Chapter 9: "Angry. Scared. Confused"

Tarantulas was out for a leisurely stroll while Megatron fumed about losing his precious, potential protoform that could have been on his side as a Predacon. Of course it was his idea that Megatron had used, but the spider had decided that the more Predacons there were, the better it would be. They would give something to occupy Megatron with, leaving him with ample time if he wanted to go out on his own – like he was doing now. It was hard being the only genius (science genius) amongst idiots, but that was the price he had to pay for his ambitions. Sighing to the air, he paused. Taking another sniff at the air, he smelt something. It was familiar to that human female…

Cackling, the spider turned in the direction of the scent, feeling a compulsion drive him.

The scent led him to a large tree that served as shade for the human female; she was sleeping, it appeared – curled into her backpack. He noticed with happy vengeance that the punch she'd given him had not gone without a mark of some kind. His green eyes fell on her hand, bandaged in silver tape. "Well, well," he cackled as he transformed into his robot form. He crept closer, "It seems that the human female is finally on her own!" He laughed as he got closer, when suddenly—He found himself lifted up into the hair, held up by what felt like an invisible hand. He looked around, trying to find the culprit, but there was only the human female who lay on the ground.

Then... she rolled onto her back with an expression that signified a desire to destroy something. "I knew I wouldn't get my peaceful afternoon!"

Shocked by such a response as her eyes glared up at him, burning with annoyance, the spider could only watch in silence as she slowly and leisurely stood to her feet. He began to strain against his invisible bonds, feeling much like the fly caught in a web but he couldn't even move as much as one. Only his head seemed to be given permission to move – and he noticed the girl glare at him more viciously the harder he moved. Finally, she gripped her head – yelping in pain and the grip on him vanished and he fell to his feet – like a puppet that just had its strings cut.

Realisation hit him like a meteor: it had been the girl who had been holding him.

'Strange,' he thought, focusing his gaze on the girl. 'Vincent hasn't even gotten that far yet. And he told me every little bit of his abilities… Not that he'd had a choice...'

"You have the ability to move things with your mind," the spider thought out loud. "Interesting."

"Do all you Predacons always state the obvious?" she retorted, seeming to get over the pain her abilities wrought, and folded her arms. Her head cocked at him as if she was truly curious about his opinion, although a devil-may-care smirk ruined that assumption very quickly. "Or do you all just like to hear yourselves talk?"

Tarantulas glared, but found himself amused at her reaction. So, he decided not to attack her. There were times the spider wished for conversation rather than dissection (though this was not often. It all depended on his mood.) It wouldn't be interesting if he got rid of her so early in the game. Besides… she'd be a distraction for Megatron, which would give him more time to himself. Satisfied with his thoughts, the spider approached the girl… Caitlin was her name, he believed. He noticed that she tensed. Her eyes narrowed, her fingers hovering over her guns. He pulled out his weapons, held up his arms and then threw his guns at her feet. "I don't want any trouble," he assured her.

She looked at him in disbelief—then at his weapons, then back at him. "I don't believe you," she snorted. But, she kicked his weapons back at him. Turning on her side, she glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. "However, if you do suddenly decide to attack me, just remember…" In the blink of all his eight-eyes: she had both weapons cocked and aimed at visor-screen. "I'll shoot your spider eyes outta commission, and drag the rest of ya to Dinobot," she warned.

The spider nodded. "You need not worry," he cackled, but stopped when Caitlin cocked an eyebrow at him. She didn't believe him, at all.

"Excuse me for not believing you," she drawled. "You're a spider. And I don't like spiders. On top of that, you tried to capture me last night."

Tarantulas sighed and sat down against the tree trunk. He folded his arms and started at her with his yellow optics. "Well, rest assured that I won't attack or capture you. You serve as a distraction for Megatron. A benefit for me if you are left with the Maximals."

"How kind of you," she drawled. After a moment, she sat down before him. She kept her guns within easy reach and rummaged through her back. She found an apple and bit it: all the while keeping a distrustful eye on him. It was a complete minute before she figured if he wanted to attack her, he'd have done it already. That or he was merely biding his time. So, she turned her attention to the clouds. Her senses remained completely tuned in on him, however. If he even blinked, she'd know.

"It's a nice day, isn't it?" the spider asked suddenly.

Caitlin had finished her apple. She was simply digging into the core to retrieve the seeds. Chucking the empty core over her shoulder, she glanced at him. "Indeed. Almost quiet peaceful. Despite the sordid company I have at the moment, who I still believe is about to get up and attack me at any minute."

Tarantulas snorted to himself, but he had to hand it to her. She was smart. 'But, perhaps not smart enough,' he thought as he reached for his gun.

"Don't even think about it," her voice interrupted his thoughts.

Tarantulas noticed her glancing at him from behind a few strands of hair, which had hidden her gaze from him. Until, they had parted slightly by a breeze, revealing that she had, in fact, been staring at him this whole time. "I was just.., scratching," he said, feeling much like Sylvester the cat who got caught trying to eat Tweety by Granny.

And she was just as neither amused nor impressed. "Uhuh," she scoffed. She shook her head and blew her hair out of her face. "I believe you're having delusions of competence when it comes to the fact that you were about to shoot me, treacherous arachnid."

"What did you say?" the spider hissed, clenching his jaws. He moved swiftly to his feet, but before she could react, she'd been picked up; her chest against his. His optics bore down on her angrily.

"Oh, don't thank me for insulting you, it was a pleasure, believe me," she replied, smirking. Tarantulas didn't like that comment. So, he began to crush her harder into his chest. But, she simply continued smirking. "And now, I believe, you're having a temper-tantrum. You sure you're not related to Terrorsaur?" she cackled, mocking his own laughter. In disgust, he threw her away. Leaning herself off the ground at her elbows, she chuckled at him. "Forgive me, I just couldn't resist."

"Forgive me, I just couldn't resist," Tarantulas repeated under his breath, turning.

The spider rethought his previous decision. He should have just knocked her out and taken her to his labs. He glanced at her. She stood to her feet where she she'd fallen, dusting off her pants to remove the dirt. The spider realised that, as he watched her, it seemed more as habit to do so; rather than because she was vain about her appearance. She and Vincent were opposite each other in that regards, the spider mused. Caitlin chuckled again then picked up her backpack and threw it over her shoulder, stretching her arms as straps descended over her shoulders, locking into place. Then, she turned her upper body until he heard—and she felt—a few cracks. A measure of pleasure appeared on her face before she caught him looking at her.

Her expression closed instantly. She folded her arms again and shifted forward, sliding her hands into her pockets. "Well, I could almost say it was amusing to be conversational with a spider," she said conversationally, but dismissively. "But that'd be a lie. I've gotta run, now. I'll be seeing you again in the near future, no doubt."

Tarantulas folded his arms over as he watched the human disappear in the distance. An amused, maniac smile appeared on his strange , he thought. This human girl of the Maximal's was going to be quite distracting for Megatron.

He only wondered how he himself was going to ignore her allure, which he was sure she didn't realise she even had. It was not a desire of her body or her mind; no, nothing as benign as that. It was the allure to conquer and mayhap destroy the spirit within her. Predacons valued and craved domination of any kind. And when someone like Caitlin came along… it was an irresistible challenge.

'Hmm, I might even use that,' the spider smirked and headed back to the Dark Syde.

Caitlin's thoughts on the spider were that he was a confusing arachnid she'd rather keep a five-mile radius from. However.., perhaps he might be prudent to get to 'know' as it were. For one thing, at least she'd know if he was concocting a plan. 'Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Just try to remember not to piss them off enough to forget they want to play nice…'

Her migraine was beginning to worsen but, she supposed it could be worse. It appeared Megatron was annoyed about something or had other pressing matters, because she met no other Predacon resistance to her existence while she walked home. Well… apart from Tarantulas, who didn't have much of a resistance to her existence, so to speak.

'Man that was weird!' Putting the thought of finding herself comfortable around a damned Predacon-spider aside, she kicked at a stone. However, before she reached the same stone to kick it once more, she froze. Turning her head, she heard the telltale approach of an incoming speeding, yellow bullet with growling green eyes… that belonged to one Maximal…

"What's the rush, Cheetor?" she called out, but regretted yelling immediately. She winced and rubbed at her temples, pained by the sound of her own voice.

The cat abruptly switched directions and came to a sudden, cloudy stop before her. "I was just…out…for a run," he panted heavily. "Do you wanna join me?"

She looked at his feline face, steeling herself to say no and stick to her decision and not waver in face of 'the look'; and then her ears picked up the sound of someone approaching. She turned to see Rattrap and Dinobot were not too far behind. She glanced back at Cheetor and shook her head. She turned to face the Axalon, which happened to be where the rat and raptor were approaching. "Nah," she told the cat. "Some other time, maybe." He nodded and returned to his run.

Swiftly, she spun on her heel and continued on her course, at an angle which would take her a long time to reach home. Without a single glance at the approaching mechs, she hurried past. However, the two of them turned as one… smelling the scent of Tarantulas on her.

"Did you, by any chance, bump into Tarantulas?" Rattrap asked her as she continued her single-minded march. She didn't reply, groaning silently as her head sent a painful jab through her mind. This of course, annoyed the rat. He hurried after her, having already switched to his robot form. "Well, did'cha?"

Annoyed at his tone, she turned on her heel and grasped (attempted to) his shoulders to stop him crashing into her. "Yes, I bumped into Tarantulas. Did anything happen out of the ordinary? Yes," she continued, stepping forward. Rattrap had to step backwards at her approach, startled by the focused intensity of her glare. "He simply talked to me, rather than shoot me or try to capture me. I seem to be used as a means to get his 'alone time with experiments' while Megatron is busy using the rest of his numbers out to catch me, or whatever else that purple-and-green, tyranno-tyrant does!"

"You didn't shoot him?!" Rattrap exclaimed accusatorily.

She growled and glared. "Don't think to question what I did or what I do, Rattrap. I make no alliances, only understandings. If they think it's an alliance, it's their choice. To me, it's a way to get what I want while getting them to leave me alone. In this case Tarantulas was only there to chat—as it were. And I was too tired and lethargic to do anything else. In fact, I think I've formed a migraine. And I seek a dark, quiet room, to ease the pain. Unfortunately for me, you robots don't have painkillers. So, I have to do this the old fashioned way… I have to wait it out!"

With that, she spun around again – only this time, she gave into her desire to grip her head. The world tilted on its axis – and she found she couldn't move properly, and promptly fell to the floor.

"Never mind that then. I'm staying here. Tell the world it can go fuck itself while I'm gone!" Then Caitlin lost herself to the painless realm of reliving unconsciousness…

Blinking, the rat and raptor stared down at her – their processer's having been forced to reboot themselves.

Rattrap shuffled awkwardly, snapping both of them out of their trance. "I think we should get her back to da Base. I'd do it myself, but I know how you dislike babysitting Spots."

Dinobot growled, but wordlessly reached down and plucked the unconscious girl from the ground. He swung her over his back, feeling her arms wrap instinctively around his neck. Then he was off, pelting at the ground: giving a new meaning to the words: 'speed of a velociraptor...' The person, who'd first said that, had obviously never come across a raptor who was, in fact, a Predacon-turned-Maximal named Dinobot in disguise.

It didn't take long before the raptor appeared at the Axalon with his unconscious bundle; and went in search of Rhinox. While he may not like the peaceful rhino, he had no choice. It was obvious that the girl needed attention of the medical kind. He was not suited to run a diagnostic scan. That was the rhino's area of expertise. Approaching the medical bay, he found Rhinox fiddling with something, a concentrating frown on his lips. He growled—the rhino spun, startled and faced him. "What are you doing in here?" he asked, until he saw the unconscious bundle carried on the raptor's back. He sighed with feeling and gestured for Dinobot to lower Caitlin onto the table. "What's happened to her this time?"

Dinobot released his cargo and stepped out of the way, allowing Rhinox to run his routine diagnostic scan. He folded his arms over his chest as he considered what to say. "We came across her as she was heading back here," he began. "When the vermin and I smelt Tarantulas' scent on her, he stopped her. She appeared to be in pain. She admitted to having a migraine… whatever that is…"

Rhinox looked up at that. "A migraine is an extremely painful headache," he informed him. Finishing his scan, he leant back. "It comes with stress or by some other means. She's going to need a dark room and complete silence until she has gotten over it."

"Neurofen or Panadol… or maybe even morphine, would be nice," Caitlin muttered. Both rhino and raptor looked down at the bleary-eyed girl. Lethargically, she pressed a hand over her eyes. Wincing, she pushed herself into a sitting position. However, as soon as she sat upright, her face turned pale. "I don't feel so good… I think I'm, gonna—" Before she could even finish her sentence, Rhinox was forced to step out of the way while she vomited onto the floor over the medical table. The rhino held her neck as she brought up the contents of her stomach and… Bless his Spark; he kept her hair out of the way.

Dinobot began to look squeamish himself. Reluctantly, he found himself impressed by the rhino's impassive and patient expression whilst he tended to the sick girl. "I will… take my leave," he growled as the girl continued to hurl. "Perhaps I will find something for the girl to eat other than her fruit."

"That would be a good idea," Rhinox said. "She needs iron… and try getting some fish too."

Caitlin groaned as she vomited again. Why must she be tortured so? She hadn't killed any kittens in a past life, had she?

While Rhinox rubbed her back gently—it wasn't long until the vomiting eased. Finally, she was about to hold in what was left of her stomach. Which was finally, because she felt like her stomach had tried to uproot itself up her throat. Groaning, she pushed herself up shakily, but couldn't get far. The rhino caught her in his massive arms and plucked her easily off the medical table. He sidestepped her puddle (river) of vomit as he carried her to her room.

"Thank you," she muttered. "And say that to the irritable raptor too if I'm still asleep when he gets back, for me please."

"I'll tell him," Rhinox assured. "If he'll listen. Now, while I realise you don't like being ordered. I must suggest that you stay here for the time being. You're very weak at the moment."

"I kinda figured that when I got carried like a weak damsel," Caitlin muttered dryly and Rhinox chuckled. "But thanks for that. You should warn Cheetor too."

"I was already thinking that," Rhinox replied, smiling.

Caitlin returned that smile and allowed Rhinox to tuck her in. She closed her eyes, "Night Uncle Rhinox," she whispered, half-coherent.

Rhinox paused at the door. He glanced over his shoulder at the sleeping female. She was still sick. Pale and feverish, but she calmly rested on her berth and tucked comfortably in her sleeping bag. Her face was relieved of almost all pain and stress… and annoyance from having to deal with the other mechs. He smiled. "Goodnight," he replied softly and walked out of the room.

Later found Dinobot enlisting the help of Cheetor and Rattrap... into fishing. The act itself was enough that if Caitlin had been there to witness it, she would have taken a lot of photos. Preserved. For all time. For now and forever! It was just too bad she didn't know – at least, that's what Cheetor thought when they found a large enough area for the unlikely trio to search for decent sized eatable fish.

It was no time at all before a silent competition erupted; and the goal? Who could catch the biggest fish, of course.

Cheetor took to using his tail as a fishing rod as he waited for a bite. While it was a little painful… Okay! It was a lot painful. But he was in a competition! Rattrap was further up stream, near a group of rocks. He waited patiently amongst them for a fish to approach. And when they did… well. It was pretty self explanatory. Dinobot, however, had fashioned himself a spear. He took to walking in the water, concentrating below and waiting for the fish to approach him. The raptor stayed perfectly still during those moments, completely ready to lash out at any given moment…

The fish swam in the stream.

A few did not know of their upcoming fates as a meal.

Ah, the circle of life...

Caitlin woke up to something delicious and her empty stomach growled, nostrils inhaling the scent as she opened her eyes – seeking the source and found a plate of perfectly cooked fish. That surprised her, because she had not seen one little shred of evidence any of the Maximals knew how to cook. Not that she didn't appreciate it, but she wasn't quite sure that it safe to eat – but the smell said it was. Oh, now she was wavering...

Cheetor, who was sitting at her side and looked down at the floor in full mope-mode, did a complete switch when he saw her: his smile almost blinded her. "You're up!" he exclaimed, but toned his voice down his voice as she hissed him to be quiet. "Sorry. Dinobot, Rattrap and I went fishing. But it was Dinobot's first that was deemed… eatable," he muttered with another pout.

She smiled and rubbed at his head. "That's alright. At least you can say you tried. Now… who cooked it?"

"That'd be me," Rattrap spoke up. Caitlin turned to see him leaning in the doorway, a pleased smirk on his face. "Dino-butt was going to give ya the fish raw."

She made a face at that, but chuckled. "Well, thank you Rattrap," she managed to be polite – then lost her control on her hunger. Taking a breath, she fell upon the fish, distractedly finding it very nice as she devoured it. Well… more like inhaled it. When she was finally done, she pushed the plate away, feeling quite full. "That was delicious!" she said then cleaned up her mess, stood to her feet: but Cheetor grabbed the plate before she got too far.

"I'll do that. You should rest!" he said, pushing her back down on the berth.

Caitlin frowned, but allowed the cat to push her down. So, she sat on the bed, back against the wall and folded her arms, snorting; "And people call me motherly!"

Rattrap snorted to himself and rolled his eyes. "I find that hard ta believe!"

She cocked a brow. "I've been told by many a stranger that I'm a great mother. Of course… what they failed to realise that it was my brothers' I was entertaining while my mother rested on my trips to the park." Folding her arms, she leant further back and lifted one leg to get more comfortable.

Rattrap blinked in surprise, both from the fact she had given him a glimpse of her life; and also from the fact she'd been considered 'motherly', but now that he thought about it. She was quite protective of Cheetor. She would even take to helping the cat here and then when others were too busy (or when she herself wasn't too busy.) He blinked. "You think of Cheetor as a brother, don't' cha?"

Caitlin blinked up from where she'd been starting at her bruised hand and nodded. "Indeed the hyperactive motor-mouth has grown on me," she said, lips quirking amusedly upwards.

"When'd cha start thinkin' of him like that?" Rattrap asked, slowly approaching her. With a pointed look, he waited for Caitlin to nod before he gently took her hand, unwrapped the bandages of her hand to inspect the damage.

"After he'd come back from the Pred's base when he disobeyed an order from Optimus 'bout those relay posts," she admitted. "It wasn't hard to think of him as a brother. Since we sometimes share the same room," she continued, wincing as the bandage was pulled off.

The rat frowned at the damage and at the realisation that within almost a month or so ago, she'd found Cheetor to be like a brother. He wondered what she thought of the others. More particularly, himself. He pulled her hand closer to him, forcing Caitlin to learn closer to him. Until she shuffled forward so that she faced him fully. Knee met knee. "You really don't keep anything back when you hit at something, don't ya?" he muttered, inspecting the purple bruises.

She simply shrugged in reply, looking at her hand to disguise the fact she was flustered around the mech. "Would you?" she asked him with a cocked brow. "If you were being manhandled by a gluttonous arachnid?"

He paused and smirked. "Nah, I'd probably would've shot him," he replied. He tugged her hand closer, causing their faces to suddenly lose distance. Caitlin froze instantly at the serious expression that Rattrap held. It also contained something else… something that she couldn't name. "If I'd been dar… you wouldn' ave got'n hurt at all," he continued. He reached out with his spare hand to tuck a stray strand behind her ears in a sudden, intimate gesture.

Freeze…. What. The. Fuck.

"Um, I… um…" she muttered awkwardly, moving backwards. Rattrap released her hand. "I think I should re-bandage this," she continued and jumped off the berth, flying straight past him. She hardly looked back as she retreated beyond his sight. The rat continued to simply stare at the wall where she'd occupied, and didn't move until Cheetor appeared…

"Where's Caitlin?"

Rattrap turned around. Without a single word, he walked to his room. The door closed behind him as quickly as he had entered.

Caitlin glowered as she stared down at an ants nest. She was quite tempted to give it a good kick. But, the fact that such tiny ants had very-sharp, very-painful pincers: had stopped her from doing as such. So, she had kicked at rocks instead as she stormed below the part of the Axalon that served as the Control Room.

She was angry.

She was scared.

She was confused.

She was confused because she was angry and she was scared because she was confused.

She was confused because she was scared and she was scared because she was angry.

And she was angry because she was scared and she was confused as to why she was confused.

So, basically anyone who ever dared to think about approaching her at this moment; would receive a reaction that would scar them for life… and into the afterlife.

When Optimus appeared in the Control Room, he found Rhinox staring through the cameras. There, he could see Caitlin storming a march-trench into the dirt in the shadow of the Axalon. Her fists were clenched as she stormed her way back and forth – and back and forth. Her mouth formed incomprehensible words and sentences that flied to fast for him to see. As he came to a stop behind the rhino, the ape could only ask one question. "What's the matter with Caitlin?"

Rhinox groaned. He looked away from the screen, optics spinning. He was glad for the distraction from the hypnotic movements of the girl, who flared fire out of her hands every second click or so… which reminded him that Caitlin still hadn't talked to him about that… Shaking his head, the rhino looked up at the ape. "I don't know," he sighed with feeling. "I found her like this an hour earlier." He glanced back down at her then at Optimus. "I don't think it's such a great idea to approach her at the moment."

Optimus looked down at the angry and confused expression on the girl's face, and silently agreed.

It was well into the night, when Caitlin deemed it time to head back inside. But, her approach to the base was undermined as a certain chest-plate stood, unmoved—and in her way. Looking upwards, she caught the red-eyed gaze of no return. Her mouth dropped open in mute surprise, hands spread over his chest place where she was leaning against him. Neither one moved for a second, before Dinobot seemed to shake himself out of a trance. He pushed her back a step, but kept his claws on her shoulders. He leant down, "You have been skipping your training," he said gruffly. "We shall have to rectify that tomorrow."

Turning on his heel, he turned and walked back inside.

Caitlin blinked. Then… her mind screeched. 'What the slagging hell of a deep pit—was that?! The saurian didn't need to do THAT—to gain my attention! And he bloody well knows that!'

An image of her herself, the traitorous part of her, tapping her chin thoughtfully; entered her mind. 'Perhaps he wished to see if you were alright.'

'You keep outta this!' she snapped to that half. She had an image of throttling that part of herself back and forth. (But damn if that part of herself didn't stop grinning!) 'I don't need no-one falling for me. Or me falling for them. Love is overrated and more trouble than it's worth… I can't even believe that I trust all of them so quickly!'

The voice of reason within her chose that moment to spoke up. 'It's better than trusting those Predacons.' An image of herself with a high-ponytail and glasses snapped the book it was holding shut. Leaning forward, it poked her in the chest, ignoring the snarky part of herself that was being strangled. 'They're the threat. Not the Maximals. Remember that.'

'Well then stop insinuating that I love Dinobot and Rattrap!' Caitlin roared, throwing her hands up in aggravation.

The snarky part of herself chuckled. 'Your words, not mine!' she chuckled, waving her finger—but retreated before Caitlin could even imagine herself tearing her head off.

'You are me anyways!' Caitlin whined, stamping her foot.

However, she was met with only silence. The voices in her head had wisely retreated. Bastards!

Blink.

Blink.

Her shoulders drooped. "I hate my life. It'd be easier if humans weren't so-so... emotional all the time! Why couldn't I be a male?"

Blink.

Blink.

"Scratch that! Males suck right now!"

With that, she promptly returned to the Axalon. She avoided the doors of Dinobot and Rattrap – and bolted into her room, covering herself with her sleeping bag. She was adamant not to think any more of what feelings she may (or may not) have for the insipid rat and that saurian-slagging raptor!

...

...

Okay, so not thinking about them was a little harder than she had thought...

But did they have to be so loud when they were arguing?