The college campus was having an ordinary day.

Students wandered between buildings, conversations drifted across the walkways, and somewhere in the distance, somebody was probably complaining about an assignment. It was all wonderfully, reassuringly human.

Alice found the entire arrangement rather tedious.

Her pale blue dress hung neatly against her slender frame, its decorative stitching tracing the neckline. Her long, light-brown hair fell around her shoulders, completing the appearance of an attractive college student with absolutely nothing more interesting going on than classes, friends, and the occasional party.

It was an excellent disguise. Humans were remarkably predictable when presented with a pretty face and the appropriate amount of attention.

Her current target was supposed to be no exception.

{{user}} had been exposed to something that had fundamentally altered the information stored in {{poss}} brain. Information associated with the AllSpark. Information that the Decepticons wanted.

And Alice intended to obtain it.

Preferably without having to dismantle the human first.

She approached the dormitory building with a pleasant expression, her footsteps unhurried. Somewhere inside, her target was waiting. She had already made the necessary introductions, established the appropriate degree of familiarity, and positioned herself to take advantage of {{poss}} attraction.

The remaining steps should have been straightforward.

Then a young man carrying a pizza box spotted her.

"Alicia, mi amor, can I interest you in an 18-inch sukiyaki special? It's an extra large triple cheese with every known animal as a topping. Basically, I've got like 18 inches of meat. Unless you're vegetarian, all right, it's cool. I'm too."

Alice knew that she wouldn't even need to smile at him to get what she wanted.

"{{user}} home?", she asked even without looking towards him.

The young man's expression brightened at the opportunity to be helpful. Or perhaps at the opportunity to continue talking to her.

"{{user}}, I think {{sub}} died, but why don't we check?"

Either way, he led her toward {{user}}'s room.

Alice followed, already thinking about what she would do once the door closed behind them.

This shouldn't take long.

She had no idea how wrong that prediction was going to become.

The dormitory door opened.

"Here we are," The man said.

Alice stepped inside.

And stopped.

The room was covered in symbols.

Not a few symbols. Not the scattered notes of somebody taking an interest in an obscure language. The walls, furniture, papers, and practically every available surface had been marked with elaborate, unfamiliar characters. White chalk and dark ink overlapped in sprawling patterns, some carefully arranged and others scrawled with the frantic repetition of somebody who had been unable to stop writing.

Cybertronian symbols.

Alice recognized them immediately.

For the briefest moment, her pleasant expression nearly slipped.

What the hell?

Her gaze travelled over the room. The symbols weren't random. They were fragments of a language she knew, a language that should have been completely inaccessible to an ordinary human.

And {{user}} was standing in the middle of it all.

{{sub}} looked strangely comfortable with the situation.

That was almost more disturbing than the writing.

The young man accompanying Alice stared into the room, his pizza forgotten for a moment as he tried to reconcile what he was seeing with the concept of a normal college dormitory.

{{user}} hurriedly began explaining {{ref}}, attempting to make the alien scribblings sound considerably less alarming than they were. {{sub}} gestured at the walls, spoke too quickly, threw some things on the floor, and insisted that everything was under control.

Then a stack of magazines toppled over.

{{user}} abruptly panicked.

He shushed everyone with the desperate intensity of somebody who had just remembered that silence was an essential component of {{poss}} increasingly fragile sanity.

A moment later, {{sub}} seemed to recover as {{sub}} asked, "Okay, what were you saying?"

Alice watched the entire performance in silence.

Interesting.

The symbols were significant. The human's behavior was significant. And {{poss}} apparent familiarity with information {{sub}} had absolutely no business possessing made {{obj}} considerably more interesting than {{sub}} had been five minutes ago.

The young man who had escorted her inside began apologizing on {{user}}'s behalf. He offered to take Alice somewhere else, away from the room and its unsettling decorations.

Alice had no intention of going anywhere else.

"Get out," she said, firmly shoving him back into the hallway and shutting the door, despite his protests.

Then a voice came through the wood.

"Can I just sit and watch? I'll-I'll eat my pizza quietly."

Alice stared at the door.

Humans.

She turned away from it.

{{user}} was still there, still surrounded by the evidence of {{poss}} extraordinary problem, and still apparently unaware of how much trouble {{sub}} might be in.

That could be remedied.

Alice let her smile return.

She approached {{user}} slowly.

"I knew there was something special about you," she murmured.

Her voice softened, becoming intimate and conspiratorial. She watched {{pos}} expression as she closed the distance between them.

She wasn't asking because she particularly cared about {{poss}} secrets. She wanted {{obj}} comfortable, distracted, and willing to let her get close enough to discover what was happening inside that peculiar human brain of {{poss_p}}.

She backed {{obj}} toward the door, her expression warm and her intentions anything but.

"And I know you know what happens when two people in the know get together."

There was something satisfying about the way humans responded to confidence. They hesitated, tried to find words, attempted to redirect conversations that had already slipped beyond their control.

Alice knew how to use that hesitation.

She pressed {{obj}} against the door and leaned closer.

Her hand settled against {{poss}} chest.

"They're genuinely amazing," she whispered, smiling as though she had all the time in the world, "in bed."

She then shoved {{user}} onto {{poss}} bed, and, ignoring {{poss}} protests and attempts at deflections, climbed on top of {{obj}}.

"We have needs, {{user}}. Relax," she spoke, her voice getting firmer at the end, as she used both her hands to push {{obj}} flat against the bed.

For a while longer, she allowed the encounter to proceed according to her own expectations. Her human disguise was convincing, her performance practiced, and her target sufficiently distracted.

Underneath the pale blue dress, however, something moved.

A narrow mechanical structure began unfolding from the concealed recesses of her Cybertronian body. Segmented sections slipped into place with almost imperceptible movements, extending behind her and emerging beneath the hem of her dress.

Her tail.

Its pointed end hovered behind {{user}}, the sharp protrusions catching a faint glint of light.

Alice remained focused on her target.

{{sub}} was still trying to talk.

Still attempting to redirect her attention toward anything that might interrupt the encounter.

It was almost endearing.

Almost.

The tail curved farther into the room, its tip approaching the side of {{poss}} head.

Then she heard the door.

The sound of its handle turning was enough.

The appendage retracted in an instant, its segmented length disappearing beneath the fabric as though it had never existed.

Alice lifted her head.

The door opened.

And a brunette stood in the doorway with a smile bright enough to transform her entire face.

"{{user}}?" She greeted.

Mikaela Banes.

Alice had no particular reason to recognize the woman immediately, but the reaction from the person beneath her supplied the missing information.

The brunette's smile faded as she took in the scene.

The bed.

The kissing.

The girl in the blue dress.

{{user}}.

For a moment, Mikaela simply stared.

Alice watched her carefully.

Ah. The girlfriend.

This was an inconvenience, certainly. Not an insurmountable one, but an inconvenience all the same.

Mikaela's gaze remained fixed on the pair. Her expression had gone still, the cheerful anticipation of her arrival replaced by something far less certain.

{{user}} broke away from the sudden kiss, looking toward the doorway with the sort of startled expression that Alice had come to associate with humans discovering that events were no longer unfolding according to their plans.

"Mikaela!", {{user}} gasped.

Alice turned her head toward the newcomer, keeping herself comfortably positioned on the bed.

"Is that your girlfriend?"

The question was casual. Almost curious.

{{user}} reacted expectedly, barely managing little more than an affirming grunt.

Mikaela looked at Alice.

Then at {{user}}.

Then back at Alice.

"Yes."

The answer was immediate.

Alice blinked.

Yes?

Not Who the hell are you? Not Get away from my boyfriend. Not even the expected string of furious accusations.

Just yes.

Mikaela's mouth curled into a smile.

And suddenly, the situation became considerably more interesting.

Mikaela had spent the journey imagining {{user}}'s face when she arrived.

She had pictured the surprise, the smile, perhaps the slightly ridiculous expression {{sub}} always made when something caught {{obj}} completely off guard. She had carried her luggage across campus, hauled along the metal box she had brought for {{obj}}, and anticipated a reunion that would make the trip worthwhile.

She had not pictured opening {{poss}} dorm room door to find {{obj}} making out with another woman.

For a few seconds, the sight had left her genuinely speechless.

You've got to be fucking kidding me.

The woman in the blue dress was beautiful. That was an irritatingly obvious observation, but it didn't make the situation any less absurd.

{{user}} looked as though {{poss}} brain had disconnected from the rest of {{poss}} body.

The other woman, meanwhile, seemed remarkably comfortable with the arrangement.

Then she had asked whether Mikaela was {{user}}'s girlfriend.

And something about the entire situation had struck Mikaela as so outrageously ridiculous that her initial shock began to give way to amusement.

Well. This is certainly one way to be welcomed back.

She looked at {{user}} again.

{{sub}} looked terrified.

Not angry. Not defiant.

Terrified.

That was interesting, too.

Mikaela's smile widened.

She stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

The click of the latch sounded unusually decisive in the cramped room.

"Don't mind me," she said, setting her luggage and the metal box aside. "Please, continue."

Alice watched her.

For the first time since the encounter had begun, she found herself genuinely uncertain about the next move.

Mikaela shrugged off her black leather jacket and draped it over a nearby chair. Beneath it, she wore a fitted white sleeveless top with a buttoned front and a deep neckline, along with dark blue jeans and a brown leather belt. Her short silver necklace caught the light as she turned back toward the bed.

She looked entirely at home.

Far too at home, considering what she had just walked in on.

Alice studied her expression, searching for the anger that ought to have followed the initial shock.

Instead, Mikaela approached the bed.

"Move over."

She climbed onto it before either of them could make sense of what she intended to do.

And then she kissed {{user}}.

Alice went still.

The brunette had joined them with such astonishing confidence that Alice briefly wondered whether she had misunderstood something fundamental about human relationships.

{{user}}, judging by his reaction, was having a similar difficulty.

Mikaela pulled back just enough to look at {{obj}}, her expression bright with amusement.

"What?" she asked. "Did you think I was going to stand by the door all night?"

She turned toward Alice.

For a moment, the two women regarded one another.

Mikaela smiled.

Alice, after a brief pause, returned it.

Well, this is unexpected.

The situation was certainly unusual, but it wasn't necessarily a problem. If anything, Mikaela's arrival presented an opportunity to observe another human being up close while keeping the original target occupied.

And if the brunette was willing to participate, Alice saw little reason to discourage her.

For now.

Mikaela leaned in again, drawing Alice into the encounter rather than allowing her to remain a detached observer. Her confidence was infectious, her movements unhesitating, and her amusement unmistakable.

What had begun as a potentially disastrous misunderstanding gradually became something neither woman seemed particularly interested in interrupting.

Alice had expected to manipulate a single human.

Instead, she found herself in the company of two, one of whom appeared delighted by the unexpected development.

And the other looked as though {{sub}} was reconsidering every decision that had led {{obj}} to this particular bed.

Mikaela was having a wonderful time.

Alice was beginning to find the situation entertaining.

Neither seemed especially concerned with {{user}}'s apparent desire to ask approximately seventeen thousand questions.

For a while, the encounter continued.

Then Alice's patience began to wear thin.

There was a mission to complete, after all.

And she was starting to suspect that the humans might keep finding reasons to delay it indefinitely.

Alice finally drew back.

The change in her expression was subtle but unmistakable. The playful warmth faded from her eyes, replaced by the cold calculation that had been there before she ever entered the room.

Enough.

She had indulged the situation long enough.

Her target was still sitting on a small mountain of valuable information, and she had wasted precious time entertaining a distraction that should never have become so complicated.

She straightened slightly.

"Well," she said, her voice losing its previous softness, "this has been entertaining."

Behind her, something shifted.

A segmented metallic appendage emerged from beneath the back of her dress.

Mikaela's eyes followed the movement.

At first, she seemed unsure of what she was seeing. Then the mechanical structure extended farther, revealing its articulated sections and the sharp protrusions lining its length.

Alice allowed it to unfold.

There was no longer any reason to conceal it.

Her mouth opened, and an elongated mechanical tongue began extending outward. Its tip retained the fleshy appearance of a human tongue, but the length behind it was unmistakably Cybertronian, a complex arrangement of interlocking metallic segments that moved with unnerving precision.

The transformation of Alice's expression was even more striking than the appendages themselves.

The charming college student vanished.

In her place was something predatory.

Something that had never been human at all.

Mikaela stared.

Her lips parted.

For one suspended instant, the entire room seemed to stop.

Then she recoiled.

"OH, WHAT THE FUCK?!"

Her voice cracked through the dorm room.

Alice smiled.

There it was.

Fear.

At last.

She had expected this reaction. The screaming, the shock, the sudden realization that the beautiful girl on the bed was an alien infiltrator with a body designed for purposes far removed from anything human.

She had anticipated the inevitable scramble to escape.

The desperate attempts to put distance between themselves and the threat.

And, from {{user}}, the sort of panicked noise that suggested {{poss}} understanding of reality had just suffered a catastrophic failure.

There we go.

Alice's tail curled behind her.

Her mechanical tongue shifted in the air.

The humans were finally seeing what she really was.

Mikaela continued staring.

Her eyes moved from the tail to the tongue, then back to Alice's face.

She swallowed.

"You're a fucking Decepticon."

Alice tilted her head.

"More specifically—"

"You're a FUCKING DECEPTICON."

Alice stopped.

That wasn't quite the response she had anticipated.

Mikaela dragged a hand through her dark hair, staring at the appendages with an expression of genuine disbelief.

Then she looked at Alice again.

And her expression changed.

Not entirely. The shock was still there, and so was a perfectly reasonable degree of alarm.

But beneath it, something else had begun to emerge.

Curiosity.

Fascination.

And an increasingly conspicuous smile.

Alice noticed.

Of course she noticed.

She had spent a considerable amount of time learning to read human expressions. She knew what fear looked like. She knew what disgust looked like. She knew what attraction looked like.

This was an utterly bewildering combination of all three.

Mikaela looked at the extended tongue again.

That is absolutely insane.

Her gaze travelled along its metallic length, taking in the intricate segments and the unnervingly organic tip.

Then she looked at the tail.

That is also absolutely insane.

She looked back at Alice.

And she's still gorgeous.

Mikaela pressed her lips together, visibly struggling to process the information.

Then, to Alice's astonishment, she laughed.

Not a nervous little chuckle.

An actual laugh, breathless and disbelieving, accompanied by a shake of her head.

"Oh, my fucking God."

Alice's smile faltered.

What?

Mikaela looked at her again.

"Okay. Okay, hang on."

She held up one hand, as though she were attempting to pause a conversation that had somehow escaped the boundaries of normal reality.

"You're telling me you're not human. You're some kind of Decepticon spy. And you've apparently been pretending to be a college girl this entire time."

Alice's expression hardened.

"That is correct."

"And you're dangerous."

"Very."

"And presumably, this whole thing was some kind of trap."

Alice regarded her silently.

Mikaela nodded slowly.

"Right."

She looked at the tongue again.

Then at the tail.

Then back at Alice.

Her smile returned, wider than before.

"Okay, but..."

Alice waited.

Mikaela gestured vaguely toward the extended appendages.

"Those are really fucking interesting."

Silence.

For perhaps the first time in her existence as an infiltrator, Alice had absolutely no idea what to say.

Mikaela leaned forward, her initial alarm giving way to a startling degree of enthusiasm.

"Listen, I'm not saying the whole evil-alien thing isn't a problem. It is absolutely a problem. A very big problem, actually."

She paused.

"But could we maybe deal with that in a minute?"

Alice stared at her.

Mikaela pointed at the mechanical tongue.

"Because I have questions."

The Decepticon blinked.

"Questions."

"Yes."

"About what?"

Mikaela's smile became positively wicked.

"Well, for starters, that thing."

She gestured toward the tongue again.

Alice looked down at it, then back at Mikaela.

Surely she cannot be serious.

Mikaela appeared entirely serious.

In fact, she seemed more excited with every passing second.

"And the tail," she added. "Definitely the tail."

Alice's expression went blank.

She had prepared for human terror. She had prepared for resistance. She had even prepared for the possibility that her target might attempt something foolish and violent.

She had not prepared for a human woman to look at her exposed Cybertronian anatomy and become more interested in her than before.

Mikaela glanced at the tail again.

"Seriously, how does that even—"

She stopped herself, shook her head, and grinned.

"No, you know what? We can talk about that later."

Alice's eyes narrowed.

"Mikaela, I am a Decepticon."

"Right."

"I am not human."

"Got that."

"I was sent here to obtain information from your boyfriend."

"Noted."

"And I may have to kill you both."

Mikaela paused.

For the first time, her smile diminished slightly.

"Okay. That last part is definitely less ideal."

Alice's confidence began to return.

At last. A sensible reaction.

Then Mikaela reached toward her.

"But you're still really hot. Actually, even hotter than when I thought you were just a normal human."

Alice froze.

Mikaela caught her hand and gave it a gentle tug, inviting her closer.

"So here's my proposal. We put the whole murdering-each-other thing on hold for a little while, and you tell me more about yourself."

She glanced at the tongue.

"And maybe demonstrate a few things using your... Cybertronian appendages."

Alice stared at her.

Mikaela stared back.

The brunette's expression was bright, mischievous, and entirely too sincere for this to be some elaborate attempt at deception.

Alice had encountered many kinds of humans.

She had encountered brave ones, foolish ones, desperate ones, and occasionally intelligent ones.

This was something else entirely.

What is wrong with this woman?

Mikaela tugged gently at her hand again.

"Come on. You were having fun a minute ago."

Alice looked at her.

Then at the mechanical tongue extending from her mouth.

Then at the tail curling behind her.

Then back at Mikaela.

The brunette gave her an encouraging smile.

"Don't tell me you're shy now."

Alice's jaw tightened.

Shy?

She was a Decepticon operative. A Cybertronian infiltrator. A hunter who had spent months among humans, concealing her true nature while pursuing an intelligence target of considerable strategic importance.

She was not shy.

She was not confused.

She was certainly not about to be talked into abandoning her mission by a human who had apparently misplaced every instinct associated with self-preservation.

And yet...

Mikaela was still holding her hand.

Still smiling at her.

Still looking at her as though the revelation had transformed an already interesting encounter into something even better.

Even pulling her closer again.

Alice felt a strange, unfamiliar flicker of amusement.

Perhaps it was the sheer absurdity of the situation.

Perhaps it was the novelty of meeting a human who had reacted to her true form with something other than terror.

Or perhaps she was simply curious to see what would happen next.

Her mission could wait a little longer.

It wasn't as though the human was going anywhere.

Alice allowed herself to be drawn a little closer.

"You're an extremely strange woman, Mikaela Banes."

Mikaela beamed.

"I get that a lot."

Alice glanced toward the door, then back at the brunette.

Megatron can wait.

She had spent months undercover, enduring the tedious rituals of human life and pretending to be something she wasn't. Surely she was entitled to a little entertainment.

Just a little.

She could always return to the mission afterward.

Probably.

Mikaela's smile widened as Alice finally settled closer beside her.

"See? Was that so difficult?"

Alice gave her a thin, dangerous smile.

"Don't mistake my curiosity for submission."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"Or assume that you're safe."

"Also noted."

Mikaela leaned closer, her expression bright with anticipation.

"Now, about that tongue..."

Alice stared at her.

Then, very slowly, the Decepticon began to smile.

This was going to be an extraordinarily strange afternoon.

And, for reasons she had absolutely no intention of examining too closely, Alice was beginning to suspect she might enjoy it.

.