CHAP 6

Shadowstar's optics widened when she felt his fangs beginning to puncture the armor on her arm. She gasped and quickly jerked her arm away before he drew anything. She did not want him draining her because she knew if he did she would become his slave. She did not like him so why would she want to work for him?

When she reacted he reacted.

Nos-4-A2 twisted around, easily breaking free from her grip. He slammed her in the face with a closed fist, breaking one of her blood red optics. Glass went flying in all directions.

The fembot screamed in agony and stepped away, her hands covering her face. While she was distracted, he hit her again, knocking her off her feet.

"Sparks," she groaned, getting up, her hand still covering her optic. She focused on his image. He was hovering over her, his cape tattered and his own damage bleeding from the blows he'd sustained from her. He'd activated his wings and they flapped slowly up and down, keeping him in the air. "Ready for round two?" he asked, telling her right away he knew she wasn't damaged bad enough to give up.

No, she wasn't. She didn't want a second round though. But she didn't want him to win either. If he won she was a goner.

No. I won't allow it! I've been beaten by things I hate long enough! This wannabe won't have that satisfaction.

She activated the thrusters in her feet and slowly rose into the air. She moved her hand away from her eye, barely registering the mech fluid bleeding onto it. She fixed both optics on him, noticing she could see her reflection in his monocle. "I was going to ask you the same thing, freak."

Warp Darkmatter had found him! He felt so proud of himself as he stared down the eye of the rifle which was set on the energy vampire. Thanks to the scanner he was able to find him in less time than when it wasn't working properly. Now if you would just hold still for a moment, he thought. This won't hurt a bit.

But Nos-4-A2 wasn't holding still. He was moving around too fast and too erratically. Like he was fighting something or low on power and having a hard time staying aloft. Warp put down the gun and picked up his binoculars, zeroing them in on the area. Now he saw that the vampire did indeed seem to be occupied by something, though he couldn't make it out very well because it seemed to blend in with the shadows.

Warp set down the binoculars and picked up the sniper rifle. He would worry about that later. Right now all he needed to focus on was the energy vampire.

He couldn't keep this up for much longer. Fighting the femme was draining his energy faster than he expected. If he continued, he'd go offline. He had to feed, now!

But the female wasn't going to let him. She was determined to kill him but he noticed she was getting tired too. Her flight pattern was erratic and more than one place on her body was bleeding, not that none of his parts weren't. She would have to feed too.

He punched her in the face once more, knocking her away from him. It was a weak hit but something happened when he did it. Her wings seemed to shatter and her entire body lit up as if she'd been electrocuted. Her optics flashed Christmas colors then blinked out. She spiraled downward and hit the landing pad hard. This time she didn't get up.

He stared at her body for a moment, surprised. Oh my.

That was it. It was over. No more. He had won.

Even if she wasn't dead he couldn't keep this up. He had to feed.

Activating his wings, though he knew that would use up more energy than just hovering, he let out a roar and shot away.

Warp Darkmatter cursed and slapped his gun. Just when he thought he'd gotten a good shot that other thing had gotten in the way and he wound up hitting it instead. Now Nos-4-A2 was getting away and he couldn't do anything about it. Craters!

He might as well just get a look at his consolation prize, even if it wasn't what Zurg ordered him to shoot.

Putting the gun away he climbed down off the roof and headed over to the fallen machine. He knew it was a machine because when he'd hit it it had lit up like a neon light and parts of it had broken off. When he reached it he stood over it, studying the body.

Yes, it was a machine and a strange one at that.

It looked nothing like any of the robots he'd seen anywhere in the galaxy. It's body had an almost human design to it and it's face looked like that of a young woman's except the nose was too flat and it had optics instead of eyes, though one of them was shattered. Where hair would have been was a helmet. When he looked at the body again he realized it looked very.. female in anatomy.

It was a girl!

So a female robot was fighting with Nos-4-A2, he thought. But why? he wondered. Was he dating her and they had a bad break up or something?

Somehow he doubted that. She didn't seem his type, if he even had one.

Okay then why?

He got his answer two seconds later when the fembot's optics activated and she lunged at him, latching her teeth onto his cyborg arm.

He freaked, hitting at her head with his gun while she drained his energy. As she did he saw the cracks in her frame beginning to disappear. She was using the energy from the cybernetics in his arm to repair herself!

What the hell?

Warp hit her in the head again, this time harder. She let out a yelp then went limp, her teeth coming out of his arm as she fell back to the pavement. The man poked her gently with the toe of his boot. She did not react. She was out cold.

He sighed in relief and looked down at his arm. Now drained of its energy it hung limply. He saw puncture marks in the metal where her teeth had gone in. They were deep. Well now he got his answer. She was a vampire too! No wonder Nos-4-A2 was fighting with her.

And that was the exact instant his boss decided to call.

"Ooooo!"

At the sound of voices speaking in unison Sari looked toward the floor. She spotted some weird little three eyed green men in blue jump suits staring at her or was it Prowl? in fascination.

The group had left the hall and entered another part of the command center. This part looked like a garage or one of Professor Sumdac's assembly factories. Sari had not expected the workers here to look so weird, but then again, all the creatures in this universe were weird looking.

"What in the world are those things?" she asked, pointing at the little aliens.

Buzz looked at the little green men and didn't seem the least bit upset by them. As if he saw them all the time and it was totally natural. "Oh that's just the LGMs," he told her.

"LGMs?" she said, looking back at him. "What are those?"

"Little Green Men," XR spoke up, wheeling beside her.

"Little green men?" Sari asked. "Yeah, that's original."

One of the LGMs studied her for a moment. "You have a funny scent about you," he commented.

"Hey!" the girl said, offended. "I do not stink!"

"He did not mean you stank," another corrected her. "He means you don't smell organic."

Sari noticed XR giving her a funny look. "I don't know what you're talking about!" she exclaimed. "You must be smelling things."

By then Prowl had noticed the LGMs as well. They interested him. He walked over to the little aliens and knelt down for a better look, his hand on his chin. "Fascinating."

The LGMs seemed just as fascinated with Prowl was he was with them. Three more, that had been working on something else, stopped their work and came over to get a look at the Autobot. Sari was relieved that their attention had been diverted. They had almost revealed that she was part machine.

"Ooo shiny," one said after getting a close look at Prowl's Autobot insignia.

"It's a face," another added.

"Actually it's the Autobot insignia," Prowl told them.

"What's an Autobot?" a third questioned.

"All right, back to work you lazy bums," Commander Nebula intervened, shooing the LGMs away. "You can take the Autobot apart later." when he saw the look Prowl gave him he added. "Not literally."

"Ahh." the little aliens walked away, looking very disappointed. That made Prowl nervous. They actually thought Nebula had been serious!

"Don't worry about the LGMs," Nebula said, turning back to him. "They're basically harmless."

"What exactly do they do?" Sari wanted to know, as she watched the little green men run around in what seemed to her like meaningless circles.

"Just about everything," the Commander explained. "These little guys are very useful. They can build things, repair things, and if it comes to it, take things apart." he glanced at XR. "Like certain expendable robots."

Luckily XR did not hear that comment. He was too busy glaring at the LGMs as if they had done something he didn't approve of.

"So basically you rely on them for everything and if they weren't here everything would be in a huge mess," Sari summed it up.

"Well if you want to put it that way..." the man said.

"Ha! I knew it! They're your slaves!' she stated.

"They are not," the Commander informed her. "They work here."

"What do you pay them?" she questioned. "Beans?"

"Sari!" Prowl scolded.

"What?"

"Don't be rude."

"Okay. I'm sorry." Just then Sari's stomach started growling. "Uh.. you wouldn't happen to have any thing to eat here would you?" she asked.

"Now food we have," the commander replied, thankful for a change of topic. He turned and started down the hall. "This way."

The others quickly followed.

Well except for Prowl, but only because a strange feeling washed over him. He felt as if he'd been drained of power. The Autobot shook his head, sending the thought away. Not now.

He noticed XR wasn't going after them either. The little robot looked up at him. "What are you staring at?" he asked him.

The cyber ninja was honest. "I was wondering why you seem so upset," he answered. "Is there something wrong?"

"No," XR told him, his voice saying there was plenty wrong. "Nothing a high and mighty Autobot would be able to understand."

"Huh?" What was this all of a sudden? "What are you talking about?"

"You-oh never mind," XR rolled away. "Come on. We'd better catch up to the others before we lose them."

"I demand a status report!" Warp's boss shouted into the communicator. "Now!"

"Whoa!" the man exclaimed, moving the device from his ear. "There's no need to shout."

"There is plenty of reason to shout!" the voice on the other end informed him. "I ordered you to capture that vampire two days ago! Why haven't you contacted me?"

"Well, Zurg," Warp said, putting his hand on his hip. "It's like this. I just got to Trade World six hours ago and finding Nos-4-A2 isn't like finding space elephants. Your son is small and can fit in places I can't. Plus the hardware you gave me to find him is as old as the universe itself and just as crappy." he glared at the flat pad. "Have you ever tried upgrading?"

"Don't give me excuses!" Zurg shouted loud enough that the man had to hold the phone at arm's length. "Just give me results. Did you find him?"

"Yes," Warp Darkmatter told him. "I did find him."

"Oh," Zurg's voice lost it's anger instantly. "Then you have him then?"

"No, I do not have him," the man told him.

It all came back. "What!?"

"But I have something just as good."

"Huh?" now he was confused. "What are you talking about?"

Warp Darkmatter looked down at the unconscious fembot vampire. "I'll tell you when I get back." then he hung up before Zurg started squawking.

Nos-4-A2 did not stay around to find out who had shot the fembot or for what reason for it was. He just flew off, his mind on energy. If he had lingered he would have seen a familiar figure climbing down from the roof of a nearby building and getting a look at what he'd hit. Doing so also might have alerted the energy vampire of a future problem. But he wasn't thinking that and he wasn't dumb enough to hang around.

Whoever had shot the female vampire had done him a favor but they might try to shoot him as well if he lingered.

His sensors picked up the energy signature of a wandering soda machine. He zeroed in on its location then paused and dived toward it. Time to feed, then time to return to his coffin for a good recharge. With all the things that happened he definitely needed it.

He would repair himself after he woke up.

Sari didn't like the food. It had looked good when she'd seen it but when she finally had it heaped on her plate and given it a taste she spit it out. "Oh ew!" she exclaimed, scrunching up her face and sticking out her tongue. "What is this?"

"It's called Tangean Surprise," Buzz Lightyear said, as bits of food ran down his face.

Sari stared at him. "Oops," she said, realizing she'd spit on him. "Sorry about that."

"Don't worry," he said, wiping his face off with a napkin. "It happens all the time."

"I don't see why you guys are always complaining about it," Mira said from her own seat. She had just as much of the gumbo as Sari had taken. She took a bite of it. "It tastes fine to me."

"I guess people on your planet don't have taste buds," Sari commented, pushing the plate away. "Don't you have anything normal around here? Like cheeseburgers?"

"What's a cheeseburger?" Mira asked.

"Meat," Buzz replied.

"Oh."

"Well do you have one?" Sari asked. "Or maybe some chicken noodle soup? Please tell me you have chicken noodle!"

"Nope. Sorry."

Sari looked like she was about to faint. "You mean all you have here is weird food with funky flavors?" she asked. "Nothing normal at all?"

"Well we do have Lima beans," Booster told her, shoving a plate full of them toward her.

The girl made a face. "Wonderful," she said sarcastically. She shot Prowl a look that said: "See what I mean?"

But he wasn't paying any attention. The cyber ninja was in the middle of a discussion with Commander Nebula. "So you're telling me that you have no idea what space bridge technology is?" he asked.

The Commander shook his head. "Nope, I'm afraid not," he replied. "Is it some kind of warp system?"

"Yeah you could say that," the cyber ninja told him. "It can send you from one place to another instantly."

"Hmm that sounds like a complicated system," the man commented, rubbing his chin. "But unfortunately we don't have it here, not even in early stages."

Prowl sighed. He should have known. If and when he managed to capture Shadowstar there was no way that any of them could get back to their normal universe. Oh how he wished Bulkhead had fallen through the portal with him.

"Maybe you should worry about that after you found your vampire," Commander Nebula suggested. "It might be a good idea to worry about one thing at a time."

"You're right," the cyber ninja agreed. Right now he was worried about his energy levels which were starting to deplete. But he said nothing to the Commander about it. "We have to find Shadowstar first. She is the bigger problem at the moment." he met the Commander's eyes. "For the record I apologize for bringing her here in the first place. It must be hard on you. Seeing as there are now two energy vampires feeding on machines."

"Right now I won't allow it to get to me," Commander Nebula said, getting up. "Just as long as you find her quickly. In the meantime.. if you happen to run into Nos-4-A2 while you're looking for her may I suggest taking him out? The sooner I have both vampires taken care of the better for all of us." he walked away, adding. "When you're finished getting ready, Buzz and the rest of you can head back to 42. Just don't get into trouble before then or I will be forced to incarcerate you both."

The man had nothing to worry about. Prowl had no intention of prolonging their stay or letting Sari do something out of curiosity. But he sensed she didn't want to stay there either, just by her body language and the face she was making as she forced down her food.

But that's not the half of it. he realized. If I run out of energy Sari will have to do everything by herself and I know she doesn't really like Buzz or his crew.

Hopefully his energy would stay at the level it was until everything was taken care of but even as he sat there it dipped further and further toward the danger zone.

A few minutes later the Autobots and Team Lightyear left the cafeteria and headed toward another part of the space station. Sari didn't look very happy. Since she didn't like any of the food there she'd been forced to shove down the Lima beans Booster had offered. "Next time I fall through a space bridge, I'll bring some cheeseburgers with me," she grumbled, looking sick to her stomach.

"Don't worry about that," Buzz told her. "I know of a place that serves cheeseburgers."

"Real ones or one made from bantha meat?" she asked, suspiciously.

"Real ones," he told her. "I don't even know what a bantha is. Sorry about the cafeteria food. We usually don't eat here."

"Oh really?" she asked suspicious. "Where else do you eat?"

"A nice little restaurant near the outer edge." he replied. "We'll stop by there on the way to Trade World."

"No thanks," she said. "With my luck they probably put something weird in it. Like fish lips."

Buzz made a face, as if the very idea was disgusting, but before he could comment on that Prowl stumbled and fell into him, knocking him over.

"Hey!" Buzz shouted, trying to push him off. "What gives?"

"Prowl?" Sari said, stopping and looking at him. "Prowl?" He didn't respond.

"PROWL!" she exclaimed, kneeling down beside him. She tried to help him up but found he was too heavy. "Hey!" she shouted to the others. "A little help here."

Booster stepped in and lifted the cyber ninja off of Buzz. Prowl didn't even react to the red alien's help. He just hung limply from his grip.

Lightyear, now no longer under the heavy machine, got up. "What in the world was that about?" he asked.

Sari got one look at Prowl's face and knew what had happened. "He's low on energy," she stated.

"Oh, is that all?" Lightyear said. "Well then why didn't he say something about it? We could have given him some oil or something."

"Are you off your rocker!?" the girl exclaimed, rounding on him. Her blue eyes flashed in panic and anger at his ignorance. "Prowl isn't like all the other machines here."

"Yeah he's special," XR said sarcastically.

That was the wrong time to make such comments. Sari spun around kicked off his head. "You shut up!" she shouted. "You don't know what you're talking about! Prowl might be different from you but that's not the reason for why he just went into status lock!"

"Then why did he?" Lightyear wanted to know as Mira put XR's head back onto his body.

"He needs a certain type of fuel and none of you have it!" the girl explained.

"What's it called?"

But in the state she was in, Sari could not remember the name of it. Instead she looked back at Prowl. She noticed his optics had winked out. Yes, he was in stasis lock.

"Do you think a recharge bed would help him?" Mira spoke up.

"I don't know," the girl said, beginning to panic. If Prowl went offline.. why did he even have to black out now anyway? Now of all times! What was going on? What happened to his power? She thought he'd recharged that morning. She grabbed her head, afraid it would explode. "I don't know what will work!"

Buzz put his hand on her shoulder. She looked at him. His face was serious. "Why don't we try it?" he asked her. "It might not be able to recharge him fully but it should give him enough juice to tell us what he needs."

She met his eyes. Something told her to trust him. "Okay," she agreed, nodding. "That's all I can do."

A/N

I know little about what they eat but I don't think they have hamburgers. Not if my memory serves me right. By the way XR and Prowl aren't going to get along very well. That wasn't going to be the way it was when I started the story but it seemed like a good way to develop the plot.