Chapt 17
"How long do you think she'll hold up before she asks you to come back and talk to her?" Warp Darkmatter asked when Zurg stepped out of the dungeon.
"Oh, I don't know," the evil emperor replied, looking over at his employee. He thought for a moment then responded with. "She's not like most of them so I'll give her a few hours to two days. All we have to do is wait."
"And what if she doesn't?" Warp asked, following Zurg down the hall.
"Oh she will," the other man replied, smiling confidently. "They always do."
Warp glanced back toward the dungeons. He could hear Zurg's annoying anthem playing, it sounded louder than before. I'd want to make a deal with him too if I had to listen to that all day..
Control, Nos, control, the energy vampire thought, trying to get a grasp on his thoughts. You're just not used to this kind of energy. I'm sure this will only be a one time thing and the more you drain it the less it will effect you. he giggled again. "Water goes down the drain," he said tipsily. "Around and around and around.."
He shook his head. "Okay, none of that," he slurred. "It's just energy. What would those space rehards.. ranchers.. rangers think if they burst in here and you're rolling around on the floor like a tripped out canine-bot?"
Oh that would be the most humiliating thing ever, especially if it was Lightyear and the little one. He had to get control of this, not let it take over. Sari's energy was still buzzing inside him, creating a slightly humming noise in his audio receptors. He felt kind of hyper too. Hyper and trippy.
The energy vampire looked at the Sari. She was still out and would be for awhile until her computer rebooted. His factory sencors picked up the scent of her odd flavored blood. It still smelled nice. Lovely.. It was calling him back.
He was unconsciously moving toward her.
No!
He reigned himself in, falling onto his stomach. None of that. Not right now. He'd barely taken anything from her and he was already over energized which was really odd.
He pushed himself up until he was in a sitting position and looked around. Everything still looked real odd. His optics centered on a tiny robot lying next to two larger was. Was that thing dancing?
Nonsense! I drained that thing! There's no way it could be moving. He shut off his optics for a moment then turned them back on. That little thing still looked like it was moving. "Knock it off!" he yelled, picking up a spare part and throwing it clumsily at the robot. He missed it by a yard. "No dancing! There isn't even any music for it!" he giggled again. "Though some music right now would be lovely..."
What in Jupiter am I saying?!
"Okay.. get a grip," he said out loud. "Just get a grip. Maybe if I can .." he tried to fly again but the anti-gravity hardware was still acting up. He thumped back onto the floor and burst out laughing. "I went up then wooo!"
What the heck is wrong with me?!
He had to get to his coffin. Yes, if he could get inside and go into sleep mode for a bit maybe some of the high wired buzz would go away and he'd be able to think clearly. It was quite obvious he wouldn't be able to fly back there so that meant he had to crawl.
"Like a itty bitty baby hehehehehe!"
"So," Buzz said after Prowl and XR had rejoined the rest of the group. "You ready to proceed now?"
The Autobot was more than ready. He nodded. "Yes," he replied.
"Did you pick up anything while you were up there by any chance?"
Prowl thought about that for a moment. He'd been so distracted by his thoughts of rescuing Sari then listening to Xr's story that he hadn't done much else. He shook his head.
Buzz sighed. "It doesn't matter," he said. He held up a small robot. It had two puncture wounds, bite marks?, along its neck line. "I found this lying next to a garbage can."
"What is it?" Prowl asked.
"One of Nos-4-a2's victims," Buzz replied, looking down at the robot. He pointed. "See the fang marks? That's his signature. He bites his victims to get their energy."
Prowl stepped forward and took the robot. He studied the marks. He'd seem them before in his own dimension during that while Shadowstar fiasco. He'd even sported them himself for awhile, thanks to her unhealthy obsession with his energy. "Are you sure these don't belong to Shadowstar?" he question. He pointed at the marks. "This is how she gets her energy as well. I should know." when he said this he unconsciously reached up and rubbed his neck where she'd bite him.
"No," Buzz said, taking it back. "I don't think this is from your energy vampire."
"How can you be sure?"
"I can't," the space ranger admitted. "But I'm going to take a guess and say it's Nos-4-a2. If we find more of these maybe we'll finally pick on his trail and save Sari before she becomes his next meal."
As he finished saying this something happened to Prowl. His entire processor filled with static, scrambling his thoughts. Yelling in pain he grabbed his head and fell to his knees. The marks on his neck where Shadowstar had bit him throbbed uncontrollably and he felt sick, as if he was going to throw up.
"Prowl!" Mira shouted, rushing forward and kneeling beside him. "What's wrong?"
"He's having mental break down!" Prowl heard XR shout. "Stand back! He might attack us!"
No! he wanted to shout but the pain stole his voice. That's not it at all. It's... it's.. His optics widened under his visor. No...
The pain subsided a few seconds later and Prowl lifted his head. The space rangers were all leaning over him with worried looks on their faces. "Prowl," Mira said again, her facefull of concern. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," he told her as a feeling of dread washed over him. "But Sari isn't."
Just a little further. Just a little bit further. Nos-4-a2 told himself as he slowly drug himself toward his coffin. The going was slow and trippy. He kept on seeing his victims bodies dancing and conversing with each other plus every time he had a serious thought he'd find something funny in it and burst out laughing.
He was about halfway there when the anti-gravity hardware reactivated itself and he was able to hover. But that proved to be more trouble. He couldn't even move straight and just staggered around, bumping into corpses that would fall over on impact.
Staggering and I don't even have legs to trip over.
The next thing he ran into into was his coffin. He bounced off it and crashed onto the floor, bumping his head on a disembodied leg. He giggled again as he sat up. "Oooh.." he said when he saw the last bits of Sari's energy orbs fluttering down. "Sparklies.."
No! Forget about the blasted sparkles!
Nos-4-a2 pushed himself off the floor and floated toward the coffin. He flew right over it and had to spun around and try again. Spinning was a bad idea and he started to feel sick. No! You can't barf up oil now! Get over there already!
This time he made it. As he passed over he grabbed the edge and stopped himself. He deactivated the hardware and plopped onto the bedding, landing on his stomach. Great, that was a bad idea. He was starting to feel sick again. He held still until the feeling passed then flopped onto his back, reached up, grabbed the lid, and banged it shut.
Time to get some sleep.
If he only knew how much he'd regret doing that later.
Shadowstar glared at the roof of her cell, thinking. Outside the anthem was still playing but she'd heard it so long that she could tune it out. Her processor ran over what Zurg had said. He knew how to defeat Nos-4-a2. She wanted to know how to do that. Once he was out of the way she'd go after her true target. Prowl. That blasted Autobot cyber ninja.
Why did she want to get rid of the other energy vampire first? So he wouldn't try feeding on what she considered her property, and Prowl was her property.
But I can't do anything while I'm stuck in here.
Yeah but I'm not going to pledge my allegiance to a stupid big toothed, dress wearing, effeminate loser either!
Maybe you won't have to...
She thought about that option. She knew he just wanted to use her for some reason. She didn't know what for but it might have something to do with the vampire.. the vampire he'd built. She remembered the man saying something to the blue skinned flesh bag about wanting Nos-4-a2 captured and brought to this planet. Maybe he wanted revenge on him too.
If that's true, why? she wondered. What could that guy possibly want to take revenge on him about?
She couldn't even begin to think of a reason but that gave her an idea. Maybe just maybe... I can use him like he's trying to use me. He wants revenge. I want revenge. I could strike a deal with him and then we'd both be even. she smiled, tossing the idea around in her mind some more. Yes.. yes that would be wonderful and then... I can punish both of them at the same time...
The more she thought about it the better it sounded. Within ten minutes she'd made up her mind. Time to gain back control.
"Zurg!" she shouted. "I know you're watching me on your little security cameras! Get purple dressed butt down here! I wish to discuss something with you!"
Up in the throne room Zurg smiled at Warp Darkmatter. "You see," he said. "I told you it wouldn't be long."
"Yeah, yeah," the man said. "Well then I guess you should be heading down there and see what she wants."
"I know what she wants," Zurg said, turning away and heading to the exit. He lifted his hand and waved a finger. "She wants to make a deal. Just as I anticipated." he laughed. "I knew my offer was too tempting for her to refuse."
Yeah but something tells me she might have another reason for calling you back so quickly, Zurg. Warp looked back at the screen, his dark eyes resting on the fembots sleek black and red figure. Something not so.. compliant.
Running internal scans. Searching for erros. Processing... processing.. scan complete. One error found. Unable to repair. Quarantining error. Rebooting now...
Sari's blue eyes snapped open and focused on the dark gray ceiling high above her head. Her vision was slightly blurred and the low hum of static hissed in her ears. Groaning she sat up, rubbing her head which hurt like the dickens. "Wha-what happened?" she groaned. A stabbing pain in her neck lanced down her left shoulder and arm. Yelping she put her hand over the sore area.. and felt two puncture wounds.
Huh?
She quickly removed her hand and stared at it. Dried blood flaked onto her fingers. The sight of that blood brought it all back. How Nos-4-a2 had attacked her and bitten her. After that there was a blank because she'd lost consciousness.
Nos-4-a2! she tore her gaze from the flecks of blood on her fingers and scanned the area for any sign of the energy vampire.
Nothing.
He was gone.
She was startled. Huh? Where did he go? Did he go off somewhere to feed? Doubtful. He'd taken enough energy from her body to power a neon sign. So if he hadn't gone off to prey on another helpless machine where was he?
She held her breath, listening carefully for any sounds that would tell her where he was, but she heard nothing. If he was there he was being really quiet about it.
Or he just isn't doing anything that's noisy. Like hiding behind the bodies of his victims and spying on her while she went into a state of panic. No. He didn't seem like the type of machine to do such a thing. But she'd only met him so she couldn't be sure of that either.
Not knowing was bothering her. She had to know. If he really wasn't in the room maybe she could try to escape.
Why would you want to do that? a voice in her head questioned.
Because I'm not staying here! she responded. He'll kill me! I'm surprised he hasn't already. she covered the bite marks with her hand again. He only drained some of my energy. There's still plenty left. He'll do it again if I stay and he'll keep on doing it until I'm dead.
But you don't know that!
Yes, I do! Why was she even arguing with herself about it? She knew what he would do. The mess of corpses told her that louder than any words could. I won't be one of them. she vowed, putting her hands on the floor and slowly getting to her feet. Not if I can help it.
Standing proved to be a chore. If she moved too fast she'd become light headed and had to rest. It took her nearly twenty minutes just to get on her feet because she kept on having to stop. Finally she was able to stand without getting vertigo. Now that should could see things better, the techno organic girl scanned the room with her eyes again but still couldn't see or hear the energy vampire. Nothing. Just that coffin in the center of the room. It's lid was closed. She couldn't remember if it had been open before or not.
Had he left after all?
I hope so. Maybe now I can try to get out.
She lifted her head until her eyes rested on the entrance/exit. It was near the ceiling and looked like only somebody who could fly would be able to reach it without killing themselves.
Well fly Sari could not. Her key had given her many different weapons and abilities but flight wasn't one of them. It didn't seem fair since she had wings. Why give an individual things made for flight if you never intended on having the person use them for that purpose? A sick joke, thats what it is.
She couldn't even go into battle mode anyway thanks to the energy vampire. She didn't have enough power anymore. After he'd drained her she'd referred back to her normal human like self. Darn it! Now how am I going to do this?
She walked carefully over to the wall. Vertigo hit her again and she stumbled, pitching forward. She put out her hands to break her fall and grabbed onto anything she could. That happened to be a large robot shell. With her added weight it fell crashing to the floor, dragging her with it. The metallic racket echoed throughout the room.
"Oh," she moaned, getting back up. "That was-"
Another sound met her ears and she froze. It sounded like a metallic scraping. She looked back toward the center of the room where that stupid coffin rested. It didn't take her very long to realize that the sound was coming from inside. So he didn't leave after all. He's just in his little casket. Probably taking a nap before he comes out and snacks on me again. Crap.
Sari didn't move. The sound in the coffin quieted. She sighed in relief. He wasn't going to wake up. But now her escape just got more complicated. She would have to try doing it without making any noise. She didn't want to risk waking that creep up.
The girl moved carefully away from the fallen robot and stood. She continued toward the wall, being careful not to run into anymore shells or trip over broken parts. Ten minutes later she reached the wall and ran her fingers over it. It sloped up at an angle. A very steep angle.
Ugh! Why does everything have to be against me? I just want to get out of here!
Well she would just have to try climbing it.
She pressed her hands against the concrete wall and pressed down to get a better grip. Then she hoisted herself up, planting her feet carefully against the wall. She didn't slide down. Smiling in relief she began to climb. I just hope Dracula doesn't wake up in the meantime.
"What do you mean Sari isn't all right?" Booster demanded. "How can you tell from here?"
Prowl shook his head, his hand resting on it as Mira helped him stand. "I felt it," he answered. "I must be linked to her somehow because I felt this pain in my neck where-" he cut himself off.
"Where what?" Buzz prompted, giving him a searching look.
"Where Shadowstar bit me," the cyber ninja replied. "It started hurting and my processor scrambled. I am not sure what it means exactly but I felt an impression that Sari was in big trouble." he looked around, in panic. "We have to get to her before it happens again."
"Hold it right there," Buzz said, before anybody could move. "How can we even be sure this means what you say it means? For all we know you could just be relapsing or something."
"You're just going to have to trust me."
"Oh sure after all the times you've lied about things and held back important information?" the space ranger folded his arms. "I'm sorry but I'm having a hard time believing what you're saying."
"Why would I lie about this, especially now?" Prowl demanded, shocked that the space ranger was acting so suspicious now. "I know what I felt and it can only mean one thing."
"That you've got a screw loose?" XR suggested.
Prowl glared at him. "No," he snapped. "Listen; I've was trained as a cyber ninja which means I have abilities other Cybertronians don't have. One of them was empathy or the empathetic link. I've never had this happen before but I guess when me and Sari fell through the bridge we somehow got our energy signatures linked together. That might explain why I could sense when bad things happen to her. If what I am feeling is empathy for what's happening to her that means..." he touched the spot on his neck where he'd been bitten. "Your vampire has already taken her energy."
The space rangers expressions changed. They knew what that meant. Sari was either dead, close to being there, or was now under Nos-4-a2's control. XR, who'd seen the things she could do was horrified by the thought of what Nos-4-a2 could make her do with those abilities if he'd chosen to make her his slave. "Okay," he said. "I guess that's it then." he started to roll away. "We'd better go call for backup. If you need me I'll be back on 42."
"Wait a minute!" Mira shouted, grabbing him and yanking him back. "Don't tell me you're going to abandon her like that!"
"Hey!" XR said, looking at her. "Have you ever seen the stuff that girl can pull out when she's angry? She's got this big hammer and energy spheres and who knows what else! I don't know about you but I have no intention of fighting that girl is she's a vampire minion and using those things! It's bad enough when she's in her right mind!"
"Even if that is true," Booster spoke up. "We can't let her stay that way. We have to save her and make that vampire pay for doing that to her." he punched his fist into the palm of his hand and made a determined face. "If he has hurt her in anyway I'm going to punch his pizza head clean off his neck. That'll teach him to make a slave out of such a smart, sexy, and spunky girl!" That's when he noticed everyone was staring at him. "Uh... heh." he put his hands behind his back and grinned nervously. "I mean uh.."
"Anyway," Prowl spoke up, a little weirded out by the red alien's outburst. "Booster is right. We can't let Nos-4-a2 control Sari. We have to save her and try to break his hold on her if he has gone that far. Sari is my responsibility and I have no intention of just leaving her where she is." he looked at XR. "If you don't want to come you don't have to, I can understand that."
"Hey, are you calling me a coward?"
"No, I'm am not."
"It sure sounded like you did!"
"Well I didn't mean too and I'm sorry."
"So what are we going to do?" Mira asked, stepping in.
"We're going to find Nos-4-a2 and save Sari," Buzz told her. "Even if she is under Nos-4-a2's control." he started down the street. "Come on, team. Let's go catch us an energy vampire."
"Yes, my dear, what do you wish to speak with me about?" Zurg asked when he'd returned to the dungeon and stood in front of Shadowstar's cell.
She lifted her head and glared at him. "I'd rather talk about it sitting up, thank you very much." she told him. "So could you please deactivated these slaggin' magnets?"
"I'm sorry," he said, waving a finger. "but I'm afraid I can do that. Don't want to risk you attacking me, you know. I'm sure you understand."
He saw by the look on her face that she wasn't happy about it she seemed to resign herself to it. "Fine," the fembor consented, rolling her optics. "Whatever."
"Okay then, now why don't we get down to your reason for calling me," he said, beginning to pace in front of the cell.
"I wish to make a deal."
"Oh do you now?" he asked, looking back at her. "and what would that deal be?"
"You let me go and I'll take out that energy vampire for you."
"All by your lonesome?" he asked, turning to face her. He looked like he was trying to sound shocked then shrugged. "Fine your funeral. But what would I be getting out of this?"
She smirked. "You'd be getting the satisfaction that the energy vampire you were trying to get rid of is gone. Which leads to the question; why do you want to help me kill him anyway? What did he do to you?"
"Let us not change the subject here," Zurg responded, purposely avoiding the question. "Why don't we stay on the topic that you want to get rid of him for me?"
"I already told you."
"Not good enough."
"What?! How isn't is good enough?"
"Well you see; how can I be sure you will keep your word?" he questioned her.
"Because I have no reason not to."
"I have a better idea. I'll let you go after Nos-4-a2 but you have to bring him back here and kill him in front of me."
Shadowstar hadn't intended to return to the planet after she killed the energy vampire. She'd planned on taking him out then going after the real source of her anger without having any further contact with this guy. But now.. He was making things much more complicated. Unwanted and un-needed complications.
She really had no choice anyway. It was either do what he wanted or stay in that cell and go mad. Just remember, girl; you can still use this to your advantage. She sighed and nodded her head. "Agreed."