Mirage's Betrayal

Predacons escape! And Mirage blames his teammates. A schism 'twixt friends!

Detailed synopsis
The Spychangers battle against the Predacon goons, who have stolen some precious plutonium. But during the battle, a second Darkscream appears, so Mirage, revealing the entire battle had been in a training simulation, decides to end the exercise. As Mirage leave, REV gives Mirage a brief quiz on hand signals.

Meanwhile, the real Predacons have created an electronic bug to track and listen to any Autobot they place it on.

Dorrie Dutton broadcasts from the International Exposition center where she gives exposition about the world's largest ruby, which could be used in a giant "laser". Koji catches the news, and being a bright lad, figures the Predacons would likely want to steal the Ruby (As it happens, he's entirely correct). Prime agrees with Koji's suspicions and sends the Spychangers to keep an eye on the precious gem.

During the night, things play out as predicted and the Predacon Trio try to steal the Ruby. The Spychangers show up to stop them, and during the fight, none of the Spychangers notice Darkscream place the tiny tracking bug on Mirage, who is positioned on top of a building as a sniper. Gas Skunk exhales blinding gas so he and he cronies can vamoose, and Mirage is unable to open fire on the three because he's afraid of hitting a chemical plant and causing collateral damage. So the Predacons get away with the ruby.

From the safety of their own base, the Predacons listen in on the Spychangers. Rather than explain that he didn't want to hit the power plant, Mirage just quits the team. Later, at the Autobot base, T-AI brings up Mirage on a video screen, but he hangs up on his former teammates.

Ironhide and Mirage meet in person at the Exposition Center, and Ironhide gives Mirage another chance to explain why he let the Predacons get away. But while Mirage doesn't explain, Ironhide figures it out on his own. Mirage continues to badmouth his former teammates, and after being punched by Ironhide, he notices the listening device placed upon him by Darkscream. Mirage continues to express that he doesn't care about the rest of the Autobots, but at the same time, he waves his arms in an odd and dramatic fashion. Knowing the Predacons are listening, Mirage mentions that he's considering joining up with the other team. (Hearing the friendship ruined, Sky-Byte is brought to tears). When the Predacons report to Megatron, Megatron agrees that Mirage should be recruited.

Mirage fills up on gas, passing by the usual civilian company. Away the the station, he passes by the Predacon trio, who invite him onto their side. He agrees to join the Predacons to get back at the Spychangers. Later, Sky-Byte shows Mirage the "Mega-Laser." The "Mega-Laser" is highly sophisticated and powerful. Mirage is impressed when a demonstration of the "Laser" destroys a mountain.

Not revealing his betrayal, Mirage invites the other Spychangers and invites the Autobots to come help him stop the Predacons from using the "Mega-Laser" he's discovered. The Spychangers join Mirage at the location of the "Laser" while the Predacons hide and wait for the proper moment to take action. Mirage greets his former friends with dramatic, foreshadowed arm movements. Ironhide relishes that Mirage is silently using arm signals to communicate to the other Spychangers in a manner the Predacons don't understand.

At the end of a finger countdown, the Spychangers all turn together blast the Predacons out of their hiding space, and Mirage fires the laser control out of Sky-Byte's hand. Mirage shows the Ironhide and the Spychangers the bug he discovered the Predacons had placed on him. Before the team can hug and make up, the laser fires again - clearly there was more than one detonator. To destroy the laser, the Global Space Bridge is wrapped around it and the Spychangers circle around the laser and direct it's blast back at Megatron's hovering base.

With the Predacon's scheme finished, the Spychangers apologize to Mirage. Ironhide asks Mirage to hit him back to make the two even for Ironhide's attack earlier, but Mirage shows that it's an unnessecary gesture. Mirage is welcomed back onto the team. Then Ironhide and Mirage share a tender race.

Stats
Original airdate:

Written by: Richard Epcar

Featured characters
in order of appearance: Dark Scream, Slapper, Gas Skunk, Hot Shot, Wars, REV, Crosswise, Sky-Byte, Mirage, Ironhide, Dorrie Dutton, Koji, Megatron, Optimus Prime, Team Bullet Train (cameo), T-AI Kelly,

Miscellaneous trivia

 * This episode makes reference to Mirage and Ironhide being old friends. Mirage and Ironhide both share their names with Generation 1 characters, but despite their fairly large roles in the original show, their Generation 1 counterparts never directly addressed each other.


 * In reality, the International Exposition Center is the "Tokyo Big Sight" convention center.


 * This is one of, if not the only, episode to not feature Sideburn, Prowl, and X-Brawn.