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Summary: Arcee learns a lesson

Rating - PG

~~~~~

LOOKS AREN'T ALWAYS DECEIVING

The Decepticons had used a machine to create a new member for their force, but it had malfunctioned. The Decepticon it had created was small, blind weak and illiterate.

"He's useless ..." said Megatron, the Decepticon leader. "Get rid of him."

Thrust picked up the child and threw him out of the headquarters, unaware that the Autobots were spying outside.

Ultra Magnus saw the child hit the ground and went to investigate with Windcharger and Inferno.

"What's that?" asked Windcharger.

"It's a Decepticon child," said Ultra Magnus, gently picking it up.

"What!? A Decepticon child? Out here?"

"I saw them throw him out" said Ultra Magnus.

Inferno felt sorry for the child. "Those Decepticreeps don't care about anything ..."

"Come on," said Ultra Magnus. "We'll take him back home to headquarters and . take care of him."

They transformed and drove back to Autobot headquarters. When they arrives, they told Optimus Prime, the Autobot leader about what had happened. Optimus felt sorry for the child as well.

"It might be a trick, ..." Arcee said thoughtfully.

"Nah, Arcee ... He's too cute ..."

"Hot Rod ..." she said. "Looks are always deceiving."

"Come on, Arcee, he's only a kid."

"Yeah sure he looks nice and cute, like any kid, but how do we know it isn't a Decepticon trick? They know we Autobots are compassionate and care for others. How do we know this kid hasn't got a spy camera or something."

Hot Rod scanned the child. "He's clean, Arcee, no cameras or any spying devices.

"Hot Rod, he's a spy ... He'll record what we're doing and tell the Decepticons ..."

"Come on, Arcee. He is not."

"Don't blame me if the Decepticons suddenly know about all our plans and kill us all," said Arcee angrily walking away.

"Don't worry, Prime," said Hot Rod. "She's always like this."

Optimus smiled. "It's good to be suspicious sometimes. Arcee may be too suspicious, however she does have a point. We have to scan the child more carefully and find out if he's not a spy."

They scanned the child fully and found out that he was fully sentient and with no spying devices.

Hot Rod found Arcee in her quarters and told her.

"I suppose that makes it a little better" she said, "but the Decepticons might've ordered him to spy on us ... They might've programmed him ..."

"Primus, Arcee!" exclaimed Hot Rod. "You're too @#$%@#!

suspicious for your own good! Can't you give him a chance?"

"I don't know, Hot Rod ..."

"Try, Arcee." Hot Rod left her quarters.

During the time the Autobots were looking after the child, they accepted him as a true Autobot and placed an Autobot symbol onto him. The Autobots taught him many things. They repaired his sight and taught him how to speak, read and write and many other things. They taught him about caring, love, compassion, forgiving. The child was very grateful to them. The Autobots were very gentle and kind to him. They named him Aero.

Aero saw Arcee for the first time. She's beautiful ...

He was looking for Optimus Prime. He went to Arcee and asked her, "excuse me, ... uh, but do you know where Optimus Prime is?"

Arcee looked down at Aero and saw his Autobot symbol.

You're not an Autobot ... You're a disgusting, filthy, lying, creepy Decepticreep. "Find him yourself" she snapped, walking away.

Aero was puzzled. The Autobots were always kind to him and helpful. "Was it something I said? Maybe she's just in a bad mood..."

Arcee often spoke to the child harshly and in a unfriendly way. She may be beautiful, but she's not very nice. Why is she like this?

Aero went to see Hot Rod about Arcee. Aero didn't know her name, but he described her to Hot Rod.

"Arcee," said Hot Rod. "She's my girlfriend."

"I don't think she likes me."

"She doesn't."

Aero was very puzzled. "But why?" he asked sadly. "I've never done anything bad to her."

Hot Rod explained how Arcee felt about him. Aero was very upset. He had a sad look on his face. Hot Rod felt sorry for Aero and comforted him gently.

"Hey ... cheer up ... She'd like you if she knew you weren't a Decepticon trick."

"I'll tell her I'm not. " Aero started to leave.

"No don't. Then she won't believe you for sure. Just be nice to her and don't make it too obvious."

"Okay, thanks, Hot Rod."

The other Autobot Rod smiled.

"Anytime ... Oh, Aero, If she doesn't want to be helped, don't persist. She can be quite fierce at times."

"But she's so beautiful."

"Tell me about it. But she's merciless with her enemies. Like she says - Looks are always deceiving - But in you're case that's not true. She sees you as her enemy, Aero. She would warm to you if she knew the truth."

Aero smiled and hoped Arcee did soon. Aero went to find Arcee to see if she needed any help. He found her struggling to pull a large heavy metal box out of an opening.

"Need a hand, Arcee?" he asked, hoping. "Do you want me to help you?"

"No. Get lost."

"Arcee, the box is heavy. You sure you don't need any help?"

"I told you -- Get lost!!" she yelled, whacking Aero so hard that he went smashing into the wall.

Arcee hadn't meant to hit him that hard. She didn't know if she wanted to apologise or not and hoped Aero didn't tell anyone. Arcee continued pulling the box out, but it was too heavy for her. She slipped and landed on her backside, but stood and managed to pull it out in the end, looking quite mangled. Aero was hurt. He wanted to tell Optimus Prime what Arcee did to him, but knew Arcee would never like him if he ratted on her and decided to keep quiet.

Arcee was worried that Aero would tell Optimus Prime and was glad that in a few weeks time no one had said anything to her about it.

Aero musn't've told anyone ... Is he telling the truth ... Nah... he's probably just scared of me. Good!

Aero, in a small book, wrote how beautiful he thought Arcee was and described her very well.

"She has beautiful eyes, she can look very sweet and kind when she's not angry. She has a nice voice and a beautiful figure. She's quite strong and doesn't act feminine, which I think is good, but I hate how she treats me. I wish she knew the truth."

A few weeks later, Arcee found Aero's book and read it.

"He seems to like me ... but what if he purposely wrote this and left it out so I would find it?

Arcee decided not to say anything to Aero about it. She dropped the book on the floor where she found it and walked away.

Aero always tried to help Arcee. Arcee was getting fed up.

"I've told you before!" she yelled. "I don't want your help! Piss off!!"

"I just wanna help you, Arcee. Why are you always yelling at me?"

Arcee had to quickly think of something to say.

"Because I don't need any guys to help me," she said. "I like to be independent and do everything myself."

Aero knew it was only a half truth, but it was the gentlest she'd ever spoken to him, and Aero felt glad. He left Arcee, hoping she would understand.

"Don't worry much about her, Aero," said Hot Rod. "She will eventually. She's always over-suspicious Wait a while. Let her come to you. If she will."

"Okay, thanks, Hot Rod."

Aero did what Hot Rod advised. He waited for Arcee to come to him. She didn't. Aero waited longer. Arcee still didn't come to him. Aero wanted to go to her, but knew that wouldn't do any good.

Aero secretly began taking photographs of Arcee. He looked at them. Some were really beautiful. He put them in his book and wrote sentences under them, like, `Arcee when she was sad, Arcee when she's angry, Arcee when she's...'

Arcee found the book again and looked at the pictures.

That little creep's been taking snaps of me ... Why?

She showed the book to Optimus Prime and Hot Rod.

"He's a spy, I know it and he's got a crush on me."

Hot Rod, although Arcee's boyfriend didn't feel jealous.

"Arcee," said Optimus Prime. "We've taken your point into consideration. We're not ignoring it. We've scanned Aero. It proves he's not a Decepticon spy."

"But, Prime ... the Decepticons could've invented a new mechanism to pass our scanning systems or something ..."

"Arcee, you Are just too suspicious."

"Why won't anyone listen to me? ..." she asked sadly and loudly.

Optimus Prime put his hands gently on her shoulders.

"We took your point into consideration, why can't you do the same with ours?"

This made Arcee think for a while. She had a sad look on her face. "I'm sorry, Prime. I'll try."

Optimus smiled gently. Arcee went away. She saw Aero. In a way she wanted to talk to him, but didn't know what to say, and she believed her opinion more than Optimus Prime's.

Aero saw Arcee walk outside Autobot headquarters and sit on the ground. He thought she looked beautiful there. He secretly, without her noticing, took some photos of her.

Aero then suddenly saw some Decepticons attack her. He gasped. They swiftly and violently attacked Arcee and shot her. She was unarmed and could not fight back. The Decepticons then took her back to their headquarters.

Aero wanted to tell the other Autobots what had happened to her, but then he thought if he rescued her himself ... This would be his ultimate chance to make friends with her.

"I hope she's all right ..." he said worriedly.

Aero transformed into his small hovercraft mode. He couldn't fly very fast or very high off the ground, so he took quite a while to get there. He flew as fast as he could.

The Decepticons dropped Arcee in front of Megatron. She quickly got up.

"Well, well, what have we here?"

"What does it look like?" snapped Arcee.

"A feisty female Autobot." Megatron put his hands on Arcee's shoulders.

"Get your hands off me, you rotten creep!" she yelled, bashing Megatron's arms away.

Megatron blasted at her. Arcee quickly darted out of the way. Megatron suddenly grabbed her around her waist, threw her onto the floor and then jumped on top of her.

"Try to escape now, Arcee ..." said Megatron sarcastically.

"I can't. You're too heavy."

Megatron slapped her. Arcee struggled to get her hand free. She slapped Megatron back. Megatron grabbed Arcee's two wrists and tied them tightly together. Arcee tried to break the energon chains, but couldn't. With a struggle, Megatron managed to throw her into a prison cell.

Good fighter, but no match for me ...

Arcee violently tried to struggle out of her energon chains. She was angry. She absolutely hated being helpless. Megatron came into her cell. Arcee was sitting on the floor in a foul mood. Megatron jerked her up. Arcee tried to struggle away from him.

"You can't escape me ..."

"Let go of me, you creep!"

"You surprise me, Arcee, but harsh words won't stop me."

Arcee stopped struggling. She knew Megatron was stronger then her. It made her ferociously angry. Megatron put his hands around Arcee's waist. Arcee managed to get her hands free. She slogged Megatron in his face. He fell onto the ground.

"I told you to let go!" she yelled.

Arcee began to fight with him. Megatron was usually gentler in fighting with Autobot girls than he was with the guys. That made Arcee angry too. She violently fought with Megatron.

"You leave me no choice, Arcee," he said.

Megatron violently fought with her back. He kicked her off him. He put his foot hard on her. Arcee couldn't get up. It made her angry to feel so helpless. She tried to get Megatron's foot of her, but couldn't.

"Get off" she scowled angrily.

Megatron took his foot off Arcee and kicked her.

"You still wanna fight me, Arcee?" he asked.

"Ahh, ... like as if I can fight properly with these energon chains ... Ohhh ..." Arcee stood up slowly.

"Didn't think so," said Megatron.

Arcee then spun around and punched him in his face. She had squirmed out of her chains.

"Sure," she said jumping on top of him.

Arcee punched him in his face over and over again. Megatron couldn't tolerate her anymore. He violently threw her off him and blasted her three times.

"You'll never defeat me, Arcee ..." he said.

Megatron jumped on top of her and began to strangle her. He then pointed his fusion cannon at her face, but decided not to fire. He then re-tied her arms and legs and left her in the cell. He then turned around.

"I enjoyed fighting with you, Arcee, but fun must end sometime. I'll destroy you in the morning. Be thankful it's not tonight..."

"Oh, much obliged." Arcee hid her fear. She hated feeling frightened, but couldn't help it.

Aero had come through a secret passage that he'd heard of before Megatron threw him out. He desperately wanted to rescue Arcee and snuck into her cell.

"Aero, what?!" she exclaimed. She didn't know what to think was he a Decepticon spy or not?

"Sshh..." Aero shot the energon chains around Arcee's wrists and legs.

"Come on, Arcee, quick, get through the hole."

Arcee didn't want to admit how relieved she really was. Together they crawled through the hole, out into the open.

"Thank you," Arcee said.

Aero smiled. That was the nicest, kindest, gentlest thing she had ever said to him and the gentlest she'd ever been.

"It's okay, Arcee," he said, very pleaded to help her. "Everyone can use a little help now and then."

"I know ... I'm sorry ... sorry about how I treated you... How I felt about you ... I'm really sorry ..."

"I know, Arcee."

She gently hugged Aero. Aero looked at her. He couldn't describe his feeling in words.

"I forgive you" he said.

Arcee smiled. She transformed into her pink open Cadillac mode and drove Aero home.

"Thanks, Arcee," he said smiling, feeling the breeze gush past him.

"Nah, don't mention it."

Arcee told Optimus Prime what had happened. "I'm ... I'm sorry, Prime. I just didn't--"

"I know, it's all right. You know the truth now and that's all that matters now."

"Yeah, thanks, Prime."

Optimus smiled and gently hugged her. He knew that she was against being feminine, but he was glad she had found out the meaning of being clam, compassionate and caring.

"Way 'da go, Aero!" said Hot Rod happily. "Y' did it! You tamed the old girl!"

"Yeah ..." smiled Aero

"Oh, shut up, Hot Rod!" Arcee smiled. "I'm sorry, Aero," she said again.

"It's fine, Arcee. It's history. Let's put it all behind us and be friends."

They shook hands. Arcee felt glad Aero was so forgiving, compassionate, and understanding - definitely not the qualities of a Decepticon spy!

How could I have not trusted him? She thought, feeling very guilty. The others told me that he was thrown out of the Decepticon headquarters ... A helpless child ... He couldn't see or hear very well ... He was never truly a Decepticon. The Autobots taught him everything and cared for him. I was a stupid headed idiotic fool not to trust him, well I'm glad I do now. Gotta learn to be more accepting.

"Arcee ..." called Aero.

Arcee shook her head and brought herself back down to Earth.

"Yeah?"

"Just wonderin' what you were thinkin' about."

Hot Rod jokingly teased Arcee about not trusting Aero. She began to play fight with him. She jumped on top of him and wouldn't let him escape. Hot Rod tried to, but he couldn't. He managed to get Arcee off him. She fought with him. Aero smiled. Arcee then let Hot Rod go.

"That was fun," she said.

Hot Rod shook his head. "Whoo! Yeah!"

"Anyway, Aero, to your question, I was thinking about what an idiot I was not to trust you."

"Don't worry, we're friends now and don't be too hard on yourself."

"Yeah" said Arcee, smiling.

She sat down and put Aero gently on her lap. Hot Rod smiled then He took a picture. Arcee smiled. "Can you take one of me?" She asked.

"Sure." Hot Rod readied the camera, and when he pushed the shutter button, Arcee stuck her tongue out.

"Should've seen that coming," Hot Rod smiled.

"You're beautiful, Arcee," Aero said. "That's why I took all those pictures of you."

"Thank you, Aero, you're cute."

Aero smiled and blushed. He showed Arcee his book again with more photos in it. He showed her the one where she was sitting outside Autobot headquarters just before the Decepticons attacked her. Hot Rod put the one of Aero sitting on Arcee's lap in the book too. He showed Optimus prime the photo and he smiled.

Aero was glad Arcee finally knew the truth and had become friends with him. Arcee too was glad she's made friends with Aero. She felt different now. She had always felt that there was something missing in her life. She had found what it was, to be more trusting of others and to admit when she needed the help of others. She wasn't infallible - no one was. Aero lay down in Arcee's warm lap and went to sleep. Arcee looked down at him. She smiled and began to stroke him gently. She would always be grateful for this lesson this 'little Decepticon spy' had taught her.

*

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