Enter Dante, The Rev-9: Book 1: Rogue

Chapter 8: Con Job

3rd Person POV

Autobot Base

Arcee and Dante were riding down the road and were having a great time. "This is awesome!" Dante yelled, punching a fist into the air.

Arcee chuckled. "I'm glad that you're enjoying yourself."

"How could I not?" Dante deadpanned. "It's a beautiful day; the sun is shining, and I'm having a great time with my friend. What more could I need?"

Arcee shifted one of her mirrors to look at him. "You consider me a friend?"

Dante nodded. "Among other things."

"Such as?"

"Well, you're my partner for one. I can't think of anything else to call you other than a friend."

Arcee smiled to herself. "To be honest, I consider you a friend, too. Well, an annoying friend at least."

"Hey!" Dante objected. "I'll have you know that I have worked very hard on my annoyingness."

Arcee internally rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, partner." However, their little fun was cut short when Arcee received a call from base.

"What is it?" Dante asked.

Arcee sighed. "Ratchet wants us back at base. Says he's picked up something."

"And just when we were starting to have fun," Dante complained.

"We can still have fun," Arcee replied, "just not right now."

"Fine. But tomorrow, you and I are definitely going on a drive. I've been wanting to show you something for a while."

"It had better be interesting," Arcee warned playfully.

Dante put a hand on his chest, a hurt expression on his face. "Why, Arcee? You know that everything I do is interesting. Why else would you keep an eye on me?"

"To make sure that you're not doing anything to get yourself in trouble," Arcee responded, a smirk evident in her voice.

Dante sighed. "Alright, I surrender. But you're sure it's not just because of my good looks?" he asked playfully.

"Keep dreaming," Arcee retorted.

"Oh, I will. Now let's get back to base before Ratchet blows a gasket."

Arcee chuckled. "I hear you loud and clear on that one, partner."

Timeskip

Dante and Arcee pulled into the base as everyone gathered around one of the monitors. "What's going on?" Dante called as he jumped off Arcee. Arcee transformed and walked over to the group, Dante right beside her.

"I'm receiving a signal from a restricted band. It appears to be coming from a starship inside this solar system," Ratchet announced, only to gasp in shock. "It's an Autobot identification beacon."

"So, there are other bots out there?" Jack asked from the platform where he and Raf stood while Miko sat on Bulkhead's shoulder.

"The masses scattered to the galaxies when Cybertron finally went dark," Elita explained.

"But," Arcee said, getting everyone's attention, "Cons have been known to bait traps with false beacons."

"Get inside disguised as a friendly," Dante commented. "And then bring in the rest of the gang."