Chapter
3
- Humanly Robotic -
That
was it. The huntress had awakened. All of them knew that she would wake up one
time or another, but it would always be too soon. The danger was too high, the
fear too premature. It was too soon. The Maximals felt their microprocessors and
circuits stop running for a cycle.
The
cat growled while moving to her paws. She opened her blue and shiny eyes.
Primus! They seemed to be throwing arrows of fire at the metallic beings staring
in awe. No one spoke, not even Rattrap or Dinobot... no one... almost already
scared to death. At first, she seemed to have a hard time breathing, grousing
and moaning.
She
suddenly took an attack position, her claws almost penetrating the metal ground.
She was ready to pounce on anyone of them. Ready to attack. The word attack was
resounding in echo in their heads. She roared: Attack, attack, ATTACK!
She
seemed to be ready to jump... and then she sat down, inspecting her paws, her
body, what she had become, "What the hell is THIS?!"
Optimus
took a deep breath and approached the feline carefully, "Well, ahem,
welcome to our crew, Fiona..."
"YOUR
crew? What crew?!" Her voice sounded angrier as she spoke, ticked by what
she could not understand.
"Well",
Tigatron told her softly, yet showing he clearly remembered the pod incident
outside, "You... are now a Maximal... A part of us."
"A
MAXIMAL???!!! ME!!??" she began to laugh, and stopped suddenly.
"You're kiddin'... RIGHT??!!"
Rattrap
lost the shy attitude at once, "Just pick a code name and shout 'Maximize',
Fur Face! You'll see!"
(You...You...
I know you; we've been around haven't we? Yes, yes we have... all of you, we've
seen it coming, one day...)
She
took a look at her feline body once more. She turned and faced Rattrap again,
her eyes full of anger and disgust: "It better not work," she menaced
him. "FELINA...
MAXIMIZE!"
Unfortunately
for the young huntress, the snow-white cat turned into a feminine humanoid
robot. She looked almost the same as the picture, except for her flesh, now a
shinny and dark purple; she was wearing metallic, silver armor that looked like
some kind of swim-suit; her face, her eyes were human-like, but instead of that
blue color she had as a human and beast form, they were of a crystallized and
bloody red; her helmet looked a lot like AirRazor’s, and her beast coating was
holding onto her back. She was indeed very attractive with her perfect features,
yet that beauty senses to be more deadly then anything else...
For
a moment, she stood there, staring at nothing, her eyes fixing on some unknown
point. She had transformed, like... like a transformer would! She looked at
Rattrap again. Her look was impenetrable, unreadable. She was gone for a moment,
asking for him to grab her back to reality as she trembled with fear and pain.
He could do nothing, and did not want to at that point. The secret resentment
between the two was far stronger at this point then it ever was.
She
opened her mouth, only a thin opening for unknown words, showing her little
fangs. It was obvious that she was about to say something, but nothing came out.
She looked at her robotic body, slowly shaking her head in disappointment.
"No," she whispered, "This... can't be... I..."
She
raised her head at Rattrap once more. This time, he could clearly read what she
was thinking. She hated him. It was his fault. He could hear her think, It's
all your fault! Why?! Why did you tell me to do that?! To transform? Haven't
y'done enough damage already?! If you hadn't told me to transform, I wouldn't be
in pain! I would have never known! It's your fault! YOUR FAULT!!! FUCKIN'
ROBOT!!!
She
took a look at the other Maximals staring at her. "What have you done to
me?" she whispered like a little…
(5
year old)
…
girl and looked like if she was about to cry. Her reflection in the CR chamber's
door stared at her eerily, and she started to laugh. Everyone seemed surprised
at her reaction, especially Rhinox.
She
turned and looked at the Maximals, still laughing, "Can you believe that?
I'm supposed to be a robot huntress, and haha, I-I'm a robot MYSELF!" She
shouted a nasty laugh, slapping her thigh and suddenly stopped, the smile
leaving place to the worst evils there was, "And y'all going to pay for
that!"
But
Dinobot was ahead of her plans and already held his spinning sword under her
chin, growling, "Make a move, please!" he spat at her.
Felina
shook her head and before he knew it, she was jumping backwards on her hands and
was kicking the robots arm. He did not release his sword, but at least she was
free from his grip. Her left thigh opened and a gun sprung out in the air for
her to catch, and Dinobot now had a magnum to his own chin. "Make a move,
please" she repeated his words harshly.
"Felina!"
she heard a familiar voice scream, "Stop that! NOW!”
Felina
looked at Rhinox, "Who are YOU to tell me what to do?!"
She...
she doesn’t recognize me yet… Rhinox
thought with horror. That's NOT good.
The
nuzzle of the gun left Dinobot and pointed for Rhinox, which the trigger would
have been pulled if a blast had not caused a burning pain to her hand for her to
drop the weapon. There was a loud cling as it touched the floor.
"Ah
don't think so sister", Rattrap spat.
Felina
shook her hand quickly for the pain to leave, and then her eyes narrowed and
were on Rattrap again, "You little bastard!" This time, it was
personal.
She
took a quick look around, realizing with odd delight that she was in a Maximal
ship. Taking a few steps toward Optimus under the guns from his crew, she
pointed out at his chest.
"Is
this... a BIG Maximal ship?"
Optimus
hesitated a moment, a frown appearing on his face, "Why would you want to
know that?"
"I
can read minds, oh great leader. Oh yes, and you're telling me it is, your eyes
tell me it is. I thank you in advance."
Uh-oh!
What does she have in mind now?
Rhinox thought, afraid of what she was about to do.
Felina
turned to Rattrap, glancing an amused look at him and put her hands behind her
back, acting like a little kid. "Y'know", she said in a childish
voice, "I loooove big places because it's SO easy to hide. Man, I've got an
idea... let's play hide and seek!" Then her voice was back to that
mischievous one, "Think you can catch me? I dare ya!" She went back to
beast mode, ran away in one of the corridors and disappeared.
"No
way, Puss in Boots!" he shouted, "I'm unbeatable at 'DAT game! Y'ain't
goin' to escape me for long!"
You
say that every time, Felina
thought as she ran.
Gun
in hand, Rattrap ran after Felina, ignoring Rhinox's warnings, and disappeared
as well.
----------
Rattrap
stopped running, exhausted. "Where the slag IS she?"
At
first, he had thought of this to be something quite entertaining, amusing. He
liked the idea of chasing her despite the fact that she was a skilled assassin.
The huntress had become the hunted. He knew she was there, watching every move
he made, waiting for the right moment to strike. But this was too much. He had
thought he could have surprised her by striking first. So much for that plan...
Now he, the master of spying, of hunting and hiding, was being played by a mere
baby-born-pussy-cat. He had the feeling it was useless to try to find her in
such a situation because he knew her somehow and so did she in her own way and
when she would find him she'd kill him, painfully, make him suffer to death...
He shook his head at the thought, trying to make it vanish.
He
cautiously entered Cheetor's quarters, avoiding everything that was lying on the
floor.
And
they say mah quarters are like sewers. What am I doin' here, anyway!? Nice goin'
RT… ya gettin' beaten by a kid…
A
nasty laugh brought him out of his thoughts. "Y' shouldn't think too much,
kitten food. Y'could overload your circuits and I like 'em fresh!"
He
was getting nervous, looking all around. He could hear her, but not see her and
this was certainly not a good thing.
Oh
man! I can be happy I ain't no human…he
thought, 'Cause right now, I'd be sweating like slag! I can't believe ah
followed her!
"Are
you AFRAID?"
He
felt himself braving up, "I was never afraid of a mere little girl! Why
doncha come down here and show me who's afraid here?"
"Woooo,
sugah, I'm so scared, look at me now!"
Felina
suddenly appeared in beast mode in front of Rattrap. He did not see where she
came from, but deep inside, he didn't want to know. It happened so fast he never
knew who, between him and her, started the fight.
The
next thing he knew, he was lying on the floor, a killer cat in fury over him.
She was trying to bite his neck, and he was barely keeping her sharp teeth and
fangs away from it. He was loosing strength... she was winning...
(again)
Little
by little...
Dis'
just can't be...she...she's gonna win! I haven't even tried to fight her! I…
gotta… do somethin'! Think! THINK!
"Who's
afraid now, fuck face?" she laughed.
"No---not
me", he answered with a weak voice
"Stop
fightin', Fast Food!" she ordered roughly, "And I'll make sure you
ain't gonna suffer!"
"D-Dream
on..."
Felina
was having a hard time hearing what he was saying: his voice was just getting so
low. He wasn't far from panicking, but she couldn't be sure if he was shaking
from all the energy he was wasting by blocking her or if it was because he was
scared to death. She had an idea it might be both.
This
time, he could feel her fangs against his neck. A little more and she would be
able to make the fatal bite.
It's
just too easy, she laughed
to herself.
But
things suddenly changed when Rattrap's right hand finally seized her neck. He
never knew where he had gotten all this strength, but he knew it was his only
chance to survive. He got up as if exhausted and without losing his grip, and
lifted her off the ground, making sure that she couldn't touch it. As he was
squeezing her throat, she shrieked in pain, trying to free herself with
violence, coughing with unexpected fear. The oxygen was almost not going to her
lungs anymore.
"L-let
g-go! Argh! Let go!" she choked.
"Dream
on", he repeated with a coolness he had never heard from himself before,
with an eerie pride in it.
She
tried to bite his forearm but she didn't have enough energy left to do anything
anymore. With all the strength she had left, she made a quick run-up with her
hind legs and scratched Rattrap's chest. He cried out in pain, violently
throwing her across the room. He brought his hands to the scar.
"Man!
Look what ya did!" he screamed. "C'mon! Get up and fight for real,
Alley Cat!"
She
didn't move.
He
risked one step towards her, pointing his gun at her, "Yo... Alley Cat...
what are ya waitin' for? Get up..."
She
still didn't move.
"Alley
Cat? Helloooo? Y'read me? Oh slag... C'mon... get up already..."
She
still didn't move. This time he stepped towards her and kneeled at her side. He
touched her head lightly, trying to wake her up. "Hey, Cat-Babe... ya
alive?"
Again,
silence was torture.
"Oh
slag it! I might... have squeezed a little hard... but 'dat ain't a good reason
to die now! Oh man! Come on! Rhinox is gonna KILL me!"
"I'm...
not... dead," she managed weakly.
He
stumbled away as fast as he could, seeing her get up and transform into her
humanoid form. Instead of attacking him like he thought she would, the female
turned her back to him. She took off her helmet, letting her shiny long blue
hair fall over her shoulders and back. "Y'beat me", she admitted in a
sad voice.
"I
did? ...err... Yeah! I did! Of course..."
"Nobody
has ever... defeated me... I mean no robot”
(liar)
“Y'know
that now don't ya? Maybe that's a sign... a sign meaning that it's time to
change. The thing is, I dunno how... I'm goin' ta need help..." She turned
to face him, and in his amazement from such confessions, he had not realized she
was only inches from him "Could you... help me?"
(trick
it's a)
He
did not dare to answer, embarrassed. He
was staring at her, thinking about how beautiful she was without her helmet...
But what was making her even more beautiful were those charming little cat ears
mixed in with her hair. He also noticed the Maximal sign that was decorating her
forehead...
She
stepped closer to him with her head down. He could still see the sad expression
on her face and now, not only was he embarrassed, but he was also feeling guilty
for attacking her and thinking of her this way.
(trick
it's)
He
was a Maximal wishing that he would not be programmed at the moment... As her
body pressed against his, he realized that she wasn't much taller than he was.
It was a wonder how he couldn't have noticed before... Her lips were now close
to his, her warm breathe brushing his face, "Well... could you?"
"Huh?
Err, yeah, I mean no uh... I mean.... I'll let Optimus decide... I..."
-------
“(Crissh)...
Um... Yo! Fearless leader! Y'read me?"
"Loud
and clear", Optimus answered Rattrap with relief, "Where are you? What
about Felina?"
"I'm
in the kid's quarters and we're both... fine."
"Both
fine? Something's not right... There's something wrong...", Rhinox
whispered, stepping towards the metallic gorilla.
"We're
comin' back and…"(crissshh)...
"Rattrap!
Rattrap!" Optimus yelled. "Come in! Rattrap! Slag! I can't get it
back!" he shouted as he hit the command table.
Cheetor
immediately got back to beast mode and jumped on the command table, "I'm
going after him!"
"No
Cheetor", Optimus ordered nervously. "It's too dangerous! I'm afraid
to know why his comlink shut off, and if the reason is what I think it is, you
don't want to go there either. We should be all going and ready our finest
weapons."
Jumping
off the command table, Cheetor began his way for his quarters, “We have no
time to pick up weapons! It'll be too late!" then he was running down the
same path the rat and the kitten had taken and he disappeared as well.
--------
Rattrap
fell to his knees, holding the sharp knife that was in his chest, right where
his comlink had once been. Speechless from the pain, he looked up at Felina's
evil smirk of triumph.
"You
ARE a major jackass aren't you?" she said, before kicking him hard in the
face, making him fall on his back. She was atop of him instantly, each knee to
his sides, and her face close to his again. She grabbed the handle of the dagger
and began turning it slowly into painful spasms, "Y' REALLY thought I was
commin’ onto you, weren't you?"
His
response was a loud shout of pain as she quickly twisted the dagger. He wasn't
moving much and had lost a lot of energy in the first fight. All he had was his
screaming to save him.
She
laughed, "How naive and stupid can y'be? You actually thought that I would,
all of a sudden, decide to let my life go and get it on with a robot?"
"Wouldn't
be... da first time..." he moaned and attempted an evil grin, "heh,
alley cat? Wouldn't be...."
Felina
growled, her white teeth clenched together, and punched him good in the face,
then twisted the dagger some more. Another scream broke from Rattrap, and she
laughed. No one made fun of Fiona Frangiatti. No one.
End
of Part 3