Disclamer: Transformers/Beast Wars are not mine...*sniffle*...

Chapter 4: The Huntress and The Beast

White Mountains Forest, New Hampshire, Darksyde, a month after the crash…

It had been a lunar cycle. A full, Primus-forsakenlunar cycle!

Just how long would he and his crew of incompetent excuses for Predacons be stuck on this Primus-forsaken, backwater planet?

They had no communications, no weapons, no ship; nothing! It had been mere luck that their CR chambers were still functioning; and had they needed them. The 'landing', for lack of a better word, had been, to put it mildly, disastrous; not a single one of his men had been left unscathed.

Himself included.

Not only had they lost their ship and were stuck on this filthy, organic mudball; they were stuck here with a bunch of Maximals; whom they had no idea as to their current location since their 'landing'.

'Not that they were a threat from the beginning, but it is best to know where your enemies are, yes…'

As Megatron continued his internal 'musings', he noticed that most of his soldiers were trying to busy themselves with fixing the ship (or at least looking busy) and keeping out of his way.

After all, an enraged Megatron was bad for their health; well, for anyone's health, really. Even more so since he took such a…terrifying alt. mode. A rampaging tyrannosaurus rex was not something any one of them wanted to call attention to.

And for the past local lunar cycle, they had all been taking turns in the two CR chambers they possessed and assessing the ship's damage; licking their wounds, to put it plainly.

And, to top it off, for all of that lunar cycle he had ordered for none of them to leave the ship, they did not need to draw any unnecessary attention to themselves, Maximal or local; and they were all starting to get antsy.

That was why they remained quiet, very much afraid that even the smallest sound would make the giant dino-lord snap and start tearing into them all like a sharkticon to a wounded mech.

Then, it was like the very thought had triggered said stomping mech, he growled loud and dangerously, "Would someone give me some sort of report? This silence is starting to grate on my circuits! Scorponok!"

'Uh, y-yes, sir!" The scorpion-guised mech came rushing into the deck and anxiously saluted, his red visor flickering nervously. "Uh, y-you summoned me, my Lord?"

"What is the status of my ship? Do we at least have our weapons systems back? And what of our navigations systems?"

The black and dark grey colored mech swallowed nervously as he hesitantly shook his head, "N-no, sir, the…the ship was very heavily damaged in the, uh, crash…it-it's going to take a while to fix-urk!"

He barely manage to stammer the 'report' out, before Megatron's T-Rex head-shaped right servo grabbed him roughly, its teeth closing dangerously into his vulnerable neck cables.

"W-wait, Lord Megatron!"

"I know that the ship is damaged, you fool! What I need to know is if you are any closer to fixing it?" He stated in a low, enraged snarl.

"I-I would be-urk! If I had any help!" Scorponok managed to groan out, his own pincer-like servos gripping at Megatron's arm, trying to squirm his way out of his hold.

"Help? Help? What do you mean you need help? There are four other Predacons here; so do not give me any excuses about needing help!" He threw his 'Second-in-Command' angrily at a wall and scowled deeply at him.

Bringing himself painfully back up from where he'd crumpled after hitting the wall, the scorpion gasped for air to cool his struggle induced overheated components, "B-but my Lord, the only other mech here that knows about interstellar ship mechanics is Tarantulas!"

"Tarantulas?" Ah, yes. The spider; he was an odd one, that mech. A mech that bore close and careful watching.

Speaking of which… "And where is that maniacal spider? I haven't seen him since he downloaded his beast mode…"

His only answer was silence. No one had seen the spider much after that, either, other than…

"Yes, Waspinator?"

The green and yellow mech shuffled forward nervously from where he had, more or less, tentatively raised his servo to speak, and started to fidget and buzz nervously, "Well, uhm, Wazzpintor zee Spider-bot a few cyclezz ago. Had said zzomething about scouting area…"

The tension at that moment was so thick, not even a laser scalpel might've been able to cut through.

And then…

"HE WHAT?" Megatron thundered, "Why that insolent, pit-spawned, eight-legged INSECT! How DARE he disobey a direct order?"

The buzzing mech let out a garbled, terrified buzz/shriek and ran to hide behind a mech the color of blood with sharp features and what appeared to be wing shaped blades on his arms. Terrorsaur simply looked at the buzzing mass of shaking circuits and shook his head in exasperation, with a look of 'Why me?' on his faceplates.

"It seems you do not have as much control over your men as you first believed, Lord Megatron." A scratchy, rough voice sneered condescendingly from a shadowy corner of the bridge deck.

As Megatron turned in the voice's direction, the mech stepped into what little light was available in the room, showing he had bronze and dark blue plating with interspersed patches of scaly looking hide, it was brown with black or darker brown stripes; his eyes were blood red and his lips were curled in a sneering snarl, showing a mouth filled with needle sharp fangs that matched his equally sharp clawed hands.

Dinobot had been one of the first Predacons to join this 'venture', but ever since then, the warrior had been having second thoughts about his supposed 'leader's competence.

"Oh? And have you something to say about that, Dinobot?" The words were said with such a forced blandness, they almost sounded rhetorical.

"Indeed, I do." Straightening himself to his full height, scowling darkly into the Predacon Lord's optics.

"You are a failure, Megatron!"

Megatron's left optic twitched slightly, but remained emotionless, then asked quietly "What did you call me?"

"You heard. Not only did you fail in destroying the Maximals when you had the chance; you also failed to bring us to the right planet, for it is quite obvious that this is not the one described in the Golden Disk! We can't even be sure what the planet truly is like because of the Disk's encoding! We stole the slagging thing and flew half way across the galaxy for nothing! You idiot! " He produced said object, a golden datadisk with ancient cybertronian glyphs on its front, and threw it angrily at Megatron's peds.

"You are an incompetent and a fool; completely unworthy of being our leader! Thus, I challenge you to battle, Megatron! The winner shall lead the Predacons and the loser…shall be destroyed!"

Glancing casually at his Second, Megatron gave him a subtle signal, then turned his attention back to the overzealous Raptor and said in a droll, bored voice, "Very well, Dinobot. Let us take this outside, yes?" Waving his normal servo to the exit hatch, allowing Dinobot to go out first.

The warrior didn't think twice as he headed out into the bitter cold air of their current location; a forest with vegetation as tall as and taller than Megatron, as far as their optics could see, all covered in a crystallized frozen hydrogen/oxygen compound.

He should have known better than to have turned his back on the tyrant.

As soon as his clawed peds touched the frozen ground outside the ship, he heard Megatron state almost nonchalantly, "You know, Dinobot, it takes more than just simple courage to be a leader. Why, it takes cleverness and cunning as well, isn't that right…Scorponok?"

By the time the mech realized what was happening and could turn around to face the traitorous tyranno; he was being blasted in the back with a pair of missiles.

And his last conscious thought, other than the processor numbing pain and that he was flying through the air, was that he was going to make Megatron pay. Dearly.

And as Megatron observed, smugly satisfied, his once prized warrior fly off deeper into the mountain side's forest, he scoffed in a disgusted tone, "Loser."

Turning back to his remaining men, he gave them a dark, deathly glare, "Anyone else that wishes to challenge me?"

Every mech quickly shook their heads and went back to what they were doing, once more keeping themselves quiet and out of Megatron's way.

Deeper in the White Mountains, a few hours later…

As his systems came back online; Dinobot became aware of two things. One; he was on his back, which hurt like the fragging Pit, along with his left side. Then his repair systems graciously informed him that the majority of his back was heavily damaged and leaking energon, and his side was wide open and also leaking energon. If he didn't stop the 'bleeding' he was sure to offline or go into stasis lock. Well, that was just fragging wonderful.

The second thing was a feeling that took him a few nanoklicks to recognize, no thanks to his damaged state.

He was being watched.

His optics snapped open faster than he ever remembered having done; his head turned towards where the feeling was coming from. And there, not 10 feet from him, was what looked like a human. A female human.

But this was no ordinary human female; at least, not from what information he'd gathered from the species during his forced confinement in the Darksyde; it had been pathetically easy to hack into the humans' communications networks.

Where most of this planet's females wore brightly colored cloths over their bodies and at times wore too little; showing too much of their flesh to be considered 'decent' (even cybertronian pleasure-bots wore more armor than most of the human femmes he'd seen on the information network!), this one was wearing a cloak that hid most of her frame, colored in a combination of whites, grays and blacks; he recognized it as camouflage coloring. It made her look as though she were melting from out of the forest. Her face was mostly covered by a black piece of cloth over her lower face and neck. But her eyes were visible; and were a sight to behold.

They were the color of tempered steel, and just as sharp as a blade. They were narrowed at him, unwavering and impassive, even as he glared darkly at her.

He privately, and grudgingly, admitted that this human was very brave to be so calm and collected in the face of something she had quite possibly never seen. Brave…or foolish.

That's when he noticed that her hands were not empty. She was armed; he vaguely remembered reading something about human weapons…oh yes, a bow and arrow. And she had them pointed at him.

Ah, so, she was far from being a helpless femme, then.

Had he'd been in his normal energy levels, he would have scoffed at the primitive excuse for a weapon, laughed at it, even.

But, he was in no condition to do either. Weak and primitive it may be; but in his current state, a well placed blow could very well offline him. And by the familiarity and ease with which the human handled the weapon…It was glaringly obvious she was very well versed in its use.

But she didn't use it. She just stood there, staring at him stoically, studying him, her weapon pointed at him, but not drawn to full extent. It didn't fool him though; he recognized a hunter, a warrior, when he saw one.

One false move…and it would be the last thing he ever did.

Not like he could do anything at the moment, though…The thought almost made him scoff a bitter laugh.

This is how he would die? Wounded, deserted and betrayed by the one he once thought a worthy leader, in some unknown alien planet with not a chance of ever returning to his home planet? And at the hands of an organic, no less?

Primus had a bitter sense of humor…

Finally, his patience started wearing thin at the human's lack of action, and he managed to find the strength to grind out his annoyance.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Finish me." His voice was low, rougher than usual. His lip plates curled in self-disgust; he hated sounding weak. Then, he bit out sardonically, "Or are you going to stand there and stare at me all cycle?"

If she was surprised at his sudden outburst, she didn't let it show; she merely kept staring at him and kept her bow at the ready.

Suddenly, her eyes slid from his and narrowed in on his injured side, then returned to his optics. Her expression didn't change, but her stance did; she wasn't completely relaxed but she wasn't tensed for an attack anymore. She lowered her bow slightly and took a cautious step in his direction.

His optics widened slightly in surprise, but recovered quickly, scowling and growling warningly, "What do you think you're doing?" He moved to sit up, but flinched when he only managed to aggravate his wound, a pained hiss escaping him.

She didn't say anything, not even a small sound. She only glanced at his wound, then back into his optics and took another tentative step.

"What? You won't kill a wounded opponent? Were our positions altered, I would not show you such mercy…" He sneered at her, but he knew he was lying. His warrior's honor and pride would not permit him to fight a wounded enemy, either. But, his pride would not allow him to accept another's help so easily. Besides, there was something about this femme that unnerved him...

The femme seemed unimpressed by his words; in fact, she seemed surer of her actions. The look in her eyes was one of determination, or perhaps stubbornness and she took another, more confident step towards him.

Then, both their attentions were grabbed by a loud rustling coming from the bushes to their right.

Dinobot tried once more to sit up, so he could at least face this new threat without feeling so vulnerable, but it only made him clutch at his wound and hiss painfully once more; he could barely hold himself partially up on his right elbow.

The female, however, immediately turned fully towards the sound's origin, placing herself between it and his wounded form, crouching low and bringing her bow up, fully drawn and ready for whatever may come, her eyes narrowed and searched swiftly for the sounds' source. They waited in tense silence for what seemed like an eternity, when…

A low, predatory growl was their only warning before a large gray colored feline came running out of the brush, roaring in premature victory. The female let her arrow fly, but the cat came too fast and avoided it, jumping and nearly flying over a fallen tree trunk and landing, claws extended, on the human.

The only thing that kept the feline off her now was her bow, which she had immediately brought forward and was now using to keep the bobcat's open maw away from her neck. But it wouldn't keep it away for long…

Dinobot didn't think. He quickly looked around him for some sort of weapon or something, and discovered a rather large rock, grabbed it, took careful, but quick, aim and threw it at the roaring feline. He smirked in satisfaction at the loud "THUD!" and the pained yowl that the cat released.

It worked, the cat forgot about the human; but now its attention was on him. Had he'd been in better condition, he would've dispatched the creature in a manner of astroseconds.

But, as it was, all he could do was glare and snarl defiantly at the four-legged organic. This was it; he was just about to entrust his Spark to Primus when he caught the gleam of metal just behind the feline's haunches.

What happened next was so fast; he would come to question later how a human could ever move with such speed.

The human woman launched herself at the feline, struggling with it for a few klicks, when her left hand started grabbing at its legs, managing to grab one and pin it down. Then her right, which held an impressive looking blade, came down swiftly into the feline's neck. It jerked and yowled pitifully one last time; then it was still and silent.

The female pulled the knife out, and pulled out a cloth from somewhere on her side, then started cleaning the blood off her blade, looking entirely nonchalant the whole time.

That's when Dinobot, snapping out off his shocked stupor, realized that the cloak's hood had fallen back as well as the piece of cloth that covered her lower face, probably during the struggle when the cat pounced on her.

Her features were as sharp as her eyes; high cheek bones, a small, straight nose and lips that were thin, but shapely, yet were set in a firm line; face framed by locks of chestnut brown hair that escaped from a high set, messy bun.

Her skin was tanned, though it was far from perfect; he could see various sized and shaped scars that were scattered along her face and, apparently, down her neck, though he couldn't see since the cloth that had covered her was still wrapped there. But she didn't seem to be bothered by them as she did not try to wrap her mask back up and hide them.

And, since he was now giving her a closer study, he could see she was tall, she would probably reach him mid-chest or near his shoulders and she was well built, toned, not bulky or wiry.

He also realized that her face and part of her cloak was splattered with the dead feline's blood; although, she apparently didn't seem to notice…or care. She simply stood, tall and proud, cleaning her knife without a second thought as to her appearance. Looking for all the world like the true hunter she was. The total confidence with which she held herself made her look very…attractive.

And for some strange, and unsettling, reason Dinobot's circuits started to tingle slightly and his cooling fans activated. His eyes widened incredulously when he noticed this; roughly shaking his head to rid himself of such shameful thoughts.

'What… the slagging Pit am I thinking?'

He blamed the shameful and untoward thoughts on his lack of…female company, for lack of better phrasing, for the past several vorns. To think such things about a femme he had barely just met, not to mention an alien…

And yet, he could not bring himself to be disgusted by this; unsettled, yes, but not disgusted. If anything, it intrigued him; made his situation more...interesting. Most of the femmes he'd met were whinny, clingy and cared more about their polish and finish than anything else. But this one…

He'd never met a female like this, she was a warrior and that made him intrigued, curious; he could tell there was more to her and he wished to know what. And just why she made him feel like this.

Apparently, he'd been staring at her intently long enough that she snapped her head to regard him; her eyes still burning with the flame of victory from the fresh struggle and consequent kill, turning her eyes into spheres of molten metal.

Dinobot felt his spark pulse erratically in his chestplates and his circuits heat again. He quickly looked away and growled, disgusted at his lack of self-control.

He could feel her eyes studying him now, and he had to resist the urge to squirm. Him, squirm? It was a ridiculous thought, yet that was what he felt. He tried to turn further away from the femme (He was NOT hiding!), only to be painfully reminded of his injuries.

He'd been so preoccupied with the femme and then the cat that he'd almost entirely forgotten his damaged back and side; and he was still bleeding…

That's when he heard the female's footsteps come towards him, he barely had time to turn his head her way, when she suddenly kneeled next to him and started to inspect his wounds. Her hands barely brushed his injured side, when he let lose a pained snarl and roughly grabbed her wrists, "Watch what you're doing, human! That hurts!"

She stared at him squarely in the optics, her eyes softening just the smallest bit in apology, and didn't struggle or try to leave his grip, but she did nod her head; an acknowledgement that she understood she was to be careful.

Dinobot glared at her for a few more nano-klicks, before letting her go and looking away, silently and grudgingly giving her permission to continue her inspections.

She carefully and gently, so at odds with how she'd acted just moments before, inspected his left side, and then pushed gently at him, signaling him to try and turn over. He did so, biting back every snarl and curse he wanted to scream and howl, finally lying on his uninjured right side and showing her his back. Her silent, almost inaudible gasp was the first sound he'd ever heard her make, and it didn't reassure him.

There was a moment of silence, when he heard the rustling of fabric, and suddenly, there was an almost blinding pain as the human pressed something, her cloak by the feel and sound he'd heard, against his back and injured side. Hard.

This time, he didn't hold back.

"GRAAAH! You pit-spawned, slagging femme! I fragging told you to be fragging careful! FRAG!"

The human remained quiet and once again prompted him to turn and lie on his back, which now burned like the Pit, then tied her cloak tightly around him, all the while ignoring his murderous, black glare. It only cleared slightly when his systems informed him that the leaking had been staunched, if only for the moment.

Once she was done tying up the improvised 'bandage', she stood up and offered him her hand. He stared at it blankly for a moment, an optic ridge raised, looking up at her with a 'You have got to be kidding me' look. She couldn't possibly believe she could lift him up, much less manage to drag or carry him anywhere…

But the slight indignant scowl on her face told him that, yes, she fully intended to help him up and carry his sorry aft wherever it was she was taking him.

Letting out a sharp exhale, he grouchily took the offered hand, and although it took some struggling, she, surprisingly, managed to get him up and placed herself under his left side, wrapping her arm around his lower back, carefully, and grabbing his right side, giving him support so he could walk. Her head almost reached his upper chest, if not his shoulder, so he could place his servo, careful of his claws, on her shoulder and keep himself up, mostly.

Once he was securely on his peds, the female started leading him in the direction she had come from. He had no idea where she was taking him, but anything was better than the bitter cold, hard ground, in some Primus-forsaken forest.

A cave, few minutes later…

As Dinobot and the huntress made their way through the forest, he'd tried not to put his full weight on the human; she may not be weak, but he was certain he would crush her if she took his full weight.

But it was getting harder as every step felt heavier, more difficult; his intakes got deeper and more ragged. He was certain he was going to lock up any klick now…

Then the female squeezed his side prompting him to look at her, and she motioned towards something in front of them; he looked and saw a cave. It took all his self restraint not to sigh loudly in relief. He would not show any more weakness in front of the human.

When they entered, he took stock of his surroundings and the items within that were scattered or piled in different areas of the rather spacious cave.

On one wall, the pelts of many animals hung from small hooks or rock protrusions, and a few were piled up in a back corner of the cave. The other wall was covered in weapons of different sizes and shapes: daggers, knives like the one she used, bows of different sizes, spears made of wood and stone…and one sword.

The sword caught his attention and made him even more curious about his…his what? Companion? Savior? His lip curled up in contempt, but he couldn't deny that the human had saved him. Not that he was about to admitted it out loud...

He was snapped from his inner thoughts when the female stopped and pushed, gently, at him, trying to get him to sit. When he looked down, he noticed they were at the pile of furs, and now that he was closer, he noticed the femme's scent permeated the furs.

'Hmm, this must be her berth', he mused silently.

He gingerly sat down, hissing loudly in pain; and groaned in relief when his weight settled into the soft, warm furs. Then he felt the femme continue to push at him; she wanted him to lie down.

He complied, gladly so, considering he was starting to get dizzy, but voiced his doubt filled thoughts in a rough growl; though it lacked the threatening bite it had earlier, the lack of energon finally starting to affect him. "Do not waste your time, human. My injuries are beyond any medical knowledge you may possess. Without a medic from my kind, I am done for."

As he opened his optics (when had he closed them?) to look up at the female, he saw a slight look of uncertainty on her face, but it was quickly replaced by a look of steely conviction.

He scoffed softly, of course this human wouldn't stop, it had been obvious since the beginning that she was a stubborn spark.

He felt her tug gently at the impromptu 'bandage'; letting her arms reach under him to undo the knot and he tried not to shiver at the touch of her skin against his artificial flesh and armor pieces.

Damn the human! And damn himself, as well! He had better control than this! He was only grateful that she probably thought that his shivering was due to pain from the wound.

When the cloak was removed, and immediately thrown away, he felt her hands once again prod at his wounds, removing a few pieces of debris, leaves and such, from his wound. He winced, but managed to keep silent; she got up quickly and ran over to a plastic barrel and placed a bucket into it. He saw a clear liquid drip from it as she pulled it out; water, the hydrogen/oxygen compound that covered the frozen ground outside, his processor supplied helpfully. What was she up to?

Before he could blink, she was sitting next to him again; the bucket of water on her other side and a clean piece of cloth in her hand. That's when it clicked; she was going to clean his wound.

Huh, it seemed the human had more sense than most mechs he'd met over the vorns. He felt her gentle hands at his back, carefully removing more of the larger pieces of scrap and organic ground cover; then start washing away the dirt and dried energon. Now with his wounds unclogged, he felt his self-repair nanites activate and work on the damaged areas. It would take weeks, but he would heal; it'll be a painful process, but he'd live.

As he continued to focus on the human's soft hands, he noticed how tired he felt; so very tired. He tried to stay awake, still not sure how much he could trust the femme; but his recharge sequence was already commencing and he felt as each of his systems, except his self-repair, shut down.

As the fog of recharge started to cloud his processor, he didn't realize he muttered something right before he surrendered to sleep.

"Thank you."

The last thing he remembered was the woman's surprised look soften into a small smile and a hand gently caressing his helm.

Then, he knew no more.

A/N: Please, review~ X3 Remember, constructive criticism is welcome! Flames are not.