* * * * *
Part Two
Despite his nervous protesting, Overdose had insisted that she show him out of the cavern system. Tarantulas didn't want to be near her a moment longer than he had to. Her continuing argument with the ceiling only made him all the more eager to escape this place.
It sounded more difficult than it actually was. Three left turns, one fork in the tunnels, some rock climbing, and most of his nerves later, they were standing in front of what she assured him was a tunnel leading to the surface.
"I found it accidentally," Overdose was saying. "I was really looking for a way to get Rampage in here when I found this. He's awful big for the underwater route," she confided in him. "Maybe he needs to go on a diet. What do you think?"
It took him a moment to get through her general ramblings. "I suppose so," he said cautiously, going for a neutral answer.
She didn't take it that way.
"Are you saying that he's fat?!?!" Overdose screamed suddenly, slamming him against the tunnel wall. "He's MY friend and I won't stand for it, you hear me?! Who do you think you ARE, anyway, coming in here and telling me that Rampage is fat?! He's a ROBOT! Robots can't GET fat!!!" she yelled in his face, her fins violently changing colors and swirling with dark reds and oranges. Then abruptly...pastel. Her eyes became light purple tinged with curious tints of pink. "Do you think that our organic bodies can get fat? What else can they do? I already know that if I eat something, my body can make it into energy so I don't have to go find energon, but do you think that--"
Tarantulas blinked, only inches away from his captor's face as she jumped from topic to topic, asking questions she didn't wait for answers on and mostly ignoring the fact that she had him pinned against the wall. "....Overdose?" he asked after she finally trailed off.
"Hmm? Yes?" Her eyes seemed to focus on him.
"Can you let me down now?"
"Oh! Sure." She grinned. "And I don't care what she says; you're kind of nice to have around."
He edged towards the tunnel to the surface. 'she says'? He didn't think he wanted to know. "Ah, thanks," he mumbled awkwardly.
"I'm almost tempted to keep you."
Tarantulas froze, visor snapping wide. "You're joking, right?" He chuckled nervously when she didn't answer immediately. "Right?!"
She looked at him seriously, pastel fins and eyes swirling gently. "No. But I'm ALMOST tempted."
The spider ALMOST collapsed with relief. "Well, I should be going!" he said brightly, the tension making him giddy. "I'll, um, see you later!" With that, he waved with his tied hands and quickly walked up the tunnel.
Overdose watched him leave regretfully. It would be a little while until he reached the surface, but it was like he had left her standing at her door without a goodnight kiss. Then again, he probably didn't know that human custom. The only reason she did was because she had spent a lot of time on Earth laughing at the humans and their weird habits...which she had promptly adopted. She LIKED humans. Dirty, disgusting, territorial animals, but they really were fascinating. Organics like them made up most of the known universe. Most robotic life forms were originally made by organics some time or other.
Besides, now she had organic parts. And it was FUN!
Do you know who you just let through your fingers?
At least the voice was more polite this time, Overdose mused as she turned to walk back towards her main caverns. "Who?" she asked, playing along.
Goomba's killer.
The words were carefully calculated for the hardest impact, and Venom had been finding the best ones to use since she realized the insane mind wasn't listening to her. She knew she had found the right ones when Overdose stopped in her tracks. A feral snarl twisted the femme's lips, and black immediately edged her fins and eyes, shooting inward to create patterns of dark swirls. The darkness spread. Slowly, but it did, and Venom felt grim satisfaction at what her words had started.
But Overdose didn't move. Still facing away from the tunnel to the surface, she made no move to turn around and pursue him. Tarantulas had started running the moment he had been out of sight. She was far behind. Her delay cost her.
Why aren't you hunting him down?!
Overdose smiled gently at Venom's anger. "Oh, I don't have to," she said quietly and calmly, folding her legs to sit down in the middle of the cavern she was in. She felt the dark one's confusion and wariness at her action.
What do you mean?
She arranged herself comfortably, still smiling. "I forgot to do something, you see." Venom wordlessly urged her to continue as she reclined on the ground. "It's nothing big, I guess. I just forgot to ask Bob to lower the shield around the cave system."
Silence. Water dripped from above. A faint scrambling sound that might have been Tarantulas running in the distance.
Then, softly, in perfect accordance, they began to laugh.
* * * * *
He was too far away to hear the quiet sound when he ran straight into a wall. At least, that was what it felt like.
But the tunnel ahead was clear!
"No! Not when I'm this close!" He rammed against it again, frantically trying to get through the invisible wall. "NO!" Shoving his shoulder against it, he strained until his vision swam with the stress. There was nothing under his shoulder that could account for what he felt. Just...just the tunnel, continuing upwards without him. He pounded on the wall with his tied hands. "No," he whispered. "Not...not now."
* * * * *
"Think he's gotten there by now?" Overdose spun the tiny dagger around in her fingers, lazily watching it twirl. She liked sharp things. She had a collection of them she wanted to show Tarantulas.
Venom chuckled nastily. Oh, I believe so.
"Well, that's good. I was getting bored."
My compliments, my dear. You really are a queen of torture, both psychological and physical. He must be completely panicked by now.
She rolled her eye colors. "Don't call me 'my dear'. You sound like that purple guy...what's his name...um..." She rolled over onto her front, a frown of confusion crossing her face. "He lives in that one really gloomy place...you know, the one with the bad lighting? Rampage doesn't like him...hey! Wonder whatever happened to him, anyway. I mean, Depth Charge came back to the Maximal base just like we planned, but I never even thought about Rampage! Do you think he's alright?"
If I'm lucky, he's dead.
Now she was really confused. "He can't be dead. He's immortal!"
Just give me a couple cycles, and I'll solve that problem.
"He never told me it was a problem...no, wait." She blinked a couple times. "That time when he made me mad back at prison, he might have made a reference to immortality being a bad thing. But that was because I had torn his arms off, wasn't it? All I did was inject him with poison this time!" Sighing, she rolled over again to stare up at the ceiling. "Honestly, males overreact so much over the silliest things. And they're so illogical!" Venom projected a feeling of sarcastic disbelief at that. "No, really. That idea I talked with the ape about, for instance. I can't be a Maximal because of Rampage, obviously, but I can't be a Predacon because they'll try and control me. But I also can't be neutral because then I'm stuck in the middle and I'll get bored. Strange things happen when I get bored."
Like now?
"I was thinking of that tidal wave I caused. Who knew that blowing up the satellite's reactor would cause it to crash in the ocean?"
You did.
"Only in theory. ANYWAY, my idea to be a Predacon AND a Maximal was perfectly logical. Do you think the ape was only humoring me when he said he'd consider it? I don't know what I could do to 'earn' my way into the Predacons, though, so I guess it doesn't matter." Overdose frowned idly. "I think he's probably had enough time to try and escape now, hasn't he? I don't want him to have too long to get his hopes down. It makes them so much more fun when they still have some left. It takes longer to break them, but that's what you want in his case."
Venom gave a low laugh of anticipation. THIS is why she could tolerate the craziness for now. The scientific but spontaneous methods of torture stored inside Overdose's head would be more than amusing when applied to the once-Lieutenant Eightline. She had ISSUES with him, and it would be most satisfying to discuss them with him between his screams. Or maybe she'd just sit back and enjoy.
Yes. By all means, let's retrieve him.
It was Overdose's turn to give a low laugh. "Why waste the energy it would take for me to get up and drag him back?"
I...don't understand.
"Just call me lazy." Her fingers deftly dipped into her fins and held up a black remote. "Let the fun begin, hmm?" She chuckled in chorus with the voice in her head, her own issues with Tarantulas fresh in her mind. "It's almost a pity, though," she sighed mournfully, taking her time as she selected which button she wanted to push.
What is?
"He WAS polite..."
The button pressed down.
* * * * *
He had been leaning against the barrier, staring at the freedom he couldn't reach, when the pain seared through him from the collar he hadn't gotten up the courage to ask her to remove when he had the chance. This time he could scream. Overdose had been careful; the agony wasn't quite severe enough to paralyze him. Instead, he found himself curling up around himself, tied hands clawing at his neck.
He didn't seem to have control of his body. His throat kept rasping out screams while his hands clutched at the collar, and involuntarily he found himself stumbling back down the tunnel, away from the freedom denied him. Back towards the only one who could stop the pain. Back towards someone who would only make it worse.
Sickened and wracked with the agony of NOW, he kept going. He couldn't stand the pain! The torture the future would hold paled against what he was going through now; it didn't feel like anything could possibly be worse, although his mind weakly said otherwise. So he kept going; running, walking, stumbling, even crawling.
* * * * *
Rattrap perked his ears up, swiveling them around as he thought he heard a noise. It could have been the wind howling through the numerous caves riddling the cliffside, but...
"Kiddo, ya hear dat?" he whispered into his commlink. All of the other Maximals (minus Blackarachnia because she was guarding the base) were across the island, but the cheetah was above him on the cliff, just coming out of one of the holes. If the cat had heard it too, then maybe--
"Yeah, I sure do, Rattrap! I thought it was just me, but if we both hear it then we must have found a way in!" Cheetor's excited voice came back to him.
There was a click on their radios. "Have you found something?" Optimus asked.
"We mighta," Rattrap said back, peering down the cliff as he tried to trace the sound back to its source. "Da problem is, dere's 'bout six zillion caves da sound we're hearin' mighta come from."
"I'm on my way," Rhinox's voice responded.
"I shall also endeavor to reach you." Rattrap sneered silently at Silverbolt's elaborate speech patterns but didn't say anything...for once.
"I'll meet you there," Optimus said.
"I'm going to try the underwater maze again," Depth Charge's gravelly voice stated. He had gotten lost the first time he had tried and had come out again to try and map out the way he had gone before. Apparently he was ready for a second try. He didn't wait to hear if anyone else had anything to say about it.
Optimus added one last warning: "Be careful, everyone. Overdose is dangerously unstable."
"Da understatement of da day," Rattrap grumbled.
* * * * *
Overdose yawned. "He sure is slow." She stopped in mid-yawn to consider that and the sound of the screaming getting nearer. "But he's loud, so that might make up for it." Finishing her yawn, she stretched. "Time to get up and grab him," she decided.
Wait.
She paused. "Hmm?"
I want to watch him come in.
"Well...I guess it can't hurt me." Overdose smirked. "And it WILL hurt him. Bonus!" She settled down on the floor again, propping her head up on her hand so she could watch the tunnel the screams were echoing down. Her laziness changed into hyperness as the source drew close. Soon she jumped to her feet and grinned, waiting impatiently again.
Then she frowned and carefully arranged her fins and posture.
What are you doing?
"You'll see."
And Venom did see, as Tarantulas came into sight down the tunnel. He looked at the figure standing in the darkness, brightly colored fins constantly shifting, and gasped for breath to say something. The pain forced a shriek out instead of words, and he collapsed to his knees. A kind smile crossed the face of the sea slug transformer, though, and he felt a surge of hope at her expression. Wailing with agony, he crawled towards her. The dark femme was delighted. She eagerly watched him creep on hands and knees to her feet.
You really do know what you're doing...
"Don't sound so surprised," Overdose muttered under her breath as she bent to lift the shuddering spider to his feet by his bound hands.
"Mercy," Tarantulas managed to say hoarsely, but the word ended in another scream. His hands couldn't go to his collar, however. They were captured in the fiery gloves of his torturer, who smiled down at him with the expression of a saint as she leaned down to put her mouth next to his audio. What she said then terrified him more than all that had gone on before:
"Mercy? You'll be lucky if you find DEATH."
Part Two
Despite his nervous protesting, Overdose had insisted that she show him out of the cavern system. Tarantulas didn't want to be near her a moment longer than he had to. Her continuing argument with the ceiling only made him all the more eager to escape this place.
It sounded more difficult than it actually was. Three left turns, one fork in the tunnels, some rock climbing, and most of his nerves later, they were standing in front of what she assured him was a tunnel leading to the surface.
"I found it accidentally," Overdose was saying. "I was really looking for a way to get Rampage in here when I found this. He's awful big for the underwater route," she confided in him. "Maybe he needs to go on a diet. What do you think?"
It took him a moment to get through her general ramblings. "I suppose so," he said cautiously, going for a neutral answer.
She didn't take it that way.
"Are you saying that he's fat?!?!" Overdose screamed suddenly, slamming him against the tunnel wall. "He's MY friend and I won't stand for it, you hear me?! Who do you think you ARE, anyway, coming in here and telling me that Rampage is fat?! He's a ROBOT! Robots can't GET fat!!!" she yelled in his face, her fins violently changing colors and swirling with dark reds and oranges. Then abruptly...pastel. Her eyes became light purple tinged with curious tints of pink. "Do you think that our organic bodies can get fat? What else can they do? I already know that if I eat something, my body can make it into energy so I don't have to go find energon, but do you think that--"
Tarantulas blinked, only inches away from his captor's face as she jumped from topic to topic, asking questions she didn't wait for answers on and mostly ignoring the fact that she had him pinned against the wall. "....Overdose?" he asked after she finally trailed off.
"Hmm? Yes?" Her eyes seemed to focus on him.
"Can you let me down now?"
"Oh! Sure." She grinned. "And I don't care what she says; you're kind of nice to have around."
He edged towards the tunnel to the surface. 'she says'? He didn't think he wanted to know. "Ah, thanks," he mumbled awkwardly.
"I'm almost tempted to keep you."
Tarantulas froze, visor snapping wide. "You're joking, right?" He chuckled nervously when she didn't answer immediately. "Right?!"
She looked at him seriously, pastel fins and eyes swirling gently. "No. But I'm ALMOST tempted."
The spider ALMOST collapsed with relief. "Well, I should be going!" he said brightly, the tension making him giddy. "I'll, um, see you later!" With that, he waved with his tied hands and quickly walked up the tunnel.
Overdose watched him leave regretfully. It would be a little while until he reached the surface, but it was like he had left her standing at her door without a goodnight kiss. Then again, he probably didn't know that human custom. The only reason she did was because she had spent a lot of time on Earth laughing at the humans and their weird habits...which she had promptly adopted. She LIKED humans. Dirty, disgusting, territorial animals, but they really were fascinating. Organics like them made up most of the known universe. Most robotic life forms were originally made by organics some time or other.
Besides, now she had organic parts. And it was FUN!
Do you know who you just let through your fingers?
At least the voice was more polite this time, Overdose mused as she turned to walk back towards her main caverns. "Who?" she asked, playing along.
Goomba's killer.
The words were carefully calculated for the hardest impact, and Venom had been finding the best ones to use since she realized the insane mind wasn't listening to her. She knew she had found the right ones when Overdose stopped in her tracks. A feral snarl twisted the femme's lips, and black immediately edged her fins and eyes, shooting inward to create patterns of dark swirls. The darkness spread. Slowly, but it did, and Venom felt grim satisfaction at what her words had started.
But Overdose didn't move. Still facing away from the tunnel to the surface, she made no move to turn around and pursue him. Tarantulas had started running the moment he had been out of sight. She was far behind. Her delay cost her.
Why aren't you hunting him down?!
Overdose smiled gently at Venom's anger. "Oh, I don't have to," she said quietly and calmly, folding her legs to sit down in the middle of the cavern she was in. She felt the dark one's confusion and wariness at her action.
What do you mean?
She arranged herself comfortably, still smiling. "I forgot to do something, you see." Venom wordlessly urged her to continue as she reclined on the ground. "It's nothing big, I guess. I just forgot to ask Bob to lower the shield around the cave system."
Silence. Water dripped from above. A faint scrambling sound that might have been Tarantulas running in the distance.
Then, softly, in perfect accordance, they began to laugh.
* * * * *
He was too far away to hear the quiet sound when he ran straight into a wall. At least, that was what it felt like.
But the tunnel ahead was clear!
"No! Not when I'm this close!" He rammed against it again, frantically trying to get through the invisible wall. "NO!" Shoving his shoulder against it, he strained until his vision swam with the stress. There was nothing under his shoulder that could account for what he felt. Just...just the tunnel, continuing upwards without him. He pounded on the wall with his tied hands. "No," he whispered. "Not...not now."
* * * * *
"Think he's gotten there by now?" Overdose spun the tiny dagger around in her fingers, lazily watching it twirl. She liked sharp things. She had a collection of them she wanted to show Tarantulas.
Venom chuckled nastily. Oh, I believe so.
"Well, that's good. I was getting bored."
My compliments, my dear. You really are a queen of torture, both psychological and physical. He must be completely panicked by now.
She rolled her eye colors. "Don't call me 'my dear'. You sound like that purple guy...what's his name...um..." She rolled over onto her front, a frown of confusion crossing her face. "He lives in that one really gloomy place...you know, the one with the bad lighting? Rampage doesn't like him...hey! Wonder whatever happened to him, anyway. I mean, Depth Charge came back to the Maximal base just like we planned, but I never even thought about Rampage! Do you think he's alright?"
If I'm lucky, he's dead.
Now she was really confused. "He can't be dead. He's immortal!"
Just give me a couple cycles, and I'll solve that problem.
"He never told me it was a problem...no, wait." She blinked a couple times. "That time when he made me mad back at prison, he might have made a reference to immortality being a bad thing. But that was because I had torn his arms off, wasn't it? All I did was inject him with poison this time!" Sighing, she rolled over again to stare up at the ceiling. "Honestly, males overreact so much over the silliest things. And they're so illogical!" Venom projected a feeling of sarcastic disbelief at that. "No, really. That idea I talked with the ape about, for instance. I can't be a Maximal because of Rampage, obviously, but I can't be a Predacon because they'll try and control me. But I also can't be neutral because then I'm stuck in the middle and I'll get bored. Strange things happen when I get bored."
Like now?
"I was thinking of that tidal wave I caused. Who knew that blowing up the satellite's reactor would cause it to crash in the ocean?"
You did.
"Only in theory. ANYWAY, my idea to be a Predacon AND a Maximal was perfectly logical. Do you think the ape was only humoring me when he said he'd consider it? I don't know what I could do to 'earn' my way into the Predacons, though, so I guess it doesn't matter." Overdose frowned idly. "I think he's probably had enough time to try and escape now, hasn't he? I don't want him to have too long to get his hopes down. It makes them so much more fun when they still have some left. It takes longer to break them, but that's what you want in his case."
Venom gave a low laugh of anticipation. THIS is why she could tolerate the craziness for now. The scientific but spontaneous methods of torture stored inside Overdose's head would be more than amusing when applied to the once-Lieutenant Eightline. She had ISSUES with him, and it would be most satisfying to discuss them with him between his screams. Or maybe she'd just sit back and enjoy.
Yes. By all means, let's retrieve him.
It was Overdose's turn to give a low laugh. "Why waste the energy it would take for me to get up and drag him back?"
I...don't understand.
"Just call me lazy." Her fingers deftly dipped into her fins and held up a black remote. "Let the fun begin, hmm?" She chuckled in chorus with the voice in her head, her own issues with Tarantulas fresh in her mind. "It's almost a pity, though," she sighed mournfully, taking her time as she selected which button she wanted to push.
What is?
"He WAS polite..."
The button pressed down.
* * * * *
He had been leaning against the barrier, staring at the freedom he couldn't reach, when the pain seared through him from the collar he hadn't gotten up the courage to ask her to remove when he had the chance. This time he could scream. Overdose had been careful; the agony wasn't quite severe enough to paralyze him. Instead, he found himself curling up around himself, tied hands clawing at his neck.
He didn't seem to have control of his body. His throat kept rasping out screams while his hands clutched at the collar, and involuntarily he found himself stumbling back down the tunnel, away from the freedom denied him. Back towards the only one who could stop the pain. Back towards someone who would only make it worse.
Sickened and wracked with the agony of NOW, he kept going. He couldn't stand the pain! The torture the future would hold paled against what he was going through now; it didn't feel like anything could possibly be worse, although his mind weakly said otherwise. So he kept going; running, walking, stumbling, even crawling.
* * * * *
Rattrap perked his ears up, swiveling them around as he thought he heard a noise. It could have been the wind howling through the numerous caves riddling the cliffside, but...
"Kiddo, ya hear dat?" he whispered into his commlink. All of the other Maximals (minus Blackarachnia because she was guarding the base) were across the island, but the cheetah was above him on the cliff, just coming out of one of the holes. If the cat had heard it too, then maybe--
"Yeah, I sure do, Rattrap! I thought it was just me, but if we both hear it then we must have found a way in!" Cheetor's excited voice came back to him.
There was a click on their radios. "Have you found something?" Optimus asked.
"We mighta," Rattrap said back, peering down the cliff as he tried to trace the sound back to its source. "Da problem is, dere's 'bout six zillion caves da sound we're hearin' mighta come from."
"I'm on my way," Rhinox's voice responded.
"I shall also endeavor to reach you." Rattrap sneered silently at Silverbolt's elaborate speech patterns but didn't say anything...for once.
"I'll meet you there," Optimus said.
"I'm going to try the underwater maze again," Depth Charge's gravelly voice stated. He had gotten lost the first time he had tried and had come out again to try and map out the way he had gone before. Apparently he was ready for a second try. He didn't wait to hear if anyone else had anything to say about it.
Optimus added one last warning: "Be careful, everyone. Overdose is dangerously unstable."
"Da understatement of da day," Rattrap grumbled.
* * * * *
Overdose yawned. "He sure is slow." She stopped in mid-yawn to consider that and the sound of the screaming getting nearer. "But he's loud, so that might make up for it." Finishing her yawn, she stretched. "Time to get up and grab him," she decided.
Wait.
She paused. "Hmm?"
I want to watch him come in.
"Well...I guess it can't hurt me." Overdose smirked. "And it WILL hurt him. Bonus!" She settled down on the floor again, propping her head up on her hand so she could watch the tunnel the screams were echoing down. Her laziness changed into hyperness as the source drew close. Soon she jumped to her feet and grinned, waiting impatiently again.
Then she frowned and carefully arranged her fins and posture.
What are you doing?
"You'll see."
And Venom did see, as Tarantulas came into sight down the tunnel. He looked at the figure standing in the darkness, brightly colored fins constantly shifting, and gasped for breath to say something. The pain forced a shriek out instead of words, and he collapsed to his knees. A kind smile crossed the face of the sea slug transformer, though, and he felt a surge of hope at her expression. Wailing with agony, he crawled towards her. The dark femme was delighted. She eagerly watched him creep on hands and knees to her feet.
You really do know what you're doing...
"Don't sound so surprised," Overdose muttered under her breath as she bent to lift the shuddering spider to his feet by his bound hands.
"Mercy," Tarantulas managed to say hoarsely, but the word ended in another scream. His hands couldn't go to his collar, however. They were captured in the fiery gloves of his torturer, who smiled down at him with the expression of a saint as she leaned down to put her mouth next to his audio. What she said then terrified him more than all that had gone on before:
"Mercy? You'll be lucky if you find DEATH."