Disclaimer: I do NOT own Transformers:Beast Wars

Chapter 15: Sticking Together (Proving Grounds)

"…this…one?" I was handed a healthy looking pear.

"Why thank you, madam" and grasped the delicious fruit with tender carefulness, even if I felt particularly ravenous that day.

It had been three weeks since I took residence in the cave in favor of giving Transmutate my full attention. That included giving her lessons on speech and scavenging crystallized energon and a variety of equipment (nabbed from one of Tarantula's lairs, which I wasn't sure was still in use) that were of necessity for a transformer, and of course we'd harvest a variety of other things of the organic kind. All of our time in the cave had been peaceful, just two ladies whom seldom had much interaction, bonding over a variety of tasks. I suppose I do not need to tell one that we had grown close, as in 'sister' close. Sure BA had grown on me too, but I had to maintain a certain level of professionalism around her, i.e. I had to refrain from being my knucklehead self, which was quite often because it was a part of my personality. With Transmutate, I could be myself, my silly and affable self like I would be around my own brother and sister. Yes, I never forgot them, and being around my mutated friend guaranteed that I would continue to remember them.

"Oh ah, okay ahaha ow" I winced as I had accidently bit into the pit of the pear. I felt a poke.

"…friend…accident prone" Transmutate nudged me. I smiled and patted her head in agreement. Since the day I was born… I led Transmutate toward the energon refiner/dispenser, and went about preparing her breakfast ration.

I felt another poke. Brilliant red optics sparkled as I smiled and gently gathered the large cup in my own two hands, that's right, she needs more fuel than that, duh. I silently thanked Transmutate for her patience, the poor thing had dealt with my forgetfulness frequently since we had taken shelter from the war. My eye twitched as I realized that I filled the cup to the absolute brim. Again. I really hated spacing out. "You might need to take large slurps…oh, and drink with this..." I reminded myself that I made straws at some point as a leisurely activity. I muttered an 'ah-ha' as I plucked the nearest straw from a jar next to the energon refiner/dispenser. It was amazing how I temporarily forgot about such things. "Here, take a sip" I placed the cup down on the rock, both hands keeping it secure on both sides as Transmutate sucked from the narrow tube…and little by little, the cup emptied.

It wasn't until it was completely gone that I realized another problem. And it was a problem that I couldn't just pluck the solution out of a jar, "Uh oh" but rather I needed to go out and scavenge. I frowned when I saw that the cart was devoid of energon crystals "Well that bites" –but knowing that narrowing my eyes at it wouldn't magically spawn the much needed fuel source, I gathered my energon harvesting tools and made my way to the cave entry/exit. I paused as I waited for Transmutate to grab her tools –which I had patiently taught her how to use during the first week of us being 'roommates', and she had proved to be more proficient with it than I had ever been, so when we scavenged I always took her with me, that, and because company was good to have.

Hmmm, she could probably be stealthy a jungle cat…maybe a leopard? A panther? Nah she's got the heart of a flier...hmmm...was she once a Seeker...? I continued to debate what Transmutate would have been if she had a beast mode, if she hadn't suffered significant damage to her stasis pod. And most important of all; who she once was. I had grown attached to her mutated form and naïve and innocent demeanor, but I couldn't help but have felt that it was selfish to leave her in that condition. Her mental faculties I knew had been impaired, emotions were present, but her memories and sense of identity were shot, and that was when I told myself that Rhinox's diagnosis all those months ago hadn't mentioned anything regarding her spark. I frowned, if we could…no, that procedure is too risky, and sparks are merely essence, who's to say they contain the individuals' personality? Or maybe I got this all wrong –damn it Cassie! You're a Transformers fangirl how could this be so hard?! We prowled the side of a clearing, keeping watch for any movement, because you don't want her to suffer anymore than she already has. I found my gaze wandering to the sky. It was well past afternoon, borderline evening. My stomach growled but I ignored it, my focus locked onto a pond.A soft sigh escaped my lips as I bent down to splash some cool water on myself. Transmutate patiently waited to my right.

I wasn't overheating, or stressed out; I just felt the need to do so. "I should really resume my search for energon crystals" my tone was laced with reluctance, and my body refused to budge from beside the pond, Transmutate followed my example and seated herself down as well. Her shoulders went lax and her optics dimmed. Sometimes, I really was a bad influence.

Fortunately, or rather unfortunately, a cackle brought us out of our trance.

"And just where do you plan on finding those?"

Scowling, I reached for my gun and pulled it out in one fluid movement. Problem was, there was no gun, and I was aiming my hand at a chuckling Tarantulas. Let's see: Clothes, check. Utility belt complete with harvesting tools, check. Much-needed firearm, big fat nope, my right eye twitched, stupid ass. The transmetal spider sauntered around the pond, smug as can be "My, just you and Transmutate and…what's this?! You're without a weapon!" his mandibles clicked in mock disappointment "Whatever will you do?".

I wanted to express exactly what I'd 'do' in the form of me doing it. However, a curious Transmutate was close by. And violence was not an option when she was around, even more so when she didn't know the bot across from us. She likely saw him as a potential friend. "What do you want Chuckles" some venom found its way into my tone.

"Why I just wanted to say hello!"

"You're so full of slag it's dripping out of your ugly mug" oops…so much for not cursing. Transmutates' eyes sparkled.

"…slag?" whelp, Rampage is going to kick my ass for that

"I met you completely by coincidence! Honest!" it seemed Tarantulas enjoyed the coincidence too much. If anything, he acted like he had some advantage. Wary, I stepped closer to Transmutate.

"Honesty! From you-?" I chortled "yeahaha right and Rattrap doesn't cheat at Poker" my tone oozed sarcasm. Tarantulas's spidery protrusions twitched, but his face remained neutral.

"I have grown rather weary from days in the lab, so I decided to go for a walk"

Hmmm plausible "Okay…" I did a once-over of his relaxed frame "So…are you going to attack me or what? I really doubt you're going to let me and Transmutate gather sustenance and other things in peace"

"You're spouting nonsense, my dear…"

One side of my face wriggled.

"As you are probably not aware, I've never really been a part of Megatrons' command" he inched closer. I snapped my eyes over onto his visor, and he stopped dead in his tracks. I was absolutely certain I saw him fumble with something behind his back again. A sure sign he definitely hid something, but I stood my ground, even in all the likelihood that he could have easily overpowered me with brawn alone. He wasn't buff like Rampage or Dinobot, but he certainly towered over me and had some 'muscle'. I pretended not to acknowledge any danger as his mandibles twitched while his visor narrowed. I don't want Transmutate to panic, his feet slowly shuffled toward me as I rubbed my temples. But we need to get out of here right now!

"I'm aware that you operate within the parameters of your self-interest" I sighed and took quick side-steps around the edge of the pond, buy some time "I'm sure there's nothing to gain from maiming and/or killing me and Transmutate. That would be more in Megatron's interest" I kept my eyes trained onto an awkward Tarantulas as he paused abruptly. Now!

With my decision made, I grinned and kicked him as hard in the lugnuts as I could "Well, we have energon to gather, please don't shoot us in the ass once we turn our backs!" and proceeded to bound off. Doh! I swore again-!

"Ass?" Transmutate mimicked, I face-palmed.

"We need to fly!" I made sure everything on my belt was secure as Transmutate lifted me off the ground. I held on tightly as we got around ninety or so feet off the ground, and once I was convinced that we were safe from Tarantulas, I eased my grip. That was really close; I was so sure he was going to-

I shrieked when Transmutate began losing altitude. And fast. My terror grew once I saw that her optics were dim with drowsiness. Energon currents covered her body as it shook uncontrollably.

...cyber venom...

I clung as tightly as I could when we breached the tree-line. And clung even tighter when we landed, Transmutate took the brunt of the fall. "Transmutate?" I got a groan.

"Owwww"

Miraculously, she had made a comeback from the venom quickly. If anything, the fall was worse. Dusting myself off, I attempted to pull her up. As I did so, a very peculiar feeling (what felt like a pinch) made me tremble. Less than a second later, my whole body entered a spasm and did not cease, I cursed when I heard an evil chuckle echo from directly behind me. Transmutate (upon seeing that Tarantulas was indeed a bad guy) tried to defend me through use of her oral-laser weapon, but the move was easily countered as Tarantulas simply fired a few more darts, the combined venom making for a stronger effect. With a garbled groan, my mutated friend slumped to the forest floor.

"Funny; I usually do shoot people once they turn their backs on me" Tarantulas' transmetal body was right next to mine and his claw scraped along my cheek, while his other held a web-net.

"Yet you waited until we were nearly a hundred feet in the air. Do you realize you could have killed us?!"

"You're still alive aren't you? Both you and your mutant friend" he took his sweet time wrapping me in the net, escape would have been easy, provided if I wasn't still under the influence of the venom. "I most certainly didn't want you two killed; I am not so careless you know. I calculate such things" he moved onto Transmutate and bundled her in the adhesive substance too. As he finished, he tossed her onto his spider abdomen mid-transformation. The spider-cycle then revved over to where my prone form was and, with a few prods of the mandibles, tossed me carelessly onto Transmutate "Oh! And by the way…you two have been stealing from me the past few weeks"

And it was worth it! I rolled my eyes and allowed myself a light nap as my eyes fluttered, no thanks to the super-light dose I had received.

I heard voices. Half-awake from my nap, I identified Inferno, Tarantulas, and…Megatron. I surmised that Tarantulas was intercepted by a patrol team, whoever caught him must have called their leader. I had to hold any displeased noises in favor of remaining unnoticed. I also wanted to listen for Transmutate.

"…interest…human…absurd" that was clearly Megatron, but my mind couldn't process all the words. Come on mind! Focus, it was just a measly little shot, it probably wasn't even a quarter of a full dose!

"…treacherous…think…Royalty" pffft Inferno

"…friend…!"

And there it was. I cracked my right eye open to see Transmutate's worried red optics on me. I quickly shut my eyes when the three other transformers shifted on their pedes. I was starting to hear other noises more clearly, my hearing recovered at a fair pace but I was still very groggy. Focus…

"It seems the freak and the human woman have a bond, yesss"

"What do you wish to do with them Royalty?"

I heard Tarantulas nervously click his mandibles. Not because he was worried what would happen to us. He was worried that whatever happened to us, it was not by his hand.

"Hmmm, Tarantulas?"

"Y-yes…?"

"Are you going to tell me what is so special about the two or are going to go on evading all my questions?"

"Forgive me Megatron, I thought they were free game, you did want the girl dead didn't you?"

I felt an intense glare on me. Megatron grunted "She is troublesome…" there was a pause "and as for the mutant…we could use it…"

"My Queen, I thought you deemed it useless?"

"I've changed my mind. If I can control that miserable excuse of a crustacean, I am more than capable of keeping Transmutate on a leash-"

"She's not a dog you Grape-Faced jackass!" I was only given a smug stare as I shot up from where I laid on the floor, damn my temper. The tyrant probably had already been aware that I was awake.

"Have a pleasant nap, young lady?"

I huffed "Sure" and shot right up onto my feet "Though it's nothing compared to the nap you'll have after I'm done with you".

"Watch your tone, wench" Inferno warned and stepped between me and Megatron, as if I was a threat. Tarantulas snickered.

"Ever the brave one…" he looked over to Megatron, an expectant look in his visor "if you do not want her, I will gladly take her back"

Megatron smirked at me. I did not like that smirk. And neither did Transmutate, the mutated transmetal struggled against her binds, a deep frown set on her face. Something she only did when she was in total distress or worry.

"Don't hurt my friend!" there were no pauses and/or broken speech. Our speech lessons together had worked fairly well. It was a shame that they wouldn't do much in our predicament.

"Oh, I won't" Megatron's toothy grin shot over to Transmutate "Tarantulas, the girl is yours-"

Tarantulas's spider-leg protrusions twitched happily.

"And as for the mutant, I wish for it to undergo a…reformatting, yesss"

"Thank you Megatron, I will get to work right away!" Tarantulas strutted over to me and seized my arm, his grip sure to leave a bruise. "How often should I send reports?"

"Daily"

"It will be done Megatron!"

Satisfied with his (supposed) subordinate's enthusiastic response, Megatron nodded and transformed. The transmetal tyrannosaurus's hover system kicked in as he levitated, Inferno joining him. "Tarantulas"

"Neh?"

"I will send someone every three days to monitor your progress…" the t-rex scowled "do not disappoint me". As soon as the Predacon tyrant flew off with Inferno hot on his trail, Tarantulas snarled and gripped me with his mandibles, the spider carefully depositing me onto his abdomen. He scuttled on over to Transmutate, only instead of carrying her on his shell, the jerk shot a string of his webbing at her and proceeded to drag her along.

I will chop you into itty-bitty pieces and feed you to Rampage for that, I grit my teeth as he purposely accelerated over a bump.