CHAPTER 7

Jazz felt the female Decepticon's hand clamp around his neck and start adding pressure. Though he risked no chance of being strangled, the very action was enough to get him into gear. Disregarding the fact that she was female, he grabbed her arms and made himself fall backward, kicking her in the stomach area as he did so. She made a pained sound and was sent rocketing off of him. She flew a short distance and crashed into the floor, making a loud metallic sound as her body contacted the metal floor.

He was instantly on her, grabbing her one arm and yanking it behind her as he drove his knee into her back. She struggled against his hold, making feral sounds not assosiated with her programming or looks. Jazz felt uneasy about this. It made him wonder if she was unstable.

What kind of juice is she on? he asked himself, struggling to hold her still. The stuff only handed out at parties?!

"Let go of me!" she screamed.

Jazz wasn't about to do that. He didn't know what she'd do if he let her arm go. Decepticons were always ruthless but he'd only encountered males of that group. He wasn't sure how females acted. For all he knew they were even more ruthless. Well he wasn't about to test that out. Well I can't just stand here like this, he thought. I either have to let her go or call for help.

He wished he could get in contact with Powerglide and Seaspray but he couldn't holding her down like that and he wasn't even sure they hadn't been spotted yet. They could be in similar situations.

The female Decepticon suddenly made a lunge forward, shoving her legs up and over. Jazz was knocked off balance and, though his grip didn't loosen, he was thrown forward and landed flat on top of her. Now that his knee wasn't in her back, imparing her movement, she was able to move again. She turned herself over and glared up at him meeting his visored optics.

Something in her optics caused the meck fluid in the Autobot to run cold. He couldn't put his finger on it but the look she was giving him caused a strange fear to rise up inside the usually calm and level headed Jazz. He had to force himself not to panic, telling himself there wasn't nothing to be afraid of.

What can she do to me that I haven't already been through? he asked himself.

Jazz knew nothing about the way Shadowstar got her energy. If he hadn't he would have been more cautious.

The Decepticon didn't waste any time letting him get over his fright. She reacted quickly, moving herself forward suddenly. Before Jazz knew what was happening she'd opened her mouth and clamped her sharp metal teeth into his neck. Instantly pain shot through his entire body and he couldn't hold in his screams as the Decepticon began to drain his energy.

Powerglide hadn't been spotted which was lucky. He wasn't feeling right about something though and tried to get in contact with Jazz but was unable to for some reason. He decided to look for him, but stayed cautious. He'd almost reached the spot where the Decepticons had spotted Jazz when a scream caused him to freeze. What in Primus? he thought.

Not wasting any time he ran in the direction the sound had come from. A few moments later he came to a complete stop at the sight before his optics. Jazz seemed to be embarressing a black and red transformer who had it's hands around his neck. Its face was close to the Autobot's and to Powerglide it looked like Jazz and it were kissing. What?

That assumption was removed from his thought processor when the black and red robot let Jazz go. Jazz fell heavily to the floor with a loud clang of metal. Powerglide saw clear fluid leaking from two puncture wounds on his neck. As he stared in horror at the sight the other robot wiped fluid off her mouth and face and looked at the Autobot plane. When he noticed her staring at him he shifted his gaze to her face. The expression she wore was halfway between smug and hungry. He got the feeling she wasn't done yet.

Reacting out of fear out instinct the plane raised his gun and shot at her. She took the blast in the chest and fell back a few steps, grabbing the wound he'd created, an ugly hole similar to the wound that had put her off line in the first place. She stared at the damage with a look of surprise.

Taking advantage of her preoccupation, Powerglide whisked Jazz's body off the floor and got out of there before she could recover enough to stop him. She looked up just in time to see him disappear into another room. By the Pit! she thought, her arms still covering her wound. Just when I thought something would finally go my way!

She took two steps forward then collapsed to the floor and didn't get back up.

Skywarp was still looking for Jazz when he heard the scream. He froze at the sound, an unwanted fear creeping into him. Fear wasn't something he put much thought into but since Shadowstar had been brought into the base he'd been afraid of almost everything. Mostly strange new sounds. He couldn't be sure if it was just his imagination or she was stalking him, ready to feed... He'd never heard this scream before. It didn't belong. He didn't know if he wanted to find out who had made it.

Images of Shadowstar came into mind. She was a vampire. He knew that much. What if she'd gone after another robot? What if she'd attacked Thundercracker, his best friend? That thought got him running.

"I hope she didn't!" he said out loud, running clumsily down the hall, smacking into walls when he turned corners.

He nearly crashed into Thundercracker along the way. Luckily the blue Seeker saw him coming and stepped out of the way just in time. As Skywarp stumbled past the blue jet grabbed him by the arm to keep him from falling over. "Whoa," he said straightening the other Seeker out. "Slow down. What's the rush?"

Skywarp looked at him with widened optics. His face held an expression Thundercracker had never seen on it before. Fear. "Is there something wrong?" he asked, cocking his head.

Skywarp stuttered something too garbled to be understood. Thundercracker frowned. The idiot was scared to death of something. "Hey, calm down," the blue Seeker said. "Take a few deep breaths."

Skywarp did so without seeming to notice. When he was calmer, his buddy asked. "What's got you so jittery? You're acting like you're parts are gonna come off any second."

"She," Skywarp began then stopped himself. He couldn't tell Thundercracker. He couldn't tell anyone.

His friend cocked his head the other way. "She?" he said. "What are you talking about?"

"N-nothing," Skywarp said, backing away. "It's nothing."

"It doesn't seem like nothing if it's got your gears in a grind," the blue Seeker said putting his hand on his hip. "Is it about the female? Is she online?"

Skywarp, unable to find his voice, nodded vigoriusly.

"So that's it," Thundercracker said. He folded his arms. "Does she make you nervous?" Skywarp nodded again and the blue Seeker rolled his optics. "and I thought I was the one who was shy around girls." He stared at Skywarp's face. The Seeker looked like he was about to have a system overload. "Calm down. If you're nervous about seeing her I'll come with you."

Skywarp looked eternally grateful. He and Thundercracker ran in the direction Skywarp had heard the scream come from. Thundercracker hadn't heard the scream and was completely unaware that three Autobots had sneaked into the base. Skywarp didn't give him those details, figuring Soundwave and the others would deal with them.

Starscream was blissfully ignorant to the whole Autobot infiltration thing. He'd gone off to sulk somewhere for awhile after the female Decepticon had told him off. When he was feeling better he'd come out of his room and would have enjoyed staying that way. Too bad that wouldn't last. He just happened to encounter the female Decepticon in the hall.

He stopped to stare when he saw her. She was lying face flat on the floor, unmoving. If he'd kept walking he would have tripped over her. He stared down at her in annoyance. "Now what?" he asked out loud, putting his hands on his hips. "Don't tell me she went off line again and right in the middle of the floor too."

Walking over to her, he kicked her body roughly. "Hey," he said. "Are you alive in there?"

In reply the body twitched slightly. Starscream took a step back and waited for something to happen. A few seconds later the femme's hands started moving and she put her hands under her as she pushed herself up. Light returned to her optics and she lifted her head to stare at him. Starscream frowned at her.

"What are you doing?" he demanded. "I thought Megatron sent you out with Soundwave. Why are you still here?"

Shadowstar slowly got up, her arm over her damage as her feet and legs barely supported her. She wobbled slightly and would have fallen over if not for her putting her hand on the wall to steady herself. Starscream watched her but didn't offer to help. He seemed amused at her problem. "What's the matter with you?" he asked. "Did you overload your system with Energon?"

She noted the mocking tone in his screechy voice and looked up at him, her red optics glaring at him angrily. "No," she said, through clenched teeth. "I had a run in with an Autobot."

He looked interested. "An Autobot?" Starscream laughed. "There are no Autobots here. If there was I would know."

"They got away," she growled. "I don't know where they are now. I fought with one. Some kind of blue and white car with a visor."

Starscream knew what Autobot she was talking about but refused to believe she fought with him. "You're lying," he stated.

"I am not!" she shouted. "He was right here! He shot me!" she gestured at the damage. "Do you think I did this to myself?"

He folded his arms and smirked. "I don't know," he said. "You could have. You females always do strange things."

Now she was totally ticked off. "We do not!" she took a step toward him, her optics darkening slightly. "You wouldn't know how females act. You probably never even got to know one."

"That's where you're wrong,"he retorted. "I got to know one very well and you know what she did? She betrayed me!" he pointed a finger at her face. "That's how I know you females are not to be trusted."

Shadowstar found his logic flawed. "Just because one female betrayed you doesn't mean we're allgoing to," she snapped. "I'm a Decepticon. I was built by one and have always been one. Why would I betray my own kind?!"

"Because Decepticons do it all the time," he answered.

"And you would know that," she said, putting her one hand on her hip and pointing at him with the other. "You've done it yourself plenty of times."

"How do you know that?"

"Everyone knows that!"
"Mind your own business!"

"That is my business!"

"My life is not your business!"

"Fine," she said. "It's not my business." she folded her arms. "But I'm not lying about the Autobot." she turned her back on him. "I'm going to find him and drag him back here and throw him in your face!"

Starscream glared after her then. loosing his temper, raised his arm and shot her in the back with his null gun. She took in in the middle of her back and went down. The red white and blue Seeker laughed and walked over to her. She got on on her hands and knees and glared at him. He smirked at her. "Don't turn your back one me," he said. "I tend to shoot those who do."

She growled at him her own temper reaching it's boiling point. Before he knew what was happening she was on her feet again. She lunged at him, her hands clamping onto his shoulders. Knocked totally off balance, the two went down hard.

She pinned him to the floor, her body on top of his so he couldn't get up easily. "You should not have done that," she hissed, her voice getting deeper. "You really won't like me when I'm mad."

"GET OFF ME, YOU OAF!" he shouted, trying to push her off him.

She wouldn't budge. She sat there glaring at him with dimmed red optics. The look on her face was far less than friendly. "I don't think so," she said. "Not until I've taught you a lesson."

Powerglide, carrying Jazz, ran down the corridors of the Decepticon base and tried to contact Seaspray. "Seaspray!" he shouted. "Seaspray! If you can hear me get your tail pipe to the place where we climbed into the tin can right now! We gotta get outta here!"

Seaspray's confused voice came back. "Why? What for? We haven't even found the thing yet."

"Oh we found it all right," Powerglide replied. "But it wasn't what we thought it was." Seaspray started to ask more questions but the air plane cut him off. "No time for questions! Ask me later! Just get down here now!"

"All right," the hovercraft said in a quiet voice. "I will be right there."

The connection ended there. "I hope he gets here soon," Powerglide said. He looked down at the off line Jazz. "I don't know what that Deceptichick did to you but I hope it's not permanent."

Thundercracker and Skywarp arrived at the spot where Skywarp was sure the scream had come from and stopped in their tracks to gape at the sight that met their optics. Starscream was lying on the floor with the female Decepticon on top of him, pinning his arms to the floor and looking at him with an expression similar to Megatron's just before he would punish the Air Commander.

"What's she doing?" Skywarp gasped.

"I don't know," Thundercracker said when Starscream started screaming. "But we'd better get her off of him!" he ran forward and the black and purple jet followed.

"Whoa!" the blue seeker exclaimed, grabbing her arms and pulling her forcefully off Starscream. "Whatever you're doing stop it!"

"Let me go!" she shouted, trying to get loose. "Let me go this instant!"

"Not until you calm down!" Thundercracker said, pulling her away from the red white and blue seeker.

"Not until he pays for shooting me!" she screamed.

"He shot you?" the blue Seeker gave Starscream a look.

"I did not!" he screamed. "She's lying!"

"I am not!"

Skywarp, ignoring the argument, knelt down beside Starscream. "Are you all right?" he asked.

The Air Commander gaped at Shadowstar who glared at him hatefully. "Just keep her away from me!" he shouted, getting to his feet and backing away. "She's crazy!" he ran off before anything else could be said.

Thundercracker and Skywarp watched him go then looked at each other. "What was that about?" their optics seemed to ask.

A/N

Sorry about that. I hope this was okay. I haven't been able to concentrate on this lately so I'm kinda forcing myself to write it. At least it makes sense. I hope it's not weird or anything.