She was more than a little afraid of putting it in subspace. Arkvander was more than happy to sell her a couple of sealing boxes.
"It'll keep freshness in," he promised, handing the cakes inside the box to her. His visor and her optics lingered for a moment. Mega cleared her throat. "Take care."
"Good-bye," she replied, meaning it this time.
Because one way or another, she was never coming back.
Autobot security was a JOKE. It was easier breaking into Tap's.
Being his office and all, Lyra knew he'd realize she was here before even turning on the light, but she greeted him all the same. "Hello, brother."
He jumped. That was odd. Maybe being this comfortable made you softer than you realized.
When the light flashed on, the blaster at his temple was no mirage. It was her oasis, though. After a long drought of suffering.
"You're not going to get away with this," he vowed.
"I can and will. Because you left me to decompose YET AGAIN in another hole. Or was four million years of Decepticon mining an inconvenient dash in your processor?" THAT at least made him squirm. "You owe me. By the planetfull. Lucky for you, I only need one miniscule indulgence: introduce me to Grimlock."
He paused. His hands remained at his sides. "What's the catch?"
Again, honesty is the best policy. "Mirage, my dear, I need him for business purposes. I'd tell you it was nothing illegal if that meant anything to you, but since you MAKE the laws now, it doesn't really matter where on the spectrum of decency this falls."
She called him "my dear." She hated that phrase. He knew it, too. "You are furious with me."
"Apoplectic bordering on murderous. Shall we go?" Her invisibility had no limit, other than energon reserves. His had been damaged permanently. Being a few minutes ahead in both birth and exodus placement had its advantages. "I've had an itchy trigger finger lately, being in a political ghetto where there are no rules and everything is catch-all, so I'd recommend sparing me a lot of wasted time and doing what we've set out to do, thank you."
They turned three corners and were at the door of the Dinobot Rumpus Room.
"Thank you, sir."
"Your manners are impeccable," he complimented.
"Almost." A nice stun to the face would keep him under long enough. Time to walk through another door of destiny.
He was the big one. Lyra recalled him from battles and Autobot parties but never really knew him. Now was as good a time as any. "Hello, Grimlock."
He had been knee-deep in crayon drawings with the others. His visor flashed at the sight of the cake, now enticingly put on the table between them all. "WHAT THIS!?"
"I heard you Dinobots liked cake. So I baked you one, so that we could be friends." Grimlock was in Tyrannosaurus Rex mode in seconds, picking up the treat and breaking off pieces in his little hands for his fellow soldiers. "Can we be friends?"
"YES! ME GRIMLOCK LIKE YOU! WHO ARE YOU?"
"I'm Lyra. I used to hang out with Mirage." A million lifetimes ago.
"OH. ME GRIMLOCK THINK MIRAGE OKAY. ANY MORE CAKE?"
Lucky for her, there were two more in boxes in her subspace compartment. "Oh yes, but only for you, because I need you for a - job. A special job."
Now that he had optics, Grimlock was far more expressive. "A JOB...IT ETHICAL?"
She shook her head. "No. It's not illegal, but it IS toying with forces best left to Primus."
The Dinobots laughed. They sounded like they were laughing with her, though. "US DINOBOTS WERE MADE SAME WAY! ME GRIMLOCK GO WITH YOU!"
The others moved along. "This is just a job for Grimlock, I'm sorry! We have to be careful, or we'll get caught, and all of you are - so amazing, that we'd get caught!"
This worked for them. "YOU SNARL IN CHARGE UNTIL ME GRIMLOCK RETURN! LET'S GO, FRIEND LYRA! MORE CAKE!"
"More cake," she agreed, taking his tiny hand and disappearing. "I have to stay invisible to be safe, but you're okay on your own," she told him.
"BYE, DINOBOTS!"
And they were off.
"This is Drill Bit, calling in an 8675309, coordinates-"
Code Red grabbed his arm and spun him towards a hill. Although Oasis couldn't make anything out, a small puff of smoke erupted from behind a pile of what used to be the neighbor's ballroom.
"-Slag. 86 that, we see the disturbance and are going to investigate instead, new coordinates-"
Code Red, staring at the plume that continued to curl skyward, felt the tap on his foot. Somehow Oasis had managed to crawl her way to him, her optics dull and dead as they met his visor. His inscrutable visor. Heaving a deep sigh, he knelt down and handed her a small energon cube.
"I'm only prolonging your misery, you know."
She didn't even thank him, because she knew he was right. Mirage couldn't drink it at first, coughing, but soon drank half of it before a shadow fell on them.
"They're not coming back." She was battered and small, with a servant's mark on her shoulder. Lyra recognized the faction and color scheme. She was of Solaris.
"Is anyone else here?" she asked, keeping an optic on her brother at the same time.
"No, madam Oasis."
Wealth and privilege end during war, but Oasis hadn't learned that yet. She regarded this servant as a servant. "Help me get him sitting." When she turned towards her brother, she missed the flash in this small 'bot's optics.
"Yes, madam."
"Have you found any sources of energon here?"
"No, madam."
"Where did you look?"
Another unnoticed flash. "All around, madam."
"Such as?"
"Everything the light touches, madam. I saw a few scavengers and threw some of the silverware at them."
Oasis placed the rest of the cube in Mirage's hands. He groaned, fingers grasping at it. "But they'll never throw it back to you," she sighed to herself. Standing up, she dusted herself and motioned to the servant. "Watch him while I search for some myself."
"Yes, madam."
Of course there was nothing. And of course the cube was missing and what Mirage had managed to rescue during their flight and stashed had been ransacked.
She truly had not anticipated this. Not even bothering to think, she hoisted Mirage over her shoulders and carried him on her back, picking her way through the empty piles of rubble towards the smoke where those other 'bots had gone.
It took longer to get there than it should have. Oddly, it appeared as though the smoke kept disappearing and reappearing. 'One more hill, one more hill, two more hills, one more hill.' She chanted that in her head, then out loud.
"One more hill, one more hill, two more hills, one more hill."
The smoke stopped. It didn't cease to exist, it didn't taper off, it coldly flashed to nothing. Don't panic.
"I only have one more hill," she told Mirage, who was offline. It was more for her benefit anyway. They were leaving the burning lights to plunge into potential problems. Oasis didn't realize that. She had not been out in the cold long enough.
When she got to said hill, there was nothing. Cold hills similar to the cold hills she'd already fought chrome and nail to overcome. She burst out sobbing. She and Mirage dropped to the ground in the darkness, laying there for an indiscernible amount of time.
As she lay there, depleted, around her she heard scuffling. Smaller beings, bodiless voices, movement nearby. Nothing concrete. Mostly she lay there thinking of how she would soon deactivate IF IT WEREN'T SO NOISY!
Noisy...
On her hands and knees, feeling around the ground and the piles, bit by bit, moment by moment. It took a very long time - that was all she had left, after all, other than her near-dead brother - and she had gone over that area once before yet it was the noisiest part - and... there it was. A door.
knockknockknockknockknock
Nothing.
"I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!" she bellowed. "I'LL BRING ANYONE WITHIN AUDIO RANGE OVER HERE QUICK IF YOU DON'T!"
Silence.
knockknockknockknockknock-
*CLICK* The blaster came out first and a red and blue 'bot greeted her. "Get out of here NOW."
"I need help!" she countered. "My brother's almost dead and there's nowhere to go."
He had a semi-circle head that was nowhere near as downturn as his countenance. "Not my problem."
Enraged and filled with an energy that came from who-knows-where, Lyra grabbed his blaster and used it to block him from slamming the door. "I will MAKE it your problem! Do you think you can get out of here before I bring a horde of survivors down on you?"
He faltered, backing into another 'bot. Drill Bit! "Get her out of here!" the first one scratched. Drill Bit steadied his aiming arm.
"Sorry," he said. "You threatened my buddy."
Lyra had nothing left in her, other than desperation. "I'll leave! I'll leave," she promised, handing the blaster back, handle first. "And I won't come back and I won't tell anyone anything. But ONLY if you take my brother. Please. PLEASE!" They had moved over to shove her out, closing the door as quietly as possible as she landed on her aft.
The noise resumed inside. Lyra propped herself upright and tottered back to her brother, within sight of where she was, if she squinted into the darkness enough.
When she made it back to him she laid his head on her shoulder and cried herself dry, going offline much later.
*clank*
Coming online hurt. A lot. Lyra looked up at some 'bots offering her energon.
"There you go, sip it, you're doing fine." He smiled at her. "Want to sit up a little more?"
"Yes, thank you." He had a few others with him who were looking at Mirage.
"Yeah, this is all depletion. I don't know about the invisibility thing."
That was when she realized that they were no longer outside. Both were on tables in a cheery yellow operating room. "Where am I?"
The first medic had no mouth but accessories that lit up. "Welcome to the Autobots! I'm Wheeljack." He handed her another cube. "Let's take a look at that broken chestplate, huh?"