#30 - Where Things Stand

Megatron was not just angry. Megatron was mad. Very, very, mad.

Not one, not two, but three of his four fliers had just up and left. Terrorsaur was his best marksman, Starfeather was one of his more competent soldiers, and Waspinator... He didn't account for much more than an aerial scout and cannon fodder, but he was still a flier. Now his fighting force was only reduced to himself, Inferno, Scorponok, Blackarachnia, and Tarantulas.

He was at a major strategic disadvantage and needed more troops fast and most of all, he needed a sure way to get them. His original plan of abducting humans, mutating them, and wiping their minds had been flushed down the drain so he needed something else. The only other thing was the stasis pods still in orbit. He knew that he and his remaining men would have to work harder than ever to obtain the stasis pods before the Maximals could.

-x-

Starfeather swerved this way and that through the trunks of the trees. She kept looking over her shoulder and squealed every time her pursuer would snap at her tail feathers. She shrieked with laughter as she dodged behind a tree. A shadowed figure narrowly missed her. She peeked out from her hiding place, feathers ruffled. Suddenly, her view was blocked by a flash of sharp teeth. She gasped, then giggled as she flew up through the branches of the tree. Her pursuer glared playfully from the ground.

"Cheater!" he squawked. The raven, hovering inches over the leaves, rolled her eyes.

"You can fly too, y'know," she called.

Terrorsaur ruffled his wings and shot up into the tree and burst out the top. Having only caught air, the pterodactyl scanned his surroundings for his companion. He yelped when something rammed into his backside.

"Oopzz, zzorry," Waspinator apologized. Terrorsaur growled. Both mechs looked up when they heard two sets of twittering laughter. Airazor and Starfeather stopped laughing when they noticed the green and red fliers heading towards them. The birds exchanged a glance and grinned devilishly. Just before the mechs could touch them, they took off in opposite directions leaving Terrorsaur and Waspinator tumbling through air until they stopped themselves.

"Slowpokes!" Airazor taunted.

"You can't catch us!" Starfeather jeered.

"Not yet, we haven't!" Terrorsaur retorted. "C'mon Waspinator. I have a plan."

From where they were hovering, the femmes watched the others whisper among themselves.

"Should we be worried?" Airazor wondered. Starfeather shrugged.

"Nah. They're barely keeping us on our toes."

It was a while before Terrorsaur and Waspinator turned back to them.

"We give up, you won aerial tag..." Terrorsaur declared. He paused and narrowed his eyes impishly. "But we're gonna win the race home!" Without giving them a chance, he and Waspinator soared passed them, cackling and giggling.

"Hey!" Starfeather crowed and followed after them, Airazor at her wingtip. The falcon took a deep breath as they gave chase.

"Ah, this is a rather pleasant change, I guess."

"Yeah, now we don't have to pretend we're enemies," the raven agreed. What a few weeks it had been.

She and Waspinator stayed with the Maximals, Rhinox finished the new rectifier coil, and for all his work, the rhino got infected with an energon discharge virus of Tarantuals's design. She shook her head to herself. Oh, the horrible memories of that day... but there was a good one. After retreating from the spider's lab with the counter virus, what a sight they had beheld. The blast from the rhino's backside had literally blown the Predacons away. They had all landed in an old gnarled tree just outside of Tarantulas' lab. The look on Megatron's face had been priceless.

Now, the setting sun was bathing the world in a warm light, turning everything a rosy golden color. They had left the forest behind and were soaring over a field filled with yellow wildflowers. Starfeather swooped down and buried her beak in the golden mass as she glided above the petals, drinking in the sweet scent. Suddenly, her head was shoved into the stems and she lost her balance, somersaulting and landing on her face rather comically. She sneezed flower petals out of her nose and shook plant debris from her feathers and scowled up at the person who had pushed her. She could hear Airazor and Waspinator snickering from somewhere behind her.

"Very funny, Screechy," Starfeather laughed dryly as she brushed pollen from her breast feathers and shoulders. Terrorsaur laughed and turned to fly out of reach. Before he got too far, the raven transformed and jumped up, grabbing for his clawed feet. He squawked in surprise and indignation and flapped his wings harder in an attempt to tug himself free. Grunting loudly with the effort, she jerked him back and they both fell backwards into the golden sea.

The wasp and falcon were circling overhead, laughing at the spectacle below them. The downed fliers shoved each other off and sat glowering at the other until they too joined in the laughing fit. Airazor and Waspinator eventually flew off. Starfeather rolled onto her stomach, picking one of the flowers and twirling it between her fingers absentmindedly. Terrorsaur reverted to robot form and lay on his back, hands behind his head.

"What a boring day, huh?" he said.

"Mhm," Starfeather nodded and decided to make a flower chain. "Maybe we should have gone back to the Predacons after you healed?" This was more of a joke than a real question. Terrorsaur chuckled.

"Nah. I like not having to listen to Megatron talk to himself all day." He shrugged.

"Amen to that." They both snickered to themselves.

Starfeather smiled affectionately at him and crawled over to lay down beside him, continuing her flower chain. It wasn't every day one discovered just how fragile life was, no matter how advanced the life form. Terrorsaur had nearly drowned in his own blood that night. Cheetor had punctured the flier's intake tube (or esophagus) and ruptured a main fuel line (or artery). Meanwhile, the Maximals had harmonized with their animal instincts thanks to Tigatron and fought off the Predacons. They had heard Starfeather's cries for help. Fortunately, Rhinox had been able to patch up the damage enough to get the fluid out of Terrorsaur's air pumps and for him to transform and be carried to base. With some reasoning from herself and the wasp, the red mech had stayed with them at the Maximal base.

She had been so happy. She was free of her burden of secret loyalty to the opposing faction. Sadly, she was not free of guilt.

-Flashback-

"Optimus, you can't let Terrorsaur join us! Remember Starscream?" Cheetor growled. His hackles were raised again and he almost looked as wild as he had been moments before. He still hadn't cleaned his lips of the red mech's blood. "He'll try to throw you down just like he would to Megatron!"

"On what grounds?" Starfeather shot back. "He wants to lead the Predacons, not the Maximals!"

"She has a point," Dinobot offered. "If I know Terrorsaur well enough, he would simply defect if Megatron were ever destroyed. If you were destroyed, Optimus, he would have to go through me if he wanted your position."

"I appreciate your insight, Dinobot," Optimus said with slight sarcasm. "But the choice of whether Terrorsaur will join us is ultimately up to me." He looked at Starfeather, her emotion-filled optics pleading with him to let her downed wingmate come with them. He looked at Terrorsaur. The red flier was torn up pretty badly. Even though he was in beast mode, he was still weak from the trauma and loss of energon. He doubted he could even make it halfway to the Predacon base as he was.

"B-but Optimus," Cheetor cut in again. "He-"

"That's enough, Cheetor," the Maximal leader ordered. "I know you and Terrorsaur have some friction between you, but that doesn't change my opinion about him. He comes back with us." He then ordered Dinobot and Rattrap to ease Terrorsaur onto Rhinox's back. The cheetah was speechless as he watched, jaw hanging open. He soon shook himself vigorously and backed into the dark forest. Starfeather was just getting ready to follow the other Maximals when she thought she felt a burning in her back. She looked and saw Cheetor's now green eyes glaring at her with betrayal dominant in his gaze. Before she could say anything, he ran off into the night.

-End Flashback-

Cheetor hadn't spoken to anyone beyond necessity since then. Starfeather had felt so bad. She knew that Cheetor and Terrorsaur had fought because of her. She knew Cheetor was angry because of her. She knew Terrorsaur almost died because of her.

She was happy that Terrorsaur and Waspinator were trying their best to fit in. Waspinator had little trouble, but Terrorsaur was another story. Rattrap treated him like he did Dinobot, said raptor most often ignored his presence (then again, that wasn't too unusual as he did that to everyone), and Airazor was always a bit wary of him to name a few issues. The pterodactyl was trying his best to gain a better name for himself. What worried her though was that he didn't plan on staying long. Just the other day, he had told her that he wanted her and Waspinator to return to the Predacons when things began to look grim for them and take over. Gaining trust with the Maximals' and knowing their secrets would give him a jumpstart to victory.

Starfeather had told Optimus all this. He had responded by saying that maybe this experience might change his mind, that she had to believe in him and make obvious his options. He didn't have to betray them, he didn't have to keep fighting. She looked into Terrorsaur's face. The colors of the setting sun painted his white face a warm flesh tone. He glanced down and smiled at her. For a brief moment, she thought she saw him as a human being; red hair, red irises, pale skin. She blinked and he was back to normal. What would it be like to kiss him as a human?

"What're you looking at?" he finally asked.

"Oh, nothing." She sheepishly looked away. Noticing her chain was long enough, she made the flower chain into a necklace. "Just thinking..."

"About what?" Terrorsaur pressed. She wondered how he would react if she told him.

"What you would look like... if you were human."

"You know... there might be a way to find out." He tilted his head to one side, looking at her curiously. Her face lit up and she looked back at him, excitement in her features.

"Really?"

"Sure, but later." He dismissed the idea for the moment and looked at the darkening sky. "We'd better be heading back."

Starfeather looked too from where she was laying. Stars were beginning to twinkle in the darkening reaches of the pale pink sky. One of the now crescent moons was visible, the other would show up soon. She sighed, wondering again what planet this was.

"Are you gonna move or will I be forced to move you?"

"Oh, must I?" She grinned and dramatically brought the back of her hand to her forehead.

"Yes," the red mech replied flatly, sitting up and lifting her upper body in his arms. She giggled and placed her arms around his neck as she fitted the flower necklace over his head. A spell seemed to come over them in that instant. The light was just right, the air was so still. Terrorsaur's hand moved to caress the raven's cheek and slowly trailed down her body. Her own hand reached for the crest on his head. He purred, she shivered. He leaned down toward her, their foreheads touched, their noses brushed. Optic shutters nearly closed, their lips almost found each other when-

"Come on, you lovesick buzzards," Airazor called from overhead. She was obviously trying very hard not to laugh. Terrorsaur shook his fist at the falcon as she retreated. Starfeather laughed and pushed him back before jumping into the air.

"Now you have to catch me if you want me!"

The red mech grinned evilly and leaped up from the ground, more than happy to oblige her.

-x-

Now that they were alone, Terrorsaur was determined to finish what they had started earlier. They were laying on Starfeather's recharge berth. Since joining the Maximals, he spent most of his night in her room rather than the room he was given. She didn't mind. She was laying over him, her leg twined with one of his. They were in the middle of a deep embrace. They caressed and kissed until Starfeather fell back, resting her head against his chest and breathing heavily. He continued to stroke her feathers and her back. It was several minutes before either said anything.

"I'm glad you came for me," Starfeather murmured.

"I am too," Terrorsaur rasped. She snuggled closer to him. She knew it had been a few weeks since the ordeal, but she still had to be sure.

"Do you know what you mean when you say 'I love you'?" she wondered. That was a loaded question and he realized, no, he didn't really know what he was saying.

"Well..." He tried to get a grasp of what he thought he meant. "I... I'm saying I need you. When you left... I wasn't myself." That was all he could think of to say. He couldn't begin to describe the pain he had endured those few long and lonely days alone.

"I make you a better person?" she said softly.

"Yeah, I guess," he replied, not used to this mushy talk, but he wanted to make her happy. "What do you mean when you say it?"

"I have a better idea." Starfeather sat up. "Let's play Twenty Questions. You heard of it?"

"No, but why do you want to play a game now?"

"Because we can learn more about each other. We ask questions until we get to twenty and we have to answer truthfully," she explained. That sounded good.

"Alright, who goes first?"

"You can."

"Alright. What do you mean when you say it?"

"I'm saying that you mean more to me than anyone and I want you in my life and I want you to love me back," she answered. She smiled and gave him a chance to take it in before she asked her question. "Is red your favorite color?"

"I've always been red so I guess. Is blue and black your favorite color?"

"I like blue, but orange is my favorite." She shrugged. "How many other siblings do you have?"

"Only one, an older brother, Goldenrod," Terrorsaur answered. "What was your brother's name?"

"Calvin, but he never liked being called that so he goes by Ken." She said. "So... what would you transform into if not a pterosaur?"

"Well, bats caught my attention, but I liked this better," Terrorsaur answered. "When we do get back to Cybertron, I think I'll keep this form for a while. What made you pick a raven?"

"I like ravens. They're intelligent and beautiful birds and I got to fly." Starfeather then remembered something she had been meaning to ask for a while now. "How old are you?"

"Somewhere in the 2,500 range. We don't keep track of the exact numbers once we get out of school. How about you?"

So... he must be about 25? she told herself. She was still getting used to the large differences in her mind.

"I... I don't remember. It's been so long, but I feel like I'm an adult." She thought for a minute. Okay, think. Wow, so much has happened. I've been here, what? Eight- nine- ten months? A year? That's right, I was 16, it was May when we went camping and my birthday was in July... So in a couple more months, I should be 18.

"I think I'm almost 18." She marveled at how much time had gone by, how surreal it all was. She was an adult. Suddenly, she felt sad. "I missed my own birthday."

"You missed what?" he asked, confused.

"My birthday." She looked at him. "Birthdays celebrate the date one was born on. They get presents from friends and family. Mine is on July 8th, but you just said that guys don't keep track of time the same way humans do."

Terrorsaur figured the game was on hold for now so he continued asking about this 'birthday' matter. It sounded like it was important to her so he wanted to know more.

"What does one do on a birthday?"

"Different people do different things. Some people don't do anything. Kids usually like to have parties and play games. Adults do that too sometimes, but it's different. Sometimes people go out to eat at their favorite restaurant. It just depends on the person." As she explained all of this, memories of her past birthdays flooded her mind. All the sleepovers, the trips to the movies, an amusement park, the mall, the zoo. It all seemed so far away now, so alien. She shook her head to clear it.

"What would you have done if you didn't miss yours?" he wondered.

"Oh, I dunno..." Starfeather dug into her memories of her plans and schedules she had made before being brought here and being turned into what she was. "I wanted to have three of my closest friends over and go to an ice skating rink. It had just opened and it looked like fun. I've never ice skated before."

The gears in his head were turning as he formulated plans and ideas. Since she missed her birthday, he thought he would do something for her. He certainly owed it to her after all he put her through. She suddenly yawned.

"Are you tired?" he asked.

"Yes," she nodded and rested her head on his chest. He chuckled and pulled her nearer, saving his plans for another time.

"In that case, I vote we officially call off the game," he muttered, closing his optic shutters. "G'night Star."

"Goodnight Screechy," she murmured back.

-x-

He had been listening to every word outside her door. His ears were drawn back and he fought to keep a bloodthirsty growl from escaping his throat. He just didn't understand why, after all he had done for her, Starfeather had pushed him aside for that... that fragging glitch-head! Couldn't she see that Terrorsaur was poisoning her mind with lies? He didn't care about her. All he wanted was to get under her plating. Cheetor had half a mind to barge in there when a voice caused him to whirl around.

"Why do you keep going after ink feathers when she obviously ain't interested in you?" the voice said. Cheetor glared at the rat, but said nothing.

"Look kiddo, I know fembots," Rattrap went on. "It's true that sometimes no means yes, but if they keep saying no, then they more than likely mean no. And if you keep coming back, you're going get what's coming to you eventually and it hurts more then being turned down."

He was trembling with rage now. The cheetah looked like he was going to pounce on Rattrap, but he sighed and hung his head, not meeting the other's concerned gaze.

"I've just never felt this way for anyone before..." he whispered.

"I know it, Spots," the rat comforted, leaning forward and ruffling Cheetor's ears. "But you just got to figure out how to suck it up and move on." With that, Rattrap continued on his way down the hall, leaving the cat standing by Starfeather's door. He glanced at the door and where Rattrap had disappeared. Tail dragging on the floor, he finally retired to his own quarters.

-x-

She was in some sort of brig, though she was not in a cell. The walls were tall and dull. She looked down at herself as she stood there. A cockpit made up her chest area, jet wings hung like stiff drapes from her hips, and her lower legs were made up of thrusters sided with what she guessed were tail fins. Her armor was all painted white. This wasn't right.

"What am I?" she whispered, holding her hands before her face. Focusing past her hands, she saw between the energy bars of an active cell. A small figure was crouched at the far end of the cell. It looked at her with glowing baby blue eyes. Studying the prisoner more, she saw bat wings attached to its heels and what amazed her the most was that this transformer had hair. Real hair, flicked over one side of the face like long bangs.

"Nightingale," it said in a clearly adolescent male voice. She thought she could detect a slight scratchiness to his voice. "Please, listen to me. You have to remember who you really are. You have to remember me. Remember dad."

Nightingale? That wasn't her name. She knew who she was. What was he talking about?

The mech got to his feet and came near to her. She could tell right off that he was young, no older than a teenager. Who was he? He reached his hands through the bars, his spindly fingers taking hold of her own hand. He looked desperately up at her, seeming to beg her to remember something that she had no clue about.

"You..." She tilted her head to one side, beginning to lose herself in deep thought. "You seem so familiar somehow... but..."

The mech's whole being lit up with hopefulness. He went to say something else, but his voice and image and that of the prison swirled into blackness.

Starfeather opened her optics to see Terrorsaur's face above her. He smiled at her.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," he crooned, pinching her cheek and lightly shaking it. She grimaced, lightly slapping him off and sitting up.

"I had the weirdest dream," she mumbled as she rubbed the sleepiness from her optics. "I think I was a jet and I was in this prison, only I wasn't the one in prison. There was this guy in one of the cells. He said..." She paused, suddenly feeling awkward under Terrorsaur's skeptical gaze. "He said that I had to... remember who I was and who he was or something. And he said my name was Night... Night-something."

"You? Having 'night' in your name?" the red mech chuckled. "You're nothing like the night beyond your color scheme. Maybe the double energon rations are going to your head." He then got up and headed for the door.

"Yeah, I guess..." she sighed and followed him. For the rest of the day, Starfeather couldn't shake the feeling that it was more than just excess energon.