A/N: Right, I lied. This turned into a full story... partly because many reviewers wanted me to continue it! Anyway, continued it is, finished it will be. Be on the lookout for crossovers with other continuities. Rather gratuitous crossovers, but then again, how else am I to expand the cast without using OCs?

As for this continuity itself, it's a mangled up version of the Animated timeline, breaking off from the show after the end of Season 1. (So the little entanglement with the Elite Guard that is mentioned somewhere in here took place sometime in the past five stellar cycles and not on Earth.) None of Season 2 took place (nothing that had to do with Starscream, anyway).

2. Assignment


"Got something for you," Lockdown announced as he entered the bridge. I glared at him, as usual.

"What?" I growled.

He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Come to the trophy room and find out."

"I know better," I said, and I did. Mechs who were unfortunate enough to find their way into Lockdown's trophy room never came out intact.

"Trust me, you'll love it. With these new thrusters you'll beat Mach 4, no problem."

"I don't trust you," I pointed out, hiding my excitement as my Spark skipped a pulse. He knew just how to get to me. Ordinarily I wouldn't be bothered with mods I didn't make myself, but my partner had found out quickly that speed was almost an obsession of mine. With my reformat we had gotten rid of that lamentable altmode I had adopted for use during my brief stint on Earth and started from scratch, building up from my protoform. The result was sleek and aerodynamic, just the way I liked it, and although I would never be as large or imposing as some, I could be just as intimidating. To avoid recognition by my former comrades or enemies, I had to alter much of my facial structure as well as my vocal processors, but I was pleased with the result: a longer nose, a shorter chin, and a faintly orange tinge to my optics, and my voice didn't "grate on the audios like an air raid siren," as Lockdown charmingly put it. He had painted me mostly black, claiming it suited both my new name and my new profession. He insisted on repainting the glyphs on my wings, and when I protested that I could be recognized, he responded that only Megatron had seen the glyphs before I fell in with Lockdown and I likely wouldn't come face-to-face with the Decepticons' leader any time soon.

"We've been working together for five stellar cycles and you still don't trust me?" Lockdown grinned, all innocence. "Come on… a gift from your partner?"

"What's the catch?" I asked suspiciously. Lockdown never gave anything without expecting something back. Indeed, his smile widened, baring all of his dental plating.

"Well, with all those sweet upgrades I've been giving you, I was thinking you might want to make me something…"

"Not a chance."

"Not one measly set of null-rays?"

"No."

"Oh, you cut me to the Spark," Lockdown said, putting his hand over his chest. I ignored him and returned to my perusal of the databanks, idly twirling my favorite toy and trophy, the stasis cuffs I had slipped to escape the Autobot Elite Guard. I liked to remind myself of that particular triumph. Through the data on the viewscreen I could see stars and the pale barren landscape of Earth's single moon. The ship was cloaked to avoid detection by either Autobots or Decepticons. We had returned to Earthspace a stellar cycle ago after working near Cybertron and in the Autobot-held territories long enough for those on Earth to have stopped wondering what had happened to me. I would have been content to stay across the universe from Megatron, but Lockdown was adamant—Megatron paid the best.

My partner snatched the stasis cuffs from me, earning an annoyed glare. He examined them closely, making a surprised sound. "In perfect condition… I thought they must have been defective. How did you manage to get out of these?"

"I don't feel like telling you."

In one swift movement he clapped the cuffs onto my wrists, grinning madly at my outraged cry. "Then show me," he said smugly.

I huffed air through my vents and settled lower into the pilot's seat, a position I had commandeered after experiencing Lockdown's lamentable flying skills, or lack thereof. "Take them off." My hand twitched with the urge to throttle him and the cuffs sent a shock through my systems. Lockdown was still grinning when I recovered.

"Better hurry," he said, "otherwise I might get bored and take advantage of the situation."

I sneered at his long-stale innuendo and willed my arms to relax, simultaneously starting the painfully slow process of connecting to the stasis cuffs. Lockdown tapped his foot impatiently. "Nothing's happening."

"Patience," I growled, almost losing my concentration. "I'm working on it."

"Well?!"

"It's similar to a primitive, senseless human toy they call the 'Chinese finger-trap,'" I explained, still trying to connect as slowly as I could bear. If I slipped up now, I'd have to start the process all over. "The more you struggle, the harder it becomes to escape. Stasis cuffs only shock you if you strike the edges with a certain amount of force. How you would get out, I don't know and for all I care you could rot in these. I connect to the cuffs and use energy from my null-rays to temporarily neutralize them…" With a click, the cuffs sprang open.

"Color me impressed," Lockdown said. "Now there's a useful talent."

"One among many."

"Ah, Void, modesty is not among them…" Lockdown chuckled. Then he draped himself into his seat and tilted his head towards me conspiratorially. "Anyway. We've got business."

I could tell. In spite of his mostly-relaxed position, I could read the excitement in Lockdown's face. "With…?"

"Megatron, who else?"

"The mark?"

"Here." He leaned forward and uploaded something to the console. After a moment, a file appeared onscreen. It resembled the standard profile for a Cybertronian bounty, but with one or two major differences.

"A human?" I asked skeptically. "Megatron wants us—you—to capture a human?" I looked closer with narrowed optics. "Not even Sumdac's daughter."

"Nope," he agreed. "This is Alexis Feller, real name Alexandra, who apparently knows something about spacebridges."

"How would a human… and a young human, at that… know anything about spacebridges?" My partner and I had returned to Earth via the Elite Guard's new spacebridge, and it hadn't been easy. If not for my clearly superior piloting skills, we never would have gotten through. No wonder Megatron wanted a Decepticon-controlled spacebridge to Earth.

"Hey, don't ask me, I'm just telling you what he told me." Lockdown shrugged. "This girl is a friend of the Autobots, and I've heard there's been a couple of additions to their numbers. Still, she's not with the main force, so she can't be too heavily guarded. Between us we should have no problem. You know how humans are… show off some firepower and they're conveniently willing to take suggestions."

"It's an easy way to make some credits. I doubt you'll get any modifications from the human, though."

"Who knows? She knows about spacebridges, so what else might she know? So, here's the plan: we pop down to Earth, beat us up an Autobot, snatch the fleshie. You come back to the ship, I deliver the package. Easy deal all around."

It was easy. As simple as our jobs ever got. But there was one lesson my stellar cycles with Lockdown had taught me: a job that sounded too good to be true usually was.