Disclaimer: Please see chapter one for the Disclaimer, thank you! Lots of
love, Kaysin-12
Chapter #2
Winter was settling in at the northern territories. Both the Maximal and Predicon forces were oblivious to the fact that that particular region would one day be the Terrain countries of North America and Canada where their ancestors the Autobots and Decepicons would wage the better half of Great Wars one and two. But that is unimportant to this story. It merely illustrates the passage from late summer to early winter.
When Cheetor had found Max the small creature was scrawny and bedraggled but now there was a shine to its red coat and an air of complete contentment. It never accorded to Cheetor to let the animal go, not even after he took off the bandages and it was plain that Max had made a full recovery.
After a few months of cleaning, feeding, and all around caring for the vermin the Cybertronian lad had become extremely fond of it. True, it made life harder having to sneak in and out at odd hours just to dispose of what wasn't needed and to retrieve what was required to keep his pet healthy, but that only made things seem more interesting. Like it was some kind of espionage game.
He was also becoming good at telling believable stories to cover his tracks. He preferred to call them stories. Lying was for dishonest people like Preds. He justified this belief by telling himself that their wasn't anything dishonest about a kid like him caring for a 'helpless' animal. It would seem that he was becoming such a good liar that he could even convince himself of this when he knew full well deep in his spark that it was a false statement.
It was on a beautiful, all be it chilly, day that Optimus offered to let Cheetor leave the base for some recreation as a reward for not shirking his duties, or disobeying orders in the slightest for the past few months. Needless to say the ape was surprised when Cheetor declined the offer to instead go to his room and take a nap. Rattrap barred the younger bots way and squinted at him with suspicion,
"Alright who are ya and what did ya do with the kid?" Rattrap asked. Cheetor laughed innocently and pushed by the rodent.
"Very funny Gouda breath! Can't a guy get tried around here?" Airazor put a hand on Primal's large shoulder to stop him from halting the cat bot and further questioning him.
"Look, I know this may seem strange but lets leave him be. He's not hurting anything."
"Yet!" Dinobot cut off the femme hawk and snarled "I can not believe I am saying this but the pestilence may be right. What if he is a Predicon clone such as the one Megatron made of me?" Optimus frowned and crossed his arms putting a hand to his chin in thought
"How can you say that when he just walked out of the room in robot mode? Your clone couldn't transform and I doubt Megatron has fixed that little glitch in this short amount of time. Considering how busy he's been making our lives difficult." Rhinox put in his thoughts to the conversation.
"What Rhinox says is true." Primal said, looking up, not at anything particular.
"Yeah but I still have my doubts about his attitude adjustment. I mean one little time out a few months ago can't turn a teenybopper into such a work hound." Rattrap scoffed.
"And why not? Cheetor's a good kid Rattrap. Even you would have to emit that." Optimus smirked.
"I ain't emitting nothin' fearless leader!" The rodents tone undid his mannerism. He couldn't completely mask the fact that he was joking.
"He usually confides in me but lately he's been very distant socially. I guess I was so pleased with his new obedience that I've been ignoring my concern at this change in him." The large ape bot's optics seemed distant as he became lost in thought. Airazor's comment brought him back to the present,
"Have you thought of talking to Tigertron about it? If you can't get Cheetor to talk then maybe that's just because he already has spilt his troubles to someone else." She shrugged as if to dismiss the thought as silly but Primal thought it a great idea.
"I'll do just that. But first I want to give talking to Cheetor one more try. Excuse me." He walked past Dinobot and Airazor down the hall and around the corner. For a moment the commander considered not knocking.
It seemed every time some one did knock Cheetor would request that they wait a moment and then one would hear some kind of bustling from inside after which the door would open and the visitor would be blocked at the entrance.
No, not knocking would be rude and that type of treatment was inappropriate, he thought.
Of course it might be the only way to find out what was going on.no! Optimus shouted to himself mentally. That would be a violation of his privacy.but then again.what if he was hurting himself?
"So this is what it's like to have kids. No wonder I never settled down." Primal smirked and finally knocked.
"Just a minute!" Cheetor's voice rang out with the expected response and Optimus found himself already wondering if he had done the right thing. Whoosh! The door retracted into the wall and the boy bot placed his arms against the frame as nonchalantly as he could.
"That was quick. Did I wake you?" Cheetor frowned confused for a split second at this comment and then remembered,
"Oh no Bigbot. I just got restless. Don't cha hate it when you can't get comfortable?" He smiled and some strange movement in the room, visible over the youths shoulder, caught the gorilla's attention.
"What's that on your desk?" Cheetor's large golden optics seemed almost antsy as he glanced in the designated direction. He turned back to his mentor and shrugged rather nervously.
"Just some old rages I gotta rinse out. Ya know I think I will take that trip outside you suggested Optimus. I've been spending too much time in the base. See ya!" He hit the automatic lock and shut the door quickly then bolted down the hall away from the concerned adult. Optimus sighed heavily.
"Well that could've gone better!" He grumbled. Meanwhile Airazor was entering into the main computer some data she had collected on a strange contraption the Predicons were building suspiciously close to the Maximal territory border.
"It appears to be highly mobile and ridged for fire arson." The she-hawk stated to Rhinox, who was examining the image of the cannon like weapon on the screen in front of them.
"Hmmm. Sounds like Inferno and Scorpinok have pooled their imaginative efforts." The largest Maximal frowned.
"So should we start ridging up our own gizmo to counter it or what?" Rattrap asked just as Cheetor came tearing threw the room in beast mode. "Yo kid! Where ya going in such a hurry? You act like your tail was caught in a mouse trap!" Cheetor gave a faint smile before pushing the down button,
"I am a cheetah after all. I only have one speed!"
"Yeah well just watch your back out there. The Preds are up to something serious." Airazor cautioned him. The feline youth just smirked as the panel sunk down and said,
"When are they not?" Optimus walked over to the screen and wondered if he should accompany the teen but it was too late Cheetor was already off and moving fast.
"So how did it go?" Airazor asked from her seat. Primal glanced into her emerald green optics and said,
"Let's just say it went less then prime. I hope Tigertron knows what's gotten into him lately. Now about this new weapon." Later that day, in fact much later like ten p.m, Cheetor came in with a bag slung over his shoulder.
"Thank the Matrix for good night vision." He whispered. Turning on the light might alert the others to his presence.
Click! The neon lights flashed into life and there sat Airazor, Tigertron, and Optimus at the council table. For a moment Cheetor's optics played a trick on him. He saw his parents and little sister sitting in front of him getting ready for supper instead of his three older friends but the vision past just like all the others he had seen before it. The thought of his true family and his strange powers brought a sudden wave of loneliness upon him that he hadn't felt sense he found Max.
"Time for some overdue explanations." Primal said and motioned for Cheetor to take a seat across from them. Once he was settled the kid cat tried to smile.
"Uh.look before I tell you what I've been doing.I was wondering how the freeze ray was coming along." The explorer turned commander scowled and Cheetor found that he could not look away from his crimson optics. 'Geez the death stare! Just like dad used to do. Thought I'd never see that again!' The teenager mused to himself.
"Don't try to divert our attention away from you. However if you're truly interested we'll be finished with it by tomorrow evening. Now what have you been doing sneaking out so late for the past three months?" Tigertron had already told Optimus what he had seen the boy bot doing but Primal was exacting an age old parenting tool. Tricking the kid into thinking he didn't know as much as he did to see if he'd lie.
Airazor disapproved of such methods. She considered them entrapment and believed that if they were truthful with him, Cheetor would be truthful with them in return.
"I.was just. (Sigh) here!" The hawk, tiger, and gorilla shared a confused glance as the freckled teen dug into his bag and pulled out a string with pearls strung on it. Cheetor walked over to AirRazor and tied the babble loosely around her neck.
"It was going to be a present to celebrate you being with us for a whole year next week but now." He trailed off somewhat embarrassed and not daring to look up and see how Tigertron took the gesture. Airazor stood and embraced the young feline making him blush.
"Thanks Cheetor I love it!" She smiled and sat back down holding the string out from her to admire it better. Optimus chuckled at the sight of Cheetor's burning cheeks and said,
"Well if that was all then why didn't you just tell us?" The gorilla said 'Because that isn't all big bot. Primus knows I hate lying to you but I can't loose Max. I love 'em so much now.' The young seer thought as he pretended to be very interested in the floor.
"You may go now." Tigertron said and once the teen was out of audio range he turned to Optimus,
"Why didn't you confront him about what I told you?" Primal smiled and said,
"Because so far the animal has done no harm to the base or our daily operations. If he takes too long in telling me the truth then I'll set him straight."
"It's not Cheetor I'm worried about. It's the fox. It doesn't belong here Optimus and I'm afraid it will become too dependent on others help. That goes against nature." Airazor placed her sable brown hand on his turquoise one,
"I doubt it would disrupt the whole web of life if we allowed Cheetor to have one little fox for a pet Tigertron." She all but coed in an amused tone. Tigertron sighed and smirked,
"Well I guess I'm out numbered on this one. See you all soon." He said as he got up to leave and Airazor was visibly disappointed.
"Why not spend the night in the base like the rest of us? It's just that.I get so worried about you alone out there." She walked over and took his arm in hers. The bangle tried to control a grin he felt coming on and patted her hand as he pulled away from her,
"You shouldn't loose sleep over me. I have SnowStalker to watch my back after all. Goodnight my friends." He transformed and left.
"SnowStalker, humph!" She mumbled, "I can't believe I'm in competition with an overgrown house cat!" The femme hawk turned to Primal with a cocky grin, "And you men think we woman are stubborn!" Optimus blinked,
"I never said that!" He laughed.
Chapter #2
Winter was settling in at the northern territories. Both the Maximal and Predicon forces were oblivious to the fact that that particular region would one day be the Terrain countries of North America and Canada where their ancestors the Autobots and Decepicons would wage the better half of Great Wars one and two. But that is unimportant to this story. It merely illustrates the passage from late summer to early winter.
When Cheetor had found Max the small creature was scrawny and bedraggled but now there was a shine to its red coat and an air of complete contentment. It never accorded to Cheetor to let the animal go, not even after he took off the bandages and it was plain that Max had made a full recovery.
After a few months of cleaning, feeding, and all around caring for the vermin the Cybertronian lad had become extremely fond of it. True, it made life harder having to sneak in and out at odd hours just to dispose of what wasn't needed and to retrieve what was required to keep his pet healthy, but that only made things seem more interesting. Like it was some kind of espionage game.
He was also becoming good at telling believable stories to cover his tracks. He preferred to call them stories. Lying was for dishonest people like Preds. He justified this belief by telling himself that their wasn't anything dishonest about a kid like him caring for a 'helpless' animal. It would seem that he was becoming such a good liar that he could even convince himself of this when he knew full well deep in his spark that it was a false statement.
It was on a beautiful, all be it chilly, day that Optimus offered to let Cheetor leave the base for some recreation as a reward for not shirking his duties, or disobeying orders in the slightest for the past few months. Needless to say the ape was surprised when Cheetor declined the offer to instead go to his room and take a nap. Rattrap barred the younger bots way and squinted at him with suspicion,
"Alright who are ya and what did ya do with the kid?" Rattrap asked. Cheetor laughed innocently and pushed by the rodent.
"Very funny Gouda breath! Can't a guy get tried around here?" Airazor put a hand on Primal's large shoulder to stop him from halting the cat bot and further questioning him.
"Look, I know this may seem strange but lets leave him be. He's not hurting anything."
"Yet!" Dinobot cut off the femme hawk and snarled "I can not believe I am saying this but the pestilence may be right. What if he is a Predicon clone such as the one Megatron made of me?" Optimus frowned and crossed his arms putting a hand to his chin in thought
"How can you say that when he just walked out of the room in robot mode? Your clone couldn't transform and I doubt Megatron has fixed that little glitch in this short amount of time. Considering how busy he's been making our lives difficult." Rhinox put in his thoughts to the conversation.
"What Rhinox says is true." Primal said, looking up, not at anything particular.
"Yeah but I still have my doubts about his attitude adjustment. I mean one little time out a few months ago can't turn a teenybopper into such a work hound." Rattrap scoffed.
"And why not? Cheetor's a good kid Rattrap. Even you would have to emit that." Optimus smirked.
"I ain't emitting nothin' fearless leader!" The rodents tone undid his mannerism. He couldn't completely mask the fact that he was joking.
"He usually confides in me but lately he's been very distant socially. I guess I was so pleased with his new obedience that I've been ignoring my concern at this change in him." The large ape bot's optics seemed distant as he became lost in thought. Airazor's comment brought him back to the present,
"Have you thought of talking to Tigertron about it? If you can't get Cheetor to talk then maybe that's just because he already has spilt his troubles to someone else." She shrugged as if to dismiss the thought as silly but Primal thought it a great idea.
"I'll do just that. But first I want to give talking to Cheetor one more try. Excuse me." He walked past Dinobot and Airazor down the hall and around the corner. For a moment the commander considered not knocking.
It seemed every time some one did knock Cheetor would request that they wait a moment and then one would hear some kind of bustling from inside after which the door would open and the visitor would be blocked at the entrance.
No, not knocking would be rude and that type of treatment was inappropriate, he thought.
Of course it might be the only way to find out what was going on.no! Optimus shouted to himself mentally. That would be a violation of his privacy.but then again.what if he was hurting himself?
"So this is what it's like to have kids. No wonder I never settled down." Primal smirked and finally knocked.
"Just a minute!" Cheetor's voice rang out with the expected response and Optimus found himself already wondering if he had done the right thing. Whoosh! The door retracted into the wall and the boy bot placed his arms against the frame as nonchalantly as he could.
"That was quick. Did I wake you?" Cheetor frowned confused for a split second at this comment and then remembered,
"Oh no Bigbot. I just got restless. Don't cha hate it when you can't get comfortable?" He smiled and some strange movement in the room, visible over the youths shoulder, caught the gorilla's attention.
"What's that on your desk?" Cheetor's large golden optics seemed almost antsy as he glanced in the designated direction. He turned back to his mentor and shrugged rather nervously.
"Just some old rages I gotta rinse out. Ya know I think I will take that trip outside you suggested Optimus. I've been spending too much time in the base. See ya!" He hit the automatic lock and shut the door quickly then bolted down the hall away from the concerned adult. Optimus sighed heavily.
"Well that could've gone better!" He grumbled. Meanwhile Airazor was entering into the main computer some data she had collected on a strange contraption the Predicons were building suspiciously close to the Maximal territory border.
"It appears to be highly mobile and ridged for fire arson." The she-hawk stated to Rhinox, who was examining the image of the cannon like weapon on the screen in front of them.
"Hmmm. Sounds like Inferno and Scorpinok have pooled their imaginative efforts." The largest Maximal frowned.
"So should we start ridging up our own gizmo to counter it or what?" Rattrap asked just as Cheetor came tearing threw the room in beast mode. "Yo kid! Where ya going in such a hurry? You act like your tail was caught in a mouse trap!" Cheetor gave a faint smile before pushing the down button,
"I am a cheetah after all. I only have one speed!"
"Yeah well just watch your back out there. The Preds are up to something serious." Airazor cautioned him. The feline youth just smirked as the panel sunk down and said,
"When are they not?" Optimus walked over to the screen and wondered if he should accompany the teen but it was too late Cheetor was already off and moving fast.
"So how did it go?" Airazor asked from her seat. Primal glanced into her emerald green optics and said,
"Let's just say it went less then prime. I hope Tigertron knows what's gotten into him lately. Now about this new weapon." Later that day, in fact much later like ten p.m, Cheetor came in with a bag slung over his shoulder.
"Thank the Matrix for good night vision." He whispered. Turning on the light might alert the others to his presence.
Click! The neon lights flashed into life and there sat Airazor, Tigertron, and Optimus at the council table. For a moment Cheetor's optics played a trick on him. He saw his parents and little sister sitting in front of him getting ready for supper instead of his three older friends but the vision past just like all the others he had seen before it. The thought of his true family and his strange powers brought a sudden wave of loneliness upon him that he hadn't felt sense he found Max.
"Time for some overdue explanations." Primal said and motioned for Cheetor to take a seat across from them. Once he was settled the kid cat tried to smile.
"Uh.look before I tell you what I've been doing.I was wondering how the freeze ray was coming along." The explorer turned commander scowled and Cheetor found that he could not look away from his crimson optics. 'Geez the death stare! Just like dad used to do. Thought I'd never see that again!' The teenager mused to himself.
"Don't try to divert our attention away from you. However if you're truly interested we'll be finished with it by tomorrow evening. Now what have you been doing sneaking out so late for the past three months?" Tigertron had already told Optimus what he had seen the boy bot doing but Primal was exacting an age old parenting tool. Tricking the kid into thinking he didn't know as much as he did to see if he'd lie.
Airazor disapproved of such methods. She considered them entrapment and believed that if they were truthful with him, Cheetor would be truthful with them in return.
"I.was just. (Sigh) here!" The hawk, tiger, and gorilla shared a confused glance as the freckled teen dug into his bag and pulled out a string with pearls strung on it. Cheetor walked over to AirRazor and tied the babble loosely around her neck.
"It was going to be a present to celebrate you being with us for a whole year next week but now." He trailed off somewhat embarrassed and not daring to look up and see how Tigertron took the gesture. Airazor stood and embraced the young feline making him blush.
"Thanks Cheetor I love it!" She smiled and sat back down holding the string out from her to admire it better. Optimus chuckled at the sight of Cheetor's burning cheeks and said,
"Well if that was all then why didn't you just tell us?" The gorilla said 'Because that isn't all big bot. Primus knows I hate lying to you but I can't loose Max. I love 'em so much now.' The young seer thought as he pretended to be very interested in the floor.
"You may go now." Tigertron said and once the teen was out of audio range he turned to Optimus,
"Why didn't you confront him about what I told you?" Primal smiled and said,
"Because so far the animal has done no harm to the base or our daily operations. If he takes too long in telling me the truth then I'll set him straight."
"It's not Cheetor I'm worried about. It's the fox. It doesn't belong here Optimus and I'm afraid it will become too dependent on others help. That goes against nature." Airazor placed her sable brown hand on his turquoise one,
"I doubt it would disrupt the whole web of life if we allowed Cheetor to have one little fox for a pet Tigertron." She all but coed in an amused tone. Tigertron sighed and smirked,
"Well I guess I'm out numbered on this one. See you all soon." He said as he got up to leave and Airazor was visibly disappointed.
"Why not spend the night in the base like the rest of us? It's just that.I get so worried about you alone out there." She walked over and took his arm in hers. The bangle tried to control a grin he felt coming on and patted her hand as he pulled away from her,
"You shouldn't loose sleep over me. I have SnowStalker to watch my back after all. Goodnight my friends." He transformed and left.
"SnowStalker, humph!" She mumbled, "I can't believe I'm in competition with an overgrown house cat!" The femme hawk turned to Primal with a cocky grin, "And you men think we woman are stubborn!" Optimus blinked,
"I never said that!" He laughed.