For Overdose, the formula is Past + Present = Future. But it isn't always
that easy...
Hasbro owns the Beast Wars, but the plot and Overdose are mine. Please ask before using them.
The Ghosts of the Past
By Lady Dementia
Dementedangel@hotmail.com
* * * * *
Optimus looked over at Rhinox. "Anything?"
He glanced at the scans he was trying to run on the being in the CR Chamber. "Nothing. This, er, Bob is blocking our computer."
The Maximal leader stared at the plain gray rectangle hooked up to the Chamber. "Is there any way around it? I want to know as much as we can find out about Overdose."
Rhinox sighed. "I can try."
"Dudes, that wouldn't, like, be nice." The Maximals jumped as the rectangle spoke. "The dude, like, didn't want you, like, scanning her, dudes."
Optimus smiled a bit involuntarily at the strange computer's voice patterns. "And which dude are you talking about?" he asked jokingly.
There was a long pause. Then, "The dude. Dude, dudes...dudette!" Bob exclaimed. "The DUDETTE didn't, like, want you, like, scanning her."
"Oh." Optimus leaned down and whispered to Rhinox, "Try, anyway. We need to know more."
* * * * *
Overdose shifted inside the CR Chamber as a scanning beam passed over her. Hypersensitive sensors that shouldn't have been that sensitive in normal transformers, or just plain shouldn't have been there, picked it up, activating more systems that shouldn't have been there. Defense systems came online, but left the main systems shut down.
The crazy femme's systems scrambled information, sent out electrical pulses that mislead computers, and generally did everything they could to prevent accurate scans. They surrounded her in a haze of energies, all while she herself was safely offline.
Inside her mind, however, the defenses triggered memories as she vaguely felt them sending alerts to each other. While they fought something they identified as an enemy, she remembered...
* * * * *
"Hey, check it out," the small red transformer chuckled. He held up a small ball of fur. "This bot left his poor organic pet home while he went out for the night." The pet, a victim of the current fashion of owning an organic animal, squirmed in the red transformer's grasp.
Overdose looked up from carefully packing the absent owner's costly belongings into her pack. "It's kinda cute," she giggled. She glanced back down at her loot so far. "I think I've gotten all I can sell easily. What about you?"
Her partner, she dimly recalled his name was Streetshine, casually shrugged. "Yeah, works for me." He slowly tightened his grip on the organic as he spoke. "But before we go, I'm gonna kill this thing. I never liked the things, and I wonder what it's like to kill one..."
"Don't." Overdose straightened up.
"Why not?" He grinned and continued tightening his grip. The pet writhed and cried out in pain.
It stopped as the source of its pain disappeared. It fell as the red bot dropped to the floor limply beside it, and then gentle hands picked it up.
Swirling eyes looked down into its eyes. "I said you were cute, and I did warn him once," the owner of the multicolored eyes said mildly. "I never give more than one warning."
* * * * *
Rhinox frowned at his display. "This can't be right..."
"What?" Optimus came over and looked at the computer screen. It showed different parts, but no whole body. "What is this?"
"That's supposedly Overdose, but..." Rhinox shook his head. "Let me try again."
"Dudes, like, stop it!"
* * * * *
Overdose crept into the back of the shop through a window. She stopped suddenly as she noticed him. Somebody was doing inventory on the stock, but it wasn't Knick-Knack. A new bot? Knick-Knack wouldn't hire someone else without telling his regulars, would he?
The femme jumped, landing silently behind the unknown bot. Her arm snaked around his neck, and blades slid out of their sheathes along it, grazing the bot's neck. "Where's Knick-Knack?" she whispered into his audios.
"Who are you?" the other hissed back at her. "I'm not giving that information out to strangers!"
She considered that. It was a reasonable question. "I'm called Overdose."
The bot immediately stiffened and shivered. "N-not THE Overdose?" he asked with a noticeable tremor in his voice. Now that she thought to check, she could tell that he was fairly young. Easily scared by rumors, perhaps? Then again, the rumors had proven true, and true again...
A wicked smile settled on her face. "No one else would dare claim my name, now would they?" Not after that creep who tried to swindle someone with her name. She had taught him never to do that again...permanently. The blades along her arm dug a little into the bot's neck. "Where's Knick-Knack?" she demanded. "I need to talk to him."
"H-he's had to go away for a little while," he choked out. "He put me in charge for now."
"How can I trust you?" Overdose crooned quietly. "What proof can you give me?"
The transformer shivered again. "I d-don't have any proof. Knick-Knack said I wouldn't n-need any!" his voice rose with fear on the last words. "I was supposed to sell some stuff to certain people, that was all!"
"Hmm..." Overdose thought quickly, her chaotic mind struggling to focus on one thing. Her free hand absently traced the edges of her captive's helmet while he tried to stay still. She came to a decision. "Do you have access to Knick-Knack's poisons?"
"Yeah." The bot swallowed hard. "But I'd need at least until closing time to get at them."
"Very well." Overdose's blades slid back into her arm, and she was up the wall and through the window before the bot had time to turn. "I'll be in touch...sometime."
* * * * *
Bob considered his options and went with the one that would get the fastest results. The probes and scans the Maximals were trying to inflict on Overdose weren't harmful, their Maximal morals wouldn't allow that, but they were against the dudette's wishes. Bob couldn't allow that.
Follow the connection to the CR Chamber. Its connections led to the main computer. Follow that connection to the section of the computer the Maximal was working on. Search through the connections leading from there, find the main power feed, and... *Fzzt!*
* * * * *
Overdose lay on the floor, stroking the organic pet. The thing rolled over so she had access to its tummy, which it obviously wanted her to scratch. It had grown to like her over the passage of time as it had grown from the youngling it had been to the adult it was now.
She had named it 'Goomba' for no reason in particular. Its face was fascinating, with the vertical slit for a mouth, strangely tattered ears, wide emerald eyes, and those clumpy whisker things that sometimes covered its mouth. The rest of it resembled a Terran housecat, except for the fact it was now almost 6 times the size of one...
The femme tickled Goomba's stomach, smiling as it squirmed around under her hand in a search for the perfect spot. It occurred to her that there was something else she should be thinking of at the moment. Something in this very room? But what? She was safe in one of her hidden hide-outs. No one could find her here, not even one of those pesky officers the Predacon Secret Police kept sending after her. Especially not the most recent one, who had made the mistake of attempting to arrest her. She had fixed HIM, though! In fact, she was still--oh.
Overdose looked over her shoulder at the other side of the room, where a low table stood. A large transformer was strapped onto it. His coloration might have been a dark blue at one time, but the acid she had idly painted him with yesterday had burned the color, and most of the armored skin underneath, off. She petted Goomba one last time and stood up.
The bot watched her slowly walk towards him, and only the gag on his voice box prevented him from screaming with terror and pain. Overdose bent over him, savoring the agony he was feeling as she leaned her elbows on his corroded armor. She poked a finger into his chest.
"I have some experiments I wanted to try on a spark," she said cheerily. "Do you want to help me?"
The PSP officer shook his head frantically.
She pouted sadly. "Aw, that's too bad." Then her mood switched back to happy. "Now I'll just have to do them WITHOUT your cooperation!"
* * * * *
Rhinox slammed his hand down on the computer. "Blast!" he yelled. The computer stayed powerless. "I don't know how it happened, but the power conduit was fried!"
Optimus looked at the CR Chamber. "Is there any possibility that..."
"I don't think so," Rhinox grumbled. "She's still offline. More likely, Bob did it somehow." He studied the plain gray computer. "If we could just unhook, er, him for a little while, I could do the scans."
The Maximal leader shook his head. "Overdose wanted him there." He sighed. "I guess we'll just have to live without knowing more about her. Or maybe we could just ask her!"
* * * * *
"Hello?"
Overdose stayed in the shadows as the bot came down the alley. She had left Goomba behind for today. She was training it to fetch things for her, but this deal had to be made face to face, so it had stayed behind in her hide-out.
"Hello?" the bot called again. This was the same transformer that had taken over the shop from Knick-Knack. The word on the street was that he could be trusted, so Overdose had arranged a meeting. To her surprise, he had actually agreed to her meeting place, a small alley in the old part of the city. He must have wanted to meet her badly...
"I'm here," she said softly. The bot immediately turned to where her voice had come from, but he paused in confusion when he couldn't see her. She smiled to herself and let the colors of her surroundings go. Her normal armor patterns reappeared, giving her the appearance of melting out of the shadows. Well, with her color scheme it was more like BURSTING out of the shadows. The other transformer jumped back in surprise.
"O-Overdose!" the bot said nervously. "What a, um, pleasure to finally meet with you under, ah, more pleasant circumstances!"
She shrugged. "Whatever. Did you bring it?"
He nodded. "One vial of Knick-Knack's homemade poison." He tossed it to her when she held out her hand. She inspected it and nodded. She started to turn away. "What about my payment?" he asked more confidently.
Overdose gave him a curious look. "I'll pay the same way I always pay. If Knick-Knack didn't tell you how I pay, too bad." With that, she disappeared again, blending with the shadows.
* * * * *
The CR Chamber opened, revealing Overdose. She blinked confusedly at the waiting Maximal, her mind still half in the past.
Optimus started talking as she hesitantly walked out. "Overdose, you have to choose a faction to be in," he said firmly. He went on to explain what might happen if time was changed, and how Megatron wanted to destroy the original Optimus Prime. She just stood there through his speech, staring up at him with a blank look on her face. Even her fins were in muted colors.
* * * * *
She whipped around as the bot yelled in alarm. PSP officers were pouring down the alley towards him. They couldn't see her, but they obviously were going to arrest the shop dealer. He turned and ran, despite their calls to stop. That practically guaranteed they'd shoot to kill if he didn't surrender first.
Cursing under her breath, she snatched at him as he went past and clasped him close to herself. He started to shout again, but her slap stopped him. Her camouflaged body was blocking the PSP officers' view of him, and they slowed their pursuit of him cautiously. Exactly as she had wanted.
"Stay still," she barely breathed to the bot who was trembling in her arms. She triggered the remote for the pulley on the top of the building they were against, and the cord tied around her waist began to very slowly pull them upwards. Her armor shifted as they moved to match the building's surface. Very, very slowly...only a little more...
Overdose turned the bot around until he faced the wall, and he grabbed onto the top so he could pull himself up. Below them, a PSP officer flicked a glance upwards as he thought he heard a slight sound. From below, Overdose's camouflage didn't conceal the other bot, and the officer spotted him climbing onto the roof.
The first shots barely missed as she lunged onto the roof after him, cutting the cord around her waist as she went. She laughed with excitement as they ran to the other side of the roof and looked down. There was a straight drop where the street dropped into the lower levels of the city. They couldn't even see the bottom, only darkness. It was a long way down. No one could possibly survive it.
A scrape came from the side of the building behind them. The PSP were coming up after them!
The bot turned to her. "What now?!" he asked nervously. "Do we surrender?!" He was starting to panic.
Overdose smiled, loving the thrill of the chase and the craziness of the plan in her head. "By the Pit, no!" she said exuberantly. "Now we jump!" She shoved him off the roof and dove after him. They fell into the darkness together.
* * * * *
Overdose looked straight at the Maximal leader as he finished speaking. "And what about Rampage?" she asked sadly. "What happens to him if you win this war?"
There was an awkward silence.
"Blackarachnia was right," Overdose said. She bent to pick up Bob, disconnecting him from the CR Chamber. "I don't really belong with either faction." A drab color change went through her fins, giving her a depressed look.
"So what will you do?" Primal asked.
She seemed to consider that seriously for a moment, but then she giggled crazily, her eyes swirling with neon light. "Oh, maybe I'll join the Maximals AND the Predacons!" she told him with a loony smile. "You know, sort of a 'I'll be a Maximal by day and a Predacon by night' kind of thing. Would that work?" She looked up at him earnestly.
She actually seemed to think it might work. Optimus sighed. "Megatron wouldn't accept it," he told her. "I would...have to think about it."
"Don't hurt yourself," Overdose commented merrily. "Now, which way is the way out of here?"
* * * * *
The bot was screaming, but Overdose calmly judged distances and timing. When she felt it was right, she transformed and swooped under the falling transformer. He hit her back with a thud.
"You owe me," she said.
"Y-yeah," he said dazedly.
She silently glided into the lower levels, following the street and eventually landing on it when she felt they were far enough away. She coasted to a stop and transformed again. Overdose stretched and laughed again as the tension from the pursuit drained away.
The bot stepped away from her in disbelief. "You enjoyed that?"
"Yep." She smiled at him and then turned to walk away.
"Wait!" he yelled, chasing after her. "Thank you for helping me," he said when she turned around. "Just for that..." he held out another vial, almost identical to the one she had bought earlier. "A token of appreciation for such a pretty bot."
She eyed it warily, something about the situation ringing warning bells in her head. But...he had called her pretty. No one had ever done that before. She decided to trust the bot. After all, she had just saved his life! She reached out, ignoring her cautious instincts.
One more crazy decision. One more risk. But this time her luck ran out...
* * * * *
Overdose soared through the sky, trying to figure out where the Predacon base was. She wanted to see what the purple guy thought of her idea. She looped down through the clouds again, trying to get her bearings, and, oh, there it was! Gloom and doom kind of place, really...
She landed nearby, knowing there were autoguns and other such nasty surprises lurking in the area, but not caring. They wouldn't be able to pick her energy signature up, anyway.
Overdose willed her fins to stop mirroring her emotions, and then she crept towards the base, blending into her surroundings. There was someone marching around outside. It was the ant, Inferno, dedicated as always. She simply waited until he turned away for an instant, and then she was inside.
There was shouting coming from farther in the base, so she looked for the source. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but what about the sea slug? Her distracted mind wasn't helping her be very cautious, though.
The past was haunting her...
* * * * *
She glared through the glowing bars at the smug bot. "You betrayed me," she stated flatly. None of her normal colors were present in her eyes or armor, and the chaos of her mind was gone, replaced by cold purpose.
He flinched at her voice, some of his smugness disappearing. He regained his smirk after a moment, however. "What can I say?" he asked with a supposedly casual shrug. "I'm a good actor, and you were gullible." He acted careless around her, but she saw through the act to his nervousness.
It had been a trap, pure and simply put. "What happened to Knick-Knack?" she hissed. That was where this had begun, in the missing bot's shop.
He shrugged again. "We," by that he meant the Predacon Secret Police, "removed him and took over his operation in order to find some of the known criminals he supplied. Oh, and thank you, by the way," he added. "I was actually assigned to Goldlight's," he named a small-time killer, "case, but catching you is getting me all the right attention. I might even get a promotion!"
"How nice," she purred after a moment of staring that made him shift uncomfortably. "Enjoy your promotion while you can, then," she continued. "Because I'll make you regret being alive when I finally hunt you down. And I'll find you," she assured him with a vicious smile. "No matter how long it takes, no matter where you go."
A click from the door to the cell informed her visitor that his time was up, and he retreated towards it, backing away from her like she could kill him through the bars. Who knows? She had already gotten a couple guards that way with some concealed weapons.
Her smile grew. "Remember; you can run, but you can't run forever. You can hide, but you'll never be safe." He scrambled out the door, no longer even trying to hide his fear as she threw her head back and screamed with laughter.
"Let the hunt begin!"
* * * * *
*Ding!*
Overdose sat down right where she was, in a ventilation shaft. She didn't care if anyone found her, and the shouting coming from the area up ahead didn't seem like it would end anytime soon. Plenty of time to fill out a questionnaire and eat more drugs!
She loved the new emotions and sensations that came over her when she was dosed with something. The experimental drugs just made it better since she didn't know what would happen. An eternal guessing game, with changes in her body and mind as the consequences. Gorging on the pills just made it even more fun!
Better yet, some of the drugs made her forget. Many helped her not care about her life or the people around her. Some made the present blur with the past, or just made the present shift in different directions. She didn't care; she liked it. The future was a blur, anyway, why shouldn't the past and present be just like it? Always a surprise, her life!
* * * * *
She smirked at the femme across from her through the cell bars. The brownish transformer grinned back at her and silently counted out loud with her. At 'three', they pulled the tripwire tight, sending the pacing guard stumbling.
They laughed at his enraged yelling.
He growled at them, but sneered at the other femme in particular. "You're next, you slaggin' thief." With that, he continued with his rounds.
Overdose looked at Shadowcall sadly. "You're going?" she asked softly.
Shadowcall sighed. "Yeah." She made a face. "The judge will probably stick me with colony duty." At Overdose's puzzled look, she elaborated. "They send you out to a new colony to set everything up for the people coming after you. I suppose I could stay if I wanted." She looked thoughtful. "Yeah, that could be good. A new life, a new home," a sly grin crossed her narrow face, "people who don't KNOW I'm a thief..."
Overdose laughed with relief. "I knew you couldn't be turning goody-goody!" Her laughter died quickly. "But...I don't want to lose you." They had lived through the prison term before their trials together. They had grown close, in their own ways.
Shadowcall shrugged. "Well, I don't know any real way to keep in touch. It'd be ultra gear if you could come see me, but being prison-buddies probably wouldn't put you in good standing with those innocent little colonists--"
"Hey!" Overdose interrupted. "How about being sisters?"
"Huh?"
"You know," she said impatiently. "It's one of those organic customs, where two femmes who are really close team up, or something like that." She blinked. "Um, yeah, something like that."
"Oh." Shadowcall considered that. "That sounds good. Sisters it is!" A clang came from the end of the prison block, and the femme stared down the corridor at the guards marching towards them. "Well, I guess I have to leave."
The guards reached her cell, and she let her hands be bound. Two guards took her by the elbows, and they started on Shadowcall's journey to court.
"Send me a postcard!" Overdose yelled after her.
* * * * *
Overdose poked her head into the room where Rampage and Megatron were arguing and grinned.
"She's uncontrollable!" Rampage was shouting.
Megatron threw his throne around until he was above him and glared down at the crab. "You had better START controlling her, yesss, or I'll be forced to destroy her!"
"That's not very nice," Overdose commented. She smiled when they both whirled to face her, their faces slack with shock. Her vision was starting to haze around the edges, but she didn't let that bother her as she bounced into the room. "I'm not uncontrollable, Rampage," she said cheerfully. "I'm crazy!"
"Um, right."
Megatron shook himself out of his stunned silence. "How did you get into the base without setting off the perimeter alarms?" he demanded to know.
"Don't ask," Rampage said quickly.
Megatron scowled. "I don't appreciate you contradicting me, nooo." He slammed his hand down on his throne. "Dinobot! Report to me at once!" Rampage snarled at him.
Overdose stuck her hand in the air and waved it. "I've got a question!" she said earnestly. She waved her arm around, ignoring the strange fuzziness that was invading her vision. Flashes of...memories?... were in that mist, and it was slowly taking over her sight...
Megatron sighed. "Yes?"
"Could I be a Predacon at night and a Maximal during the day?" she asked with a proud smile. "Then you guys wouldn't have to fight over me! Optimus already said he'd think about it, so what do you say? And what about you, Rampage? Wouldn't that be neat?" Only a small area was still in focus, now. The rest was in a fog, but the edges of the fog were clearing now. But...that wasn't THIS room, was it?
"Uh..." Megatron was shocked again, but he had a canny mind. "Perhaps if you brought something to...earn...your way into the Predacons," he said slowly, hoping that she would take the hint. If Overdose would bring him Maximal secrets, or even, just possibly, a captured Maximal, she would be welcome in his faction, craziness or not!
"Oh. Okay." She blinked, but when she opened her eyes, Megatron wasn't there anymore. Neither was Rampage. Only the mist, with the clear image of another room filling her eyes...
Dinobot stormed into the room and up to Megatron. "Yes?" Megatron smiled viscously. "If you would be so kind as to teach Rampage a lesson?"
The last traces of fog disappeared, and the three figures in the room came into focus for Overdose. Or at least partially into focus, since the single lamp over their heads didn't show her much from where she stood in the light.
She shrieked in anger.
* * * * *
Three red transformers, shrouded in mystery and danger. The notorious Tripedicus Council, in whose secret prison Overdose had been confined until now.
"You could be of great use to us," one of them said to her. "Just pledge your loyalty."
"Vow to serve us against the Maximals," another said.
"No, I don't wanna," she giggled. "You look so funny!"
The last transformer snorted in disgust. "Take this freak away, to the labs," he ordered the guards. He looked at her again. "We will control you, with or without your consent."
"No." Colors ran like water from her armor and eyes, draining away to leave only blackness. Petty things like emotions left with the colors, revealing the insanely cold killer underneath.
The Tripedicus Council didn't notice. "Bring out the next--"
"I said: no."
Only now did they turn towards her again as she launched herself at them, calculating as she moved how to strike to kill and maim. The bonds around her wrists separated as her metallic skin electrified, shorting them out. Guards poured into the room between the Council and her, and she snarled in crazed fury that only aided in her fighting.
She howled in rage and joy, sorrow and celebration, as what lived beneath her surface looniness reared her deadly head...
* * * * *
Dinobot was distracted from Megatron's order as a scream of anger came from the colorful femme standing along one side of the room. Or rather, the once-colorful femme. Pure, dull black had replaced the multicolored swirls and patterns.
Rampage gasped and drew back from the other two Predacons. "Overdose...don't..." he said in a strangled voice. He wasn't afraid, but he wasn't stupid, either. After all, he didn't REALLY know if he was immortal...
The femme reached down to her flame-colored boots and drew two daggers, one a long, slim stiletto, the other shorter and jagged, made for ripping. A strangely calm look was on her face. No, more of a dead look, like the crazy personality that had been present in Overdose so far had bled out of her.
It scared Megatron. No one he had ever encountered had looked like that. Except for her scream of fury, she seemed...empty. Even Rampage showed some emotion while fighting, but Overdose--she looked like she could rip him open without a thought or a reason. Dinobot's thoughts weren't far behind his, and they both edged back from the femme, following Rampage's example unconsciously.
The fear on their faces registered in Overdose's mind, triggering another memory that replaced the one before. She lowered her knives, a brief flash of confusion crossing her face as she found herself in a different place...
* * * * *
The cell she was thrown in was crowded, like most of the others in the prison. It was a maximum-security prison, so the prisoners couldn't be moved to a new building without it taking a long time to check the security measures and such. And so, the prisoners were crammed into the cells.
The people in this cell were particularly nasty-looking: an organic being, green, with ragged red scars on three of its four arms; a hulking blue-and-yellow transformer with shifty optics; a small, thin femme openly wearing an energon blade, even in the prison. Overdose smiled at them all through the pleasant haze the sedatives had put her in. They exchanged a look between themselves and advanced in a coordinated movement to surround her. They were obviously up to no good.
Then again, neither was Overdose.
Despite the sedatives, she was still quicker than the others. She dodged to one side as the other femme lunged at her, slashing with her blade. Her hand struck the flat of the blade, turning it to strike the organic before the femme could react. The organic yelped and slid to the ground, a deep vertical slash from the knife bleeding its life out onto the cell floor. Overdose ignored that, instead swinging her hand down to the small of her own back, where she withdrew something from a small subspace pocket.
When the other femme recovered her balance, she found herself facing the corner where Overdose had put her back to the wall in a precaution against the blue-and-yellow 'bot. He paced in front of her warily, watching this unexpectedly experienced transformer calmly work on something circular in her hand. Overdose looked up as the femme joined her cellmate, and a gently loony smile accompanied her underhand toss.
The femme caught the thing she threw and didn't move. Neither did her cellmate. The blue energy field from the item had them paralyzed. Overdose giggled and moved closer, and their faces showed fear...
* * * * *
Overdose?" Rampage cautiously stepped closer to the femme. The black of her armor was broken up by the slow swirls of color curling through it, and he took that as a good sign. The fact that she was lowering her weapons was an even better one. "Are you okay?"
Her head turned until she was looking straight at him instead of Dinobot and Megatron. The frantic motion of the colors in her eyes told him she was completely confused.
Overdose turned towards the 'bot who had called her name, and her world reeled again. "Goomba-boy?" she asked uncertainly. Wide emerald eyes, a vertical mouth, and ragged ears...and no fear on his face. The resemblance to her pet was stunning.
Rampage stopped short. "You haven't called me that in a long time."
"What are you talking about? I haven't known you that long!" she protested. Another room. A prison cell? Yes, a prison cell. She had just met him...
* * * * *
"You might as well sit down," she told the 'bot standing up against the opposite wall. "I won't bite." She waited until he sat on the bottom bunk underneath her before adding, "For now."
There was a startled rustle, and then he spoke. "What are you in for?"
Overdose hung her head over the edge of the top bunk and looked down at him. "Guess." She tilted her head to one side as she studied him. "You don't fear me," she said thoughtfully.
"So?" he asked gruffly. "You don't fear me, either!" From the way he said it, he didn't seem to like the idea that she didn't fear him.
"Why should I?" she asked quietly.
He sputtered. "I'm a mass murderer!" he finally got out. "I've killed hundreds and enjoyed it!"
"Big deal. I've done that before, and it wasn't that fun after a while." He gave her a surprised look, and she returned it with an amused one. "I figured out that torturing one person at a time provides SO much more entertainment." That made him look uneasy...
A guard banged on the cell door. "You had better behave, Overdose!" he yelled at her. With that, he took up a position next to the door. He must have been a rookie guard, because he stood in the exact textbook position recommended by his training.
She eyed the distance between the guard and the bars. Unfortunately for the guard, he had taken up a position that was within her arm-reach...
"That's really your name?"
She reflexively nodded, still planning. "At least that's what I remember my name being," she added, her attention wandering back to her cellmate. She sized him up thoughtfully. "My memory isn't so great. What's yours, Goomba-boy?"
"X." He openly studied her. "So...you like torture."
"Yep." Overdose looked between the cell door and her cellmate. "Speaking of which..." she jerked her head towards the guard. "Want to have some fun, Goomba-boy?"
He laughed softly. "Oh, yes. And my name is X."
"Goomba-boy."
"X."
"Goomba-boy."
* * * * *
Rampage blinked. "Overdose, you've known me since prison."
"I...I have?" Overdose held a hand to her forehead, barely missing her eyes with the dagger. "But how did we get here?" Her voice was soft with confusion and uncertainty.
"The drug program, remember?" Rampage prompted her.
Overdose shook her head violently, trying to remember. When she looked up, Rampage had moved and the room had changed again...
* * * * *
"You're not actually going to sign that thing, are you?" X slipped the datapad with the 'Happy Matrix Drug Co.' insignia on it out from under Overdose's hand. He read over the contract and frowned. "You'd never be able to kill anyone!"
"I know," Overdose sighed. "But I'd be out of here," she gestured around the prison cell, "and back out there." She snagged the datapad out of his hand and read it over again. "Really, though, I'd like the drug testing." She considered for a moment more, and then she decided. "I don't always kill my victims," she mentioned absently as she signed the contract.
X nodded. "But--"
"Besides, I have business outside this place," she interrupted. Her armor briefly dulled to black, but she shook that off. "Old business."
* * * * *
"Oh."
Megatron and Dinobot sighed with relief as the last traces of black faded from Overdose. That strangely frightening being was gone, replaced by the smiling rainbow child in front of them.
Overdose looked at the daggers in her hands with a trace of surprise. "I don't remember getting these out...oh, well." She put them back in her boots.
Rampage put a hand on her shoulder. "Overdose, are you really okay? You're kind of...out of it today." Concerned despite himself, he frowned down at the brightly-colored mop of fins on the top of her head. His view shifted to show her face as she raised her head to smile at him.
The smile faltered and died. "I...I think I had better go." She tore loose from him and backed away, down the corridor.
"What's wrong?" he called after her.
"Everything!" she yelled back at him before turning and sprinting out of sight.
Megatron came up beside him as Rampage stared after his friend. "I think you had better tell us more about Overdose."
She ran out of the base and past the startled ant guarding the door. Inferno immediately attacked the femme, but she shifted to her vehicle mode and sped away, lifting into the air. The Predacon base's computer and defenses ignored her, or rather, they didn't even notice her. Her energy signature didn't register with them at all.
Overdose glided towards her caves, and only the very edges of her fins trembled, showing her inner turmoil. Why was this happening? Why did everything she see seem like a memory? Sometimes the drugs were good, but sometimes she didn't like them!
Another memory beckoned, but she struggled to stay in the present. When it grew too strong to resist, she surrendered with a soft moan. Rampage's face leaning over her flickered in her vision, but it wasn't HIS face anymore...
* * * * *
Overdose screamed in horror and fell to her knees, dropping her bag as her hands went numb. The automatic door had no pity and continued to slide open, revealing the rest of the skeleton. The sides and bottom of the door were ripped and torn by the claws in the paws of the bones, the legacy of the starving animal's desperate attempts to get out.
"Goomba..."
She reached out with a trembling hand and brushed the top of the skull, knowing that it was dead, but unable to make herself accept it. She had hidden her hide-out too well. When she had been tricked and captured, no one had been able to find it...or Goomba. Without her there to feed the pet, it had wasted away, slowly starving to death. While Overdose had been in her prison cell, it had been dying, dead, decaying, and had left only bones to greet its now-free owner.
The shivering hand curled into a fist. One more thing a certain transformer had to pay for...
* * * * *
Overdose burst out of the water into the cave complex, liquid that hadn't all come from the ocean streaming down her face. She ran through the caves, recklessly throwing her belongs aside as she searched for one item among the hundreds. Crashes and bumps followed her as she went from cave to cave.
Finally, when she had thrown aside a lampshade, she found it. She picked it up and stumbled to the cave that had been designated her resting room, tears of long-forgotten grief forming out of the excess moisture in her body and blurring her vision. He fins rippled in drab shades of brown and gray. She collapsed into her chair, curling up around the necklace, its claws scraping her hands. Raw sounds of pain forced their way out of her throat as she held onto the last remains of Goomba and mourned its death again...
* * * * *
Depth Charge cruised the ocean, looking for Overdose. He had apologies to make, possibly trust to rebuild. He had to bring that innocence back into Overdose's eyes. It wasn't much, but it would be one step in repairing the great wrongs he had done. Of course, he would have to FIND her first...
* * * * *
Rampage scuttled along the ocean floor, seeking his friend. After Megatron had finally been convinced he really DIDN'T know more about Overdose, the tyrant had reluctantly let him go. Rampage had immediately left to go look for Overdose.
Something about how she had been acting didn't seem right, even for her. Going from the depths of killing rage to frightened confusion wasn't her normal craziness. If it was the drugs, he had to get her to a CR Tank before she was harmed. If it wasn't the drugs...he didn't know what he'd do.
Concern for someone was a completely new feeling for the crab, and only Overdose seemed to be able to bring those type of emotions out in him. Well, Overdose and one other. But Transmutate was dead...
* * * * *
*Beep!* "Protoform X detected!"
Depth Charge cursed as his computer informed him of Rampage's presence. Did he turn from his search to attempt to destroy the crab, or did he continue looking for Overdose? So far, neither mission had gotten any results. Rampage seemed to be immortal, and he hadn't even found a trace of the sea slug.
But...Rampage HAD seemed to be Overdose's friend...wouldn't he know where she was?
Depth Charge reluctantly thought over the idea and just as reluctantly turned and swam towards Rampage's location. The crab probably wouldn't help out of sympathy, but he might help out of glee at seeing his enemy humbled.
And if he didn't, well, the ray-bot could still attack him.
* * * * *
Hasbro owns the Beast Wars, but the plot and Overdose are mine. Please ask before using them.
The Ghosts of the Past
By Lady Dementia
Dementedangel@hotmail.com
* * * * *
Optimus looked over at Rhinox. "Anything?"
He glanced at the scans he was trying to run on the being in the CR Chamber. "Nothing. This, er, Bob is blocking our computer."
The Maximal leader stared at the plain gray rectangle hooked up to the Chamber. "Is there any way around it? I want to know as much as we can find out about Overdose."
Rhinox sighed. "I can try."
"Dudes, that wouldn't, like, be nice." The Maximals jumped as the rectangle spoke. "The dude, like, didn't want you, like, scanning her, dudes."
Optimus smiled a bit involuntarily at the strange computer's voice patterns. "And which dude are you talking about?" he asked jokingly.
There was a long pause. Then, "The dude. Dude, dudes...dudette!" Bob exclaimed. "The DUDETTE didn't, like, want you, like, scanning her."
"Oh." Optimus leaned down and whispered to Rhinox, "Try, anyway. We need to know more."
* * * * *
Overdose shifted inside the CR Chamber as a scanning beam passed over her. Hypersensitive sensors that shouldn't have been that sensitive in normal transformers, or just plain shouldn't have been there, picked it up, activating more systems that shouldn't have been there. Defense systems came online, but left the main systems shut down.
The crazy femme's systems scrambled information, sent out electrical pulses that mislead computers, and generally did everything they could to prevent accurate scans. They surrounded her in a haze of energies, all while she herself was safely offline.
Inside her mind, however, the defenses triggered memories as she vaguely felt them sending alerts to each other. While they fought something they identified as an enemy, she remembered...
* * * * *
"Hey, check it out," the small red transformer chuckled. He held up a small ball of fur. "This bot left his poor organic pet home while he went out for the night." The pet, a victim of the current fashion of owning an organic animal, squirmed in the red transformer's grasp.
Overdose looked up from carefully packing the absent owner's costly belongings into her pack. "It's kinda cute," she giggled. She glanced back down at her loot so far. "I think I've gotten all I can sell easily. What about you?"
Her partner, she dimly recalled his name was Streetshine, casually shrugged. "Yeah, works for me." He slowly tightened his grip on the organic as he spoke. "But before we go, I'm gonna kill this thing. I never liked the things, and I wonder what it's like to kill one..."
"Don't." Overdose straightened up.
"Why not?" He grinned and continued tightening his grip. The pet writhed and cried out in pain.
It stopped as the source of its pain disappeared. It fell as the red bot dropped to the floor limply beside it, and then gentle hands picked it up.
Swirling eyes looked down into its eyes. "I said you were cute, and I did warn him once," the owner of the multicolored eyes said mildly. "I never give more than one warning."
* * * * *
Rhinox frowned at his display. "This can't be right..."
"What?" Optimus came over and looked at the computer screen. It showed different parts, but no whole body. "What is this?"
"That's supposedly Overdose, but..." Rhinox shook his head. "Let me try again."
"Dudes, like, stop it!"
* * * * *
Overdose crept into the back of the shop through a window. She stopped suddenly as she noticed him. Somebody was doing inventory on the stock, but it wasn't Knick-Knack. A new bot? Knick-Knack wouldn't hire someone else without telling his regulars, would he?
The femme jumped, landing silently behind the unknown bot. Her arm snaked around his neck, and blades slid out of their sheathes along it, grazing the bot's neck. "Where's Knick-Knack?" she whispered into his audios.
"Who are you?" the other hissed back at her. "I'm not giving that information out to strangers!"
She considered that. It was a reasonable question. "I'm called Overdose."
The bot immediately stiffened and shivered. "N-not THE Overdose?" he asked with a noticeable tremor in his voice. Now that she thought to check, she could tell that he was fairly young. Easily scared by rumors, perhaps? Then again, the rumors had proven true, and true again...
A wicked smile settled on her face. "No one else would dare claim my name, now would they?" Not after that creep who tried to swindle someone with her name. She had taught him never to do that again...permanently. The blades along her arm dug a little into the bot's neck. "Where's Knick-Knack?" she demanded. "I need to talk to him."
"H-he's had to go away for a little while," he choked out. "He put me in charge for now."
"How can I trust you?" Overdose crooned quietly. "What proof can you give me?"
The transformer shivered again. "I d-don't have any proof. Knick-Knack said I wouldn't n-need any!" his voice rose with fear on the last words. "I was supposed to sell some stuff to certain people, that was all!"
"Hmm..." Overdose thought quickly, her chaotic mind struggling to focus on one thing. Her free hand absently traced the edges of her captive's helmet while he tried to stay still. She came to a decision. "Do you have access to Knick-Knack's poisons?"
"Yeah." The bot swallowed hard. "But I'd need at least until closing time to get at them."
"Very well." Overdose's blades slid back into her arm, and she was up the wall and through the window before the bot had time to turn. "I'll be in touch...sometime."
* * * * *
Bob considered his options and went with the one that would get the fastest results. The probes and scans the Maximals were trying to inflict on Overdose weren't harmful, their Maximal morals wouldn't allow that, but they were against the dudette's wishes. Bob couldn't allow that.
Follow the connection to the CR Chamber. Its connections led to the main computer. Follow that connection to the section of the computer the Maximal was working on. Search through the connections leading from there, find the main power feed, and... *Fzzt!*
* * * * *
Overdose lay on the floor, stroking the organic pet. The thing rolled over so she had access to its tummy, which it obviously wanted her to scratch. It had grown to like her over the passage of time as it had grown from the youngling it had been to the adult it was now.
She had named it 'Goomba' for no reason in particular. Its face was fascinating, with the vertical slit for a mouth, strangely tattered ears, wide emerald eyes, and those clumpy whisker things that sometimes covered its mouth. The rest of it resembled a Terran housecat, except for the fact it was now almost 6 times the size of one...
The femme tickled Goomba's stomach, smiling as it squirmed around under her hand in a search for the perfect spot. It occurred to her that there was something else she should be thinking of at the moment. Something in this very room? But what? She was safe in one of her hidden hide-outs. No one could find her here, not even one of those pesky officers the Predacon Secret Police kept sending after her. Especially not the most recent one, who had made the mistake of attempting to arrest her. She had fixed HIM, though! In fact, she was still--oh.
Overdose looked over her shoulder at the other side of the room, where a low table stood. A large transformer was strapped onto it. His coloration might have been a dark blue at one time, but the acid she had idly painted him with yesterday had burned the color, and most of the armored skin underneath, off. She petted Goomba one last time and stood up.
The bot watched her slowly walk towards him, and only the gag on his voice box prevented him from screaming with terror and pain. Overdose bent over him, savoring the agony he was feeling as she leaned her elbows on his corroded armor. She poked a finger into his chest.
"I have some experiments I wanted to try on a spark," she said cheerily. "Do you want to help me?"
The PSP officer shook his head frantically.
She pouted sadly. "Aw, that's too bad." Then her mood switched back to happy. "Now I'll just have to do them WITHOUT your cooperation!"
* * * * *
Rhinox slammed his hand down on the computer. "Blast!" he yelled. The computer stayed powerless. "I don't know how it happened, but the power conduit was fried!"
Optimus looked at the CR Chamber. "Is there any possibility that..."
"I don't think so," Rhinox grumbled. "She's still offline. More likely, Bob did it somehow." He studied the plain gray computer. "If we could just unhook, er, him for a little while, I could do the scans."
The Maximal leader shook his head. "Overdose wanted him there." He sighed. "I guess we'll just have to live without knowing more about her. Or maybe we could just ask her!"
* * * * *
"Hello?"
Overdose stayed in the shadows as the bot came down the alley. She had left Goomba behind for today. She was training it to fetch things for her, but this deal had to be made face to face, so it had stayed behind in her hide-out.
"Hello?" the bot called again. This was the same transformer that had taken over the shop from Knick-Knack. The word on the street was that he could be trusted, so Overdose had arranged a meeting. To her surprise, he had actually agreed to her meeting place, a small alley in the old part of the city. He must have wanted to meet her badly...
"I'm here," she said softly. The bot immediately turned to where her voice had come from, but he paused in confusion when he couldn't see her. She smiled to herself and let the colors of her surroundings go. Her normal armor patterns reappeared, giving her the appearance of melting out of the shadows. Well, with her color scheme it was more like BURSTING out of the shadows. The other transformer jumped back in surprise.
"O-Overdose!" the bot said nervously. "What a, um, pleasure to finally meet with you under, ah, more pleasant circumstances!"
She shrugged. "Whatever. Did you bring it?"
He nodded. "One vial of Knick-Knack's homemade poison." He tossed it to her when she held out her hand. She inspected it and nodded. She started to turn away. "What about my payment?" he asked more confidently.
Overdose gave him a curious look. "I'll pay the same way I always pay. If Knick-Knack didn't tell you how I pay, too bad." With that, she disappeared again, blending with the shadows.
* * * * *
The CR Chamber opened, revealing Overdose. She blinked confusedly at the waiting Maximal, her mind still half in the past.
Optimus started talking as she hesitantly walked out. "Overdose, you have to choose a faction to be in," he said firmly. He went on to explain what might happen if time was changed, and how Megatron wanted to destroy the original Optimus Prime. She just stood there through his speech, staring up at him with a blank look on her face. Even her fins were in muted colors.
* * * * *
She whipped around as the bot yelled in alarm. PSP officers were pouring down the alley towards him. They couldn't see her, but they obviously were going to arrest the shop dealer. He turned and ran, despite their calls to stop. That practically guaranteed they'd shoot to kill if he didn't surrender first.
Cursing under her breath, she snatched at him as he went past and clasped him close to herself. He started to shout again, but her slap stopped him. Her camouflaged body was blocking the PSP officers' view of him, and they slowed their pursuit of him cautiously. Exactly as she had wanted.
"Stay still," she barely breathed to the bot who was trembling in her arms. She triggered the remote for the pulley on the top of the building they were against, and the cord tied around her waist began to very slowly pull them upwards. Her armor shifted as they moved to match the building's surface. Very, very slowly...only a little more...
Overdose turned the bot around until he faced the wall, and he grabbed onto the top so he could pull himself up. Below them, a PSP officer flicked a glance upwards as he thought he heard a slight sound. From below, Overdose's camouflage didn't conceal the other bot, and the officer spotted him climbing onto the roof.
The first shots barely missed as she lunged onto the roof after him, cutting the cord around her waist as she went. She laughed with excitement as they ran to the other side of the roof and looked down. There was a straight drop where the street dropped into the lower levels of the city. They couldn't even see the bottom, only darkness. It was a long way down. No one could possibly survive it.
A scrape came from the side of the building behind them. The PSP were coming up after them!
The bot turned to her. "What now?!" he asked nervously. "Do we surrender?!" He was starting to panic.
Overdose smiled, loving the thrill of the chase and the craziness of the plan in her head. "By the Pit, no!" she said exuberantly. "Now we jump!" She shoved him off the roof and dove after him. They fell into the darkness together.
* * * * *
Overdose looked straight at the Maximal leader as he finished speaking. "And what about Rampage?" she asked sadly. "What happens to him if you win this war?"
There was an awkward silence.
"Blackarachnia was right," Overdose said. She bent to pick up Bob, disconnecting him from the CR Chamber. "I don't really belong with either faction." A drab color change went through her fins, giving her a depressed look.
"So what will you do?" Primal asked.
She seemed to consider that seriously for a moment, but then she giggled crazily, her eyes swirling with neon light. "Oh, maybe I'll join the Maximals AND the Predacons!" she told him with a loony smile. "You know, sort of a 'I'll be a Maximal by day and a Predacon by night' kind of thing. Would that work?" She looked up at him earnestly.
She actually seemed to think it might work. Optimus sighed. "Megatron wouldn't accept it," he told her. "I would...have to think about it."
"Don't hurt yourself," Overdose commented merrily. "Now, which way is the way out of here?"
* * * * *
The bot was screaming, but Overdose calmly judged distances and timing. When she felt it was right, she transformed and swooped under the falling transformer. He hit her back with a thud.
"You owe me," she said.
"Y-yeah," he said dazedly.
She silently glided into the lower levels, following the street and eventually landing on it when she felt they were far enough away. She coasted to a stop and transformed again. Overdose stretched and laughed again as the tension from the pursuit drained away.
The bot stepped away from her in disbelief. "You enjoyed that?"
"Yep." She smiled at him and then turned to walk away.
"Wait!" he yelled, chasing after her. "Thank you for helping me," he said when she turned around. "Just for that..." he held out another vial, almost identical to the one she had bought earlier. "A token of appreciation for such a pretty bot."
She eyed it warily, something about the situation ringing warning bells in her head. But...he had called her pretty. No one had ever done that before. She decided to trust the bot. After all, she had just saved his life! She reached out, ignoring her cautious instincts.
One more crazy decision. One more risk. But this time her luck ran out...
* * * * *
Overdose soared through the sky, trying to figure out where the Predacon base was. She wanted to see what the purple guy thought of her idea. She looped down through the clouds again, trying to get her bearings, and, oh, there it was! Gloom and doom kind of place, really...
She landed nearby, knowing there were autoguns and other such nasty surprises lurking in the area, but not caring. They wouldn't be able to pick her energy signature up, anyway.
Overdose willed her fins to stop mirroring her emotions, and then she crept towards the base, blending into her surroundings. There was someone marching around outside. It was the ant, Inferno, dedicated as always. She simply waited until he turned away for an instant, and then she was inside.
There was shouting coming from farther in the base, so she looked for the source. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but what about the sea slug? Her distracted mind wasn't helping her be very cautious, though.
The past was haunting her...
* * * * *
She glared through the glowing bars at the smug bot. "You betrayed me," she stated flatly. None of her normal colors were present in her eyes or armor, and the chaos of her mind was gone, replaced by cold purpose.
He flinched at her voice, some of his smugness disappearing. He regained his smirk after a moment, however. "What can I say?" he asked with a supposedly casual shrug. "I'm a good actor, and you were gullible." He acted careless around her, but she saw through the act to his nervousness.
It had been a trap, pure and simply put. "What happened to Knick-Knack?" she hissed. That was where this had begun, in the missing bot's shop.
He shrugged again. "We," by that he meant the Predacon Secret Police, "removed him and took over his operation in order to find some of the known criminals he supplied. Oh, and thank you, by the way," he added. "I was actually assigned to Goldlight's," he named a small-time killer, "case, but catching you is getting me all the right attention. I might even get a promotion!"
"How nice," she purred after a moment of staring that made him shift uncomfortably. "Enjoy your promotion while you can, then," she continued. "Because I'll make you regret being alive when I finally hunt you down. And I'll find you," she assured him with a vicious smile. "No matter how long it takes, no matter where you go."
A click from the door to the cell informed her visitor that his time was up, and he retreated towards it, backing away from her like she could kill him through the bars. Who knows? She had already gotten a couple guards that way with some concealed weapons.
Her smile grew. "Remember; you can run, but you can't run forever. You can hide, but you'll never be safe." He scrambled out the door, no longer even trying to hide his fear as she threw her head back and screamed with laughter.
"Let the hunt begin!"
* * * * *
*Ding!*
Overdose sat down right where she was, in a ventilation shaft. She didn't care if anyone found her, and the shouting coming from the area up ahead didn't seem like it would end anytime soon. Plenty of time to fill out a questionnaire and eat more drugs!
She loved the new emotions and sensations that came over her when she was dosed with something. The experimental drugs just made it better since she didn't know what would happen. An eternal guessing game, with changes in her body and mind as the consequences. Gorging on the pills just made it even more fun!
Better yet, some of the drugs made her forget. Many helped her not care about her life or the people around her. Some made the present blur with the past, or just made the present shift in different directions. She didn't care; she liked it. The future was a blur, anyway, why shouldn't the past and present be just like it? Always a surprise, her life!
* * * * *
She smirked at the femme across from her through the cell bars. The brownish transformer grinned back at her and silently counted out loud with her. At 'three', they pulled the tripwire tight, sending the pacing guard stumbling.
They laughed at his enraged yelling.
He growled at them, but sneered at the other femme in particular. "You're next, you slaggin' thief." With that, he continued with his rounds.
Overdose looked at Shadowcall sadly. "You're going?" she asked softly.
Shadowcall sighed. "Yeah." She made a face. "The judge will probably stick me with colony duty." At Overdose's puzzled look, she elaborated. "They send you out to a new colony to set everything up for the people coming after you. I suppose I could stay if I wanted." She looked thoughtful. "Yeah, that could be good. A new life, a new home," a sly grin crossed her narrow face, "people who don't KNOW I'm a thief..."
Overdose laughed with relief. "I knew you couldn't be turning goody-goody!" Her laughter died quickly. "But...I don't want to lose you." They had lived through the prison term before their trials together. They had grown close, in their own ways.
Shadowcall shrugged. "Well, I don't know any real way to keep in touch. It'd be ultra gear if you could come see me, but being prison-buddies probably wouldn't put you in good standing with those innocent little colonists--"
"Hey!" Overdose interrupted. "How about being sisters?"
"Huh?"
"You know," she said impatiently. "It's one of those organic customs, where two femmes who are really close team up, or something like that." She blinked. "Um, yeah, something like that."
"Oh." Shadowcall considered that. "That sounds good. Sisters it is!" A clang came from the end of the prison block, and the femme stared down the corridor at the guards marching towards them. "Well, I guess I have to leave."
The guards reached her cell, and she let her hands be bound. Two guards took her by the elbows, and they started on Shadowcall's journey to court.
"Send me a postcard!" Overdose yelled after her.
* * * * *
Overdose poked her head into the room where Rampage and Megatron were arguing and grinned.
"She's uncontrollable!" Rampage was shouting.
Megatron threw his throne around until he was above him and glared down at the crab. "You had better START controlling her, yesss, or I'll be forced to destroy her!"
"That's not very nice," Overdose commented. She smiled when they both whirled to face her, their faces slack with shock. Her vision was starting to haze around the edges, but she didn't let that bother her as she bounced into the room. "I'm not uncontrollable, Rampage," she said cheerfully. "I'm crazy!"
"Um, right."
Megatron shook himself out of his stunned silence. "How did you get into the base without setting off the perimeter alarms?" he demanded to know.
"Don't ask," Rampage said quickly.
Megatron scowled. "I don't appreciate you contradicting me, nooo." He slammed his hand down on his throne. "Dinobot! Report to me at once!" Rampage snarled at him.
Overdose stuck her hand in the air and waved it. "I've got a question!" she said earnestly. She waved her arm around, ignoring the strange fuzziness that was invading her vision. Flashes of...memories?... were in that mist, and it was slowly taking over her sight...
Megatron sighed. "Yes?"
"Could I be a Predacon at night and a Maximal during the day?" she asked with a proud smile. "Then you guys wouldn't have to fight over me! Optimus already said he'd think about it, so what do you say? And what about you, Rampage? Wouldn't that be neat?" Only a small area was still in focus, now. The rest was in a fog, but the edges of the fog were clearing now. But...that wasn't THIS room, was it?
"Uh..." Megatron was shocked again, but he had a canny mind. "Perhaps if you brought something to...earn...your way into the Predacons," he said slowly, hoping that she would take the hint. If Overdose would bring him Maximal secrets, or even, just possibly, a captured Maximal, she would be welcome in his faction, craziness or not!
"Oh. Okay." She blinked, but when she opened her eyes, Megatron wasn't there anymore. Neither was Rampage. Only the mist, with the clear image of another room filling her eyes...
Dinobot stormed into the room and up to Megatron. "Yes?" Megatron smiled viscously. "If you would be so kind as to teach Rampage a lesson?"
The last traces of fog disappeared, and the three figures in the room came into focus for Overdose. Or at least partially into focus, since the single lamp over their heads didn't show her much from where she stood in the light.
She shrieked in anger.
* * * * *
Three red transformers, shrouded in mystery and danger. The notorious Tripedicus Council, in whose secret prison Overdose had been confined until now.
"You could be of great use to us," one of them said to her. "Just pledge your loyalty."
"Vow to serve us against the Maximals," another said.
"No, I don't wanna," she giggled. "You look so funny!"
The last transformer snorted in disgust. "Take this freak away, to the labs," he ordered the guards. He looked at her again. "We will control you, with or without your consent."
"No." Colors ran like water from her armor and eyes, draining away to leave only blackness. Petty things like emotions left with the colors, revealing the insanely cold killer underneath.
The Tripedicus Council didn't notice. "Bring out the next--"
"I said: no."
Only now did they turn towards her again as she launched herself at them, calculating as she moved how to strike to kill and maim. The bonds around her wrists separated as her metallic skin electrified, shorting them out. Guards poured into the room between the Council and her, and she snarled in crazed fury that only aided in her fighting.
She howled in rage and joy, sorrow and celebration, as what lived beneath her surface looniness reared her deadly head...
* * * * *
Dinobot was distracted from Megatron's order as a scream of anger came from the colorful femme standing along one side of the room. Or rather, the once-colorful femme. Pure, dull black had replaced the multicolored swirls and patterns.
Rampage gasped and drew back from the other two Predacons. "Overdose...don't..." he said in a strangled voice. He wasn't afraid, but he wasn't stupid, either. After all, he didn't REALLY know if he was immortal...
The femme reached down to her flame-colored boots and drew two daggers, one a long, slim stiletto, the other shorter and jagged, made for ripping. A strangely calm look was on her face. No, more of a dead look, like the crazy personality that had been present in Overdose so far had bled out of her.
It scared Megatron. No one he had ever encountered had looked like that. Except for her scream of fury, she seemed...empty. Even Rampage showed some emotion while fighting, but Overdose--she looked like she could rip him open without a thought or a reason. Dinobot's thoughts weren't far behind his, and they both edged back from the femme, following Rampage's example unconsciously.
The fear on their faces registered in Overdose's mind, triggering another memory that replaced the one before. She lowered her knives, a brief flash of confusion crossing her face as she found herself in a different place...
* * * * *
The cell she was thrown in was crowded, like most of the others in the prison. It was a maximum-security prison, so the prisoners couldn't be moved to a new building without it taking a long time to check the security measures and such. And so, the prisoners were crammed into the cells.
The people in this cell were particularly nasty-looking: an organic being, green, with ragged red scars on three of its four arms; a hulking blue-and-yellow transformer with shifty optics; a small, thin femme openly wearing an energon blade, even in the prison. Overdose smiled at them all through the pleasant haze the sedatives had put her in. They exchanged a look between themselves and advanced in a coordinated movement to surround her. They were obviously up to no good.
Then again, neither was Overdose.
Despite the sedatives, she was still quicker than the others. She dodged to one side as the other femme lunged at her, slashing with her blade. Her hand struck the flat of the blade, turning it to strike the organic before the femme could react. The organic yelped and slid to the ground, a deep vertical slash from the knife bleeding its life out onto the cell floor. Overdose ignored that, instead swinging her hand down to the small of her own back, where she withdrew something from a small subspace pocket.
When the other femme recovered her balance, she found herself facing the corner where Overdose had put her back to the wall in a precaution against the blue-and-yellow 'bot. He paced in front of her warily, watching this unexpectedly experienced transformer calmly work on something circular in her hand. Overdose looked up as the femme joined her cellmate, and a gently loony smile accompanied her underhand toss.
The femme caught the thing she threw and didn't move. Neither did her cellmate. The blue energy field from the item had them paralyzed. Overdose giggled and moved closer, and their faces showed fear...
* * * * *
Overdose?" Rampage cautiously stepped closer to the femme. The black of her armor was broken up by the slow swirls of color curling through it, and he took that as a good sign. The fact that she was lowering her weapons was an even better one. "Are you okay?"
Her head turned until she was looking straight at him instead of Dinobot and Megatron. The frantic motion of the colors in her eyes told him she was completely confused.
Overdose turned towards the 'bot who had called her name, and her world reeled again. "Goomba-boy?" she asked uncertainly. Wide emerald eyes, a vertical mouth, and ragged ears...and no fear on his face. The resemblance to her pet was stunning.
Rampage stopped short. "You haven't called me that in a long time."
"What are you talking about? I haven't known you that long!" she protested. Another room. A prison cell? Yes, a prison cell. She had just met him...
* * * * *
"You might as well sit down," she told the 'bot standing up against the opposite wall. "I won't bite." She waited until he sat on the bottom bunk underneath her before adding, "For now."
There was a startled rustle, and then he spoke. "What are you in for?"
Overdose hung her head over the edge of the top bunk and looked down at him. "Guess." She tilted her head to one side as she studied him. "You don't fear me," she said thoughtfully.
"So?" he asked gruffly. "You don't fear me, either!" From the way he said it, he didn't seem to like the idea that she didn't fear him.
"Why should I?" she asked quietly.
He sputtered. "I'm a mass murderer!" he finally got out. "I've killed hundreds and enjoyed it!"
"Big deal. I've done that before, and it wasn't that fun after a while." He gave her a surprised look, and she returned it with an amused one. "I figured out that torturing one person at a time provides SO much more entertainment." That made him look uneasy...
A guard banged on the cell door. "You had better behave, Overdose!" he yelled at her. With that, he took up a position next to the door. He must have been a rookie guard, because he stood in the exact textbook position recommended by his training.
She eyed the distance between the guard and the bars. Unfortunately for the guard, he had taken up a position that was within her arm-reach...
"That's really your name?"
She reflexively nodded, still planning. "At least that's what I remember my name being," she added, her attention wandering back to her cellmate. She sized him up thoughtfully. "My memory isn't so great. What's yours, Goomba-boy?"
"X." He openly studied her. "So...you like torture."
"Yep." Overdose looked between the cell door and her cellmate. "Speaking of which..." she jerked her head towards the guard. "Want to have some fun, Goomba-boy?"
He laughed softly. "Oh, yes. And my name is X."
"Goomba-boy."
"X."
"Goomba-boy."
* * * * *
Rampage blinked. "Overdose, you've known me since prison."
"I...I have?" Overdose held a hand to her forehead, barely missing her eyes with the dagger. "But how did we get here?" Her voice was soft with confusion and uncertainty.
"The drug program, remember?" Rampage prompted her.
Overdose shook her head violently, trying to remember. When she looked up, Rampage had moved and the room had changed again...
* * * * *
"You're not actually going to sign that thing, are you?" X slipped the datapad with the 'Happy Matrix Drug Co.' insignia on it out from under Overdose's hand. He read over the contract and frowned. "You'd never be able to kill anyone!"
"I know," Overdose sighed. "But I'd be out of here," she gestured around the prison cell, "and back out there." She snagged the datapad out of his hand and read it over again. "Really, though, I'd like the drug testing." She considered for a moment more, and then she decided. "I don't always kill my victims," she mentioned absently as she signed the contract.
X nodded. "But--"
"Besides, I have business outside this place," she interrupted. Her armor briefly dulled to black, but she shook that off. "Old business."
* * * * *
"Oh."
Megatron and Dinobot sighed with relief as the last traces of black faded from Overdose. That strangely frightening being was gone, replaced by the smiling rainbow child in front of them.
Overdose looked at the daggers in her hands with a trace of surprise. "I don't remember getting these out...oh, well." She put them back in her boots.
Rampage put a hand on her shoulder. "Overdose, are you really okay? You're kind of...out of it today." Concerned despite himself, he frowned down at the brightly-colored mop of fins on the top of her head. His view shifted to show her face as she raised her head to smile at him.
The smile faltered and died. "I...I think I had better go." She tore loose from him and backed away, down the corridor.
"What's wrong?" he called after her.
"Everything!" she yelled back at him before turning and sprinting out of sight.
Megatron came up beside him as Rampage stared after his friend. "I think you had better tell us more about Overdose."
She ran out of the base and past the startled ant guarding the door. Inferno immediately attacked the femme, but she shifted to her vehicle mode and sped away, lifting into the air. The Predacon base's computer and defenses ignored her, or rather, they didn't even notice her. Her energy signature didn't register with them at all.
Overdose glided towards her caves, and only the very edges of her fins trembled, showing her inner turmoil. Why was this happening? Why did everything she see seem like a memory? Sometimes the drugs were good, but sometimes she didn't like them!
Another memory beckoned, but she struggled to stay in the present. When it grew too strong to resist, she surrendered with a soft moan. Rampage's face leaning over her flickered in her vision, but it wasn't HIS face anymore...
* * * * *
Overdose screamed in horror and fell to her knees, dropping her bag as her hands went numb. The automatic door had no pity and continued to slide open, revealing the rest of the skeleton. The sides and bottom of the door were ripped and torn by the claws in the paws of the bones, the legacy of the starving animal's desperate attempts to get out.
"Goomba..."
She reached out with a trembling hand and brushed the top of the skull, knowing that it was dead, but unable to make herself accept it. She had hidden her hide-out too well. When she had been tricked and captured, no one had been able to find it...or Goomba. Without her there to feed the pet, it had wasted away, slowly starving to death. While Overdose had been in her prison cell, it had been dying, dead, decaying, and had left only bones to greet its now-free owner.
The shivering hand curled into a fist. One more thing a certain transformer had to pay for...
* * * * *
Overdose burst out of the water into the cave complex, liquid that hadn't all come from the ocean streaming down her face. She ran through the caves, recklessly throwing her belongs aside as she searched for one item among the hundreds. Crashes and bumps followed her as she went from cave to cave.
Finally, when she had thrown aside a lampshade, she found it. She picked it up and stumbled to the cave that had been designated her resting room, tears of long-forgotten grief forming out of the excess moisture in her body and blurring her vision. He fins rippled in drab shades of brown and gray. She collapsed into her chair, curling up around the necklace, its claws scraping her hands. Raw sounds of pain forced their way out of her throat as she held onto the last remains of Goomba and mourned its death again...
* * * * *
Depth Charge cruised the ocean, looking for Overdose. He had apologies to make, possibly trust to rebuild. He had to bring that innocence back into Overdose's eyes. It wasn't much, but it would be one step in repairing the great wrongs he had done. Of course, he would have to FIND her first...
* * * * *
Rampage scuttled along the ocean floor, seeking his friend. After Megatron had finally been convinced he really DIDN'T know more about Overdose, the tyrant had reluctantly let him go. Rampage had immediately left to go look for Overdose.
Something about how she had been acting didn't seem right, even for her. Going from the depths of killing rage to frightened confusion wasn't her normal craziness. If it was the drugs, he had to get her to a CR Tank before she was harmed. If it wasn't the drugs...he didn't know what he'd do.
Concern for someone was a completely new feeling for the crab, and only Overdose seemed to be able to bring those type of emotions out in him. Well, Overdose and one other. But Transmutate was dead...
* * * * *
*Beep!* "Protoform X detected!"
Depth Charge cursed as his computer informed him of Rampage's presence. Did he turn from his search to attempt to destroy the crab, or did he continue looking for Overdose? So far, neither mission had gotten any results. Rampage seemed to be immortal, and he hadn't even found a trace of the sea slug.
But...Rampage HAD seemed to be Overdose's friend...wouldn't he know where she was?
Depth Charge reluctantly thought over the idea and just as reluctantly turned and swam towards Rampage's location. The crab probably wouldn't help out of sympathy, but he might help out of glee at seeing his enemy humbled.
And if he didn't, well, the ray-bot could still attack him.
* * * * *