*NOTE TO READERS: IF YOU DON'T READ MY AUTHOR'S NOTES AT THE BEGINNING AND END OF MY CHAPTERS, PLEASE START DOING THAT. I HAVE THESE HERE FOR A REASON.*
Another update because I was really in a TFP mood. (*sighs* That's what happens when I watch Transformers Robots in Disguise when I take a break from working on my Lord of the Rings fanfiction.) As promised there is action in this chapter. There will be even more action in the next chapter and the chapter after that it looking to have some action as well. Actually, this chapter and the next chapter—which will probably be up in a few days—were all going to be one thing, but having them together made this chapter way too long. I'm going to try to work harder at keeping the chapters somewhat the same length with this story, somewhere between 10 to 20 pages and not much less or more. This is probably a pipe dream and won't become a reality, but I'll work at it.
This very beginning part here is actually a "deleted scene" from Hybrid Theory. It didn't make it into the final cut of the story and it was just sitting here in my files on the laptop "collecting dust". I was originally going to put it into "Transformers Prime: The Hybrid Theory: Bloopers and Outtakes" that I occasionally tinker with from time to time, but then my dear spark-sister WolfAssassin369 made a fair point about Hunter having to deal with some flash-back to Bombardier. The more I thought about it the more I realized she was right. After all, Bomber was a HUGE part of the first story and put Hunter through Hell, so it made sense that she would still have a little… for lack of a better term—PTSD about him. Plus, I feel like we (ourselves and Hunter) never really got that much closure after Bomber died, so I think this is nice to have. Anyway, we get to see more of Greasy's character and get a little deeper into it. I love Greasy. :) And, hey, there's Optimus and Hunter comfort fluff in here! Who doesn't love that stuff?
In short, if you like it, all credit goes to Wolfie for inspiring me. If you don't like it, blame me because I didn't have to listen to her, since it is my story after all. But I think/hope you guys will enjoy it.
I would also like to thank those of you who submitted questions. Please keep them coming! I want you guys to make me think about the Hybrid race. Hard!
WolfAssassin369—I know right? I love Annabelle, which is saying a lot since I normally don't like little kids.
AllSpark Princess—I just hope you're not the only one who does. I hope other people like him that way, too.
Skyress98—Thank you. X3
SunnySides—I think I would be afraid for Optimus to find out. Yes, a cursing—well, English cursing—Optimus is a dead serious one. I figured if Prime were to ever curse in English it would be only when he was absolutely serious about something and at no other time. I should probably start following his example… but I don't see that happening any time soon. '-_- And I looked up the guys. XDD That was great!
Alice Gone Madd—Some shit happens here. Not the main shit, but still some.
Shadescribe—We'll start picking up here and then more action is promised in the next chapter. I like to think of my stories as EKGs. They have high and low points.
On we go!
I do not own Transformers or anything in relation. I only own Hunter, the Hybrid race, and any other character that you may not recognize.
Future World Music; Stalker
4
Ω Vigilo Ω
(Watched)
It was midday and the sun was high above the Pacific Ocean. The aircraft carrier the USS Carl Vinson was stationed above Challenger Deep, a section of the great Mariana Trench, the deepest point recorded on Earth. At 36,070 feet deep the Challenger Deep was to be the final resting place for the infamous and now deceased Hybrid bounty hunter, Bombardier Mancini.
A little less than a year had passed since Hunter had killed the bounty hunter. The funeral probably would have—and probably should have—been held much earlier than that. But getting permission from several human governments, as well as the Hybrid council, to dump the body of a giant, half machine, half organic alien had been by no means an easy feat. During that time Bombardier's body had been sitting in a warehouse at Area 51, being carefully guarded 'round the clock by Hybrid guards and collecting dust. And now today was the day. Today was the day Bombardier was finally to be laid to rest at the very bottom of the sea.
In Cybertronian form, Hunter stood out on the tarmac of the carrier, hugging herself and watching on seemingly emotionless at the proceedings of her first Hybrid funeral service. In all honesty she a bubbling cauldron of emotions inside. She had hated the mech with a passion, and still did, even though he had passed. How could she not? He'd only hunted her down like an animal, tortured her, killed her, and then had tortured and nearly killed her again with his sick mind games. Not only that, he'd almost killed her family! It was impossible for the femmling not to hate him, and, to be brutally honest, she couldn't have cared less if Bombardier received a respectful funeral or not. In fact she'd rather he hadn't. The more disrespectful, the better, in her opinion, but unfortunately that had not been the case. Evil and twisted or not, Bombardier had been Greasy's nephew (Hunter still had trouble believing they'd been related) and the old Hybrid still cared enough about his nephew to give him a proper Hybrid send off. Greasy was the only reason Hunter was even here. Even then she'd only agreed to come after they'd come to the compromise that Hunter could be allowed to say anything she pleased if she so wished to speak. And, boy, did she have some things to say! For Greasy's sake, she would try to keep it as tame and low-key as possible, but she made no promises.
Sighing deeply, Hunter turned her head and looked up at her spark-father, whom was standing right beside her, watching the service as well, and displaying just as little emotion. Thank Primus he was here. Hunter wasn't sure she'd be able to handle this event if he wasn't right there beside her.
Feeling eyes on him, Optimus looked down to see two beautiful sapphire blue optics gazing intently up at him. Turning his head, the Prime smiled reassuringly down at his spark-daughter. When she slightly smiled back, the large red and blue Autobot wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulled her to his side and planted a soft kiss on the crown of her helm. "It's all right. I am right here with you," he seemed to be saying.
Hunter closed her optics and smiled. Yes. Most definitely thank Primus for her father being here!
"Huntress?" Hunter looked up at the sound of her name to see Greasy standing there, looking up at her. "I've said my goodbyes," he informed her. "Do you have any final words you'd like to say?"
The femmling remained silent and unmoving for a moment, trying to process her thoughts and deciding if she really did want to say what she had planned. Finally she nodded and stepped forward, arms still wrapped around herself. Stopping before Bombardier's sparkless, gunmetal gray shell, Hunter stood before silently, simply gazing at it and thinking back to everything he'd done to her—all the hell he'd put her through. At last she spoke. "I've seen and lived through… a whole bunch of bad crap," she softly murmured, slightly shaking her head. "I mean, stuff so bad no kid should ever have to go through." Tears bit at her optics. "But you? You hurt and scarred me worse than anything or anyone else ever has." The tears were starting to trickle down her cheekplates now, but the teenager was unaware of it, her voice unwavering. "You tortured me—mentally and physically; you threatened my family; you almost killed my father!" Hunter had to pause for a moment in order to regain her composure, taking slow, deep vents to do it. "You put me through at least ten kinds of hell—hells that I have relieved countless times since then. I feared you. I hated you. I still hate you, Bombardier." The Hybrid snorted and looked skyward for a moment with a slight smile as she said, "There's not many people I can actually, truly say I hate. Not even Fowler." Her gaze fell back to the corpse and her smile dropped. "But you, Bomber?" she went on. "Oh, yeah. There is no doubt. I hate you so much I can't even begin to tell you just how much—there are not enough hateful words in this universe to describe my hatred of you! You can rot in Hell for all I care, Bomber. As far as I'm concerned, that's where you are anyway. Damn you. Fuck you." A cynical smile curled Hunter's lipplates. "Oh, but don't worry, Bomber," she said in a mockingly sweet tone. "What was it you always said? 'Don't worry. It's just business.'" It took all of the sixteen-year-old's will power to not spit on the shell, but she somehow refrained from doing it. She knew hearing the words was hard enough for Greasy as it was. Spitting on his nephew would just be another slap in the face, and she just didn't have the spark to do that to the old Hybrid. Besides, she'd expressed her contempt well enough.
Turning away, the scarlet and black-and-silver striped femmling walked away and back to stand beside her father once again. Only then did her vents catch in her throat and her lipplate quiver as the tears started coming harder. That had taxed her more than she'd originally thought it would.
Sensing as well as seeing her distress, Optimus gave his daughter a sympathetic look and held out his arms to her. Once she was in them he held her quivering frame close and tight, softly whispering soothing words into her audio-receptor as she clutched onto him for dear life and silently cried into his chestplate. When Greasy asked him if he'd like to say anything, the Prime shook his head. "No," he declared. "I believe Hunter has spoken for the both of us." He then lowered his head and pressed a lingering kiss to Hunter's head, gently combing his fingers through her wires.
With that, the signal was given, and the crane that Bombardier was strapped to was powered on. It hoisted the mech's shell up and swung it out over the side of the ship before releasing. The corpse hit the water with a mighty splash.
Not pulling away from her spark-father's arms, Hunter craned her neck around to look over her shoulder and watch as the body of her most hated and feared enemy sank out of sight to the bottom of the ocean. An odd wave of relief and peace came over her. It was finally over. After all this time, all this waiting, her battle with Bombardier was finally, officially over. "He's gone, Dad," she murmured. "He's finally gone."
"He's gone, My Shooting Star," Optimus conceded with a nod as he too watched Bombardier's shell sink away. "He's gone."
Sensing that she was being watched, Hunter's gaze flickered away from the sea and up to one of the Hybrid guards. The Fuser raised an optic-ridge. What is just her, or was the femme looking at her in a creepishly weird way? To make things even more suspicious, once she saw that she was being watched, the femme quickly looked away. "Nope, definitely not just me," Hunter thought to herself, still looking at the older Hybrid hard. "She was definitely eyeing me up. But why?"
"Hunter?" Hunter turned back and looked up to see Optimus gazing down at her. "Let's go home, Sweet-spark," he said.
The femmling nodded in agreement. She was most definitely ready to go home and start putting this day behind her. As her father contacted Ratchet to open the ground-bridge, Hunter pulled out of his arms and headed in the direction Greasy was. The little old mech was standing at the edge of the carrier, gazing down into the water, unmoving and uncharacteristically silent. The younger Hybrid lowered herself to kneel beside him. When she saw that there were tears streaming down the old Hybrid's cheekplates her spark nearly broke in two. "Greasy?" she said softly, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder. The mech slowly looked over at her. "I won't say I'm sorry for saying what I did, because I'm not. But I am sorry you had to hear it."
A small smile quivering onto his lipplates, Greasy, reached up and patted her hand. "Don't you worry about me, Youngling," he assured her. "Ol' Greasy's not so tender-hearted he can't stand to hear some harsh words now and again. Besides, you had every right to say what you said." His smile slipped away and he looked back down into the water. "And he deserved every last one of 'em."
Hunter nodded. "You wanna come back to base with Dad and me?" she questioned gently.
Greasy shook his head. "I'd like to be alone for a little while," he stated, not looking up. "I'll come over later."
Once again, Hunter nodded, respecting his decision. Then, without warning and almost acting strictly on impulse, the teenager reached out and hugged the old mech. It was something she rarely ever did with Greasy. As much as he claimed to enjoy witnessing affection, her Hybrid mentor wasn't much of a hugger, not even for her, and she only ever hugged him when he instituted the contact first. But at the moment, a break in tradition was required. For a moment Hunter was tense as she waited to see if Greasy would return her embrace, and once he had, she relaxed and smiled. "I know I don't say this a lot," she stated after a moment, "but I love you, Greasy. I really do."
"I love you too, Huntress," Greasy admitted, his voice breaking. "I love you too."
Hunter held her grandfather figure for a moment more before pulling away, smiling up at him, and rising to her full height so that she towered above him. "See you later then?" she questioned. Greasy nodded, and she walked away with one final wave. The femmling headed over to where Optimus was standing beside an open ground-bridge portal, waiting and watching on with a smile. When she met up with him, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders again and the two disappeared into the swirling green vortex. It boomed out behind them.
Back at the Autobot base, the rest of the team was waiting for them. When they'd exited the bridge, they were all right there, waiting to lend support if it was needed. Hunter smiled. She was discovering more and more just how great family could really be. "Hey, guys."
"So, how was it?" Arcee asked.
"It was… difficult to say the least," Optimus answered, meeting Hunter's gaze before looking back up at the others. "But it was needed."
Bumblebee walked forward and held his sister-figure at arm's length, looking at her sympathetically and studying her face. /You okay?/ he beeped.
Hunter took a deep breath and nodded slowly. "A little shaky," she admitted, "but other than that, yeah." She was quiet for a moment and her smile widened a bit. "Better actually. I know it's weird to say because he's been dead for a year… but I really do feel more secure now."
"Closure," Ratchet deduced.
"Yeah," Hunter nodded. "I'm… almost glad I went actually. I mean, it wasn't that great to see Bomber again and seeing Greasy sad wasn't fun either, but I think in the long run it'll be a good thing. I got some final things off my chest and… yeah. Yeah, it was definitely time. I'm ready to finally move on now." The teen smirked and snorted as she added, "And I am so done with demented psychopaths and their twisted mind games."
"You said it, sister!" Bulkhead agreed heartily with a grin.
A few hours later and Hunter was curled up on the couch up on the living room area of the catwalk, pencil in hand and concentrating so hard her tongue was sticking out of her mouth. She picked the pencil up off the paper and breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "Two sentences down," she thought to herself, "and…" sapphire blue eyes scanned the remaining stark whiteness of college-ruled notebook paper that had yet to be filled with writing, "… well, two sentences down." Before she could stop herself, the teen rolled her eyes and let her head fall forward to smack into her text book. "Ugh!" she groaned.
Greek class! Why the heck did she have to take Greek class? She already knew Cybertronian, Latin, and the language of the Primes besides English so why the pit did she have to add Greek to the list? Wasn't four languages enough?! And as if writing in Greek wasn't bad enough, why did she have to write an entire paper about herself? The girl didn't even think she'd be able to come up with enough information about herself to fill up an entire paper! What could she say? She already had her name, age, and hobbies down; stating the fact that she was the Fuser could take up the third sentence. Should she talk about how she'd grown up a foster kid and what her life was like in the system? How she'd ended up in Jasper, Nevada and discovered she was the Fuser as well as finding a family? Talking about coming to Jasper and finding her family would be good topics, but the redheaded Hybrid wasn't sure she wanted to talk about growing up in the foster system and how she'd discovered she was the Fuser. Foster care she wanted to forget. And as for discovering her title… well… that was a story that needed to be novelized to be told properly told and not scribbled down on a few lines of a one page paper. So now she was back to stage one: what was she going to write? And this was due tomorrow! Picking up her Greek book so that she could smush it to her face, Hunter released a muffled scream into the binding. "I should have gone on patrol with Dad," she muttered to herself.
"Having trouble, are we?" Ratchet asked as he came into the room, a tool in each hand.
"Please don't ask," Hunter replied, not lifting her face out of the book.
"As you wish," the medic responded without so much as a shrug. He was heading across to his lab and had other, more important things on his mind.
Suddenly looking up at the old Autobot, Hunter questioned, "Hey, Ratch. How much trouble do you think I'd get in if I just plugged myself into the 'net and downloaded the ancient Greek language straight into my processor?"
Ratchet, who had just been about ready to disappear into the lab, froze mid-stride. He rolled his optics to the ceiling and growled in exasperation. "By who exactly?" he questioned, turning around to face the girl and crossing his arms over his chassis. "The teacher at your school or your father?"
Hunter blinked for a moment, thinking it over before she finally made a grimace. "I guess it doesn't really matter." The white and amber medic and moved to turn around again when he was called back. "But why would I get in trouble? I mean, I plugged myself into the base's databanks in order to learn Cybertronian and Latin and Primese," (what she'd dubbed the language of the Primes), "and nobody pitched a fit then. So why would I get in trouble for this?"
Sighing heavily, Ratchet faced her again. "Because you weren't going to school then," he answered, "and you were too impatient to learn them the hard way. Besides, wouldn't it be considered cheating if you did that?"
Hunter smirked deviously back. "Only if I get caught," she pointed out.
Ratchet gave her a stern look. "Try explaining that to your father," he challenged.
"He wouldn't know—I wouldn't tell him."
"I would tell him."
The teen groaned and held her hands up in surrender. "All right," she yielded. "All right, fine." She gave the mech an accusing look. "You're just a regular old snitch, ya know that? You make life harder for the rest of us."
Ratched smirked in a self-satisfied way. "That's my job, young one," he stated. With that he disappeared into his lab.
Hunter waited for a moment, watching the med-bay doors carefully, and then slowly reached out down into her bag to grab her school-issued laptop.
"Don't even think about it," Ratchet's voice warned from beyond the half-closed lab doors.
Hunter flinched away from the bag and cursed under her breath, hand clenching into a fist. "How the slag do you know what I'm doing when you can't even see me?!"
"Because I know you so well," came the simple reply.
The teen let her head fall back as she groaned. "Ugh! Fine!" Turning back to her homework, the redhead picked up her pencil again and did the only thing she could do—suffer through it. She was just starting the second paragraph (don't think it was any tremendous feat—her first paragraph was only three sentences) when the sound of motors coming down the hall that led into the base broke her concentration. Hunter looked up to see Team Prime and their human companions. "Hey, guys," she greeted Jack, Miko, and Raf once they had exited the vehicles.
"Hey, Hunter," the all said back, making their way to the catwalk steps.
"How was school today?"
"A total drag," Miko complained.
"No cheerleaders exploding milk out their nostrils again?" Hunter questioned with a smirk. She, Miko, and Raf all snickered.
"It's already got a million hits on YouTube," Raf pointed out, flopping down on the couch. "I may or may not be one of them," he added with a sheepish grin.
"I am one of them," Miko shamelessly admitted.
"Aw, come on, guys," Jack said, sitting down beside Hunter. "Can't you cut Sierra a break? I mean, I think she's embarrassed enough about it as it is."
"Oh, come on, Jack!" Miko exclaimed, throwing herself into one of the arm chairs as she dropped her backpack on the floor. "You can't sit there and honestly tell us you don't find it even a little bit funny."
"No, I don't," Jack stated with all seriousness. After a moment he shifted his gaze down to the floor and added with a small smile, "Okay, ma-maybe just a little."
Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee, who had all transformed and were watching and listening on, suddenly turned to one another and exchanged confused looks. "I don't think I'll ever completely understand what earthlings talk about," Arcee commented. The mechs voiced their agreement.
All at once the base's computer beeped, drawing the attention of everyone. Ratchet came out of the lab and hurried over to it, pressing buttons and pulling up files to see what the commotion was all about. He swore his spark skipped a beat when he saw what it was. "An energon deposit!" he exclaimed.
/Looks like a pretty big one too,\\ 'Bee stated.
"A deposit that big, we could restock our energon pile, no problem!" Bulkhead exclaimed.
"And then some," Hunter stated.
"Assuming we get to it before the 'cons do anyway," Arcee pointed out realistically. "Who's to say they aren't already there?"
"Whether they're there or not, it's a risk we have to take," Ratchet stated, turning to face them. "Our energon supply is very low and growing lower almost every day. It won't be long before it's depleted completely. If we have any hope of restoring it to at least half of what we had originally we have to mine this deposit."
"But Optimus is out on patrol," Arcee, ever the pessimist, stated, "and we don't have enough time to wait for him to get back to base. Without him and his trailer how are we gonna get the energon home? I mean I can carry some, Bulk and 'Bee can haul some more in their alt. modes, but it's still not enough space to take a big load. And the bigger the load we haul off the first time the better, because we might not have a chance to go back for a second load."
"I can go along," Hunter suggested with a shrug. "I'm a truck. Bring along some straps and we can pile my box high with the stuff."
Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead all nodded with a shrug. That wasn't that bad of an idea—between the four them they'd be able to get quite a haul. Ratchet was the only one who seemed against it. Shaking his head, the white and amber medic waved his hands in the air. "Yup-bup-bup!" he dismissed the idea. "No—out of the question. You have a Greek paper due tomorrow as well as other homework to do I'm sure. Your father instructed me not to let you do anything until you've completed it, and that's what I intend to do."
"Yeah, well, I don't think Dad was counting on a humungous energon deposit showing up on our radar while he was out on patrol either," Hunter pointed out bluntly as she leaned up against the railing.
"I don't think your father would like it," Ratchet stated firmly.
"Considering how important this is, I don't think he'd be that upset about it," Hunter countered.
"You're not going, Hunter." Ratchet stood firm, not allowing himself to be pulled into her trap of circular logic.
"Oh, come on, Ratchet, please?" the redhead started to beg. "I am absolutely bored out of my mind here with this junk—I can't concentrate. I spend half the time just staring at my history book thinking up new moves to kick Decepticon aft with. And that was before we found the deposit. How the heck do you expect me to focus on my school work now while everyone else is out in the field mining energon?"
Ratchet rolled his optics and sighed, "Hunter…"
"Please, Ratchet?" Hunter begged, folding her hands together and sinking to her knees on the catwalk. "Please, please, please?" She gave him her best puppy-eyes.
Ratchet stared at her, biting the inside of his lipplate, trying to be strong and stand his grown. He would not succumb to those eyes—those beautiful eyes of the deepest sapphire blue that gazed right into your spark: those eyes you couldn't help but admire and fall in love with, no matter how hard you tried. He would not cave. He would not cave. He would not cave! "All right!" he finally relented. "Fine. You may go, but please be careful. And don't come whining to me when you don't get your homework done on time."
"Yes!" Hunter whooped, jumping to her feet and punching a fist in the air.
"Hey!" Miko broke into the conversation, putting on her best winning grin. "So, does that mean, we can go, too?"
The Cybertronians all looked at her. "No," they answered in unison.
Chile;
Sapphire eyes on the overcast sky, Hunter scanned for Decepticons, utilizing her telescopic vision in order to see farther that she was normally able. Finally she deemed the skies 'con free. Ducking back into the tree top leaves of the large tree she'd scaled, the Hybrid jumped back down to the ground, transforming to her to her robotic form as she did. She stood and brushed her palms together.
"Anything?" Bulkhead questioned.
The femmling shook her helm. "Nothing as far as I can see," she reported, perching a hand on a cocked hip. "Of course neither telescopic nor microscopic vision can make it possible to see through clouds. The 'cons could come in above this cloudbank and I'd never see them. I can jet up and look around if you want."
Arcee shook her head. "No, don't worry about it," he assured her. "If the 'cons knew about this mine, I'd bet they'd be here already. We'll go ahead and start harvesting. Just be sure to an audio-receptor out for 'em, Hunter; you'll hear 'em coming before any of the rest of us do."
Hunter nodded.
Arcee turned towards the mechs. "You two got the energon detectors?" she questioned. Bulkhead and Bumblebee nodded, holding up two of the instruments. "All right then," the blue femme said with a nod. "Let's go get that energon." All the Autobots transformed to their alternate modes—save Hunter, who reverted back to her human form and jumped inside 'Bee's cab—and sped off up the slope towards the mine entrance that led deep into the hill side.
Autobot Outpost Omega One;
Miko sat sulking in the arm chair, hardly even watching as Jack and Raf battled it out on the videogame they had plugged in. The teen let her head fall back as she groaned. "Ugh! I'm bored!" she screeched.
"We know, Miko," Jack replied, not taking his eyes off the TV screen.
"You've only been saying that every five minutes for the last half-hour," Raf added, he, too, not diverting his attention from the game.
"Well, I am!" Miko snipped, sitting up with a glare. "I mean how can I not be? The 'bots could be out there having a serious throw down with the 'cons right now, and I'm sitting here with you two missing it!"
Sighing in exasperation, Jack paused the videogame and turned to address the Japanese girl directly. "Miko, us being out in the field just complicates whatever job the 'bots are doing," he stated.
"But we're their human allies—their guides!" Miko reasoned. "It's our job to help 'em."
"When it comes to human related issues," Raf clarified. "Harvesting energon isn't a human related issue as far as I know."
"The 'bots are better off if we're safe here at base, Miko," Jack declared, "and so are we. Besides we're just teenagers, so honestly, what can we really be expected to do that would help?"
"Hunter's not any older than us, and she goes out with them," the pink-striped haired girl still kept trying.
"Comparing us to Hunter is like comparing a Tyrannosaurs Rex to an iguana," Raf commented. "She's an Earth-born, Cybertronian, uber-Hybrid with innate capability of combat tactics who is being trained by Optimus and the team. There is no comparison."
"Which is exactly why I'm upset that we're not out there!" Miko exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air. "Hunter could be kicking serious tailpipe and I'm not there to see it!"
"Uh, Miko, they're going on a mission to harvest energon," Raf pointed out. "With luck, they won't be slagging anything."
"Psh! Details, details! Don't be so pessimistic, Raf."
Raf looked down at the floor, slightly bristling at her words. "I'm not a pessimist," he muttered.
"Besides you've already seen Hunter fight, Miko," Jack reminded with a glare. "More than once!"
Miko glowered back at him, hands on her hips. "For once I'd like to watch her fight without my life actually being on the line, thank you very much!"
"It's a bad idea, Miko," Jack growled, trying to keep his cool. He loved Miko to death—she was almost like a sister to him, anymore—but she could be the single most annoying person on the planet when she wanted to be. Right now, she definitely wanted to be!
"Says you!" Miko spat, sticking out her tongue. "Screw you guys. I'm going." With that, the sixteen-year-old jumped up from her seat and darted across to the ground-bridge console. Because the coordinates were still programmed into the computer, it was just a simple matter of pressing enter on the interfaced keyboard to power up the bridge again. Then, with one last quick look towards the lab where Ratchet was, Miko streaked down the steps—taking two at a time—and sprinted across towards the bridge.
"Miko!" Jack and Raf both bellowed, jumping up and running after her. But they were too late. Miko had already disappeared into the vortex. Rolling his eyes and growling, Jack started to run for the ground-bridge too. "Come on!" he told Raf. "We can't let her go out there alone!"
"Right!" Raf agreed, sprinting after him.
The boys dove into the ground-bridge and disappeared just before it cut out.
Chile;
"Meter's starting to go wild 'Bee," Hunter remarked as she kept an eye on the energon detector sitting in the muscle car's passenger seat. The mine they were driving through had originally been drilled by humans and as such as much too small for even Arcee to walk through in bipedal mode. Hunter just hoped the energon cavern itself was bigger than this. "Must be getting' close."
/I hope so,\\ the yellow and black Autobot scout beeped back. /The sooner we get that energon harvested the better. I really don't wanna be here in case the 'cons show up—I just got the last of the dents from our last Decepticon and counter pounded out. I don't want anymore.\\
His redheaded, sapphire blue-eyed passenger couldn't help but snicker. "Mine were all cleared up within an hour or two after that," she stated, intentionally trying to tease her brother figure. What was the good of being a little sister if you didn't get to rub you siblings the wrong way every once in a while.
Bumblebee was aware of what she was trying to do, but he took the bait anyway. However, he took it with a smirk and light-sparkedness. /Well, not all of us have accelerated healing abilities like some 'bots,\\ he shot back.
Hunter smirked and winked impishly. "Don't you wish you did? You have no idea how great it is to not have to worry about facing Ratchet after every battle."
/Oh, sure rub it in, why don't'cha?\\
"I thought I just did."
/You can be excruciatingly annoying sometimes, ya know that?\\
"You still love me though."
/And I continuously ask myself why every day.\\
Hunter laughed. All of a sudden the detector started beeping and flashing off the charts, drawing attention from both Cybertronians. "Looks like we found the energon," the sixteen-year-old reasoned, watching the detector.
Bumblebee came to a stop. /Yeah,\\ he responded, voice full of hushed awe, /I'd say we did. Check it out!\\
Hunter looked you and out the windshield, her eyes doubling in size and jaw dropping open. Slowly she reached over and opened up Bumblebee's door before stepping out and gazing on in amazement. "Whoa…."
The passage they had been traveling ended only a few feet ahead before dropping off and opening up into a large, long cavern. That cavern was chocked full of energon; so full that it was all illuminated with the light that the blue, crystalline spires gave off. There was energon everywhere! It was jutting down out the ceiling and jutting up out of the floor like stalactites and stalacmites. The walls of the cavern were marked with brilliant blue veins of the substance that ran this way and that. It was stunning!
"I've never seen this much energon before," Hunter murmured, entranced by the view before her. "It's just… I mean… wow!"
Still gazing in wonderment at the cavern before them, Bumblebee opened up his comm-link and contacted their teammates. /Arcee, Bulkhead, I think we found what we were looking for.\\
Cutting it close, Jack and Raf jumped out of the hard-light portal and onto the ground just as the ground-bridge closed. Once they had recovered they were both up and looking around to see if they could spot Miko. "There she is!" Raf shouted, pointing up the slope where Miko was clambering towards the cave entrance.
"Miko!" Jack howled. When she didn't stop, he grabbed Raf by the arm and started dragging him along. "Come on!" The boys started climbing as fast as they could up the slope after their hyper-active friend. "Miko!"
"Holy Primus!" Bulkhead exclaimed as he stared at the sight around him. All of the 'bots were now standing in the cavern of energon, still drinking their surroundings in. It had been a long time since any of them had seen that much energon in one place before and, for Hunter, it was the first time she had ever seen that much energon, period.
"Yeah," Arcee stated, hands on her hips. "I would definitely say we found the energon deposit." Sighing she strode forward with purpose into the cavern. "Come on," she said. "Enough gawking. Let's get as much as we can loaded up and outta here before the 'cons get here."
Shaking off their dazes, the others followed after her.
Miko had just made it to the entrance of the mine and the boys were right behind her. "Miko!" Jack hollered, reaching out and snagging her ankle before she could go any further. "Slow down!"
Jerking out of his grip, Miko spun around and glowered at the two boys. "Do you always have to be such a spoilsport, Jack?" she demanded, fists on her hips.
Panting and heaving, Jack pulled Raf—who was panting and heaving just as hard—up the last few feet into the cave mouth. Then he stood up and faced Miko. "What you call "being a spoilsport" I call "watching your back"," he stated, stabbing a finger in her chest and glaring back.
"I'm fine," Miko snapped. "I don't need you to watch my back."
"Do you even have any idea where they are in there?" Jack demanded. "Or how you were going to find them if you didn't? Otherwise you could get lost in a maze of tunnels and never find your way out!"
"I… w-well… I… Oh! I would've figured something out!"
"When? After you died of dehydration?"
"Ugh! Enough!" Raf howled, sick of their arguing. "You two yelling at each other isn't gonna help anything so just stop!"
Miko and Jack shut up though they continued to glare at each other.
"Look," Raf sighed, being the mediator, "we're all here, so we might as well all just go find the Autobots. I'd rather go back home with them than call Ratchet up and have him bridge us back right now."
"But how are we supposed to find the 'bots?" Jack asked. "There could be a million different tunnels in there—we can't search them all."
"I can track their energy signatures on my phone," Raf stated, pulling out his iPhone.
"Raf, I swear with all the little gadget and gizmos you can put together and things you can do on your laptop and phone, it's like you're Batman!" Miko laughed with a grin.
Raf grinned back proudly and then pulled up the signature tracking app that he and Ratchet and worked together on. After four little blue blips appeared on the screen, he ventured into the cave. Miko and Jack followed after him.
"Ugh!" Bulkhead groaned as he tediously welded his way through a spire of energon. "Why can't we have good energon cutters like the 'cons do?"
Arcee came walking by with a chunk of energon to add it to the stockpile they were building up. "We did," she commented, "until Ratchet had to fix all of them because you broke 'em. Several times."
Bulkhead growled, faceplate heating up with embarrassment.
/Bulkhead's got a point though,\\ Bumblebee stated as he cut through another spire. /The heat of these cutters is so weak and these spires are so thick it takes forever to get through them. We won't even have half of what we can carry home at this rate.\\
"Even I'm having trouble here," Hunter stated. She finished slicing through a spire, picked up the chunk and carried it over to the pile. Most of what was in the pile already had been what she'd cut off and even then it wasn't much. The teen set the chunk down and then sat down on one that had cooled off to take a little breather. "These spires are so thick I have to put a lot of heat into my fire to get through them and then I get so hot I have to cool off after only a few slices. What I wouldn't give to have an internal cooling system like you guys!" The femmling wiped off some of the condensation that had collected on her forehead as she panted like a dog in an effort to cool down. Sometimes being a pyrokenetic wasn't so hot (no pun intended).
"It'd be nice if we didn't have to cut through 'em and could just rip up the entire spire out of the ground," Arcee commented as she started to cut away at another spire.
"You said it," Bulk and 'Bee agreed at the same time.
"I know right?" Hunter replied when they did. That's when the Hybrid perked up, an idea coming to life in her processor. "Wait a minute!" she exclaimed, standing up. "Who says we can't?"
The others all stopped their welding and looked in her direction with quizzical stares.
Looking around, Hunter spotted a relatively small crystal and went over to it. She came to a stop in front of the little spire and stood there a moment examining it, thinking of how to do this. She'd never tried manipulating solid energon before. But there was a first time for everything right? The sixteen-year-old took a deep breath closed her optics, drawing all of her focus together, then she held a hand out over the spire. Nothing happened.
"Uh… Red?" Bulkhead asked, looking incredibly confused. "What are you…"
"Shh," Arcee shushed him, coming closer. "Let her focus."
Crooking her fingers a bit over the spire, Hunter's face twisted into an expression of serious concentration, optic-ridges knitting together. She reached out to the energon with her power, just as Greasy had instructed her. Still nothing happened. "Come on," Hunter thought to herself. "Come on. Move, crack, do something!" The teen concentrated even harder. For a longer time still there was nothing and then suddenly there was a small crack. The Hybrid just dared to crack open an optic and saw that there was indeed a tiny fissure in the spire where it rose up out of the floor. She gasped quietly, excitement curling around in her stomach. "Okay, Hunter, okay," she told herself. "Good progress, but don't lose focus now. Keep working at it—you haven't got it yet." Closing her optic again, the femmling focused even harder and harder still. She was rewarded with the sound of more cracking and splitting when suddenly the shard broke free from its root completely and floated up into the air towards her outstretched hand. Opening her optics a self-pleased grin a mile wide creased Hunter's faceplate.
The other clapped and cheered, spouting off congratulations, "Way to go, Hunt!", "Nice.", "I knew you could do it!".
Still smiling, Hunter held up her other hand and levitated the spire between them, swaying her hands back and forth and watching as it moved in response. Then another idea came to her. "I wonder…" she murmured. Staring at the spire, the femmling started to concentrate again, reaching out to the energon with her power even more than she had already. Once again nothing happened. But then, after a moment or two the energon liquefied and Hunter was manipulating a puddle of liquid energon between her palms. "I did it!" she laughed, beaming even brighter than she had before. She turned to face the others. "Hey, guys! Check it out!" Holding one hand out so it was beneath the energon, Hunter began to pass the other around it. After a moment she flexed her hands and the shapeless, liquid blob turned into a cube of solid energon. The femmling liquefied the energon again and a moment later it was back in solid form in the shape of a 3D star. Again she liquefied it. Concentrating a bit harder this time, the teen hardened the energon again and this time it was in the shape of the Autobot insignia.
The others laughed and clapped as she brought the energon back to its original spire form. "Not bad, Kid," Arcee praised her with a small smile.
"Too bad we didn't bring any boxes along," Bulkhead commented. "Red could just liquefy the energon and put it in them and we'd be done."
/How were you sure you could even do that?\\ Bumblebee asked.
"Well, Greasy mentioned once that my power is limited to just manipulating liquid energon. He also said that once I got the hang of it, I could make energon go back and forth between the two forms. But I didn't think I'd be able to do both this quickly."
/I think maybe we should just stopped being amazed when it comes to things you can do,\\ 'Bee commented arms crossed over his chassis. /You're definitely more than meets the eye, Hunt.\\
The femmling smiled and looked down sheepishly as she blushed.
"Well, hopefully by the time we're done harvesting you'll be a pro at this," Arcee stated. "Come on, everyone. Back to work."
They all went back to what they were doing, Bulkhead and Bumblebee picking up where they had left off in their cutting. Hunter's job may have been made easier, but they still had to harvest energon the long way. Hopefully she'd make up for it.
Heading over to a bigger spire, Hunter braced her feet shoulder width apart and planted herself there firmly. She stretched both her arms out towards the spire. Fixing the thing with a stern stare, the teen thought, "You will obey me." Crouching down only slightly, she started to reach out with her power. That's when she felt it again for a second time that day. The sensation of being watched. Concentration broken, Hunter straightened up and looked this way and that looking for something, but there was nothing there. Anywhere. Then why did it feel so much like there was someone, right there just out of sight, watching her with the intensity of an entomologist studying a new species of insect?
Noticing that the femmling was distracted, Arcee stopped cutting for a moment turned towards her. "Hunter, you okay?" she asked, voice concerned.
"Yeah," Hunter replied, not looking at her. "It's just…" she never got to finish because right at that moment there was a huge explosion that knocked them all to the ground, burying them all in rubble.
"Down this way," Raf said, turning to his left down a passage.
Miko and Jack followed after him staying close to each other and close to Raf as he led them on. It was so dark they could hardly see each other even though they were only inches away from one another. "Geez, this thing goes on forever!" Miko exclaimed. It felt like they had been walking for miles and miles!
"Aren't you glad we stopped you from running in here all on your own now?" Jack asked, a smirk in his voice.
Miko scowled and stuck out her tongue at the boy, though he couldn't see it. "Shut up."
All of a sudden there was the sound of a loud boom and the cave shook. The kids all rushed towards the side of the passage to huddle against the wall, arms up over their heads to protect them. When the dust settled the slowly came out of their protective stances.
Coughing, Miko fanned her arm in front of her face to try and clear the dust away. "What the heck was that?"
Coughing up mine dust as well, Jack answered, "Sounded like an explosion."
"I think the 'cons are here," Raf gulped, sounding fearful as he looked down at his phone to see several red blips appear on the screen.
"Ah-ha!" Miko whooped, pointing at Jack. "I told you they'd show up!"
"That's not a good thing, Miko!" Jack yelled. "That's not a good thing at all!"
The punk girl waved her hand in a dismissive manner and snorted. "Psh! That's what you say." Without warning she turned and sprinted off down the passage.
"Miko? Miko!" Jack groaned and rolled his eyes. Not again! "Come on, Raf! We gotta catch up to her before she gets lost again!"
Shoving the boulders off of herself, Hunter slowly sat up and started to massage her aching helm, sucking in a sharp vent through her denta. "Ooh…." The teen was greatly relieved when the pain faded away. She looked around her see her teammates starting to extract themselves from their own mounds of rubble and start to massage aching parts of their chassis. "Everyone okay?" she grunted.
The others didn't even get a chance to answer as all of their attention was diverted upwards when a large shadow was cast over them. "It's the Nemesis," Bulkhead stated.
A deep feral growl rumbled up from Hunter's chest as she bared her denta. "Starscream," she growled acidly.
Right on cue a whole armada of Eradicons flew off the top of the ship and dove straight down into the cavern, transforming in mid-air and landing as they usually did. Then the immediately powered up their cannons, taking aim at the Autobots. "Stay down!" they barked, as they surrounded the team. The 'bots did as they were told.
All at once a large, round tube extended down from the bottom of the Nemesis until it touched the floor of the cavern, and a second later the self-appointed Decepticon leader himself was lowered down on a lift that was inside of it, accompanied by an entourage of Vehicons. Once he'd reached the bottom, 'Scream stepped off the lift and into the cavern. He sneered. "Hello, Autobots," he greeted them all with an evil chortle. The Seeker took notice of the pile of already excavated energon and strode over to it fearlessly. At the moment he had nothing to worry about. Outgunned, surrounded, and from the looks of it without their leader, the Autobots wouldn't risk confrontation, not while they were being looked at down the barrels of several dozen cannons as they were being right now. The high-heeled mech picked up small shard of energon and turned it over and over in his hands. This was rich energon; he could already feel the vitality of it. He turned to the 'bots with a grin. "Thank you for beginning the harvest for us, Autobots," he mocked, coming back towards them. Starscream stalked towards Hunter and stood over her, gazing down at her with a dark gleam in his blood-red optics. His gaze ran over the femmling's shapely frame as he admired it wantonly. She only seemed to grow more beautiful each time he laid eyes on her! At last he met her optics. With a sickeningly sweet smile he crouched down in front of her and reached out to stroke her cheekplate lovingly. "My dear Huntress," the mech purred huskily.
Face twisting in disgust, Hunter shied away from him, hate and loathing as evident in her glaring optics as desire and lust were in Starscream's. Without warning she snagged his fingers between her denta and chomped down hard, causing the mech to yelp and howl with pain. That caused the rest of the 'cons and 'bots to snicker. She could have very nearly bitten his digits right off except he managed to forcefully jerk his hand from her jaws. The teen spit his revolting taste from her mouth. "I'm not your dear anything, pervert!" Hunter snarled. "Take it and shove it!" As if to prove her point, she lifted a leg, braced her foot against chestplate and gave him a forceful shove.
Starscream vaulted backwards and hit the cavern floor with a mighty crash. Quickly getting back to his feet, the mech brushed himself off, blushing hotly in both anger and embarrassment. He snarled. "I was considering letting you keep some of the energon you've already mined," he hissed (it was a lie, of course), "but just for that, not only will I take all of your energon, but I'll take all of you as my prisoners as well."
"I'd like to see you try," Arcee growled.
"You don't think I can?" Starscream challenged.
"Oh, no it's not that," Bulkhead replied. "It's just that we know that you can't."
/And we're positive that you won't,\\ 'Bee added.
Even redder in the faceplate now, Starscream almost seemed to tremble with the very rage coursing inside his being. Pathetic, vermin Autobots! How dare they challenge him—He, the Great Starscream Emperor of Destruction! He'd show them! He point rigidly at them all with a long, sharp foredigit. "Take them!" he ordered, voice higher pitched and squeaking with his anger. "Take them!"
The Eradicons and Vehicons moved in.
The Autobots sprang to action. Extracting their various weapons, they all lunged to their feet in the blink of an optic. Between the crushing, shooting, slashing, slicing, and dicing that soon followed after the fact it wasn't long before an all-out battle for the energon was commenced.
"Hrah!" Hunter slammed her fist into the chest of an oncoming Decepticon with such force that she actually broke through the plating, wrapped her hand around the mech's spark, violently ripped the pulsating crystal from his spark-chamber, and crushed it in her fist, most effectively assuring the 'con would go offline. Then she ducked down to the ground and kicked a leg high up into the air behind her. "Hah!" Her foot made contact with the chin of another Vehicon and his helm went flying completely off across the cavern somewhere. Quickly getting up and pivoting around, Hunter extracted her right set of razors and planted them straight through the optics of a charging Eradicon. "Rrah!" Claws still skewering his helm, the Hybrid grabbed his shoulderplate, shoved off the floor, used the chassis of the 'con to swing around and kicked another Decepticon upside the head with such force she snapped the cables and circuits in his neck. "Hyah!" Hunter yanked her claws out of the Decepticons helm and let him finally fall sparkless to the floor before shedding his energon off her blades. She then took time to look around and see what else was happening. Bulkhead was crushing 'cons with his wrecking ball; 'Bee was taking them out with his cannons and exchanging blows; Arcee was working her way through a pack of the creeps with her cannons and arm blades. So far it looked like the odds were in their favor.
All at once Hunter's nerves tingled and she quickly spun around just in time to have a large foot planted in her jaw and to be knocked backwards with the blow. "Oof!" She hit the floor. Sitting up again, the teen shook her head and raised a hand to her jaw, moving it around to see if it was all right. Then she looked up towards the 'con who'd knocked her down. She growled behind her battle mask. "All right then, Decepti-creep," she rumbled. "Let's dance. Rah!"
Starscream watched on disbelief. They were getting thrashed. His armada outnumbered the Autobots ten to one and his armada was the one getting thrashed! How did that always happen?! Snarling, Starscream turned to the Vehicon that had stayed by his side and violently held a hand out as he ordered in his squeaky voiced rage, "Give me the weapon! Now!"
A bit startled by his master's urgency, the 'con quickly reached into an inner compartment, fumbled around, and brought out a large, armored glove that possessed what looked like a keypad and dial on the side. He handed it over to Starscream, but he almost dropped it.
Starscream quickly snatched it up before it fell to the ground and glared at the mech with a savage growl. He backhanded him across the faceplate. "Imbecile," he snarled. Turning away he slowly slipped the glove on over his hand, maneuvering his long digits into the constrictive space. It was a bit snug, almost too small, but it was still functional. Pushing the red button on the keypad, the Emperor of Destruction stretched out his hand, aimed it in the direction of the Autobots, and turned the dial.
Above the sounds of battle, Hunter's sensitive audio-receptors picked up the sound of clicking and then a very fain whir, but she didn't give much thought to it until she heard the unmistakable, alarmed cries of her teammates. Slicing the head off the mech she was fighting, the teen whipped around and then froze in horror. Her team wasn't fighting anymore, but instead were all suspended in mid-air, unmoving but looking terrified about their current situation. Hunter cocked an optic-ridge. What in the name of Primus? Suddenly hearing an evil chuckle, the femmling's eyes moved from the team over towards Starscream who was holding out a hand towards her team. Hunter quickly put two and two together. Whatever was happening with Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee had to do with him! "What are you doing to them, Starscream?" she demanded, fists clenching even more tightly.
Smirking dementedly up at the Autobots, Starscream chuckled with a shake of his head. "Hybrid technology is truly fascinating," he commented, looking over at the sixteen-year-old. He then turned his gaze to the glove that was on his hand and looked at the piece of tech with admiration, even stroking it a bit. "To think," he murmured, "I never would have discovered just how useful it can be had Bombardier not left some of it behind on my ship." His gaze went to Hunter again. "I suppose I have you to thank for that, my dear," he stated. "Had you not killed that accursed bounty hunter I never would have had the chance to inherit this arsenal."
"Oh, Bombardier, fantastic," Hunter snarled inside her head. "Even when he's dead and buried I'm still battling him!" The young Hybrid pulled herself up to full height and stepped forward, trying to slip into her persuasive, reasonable façade to try and talk the Decepticon down. It wasn't at all easy. If there was one thing Hunter wasn't good at being, it was being persuasive and reasonable. She could manage it with friends and family (she wasn't ever very successful) but her temper was way too unstable and would flair up with mostly anyone else (that red hair was no lie). Especially when the "anyone else" was an enemy, and then especially when that enemy was Starscream. The creep just had a way badly grating her nerves! But for the time being, Hunter would try to cool off and try to make him see reason. Who knows? With as in love with her as the Seeker so obviously was, she could very well get through to him. "Starscream," she said, trying to keep her voice calm and even, "listen to me. Hybrid technology can be extremely dangerous, especially when you don't fully understand what it can do. You could hurt others and yourself as well."
"Oh, I know fully well what this gauntlet is capable of, my sweet," the mech assured him. "I have tested it and the other contraptions many times to discover their capabilities. Believe me when I say that I know what I am doing."
"You don't know that for sure," Hunter stated, still trying to work some magic. Why couldn't she have picked up on her father's special gift with words better than she had already? "Shut the gauntlet off and put it down."
A suggestive, sick smirk curled the mech's lips as a dangerous gleam came to his optics. "Beg," he said.
Hunter was taken aback, almost believing she'd heard him wrong. She recoiled a bit in revulsion, face twisting in sheer and utter disgust. "Excuse me?" she gasped incredulously.
"Beg," Starscream repeated, louder this time. "Beg for me to put the gauntlet down and I will. Beg for me as I have imagined you doing so many times before."
Hunter's tank churned and threatened to spew her lunch right there on the cavern floor. There was only one way Starscream could ever have imagined her begging for him and she would have appreciated not picturing those mental images. "I'm not sleeping anytime soon," the teen thought to herself. "You got a fraggin' prayer," she snarled, glare darkening.
Starscream shrugged. "All right then," he said. He turned his attention back to the Autobots and turned the dial on the gauntlet, constricting his fist as he did so. In response the team started screaming and crying out in agonizing pain, their bodies slowly being crushed by the telekinetic force holding them in place.
Panic and rage hitting her system at the same time Hunter bellowed, "Starscream!" The femmling quickly reached back and pulled her golden energy bow out of her quiver. The silvery energy beam automatically stung up and she loaded the bow with an armor piercing arrow, drawing the string back and anchoring it at the corner of her mouth. Instantly she took aim, ready to let loose.
Starscream let up the force on the 'bots, much to their relief, and a tense, heavy silence fell over the cavern as the femmling and mech faced off. "If you value the lives of your teammates at all," Starscream growled lowly, glaring at the Hybrid, "you will put those down and surrender yourself."
Hunter's gaze narrowed, her processor turning over and over as she decided what to do.
/Don't do it, Hunter!\\ 'Bee exclaimed, voice pinched with pain.
"Don't listen to him!" Arcee shouted at the same time.
"Take 'im out, Red!" Bulkhead hollered.
Starscream narrowed his gaze at her, silently challenging her. "Are you really willing to risk the lives of your family?" He didn't say it, but Hunter knew that's what he was thinking.
And she had the answer. No. She wasn't. Closing her optics and sighing in defeat, Hunter lowered the bow and loosened the string, letting both fall do the ground. When three Decepticons rushed up, grabbed her arms, and began to relieve her of her bow, arrows, and flame-saber she didn't even try to fight them off—an easy task to accomplish. Instead she stood their glumly, her posture slumped, and glared up at Starscream with a scowl. "You won't get away with this, you jackaft," she rumbled.
Starscream chuckled. "On the contrary, my love," he responded. "I believe I already have."
From her spot in a dark corner of the cavern, a Hybrid femme, concealed behind a large spire of energon and hidden with an invisibility spell smirked and chuckled in amusement. "Well, well," she remarked softly, "it's a good thing I picked today to start following you, honey. What better way to see what you're capable of than to see you in this very situation? The Mistress will be pleased."
Confession #9:
I know it's weird to say, but I think Greasy has almost become like a surrogate Grandpa—not just to Hunter—but to me as well. I never knew my dad's dad (he was killed in a truck accident when my dad was really young) and my mom's dad was the only grandfather I ever knew and died several years ago, so I think Greasy's kind of taken over that spot now. It's weird but it's true. I love that old guy—I really do.
Confession #10:
I know I'll get some questions about this, so I'll answer it right now. No. The Hybrid femme at the end is NOT Luna, it is one of her followers. What is this follower's name? I have no idea. You can call her whatever the heck you like—I don't really care.
Confession #11:
I actually have a second cousin you can speak Ancient Greek and Latin.
Confession #12:
She's not helping me with the chapter titles.
Confession #13:
SHE SHOULD.
Confession #14:
As much as I hate Starscream, I have to admit that I love writing for him. I don't really know why—it's just so much fun! Oh, and uh, also—I'll get massacred for this—I really do hate Starscream with all my being… but, unlike Hunter, I do tend to find his voice a smidge sexy. Just a smidge, and not all the time! Steve Blum does an amazing job of voicing him! He gets all the right pitches when he needs to—the deeper, more sinister tones (the sexy ones) and then the high-pitched, squeaky cracking ones (bust a gut every time)! That's probably why I love writing for 'Screamer because I just hear Steve's voice.
Confession #15:
Now that I've talked about Steve Blue voicing Starscream I have to go watch the video of 'Screamy going through the drive-thru again. I'm out. Peace!
REMEMBER TO SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS!