"I came I saw I kicked some ass. The pain I cause it makes me laugh 'cause the way I do my thing is strange: I just inject myself into your veins, yeah. Can't run can't hide. There's no way out the sun will rise and it's about time for the wreckoning. Time time for this girl to sing. Damn if I thought that you would change and my life would stay the same when you don't even care about me. You know, you don't give a damn."

Boomkat

Chapter 18: Wrath

A few days later, at the end of a very long charge cycle, Mishap came online to find herself alone on Starscream's recharge plate. In the chamber corner, standing as patiently as her former leader would, was Megatron. She gasped, aware that the unfathomable had finally happened. She disappeared.

"You are too late for that, treacherous incompetent FOOL," was his only utterance. She appeared, still sitting on the recharge plate, and waited for him to speak again. He did not. Instead, he shot her. "Rumble!" The small Decepticon entered the room as Mishap's smoking body collapsed. "The moment Starscream has repaired her, bring her to me."

Starscream had been cowering outside of his room after being hastily jettisoned. Megatron stomped out of the chamber and the opposite direction without so much as a glance towards his second in command. Scrambling to his feet, Starscream ran up to his leader and tried to say something.

"Your most intelligent mode of operation would be to avoid me until I can stand the sight of you," growled Megatron, tossing his minion aside. Starscream bounced and skidded to a stop, realizing he had not seen that face since the day he'd sealed the Nightbird's fate-that had been a bad day-Primus! Mishap! He raced to his spy to witness the horror of an angry mech. A large hole burned in her chestplate, circuits blasting every few seconds. Rumble placidly observed Starscream's involuntary twitch. "If you value everything in you to function properly you will grab that stack of CD's and follow me," Starscream dictated.

"I don't take orders from you," Rumble declared defiantly, arms crossed.

"You may explain to Megatron why you let her die then, Pipsqueak," Starscream replied, hoisting her into his arms. He flinched at her cry in protest.

"It...really hurts," she moaned in objection, eyes dim.

"I know." Did he ever! "I'll fix it," he promised, walking away from a stupefied Rumble, who hurried to catch up to them.

Megatron walked by his follower's laboratory and listened intently. He chuckled over the noises inside. Mishap was moaning in agony while Starscream hollered at Rumble and coaxed Mishap to tell him what her internal readings revealed. She chided him for treating his unwilling assistant so poorly, placating the small robot's feelings throughout her suffering. He laughed out loud when Rumble agreed with her by claiming Starscream would never make it as a Decepticon leader with that kind of attitude. Starscream told him to shut up. Megatron walked into the room, surveying the scene. All activity halted. Mishap irreverently turned her head away, angry defiance barely glowing in her optics. He ignored her, telling Starscream to visit him the moment she was stabilized.

Starscream scowled at his master's retreating back. The moment his door closed he turned to Mishap and asked her what he had to do.

"Save yourself a lot of trouble," she disdainfully snorted, feeling more in control of herself for the first time in five million years. "Your destiny calls."

"Hush," he replied. "Both of you say nothing until I require it."

Chapter 19: Get Out (Leave)

Starscream worked all night and day, finally stabilizing her. He left her peacefully offline and locked the doors to the lab, leading Rumble to Megatron's throne room. The small robot leaned against the wall, trying to look menacing. The jet knocked and entered; kneeling apprehensively.

"I've been waiting all day for ya babe," Megatron was over-energized again. Small cube in hand, he appeared to be having problems sitting up. "So won't cha come and sit and talk to me."

"Yes, my lord." As when he was younger he sat on the lower steps at his master's feet, hoping this might go better. Fear saturated his CPU. 'I never thought that anyone could make me feel this way,' he fretted. This robot had made him suffer far too often. Megatron slurred his words horribly.

"Now that you're here boy all I want...is just a chance to say." Here it comes. "Hope you know that when it's late at night I hold on to my pillow tight and think of how you promised me forever."

"Sir?" He HATED when Megatron over-did it. The silver robot shook himself.

"I mean (ahem): you have sworn to uphold the Decepticon creed. You have endeavored to aid our glorious causes for over eight million years. I have rewarded you a position of second in command of my forces; forgiven your past transgressions: however, you have deceived me for the last time. 'Cause I know about her and I wonder how I bought all the lies! I am stripping you of your rank and casting you out of my army. Both of you."

"What? Why me? I did nothing!" He would kill them before they went five meters!

"Specifically you didn't tell me she materialized for you! This is a serious breech in communication, leading me to have reason to suspect both of you have been plotting a coup behind my back!"

"No!" He was jealous! That was why he was so upset! "She merely kept me company! She did not interfere. Never! We did nothing of the sort!"

"Tell me why you're looking so confused ...when I'm the one who didn't know the truth. To go behind my back and not tell me what she was doing? It changed your behavior."

"For the better," he reminded him.

"True. Your conduct has been superb since her arrival." Megatron scratched his chin thoughtfully and took a drink.

"She saved all of us from the modified modified modified ship."

"Right...the modified modified modified modified modified..." He was now on a second wave of inebriation; still very out of it. "You are correct; I will demote you kill her instead."

"That seems harsh," Starscream commented carefully.

"Your demotion to permanent security guard or her termination?"

"Both!"

Megatron snorted. "What do you care for her fate?"

"I don't!"

"You do. You want to keep her here, even though she is a security threat She is a former Autobot." Starscream didn't blink at the shocking news. "What else has she told you?"

"Nothing. We talk about me."

"I assumed so." He patted Starscream on the head, like Ravage or an earth dog. The mech resented it. "She is a traitor and a liability and she must be destroyed."

"We could use her here as a spy for us," Starscream suggested, still trying to wheedle Mishap's fate to be more favorable.

"I will if you are willing to account for her." He drank more energon. "Should she revert to the Autobots, your head will be mounted over my throne." Megatron saw his underling squirm. "Judging by your record of past relationships, this would not be feasible. Are you prepared to give up everything you have on something that just wouldn't last?"

Starscream shuddered. "How could you ever be so cold?" He glared bitterly at his leader. "You are right, she must go. I was thinking..."

"What now?" Megatron had trouble keeping himself coherent.

"How would the other Decepticons react to the news of you having a spy around here?"

"They'd know you deserve it."

"Perhaps. It might also raise a certain level of paranoia in your troops. What's to stop you from spying on them? That may affect morale."

"What's to stop me from putting a hole in your head and ending my misery?" The ion cannon was out. Megatron scowled. "You have a point, though. So now after all is said and done...maybe I'm the one to blame but..." Starscream tried to gauge his leader and failed. He was just too energized. "I wanted her to help me keep you in line. I wanted you..to..well, it didn't work out that way," he sighed. "How do you wish to bargain with me?"

"I will remain silent, keep my position, and she stays."

"No."

"I will take guard duty for another six months, remain silent, and she returns to Cybertron, unharmed."

"No."

"Yes!"

"Boy you must have gone and bumped your head! I make the decisions around here!"

"I recall a favor I performed for you a very long time ago, and the promise it secured."

"You're referring to that day you let me-" His blood-red eyes were a misty fuscia. "You said that you would treat me right but you was just a waste of time." He would not be conscious much longer.

"I am not a waste of time, and I will prove it to you, IF you grant me my request."

He stood up and threw his empty cube at Starscream, who scurried down the stairs. "Get out! Leave! Right now! It's the end of you and me! It's too late and I can't wait for you to be gone!" He sat down, pouting.

Starscream paused at the door and looked at the empty cube. It was now or never. "This substance is substandard for you, your Excellency." He walked over and picked it up to demonstrate.

"Proceed."

"Perhaps-one of the energon tubes would be more suitable." He smiled as Megatron's eyes lit up.

"If you believe so, then the table is open for negotiation." Starscream removed one of the vials from Megatron's collection and prepared to keep his job.

Later that night, Starscream crept into his lab to check up on the homeostatic Mishap. He held her hand and explained to her inert, unhearing body what would happen to her. "I wanted you right here with me but I have no choice you've gotta leave," He told her, his heart breaking with every word he was saying. He was not the only one over-energized. But he refused to cry: no tears will fall from these eyes. Then he got out.

The damage, done at close range, was worse than anything Starscream had seen in awhile. He had to make completely new parts and circuits in some areas from raw materials. Thanks to the CDs, it was not as hopeless as he assumed. She seemed, still, to fade. In the middle of reconstruction she turned to look at him.

"Starscream," she croaked, "I'm calling your bluff." With that, she peeled her Decepticon label off of her closed chestplate in one slow but smooth motion. 'Wow, that was empowering.' She had never felt so free. If it didn't hurt so bad she would sing. Dropping the hated sigil in his hands, she challenged him to let her die, so that her life as a Decepticon would be, although dishonorable, complete.

"You are right," he agreed, placing the sinister purple symbol on the table beside him. "The time in which you would be considered one of us is finished. You are no longer a partial Decepticon." He opened her chest cavity carefully, proudly pointing to shiny metal pieces. "I made you new parts. Now you can be anyone you desire."

Rumble watched, suspicious. What was going on? From his vantage point, they appeared to be whispering in each other's audios conspiratorially.

Mishap smiled. "I'll be dead. Away from you."

"Not quite." Nervously glancing at Rumble, Starscream positioned himself better to hide what he was doing. He opened his own chest cavity and disconnected on end of a tangle of cords all culminating to one interface. He gently connected to her intake plug, which he had prepared at the same time.

The drain on his life force hurt, almost as much as the ion cannon's blast. The former experience was new to him. Mishap immediately received the charge and stared in disbelief. There was no human equivalent to this. She grabbed his free hand, protesting.

"Silence! You need this." Smiling painfully, he leaned over and murmured in her audioreceptors "You won't be away from me because a part of me, the force, will be with you always." His head was guided by her free hand to accept the second rarest token of affection a robot can give, meeting her lips to his.

Chapter 20: Punishment

The fourth day of repair Mishap was cautiously sipping a thinned-out energon cube. When she'd had exactly 1/32, Starscream took it away from her. He had been very quiet since the night of her revitalization, preferring to allow the soldering iron to make the noise of the room. This would have been a welcome relief any time but now, when she wanted desperately to know what he was thinking. He continually reprimanded her, telling her to save her strength, as though talking required much output.

"Is she ready?" Rumble demanded for the third time in fifteen minutes. He was eager to get this over with.

Starscream's shoulders dropped and he stopped typing on the computer. He anxiously glanced at her and she nodded, lying.

"Yes," he sighed.

Mishap stood up and followed Rumble out of the lab, pausing at the door and looking at Starscream to see if he would follow. After a moment's hesitation, he did. She reached out and let him take her hand.

No Decepticons were around. Megatron, furious at the Autobots destroying the modified modified modified ship, sent anyone unaware of Mishap's presence to gather energon. At the throne room door Mishap thanked Rumble for his help. He looked down at the floor and brusquely told her to go in. With a brave solemn face and a final squeeze at Starscream's hand, Mishap walked in and kneeled.

Megatron stood up from his throne and walked down the stairs ominously. For a few minutes he said nothing, preferring to glare. Finally, in a tone barely concealing his wrath, he addressed her. "I have many things to thank you for," he began.

Mishap wasn't buying it. There would be trouble, soon. She feared Megatron more when he appeared controlled.

"You have guided me in managing the morale of my team. You have shown me the undiscerning genius of Starscream. You have given me...physical entertainment." He stopped and glanced at her, lustful through his acidity. She kept her optics averted.

"You have been free of duplicity, until my discovery. This causes me to query: what else have you lied about?"

Focus still on the floor, Mishap replied, "You have never questioned my interaction level with Starscream, merely any potential schemes he concocted." She peered up to see the barrel of his ion cannon in her face.

"That was implied." His voice shook dangerously. Mishap waited. "How long has this gone on?"

"To aid my methods of espionage and behavior modification; since the day I destroyed his robots."

Megatron put his gun down. "You have feelings for him."

How could she reveal to this heartless, calculating being that his most irritating warrior had somehow found a way to endear himself to her, that he was a decent friend? Maybe their leader already knew that, thus the trouble she was in. Whatever she said, Megatron would use it against her. Mishap considered her options and finally spoke. Although the terrible nagging feeling was gone from her circuits, she still feared his unchecked vehemence.

"Nothing to impede what you charged me to do." She was looking in his optics and hoping for the best. She did not notice her body trembling.

"You are no longer charged with this duty. Instead of suspending your motor relays and letting your cohorts bent you functionless, as I did to your-whatever he is-when he betrayed me, I send you back to Cybertron where you will be assigned a new position." One NOT on her back.

No! "Request permission to speak."

"Permission denied." Megatron pushed a series of buttons, one side of his face curled churlishly. "Soundwave, Rumble, Starscream! Escort our last collection of cubes-plus one-to the space bridge." He turned around to observe her reaction. She had stopped shaking; her face was losing a battle of control. She really couldn't act. "When you leave he will not give you a second impulse," Megatron informed her.

"He has already given me enough," she countered, as the three Decepticon escorts marched in. Starscream's face mirrored hers in its desperate attempt to not give in to pathos. Megatron expectantly paused for a moment. He had seen this before. Mishap was nothing special.

"Are you going to plead for her?" he taunted. Mishap hoped he would say the right thing.

"I have a job to do," Starscream explained brutally. "If I betray her, I feel terrible. If I betray me, I hate myself. If I betray you, I'm-" Mishap turned away from him, eyes dry, face stony. Starscream's voice box had shorted.

"-Dead," she finished. Her resolve broke, her face crumbled and she completely lost control. She pealed into a torrent of insane laughter. Starscream had stabbed her the back to save himself: and she COMPLETELY forgave him for it! Even as he pointed a gun at her, Mishap felt no animosity towards this horrid mech. She was livid, yes; but for some reason it did not conjure a wish for revenge. The Decepticons, startled by this outburst, stared. Megatron's sneer fell to be replaced by baffled dismay. This made her giggle harder. "I apologize," she gasped, violet eyes wild. The whole idea of it! To be sent out this way was not normal. They were supposed to kill her, not bring her back to life only to return her to a living death. She was mentally prepared for destruction, a farewell with closure. Well, now she could find out that old co-worker robot's name. This elicited more mirth. Rumble saw something unpleasant, panicked and jumped into Soundwave. Before she figured out where he was looking she felt a black hand slap her across the face. She fell on Starscream, stunned.

"Take her out of here," their leader snarled, sardonic smile returning. As they lead her away Starscream turned his head to notice Megatron watching them depart. There seemed to be more than met the eye until the silver mech declared his motivation. "For Nightbird," he growled softly, eyes glowing and fist shaking at the door. Starscream energon pump stopped and he dropped Mishap's arm in narcosis as the soul of Megatron's plot unraveled before him in its sick, twisted retribution.

Mishap stood in front of a pile of energon cubes inside the space bridge. As Soundwave set the coordinates, Megatron checked with the space bridge Cybertron guardian Shockwave on the radio. She could see three of them but only watched two, unable to connect with Starscream's shell-shocked stare. Megatron's gleeful countenance was more palatable.

"When she arrives, forget the energon. Destroy the whole convoy and report to me."

Starscream jumped to attention. "That was not part of the bargain!" he protested as Soundwave froze.

"I am altering the deal. Pray I do not alter it any further." He pointed his ion cannon at the Seeker. "Any interruptions and both of you will perish." He turned to Soundwave. "Send her off!"

The Decepticons watched the sky open up. Mishap and the energon cubes flew into the air. Only then did Mishap's eye meet Starscream's. For a nanosecond she felt the life force he had given her stir, and she smiled at him. Then she was gone. The hole closed and lightening struck. Megatron slowly counted aloud, to prove that vexation was one of his greatest talents.

"Three...two..."

"Megatron! Shockwave to Megatron!"

"Report, Shockwave."

"The cubes and the female did not arrive successfully. The transmission has been aborted: repeat! The transmission was aborted!"

This had happened before. The cargo could be anywhere in space, or worse...Megatron mentally shrugged. "Should she arrive, perform your task and contact me."

"Yes Megatron."

"Megatron out." He nodded at Soundwave. "The others will return to the base soon, let us retreat." He turned to Starscream. At the sight of the jet, Megatron's mouth involuntarily twisted.

His second in command was staring at the area where the sky had swallowed Mishap up. He was frozen to the spot he stood, acting as though time had ceased. The only motion was the water leaking from his optics. Before anyone could say a word, without shifting, he pitifully muttered something incoherent no one could make out.

This was too good! "You seem to have a maintenance problem," Megatron jeered.

"The dust is getting into my optics," he explained defensively, wiping away the evidence. Starscream transformed, flying away before he was dismissed. He renewed his ancient vow that he would kill Megatron the first chance he got and take over.

"Among other things," Megatron muttered, wishing for the billionth time that he had not asked Vector Sigma to make one of his many creations more like himself in an attempt for a competent successor. He should have been more specific. Like Starscream, he glanced at the place he had last seen his female spy. "Farewell, aptly named Mishap."

Epilogue

Intercepted from Autobot radio

Elita-1: Elita-1 calling Optimus Prime. Come in, Prime!

(static)

Elita-1: Calling Optimus Prime!

(static)

Optimus Prime: Elita-1, this is Optimus Prime, receiving from Teletraan-1. What is your status?

Elita-1: It's wonderful to hear from you!

(static)

New Autobot-

(static)

ton of energon-

(static)

knows you. Are you familiar with 'Lyra?'

Stronger signal

Optimus: Negative. (Pause) Wait, I've been informed by Mirage of an Autobot named 'Oasis;' renamed 'Lyra.' She is to give me-

(static)

Elita-1: I remember Oasis. Excellent! We were all friends a long time ago.

(Static)

Lyra: Optimus? Optimus, the password is: "Unfinished business finished."

Optimus: Affirmative. We're glad to have you back with us. I-background voices

faintly Human: They named you after a galaxy in our sky! The Lyre, a harp, was invented by Hermes as a gift to his half-brother Apollo, who gave it to Orpheus, the musician of the Argonauts-I wish Chip was here, he'd tell it right.

Lyra: They gave it to me because I was singing when they found me. It's beautiful, isn't it? Is my brother there?

Unknown: Oasis! Wait, I'm-

(static)

let-

(static)

channel-

Signal out

Starscream watched the large blue and white robot eject a tape from his chest cavity, permitting Rumble to emerge from his empty shell. "Why did you play that?" he asked forlornly.

"To cheer you up," he explained. "Between your moping and Megatron's skulking there's no safe place to hide." The Seeker had spent several earth weeks sitting on his recharge plate, head in his hands. He would not lie down. He refused to interact with any of them. Megatron left him alone and warned his soldiers to follow suit. When Soundwave picked up this transmission Rumble decided to play the catalyst. "I thought you would like to know that Soundwave's coordinates were a little off on purpose." He grinned wickedly.

Starscream fought a smile and lost. He laughed hard enough to entice the small periwinkle mech to join in.

"Besides," he alluded, handing Starscream a small object. "You weren't the only one to lose a friend to Megatron."

Starscream looked at what Rumble bestowed to him. Her words at their last pre-offline conversation hummed in his head like a Mozart piece would as background music. The object in his possession was Mishap's Decepticon label, the same purple that matched her eyes when the light hit them right in the laboratory. Putting it on the table next to his recharge plate, he slowly rose and followed the two robots to the common hall. "So what do you do for fun?" he asked them hesitantly.

"Push the others around. Play Gamecube." Rumble and Soundwave heard Starscream's door shut and for once Starscream wasn't behind it. He put a hand on Rumble's shoulder.

"I think we'll work out just fine."

"Beautiful friendship?"

"Perhaps..."

THE END