IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR STORY: PLEASE READ!

Ok, this is so you guys don't start reading and wonder what the heck happened.
Now, some of you will think I'm crazy but I love Mirage, not as much as Cade and Bee, and I've always thought of him as a femme. Don't ask me why because I haven't a clue, but Mirage has always came over to me as a femme. Besides, what's better than a bad ass female spy? Only Mirage will have a gender change during this story, all other mechs and femmes will stay as they are.

Also, I hardly remember most of the jobs for other Autobots and have labeled a few as espionage even if that's what they'er not suppose to be.

Autobot Espionage Agents:

Blurr
Hound
Jazz
Mirage
Repugnus
Searchlight
Streetwise
Sureshot

*note* There are numerous Autobot scouts and in my personal opinion they do not fall under espionage so they are not listed. Also, Bumblebee is not a scout in this story or at all in my mind. I find him as a pure espionage mech with a blend of multiple talents. A Decepticon espionage list will be posted later on in the story when needed.

The new chapter for Incompatible will be up later today or even as late as tomorrow night since I didn't have time to write it till last night and will need time to properly review. There is a slim possiblity it might not come out till next week since I've hit a bit of a writer's block. Anyways, this chapter was looked over and over again with a fine toothed comb and I fear some things still might have slipped through the cracks. Also, this chapter is much longer than I originally intended but I hope it is good.

Another thing I think I might need to clarify. This story will have absolutly no human to mech contact or even speak of the world Earth, meaning there are no days, years, hours, and such. Instead, try to think of it as one breem is one minute, one joor is one hour, one orn is one day, and one vorn is one year for them, normally one breem is like 6min and a orn is like 13days so you get the picture. I'm sure most of you have already picked up on that but like I said, I just wanted to clarify.

Last, there is one fight scene in this chapter but the potiential for two was there yet I cut it down to a few simple sentences without much description. Now, if you guys would like more fighting let me know and if just one fight scene per chapter is good enough let me know. Either way, you gotta speak up.

Enjoy and Review Please (I can never stress enough for reviews. I'm a review junky, always looking for the next fix.)

Third lock stasis, or more commonly known as Death's grip, was the worst thing a medic could ever speak of. Once an unfortunate soul fell into third lock stasis, he or she would never return to the land of living. It was impossible, not one had ever survived in the history of all Cybertronians down to the first created. Instead they would slowly slip away as their sparks faded and the process sometimes took countless orns before it was accomplished; yet no matter what, there was only one ending result.

It was any Cybertronian's nightmare and easily caused gloom and depression to settle on those who merely spoke of it. Because of its dark nature, it was safe for any to assume the result of having a loved one given such a diagnosis would be excruciatingly painful. So, as the CMO's devastating words hung heavily in the loud silence of the med bay, it was spark-wrenchingly clear Ratchet had just given their beloved youngling a death sentence.

It took a few breems for everyone to get over their varying stages of shock while the two medics checked over the offline Ironhide to make sure the sudden onset of stress hadn't affected his energon reserves. Finally, with Ironhide back in his bed, the others began to move sluggishly around not really knowing what to do next. Optimus could only be settled with staying by Bumblebee's side and completely forgetting about his duties. Both Sunstreaker and Jazz had slunked out of the med bay together in silence as they found it upon their shoulders to get the word out of the bad news. Wheeljack left with the prompting of his partner, Ratchet, while the two younger medics stayed behind with the CMO. They had emergency beds in the back of the med bay and were going to use them, knowing they would be unable to deal the grief they would find outside the doors in the faces of Artemis' crew.

As the end of the orn came, Optimus was still at the youngling's side just watching him silently. It tore at the leader's spark that the yellow mech was no longer moving or coughing, and what was worse was that he knew Bumblebee would never well do such again. The feeling of Bumblebee through their bond was gone. All that he could feel was that the spark was alive. There was no interaction or sign that the very soul that Bumblebee was still existed. And physically, the youngling's spark was still there, but as in all third lock stasis cases, the spark was unwilling to inhabit the frame and slowly withdrew till it faded, starting with the processor before vacating its presence in other vital systems. In some sense it gave the old battle worn mech slight relief that Bumblebee was no longer suffering and pain free. There was no choking coughs or shakes of pain; the youngling was finally in a strange stage of peace. And as he watched Bumblebee, the Autobot leader was certain, absolutely positive he would not be strong enough to survive the separation once the small mech fully joined the matrix in spark and soul, but that suited Optimus just fine. He was more than willing to meet up again with his youngling in the afterlife where he would see those baby blue optics light up and wash away all the sorrow and worries from even the worst of orns.

Outside the med bay, news spread like an energon-fueled fire and it seemed nearly every soldier on board had come and gone from Bumblebee's side. They mostly stayed for only a few breems, watching the motionless mech silently or even whispering something into his deaf audio receptors. However, there were more severe moments. At Sunstreaker's visit, the tough interior armor of the twin had melted away as he knelt by Bumblebee's side while his brother stood just behind him, a hand on his shoulder for support and comfort that gave the grieving Bot much needed strength to say his goodbyes. Jazz, his mourning silent and solemn, had been so distraught that Ratchet called Prowl away from his duties, something the medic was sure to only due in extreme cases, to coax his partner away from the youngling's side to get some much needed rest.

Still, the one mech that was giving no outward appearance of what was really raging through his systems was Optimus. He could tell the visitors could sense his lack of emotion and reaction to their own sadness, but it didn't matter. What he needed was his old friend, Ironhide. The weapon specialist had yet to come back online after collapsing, but Ratchet reassured him the big mech was fine, yet Optimus felt as if he was going crazy holding in the powerful onslaught of emotions. Only Ironhide, the appointed guardian of Bumblebee, could truly know a fraction of his pain. The Autobot leader couldn't take this grief alone. It was too consuming for one mech alone. Sunstreaker's earlier display held no flame to Optimus' pain.

Despite Optimus' lack in picking back up his duties like he should have, Prowl was quick to realize it was time for him step up from second command to take his leader's role till Optimus could resume his work.

It was another orn before Ironhide finally came online but all he could allow himself to do was sit down next to Bumblebee as Optimus had done and wait. Neither spoke to each other but they didn't need to as their presence together shared the grief and gave a small amount of comfort to the guardians.

Agonizing orns dragged by and still Bumblebee hadn't changed, getting no worse but also no better. The few times that one of the guardians left the youngling's side, never at the same time, the others on the ship had been quick to get out of their way. Ironhide had more than devastated the firing range and Optimus had no patience, giving harsh punishments to a mech who so much as looked at him. In turn, it had the temporary leader, Prowl stressing. He confident Optimus' short fuse had caused the recent random brawls between fellow soldiers as they stressed over their uncalled for punishments, and Ironhide's rage had done more damage single-handedly than a full out Decepticon attack since he some times didn't have the patience to make it to the firing range.

However, Prowl really had no desire to know if such was true but he would soon find out as the alarm for attack sounded ten orns after Bumblebee had fallen into third stasis lock.

The two mechs were together in the med bay when the alarm sounded. Immediately they jumped to their feet, Ironhide's optics blazing and Optimus growling out ideas of what he would do to any Decepticons he got his hands on. By their reasoning, it had been the Decepticons' fault as to why Bumblebee was in the condition he was now. They had caused the initial injury, delayed the shipment with the much-needed energon and medical supplies, and stolen the last of their energon reserves. The mechs were out for energon, and a lot of it.

None were prepared as they readied for the attack as they saw the crazed look in their leader's optics that mirrored Ironhide's as the two stood side by side. The weapon specialist had done his job well as his friend stood by his side carrying a new weapon upgrade consisting of a very accurate and deadly plasma cannon. It was not the Prime the Autobots knew and they all kept a safe distance, not wanting to hamper the duo's movements or accidentally get in the way of their evident bloodlust.

The battle started off with quite a bang as it seemed some of the grief and rage towards the Decepticons for Bumblebee's condition was fueling the Autobots. While they didn't match their leader and weapon specialist's incredible fury, it was more than enough to give most Decepticons pause and rethink if they really wanted their afts handed to them. Still, prompted by orders unknown to the Autobots, the Decepticons reluctantly continued their attack.

A joor later, as the brutal battle raged through out various sections of the ship, none had made the connection that the Con leader, Megatron, had yet to be spotted. It was standard procedure to inform all fellow soldiers of the mech's presence during battle to help send reinforcements, or the one mech that could deal with Megatron, Optimus Prime.

Over time, Hoist, First Aid, and Wheeljack had all been dispatched out separately as the battle went on responding to calls for medical help while Ratchet remained behind to both guard the med bay and watch over Bumblebee. However, the battle grew too intense for only three medics to help with wounded and Ratchet reluctantly left believing none would really come to the area since the fighting was in distant parts of the ship. Ratchet, of course, wouldn't find he was very wrong about his assumption until a few joors later.

It was quite easy for Megatron to find the med bay as he used his bond with the youngling to find the room. He entered quietly and as suspected, Ratchet wasn't waiting to greet him. The Decepticon leader had been sure to bring his most ruthless and brutal fighters to this mission to drag the medics out of their med bay and keep all the Autobots' attentions on the battle.

The med bay was completely silent at he instantly knew what curtain Bumblebee was hidden behind. It gave Megatron reason to pause seeing the youngling in his current condition and after reading some of the monitors he looked back down at the yellow mech.

"Third lock stasis? That medic needs more training," Megatron said then began rummaging through the small bag he brought with him.

"Now, I told you we would meet out on the battle field and I meant it. If only your slaggin medic knew a bit more about bonds that might have been now. Nonetheless, I at least know what I'm doing," he continued, now pulling out a few electrical transferring wires and strange tools, "and I guess it falls to me since these fools know nothing."

Picking up one of the tools, Megatron took it to Bumblebee's chest and worked quickly but effectively. The covering over a spark and spark casting could only be opened by medics and special tools or in the moments of interface. It was less than a breem later everything had slid away to show a soft light blue spark pulsing for any to see if they were to walk into the med bay that moment. Megatron then began a more complicated task of taking the wires and attaching them various areas around Bumblebee's inner chest cavity before he paused and opened up his armor to his own spark. A few more wires were put into place and he drew out one long thick black transfer cable. Feeding it directly into his own red spark, Megatron couldn't suppress the grimace at the horrible feeling before leaning over Bumblebee and touching the other end to the youngling's fading spark.

A bright white flash of light fill the room before it dimmed down. But what would have caught any others, that weren't in the room presently, by surprise was the sudden gasp and cry from Bumblebee. The reaction had the youngling arching his back violently as if in intense pain and his optics flickered off and on rapidly. During this time, Megatron was disconnecting everything quickly and allowing their sparks to become shielded again.

Finally, Bumblebee collapsed onto the bed, gasping and beginning to overheat at the sudden return to life as he tried to get his bearing on his surroundings. While he waited for his vision to focus, he felt some one close and with a tug from his spark he looked over just as Megatron came into focus.

"Megatron?" he asked in confusion, forcing himself to sit as the Decepticon was near done packing up all the equipment.

"I will see you in this war and it is then I will not be so generous," he growled, the only answer he would grant to Bumblebee before stalking out the door.

It took Bumblebee a while to process what had just happened but he was quickly alert and began pulling the wires and tubes Ratchet put in place free from his frame. He slid off the bed slowly, stood up on wobbly legs, and stumbled about the room trying to get control of his limbs before attempting to leave.

He had to admit he felt surprisingly good other than the small amount of energon still filling his breathing tanks, but despite the discomfort, he jumped up and down, everything responding as it should before he was injured.

"Here we go," Bumblebee said, ready for another battle and powered up his cannon while slipping out his blade on his free arm. The youngling was sure to keep to stealth incase he needed the upper hand in a surprise attack on any loan Decepticons he came upon.

Such training came swiftly into play, as the first he ran into had been Bruticus. The mech was big and strong but he was just too large for the quick antics of Bumblebee who pulled a very familiar move he used on Starscream in the last battle before the Con sank to his knees and fell forward, heavily, offline.

Not even getting a yard away from Bruticus's still frame, Bumblebee came to a halt when he saw his least favorite Decepticon glaring at him, Starscream.

"Youngling, I thought you would be dead from the way your leader is fighting so passionately for and what Megatron told us before hand," he laughed.

Bumblebee could only smile as he shifted his frame, ready to fight. He truly enjoyed giving the coward Con humiliation by offlining him with ease in their last encounter.

"Come, fighting a dead mech can't be too hard," he taunted.

Starscream narrowed his optics at the words but only a klick later they crashed into each other, never minding that one was a seeker and the other a spy, neither particularly built for hand to hand combat. However, they didn't need their core programming to tell them this was a personal battle that needed to be dealt with in close proximity for the hatred they radiated off towards one another.

The two clashed with a tremendous force that sent the sounds of the collision echoing throughout the halls of Artemis, but there was a raging battle and the alert of a coming nasty fight was lost in the yells and explosions of the war.

Cannon melding back to his arm left Bumblebee only with his energon sword out sword while Starscream withdrew two energon daggers from one of his subspace containers. Seekers usually didn't get arm blades, in fact, most mechs didn't. Props of being Ironhide's charge. The initial slamming into each other had knocked the two to the ground and as they wrestled they realized they probably didn't start off in a position for either of them to excel in that moment. Still, they continued their struggle and fought to gain the upper hand. For once, Bumblebee's size was going against him and it was all he could do to keep Starscream from reaching down to cut or rip out vulnerable cords and wires in his neck. Steadily, the youngling was losing as the seeker changed his mind and was instead pressing a dagger down towards Bumblebee's chest to sink the sharp metal through his spark chamber.

The youngling managed to keep his calm and thought back to a time he was sparring with Sunstreaker. The golden twin had pinned him down in a similar fashion Starscream was doing and had thought for sure of victory. However, Bumblebee had different plans and following the memory in real time, he bucked his hips upwards, throwing the larger mech forward slightly, and aligining his head just right for the smaller mech to smash his helm up and under Con's chin, successfuly dazing the seeker.

It was easy then to slip free and to his feet. Starscream growled curses at the surprise attack but recovered quickly enough, jumping to his own feet.

Bumblebee gave the Decepticon another rude smile before he darted forward. The seeker was waiting, anticipating the move he would make and standing ready for defense, but what he didn't realize was the youngling's quick ability to improvise as Bumblebee used his charging momentum to fall to his knees, slide underneath Starscream's prepared defense, and swipe out to cut a long, deep wound in his left leg.

The Decepticon howled in a mixture of rage and pain, nearly earning his namesake but none the less he regained his senses quickly enough to block Bumblebee's next attack as the youngling jumped from his kneeling position and twisted around 180 degrees across Starscream's back to stab through the seeker's right wing. They jumped away for a moment and Bumblebee couldn't help but give a smile of victory as he saw the Decepticon's leg was leaking considerable amounts of energon on the floor. Taking note, Bumblebee already had a plan formulating to use it in a future attack.

"A youngling too much for ya, Screamer? Need a sparkling, maybe you can handle that at least," he yelled. The red optics flickered dangerously as they promised a painful death. Bumblebee only laughed in response and dropped to a crouch to dodge a vicious straightforward swipe from two energon daggers. He took the opportunity, while ducked by Starscream's leg, to dig into the wiring and find the one he really wanted. However, the search took slightly longer than anticipated and was instead rewarded with a dagger slamming down in the back of his right shoulder. Biting off a cry, Bumblebee ripped the wire out as he jumped away, jerking free of the dagger before its twin could come down and make corresponding contact.

The seeker showed more surprised than pain once the youngling tumbled a safe distance away. He gave his leg an incredulous look when he realized the processes for the relays directing movement acted sluggishly. It seemed there was more to these medic techniques the small mech knew than basic off lining maneuvers.

"I'm a bit disappointed, I expected more," Bumblebee said and it was truthful. He had feared a worse battle. It was granted, however, when Starscream howled with rage and flew at Bumblebee, as a seeker has no need in his legs during battle. The youngling dodged at the last second, threw his blade up towards the passing form of the seeker, and sliced into the tip of a wing. Doing minimal damage, it only enraged Starscream further and he swooped back around. Bumblebee was sure it would be another fly by attack and crouched, ready to spring up and slice at the mech when he flew over head again but was instead caught off guard suddenly when the Con dropped from flight, grabbed onto him as he fell, and used the youngling's body as a cushion.

Bumblebee groaned at the heavy impact that jarred his repairing main line and forced some energon up, out of his mouth. Starscream smirked, thinking the coughing was a success of internal damage. He stood, savoring what he thought was victory till Bumblebee's legs kicked out, digging into the back of one knee, and sent the much larger mech crashing back down to the ground. The youngling immediately pounced on his enemy and stabbed straight down without hesitation. A long agonizing scream of pain admitted successful contact. In return, one of Starscream's arms reflexively arched out and the dagger sliced up along the side of the youngling's left arm, the mere force cutting deep into the secondary energon lines. Bumblebee ignored the pain and lifted his sword again to stab back down and hopefully ended the fight once and for all, but Starscream had better ideas than laying on the ground and getting skewered. The Decepticon decided to copy Bumblebee's earlier move and jolted his hips up, only this time the strength of the dislodge from a larger mech sent the youngling flying off Starscream over his head so the yellow mech landed smartly on his aft.

"Slag it, you fraggin scrap heap of worthless fraggin metal," Bumblebee cursed and got back up slowly. Starscream was already on his feet. His daggers eagerly waited, each already having tasted such sweet energon from the youngling.

"This needs to end fast," he muttered to himself quietly and noticed that the seeker's systems had finally rerouted some of the electrical pulses in his damaged right leg to give temporary stability and was now trusting to be on his feet again. Smirking, Bumblebee began walking around in a circle-like pattern towards Starscream. The Decepticon didn't know what the youngling was planning and warily followed suite so the two were now face to face, turning around in a circle as an animal and it's predator would. Finally, Bumblebee came to a slow halt once the larger mech was in position.

"I have to ask," Bumblebee said casually as if they were having a diplomatic discussion before his voice warped and became mixed with degradation and ire, "Did Megatron reject you or were you too much scum in his eyes to be worthy of a mate?"

"You fraggin slagger. I'll weld your aft to my wall as a trophy!" Starscream screamed in response to the insult and even took a step forward in advance to play out on his threat.

That was exactly what the youngling was waiting for. Bumblebee darted forward and got the reaction he expected. Starscream was caught off guard and froze in the exact pose needed for a balance upset as the youngling tackled into the seeker's side. Normally, such a small frame would find it near impossible to budge a much larger one, but Bumblebee's tactics weren't normal and unknown to the unbalanced seeker the pool energon, leaked from his leg wound earlier and had collected into a sizable puddle, was still very much present beneath his feet. So, as the mech struggled to keep up right and steady from the blow, he instinctively sidestepped to even out his sudden off set of weight. Just as Bumblebee had planned, the large mech's foot came down right on the slick liquid, and sent them both crashing hard to the ground. However, the youngling had the scenario already laid out and easily kept his wits about him after the painful impact, and immediately dug his hand into the neck/shoulder junction and searched quickly for the exact sensitive wiring needed to send the Decepticon into a forced, second lock stasis. It was a move Ratchet had been wary of teaching the youngling but eventually he gave into the spark-melting baby-blue optic-stare of Bumblebee's infamous way of asking, "please?" like so many others before him.

"No!" Starscream yelled and began to screech a noise that was more frustration than words while franticly wrapping a free hand over the youngling's wrist to try and break the gears before the damage was done. He was incredibly desperate to not repeat their last encounter, but with a smirk and a twist of Bumblebee's deft fingers, the seeker's optics immediately darkened and the Decepticon's form went lax.

For a moment, Bumblebee remained on top of the offline seeker and allowed his frame to cool and let the rush of fight leave him. However, he knew he couldn't just lay exposed on a Decepticon's frame in the middle of a battle and forced himself up, grunting at the effort. Shrugging his shoulders to loosen up the pain from when he slammed into Starscream, he noticed his blade still had a light coat of energon on it and cleaned it off on the seeker before allowing it to slip back up into his arm smoothly. It felt as if he had just let Sunstreaker have free reign in beating him into a pulp or maybe allowed Ironhide to use his frame as a target during practice.

"Bumblebee!" someone yelled from the intersection of the hallway.

It was Mirage.

"Hey," and a small smile and wave, was all he could manage at the moment as he was still recovering from the sudden loss of the rushing energy during the battle. He nearly chuckled as he saw she was frozen to the spot at the simple sight of seeing him.

The happy reunion was short lived when he suddenly saw a dark shape down the hallway behind his mentor.

"Mirage!" he cried out, running over to her as the Decepticon sharpshooter aimed at her back.

He barely managed to get her out of harm's way by tackling her in much the same fashion he did to Starscream earlier. They landed a hard impact on their sides and the force of the youngling's blow sent them sliding across the floor into one of the adjoining hallways.

Coming to a screeching halt, Bumblebee needed to pause for a moment before he could get back up as the harsh hit had again jarred more energon into his breathing tanks and causing him to cough up a bit.

Mirage stood and finally blinked, snapping back to reality.

"I don't know why or how, but you're here," she said, quickly regaining her calm, "Come, we need to hide. I had six on my tail. That fragger was probably a scout."

Without needing much prompting, Bumblebee and Mirage instantly blended to the shadows and the older Bot was very pleased to see the youngling was excelling in his training. They continued down the hallway, waiting for another intersection to try and hide but she stopped short. Just out their optical range, they could see five Decepticon slowly walking up, scanning the hallway as they went by.

"A search and destroy squad," she whispered to Bumblebee indicating that the group was sent out to quietly dispatch those hiding or roaming the ship alone during the battle when none could hear their cries for help. What really had her scared was not the mission of these five Decepticons to seek and kill, but the fact that she and her espionage youngling were trapped in a hallway with no rooms or means to escape between one group of six, the other of five, Decepticons.

Mirage was at a complete loss and gave Bumblebee a fearful look but he only grinned and motioned silently for her to follow him. They turned around and went back to the bend in the hallway where neither approaching group would be able to see them until they turned the corner when Bumblebee stopped and pointed up. Above them was a small emergency, subspace compartment that held fire-fighting equipment and looked like it could fit one mech inside, or very snuggly, two smaller than norm espionage mechs. With a shrug, Mirage figured it was their best bet and allowed Bumblebee to give her a boost up as she typed in the code before scrambling up inside. She rearranged some of the equipment to give them more room then leaned down, extending a hand to pull Bumblebee up. He quickly got himself inside and reached down to pull the trap door close but paused.

"What is it?" she hissed sensing something was wrong.

"It auto locks with a pad only allowing access from the outside," he explained. He didn't want to put them from one death trap into another.

"We don't have time to worry about it. Just close it and we'll take our chances," she said. And not a moment too soon it clicked close quietly just as they heard the Decepticons approaching. They said no more. Silence was key in their survival.

"Where are they!" one Decepticon boomed beneath them. The small space seemed to magnify the deep voice.

"I don't know. We didn't see any one come out," one of them whimpered in fear. There was a bang of metal on metal and a yelp of pain before the voice yelled again.

"There are no rooms between here and there and all the windows are sealed which means they must have come through! Do not lie to me!"

"No, no, Commander. I swear."

They could hear the other five of six Decepticons that were following Mirage echo the frantic coward's answer. It was apparent there was one search and destroy squad, usually composed of higher ups in the ranks, and one roughly assembled group of scrap heaps that were just bodies for the Autobots to shoot at and officers to hide behind.

They froze, as there was a loud roar of rage then a crash directly below them.

"Espionage Bots or not, they could not get past us without being seen, or yourselves. Search this place top to bottom!"

Beneath their feet they felt the trapdoor jiggle a couple of times as a few frantic Decepticons attempted to open the hatch but with out the code they left it be soon enough. Mirage and Bumblebee couldn't help but breathe simultaneous sighs of relief, as it seemed there were no hackers in the group. They would have been slag if Frenzy were with them. Eventually they hear the group slowly moving down the hallway searching every nook and cranny.

As the sounds below them grew distant and muffled, Bumblebee was unable to hold in the filling his breathing takes had been doing and doubled over as he allowed a short rush of energon to purge itself as he gagged quietly, refusing to cough. Mirage was silent, giving him a concerned glance as the bright energon glowed in the darkness other than their optics.

"Sorry," he mouth, wiping his face and she nodded silently before looking back down at the door at their feet as if she could see right through it.

There a few more arguments but they were far off and soon it was silent below.

Mirage sighed and sat back, relieved they had actually gotten out of that one. What a story it would be to tell their fellow espionage friends.

"Can't get to the lock," Bee muttered, "Slag Preceptor, Red Alert, Wheeljack, or whom ever it was who made this thing too good to get into!"

"We're stuck here till the battle is over it seems. I think the metal is messing with my comm. or it was the fall when you pushed me out of the way. What about yours?"

"Nope, but it might have been damaged with my fight with Starscream," he said, "I guess we'll have to wait it out."

"So, tell me, my young protégé, how is it you got out of Death's grip," she asked, hunkering down and watching him with intelligent optics.

"Don't honestly know. I just remember coming to and seeing Megatron looking down at me. He promised we would meet on the battlefield one day and left suddenly. I have no idea what was going on."

Mirage was surprised. She never thought Megatron the type to save lives.

"Was I really in third lock stasis?" Bumblebee asked quietly as he thought of the pain it must have put his guardians through.

"Yes. The surgery went very badly. It's been ten orns since. The ship was devastated with the news. Jazz and Sunstreaker took it the hardest other than Prime and Ironhide of course."

"How are they?"

"Not good. They took it really badly, Bee," that's one thing Bumblebee like about working with Mirage. If she knew some one well enough she wouldn't jerk him or her around and just came out and said what needed to be known.

"I can't imagine how they'll react when they see that you're gone," she continued, "Still, despite all that, their fighting is incredible. We've all seen Ironhide in a rage but most of us have only heard of Optimus' legendary fighting skills. I've never seen him so enraged or desperate to kill Decepticons and Ironhide did his duty to give our leader good weapon upgrades. On top of that, they used tactics I've never seen and I don't think even the twins would try, but they did it almost as if they had fought together like such before. Those two were their own team. I almost pity the Con that come before them, almost."

Bumblebee laughed lightly at the end but was unable to suppress a rough cough.

"Sorry, it's my main line. Energon leaks into my breathing tanks and soon is too full and you see what happens," he explained when she winced.

Mirage nodded, her optics locked on to the energon dripping down Bumblebee's frame. It was then she saw his other injuries.

"That fragger did a good number on you," Mirage said, noting the long nasty cut along the entire length of his arm.

"Yeah, well you saw what I did to him in turn," Bumblebee said, unable to keep himself from smirking. Mirage could only smile and shake her head. It amazed her that a mech his size could take down a Con as devious as Starscream single-handedly and the previous battle he had actually killed three earning the highest total out of all the Autobots that orn.

With nothing more to say, they sat in silence for a few joors, but neither minded it. It was similar to practice. Once, Mirage had Bumblebee hold a very uncomfortable position for nearly an entire orn without being allowed to speak. Ratchet had nearly blown a gasket when the youngling was all but dragged into the med bay because all the gears in one leg had locked. Some how, despite Ratchet's ability to not be swayed from his temper, Mirage had easily slipped free from the wrath of the hatchet and changed the medic's attitude to benefit her instead.

Bumblebee had always like that Mirage was quick and easy to worm out of trouble and by watching her in action, he eventually grew better at his own silvertounge but did not quite match her skill yet.

"Do you think it's past?" he asked, hesitant to break the silence, but Mirage didn't seem to mind the interruption.

The older espionage agent only shrugged. Neither one of them could possibly know until they here an Autobot come down that hall, and even if the battle was over, they had no idea just how long that would be.

"We could be stuck here for some time. Try and get some rest, I'll take the first shift," Mirage said after giving her thoughts some time before answering Bumblebee. The youngling nodded, content. He completely trusted his trainer and easily slipped into a recharge.

It was several joors later before she woke him to switch roles.

During his long processor-numbing shift, Bumblebee did what he could to pass the time and yet remain alert. Usually he ran his mind over the old puzzles and riddles Mirage had taught him. Finally the marker for an orn since the battle began, came and passed, and the youngling sighed, there hadn't been one sound of hope. However, he held hope that the Autobots would do their usual walking around the ship to check over all damages. But, as they waited, he sadly remembered it some times took a few orns to successfully go over every inch of the Artemis.

After two more shifts for each spy, they were defiantly worried. They both hadn't had energon in a long while and what if the Decepticons had actually been victorious? Mirage was exhausted since she was running on minimum capacities since the beginning of the battle, but she kept quiet when she could see the clear signs of Bumblebee falling towards deprivation because of his unique condition.

"Bee," she said as yet another shift was about to start, "I think we have no choice. We have to try and get out of here. The only way I can think of is blasting our way out."

"In such a confined space it can kill us!" he exclaimed, knowing full well of such disastrous effects after working with Wheeljack a few times.

"We'll die in here if we don't. You'll soon slip back into stasis leaving me alone and I'll follow shortly after anyways. We both needed energon an orn ago."

Bumblebee frowned but he knew Mirage was right and with a sigh asked, "Who has the smaller impact cannons?"

"Not sure. I would assume mine since it would seem logical that the one with a weapon specialist for a guardian might get slightly better upgrades that most."

Bumblebee smiled at her and shrugged helplessly. There was no way he could fight with Ironhide.

"Primus, why do I feel as if I'm going to regret this?" Mirage asked as they stood up slowly and pressed themselves against the walls as best they could in a feeble attempt to get as far away as possible from the door at their feet which would be blown open pretty soon. Bumblebee worked on her cannon for a moment and set the settings to give a minimal blast and create as little repercussion as possible. Some times there were bonuses to being the charge of a trigger-happy weapon specialist.

They stood as high up as they could in the tight space and exchanged a glance. The look between the two said so much without sound before Mirage nodded and pointed her cannon at the door, aiming for where the hinges were. This was it. Do or die and it seemed the latter was the highly likely outcome with two mechs crammed in a small, near air tight space about to shoot at a door that could in turn cause serious damage to the spies.

"Ready?" Mirage asked, needing to speak one last time, just in case.

"Can you ever be ready for this kind of thing?" he asked with a shaky laugh but she took it as a yes.

"Primus, help us," she whispered and offlined her optics. She had already aimed but didn't want to see her death coming. Taking a deep breath...

Mirage fired.

Oh NO! Another cliffhanger! Come back next week for chapter 9!

And don't forget to check out my other story Incompatible.