Chapter XIII
Jericho came by at eleven, just like Aries had told him. His mama always told him that curiosity killed the cat, but his comeback was the same car that killed that cat had a couple of drunkards in it. He thought that was a laugh.
He tapped on Aries' window and she sped up to open it. Without warning, he climbed through the window, almost making her jump.
"So, give me some answers," he demanded.
"Just wait, he'll be here any moment," Aries whispered.
"He?" Jericho emphasized. "There's someone else who questioned your insanity?" Aries shot him a snake's glare and erased it when she heard wings outside. Jericho jumped and looked up around on her ceiling, wondering what it was. He was about to grab Aries' old softball bat from first grade when she stopped him. She walked towards the window.
"What's up, 'Wing!" she called. "I hope you don't mind, but I got a guest coming with us."
"A guest?" a voice called outside. "Are you kidding me?! It's bad enough that the Stevens know about us, and now you've turned on us!" Jericho walked towards the window next to Aries to see a large bald eagle standing in Aries' backyard!
"What is that?" Jericho whispered shakily.
"This is Goldwing," Aries introduced. "Goldwing, this is Jericho. And don't worry, he's on our side now."
Goldwing bowed his head. "Good evening," he said in his most possible polite way.
"Hi" was all Jericho could get out of himself. Aries giggled and jumped out the window to Goldwing. She climbed onto his back and motioned for Jericho to come.
"Come on, Jerry!" she joked.
"Yeah, Chicken Little!" Goldwing smirked. "Let's get this show on the road!"
Jericho wasn't going to stand being called a chicken, inside or outside of school. He jumped out the window and stood by Goldwing's shoulder, looking up at the smiling girl.
"Just climb up," she said. "It's like rock climbing."
"But there's a problem," Jericho replied. "The rocks are covered in disgusting feathers."
Goldwing snapped his head around and hissed at Jericho. At the eagle's reaction to his joke, Jericho took a couple of frightened steps back. Aries petted the eagle on the back of his neck.
"It's all right," she said melodiously. "He didn't mean it at all. Did you, Jericho?"
"No, no, I, uh…I was just trying to be funny."
"Well, that was a bad joke!" Both humans could hear growling through the eagle's throat as he spoke and had his beak open, showing that he had teeth. Jericho slowly stepped forward, keeping his widened eyes on the bird's growling head, and took steps up on its shoulder and up behind Aries. He swung a leg over and held on by grabbing her waist.
"Ow! Don't pinch!" she cried.
Goldwing shot his head again so he could have an eye on both of them. He was mostly staring at Jericho. "Hurt her, and you'll be answering to me!"
"'Wing!" Aries snapped. Goldwing brought his head back and sighed.
"Thanks," Jericho whispered to her. He wasn't given any kind of warning when Goldwing shot into the air. He held onto Aries' waist so tight that he nearly squeezed her and his head was pressed against her back. He felt the girl laugh and told the eagle to go faster. Jericho cried to not listen to her, but Goldwing pretended he didn't hear him and went as fast as an airplane! At least Mach two. They made it back to Keystone in just less than ten minutes and Jericho felt like he was sucked back by a vacuum cleaner. Aries was hysterical and fixed her short, lavender hair. Jericho turned to the sound of another growl and saw giant metal animals coming from the water and from the cave! He hid behind Aries, thinking that was going to help.
"What is he doing here?!" the wolf snarled.
"We're not supposed to have strangers here!" the tiger growled. Five of the animals, tiger, panther, wolf, shark, and dragon, were baring their teeth at Jericho. One of them, a monkey that was just about taller than him, was the only one who was filled with curiosity and walked forward. Aries stepped to the side, showing Jericho with his arms over his head and his eyes closed. The monkey tapped him on the shoulder, but he refused to move. So Biba grabbed the boy by the leg and held him upside-down.
"Yo! This ain't cool!" he shouted. He looked at the monkey with surprise and the animal returned a look by smiling.
"Hi!" she cheered. "I'm Biba! What's your name?"
"J…Jericho," he stuttered. The rest of the animals lowered their growls and brought their teeth back into their lips. They stepped forward and Jericho screamed.
"Gah! Monsters!" he shouted.
"Jericho, relax," Aries laughed. "These are my friends, the Maximals."
Jericho stared up at the metal animals and back over to Aries. "The ones in Keystone, huh? At least you didn't totally lie to me. You just forgot to mention that they're huge and made of metal. Put! Me! Down!"
Biba obeyed and dropped Jericho. He fell head-first on the stone and his body went so that he lying on his back. He groaned in pain and Aries ran to his side.
"You all right?" she said, still smiling.
"I think it broke something…"
"Hey!" the monkey screeched. "I'm a she, not it!" Her body shifted around so that she looked half-human and the other Maximals did so as well. Jericho didn't have any more strength to freak out again, but he still had adrenaline telling him to do so.
"Sorry for the scare," Icefire apologized. "We're not too used to Aries bringing strays, in a way of speaking."
Jericho let out a light chuckle and sat up. He turned around to look at her. The moonlight shone off of her like a gemstone and he thought he had died just now. That was disturbed when he heard a splash coming from the right of the cave. The human-shark was walking onto the platform.
"He looks like a player to me," he growled. "Aries, be careful with this guy."
"It's all right," she grinned. "He doesn't talk to me at school because he's got a rep."
"Oh, it's one of those guys!" Icefire chuckled. Tigress crawled over to Jericho and laid across the ground next to him.
"I don't know about you guys," she said, grabbing the boy's chin, "but he's kinda cute!"
Jericho blushed. This was probably the first time a girl had made him freeze up like this.
"Quit flirting, kitty-cat!" Darkjaw howled. "Aren't you in love with one of those twins at your school?"
"Shaqwan's a jerk and Swaqwille's just a weirdo!" Tigress roared back and turned to Jericho again. "I don't mind this one at all!" She giggled and Jericho couldn't help but smile back.
"So, uh…how did you guys…?" He couldn't find the rest of the question. Jericho was too stunned by Tigress.
Icefire was the one that gave the story to Jericho. He was amazed at how something alien could change an entire being, especially since it looked like a large diamond. Once the dragon gave their human names at the end of their story, he recognized her and Tigress.
"What?! You two are the Summers?!" he shouted. He looked at Tigress first, still smiling back at him. "My brother's obsessed with you-" He looked to Icefire "-and I heard you sing once!"
"You heard me sing?" Icefire said in shock. She was nervous about singing because of how people were. The ones who could sing were shy to sing, and the ones who weren't shy couldn't sing.
"Yeah, I did!" he exclaimed. "You were trying to sing all soft at lunch time, but I have a better hearing than some think."
"Then why don't you use that hyperacusis to listen to Mrs. Bennett once and a while to bump up that algebra grade?" Icefire snapped back. There were a few "ooh"s in the crowd and Nightfang shouted "Owned!" Jericho had flushed back into embarrassment. He hadn't had a girl diss him in forever!
"Priceless, dragon girl!" Goldwing howled, giving her a high-five. Darkjaw gave her one as well and said "In your face!" to Jericho.
Panthora was laughing for only a while and quickly became stiff. She sniffed out towards the lake and everyone noticed that she was staring at something.
"What is it, sis?" Nightfang whispered.
Panthora was still as stone and didn't speak for a bit. Once everything was deafeningly quiet, they heard an explosion come from at least forty miles away.
"They're here…" she whispered.
The Maximals were solid. There was no way!
"We're not leaving, yet!" Icefire ordered. "Stay in your places and wait for them to come to you!"
Aries grabbed Jericho off the ground and both of them ran behind a rock outside the cave. They peeked behind it and saw the Maximals stand in a fighting position.
"What are they doing?" Jericho whispered. "What's here?"
"Uh, I forgot to tell you, but I kind of dragged you into an intergalactic war," Aries said, giving a fake smile.
"Excuse me?" Jericho growled. He could handle pressure and things like that, but being brought into a war was something else.
"See, there's this guy, Megatron, out there that's looking for the All Spark that had transformed these guys." She pointed to the Maximals. "When one of his troops came by, he sort of blabbed that Megatron wanted universal control. So now they have to fight him."
"Well that sounds fantastic!" Jericho exaggerated.
Icefire was focused on the smoke miles away that was caused by a falling alien ship. She looked to Panthora.
"Is he sending anybody?"
"Just one," Panthora sighed. "Just one…"
"There!" Biba shouted. She pointed to the sky and every eye was locked onto a trail of smoke that was leading up and over towards them. The being flew over them at the speed faster than and airplane and the Maximals had ducked to the rock to not get hit by it.
"Goldwing, you and me!" Icefire shouted. She took off to the sky with the eagle following behind and they were about thirty feet away from the intruder. Icefire got a good lock on him and got the alien's name: Starscream. She saw the soldier transform into a human-like jet plane and spin around to look at the two Maximals. He brought his arms forward, showing the guns that were latched on them, and got ready to fire.
"Look out!" Icefire screeched. Starscream fired and missed, due to the dodging of his null rays. Icefire kept flying towards him without the Decepticon noticing through the smoke, and tackled him in the air. Both flying machines fell down towards the lake. Starscream took a left arm and punched Icefire in the face. The dragon took her own hand and slashed the dark seeker's neck. The Decepticon cried out and glared sharply at her.
"What are you!" he shouted angrily. Icefire didn't have time to answer and they fell through into the lake. Half of the dragon was about to choke now that she was half-organic. Starscream noticed this and grabbed the girl's neck. He powered his thrusters and forced both of them down into the lake. He hit the bottom and held the struggling dragon down into the mud.
"Part of you is organic and the other is Cybertronian, just like…" He thought of Black Arachnia and how she had changed. "Where is it, human?! Give me the All Spark!"
Icefire couldn't say anything. She was too busy trying to get oxygen when she knew she couldn't find it. Right when she thought she was dead, something rammed into Starscream and tackled him down.
"Swim, Icefire! Swim!" Darkjaw shouted to her. The dragon used whatever strength she had left and pushed against the bottom of the lake and shot up towards the surface. Darkjaw had Starscream pinned down into the mud, creating some dust clouds below the water. Starscream struggled to be released and Darkjaw gave up.
"Filthy half-breed!" Starscream shouted, and fired his rays at the young marine. In the dust cloud, Darkjaw transformed into a shark and lunged at Starscream. He grabbed onto the seeker's arm by his teeth and dug them through at least a few inches.
"Let go, mutant organic!" Starscream screeched, pounding his fist on the shark's mouth. Darkjaw had more strength in his mouth than he did in any part of his body and held on tight. Starscream shook his arm, hit the shark several times with both his fists and on the lake bottom, but nothing was working. Darkjaw used his own strength and spun around in circles, dragging Starscream in the dirt. Water and mud got into the seeker's turbines and system so he couldn't escape. Darkjaw finally stopped after fifty turns and swam upward. He threw Starscream up into the air and transformed back to his human form. He moved his hands upward and two columns of water shot towards the seeker and the pressure of it forced against both sides of him. Once the water fell back to the lake, so did Starscream. He floated on top of the surface and groaned.
"You can't stop me…" he moaned. "I am Starscream, the preordained leader of the Decepticons…I deserve respect…"
"Just say 'Parley' and I'll take ya back, ya whiner," Darkjaw said in a rude tone.
"Parley…?"
"Close enough." The shark grabbed Starscream by the head and dragged him back to the rock. The land Maximals growled at the seeker.
"What are doing, Darkjaw?!" Aries screamed. "He's a bad guy!"
"You should just kill 'im now!" Jericho supported her.
"If I kill him, I'll be just as bad," Darkjaw sighed, hauling the seeker up onto the center of the platform. He laid him down next to Icefire. She had swallowed so much water that she passed out. Starscream was too weak to move, but he was able to rock his head over to look at the dragon he'd almost slain. For a split second, he was filled with hate for the dragon, but something changed when he took a good look. The sky blue scales looked almost white; illuminated by the Earth's moon. He nearly regretted killing her. She was beautiful…for a techno-organic.
"You almost killed her, you son of a-!" Tigress was ready to swing a punch to avenge for her sister when Nightfang stopped her. He grabbed her paw before she could bring it towards the Decepticon.
"Not now," he said. Tigress, not in any control, shook her fist away from his grasp and punched her sister's near killer in the stomach. Starscream gave out a groan and felt like the energon he drank a few hours back was about to come back up.
"You almost killed my sister!" she shouted. She was about to swing again when Darkjaw and Panthora grabbed each arm and held her back. Biba held onto the leg. "Let go of me!" She took a deep breath in and spewed fire over Starscream. Darkjaw used his own ability and plugged Tigress' mouth with water and doused Starscream. The seeker was going to say thanks, but he'd rather not talk to these vile creatures, whatever they were. Goldwing took the exhausted Tigress and took her inside. Panthora stared at Starscream as he stared back.
"Panthora, was it?" he grinned. "You look better when you're solid."
"Monster!" she snarled, and almost felt like Tigress when she sprang forward. She pounced on top of him and pinned him down to make sure he couldn't move. She extracted her claws and brought them towards his face, until she stopped just a few centimeters from it. Starscream smirked.
"Are you sure you're not a Decepticon?" he whispered.
"I'll never be anything like you, vermin!" she spat. Panthora climbed off of him and stood back next to her brother.
"While I'm here, why don't you tell me where the All Spark is?" he smirked.
"Like we're really gonna tell you!" Jericho shouted. Aries pulled him back.
"Watch your glossa, human!" Starscream shouted.
"What the heck is a glossa?"
"Just tell me where it is! Before I rip your head off!"
Those were the magic words to make Jericho step back. Aries stood in the back with him, trembling. Starscream looked back to the remaining Maximals standing above him. He decided to change the subject and see if he could earn their trust and find the All Spark himself. Then he'd destroy the likes of them. And once he got back to Megatron with the All Spark, the universe would be his to control!
"What are you…really?" he said. "I've never seen alternate forms like yours before." He looked over to Darkjaw. "And yours seems like the strongest. And you were able to survive in that liquid when the other wasn't."
"No way!" Nightfang shouted, pushing Darkjaw. "I'm the second-in-command here! That deserves something, huh?"
"Well, uh…" Darkjaw was flushed. "This, um…animal that I've got is called a shark. Biggest, baddest marine machine around!"
"I'm a wolf, I'm better!"
"Are you kidding me?!" Panthora shrieked. "A cat's way more agile than a stupid dog!"
A fight broke out between the three Maximals, which Starscream found very amusing. They wouldn't kill a Decepticon, but they would fight each other. How cute.
"Stop…" A moan sounded next to Starscream and he looked over. The Maximals stopped where they were; Panthora biting Nightfang's ear, Darkjaw ready to tear off the second-in-command's leg, and the wolf pulling his sister's tail. "I told you guys…not to fight…You said it yourself, 'Fang…Fight each other…or fight together…"
"She speaks," Starscream smiled. Icefire opened her eyes. They flashed bright blue to the Decepticon, but she didn't look alerted.
"You tried to kill me…." she groaned. "Now you want to soften up to us…Heh…You know, for an alien robot…you're really dumb."
"What?!"
"You heard me…" Icefire closed her eyes and smiled.
"Foul Earth creature! You're just like the Autobots."
"A: You're funny…B…I have no clue what an Autobot really is…Care to tell?"
"The Autobots were just a couple of scum that hid the All Spark from Megatron for the battle over Cybertron. We've spent four million stellar cycles looking for it. Now where is it?!"
"Let me clear it up…Megatron became power hungry…and put together an army that were mad enough to do it…So, the Autobots fought back and meant to send it here…Now I see where the puzzle fits…And you guys tracked its signal before them…The Spark activated, sensing you guys, and changed us…Incredible…!"
"What do you mean it changed you? Weren't you like this before?"
"No…We were all human…changed into Earth's creatures…except for me…I'm a myth…" Icefire gave a soft laugh and continued. "So what about yourself?…Didn't Megatron send anyone else?"
"I quit," he lied. The best way to get access to the All Spark at this point was by lying.
"Why? Megatron become a burden?"
"In a way, yes. He beats only me if something goes wrong."
"That sucks…Sounds like he really hates you…You should've quit years ago…"
"Yo!" Nightfang spoke up. "You want me to leave you two alone?"
"Sure…" Icefire moaned, and gave out another laugh at how that sounded. "Why not?"
Nightfang shrugged and took the panther, shark, and monkey with him into the cave. Starscream felt sort of terrified lying next Icefire. She still had that weird affect on him. She was still as stone for a while until she opened her eyes and her eyes seemed to flash again.
"What are the stars like?" she asked.
"Excuse me?" This pre-human was making no sense. If he had any energy left, he would've left this freak a long time ago and just be done with it.
"What are the stars like?" the dragon repeated. "I want to know if our scientists were right."
"Well, uh…they're just clouds of white dust packed together."
"They're not large spheres, filled with hot gases?"
"Um…no?"
"I guess they were wrong after all…It must be a beautiful sight to see. Would you take me to see one if you could?"
Starscream felt his systems overheating. There was no way he could explain this. Every time she spoke of something fantastic, he had this strange feeling sweep over him like a wave. He didn't realize that she was waiting for the answer. "M…Maybe…"
"It's a yes or no question…" Icefire smiled. She moved her head to the side to look at him. Primus, she was gorgeous! "Would you take me?"
"Yes," Starscream whispered. He was unaware of everything that was happening. His self-diagnostic system told him that he was overheating too much, but he ignored it. He was too busy adoring the techno-organic.
"You're staring," Icefire laughed. "Are you in love with me or something?"
"Huh? No!" Starscream said, snapping back to reality. "Not at all! Never!" He turned his head away. Slag it, why do I feel like this!
"Denial…" Icefire muttered. "Typical male…No matter what species, they're the same, eh? Hmph…That's disappointing…"
"So what's your position in this group?"
"What's yours in the Decepticons?"
"I'm second-in-command. Now you."
"Leader of the Maximals."
Starscream stared at her with interested eyes. "You're their leader?!"
"Why are you so surprised?" Both Decepticon and Maximal stared at each other. For second, Starscream almost overheated again. Then his system blared, telling him that he was well rested up and ready to go. Obeying it, he stood up and stretched. He looked down at the smiling dragon girl. She held out a hand.
"You gonna help me up?" she asked. Starscream smiled back and held out his own hand, grasped hers, and lifted her back on her feet. "Thanks."
"Leader, eh?" He had a wandering optic on her. "I don't see it."
"Hey, I got us this far without killing us."
"Except you."
"Well-" She thought for a bit and shot him a quick glare. "Better me to die than them! That's how leader should go down!" She stormed away, back into the cave.
"I made her mad," Starscream chuckled. He called to her. "Do I come in or-"
"You're sleeping outside!" Tigress answered for her sister. Starscream waited for a true answer from the leader, but since he didn't hear one he figured she might have agreed with the tiger. He sighed and laid back down on the rock.
xXx
Author's Note: Everybody always has to have Starscream fall in love with their OC, right? Come on! It's really all the attempts at killing Megatron, that I think, is what makes him hot. Then we have the protective ones, like Tigress, who completely disagree and give out an attitude. *snap*