"Hey Livewire," yelled Rattrap, running down the hall towards the female.
Livewire sighed. Ever since she had gotten to the Axalon a week ago, Rattrap had done nothing but hit on her, and she was getting pretty darn sick of it. "Whadaya want, Ratbreath?"
"Eh, I was just wonderin' if ya had any plans for tonight, doll?"
"No, and don't call me doll!"
"Okay toots, so how's about you and me get together?" Rattrap smirked. "For a little... ahem... adult entertainment?"
"For the last time, stop giving me nicknames; and I ain't in the least bit interested in you!" the firefly growled. "How can I get this through your thick skull?!"
"Ya can't, 'cause I know you're just teasing."
"Don't make me hurt you."
Rattrap laughed. "I'd like ta see ya try it."
Livewire pulled out her whip and smiled wickedly. "Just remember... you asked for it!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Thizz izzz boring," complained Buzz Saw as he and Waspinator flew along on their patrol. Megatron had agreed to let them be partners and both were pretty happy, but patrol duty was still boring.
"Yeah, why we have to be out looking? We never find anything," grumbled Waspinator. "And me zzick of lizztening to you complain!"
"Wazzpinator whine more than Buzz Saw!"
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah, what you gonna do about it?!"
Waspinator transformed to bot mode and playfully shoved his brother. Buzz Saw transformed as well and shoved back. In a moment, the two were engaged in a midair wrestle-fest. Unfortunately, it's very hard to fly and have hand-to-hand combat at the same time, so they crashed into the ground laughing.
"Now that wazz fun," Buzz Saw giggled.
"Ha... Buzz Saw hit like a girl," Waspinator cracked up.
"Oh shut up!"
"Make me!"
The yellow jacket rammed into the wasp, sending them both head over heels down the side of a hill. They landed with a loud clank and just continued laughing.
Buzz Saw stopped, suddenly noticing something behind Waspinator. "Ummm...."
"What?" The insect glanced behind him and his reaction was the same.
There, laying under a tree, almost as if it had been waiting for them, was a small stasis pod.
"Hmm... still functional." Waspinator examined the pod. "We take it back to Megatron, he be pleazzed."
"Mean we have to take all way back to bazze?" Buzz Saw moaned, thinking of the unpleasant work.
"Buzz Saw have any any brighter ideazz?"
"Wazzpinator good with computerzz, why not program pod here?"
"Can't, would need reprogramming chip for that."
"Like thizz?" Buzz Saw pulled a small Predacon reprogramming chip out of his arm compartment. "Took from spider-bot's lab, thought might be uzzeful."
The wasp took the chip and looked back at the pod. "Hmm... would be wrong to take all glory for ourzzelvezz."
His brother pondered. "Yeah, might get uzz in trouble too."
They looked at the pod, then at each other, then back at the pod and grinned. "Let'zz do it!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blackarachnia stopped short when she entered the control room and found Tarantulas was the only one there. The idea of being alone with him wasn't very appealing at the moment, so she started to back out quietly, hoping he hadn't noticed her.
But too late, he looked up and saw her. "Wait a minute, Arachnia, I want to talk to you."
The female sighed. "Oh... what do you want, legs?"
"I want to know why you've been avoiding me lately," he growled. "You've barley spoken three words to me since the incident in the energon cavern. One would think you might still be mad."
"Mad?!" Blackarachnia nearly screeched. "First you took over my mind, then you almost killed me! Of course I'm mad, in fact I'm furious!!"
Tarantulas watched her calmly. "Well, you needn't take it so personally."
"That's it, I'm gonna wipe that stupid smirk off your face!" She lunged at him.
The spider hadn't been expecting this and was knocked to the floor while Blackarachnia clamped her claws around his throat. "Couldn't... gasp... we talk about... this..." he managed to choke out.
"NO!" the black widow grabbed her crossbow and pressed it against his forehead. "The only thing we're going to say is goodbye!"
"You... you wouldn't really shoot me, would you?" Tarantulas asked, trembling.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't!"
Tarantulas racked his brain for something, anything, that would save his hide. But in the end all he could do was close his eyes and wait for her to end his miserable existence.
Blackarachnia sighed. "Forget it, you're too pitiful to kill." She stood up.
He opened one optic cautiously. "You're not going to shoot me?"
"No. Now get up, you look ridiculous laying on the floor cowering like that."
Tarantulas stood up, shaking. He had never seen Blackarachnia so determined to destroy him. Even he had to admit it frightened him... and yet... it seemed to make the dark damsel all the more appealing to him... He snapped back into reality and looked at her. "I was wrong for what I did, I admit it. And I am..." He choked on the word that almost made him nauseous. "Sorry..."
"Oh, how the mighty have fallen," the she-spider laughed. "I don't know why I'm doing this... but... I suppose I forgive you."
"Friends then?" he looked at her almost hopefully. "Or perhaps even partners. As you once said, we are two of a kind, we have to stick together..."
"Don't push it, web breath," Blackarachnia smirked. "Let's start with teammates and work up from there."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Reprogramming chip in plazze?" asked Buzz Saw.
"Check."
"Beazzt form selected?"
"Check." Waspinator grinned at the beast form he had chosen.
"Now what we do?"
"What elzze? Hit start button." The wasp hit a few controls on the stasis pod and it began to hum.
The brothers stepped back as the pod did its job. A moment later, the hatch opened and a pair of insect wings could be seen sticking out. Then out of the pod flew a large, blue hornet who instantly transformed to bot mode as soon as it landed.
And surprisingly enough, it turned out to be a female.
Waspinator and Buzz Saw looked at each other, then at the hornet, then back at each other and grinned. To most people this female's insect-like appearance might be somewhat nightmarish, but to a wasp and a yellow jacket, she was a total babe!
The hornet looked at them. "Hello, I'm Sting Blade. Who you?"
Waspinator was about to introduce himself but Buzz Saw pushed in front of him. "My name Buzz Saw." He took her hand.
"And I Wazzpinator." He grabbed her other hand. "Nice to meet you."
Sting Blade smiled at the two males and giggled. "Zzo, where are we?"
Waspinator and Buzz Saw began to tell her all of what had happened as they led her back to their base. They also kept interrupting each other and trying to show the other one up, so the journey home turned out to be just the beginning of a sibling rivalry.
But what none of them knew was that they were being watched, by a pair of sharp falcon eyes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"That's just prime," sighed Optimus as he walked down the hallway, accompanied by Rhinox and Dinobot.
"I know, but Airazor just confirmed it. The Preds got another protoform and this one a female." Rhinox shook his head sadly.
"Two new Predacons in less then two weeks," growled Dinobot. "What in the pit is going on?! Why do they keep getting to the pods before us?"
"I don't know, Dinobot," Optimus shrugged. "But since they were both found by Waspinator it might just be a streak of dumb luck... hopefully..."
"That reminds me, do either of you know where Rattrap is?" asked Rhinox. "I haven't seen him since this morning."
"The vermin is probably off raiding the galley."
"Ah, shut up, Chopperface!"
The three Maximals stopped short at hearing the voice that could only belong to their rodent comrade. "Rattrap?" they asked in unison.
"Ya, I'm right here."
Rhinox looked around, confused. "Where?"
There was a long sigh, then finally, "Try looking up."
They all looked and were quite surprised to see Rattrap dangling from the rafters, held up by a whip tied around him in such a way that even he couldn't get loose.
The Maximal commander rubbed his head as though he were getting a headache. "How did you get up there?"
"Well, don't blame me. It was Livewire, she did this ta me!"
"Uh huh, and what did you do to provoke her?"
"Nothing! Well... okay... maybe I was hitting on her a bit, but dat ain't any reason ta do this ta me." Rattrap wriggled, trying to get free. "Say, could we continue dis conversation on the ground maybe? I'd really like ta get down now."
Optimus smirked. "I don't know. Maybe it would do you some good to stay up there a while longer."
Dinobot and Rhinox nodded.
"GUYS!!"
"All right, all right," Optimus laughed. "Dinobot, let him down."
"With pleasure." The raptor aimed his eye beams at the top of the whip and burned it through, causing Rattrap to fall right on his head.
"Ow! One of ya coulda caught me, ya know!" grumbled the rat, untangling himself from the whip. "When I get my hands on that dame...."
"Leave her alone, Rattrap," said Rhinox rather sternly.
"Umm... got it," he gulped, knowing it was a bad idea to make the rhino mad. "Case closed, finite, done, over with, not another word...."
"Shut up, Rattrap!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I can't believe you did it again," Megatron scowled. "How much dumb luck do you have?!"
"Wazzpinator not know, thingzz juzzt happen to Wazzpinator."
Megatron turned to the wasp. "You know the only reason that I'm not going to rip you apart is because you've never tried to take over my position."
Waspinator gulped. "Wazzpinator izz loyal Predacon."
"Yesss, be sure to keep it that way. You may go now. And one more thing... you are NEVER allowed to search for stasis pods again!!"
The Predacon flyer nodded and began to head out of the room, wanting to get away before his leader changed his mind.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"And thizz the engine room." Buzz Saw pointed out some of the more notable areas of the Predacon ship to Sting Blade. When Waspinator had been called away, he seized the chance to spend some time alone with the female.
Sting Blade nodded, wondering why the yellow jacket kept looking at her like that. An intelligent female would have figured out he was hitting on her. However, she wasn't exactly the brightest girl. In fact, she ranked about with Buzz Saw and Waspinator on the genius scale.
Buzz Saw continued talking and rather smoothly managed to slip his arm around her shoulder. Unfortunately, that was when Waspinator came around the corner, and his expression was far from happy.
"Hello Wazzpinator," the hornet said happily.
A mutter was all the greeting Buzz Saw gave.
"Hmm... see you two doing juzzt fine without me," Waspinator grumbled.
"What that suppozze to mean?!" asked his brother angrily.
"What, Buzz Saw too dumb to figure it out?"
"Buzz Saw show Wazzpinator how dumb he izz!" Buzz Saw lunged at him and the two begin beating the gears out of each other.
"Stop it!" Sting Blade tried to break the two apart to no avail. "Fine, you two not want to lizzten, me leaving!" With that she transformed to beast mode and flew out of the base.
The brothers stopped fighting, realizing they had driven her away, and looked at each other sadly. "Now we done it," Waspinator sighed.
"Buzz Saw not mean to make she-hornet or brother bot mad; Buzz Saw zzorry."
"Wazzpinator zzorry too. Now what we do?"
"Muzzt say we zzorry to Sting Blade, make her come back."
They both nodded and set out to look for their new friend.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Ah, what a glorious day. The wind in your face, the songs of birds in your ears, the... oof!" Silverbolt's speech was stopped abruptly as Cheetor flew by in jet mode, causing him to be sent flipping through the air for a moment. "...The flying cats running into you...."
"Huh? Oh, sorry 'Bolt." The young transmetal slowed down.
"That's quite all right, my friend, though I have noticed you seem a bit restless today. Something wrong?"
"Nah, just bored with this patrol," Cheetor sighed. "I just wish something would happen."
"Maybe cat-bot get hizz wizzh."
The Maximals turned around to see a giant hornet hovering behind them. They exchanged a confused look. "Guess she must have just got out of a stasis pod," Cheetor shrugged.
"Then we shall welcome her." Silverbolt nodded to the female. "I am Silverbolt and this is Cheetor, your fellow Maximals."
"Maxzzimalzz?" Sting Blade grinned. "Good, me have fun now. Sting Blade, terrorize!"
"Uh oh...." The two males transformed just in time to get blasted to the ground.
Cheetor's com-link kicked in as he hit the rocks. "Optimus to Cheetor. We have a new Predacon on our hands, so keep a lookout for...."
"A giant hornet."
There was a pause on the other end. "Yes... how'd you know that?"
"Cause... we just found her!"
Meanwhile, Silverbolt was busy trying to not to hurt the female while trying not to let her hurt him. She looked at him, confused. "Doggie-bot not fight back?"
"No, I will not strike a female."
"Good, make doggie-bot eazzier to shoot." Sting Blade aimed her gun at him and was about to fire when Cheetor's whip knocked it out of her hand.
He smirked. "Luckily, I don't have that problem."
While she turned her attention to Cheetor, Silverbolt grabbed her from behind. "I am sorry to do this, miss, but you are a Predacon."
"Doggie-bot be a lot zzorrier if he not let friend-bot go," cried a voice as the fuzor was suddenly blasted in the back, causing him to lose his grip.
Sting Blade looked up to see Waspinator and Buzz Saw flying towards them and Cheetor trying to decide which of them to blast first. The insects didn't wait for his decision and flew down, each grabbing one of the female's arms, and making a quick getaway with her.
The two Maximals exchanged a look after they were gone. "Let's just call it a day, okay?" asked Cheetor.
Silverbolt simply nodded.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"So you two promizze not to fight over me anymore?" asked Sting Blade as they flew along back to base.
"Yezz," was the reply from Waspinator and Buzz Saw.
"Good." She smiled, flying along ahead of them. "Cauzze me think you both pretty cute."
The brothers looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. Here we go again!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"You found a pod?!" said Optimus, still not quite able to believe the good news.
"Yes. How many times must I repeat it?" growled Dinobot over the com-link to base.
"Sorry. Has it selected a beast form?"
"It has."
"Good, wait for the new Maximal to finish replication, then bring him back to base."
"Affirmative. Dinobot out."
Optimus was about to turn off the link, but stopped on an afterthought. "Dinobot..."
"Yes?"
"What beast form did the pod select?"
"It appears to be...." The raptor did a double check. "...A golden jackal..."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Epilogue
Her emerald green eye sparkled as she watched him. He was happy again, he had friends... that would bring him around... back to her...
And another's plan was coming into bloom, she could see... soon things would begin to happen. B ut all that mattered to her at this moment was his happiness.
She must go now, but when the time was right she would return. As her silvery voice whispered against the wind... "We will meet again, SkyFire... soon..."
