CHAP 31
Sari screamed in pain and spun around angrily. She spotted Buzz Lightyear standing on the platform behind her, his laser glove aimed at her. "Hold it right there, Miss Sumdac," he ordered. "Destroying Star Command property is a serious offense."
"I'm sure it is, Lightyear," she growled, rubbing the sore spot on her back where his laser had struck her. "But does it look like I care? I am only making sure I won't be followed or prevented from obeying orders. You shall not prevent me from saving my master!"
His hold on her sure is strong. "Nos-4-a2's not your master, Sari," Lightyear stated, attempting to reason with her. He slowly moved toward her. "He's an evil energy vampire that's taken control of you. He doesn't care about you. He's just using you for his own gain."
"No!" She came at him, activating her blades and swinging them at his face. He easily dodged them. "Don't you say such things about my Master!" she yelled incensed. "I won't hear such blasphemy! You will pay!"
Buzz grabbed her arm, preventing her from stabbing at him with those infinitely sharp blades. She yanked on his hand, trying to free herself. "Let me go!"
Lightyear had no intention of obeying such an order. It would be a mistake to do such a thing. "Now Sari, just calm down," he said in a soothing voice. "Don't let him control you. Try to break his hold."
She glared at him. "Let go of my arm, Lightyear," she growled, her voice strangely deep and menacing.
He shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't do that."
"You will do it!' she screamed, aiming a kick at his stomach. He dodged out of her way without breaking his hold. "Because if you don't I will find out just how wonderful you really are!" her eyes started glowing as well as her hands. 'Let's see you go up against a Cybertronian hybrid!"
She activated the blade in her left arm. Screaming she swung at him, barely missing his stomach. Buzz tried to grab her arm but missed, nearly getting his own arm sliced off in the process. She kept up the onslaught, trying to force him to release her. Eventually he did, realizing he had no other choice. If he kept on holding it he might get seriously injured or worse.
Buzz let her go and back flipped away. Or at least tried to. Sari struck out with her foot, hitting him in the stomach when he landed on his hands and sending him flying across the room until he slammed into the wall. He landed heavily on the floor, his stomach and back both crying out in unison.
"She sure hits hard," he grunted, getting unsteadily to his feet. He heard running footsteps and looked up just in time to see Sari aim a kick at his head.
Luckily he dodged the blow just in time, diving sideways. Her foot hit the wall instead sending off a loud metallic ringing. She screamed again and twisted to face him. By then Lightyear had gotten to his feet. He acted first, springing at the girl and tackling her to the floor.
"Get off me!" she screamed, struggling to break his hold on her arms.
Lightyear held on, even though he was having a hard time do it. The girl had been strong before but now, since Nos-4-a2 had given her some of his dark energy, she was even stronger. "I won't let you go until you return to your senses," he said, meeting her red eyes. "Come on, Sari. Fight him. Do it for Prowl and everyone you care about."
His words were not getting through. She glared at him. "What do you know about what I care about?" she hissed. "You know nothing about me, Buzz Lightyear!"
A stabbing pain shot down his arm. He gasped at looked at it. One of Sari's blades was sticking out of the limb, crackling as the blood dried around it.
Lightyear's reflexes took over and he jerked back, releasing his hold on the girl and grabbing the wounded limb. Blood oozed from his fingers and he cursed. When he did this sari saw her chance. Springing to her feet she reacticated the sword and lunged at him, plunging it right through his suit's chest plate.
"Where did she go?" Booster asked, looking around the hall in hopes of catching sight of a girl in a orange and yellow dress. "She can't have just disappeared, unless she's part Tangean."
Prowl didn't reply. He stood still and looked around the hall, his mind working at mile a minute and processing problems at much quicker speeds. He tried something else too. Something that might just tell them exactly where she was.
Tapping into his empathy link he shared with the girl, he tried to locate her by pin pointing her feelings. As he looked to his left a sudden rage washed over his frame. It was so powerful he nearly succumbed to it himself, but he was able to over come it and the only thing the space rangers saw him do was punch the wall and let out a hissing breath.
"Prowl?" Mira asked looking at him worriedly. "Are you all right?"
"I.. I am fine," he panted, dropping his arm to his side. He looked at her. "I know where she is."
Buzz's eyes widened his surprise as he stared at the gilr's rage filled face then his eyes slid downward until they rested on the glowing blue blade sticking out of his chest. Sari brutally yanked the blade out of his chest. He fell to the floor, blood spurting from the wound and immediately pooling around him. He groaned, wrapping his arm around the it in an attempt to staunch the flow and trying to push himself up. His eyes met Sari's who was staring down at him. For the briefest of moment her expression changed and she looked like the girl he'd met two days ago. She looked horrified at what she'd just done. Her mouth moved but no words came out. Then her face reverted back to the cold and murderous expression it wore previously. "Serves you right," she growled. She raised her blades. "How about I put you out of your misery?"
Just then the door behind her burst open. "Sari!" a voice called.
The girl froze and looked over her shoulder. Prowl, Mira, and Booster stood in the doorway. Prowl and the two rookies were staring at the scene before them in horror. "What have you done!?" Booster exclaimed.
Sari bolted, rushing over to 42 and jumping up to grab onto the ladder. Her hand grasped one of the rungs and she hoisted herself up and began to climb.
"Buzz!" Booster shouted, running to the fallen space ranger as Mira and Prowl chased after the girl.
Mira stopped at the end and fired her arm laser at the the fleeing techno organic. Prowl grabbed her arm to stop her. "Don't do that!" he shouted. "You could make her fall!"
The Tangean looked at him, her face hardening. "Right now Prowl I don't care what happens to her," she said. "Not after what she just did to Buzz."
Prowl didn't let go. "But it wasn't her fault!" he insisted.
She wrested her arm away. "I'm sorry."
While she proceeded to fire up at Sari, Prowl in turn activated his jetpack and shot into the air after the fleeing girl. Maybe he could grab her before she got away or hurt. He was halfway to her when she suddenly turned. Their eyes met but she showed no sign of recognition except a hateful expression. The Autobot attempted to say something but didn't get to utter a single syllable. The girl created an energy orb and threw it down at him. He could not move in time and it struck him in the chest.
Grunting he was send plummeting back down to the platform. Mira saw him coming and quickly dived out of the way. He hit the floor with a crash, denting the metal.
"Prowl!" the Tangean shouted, rushing over to him. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," he said, sitting up. He rested his hand on his head. "But-"
42's engines fired up. Both looked toward the ship. Sari had managed to climb inside. The little door in the side of the hull was shut.
"Sari!" Prowl shouted, instantly on his feet. The vibrating of the floor thanks to the space ships engines made him stumble. Mira moved to steady him. "Easy now."
Prowl looked at Mira, his expression desperate. "You have to stop her."
She stared at him "Me?"
the Autobot nodded. "Yes," he replied. "You're the only one who can get inside that ship without using the door." he pointed up at 42. 'That's going to take off any minute. Please. Don't let her get away."
She nodded a determined look crossing her face. "Right."
The Tanegean space ranger activated her jetpack and shot into the air. "Help Buzz!" she called back to him.
When Mira ghosted into the hull Prowl turned back to Booster who was carefully helping Buzz stand. Prowl moved over to help him, his optics locking on the growing red bloodstain on the floor. For a few seconds he just stood there, horrified at the brutality Sari had shown. How could she do such a thing? Even if she was under Nos-4-a2's control she could have at least tried to keep it from getting this bad.
A terrible thought crossed his mind. What if she'd wanted to do this? She'd never gotten along with either Buzz or XR.. could this possibly be a manifistation of her hatred? Did she dispise them both that much?
No, he couldn't allow himself to entertain such possibilities. This wasn't her fault. She was under the control of a crazy energy vampire, that was all.
"Here," he said, moving toward Booster. "Let me help you."
Mira ghosted right into 42, coming out in the brig. She looked around cautiously then, when she was sure the coast was clear, she ghosted out of the room and headed down the hall to the cockpit. She carefully ghosted her head through and looked around, searching for the techno organic. She spotted Sari, seated in Buzz Lightyear's chair, running her hands speedily over the control panel. Her hands were moving so fast they were in a blur. Finally she slowed down and the Tangean caught sight of her circuitry before her fingers returned to normal.
Assured that the girl was distracted Mira ghosted the rest of her body into the cockpit and snuck over to the chair. She would incapacitate Sari just like she'd done before, reaching into the girl's brain and knocking her out. I just hope she doesn't-
Just then Sari spun the chair around catching Mira by surprise. Their eyes locked and the space ranger stepped back. "I uh.." she stammered.
"Hello Princess Nova," the techno organic girl said in a low voice. She stood, her hands beginning to glow. "Come to stop me, have you?"
"Well you could say that," Mira said, moving back a few more steps. "Of course I'm not exactly stopping you I'm just uh here to make you late.. no that's not it yes I was going to stop you." she buttoned her lip, realizing she was rambling.
Sari smirked, her features hardening. "I know what you were going to do," she stated. "You were going to poke your prying fingers into my brain again." two glowing blue energon blades came out of her arms. "But you're not going to. I won't let you even get the chance!"
She attacked.
Mira didn't even try to fight back. She simply allowed the girl to ghost through her body. Sari landed on the floor, nearly tripping over her own feet. She forced herself to maintain her balance and spun around thrusting her blades at Mira's mid section. The Tangean princess jumped back, landing on top of the control panel.
Sari ran toward her and Mira responded by ghosting into the control panel. "Get out of there!" the girl shouted, pounding her fists on the metal.
Mira came up behind her and grabbed the hem of her dress. With a mighty heave she yanked on it, sending the girl flying backward across the room until she slammed into the door. Before Sari could get up Mira fully ghosted back into the room and ran over her grabbing her arm and shoving it into her back. Sari cried out in pain.
"I'm sorry," the Tangean said, lifting her free hand. "But you brought this on yourself."
When she tried to ghost it into Sari's brain the girl turned her head and bit it down on it. Mira cried out in pain, yanking her hand back. Sari slammed her elbow into the woman's stomach, knocking the wind out of her. She fell hard to the floor. "Ow! That wasn't fair!"
"Neither is this." Sari shot back, punching the woman square in the face. She went flying across the room, crashing into the back of Buzz Lightyear's chair.
Sari stalked over to her, grabbing the semi-conscious woman by the back of the neck before she could recover. The girl easily lifted her off the floor as if she weighed nothing. "You shouldn't have bothered coming after me," she said as she stalked out of the room with her. "Nothing, not even your creepy powers, are going to prevent me from helping my master!"
Mira shook her head the clear the cob webs. "He's not your master!" she shouted. "He's nothing but a evil, psychotic, energy sucking vampire with an ego the size of Trade World!"
"Don't you dare insult my master!" Sari shouted, tightening her grip on the woman's neck. "You don't know what you're talking about!:"
'I know exactly what I'm talking about!" then she wondered why she was even trying to convince the girl. Sari was being controlled by Nos-4-a2. Anything she said to her was bound to go in one ear and out the other.
By then Sari had reached the chutes. She stuffed Mira inside one against her struggling and protests and pressed the button. The Tangean space ranger was shot out of the ship and into space. Once she was out of the ship, she activated her jet pack and watched helplessly as 42 took off, flying faster than she could move. There was no way the woman would be able to get back inside.
Mira sighed. "Prowl isn't going to be happy about this, nope."
Then she turned and flew back to Star Command.
"I would like to know whose bright idea it was to leave that girl unattended!" Commander Nebula ranted. He, Prowl, and Mira and Booster were standing outside the med bay on Star Command as the medical LGMs and the human doctor worked hard to save Buzz's life. He glared down at a trine of LGMs that were also waiting in the hallway. "Didn't cross any of your uni-minds that she could wake up and wreck havoc on the ship as well as do something like that-"when he said this he pointed to the closed door"- to somebody?"
"Well..." the LGM's said, looking nervously from one to another. "We honestly didn't think she would wake up since-"
"Since nothing!" Nebula exploded. "Nos-4-a2 might not be here but that doesn't mean his mind control can't reach her!"
"Sorry," the LGMs said in unison, putting their hands behind their backs and looking at the floor.
Commander Nebula was no longer paying attention to them. he looked back toward the door, his face filled with worry. Though Buzz Lightyear had been injured on the job many times it had never been this bad. This time he ran the risk of dying of blood loss or damage to his internal organs. The longer it took to take care of it the worse the news would be. Nebula slammed his fist against the wall, making the others jump. "How did it end up like this?"
Prowl, who was leaning against the wall with his arms folded, was beginning to think the whole thing was his fault. He turned his head. "I'm sorry," he said. "If Sari and I hadn't wound up here-"
"How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?" Commander Nebula demanded glaring over at the Autobot. "True as that might be you can't blame yourself. You weren't the one pulling Sari's strings. She is the one who nearly killed Buzz, not you."
"It wasn't her fault."
"Blasted machine! I know it's not her fault but that doesn't change the fact that she is responsible!" he exploded. "Not everyone here knows that Nos-4-a2 is controlling for her actions and unless we tell them or have her explain things she's going to get the blame."
"How is she going to tell them?"
"She has to be brought back," Nebula replied. "But right now we cannot go after her because she destroyed all our ships except 42 which she stole." the older human put his hands behind his back and paced.
"Um.. Commander Nebula sir?" Booster said tentatively.
The human looked over at the red alien. "What do you want, private?"
"Permission to speak, sir?"
"Permission granted."
Don't we have anything else we could use to go after them?" he wanted to know.
"Not that any of you are authorized to use."
"We can't just let her get away," Prowl stated.
"Right now she's not the most important problem," Commander Nebula said. "Lightyear is. I don't want to do anything until we find out his status."
Just then the door opened and the human doctor exited the room with the LGM trio. Everyone turned to him expectantly. "Well what's the diagnosis?" Commander Nebula asked.
The human doctor turned to the man and removed his surgical mask. He frowned but something said it wasn't exactly bad news. "We were able to stop the bleeding," the doctor reported. "and there doesn't seem to be any sign of internal bleed." everyone's faces relaxed in relief. "But it's going to be awhile before he can get back on his feet. It will take a few weeks before we can remove the stitches and he needs blood transfusions."
"But he's not going to die?"
The doctor shook his head. "No, he's not."
Commander Nebula's face softened.
"Excuse me, Mr Doctor, sir" Booster spoke up tentatively.
The man turned to the red alien. "Yes?"
"Would it be all right if we visited him?"
The doctor nodded. "It's all right," he said. "But he's kind of out of it right now. We had tp put him on some powerful pain killers. He might not even realize you're there or if he's awake he might forget you visited."
Commander Nebula and Lightyear's rookies headed inside the room. Prowl lingered in the hall, his optics locked on the figure lying on the hospital bed. This is my fault, the cyber ninja thought. If I had tried to stop her instead of letting her get away from me this never would have happened.
Poor Prowl. Always blaming yourself.
It is my fault.
You need to stop that. Everything isn't your fault all the time.
I know but..
But nothing. You keep this up and you'll wind up like Optimus.
Prowl shook his head, scattering his thoughts.
He listened to the Space rangers conversing. He heard Buzz speaking in a slurred voice, assuring his rookies that before long he'd be up and saving the galaxy once again. Even drugged up on pain killers he couldn't get his mind off his work. Prowl sighed. The man didn't even seem fazed by it. Or maybe it's a front. He knows his condition is more serious than he's making it seem. He just doesn't want them to worry.
Then he heard Commander Nebula say something about waiting before they went after Sari. Was he implying that they weren't going to do anything about it until Lightyear was better? That could take months! Prowl wasn't going to wait for that! The longer they waited the worst the situation was going to get. If they're not going to do anything about it now then I will have to take care of it myself.
Prowl turned away from the door and headed down the hall, his face determined and his fists clenched at his sides. "I'm not going to wait and I'm not going to let Sari take the blame for this either," he said. "I'm going to get her back. By myself."
As he was walking he came across XR who was moving in the opposite direction. They met each other halfway. The space ranger robot looked up at him. "Hey, I heard Buzz was taken to the infirmary," he looked worried. "Is that true?"
"Yes," Prowl replied, he pointed down the hall. "He's in room 124."
XR thanked him then moved to continue down the hall. He hesitated and looked back at Prowl. "Where are you going?"
The Autobot did not respond. Instead he continued on his course, heading toward the hanger. Commander Nebula has said that all the space ships like 42 were disabled but he's almost mentioned another type of ships. Ones that Booster and Mira were not authorized to use. If Prowl could find them he would use one to go after Sari.
XR wasn't about to let him get away that easily. He extended his arms and wrapped them around Prowl's body, hindering his progress. "Now wait just a minute!" he shouted.
The Autobot looked over his shoulder. "Let me go," he growled.
"Not until you tell me where you're going." XR stated, slowly reeling the robot in like a giant fish.
"It's none of your business," Prowl shot back, trying to break free. "This is my problem."
XR was beginning to get wise about that statement. "Oh I see what you're planning." he pulled the Autobot closer against his frantic struggling. The other alien robot was strong, much stronger than he looked, but XR was no weakling either. "You want to go after Sari by yourself."
"How do you know that's what I want to do?"
"Because it's obvous." By then the Autobot was right in front of XR, making them so close it looked like the other robot was hugging him. "You're doing that lone wolf act again. Blaming yourself and feeling that it's all your fault and you must take responsibility for it and then going off to right the wrong like you're Batman or something." XR made a face. "You really need to get over that, buddy, I'm just saying."
Prowl sighed. "Whether it's my fault or not I have to take care of this," he said. "I can't just let Nos-4-a2 keep controlling Sari. If he does something much worse might come to pass than what happened to Buzz."
"So you think chasing after Sari is going to help?" XR asked. "Let me ask you something; Do you even know where she's going?"
"Yes, Planet Z."
"Do you have any idea where that is?"
The Autobot shook his head. "No."
"Then why would you want to follow her all the way there if you have no idea where Planet Z is?" XR demanded. He finally let Prowl go so he could gesture better. "If you go out by yourself you'll get lost or something. You don't know your way around our galaxy. You could wind up anywhere!"
"So then what do you suggest I do?" Prowl demanded.
XR shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "Maybe you should take someone with you."
"Like who?" the Autobot wanted to know. "Yourself?"
The space ranger smirked. "Well I wasn't referring to myself but I can tell you I do know my way around the galaxy." he poked his chest with his thumb. "I also know the quickest way to get there from here."
"You do?"
"Yep."
Prowl frowned. He knew exactly what XR was doing and he might have denied him it but the Autobot didn't really have any choice right now. "Then I'd better bring you along." he turned away. "Just don't get in my way."