Plotting the Downfall

By: Sapphire

She knocked on the door.

"Who's there?"

"Emerald.  Can I come in?"

For once Rattrap was alone in his room.  The door slid open and revealed him sitting on his chair, which was wheeled around to face her.  She stepped inside tentatively.

"Hi," she breathed, unsure of how he'd behave around her.  In truth, she was still nervous around him, since she still had feelings for him, despite the way he'd been treating her, what with Kaiya and all.

"Hi," he responded flatly.

Emerald sighed gently and walked over to his bed.  She sat on the edge of it so he was facing her.  The door automatically slid closed, giving her the feeling that there was no turning back now.

"Aj--Rattrap," she began nervously.

"Yeah?"

"I know what I'm going to say next is probably gonna make you angry, but I want you to at least hear me out, ok?"

"Okay," he said slowly.

She took a deep breath.

"I know that...that you and Kaiya like each other..."

The dark femme brushed her hand seductively across Cheetor's chest and winked at him.  Before long, she had him pinned in the corner, kissing his neck and face and then brusquely pulling away, carrying on down the passageway like nothing had happened.  Bowled over by this show of affection, Cheetor would walk around in a dream world all day, a dumb smile and glazed look upon his face.

"Yeah, we do," Rattrap verified.

"And I know that you've been seeing each other... that you're probably meant to be a couple.  Even though Kaiya's the biggest flirt."

Rattrap didn't seem phased by her statement.

"She is flirtatious.  It don't bother me.  Dat's just her way, but everyone knows dat she's mine."

The dark femme leaned over in her chair, so her lips brushed past Optimus's audios.  She whispered sweet nothings to him and his stern, concentrating face changed into one of guilty pleasure, as she stroked his knee and giggled.  "See you later," she said as she got up, hips swinging as she walked.  He watched her every move.  "Looking forward to it."

"Right," Emerald continued.  "Which is exactly my point.  Kaiya behaves in that way only around you guys.  Not around me, because her 'flirtatiousness' is not attractive to me, another femme.  In private, you should know, she's unkind...no, she's downright mean and threatening to me."

Rattrap snorted.

"Well if ya weren't always on her case she'd be nicer ta you!"

The dark femme's eyes scanned Dinobot's body hungrily.  He shifted uncomfortably under her intense gaze.  He caught her eye and watched her lick her lips suggestively.  He refused to fall for her, but she was a very beautiful creature, he couldn't deny...

"I'm 'on her case' for a reason, Rattrap!  How long have you known me?  We've been friends since I was born!  I wouldn't lie to you, and I thought I'd earned your trust.  Kaiya's not what she seems!  She's not herself - the alien influence in her never died.  It was all a big lie so she could worm her way into our works, get in bed with the enemy, literally!!"

"Emerald!"

"Well it's true!  I hate to say it, but she's become a...a... slut!  She controls you to such a degree she has you all eating out of the palm of her hand.  Can't you see it?  It's so obvious!!  She's manipulating you and you're slipping further and further into her trap.  Before you know what hit you, she'll stab you in the dark."

The dark femme came up behind the Maximal scientist and slipped her arms around his neck.  "Hey there," she purred.  Rhinox shifted in his seat.  "Kaiya...I'm working."  She let her fingers draw delicate patterns across his bulky chest.  "All work and no play makes for a dull day...  I can offer some...relief."

Rattrap stood up in indignation and Emerald felt her confidence waver.

"I'm not saying this to hurt you, Rattrap.  I'm looking out for you, as a friend."

He shook his head adamantly.

"No, dat's where you're wrong.  You're not looking out fer me, you're jealous!  Dat's what's obvious.  I've seen how you've changed lately.  Rhinox spilled da beans da other night.  It's not a secret any more.  You've had a little girl crush on me since you got here and Kaiya is a threat ta you.  You're turning shades of green with envy!!"

Emerald fought back the desire to cry and run out of the room.  She had to be firm.  She had to be strong.

"Yes," she tried, her voice breaking slightly from emotion.  "It's true.  I do care about you...differently.  I've grown up a lot in my short time here and my feelings for you have grown too.  But that's not why I am attacking Kaiya.  Rattrap, she's a covert agent of the Vok!  She's going to kill you all when you least expect it!  She killed Tigatron and Airazor already.  She used the alien beam as an excuse, but that beam was meant for her.  It was a message -  a signal of some sort!  Something she couldn't let Tigatron and Airazor tamper with.  So she murdered them."

"That's absurd, Emerald!  Now you've really crossed da line.  Murder?  Tigatron and Airazor?  You have some nerve, you do.  Your attitude has made ya so ugly lately.  I don't even wanna hear any more from you!  As far as I'm concerned, da problem lies wid' you.  You can leave now an' have a good think about what yer doin'.  'Cause everyone's losin' patience wid' fast you Emerald.  As it is, yer not even supposed ta be here in da first place!"

Emerald sprang to her feet, quivering with rage and misery.

"You'll regret this day, Ajax."

His old name stung him a bit and a pang of guilt did travel through him at that moment.  But he never acted upon it, because Emerald left the room as he'd told her to, and the feeling passed.  Kaiya's poison was too strong to resist.

Dinobot growled.  He'd awoken from another of those repetitive, dark dreams of Rattrap and his sister.  Then it changed and he was hunting in the night again.  Hunting a creature that he knew now would turn out to be Neolca.  Yet every time he lacked the mental control over his actions to stop him from repeating the same ghastly act of killing her, even as she turned to reach out to him in agony.  Each night the dream went a bit further.  So far she had collapsed into a heap of ash, but gradually, as the days went by, the dream progressed so that he could make out a body forming in the ash.  Then he'd wake up before he could see what formed.  He had the feeling he was getting very close now.

"There has to be some deep, psychological meaning to this," Dinobot muttered as he left his quarters.  He also thought dreams were a way for the deeper levels of the mind to communicate with his conscience.

Heavy footsteps.  Stomping angrily.  Dinobot's sense of hearing was pretty good and these days he could tell a lot about a person's mood just by their footsteps.  Emerald turned the corner, her head down, her arms planted firmly at her sides.  She was upset, he could tell.

He quietly put an arm out and she walked right into him.  Stumbling back, she looked up at him and shook her head.

"I keep doing that."

"So I've noticed," he replied, eyeing her unhappy face.

"And each time you do," he went on, "You look miserable."

She sighed, her posture slumping into one of defeat.

"I..."

Suddenly, she burst into sobs and crumbled to her knees slowly.  Dinobot knelt immediately and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Emerald, what's the matter?"

She looked up at him, her lip quivering, her body shaking from time to time.

"It's Rattrap...I can't get through to him."

"About what?" he urged her, already suspecting he knew the answer.

She froze, her eyes fixed on his.  They were wary and uncertain.  She took the risk of saying what was on her mind, which she knew already was an unpopular thought with everyone else.

"Kaiya," she whispered somberly, lowering her eyes as if expecting a verbal blow.

Dinobot nodded and helped her to her feet.

"I thought as much.  The rat's an easy one to be ensnared by a hunter of her...sort."

Emerald's face snapped back up and a pleased look came into her eyes.

"You mean you think she's a danger too?"

"I do now. I've been watching her...  She's very smooth.  I know she's not doing it for her own entertainment.  There's something wrong about the whole thing."

Emerald nodded anxiously. 

"And somehow she's gotten everyone to fall for her!  It's like they're under her spell," she said.

"That is certainly evident, yes.  Yet, no one under her spell can see its effects on their fellow Maximals," Dinobot pointed out.

"But you can," Emerald said softly.

His face cracked into a small grin.  "It sometimes pays to be stubborn, headstrong and insensitive," he joked.

She chuckled and looked at her feet, finally experiencing a sense of comfort with Dinobot.  He wasn't that scary, once you got to know him.

He put a clawed hand under her chin and pushed her face up gently.  She looked at him, wide-eyed.

"You're a strong person, Emerald, but that alone won't save you.  You and I need to act soon, before Kaiya...does something terrible."

"She already has," Emerald mumbled bitterly.  "She murdered Tigatron and Airazor, Dinobot I just know she did!"

"Shh," he calmed her down, "You don't have to convince me!  What worries me is what she was doing with that alien beam.  I fear she may have gained something from it, probably power."

"That'd be my first bet," Emerald sighed.  "So what are we going to do?  It's been two weeks since her expedition.  Surely she is going to act soon."

"Play along with her," he replied.  "For now, let her think that she has won, that she is secure.  You and I must watch her movements and keep in contact.  Right now, I must think.  I'll form a plan to expose her, just give me some time."

Emerald let loose a heavy sigh that she seemed to have been suppressing for years.  "Man, you don't know how good it feels to know I have a friend in this."  She quickly looked up, worried that she might have overstepped the line calling him a friend.  Dinobot did not seem offended.

"Allies we shall be, but let our alliance be secret."  He looked about suspiciously.  "She's a sneaky one.  We will have to be sharp, so as not to get caught.  When Kaiya strikes, I'm afraid she will probably strike the least convinced of all first."

"Me," Emerald stated firmly.  

Dinobot nodded softly.  Just then, his comm. rattled to life.  It was Optimus.  "Dinobot, I need you in the command center."

"I'm coming," he answered with his usual gruffness.

He turned away from Emerald, but not without giving her a knowing glance.  She watched him transform to beast mode and stalk down the corridor and into the shadows.  Eventually, she turned away herself with a renewed sense of hope but at the same time a deep fear.  It had only really sunk in now just how much danger she was in.  As much as she hated Kaiya, she knew she had to have some fear and respect for her.  Emerald was unaware, though, that she was in fact in far more danger than she could imagine.

Megatron sat, content, staring at the Golden disks he now had in his possession.  He was a firm believer in relishing one's achievements, and he was bathing in his success.  It was very healthy for an ambitious tyrant to enjoy the benefits he earned.

"I have plans, such plans, yesss," he muttered to himself, his fingers pressed against each other, flexing up and down in thought.

He was too absorbed in his thoughts to hear Blackarachnia enter the room.

"I hate to interrupt..."

He sat up rigidly, angry at being startled.

"But," she continued, "I have something to tell you that I'm not sure you've worked out for yourself, yet."

Megatron swiveled his chair around to face her.  She stood staring a him with a touch of contempt, hands on hips.

"For your sake, I'd better not have done," he growled irritably.

Blackarachnia decided to not play with his mood and got straight to the point.

"Kaiya's a fraud.  She's not on the Maximals' side.  She's on her own side.  She's going to kill them all."

Megatron raised his eye ridge.  "Oh?  Is that so?"

"Yes, I can smell a treacherous femme a mile away," she answered smugly.

"I have no doubt of that," Megatron said sarcastically.  "Well, if that is so, why should it concern me?  She'd be doing me a favour."

"Not intentionally.  We will be her next targets.  Although, it's not Kaiya I'm so worried about."

Megatron sighed and settled to get more comfortable in his chair.  "Go on."

"It's Tarantulas.  He's up to something."

"He is always up to something!" Megatron snorted.

"True, but I think it is actually very life threatening.  He collected all the parts of the five Vok emissaries that we destroyed.  I think he's rebuilding them."

"Impossible.  They were blown to smithereens," Megatron noted loudly, suddenly more interested in what she had to say.

"We thought so, didn't we?  And then Kaiya came into the picture.  Who's to say that another didn't survive?  And that other could be helping Tarantulas do the otherwise impossible rebuilding."

Megatron stared at her thoughtfully.

"We never checked, Megatron" she urged.

He spoke slowly: "What makes you so sure, and why are you telling me?  I am sure you'd be happy to see us all perish."

"Oh, of course, but in this case no.  My reason is simple, I'm afraid.  I saw what power those creatures had.  And I don't know about you, but the fact that even one of them survived such a powerful explosion is alarming.  What makes me so sure?  I know Tarantulas too well to miss the signs that he has discovered something big."

Megatron looked away, deeply disturbed.

"I have been too focused on the disks until now.  I reserved the matter of Kaiya for another time, but as you have offered me some new information I am forced to take heed of your words.  What do you propose we do, then?"

Blackarachnia snorted and folded her arms.

"That's your department.  I'm just delivering the intelligence."

Megatron nodded.  "Very well.  I suppose I owe you my thanks, but instincts tell me otherwise.  If you are planning to somehow stab me in the back with this, Blackarachnia, be warned.  I shall be on the alert for it.  I too have a sense for treachery."

Blackarachnia turned away without a word and swaggered out of the room.  Megatron was fully aware that she would not offer such valuable information out of fear alone.  She was up to something too.  He did not trust arachnids.

He wheeled his chair over to his computer and decided to run through the Golden disk data, but this time he would us it to try and decipher something about the aliens...

"Aaargh!"

Galena lifted her head from the ground.  She had been sleeping in beast mode when she was awoken by Tarantulas's exclamation.

"What is it?" she snapped, annoyed at the rude awakening.

Tarantulas was staring at one of the machines, blocking her view.  They had since built some more, to speed up the process of regenerating the four.

"The Jaguarundi!  He's...blinking."

Galena got up quickly and transformed to robot mode.  She came up beside her spider friend and followed his gaze.

"He's almost ready to come out," she said with a twisted smile.  "We'd best think of a name for him."

Tarantulas shuddered.  "What do you name a creature that looks so horribly evil?  He gives even me the shivers!"

Galena cocked her head in thought.  "Hmm.... Something that is foreboding and menacing."

"So dark..." Tarantulas muttered, his gaze held by the bot in the machine.

"Well," she said, "He is the brawn of the operation.  Naturally inclined to aggression and raw hatred."

Tarantulas glared at her.  "Oh, you're really helping my nervous circuits, aren't you!"

She clapped her hands together.  "Let's call him Black Rage!  Or Blage, for short."

Tarantulas sighed and shrugged.  "Whatever."

There was a thoughtful silence between them as they stared at the near-complete form of the bot inside the tank.

"How much longer, do you reckon?" Tarantulas asked eventually.

"About 20 cycles.  Not long."

"And he will come out a sparkless drone and thus under our complete control?" Tarantulas asked.

"Yes."

He nodded, trying to calm his nerves with her reassurance.  He was not denying his fear.

"I'll get the welcome mat," he breathed and turned away to his computers.  Galena stayed and continued to stare at her forming brother.  Her eyes drifted to the other three machines.  The rest of her sibling were only a few days away, less than a decacycle from completion.  She felt a surge of excitement and impatience run through her.

"Names, names," she wondered aloud.

"I think," she stated loudly to get his attention. "That we should name the puma Sandstone, since she can muster forces within the earth.  The ocelot we name Mirage, as he can create illusions.  The panther we call Venox, as he as the capability to poison all life."

"How creative.  You'll have no problem naming your children," Tarantulas snorted from across the cavern.

She turned and looked at him.  "Can you honestly imagine the havoc I'd wreak with several children sharing my power?"

He chuckled.  "No, and I wasn't being serious."

She smiled and turned back to looking at Blage.  "Who needs children when you have younger siblings listening to you?"

Tarantulas suddenly stopped typing away at his computer and cast a wary glance at her.  "Just what are you planning on doing after we've wiped out the Maximals and Predacons?"

"Build a ship for you to go where you will.  After that, I plan on building up an army to take out the Vok.  I already have enough power to challenge them, but with the left over scrap from your war, I will build more drones and give them more power.  There are yet more alien artifacts on this planet and only I know how to tap into their power."

"Ah, a traitor!  You and I are not so different," Tarantulas cackled and went back to his computer.

"No, we're not," she muttered softly and grinned enigmatically.

Kaiya snarled and scratched at the earth with her paw.  Outside she was in beast mode and on scout patrol.  This was certainly not where she wanted to be, but even though she had Optimus under her spell, he still had enough of his commanding senses to make sure she had a turn doing the boring work.  Still, even though this was not what she'd rather be doing, it did give her some thought time.  She needed to plan things out in her head.

She was not stupid.  She could sense an alliance developing between Dinobot and Emerald.  With her sharp eyes she had watched them exchange glances and knew it was only a matter of time before they found each other in this.  Blasted raptor.  How she hated his type!  Egotistical, one-track minded drones of war!  He'd been programmed not to feel, she was sure.  It was evident, then, that she could wait no longer.  It was time to strike.

Cheetor, Optimus, Rhinox even - they were all lustful of her in some way.  Rattrap was her toy. The Predacons feared her.  She was in control of this game.  Tomorrow, in the early hours of the morning, she would make her rounds, quietly kill them in their beds and move off to the Predacon base.  Oh, she only needed to sweet talk their leader into making a pact with her.  She'd work her way into their ranks and do the same as she did to the Maximals.  Even if she looked completely untrustworthy, Kaiya's power was mind control and tapping into the desires of a Transformer.  She knew the typical desires of males.  She could offer both pleasure and power.  What more could they want?

Still, there was Emerald.  She knew, and she was bent on stopping her.  While physically there was little Emerald could do to prevent Kaiya, she had not underestimated the little femme.  She had more influence over the Maximals still than Kaiya was comfortable with.  Emerald would have to be the first to go.  

But she'd be waiting for her!  It just took one scream from Emerald and they'd all come rushing in to see Kaiya's attempt at murdering her at the dead of night and then her cover, her spell, would be ruined!  And she did not doubt Dinobot would be very near by.

She snarled again in frustration and sat on an outcrop of rock, overlooking the savannah.  The view was breathtaking, but she did not pay any attention to it.

Maybe, it would be best to kill Emerald last?  Emerald could not watch her all the time... She had to make sure the femme was unable to stop her tomorrow morning.  Some cyber venom in her energon cubes?  No, too cliché!  Get her sent out on a perilous mission?  Oh, no, Optimus still wouldn't allow her out of the base on any dangerous errands.  

What would Emerald really want?  What would she drop everything for, let her guard down for?

The thought came almost instantly.

Rattrap.  

She laughed at the irony of it.  She could tap into Emerald's desires and lust as well, just in a different way!  She'd talk to Rattrap - convince him to invite Emerald in to talk to him.  Clear the air between them.  Be nice to her.  Give her what she wants to keep her quiet and satisfied.  Rattrap would think Kaiya was being compassionate and selfless by allowing her boyfriend to make happy the femme with the little girl crush.  He would think that Kaiya cared about Emerald, even to arrange a meeting between them to make things better.  What a marvelous idea, Kaiya!  Emerald would feel better towards both of us.  Yes, and why the early morning?  Because it is quiet then, Rattrap.  No annoying comm. link to interrupt or attacks to draw you away.  She would prefer the one-on-one alone time to be uninterrupted.

Kaiya got up again and turned to make her way back to base.  She'd traveled enough ground to say that there was nothing of interest to worry them.  Dinobot.  She had him under control too.  That night, he would dream of Neolca again.  She'd use her power this time to change the dream so that Neolca will call for him to meet her in the forest.  He will leave the base in pursuit of his long-lost sister.

It was so ironic, so bittersweet that Kaiya was inhabiting the reborn body of Dinobot's sister.  At first she'd been furious of how Neolca, the transformer within her, was tapping into Kaiya's own powers to try and warn Dinobot in his dreams.  Kaiya had had a power struggle with her every night and had always managed to cut the dream short before the ugly truth was revealed.  Tonight would be the biggest struggle ever.  She would change the dream so that he believed he would find his sister in the forest.  He'd be out of the way, then, and the base would be hers.

"And the first thing I will do when I am free of them all," Kaiya said aloud, speaking to Neolca, "will be to find a way to overpower you.  Not with alien influence, but with my own.  I will continue to use your spark to keep me alive, but I will destroy your essence from me, or at least enough so that I have complete control.  You cannot fight me forever, Neolca!"

Kaiya's legs gave way and she fell clumsily to the ground.

"Oh, that was sweet of you!" she growled and got back on her feet, shaking the dust from her coat.

"But it's going to take a lot more than that!"

She tore off into a sprint and raced back to base, eager to set her plan in motion.  The sun was already beginning to set.

Emerald was sitting on the edge of the canyon that overlooked the river running beneath the Axalon.  She was throwing stones into the water, watching them as the plummeted into little far-off splashes.  She was captivated by their downfall.

It was no surprise that she gasped and leapt a little at the sound of Rhinox's voice behind her.

"Emerald?"

She turned and looked at him briefly, before focusing again on the river below.  She swung her feet over the edge and sighed.

"Yes?"

Rhinox lumbered slowly over to her and sat beside her.  It was a long time before he spoke.

"You know how much I care for you.  I never wanted to see you caught up in this war.  I can see what effect it is having on you now."

She didn't answer.

"Emerald, you look so unhappy.  If it is because you are lonely, or feeling neglected, you must understand that while everyone would like to pay attention to you, there are more pressing matters at hand.  You cannot always be in the spotlight."

"Who said I wanted to be?" Emerald asked sullenly.

"Because you've always been a bit of a drama queen, an attention-seeker.  We all care about you, Emerald, but this is not our fault.  And as for Rattrap---"

"I don't want to hear you mention him again!" she snapped back sharply.  "You've done enough damage."

She turned her face away and squeezed her eyes shut.  She felt the sobs impending in her throat.  How she hated to see her uncle like this!  Trying to be the reasonable, kindly person he'd always been, but at the same time being twisted into saying things that he would otherwise never say.  Doing things he would never do!

"I'm sorry I blurted it out like that, but it was getting too much, Emerald!  Your obsession with him was---"

"I am not obsessed!" she cried, casting a hurt and furious look at him.  "Uncle, it is Rattrap who is obsessed, all of you are obsessed!  With Kaiya."

Rhinox threw up his hands in exasperation.  "See?  There you go again about Kaiya!  Jealously makes you very unattractive, Emerald."

Emerald gripped at the ground beneath her and sucked the air through her teeth.

"I am not jealous!  I am hateful, and I have every reason to be!  For the last time, even if it falls on those deaf ears of yours, I am not lying about Kaiya!  She's a witch!  And she's going to betray all of you and it'll be too late for me to say I told you so when she does!"

"Now Emerald," Rhinox began, his tone one of scolding, but she never heard the rest of it.  She pushed herself off the edge, spread out her wings and soared away.  The heat burning in her cheeks and around her neck was becoming unbearable.  It was like talking to a wall!

She felt the sobs rising in her throat again.  Her Uncle Malachite was lost to her!  How she missed their relationship.  She remembered when he trusted her, cared for her genuinely, listened to her.  And she remembered when Rattrap would smile at her and tease and play with her and call her 'Emmie'.  She remembered the way Optimus spoke warmly to her at Tigatron and Airazor's engagement party, and how she could spend hours playing games with and chatting to Cheetor.  They were all lost to her.  Even if they were around her every day, she missed them.

"Primus, Dinobot!  We have to destroy this thing before it destroys everyone!  Including me," she said unhappily, even though no one was around to hear.  She swooped up and away, flying into a nearby forest where she wished to stay until the evening.  She needed to watch the sunset alone and contemplate.  If Dinobot didn't think of a plan, she'd have to.  And fast.

"Interesting," Megatron mused to himself.

"I am curious to know what is so fascinating," Rampage said from across the room.  The crabbot had walked in the gloom of the Darkside and into the control room.  However, this time Megatron had noticed.

"The disk has proven useful in a little matter that is bothering me, yes," Megatron replied absently.

"If you're using the disks, then it can't be a little matter," Rampage stated suspiciously.

Megatron sighed in annoyance.  "It is none of your concern!  Aren't you supposed to be helping Inferno build another jamming station?"

Rampage rolled his eyes.  "I asked Waspinator to do it.  My talents are wasted on construction work."

"I highly doubt that you asked nicely," Megatron said flippantly as he swirled his chair around and stood up in one fluid motion.  "However, it is not such a loss.  I need you to do something that is indeed more important."

"Oh?" Rampage mocked curiosity.

"Yes, I need you to seek out Tarantulas.  The spider is up to something and I want, no, need to know what.  You have patrolled and thus know the terrain well.  I want you to go out and keep a lookout for him, even if it means a few days in the wild."

"That hardly bothers me.  I prefer being out there than in here with you imbeciles," Rampage remarked.

"I'm sure.  Well, as soon as you find him, you let me know.  And don't lose him!"

"Very well, but no promises.  The spider is excellent at covering his tracks, and scuttling into the shadows."

"He is out of sight, but certainly not out of mind," Megatron muttered.

"Now go!"

Rampage turned away and left the base.  He was indifferent towards his task.  He was being truthful when he said he preferred to be away from them all.

Optimus looked toward the elevator shaft when he heard it click into place and the doors open.  Kaiya stepped out.  She seemed to be carrying secrets in the way she moved, her eyes were a dark, enchanting mystery, her body moved in taunting flows to the right and then the left...

He cleared his throat.  "Before you disappear down the corridor," he called.  She stopped and turned to look at him.  Her _expression was one that was politely concealing annoyance.

"I want to hear your report.  Co...come talk to me," he spluttered the last few words clumsily, and cursed himself softly for sounding so foolish.

A wide spreading grin appeared on her face, and she changed direction in an enticing, curious way and moved towards him until she was standing in front of him, her chest an inch away from his.

"Why," she breathed, "There's nothing to tell.  Just rocks and dust and trees and the odd animal call.  Actually, there were lots of animal calls.  It's the mating season."

Optimus felt a little dizzy and stepped away, uncomfortable with himself in such close proximity to this creature of such...appeal.

"So, no unusual...or....Predacon activity?" he asked, his voice breaking.

She rolled her tongue over her lips absently and her gaze never left his.  "No activity out there.  How about in here?"

Optimus could hear the mech fluid rushing through his body.  "No activity....yet...I mean, I hope there's nothing.  I prefer it when it's peaceful," he stumbled.

"Oh, so do I!  I like it when it's quiet, without any interruptions...speaking of which," she said, her mind suddenly drifting.  She turned, her bushy red tail flicking lightly across his midsection as she did.  It was cool, soft, causing a little cold prickly sensation.  He could almost taste her.  His restraint was surprising even to himself.

"I have to go and talk to someone.  It's getting dark.  Why don't you go to bed and rest?" she asked as she paused at the entrance to the corridor.

Optimus stared at her, breathing steadily.

"If you go now, I'll come and tuck you in, in a moment," she said with a wry grin, and then elegantly walked away into the shadows.

The Maximal leader let out a trembling sigh.  Yes, it was probably a good idea to get some rest now.  He was no good to anyone like this.

Rattrap heard the knock on the door.  It was a soft three-knocks, and he knew it was Kaiya,

"Come in."

She opened the door and stepped in lightly, her eyes almost sparkling as they caught the lights in his room.

"Are you busy?"

"I'm never busy when you want my time, babe," he replied with a grin.  He was sitting in his chair, his laptop was on the table before him.  He rolled his chair around and opened his arms, beckoning her to sit in his lap.

She complied.

After they'd kissed a while, and she was sure she had his complete attention, she pressed a finger against his mouth.

"I actually came to talk," she said.

"Aww, do we have to?" he moaned and made to kiss her again.  She pressed him back.

"No!" she giggled.  "Talk.  It's important...to me."

He sighed with a lopsided smile and relaxed back in his chair.

"Okay, what?"

"You know little Emerald has been...out of sorts lately?" she began.

He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah!  I'm aware of it.  It's hard not to be."

"Well, I think it's because she's liked you for so very long, and she feels...discontent that she's not getting the attention she craves from you," she told him, her voice soft and sweet and caring.

"I've always given her my attention.  I talk to her, I play with her."

Kaiya shook her head with a growing smile.  "Nah ah, silly.  Her attraction to you has changed."

"Yeah, so?"

"So," she leered, "So has her cravings.  She craves a different kind of...attention, if you will, from you."

Rattrap was a little slow to catch on but he eventually nodded in understanding.

"Well, she can't have that, because you're my girl," he said with affection and stroked her cheek.

"I know, and that will never change.  But, because I hate to see Emmie so isolated and hurt like she is, I think it'd be a good idea that you talk to her and...give her what she wants.  You know, to make her feel better and clear the air between us all.  I'm sure she'd be less bitter and aggressive towards me afterwards."

Rattrap stared at her, wide-eyed.  "You'd do that for her?  For me?  Because ya know I hate ta see Emerald unhappy too."

"Aw, I know you do baby.  So yes, why not go, tonight, even!  And wake her up in the early morning, when no one is around to bother you both, and take her to your room and have a heart-to-heart talk with her.  By the next day, she'll be her happy self again.  As long as you explain that you're still mine, and I'm still yours, and it won't change things between us.  But leave that for later.  Let the moment be hers.  It's what she wants."

Rattrap nodded thoughtfully.  He glanced up at her.

"You sure that Emerald really wants me, in that way?  I mean, I've never thought of her as bein', you know...  I don't want ta push her into anything she's not comfortable with."

"You don't have to do any pushing," Kaiya soothed.  "Just...make the option available, is all."

He stared at the floor, thinking.  "All right.  I'll do that, later, when it's dark and quiet and, as you say, dere won't be any slaggin' comm. calls an' stuff."

Kaiya smiled warmly and kissed him gently on the lips.

"There's my boy," she whispered, and then got off his lap.

"Hey, where you goin'?" he called as she made her way to the door.

"To make sure everyone gets an early night, of course!" she said with a wink, and left the room.

And before long, she had manipulated everyone into thinking they needed some more sleep.  The only one who did not sleep in the early part of the night was Emerald.  While Dinobot tossed and turned, plagued by a nightmare, Emerald lay awake, staring at the ceiling, her ears on the alert as she listened out for Kaiya, who she feared would stab her in the dark. 

Kaiya would do the next best thing.