The Dark Liaison

Part Two

By: Sapphire

Rattrap groaned and rolled over.  He was getting sick of waking up with a headache after an explosion.  He got shakily to his feet, and stared out.  The land was swart and smoldering, and where the Six were, was now a large black crater.  There was nothing left of them.

"Energon explosion.  Nice," he said.  He realized that if he transformed, then he would immediately be shocked with energon overload.  The air was virtually crackling with it.

He remembered Emerald.  He looked frantically about him.  He found her lying, in beast mode, twelve meters away from him.  He ran over to her.

"Emmie!  Emmie baby, are you ok?"

"Oooh..." she grumbled and twitched, her eyes tightly shut.  She was pretty beaten up and apparently in stasis lock.  She was lucky she was flying in beast mode when the second explosion occurred.

He nuzzled her onto his back and started to make his way home.

"Why'd you have to come, Emerald?  Now I gotta take you home and leave Dinobot out here...wherever he is."

He stopped and decided that calling for the over-sized lizard might help.

"DINOBOT!  Where da heck ARE YOU"

You-you-you....his voice echoed.  The following silence was cold and dead.

"Rattrap ta Dinobot, do you read?"

Static.  Energon interference for sure.

"Aw, man!  Dis really stinks," he muttered, but in truth he was feeling a fast-growing panic inside him.  He didn't know if Airazor and Optimus were going to make it, Emerald was injured considerably and Dinobot was missing.  Things were not good.

He started to make his way back to base, absently passing the crater, when he heard a noise.

He froze, his ears perking up.  He sniffed the air and picked up a faint scent...of something familiar and yet not...

A small noise wafted on the air.  Yes...to his right...towards...the crater?

He cautiously approached the rim of the crater, and looked down.

Nothing.

His eyes lifted and he stared across the crater to the other side.  There was some steam rising from it, but even through it he could pick up a form lying on the ground.

"Dinobot?"

He carefully put Emerald down and then drove around the crater towards the shape, on the alert.

When he got there, he felt a quiver of shock and fear go through him.  It was one of the six!  The maned wolf, lying in robot mode, wracked with energon rays.  Her arm was dislocated and she was covered in holes, her body was charred and ruined.

He squinted and looked closer at her twitching form, when suddenly her optics came alight.

He withdrew sharply.

She rolled her head to face him and lifted her hand.

"Help...me..."

Rattrap started shifting back slowly.

"No.  You're the enemy!"

She whimpered and shook her head.

"Not...anymore.  The...aliens...," she rasped, paused and then continued, "they...took my pod...possessed me!  But the explosion...destroyed their influence...inside me.  Please...you've got to believe me!"

Her voice became strained and desperate, breaking on her last words as sobs threatened in her throat.  Rattrap stared at her, locked in her eyes.  So much pain...

At that moment, a very strange feeling came over him.  He suddenly experienced enormous pity for this broken thing on the ground and he genuinely believed her, against his common sense.  Without even thinking about it, he put her onto his back and started to head towards base.

Emerald came to just as Rattrap was leaving.  She saw him moving away with someone on his back and she let out a cry.

"Ajax!"

She used his old name by accident.  It was more familiar and personal and she chose it subconsciously.

He stopped and turned towards her.

"Oh, Emmie!"

Emerald was not aware that he had forgotten her and did not understand the guilt in his voice.  He drove up to her.

"Emmie, Emmie," he said softly.

"Rattrap...I can't move..." she nearly whispered.  She was so sore and tired and very regretful about coming out here.  She couldn't even see clearly who was on his back.

"It's ok Em, I just gotta figure a way ta carry you both back.  I don't think I'm strong enough ta handle two...I'm damaged as well."

A voice came from behind them.

"That's not a problem."

Rattrap looked up in surprise and relief to see Dinobot stalking up to them in beast mode.

"Lizard Lips!  You made it!"

"Indeed.  Megatron's responsible for this second disaster, but I think he succeeded in destroying our enemy.  That at least we owe to him."

Rattrap snorted.

"Not all of them."

Dinobot noticed for the first time the transformer on the rat's back.

"What are you doing?!  She is an enemy!"

"WAS an enemy," Rattrap asserted.  "The aliens manipulated da protoforms to their own designs, but Megs's explosion knocked their influence outta her system.  She need's an R chamber."

Dinobot shook his head.

"She's probably lying!  Finding a way to infiltrate our base!"

Rattrap snapped back so viciously and quickly, Dinobot was rather stunned.

"Why don't you watch it!  You weren't there when I found her, so back off!  I'm takin' her ta base."

Dinobot watched as Rattrap spun around on his wheels and revved up to leave.

"You take Emerald.  And be gentle, she's hurt."

After that, he sped off, leaving a trail of dust behind him.

Dinobot shook out of his daze and snorted.

Picking up Emerald, he said: "What's bitten him!  He seemed irrationally defensive over that...thing!"

Emerald coughed, letting Dinobot know she was in no condition to have a discussion.

He sighed, and headed back to the Axalon as fast as his aching legs would let him.

Two Days Later:

A soft warmth blanketed Emerald and she awoke from a deep sleep with no pain and no anxiety.  This was the first time she'd woken up inside a CR chamber.  Two days was a very long time to be in a CR chamber, but she didn't realize that she'd been so damaged she'd nearly died.  However, Rhinox had managed to repair the internals well enough for the CR chamber to do the rest.  The fact that her spark had had a brush with the Matrix was perhaps why she came out feeling so calm and peaceful.  Her eyes opened and she was distantly aware of a beep and the hiss the chamber doors made as they opened.  

She stepped out with a yawn and blinked.

"Emerald..."

There standing before her was Rattrap, his eyes wide, his face worn in concern.

She smiled shyly.

"Hello--"

She was cut off when he moved and embraced her.  A little shock went through her, and then she relaxed, enjoying being close to him.  He leaned back and sat on the control-room table and brought her with him.  He was cradling her gently, silently letting her know how happy he was to see her back on her feet.

"I'm so sorry Emmie..."

She looked up into his eyes and gazed at him softly.

"Sorry?  Why?  It was me who did the stupid thing.  I came out when I shoulda stayed with Uncle Rhinox."

He stared at her sadly, an unreadable emotion stirring deep within his eyes.  She didn't understand why he looked so guilty, but she was so wrapped up in the tenderness of the moment, that she didn't think too much of it.

He smiled and pulled her closer.  She blushed when he gently kissed her on her head and rocked her slightly.

"Aww..." he sighed.

She grinned and closed her eyes and hugged him, feeling immensely safe and happy, and at the same time a little nervous and confused.  This was what she wanted.  She wanted to be closer to him, but now that she was, she found herself wondering what to say and do.  She wanted to say...

He released her from his arms and folded them, looking at her with adoration.

...that she loved him.

"You'd better go find yer Uncle.  He's been so worried 'bout you."

She stared at him dumbly before what he said sunk in, and then she nodded slowly.

"Ok..." she turned and left, her mind a whir of emotion, her body tense and uneasy.

Did he.... Was he being more fatherly?  Did he cradle her like a child, like someone he cared about and felt responsible for?

Or did he love her for who she was?  

She didn't know and she wished she did.  Because at that moment she realized that something had changed inside of her.  And she had finally realized what that change was.

She was in love.

At roughly the same time, another CR chamber door was opened, but this time it was in a lair far away from the Maximal base.

Tarantulas stared at the person emerging from the chamber.

"You owe me your life and your allegiance," he said flatly at the being.

She stretched her forelegs and yawned.  She shook herself, blinked and then transformed from her striped hyena beast mode to robot mode.

Her body was black except for her black and white striped fir that covered her back and lined her sides and arms.  A tail swished from side to side and long, black and white hair flowed from atop her dog-like face.  She had glowing violet optics and her beast head covered her torso.  She grinned, baring her pearl white teeth that glinted in the gloom of Tarantulas's lair.

"So I do.  I asked that you revive me in return for my allegiance.  You have done your part, and I shall do mine," she said.  Her voice was rich, smooth and dark.

Tarantulas nodded eagerly.

"Yes.  And what a fine specimen of the alien's power you are!  A valuable asset to me.  Are you still capable of the firepower you had previously?"

She drew a gun that was strapped to the upper part of her left leg.

"Oh yeah.  I'm still half-alien, even though their control over me is less.  I still retain the power they gave me.  Fully healed now, thanks to you, I am more than able of taking out a considerable number of your enemies."

Tarantulas rubbed his claws together in glee.

"Very good, yes yes! I assume you might be able to enlighten me with some of the aliens'...technology?"

She smiled darkly.

"I know more than you, if that's what you're hinting at.  Allow me to demonstrate my knowledge."

Tarantulas switched on his computer and pulled out a chair for her.

"Demonstrate to your heart's content, my dark liaison," he jeered.

She sat down and eyed the computer hungrily.

"Anything to repay you, my twisted friend."

And so began an alliance unbeknownst to the Maximals and Predacons, and seeds of evil were planted on the earth despite the explosion which took out only four of the six.  One had genuinely allied herself with Tarantulas, the other with the Maximals.

Only the latter she, was not so genuine.