Triyet and Eightrax

Author Note: Okay, when you see this ~____~ it indicates someone is thinking. And ------------ represents a change in scene. Now, read and enjoy.

Cybertron Past

Run!

The small Predicon turned away from the guardsmen and their guns. Holding tightly to the stolen package against her, terrified she barely dodged the bullets being fired. Turning a corner she lost her footing on the slippery metal flooring, sending her sprawling face first. The concealed bundle flew from her hands, slowing to a stop at the feet of a maximal officer in front of her. Bending over he picked up the package with a smirk of victory. The green bot unwrapped it to reveal a chunk of steel.

"What the?" The large bot stared dumbfounded at the steel.

"Stupid maximal," The female kicked out and knocked his feet out from under him. Jumping up she activated a bomb and threw it behind her. Before leaving she bent down to grab the bundle. The bot grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him.

"Don't do this", He hissed at her.

She smiled, "Hey, you're kinda cute," She leaned forward and kissed him. Taking him off guard long enough to punch him; knocking him unconscious for the time being. Detangling herself from his grip she sighed. ~Why are the cute ones always the stupid ones?~

"There she is!"

She turned, and faced the guards, guns pointed at her.

"Give up, Amaunet, you're surrounded."

Keeping her hands behind her back she slowly reached for the bombs detonation button on her wrist.

"Take it to the Inferno, Maximal scum!"

Amaunet detonated the bomb, diving away from the blast. Not waiting to see if any escaped the rubble, she continued running and didn't stop until she was clear of the building. Still holding the wrapped steel she calmly made her way down the street until she came to an apartment building. Walking around back to a staircase she climbed up three flights. Opening a window she crawled inside and shut it behind her. Making her way through the cluttered room she turned on the lights than sat at a small, round table.

Unwrapping the bundle she looked at the steel, turning it over she located a small piece that jutted out on the side and twisted it. A small compartment door slide open; Amaunet smiled triumphantly at the contents.

Axalon, present time

"Rhinox, can you take a look at this for me?"

Rhinox looked up from the console, where he was trying to upgrade Sentinal.

"What is it Optimus?"

Optimus pointed to the computer screen, "What do you make of this? Sentinal can't verify if it's a pod or not until you finish the upgrade."

Rhinox leaned over his old friends' shoulder.

"If you want, I can go check it out."

Optimus nodded, "Good idea, better to be safe than sorry. Here are the coordinates, good-luck."

Nodding Rhinox transformed and left. __________________________________________________________

Rhinox stopped at the shoreline, transforming to robot mode he watched the horizon.

"Do you see it yet?" Optimus asked over the commlink.

A silver dot quickly shot across the sky, landing far out in the waters. Rhinox sighed heavily, "Yeah I found it, only problem is getting it." He cut the link, not wanting to get distracted.

Looking around he found a rocky outcropping and began to make his way toward the submerged pod. Under water, on the sandy ocean bottom a pod of dolphins swam tentatively toward the pod. A large yellow light surrounded the pod of dolphins than withdrew within again to begin the replication process. From above Rhinox watched helplessly, hoping that the protoform would be all right. The door of the pod opened, instantly creating havoc with the sand. When the water finally cleared, Rhinox could see the pod, devoid of a protoform. Looking around frantically he stood up and searched the brilliant blue waters. Behind him waves crashed, when he turned again he lost his footing on the wet rocks and fell into the water. The pod of dolphins scrambled to get away from the struggling robot, despite his attempts to surface, his large frame and metal body only made him sink faster. One of the smaller dolphins strayed from the pod over to him, the chirping and echoing sounds it was making sounded oddly like laughter.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't rhinos land animals?" The dolphin chirped.

Rhinox stared incredulously at the dolphin as it swam under his arm and pulled him to the surface. Transforming, the wet Maximal waded to shore. He watched as the bottle nosed dolphin swam close to shore.

"Thank you, my name is Rhinox," He tried in what he thought was a reassuring voice.

"Are you a maximal? Because I would really hate to have to fight so soon."

Rhinox smiled, "Yes, and if you come with me our base is only a few miles from here."

Thinking it over she watched him closely, finally deciding it was safe she transformed. The dorsal fin sat predominantly on the top of her head, giving her the look of a Mohawk, around her neck were crystal like gems that looked like a choker. Her side fins folded and became shoulder guards, her tail separated into two legs, the sides of the tail pointing straight out on the backs of her legs, by the ankles. The skin of the dolphin body covered her arms up to the elbows, where it stopped fine toned muscles could be seen. The skin also covered her legs as well, giving the look of low riding pants. The beast head itself flipped inside, disappearing, and her sparkling aquamarine skin contrasted to the dull grey of the dolphin skin. Her barely there armor consisted of overlapping scales on and around the breasts, making a straight line down to the pants, to where it lined the top of them. Her face was slim with high cheekbones and almond black eyes, she was small in height and size, Rhinox gauged that she would be lucky if she reached Rattraps' chin. She walked toward him on high-heeled boots that bent over at the foot in a taloned way, in human terms she would be described as a punk rocker.

She gingerly touched the dorsal fin on her head and looked at her new body, "A little extreme, but workable."

She walked onto the beach to where Rhinox stood waiting. She did a slight bow to the maximal, "Allow me to properly introduce myself, my name is Triyet, I was sent with you on behalf of the Elders and Quiritani to make sure Protoform X had been properly dealt with."

She looked around, taking in her surroundings for the first time, "I trust that you have X secured?"

Rhinox looked at her suspiciously, "I worked on the X project and I've never heard of a branch called the Quiritani."

She brushed the question aside, "We were a private sector that worked behind the scenes with the Elders. Now, please answer my question Rhinox. Is Protoform X secure?"

She did the equivalent of raising an eyebrow to his silence.

"How about you explain yourself and your bumbling mistakes on the way to the base?" She sighed.

After a while of walking, the Axalon came into view over the horizon.

"So what you're saying is that you're at war with a group of rebel Predicons, and Megatron. Only it's not the original Megatron, this ones a wannabe? And he has the Golden Disks? And Protoform X is on their side? And this whole thing could be done and over with if your idiot captain hadn't jettison all of your team mates into orbit?" She rubbed her left temple to try and stop the headache that was forming there.

"Its not as bad as you make it sound. Optimus did what he thought was right."

They had reached the Axalon and boarded the elevator. There to greet them was Dinobot, Rattrap, and Optimus. Optimus shook Triyets' hand and smiled warmly.

"Welcome to the Maximals, my name is Optimus Primal, leader of the Maximals."

"Yeah, Ill bet you are," She mumbled, pulling her hand away. She looked at their computer systems, than back at Optimus.

"How on Cybertron have you lasted this long?" She exclaimed.

"I'm not sure I understand," Optimus said, watching her.

"First you leave port with these guys and Protoform X. Second, at the first sign of danger you eject all of your crew into space. Now all those poor sparks who may be lost forever is because or your screw up! How dare you disgrace the name of Optimus like this!" Breathing deep she finished her tirade on the Maximal commander. "Have there at least been any attempts the try and retrieve Protoform X?"

Recovering from the initial shock, Optimus drew to his full height, towering over the smaller female. He prepared to argue his point but Triyet simply waved him away, unmoved by the fact that he was her ranking officer.

"I don't want to hear it," Triyet moved to go down the hallway, but Dinobot blocked her.

She looked up at him haughtily, "I don't know who the slag you are, but I'm sure you've done something stupid too."

Dinobot growled at her and raised his fist prepared to strike, "How dare you, you ungrateful female!"

Rattrap moved between them, "Eh, lighten up chomper face. Its not her fault there's a bolt stuck in her exhaust port."

Rattrap started to laugh at his own joke; she looked back at Optimus to see if he would discipline the rat. Optimus suppressed a smile and shrugged his shoulders. Turning back with a guttural growl she grabbed two sais that were attached to the ankles of her boots. She threw Rattrap against the wall and pinned him there with the sais. Reaching behind her, she pulled out a dagger from its hilt on her lower back and leveled it with his groin.

"Robot or mouse, Ill still see to it that you'll speak in falsetto for the rest of your life," She grinned mischievously as Rattrap tried to get away. But a flick of her wrist made the blade slowly penetrate the steel; Rattrap squawked in protest.

"Get the point?" She moved closer when she felt large hands wrap around her, and lift her up and away. She squirmed helplessly in Rhinoxs grasp.

"I think that's quite enough from you," Optimus ordered, moving into her line of sight.

She smiled brightly at Optimus, "Spoilsport. Look, I'm not going t hurt the vermin so you can let me go now."

Rhinox sat her down reluctantly. Brushing herself off she reached out and shook Opimus's hand.

"My name is Triyet and Id like to be shown my room please," She took her hand back and waited patiently. Still watching her suspiciously Optimus motioned to Rhinox. The new maximal dolphin fell into step behind the rhinoceros. Rattrap watched nervously as she passed by, but just before she was out of reach Triyet suddenly turned around, hands up and curled into claws, mouth an angry snarl. Before Rattrap had time to react she jumped toward him and hissed. Jumping back he tripped over a chair and fell, eyes never leaving her face, Triyet turned and started laughing. Rattrap shivered at the sound of it, it faded as she turned and went down another hallway.

"Dat dame is nuts!" Rattrap pulled the sais out of the wall and pocketed them

Dinobot turned back to Optimus; "She acted as if she knew you."

"I know, and that's the weird part, because I have no clue as to who she is." He looked down the hallway, "But she seemed to know an awful lot about Protoform X, I know there were a lot of sectors, but she seemed to know more than anyone."

"As well she should," Rhinox said, walking back into the console room slowly,

"Seeing as she was the one who came up with the idea of a super soldier in the first place."

"That's impossible! It was the Elders who came up with the idea, and it was the Elders who supported it." Optimus finished, looking confused at Rhinox.

"No Optimus, that's what everyone had been told. The truth is, she somehow convinced the Elders to approve it and the experimentation."

"Well, how do you know all this? I mean, if only da elders know?" Rattrap questioned.

"The Elders liked the idea of a super soldier for the Maximals in case the Predicon race decided to try a sepretise movement. But they feared that Triyet had ulterior motives for the indestructible spark. So they had a spy infiltrate her lab."

"Did they find anything?" Optmius queried.

Rhinox shook his head, "No, she did a good job of covering her tracks. Although she was caught in Protoform X's lab shortly before he escaped, damage to the surveillance tape allowed her to go free. But the Elders wanted to get rid of her, and so found out that she had embezzled money when she first started and was able to dismiss her from the project because of it."

Optimus moved to the security camera, turning it on he checked to see if Triyet was still in her room. The screen flashed on and followed the small mecha as she paced, occasionally stopping to look out the window. She sighed heavily and sat down, holding onto her head between her legs.

Optimus turned off the screen and turned back to the other three Maximals.

"All right, she's here now. It's not like we can turn her away, "He paused to glance at Dinobot and Rattrap. "But she will be under close surveillance. Rhinox, since you seem to understand her better, maybe you and she could go on recon. Explain to her our situation and try to get as much feed back as possible." He turned to the computer, "I'll call Cheetor and Silverbolt back from Grid Delta, you can finish it up for them." Nodding, Rhinox dropped to beast mode and went back down the hallway.

-------------------------------

Triyet sighed and lifted her head wearily. ~I had been so close.~ she thought dejectedly, ~So close...~

---------------------------- ----------------------------

Triyet checked the time again for the tenth time and growled softly. She was late! And everyone knows how much the Elders hated to wait, (and she usually did make them) although as far as she was concerned they could wait until their skidplates rusted to the chairs they sat on. But they had stressed such urgency for her presence that curiosity had gotten the better of her.

When she finally reached the entrance to the main principal office, she paused to compose herself.

"How do I look?" She asked the on duty guard.

He gave her a smile that sent shivers down her back. She could only imagine what he thought of her looks. Ignoring him she opened the doors and somehow managed to walk in twenty minutes late but still have an air of superiority about her. She greeted the elders with a diplomatic smile. The Elders were not moved by her act.

"Late as always."

"May be, but certainly well worth the wait," She joked, than swallowed her nervous laughter when she saw the growing anger on their faces.

While the Elders muttered about her disobedience, she noticed a large bulky robot standing to attention off to the side.

~Must be another guard.~ she thought to herself.

She paid no attention to him and turned back to the assembly of Maximals.

"We have brought you here to assign you a partner," The lead Elder informed her.

"A partner," She exploded, "Since when do I need a partner? Need I remind you that I have been nothing but loyal to the Maximal cause?"

"And need I remind you that while that may be true we are still your superiors and we expect to be treated as so!" The older Maximal finished, his last words echoing off the wall.

Triyet held her head in mock shame, after a moment she risked speaking.

"And who than, is to be my new colleague?"

The Elder waved his hand at the bot still standing off to the side. The Maximal walked forward, stopping only a meter away from her.

"Triyet this is Eightrax, your new partner. He was transferred to us from sector Aragonite."

Triyet looked him up and down, unimpressed.

"Look pal, I don't doubt your skill. But this is one bot who works alone," She finished, looking pointedly at the Elders.

"Frankly Triyet, that is not your decision. And one more outburst like that and we will have no choice but to suspend you from the project altogether!" One of the Elders to her right told her, his temper barely restrained.

"But...I-he..."She threw up her hands with a frustrated cry and stormed out, not trusting herself to keep her temper under control.

She paused outside the door, wishing that it wasn't automatic so that she could have the pleasure of slamming it.

"Those pompous, egotistical, no good deprived wads of smoldering slag!" She hissed.

The guard laughed, "Aww, what's the matter babe? Did daddy cut your allwoence" He teased.

Triyet whirled around, guns cocked and ready. "One more crack like that and I'll have you fired so fast that it'll make your servos short-circuit!"

She smiled dangerously at his stunned expression; he quickly straightened up and saluted her.

"My apologizes ma'am, have a good day."

Satisfied she turned to leave when the doors opened again. Eightrax spotted her and made his way over.

"Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot. Since we'll be working together why don't we start over?" He held out his hand, Triyet reluctantly shook it.

"Let's just skip the intro, you're Eightrax, I'm Triyet," She pulled her hand back and gave him a bored look, "Are we done? 'Cause I've got an experiment to work on."

"I believe you mean 'we'. Whether you like it or not we're in on this together from now on."

She was about to comment on that, then, remembering the warning from the Elders, she sighed, defeated. "Fine, my...er, our lab is this way." Nodding, he followed her.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------

"Funny how you've been lookin' babe. Livin' on nerves and such sweet pain. And all the loneliness that cuts so fine, Find the face you've seen a thousand times. How will you ever know, the way that circumstances go? It's gonna hit you by surprise, but I know in my past you were there, For everything I've done, you are the one." _________ 5 Days in May, Blue Rodeo

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------
Rhinox paused outside her door, contemplating on if this was a good idea. Deciding it wasn't but that he didn't have a choice he knocked. He heard her approaching footsteps pause on the other side, her muffled voice floated through the steel.

"Who is it?"

"Rhinox, may I come in?"

A pause, than, "Yeah, sure."

The door opened on Triyet as she moved back to let him in. "What can I do for ya?" She asked, tilting her head to the side in a childish manner.

"Optimus wants us on recon. Are you up to it?"

She sighed, exasperated, "Whatever you say, you're the boss."

In the main control room she was introduced to Cheetor and Silverbolt.

"So I hear you really stuck it to ratface," Cheetor joked.

"Yeeeaaah, and that reminds me..hey vermin! I want my sais back."

Rattrap handed them back to her in one hand, while his gun was ready by his side in the other.

"Whatsa matter mouse? Scared of lil' ole me?" She asked in a mock southern accent.

Rattrap was about to start at her when Rhinox interrupted, "Not know, we have work to do." Rhinox announced.

Triyet stepped inside the elevator beside the maximal rhino.

"We have to talk," He told softly, not looking at her.

The aqua bot didn't say anything, instead she simply nodded and followed Rhinox, who had dropped to beast mode. Unconsciously she placed her hand between his ears, as if this was normal to her.

"Why didn't you tell me you had joined the Axalon?"

Rhinox shook his head, "Would it have mattered if I had? Things have changed." His voice was tinged with regret.

She withdrew her hand, "I.I'm not sure."

"If the situation had been different, what would you have done?" He glanced up at her.

She clasped her hands in front of her spark cage, making her look weak and innocent.

"Please don't do this. Please don't make me remember all that...please don't make me remember Eightrax." She whispered, trying to suppress the emotions that were flooding her.