- Tied Winner of "Best Co-written Fic" 2005
Trust Me Partner
Chapter 1
- The Visitors -
By: Kidcat and MariaSunderland
Disclaimer:
The second story in a series.
Felina (Fiona) was created by MariaSunderland and Gemini was created by myself, Kidcat. We’ve worked and developed these characters a lot over the years so please no stealing and copying ;) Also, Beast Wars and all of its characters belong to Hasbro.
It’s also to be noted that these fanfics take place in the second season of Beats Wars. I wouldn’t be able to tell you exactly after which episode though, since it doesn’t really follow the second season evens per say (for example, Terrosaur and Scorpinok are still alive) The stories don’t follow the Beast Wars season, we just gave our own spin on how things could have been (Not that we didn’t like where the seasons went ;) )
These stories are also rated PG13… Mostly due to language, so you have been warned!
That being said, enjoy ^_^
Noon. The sun flashed through the large Axalon windows, warming the rooms. On the computer screen, pictures and plans were passing in front of Felina's red eyes. She was losing her concentration as time passed by.
From the day she had agreed to join the Maximals, she had had to learn all about the base, its crew, and the planet. It seemed that she had ended up on a primitive version of Earth after all. Oh, the irony of it all. Yet she did not care.... and she was drifting away while images flashed by, falling asleep... again...
Though she was not really hearing what he was saying, Felina looked at Rhinox with a thin, almost invisible smile as he explained the Axalon to her. Since she had joined the Beast Wars, he was almost the only one she could somewhat trust. Like he had promised, he was taking good care of her. He was still her "Uncle Big R", protecting her, being there to listen to her when she needed it, despite the fact she rarely let out anything when it came to her real feelings on this new adventure. She was thankful to the Maximals in some ways, but would never admit it.
As she looked back over to the screen, pictures of the Axalon's crew appeared. The first picture was of Optimus Primal. He had tried to drag her into a conversation once or twice, but she didn't care much. No, she did not care at all. They both knew Felina had had no choice to join up with the good guys... There had been a trap set up on that day when she joined Optimus' crew. Not an evil trap, but it had been obviously there to everyone who dared look closely at the deal that had been made.
Then it was Tigatron and AirRazor's turn to appear. Felina didn't know them much; she had only seen them once when she had gotten on this planet; although, after Rhinox's description of Tigatron, she had one picture in mind; a Let-Me-Hug-You-My-Tree-Ecologist wannabe. As for AirRazor; an I-Love-You-You- Love- Me-We're-Friends-Forever type of robot. They might as well have been Care Bears or Little Ponies and it would have been all the same. That was enough for her to know.
She gave a quick chuckle when Dinobot's picture came on screen. By being the tallest of the Maximals, he should have been the one intimidating her, but it seemed to be the contrary. He was the one avoiding her. She could understand that... after what had happened in the past. A past none of them were ready to reveal yet. She smiled, loving the thought of it for now. Maybe later, she'd feel some shame, but again, she'd keep it to herself.
She woke up from her trance when she heard Cheetor's voice through the com-link in front of her. Rhinox did not hesitate and opened the communication, cutting the class quickly.
"Rhinox here. What's up kiddy cat?"
"Uh... well... I found Rattrap..." He said and burst into a nearly controlled chuckle, but couldn't help a laugh next.
Felina smirked, understanding the reasons behind Cheetor's sudden communication. Rhinox gave her an intrigued look, as though reading her mind. She then cleared her throat to reveal nothing suspicious yet proudly showing she knew something he did not yet.
"I found Rattrap...in the..." he was having a hard time talking, laughter taking over him, "...in the...in the microwave!"
"In the WHAT?! Ugh...bring him to the CR chamber...again...."
SilverBolt's voice came in, showing the discovery had not been made by Cheetor alone, "Right away sir", he answered and closed the comlink.
Rhinox turned back to look at the cat bot who, all of a sudden, seemed to be interested in the Axalon plans, "Say! What's that place over here? You know, right here!" she pointed at the screen.
"Felina?"
“Yeeesss?"
A mischievous smile appeared upon his lips," Just between you and me...how did you manage to get him in there?"
"Well, it sure does helps when he's in pieces, y'know", she said in a little innocent voice.
He slapped her shoulder lightly, laughing. It was not an easy thing for the huntress not to hunt. It was a risk to even let her live. Again, Optimus was very aware of that danger. Robots surrounded her. She would not kill anyone yet, but hey! Why not have a little bit of fun while waiting? Many Maximals did not like the idea or simply could not trust her. They believed that keeping all this rage inside her without blowing was pathetically impossible. It was something to consider, but Primal couldn't just destroy her without giving her a chance. He tried his best, even with her always letting out her anger on Rattrap...
Besides, that was just a detail...
Rhinox was about to say something, but saw his little girl looking intensely at the screen, frowning and shaking slightly.
‘What the hell…?’ she wondered and stared. There was something moving oddly upon the screen, someone struggling, its face contorted and wanting help. She could barely see anything but the mere reflection and the sound of grinding metal!
Quickly she looked over her shoulder to find nothing. There was no one to create a reflection. Again she looked at the screen and there was... nothing unusual. She bit her lower lip, noticing that the unnerving sound of grinding metal was no more.
"Felina?" Rhinox asked with concern, "is there something...?"
"Um… I... did you..." She stared at him and knew there had been nothing there. No metallic sound, no one screaming, no monster... "It's nothing. I... I'm just tired. Really..."
Rhinox frowned and nodded. "The course is over. You can go."
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[Anomaly detected], the computer shouted, [Impact in 10...9...8]
"Well, well, well, it looks like our beloved friends are back."
[5...4...3... ...1..., impact, sector 5.4.9.2]
At these words, Tarantulas came out of his lair in vehicle mode, heading straight for the coordinates the computer had given him. Another alien anomaly had been detected, and he absolutely wanted to get there before Megatron. Fortunately for the transmetal spider, the signal might have been too far for the Maximals to get, if not because of the jamming stations.
As he arrived at the impact zone he transformed back to robot mode right. He was expecting some kind of huge alien formation, or maybe even the aliens themselves, but he saw nothing but dirt and burnt plants and animals. He shook his head in disappointment; Megatron might have gotten there before him after all.
"Oh SLAG IT!" he shouted and kicked an odd shaped rock.
But as it landed on the dirty ground a bit further it seemed to glow. Intrigued, he took it in his hand. Frowning, he realized what he had believed to be a rock turned out to be some kind of cube. Freeing the thing from all the dirt with the back of his hand, its transparent faces appeared more clearly. It looked a lot like those cubes the earthling kids played with. There seemed to be a strange light inside it, like a locked up ghost that took Tarantulas' attention.
"Hmmm… interesting...Better get it back to my lair to scan it before that slagging dinosaur and his loyal crew arrive."
He laughed nastily and was gone.
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Felina was now in the training room, practicing some moves. After all, becoming a kitten in the Beast Wars didn't mean quit training. She was quite a good martial artist, but was a lot more into brawl then grace when it came to the art and, after all these years, she never lost the rough touch. Let's just say that Rattrap had the experience of being used as her training pole. Well, cats and rats don't mix...
She took a deep breath and punched the bag over and over again, trying to erase the strange visions from earlier.
‘I'm
not crazy’ she thought, ‘but they
wouldn’t believe me...’
*“...child...”*
The voice had been quite low, distant... yet seemed to come from the inside. It had surprised her, such an odd and deformed voice; sounding more like death than anything else...She stopped everything, and heard a whistling sound that passed by her head. A sharp dagger was now stuck in the wall in front of her. She turned and faced Rattrap, who now held a sword in his hands. He had barely any idea on how to use these things, but hey! It was a weapon!
"Hey! You think that's funny to try'n scare me like that?!" she shouted.
"Oh so someone's afraid of little butter knives?" he mocked her.
"Not that!! Stop tryin’ to play around with me like that! I dunno how you manage em things but you're gonna regret it!"
Rattrap stared at her in confusion. Little did he know she believed him to be part of the many voices she had heard, the things appearing in front of her, the hallucinations of monsters moving about.
He only had the time duck as Felina brought her sword down to cut his head off. He evaded the move and went in with a punch heading for her chin. She flipped over and kicked him in the face. But instead of falling down, like he did the last time, he only backed away a little and his sword slashed a cut out of Felina's stomach accidentally. A red line appeared, and a small filament of blood poured out.
Rattrap smiled, "Gotcha! Now, all I gotta do is make mah own signature!"
"Oh ho ho! I wouldn't bet on THAT one, sugarpie!" And she brought up her sword, getting ready to attack...
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"Hey big guy! Where's Fena?"
Rhinox jumped at these words and almost fell off of his chair. Good reason to fall indeed. Cheetor, robot mode, had entered the command center like an arrow, as always, quickly spitting out his question.
"Fena?"
"Yeah! Felina, where is she?"
"Oh... training room...."
"Again? Jumpin' Gyros, she's always in the training room."
"Fighting and training is a big part of her life, you know. Maybe if you hurry, she might show you some tricks." His smile faded, breaking out the usual serious expression, "By the way, have you seen Rattrap?"
"First, Ultra Gear, and second, no." He blinked one eye and smiled.
Cheetor went back to beast mode and headed for the training room at full speed. Maybe it was because they were both cats, but he and Felina seemed to get along better. Though Felina would not show much appreciation when he would follow her around, the fact that he was interested in her character, her past and even her stories seemed to open her mind up a little more with each passing day. Cheetor was not afraid of Felina, even came to enjoy thinking of her as the big sister he never had.
Finally, Rhinox raised an eyebrow, sighed, and continued working on the type of researches only he could understand.
“(Crrish) Rhinox, this is Cheetor, do you read me?" the com-link opened. The young robot sounded agitated.
Remembering the previous events between Felina and Rattrap, Rhinox found his circuits cringe at Cheetor's sudden call, "Yes, what is it?"
“(Crrish) Um, do you remember when you asked me if I had seen Rattrap?"
At this moment, Optimus entered the command center, stepping by the big robot and listening to the conversation.
"Yes", Rhinox continued, looking at Optimus, "Why?"
“(Crrrish) He's in the training room with Felina and things are not pretty! You should come here right now before they really hurt themselves!!!"
"Aw for Primus' SAKE", Optimus let out and quickly moved for the room their comrades were with Rhinox close behind him.
Would this ever stop? From the first day Felina had been there, the poor rat was being found in quite a bad shape practically everywhere.
As the robots arrived to the fighting point, they found Cheetor standing in the doorway, staring and not daring to enter the room. Felina stood on one side of it, breathing heavily. Her hair was pulled over her face, showing merely one angry eye, sending out a glare that screamed bloody murder at Rattrap. Her slashed stomach was now an opened wound leaving blood trails move down to her legs and feet, creating vein like stains. There was blood flowing down her face as well....
Rattrap stood in the other corner; one arm covered in oil still holding unto the sword while his other hand was trying to cover up the wound, his breathing just as heavy from exhaustion.
"I told'ya to stay out of it, Kiddo!" Rattrap breathed, "'Dis is between me and her!"
"That's ENOUGH!!!" Rhinox shouted and interrupted the scene. Felina straightened up, blood moving from her forehead, down her left eyelid, her cheek, lips, and then her neck to disappear between her breasts. The sigh she let out was out of tiredness and pain, but there was some sort of relief to it as well. However, her clouded eyes worried Rhinox a lot more then her wounds which really weren't that serious. Rattrap's wounds were not as bad either, so they might have not been fighting for long or playing cat and mouse with each other all along and not really wanted to hurt each other too badly for the time being.
"Hey... just... fun and games, Uncle Big R... Fun and games..." Felina mumbled with a weak smile, "Y'know... gettin' to know.. the crew better..."
"S'yeah right!" Rattrap shouted, "She attacked me just like dat and--"
"Rhinox said it was enough!" Optimus cut Rattrap, "You two are in BIG trouble, am I well understood here?!"
"Yes daddy", Felina mocked.
"Just who do you think you are, young lady?"
Felina stumbled closer to him
*“child”*
She grinned, the exhaustion taking her over like some hidden force, leaving bloody steps as she walked. "Well...”
*“child”*
“f-from w-what I...”
*“child”*
“c-can tell... I.... st...stu...stop it...”, she dropped her weapon and moved her hands to her head, "Oh... g-guh-od... s-stop it... please...."
*“child”*
“STOP IT!!!" she cried and collapsed to the floor.
"What in the name of Primus?" Optimus gasped and ran to her. She seemed peaceful in her forced sleep for now, but something was definitely wrong... Rhinox frowned and looked at Rattrap. A thousand questions needing answers.
"It wasn't me! Ah swear! C'mon! She didn't lose enough blood to collapse! Y'know bettah! "
Rhinox nodded in agreement. "Let's bring her to the CR Chamber. Rattrap? "
"Huh! I'll be fine. Nice little oil bath will do the trick."
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Felina was quickly put in the CR Chamber, and as the panel snapped shut and the repairing began, Optimus gave Rhinox a concerned look, "You're the scientist... What do you think happened in there?"
"This is no loss of blood... Rattrap had nothing to do with this. And if she had had problems with her new body, it would have shown right away. I wondered if there wasn't a problem with the nano cells which could be affecting some functions within her core consciousness, but somehow that doesn't seem right. I really have no idea, Optimus... I’ll run a scan while she's in the CR Chamber again, just in case."
Optimus let out a long sigh. "Let's hope she recovers. In the meantime, we need to talk, seriously."
Rhinox faced Optimus as if he meant to say something but thought it over and looked down. He knew what the gorilla was thinking, and he didn't really like the idea. A cop and a criminal could never work out well... especially in THEIR situation.
"Optimus, do we really have to do this? The situation could only get worst."
"It could... but it's our last chance", Optimus answered, "The day they get themselves into stasis lock will be too late. If it can make you feel better, I'll be the one to tell them."
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By nightfall, Felina was out of the CR Chamber, stumbling at first, but her energy soon returned. For the exception of Tigatron and AirRazor, every Maximal was there; even Rattrap. Only he seemed as confused as the huntress to be in the same room as their comrades like it was a holiday reunion.
"M'kay... what is it? What'd I miss?" she asked, slightly worried herself.
"Yah, s'up with dis meetin'?" Rattrap followed her comments.
Those looks his friends were giving him could not mean anything good. Only Rhinox looked more upset than serious. Optimus broke the silence as he walked in front of the kitten and the rat. Same severe look. Same scary look. Same fucking no good look!
"Felina... you have been here for two weeks, and Rattrap has been in the CR chamber ten times in that short time."
She raised an eyebrow, "So? What's y'point?"
"My point is that you two keep fighting and fighting, and it's becoming intolerable. We have enough with the Preds without fighting among ourselves!"
"Y'done yet? Yes. Ah think y'are. Now that y'done, I'm off", and that being said, she turned for her quarters.
"I'm not finished!"
"Uh huh."
Dinobot suddenly stepped in front of her to block her way. "Out of my way, scale belly", she hissed, pointing her sword at his nose. At first, he only giggled... and kicked her arm, making the sword slip out of her hand, and he pushed her back into the Maximal circle.
"Your rudeness is getting hard to endure, too", Optimus continued, "You said you would change, but you've made little to know effort to do so."
"What??!! Hey!!! I haven't attacked any of you since I've been here! I've kept my promise!"
"What about Rattrap?"
"Who gives a shit? Doesn't count."
Optimus shook his head in disappointment. It was useless: stubborn as a mule.
"This stupid conversation is getting us no where", Dinobot snarled, "Just get to the point!"
The Maximal leader sighed, "Fine. Felina, Rattrap-"
"Whoa, whoa whoa!" Rattrap interrupted, "What in da cheese cake have I done?"
"I SAID: Felina, Rattrap, it was a hard decision, but since it seems that you can't stop fighting...we came to this one conclusion...from this moment on, you two will be equal partners."
A deadly silence hung in the air next. The Maximal crew had their eyes on both Rattrap and Felina as if they were children who had said a bad word for the first time. The atmosphere was so thick one would have been able to cut it with a blade.
"Woohoo! Now 'DAT's a good one!" Rattrap finally broke the silence.
"This is NO joke, Rattrap." And oh were his eyes as hard as ever. The smile vanished, the feeling of laughter also. This just couldn't be true! He didn't deserve this treatment! No way! No SLAGGIN' WAY!
"Oh, for bootin' up cold! Y'serious?!"
Optimus nodded, "More than ever."
"But what do you mean by 'equal' partners?" Felina asked, worried of what might be the answer.
"Wherever Rattrap goes, you go. Wherever you go, Rattrap goes, protecting each other." That was what she had been scared of, "And don't give me that I-Knew-It-You-Slaggin'-Robot-Traitor look, Felina! It doesn't affect me one bit", Optimus told her severely as he walked out of the command center.
The other Maximals followed him, or went back to their tasks, leaving Felina and Rattrap alone. Both of them fell on a chair, looking at each other with looks that could have frozen their circuits.
"Nice goin' Flat Nose...look what y'got us into!"
"Me!? What about ya, kitten litter face?!
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"Those flowers are beautiful", Tigatron said softly as he walked in his nonetheless gracious tiger mode through a field of flowers.
AirRazor flew higher; amazed by the beautiful view this natural garden was giving her: Roses, violets, and marguerites, shinning of life, dancing in the wind.
But she was suddenly taken by a strange feeling: Joy, happiness, all at once. Like hunting for a mouse, falling like an arrow, head first, she dove toward the flowers at full speed! Laughing, she passed by Tigatron and flowers flew away at her passage. Finally she calmed down, landed, and hid in the multicolored flowers.
Tigatron transformed, showing a large smile on his face. She was playing hide and seek. Not the Felina way of course. Unlike Rattrap, he didn't have to worry about a maniac cat who would cut him open and take out any living circuits from his body; in fact, he didn't have to worry at all. He moved the flowers apart carefully, searching for the falcon. He could hear her beautiful laugh, and as he found her, she jumped away, still laughing.
"Boo!"
"Hey! Not fair! You heard me laugh!", she giggled like a flirting human teenager.
"Who could resist such a beautiful laugh?" At these words, he delicately picked up a rose and gave it to her as she transformed, and accepted this beautiful gift with a magnificent smile. Things couldn't be better. She felt herself blushing badly and looked away, avoiding his look.
But suddenly, she noticed something weird not far from them. Something she had not noticed before.
"What is that?" she asked, "Looks like some kind of...fountain..."
"I don't know. Let's give it a closer look, shall we? After you, my dear."
She nodded, returning again that sweet smile of hers, and they were gone. They both walked towards this strange looking structure carefully. There was a golden plate incrusted in the solid ground. It was quite beautiful, if you didn't notice that it looked a lot more like a grave stone with small signs carved into it.
What if it IS a grave? AirRazor thought and shivered, "Any idea what these mean", she asked.
"I can't tell... at least there's Cybertronian, as for the rest...I'm not sure. I can recognize 3 kinds of human writing': French and English, that's for sure. But the third one, it's hard to tell... maybe Chinese... as for the kind in the bottom, I've never seen anything like it before.”
"Any chance of decrypting it?"
"Me? No. But I'm sure that Rhinox... or Felina could. She comes from Earth after all, and she can easily speak French and English."
He turned to face the strange looking fountain. Water was not leaking from it, but a crystalline blue liquid... It was still beautiful. Beautiful enough to make Tigatron slip into dreamland for a moment in fact, "Ever hear of this human legend where there's a fountain that can give you eternal youth?" he asked, touching the crystalline liquid.
"The Fountain of Youth... You don't believe in that fairy tale now, do you? Humans tend to create so many stories to remain healthy and young" she asked amusingly.
"A wise tiger always has the right to dream and believe..."
She gave him an amused glancd, "well we better scan it -"
(yes but his hand is in the OH MY PRIMUS THE LIQUID HIS HAND IS IN THE)
but then, her expression passed from happiness to complete horror, "Tuh-Tigatron! Y-Your HAND!!!
Hard and sharp crystals now surrounded Tigatron’s hand, and it was going up his arm without slowing down! Before the female Maximal knew it, he was trapped in the crystal cocoon.
The jet of blue liquid grew higher and higher, splattering its poison everywhere. AirRazor flew away in panic without being sure if she had been hit or not.
"AirRazor to base! Come in! AirRazor to base!"
No answer. The energon fields were too strong in this sector, or maybe it was Megatron's jamming stations, or maybe the aliens, or maybe... or maybe... There was only one solution left; fly back to base. But from where she was...it was a long way to go. Such a long, long way...
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"I don't believe this! This stupid, slaggin' cube is nothing but crap!"
Tarantulas was back in his lair. The cube had stopped glowing and it looked like a dark and scrapped piece of dirty crystal. The scanners didn't detect anything unusual, not even alien presence, like if the thing had lost its entity.
"Three days of research for absolutely nothing!", he roared and threw the cube which crashed on the computer. No reaction.
"Better go find my dinner then..."
That's when the computer seemed to go crazy, opening and closing time and time again, showing old information, mixed languages, old and new pictures, maps, and even photos... and then, a fountain. A fountain surrounded by flowers. From this fountain was emerging a bluish liquid. And beside it was another cube: a bigger one. But not exactly like the one the spider had in possession. There was something in it but it was too blurred to distinguish anything from it. Then there was a struggling figure, screaming and begging but the white noise was so bad it was impossible to hear what the person - if it was a person - was saying, barely showing upon the screens. The cube on the computer reacted almost immediately, glowing enough to make the spider bot go blind. Even the scanners now reacted to the alien surge.
"Computer! Coordonates!", Tarantulas urged.
[Alien anomaly detected, sector 0.1.5.2]
"The Great North? Flowers in the Great North...hmmm... huhuh, this is getting nteresting… let's pay a nice visit to our friends..."
As he took the cube away from the computer, the screens turned blank.
End of part 1