by Birgit Staebler
Sparks had her day off. Well, not in the sense of the
word since she wasn't really working. Then again, it was hard work she
did every day, mainly hanging around Megatron and trying to a) even out
his temper and b) not to get hit by his fusion canon discharge. He was
getting better concerning the temper but he seemed to consider shooting
her a hobby of his. And Sparks considered bugging him one of hers.
Today she had decided that she could leave Megatron out
of her sight for a few hours, mainly because Sphere had taken over the
Megatron-sitter duties, going through some stuff with him. The cat grinned.
Well, yeah....
Sparks took the scenic route around West Central, looking
for something to do. Everything around her was slightly hectic -- as always
-- and people were coming and going. No one got in her way as she casually
sneaked around the complex, looking into the labs, quarters and everything
else. Being a small, black cat had its advantages. Large robots ignored
her because she was so small and humans tended to give her just a look,
then went back to their own work. Sparks wondered why no one asked where
this cat had come from, but then again: why bother? And she was pretty
well know as well, even though she didn't bear any symbol and was not the
usual run-of-the-mill robot. She could roam around freely and that was
what counted. Currently she had set up her observation point in a lab,
which she had entered together with Perceptor, who had completely ignored
or not even noticed her. She had jumped onto a monitor station and gave
the room a closer optic. It looked like every lab she knew, though she
had never spent much time here. The longest time had been when she had
her transformation circuits installed, which, to be completely honest,
she didn't use that often. She loved her cat form and it was far more agile
than her bipedal mode, even though she was extremely agile still.
Suddenly a small box aroused her interest. She jumped
down from the monitor and snuck over, inspecting it. The box was sealed
shut and marked as 'lab material/section VI'.
"Hello, Sparks," a voice said and she looked up.
"Hi, Tas."
Catastrophe smiled. "What are you doing here?" She set
down another box, equally sealed.
Sparks shrugged. "Snooping around?" she answered with
a grin.
Tas laughed. "You're good at that, I know. "
"What is that stuff?"
Catastrophe opened one of the sealed boxes. "That's what
we found in one of the underground bases. We need to sort through, examine
and catalogue it. "
Sparks, her curiosity peaked, looked into the box. Underground
bases always held some interesting stuff. The first item she saw
looked like a molten remote control, covered in dust. Everything was covered
in fine, yellowish-brown dust. She sneezed. Oh, great! This stuff was really
good for the oxygen intakes.
Catastrophe took out the items and placed them on the
desk. "Bless you."
Sparks hopped down. "Have fun. I rather look at moving
stuff." She grinned.
"Why? We got mice here?" Tas joked.
Sparks chuckled. "Not any more." With that she left.
*
Catastrophe was busy for the next hours, cataloging the
dozens of small things recovered from the underground base. There were
boxes stacked up to the ceiling and she knew she had her work cut out for
her for the next weeks. Cleaning her hand of the stubbornly clinging dust
she walked over to the scanners. Suddenly one of the scanners lit up. Tas
frowned and took it in her hand. It began to squeal, readings scrolling
over the tiny screen.
"What's that?" she muttered.
* * *
Sparks didn't feel well. She wasn't low on energon, she
hadn't hurt herself and she had rested enough. But still..... she felt
a bit nauseous and her senses were suddenly playing havoc on her. She had
heightened senses compared to a normal Cybertronian, her animal side giving
her certain advantages. Now this animal side was roaring inside her, driving
her 'civilized' side further and further away. She battled the sudden desire
to go out and hunt for food.
What was happening to her?!
Someone stepped into the room. "So there you are!"
Sparks whirled around and hissed, her fur rising, the
optics flaring. She didn't see very clearly, just something silver and
big and when a hand reached for her, her talons lashed out. The large shape
gave an exclamation of pain and surprise. Sparks jumped off her resting
place and ran out of the room, her animal instincts driving her.
Megatron blinked. "What brought that on?" he muttered.
He and Sparks had had their encounters, but that was
.... surprising.
"Something the matter?"
He turned and looked at Sphere, who seemed slightly disturbed.
"The matter with what?" Megatron didn't like discussing his relationship
with Sparks, mainly because he outright denied he had any friendly feelings
for her.
"Sparks. Small, black and mouthy cat. You know her."
Sphere smiled.
"Nothing."
"Nothing? I'd call it something. She just ran down the
corridor and nearly clawed at two passers-by because they were in her way!
I saw her just before she jumped into the ventilation system and she somehow
looked .... not normal."
"She never was normal," Megatron dismissed her. "She's
a nuisance."
Sphere set down a stack of files. "And you find nothing
abnormal about her in any way?" She pointed at the deep scratches on his
hand.
Megatron regarded the injury. "No," he then decided with
as growl. "But when I get my hands on her, her skin will decorate the next
wall!" With that he sat down and switched on the computer.
Sphere sighed and shook her head. She knew she wasn't
getting anywhere and should ignore it for now. She didn't take any of Megatron's
threats towards the small cat seriously. She had seen how Sparks reacted
to Megatron and how he reacted as well. They snapped a lot at each other
and Megatron was constantly glowering at her, but there was fondness there,
something neither of the two would ever confess. Beside the constant bickering,
there was a mutual friendship. Now something was the matter with Sparks,
but what?
* * *
Sparks felt weird. For a moment she felt like a wild cat,
out to hunt and prowl and kill.... and the next she was a bewildered fur-covered
robot, trying to remember what she was doing here, how she had gotten to
this particular room and why she had metal skin between her talons. And
then her mind blurred again and her basic instincts took over.
This time there was no coming back again.
This time the wild side stayed.....
* * *
The next few days gave a first hint as to what might be
wrong. Sparks was seen sneaking around, hunting small droids cleaning the
corridors, hissing and clawing at those coming too close. Everyone was
making a wide detour when it came to a confrontation and Megatron was slowly
but surely getting annoyed, especially since Sparks was always associated
with him.
But the worst problem surfaced three days after the first
signs of a different behavior. Catastrophe entered the Decepticon leader's
office, her face a grave mask of worry.
"We have a problem," she said without preamble.
Megatron's optics narrowed imperceptibly.
"Do you know where Sparks is?"
"Follow the cursing and shouting and take a shield along,"
he answered unkindly.
Catastrophe smiled humorlessly. "I know what brought
on the change."
Megatron grimaced. "What change?"
"Megatron, Sparks has been infected with a virus -- and
if we can't remove it, it will kill her," Tas said, ignoring his remark.
"A virus? How?" Suddenly he was very attentive.
"We got some boxes from the exploration teams back at
the lab and I opened one while she was around. The items were covered with
a fine dust. We checked the dust for viral strains before and found none.
Looks like this was not a complete read-out. We discovered this by accident
when I came in contact with one of the modified scanners while some of
the dust from the base was clinging to my hands. We ran another check with
a different setting, including information on viral strains of the old
days found in the data banks. All the strains are totally harmless to us
because we have updated our anti-virus programs after the incident with
Springer, but not Sparks."
"Her data bank was updated as well," Megatron reminded
her.
"Yes, but we forgot one important thing: she is a pet."
He frowned. He knew Sparks' body was that of a pet, but
he tended to ignore it because her personality side made up for this deficiency.
Sparks had been born as a pet, a form of robot that hadn't existed since
the old days, before the war when peace had reigned. The old Cybertronians
had created those robots for their own amusement, giving them a mediocre
intelligence, animal instincts and bonding them to their owner for obedience.
Well, something had activated the old machinery that had produced these
pets and Ralyk, in a moment of humor, had supplied the newly created body
with a personality core -- Sparks. She was a pet cat with an attitude.
And Megatron had been the unlucky person to get accidentally scanned and
bonded to her.
"What does that have to do with it?" he now wanted to
know.
"Have you ever wondered why there are no more pets around?"
Tas asked in return.
"They were useless in the war."
She shook her head. "No. The warriors had no use for
them, true, but the non-combatant population would have. The reason is
not any war or scientific decision, it was a virus. The very same virus
Sparks is now infected with. I don't know where it came from but it hit
the pet population hard and exterminated them before an anti-virus was
found."
"So there is an anti-virus?"
Tas nodded. "It was developed and then stored away. No
more pets were produced and the war was about to break out full scale anyway.
The old Cybertronians were too afraid that something might happen to their
pets again. Silly but true."
Megatron frowned again, worry flickering over his optics.
"So these personality changes are signs of the infection....."
"No, not really. Sparks should be lying half-dead on
the floor and burn up from the inside, but I think because she is kind
of a hybrid and because the virus is so old, the sickness is different.
I think her cat side, the animal, and her personality, the civilized Sparks,
have been separated. She is nothing but a wild cat now -- but she is still
dying."
Megatron regarded the female in front of him, then nodded.
"What now?"
"Easy. We need to find and get her to the lab."
His smile was downright nasty. "And you call that easy?"
She mirrored the smile. "Yes." Then she sobered. "The
hard part will be to give her a chance to survive."
* * *
Wondering what had made him volunteer for this crazy job,
Megatron opened the door to his office, the place he expected to find the
cat. He looked cautiously around, not taking any chances. He knew Sparks
and he vividly remembered their very first meeting, which had left him
with several scratch marks in his face. His armor had been improved with
a harder layer by First Aid for this 'mission', something that wouldn't
last because of the unstable molecular structure but which might serve
its purpose now.
The room was empty.
Megatron slowly walked inside. Nothing happened. Maybe
he had been wrong. He relaxed.
Sparks dropped on his head.
It had been a long day and she had been chased
down long corridors and kicked at. She wasn't in a very good mood.
Sparks raked her claws over where the audio sensors sat
and was rewarded with nothing but a metallic scraping noise.
No screams.
No enraged yelling.
No cursing.
"Stop that."
Sparks blinked. She was intrigued. All the others
who had come into her way had either yelled, kicked or shot at her when
she had introduced them to her claws as they tried to catch her.
She leaned down carefully.
From Megatron's point of view an upside down cat
face lowered itself slowly into his field of vision, wearing an expression
of intrigued interest.
"How about you get down from there?" he asked neutrally.
Sparks increased her grip.
The Decepticon leader stood still, wondering whether
to lose his temper now or later. His optics held a different expression
already, their red fire heating up considerably, coming close to furnace
level but still way off from super nova stage.
He was often angry. He considered it one of his
strong points. Genuine anger was a great creative force -- coupled with
a fusion cannon it was even more creative -- if guided by a calm mind.
But you had to know how to control it. That didn't mean you let it trickle
away; you only dammed it till the right moment arose.
This was clearly not the right moment.
Megatron turned and walked back out of the office
into the corridor.
He made his way down the corridor, his face expressionless,
his optics still glowing. His strides were measured, his back ramrod straight.
He walked out into the yard, around the newly erected com tower and into
the med bay complex, ignoring the two robots he passed. One was an Autobot,
one a Decepticon.
"Megatron just went past with a cat on his head,"
the Autobot remarked after a minute or two's reflection.
The Decepticon nodded, an equally reflective look
on his face. "I know that cat."
"Uh-huh."
"'twas her."
"Definitely."
They looked at each other.
"Well?" the Autobot asked.
"Well what?"
"Uh, nothin'."
They continued on their way.
"It's a rotten job," the Decepticon said almost
to himself.
"And he does it with such dignity," the Autobot
agreed.
*
The next problem Megatron faced was rather simple, but
it still required tactic, logic and a cool head, the last of which he was
slowly losing due to a certain Pest sitting on it. And that was the problem.
Sparks wouldn't let go..... Catastrophe looked at him, valiantly trying
not to laugh while First Aid was scanning the Nuisance.
"She is in the last stage. The virus has nearly erased
all connections between her two sides. We need to work fast. Could you
get her on the table, please?"
Megatron didn't know whether or not First Aid was mocking
him because the medic had his usual expressionless face. He could be as
bad as Soundwave.
"If I knew how, I would have removed this flea bag immediately!"
he growled.
First Aid gave the situation due consideration, then
looked at Catastrophe. The Autobot shrugged. She smiled at Sparks, who
was casting suspicious glances at everything but didn't feel inclined to
let go of her new friend.
"Hello Sparks."
Sparks regarded her.
"Be a good cat, Sparks, and let go of Megatron's head,"
Tas went on, voice sweet.
Sparks groaned silently. Being called a good cat! It
was horrific! She glared at Tas. Tas smiled back.
"Kitty, I don't think staying up there is your dream
come true....."
Kitty! Sparks shivered.
"You can play a lot better with your new friend if you
come down."
Sparks sighed. The stranger had a point there. She looked
at the glowing red optics and experimentally removed one pawful of sharp
talon, placing it on the optic. She felt her new friend creak ominously
and the glow in the other optics increased.
"Calmness," Tas said softly.
Megatron glared with one uncovered optic.
Sparks searched for a good place to jump onto and finally
decided that the squarish thingy with the blinking lights looked just fine.
She looked up at her new friend and smiled her cat-smile. One of the other
robots pointed something at her and she wrinkled her nose.
"We need to inject the anti-virus directly into the core,"
First Aid said calmly. "I don't want to stun her because it might do more
damage than it helps ..."
"Good!" Megatron hissed under his breath.
".... so someone has to calm her down," First Aid went
on, looking pointedly at the Decepticon leader.
"Find someone else!"
Catastrophe sighed. "She likes you, Megatron, and we
don't have the time to run around and catch her again!"
"But I don't like her!" he snapped.
She tilted her head. Megatron fumed silently. He knew
that if he now said 'no' he'd never hear the end of it. And if Sparks died
because of this, it would most likely be turned and twisted until it was
clearly his fault. Here he had a way to get rid of the fuzz ball and everyone
was working against him!
Megatron reached for the cat and got a playful pawful
of sharp claws. He fought down his rising temper and grabbed the little
furball by the scruff of her neck. Sparks swiped at him again and meowed.
"What now?" he growled.
"Just keep her occupied," First Aid said as he prepared
what seemed to be a hypodermic. "You're doing fine."
Sparks reached up with both front paws, sank her talons
into his skin and then did the same with her hind legs. She was now clinging
to his forearm and when he let go of her neck, the bit his finger in a
friendly way.
Megatron was about to fling her away when First Aid placed
the rather blunt end of the medical instrument on Spark's back and pushed
a button. There was a small beep and a loud screech from Sparks as something
was injected into her, sinking deep into her body and releasing the anti-virus.
She dropped off Megatron's arm and dizzily tried to run away. She staggered,
stumbled over her own paws and fell flat on her stomach. A pitiful meow
escaped her and the world was suddenly turning into a long tunnel with
no light.
First Aid carefully picked up the half-unconscious cat
and placed her onto the examination table. He ran a scan.
"The anti-virus is working. It's taking up all her energon
reserves and she needs a while to get well again." He looked at Megatron.
"Thank you for your help."
Megatron growled something under his breath, then turned
on his heels and left. Catastrophe and First Aid exchanged a look.
"You could have injected her while she was on his head,
you know," Tas remarked casually.
First Aid seemed to smile, a flash of his visor really.
"Yes, but it wouldn't have been as much fun then, would it?"
Tas laughed. "True! So, she is going to be completely
well again?"
The medic nodded. "We found her just in time. All she
needs is rest and energon."
"I think we can give her that."
* * *
Sparks felt terrible. Her body ached, her mind was a fuzzy
mess and sometimes whole hours passed by her in a flash while she was slipping
from sleep into naps into deep sleep again. From time to time she was aware
of a presence with her, someone talking, someone brushing a hand over her
fur. Once she thought she was being carried somewhere and when she woke
next she was in a familiar room. Her first really conscious impression
was of a bluish-white body and a soft voice. She blinked and finally recognized
Sphere.
"Hi," the Key said and smiled.
Sparks smiled back though it was nothing but a weak grimace.
"How are you?"
"I feel terrible," the cat confessed. "What happened?"
"You were sick."
"Sick?"
Sphere nodded. "You contracted a virus and it split your
personality between the animal and the person."
"Oh." Sparks wrinkled her forehead and tried to remember.
Nothing surfaced.
"Catastrophe found a cure and you are out of danger,"
Sphere went on. "You've been recovering for the last four days."
"Four days!" Sparks exclaimed. "But...." She checked
her internal chronometer which was pretty messed up and she gave up.
Sphere leaned forward. "And Megatron has been pretty
worried about you, but don't mention that I said that." She smiled.
Sparks blinked. "Worried? I think you misread something
there, Sphere. He was probably so cheerful that he turned into a manic-depressive."
The Key chuckled. "No, I think I read him right. It was
his idea to take you out of med bay and let you recover her."
"Probably after you kicked him into it and he found that
having a stuffed animal around helps cheer up this hole of an office,"
the cat muttered.
Sphere grinned. "Well, I kicked him a bit, but he decided
all on his own. He was in the worst mood since I know him the whole time.
Sparks, seriously, he was very worried."
Two pairs of green optics met.
"Oh," Sparks mumbled again. She tried to rise and her
legs trembled.
"Take it easy. You shouldn't strain your systems too
much right now. The virus did some pretty heavy stuff to your circuits."
Sparks lay down again and made a 'hmpf'-noise.
"I have doorway shift in a moment, so I'll be back later,"
Sphere went on and walked to the door. "Promise not to exert yourself."
Sparks mumbled something that sounded like a positive
answer. When the door had closed she added, "Did you tell the old wossname
that?"
"Did she tell me what?" a harsh voice asked.
Sparks looked up and blinked. Megatron was here? She
had to get her sensors back into working order! She was totally blind as
it seemed! The Decepticon walked out of his personal quarters. Maybe he
had been in recharge, Sparks mused. That might be an explanation.
"I wasn't talking about you," she said and curled up
again.
Megatron looked down at the fur ball on his desk. "Of
course not," he then said sweetly.
Sparks opened an eye and looked at him again. "What do
you want?"
"Work. And you are in the way." He sat down and pointedly
shoved her curled-up form to the edge of the desk.
Sparks gave an almost inaudible hiss of annoyance. "I'm
recuperating here!"
"Recuperate somewhere else! Preferably in the waste disposal
unit!"
"Cats are lucky charms," the cat told him. "Might want
to remember that before you kick me off the desk." Her optics began to
sparkle. "And don't say I didn't bring you luck."
"You brought me nothing but trouble! Either you move
or I'm gonna blast you off the desk," Megatron snarled.
The cat shrugged. "You'll never hit me. I'm too fast
for you." Her tail moved lazily. She knew she was no match for him in her
current condition but this was much too much fun to let slip by. "And it
will only result in more holes in your office wall."
He glowered.
She smiled. "Why don't you be a good pet owner and play
with me?" she then teased. "Oh, we could play chase down the corridor."
"We could also play pick the cat off the wall," Megatron
hissed back.
"Duh! Old game. No fun anymore."
He stared at her once more then decided to ignore her.
Sparks felt better by a mile and watched him go through his daily work
load from her precarious position by the desk's edge. A few more days of
rest and she'd be back to her old self -- and quite able to take these
games back to normal as well where Megatron tried to blast her and ruined
his office.
She was already looking forward to it.