. As he bid the female Autobot good-bye he re-evaluated his strategy. Perhaps he could take Nova with him, too. Nova left, pondering something close to that. She was worried about Starscream's fate. Maybe if she aided his escape, he would reward her with his friendship. Maybe something better than what she got from Sunstreaker. All the Lamborghini cared about was himself and fighting, in that order. She really didn't like him that much anyhow. Having a boyfriend was what female Autobots wanted, and Nova followed what the others did. It was the only way to know she was normal.