He hated to be running. Especially at a time like this. In fact, why didn't he just turn back around? This would be the perfect opportunity for him to prove himself worthy to his commander! But instead, he was running. As instructed, but still mostly out of fear. His mind seemed to be taking up more energy than his own two legs that were sprinting through the hallways of Star Command. He tried to steady his breath as he turned the corner, thinking he was at least in a safe place for the time being.

Sweat dripped down his forehead from the stress he was under, but that was the least of his concerns. He didn't even bother to wipe it away. He stopped for a quick moment, rethinking what he was doing. XL, to him and most of Star Command, wasn't exactly the smartest or most strategized villain, or even the most skilled. Heck even Ty on his own was able to take him down with a single kick not a moment ago! So… why was he running away?

Sure, Mira had told him to, but he almost instinctively backed away as the first time the word "Wirewolf" left the rogue robot's lips. He knew he was a coward for doing so, but what could he say? Someone he knew to be a threat bringing up his trauma and cause of his discharging and almost saying it as if that were a key detail to their arrival made him shrivel up in panic. He sighed.

All this… from saving a little repairable robot to regain my pride from Buzz…

Ty's legs started to feel weak just by standing at this point. Carefully, he grasped the wall for support and leaned into it. He stared blankly at the ground as his mind overwhelmed with thoughts and worries. Slowly, he took in a few deep breaths to help with his pounding heart that felt only moments from collapsing. After a moment he physically felt better, but he sensed that his mind's volcanic-like unstableness was about to erupt.

Why was it him to have to be on the unfavorable side of everything? Why wasn't Buzz ever the one to be saved? Why was he the galaxy's chew toy alone? Why were there literal villains of the universe coming after just him? Why had his nightmares not left him alone yet since the moment he came back?

…

Why was his headache growing with every passing minute?

He took this one into the most consideration for the time being. Ty had not exactly gotten the best sleep and did not have a great discussion with Nebula, and there was a lot going on as someone had just started attacking him and his friends, but that didn't exactly answer why this headache he had gotten a few minutes ago was steadily growing, unlike the usual which came in waves.

He continued running, not further from the danger but toward. The ranger knew he had to prove he was ranger-worthy material, and maybe, just maybe, he could get his old job back and he would be at peace once more. Well, as peaceful as the life of Ty Parsec could get.

As he ran, it was almost as if he were running deeper and deeper into a cloud of poisonous gas, slightly reducing his air supply and feeding it to his migraine. He felt his dizziness rise as he stumbled to just a hallway away from where he had come out of. It took so much strength and willpower just to even move in a straight path, but after glancing to the area straight above him, he stopped dead in his tracks. A glowing monocle was staring down at the space ranger, with a fanged grin slightly underneath and a long velvet cape flowing in midair. His heart stopped. Sweet mother of Venus...please… NO!

He didn't care that he felt like absolutely dropping dead, or even the fact that NOS-4-A2 was able to get into Star Command undetected seemed like an impossibility (although if XL could that means NOS could probably do it with his eyes closed.) All that he could think of was that his nemesis was probably about to finish him off right here, at probably the lowest point of his entire life. He could barely get a sentence out, and almost choked on the sound leaving his throat.

"N...NOS-4-A2!" He exclaimed in a panicked tone.

"Ranger Parsec… smashing to see you again!" His entire body started shaking as the robotic vampire floated a bit closer to him. Ty was in such terror and shock that all he could do was slightly stumble backwards as NOS-4-A2 launched his metallic claws out from under his cape. At first, Ty thought he was about to be strangled by this monster, and he prepared himself for the worst. But, after a quick second, he realized that he was instead putting something around his neck.

Click!

Whatever was just put around Parsec's neck was now snapped shut. He had a million questions, but he felt more in pain than anything, a feeling he could not explain why it had felt so familiar. He spoke in a faint and weak tone.

"W-What are you doing?!" He came to a stop as the energy vampire ran a single claw down the chain now around Ty's neck and held the lowest point up to his face. A soft green glow reflected off of both NOS's fanged grin and Ty's shook face.

"I've brought a little ammendo from our last encounter," he began carefully playing with the small orb-like object on the necklace just inches away from Ty's shaking eyes, "A moonrock. A Canis Lunis moonrock." Time seemed to slow down, even stop for Ty. His eyes widened, and his heart shrank and shriveled into nothing. He slowly shook his head in utter denial as he realized not only the source of his headache, but the sense he had gotten when he felt in danger. Taking a few steps back, he almost lost his balance as he tried to pry off the necklace, as a dog would to its collar.

"No… NO!" The energy vampire's evil laugh filled the entire room as Ty felt the pain in his body grow stronger, especially in his left arm where his bite marks were hidden. Uncontrollably, his arm snapped outwards and started violently shaking as Ty watched in horror. His hand twitched as he felt a pressure form right as his fingertips which felt like snapping off entirely. He found that he could no longer fully move his hand, and just when he thought that was bad enough, he felt the first bone in his hand crack.

The flesh, bones, blood, nerves, all of them were individually felt, deep metal shards cutting and shifting around felt as if they were impaling poor Parsec. He was too frightened to even feel as much pain. Suddenly, his arm tensed up and lashed his hand out which was engulfed in a sea of electricity and metal as his limb disintegrated and became unrecognizable for a second. When the electricity had died down a bit, Ty looked in horror to see the paw of a Wirewolf… HIS Wirewolf, with menacing claws white as a comet's tail. Energy and wires started snaking up his arm with lightning speed. To his surprise, he was able to slightly move his paw towards him as he realized the sad truth.

"It's happening agai-'' a wire pierced his back from behind and dug into his spine, causing him to lose his speech and arch his back as more wires and metal covered his body, each one sending horrible waves of shock that rang out throughout him. In just mere seconds, he felt both of his arms grow heavy and numb. He didn't have to look to know what was happening. He squeezed his eyes shut, almost in hopes that he would wake up, and this whole thing was just another nightmare he was having. But he knew deep down, nightmares never felt this realistic.

His entire body lit up with the flow of electricity both internally and externally, covering him as bones snapped and Ty's screams of agony filled the room. NOS-4-A2 seemed to watch in rather fascination, feeling no mercy for the poor ranger. Ty fought off the horrifying thoughts he was starting to get, of predatory instincts he remembered very faintly when he was a Wirewolf before. His body was almost completely inhuman and in excruciating pain when he started to plead to whatever was controlling the Wirewolf.

Please… just don't hurt them...please…

Completely out of hope, he accepted his fate and hoped that this monster inside him would not do any harm, although that was about the most unrealistic outcome that could happen. He softly whimpered in his new mechanical tone as he felt his new pointed ears and tail shift around and throw him off a bit, causing immense pain. Collapsing to his knees, his jaw split outwards into a fang-filled muzzle and he let out a menacing roar, coated with an electrical tone and red eyes now bulging with rage.

The Wirewolf collapsed onto its front paws, looking down at the ground and breathing heavily. Ty felt its programming as if it were his only, and tried to take in this entire scene he had created. He was still in misery and disbelief, but then he realized something.

Why haven't I-?

To prove his theory, he flexed his claws outwards and inwards, using the hydraulics to power and move them around like tendons. This was certainly different. The only time Ty had actually been able to control this form was after he saved Buzz...which was the last time he was like this. His consciousness must've carried over! This was certainly a relief, but didn't exactly take away any of his rage or pain, since the stiff and unfamiliar body was still a problem for the time being.

NOS-4-A2 looked down at the metallic beast, almost as if it were his pet with a calm expression. To his surprise, however, the Wirewolf shot its heads up towards the energy vampire, and softly growled. NOS gasped as the once-ranger launched himself at him, eyes staring straight into his monocle and fangs inches away from his face. Right as he was about to be ripped apart by the Wirewolf, he shot out a red beam out of his glowing monocle, immediately countering the attack and hitting the monster straight in the face.

The Wirewolf whimpered as it fell back down and shielded its eyes from the glow. Ty tried to focus, but there was some other force, unlike the Wirewolf, that was starting to make him lose consciousness. He started panicking and tried his best to fight off this eerie feeling, digging his paws into the ground and growling mechanically. But it was too late. NOS-4-A2 had successfully withdrawn any form of free will from the Wirewolf. Frightened and confused, Ty slowly blacked out, unsure if he would ever wake up.

Hello everyone! thank you so much for reading the first part of this short story, and I just want to say thank you to everyone who still reads my work, you guys are awesome! I apologize for being quite busy lately, but I will do what I can to get this completed story out as quickly as possible! Be sure to review and follow if you would like to see more of these, and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!

-Kittywizard