A Night on the Town
By: Miss Special
Author's note: This part of Angel's Saga is the closest one to its original version. I only changed a few minor things, in sharp contrast to parts like "The Ugly Truth" which was basically completely rewritten. I thought that might be important, since this was written about a year ago, and so some of it isn't very good.
A note on the Cat language: the translations provided are rough. Cat lacks most articles (the, a, etc.) and is very simplistic. I wrote it this way for ease of reading... and because I'm lazy. And also, "meow" just means someone's saying something. One small meow doesn't translate into a long sentence, but it'd be absurd and annoying to write "Meow, meow, meow."
Around a week after Spirit's reformatting, Optimus and Cheetor were discussing/arguing over something of importance with everybody but Angel and Spirit looking on, ready to share their opinion at any time. Angel and Spirit were off in a corner, with Angel trying to shuffle a deck of cards.
"Meow."
"No, it's not shuffled enough."
"Meow."
"You don't have opposable thumbs, either. You would've had as much trouble as I am. There! Done!" She started dealing. "Okay, the game is five-card stud, with deuces, aces, and one-eyed faces as wilds. Ante up!"
"Meow."
"Oh, yeah. Good point. Guess we'll have to do without anything to bet." They looked at their cards. "How many do you want?" Spirit slapped two cards on to the ground, so Angel dealt her two new ones. Angel discarded one of her own and drew another one, looking at it with a big grin.
"Meow." (Translation: Your poker face is crummy.)
"What do you have?" Angel said, ignoring Spirit's comment.
"Meow." (You go first.)
"Fine." She put her cards down, face up, on the ground. "Four queens. Try to beat that." Technically, Angel had one queen, two twos, an ace, and a ten.
"Meow." (You could've had a royal flush.)
"I know. I like queens better." Spirit laid down her cards.
"Meow." (That's too bad, because I have four real kings. I win.)
"Hmph. Wanna play another game?"
"Meow." (You can play solitaire. I'm going to listen to what they're saying)
"Please?"
"Meow." (Why did we play in the first place?)
"Because I'm bored."
"Meow." (Then play 52-card pickup.)
"Okay!" Angel tossed the deck into the air, and the cards scattered everywhere. "Meow." (I didn't mean that.)
"Now you tell me!"
"Meow." (Do something constructive. Listen to what they're taking about.) Reluctantly, Angel followed Spirit to the group.
"Any suggestions?" Cheetor asked. Angel jumped up and shouted "I have one!"
"You don't count," Cheetor said.
"How do you know it's a bad idea?" Angel snapped.
"Fine, Angel, what do you have to say?" Cheetor sounded annoyed.
"I think we should all go topside!"
"You seem to be forgetting that there are Vehicons up there," he remarked.
"They don't scare me."
"Meow." (Give it up. You know it's a bad idea.)
Angel growled a little, which translated, meant, "But I'm sick of being down here."
Spirit let out a sympathetic meow. After a few better ideas were tossed around, Angel got bored enough to curl up in a corner and go to sleep.
When she woke up, everybody was apparently sleeping. She stretched, yawned, and got up.
"Hey, watch where you're pointing that black hole of yours." Of course, it was Cheetor.
"Are you saying I have a big mouth?" She wheeled around to face Cheetor.
"What was your first clue?" Cheetor sneered.
"Meow." (Can't you two shut up? I'm trying to sleep.)
"It was a waste to go through all that trouble to save a worthless furball," Cheetor said. Spirit looked severely offended and Angel looked madder than she already was. "How so?" she growled.
"She's too small to battle, and you're the only one who can understand her."
"You could if you wanted to, but you're too stupid."
"Wanna bet?"
"Bite me, Spothead."
"Name the time and place."
"Right here, right now," Angel replied, unsheathing her claws, one set at a time. "Transforming would bring Vehicons down here."
"I didn't forget. I meant we fight in beast mode." She thought for a moment. "Oh, sorry, I forgot that you don't have any weaponry in beast mode." She retracted her claws. "I do, too!"
"What, that weak jump you call a pounce?"
"Knock it off, you two. Nobody wants to listen to your bickering all the time," Blackarachnia said.
"Meow." (Actually, it was getting pretty good.)
Angel purred, and if you could understand cat, you'd know she said "No problem. We can just make fun of him in a language he can't understand."
"Meow." (Wow, Angel, you think of the most amazing things to do.)
"Grr." (Well you don't have to be sarcastic about it.)
"Knock that off!" Cheetor said.
"Bite me."
"Meow." (You already suggested that.)
"(This place is soooooooooo boring!)"
"(Then do something about it)"
"(Like what?)"
"(I don't know. You figure it out.)" Spirit curled up and went to sleep.
Spirit woke up to another discussion going on between the Maximals.
"Why did she do that?" said Cheetor.
"I don't think 'why' is important right now. What I want to know is where Angel went," Optimus responded.
"I can find her," a new, but strangely familiar voice said. All eyes turned to a little white cat sitting in a corner of the room.
"Since when could you talk?" Cheetor asked in an annoyed tone.
"Since I got reformatted." She looked rather pleased with herself.
"How come you never told us?" Cheetor's inquisition continued.
"I was waiting for the right time. Besides, I like to see you squirm."
"I never squirmed!"
Spirit started imitating Cheetor: "What's she saying, Angel? What's that mean?"
"Why you little..."
"Cool it, Cheetor," Optimus held him back. "You said you can find her?"
"Sure! Nobody knows Angel better than me, and I have a few ideas of where she might be."
"Wait! Why should we even bother?" Cheetor never gave up.
"Okay, let's say Megatron caught her-"
"So? Serves her right!"
"Alright, Cheetor, I'll approach this from an angle even you can appreciate: If Megatron catches her, he'll have a Spark with nearly unlimited potential at his disposal."
"Humph."
"I'm glad you agree. Now, let's go."
Boy, it was great to be out of that place. Angel was burning off pent up energy by running and jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Cybertron was actually kind of pretty at night. All the city lights were on, the moon was up, and the stars were out. Angel remembered looking at the stars when she was on Earth. She realized that she was about to run off the top of a skyscraper, and skidded to a halt.
Taking a break from running, she sat down and stared up at the stars and wondered which one was Earth's sun. The universe was so big...
"Look what the cat dragged in."
"You idiot! She is a cat!" Great. Jetstorm and Thrust.
"Why do you want to pick on little ol' me?"
"Because you're 'little ol' you'." Both of them inched forward.
"Come another step closer and I'll jump!" Angel knew this wasn't going to work. They shrugged and went another inch forward.
"I warned you!" She jumped off the building. Skeptical, Thrust leaned over to make sure. He was greeted by a set of claws (guess who!) that sent him falling a few (hundred) stories to the street below.
"Sucker!" said Angel, firmly attached to the side of the building. Jetstorm, instead of saying something "witty", immediately cut to the chase. Leaving her perch, Angel employed a series of impressive flying techniques, none of which helped her predicament. Finally, she took to high-speed, low-altitude flying, weaving between buildings. This worked great, until she turned a corner and slammed into the back of an unsuspecting Tankorr.
Lucky Tankorr only got knocked over, but Angel felt an extreme need to take a nap...
"What are you looking for?" Nightscream asked as he and the rest of the Maximal crew looked on.
"Claw marks. She probably climbed up to the top of the building," Spirit answered. "Why wouldn't she just fly up?" Darn that Cheetor.
"Do you have any idea how hard it would be to gain that kind of altitude in twenty feet of space?" Spirit turned back to work.
"Yeah. It's impossible," Nightscream agreed.
"Jackpot!" Spirit exclaimed. "Now we just climb on up." She latched onto the wall with her claws. "Well? Are you coming?" Everyone else followed suit.
Upon reaching the top, Spirit took a look around. "Let's see... she didn't just sit up here... where did she go?" Spirit wondered aloud.
"So you don't know her as well as you thought," Cheetor sneered.
"I know that she went roof-hopping. Nightscream, which way is the wind blowing?"
"To the west. Why?"
"When you're Angel, and you can go jumping in any direction, you go the way the wind's blowing."
"Hold on," Rat Trap sounded a little nervous. "We're gonna jump from rooftop ta rooftop a hundred stories up?!?"
"There's nothing to it!" Spirit was confident.
"Heh. The little half-pint thinks she can jump." Cheetor was always on the offense. Instead of returning fire, Spirit walked back a few feet, then ran and cleared the chasm easily.
"Cheetor, quit trying to make yourself feel big by picking on a little cat," Spirit sniffed. With that, she walked off with a smug little smile.
A few roofs later, they came to a dead end. There were claw marks to show where Angel skidded to a stop, but what they didn't show was where she went after that. Spirit decided to use simple deduction to find where her friend had gone.
Alright, she thought, Angel didn't fly, because that would've given her position away. She didn't stay here for long, because she isn't here now. Did she climb down? Spirit investigated more.
"Quick! Get that binder on before she wakes up!" Angel could hear Thrust cautiously wheel closer. She sensed his hands getting close to muzzle her. Now was the time to strike.
In a split-second, Angel fastened her jaws to Thrust's arm and squeezed. His arm collapsed like a soda can. Shaking his arm couldn't get her to release her grip, but a whack on the head did. The binders tying her up prevented more activity, so she pretended to go unconscious again and listened while Megatron and his minions discussed her fate. Maybe if she concentrated real hard...
~Spirit?~ she thought.
Back on the rooftops, Spirit stopped dead in her tracks. "Did you hear something?" she asked.
"Great. Now we have a lunatic to deal with."
"Cheetor, do you have the ability to SHUT UP?"
"Well, since you put it so nice..."
~Spirit?~
There was that voice again. "So nobody's hearing anything unusual?" Everybody was staring at her. "Okay, besides a talking cat."
"Nope."
~Hello? Testing, testing, 1 2 3...~
~Angel? Is that you?~
~Last time I checked.~
~Where are you?~
~In Megs' Lair. Where're you?~
~Where you were last.~
~Oh. Well, if you could spare a moment, would you mind getting me OUTTA HERE? ~
~Okay.~
"Hey, Cybertron to kittycat, anybody home?" Rattrap waved a hand/paw in front of Spirit's face.
"Meow? Oh, yeah. Um... hey, I know where Angel is."
"How'd you figure that out?" Night Scream asked, skeptical.
"She told me."
"Okay, you lost me."
"She talked to me in my head." Dumb move, dolt. Spirit mentally clawed herself. Stares from everyone.
Optimus saved the day. "Maybe it has something to do with sharing a Spark," he speculated.
"Cool!"
~You are coming, ri-~ Angel got cut off in mid-sentence. "Ow! Okay, okay, I'm awake!" Her head smarted.
"Good. If you cooperate with me I might prolong your life," Megatron said.
"If you want any information from me, you'll have to extract it from my cold, dead body," Angel growled.
~I'm coming, Angel.~
"Listen to me when I'm talking to you!"
"Bite me!" Wrong thing to say.
"Fine. If you insist, then I'll take your Spark now."
"Hey, I said bite me, not kill me!"
"It's not killing you, it's giving you a better, beast mode free existence." He grinned evilly behind his maskie-thing.
"Yup. You're right. Kill me and I'll be less happy." This wasn't working. She had to stall until Spirit got here, but she was running out of material.
The Citadel was unguarded. Spirit and friends slinked in. She told them to wait in the shadows while she came up with a plan.
"This might feel... unpleasant," Megatron said, firing up his Spark extractor.
"Um... I know where the Maximal base is," Angel said. This was her last resort. Megatron stopped his advance.
"Talk, cat."
"That little traitor!" a furious Cheetor hissed outside Megatron's hearing range.
"A little store off the corner of Fifth Street, five blocks down from the mall." Here goes something, Angel thought.
"That's where the Maximal base is?"
"No, I've just been wanting a milkshake lately, and I heard that place makes really good ones."
"Why you-" Megatron got angry enough for his beast mode to take over. "Forget liberating your Spark, I'm going to destroy it!"
"Eew. Somebody forgot to brush his fangs."
Now was Spirit's time to act. She stepped out of the shadows. Megatron turned around to face her.
"Ah, yes." He regained control and put his wire apparatus back on. "You're Angel's little friend, aren't you? What was your name? Snowball?"
"My name is Spirit," the little white cat replied tartly, surprising both Megatron and Angel.
Knowing a good opportunity when she saw one, Angel squirmed her way to the switch that controlled the binders. The switch was too high; she couldn't even reach it with her tail. It figures. A wall panel fell over nearby. What more awful surprises could this day hold?
"Oh, hey, Rattrap!" Angel said cheerfully.
"Quiet! D'ya want you-know-who to notice yer gone before we've even left?"
"That would be bad... OW! Hey what're you doing?" In the middle of Angel's sentence, Rattrap used Angel's head as a step ladder and pulled the switch with gusto. Angel didn't have any time to use her newly returned freedom before she and Rattrap met back with the others.
Spirit finished her inane banter with, "Okay. You win," and quickly caught up with the others in their escape.
Once safe, Cheetor didn't bother to contain his rage: "What do you think you were doing?!? You almost cost us everything we've fought for!"
"Relax! I knew exactly what I was doing the entire time! Did you really think I'd actually sacrifice the fate of the entire planet just to save my skin?!? How stupid do I look?"
"Well, it's not the first time your loyalty's been questionable!"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Don't tell me you've forgotten that time you went AWOL and the entire Destroyer thing!"
"I was biding my time, waiting for the right moment! And I thought we were past that 'entire Destroyer thing'! I had no control over that!"
"Cool it, both of you!" Optimus intervened. "Angel, your choice of actions recently may have not been the best, but your loyalty is not being questioned. Now, let's head home and get some rest. And Angel, never leave again without telling anyone. Got it?" "Yes, Sir!"
"So, Spirit, how long have you been able to talk?" Angel asked once they were home.
"You mean you didn't know?" said Night Scream.
"Hadn't a clue."
"Since I've been reformatted," Spirit answered. "I must admit, it's even weird for me to hear myself talk."
"So can you transform?" Blackarachnia asked.
"I don't think so. I tried after I was reformatted, but that's when I thought I couldn't talk."
"Do you know how?" said Angel.
"I've seen Rattrap try enough times."
"Hey!"
"Go for it. Wouldn't hurt to give it a shot," Angel encouraged.
"Okay, here goes... I am Transformed..." Nothing happened. "Guess not."
"Oh well. I like you as a cat better," Angel said.
"Hey, Anginator, that reminds me," Spirit said. "Thanks for saving my life."
Angel laughed. "No prob, Cyberkitty." After a few moments' silence, she added, "Y'know, I could go for a milkshake right now."
The End.