#28 - Call of the Wild

Part 1: A Night Wish

"You actually drew a mustache on Terrorsaur's face?" Airazor giggled.

"Yup, and Waspy and Scorponok sure got a good laugh out of it. I feel bad, though. He wouldn't leave his room for the rest of day. Megatron got fed up by nightfall and had Tarantulas hack the door locks to get him out. That's why he wasn't around when Inferno's pod landed. Megatron was punishing him..." The raven paused painfully for a moment. "And that's also why I wasn't there, because I admitted to starting it and we were punished by solitary confinement for the day, no matter the circumstances."

"I have a feeling that he hasn't forgiven you yet."

"He'll get over it," she said with a shrug. At least, I hope he does, she added silently to herself. "So, how has Tigatron been? I heard he got dinged up pretty bad."

The two birds were gliding along the borders of the territories, just sharing small-talk about happenings at the bases and with their comrades. It had been two days since the arrival of Inferno, the latest addition to the Predacon ranks. Things were just starting to quiet down since then.

"Oh, he's much better. I saw him this morning." Airazor smiled. "He... he asked me if I would join him for dawn patrols."

"Wow, did you say yes?" Starfeather asked eagerly. The falcon's smile turned crooked.

"Well, yeah."

"Well then, I hope you two have fun," she giggled. Before Airazor could reply, Starfeather's comm. link came on. Immediately, both femmes stopped and transformed, hovering in midair.

"Starfeather, blast it, where are you!?"

"I'm on border patrol, just like you ordered, sir," Starfeather replied.

"And what could possibly be taking you so long?"

"I got lost in my head. It's not like I've run into any Maximals or anything." The two femmes exchanged glances.

"So stop daydreaming and meet us at the boulders behind the Maximal base, now."

"What? What are we- Oh, yeah… Right away, sir. Starfeather: out." She cut the connection before Megatron could say any more. Airazor stared at Starfeather. The raven smiled apologetically. She had sincerely forgotten about the attack Megatron was planning for that night and answered her commander.

"Why didn't you tell us he was planning an attack tonight?" Airazor demanded. The other raised her hands in self-defense.

"Hey, I was going to, but I kind of... forgot. I've had a lot on my mind lately. At least you know now and now we can warn Optimus."

"I'm worried about you. We all are." The falcon looked away and nodded. She then looked back at her. Starfeather rolled her optics in slight annoyance.

"Don't tell me. You, and just about everyone else, think that me playing Predacon is going too far in my head and that I need to get out of there." By the hurt look on Airazor's face, the raven wished she hadn't been so quick to mouth off her frustrations about those closest to her, wanting her to leave her best friends.

"I'm sorry, I'm just tired of everyone thinking they know what's best for me. I can take care of myself."

"We'd better get going. I'll fly slower so you have time to let the others know what's happening." Airazor continued to give Starfeather a hard look, not at all convinced.

"Alright." Starfeather nodded. They both reverted back to their beast forms. The raven took the lead with the other falling behind. She could soon hear Airazor talking to Optimus and frowned, berating herself for forgetting something so important. Not only were her efforts toward the Maximals not really helping at all, but she was also betraying them by being with Terrorsaur.

Her shoulders lost their tension as she flew on. She couldn't go on like this. Like Optimus had told her before, she had to choose which side she would be fully loyal to. Now she wasn't so sure it would be the Maximals.

-x-

Waspinator looked from Terrorsaur, stiffly steaming at one end of the space behind their stone hiding place, to Megatron on the other side, pretending the other didn't even exist for the time being. He sighed. His brother hadn't said a word to him or Starfeather since he came out of solitary confinement, making it obvious that he wanted nothing to do with her anymore. The wasp didn't want them to split up. He had seen how happy they were together and he wanted Terrorsaur to be happy. If he was happy, Waspinator was happy. Same goes for Starfeather.

Speaking of whom, she was now circling down toward them. After landing in the center of the clearing between the boulders, she glanced Terrorsaur's way. He met her gaze and snorted, looking away to glare at the ground before his feet. The raven sighed forlornly and all waited to receive final orders from their leader.

"Predacons; attention," Megatron said. All stood straight and stiff. "Tarantulas, Scorponok, you will attack the forward side of the ship. Starfeather, Inferno, you will take the western side. Blackarachnia, you will take the eastern side. I shall be between you and Scorponok and Tarantulas's location." He looked to Terrorsaur and Waspinator. "You two will circle above, out of range, until my signal. You know what to look for."

All saluted or nodded in acknowledgment and split up toward their assigned locations. Starfeather flew low to the ground, following Inferno as he walked briskly in beast mode. She had only known him for two days and she didn't think much of him. He wasn't much for conversation and was overly protective of Megatron. However, for being even more loyal than Scorponok, there was only one order that he would not follow. She remembered the first time when she heard what the ant referred to Megatron as. That was the second time she had laughed that hard that week, but now she had to focus. Reaching their assigned locations, they transformed and waited.

-x-

A cheetah was prowling in the forest beyond the Maximal ship. He gazed at it briefly before his attention was called by the crowing of a large raven, as black as the night sky, only visible because of the two full moons. He growled low in his throat with wanting. His eyes followed the raven as it circled toward the ground, landing gracefully in the space between the base and the tree line.

The two stared each other down. Neither made a noise. The raven then spread her wings, her body outlined with the silver light of the moons, and cawed up to the sky. Her calls gradually turned ragged as the bird's body began to mutate. Feathered wings morphed to clawed, leathery, bat-like wings. The beak grew longer and sharper, lined with needle-sharp teeth. A pointed crest grew from the back of the head and the tail feathers shriveled away and left nothing but a short, serpentine-like tail.

The cheetah's eyes widened and the fur on his shoulders stood on end. He bared his fangs when the pterodactyl turned his sights on him. The winged reptile shrieked and, flailing his wings, lunged at the cheetah. The cat turned and fled into the forest, pterodactyl in hot pursuit.

The cheetah would glance over his shoulder every now and again but each time, his sight was met with the larger and closer outline of his pursuer, gliding easily through the trees. He could hear energon roaring in his ears as his legs took him as fast as they could go, but it wasn't fast enough.

Terrorsaur laughed maliciously as he lowered and latched onto his scruff and flew higher. Cheetor caterwauled and flailed wildly in an attempt to rip himself free. Terrorsaur merely scoffed at the futile attempt. He then lowered his beak and whispered in Cheetor's ear,

"She's mine." Then, he let him go.

His eyes widened even farther as he plummeted. Looking down, the ground split to reveal an oozing river of lava, fire licking at the banks and lighting the forest ablaze. Cheetor shrieked as the certainness of death clutched him like a giant claw, Terrorsaur's laughter and a blaring alarm ringing in his ears. He could feel the heat scorching his pelt and squeezed his eyes shut, yet was blinded by a flashing red light.

"NO!" Cheetor jumped awake, gasping for breath. He glanced rapidly around his room to make sure he was really awake and alive. "No... no... Starfeather." Finally, he realized that the red light was still flashing and the alarm was still blaring. He leaped to his feet and dashed out of his room and down the halls to the bridge as tremors vibrated the ship.

-x-

Starfeather watched as Dinobot and Cheetor exited the base and charged toward Tarantulas and Scorponok. She withheld her fire for a moment to watch. Inferno didn't seem to notice, continuing his shots at the hull. She could sense the rising tension in him and knew he was growing jealous. She wondered why some guys, and girls for that matter, just couldn't let go. She had learned to and, though it stung her heart sharply at first, the pain grew numb and she could live without if she put her mind to it. If this kept up, she would have to talk privately with him and try to let him down gently.

Right now, she had a job to do. The arachnids had fallen and Megatron had shot the signal. She looked up and, switching to infrared vision, could see her wingmates spiraling down. They transformed into their robotic forms before landing. Pushing back some debris, Waspinator reached for the object that they came for.

Megatron called a retreat just as Optimus appeared from the roof hatch. He tried to fend them off, knocking the wasp off balance, but Terrorsaur was quick to return fire. Optimus fell back as Terrorsaur helped Waspinator to his feet and up into the night sky. Of course, the Maximal leader gave chase and it was at that moment, Airazor came into range. Transforming to her robot form, she swooped to meet them. The pterodactyl's optics flashed with smoldering fury. He hated that blasted falcon to the Pit and wouldn't let what she had done to him go freely. Until the Beast Wars were over or until he died trying (he hoped that wouldn't be the case), he would scrap her the same way that she had scraped him. She opened fire and they swerved, effectively avoiding Primal's lasers as well. All four might have crashed together if Megatron had not intervened. Normally, he would not have, but since Waspinator carried precious cargo, he wanted to personally oversee its deliverance to the base.

Starfeather watched helplessly as Optimus fell and emitted a tiny cry of dismay when Terrorsaur, taking advantage of Airazor's distraction, nicked her good on the shoulder. However, she kept strong and grabbed Optimus's foot just inches before he hit the ground. The raven silently took a deep breath before following her comrade's examples, shifting to beast form, and flew after her wingmates.

Cheetor followed her with his optics as she left with the Predacons, his grip on his blaster tightening. He forced his personal feelings down to assist Dinobot in helping Optimus and Airazor into the base. Once inside and after putting Airazor in a CR chamber, Rhinox told everyone the bad news just as their systems began to short circuit. They shifted to their beast forms and Rhinox continued.

"The Predacons stole our rectifier coil. Without it, we are susceptible to the energon radiation fields, even inside the base," he explained. "We'll have to remain in beast mode until we can get it back."

"Eh, c'mon," Rattrap started. "I could sneak in the Pred base and get it, no problem." To which Optimus shook his head.

"No, they'll be expecting that. We'll have to wait at least a few days until they start getting cocky before we try to retaliate." Cheetor extended a paw to throw his two cents worth in.

"Couldn't we just ask Starfeather to bring it back tomorrow night and one of us intercept her?" He knew that either he or Dinobot would be sent out for this task since he and the raptor could move the fastest with a load. He would offer every argument he could think of so that he could go. He was disappointed at Optimus's answer.

"Negative. If Starfeather disappeared at the same time the rectifier coil did, Megatron might get suspicious."

"So, what do you propose we do?" Dinobot snarled softly.

"All we can do is wait." The Maximal leader sighed as if exhausted by the prospect of the solution.

-x-

Starfeather leaned against the wall by the door to Terrorsaur's room, her arms hugging her chest. Waspinator sat by her feet, tracing the grate design on the floor and buzzing to himself. When the raven sighed, he looked up at her.

"Bird-bot okay?" he asked. She sighed again, not meeting his gaze.

"I'm fine."

"What Bird-bot do if Terrorsaur not forgive her?"

She had been wondering the exact same thing. What would she do if he refused to forgive her? The last time this sort of thing happened, she had to literally run him down and almost beg on her knees. He seemed more steamed about this than her simply laughing at something that he didn't want to admit was true. She knew that he had always been touchy about his appearance. How he managed to buff his armor every morning within ten minutes, she would never know, but this was ridiculous. All it would take to get the marker off was to rub at it for a minute with the normal cleaning solution in the shower cubicles. She had done it to herself to make sure it would come off. She hadn't done so on her own face, but still. He was overreacting to her stupid little joke and frustration took the place of her anxiety.

Anyway, what would she do if he would not forgive her? Would that be the end of their relationship? If so, how could she bear to look at him every day? She could handle when her first boyfriend had broken things off because he had to move, leaving her with some pictures of him that she had shoved in a drawer and forgotten about them. She couldn't let Terrorsaur go like that. He was someone too special. It felt so right to be with him.

"I..." She started to find words to answer the wasp's question until they both picked up the sound of footsteps coming down the hall toward them. Waspinator stood up and Starfeather moved away from the wall, allowing her arms to fall to her sides. There he came in the dim light of the Darkside's passageways, expecting to enter his quarters without distraction. Those hopes were dashed when he saw them.

"What do you want?" Terrorsaur rasped. This wasn't going well already. Starfeather stepped forward.

"Waspy and I want to apologize. I never meant for what I did to get that far out of hand."

"You never do, yet it always does," he retorted darkly with a snort. She lost her quiet and pleading domineer, the frozen fangs of his words biting her heart. "And who's fault is that?" she demanded.

"You were the one who locked yourself in your room to stew about your dented ego."

"I wouldn't have if you weren't the one who started it!" he snapped back, taking a threatening step toward her. She glared back up at him, holding her ground, aqua green optics alight with fury.

"It was just a silly prank! I scribbled on myself to make sure it would come off!"

"It doesn't matter! If you hadn't done it, none of that would have happened!"

"Well, if you hadn't dragged me out of bed that one morning, I wouldn't have done it!"

"You mean to tell me that that's your lame excuse for drawing on my face like a piece of scrap paper?! I was just playing with you!" Terrorsaur glared at her.

"Oh, now look who's talking," the raven commented dryly. "I was just messing with you, okay? I didn't overreact then, so you don't have an excuse to either."

"You drew a fragging mustache on my face!"

"And it came off so there's no more need to-!"

"ZZZZZTOP!"

The two were stunned into silence, too surprised by the sudden outburst to say any more. The wasp, who had been witnessing the entire argument and growing fearful of the outcome, finally butted in to stop it.

"Terrorsaur and Bird-bot need to zztop fighting. Whole bazze can hear them. But that not Wazzpinator'z point. Terrorsaur and Bird-bot are love birdz, friendzz. Forgive and forget."

Had Waspinator really just said that? The two looked at him and back at each other several times as if trying to make certain that what he had said really came from him. But, just as suddenly as the surprise came, it wore off and was replaced by stubbornness.

"Slag this, I'm going to sleep." No sooner said than Terrorsaur shoved past Starfeather and Waspinator, the door to his quarters hissing shut behind him. In desperation, Starfeather threw herself at the door to try and keep it open, but it was no use.

"Wait!" she screamed as she slammed into the door just milliseconds after it closed. "Please... I said I was sorry!" She weakly pounded on the door with her fist, tears welling in her optics. She squeezed them shut.

"I didn't mean to hurt you like that! I didn't know I would hurt you..." A sob choked her next words. She leaned against the door, suddenly feeling weak. A green clawed hand on her shoulder coaxed her to continue. "I was... just having some fun like you did with me... Please, open the door Terrorsaur. I..." Her voice cracked and she swallowed as the tears fell. "I love you..."

-x-

He could hear perfectly well. He was leaning back against the door, glaring between his feet. His fists tightened as he listened to her voice, broken by sorrow, force out every word. He wanted to open the door, he wanted to take her in his arms and make her feel better, he wanted to, but his body would not listen. It was like two beings in his mind were pushing and pulling for him to do what they said.

Go on and sit there while her spark shatters, what do you care? One voice spat.

You care that she will not be with you anymore. She makes you happy. The other voice soothed.

So what? You've been happy with other femmes back on Cybertron and none of them mattered a heap of slag to you! Why should this one be any different?

She is different. She returns your affections. She said she was sorry and you did overreact.

You did not! What else would you have done to save your dignity?

You could have laughed too and gone on with the day. After all, it was funny.

It was not!

The voices in his head were so loud in his audios that he almost missed the last words she choked out.

"I love you..."

He was speechless and the voices went silent. Starfeather had never said that before. No one had ever told him that before except his mother and sister and that had been hundreds of stellar cycles ago. What did she mean by 'love'? Did she just say that to get him to listen? Did she mean it?

Of course she means it. That second voice whispered.

No, she doesn't. She just wants you to let her in and take advantage of you again! The nasty voice hissed.

If you don't do something, you might lose her.

So what? There are always other femmes.

None like her.

Sure there are, now get some sleep.

How can you sleep knowing you've hurt her more than Megatron ever could?

The dark voice didn't answer. Terrorsaur had no answer either. It was a perfectly reasonable argument. Could he really hurt her more than Megatron? His thoughts were cut off when he heard the sound of rapidly fleeing footsteps. He also heard Waspinator shout.

"Bird-bot! Come back!"

Terrorsaur sighed. Now he'd done it. Last time something like this had happened, he had forgiven her. But last time, it hadn't been that bad. He had been laughed at all the time. It had been easy to forgive her, but this… He heard Waspinator following after Starfeather. He shook his head and got up off the floor. Starfeather was in a mood right now and usually didn't want anyone around when she was like that, so he decided to get ahold of her tomorrow morning. She would probably be more likely to listen to him by then.

-x-

Unfortunately, Starfeather had not retreated to her quarters. She kept on going, not looking back, not slowing down. She heard Waspinator call out and knew he was following her. Her spark ached knowing what she was doing to him, but if Terrorsaur would not forgive her... she didn't see much point in staying any longer.

Tears of betrayal ran down her silvery face like tiny rivers, falling to the floor, staining the deck plates like mechfluid. Still, she fled onward to the exit, only stopping to punch in her key code to open the hatch. That was all the distraction the wasp needed. He lunged and knocked them both to the floor. He locked his arms around her as she struggled to break free.

"Let me go, Waspy!"

"No! Terrorsaur come around, Bird-bot zzzee!"

"Then, he'll have to come to me."

Starfeather kneed him as hard as she could. He let go, crumpling to a ball on the ground. She wanted to kick herself for doing such a thing to her friend, but it had to be done. She stood and looked down him with sorrow reflecting in her moist optics.

The green mech looked up blurrily at her, his own compound optics misty. He said no more, merely nodding in understanding. She returned the no. Then, glancing up to see Megatron tailed by Inferno, she transformed and flew out of the base and high into the midnight sky. The only thing to light her path were the two full moons and shining stars. Ignoring the angry shouts from below, she found an updraft and glided away into the night.

Waspinator staggered to his feet and stared blankly out the base exit, tears of his own pricking at the corners of his compound optics. His side wasn't the only thing that hurt. Starfeather left. Just like that. Gone. To where, he didn't know. What he did know was that she wouldn't come back until his brother found her himself and forgave her. With nothing else to do, and not really wanting to stay in case Megatron ordered him out to go after her, he limped down the halls and silently entered his room.

-x-

She knew that Inferno was following her. She forced her wings to flap faster, knowing that if the fire ant were to catch her, there would be no escape. Her spark and fuel tank were doing flip flops and her chest felt as if it would implode with the effort of her fuel pump. Even so, she flew on. She just had to make it to the waterfall...

Starfeather's air pumps raked air in and out through her open beak, her vents working overtime to cool her systems. She was just crossing the border now. Inferno was still following her, growing nearer. She could almost feel the heat of his flamethrowers on her tail feathers.

-x-

Rattrap snoozed in front of the monitor he was supposed to be watching. He was curled up in the chair in his beast mode since he couldn't lounge in his usual manner. He snored quietly as one then two blips appeared on the screen. Gradually, the sound of the repetitive beeping grinding on his nerves woke him.

"Eh, for bootin' up cold..." he grumbled as he sat up, rubbing at his eyes to rid them of lingering sleepiness. He glared at the screen until he realized what the problem was. "Yo boss monkey, I think you'd better come and see this," the rat said through his comm. Link. There was a pause before Optimus replied tiredly.

"What is it Rattrap?"

Bringing up a visual, his mouth was left open at the sight.

"It... it looks like blender butt is chasing inky feathers... and she's headed this way."

-x-

"For the final time, I say! Stop, in the name of the royalty!"

The raven didn't reply. She couldn't even if she wanted to. Her air pumps had dedicated themselves to rhythmically forcing air in and out. Her throat burned more and more with each breath. Her shoulders ached with each stroke of her wings. She was over halfway there, but she felt like she would plummet from the sky like a stone at any moment. Using the last ounces of her strength, Starfeather pressed on. She had to make it, she had to.

Inferno continued to bellow at her, threatening her by waving his flamethrowers and firing warning shots, some of which had scorched her tail feathers, claws, back, and wingtips. She had lost altitude and her hopes were falling with it. She would be caught, taken back to the Predacon base, punished severely, and gained nothing. Terrorsaur would still hold a grudge and she would have lost him forever.

Blackness crept into the edges of her vision. Alarms blared in her head to stop and rest, to drink something to help cool her overheating systems. She felt a headache coming on. Exhaustion started to take its toll on her. The terrain before her began to blur and swirl. She felt like she was going to vomit.

Suddenly, she could make out a growing dot in the distance. A familiar face was the last thing she saw. Calming darkness took her in its comforting embrace.

-x-

Optimus Primal watched helplessly as the raven fell limply from the air. He readied his foldout shoulder cannons, intent on sending Inferno crawling back to the Predacon base. The fire ant was more than happy to meet him head-on, guns blazing. Literally. They shot, they swerved, they shot again.

"The royalty commands the bird's return to the base," Inferno announced and set his scope on him. "My queen would be most pleased if I were to bring your wreckage as well."

"Not tonight, Inferno." Optimus took aim with his wrist-mounted blaster and, jetting to just the right angle, shot the other's thrusters to scrap. The fire ant fell and landed in a heap on the dirt. The Maximal leader lowered to where Starfeather had fallen. Transforming, he kneeled beside her and softly touched her head. He wondered why she had left now. What had caused her to leave and why now? Had she tried to take the rectifier coil and been caught? A rustle in the bushes behind him drew his attention. He frowned deeply when a face peeked through the undergrowth.

"You're supposed to be back at the base."

The cheetah returned the frown. Continuing in his rebelliousness, Cheetor transformed and gently took the large raven in his arms.

"I'm going to carry her," he said. Optimus sighed, but didn't try to stop him. Without another word, both Maximals made their way back to the Axalon.

My fall will be for you

My love will be in you

You were the one to cut me

So now

I'll bleed forever

AN: Song: Ghost Love Score by Nightwish