Little White Lie

“Angel! Concentrate! Fire at the target!” Angel despised being in robot form. ZAP! Target destroyed.
“Can I go now?” Training was no fun.
“No. You’re still not concentrating! Now, bring that target to yourself.” Optimus was cool and all, but did he have to have training sessions? CRACK! Angel successfully used her whip to retrieve the target.
“Stasis lock imminent. Return to beast mode,” that annoying computer in her head told her.
“Oh, gee darn. Optimus?” she inquired.
“Fine. Training is over for today.”
“Yes! Beast mode!” Finally! Angel could be a cat again! “Bye! I’m goin’ to my tree! See ya later!” She flew off.
Optimus shook his head. The panther had potential, if only she’d take everything more seriously. Normally Optimus didn’t push training members of his crew, but then again, normally his crew didn’t act like an eight-year-old. Who knew how far Angel’s damaged circuits went? For all he knew, she didn’t know how to operate a computer. Of course, that was absurd. Everyone knew how to operate a computer. He turned and went into the base.

It felt good to have a tail again. Angel almost couldn’t take any more of that icky robot mode. She landed at the foot of a massive tree in the middle of a forest. The tree- HER tree- must’ve been ancient. It had tons of big branches just perfect for lounging on. Angel selected a limb and sat down to think.
Apparently transforming was a big thing with her friends. They made it sound like you couldn’t live without transforming. Especially Dinobot, who Angel was sure didn’t like her. He thought she was childish, which she was, but was that really such a bad thing?  Actually, now that she thought of it, the only one who she really got along with was Cheetor, and that was because everyone treated them both like kids. And being treated like a kid meant you couldn't do this, or that, or the other thing. The only way Angel saw any Beast Wars action was by getting into trouble. She'd go wandering off and "accidentally" run into a Predacon, and from there the results varied between kicking butt or, on a rare occasion, needing to be bailed out, but that only happened when she got outnumbered. Afterwards, she got warned not to do it again and all that stuff. On top of all that, there were words she didn't understand, like the Pit, and Primus, and what the heck was a cycle? She asked Dinobot once, but he got so mad that she decided not to ask anyone else.
A bug made her ear twitch, wrecking her train of thought. She swatted at the bug and tried to pick up where she left off...
"Meow."
What the heck was that?!?
"Meow." A little white cat with bright blue eyes was sitting at the foot of Angel's tree. She quickly climbed down to investigate.
"Here, kitty, kitty?" The cat bravely walked up and sniffed Angel. Well, it didn't look like a Pred. Didn't smell like one, either. Predacons smelled bad, and the cat smelled like a cat. It didn't feel like a Pred, Angel discovered upon petting the kitty. She decided not to taste the cat- that would be just plain weird, and she didn't care for the taste of cat or Predacon (not that she had gone around eating kitties to find out what they tasted like- she's not a monster, for crying out loud!) Angel concluded that the being sitting in front of her was indeed a bona-fide cat.
"Meow," the little cat said again, apparently expecting something.
"Uhhh... Meow to you too?" This seemed to amuse the cat. "Hey, what's a nice kitty like you doing in a place like this? You wanna come home with me?"... and then I can have a pet and prove to Optimus that I'm responsible and all that stuff, Angel mentally added. The cat seemed to accept.

Angel piggybacked her newfound friend/pet to the Axalon, but hesitated to enter. Optimus would never let her keep a pet. She needed a plan. "Ha! I'll just smuggle you in, no problem! Hide under my wing and keep quiet." The cat did as she was told.
Inside the base, Optimus, Rhinox, and Dinobot were discussing some matter that would probably bore Angel, who thought she was cleverly sneaking through the control room.
"Meow." Uh-oh. The Maximals stopped in mid-conversation and stared at the panther. She had to come up with an excuse, and fast. "Umm... I'm practicing meowing. I thought it might be a good distraction during battle." Weak, but it seemed to work. The cat, still hidden, began to squirm. "There's a twitch in my wing." Wow, two excuses in a row! This was an accomplishment.
"Let me know if that twitch gets worse," Rhinox said. "There could be a malfunction." Yeah, just like the rest of me could be one massive malfunction, Angel thought. Oh well. This cat I'm hiding should change things.
"Okey-dokey!" Angel answered happily, and then trotted off to her quarters.
"Something's up," Optimus observed, once Angel was out of hearing range.
"Yup," Rhinox agreed. Dinobot scowled, which he did a lot when the young cat was brought up.

Once Angel was sure she couldn’t be heard or seen, she let the cat out. Kitty followed Angel obediently through the “Gateway to Angel Land”- Angel’s room, or the Disaster Area, whichever you prefer. A ball or two here, plants and trees there (complete with potting soil in various unorganized piles), muddy pawprints, makeshift toys, all a kid panther could want, strewn about the place. It had been at least a week since she last cleaned it, and she was hoping to get away with it for at least another week.
“I told you to be quiet!” she scolded the kitty. That should be enough scolding- no reason to be like Optimus and give a lecture. “Now you need a name. Kitty? No, where’s the originality in that? Whitie? No, that’s stupid. Ghost? Naw, I don’t want you to sound dead. Spirit? That’s another word for a ghost.” The cat meowed, which Angel took as an affirmative. “Alright, Spirit it is!” She sat and stared at Spirit for some time, deciding what to do next.
Suddenly the base shook. Predacon attack! By this time, Angel knew the others would be scrambling to battle stations. She could practically hear Optimus order, "Angel, stay inside." Oh, wait, that was Optimus.
"Yeah, okay, whatever." This was getting routine. Spirit was hiding behind a plant so Optimus wouldn't see her. "Good kitty!" Angel exclaimed as soon as Optimus left. How was she ever going to prove her battle prowess if she had to stay in the base every time a Pred showed its ugly mug? She didn't want to disobey Optimus, but if that's what it took, then...
"All right, I'll do it!" Spirit looked confused. "I'm going to give everyone a surprise and prove I'm not fuzzy black furniture!" That didn't seem to help Spirit with her confusion, but it did make Angel's defiance sound more official. "Spirit, you stay here."

In the control room, Rhinox was attempting to get the weapons back online. He didn't notice a large black cat sneak out.

Well, the hard part was done. No one saw Angel's entrance of the battlefield. Now all she had to do was pick a target. She assessed the situation: There was no way she was going after Megatron, Tarantalus was too creepy, wait- her old pal Inferno was right beside a rock, shooting at Cheetor. Bingo.
Getting behind the rock was fairly easy. She had the element of surprise on her side. Wait for it, wait for it, wait for iiiiitttt.... GO! Angel pounced on her target with power and accuracy, knocked Inferno to the ground, and locked her jaws on his arm.
"Angel?!? What are you doing out here?!?!" Cheetor stopped firing. Of course Angel didn't respond. Instead, she proceeded to tear Inferno's arm off. Her claws were doing a good job of ripping him up. Can't fight very well in beast mode my tail, she thought.
One thing led to another, Angel succeeded in de-arming Inferno, Megatron called a retreat, the attack ended, and Angel didn't have so much as a scratch on her. She was fully prepared to face the repercussions of her actions, or so she thought.
"Angel!!!" Wow, Optimus sounded madder than she thought he would. "I told you to stay inside!"
"I did... for a little while..."
"You could've gotten hurt, or killed!" Coulda, shoulda, woulda, didn't.
"But I didn't, and I helped out, and Megatron ran away!"
"Insolent brat!" Dinobot was mad, too. "You are supposed to obey orders for the duration, not for 'a little while'!"
"Well if you don't want me to disobey orders, why don't you give me something to do instead of telling me to stay put and be bored crazy!" Angel was getting angry.
"Y'know," Rattrap interjected, "The kid has a point." Well, of course she had a point!
"That doesn't justify jumping into the middle of a battle!" Optimus exclaimed.
"Fine! I'll sit in my room for the rest of my life! Then at least I won't be a waste of time! Sorry if I take up space, but I can't help that!" Angel left before anyone could say anything else and went straight to her quarters.

When she entered, everything was covered in white fur and some objects were shattered. Angel immediately set about hiding the evidence, but wasn't very far when there was a knock on her door.
"What?" She sounded nervous.
Cheetor came in. "White fur?" he queried, forgetting what he was going to say.
"Oh, I'm just shedding," Angel said like it was no big thing.
"Shedding white fur?"
"It's from stress. Too much stress can turn your fur white."
"Right." Cheetor sounded skeptical, but he left anyway.
Angel remembered something very important that she was overlooking. Spirit.
"Kitty, kitty? Spirit?" No answer. "Where are you?" She practically turned the room upside down trying to find her friend, but Spirit wasn't in there.
"Okay, Angel, stay calm." Maybe thinking would help. "No one else has found her, because I would've heard about it by now. So that means she's escaped. Where did she go? If I were a cat- oh, wait, I am a cat- okay, then where would I go? Hmm.. I'd probably be hungry. What do little cats eat? Mice.. Mice, rats... Rats! Oh, no! Rattrap!"
Angel ran to the control room, where her loud entrance was greeted by stares. Rattrap wasn’t there.
“Has anyone seen Rattrap?”
Just then, there was a loud yell from another corridor.
“Oh! Never mind!” Angel hurried off, with the others close on her tail.

To Angel’s worst fears, Rattrap was indeed being attacked by a hungry little white cat, who was on Rattrap’s back just out of his reach.
“Get this thing offa me!”
“Spirit! Get over here!”
“MEOW!” Spirit didn’t obey. The other Maximals just stood back and watched. Angel plucked the cat off of Rattrap.
“Bad kitty! Bad!”
“That monster’s your pet?!?”
“I guess she got hungry.”
Rhinox started chuckling.
“What’s so funny?”
“We were wondering what would happen when your secret would be found out.”
“You knew?” Angel’s ego deflated. “What tipped you off?”
“The meowing,” Dinobot growled.
“The fur,” Cheetor said.
“The twitching,” Rhinox said.
“The scratches,” Rattrap said, trying to look at his back.
“The security tapes,” Optimus said. Angel had forgotten about the cameras all over the base.
“Oh, yeah,” Angel laughed nervously. “So, what should I do with her?”
Optimus looked stern. “Put her back where you found her.” Angel turned around to do just that, but Optimus stopped her. “Hold on, I’m not done yet. You were right about not having anything to do. You will be assigned something in the future.” Angel was surprised. She was going to get off with just a scolding? “However,” Optimus continued, “When you get back, the first thing you’re doing is cleaning up your room.”
Darn.


The End, for now.