Trust
Me Partner
Chapter
3
- Into the Storm -
The
CR chamber still held AirRazor. Unfortunately it did not seem to have much of an
effect on whatever was slowly eating at her, except maybe to slow it down. The
scanners detected a lot of energon, and alien substances from the crystals. In
other words they had no idea what it was....
In
the meantime, Cheetor was trying to contact Rattrap and Felina only to receive
no answer, "Huh, Big Bot?"
"What?"
"I
know you're really busy, and that you’ve probably had enough bad news for the
day, but..."
"What
is it now?"
"...I
can't contact Rattrap or Felina anymore"
"What
do you mean?"
"Well,
it's like Rattrap's comlink is simply...gone."
"For
Primus sake, they must have been fighting again." He sighed and shook his
head. "It's useless. Well, at least they're headed for the right
coordinates."
"Yeah....
Hey! What's that?", Cheetor pointed to a red spot on the screen. It seemed
to be following the Maximals emblems representing Felina and Rattrap, "Uh
oh... SilverBolt, could you find out what that is?"
"Right
away!", SilverBolt activated the computer. As they feared, the computer to
recognized the Predacon emblem and the signature attached to it, "It seems
to be...Tarantulas."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Man!
It's way too cold for mah wheels in 'dis slaggin' snow!"
"Stop
complaining, Lunch Box!"
Rattrap
swerved quickly and without exactly realizing what had happened, Felina lost her
balance and fell in the snow, swallowing some of it as it happened.
"Hey!"
she yelled as she sat up and coughed out the ice and water, "Don't drink
and drive! Ever hear that? Huh...? What…?"
A
shadow vanished in the distance, but had no distinct form to it... To her it
looked like the silhouette of someone shooting a weapon, only, there were no
sound of firearms. In such a vast area, there had bound to be an echoe, only
this weapon was completely silent. Worst yet, the shadow held a much familiar
silouette: her own. She woke from
her trance when one of Rattrap’s wheels passed right by her and fell into a
huge crevasse. Before she could make anything out of the current event, the rat
transformed and jumped her with his gun pointed at her forehead.
"I
knew it y'slaggin' traitor! Y'worst than da preds!"
"B-But
I didn't do it! It wasn't me!" she mumbled, "I swear! It wasn't me!
Least... I don't think so.... I...."
At
this instant, Rattrap was shot another time, making him fall over. He stopped
himself a couple of inches from the crevasse, but he did not remain there long:
the snow was making him slip further toward the pit.
"Alley
Cat! Behind ya!" he yelled at her.
She
did not have time to turn around before a stasis rope surrounded her neck and
begun to strangle her. This time, it was not the result of the apparition.
"You
thought you could stop me with a simple kitchen knife, and a couple of karate
moves? How pathetic! Hahahahahahaha!!" Felina's eyes widened, unable to
breathe. The air was no longer going to her lungs. Her legs became week, and
soon she was fighting to regain her balance, "And so the roles have
changed, it seems", the Predacon snickered, "as they should have been
all along!"
"Hey!
Let her go ya 8 eyed psycho-maniac!" Rattrap shouted, desperately trying to
get back to stable land. Fortunately, he was able to grab hold of his blaster
and shoot Tarantulas' arm. The tall robot screamed in fury and let go of his
pray, more in shock and surprised the rat had made such a suicidal move. The
girl took the opportunity to get free and kick him out of the way with before
she stumbled out of his reach. Now it was her turn to find her gun and shoot
Tarantulas repeatedly. Still dizzy
from the strangulation, she came to realize that the only thing that Rattrap was
now hanging over the crevace, holding onto the edge at tightly as he could, so
she momentarilly forgot about Tarantulas and went over to her partner quickly.
Only
as she got there, she was hesitating. She watched in confusion as to what to do
now. ‘I could just let him fall, she thought, and be free from this
stupid partnership... and even take my Robot Huntress status again. An accident
can always happen.’
She
took one last look at Tarantulas: he was still dizzy from her blasts. She took
her magnum and walked up to her partner, who was just trying to hold on at this
point. He saw her standing above him, the barrel of the weapon aimed at him. He
knew much too well this kind of weapon was illegal, so how she had ended up this
weapon on the Axalon was a complete mystery. A blaster made a lot less damage
then a magnum bullet. She meant business now. Or death. Either way, Rattrap was
out of option and there was nothing he could do to stop her.
"Why
am I not surprised?" he whispered, more sad than angry.
Felina
was still hesitating however. The weapon was pointed at his head: one bullet and
there were no CR Chambers or CR Tanks that would have brought him back. Her hand
was trembling, she was biting her lower lip and
frowning. There was a strange
feeling making her almost sick to her stomach... and she shook her head, no more
aiming at her partner to offer her other hand to him to take a hold of, "Gimme
your hand."
"Sh'yeah
right", he first exclaimed.
"Just
trust me! C'mon, gimme your hand! Hurry!"
He
hesitated, looking for the catch.
"Just
this once, won't you trust me?" she said, "I've got more honor than
y'think. I wouldn't kill you by just lettin’ y'fall! I got much better ways
than that to finish you off, y'know! So for the last time, gimme your
hand!"
At
last he listened to her and she helped him up. He wasn't even half way up
though, when he yelled out, "Watch out!!!"
Felina
was surprised at first, but it did not take long for her to realize why Rattrao
had become agitated. Taking a look behind her she saw Tarantulas with his gun
pointed in her direction. His armor was black and still smocking from the
blaster's shot he had received from the Huntress, but he was still standing.
"Aw
shit... ", She whispered.
"Say
good bye, Minimals!"
Tarantulas
shot. Felina and Rattrap both fell into the abyss. The Predacon took a look down
and saw them crash onto the snowy ground a hundred feet below. He made sure they
weren't moving anymore, standing over the edge for long moments.
They
did not move.
With
an eerie laugh, he went back to beast mode and continued his way toward the
alien paradise, as heavy snowflakes made their way down from the sky.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Slagin'
useless computer!" he shot and punched the console of the computer in front
of him.
Rhinox
was trying to work on whatever those alien crystals were. It seemed to be
useless to even try: hours of work for nothing. Every time he thought he had
found a cure for AirRazor, or even just a slight clue of the original elements
from the structure trapping her body, something would come up and block the way.
It’s very existence seemed to mock him.
A
white silhouette passed in front of the screen and jumped on his shoulder. It
purred and rubbed its head against his cheek.
"prrrr-miaow"
"Huh,
Hi Fiona. Wondering where your mistress is, huh?" He laughed softly, seeing
that the little kitten was too busy enjoying the caresses the huge robot was
giving behind it's ears to answer or even think about Felina now.
The
computer made a quick noise, startling the little creature. It hissed at this
sound and ran off. The poor little thing was always afraid of the computers, but
this time, something had made it upset and scared, making it hide under Rhinox'
large bed.
[Unit
Optimus Primal opening communication], the computer said dully.
"Open
link."
[Acknowledged]
Optimus'
face appeared on the screen.
"Rhinox;
Cheetor, SilverBolt and I are going after Felina and Rattrap. I'm leaving you in
charge of the base."
"Wh-What?
Why? Did something happen? Are they alright? Where are they?"
"Calm
down, Big Guy. The scanners indicated that they encountered Tarantulas. He got
away not long after. It took at least 10 cycles before Felina and Rattrap began
to move again..." he sighed, "and by the time they finally got going
again, a snow storm had begun. We can't contact them, so we're going after
them."
"I'm
coming too", Rhinox said quickly.
"No.
It'll be faster if we fly there, besides, we need someone to keep an eye on
AirRazor."
"Dinobot
can do it!", Rhinox protested.
Optimus
raised an eyebrow in answer, giving the green'bot a funny look. He didn't need
to speak, ‘Remember, the golden disk, Dinobot,
Megatron? You're not serious. Please’.
"Okay,
okay", Rhinox finally agreed and calmed down, "But contact me if
something happens."
Optimus
smiled, "I will."
"Computer,
close link."
[Acknowledged]
With
troubled thoughts, he crossed his arms over his chest. He was so tired. Tired of
all this... Optimus was right. Felina was so much trouble: too much in fact. She
would never completely change and come back to that little girl he used to love
so much. That little girl had been buried long ago. He knew Optimus had thought
of getting rid of her... because despite it all he had also thought about it.
But he just couldn't bring himself to hurt the little girl he once knew. She had
to be there, somewhere. Still, he had the feeling that there was a connection
between her and the weird events that had happened lately. He simply had to wait
to get the answers he wanted.
---------------------------------------------------------------
The
storm had come down hard and fast. Fortunately, the feline had gained
consciousness before the rat, and was able to carry him with her in search for
shelter… for now at least. Of course, the idea of leaving him there to die in
the cold had crossed her mind, but she preferred not to be alone incase another
uninvited spider might mysteriously appear. Besides, after this little ice cube
trip, she could kill the rat with her own hands...if they ever got out of this
anyways.
The
wind was stronger and colder than ever, and it seemed to whisper words that
Felina could not understand.... Messed up words she believed to be the creations
of her tired imagination... but she could never be certain...
*“...child...
our child... our...child...ours...”.*
Now,
the snow was mixed with hail.
‘Why
do I even bother carryin' 'dat overgrown bag of garbage?’
she asked herself. Then, the image of Tarantulas, beast mode, came back in her
mind. She moaned at this thought, ‘Oh yeah...spider alerts...’
All
she could see was the large snowflakes, blocking her view. Pieces of ice were
scratching her face and the rest of her body. The wind was too strong and she
kept wondering how she could still be walking. It was useless… She didn't even
know where she was going. She always, or almost always, was able to get out of
any situation, being the most wanted criminal of the galaxy. And now, she did
not know what to do. She had fought entire crews of robots, won every time, and
now, a simple storm was about to take her down. How embarrassing.
Again,
she thought she saw another one of those silhouettes disappear in front of her.
It was running in the very direction she would be heading to, and then it would
simply vanish every time.
"H-HEY!
HEY!!!" she screamed at it, but only the wind responded, ‘What the
Hell ARE 'dese things?!’
That’s
when Rhinox's words came back to her: ‘As a robot, you have more abilities
now. After the scans I did on you, I noticed that you have an ability that so
far only Rattrap has had. Infra-red. But it’s more powerful than Rattrap's,
being unstable. It's hard to tell how to use it though..."
She
did not like the idea of using any robotic skills, but she had nothing to lose
if it could help her... She sighed in defeat. "Infra-red... on-line",
she said, but it was more of a grumble... hard to believe her internal computer
could have heard it.
[Acknowledged],
it answered.
Her
eyes passed from red to blue a few times, before settling on blue. To her great
relief, things appeared more clear... but no sign of the strange shadow.
‘Guess
I found a use for it’, she thought.
She
looked around and noticed some kind of cave a couple of meters behind her.
Without hesitation, she headed for that direction, still carrying the
unconscious rat by the leg.
She
entered the icy cave and found that it wasn't very deep, but just big enough to
protect both of them.
"Infra-red,
off line", she grumbled again.
[Acknowledged]
Her
eyes came back to their normal bloody red color. She threw Rattrap at the other
side of the cave. Returning to beast mode, she jumped onto his chest and sat
down. He didn’t move. She rolled her eyes. "It faints at a single hit and
it calls itself a warrior."
She
slapped him with her left paw; and with the other paw; left again; right again,
and so on.
"Wake
up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up", she kept singing as she slapped
him. He groaned a little. She kept hitting him, "Wake up, wake up, wake
up..."
"But
Blade... all the others are sayin' I'm too short ta be a cop...", he
moaned, like if he was gonna cry.
She
gave him an amused look as she kept slapping him on and on.
"Not
only the cops", she said giggled, "Now, wake up,wake up,wake
up..."
He
opened his eyes, and tried to block the hits with his hands, "Okay! OKAY!
I'm up! I'm up!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Soooo...
THIS is the alien paradise, huhuhuhuh."
Tarantulas
was walking in the same field of flowers AirRazor and Tigatron once did. It had
been their greatest error. He laughed out loud, crushing flowers by walking on
them. He came to a stop to examine a curious golden plate incrusted in the
ground: the same one that had intrigued the bird and the tiger.
"Hmmm,
interesting. Better make a copy of this."
His
eyes turned red as his internal computer copied every sign that appeared on the
plate. He took out the cube, which was now glowing like it had never before. He
noticed the fountain with the blue liquid... and that mysterious other cube he
had seen on his computer screens. It was still hard to see inside, but it looked
like a humanoid robot. Green face, white body with stripes... he knew who it
was. Tigatron.
The
cube seemed to glow brighter reacting with the blue liquid which seemed to react
to the cube in turn. Like a crazy laser, a bluish beam came out of the cube and
struck Tarantulas in the head. He screamed with pain and utter surprise as he
felt his interiors burning...
End
of part 3