CHAP 24

He was lying on the floor damaged almost beyond recognition. Much fluid stained the floor blue under his black and gold body body. She stood over him, a chain grasped in her right hand, smiling with sinister satisfaction. She'd finally gotten her revenge. This would teach him to make a fool of her.

"But this is only the beginning," she said, reaching down and grabbing his neck. She lifted his limp form off the floor. She heard him moan in agony. "I have more planned for you."

"Shadowstar!"

The fembot vampire jumped, startled out of her dream. She blinked her optics on and looked over at Warp Darkmatter seated beside her. "You'd better have a good reason for waking me from a wonderful dream," she growled, unhappy he'd interrupted her sleep state.

For a second Warp looked like he was trying to picture what kind of dreams a sadistic female robot might have then seemed to change his mind about it. Instead he pointed out the window. "This is why I woke you up, Sleepy Beauty," he said. "Take a look."

Shadowstar turned her head and looked out the windshield. Below her was a planet. She had never seen it before. "Where are we?" she asked, suspiciously

"Trade World," he replied.

"Trade World." She stared at the planet. Somewhere on that world was that stupid legless energy vampire wannabe. She could already imagine grinding that machines triangular pizza face into the pavement. Hes' not going to get the upper hand this time. This time I'm going to teach him who's the better vampire. she clenched a fist, smiling as she fantasized just how she was going to punish him. First she was going to rip his wings right off his back then rip off his arms and maybe even drain his energy just to show him who was boss. Just thinking about it made her feel so much better. She began to look forward to the confrontation.

Shadowstar looked over at Warp Darkmatter. "Get us down there," she ordered.

Warp smiled. "Will do, princess."

"Don't call me princess."

"Whatever." he turned to the controls and typed in a new command. "Hold onto your hats this is going to be a bumpy ride."

Sari was getting that bad feeling again. She looked over across the room at Nos-4-a2's coffin. After telling Sari he intended to make him her slave and she didn't have a choice the energy vampire had gone into his coffin and closed the lid, intent on sleeping off the rest of his hangover. That had been an hour and a half ago.

Something told her he was going to be getting up soon and he would be hungry. She knew what that meant. Dinner time and she was on the menu.

"Not this time," she said to herself, testing out her powers. Now that the girl had eaten, she was able to open her hands and create an energy orb, though it didn't look as bright as before which meant she wasn't exactly at one hundred percent. She smiled to herself. "Good. It works this time." she looked over at the coffin. "Just you wait, creep. The moment you try to bite me again you're going to get a sphere to your head." she got up off the pile of robot parts she'd been sitting on and walked over to the casket and plan forming in her mind. "That'll teach you."

When she reached the coffin she paused to listen. Inside the box she heard him moving around. He was waking up. She ducked behind it and waited, her eyes locked on that lid. Come on, open the lid and poke your ugly head out .

A few minutes later the lid began to creek open. Sari tensed, anticipating the moment Nos-4-a2 would sit up and looked around. "Hurry up, creep," she whispered, beginning to create an energy orb between her hands. "I'm getting a cramp!"

She didn't have to wait much longer. Nos-4-a2 sat up and yawned, raising his arms above his head and stretching. He then turned his head and looked around himself. When he turned to where she was hiding she reacted.

Yelling angrily, she jumped out from behind the coffin and threw the orb at him, taking him completely by surprise. It hit the vampire square in the chest, knocking him backward and right out of the coffin. He crashed to the floor, too stunned to react in anyway.

Sari ran around the casket to where he fell and hit him with another orb. This one impacted his face. He yelped in pain, putting up his hands to protect his head against another blow. Sari didn't throw another orb. She came at him, activating her hammer and swinging it at him. She got him in the chest, cracking the metal plating. He roared in agony.

"How do you like it, vampire!?" she yelled, swinging it again. "How does it feel to be on the receiving end?"

But this time she never got to hit him. He raised his hand and grabbed the top of the handle, preventing her from scoring another. Sari's expression changed to surprise. "Huh?" How had he done that? She looked down, meeting his cold red eyes.

Nos-4-a2 roared at her, thrusting his body forward. She jerked back, off balance. She deactivated the hammer but couldn't prevent herself from falling over. She landed on her back. The energy vampire was getting up, his hand over his damaged chest. His optics flared with anger. "You ungrateful brat!" he screamed, activating his wings and lunging at her.

Sari rolled out of the way. He landed on the floor beside her. Nos spun himself around to face her, roaring incensively. She pulled herself into a sitting position and kicked him in the face.

He fell onto his back and flailed about like an upside down turtle. Sari got to her feet and dashed away before he could right himself. Her eyes stayed focused forward. Before her lay that pile of junk she's created.

"Don't get any ideas, little one!" Nos-4-a2 shouted, rolling onto his back and pushing off the floor. His wings caught the air and he was flying again. He went after her, intent on punishing her. "You're not going anywhere!"

Sari didn't make a come back this time. She continued on her course, her eyes focused on that pile of junk. She wouldn't need to climb it. That wasn't her intent. She had something else in mind. She could hear the sound of moving air. he was right behind her and catching up fast.

At the last second, before she would have reached it, she changed course. Nos, who was right behind her wasn't expecting that and couldn't copy the move in time. Unable to stop himself he flew head long into the junk pile. The impact sent robot parts cascading down onto the energy vampire, burying him under it. When the avalanche subsided Sari turned back to it. She couldn't see the energy vampire at all.

The techno organic girl walked over to the mess. She was going to make sure he wouldn't be able to get out. She had only taken a few steps when she saw that junk moving. "No!" she exclaimed the same instant Nos-4-a2, looking angry as hell, burst out of the mess.

He looked right at her. "I hope you didn't think that was going to take care of me, you stupid girl," he growled, moving toward her. "Because if you did, you're much stupider than I thought!" He flew over to her, catching her by the arms before she could flee. "So this is why you wanted me to get you food," he said, looking at her face and tightening his grip on her forearms so she couldn't even attempt to break his hold. "So you could try to escape again."

"No duh!" she shot back, her expression defiant. "Did you really think I wanted to be your food for ever? I had this panned from the start! It's not my fault you fell for it!"

"How clever you are," he commented, his expression hardening further. "Too bad for you it didn't work out the way you intended."

Her eyes widened in fear as the meaning of his words sank in. He was going to bite her and this time he might actually kill her! No! No no no no no!

Sari reached up and grabbed his hands in an attempt to free herself from his grasp. It wasn't working and he just seemed to be enjoying her pathetic efforts. "Let go of me!" she screamed, beginning to panic. "Let me go or Ill-"

"Or you'll what?" he asked, leaning his face close to hers. "You'll kill me? No, my dear, I am afraid that will be impossible. If you really wanted to kill me you would have done so."

There were errors in that statement but she didn't bother explaining all of them. He obviously believed what he was saying even if it wasn't true. "Just let me go, please!"

""So now you''re saying please?" he asked, looking amused that she'd use those words. No, I don't think so." he lifted off the floor, taking her with him. When he was a few feet into the air he stopped and just hovered there as Sari struggled to free herself. "You see, you tried to kill me and I have no intention of letting you get away with it. I'm going to punish you. Now hold still."

"No!" she yelled, kicking at him but missing. She really didn't want him to bite her again. She didn't know if she'd be able to stand it. "Don't do this! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!"

"Too late." and then he bit her.

Buzz, Mira, and Booster joined Prowl and XR an hour after the space ranger robot had contacted them. They would have been there sooner but it took awhile to get everyone up because one of them was a real heavy sleeper and kept hiding their head under their pillow. That sleeper wasn't Booster.

"Jeeze Mira," Booster said as they lowered themselves to the ground. "How do you even get to work on time? You sleep like a log."

"At least I don't snore," she retorted, annoyed that he kept on going on about it. She'd already gotten an earful from Buzz, she didn't need another lecture from Booster as well.

Booster chose not to challenge that statement.

"Forget about that," Buzz said, looking at them. "Time to focus on the mission, people."
"Right, Buzz," the other space rangers said, saluting.

"What took you so long?" Prowl demanded when the space rangers touched down. He walked over to them, clearly unhappy. "Did you decide to go out for ice cream or something?"

"Hold it right there, Prowl!" Buzz said, putting up his hand. "There's a perfectly good reason for us taking so log."

"What would that be?" the Autobot asked, folding his arms.

"We would have been here sooner," Booster spoke up before Buzz could explain. He cast a irritated look at Mira. "But a certain Princess didn't want to wake up."

"I said I was sorry!" she shouted. "Why can't you just drop it already?!"

Prowl's facial plating under his optics twitched. He looked like he was having a hard time holding his temper. "So you would rather sleep the day away than save somebody's life?" he exploded, glaring at her. "What is the matter with you?!"

The Booster, Mira and XR stared at him in shock, even Buzz looked taken aback by his sudden rage. "If you would rather sleep than save my friend then go right ahead," the Autobot snapped, pointing into Mira's face. "I don't care what you do! I only waited for you all because XR said it would be a good idea but now I'm beginning to wonder if that was wise because you clearly would rather be sleeping than helping people."

Mira' stared at him, unable to come up with anything to say. "I-" she began but XR spoke up instead, saving her from making any excuses. "Hey, now that's just going too far! It's not Mira's fault she's a heavy sleeper!"

Prowl turned on him. "You're only saying that because you have a crush on her," the cyber ninja growled. "To you she's perfect and can do no wrong."

Now it was XR's turn to be angry. "I do not!" he protested, extending his legs until he was face to face with the robot cyber ninja. "and if I did that's my business and not yours! What is your problem, buddy? I know you want to save Sari but don't take it out on us, especially Mira and I! We never did anything to you so stop acting like an idiot!"

"I'm an idiot now?"

"Yes!" XR poked his forehead, his own optics turning red as he vent his own frustration. "You're acting like a big idiot! You've been that way ever since you decided to run off instead of saving your friend when you had the chance!"

That was the wrong thing to say. Prowl shoved the robot space rnager away. "How dare you!" he yelled. 'I already explained why I did that! Now you're bringing it up again just to make yourself look like the better person! Well who could have prevented her from being taken anyway!?" Prowl stomped toward the robot and poked him hard in the chest. "You were paired up with her and you never even bothered trying to keep Nos-4-a2 from grabbing her because you are so afraid of that energy vampire that whenever you see him your courage circuits just seem to shut themselves off!" he shoved at him again. 'And you're calling me an idiot!? At least I don't run away from every battle I'm faced with and make excuses for it!"

"Are you calling me a coward, Autobot?!"

"I'm calling you more than a coward! I'm calling you a lily livered chicken!"

XR obviously had had enough of his character being assaulted. he pulled out a gun and aimed it right at Prowl's chest. "Why I oughta-"

"Whoa there!" Buzz cut in before things could get even more out of hand. He stepped between the two robot, pushing them away from each other. "What is this all of a sudden?"

"You know what is it," Prowl snapped, turning his rage on Lightyear. "How can you-"

"Hold it right there!" Buzz cut him off. "I know you're determined to save Sari but I highly suggest you control that temper of yours. Mira said she was sorry for taking so long to wake up so you should accept that." he pointed into the cyber ninja's face. "and questioning verbally abusing XR's character like that was uncalled for. I don't know if you do that to your own people but I won't stand around and let you do that here, understood." Prowl looked away, saying nothing. Buzz went on. "Also, if we didn't care about her we wouldn't be helping you rescue her, now would we?"

Prowl didn't want to admit it but. "No, you wouldn't."

"And yet we are here," he said. "Which means that we do care and we don't want her to come to even more harm." he put a hand on the robot's shoulder. "Since we're here why don't we forgot about this whole thing and just go down there and teach that energy vampire a lesson?"

Prowl nodded. "Yes." he clenched a fist. "Let's and I'm sorry."

And that's when, like bad karma, another empathetic fit came on.

Warp Darkmatter touched his ship down on one of the planets ship landing pads a half hour later. Once the machine was powered down he, Shadowstar, and the Grub the fembot named Nimrod disembarked. Once outside Shadowstar paused a moment to survey the city. Somewhere out there that other energy vampire was hiding. She clenched her fists at her sides, allowing herself another moment to fantasize of how she would take care of him. He would pay dearly for thinking he could best her and she would enjoy every moment of her revenge.

Don't think I forgot about you, you legless wannabe, she thought. I don't forget things easily unless I want to. a sadistic grin formed at the corners of her lips. Tell me? Do you like S&M, because I do.

"Shadowstar." Warp Darkmatter's voice broke into her thoughts once more. She turned to him a little angry that he'd done such a thing even if it hadn't been intentional. "What?"

"We'd better get going," he said, handing the Grub to her which he'd been carrying. "We have a lot of ground to cover in a small amount of time."

She smirked. "Don't worry about me," she said. "I can get a lot of things done quickly."

"I don't doubt it," Darkmatter responded, folding his arms. "So then, shall we be going?"

"I was waiting for you." then she turned and started walking away without even waiting for him to follow.

"You sure are bent on teaching Nos-4-a2 a lesson, aren't you?" Nimrod the Grub asked her, looking up at the femme's dark face.

She looked down at the insect in her arms. "Of course," she replied, stopping and setting him down. She couldn't stand to hold the disgusting organic anymore. "He humiliated me and stole what was mine. I will not allow him to do as he pleases."

Nimrod seemed to think about that for a moment before asking his next question. "So what are you going to do when you find him?"

She smiled that sadistic smile. "Believe me when I say this, Nimrod, you don't want to know."

"Oh....."

"Hey, wait up!"

"Sparks, can he be any slower?' Shadowstar stopped walking and waited for the blue skinned alien to catch up, not bothering to turn around to see where he was. "Mind moving a litte faster, fleshbag? I don't have all day."

"Pardon me for not having a long stide," he shot back, annoyed.

"Just be glad I didn't fly away," she responded with. "Then you would never catch up with me."

"Look, lady," he said, clearly irritated. "Zurg sent me here to be your backup. If you leave me behind how am I going to-"

"I never asked for backup," she replied hotly, spinning around and facing him. "That was your boss' idea, though I know for a fact that that wasn't the true intention."

"What makes you think that?"

She grinned. "I'm not as stupid as you and that purple people eater think I am," was her answer. She moved closer to him and poked his forehead with her black, taloned index finger. "You're also here to make sure I'm a good girl and don't betray the little lady fingers." she smiled a dangerous smile. "He wants you to punish me if I'm naughty. Well you can tell your boss that I have no intention of breaking my promise, even though I am tempted to do just that."

Warp was at a loss for words. How had she figured that out? "Well.. I uh," he stammered.

Shadowstar frowned. "Don't deny it," she commanded, turning away and continuing down the sidewalk. "Because I know you're lying."

Nos-4-a2 knew Sari had fallen unconscious when she stopped screaming. He was tempted to keep on draining her energy anyway but he'd made himself a promise that he'd stop when she blacked out. That was his limit, for a good reason. If he didn't he'd wind up like he had the first time he'd drained her. Tripped out of his mind and laughing at the dumbest things, including his own pain.

Nos unclenched his teeth and pulled away from the techno organic girl and let go of her arms, letting her fall to the floor. She hit the pavement with a soft thud, landing on her back in one of those girly positions. He smirked. That was going to leave a mark. He knew she wasn't dead, because the fall had been less than six feet but he knew when she woke up she would be feeling it.

If he chose to allow her to regain her senses with her will intact.

The buzzed feeling was starting to set in again which informed him he'd taken more than he realized. The effects were already coming on. Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw something moving. When he turned his head he was startled by what he saw. The robot parts were dancing. Craters not again.

Then he started laughing and he couldn't stop.

He laughed for an entire twenty minutes before something made him stop in mid-giggle. A familiar looking silloette loomed in the far corner. As he stared at it it seemed to be coming toward him. "You!" he shouted, backing away from it. "I took care of you! How can you be here? Get away from me!"

The thing did not heed his words, but continued to move toward him.

"Back!" he yelled firing at it. The plasma seemed to go right through. "No!"

It reached out a hand as if to grab him. "No!" he roared, opening his wings wide and shooting into the air and out of the exit. "Stay away from me!"

Prowl crashed to the ground, his entire frame glowing a blueish white color. It was happening again, only worse this time. What was happening to Sari? What was the vampire doing to her? Was he.. Was he trying to take control of her?

No!

"Prowl?"

Then almost as soon as it began, it ended. He looked up at the worried faces of the space rangers. "That thing again?" Buzz asked.

Prowl nodded and pushed himself off the ground. He lowered his head when he felt vertigo setting in. When it passed, he looked back up at them, his expression troubled. "He did something," he told them. "I feel something different. Something's happened to her."

"What?"

The cyber ninja shook his head, getting to his feet with some help from Booster. "I don't know," he replied. "But it's not good whatever it is."

"Then we'd better start looking for her," Booster spoke up. "We can't let that energy vampire keep on abusing her." he headed for the entrance before anyone could say anything. "Come on, guys!"

"Hold it, Booster," Buzz said, walking forward. "Why don't you let me go in first and make sure he hasn't booby trapped it or something then once I'm sure it's secure I'll come back and get you?"

The red alien didn't look happy at the suggestion since he wanted to save her almost as much as Prowl did, but he saw the wisdom in it and nodded. "Okay," he agreed then moved out of the way so the human could get in.

Buzz climbed inside and disappeared down the tunnel. He was gone for about ten minutes then came back. He poked his head out.

"Well?" Prowl asked, anxious to get going.

"It's clear."