CHAP 19

"Hey, there, my sexy sky-bot," Warp Darkmatter said when the Decepticon femme and Zurg entered the throne room ten minutes later.

Shadowstar turned to glare at him. "What did you call me?" she demanded angrily.

"You heard me," he said, smiling a smarmy smile. He leaned forward and pointed at her that smile plastered obnoxiously on his blue face. "I called you sexy."

The femme obviously didn't like to be called such a thing, especially by an organic. The word reminded her of things she'd rather forget. The next thing Warp knew she had him by the throat and up against the wall. "Let me make things completely clear, blue boy," she growled. "I do not appreciate being hit on by organics and I most certainly don't like being refered to as "my" or "sexy sky-bot" if you want to refer to me as anything you will either call me Shadowstar or Mistress."

"Okay, I'm sorry," he gasped, grabbing her hand and trying to pry his neck free from her grasp. She was choking him. "My mistake. I won't do it again."

Her optics flared brightly, switching from red to green then back to red. "I surely hope you don't."

"Now now," Zurg said, stepping in and resting a hand on her shoulder. "None of that. I wouldn't want to hear that you killed your partner."

"Partner?" she turned to glare at him, her grip on Warp still vice like. "What partner?"

He pointed, smiling craftily. "Him."

She looked back at Darkmatter whose blue face looked bluer from lack of air. "Him?! I thought I made it clear that I want to take that wannabe out by myself."

"I know what you said," Zurg replied, shrugging. "But I can't risk the chance of you going back on your word and killing Nos-4-a2 after you take him down. Besides;" he went on, looking at his nails. "You don't seem to know your way around this galaxy so I figured you might need somebody to take you back to Trade World."

She glared at him, knowing he was right. If she left the planet by herself she would never be able to find Trade World much less Pluto."I don't see why I have to have him for a partner." she growled.

"Warp Darkmatter is your backup," Zurg told her. "Now why don't you be a good girl and let him go before you choke him to death? You wouldn't want me to put you back in that cell for killing one of my most loyal employees now would you?"

She definitely didn't want to go back into that cell with it's annoying Zurg theme. "Fine," she consented, letting go of Darkmatter. He fell to the floor, gasping for air. "But if we're going to be that way I want you do so something for me as well."

"and what would that be?"

"I want to bring Nimrod."

"Nimrod?" Zurg asked, looking confused. "Who is Nimrod?"

"The little insect that let me out of my cell," she replied. "I want to bring him along."

"What!? You can't be serious!"

"I am serious, girl hands," she replied, folding her arms. "If you don't let me bring him I'm not going anywhere."

"Why would you want to bring that Grub I mean Nimrod with you?" he demanded.

"It's kind of personal," she answered, smirking. "You understand."

Zurg honestly didn't. Why in the world would she want to bring a Grub along with her? She was a robot and acted like she didn't need anybody. So what was the deal there? It made no sense. Maybe she'd made friends with the Grub and wanted his company. "Okay fine," he said finally. "Whatever you want!"

Shadowstar was pleased. "Good," she headed toward the exit. "Then why don't you get him while I head out to the ship?"

Zurg waited for the door to close behind her before ranting. "Of all the nerve!" he shouted. "Demanding things of me! ME! The most evil being in all the universe!" he slammed his fist into the wall to blow off some steam. "Demands! Grubs! What next? All the hornets she can feast upon?"

"Well if you don't like her why are you having her go after Nos-4-a2?" Warp asked, getting up, his human hand rubbing his neck. "and just be happy she didn't demand hornets. I don't think you'd be able to deny her if she did, not with her temper."

"Because," Zurg replied, turning toward him. "I need her to take care of that no good ungrateful son of mine!"

"How are you even sure she'll be able to do it or follow your orders?"

"That's why you're here," Zurg reminded him. "If she disobeys orders I want you to shoot her as a reminder that she's working for me now and won't get away with insubordination."

"But she doesn't work for you," Warp reminded him. "She's only doing this for you because she has her own vendetta against Nos-4-a2. It's not out of loyalty or because she likes you. She's doing what she wants either way."

The evil emperor waved him off. "Oh who cares as long as she takes him out!"

"Fine fine," Warp said, letting the matter drop. "If that's the way you want it." he turned to go.

"Before you go.." Zurg said.

"Huh?" Warp looked back.

Zurg pointed toward the cells. "Kindly go down into the dungeon and get that Cosmos' forsaken Grub so she won't start whining about it."

She has you on a leash and you don't even know it. Warp Darkmatter headed toward the cells. "As you wish, Zurg."

"That's Evil Emperor Zurg to you!" the emperor shouted after him.

Warp rolled his eyes and smirked. "Whatever you say, Evil Emperor Zurg."

Sari couldn't stand to like him in the eyes for a long time because whenever she did a strange feeling came over her like he was trying to possess her. Just by the look on his face she knew whatever he was going to do to her was bad. She wasn't going to allow it if she could help it. The girl jerked back, freeing her face and turning her head away. When she did this he tried to hit her again but she ducked and avoided the blow.

Nos-4-a2 growled and tried to grab her arm. She shoved him back and got to her feet, stumbling over some robot parts as she dashed toward the wall. She heard him roar then looked over her shoulder and saw him coming after her. "You're not going to get away that easily!"

"Shut up, you stupid drunk!" she shot back. She turned her face forward and jumped over a pile of robot parts.

Something jolted and she suddenly felt her hair standing on end a second before she hit the floor. Startled, she looked over her shoulder. Nos-4-a2's right hand was glowing. He caught her eye and fired again. She dived to the floor, avoiding being hit by the bolts of energy. Two blue electrical rods of power hit the robot in front of her, overloading it and causing it to explode.

Sari gasped. Whoa! That didn't even look right! I thought his plasma bolts were green.

He fired at her again forcing her to get up and dash behind a large pile of robot shells. The robot's power cores exploded sending her crashing to the floor. She cracked her hurt knee against the pavement and cried out in pain. Nos-4-a2 fired at the shells again, blowing up the ones that had escaped the first onslaught. The explosive force knocked her onto her stomach, knocking the wind out of her.

"Okay," she said once she caught her breath. She got up and brushed her hair out of her eyes. "Note to see. Never tick off a robot with a hang over."

She heard the energy vampire roar and looked back toward him. He'd activated his wings and was flying toward her. "Oh no. Not this time," she muttered, getting to her feet. She looked around for a weapon. Thanks to his bite she couldn't access any of her built in weapons even the energy orbs. She didn't have enough power. She would have to rely on her brains and good old fashioned.. uh robot parts. Yes! Robot parts!

A dismembered arm caught her eye. She reached down and picked it up, hefting it to see if it was heavy or not. Just right.

She smiled to herself and spun around to face him, holding the arm like she would a baseball bat. He saw her weapon and laughed. "That's not going to work this time." he stated then raised his hand at shot another bolt of super charged plasma at the arm.

Sari's improvised weapon absorbed all the blue energy. It then coursed into her, electrifying her body. She screamed in agony until she let the arm go and fell to her knees, her entire system warning her of an overload. If she didn't release that energy into something quick she would blow up. Her eyes focused on the energy vampire coming toward her. Him, she'd release it into him. Maybe if she did he'd blow up or something and she would be able to get away.

Moving quickly, she got to her feet and lunged toward the robot. When he saw her coming his eyes widened in surprise. "Wha-"

The rest of his sentence was cut off when she slammed into him, knocking him out of the air and into the ground. Sari's eyes were bleeding more of that strange glowing blood and the irises had vanished completely, as she reached up and rested her hands on his chest, releasing all the energy he'd sent at her back into him. His whole body lit up like a torch and he screamed in pain, grabbing her arms and trying to pry themn off. She held on tight, her body also lighting up as the energy coursed through her then into him then back into herself in a repeated cycle.

There was too much! Way too much!

This isn't right! He didn't hit me with all of this! What's going on?

Images flashed through her mind. Memories off when she'd gone into overload after getting her upgrade. This energy was coming from her! She must still have a fragment of the Allspark in her or his foolish move had caused that little problem to flare up again. No matter the reason it hurt, it really hurt.

Nos-4-a2 was screaming at her. "Stop it! STOP!" he couldn't process her energy if he didn't injest it first. It was like being hit with a laser, only the energy was going back inside the host as well as overloading him. "I CAN'T TAKE IT THIS WAY!"

Sari's body was turning white. Everything inside her was going crazy and she couldn't control it. She looked him right in the eye. He was overloading just like she was. If she died she would take him out with her. But she didn't want to die not here, not in a strange universe with only Prowl and a crazy vampire as her acquaintances. I can't die here! I won't die here! Not because I was shot by a stupid energy vampire.

But how could she prevent her death or his for that matter? Ratchet wasn't here to hit her with an EMP generator which would lower her power levels and end the crisis. There was only Nos-4-a2...

She didn't have another choice.

"BITE ME!" she yelled at him.

Nos-4-a2 stared at her, startled. He'd never heard anyone beg him to drain their energy before. "Wha-" another painful jolt cut him off before he could finish the question.

"Bite me, you stupid vampire!" she screamed, looking him right in the eyes. "If you don't we'll both die!"

Well he didn't want to die, not after being brought back for a third time around. He let go of her hands and grabbed her head instead, pulling her down toward him until her neck was close to the vicinity of his mouth. Then he leaned forward and bit into the same spot he'd bit into before. Instantly all that energy coursed into his systems where it stabilized and powered down to a more bearable level. For two minutes straight he kept this up until Sari stopped glowing and returned to her normal colors. Then he let her go though part of him wanted to keep it up, her energy was just too tempting to stop. But he knew he had to. If he drained anymore he really would overload. Plus he was already starting to feel that strange drunkenness again and didn't want a repeat of what had happened last time. He'd rather be buzzed than out of his mind.

The girl sighed in relief and fell limp, her body draping over his. She was panting heavily as if she was exausted. He put a hand on her side and pushed her off. She fell limply onto her back. He sat up and looked down at her face. She was still conscious but weak, her eyes were open halfway and she seemed to be watching him, waiting for him to do something. He realized he could do anything to her right now and she wouldn't be able to put up a fight back.

But.. he chose not to. It wouldn't be very fun to fight with someone who didn't have the strength to put up a resistance. So instead of beating her up or hitting her, he picked her up in his arms and flew back over to his coffin where he rested her body gently on the bottom then closed the lid before she could protest.

He then sat down on the top and sighed, resting his head against his hands and trying to get a grip of what had just happened while he fought that tipsy feeling.

Had she just... saved his life?

Prowl looked into yet another dark alley in the Trade World shopping district, hoping to catch sight of more empty robot shells. Nothing. Just like all the rest. The trail had gone cold.

"Give it up," XR said, watching the cyber ninja close a dumpster with a slam. "Whatever dead robots might have been there are gone by now."

"How do you know that?" Prowl asked, looking back at him.

Until then the space ranger robot hadn't said a word. He's just followed Prowl around and stewed because he couldn't get to recharge like he wanted to. He honestly wasn't much use in that mode and he'd started getting on the cyber ninja's nerves with his pouty silence. At least this was a welcome change from brooding silence.

The robotic space ranger wheeled toward the Autobot, moving out of the way of a green skinned alien pushing a hot dog cart. "Because either the local authorities found it and added it to evidence or the body was stolen and is now being stripped for parts."

The Autobot was horrified. "Who would do such a thing?"

"This is Trade World, buddy," XR replied, folding his arms. "It could be anyone. This place isn't exactly home of the Boy Scouts, you know."

"I know." Prowl sighed and stepped out of the alley into the sunlight. He looked up at the sky, noting the position of the sun. It was still morning. It felt like he'd been searching for hours. Hs systems were beginning to let him know that he should recharge soon, even if it was just for a few minutes. But how could he sleep when Sari was in the clutches of an energy vampire? If anything else happened to her he'd never forgive himself. It was bad enough he'd let her get kidnapped in the first place but now she'd been bitten and he had no idea if she was still alive or not. He allowed himself to think she was, it was a lot easier than thinking she was dead.

He looked down at XR. The robot hadn't even wanted to help him keep searching, that had been Buzz's idea. Prowl felt bad because it wasn't even XR's problem though he was responsible for Nos-4-a2 flying off with her. But he couldn't blame him, especially after what he'd told him earlier.

Still...

"If you want to join the others at the hotel you can," Prowl said.

XR stared at him. "What?"

"I know you're tired and didn't really want to help me search anyway so why don't you join the rest of your crew back at the hotel?" the cyber ninja suggested. "It won't bother me if you do. I wanted to search for her by myself anyway."

XR seemed to be considering his proposition then shook his head. "I can't do that," he replied.

"Why not? I thought you wanted to recharge."

"I do but I can't leave you out here by yourself," the robot space ranger informed him. He pointed into his face. "Buzz was right. You don't know your way around here and we can't chance you getting lost too and becoming a snack for Nos-4-a2." he shook his head. "You wouldn't be of any use to anyone, especially Sari if that happened. Plus he's not the only person you have to worry about on this planet."

"What do you mean?"

"Well let me just say that you're not exactly the average machine," XR explained. "Nobody has ever seen a robot that looks like you or can do what you do." he poked him in the stomach. "If you're not careful you might wind up on somebodies list of things they want to own."

"Are you saying I might become a person of interest?"

"Well duh." he waved his hands around. "Remember how the LGMs reacted when they saw you? They wanted to take you apart to see how you worked. If that didn't clue you in I don't know what will."

Prowl didn't comment. He honestly hadn't thought about that at all. He was so worried about Sari that the prospect that he might become a target of a different kind never crossed his processor. "Ugh, why did you have to tell me that?" he asked, rubbing his head which had begun to ache with this new piece of knowledge. "I already have enough things to worry about so as it is."

"Hey, I'm just giving you a warning," XR responded. "I figured you might as well be made aware of this before you run into trouble. Not that you can't take care of yourself, mind you. I've seen you fight. You'd be able to deal wiht anyone who tried to grab you, provided they don't figure out your weaknesses."

Prowl gave him a look.

"What?"

He started to speak but then it happened again. His entire frame was envoloped in pain. Screaming he fell onto the floor, grabbing his arms and curling up into a ball. It was worse this time. He felt like his entire system was going into overload.

"Prowl!" XR shouted, wheeling around him and waving his arms. He tried to help him up but got a shock. "Ow! What? Another attack? now!? Come on, buddy! He can't be eating her this early!" the space ranger robot noticed people staring. "Nothing to see here," he shouted to them. "He's just a little overloaded he'll be fine in a minute."

A little? Prowl felt like his processor was going to explode. He lay on the ground a little longer then his neck started hurting again. He yelped in pain, grabbing at the spot. Then... it ended. All the pain was gone. Huh?

He lifted his head and looked around, his optics locking on the alien beings staring at him. "I..," he began then coughed. He got ahold of himself and tried to get up saying. "I am fine."

The people seemed to decide to take his word for it and went back to their own business. Prowl turned his attention away from them and looked over at XR who looked worried. "What happened?" he asked.

"I think," Prowl replied, getting to his feet with some help from the other robot. "Something went wrong."

"How do you mean?"

"That pain couldn't have been caused by the energy vampire biting her," he replied, rubbing his neck. "I think she might have.. he might have." he shook his head. "Forget it."

XR wasn't going to let him off that easy. "No," he said. 'Tell me what's wrong. What happened?"

"I can't," the cyber ninja replied. "I can't explain it. Something just didn't feel right."

"Do you think Nos-4-a2 killed her?"

"No!" the Autobot snapped, his voice so loud he made the other robot jump. "She's not dead! If she was I would have felt it!"

"Okay," XR said, backing off. "I'm sorry."

Prowl didn't want to talk about it anymore. "Come on," he said , starting to walk away. "Let's keep searching."