Thanks for the reviews, everybody! I appreciate it! Sorry I made you wait so long for this chapter. Grimlock's speech was giving me fits and almost blew out the spellchecker. ;)
Chapter Eight
"PROWL! Watch it!"
Sari's yelp jolted the ninja out of his semi-daze. "What?"
"You just about stepped on her!" Bumblebee shook his head and looked at Sari. "I knew this day would come. All that meditation finally fried his circuits."
"Shut. Up."
Prowl's snappishness caught everyone's attention. Bulkhead blinked. "Whoa. I think you're overdue for another hard drive defrag."
"Prowl, are you alright?" Optimus gave the irritable ninja a concerned look. "Is there something going on?"
"No." Prowl turned his back on the others and started for the door. "I'm going for a drive."
Ratchet sighed. "When you catch up with Riella, tell her to get her aft back here before I come find her."
"Hmmph." Prowl transformed and disappeared down the street. Optimus turned to Ratchet. "How do you know he's going to find her?"
Ratchet chuckled. "You haven't noticed? He's been pacing like a caged cyber-cat ever since she left. Doesn't take much to add up the dots."
Pain, so much pain, ripping through her chest and hands and arms and everywhere. But safety is so close; just meters away! Hands grasp her shoulders, then an arm locks around her aching chest and her hands are pinned behind her. She tries to thrash away from the restraints, but a shock tears through her circuitry, immobilizing her…
Megatron stared at the battered blue Autobot lying on the ground in front of him. Her optics were online, but dulled, and she didn't react when he leaned down to stare straight into her face. Nor had she responded when dumped on the floor of the Decepticon base, beyond a slight whimper.
"You. Autobot!"
No response, again. Megatron stepped off to the side and with no warning, kicked the blue fembot hard in the chest, just above the fuel tanks.
A savage kick jolts her into awareness – as much awareness as there can be, here. The pain changes, sharper, piercing through the partial numbness from the shock, causing her to cough raggedly and instinctively curl into a ball.
"Hmm." Megatron studied the fembot curiously. She had obviously felt that. Possibly faking something? "Blitzwing, put her in the energy cell for now."
Prowl nearly kicked a street light in frustration, but stopped when a human gave him an odd look. Where the slag would Riella have gone?
Oh…wait. Where did she go last time?
Twenty minutes later, Prowl skidded onto the shore of what had been dubbed "Dinobot Island" by most of the Autobots. Transforming and sending a shower of water everywhere, the ninjabot called quietly. "Riella? You here?"
Nothing. Puzzled, he started toward the center of the island. Sure, she might not want to use her telepathy, but it wasn't exactly a huge place, and they were fairly attuned to each other. She should have at least picked up his energy signal, if nothing else.
A crunching sound off to the left alerted him to someone's presence. "Riella, is that you?"
"Me Grimlock DESTROOOOY!"
No. That was definitely not Riella.
"Grimlock, stop!" Prowl held up one hand. "Remember me? I brought you here. I will not harm you!"
Grimlock growled. "Car robots BAD! Cycle robots…good."
The ninjabot groaned internally, but decided not to try and fix the Dinobot's perception of the Autobots. Finding Riella was priority. "Grimlock, have you seen Riella? The female cycle robot?"
"Uh." Grimlock was apparently thinking very hard, at least for a Dinobot. "Me Grimlock see girl-bot with you."
"No, I mean, have you seen her today?" Prowl resisted the urge to scream it.
"Me Grimlock not see her." Grimlock looked around as if expecting Riella to jump out of the bushes. "Girl-bot here?"
Prowl shrugged. "Maybe. I hoped you would know."
"Huh. Me Grimlock find others. You cycle robot stay here." Before Prowl could comment, Grimlock had thundered off into the trees, disappearing quickly in spite of his bulk. With a slight sigh, the ninja sat down to wait.
She twists, trying to fight the restraints, but the shock immobilizes her once again. She whimpers helplessly, just a child trapped in a nightmare from which there is no awakening. It's so dark and cold, and it hurts so much, but there is no help here. Just pain, and more pain, and then the end.
Lugnut's single optic blinked as he watched the fembot. Megatron had said to guard her, and so he would, for as long as it took. But why was she acting so odd? Puzzled, he tapped lightly on the energy cell wall, but got no reaction.
Soft clicks escape her vocalizer, locked up with terror and pain, but she tries to mute them. She will not let them break her. If die she must, she will die fighting. Not sobbing pathetically, pleading to live, like so many others she's seen here.
Swoop, the pterodactyl Dinobot, landed in front of Prowl with a thud, sending a shower of dirt everywhere. Grimlock and Snarl stomped out of the woods behind him. All three Dinobots looked uncharacteristically happy.
"Me Swoop see girl-bot," the pterodactyl announced. "Her with him flying robot. Me Swoop follow, but flying robot and girl-bot disappear."
"Flying robot? A Decepticon?" Prowl jumped upright. "Who? Where?"
"Me Swoop not know who him flying robot." The Dinobot shrugged. "Him and girl-bot on other side, by water. Not in Dinobot terr-i-tory." He seemed very pleased with his pronunciation of the last word.
Prowl had to translate that slightly, but apparently it meant that the Decepticon and Riella had been on the far side of the island. And if they were together…. "That can't possibly be good," he muttered quietly.
"What not good?" Grimlock tipped his head, in a movement that looked oddly like Riella's usual response to something she hadn't quite picked up.
"Riella's been captured by the Decepticons. I need you to help me find her!"
The three Dinobots looked at each other. Snarl, oddly enough, was the one to speak. "Me Snarl not like…but girl-bot help Dinobots. Us Dinobots help find girl-bot."
Grimlock added his own warning. "But that ALL. Dinobots not get hurt fighting flying-bot."
