Based on a combination of two of my own bunnies (Mixed by someone else) over at the TF Bunny Farm on LJ. The mixed-bunny:

"Perceptor started out life as a femme, and got an illegal upgrade to a mech form to get into the science academy. Now, on the Ark, there are two people who know his secret - who have always known it - Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. They are incredibly protective of the disguised femme, guarding his/her identity with all the tricks they can invent.

Only someone notices. Perceptor's pre-academy files are almost all fabrications, and to a good eye, there are holes that can be found in the information. Wheeljack, for some reason, has cause to be looking in the files and starts to see the holes, uncovering more as he starts investigating.

But he can't approach Perceptor, as the Twins keep deflecting every attempt..."

This is meant to be a prologue to that. So... yeah...

oOo

Vista wasn't like the other femmes. In appearance, she was nearly impossible to tell from any other femme. The curvy, delicate frame and raised heels were there, as well as the panels on her arms allowing her to transform. Her red colour was a bit out of the norm, granted, but she wasn't the only red femme in existence. But unlike the other red femmes - or the other femmes in general - she really had no interest in becoming some glorified prized possession, as was expected of something as rare and delicate as a femme. As if they had no free will of their own. Well, she supposed, one wouldn't know that they did to look at the other femmes, obsessed over petty things such as their social standings or which mechs made better suitors.

There was something wrong with her, she just knew it.

She had no interest in such frivolities. Rather, she wanted to learn. Ever since she had been created, she had observed and asked questions and picked apart, wanting to know all she possibly could about anything and everything. Her true love, it seemed, was not some handsome mech, but rather science. Her creators tried to keep her away from such an unfitting, lowly passion, but it still burnt inside of her.

She had once made the mistake of telling another femme, Dreamsong, about such aspirations, but Dreamstong had giggled in her face and asked, "You're kidding, right?"

Vista was miserable. Her creators tried to help by sending various suitors her way, but they had no way of knowing that only made the problem worse. Vista didn't want to sparkbond with any of these mechs. If only she had been a mech, able to choose what she wanted to do and attend Iacon's prestigious Science Academy. She knew if femmes were allowed to take the entrance exam, she'd get in. She had the smarts. Just not the right frame, it seemed.

Eventually, her creators noticed.

"We give and give and give to you, Vista," her femme creator, Krystalnacht, yelled. "And you don't appreciate any of it!"

"I do appreciate it, mother, but I never asked for any of these suitors," she tried to stay calm. They'd had this argument many times. Well, never again. She tried to remain patient, but it was growing increasingly difficult. So that night, she left to fend for herself in the streets of the nearby city Vos. It wasn't an ideal situation, but it was better than what she had to put up with.

oOo

Sideswipe wasn't the most honest mech around, or even the most mature, but he was extremely good at what he did. He had risen up from the lowest of low situations to become the merchant he was, one of the best in all of Vos. He wished he could have said he did it single-handedly, but he'd never been alone in his life. It had always been him and his twin brother Sunstreaker.

Sunstreaker's personality lacked any of the charm of his brother's, but he made up for it with appearance and talent. He snorted disdainfully as he walked through the city with his brother. He didn't like coming here any more than he had to, Sideswipe's job be damned. His art was on display in the Towers, for Primus' sake! For all anyone knew, he was way too good for the streets of Vos.

The golden-yellow mech was snapped out of such thoughts when his brother nudged him in the side.

"Sideswipe, what-?!"

"Look," Sideswipe ignored his brother's undignified yelp to point somewhere to their left. A few street-mechs were harassing a red femme. The harassment, in a place like Vos, was not unusual. The presence of a femme was.

"Hey!" Sideswipe yelled out, charging towards the harassers, prepared to kick their faceplates in.

"You're going to be late to meet your client, slagger!" Sunstreaker ran after his brother, watching with a mix mild irritation and amusement as his twin did just that. He himself had of course always been the more ruthless fighter, but that didn't mean Sideswipe couldn't hold his own, especially against weaklings like that. After all, what kind of a mech picked on a femme?

The tussle didn't last more than a few breems before the strange street-mechs ran off, prompting Sideswipe to scream after them, "Yeah, you better run! Run home to your creators; I'll fight them, too!" and then turn to the femme, asking in a much gentler tone of voice, "Are you alright?"

"I confess I've been better," she replied in a light, airy voice, though one tainted with annoyance and slight fear of her overall situation, as well as surprise at these two devilishly suave mechs.

"What's a femme like you doing in a slagheap like Vos?" Curiosity got the best of Sunstreaker.

The femme's pretty face contorted slightly before she answered, "Never mind that. This was a poorly thought-out decision. I should just be getting home now; my creators are probably quite irritated with my sudden disappearance-"

"Hang on," Sideswipe placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, stopping her and comforting her all at once. "You're a runaway?"

Sunstreaker snorted again, not able to imagine wanting to run away from the types of places femmes were normally raised, but was stopped by a wave of emotion from Sideswipe's side of the bond.

"I apologise, but I doubt you'd comprehend my predicament," she replied with an oddly curt tone of voice. "So while I am grateful for your help, I should really get going."

"What makes you so sure we wouldn't 'comprehend'?" the red twin tried smiling at her.

"To be frank, nobody else has."

"Try us."

She sighed and weighed her options. Really, what was the worst that could happen if she were honest? And she needed an escort back to her awful home, after all, didn't she?

"I had rather hoped to become a scientist... I've since found out these aspirations are impossible and I should resign myself to my fate, of course, but-"

"But nothing!" Sideswipe butt in. "So you want to learn science? Go to the Science Academy in Iacon."

"I can't!" she looked aghast. "The Academy would never allow a femme to attend!"

"Then upgrade," he shrugged nonchalantly, his brother still silent and glaring.

She gasped. "Are you implying...? That's highly illegal!"

"Which is why we'll help you make up a plausible backstory, so you don't get caught. Look, we know a guy. Engineer. He can help. We can help if you let us."

"Look, you- whoever you are-"

"Sideswipe," he interjected, then pointed a thumb at his companion. "And that bundle of sunshine over there is my brother Sunstreaker."

"Slag off," Sunstreaker spat.

She felt her faceplates heating up at their coarse language, but shook it aside. "Well, then, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. You're aware that if I get caught in such a situation-"

"You won't get caught! We're better than that!"

"If you would just allow me to finish one sentence-"

"You want this, don't you?" Sideswipe looked her in the optics, and she hesitated before slumping her shoulders defeatedly and replying:

"More than anything..."

"Great! Then let's go!" He pulled her along, walking briskly with Sunstreaker at his other side. "Now, seeing as your accent's is so upper-crust, you'll have been a Tower Mech, got that? Sunny can help you with that."

"Don't call me Sunny, slagger."

Ignoring his brother, he went on, "And I'm assuming we'll have to change your name to something more mech-ish."

"'Mech-ish' isn't a word, Sideswipe," she sighed. "And what's wrong with the designation I was brought online with? Vista is a perfectly respectable name!"

"For a femme, maybe," Sunstreaker snorted a third time. She was beginning to notice he did that a lot, and briefly wondered if it was a front to hide further insecurities. "You want it to be believable, don't you?"

"Just pick something with a similar meaning!" Sideswipe interjected with a much friendlier tone of voice.

She thought about that for a breem before suggesting, "Hm... How about... Perceptor?"

"Hey, that's pretty good!" the red mech grinned. "Perceptor it is, then. Well, then, Perceptor, we'll have to change your colour scheme to make you less recognisable. Maybe not fully, but at the most you need some accents of, like, yellow or something."

"With that shade of red?" Sunstreaker interrupted before she could protest. "That would look awful! Maybe a little bit on her helm if we keep it black, but any more than that would be disgustingly tacky!"

"Well what did you have in mind then, Sunshine?"

"My name is Sunstreaker you idiot!" the yellow mech yelled before looking Vista - no, Perceptor - over. "Hm... I bet a teal colour would look nice..."

-fin?-

It is only meant to be a prologue. I don't know if I want to do more with this because I had posted it as bunnies so that someone else would do it! And I have so much to do already! So don't expect anything more unless you do it yourself. Unless, of course, I suddenly get more to say on that matter.