Chap 15
"Gah!" Nos-4-A2 grunted, trying to pry the little thing clinging to his face off. "Let go of me, you bed time snack!"
The little thing had no intention of following the command. It opened it's tiny mouth, which was full of needle-like teeth, and bit into his face. He let out a roar of pain and yanked hard on it, finally ripping the little being off. He stared down at it. The thing was a tiny robot with glowing red eyes. It was trying to free itself, struggling immensely. Seeing it wasn't making any progress, the little machine bit into his hand. He let out a surprised yelp, and let it go.
The robot hit the floor with a faint clang, landing on its rear end, but didn't stay down for long. It got back up and lunged at him, latching onto his chest and biting into it. He gasped and grabbed it, yanking it away. He held the tiny machine at arms length.
The robot hissed at him, angrily. It looked familiar. He saw the fang marks in its little chest but he wasn't controlling it. If he had it wouldn't be trying to kill him.
The girl? Was she manipulating it?
Interesting.
He looked around the room, searching for the red haired girl. He could not see her through the mess of corpses. But she was there. This little robot proved it. When it bit his hand again he bit it back, draining whatever energy it had left and letting the emptied shell fall to the floor. Now that that annoying little creature was taken care of he just had to find its master.
"Where are you hiding?" he called, hovering over the mess. "You can't hide from Nos-4-A2."
"I don't want to hide," a voice said behind him. "Not from a freak like you."
He turned just in time to see a big blue hammer being swung at him. He took it square in the face. He grunted in pain and crashed to the floor on his side. An orange shoed foot came into his field of vision as he tried to get back up. He lifted his head. Sari was in her battle gear now, an energon hammer in her hands. She glared at him through the opening in her helmet. Her blue eyes glowed strangely. "I just want to keep you busy until I can get a chance to beat your face in." she finished.
"Why you little brat!" he shouted, putting his hands on the floor and beginning to hoist himself up.
Sari hit him again, knocking him across the room and into a pile of corpses. The bodies fell over, burying him underneath. "Maybe that will teach you to feed on helpless machines."
The corpses moved and Nos burst out of them, his wings activated and his red optics flared to full brilliance. He shot her a hate filled look. "You're going to pay for that!"
She didn't even flinch. She only lifted that hammer and braced herself. "Bring it, Dracula!"
With a mighty roar he lunged at her.
Looking for an energy vampire hadn't been easy to begin with but doing it from the ground only made it ten times more complicated. Because Buzz's jet pack was broken he couldn't fly which meant the others couldn't either because he wanted them to stay together in case Nos-4-a2 decided to show up again. Prowl also stayed on the ground though he would have rather gone off to find Sari by himself but Lightyear reminded him that their target was a vampire and flying alone in a city he wasn't familiar with, was a bad idea.
As if the cyber ninja didn't already know that. He was a little irritated but chose not to make a big deal about it. Now wasn't the time to be taking offense anyway, not with Sari in the clutches of a being that could easily kill her.... or control her.
No! He couldn't even allow himself to entertain such thoughts. He would find her, before any of that happened.
Don't worry, Sari. I will save you, just like you saved me.
"Hey, Autobot! Anybody home?" A purple colored hand waved across Prowl's optics.
The cyber ninja reacted the only way he knew how to. He grabbed the wrist of that hand and chucked the whole body over his shoulder and into the person behind him who happened to be Mira.
"Hey!" she shouted.
The Autobot ninja turned around and saw he'd thrown XR at the Tangean space ranger. She glared at him. "Mind watching where you chuck little bots?"
"I'm sorry," he said walking over to her and helping her up. "I must have spaced out for a moment."
"Spaced out doesn't begin to explain it," XR said, wiping himself off. "It was more like going into stand by mode. You were standing there with your mouth hanging open and drooling. Bleck!" he made a face and stuck out his tongue.
Prowl was offended. "I don't drool," he informed him.
"Yeah, yeah sure you don't," XR said, shaking his head. "tell that to the mech fluid on your face."
Prowl wiped his mouth but felt nothing.
XR laughed. "Gotcha there."
The cyber ninja wasn't amused. "Ha ha," he said, folding his arms. He turned away, shaking his head. "Just like Bumblebee..."
"What's his problem?" XR questioned nobody, annoyed at the cyber ninja's lack of response. "It was a joke. The least he could have done was smile."
Mira cleared her throat. He looked at her. The Tangean put her hands on her hips.
"What are you looking at me like that for?" he demanded.
"His best friend just got kidnapped by Nos-4-A2," she said. "You should show a little sympathy instead of making fun of him."
"Well it's not my fault he's afraid of vampires."
"Yeah, who does that remind me of?" Mira pretended to think then stated. "Oh yeah, you." she poked his helmet. "You're not the bravest robot around energy vampires either so maybe you should keep your yapper shut."
"Hey I've got a reason for being scared of Nos-4-a2!" the robotic space ranger reminded her. "He doesn't!"
"Did you not hear what he said about that Shadowstar vampire robot thing?" she demanded. "It sounded similar to an incident with another robot we know."
"Don't try comparing what happened to me with what happened to him," XR shot back, folding his arms and looking angry. "At least I wasn't stupid enough to try to help Nos-4-a2 after we put him in jail."
"He probably had a good reason for that," the Tangean said, walking ahead of him.
XR wheeled after her. "And what would that be?" he questioned. "He wanted to date her? I don't think so." He noticed Prowl glance at him. "Not that nobody would want to date you," he said quickly. "I'm sure you had plenty of girlfriends in your world. That Sari girl is a good match for you."
"Why do you all think Sari is my spark mate?" Prowl wanted to know.
"You're what?"
"Other half. Girlfriend," the cyber ninja explained. "What gave you all the impression that we are together like that?"
"Well aren't you?" Mira asked.
He shook his head. "No," he replied, frowning. "Sari and I are just good friends."
"So you're not dating?" Booster butted in. He had a big grin on his face.
Prowl looked at him. "No," he said carefully. "We never were."
"That is so great!" the red alien exclaimed.
The cyber ninja stared at him. "Why is that great?"
Booster realized what he'd said. "Oh nothing," he replied, waving it off. "It just is."
Prowl looked at Mira. She put her hands behind her back and grinned. "Come on, XR," she said, grabbing the little robots hand. "Let's see if Buzz picked up Nos-4-a2's trail yet." she ran past the Autobot dragging a protesting XR with her.
"Oh come on!" he yelled. "This was getting interesting!"
Shadowstar glared at Evil Emperor Zurg as he made his way over to the fembot and the little Grub next to her after Warp Darkmatter and the hornets brought them into the emperor's throne room. He was smiling a big toothed grin which she longed to punch out. "Well well, the little fembot wench thought she could escape the palace with a little help from poor simple minded Grubs." he pinched the Grub's cheek then laughed when it flinched. "Oh that just turns my butter."
"I'll turn more than that when I get out of this," she growled.
Zurg looked back at her, feigning panic. "Oh is the scary little fembot getting angry?" he taunted, stuffing his face in hers. He lifted his hand and flicked her nose. "Hahaha! Save your energy. You have more important things to worry about."
"What are you going to do?" she questioned. "Throw me back in my little cell and blast me with your poor excuse for music?"
"Poor excuse for music?!" he shouted. He pointed in her face. "I'll have you know my music is known throughout the galaxy!"
"For it's annoying repetitiveness," she finished.
"Argh! Why must you energy vampires be so sarcastic?"
"I don't know," she replied, smirking. This guy was so easily annoyed it was fun to set him off. "Maybe it's in our programming."
"Gah" he pointed toward the door. "Take them back to the dungeon. I'll think of what to do with them later!"
As Warp and the hornets left with Shadowstar and her Grub companion she heard Zurg muttering under his breath. "My music is not annoying or repetitive. You just don't now what good quality sonatas sound like."
Sari moved out of the way just in time to avoid being grabbed by Nos-4-a2. He flew past her and crashed into another pile of robot corpses. Sari spun around. She saw that he was tangled in the bodies of his victims. Seeing her chance, she reactivated her hammer, and charged at him, intent on breaking his chest in with it. Nobody is going to make a meal out of me!
Just when she was about to hit him again he managed to free one of his hands. He raised it and grabbed her wrist before she could swing. "Not this time," he growled, floating into the air and pulled her hand above her head. "I don't think you'll be needing that anymore." he put pressure on her wrist until her hand popped open and she dropped it.
The energon hammer clattered to the floor at her feet.
Sari looked right into his red optics, a chill running down her spine. This was it. He was going to eat her.
Or maybe not.
"You think you got me?" she asked. "Well think again."
Nos-4-a2 felt a stabbing pain enter his chest. He stared at her, startled, then looked down. A blue energon blade had come out of her arm and pieced his chest plate, creating a sparking hole. He looked back at her, his expression blank. He looked like he didn't know how to react to something like this.
Suddently his grip loosened as he grabbed at the wound with both hands. Sari kicked him away for her. He crashed to the floor, grasping the damage, his expression full of pain and disbelief. He lifted his optics and locked them with hers. "You stabbed me!"
Sari stepped back, her eyes filling with horror, unable to give him a snide comeback. She hadn't stabbed anyone with her blades since she'd gone into overload and almost killed Bumblebee. But this isn't Bee, she reminded herself as she moved away, her eyes still meeting his. This is an evil vampire that is going to kill you. You have to kill him before he kills you. Look he's down! Get over there and stab him again!
If that's true why do I suddenly feel guilty about it?!
Maybe it had something to do with the way he was looking at her right then.
Nos-4-a2 was getting up, his left hand still over the damage. "I can't believe you just did that," he growled, hovering before her. He started toward the girl, his expression hardening. "You're going to regret that!"
She kept on moving back, reactivating the blade in hopes of scaring him. "St-stay away from me, you freak!" she shouted, unable to keep the panic out of her voice.
Nos-4-a2 was sensing it. "Or you'll what?" he demanded. "Run me through again?" he grabbed the end of the blade, pulling it and her arm down. "Drive a stake through my heart like any other vampire?" he grinned even though he was in pain. "That's already been done and look! I'm still here." he kept a tight grip on her arm and hovered closer.
Sari moved back until she stumbled over some robot parts. Nos let her go and she crashed to the floor. She landed on her stomach but panic made her quickly turn over to face the vampire who was hovering over her, his arms hidden inside the folds of his cape, seemingly forgetting all about the sparking hole in his chest. He laughed. "Lovely," he once again put a hand over the wound and flinched when it shocked his hand. "Oh yes, I am going to have to repair that."
He flew toward her. "After I deal with you."
The energy vampire reached toward her and grabbed her wrist. She ground her teeth together, expecting him to bite her. Instead he activated his wings, and flew into the air, taking her with him until he reached the middle of the room where his coffin was. Once he got there he let her go. She fell into the coffin. Before she could recover enough to get out, he slammed the lid shut and locked it.
"Hey, open up!" she shouted, pounding on it. "Let me out of here!"
"Oh don't worry, my dear," he said, sitting down on the lid. He felt it vibrate with the impact of each punch. "I'll let you out just as soon as I repair this damage."
"Is this some kind of sick game?" she screamed, kicking at the lid. "Let me out of here, you sucker faced reject!"
"Language won't get you out any sooner," he scolded, already getting to work on his repairs. "Now why don't you be a good little girl and shut up?"
Realizing that the energy vampire wasn't going to let her out Sari flopped down onto the bedding on the bottom. He's drawing this out, she concluded. Making me wait. He wants to drain my energy but he's going to force me to sweat it out until he's finished. She raised her hand, activating a energy orb which lit up the confined space. Well if he thinks that I'm going to just lie here and go crazy he's got another thing coming. she looked toward the lid. The next time he opens that he's going to get a nasty surprise.
Shadowstar screamed as she lashed out at the hornets trying to hold her down onto the cot. She hit one in the chest, breaking it out and causing it to crash to the floor, but didn't accomplish much else. Seeing she might actually break free, Warp Darkmatter stepped in and grabbed her wrists, pinning them to the sides of the mattress. She tried to bite his arm but was hit in the head.
"Release me, you poor excuses for spare parts!" she cried, kicking out with her feet until one of the hornets grabbed them.
"Now just hold still," Warp said, grinning at her. "This won't hurt a bit."
She growled at him, wanting with every fiber of her being to punch his teeth out. "When I get out of this you're going to need a dentist."
"Why?" he asked. "My teeth are perfect."
"Not when I get through with them."
He laughed. The magnets activated, pinning her arms to the sides of the cot. The same thing happened to her ankles, instantly rendering her immobile. She struggled but couldn't break free. Warp stood up and looked at her gloatingly. "Struggle all you like but it won't do you any good," he said. "Magnets are a machines greatest weakness. I'm afraid you won't be going anywhere until we deactivate them so make yourself comfortable, my sexy sky-bot."
She shot him a look that had death written all over it. "I'm not your anything," she snapped.
He laughed again and stepped out of the cell. "Bye bye." he said, waving as the door slid shut, then walking away.
Shadowstar sighed and went still, staring at the ceiling and panting heavily. Her greatest fear had always been immobility. She did not know the name for it but the condition had been a close friend of hers for most of her existence. If she stayed immobile for very long she knew she'd go crazy.
I can't let that happen, she thought, trying to quall the panic rising in her spark. I can't give that guy the satisfaction.
She had to think. There had to be a way to free herself from those magnets. Everything had a weakness. Everything.
I just have to think of it, she told herself. It can't be that hard.
But nothing came. Nothing at all. The only thing that changed was Zurg's anthem started playing again, this time much louder, and this time she couldn't do anything about it.
Prowl paused for a moment, running a scan over the area, taking in every energy signature withing a hundred yard radius. Nothing. No sign of Sari or Nos-4-a2. "Sparks," he cursed when the scan ended. "My scanners would be running a lot more efficiently if I was my actual size."
"Your actual size?" Buzz asked, looking over at him with a confused expression. "Isn't that your actual size?"
"No," the cyber ninja replied, looking at himself. "This is a compacted version. I am actually a lot bigger."
Lightyear raised an eyebrow. "How much bigger are we talking about?"
"About fifteen feet bigger."
"Fifteen feet?!" the human exclaimed, startled. "That's like what? Twenty one feet all together?"
The cyber ninja nodded. "About that much."
Buzz thought about that a moment then laughed. "I get it. You're joking with me," he said, pointing and grinning weirdly. "If you are actually twenty one feet tall how could you be the size of me now?"
"I don't know," Prowl replied, shaking his head. "Sari and I never got time to figure that out but-" he jumped up, landing on the balcony of the hotel they were standing by. "that isn't important right now and I have no time to worry about it. Once we get Sari back then we can think about why and how I got so much smaller." he jumped onto the roof of the hotel and looked out over the city. If we ever get Sari back...
He shook his head, banishing the thought before it came to full fruitation. He couldn't allow himself to entertain such an idea. Of course they would get her back. Not rescuing her was no option.
"We will find you, Sari," he said, out loud. "and when we do I'll make that vampire pay for taking you."
At that moment XR popped up in front of him, nearly scaring him out of his wits. Prowl let out a yelp and fell back onto the roof. "Haha! Gotcha again!" the other robot laughed.
"Don't do that!" Prowl shouted, getting up and shooting the little robot a glare.
"Eh, sorry," the space ranger said, deactivating his jet pack and landing on the roof in front of him. "I didn't come up here with the intent to scare you."
The cyber ninja stared down his nose at him. He was having a hard time believing that. "Then why did you come up here?"
"Well we can't exactly continue our search if you're sitting on the roof and brooding over your lost love," XR explained. "They asked me to come get you."
"Why did they ask you?"
XR looked away. "I offered to," he admitted.
Prowl was startled. "Why?"
The robot space ranger refused to look at him. He seemed to be having a hard time with something. For a moment he didn't reply then he looked back at Prowl and his face looked different, not cold or mocking like usual. More like... worried? "Can I talk to you about something?" he replied.
The damage proved to be less severe than it first looked and Nos-4-a2 completed his repairs in less than a half hour. During that time the robot girl had gone quiet, almost as if she was accepting her fate and waiting for it. But he had other plans.
At first he'd intended to drain all her energy at once but now..she'd ticked him off and he wasn't going to let her off so easily. Oh he'd drain her energy, but a little at a time, thus prolonging her agony. Maybe that would teach her to try to kill him.
Nos-4-a2 smiled to himself as he closed up his chest compartment once more and slid off the coffin lid. This was going to be lovely. He was already anticipating her screams of pain and her feeble attempts to get away as he drained all her precious power.
He lowered himself next to the coffin, until his fingers slid between the grooves that separated the lid from the bottom. There he stopped and paused for a moment. Was he sensing some kind of powerful energy coming from inside?
What was the girl doing?
"Don't get any ideas," he called to her. "There's no use trying to escape. You'll only make me angry and I know you don't want that."
Still no answer. The energy he was sensing didn't power down either. She was up to something and he was going to find out what.
Reaching into the crease he touched the button that unlatched it and pulled the lid up. "What are you-" he stopped when he had the top open and stared down at Sari.
She lay on the bottom of the coffin, her hands engulfing a glowing energy sphere. She looked up at him, meeting his eyes. She smiled. "Hello," she said the second before she threw it.