Loose Wires, pt 1

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Loose Wires, pt. 1 (PG)
by BluePard (bluepard@buffnet.net)

Finagle sighed, her mind drifting. She could see the enemy legions upon her, finding her, she could hear her own uncontrollable cries of fear. She sighed again. She shouldn't have been so afraid. It was a disgrace, they were her fellow Proxians, they wouldn't have hurt her. They didn't even bother to send someone after her once she had betrayed her friends and run off, terrified by the imagined footsteps behind her. She ground her teeth a little at their mercy. They'd probably thought she was screwed up enough already.

"You awake, Finny? You shouldn't be dreamin' on-duty."

Finagle didn't even bother turning around at Vex's voice.

"Dawn?" Finagle yawned, feigning fatigue, "Well, it's hard to keep track of time when you're so tired."

"Don't give me that. What's been bothering you lately?"

Finagle sighed again while the mink waited patiently for an answer. "What do you expect me to act like? One friend missing, the other off in the military..."

"Are you still mulling over that? Come on, Finny, you only knew these people a stellar cycle..."

"Which is now half my life."

"I mean, don't take offense, but they weren't the brightest or the nicest either. One's a moron, the other's a jerk."

"I like morons and jerks."

"Granted, I voted for the jerk, but she had the qualities you Nightworkers die for... all that idiotic..."

Finny leveled off a gaze between Vex's eyes like it was a red target point.

"I mean, well.... okay, I'm sorry Finny. I gotta remember you guys are half the population and Proximis needs you... you can just be so annoying at times."

Finagle slumped over. The closest thing she had to a friend here didn't even realize that their was no difference between the Dayworkers and Nightworkers, except one being diurnal and the other nocturnal. Vex was making her best puppy-dog face... not that it was going to work on Finagle. Still, Finagle pretended it did, gathering up her things to leave her duties.

"If there was just something I could do... some way to get Arcane back."

Vex attempted not to roll her eyes. "Look, Finagle, Arcane is gone. I mean, I know you were best friends, but be realistic..."

"I am being realistic. There is not a scrap of evidence that Arcane is dead.."

"Except that she's been missing for a year..."

"...and I'm not giving up."

"Finny, even if she is alive, she won't be for long..."

"We don't know that! She could have time-traveled or something. Who knows." She sighed, her eyes flickering for a second.. now she really was tired.

"Look, I'm supposed to be working, Finny..."

"Yeah, fine. See you at dusk." She marched out, her mind intent. Two years... long enough for AHS to take its toll... well, she did have a friend in Trinity, and it was his off-hours...

In the Constellation Proxian Nightworkers busied themselves, served by their Dayworking counterparts. Someone by the door jotted down a name, and a light above a table across the room flickered in response. Seldom did lights flash over Moonlight Nighttreader's head; she was easy enough to find by the crowd of bystanders. Most just came to see her, stand gawking for a while, and then totter off, disappointed that she didn't notice them. She silently sipped her energon liqueur while they bothered her with the piddling little problems of their piddling little lives.

Reducing my peddling little off-time.

She took another sip as a meek member of her followers attempted to finish his sentence, and another sip as he did.

"Greetings, my Royal Lady!" came a shout above the usual din of the Constellation. She turned around to the face of a large Nightworker with pin-feathers sticking above his ears like a secretary's quill. He promptly took hold of her hand, kneeling on one knee and touching his forehead to her wrist. Only experience kept her from cracking up.

"If I'd know I was in for such an ego trip I would have packed my bags," she said as he stood back up, "You know, I'm not really royal. This is a republic."

"Ahh, but you will always be royal in my eyes," he said, edging the meek person next to her off his chair.

The meek may inherit the earth, but there won't be much left of it...

"I need to ask you something."

"Let me guess; not important enough to bother me with during hours, but important enough to interrupt my free time."

"Yes."

Pick a number.

"My name's Patroclus. Arcane Nighttreader's best friend."

"I thought that was a programmer..."

"That's her other best friend. We want to know what happened."

"I don't know what happened. If I did, I would announce it."

"Then why aren't we looking for her? I'm with the military, and no forces have left Proximis lately."

"Look, no forces have left Proximis ever, and no forces want to leave now. Your comrades would rather do drills all their lives than go out on a wild goose chase..."

"I'll go, as soon as I pass my flying final, just give me a ship..."

"All by yourself? I couldn't allow it... most Proxians are naive or have an all-foreigners-are-evil-they-must-DIE attitude, neither of which are good for diplomacy."

"What, not all foreigners are evil?"

She sighed. Standard response. "Look, I've had some very good friends who were other types of robots; I even knew a few organics in my youth. In fact, most of those people are now on Vicinis, serving as target-bots for our trainees."

"Like Afterburner?"

"Yes, let me guess, he was one of your practice dummies. I always wonder why he hasn't committed suicide long ago... we really have to get rid of that 'Only Proxians on Proximis' rule."

"And let foreigners on Proximis?!"

"Yes, there's the problem, that's the reaction I get from everybody."

She jumped a bit as a howl echoed through the crowded building. As she turned she could just make out a grey wolf at the door. She settled into her coyote form, calling back to Patroclus over her shoulder.

"There's Elide. Adieu from the Royal Lady."

She skipped through the crowd, leaving Patroclus with an empty seat. He noticed she'd left her energon unfinished, so he finished it with a long gulp. Then he left to call Finagle and tell her he'd failed. At least he was used to that.

"Why am I affected already? That reprogramming was supposed to slow this down!"

"Don't worry," the computer droned, "it's barely one percent of your programming..."

"Zero point ninety-three percent of my programming that's gone! Zero point ninety-three percent of myself deleted, zero point ninety-three percent in limbo, zero point ninety-percent of my being destroyed for all time!! What am I gonna do?!"

"First, you calm down so that you don't overload your personality circuits. Perhaps some relaxation techniques?"

"Forget relaxation, I have to fix this! Every moment I lose a little more..."

With that she doubled over in pain, clutching her stomach as though a small, slimy alien was trying to escape from it. Her internal computer voiced itself.

"Warning: continued stress will result in permanent damage to personali..."

"Okay, okay, I'm in control, I'm okay, okay."

The computer made a questioning hum and continued, "Second, you can divert as much energon as possible to your main internals, specifically your personality board. That is where AHS attacks."

"Why didn't you tell me it deteriorated circuitry?"

"Well, if you had bothered to do your lessons..."

Panthera sat down with a sigh. "I have to stop it. There must be something I can do."

"That is all you can do. Of course, if you had spent your time with the Cybertronians in a joint effort to get off this planet..."

"Oh, shut up, smarty circuits. I have enough problems without you on my case."

She sat down, putting her head between her knees before another jolt could attack.

"You know," she said, once completely calmed, "You aren't helping this, you shouldn't aggravate me. That's what the Maximals are for."

"They could be useful if you'd give them a chance. Might I remind you that Moonlight had many Cybertronian friends..."

"Well, I'm obviously not Moonlight." she glared at the screen a second, replacing her head between her knees again, "I swear, people think I was programmed from the same index codes. Even if I was..."

"...were, you are stating something contrary to fact..."

"...were, it wouldn't matter. I would be like her at first, but when I started having different experiences, I would become be a different person." she sighed, "You know, half of Proximis has Moonlight for an idol, but they don't have to put up with this slag."

"You are not half of Proximis."

"Well, that's certainly worth the time I spent planning you, and stealing the components, and building you. Despite the fact that I don't work with computers... just people."

"And your people skills are certainly sharp. You can turn the world on with your smile, I'll bet..."

"Since when are the critic? Awww, shut up and let me think." She rested her hands on her head, playing with her panther ear and twirling her panther whiskers. "Lemme see... okay, AHS will kill me. I can't slow it down much, or function completely with it... I can't devise a program blocking device... how am I to get rid of this thing?"

She sat up, her tongue withdrawing back into her mouth as she smiled.

"Too simple! I'll remove it! I'll dive into my systems, and take out the control chip!" She laughed.

"That would not be recommended. Other systems lie on that chip besides AHS. If it were possible Ostrava would have..."

"Maybe not, she could have been a programmer, with no first-hand, fingers-to-guts knowledge! And her mind was wiped... "

"Calm down, you'll overload again. Besides, there would be no way for you complete the operation yourself, it would require going off-line."

"That's right," Panthera's spirits visibly fell. "It's located on the personality and memory motherboard... if I removed that board I wouldn't remember what to do.... wait... there's you."

"Me?"

"Yes, that's it."

Her eyes shone with hope, with pride, and with a plan. At the same time, IDA's eyes shone with no emotion, or all of it, depending from which side of them you gazed.

Going to remove the chip... I should have known she'd do that.

IDA stood as still as a statue, unseen, unheard, unwanted, and a whole lot more un's.

It's just like her... instead of slowly dying with the chance of being rescued, she must destroy herself or the disease. Needs a lesson in subtlety.

She smiled inside.

And aren't I the best teacher for that?

"Look, I programmed you with all my basic knowledge," Panthera continued, "So, I go off-line and plug into you, and you can guide my hands."

"But- but- but.... I mean... highly... bad news... no.. bad idea, Arcane. I mean... well... for one, I have personality circuits and am somewhat sapient... you wouldn't want me to..."

"Yes, I would. I'm not worried, sheesh, you already have my index codes so why should I worry about privacy?"

The computer sighed. "Let the record show I advise against this."

"Very fine, lovely, sure... now, where's that wire..."

IDA watched Panthera's search for the component in disbelief. She wanted to do it now?

There goes my time to consider the other options, could have used a day or two, perhaps stopping time... no, I really do overuse that. Time for decisiveness.

She reached out to the computer, finding its logic circuits, ignoring them, going to its unconsciousness and delving deep into its circuitry.

What the heck?!

Don't worry, don't worry, don't worry... IDA shut of its security circuits with a flick of her eyes. You need some time off-line, a vacation, a rest. You deserve it.

I do not need rest, I have no spark.

You have never been off-line. It is very peaceful there.

I do not need it. I could not perform my functions. You must be some sort of virus, Arcane must be told...

No. She has enough problems, as do you. You'll sleep now. Sleep.

She slowed the gears in their turning and the energon in its veins until it peacefully, and uncontrollably, stopped.

"What?!!"

Panthera turned back to the black screen, dropping the wires in her hands.

"I didn't tell you to shut off! Wake up! Computer, on!"

Nothing responded, except for the lights and everything else shutting off .

"You oversized typewriter! Work, slag it!"

The computer dozed happily in the dark. Panthera shouted several of her own personal swear words in frustration, making up a few more of them as she doubled over again.

"How the heck am I supposed to open the door?!"

"Take me to Proximis, home of Day and Night. Where my spark was formed and my siblings'.... do you even hear me, ya slaggin' waste of circuitry?"

She waited it second, but no defenses sprung into action. She continued on her way up the tunnel, grumbling as she tripped over rocks. Her ultra-red vision didn't seem to be working right.

Good news for me, anyway. In a small, enclosed place with a pissed panther. I gotta remember to get OP back fer dis one.

Rattrap scurried down the skinny, rough tunnel, wondering how Panthera ever managed to fit through it.

What happened to her claustrophobia? She can't stand a cage or the base, but she can stand this?

He should know better than to expect her to make sense. Reaching the end of the tunnel he found just a slab of rock. Upon closer inspection, feeling his way through the dark, he found a crack in it. At a push it gave way, allowing him into room so laden with... room... that he could feel its weight on top of him.

"Where the heck are the lights?" he said to himself, blinking in the dark.

Electronics hummed into life at his words, the lights leaving red spots in his optics. The computer was screening through its systems frantically.

"Who are you? What happened? Where's Arcane? What the heck was that?" it buzzed with the closest thing it could come to fear.

Arcane? Who... wait, that's Panthera's other name, right. Primus, look at this place. A stasis pod, a computer, man, where'd she get all this junk?

The glimmering of a huge energon crystal glimmered in his wet eyes.

By the Matrix...

"Who are you?" repeated the computer.

"Me? Oh, I'm... I'm a friend of Pan... Arcane's. She.. told me to find out what happened to you."

"Well? What happened?"

"Slagged if I know. Hey, um, what's that thing?" He pointed to the device attached to the energon, assuming the computer had optics.

"That is a holistic data transmitter."

"You mean like a transian data transmitter?"

"They perform the same function."

"So, what's it sending?"

"A distress signal."

Rattrap hummed to himself, closely examining the device and pressing a button. Panthera's voice came on in a language he didn't recognize.

"What's she saying?"

"An English version will commence in a cycle."

Rattrap waited, tapping his pink toes with impatience.

If Panthera comes back here...

"Greetings, Comrades," said Panthera's recorded voice, "I am Arcane Nighttreader of Proximis. While in stasis I was lost and am now stranded on an unknown planet. As we Proxians are at peace with pretty much everybody, I would appreciate your assistance in this matter. Please follow this transmission to my locale."

The device was silent a second, then Panthera started again in another language. Rattrap shut the sound off, turning to the computer.

"It'll never work." He thought a moment, turning to the stasis pod. "That Panthera's pod?"

"Correct."

"And it is here because...?"

"Arcane was disturbed from stasis before all of her memories could be downloaded. She had to retrieve it and filter its databanks for the rest of her memories."

"Really? Hmmmm..."

He sat down, surprised to find a feather larger than himself leaning against the chair.

"What the slag's this?" he said to himself.

"A momento from one of Arcane's friends. Couldn't you ask Arcane about all of this?"

"Oh, you know she ain't exactly the most forthcoming." He heaved the feather up to his nose for a closer look. "And apparently she's friends with a giant blue canary. Man, Proxians are weird..."

"You say that because Arcane's the only one you know. She is a very unique individual." The computer hummed suspiciously at him. "Somehow I doubt she would let anyone else down here, so I can only hope for your sake that you know how to turn off the defenses..."

"Defenses?"

"The ones that will crush you in an instant if activated."

Ahh, those defenses.

"But, I'm her friend, couldn't you just tell me the deactivation..."

"You seem to be under the incorrect impression that I am stupid. I am a semi-sapient sparkless form. I am very aware that you are a Maximal and that Arcane has certain prejudices against Maximals. I would shoot you now, but the inner parameter has no guns. Still, leave and face the defenses or wait for Arcane and face her, you are dead lead."

Rattrap looked at the screen in shock.

Semi-sapient? But sparkless? Excuse me?

"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't realize. We ain't got that many sapient sparkless thingamagiggies around Cybertron."

"Uh-huh. Forget apologizing. You can explain to Arcane when she arrives. And you can bet your demise will be only gruesomer if you dare touch..."

Rattrap looked at the computer, waiting. It simmered, shutting down without explanation. He grumbled to himself as the lights faded and went out, though he was glad to have his hide whole. Now to run out of this slaggin' cemetery before the systems started up again... but maybe this was just a trick? To get him out where the weapons were?

Haven't a choice. Panthera shows up I'm as good as slagged anyhow... though you'd think if she went to the trouble of making this thing sapient, she woulda fixed a bug like that...

Soon those thoughts were forgotten as he reached the outside and happily followed Panthera's soft footprints home.

Miles above the lovely blue globe floated the stasis pods, so many young fish swimming in a bountiless sky. Disorganized and falling, their decaying orbits strayed here to there, with one too far from gravity's pull spinning out into the nether regions of space, forgotten and never released. Occasionally the pods bumped into each other, sometimes edging each other too close to the planet in their game of bumper cars. One fell to the far side of the planet, then again, a few weeks later, one was knocked towards the round mound of ground. As it fell, sparks scarring its small hull, partially collapsed and crushed, its owner seems to cry out from the belly of the machine, but it was only the scream of the wind against the rough metal.

Rhinox made his best attempt at thumping quietly down the halls. He was nearly at the storage chamber which held Ostrava's ship when Panthera, bristling around the neck, jumped out from an intersecting hall, panting as though she had had to rush with all her breath to prevent disaster.

"Where do you think you're going?" Panthera said, her words barely intelligible through her growl.

"The North Delta storage chamber. Whether you like it or not, Panthera, that ship is a way off of this planet, if you'll let me repair it."

"It is Proxian property." She drew her lips back in a hiss as she spoke. "You have no right to it, as stated in the treaties."

"Cut the slag, Panthera. You don't know how to fly it or you'd be off the planet by now. Ostrava was willing to let me look at it..."

"Ostrava was a traitor..."

"She had more sense than you," Rhinox said with a snort, "You want off this planet, you want safety, you want Proximis, then let me see that ship."

"No. It is Proxian property, Proxian technology, so I suggest you butt out, unless you want to start a war."

Rhinox shook his head as Panthera turned and made for the simulation chambers.

"What could be in that ship that's important enough to die for?" he muttered under his breath.

In the echoes of the corridor came the answer, "The good of Proximis." Panthera did not turn to say it, but stopped and waited for the sound of him padding away the moment she was out of his sight.

Waspinator buzzed his way through the high, grasping arms of the tallest trees. This was not a safe place, though in a colder climate than the forests where Panthera lurked, still every Maximal could be hiding in those shrubs without his knowing. His head jumped back and forth from leaf to minute leaf; he could not move his eyes. And though he was opposite the spectacle, the warm red glow of a glossy leaf drew his attention to the skies, where a bright stellar star fell. Not just any piece of rock, the wind flamed off its side with the glaring blaze of worked metal.

"Wazzzpinator seez staziz pod." he cooed to himself, clicking open his com channel as he did.

"Where? The coordinates, quickly!"

"Delta sector, not far," he shook his head as though Megatron could see it, "Wazzpinator can retrieve."

"It is far beyond your skills." said Megatron, flipping open another channel, "Inferno, Blackarachnia, get to Delta sector immediately; home in on Waspinator's location. I want that Maximal and any secrets the pod might hold."

"Why, yes, almighty Megatron," Blackarachnia said in mock of Inferno before he could comment, "We live to serve."

Her voice reached a slightly growling note on the last word, not easy for the soprano. Megatron naturally ignored her, flipping all channels down.

Waspinator buzzed his way higher, happy to be away from the haunted shadows of the forest, though it wasn't the shadows that were haunted, for even after the pod and it's flare passed behind a mountain, a hug-warm red still licked the edges of the leaves.

Loose Wires, pt. 2 (PG)
by BluePard (bluepard@buffnet.net)

"Dinobot, behind you!"

Dinobot turned as the tree behind him sprung to electronic life. It backhanded him, sending him skidding into Cheetor before the cat could utter another word. Optimus withdrew his cyberswords, hacking at the possessed foliage as though possessed himself.

"That hurt!" cried Cheetor, pushing the dazed raptor off his lap, "What the slag?"

"That's not possible," said Optimus, shielding his swords in subspace, "The pain setting's shut off."

"Was off," said, Panthera, grinning as she finished twisting a palm leaf into a sling, "I turned it on. How can you expect the simulation to teach you anything without the fear of pain?"

She dropped a rock into her new weapon, testing it on a passing bird and missing it by yards.

"This is not funny!" Cheetor looked back and forth in paranoia. "You couldn't have told us first?"

"Must've slipped my mind." She shouted as a rock hit her cheek. A glance at the sky revealed a legion of avians, all with rocks in their talons, all pissed. "Man, I love these things, even the ground'll start attacking us in another cyc-"

On cue, an earthquake shuddered under their feet, sending them all onto their backs but Optimus and Airazor, who took to the air.

"And we always die at the end of these things, too," muttered Airazor.

"And we always die at the end of life, don't we?" Panthera grabbed the arms of the two landbound Maximals, yanking them into a ditch. The earthquake soon halted, and Optimus and Airazor joined them, safe from the ire of the birds.

"You could've put it on 'realistic play' then!" said Dinobot, finally recovering his wits.

"Stop complaining. Our mission's to find energon and we found it." She gestured at a small, marble-sized sparkle by their feet.

"No... don't!" yelled Optimus as Dinobot's hand brushed the crystal. In a moment either side of the ditch closed in on them, crushing their components into a mess of blood and mech fluid.

Five shaken RPers stumbled out of their simulations.

"Fool's energon!" snapped Airazor, glancing accusingly at Dinobot.

"It was not my fault! Panthera..."

"Fine, blame the cat.."

"You said it was!"

"And since when do you believe me?"

"Enough," said Optimus, shaking his pained head, "At least you didn't set the pain setting too high, Panthera."

"Oh, please, I'm smarter than that... knowing how quickly I get scrapped with this group! With my Proxian troops I'd have won easily..."

"Well, why don't you go ask them put up with your attitude? Oh, that's right, they're light-years away, and haven't been under yer command fer a stellar cycle. Silly me." Rattrap strolled in, glancing at his muddied reflection in the R Chamber as he did, an act Panthera took pains to notice.

"Awwww, is Ratty-watty gettin' awl self-conscious? Here, Panthera make it awwwwl wight."

Panthera gave Rattrap a very unexpected bear-hug, pinning his arms to his sides. He soon wriggled out of that, so she locked an arm around his neck and gave him a noogie.

"Hey! Lemme go, ya ditzy Proxian!" said Rattrap, squeezing out of the headlock.

"Really, Rattrap, you need to let your feelings go. Get in touch with your feminine side. I know an eau de toilette that would go scrumptiously with that reeking garbage thing you've got going..."

Rattrap ducked behind Rhinox, a scowl on his face.

"Man, you make this too easy," she said with a smile.

"You," snorted the rat, "need a hobby."

"Darling, this is my hobby." She smirked at his buck teeth.

"Panthera," said Optimus, wondering if he'd get an answer, "You... feeling all right?"

Panthera opened her mouth to reply, and looked instead at the flashing consul beside her. In a second Rhinox was tapping at it, revealing a map of coordinates.

"A stasis pod," he said, his eyes never leaving the screen, "Delta sector, 43.2, pred turf."

Optimus shook his head. "Panthera, Airazor, we recover it. The rest of you stay here."

"Yes sir!" said Rattrap, happily kicking his feet up, only to have them knocked down by Airazor on her way out.

A long line of broken trees pointed like an arrow to the smoking melten metal. It sank further into the ground, black and grey covered by bleak brown. Not a sound uttered from within, but save some humming, like an engine failing to start on a cold morning. A voice sparked to life, only to crackle into incoherency. Still, from the smoking wreckage a scanner emerged, throwing a dim yellow light over the scene for a few seconds before collapsing on its side, hitting the ground hard. Inferno bounded over it, his eyes transfixed on the pod. "Another colony!" cried Inferno, hugging the pod's scorched and sparking hull. He rubbed his cheek against its exterior, purring like a kitten. Blackarachnia rolled her eyes.

"Right... and the Maximals will be out to destroy this one as well."

Inferno looked up, pulling his fire cannon and suspiciously scanning the horizon.

"Now, you and Waspinator keep the pod safe while I try to free our comrade inside," said Blackarachnia in a gentle tone that fooled only Inferno.

"Yes! Must protect the colony! The Queen commands it!" shouted Inferno, along with a whole lot of other nonsense which Blackarachnia ignored. She tapped the controls of the pod, muttering to herself as it didn't respond. She snipped a bit of the hull away, carefully removing a Maximal chip and hiding it away. Once replaced with a Predacon chip, she again attempted to make the consul respond. All she got was another crackle of machinery, gears attempting to turn, but blocked by some proverbial wrench.

"Wazzpinator fix," said the bug, buzzing down.

"Get out of the way, you fifty-eyed moron!" said Blackarachnia, trying to swat him away. He buzzed out of the reach of her flailing arms, transforming into a small green robot and landing with a thud on the already partially collapsed hull. It gave way a little more, then the scanner came back to life from its position on the ground. It hit the ground repeatedly, attempting to turn, until Blackarachnia picked it up and held it over her head until it could scan a full circle.

"Dat..ta.. .tr..tra...ks.. .not... r..eee..coverrr.. ..ble...." stuttered the pod's computer. "Dam...ge.. ex....tensi...repl...cat...err...r...."

Blackarachnia whacked it again. Some release valve was hit, and with a hiss the top of pod levied up, smoke choking the raw trachea of its inhabitant. A grey muzzle poked over the edge of the pod's broken side, gasping for a breath, tongue tasting the air.

"What...is it?" said Blackarachnia, her words mirroring the faces of the two drones.

The creature stuttered, testing his comically noble voice, "I.. think my name is... Silverbolt, yes, pure, strong and... and fast!"

Waspinator stepped up to his new comrade and whacked him hard on the head.

"What was that for?" he said, rubbing his head with his foreclaw and then gazing with awe at it.

"Doggie-bot's hardware gone soft," Waspinator said, shrugging.

"I can't believe I'm agreeing with the wasp!" Blackarachnia muttered under her breath, just before being sliced in half from behind.

"He's not the only one!" said Panthera with a chuckle.

"Now that's just dirty fighting!" shouted Silverbolt, seeing his Predacon comrades terrorize and following suit.

"Yep. Your point?"

Panthera jumped down next to Inferno, dodging a shot and kicking his fire canon away. "I got dibs on hotpants!"

"It's a ghost!" said Arcane, shaking her head with her eyes on Inferno.

"In my experience, ghosts can't shoot."

Arcane shook her head again, taking to the air and after the wasp, while Optimus naturally took the unknown foe upon himself. Though straight out of the stasis pod, Silverbolt instinctively took wing, flying backwards at times to throw feather-missiles at his pursuer. He ducked away from all missiles thrown at him, though oftener than not they grazed his hide. Optimus, however, was not exactly high and dry either, as the cat-muzzled bot threw missile after missile his way.

"We don't have to do this, Silverbolt, you don't have to fight if you don't want to."

"And I will lay down my weapons so you can shoot my comrades in the back again? Don't you realize the dishonor in that, especially to strike a female?"

"What?" said Panthera, looking up and getting slugged for her attention. She quickly caught Inferno's arm, swung him around and kicked him face-first in the dirt. "Go chase Opty, firebutt, the weirdo's mine."

Panthera swung out her sand shooter, taking a moment to aim and firing off a couple shots before ducking under Inferno's next swing. The shots hit Silverbolt's wing, gumming his feathers into a mess of shafts that would take him weeks to sort out. Optimus sighed; Panthera would have it her way. He fired a round at Inferno, who promptly took to the air, head butting Optimus in the stomach, ignoring all blows and shots, secure in his dementia. Optimus soon knocked him to the ground, though, where Inferno recovered his weapon and the fight took on distance.

Silverbolt spat dirt, testing his wing and unable to move it. Not broken, but glued into one solid structure. One that would be completely useless for flying. He wiped the grainy dirt from his lips, and out of his golden eyes, nearly poking a hole in his own optics as Panthera pushed his face back in the dirt. He jumped away, crouching in a pounce position although still in robot mode.

"I will not fight you. Can you not let me be?"

Panthera raised her eyebrows, a bemused expression on her childlike face. "Of course not. Annoying people's my job, on this planet, anyway."

"Well, you can not torment what you cannot catch!" He bounded away, only to be caught by his tailfeathers and soon his arm. Made helpless by his ethics, he literally howled in pain as Panthera twisted his thumb back. She placed her foot straight between his shoulder blades, kicking him into a tree.

"Man, this guy's too easy, you'd think he was a Maximal or something." said Panthera, catching the fuzor by the ear and pushing his head away at the same time, keeping him in check with the smallest of agonies and a major loss to his dignity.

Silverbolt grit his teeth in saintly suffering, his ear throbbing, his heart pounding in his other ear. At once a sound erupted by his ear and he clutched his head, fearing not to find his acoustic organ there. It was, though, and with relief he looked up, then down, searching for his assailant.

Panthera lay face-down in a patch of mud, though she didn't notice, and didn't care. She was shivering, gasping in gulps, silent a second then wheezing with all the power of her lungs. She shook uncontrollably, only too glad to once again hear her fluid pump pounding- for a cycle it had stopped, choking her with the helplessness she had always forced on others. Opposite her was a stern, gaunt figure with a small weapon in her hand.

This figure shook as well, though it was obvious why, for the ankles which held up her tall frame were only three inches round. On her chest a bat's countenance was locked forever in a death scream, and claws projected off her shoulders and her wrists. Her eyes were reminiscent of IDA's, and encircled three fourths of her head. She steadily grasped a shatter gun, and cranked the dial on its end up a notch.

"I shoot you with this now," she said, her voice a shriek, "and you die, instantly. Do not move."

Move? How?!

Panthera just continued gasping, while Optimus and Airazor backed away from those they engaged, their hands raised. Inferno and Waspinator gathered themselves, but looked warily at the intruder. She calmly strolled up to Silverbolt, held out a hand and helped him up, the funnel-like nozzle of her gun aimed straight for Optimus' chest. Silverbolt gave her a wounded, questioning look which she ignored, instead waving her free hand over the Maximal symbol on her collarbone. It happily settled into a Predacon one, and she gestured Silverbolt away.

"Go," she whispered, "I will follow."

Silverbolt knit his brow over his doleful eyes, retreating after Inferno, who had been collecting Blackarachnia's halves. The gaunt stranger slowly backed away in dead silence, save the wheezing and "IhatemylifeIhatemylifeIhatemylife" coming from Panthera.

"I am glad, Maximals, to have found out what you are like now, instead of later."

"Please, don't, this is just a misunderstanding..." Optimus held his hands out helplessly.

The figure shook her head. "I am Echo, Maximal, guard my name well, for it is a Predacon name now."

Echo stepped behind a ridge, and a screech arose from it as giant membranous wings flapped out of their reach.

Airazor pulled Panthera up to a stand by the arm. "This is all your fault, you know that?"

The Proxian ignored her, uttering a long string of very audible and angry "rassafrassin"'s. Energon danced over her feline hide, and she doubled over, falling back into a sitting position.

She instinctively donned her panther mask.

"Just an energon surge," she told them.

"Funny, didn't seem like a surge to me..." Airazor whispered to Optimus.

"Panthera, meet you at the base?"

"What?"

"I'm sure you can make it on your own... maximum burn!" Optimus jetted off with Airazor, despite the surges that would hit him soon.

Panthera was strangely started and annoyed that they would leave her alone and damaged on pred turf, especially with that new pred around. She shook her head, thinking of all the things she'd done that day.

It's so not like me... "darling"?

She shook her head again, worried to death and aching inside, and not just with the familiar but stronger ache of AHS. Something troubled her, now that she reminisced, old phrases ringing in her ears. The computer, Cheetor, Finagle, Moonlight...

If I was on Proximis, Greenpaws... but I'm not.

Panthera slunk off into the shadows, her hopes only dimmed more as she noticed her gray coat had gotten somewhat lighter that day.

Silverbolt looked back with worry as his aerial comrade dropped into and past the canopy of the forest. He quickly followed, finding her leaning against a tree stump, her see-through, vein-lined wings wrapped over her eyes.

"Are you hurt?"

"No, it's just the sun is so harsh when I'm in this form," She blinked her tiny, mad eyes from beneath the haven of her own wings.

"Should we wait until dark? It is not far in coming."

"No... I can walk until then." She crouched on the ground as though to receive a blow, crawling alongside Silverbolt more on her wings then her feet.

"Bats are not the best at walking... sure you will not wait?"

"I'll be fine, thanks though," she said with gentle stubbornness.

Silverbolt sighed, looking ashamed. "You... you are a Maximal..."

"No longer, friend, no longer. I cannot help the form I was born with. I never fought on their side, believe me, I am nearly as new to this world as you are."

"I believe you." Silverbolt kept looking at her with that worried expression; it gave her an odd feeling. "You do not look well."

"Well, this isn't the best form for catching game- except bugs. And my shatter gun only works on machines. My organics are a little worn..."

"I shall get you something... as soon as you're safe."

Echo looked with interest at his deep brown eagle's eyes. That expression had not left his face for the last few cycles, that expression of worry, and of a good-natured eagerness to help.

How odd... she thought, and even as she did she was comforted. Her time journeying had not treated her well, and she was accustomed to having nothing there for support, no one caring. Silverbolt's eyes, brown as smooth bark, convinced her in a moment that she had found someone who cared.

"The name's Echo, by the way." she said, extending a hind claw in greeting, and happy as she'd ever been when Silverbolt graciously accepted it.

"Well, Rattrap?" said Optimus, landing just as the surges claimed his systems, "What did you discover?"

"Well, for one, all whole lot more of our equipment then we thought was missing, plus tons of the pred's."

"And my energon disrupter?" said Rhinox.

"Looks like she's using it in some data transmitter, beaming out a help message. But that's not the best part- her computer, it's semi-sapient, but sparkless."

Rhinox looked at Optimus with surprise. "Is that legal?"

"Maybe on Proximis..."

"She's also got her stasis pod down there... apparently she had amnesia when she fell, explains why she wasn't so much of a jerk... and she has an energon crystal large enough to power Cybertron for a decacycle."

"That all you found?"

"Hey, her computer's after my tail as is. Next time she goes there it'll tell her and she make my diodes into a hockey net. You gotta do something with dat panter, preferably stringing her up by her skinny black.... gray tail."

"We're not going to do that, Rattrap, and you know it." Optimus sighed. "But we may have to resort to confining her... she has become even more unpredictable of late..."

"...if dat's possible." muttered Rattrap.

"Rhinox, any thoughts?"

"Yeah." He gave Rattrap an accusing look. "Why didn't you get my energon disrupter back?"

"Hey, bad enough jumping into the panther's den, I'm not about to take a bath in hot sauce first. Besides, her comp went nuts as I left, she might not notice I was there."

"So," continued Optimus in a dejected voice, "no plans?"

"Maybe.." said Cheetor, sighing.

The young Proxian screamed.

"Slag, she bit off my finger!"

"What are you doing in there? Didn't I tell you to wait for me?" His partner rolled her eyes.

"It's not my fault, she got out of her restraints!" He picked up his finger, hurrying out the door while Arcane just looked threatening from her corner of the cell. Some of her restraints; not enough to tackle the idiot.

"The idiot" hurried off to get his digit reattached while Cato smiled at her captive.

"You really don't like tickling, do you, Arcane?"

"Me? I'm not the one who defected..."

"Hey, they were doing the nails-across-a-blackboard thing." Cato shuddered. "I just can't stand that."

"Should you be conversing with the prisoners?"

"No, but you know I'm not a torturer or a guard by choice." Cato left the barred door, pacing up and down the corridor, checking in on the few still loyal members of the Terror Trio.

Moonlight smiled at the surveillance tape. Arcane had told her the entire plan, and brilliant it was. The other side had already won so far as it mattered, but they would receive more privileges if they could find Arcane's leader symbol- a simple, small metal ball inscribed with the names of Arcane, Finagle and Patroclus. The problem being that only Arcane knew its location, a very dangerous maneuver because a team could not win without possession of at least one leader symbol.

So, naturally, it was just a trick.

Reminds me of the system I have set up with Afterburner... should both I and Daystar die he has the code to the Leader's Indexes, he just doesn't understand it, or what it is, just whom to tell it should the time arise.

Similarly, Arcane had told Patroclus that if she should be killed he must relate a list of detailed, abstract instructions to Cato, or Finagle, or any others of her top five.

Then she went to the other four, pointed at an object, and said "That rock is Gibraltar" and "That tree is Pencil" without explaining what it had do to with anything.

So, even though three of those five defected, including Patroclus, they didn't tell their new commander the symbol's location because they didn't know they knew it. Gotta love that.

Arcane waited until Cato was gone, then pulled out a bomb. She could have just self-destructed-- more of Finagle's programming --but that would have destroyed her (and all the other players) in the real world as well. This bomb was carefully constructed of her own parts (which really existed) and virtual objects (which didn't). When set off it ought to explode only in the virtual land.

Ought to.

Moonlight smiled again, watching Arcane set the timer, say a quick prayer, and grit her teeth.

Four-hundred-some Proxians screamed, pulled from their other world in a state of raking pain. They bolted out of their simulation chambers, meeting in the hall as one surprised and hurt whole. Normally the tape wouldn't show this, but it had been edited to tell the story best.

"What happened?" they screamed, almost psychically finding Arcane and Scrimshaw, leader of the other side.

"I'll tell you what happened," shouted Arcane in a triumphant voice, storming up to Scrimshaw and waving her finger in his face, "We won, that's what happened."

"Impossible!"

"Yeah, well..." Arcane led them down the hall, indicating the one last simulation chamber with a red "Do not disturb" light blinking.

"Finagle: Terror Trio" it said on the side. In a moment the computer scanned for other players, and, finding none, declared the Terror Trio the victors. Finagle emerged just as Patroclus managed to wade up to Arcane and give her one of his trademark gryph-hugs.

"We won?" asked Finagle, looking tired and confused.

"Yep." Arcane continued as Finagle still looked confused, "I blew up their HQ, with everybody in it. 'Cept you, I sorta counted on you being out of range. We're the only ones with any players left, so we win! No perks, of course, but we won."

That's where the tape broadcasted across the vid-screens of Proximis ended, but this version contained a little more.

"Oh... that's... that's great," said Finagle, not looking like she meant it, "Arcane... could I talk to you alone some time?"

Moonlight had no idea what that conversation was about, but she could guess. Finagle had divulged the information that led to the ambush, the capture of the entire Terror Trio but herself-- she had long fled to the hills, begging the operators to let her out of the sim (completely against the rules). She would've committed virtual-suicide to get out of the game if she hadn't been so afraid of the pain.

Someone who hates to fight, but can fight, who faints at the sight of mech fluid...

Would have caught Moonlight's eye if it weren't caught already by the fact this Proxian was one of that year's prototypes, her old friend's second-to-last programming accomplishment. In fact, this individual was constructed to replace him, and did.

Ah well.. enough reminiscing..

Moonlight gathered her papers, straightening them against the desktop. Her assistant kept bothering her to upgrade, use a computer for Lightwing's sake, but she loved the organic planet, the ground, the trees, and anything that could remind her of them while in the large yet confining office. Daystar walked in then, and from his face he'd been briefed on the latest crisis.

"So, they just waltzed in, got in a stellar cruiser, and took off?"

"Pretty much."

"Why weren't they stopped?" said Daystar, attempting to keep the panic in his throat from reaching his voice box.

"You know security's lax, and they had full access to that area, due to the boy's job."

"Well, this is just ...lovely."

"We could always send out a search party..."

"Send people off Proximis? Unheard of... we're not doing it. Arcane was on a Maximal ship, the Predacons -and perhaps the Decepticons- will see this as a sign of bias..."

"No, they won't, they will see it as a sign that we are concerned about a fellow Proxian. Come'on, Daystar, I need your signature on this. It's time. Just imagine it, they're out there looking for foreigners, they could start wars, believe me, I've met them..."

"But, Moonlight, they're... you're not going to use this to try to start a war, are you?"

"Stop being so paranoid. I know you'd never put sig. to paper if I did, I'm with you this time, and you're the peaceful one.."

Daystar sighed. "All right. We do it."

"Fine, I'm off to bed." She scribbled her signature on the document, and left, yawning as she did. Daystar sighed, signing the sheet himself and sending it on its way. He stepped into the Com Room, sending his transmission to vid-screens across Proximis.

"Greetings, loyal Proxians. Due to current circumstance ships will be dispatched to search for Arcane Nighttreader. This project will be implemented immediately. Moonlight and I are as one on this issue. Daystar Daisanasu out."