Goddess of Manipulation

This fic revolves around the episode "Other Visits: Part 1". While the happenings of that episode definitely influence the events of this story, I do not stick strictly to what happened, as circumstances in my fanfic are different.

"Alien signature detected. Grid Ziron."

"Slag! Tigatron and Airazor were headed towards that grid!"

"We must contact them at once! If they trigger alien defenses...dah! All comm. channels are blocked," Dinobot snarled.

Rhinox shook his head in dismay.

"Megatron's built another jamming station."

The two Maximals glanced at each other. They both had seen the power of the aliens. They both knew that the alien's attempt to destroy them with the Six had failed. The fact that they had something else hidden on this planet that had just reared its ugly head made them both feel very uneasy.

"Rattrap and I will destroy that station," Dinobot growled. He left looking irritable and upset. Rhinox figured their talking about Dinobot's handing back Megatron the Golden disk hadn't done much to lighten the raptor's mood. He sighed.

If the aliens did attack, at least they had Kaiya to use against them. Wherever she was...

"Hmm, " he muttered and checked the internal scanners to see if she was in the Axalon.

"RATTRAP!"

Rattrap was getting sick of having nasty comm. calls interrupting his moments of pleasure. Kaiya pulled away and rolled her eyes.

"The comm. lines are out except within the base. What a pain."

Rattrap was unaware of the jamming tower but was so trusting of Kaiya he didn't think to question her of this knowledge.

He opened his comm.

"Yeah what, Lizard Butt? I'm tryin' ta enjoy my afternoon with da lady here."

"There's no time for enjoyment in war, rodent. Megatron's built a jamming station and we need desperately to contact Tigatron and Airazor. Rhinox picked up an alien signature and they're heading towards it. We currently cannot warn them."

Before either Kaiya or Rattrap could react, Kaiya's comm. rattled on.

"Kaiya, I need you in the control room," Rhinox said over her comm.

She shook her head, annoyed.

"Fine." She cut the connection and looked at Rattrap. "It doesn't rain, it pours."

"Tell me about it."

Rattrap told Dinobot he was coming and made his way to the door of his quarters.

"We'll continue our conversation, later," he smirked.

"Looking forward to it," she purred as she left the room.

As they entered the corridor, Rattrap asked: "Say, Kaiya? If it is the aliens waitin' fer Stripes and Airazor, is dere anythin' dat you can do about it?"

She stopped dead in her tracks, her back to him so he could not see her icy expression.

Slowly, she turned around, covering her steel-cold face with a smile.

"Tell you what, sweetie. You go and help Dinobot, I'll make my way to Grid Ziron. If there's any...alien trouble, I'll deal with it."

Rhinox saw Kaiya enter the control room and then attempt to leave it very quickly.

"Uh, Kaiya? Just where do you think you're going?" he asked.

She stopped and gave him a slightly baleful look.

"What do you want?"

"I want to have you nearby because we've a crisis on our hands that you should know something about. Your help would be greatly appreciated."

She opened the elevator hatch.

"I suppose it would, but I'll be of better use at the source of the alien transm-err, signature. Let me go; I might be able to help Airazor and Tigatron should they run into alien trouble."

Rhinox looked uncertain so she took the opportunity to step into the elevator.

"Thanks, Rhinox. You won't regret it," she said with a seductive smile and disappeared down the shaft.

"But...."

He stared after her exit for a little moment, before shaking out of his worried and slightly confused daze. He got back to the computers.

"There's no stopping her! She always seems to get her way...I don't know how she does it! And to think I even feel guilty for trying to stop her...what's the matter with me?"

He shook his head, irritated by his sudden lack of authority around her. Now was not the time to mull over it though. It was time to let Optimus and Cheetor know what was happening, so maybe they could get to the pair before anything else did.

Emerald had heard Dinobot speaking to Rattrap just outside the base, through short-wave comm. Everyone seemed to be concerned about Airazor and Tigatron and were doing their best to help them. So concerned, that they'd forgotten about her. Again.

Dinobot had not even noticed her eavesdropping near by, so she took to the air and decided to fly in. She'd be faster than any ground traveler anyway. Maybe she'd even get a chance to show Optimus and Cheetor that she could fight, if need be. Presently, she was speeding towards Grid Ziron. She surveyed the landscape ahead of her. No Predacons in sight yet. In fact, she hadn't ever seen one up close. She'd apparently been captured by Megatron but she was unconscious at the time. While everyone told her that they were the bad guys and to be avoided, she still didn't have a congenial hate towards them. In her short life, she'd gotten along fine with the Predacons her age back on Cybertron. It rather puzzled her that now they should be such despised enemies on this planet. Sure, Megatron's insane ambitions and warmongering were not things to be supported...but....

She snapped out of her thoughts. Predacons were not the problem at the moment! It was those blasted aliens...ooh, how she hated them!!

She decided to channel this loathing into her speed, and continued forward at a faster pace.

With extraordinary speed, Kaiya was keeping up. Her maned wolf beast mode was naturally fast, but her alien influence increased her sprinting capabilities tenfold. She didn't actually notice she was following Emerald until she glanced up, having had a green feather smack into her nose.

"Ugh! What's she doing here? Pathetic little bird. Thinks she's being clever by trying to get to them first! Trying to be a hero," she spat.

Kaiya had planned to get to Tigatron and Airazor before anyone else because she knew what was awaiting them and herself. If the pair of them triggered the transmitter, a powerful beam of energy would shoot out and create a large dome-like weapon, the purpose of which was to destroy anyone in the immediate area.

But it also had a second purpose. Hidden under the folds of its leaves was a small panel. There she would type in a code that would then be transmitted to the Vok. It would let them know that she was still alive and would need recharging. Another beam would be sent down that would charge her power up to such a degree she could go on a killing spree. That was not her way, though. She worked best with people who trusted her and put up little resistance. For all her power, Kaiya disliked fighting unless she really had to. She preferred discreet, clean kills.

"I was born to be female," she thought aloud.

She changed her focus to Emerald.

"The little maggot won't get there first! I won't allow it!"

She leapt into the air and transformed into her robotic mode, landing on her feet whilst whipping out her gun.

"Slag off, Emerald," she hissed, and fired.

It was purely by chance that Emerald looked down a second before Kaiya's missile hit her. She saw her attacker. The next thing she knew was a massive blast, a shock of pain and her flight was ruined. Kaiya had nailed her wing.

She fell like a rock towards the earth, yelling in fright and anger. There was nothing to stop her fall; she knew that. Luckily she wasn't terribly high, so she'd survive the landing, although she was almost certain it'd be very painful and probably send her into stasis lock.

Still, she wasn't going down without a return gesture.

She spread her wings out to slow her fall and gain a kind of balance. She could see Kaiya transforming back into beast mode and running almost directly beneath her. Emerald transformed and took out a gun of Rattraps' that she'd stolen from weapons storage.

"How ironic, that you should suffer a blast from his gun," she said bitterly, feeling a sudden upwelling of emotion catch her off guard. How she missed him...and the days before Kaiya.

She pulled the trigger several seconds before hitting the ground and falling unconscious.

The blast missed. Kaiya was too quick. She hadn't expected it, so she was rather stunned to see an attempt at retaliation. The feeling quickly wore off and she snorted, victorious, and sprinted onwards.

Tigatron looked towards the source of the floating flowers. They were the first sign of plant life in a while. He walked across the arid terrain to reach its edge and peer down into something spectacular. A canyon!

Inside the canyon were plants. Many strange plants. He made his way down.

"This canyon looks fresh!" Airazor exclaimed as she swooped above him.

Tigatron noted an interesting plant that was almost sneezing out little floating flowers. It intrigued them both. Airazor took out her scanner while he transformed to robot mode.

Standing beside her, he said: "I'd forgotten what beauty this planet once offered..."

"An alien signature! Galena, quick!"

Galena stirred from her nap on the cool floor of the spider's lair. As she blinked open her eyes, the first sight she saw was the skeletal frame of the Jaguarundi, forming in the chamber. She smiled at him as she got to her hyena feet. In beast mode, she approached Tarantulas and looked up at his computer screens.

"Yes, I see that."

"Two Maximals are there. I don't want them messing about with whatever's there..." he turned to look at her suspiciously.

"What is there?"

Galena grinned.

"It can only be one thing! A Vok Transmitter. If the Maximals set it off, they'll cause a beam to send out into space. A return beam will turn the area into a massive dome-ship, capable of emitting powerful blasts of energy."

Tarantulas' optics widened and he rubbed his hands in glee.

"Can we control it?"

"Yes, but we'd need the Golden Disk to get in."

"The Maximals have that."

Galena transformed swiftly to robot mode and put a hand gently but with a touch of malice on the spider's shoulder.

"So what if they do? We're not going to have any dealings with them. Besides, trying to use the thing will only cause trouble. The transmitter has another purpose."

Stepping away from her so as to free himself from her oppressive hand, he folded his arms coolly, but his curiosity was obvious.

"What other purpose, then?"

She gazed down at her open palms. Tarantulas noticed two tiny symbols, grey and embedded into her hands, for the first time.

"I am low on power and I'll need it to fully recharge my fellow combatants once they're online. If we reach the transmitter, there'll be a control panel that will enable me to send a signal to the Vok requesting a power beam. Another charge of energy will come down and give me full power. With that and a little time for my siblings to awaken, we'll be completely prepared to take on anything."

Tarantulas nodded and transformed to vehicle mode.

"Then we'd best hurry! We have to stop those Maximals and get there before Megatron or Optimus do."

"Kaiya will be on her way there too. In fact..." she trailed as she checked the scanners once more.

"She's already nearly there. By the time we arrive, Kaiya would have dealt with those Maximals. Trust me."

Tarantulas felt a thrill of excitement go through him. He wanted to get there soon so he didn't miss the show.

"Let's go!"

Blackarachnia stared dully at the Darkside's computers. She hated this job. Not only was it dreary and uninteresting, but it stopped her from working on other things. She had plans and ambitions of her own, but she couldn't very well tell Megatron that when he asked her to do a job for him.

"Monitor duty again! Being loyal to Megatron sure is boring..."

Megatron glared at her from the shadows.

"Ooh! Looks like old gruesome has finally surfaced!" she exclaimed as Tarantulas was picked up by the scanners.

"Where?" Megatron demanded as he landed beside her, startling her.

Inferno joined him.

"The royalty asked you a question! Answer!" he commanded angrily.

"Grid Baxon, and moving fast."

Megatron tried to contact the spider, but he rudely ignored him. Feeling very irritable and insulted, Megatron throttled Inferno for calling him 'my queen' and then firmly told Blackarachnia to stay on Tarantulas.

"That spider's up to something," he thought bitterly. There was something in the air today. Something was going to happen, he was sure of it. He just wasn't certain what yet. Things were beginning to move along, though. It was only a matter of time.

Emerald sat up with a groan of pain. Her head felt like it was going to explode and her entire body ached. She hated crash landings.

She got shakily to her feet, massaging her tortured joints and battered parts.

"That Kaiya! Ooo, I'm gonna show her! Wait 'til I tell uncle Rhinox what she did... She'll be in for it, for sure!"

She stretched her wing gingerly. It hurt, but it was functional. She'd have to fly fast if she were going to catch up with the maned wolf. According to her internal clock, she'd only been unconscious for ten cycles, so she might still make it before Kaiya.

She transformed to beast mode with some difficulty, and then took to the air once more, this time keeping her eyes out for 'friendly fire'.

Emerald was still quite far away when Kaiya arrived. She got to the canyon at the precise moment Tigatron and Airazor were starting to nuzzle up to each other.

"HEY!"

They both turned, startled and surprised, to see Kaiya making her way into the canyon.

"Kaiya!" Airazor called out happily. They both moved towards the maned wolf mere seconds before they would have triggered the alien beam. The vines that were about to ensnare them subsided for the moment.

Tigatron came up alongside Airazor as she approached her friend.

Kaiya transformed into robot mode and smiled warmly at Airazor.

"Isn't this exciting, Kaiya? We found a fresh canyon! There's life in here," Airazor remarked excitedly.

"It is a good sign," Tigatron said gently.

"Oh, yes," Kaiya agreed, her eyes fixed on Tigatron's. He stared at her, smiling politely, but held captive under her gaze. Slowly, she turned to Airazor.

"Have you scanned everything here yet? What's that plant over there? It looks very strange," she said, pointing to a small and harmless shrub a little way away. Kaiya instinctively knew it wouldn't trigger anything.

"Hmm, no I haven't scanned it yet," Airazor said as she turned her back and walked towards it.

"You know there's just tons of stuff in here waiting to be discovered!" Airazor called as she examined the plant. Kaiya nodded and stared at Tigatron again.

He shifted uncomfortably, feeling guilty that she stirred some strange desires within him.

"Kaiya..." he began, but she hushed him and put her hand over his mouth gently.

"Shhh... don't fuss. I have something important to tell you. A message from Optimus...because he can't reach you through comm. link. There's a new jamming station."

He frowned.

"Let me tell you," she said softly, leaning close to him and moving her lips to his ear.

"He said..."

Tigatron jerked, tried to scream (but her hand muffled the noise), struggled a moment and then stiffened.

"Shh shh shh," she whispered, as she held the voltage blade's handle. The blade itself was thrust deeply into his midsection, sending powerful charges though is internal systems. He started to weaken and sink to his knees. She pulled away, leaving the blade in him but keeping her hand over his mouth. He clutched at the thing driven into his gut and his eyes, wide with terror and shock, rose to meet hers. Utter betrayal and sadness sent a pang of regret deep within Kaiya. It was not getting to her, but to her original transformer core. Her Vok influence had made her cruel and callous, but the explosion had killed part of that influence and occasionally, her true transformer self flickered through.

She quelled the emotion quickly and removed her hand as his optics dulled. With one last, rasping breath, he keeled over and fell. Dead.

Airazor was still rambling on in the distance.

"I've scanned it... hey Tigatron, come have a look at this!" she called, glancing briefly over her shoulder. So briefly she didn't even notice his dead form lying sprawled on the earth.

Kaiya walked casually and silently over to the falcon, whose back was turned to her.

Sensing a presence behind her, Airazor gestured at the plant.

"Don't you think it's making a strange noise? Like a low humming. I've never heard a plant make a noise like this."

Kaiya flicked her hands on either side of her and long, electrically charged, thin blades slid out from her fingertips. The movement was so graceful that there was barely a sound.

"Don't scream," Kaiya said coldly.

Cheetor sped hurriedly towards Grid Ziron. Rattrap and Dinobot still hadn't taken out the jamming station and he feared that they were running out of time. He had to prevent them from getting hurt! He'd never forgive himself if he didn't.

Also racing towards the grid was Tarantulas and Galena. Tarantulas had to make sure Galena wasn't spotted by anyone. She was his secret weapon and no one was supposed to know about her. She ran some way behind him, her eyes fixed on the horizon as she scanned for any beams. So far she had seen nothing.

"Surely Kaiya's there by now," she thought.

She was wearing a prototype signature blocker that Tarantulas had been working on. It stopped her from being picked up by any scanners, Maximal or Predacon. That didn't stop her from being physically seen by a passing transformer, so she had to keep her wits about her.

"By now everyone will know about this canyon," Tarantulas grumbled.

"Let's hope we get there in time."

Kaiya walked towards the main plant. She knelt and felt under its big leaves until she found the panel. Folding the leaf back, she started to type away at the controls. She automatically knew all the codes and passwords to get it working. She was quite aware that others were on their way here. She had to work fast.

She swiftly entered the code and then hit the blue button. She backed away as the plant charged up. A sudden burst of energy erupted from its center in the form of a bright and powerful ray, shooting upwards into the sky. It was over quickly, as it was just a message signal. Knowing that the Vok were always quick to respond to such beams, she climbed up the plant and stood in its center.

She waited silently, a little anxiously. Her eyes kept darting across the high edges of the canyon. If any of the Maximals saw what she was doing, her cover would be blown. Not only that, but Tigatron and Airazor were lying dead around her. She'd already worked out a plan to explain their deaths, if all went well.

Looking upwards, she let out a weary, nervous sigh. Something told her this was going to hurt. It didn't matter. Soon she'd be so powerful that nobody could stop her. She would complete her mission and her reward would be freedom. Freedom to rule this earth and everything on it.

She closed her eyes and smiled, moments before the return beam struck.

"Whoa! Did you see that?" Blackarachnia gasped. A huge energy pulse had been detected in Grid Ziron. Megatron pushed her aside and took control of the console.

"An alien signature of immense power. So that's what Tarantulas is after."

"Two of the three Maximals went offline before the pulse. That's strange. The third Maximal has disappeared. Two more are heading for their position, as well as Tarantulas. This is getting chaotic!" Blackarachnia said, frowning in confusion.

She turned towards her leader, who had his back to her.

"So, do we help Tarantulas?"

Before he could answer, Inferno cut him off.

"Royalty! There's been an attack at Jamming Tower Three. Shall I aid Quickstrike and Waspinator?"

"No," Megatron said, to Inferno's surprise.

"With most of the Maximals in the field and considering the circumstances, I'd say it's time we retrieved the golden disk."

Cheetor jerked back in mid-air as he saw a bright line of light in the distance. He stared at it in both horror and awe. Tigatron and Airazor must have triggered the alien defenses! He was too late....

"No!" he cried, shaking himself out of his stupor. He rushed towards the canyon.

* * *

The beam stopped and Kaiya stumbled forward, panting and gasping. She toppled over the top of the plant and crashed to the ground. The shock was enormous. She felt nauseous and her body tingled and twitched. Yet she felt it. Deep inside herself, growing by the second, this incredible flow of strength beginning to boil and coarse through her circuitry. Once her body had gotten over the initial shock, she'd be able to take on anything.

She dragged herself on the ground by her elbows, genuinely incapable of moving properly. She was rolling over onto her side, scorched and burnt and groaning in pain as Emerald appeared in the sky above her.

Emerald gasped in horror. She too had seen the beam and had feared the worst. She flew down towards Airazor and Tigatron, a lump in her throat.

Kaiya heard the gentle thump the young Maximal made as she landed in robot mode. Her eyes opened weakly to see Emerald kneeling over Airazor.

"Oh Primus no..." the little Maximal sobbed as she shook her friend gently.

"No no no..."

She stood up and crossed over to Tigatron, only to make the same, terrible discovery.

As she wept over the tiger, Kaiya rasped: "I was too late, Emmie. The alien device...they triggered it...as I got here."

Emerald stopped suddenly in her crying and turned her head to look over her shoulder at the maned wolf. Her expression was one of pain and bitterness. She got steadily to her feet.

"I tried to stop them, but I couldn't," Kaiya took a moment to cough for dramatic effect. "They took the brunt of the explosion. I...I barely made it myself."

Emerald started striding long, determined steps towards Kaiya, visibly seething with anger.

"LIAR!" She fell to her knees in front of the grounded wolf.

She thrust her hands around her neck.

"You lying monster!! You killed them!! You did this!"

Emerald started shaking Kaiya violently. Kaiya gasped and squirmed under her grip.

"Emerald! Stop!" she choked, but the Maximal wouldn't hear any of it.

"First you steal Rattrap from me, then you flirt with everyone in the base...get them to trust you...and now you've killed my friends!! I'm going to KILL you, Kaiya!!"

Kaiya was in actual fact, at that moment, quite helpless against Emerald's wrath, but fate was on her side. Just then, Cheetor arrived.

"Emerald!! What are you doing?!" he yelled as he landed beside her.

"Cheetor...help!" Kaiya wheezed, giving him a desperate look.

Cheetor grabbed Emerald and struggled to pull her away.

"Let me go!!" Emerald cried out in blind fury.

"Emerald! Stop it!!" Cheetor cried, holding the smaller Maximal down.

In sheer exhaustion, Emerald did stop struggling. She stared hatefully at Kaiya.

"She killed Tigatron and Airazor!! I know she did!"

Kaiya had since sat up and caught her breath. She shook her head feverishly.

"No," she said weakly, "I didn't. It was that beam! They set it off... I was too late."

"Liar!!"

"I only managed to survive it...because of my alien influence. It strengthened me when it was still in me. Normally, I would have died."

Kaiya decided then to clutch at her stomach and wheeze pitifully.

She pulled a face of sadness and hurt. Pointing at Emerald with a trembling hand, she said: "It's her! She arrived after the explosion and saw a perfect opportunity to frame me! She's always hated me. From the day I arrived! All I've ever been is nice to her," Kaiya said miserably.

Cheetor stared at her, watching her every move.

Kaiya nodded adamantly. "Yes, it's because she's jealous. Jealous because she's not getting all the attention anymore."

Her words sank solidly into his mind. Her voice held his complete attention. He felt a strange desire to reach out for Kaiya. At that moment more than ever, he wanted her.

Emerald jerked in his arms, snapping him back to reality. He suddenly felt angry with Emerald.

He let her go coldly and abruptly.

"I can't believe you, Emerald! Our two friends have died and Kaiya nearly died too trying to save them, and all you care about is attention?!" He got to his feet quickly, looking disgusted.

He helped Kaiya up and she leaned on him so her breasts were against his chest. Her arms clasped his body. Somehow, she managed to grope him like that whilst still looking innocent and in distress. Such was her subtle way.

Emerald shook her head slowly, her face contorted in expressions of emotional agony and betrayal.

"Cheetor! You know that's not true! I'd never lie about anything like this... Tigatron and Airazor were my friends!! I...I..."

Cheetor glared at her and held Kaiya protectively against him.

"No, Emerald. You are the liar. Kaiya's right. She's done nothing but be nice to us, and help us when we've needed it."

Emerald lowered her head in defeat, her body wracked with sobs. Cheetor didn't see the way Kaiya was grinning at her.

Galena and Tarantulas were hidden amongst some boulders at the edge of the canyon. Both were watching the sight below them.

"Kaiya looks like she's gotten everything under control," Galena commented.

"Yes, but she's already used the device and brought attention to it! The others will be here soon. We must take out those Maximals and get you charged! That is, if it'll work twice."

"Oh it will. But now is not a good time to access it. Like you said, attention has been drawn to it. If we attack those Maximals, chances are more will be here soon and we'll be overpowered. Even me. I say we withdraw for now and come back at night, when no one is around to see."

Tarantulas grunted in acknowledgement. She was right, it was probably too risky to take on any Maximals now. Besides, now that Kaiya was charged, she'd be able to deal with them in her own time. What he was worried about was scanners. The Maximals and Predacons would surely notice the second beam at night and know someone deliberately set it off.

He voiced this concern to Galena, who replied with: "Then we make a distraction. You're still recognized as Predacon at the Darkside, so I say you just get inside and shut off the power. I'll access the trigger at that moment when their scanners are down."

"What about the Maximals?" Tarantulas asked.

Galena grinned slyly at him.

"Don't worry. Kaiya will be keeping them very busy tonight."

A whoosh made them both look up. Optimus had just arrived.

Optimus was just as deaf to Emerald's reasoning as Cheetor. Upon hearing Kaiya's sad and disappointed story about how she tried to help and how Emerald accused her of murder out of jealousy, he immediately took her side. Emerald was severely reprimanded and sent back to base, where she was to be confined to quarters for two weeks.

Emerald was aghast with Optimus's complete trust in Kaiya and his adamant refusal to believe anything that she had said about her.

Optimus was putting Kaiya onto his airboard when his comm. came to life again.

It was Rattrap reporting that he and Dinobot had finally taken down the jamming tower.

When she heard his voice, Emerald's spirits lifted a little, but her hope that Rattrap might be more sympathetic towards her was dashed when Optimus explained the story (or at least Kaiya's version of it) to him. Rattrap was upset and angry at Emerald's behavior and she knew then and there that all three of them: Cheetor, Optimus and Rattrap, were under Kaiya's spell. There was no getting through to them.

Unable to take any more criticism, she took to the air and started her flight back to base. She had to tell Uncle Rhinox all that had happened. He was her last hope now.

Megatron left the Axalon in shambles. He took the golden disk, trashed the control room and knocked Rhinox out. It was not much help to Emerald's mood when she entered the base seeing this. Rhinox was unconscious so she never had a chance to tell him what happened. She sadly put him in the CR chamber and started cleaning up. When Optimus and Cheetor arrived with Kaiya, they immediately suspected her of trashing the base and hiding the disk in anger. Fortunately, Rhinox only needed a short time in the CR as his separated arm had to be put back on manually. He told them about Megatron and the disk and the blame was off her for the meantime. Emerald sat in a chair across the room and watched as Optimus reattached Rhinox's arm.

"I can't believe I let Megatron sucker me like that!"

"Let it go, big fella."

Optimus had just begun breaking the news of Tigatron and Airazor's death to him, when Rattrap and Dinobot arrived.

Emerald was glad for the distraction, but it quickly turned ill against her.

As soon as Rattrap saw her, he frowned and shook his head.

"Shame on you, Emerald!"

After that, he tended to Kaiya who had just emerged from a short session in a CR chamber herself. She spoke of her events with absolute innocence in her eyes, as he held her hands in his and nodded sympathetically.

Emerald felt as if she were going to implode. All the negative feelings towards her was becoming too much. And to make things worse, Optimus was continuing with the story to Rhinox. Soon even her uncle would have heard it. She feared he would also turn against her. There seemed to ber no limit to Kaiya's ability to corrupt.

Standing in the shadows was Dinobot. As he listened to Optimus's story, his eyes met with Emerald's. To her surprise, he was not glowering at her disapprovingly, but was gazing at her curiously. Something told her that he wasn't buying the story. He nodded softly to her, and she realized then and there she'd had a friend in this all along. Dinobot had never really taken a liking for Kaiya like the others. Maybe, just maybe, he could help her show Kaiya up for the fake she was.

Rhinox suddenly turned his head and looked with confusion at Emerald.

"Emmie, Optimus tells me you were accusing Kaiya of murdering Tigatron and Airazor. Is this true?"

Emerald could tell by the tone of his voice that he had said that with his mind already made up in favour of Kaiya.

"It's true. I said those things. Because they're true," Emerald said, taking a last stand against them all. She could feel the angry eyes burning into her as she said words that seemed blasphemous to them under the spell of Kaiya, goddess of manipulation.

Rhinox shook his head with disappointment.

"Emerald, I know that you've not liked Kaiya much, but to let your envy of her relationship with Rattrap get to this extreme..."

Under the glare of the control room lights, in the center of a group of hostile Maximals, Emerald felt as if a ton of bricks had smashed on top of her. Rhinox had blurted out the secret that she knew only he had known up until now. Her cheeks darkened and she looked flushed and humiliated almost instantaneously.

She caught a brief glance of Rattrap's shocked face as she lowered her head.

"Uncle..." she trailed.

Then it all became too much. She broke into a sprint, tearing through the group and brushing past Dinobot as she fled through the exit and down the corridor to her quarters. She wanted to die there. Crawl under her bed and cease to exist. But she knew she couldn't. She had to stay alive. She had to fight, not only for her sake, but for the sake of everyone.

Emerald knew that it was only a matter of time before Kaiya betrayed the trust of everyone else.

Galena took in a deep breath of the crisp night air. It was cold and clear out tonight. She was lying still, on her back, resting after getting her fill of energy. While the commotion had been going on in the Maximal base, and while the power was out at the Predacon base, she had set off the alien trigger again.

These triggers were only designed to work twice. The first time was meant to be sufficient for all of the Six. The second time was just incase the first beam wasn't enough. Between them, Kaiya and Galena had soaked up all the power the Vok had to offer them. Through her special abilities as a medic and back-up repair scientist, Galena was going to transfer the necessary energy to each of her comrades once they were online.

It occurred to her that Kaiya was going to be free, after destroying the Maximals. At this stage, she wasn't sure if she wanted to get Kaiya to ally with her and Tarantulas, or whether she should summon the others to destroy her, once they were functional again. Kaiya had always been the most likely to stray from her mission, because of her rough beginning. The transformer she possessed had put up quite the fight. Chances were that Kaiya would want to take everything for herself. This could prove to be a problem. Kaiya had taken enough energy for the Six of them. She was a formidable foe.

She closed her eyes and shut these thoughts out of her head. She was tired now and could not think logically. Tomorrow, she would work out what to do with Kaiya. For now, she was simply going to stay here and rest, waiting until the energy she'd absorbed had flowed throughout her body until it reached her fingertips.