Maelstrom Chapter 7.5

Marooned: Part B

Author's note: This story is part of a LONG series called Maelstrom. It is strictly Gen. 1 - sorry, but that was all that was out when I started writing back in the late 1980's. It began as a fan-publication so the first chapters are in the form of a comic book! If you have not read the nine original Maelstrom Comics and the preceding text stories, I strongly suggest you do. This is a complex universe. They can be found at http/ illmatar. deviantart. com (I have put double spaces between the URL here or FF . Net eats the link.) The comics and art which accompanies this series are there...and believe me I am a better artist than writer.

This chapter takes place between the comic issues #7 and #8.

Most chapters of this series contain strong language and violence. Rated M for adult themes! Really! Transformers characters belong to Hasbro. Critiques adored! This scene contains strong language, violence, trauma, and sex. Rated M for adult themes!

Transformers characters belong to Hasbro. Story and OC characters are mine. Critiques adored!

Continued from Marooned Part A

Both of them were done sleeping, but Lancer left him alone until morning. When the sun rose enough for her to see without burning her own power, Lancer decided to have a look at his wounds. She had no idea what to do if she found wide-spread infection. There weren't enough bandages left to replace all the ones she used the first day. Cauterizing all his wounds was still an option, but she was afraid she'd kill him, and certainly it wouldn't help his state of mind.

She started by checking on the easiest thing first – his wind burn. Hers, comparatively small, still hurt like a bitch. If anything, it was worse on her hands from all the wrestling in the sand.

To her shock his skin (between the bandages) was absolutely normal...which was not normal in her mind.

" It's...it's all healed!" she cried, taking liberties with his "clothing" that should have scandalized him. One after another she checked under his smaller bandages, setting many aside.

Lancer glanced up at Rodimus. He sat stiff against the wall, looking at her with wide eyes, breathing slow but hard. She gave him a nervous, apologetic grin.

"That wasn't so bad right?" she tried. His eyes only narrowed. "The rest...the rest are worse. I'll try not to hurt you too much OK?"

"Just leave me alone," he growled. Not a request. OO...someone gave orders after all. Alas, she was not a good listener.

" I can't...I have to look," she soothed, enduring a sort of flashback of her own. Just a few years ago...tied up in the recovery ward to keep her from tearing herself apart again. Let me die...just leave me alone! So much had been ripped from her she didn't want what as left to linger. Claudia had fought to calm her, struggling against her own brain damage which left her empathy so hard to control and her shields so vulnerable to Lancer's pain. Lancer knew just being in the room with her had hurt Claudia deeply and wished her friend would just give it up.

" It gets better," Lancer told her sweating patient, paraphrasing what the rest of the crew had tried to tell her a thousand times. "The pain in your body...the pain in your heart...I promise it does!"

" I don't care," he said.

" I know. You don't have to. I'll care for both of us OK?" She decided to look at the worse first...in case she ended up having to stop. As she feared, the gauze on his fabulous arm wound was crusted and stuck to his skin. She pulled up as gently as she could but he shuddered violently. She stopped.

"Leave me alone."

"Not happening my friend. I wish I could make it easier...hmm..." Lancer's eyes lit. She could see the uptick in electrical activity under her fingers when she touched him. Such a tiny surge in power from his nerves to his brain. Could she work that delicately? Could she spare him some pain with her powers without hurting him? Most of her skills with her lances centered around accuracy and control, but still she mostly acted like a well aimed blaster or a really greedy energy magnet. This was a level of refinement she never would have thought of. What the hell...if she could sculpt sand domes out of thin air, maybe she could find a new dimension here too.

She started peeling again while pulling the tiny charges from his nerves into herself. He didn't relax, but he also didn't flinch or fight. The mutant decided she could pull more vigorously since her "anesthesia" seemed to be working. She worked the wrapping free of the scabs and drainage. Her eyes widen with shock once she saw the wound.

The checker-board wound was better! Not healed by a long shot but better! The first few squares were gone, the next few so sealed they didn't need bandages. The last quarter of them were the really deep ones, but even the deepest was better. It had been deep enough to put her finger in down to the second knuckle. Now it was about half that.

"This is amazing! You're a freak! I wonder if that's why they were playing with you," the mutant mused. Her fascination made her careless of the fact that Rodimus' trauma involved being scrutinized too closely as well as physical pain. She barely dodged the punch he flung at her face.

"You're getting the drill..." One hissed at her, "You're ALL getting the drill."

Rodimus' endurance was improving too. This time it took almost an hour before One got tired, Two emerged, and she used all her new bruises to guilt and bully him back into Three. She did call a truce on the rest of his bandages, especially since he was clearly healing better than a normal human. Was that because he was an Autobot or was it something the Jabez had instilled in him?

They got moving again and actually made some progress.

Lancer's new friend Three was her favorite. One was dangerous, but she just felt sorry for him. Two was like dragging around a 200 pound meat sack with an eye for deep holes and quick-sand. He was heavy and annoying and terrifying. Three was big fun. Goading Three resulted in him stalking you, which meant you could lead him where ever you liked and he would follow. You could do all kinds of things to Three to keep him focused on hating you. You could throw some guilt over his people on him, you could throw some guilt over what a big old pain in the ass he was. You could physically jerk him around and annoy him by making it clear he couldn't retaliate too.

The assassin was pretty sure Claudia would not approve of her methods. Bullying a trauma victim so he got pissed enough to walk...yeah. Not Claudia's style. Lancer wasn't Claudia though. She couldn't do that humming thing that calmed everyone down. She didn't have fluffy down on her arms either that made them nice to be held by. Besides, it hadn't been Claudia that got traumatized possession victim Lancer out of restraints. It had been Silva - the assassin Jordan had hired to help rescue Claudia. Silva, who had stayed on long after Jordan's money ran out because Slavers could even make a professional work for free. Silva with her hard shell and insect-like movement. Silva with her hard predatory voice. Noiseless feet. Words like bullets. Over and over, she'd perforated Lancer's self-pity and excuses.

"Quit whining Lancer! You aren't evil YET! What are you going to DO in the mean time?!"

Lancer and Malice had been Silva's students from the moment they'd been rescued by the core crew, but it had been mostly self-defense and power refinement training. At that moment though, Lancer had decided to suck Silva's knowledge dry. If she was condemned to be some sick kind of death machine, she would become the ultimate death machine. She would pay up in advance for her future crimes. She would become a weapon for her team to use. Let the others decide on which slavers died. She would be the how. Obsessing over her training slowed down her obsession with her possession. Hand to hand combat, stealth training, all those knives and weapons she carried around for no sane reason. Silva's alien style...then anything else she could glean from any source. Lancer the volunteer assassin. No money required...just a target. Every waking minute devoted to becoming the most exquisite murderer she could be.

This was Rodimus' nanny. Poor guy could not catch a break.

On they walked. On she goaded to keep his feet moving and his focus on her. Lancer thought the dunes might be getting a bit shorter, but she couldn't be sure. Trying to keep an eye on the treacherous footing was hard enough, but her pal made things so much more exhausting. One protein bar and four hours of sleep since she left the Maelstrom wasn't really cutting it either. Finding food and water was becoming an obsession.

The thin sun drifted lower and Lancer blew another hole in a dune to shelter in. Her energy greedy body was running low on that power too. Not a problem she'd ever had to face before. Since her powers first emerged it had always been too much power to cause her grief. She didn't know what to do about it. At least her little domes started warm and stayed that way with minimal help from her. Their body heat was enough to keep them cozy.

"Get in there Rodimus," she sighed. When the figure beside her didn't move she checked his face. While she'd been working on their home for the night, Three had slipped away and Two stood staring vacantly off into space. She didn't have the energy to goad him, so she just took his leash and pulled him in after her. Touching him directly might have set off One. He must have been somewhat aware though because he ducked his head when he needed to and sat down on the far side of the dome.

"Time for dinner!" she sang, brandishing a protein bar.

Three reappeared like magic and threw her a malevolent glare. "No. Eat it yourself."

Lancer laughed at him. "Don't be stupid. How can you be the guy I saw on the news all the time? That guy even had the smarts to be rude to some of the idiot politicians and reporters when they were acting like morons. Your predecessor never did that. If we don't find food or aren't rescued soon we will both be facing starvation. I've got 3 protein bars left. If you eat or don't it won't make any difference so eat! Starvation is a nice slow death too, so if it comes to that I promise to off us both OK? I don't want to force you – especially since I know you'll probably try to kill me in your sleep again tonight."

" I'm sorry...why don't you leave me alone so I don't hurt you?"

Lancer looked at him, head cocked. " I'm pretending to be a hero, that's why. It's on my bucket list to rescue a fair dude in distress. Besides, do you think I don't understand? The nightmares and the flashbacks I mean. Rodimus, it wasn't that long ago my friends had me in restraints so I wouldn't hurt myself...or them. I don't blame you...it's sadly normal after all you've been through. I just wish you'd cut me a little slack when you AREN'T flashing so I can save my strength."

"This is stupid. I'm a liability. I'm nothing to you," Rodimus argued.

" In such a hurry to die? You're something to me because I say you are. Why do your people help so many humans? I'm helping you because I am...isn't that enough?"

" I can't control my own mind, Lancer. All I wanted to do when they had me tied up was kill them, and now that I'm here I'm still trying to kill them. It's you I'm hurting, but it's them I see."

" I know a few tricks that helped me...maybe they can help you too."

" I don't want help. I'm supposed to be the one helping..." Rodimus trailed off a moment, his eyes that murky shade that signaled Two was taking over. "Helping...when I'm free...I'll help you...I'll help you find your mind..."

Lancer shuddered. She didn't know who he was talking to, but the horror on his face told her to pity them too. She had no idea how to respond to this, so she just went awkwardly along.

" If you can find my mind that will be amazing," she quipped. She was satisfied that he started and looked at her in confusion. "Time to eat Mr. Autobot. Stalling is not gonna work... you do get that. Right?"

She taught him how to chew. He found the texture disgusting from crunchy, sticky start to soggy, clotty finish. After chocking and gagging through his first voluntary swallow, he was amazed she didn't have the compassion to let him stop. No amount of complaining or appealing for mercy moved her. She expected him to take a second bite.

"You can't be serious," he said seriously.

"You...Slayer of Unicron...you are whining about eating an 8 ounce protein bar and you think I can't be serious?" Lancer snickered.

"But..." he tried, and then looked at her. She had one eyebrow cocked and she looked a bit...amused. He looked at the rent remnants of his protein bar and contemplated the futility of fighting her over maybe two or three more disgusting mouthfuls.

He finished it.

The next night was easier for him because they split the last bar. The night after that was even easier since they didn't have anything left. Two nights after that, he was finally clear on exactly which confusing, uncomfortable sensation was actually hunger and also clear on why it sucked.

Mid-day of day seven.

"Something's MOVING inside me!"

After four hours of walking in silence, Rodimus' panicked voice startled the crap out of Lancer. She was just tired and worried enough to think he'd somehow picked up a parasite when her ears heard the rumble of an empty belly.

"You're hungry. Your stomach is growling," she snapped. She was hungry too, and getting short tempered as a result. Shorter tempered.

"That's my own stomach moving around by itself? How do I stop it?" Rodimus demanded.

Lancer's eyes narrowed, "You eat or you deal with it. Those are your options."

"This is ridiculous. This body is such a chore...it's always leaking or needing something. Disgusting!" Rodimus spat his words indignantly. Lancer, who was feeling light headed and ravenous, wondered how he still had the energy to wave his arms around.

She opted not to answer but pointed in the direction they were heading. Her hand shook slightly. The lack of food and the lack of ambient energy were combining to wear her down a lot faster than her companion, or even a normal person. She saw his eyes focus on her shaking hand and he stared into her face for a minute. Was that concern or a noting of weakness to take advantage of? Either way, he pretended ignorance. She pointed again more forcefully and he walked.

At least the terrain was getting smoother, but her legs felt like jelly anyway. There were even a few plants, dry and nutrition-less, coming up through the dusty sand. If she'd had any juice left at all, she'd have drilled down for water. They were almost done with their last gallon. She was afraid her body would start leaching power from his so she spent most of the day trying to figure out how she would keep him safe from himself if she had to sleep away from him.

If he noticed when she ended their travel day earlier than usual, he again feigned not to. Finding a dune tall enough to dig a cave in proved impossible so she simply aimed lower and made him a small pit with a glass roof. The soil at the base steamed momentarily when she was done.

Rodimus raised an eyebrow at her.

"Get in there," she demanded wearily.

"We aren't going to both fit in there," he said.

"Nope, just you. Get," Lancer said.

"What's wrong?" Rodimus asked.

"Nothing. I'm just tired of your nightly attempts to kill me," Lancer said harshly.

The naked guy in the cape turned to face her and studied her seriously as if seeing her for the first time. She could practically see the wheels turning...and then she met Four.

"You're lying," he stated. "What's wrong?"

"Just get your ass in there," Lancer said, "or I'll do if for you."

Rodimus gave a snort that sounded suspiciously like a stunted laugh. "You're so mean. You push me around, you yell, you insult, and you'd like me to think you don't care when you hurt me. I'm crazy...I'm broken...I'm not stupid Lancer. You think I don't notice when you shut down my pain when you change my bandages? You think I haven't noticed you give me twice as much water as you drink? Every time I shut down on you, you try to bring me back gently before you work on pissing me off. I have nightmares. You have nightmares too. You scream in your sleep you know. You scream 'Get out! Leave me alone! Stop hurting them! Stop making me hurt them!'"

"Get in there Rodimus," Lancer insisted.

"Not until you tell me what's wrong. If you were going to isolate me you would have done it already. This isn't about my problems...it's about yours," Rodimus stated matter-of-factually.

Lancer stared at this new guy with some concern. This guy was THINKING. This guy was present with her and thinking. He was going to be much harder to handle.

"You've noticed I'm a mutant too, while you were noticing the rest?"

"No. Every human I've met glows and blasts holes in the ground with their fingers, and grows a tail and horns when convenient too."

Great...somebody was rediscovering sarcasm too.

"The horns are not...not because I'm a mutant," Lancer stammered. " It's the energy powers. I'm out of juice. I'm afraid I might start drawing from your body in my sleep, so I'm sleeping out here." She paused and glared at him. "Do not get any ideas Mr. Death-wish."

"You're going to make your own shelter?"

Lancer just shook her head.

"You're so tired you plan to sleep out in the open." It wasn't a question.

Lancer didn't have the energy to make plausible excuses for that, so she nodded.

"And if something jumps you?" Rodimus asked.

Lancer sneered. "Then I'll die and so will you, so you'll be happy, or I will win and we will have a fancy dinner. Either way, one of us will be happy...oh and you'll have some underwear at last. It'll be great. Now get in there so I can seal you in."

He stared at her again with that unnerving intelligence and complied without a word. Instead of a full sheet of glass she left an opening big enough for him to call her through if he needed her. Then she walked about ten yards from his "window" and went straight to sleep on the sand.

In the end it was good they had separate sleeping quarters that night, although not for the reasons they imagined.

Lancer was dead asleep. If a predator had stumbled across her it would have had an easy snack, but the forces approaching their camp site weren't hungry. While they weren't out of the sand yet, they were close, and the terrain and weather patterns were changing.

The wind changed directions. The breeze and the scent were enough to wake Rodimus up, although he didn't know why or even question it. Sleep was still an alien thing to him. Fearful wakefulness was not.

Glancing at Lancer briefly told him she was out cold. He tested his cell/shelter. Quite strong of course. She didn't trust him. Of course, he acknowledged he wasn't trustworthy. He curled his legs in front of his body and tried pushing against the glass. It didn't budge. What a bitch.

Still a captive.

He rested a minute or two, hating his jailer.

The rational part of him realized that was at best highly unfair and at worst another sign of his obvious insanity.

He wasn't used to human sensations enough to identify "damp" although he did note the wind was coming from the south-east. Was there another sand-storm coming? Perhaps he should warn her.

Maybe she'd get buried and suffocate. Maybe trying to burn a shield into the sand would drain her dry.

Wow. You really hate her don't you? some part of him said. She's a human. She's trying to help you...

Furious rage argued. Captive. Forced to walk. Forced to eat. To drink. To endure the disgusting aftermaths of eating and drinking. He kicked the glass barriers repeatedly – no longer trying to even be quiet about it.

Lancer didn't stir.

She must be half dead with exhaustion... Mostly he didn't care, although he briefly wondered how to finish off the other half. At the same time he was sorry, and impressed with her determination. She's brought us a long way. …. A long way I didn't want to come!

Both feet hammered the glass.

He didn't notice the thunder. He was doing something. How long had it been since he'd been allowed to just do something? No restraints. No Lancer interfering. Just lashing out against his cell felt good even if he wasn't getting anywhere with it.

On and on he kicked – his face twisted into an knot of glee and murder. Something was going to break! His legs...the glass...it didn't matter. Even the pain felt good!

And then the lighting struck Lancer. The thunder deafened him, but it was the bright light that threw him right into a flashback. How long he lingered there, with Jabez fingers working metallic claws that pealed the skin off Goldbug's face until the bones of his skull were exposed was uncertain, but when he came back to the present his glass cage was shattered, his hands and face were bleeding from peppered shards, and his mutant guardian was lying prone on the ground moaning. He noticed a large, jagged piece of cage was already in his hand. He was pleased it was sharp enough to cut him quite deeply.

FREE! He could run! She'd never be able to keep up! Or...or he could kill her. How much he wanted to...kill her...kill something. Her eyes met his, white, pupil-less, but he knew she saw him. His blood dripped down the shard he held so tightly. Red on the sand...he stared at it for a while, remembering Goldbug bleeding...those unknown girls bleeding. So red. If he wanted to he could make Lancer bleed too. If he wanted he could take his time with it.

She moved her lips slowly...maybe to beg for mercy he didn't have.

He leaned in to listen. Should be good.

"ruh...run!" she said. She tried to grab him – no – push him.

"RUN!" she cried.

Maybe it was a lifetime of battlefield training. He would never be able to explain why he obeyed against all his fuming obsessions with ending her or ending himself. That tone...you didn't disobey that tone when someone shouted like that at you. Your feet moved before your brain even registered what was said.

He ran. He felt the hair on his arms lift with static and threw himself down. Glancing behind he saw the storm target the mutant with a massive lightning strike. He whipped his head around and buried his eyes in his arms.

The world behind him lit up again, but he had his eyes to the darkness and remained in the now. The thunder made his ears ring. Again and again the bolts shook the world. How much could she take? Perceptor would be fascinated. He winced...he'd forgotten the names of the others. Only Goldbug remained. The name opened a chink in his madness though – the armor he'd made to shield himself from the heat of his own hate.

Perceptor's name was immediately followed by a flood of others, but the one that crushed him was Optimus. What would the senior Prime think of his partner laying in the sand, plotting to kill the human woman who was rescuing him? Or rather, failing to rescue him? He looked over his shoulder at her. The lightning blinded him again, but this time the sight of her was so odd, so surreal, that even the flashbacks couldn't override it.

She was suspended off the ground, caught in the current of the plasma. The leaders that fanned out on their way down re-converged in an unnatural fashion to find her. The discharge spent, she flopped to the ground, hissing with pain.

Even in this state she was watching for him. Their eyes met again. "Don't..." she growled. "Don't come over here. Don't you use me Rodimus!"

He blinked. It hadn't dawned on him. If he went over there it would surely be the last thing he did.

And she couldn't do a damned thing about it either.

He pushed himself up on his hands, still clutching his shard.

She'll never forgive herself.

Stupid Optimus. What did he know about hate?

You don't hate her. You just hate yourself and wish she'd left you to die.

Truth hurt. Truth was not satisfying at all.

Still had his glass though. Walking into lightning was not the only way out now was it?

She'll never forgive herself for that either. Something...happened...to her. The way she says it. 'Don't use me!' Something did. You know that kind pain when you hear it.

Slag it. Slag it.

"SLAG IT! SLAG THIS, SLAG OPTIMUS, AND SLAG YOU TOO LANCER!"

Lancer watched, helpless in the grip of the lightning strikes, while he ranted and gestured madly. The shard he was holding gleamed – glass and blood in the light she was emitting. He cut himself repeatedly while he raved – slashing his leg, his chest, and his face.

It was going to be another long night.

Rodimus wore himself out a while before the storm did. The lightning toyed with Lancer for nearly an hour before it seemed to tire of her company and moved on. She still warned him to keep his distance though so he sat dejected just outside her no-Rodimus zone. His scarlet piece of glass fell to the ground next to him.

She watched him suspiciously, even though he could see the repeated strikes were causing her pain.

"Put some damned pressure on that leg!" she snarled at him. Her fangs and horns were more pronounced than he remembered and she was hard to understand.

Looking at the referenced leg caused it to hurt some. Of course, the best hand to put pressure on it with needed some pressure too. He shrugged, pushed, and let them fight out which would clot first. The gash on his face ran freely.

"Can I help you somehow?" he asked after a while. He could tell the way her muscles were jumping and twitching was not entirely normal, especially since her fingers were making her palms bleed. Oh...those rough spots were scars.

"You're nuts," Lancer criticized.

"Yeah," Rodimus agreed.

" I thought you wanted to kill me," she accused between surges. " I thought you wanted to run off and die."

"That too...and you're making me sorry I didn't."

She swore at him – at length.

"You sure you don't need help?"

"When this settles down maybe. It's not that bad," she said.

"Oh. So this gets worse?" Rodimus inferred.

She swore at him – at length.

Finally, "Only once before. This time is different. I was just so low...I couldn't control it like I can when I'm balanced. I'm cramping some though."

" Is your energy level back to normal?"

"A bit high, but that's all good," she sighed, sitting up slowly. She was pretty sure the storm had moved on to bigger and better things. She fought to stretch her spasming muscles and heard crunching. The sand underneath her body was nothing but fulgurites.

"Does that mean you don't have to eat anymore?"

"No. It helps in some ways but food isn't just energy. I still need protein and minerals and all that good stuff."

"Oh. So why didn't you pack more food in your pack?" Rodimus asked.

"What do you mean? It can only hold so much," Lancer drawled.

"Doesn't it have a subspace link? You carry it like it's weightless," he reasoned.

"Well, yeah. It does compensate for the weight somehow but there's still the matter of volume Rodimus. I put several gallons of water in there," Lancer reasoned wearily. Four was a tiresome guy.

"Can I see it?" he asked.

Lancer stared at him, thinking of all the pointy, poisonous friends she'd stowed in there. She glanced at his crusty, improvised dagger and reluctantly shrugged off her pack. He took it and looked inside, making no move for her weapons.

" It IS a subspace pocket. You can put almost anything that will fit through the opening in there. How did you get your hands on Transformer technology if you don't know how to even use it? Is it available on the black market somehow? Subspace tech was one of the things Optimus decided never to share with humans since you sneak enough weapons around to hurt each other already."

Lancer stared at him. Part of her was furious that she could have brought a whole year's worth of rations with her. The other part was sick with what she had to say to him.

"Rodimus...this isn't Autobot technology. I got it off the Maelstrom. It's Jabez technology."

Rodimus One grabbed his blade and went right for her face. She was way too tired to fight him, so she zapped him as gently as she could while still knocking him out. Also too tired to lug him the few yards to her previous hole, she dug a new one for two right there and rolled him in. Then she took advantage of his unconsciousness to check his old wounds and bind his fresh ones. She separated their spaces with a few more glass stalactites, and sealed the entrance. Curling up around her growling guts, she fell sound asleep again.

She woke up damp.

Groggy, sore, and famished, she was initially dense enough to simply add that fact to her list of "things that suck."

She glanced at her pal and added the fact that One was digging furrows into the sand with his fingers as he wordlessly tried to grab her.

"You suck too," she told him. There was nothing to do but wait him out, so she sat with her knees curled up, watching those powerful, claw-like fingers stretching and grasping away. The trenches he made were impressively deep and he didn't even have claws, the poor guy. They held up pretty well too, at least until he drew new scars in the sand over them.

Then she realized.

"They're WET!" She laughed and clasped his mauling fingers for a second. "Look Rodimus! Water!"

Maybe it was the laughter...something completely alien to his time with the Jabez. Maybe it was the way she touched him – firmly, but not painfully. He blinked.

"Look! The ground's wet! We're getting somewhere Rodimus!" Her grin shocked him. He didn't care about the water. In fact he was a bit disconcerted that one of the best chances he had for getting out of this life seemed to be fading, but her smile stunned him. Certainly it was nothing he had expected to see again.

Oblivious to this, Lancer went on to express hope that they'd find food soon too, and that they could hole up somewhere and wait for rescue. He felt it rude to point out that rescue was not on his agenda, so he just watched her while she rambled on a while. She sliced his cage apart and let them both out. Then she made him stand back while she aimed a finger and blew a hole into the ground. The soil steamed, but otherwise remained unchanged, so she tried again.

This time she stood over her pit and waited. Rodimus came to stand next to her. They both stared obsessively down, praying for exact opposite results. Lancer's wish won out. Rodimus was reduced to handing her the empty water jugs so she could sit in the soggy bottom of her pit, waiting patiently for enough liquid to pool. She loaded every gallon except one a capful at a time. She held the murky jugs up over her head like they were championship trophies.

"That's filthy water," Rodimus commented. Maybe he could dissuade her from surviving.

"My scanner says it's safe," Lancer said, "but we're going to purify it anyway."

" I don't see how," Rodimus said.

" I will be delighted to show you!" she said. "It will be awesome!"

And she did. Rodimus had no desire to see her succeed, but he had to grudging admit to himself she made the most of her powers. She tilted one of the silt filled jugs and rested the empty one over the top. Then she flash-heated the bottom container so quickly the water turned straight to steam. The jug on top got the opposite treatment. The steam curling up into the top jug got flash frozen instead. It coated the sides of the jug.

She wasn't able to capture quite all of it, and the first jug remained full of silt, but they did get a decent amount of clean ice in the top container. "Like I said, awesome!" She wiggled the cold jug at him and smirked.

He raised an eyebrow and sighed.

"You are an ungrateful dickhead Rodimus," Lancer laughed. Even his pissy scrouge face wasn't going to dampen her relief.

"Yeah, but that was pretty smart," he told her.

They continued south. Her day got better and his got worse. By mid-day she plunged a clawed hand into the sand and caught their first meal.

"What is that thing?" Rodimus wanted to know.

"Absolutely no idea. I'm pretending it's a lizard," Lancer chirped.

" Is that what your scanner says?"

"My scanner says it's edible. There are other symbols coming up but Robert's translation program doesn't seem to have gotten that far yet. It's all good. I'll settle for edible."

Rodimus eyed the carcass she had split length-wise and stretched out on a rock she was now heating. It was roughly snake shaped, with 6 stunted limbs that resembled flippers along its length. It sizzled against the hot rock. She had the organs cooking off to one side too. The whole thing smelled like road-kill, a scent every Autobot was intimately familiar with.

Obviously Lancer had very twisted ideas of edible if she thought he was going to eat that.

"There's not much to that thing, maybe you should eat it all. You're the one who's shaking," Rodimus tried.

" It's so cute how you keep thinking crap like that's gonna work on me. Tell me, does 'Prime' really stand for 'Professional Bull-shitter' or is this something special you do just for me?"

"No, it pretty much means 'professional bull-shitter,' especially in my case," Rodimus said with a sigh. " I don't think I should eat that."

" It's not going to hurt you. It may not be tasty but it won't hurt you," Lancer said.

"No...I mean...I shouldn't," Rodimus stammered. He stared at the meat, but it was Goldbug's blood and muscle he saw.

Lancer looked up from poking at their meal with the dagger she was using to flip it with. "We'll find more soon. I'll be fine," she assured him.

He shook his head. He was shaking. "Shouldn't..."

Lancer watched his eyes...wondering if she was going to have a fight on her hands. She was also starting to get that this was about the lizardish thing, not about how much she got to eat.

"Rodimus, we don't have the luxury of going vegetarian here."

"Nothing...nothing should die for me...nothing more should die for me..."

"Rodimus..."

"They tore him up! They split him. They skinned him...just like that thing...they did it for me! Talking didn't stop them! Nothing stopped them! They wanted my screams, so I stopped screaming, but that didn't stop them! They took his circuits out and then they took his bones out! They took his eyes and grew them back! It was all for me! They made me watch! They locked my eyes open so I would watch! They wanted me to know I couldn't save him! I failed him! I failed them all! Please don't kill things for me! I shouldn't be alive! Things shouldn't die to make me live!" He continued to ramble but his sobs were so powerful she couldn't make out a word.

Lancer completely forgot all her rules for dealing with him she dropped he knife and let the first meal she'd had in days burn. She gathered him up in her arms and rocked him. He fought her, but not the way he did when he was flashing. He tried to push her away – to deny himself the comfort she was trying to give him. Apparently he wasn't worthy of being held either. She held him anyway, while their meal turned itself into a nearly inedible charcoal briquette.

In the end she had to force it down his gullet.

The next morning, she caught two more, and had to force feed him that meal too.

In all fairness, it was all she could do to choke them down as well. They smelled exactly like road-kill, so she assumed the nasty rotten taste of it all was a lot like road-kill too. Also, Jabez scanner notwithstanding, they both got diarrhea by mid-morning. This shattered Lancer's "never leave him alone" rule too.

He behaved though because she threatened him as she ran off behind a dune.

" I can HEAR you and if you make me come over there now we will see if I can aim with my butt as well as I do with my lances!"

Rodimus did, in fact, get the concept of "fates worse than death" and just stood there. Or maybe he would have just stood there anyway.

Lancer decided something had changed in her traveling buddy. He didn't attack her as often, and no amount of goading pushed him into getting angry with her. The brief flash of insightful intelligence she'd named Four was only a memory. Leaving her with Two. Sluggish, dull-eyed, annoying Two.

Continued in Marooned Part C