Tales of the Intermezzo: Old Flame
                       A Transformers Universe Story
                     copyright 2003 by Dave Van Domelen
               characters and settings are TM Hasbro/Takara

       Warning: Contains spoilers for the final episodes of Armada

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     "intermezzo - n. A brief entertainment between two acts of a play."
          - American Heritage Dictionary

     "Bobby Ramirez, you are a JERK!" Alexis screeched as she stood up and
threw the rest of her soda in her about-to-be-ex-boyfriend's face.  Everyone
in the student union's food court turned in time to see Bobby spluttering and
brushing ice off the front of his shirt, then picking a few small bits out of
the piercings that dotted his face.
     "Come on, Lex, it was just a friendly kiss," he launched into what was
probably a well-rehearsed excuse.  Alexis wasn't going to give him the time
to finish it.
     "Bobby, unless friendly kisses include getting to third base these days,
it WASN'T just a friendly kiss.  Kylie's roommate walked in on you two,
remember?  Or were you so drunk you don't?"
     "Jacqui's a lying bit..."
     "DON'T finish that sentence, Bobby.  I trust Jacqui a LOT more than I
trust you.  And don't bother coming over to my apartment for your stuff, I'll
box it up and leave it at the front desk of your dorm," Alexis fumed.
     By this time, most of the gawkers had turned away, either out of
politeness, or simply out of a desire to not get involved in a messy public
breakup.  Alexis noticed this, and a small part of her was amused to think
that people who would stare for hours at a real train wreck didn't want to
get tied up in an emotional train wreck.
     But only a small part.  The rest was just pissed off.  She'd told
herself that Bobby had some shred of honor, that when confronted about Kylie
he'd fess up, apologize, take the consequences.  But he was just another
lying weasel, like her last two boyfriends.
     As Bobby made a hasty retreat, Alexis sat back down and sighed, glad for
the moment that she was at the center of a "Not My Problem" zone.  Most of
her life was going pretty well, ironically.  Sophomore year was clicking
along nicely in terms of grades and interesting classes.  She had her summer
"internship" to cover for the months she spent on Cybertron.  During the
school year she kept in touch with Carlos, Rad, Billy and Fred, although the
latter two were drifting away from the rest.
     But her lovelife was a wreck.
     "Why is it that all men are either creeps or gay?" she muttered under
her breath.
     "Well, some are both," an amused voice came from behind her.
     "Huh?" Alexis twisted around in her seat to see a thin, middle-aged man
standing behind her.  His black hair was just starting to show a few streaks
of gray, and his eyes were an arresting shade of amber that you just didn't
see very often.  He wore a somewhat battered suit, maroon coat over cream
shirt and charcoal pants, with a black tie.
     "And who are YOU?" she demanded, trying to regain her composure by
covering up with bluster.  Something she knew she did way too often.
     The man chuckled.  "Professor Kramer.  People who aren't in my classes
can call me Lars."  He sat down at the booth behind Alexis, making her stay
twisted around to look at him.  "You remind me of a young lady I once knew,
although she was only in junior high at the time, maybe late elementary
school.  Hard to say, she always struck me as older than her years."  He
gestured in the direction Bobby had left, adding, "Let me guess...you have a
thing for the 'bad boy' type, but can't put up with betrayal?"
     Alexis considered an angry retort, but then just sort of deflated.
"Yeah," she nodded, slumping against the back of the booth.  "I guess I do.
People keep saying I'm so smart, but I'm pretty stupid when it comes to men."
     "Oh, that sort of thing has nothing to do with intelligence, miss,"
Professor Kramer smiled.  "My guess would be that a 'bad boy' of some kind
had a strong influence on you when you were growing up.  Maybe your father,
or an uncle, an older brother, an older sister's boyfriend, that sort of
thing."
     Alexis's hand went to the pendant she wore around her neck, a piece of
Cybertron that she had somehow come to connect to Starscream's memory.  It
had cracked at the instant of his death...and as rational as she tried to be,
she had never been able to shake the feeling that it had been more than a
coincidence.  "Y-yeah.  Something like that.  But he wasn't a complete creep,
he was honorable...even if he wasn't always sure what being honorable should
lead to."
     "And he's not around anymore, is he?"
     "No," Alexis felt a tear forming and tried to hold it back.  Why was she
opening up so much to a stranger?  Probably because she needed to open up to
*someone* right now, and she sure has hell couldn't have done it with Bobby.  
     "That's the hardest kind to live up to, for any guy who's interested in
you, hmm?  A rival who isn't there can always be remembered for his best,
where a rival who is present will inevitably show off his worst side at some
point.  The young man you just drove off might be a creep, as you put it, but
it's also possible that you were just setting an impossible standard for
him."
     "Expecting your boyfriend not to nail your friend's roommate isn't an
impossible standard, Professor," Alexis retorted sourly.
     "Perhaps this one was a bad example, then," Lars chuckled, his amber
eyes twinkling.  "But there's a harshness in you, and I wouldn't be surprised
if it surfaced whenever you started comparing your current boyfriend to the
one who got away.  If you start pushing them away, you can't expect them to
stay." 
     Alexis closed her eyes and sighed.  She was bossy, she knew it.  Had
been since before she'd ever heard of Cybertron or Mini-Cons.  But that
didn't mean guys weren't creeps, either.
     "Maybe if you could reach some closure with the original bad boy," the
professor suggested, "it would help you get over him?"
     "He's dead," Alexis said flatly.  "And besides, he was just...a friend.
I was too young for anything more, and there were too many differences
between us anyway.  It could never have been more than a hopeless crush.  But
he's been gone for years now."
     "It sounds to me like he's still alive in there," Professor Kramer
pointed at her chest.  His finger hovered over the cracked amulet.  "And
someday he'll come out and you can have your talk."  He lowered his hand.
"And until then, try not to be so hard on others.  Or on yourself.  All most
people want is a little respect, eh?"
     "Alexis!" came a voice from behind her.  Alexis twisted back to face
forward in her booth and saw a dark-skinned young woman with long black hair
crimped into elaborate shapes coming towards her.
     "Oh, hi Jacqui."
     "What're you doing, girl?"
     "Just talking to Professor..." she turned around.  "...Kramer?"
     "There's no one there, Alexis.  I've been walking towards you all the
way across the court, seein' you talking to thin air.  What's up with that?"
Jacqui cocked her head in puzzlement.
     "Creepy," Alexis shrugged.  "Must be a professor of ninja-ology or
something.  Anyway, I did it.  Bobby's gone."
     Jacqui clapped her hands together in satisfaction.  "About time.  He's a
creep.  And they were using MY bed!"
     "Yeah, he was," Alexis nodded.  "I think I need to start dating
non-creeps, hey?"
     "Let me know if you find some, I'd like one m'self!" Jacqui cackled.
"Maybe you can set me up with that Conrad boy you work with over the summer?
Assuming you don't want him yourself," she arched an eyebrow inquiringly.
     Alexis shuddered.  "No, Rad's nice, but it'd feel too much like dating
my brother.  I'll introduce you next time he's in town...."
     As they walked out of the union, Alexis touched her fingertips to the
cracked amulet of Cybertronian metal.  It seemed warmer than usual, probably
because her own body temperature had been a bit elevated when she was dumping
Bobby.  
     She thought of Professor Kramer's laughing yellow eyes, and a thought
hovered at the edge of her mind.
     "Nah," she muttered.  "Couldn't be."  
     Could it?

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Author's Notes:

     Okay, this is one of those times when I write a piece with full
knowledge that it's going to be contradicted.  I'm setting it between Armada
and Energon, and I haven't even seen all of Armada yet.  For all I know, I'll
go home, watch today's episode, and see the amulet destroyed as it acts as a
plot device.  Heh.  But that's okay, I don't have to be right.  }->
     In case anyone didn't figure it out, Lars Kramer is Starscream's spark,
trapped in Alexis's amulet and manifesting as a sort of hallucination to talk
to her.  People have been wondering how Starscream comes back from a pretty
thorough death in Armada to be part of Energon ten years later, so here's my
suggestion.  Hey, migration of spark/spirit is practically required for
Starscreams these days.
     Oh, and I was tempted to use the name Henry Exclaim in honor of Kendrick
Chua's "Human Urges" story, but ended up using Lars Kramer instead, since
Henry really wasn't the sort of guy I needed for the role.