Chapter 2: Freelancer No More

"BLAST! The Maximals managed to get Shredder. Yes. But they won't have her for long. No." Megatron said to himself, tapping his fingers together.

"Wazzpinator try to get cat-bird, but cat-bird only want to shoot at Wazzpinator." The green, yellow and black dunce spoke up timidly.

"Oh shut it, Waspy." Blackarachnia cut in venomously before she left. "Nobody likes you."

"As for you, Inferno," Megatron continued. "you were only supposed to capture Shredder. There was no need to shoot her unconscious; she is not a Maximal...yet. We are not going to get her to join the Predacons by shooting her. Try to pay better attention to my instructions." He paused and his face contorted into a mask of mild anger. "Now get out of my sight!"

"Yes, my Queen!" Inferno saluted Megatron and then left.

"Oh, I do wish he'd stop calling me that." Megatron complained before receiving a transmission from Tarantulas. "What is it?"

"The Maximals are repairing Shredder." The spider reported.

"Oh, how sweet. Have you figured out her weaknesses?"

"Her honor." Tarantulas said simply. "Hers is the same as Dinobot's."

"And?"

"That's it. She only has one weakness, and that is her honor." The transmetal spider tapped a few buttons on the computer in his lair and paused, perplexed and amused. "Oh...my mistake. She also has a soft spot for 'bad boys' with heavy weaponry."

Megatron chuckled. "How absurd. Although, that gives me an idea."

--

Dinobot had been worried about Shredder for a while. He did like her, of course--she was a very likable femme, even if she was trying to kill you--but only because she shared his sense of honor. 'Nothing more that that.' He assured himself. Even as the thought was running through his processor, the femme fatal in question stepped out of the C.R. chamber as good as new, and Dinobot found himself getting slightly excited. "Feeling..better?" He asked as she walked to the center of the main control room.

"Much." She turned around to face him, her gold-green optics gleaming. "Thank you, Dinobot." She gave her head a quick nod in his direction, then turned back and faced Optimus. "So how about that deal of ours? I believe I owe you and your team for rescuing me."

"I only ask that you fight on our side." He paused, then added quickly at her intrigued gaze: "For a little while. As long as you like."

"Three major battles." She said simply while examining her claws. "Oh, that's not nearly enough. How's four? I think that should return the favour nicely. Anyone think more? Less?" She looked around the room, her intentions obviously not violent. This time.

Cheetor cleared his vocal processors nervously. "Uh..four-and-a-half?"

She chuckled. "Five? Yes? No?"

"Five sounds...reasonable." Dinobot said off-handedly.

"Or however long you want," Cheetor grinned dreamily.

"Ohh, don't tell me you're chivalrous too." Shredder rolled her optics and followed up with an annoyed smile.

"I can be when I want." He replied confidently.

Shredder narrowed her optics for a split nanocycle; barely noticeable. "Don't be." She warned. "Or you'll end up like brave little Silver-butt who nearly got himself hacked in half earlier today." She gave her head a nod in Silverbolt's direction and he shuddered a bit. "That would be a shame, too. I kinda like you." She then proceeded to transform and Dinobot watched her with interest; the silver crescent moon on her left flank had been replaced by the red Maximal symbol. "I'm going out for a breath of fresh air. Anyone want to join me?" She asked,

Dinobot was the first to speak. "I will..make sure Shredder stays out of..trouble."

Shredder smiled--being sure to show off her savage-looking fangs--and trotted over to the lift, Dinobot at her heels.

--

I could not believe what I had done. After all these solar cycles of swearing to be a freelancer for life, I had stooped low enough to join the Beast Wars, and to top it all off, I was flirting with one of the Maximals. I didn't mind Cheetor too much. He got annoying as the Pit after too long spent with him, but his intentions were pure.

I was always kind of scared of Dinobot; I only ever saw him as a threat or some sort of a fictitious monster who would rip my head off and impale me with his spinning sword. So, I tried to be as much like him as possible; if you know how a possible foe works, you're more likely to be able to defend yourself against him or her.

I sighed audibly, forgetting that I wasn't alone anymore.

Dinobot snorted and spoke: "What is it?"

I looked up at him, then continued to watch my step. "Just the fact that I swore never to join the Beast Wars. And where do I find myself now?"

"It is a..shame." Dinobot replied. "Though, you are an excellent warrior. I am merely glad the Predacons did not..capture you."

"Yeah. Me too." I said as I transformed and stretched my wings. "I'm gonna go up for a good view of the big blue. Care to join me?" He began to remind me that he couldn't fly, but I interrupted him. "I am able to carry you." I pointed out, narrowing one optic. He mimicked the action and told me that he preferred to remain on the ground. "As you wish." I smiled and rocketed up into the clear, open sky. "Aww, for the love of..." Flying towards me were Megs and his two favourite flying minions; Waspinator and Inferno. I dove back to the ground, landing gracefully in front of Dinobot. "Guess who's coming." I said as I grabbed my machetes which made slicing sounds as they brushed the other blades on my wings.

Dinobot transformed and grabbed hold of his tail and his blade. I had always admired that blade and the unique way that it spun in sections. Normally, the thought of another transformer being impaled by that blade gave me shivers up and down my spine. Not today; today, I was relishing the thought.

I was about to burst back into the sky to fight Megatron and his two cronies, when something with three purple fingers grabbed my neck and held a gun to my head. Tarantulas laughed and when I squirmed, he pushed the gun harder against my head. I winced.

Dinobot looked at me with surprise, then glared at Tarantulas viciously. "Let her go." He snarled.

"Not until you surrender." The spider countered venomously.

"Don't do it, Dinobot!" I yelled. "I can be put back together!"

Dinobot bowed his head and when he looked back up, he looked solemnly at me, then turned his gaze to Tarantulas. "That would be..against my honor." He then put his tail and his blade back. "Let her go." He commanded. Tarantulas did just that, but violently so, flinging me roughly to the ground. Dinobot gave me a hand up, and the Predacons surrounded us, forming a big circle.

"Oh dear." Megatron taunted. "The freelancer and the traitor, trapped like rats, yes." He tapped his two tiny fingers together ominously

It was then that I played my wild card. "I guess you're right." I looked around at the Predacons surrounding us. "I suppose we should maybe give up before we've started. Save some unwanted use of energy." Dinobot began to protest, but I subtly nudged him and winked, covering the wink with a twitch of an ear.

Dinobot played along, bowing his head to avoid anyone reading his emotions. "We are..sorely outnumbered." He agreed in a sideways manner.

"Oh?" Megatron asked suspiciously. "Giving up so easily, Shredder? This isn't like you."

"We are outnumbered, as Dinobot mentioned. There is no point in fighting." I paused and turned to face Tarantulas, looking him right in the visor. "Of course, I could just do this," I said as I moved so swiftly that I could hardly see my own machete swing round and slice off the spider's head quite cleanly.

"Ow."

"That evened up the odds a bit. He was pretty useless anyhow." I said with a smile as Megatron fumed. "Anyone else?" I asked.

Blackarachnia took me up on my offer and ran at me. I darted to one side, hitting Quickstrike. "Go Sugah-bot!" He called excitedly. "You kick her kiester!"

I turned to face him for a second while the other femme picked herself off of the ground. "Who are you cheering for?" I asked.

"Well, you, doggonnit!" He responded, slightly perplexed.

"I'm not even on your side!" I wanted to say something further, but I ended up having to block and attack from the spider femme, and so, was cut off. At last, I turned back to him and said in a finalizing manner: "You're distracting. Here, taste my vengeance." And so, both his arms dropped neatly to the ground.

"Women," He groaned as he fell on his face.

Blackarachnia ran at me again, this time managing to graze my arm. I snarled at her, anticipating the outcome, and ran at her, my machetes brandished. We met up with a crash and tore at each other unceremoniously. She ripped at me in a rage, making a long, vertical scratch across my left optic. I ripped back, finally getting enough distance to execute a perfect roundhouse kick, which sent her flying, just as Waspinator's head went flying across my line of vision. I chuckled slightly and Dinobot, who currently had his hands empty, pointed over my shoulder and yelled indistinctly.

I turned around, and saw--to my extreme displeasure--Megatron's tail pointed at my head, charged and ready.

"Oh." I looked up at him, trying to keep my calm and humorous demeanour as my ears immediately went back against my head. "Hello to you too."

"Join my side, Shredder. Yes. You would make an excellent Predacon." He tempted.

"Nah, that's alright." I then bowed my head and looked back up at him solemnly. "That would be against my honor." I then, very swiftly grabbed my tail and whipped the Predacon leader in the chest. He staggered backwards a bit, the fired at me haphazardly. I flipped backwards until I hit an obstacle of some sort; a tree. I jumped up and my fingertips made contact with a low branch. 'Perfect.' Quickly, I grabbed onto it and pushed off of the trunk with my feet to get some momentum. I was about to kick him, but he grabbed my left foot. "Not to worry," I muttered to myself. I continued swinging as much as I could with him holding my foot, and then kicked him in the face with the other one. He let go and fell flat on his back. I let go of the branch and landed flawlessly on my feet.

Megatron got up very slowly, groaning a bit. He glared down at me. "I will be back, Shredder. Mark my words, I will be back. Yeess." Then he took what was left of his Predacons and left.

"That was fun." I commented to Dinobot as I turned towards him, noticing that he had about 4 times the damage that I did. "Thank you, Dinobot. You've potentially saved my life. I am eternally in your debt." I bowed my head and went down on my knees, sitting on the claw on my heel.

Dinobot put a hand on my head and I put my ears back. He was silent for a while, then he spoke slowly, "No, you are not. I was merely doing...what was right."

"Yes, and for that, I owe you my life, Dinobot. You saved me. It would be against my honor not to be indebted to you."

Dinobot sighed and I laughed in my head; we both had almost the exact same sense of honor. His was telling him not to allow me to be indebted to him, and mine was telling me the exact opposite.

"Alright," He said and he stroked my head. "but don't do anything..drastic."

"As you wish." I smiled up at him and heaved myself to my feet. "Allow me to carry you back. You are in no shape to walk."

He sighed again. "And so it begins."

I transformed to my beast mode and folded my wings as Dinobot reluctantly straddled my back and sat down. I grunted silently and began the long trek back to the Maximal base.

--

Dinobot couldn't believe it. He had managed to get Shredder in his debt. It wasn't intentional, of course, and went against everything he believed in. Even so, he was slightly exhilarated; maybe he could manage to...get her to like him.

The two were nearing the base when Dinobot noticed that Shredder's shoulder blades were beginning to grind together. "You need..a break." He pointed out.

She just chuckled. "Oh no. See, you've got it all wrong. It's just my legs that need a break." She looked back at him, and he could see that she was instantly amused by the look on his face; it was a cross between Oh-Primus-I'm-gonna-be-sick and Don't-even-think-about-it. "Hang on tight!" She then stretched her wings and began striding, gaining momentum to take off. Finally, she began flapping them and the duo rose into the air, higher and higher, and the higher they got, the tighter Dinobot held onto Shredder's neck. "Don't worry, Dinobot, I know what I'm doing." She said as she began circling the base. "I'm a lot stronger than you give me credit for." She started to flap her wings swiftly, disturbing the dust as they touched down, just outside the shield.

"Sentinel, stand down." He ordered as he got off of Shredder's back. He entered the base limping, the femme close behind to catch him if he decided to fall. She even went so far as to blow him a very subtle kiss before the C.R. door closed.

--

"Yo, Shreddie!" Rattrap called, thankfully, not noticing the kiss I blew to Dinobot. "What happened out there? We got a transmission from Lizardlips, but it was just static!"

"Yeah!" Cheetor joined in.

"Were you hurt?" Silverbolt asked. I snarled at him, and he seemingly shrunk a little bit. "OK.."

"We ran into Preds." I began. "Or rather, they ran into us. Tarantulas" Just the name sent shivers down my spine; he had always creeped me out big time. "held a gun against my head and threatened to shoot unless Dinobot surrendered. He did, and now, I find myself indebted to him." I finished, anticipating the reactions.

"You're what?!" Rhinox exclaimed. "We've all been saved by Dinobot, but indebted to him?"

"It would have been against my honor not to be!" I countered.

Rhinox sighed and turned away. "You two and your honor."

"So what, you guys fought them off all by yourselves?" Cheetor asked from behind me.

"Well, yeah. I didn't see any of you coming to help." I responded, a hint of venom in my voice.

"So where'd that scratch on your optic come from?"

My hand instinctively reached up to my left optic. "Blackarachnia. I fought her and Megs."

"And Dinobot fought everyone else?" He continued.

"Nope. Just Inferno and Waspinator."

"But what about Tarantulas and Quickstrike?"

I chuckled. "They went down without a fight."

--

"Blast you, Tarantulas!" Megatron bellowed angrily. "You out of all of us should know how Shredder is! She beaten you countless times!"

"You bellowed?" Tarantulas asked as he entered Megatron's presence.

"Yes, I did." He responded calmly, then quickly switched to an expression that said "infuriated" and rounded on the spider, tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair angrily. "You are a fool! One would think that after the countless times Shredder has defeated you, you would learn something, perhaps. One would think that you would be able to defend against her speed, but nooo.."

"But Megatron, I didn't think she was going to decapitate me again!" Tarantulas shot back.

"Oh, when do you ever think, besides your inventions?" The Predacon leader paused, amused by a thought that had popped into his head. "Or do I sense a weak spot for her?" He chuckled, but Tarantulas stood defiant, showing only one sign that he had guessed right; no optic contact. He grabbed his rubber ducky. "I'm going to take a bath, nobody disturb me." He lowered himself into the tub and the spider left, embarrassed. "Hmm.." He thought aloud. "Shredder's only weaknesses are her honor and a soft spot for mechs with heavy weapons...She does seem to have a bit of a thing for Dinobot..." Megatron's voice trailed off. "Yes..it just might work."