#24 - Possession
Part 2: Secrets in Danger
The Maximals were gathered outside their base, beginning reconstruction on the damages caused by the electrical storm the day before, their senses on high alert. There was a gaping hole in the southeast wall of the Axalon. That certainly was their weakest point they assumed. When Rattrap had informed Optimus Primal of their spy's message, he too had been baffled but he wouldn't risk calling her back to ask what she meant. She must be on her way with the other Predacons right now.
Rhinox was currently mulling possible meanings around in his mind as he tinkered with circuitry and wires but he couldn't be sure of anything. They would just have to wait and keep on their guard while they worked. An hour went by and still no signs of trouble. Cheetor was beginning to think that Starfeather might have lost it.
"I'm telling you, being with the Preds this long might be literally driving her insane," he was saying. "They're torturing her!"
"Cheetor," Optimus sighed, handing Rhinox a screwdriver. "There isn't any reason that I can see that they would torture her. She tells me they don't appear to suspect her at all."
"But that ain't the important thing," Rattrap butted in. "The Preds are probably hiding out around the rocks right now, just waiting until we turn our backs and then-"
The rat was cut off by a familiar chorus from everyone.
"Shut up, Rattrap."
The Maximals continued to work in a tense silence but they knew that Rattrap's statement could very well be true... and it was. The ship trembled as one of Scorponok's missiles struck the opposite side of the base that the Maximals were on.
"What is this?" Cheetor exclaimed. Rattrap stood up.
"They're attacking the other side!"
"Look the opposite way," Optimus repeated Starfeather's warning. "Of course!"
Then suddenly, from the new hole made by the missile, Waspinator zoomed into the power generator room below, holding Blackarachnia. Both had guns drawn.
"Hello boys," the wasp said in a strange, raspy voice. "We just happened to be in the neighborhood."
"So we thought we'd drop in," Blackarachnia added, then fired at Optimus. He ducked and signaled for everyone to transform for battle. The Maximal leader came inside the room, using his jets for elevation. The others charged in behind.
"Don't you know that gate crashing is just plain rude?" Cheetor retorted, dodging some of Megatron's shots. "Next time, try knocking!"
"There won't be a next time, kitty cat," Starfeather said, shooting for his feet, then turning on Dinobot. However, the raven hoped with all her spark that there would be a next time. While she was engaged with the raptor, the golden mech decided to try and take out Waspinator. He fired repeatedly, but each time, to his utter surprise, he missed. He watched as the wasp soared around the room, throwing off all who attempted to knock him down at an almost unimaginable speed. He burst through the first opening, guarded by Rhinox and Rattrap. They couldn't get a clear shot as he was flying too quickly. The fighting stopped between Dinobot and Starfeather as they both looked up at the wasp with astonishment.
"Since when did buzz boy learn to move like that?" the cheetah asked aloud. Waspinator came back into the room as if on cue.
"Since his mainframe was commandeered by the mighty Starscream!"
So it is true! Cheetor thought as he fled from the fire now raining down on him from Waspina- er, Starscream's blaster.
Dinobot turned in an attempt to get Starscream off of the cheetah's tail, but was hit and knocked unconscious by Megatron. The Predacon leader tisked his tongue at the ex-Predacon.
"We must pay attention, Dinobot. Otherwise, deary me, look what happens."
Optimus Primal realized that there was no way they could win this fight. All the Predacons were bearing down on them in full force and one of his own bots was down.
"We've got to evacuate! Regroup and recover!" he ordered.
"What? And leave the place to the Preds?!" Rattrap protested.
"We have no choice. On my signal!" Optimus barked. He then dove to collect Dinobot. Then, downed comrade in arms, he gave the call. "Maximals! Full retreat!"
"What? No!" Starfeather hissed under her breath.
As Optimus struggled to rise and escape through the opening in the wall, Terrorsaur came to block it. He wore a malicious, cocky smirk as he waited for the Maximal leader to get in his range, but Optimus had other ideas. He put his jets on maximum burn and thrust forward. As he passed, he shoved a fist in Terrorsaur's face, knocking him to the ground.
Anger boiled up in Starfeather as she watched Optimus leave, but she knew that he had to do what needed to be done. She soared out of the hole and down to where her wingmate was sitting up and holding his nose. She gasped slightly at seeing energon dripping from what she could see of his chin. She landed beside him and gingerly touched the side of his face.
"Are you okay?" she asked. He grunted before he responded.
"I think that fragger broke some part of my olfactory sensor." He removed his hand to reveal that it was covered in blood. The raven flinched at the sight, but thought of something that might help stop or at least absorb the bleeding.
"Here," she said, reaching into her subspace and pulling out her old tie-dye tee shirt. "Use this."
"Thanks," he muttered and took the shirt. He wiped his hand before moving to his face. It took a few moments, but the flow of energon soon stopped. Starfeather smiled sadly at the sight of her favorite shirt. Most of the bright colors were masked by the softly glowing substance and had seeped through the cloth. She shook her head mentally at herself.
I don't need it anymore, she thought.
"Are you two quite finished?" a gravelly voice chimed in. The two looked to see the wasp standing a few feet away, arms folded and optics slightly narrowed. The raven thought she caught a low growl in Terrorsaur's throat.
"As a matter of fact, we are."
"Well then, let us not keep Megatron waiting." Starscream then turned on his heel, jumped up and re-entered the Axalon. The red mech let his growl grow a little louder.
"What's the matter?" Starfeather asked. "You're starting to sound like an angry dog."
"Nothing," he said a little gruffly and stood up. He held out the dripping shirt to her. "Here, I'm done with it."
She took it, but looked at him strangely. Terrorsaur was acting weird all of a sudden and she didn't see a reason as to why. She decided to get to the bottom of this when she had time to talk. Right now, they had to meet with the other Predacons. When they went inside and found their way to the command center, Megatron had already begun his celebration.
"Victory!" he declared, arms outspread. "The Maximal base is mine, yes!"
Terrorsaur and Starfeather assumed their places quietly as Tarantulas put his two cents worth in.
"But what do we do now? If we're here, then our base is unprotected."
"First we concur, now we divide. Tarantulas, Terrorsaur: you will return with me. Scorponok, Blackarachnia, and Starfeather shall remain behind under the command of Starscream," Megatron ordered, indicating to each individual. The raven softly gulped but nodded in acknowledgment. Terrorsaur, however, would not go as quietly.
"Starscream?" he questioned, almost spitting the name out like bad energon. "How come he gets promoted?" The two fliers glared at each other for a moment, one from his high horse the other challengingly. The standoff was put to an end nearly as soon as it began by Megatron slamming the red mech against the table between the jaws of his Tyrannosaurus arm. He grunted, vainly trying to move. Starfeather quietly gasped. She longed to just leap at Megatron and tear his head off but she knew she couldn't do so.
"Thus you are rewarded for your loyal service," Megatron stated to the wasp, then turned to the mech in his grasp, lifting him up off the table by the neck to look him in the optics. "And thus you are encouraged to keep your beak shut." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he threw Terrorsaur across the room. He came to a sudden stop against the wall above the platform that led down outside the ship, sliding into a heap on the lift, his nose bleeding again
Starscream watched with sickly amusement, his face appearing stone cold. Yet, a feeling of deja vu crept over him. This was the exact treatment he had once received from his last commander. He almost felt sorry for the other mech.
Starfeather also watched, frozen in place, until she saw the blood. She hurried again to her wingmate, already taking the same shirt out from her subspace. Kneeling down by his side, she gave Megatron a death glare.
"That was uncalled for," she snarled. The Predacon leader gave her a disapproving look. Starscream changed the course of events by speaking.
"I am merely grateful that I had a chance to help," he said smoothly.
"Yeah, I'll bet," Blackarachnia muttered to herself. She had made herself comfortable on a control console just behind the two mechs. She knew Starscream was up to something. Megatron then turned to speak with Scorponok. Meanwhile, Terrorsaur was talking to Starfeather quietly enough for only her to hear.
"Don't worry about me," he was saying, referring to his nose. "Listen, it probably won't be long before Megatron wants to leave. So, while I'm gone, watch yourself. If anything happens, just call."
"I'll be fine, you're the one that's hurt," she sighed. Before anything more could be said, Megatron ordered for the ones he specified to leave with him. Starfeather tried to help Terrorsaur up, but he brushed her off. She looked at him with concern, but he just trailed a finger across her cheek and left with the others. She watched him go, stunned. He just wasn't acting right today.
-x-
A certain falcon circled high over the Maximal base and watched as the Maximals fled. She also noticed that Optimus Primal was carrying Dinobot, who appeared to be unconscious.
"Something tells me this isn't just a fire drill," Airazor said to herself. She continued to watch and saw as about half of the Predacons left the base.
"I'd better find Tigatron," she murmured and flew away in search of the tiger. She soon found him prowling around a rocky valley. Swooping down, she gave a cry of her beast form to catch his attention. The white tiger looked up and silently watched her descent.
"News update from you spy in the sky!" she called before landing. "The Preds seem to have taken over the base. Half of them just left and guess who's in charge."
Tigatron had not been informed about Starscream yet so you can imagine his surprise when the falcon told him. All they could do about this for now was help the others and try to think of a plan to regain the Axalon.
-x-
Twenty-four hours passed. The stasis pod with the protoform that Megatron planned for Starscream to use had crashed. This would be an easy steal as the Maximals had no clue of the location or even the fact that it had landed. Megatron himself, Starscream, and Tarantulas had left the bases, leaving Terrorsaur and Blackarachnia to watch one and Starfeather and Scorponok to watch the other.
The raven had to act fast. She knew where the pod had landed and knew the Maximals might have a chance to get there first if they happened to be nearby. So she slipped soundlessly to her room in the Axalon and took out her communicator.
"Blackbird to big ape. Please, come in."
"Big ape here. What is it blackbird?" Optimus replied.
"A stasis pod has crashed and Megatron, Tarantulas, and Starscream are already on their way. What's your position?"
He gave her their location and she told him where the pod had landed. Unfortunately, they were all the way at the other end of the territory and would not be able to reach the doomed protoform. Optimus thanked Starfeather anyway and left her with some words of comfort.
"None of this was your fault," he said gently. "You didn't have the time to give us a proper message. We just didn't interpret it fast enough."
"No," she protested. "I should have just said we would attack the other side."
"Don't beat yourself up, Star. What's done is done," he urged. "Everyone makes mistakes, no matter how experienced they may be. Now, I'd better let you go. Big ape: out."
"Bye..." she whispered, even though the connection had already been cut. She sat on the floor of her room for several minutes after the transmission had ended. No matter what Optimus said, she knew that this was her fault. She could have done something to get in someone's way. One question burned in her mind. How could he be so calm about all this? He lost the base and was going to lose a slumbering teammate. Not to mention that he and the others were going to be destroyed within the week. And it was all her fault. She wanted to scream and tear something apart to release her pent up frustrations and self-inflicting anger.
Taking some deep breaths to cool off, she put the communicator away and left the room. She went back to her duties with Scorponok, who asked no questions about her short disappearance. They waited in silence for Starscream to return. Starfeather hoped that Waspinator would come as well. She missed his buzzing voice and almost innocent compound optics that she had grown to love like a brother.
Approximately an hour went by before the ex-Seeker returned. When he entered the base, Starfeather took a fearful step back from the consoles, aqua green optics wide. He now had an imposing air about him rather than the somewhat familiar look that he had had with the wasp's body. Searing violet optics bore into her own. His body structure was similar to Terrorsaur's, being able to transform into a giant golden eagle. His frame was mostly rusty gold and milky grey with some red and black highlights. His helm was featherless and black, contrasting his white face, and it did not wrap around his chin like Terrorsaur's.
The raven couldn't help but notice that there were several similarities to this mech and Terrorsaur. Their faces were nearly exact replicas to each other, they both had broad torsos and slimmer waists, and their voices... Could they be possibly related somehow? She would have to ask later. Right now, Starscream was coming closer. She stiffly saluted in an attempt to appease him. He simply offered her another glare and continued on. Waspinator didn't follow. She was disappointed at not seeing him again but figured she could wait a while yet. Blackarachnia was soon sent back and things were quiet for the rest of the day.
-x-
In all his eons of solitude, Starscream had surplus amounts of time to think. In his past life, or at least what he could remember since he was brought back from the Matrix, he had not been too fond of femmes. The ones he had known were either Autobots or just plain glitches. But here, the two Predacon femmes seemed fairly decent.
Blackarachnia seemed like a perfect match for him. So far of what he had seen of her, she distrusted and disliked everyone, and seemed in it for herself. Not to mention her dark and alluring mainframe had captured his interests. He began to wonder what she could offer him.
That Starfeather was also quite pleasing to look at. She had such slender and dainty limbs, smooth and soft looking lips and face, silky feathers just begging to be stroked and teased with, and those optics of hers were like glowing crystals of aqua green light. Unfortunately, it appeared that she already had someone after her.
Terrorsaur seemed quite like himself, even in appearance and voice. Not to mention even the same sort of relationship with Megatron. Starscream wondered if it was just chance that they were so much alike. He would have to dig deeper into this. To begin his quest for answers, he had to search the files he had downloaded earlier before obtaining a body. Scanning through all the useless information, he finally came to Terrorsaur's available genealogy records. The eagle read the names of the parents, grandparents, great grandparents...
Hmm, interesting...
-x-
Terrorsaur was finally able to get some time alone from his duties on the Darkside. The workloads had been doubled on everyone at both bases to make up for the lack of members at separate locations. He was exhausted. Why did things have to change when it was all going so good? And why did his direct ancestor, one of the most famous Decepticons in history, have to turn out to be such a pain in the aft? Maybe he was just paranoid.
The pterodactyl sighed. At least now he knew that his ultimate goal was more achievable: to become greater than Starscream ever was and lead the Predacons to victory. He smiled to himself, thinking of all the ways he could dismantle Megatron. Then again, maybe his little bird would want the honors. Well, he'd leave her the final blow. He wondered if everything was alright with her. She hadn't called since the takeover. Maybe he would check up on her tomorrow when he was put on scouting patrol if she happened to be scouting too.
-x-
Another day went by and the Predacons were starting to search out where the homeless Maximals might be taking refuge. They needed to find them before their wounds were healed and they could organize a counter-attack. Starfeather was sent on one of these patrols. She went out solo and was thankful for it. However, she was unaware of someone trailing her...
Once she had gone a mile or two, she felt it safe to land and contact the Maximals. She did so over rocky terrain, alighting on a large boulder.
"Terrorize," she commanded simply. Once her body was fully shifted, she took the communicator from her subspace and activated it. "Blackbird to big ape. Do you copy?"
"Big ape here. What do you have to report, blackbird?" Optimus replied.
Her stalker had heard enough. He had all the information he needed.
So, our own little bird is a spy... This is going to be fun. He turned and slipped away like a faint shadow.
"The Predacons have begun seeking out your position," she informed him. "I hope Dinobot is able to walk because I'm afraid you might be found soon." There was a pause before Optimus continued.
"Actually, we came up with a plan that might pay off..." He went on to explain how they were going to try and regain their base. He had barely finished before Starfeather heard an all too familiar squawk.
No, no, no! Not now, Screechy!
"I have to go. Someone's coming," she said in a rush and, not even waiting for a reply, shut off the communicator and nearly threw it back into her subspace before reverting to her beast form.
She shot upwards to look around and, sure enough, there he was and he had spotted her as well. It didn't take long for him to reach her. When he did, they both transformed and he caught her up as if she had been gone for months on a trip overseas. She hugged back too, of course, though she wasn't as thrilled. They said nothing for a while, only staying in the air clinging to one another. Terrorsaur was the first to speak once he pulled back to look at her properly.
"Why didn't you call me?"
"I didn't have anything to say. Sorry if you wanted me to." Starfeather shrugged.
"It's okay now," he murmured then rested his chin in the crook of her neck. "I'd rather see you than hear you."
"More like touch me. Do you mind? And don't say any form of no." She rolled her optics, fighting back a shudder. She didn't have time to get frisky. He laughed softly at her and nipped playfully at her neck.
"Ow! Stop it!" It hadn't hurt, but she wanted to get his attention away from her sensitive areas. She was beginning to lose the psychological fight of mindless pleasure and sensibility. He immediately stopped and backed away.
"Did I hurt you?" He looked down at her apologetically. She glared at him, looking seriously into his crimson optics.
"Of course not, but don't you dare go back to- ...to taking what you want from me!"
Terrorsaur stared at her, stunned.
"What are you talking about? I wasn't- I mean, I thought you-"
"I do enjoy your company and the time we share," Starfeather interrupted, less harshly. "But you've been taking it almost too far lately. Ever since Starscream came a few days ago, you've been... clingy. What is your problem?"
He continued to stare, what the raven had said gradually seeping in. After what seemed like hours, he finally spoke.
"I'm sorry Starfeather, I... I wasn't thinking..."
"Hey, I'm not all that mad at you. I was more concerned. Oh, and did you get that bloody nose taken care of?" She smiled sympathetically at him and touched his cheek. He merely scoffed at her in mock offense.
"You think I'm stupid enough to leave an annoying injury like that? And that reminds me..." He took something from his subspace and handed it to her. She looked down at her clean tie-dye shirt and smiled.
"I guess energon doesn't stain." He gave her a childish grin.
"Aw, that was sweet of you," she cooed and brought herself closer. "And I think that deserves a kiss." Her lips then found his and he welcomed them eagerly. He was relieved that she wasn't upset with him. The moment came to an end all too soon as they had to return to their patrols and head to the bases they were stationed at.
-x-
As the day passed, Starscream, having all the information he needed from his investigations, began focusing his attention elsewhere. He watched his new comrades as they went about their assigned tasks. He also noticed that Blackarachnia was curt and acted suspiciously whenever he would speak to her. To fulfill his curiosity, he approached her in the empty bridge of the ex-Maximal base.
"Perhaps I am being too overly sensitive, Blackarachnia, but is there something you're not telling me?" he asked.
"More like something you're not telling us," the she-spider snapped.
"Such as?" The eagle inclined his head. She narrowed her black optics almost in disgust.
"I read the data file on you more closely. You weren't sucked into a black hole. You were blasted by Galvatron after you betrayed him by taking the Omega Lock and absorbing its power into yourself!" She pointed at him accusingly, hints of a nasty smirk gracing her features. That was when Starscream went on the defensive.
"Galvatron was a fool! I deserved to lead the Decepticons!" he snarled, shoving his face into hers. He calmed down somewhat and continued. "So, now you know my little secret. However, the question remains: why did you not expose me to Megatron?" He eyed her questioningly. Blackarachnia's smirk became more visible.
"Well, I figured you might be able to make me a better offer." She then winked and turned to walk away, tempting him to follow. Starscream chuckled as he obliged her, easing an arm over her slender shoulders.
"Oh, I believe that there are one or two things I have that could possibly perk your interests."
However, the black widow crossed her claws behind her back as they walked.
