TYGER TYGER

Chapter 2- The Encounter

Disclaimer: I don't own any incarnation of any Transformers.

She had barely shut off when an alarm sounded. She was rudely roused by the sound of the computer's detection system. She lifted from her web, hanging from the stalactites of the mine, and lowered herself down to the monitor. Megatron sat at his usual place before the controls, flanked by Blitzwing and Lugnut. She noticed out of the corner of her upper eye that Sumdac was also watching this transpire.

Flipping to an upright position, Blackarachnia walked up between Blitzwing and Megatron to look at the monitor. She saw the image of a ship on the screen. "New arrival?" she asked.

"This image was captured by one of Blitzwing's orbital scanners a nano-click ago," replied Megatron. "It landed somewhere in the city."

"Looks like an Autobot Space Jumper," she replied. "Single-bot vehicle, usually for short range scouting missions. Looks like it was modified for long-range space travel."

"Thank-you for that impressive display of knowledge of Autobot Spacecraft Blackarachnia," said Blizwing(Intellect). "But could you explain to me…" (Gung-ho) "…WHY DA SLAG SHOULD WE CARE?!"

"Because, Three-face," she replied, "That ship could be carrying a Cybertron Elite Guard operative sent to help the Autobots find our base. If they sent an expert in energy scrambling, our Decepticon signal scramblers will be worthless."

Blitzwing (I) simply replied, "Oh…"

Megatron turned and stood. "Blitzwing, Lugnut, find the Autobot and discover his purpose. Blackarachnia and I will look for the ship and make sure that he doesn't leave this planet."

"Roger!" The three Decepticons replied.

The four villainous mecha made for the exit of the cave. As they made to leave, they passed the chamber where the Constructicons were building the Space Bridge Prototype. As Blackarachnia passed, Mix nudged Scrapper and the two crude bots began making catcalls at the femme.

"Hey legs!" called Mix. "How's about spending some time with a real bot."

"Yeah," called Scrapper. "Duh… what he said… uh… hotty."

They made several more unusual propositions.

Blackarachnia just rolled her optics. "Men."

Ratchet looked at the image on the screen in disbelief. He looked at the image of the white ship and was unsure what to think. Optimus Prime stood at his side and also watched the small ship in interest.

"What do you think Ratchet?" The young leader asked the med-bot.

"Well," The older bot droned. "If it is the real deal and Ultra Magnus sent us a some back-up, it must be pretty important because we didn't get any calls about it."

"Or, it could be a hijacked ship piloted by a Decepticon spy," Replied Optimus.

Ratched shrugged. "There's that possibility."

"Any idea where it landed?"

Ratchet typed in some calculations and the computer displayed the results. "Definitely in the city. Looks like either in or near the juckyard." He got up from his seat. "I'll go and ask Wreck-gar if he's seen anything. I'll call back when I get a result."

"Very good."

Suddenly, Bumblebee ran into the room. "Guys, you got to see this!"

The Autobots ran into the TV room to join Sari, Bulkhead and Prowl. They all watched the newsbot on the screen giving a report. "I am live at the scene down town, as a wild beast—possibly an escapee of the zoo—has been seen prowling about the streets. It is advised that all citizens avoid the area of…" the newsbot was then abruptly tackled down by a white blur, an loud roar accompanying the attack. The screen then suddenly flashed to and image of a worker bot under the caption "Experiencing Technical Difficulties".

Bumblebee was the first to speak, "Well, that's the most fun I ever had watching TV."

Prime sighed in strain. "Can't be helped. Ratchet, go see Wreck-Gar."

Ratchet nodded and transformed into ambulance mode and drove off.

Optimus then turned to Prowl. "Prowl, since you have a way of animals, I want you to try to reign in… whatever it is tearing up downtown."

Prowl nodded in agreement.

"Can I go too?" asked Bumblebee. "I could help."

"I do not see how," Prowl replied.

"Well, uh…" Bumblebee paused as he tried to think of what he could do. "I could… um… be crowd control! Yeah, that."

"It might be smart to take backup," said Prime.

Prowl sighed in defeat. "Very well."

The two Transformers shifted to vehicle mode. Sari ran up to Bumblebee, but he locked his door.

"What gives?" said Sari.

"Sorry," said Bumblebee. "But this is one mission you can't sit in on. Who knows what that thing is out there."

"But…" Sari began to protest.

"He's right Sari," said Prime. "It'll be better if you stay here."

"But…"

"Sorry," said Bumblebee. He and Prowl drove off.

Sari looked down at being left behind.

Bulkhead walked up behind her. "Wanna help me paint?" he asked.

"Sure," said Sari, still a little down.

The two of them walked to Bulkhead's studio. Prime stood where he was for a moment before returning to the command room. "This is gonna be a long solar-cycle."

Prowl and Bumblebee drove down the road to downtown. Once their, they returned to robot mode. There was some damage around them, but no apparent casualties. What ever it was wasn't attacking people.

"So," said Bumblebee, "where is this terrible beast supposed to be anyway?"

"Don't be so crude Bumblebee," Said Prowl. "We are dealing with a creature who is lost and frightened. It is only acting to survive. We must treat this situation gently."

"Yeah, yeah. Gently," said Bumblebee as he looked about nervously. "All I know is, if that thing jumps up at me, its getting a full charge of my stingers."

Prowl shook his head in futility. As the Autobots searched for the creature, up above Blitzwing and Lugnut were flying in jet mode. Blitzwing's optics caught sight of the Autobots.

"PUNY AUTOBOTS!" Blitzwing(G) shouted. "I WILL CRUSH THEM!"

"No!" said Lugnut. "Megatron ordered us to find the Autobot from the ship!"

Blitzwing(I) retorted, "I am merely suggesting that we follow the Autobots. Surely they are going to meet their comrade from the shuttle. If we follow them, surely we will find our quarry faster."

Lugnut processed this for a moment. "That's actually a good plan," he said. "A plan worthy of Megatron himself."

"Und the best part is," said Blitzwing(M), "We can pass the time with singing! 9,999 canisters of oil on the wall, 9,999 canisters of oil. Mix gulped one down, made Lugnutter frown; 9,998 canisters of oil on the wall. 9,998 canisters…"

"I may have spoken too soon."

Megatron flew towards the destination indicated by the computer's calculations. The trip was lengthened by his having to carry the arachnid-mode Blackarachnia on his undercarriage.

The eight-legged femme found her five optics focussed on the bare ground far below. "I don't suppose you could fly a little lower?" she asked.

"Afraid of heights are we?" Megatron replied.

"Only when I have no reasonable means of breaking my fall," she said. "If I was all bot I'd probably come out of a fall like that and only need a week's repair. As is, my organic half wouldn't survive a fall from up here."

"Stealth is a valuable tool in combat," said Megatron. "An assault chopper with a giant spider clinging to it hardly qualifies as subtle. Therefore, I suggest you keep a firm grip, because we are not going lower."

Blackarachnia sighed in defeat. "My talons are killing me."

Lugnut was about to go out of mind. He had been listening Blitzwing sing for the last hour. "How long must we wait for this damnable meeting?"

Blitzwing(M) continued to sing, "5,637 canisters of oil on the wall, 5,637 canisters of oil. Mix gulped one down…" Then he suddenly stopped and began steaming from his joints. "ENOUGH!" Blitzwing(G) shouted. "I'M EVEN GETTING ON MY OWN NERVES NOW! I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE! I'M GOING IN!"

Lugnut watched as Blizwing nose dived at the Autobots. "At this point," he said, "I'm just grateful he stopped singing." Then he dived after him.

His senses alert, Prowl turned his optics to the sky at the sound of jet engines. "Incoming," he said to Bumblebee.

Bumblebee turned his optics to see the two Decepticons baring down on them. "Oh boy."

"PUNY AUTOBOTS!" shouted Blitzwing(G) as he rapidly descended. "I WILL TURN YOU TO SCRAP! THEN I WILL TAKE YOUR SCRAP, REBUILD YOU AND MAKE YOU SCRAP AGAIN!" Then he heard the ting of metal. His sensors told him that something was jammed in his tail fin. His optics told him it was a Prowl shurican. "Hmm," hummed Blitzwing(I). "It would seem that the Autobot has lodged a shurican in my tail-fin, eliminating my ability to pull up and out of this dive. I must therefore assume that I…" (M) "Am Pancakes!!" Two seconds later, he hit pavement… hard! "I'm okay…"

"Nice shot!" complemented Bumblebee.

"It's not over yet," replied Prowl.

Lugnut transformed in mid-air and readied to use his explosion-fist attack. He punched the ground, causing a blast that knocked back the Autobots, hard! When the dust cleared, Prowl and Bumblebee were on their backs in a daze from the explosion.

Blitzwing(I) had managed to pull himself from his crater. He hunched as he rubbed his neck. "My aching servos." He walked up beside Lugnut. "Nice work." He said, complementing him.

"No thanks to you," replied Lugnut.

When Bumblebee came too, He found himself staring down the barrels of Blitzwing's cannons. Prowl found himself face to face with Lugnut's explosive fist. Clearly this was an unfavorable situation.

"Prowl," said Bumblebee. "We are so slagged right now."

Blitzwing(I) spoke, "Alright, small one, tell me where your little friend from the shuttle is and I promise you a quick and painless death."

"Then it wasn't with you," replied Prowl.

"Don't play dumb with us Autobot!" replied Lugnut, leaning his fist closer to Prowl's head. "Tell us where your contact is!"

"We don't know," said Bumblebee. "We never received communication from him. We aren't even looking for him. We're on animal control duty."

"Then you are worthless to us!" Said Lugnut as he readied to drive his fist into Prowl's head. "Any last words, Autobot?"

Prowl's eyes shifted up in surprise, then returned to looking at Lugnut. "You have something on your head," he stated.

Lugnut growled in indignance. "What kind of gear head do you take me for?!" He yelled.

"No really," said Bumblebee. "You do!"

"I will not take this insult!" shouted Lugnut. "Do you really think you can trick me so easily?!"

Blitzwing(I) cleared his vocal processor. "Um… Lugnut…"

Hearing Blitzwing's intelligent side caution him made Lugnut a little wary. He shifted his optical sensor up until it saw a mechanical feline face. The large white cat growled low at his face.

Lugnut looked down at Prowl. "Forgive me for ever doubting you." Then he went into a wild panic. He tried to swat the large cat from his back, but his bulky arms couldn't reach. "Get it off me! Get it off me!" He shouted.

"Hold still!" called Blitzwing(I) as he re-aimed his guns. Then, suddenly, the cat jumped on him. (M) "Ah! Nice Kitty! Nice Kitty!"

Lugnut made to hit the cat with his fist, but the cat leaped away and he ended up blasting Blitzwing straight into a wall. "Whoops."

Blitzwing laid imbedded in the wall for a second, but seemingly not in pain. (I) "Hmm, I believe that blast actually numbed the pain from my earlier crash."

The large cat then ran in front of the Autobots and growled towards the Decepticons. It was then that everyone could see it clearly. The creature was a white tiger with technological parts and plates across its body. It's black stripes were the give-away that associated it as a tiger as they were even integrated into the design of the mechanical parts.

"Looks like we found what was tearing up downtown," said Bumblebee as he got up.

As Prowl stood up, his optics caught notice of something on the animal's faceplate. "Looks more to me like we found the pilot of that shuttle."

Bumblebee looked at Prowl in confusion for a moment, but when his gaze returned to the animal, he saw what Prowl saw. Emblazoned on the Tiger's faceplate was the Autobot insignia. "You mean… he's the Autobot?!"

The tiger looked back and seemed to smile at the robots. "It took you guys long enough to figure it out," he said in a deep and warm voice. The creature then leaped into the air. In a quick blur of motion, the tiger's body reformed itself into a humanoid robot.

The robot stood as tall as Prowl and was just as lithe. The tiger head had become his chest-plate, while its hind paws became his legs, and its front paws had become like wings on his back. His face had a similar make to Prowl's, with the exception that his mouth was very cat-like in its forming.

"Who, or what, in Cybertron are you?!" Lugnut demanded of the robot.

"The name's Tigatron," replied the bot. Then he bared his clawed digits and got in a battle stance. "And its been a long time since I've had a chance to sharpen my claws."

AN Chapter 2 came about pretty quick compared to my other stuff. Hope to get more in soon. R&R