CHAP 22

XR's optics flickered on sometime later. He found himself lying on his back, staring up at a dark blue ceiling. His face hurt like crazy. "Ugn," he moaned, sitting up and rubbing his head. "I feel like I was blown up, then stepped on by an elephant, then run over by a car, then put back together and had the same cycle repeated ten more times. Ow! Where am I?" He looked around himself, noticing the boxes of spare parts and robot shells littering the floor. For a moment he thought he'd been nabbed by Nos-4-a2 and taken to his lair but then the memory of what happened in the alley came back and he knew that wasn't the case, not that the real reason was any better. "I can't believe I allowed myself to be taken advantage of like that," he grumbled. "Stupid aliens. Why didn't they just mind their own business?"

But now that he knew where he was there was one other problem. "Prowl!" Where was the Autobot? Was he there or had they put him somewhere else?

He scanned the room, hoping to spot something black and gold. The place was so dark that he had a hard time making out anything. What if he wasn't there after all? What if they put him somewhere else? No, he couldn't allow himself to consider that option. He had to find him.

I don't know how I'd explain that to Sari or Buzz for that matter. Craters! Why do these inter-dimensional travelers always get themselves into trouble? It's like they need baby-sitter's or something. Well I never asked to be an Autobot's care taker.

Finally his optics settled on something that could be the cyber ninja. It was lying on the floor, stretched out. "Prowl?" the robot space ranger stood up and wheeled over to the Autobot cyber ninja. "Hey, buddy!"

When he came upon him he realized the robot ninja was still in stasis and couldn't react at all. "Oh sure," he said, his expression that of annoyance. "You get kidnapped and you don't even wake up long enough to save yourself or me for that matter." he sighed. "That mode you're in must be set for a certain action. You're really making things hard for me, you know that?"

Just then he heard footsteps coming toward them. XR panicked and wheeled quickly behind some boxes. A few moments later three figures stepped into the room. XR recognized two of them as the yellow skinned aliens who'd tried to steal Prowl. He knew the third person too. The Fixer. That guy he'd tried to buy a new AFD from.

"Craters," he cursed. "I should have known I'd run into him again."

"All right let me see this robot you're talking about," The Fixer said, as grumpy as ever.

"He's over here," the alien named Marve replied, leading the Fixer over to where Prowl was lying.

XR ducked behind the box as the three drew near. The moment the Fixer laid his eyes on Prowl his countenance changed. "Whoa!" he exclaimed. "Where did you find him?"

"Oh he was just lying around," Hal replied. "When we saw him we figured you might want to get a look at it."

The Fixer stepped closer to get a better look at the Autobot. He studied it a moment then said. "I'll take him."

Uh oh! this wasn't good.

"Excellent,. Good choice." Marve replied. "Now if you'll just pay us the money you already owe we'll give him to you."

"I don't have it with me right now," the Fixer replied, looking helpless. "Can't I pay you afterward?"

"Nothing up front and no robot," Marve replied. "You either have the money or you don't."

"It's bad at my place."

"Then why don't we just pop down there and collect it then?" Marve asked, smiling weirdly.

It was obvious he wasn't going to win this. The Fixer knew he had no choice. If he didn't pay, he wouldn't get Prowl and he really wanted that robot! He nodded. "Okay fine."

"Good."

They left.

Once he was sure they were gone, XR moved out of his hiding place and over to Prowl. "Come on, Prowl," he said, snapping his fingers in front of the Autobot's. "Now isn't the time for taking a nap. You gotta wake up now or those goons will sell you to that guy."

That's when he remembered Prowl wouldn't reactivated himself until that error was fixed. That meant XR would have to go back inside and try once more to repair it. He didn't want to do that, not after what had happened last time. "But I don't have a choice." he whined, putting his hand on the sides of his helmet and shaking his head. "Oh why do I always get stuck with such rotten luck?"

Moaning about the hopelessness of his situation he opened Prowl's chest plate back up and reinserted the cable. He found the virus. "Thanks to you my reputation is ruined," he complained to it. "I hope you're happy. I'm not in a good mood right now so I'm going to take it out on you." He then dealt with the problem the best he could.

A short time later the error was repaired and he sighed in relief, glad that it was all over. At that moment Prowl's optics brightened and he stared at XR who was standing over him. "Hi!" XR said, waving at him. "I fixed the problem."

Prowl looked at him a moment then looked at XR's cable. "If that's true mind doing me a favor?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"Get that thing out of me!"

Nos-4-a2 heard the robot girl calling his name and turned to face her. "What do you want?" he asked.

"I'm hungry!" she replied. "When are you going to feed me?"

"Feed you!?" he demanded. "Why would I want to feed you?" What an absurd question.

"Well, do you want me to starve?"

"I don't care what happens to you," he informed her, glaring at the girl. Who did she think she was? The Madame President of the Galactic Alliance? "You're here to feed me, not the other way around!"

"I know that," she replied, folding her arms. She smiled at him, a rather smug smile, as if she knew something he didn't. "But I thought you liked my energy and if you drain it all and don't bother attempting to make it last longer you'll use it up rather quickly plus," she added, pointing a finger into the air to make a point. "If you really intend to make me your slave you'll want me at near full power." her smile became a smirk. "A weak slave wouldn't do well against Space Rangers and Autobot cyber ninjas."

Nos-4-a2 didn't respond. He let himself process what she'd said. She was right, darn it! If he didn't get her something to eat she'd run out of energy faster and by then he was slightly addicted to it and it would be a shame to lose it so soon. It would be a good idea to make it last. "You're right," he agreed, pushing off the coffin lid and activating his wings. He flew over to her. She didn't even flinch, interesting. He reached her and put a hand on her chin, lifting her face so he could see it better. "I wouldn't want a weak slave. So fine. I shall get you something."

Success! "How about a hot dog?" she asked.

"Hot dog?!" he exclaimed. "Robot's don't eat hot dogs."

"This one does."

He frowned. He almost commented on that then remembered the information he'd taken from her mind. Her kind of systems worked on organic foods. He wasn't sure how it worked but it seemed to cause no ill effects. "Fine. Whatever. But before I go." he removed his hand from her chin and touched her forehead. "I will leave you with your free will but you won't try to escape. You will keep on cleaning until I get back. Understood?"

Something told her she didn't have a choice. "Yes," she replied, frowning.

She wasn't happy which made him happy. He smiled. "Lovely." then he turned away and flew up to the exit.

She watched him go then returned to her task. "It's not like I would want to climb up that steep wall again anyway."

XR yanked the cable out of Prowl's chest and put it back in his drawer. "Sorry about that," he said, unable to look at the other robot. "It was the fastest way to get inside and it was your idea to have me fix you and-"

"Forget it," Prowl said, not wanting to talk about it anymore. It was making him uncomfortable as much as it was for the other robot. Instead he changed the subject, looking around himself. "Where are we anyway?"

"We're inside a warehouse," XR replied. "and we never would have wound up here if you hadn't decided to have me fix you!"

Prowl frowned. "I distinctly remember you saying I should have the errors repaired as soon as possible," he pointed out. "I honestly wanted to wait and I told you that."

"Well-" XR stopped realizing the cyber ninja's statement was correct. "You're right," he admitted. "But either way this never would have happened if you didn't have so many problems. You're like a out of date computer. So full of errors that it's almost pointless to keep fixing it up but, since you've had it so long you don't want to get rid of it because of sentimental value."

The cyber ninja obviously didn't like being compared to a broken computer. "I can assure you that I am nothing like an old computer." The cyber ninja sat up and looked around. "What is the point of this place?"

"To store stolen robot parts that will later be sold in the black market," XR replied.

Prowl looked back at him. "Stolen robot parts?"

"Yeah while you were out two no account low lives decided to make you the next hottest item on the black market." the robot space ranger looked toward the door. "and they already have a buyer." he grabbed Prowl's arm and tried to haul him to his feet. "Which means we had better get going before they-" he heard footsteps coming. "Too late!" he wheeled behind Prowl and pushed him up. "Come on, Prowl! Don't make me do all the work!"

"Careful!" Prowl grabbed the edge of a crate and straightened himself up. "I can do it myself." He looked toward the door where the footsteps were coming from. "Hmm.."

"There's no time for hmm!" XR whispered fiercely, extending his legs so he could grab Prowl's arm. He yanked on it, trying to get the cyber ninja moving. "Come on before they see us!"

"I'm coming," the cyber ninja turned away and followed XR further back into the building. "But how are we going to get out of here when the exit is back that way?"

XR looked back at himn and smirked. "Don't worry about it," he replied. "I've been through enough sitautions to know there are always two exits in these places. That's just the front door." he pointed ahead. "We're going out the back."

But before they got very far a voice shouted to them. "Hey, where do you think you're going!?"

They looked back and saw the yellow aliens and the Fixer coming toward them. They didn't look very happy.

"So much for stealth," XR said. He shot forward, not even waiting for the cyber ninja. "Run!"

Prowl took off after him, not wanting to be left behind with an angry black market customer. Maybe I should have waited for the others after all.

Hot dogs. Hot dogs. Nos-4-a2 brooded over the girl's choice of food. It bothered him that this girl, who was obviously a robot, ate organic food to energize herself. It made no sense to him but nothing about that girl really did. From what he'd learned her origins were never researched. But who cared? He wasn't interested in her back story. He was only interested in her unique and tasty energy. And if he wanted that to last he had to make sure she lived longer. Though it's kind of overdoing it just for energy. I must be getting soft.

Or you're just addicted to it.

Or that.

He looked down toward the busy streets below. It was the middle of the day so there were plenty of people out and doing stuff. Nos never went out during the day because he hated the sun. Since he was a machine he didn't really have to worry about burning up in it but that didn't change his opinion on it. It was annoying and impaired his vision. Plus it made him a better target for space rangers or stupid bounty hunters out to make a name for themselves. Hot dogs.

His optics focused on something that could be hot dog cart. The sign on the roof helped too. It said: HOT DOGS in big bold letters.

He grinned. Success! He wouldn't have to search all day. Now the only problem was getting the food without drawing too much attention. An alley close to the stand looked promising. Changing position he dived down into it and deactivated his wings. Hopefully nobody saw that. Maybe he wouldn't be recognized if he went out there without disguising himself and the guy working at the stand would think he was just an ordinary robot. Like an ordinary robot would want to eat hot dogs. he thought ironically. That doesn't exactly agree with our systems. that thought flashed him back to his hanger over. It wasn't a pretty thing to think about.

Nos moved to the end of the alley and peeked out. A woman and her kid were at the stand. They paid for their dogs and walked away, munching away. Once they were gone Nos exited the alley and headed over to the card. "Pardon me," he said, vying for the man's attention. "You there!"

The man working at the cart, a nerdy looking fellow with short brown hair and big, hirn rimmed glasses, turned to the energy vampire. "Yeah, what do you want?" he asked, sounding crabby.

Nos pointed at the food. "I'd like some of those," he answered. What's with the timid voice, Nos? You sound like a nervous, runny nosed, human brat.

The kid stared at him. It was obvious he'd never had a robot asking him for food before. "Why do you want them?" he asked him. "Don't you robots drink oil or something?"

"They're not for me," the energy vampire replied, thinking quickly and not really wanting to explain himself to this geek. 'They're for a human.. friend.. of mine."

"Uh huh," the kid stared at him a moment longer. "Well whether that's the case or not I don't serve robots."

Things weren't going as smoothly as he thought. "Why ever not?" Nos asked. This guy was making things harder for him and he was starting to notice people staring. "I eman what's the harm in serving a machine?"

"Because those are the rules, bub." the kid looked like he was angry that Nos was asking him such a question, as if he should already know the answer. "Ever since this giant robot with weird upgrades stupidly decided to scarf down three then blew out his internal pump, the boss made a rule that we can't serve robots."

"Oh come on," Nos said, starting to get annoyed. "I told you they're not for me."

"Whether they are or not I can't give them to you. Now if you brought this person over here, I would gladly serve them to him."

The energy vampire wasn't about to bring Sari out there. He didn't want to risk her getting away. "I can't do that."

"Then no hot dogs." the kid started to turn away but Nos slammed his hands down onto the counter, regaining his attention. He looked back at the energy vampire.

Nos-4-a2's wings came out as he leaned toward the kid. "You will give me what I want," he growled dangerously. "and if you don't I will make sure you never serve anything else every again!"

Prowl and XR slammed the exit door shut the moment they stepped out of the warehouse. They heard a thunk on the other end as if something heavy had impacted it. Prowl looked down at the space ranger robot. "Hmm it seems people here are stranger than I thought," he commented. "That sounded like those creatures slammed their bodies against the door.."

"They did."

"That must have been painful."

"Well it's not our problem anymore." XR turned away and wheeled toward the sidewalk. "Let's get out of here before they break out and try to capture us again."

The cyber ninja looked back toward the door. He was a little worried about the people being hurt but he didn't want to become somebodies' property as well. He'd already had that happen to him before and didn't like it. He saw the wisdom in the other machine's words and moved to follow him.

Once they were on the sidewalk Prowl transformed into vehicle mode. Though he was much smaller, thanks to whatever had caused him to shrink down, he was still big enough to hold a small robot. "Hop on," he ordered.

XR made a face. "I'm not going to ride you," he stated. "You've ruined my reputation enough already, this will only make it worse."

"How did I ruin your reputation?"

"You-" he stopped himself. The situation was too embarrassing to say out loud. "Forget it. But I'm still not going to ride you."

Prowl started to reply but was cut off by the sound of a door bursting open. Both of them heard running footsteps and yelling. "You're not going to get away with my property!"

"On second thought who cares about my reputation?" XR jumped onto the seat and grabbed onto the handlebars. "Let's get out of here!"

The cyber ninja needed no second bidding. Revving up his engines he tore off down the street, leaving their pursuers in a cloud of smoke. "Whoa!" XR yelled, holding tightly to the handlebars so he wouldn't go flying off. "Slow down! I'm going to go flying off!"

Prowl slowed to a more conservative pace. "Sorry," he apologized. "I was just trying to put as much distance between us and them as possible."

"Well I don't think you'll need to worry about that anymore," XR said, looking over his shoulder. He could see that Prowl had already put them far behind. "I don't think they'l be able to find us now."

For a few minutes Prowl said nothing and they rode in silence then he spoke again. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For this happening," he said. "I should have listened to Lightyear and waited."

"So now you're realizing this," the space ranger robot responded, frowning. "Well you're the one who was too stubborn to listen. Now you're just beginning to realize your mistake? I told you-"

Prowl put on the brakes suddenly, nearly throwing the robot off. "What was that?" he asked.

"What was what?" XR demanded, his front end sprawled over the handlebars. "Mind warning me the next time you do that?"

"I apologize."

Then the cyber ninja transformed without warning XR. The space ranger robot wound up with his arms wrapped around the ninja's neck. "Don't do that!" he shouted, his feet wiggling in mid air. Suddenly he heard a roaring sound and his annoyance with Prowl became less important. "What was that?" he asked.

The cyber ninja turned his head. "I think that's it," he said, pointing.

"Huh?" XR turned his head in the direction indicated. What he say made him say; "What in the world? I can't be seeing what I think I'm seeing."

Nos-4-a2, his wings activated and his fangs bared, was grasping the end of a hot dog cart and roaring at the poor worker inside the stand. "You will give me them!" he was yelling as he banged the cart against the pavement. "Or I will take them!":

Prowl cocked his head. "Why is he harassing that organic?"

"I don't know," XR said, letting Prowl go and dropping to the pavement. "But I don't think it's because he's hungry."

Something came to Prowl then. He knew that Nos-4-a2, being a machine couldn't eat human food. Which meant he was getting it for somebody else. Somebody who was a machine but could also process organic matter. "Sari!" he exclaimed

XR looked at him. "Sari?" he asked. It was obvious he wasn't following the cyber ninja's train of thought. "What about her?"

"He's getting the food for Sari," Prowl responded.

"Then that must mean she is still alive."

"Yes," the cyber ninja responded. That bit of knowledge made him feel relieved. "Which means if we follow him we'll be able to find out where he's taken her."

"Or we can just capture him and make him tell us," the other robot answered. "and personally I like my idea better." he wheeled forward, pulling out two guns before Prowl could stop him.

"But-" Prowl started to say then gave up. XR wasn't listening. He slapped his palm against his forehead. He was being just like Bumblebee again. Way too much like Bumblebee. Going into a situation without thinking it through first. I wonder how often he does this kind of thing? "This won't end well."