Disclaimer; I own Slingblade and the plot. That's it.

Warning: Due to language and violence, this series is rated PG.

Ulysses

Chapter 2

Aftermath

by Switchblade X

Dinobot stared at his sword, cold fury burning in his optics. He was contemplating suicide now more than ever.

He wasn't supposed to have survived that battle! He was supposed to have died a hero's death! It was his destiny! But, no! No! That damned femme had to come along and screw everything up! She had made him look like a fool!

Death before dishonor. That had been the motto that he had lived by for so many millennia, but he had given that up once the Beast Wars had gotten into full swing. He had been dishonored so many times…

That battle in the valley had been his one chance to redeem himself, and it had been taken from him!

I should kill her. he thought, watching his sword's blades turn. I should kill her for what she did to me.

She didn't know any better! his rational side screamed. Slingblade didn't know you at all, and she saved your life! You shouldn't be angry with her; you should be grateful!

That was my one chance to redeem my honor, and she took it from me! he argued.

She didn't know better, Dinobot! Primus almighty, she was just trying to help!

Well, she could've taken her 'help' elsewhere!

Elsewhere?! Where the hell is 'elsewhere'?!

I don't know!

…Suicide is dishonorable, Dinobot. You know that.

So? I have been dishonored so many times! What's once more?

You will be remembered by your suicide, not your life.

And I should care why?

Coward.

With an angry roar, he flung his sword aside. His shoulders slumped, You know you've gone insane when you have arguments with that stupid voice in the back of your mind and the voice wins.

He should apologize to her, he knew that. She didn't know any better, and had just been doing her job. But, his pride wouldn't allow him to stand up and find her.

The voice in the back of his mind snorted, You're pathetic.

Go to hell! he snapped.

If I go, I'm taking you with me.

Smartass.

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Cheetor had been given the job of showing Slingblade around the base. Needless to say, he was enjoying it; it made him feel important. "And this is where everybody's quarters are." he said, gesturing to the hallway that they were about to go down.

"Okay." Slingblade replied, following him. She was thoroughly bored, but acted interested for Cheetor's sake; he was enjoying this, and she wasn't going to ruin it.

"Optimus has the first room. Rhinox is beside him," he pointed to each door as they passed, "then me, Rattrap, Silverbolt, and Dinobot." He stopped in front of the door that he had identified as Silverbolt's, and faced her. "Uh, your room is between Dinobot's and Silverbolt's. If you don't want to be…you know…that close to Dinobot, I can tell Optimus to reassign you."

She smiled, touched by his concern. "I appreciate your concern, Cheetor, but I can take care of myself. I've dealt with 'bots who were ten times as scary as Dinobot before."

"I bet you have." He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and looked down, somewhat embarrassed, "Uh…if you don't care… could you maybe, I dunno, sometime tell me some stories about your life? I'd really like to hear about your past; the history data pads are really un-descriptive."

Again, she smiled. She'd only known Cheetor for a few hours, and already he was beginning to feel like the little brother that she never got to know. "I'd be glad to tell you. In fact, I kind of want to know how badly the Autobots distorted things."

He grinned, "Cool."

Dinobot's door hissed open, and he stalked out into the hallway. He stopped upon seeing Cheetor and Slingblade and snarled. "What are you two doing down here?"

Seeing that Slingblade was the closest to Dinobot, Cheetor stepped between the two. He had no intentions of letting Dinobot hurt the newcomer. "I was just showing Slingblade around." he answered.

Dinobot snarled again, and shoved past the two. Part of him wanted to apologize to her, but another part didn't. So, he stalked down the hallway instead.

"Huh. He's friendly." Slingblade sarcastically said.

"Ah, Dinobot's always like that. Deep down, though, he's a really good guy. He just doesn't want anybody to know it."

She nodded, "Oh. I, uh, guess he's still mad at me."

"He'll get over it."

"I hope so."

He put a hand on her shoulder, and began leading her toward the elevator. "Slingblade, you did your best. You had never seen Dinobot before and you still helped him; there's no need to regret that. It's like Big Bot said; Dinobot's just not very appreciative of other people's efforts sometimes."

"Yeah, I guess. Still, though, I didn't want to make him mad."

He let her enter the elevator first before stepping in himself, "He'll get over it. Sooner or later."

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A bit later, Slingblade was exploring her new patrol route. At first, she had enjoyed seeing the scenery, but that had ended when she caught Dinobot's scent in the wind. Now, she was on the lookout. She could take him if need be: hell, she'd taken down 'bots twice her size barehanded before. Dinobot couldn't be that much different, could he?

Much to her dismay, she discovered that her patrol route ran right through the valley that she had been in mere hours ago. Damn. she thought, sniffing the wind. I really don't want to go through here. I'll have to though. …Primus, I'm tired. But, then again, so is everybody else; nobody slept last night for worrying over Dinobot.

Speaking of Dinobot, his trail followed her patrol route. This could mean two things; one: he was going to ambush her, or two: he was returning to the place where he almost died to try to piece together exactly what had happened. She was hoping that Possibility Number Two was right.

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Dinobot looked up when a black velociraptor with silver stripes walked into the small clearing where he had almost died. "What do you want?" he snapped.

Slingblade stopped a few feet away, "My patrol route runs through here."

He snorted, turned away, and began heading back toward the base.

"Dinobot…I'm sorry. I'm still not entirely sure of what I did wrong, but whatever it was, I'm sorry."

He whirled around to face her, fangs bared, "As you should be! That was my one chance to redeem my honor, and you took it from me!"

She looked at the other raptor for a moment, feeling the anger and hatred that radiated off of him. This was dangerous; he had bloodlust in his reptilian eyes. But, she would not allow herself to be afraid of him. The only thing that she had ever been afraid of was her creator, and she had sworn long ago that she would never fear another thing ever again. "Redeem your honor?" she carefully asked. "What do you mean by that?"

Dinobot looked away, "You wouldn't understand."

"I might."

He snorted, "I doubt it. Femmes like yourself only think they understand things."

"How do you know we don't?"

He didn't have an answer for that one. So, he changed the subject. "…Why did you save me? I was too far gone, and you know it."

She shrugged, "You needed help and I was the only one around to help you."

"Why, though? You knew I was almost dead; why did you have to stop that?"

This discussion/argument was quickly beginning to anger her. "Look, I didn't know you wanted to die, okay? I was just doing my job!"

"Your job? How the hell is ruining my one chance at redemption a job?"

"I meant you no offense! I used to double as a medic and-"

"What are you, some kind of demon sent here to torment me?"

She stopped, trying to remain calm. "…I meant you no offense, Dinobot. I didn't know you wanted to die."

"Well, you damn sure know it now!"

"Yes, I know it now."

"All right, then!"

"I'm sorry, Dinobot."

"The hell you are! Do me a favor, okay? Fuck off!" And with that, he turned quickly away from her and started back toward the Axalon.

Slingblade stood there for a long time, thinking about what had just gone down. Dinobot had meant to kill her at the exact moment that he had walked away; she had smelled it. But, apparently his rational side had won over his irrational side, which was good. For her, anyway.

She sighed, and continued on her way. I'm gonna have to have a talk with Cheetor about who he qualifies as a 'good guy' and who he qualifies as a 'not-so-good guy'. she thought.

Author's Note; I would like to thank gamafox for this story's first review. I would also like to thank my most faithful reader, Libero H, for the review. I appreciate your thoughts! More to come!