3: Doings in Secret

Knight the wolf lay down, surrounded by warm, soft wolf bodies. He was comfortable, and he felt relaxed knowing Darkstar the black wolf was asleep. The wolves had all been nice to Knight, even though he was close to clueless about wolf hierarchy. Knight had learned he was a low-rank wolf, but that the other wolves had to be nice to him because he was a new-comer. This was courteous of them. Brent followed wolf protocol, but was insincere in his kind wishes for Knight's health and happiness. Also, Knight knew he could never be at ease while this nameless ache troubled him.

Suddenly Knight started, noticing Darkstar's keen blue eyes fixed intently on him. Darkstar was lying on his back, staring curiously at the newbie wolf from an upside-down angle.

Knight got another surprise, for when he looked into Darkstar's eyes he discovered that he could understand the expression as clear as if Darkstar was speaking words. This must be part of wolf-communication, understanding expression to a point Knight had thought impossible.

"Do you like it here?" Darkstar's eyes communicated.

Knight found he could talk through eye expressions just as well as Darkstar could. "It is too early to give a full opinion," the dirty, silver wolf replied.

"What do think of me?"

Though taken aback by Darkstar's openness, Knight saw no reason not to answer back just as frankly. "You frighten me," he said.

Darkstar raised the corners of his wolf mouth in a smile of amusement. "That's a compliment to me. It means you revere me. If you tell Brent you're afraid of him, he might like you more. You see, when you're a wolf, fear and respect of the leader means everything."

"Fear gives away weakness," observed Knight.

"Ah, but admission to weakness is a good, humble quality to have. It'll get you far in a wolf pack. We're not as bloodthirsty as we look." Darkstar showed his fangs again. "You'll grow to like most of the wolves in the pack. As for Brent, you just keep on being afraid."

***

Blackarachnia was running. She did not feel the branches scratching her as she ran through them, or the giant thorns pricking her feet as she darted through the undergrowth. She tripped over roots and got back up again, not caring where she was going or what might be following her. She just had to escape the world and everyone in it.

Now the spider-lady was in a dense, dark jungle with foliage underfoot and overhead. She ran into a dark clearing with trees behind her, to her left, and on her right; in front of her rose cold, black cliffs which hid the moonlight. Panting and too exhausted to run any farther, Blackarachnia fell down on the ground and, frankly, cried her spark out.

***

Blackarachnia awoke. She was still in the woods and Silverbolt was still dead. The birds which sang in the trees sounded like a broken music box to her ears. The sun was mocking her sorrow with bright golden beams of light.

The spider gasped. Suddenly she realized some one was bending over her, blocking the sunlight. She sat up in fear, but realized it was only Depth Charge.

"Get away," Blackarachnia hissed. "You're not taking me back. I'll never ever come back to the maximals again! You can't make me!!!"

"Oh really?" Depth Charge muttered. "Anyway, why don't you want to come back?"

"I can't bear it," Blackarachnia answered. "It makes me remember Silverbolt. You make me remember Silverbolt. Everything reminds me of him! And I can't take that!"

"Look, he's dead," said Depth Charge coldly. "You can't bring him back. Most people do die, you know. Get over it!"

"Oh you're one to talk, you slagging fish!" Blackarachnia roared. "You won't stop getting all over Rampage because you to avenge your stupid Omicron friends whose deaths you're still mourning!"

Depth Charge's flared up with a ferociousness Blackarachnia had never seen. "Don't you dare talk like that!" he shouted. "I'll rip out your processor!"

"I'll dismember your spark!" Blackarachnia snapped back with nastiness she didn't know she had. "It's a pity Rampage didn't do it earlier! Ha, I'd like to have seen you, Depth Charge, so big and tough, crying in the alleyway of Omicron like a little baby while Rampage did what served you right!"

Depth Charge's mouth dropped open. He was lost to words, too stunned by the assault to counterattack in any way. He turned his back on her.

"D—D—Depth Charge?" Blackarachnia's regret flooded her spark quickly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. But will you please leave me alone?!"

Blackarachnia waited for a reply, but heard only quick intakes of breath from Depth Charge. It was strange. Depth Charge sounded really hurt, almost gasping as if he had been stabbed by an energon knife. "How would you feel," the manta-ray said in a low, rasping voice, "if I said I would have liked to see you crying in front of a dead Silverbolt, and that his death served you both right? How would that make you feel?"

Blackarachnia was silent. Had she really hurt him that much? She began to understand his feelings. "Omicron…" she whispered, "was it really that bad? You can't have been the only survivor."

"Yes, I was," Depth Charge coughed in a coarse voice. "Everybody died. Everybody. Except for me. X destroyed everyone I cared about and he made sure their deaths were as slow and painful as possible. It doesn't make sense how the universe has been here as long as it has, if it's so full of sick things like Rampage."

Blackarachnia had never heard Depth Charge talk this before. It was odd, but it didn't make her want him to stay. "Please leave," Blackarachnia begged. "I can't run to the maximals or the predacons. I don't want either of them. Silverbolt is gone."

Blackarachnia felt like a school-kid, when a kind teacher came along and taught her illiterate mind to know the alphabet. Then they planned to read a book together. But suddenly, the teacher leaves. Without so much as a goodbye, he was just gone before he had even finished teaching.

"It isn't fair," Blackarachnia moaned. "If Silverbolt were to die, I always imagined I'd die by his side. We'd both die noble deaths, in some great battle against evil." Blackarachnia's voice grew soft. "I don't even want to live. Not without Silverbolt. Why couldn't I die with him?"

"You've only lost one, but I've lost my entire planet's inhabitants," Depth Charge told her. "You're right in what you said earlier, about me. Rampage should have destroyed me. How I wish he had. If I had died, I wouldn't have to relive the same pain everyday of my life. After the Omicron Massacre I didn't think I could live at all. But then I got to thinking, why did I survive? I figured out that I had to bring in X."

"Silverbolt used to complain that you had no sense of duty," Blackarachnia said.

"Well he was wrong!" Depth Charge snapped. "I survived for justice. To bring in Rampage and make sure he never hurts another being. I have a duty to stay alive even though I don't want to!" He was using desperate tones now. "And if I ever have the chance to kill him I will do it in a spark-beat. But one thing I have promised myself, that I will kill Rampage in the quickest way possible. I don't want to cause anybody extra pain. Not after the suffering I saw on Omicron." Depth Charge actually shuddered. The carnage that X had inflicted was something the manta-ray could never have dreamed in his worst nightmare.

"And, now Blackarachnia," Depth Charge told her, "just think about it. Silverbolt died, but you lived. You have to carry on his legacy. You have to be like him, just as I'll try to be like a true Omicron maximal."

"Is Optimus after me?" Blackarachnia asked, refusing to set her mind on Depth Charge's words.

"Last night he wanted to leave you alone. He figured you'd come back in the morning. When he hears that you're never intending to come back, I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to bring you back by force."

"Don't tell him where I am."

Depth Charge nodded. Suddenly he looked as if he had woken out of a dream. The earnestness that had phased him for a few minutes was now utterly lost. He was back to his cold, angry, standoffish self. "Don't repeat a word I've said to anybody," he threatened. Then transforming into beast mode, Depth Charge flew away.

Blackarachnia had not sat on her own for five minutes before she saw something in the bushes. A wolf.

****************************************

Knight was feeling sick. He was so weak, and the awful ache had not left him. But perhaps the weakness came mostly from hunger. The other wolves were eating a small deer they had caught.

"Don't you want something?" Darkstar asked. "Aren't you hungry?"

"I'm famished," Knight said. But he felt strangely reluctant to eat that deer. He couldn't explain why. He just felt as if it were something he shouldn't do.

Darkstar shook his shaggy head. "I thought it would be this way. Come with me, Knight." The black wolf went over to Brent with his head and tail down in submission. "Brent, I'm taking Knight on a scout mission."

"Good," Brent growled. "I sent a scout out a while ago but he hasn't returned. Find him and bring him back."

Darkstar licked under the alpha wolf's jaw and walked back over to Knight. "Wolf talk," he explained to the puzzled newbie. "Licking or nipping under the jaw of a wolf says that you're lower than that wolf. Licking or nipping a wolf's snout says that you're higher than that wolf."

The two wolves set off at a steady lope. They were in some rocky terrain in a cliff-filled region, but as they ran the land turned greener, with woods, grass, and vines. Just before entering through the eaves of a dark-looking jungle, Darkstar motioned Knight into a hidden cavern. When one passed the cavern, it was made invisible by vines and bushes. From the cliffs above, it was hidden by a rock overhang. Knight wondered why it was so secretly hidden.

They entered the cave silently. Knight's eyes widened. The cave was filled with shining blue crystals of immense beauty. Darkstar went behind some crystals and stuck his snout into a little concave in the wall. He brought out something that looked similar to the crystals, but was cube-shaped and seemed be more like a transparent box of energy than a crystal. Energon. Stable energon.

Then the most unexpected thing happened. Darkstar ate the crystal cube! Or at least that was what it looked like. The black wolf bent his face down to the bluish cube and it seemed to just melt into the wolf's body.

"Tasty," said Darkstar.

"Wha—what—what are you DOING?!" Knight exclaimed, fearful that Darkstar had lost his mind.

"Hey, it's okay," Darkstar said. "These are energon cubes. Try one." He threw a cube to Knight.

As strange as it was, Knight felt very comfortable eating the cubes. He consumed several. Then he felt full, the pain in his toes and back was gone, and he felt relatively happy. He smiled.

Darkstar barked a wolf laugh. "That's what a full stomach feels like! But make sure you don't tell anyone about this cave," he added quickly. "Brent doesn't like beasts which eat energon."

"Then why are we doing it?" exclaimed Knight. He suddenly felt an obligation to stand up for his leader. It seemed only the natural thing to do. "As difficult as Brent can be, is he not our chief? Should we not respect him? I, for one, shall prove worthy of his trust."

Darkstar stared, open-mouthed, at Knight, making the disfigured wolf feel quite awkward. Quizzically, Darkstar began, "How—that's impossible—" he broke off, looking at Knight the way a zoologist looks at a new species of animal. "I thought I deleted…but never mind." Darkstar smiled in a friendly manner, but there was a curious and troubled look behind his eyes. "And now," he said cheerily, "you and I can go find that missing scout. I picked up his scent so we should find him easily." Darkstar set off again with Knight at his side.