A Special Touch
By: Sapphire
Part 4
Chapter 7
- Secrets
"When I collected her, she should've been dead. As it was Blackarachnia was hanging on by a thin thread and she'd been shielded. Even with Pacerpaw, LV wouldn't have made it," Blaze explained to the others.
Behind the huddled group three people were resting. Blackarachnia, Lady Venom and Varyn. All had had a tough time of late.
"So what are you saying?" Kacheetah asked.
Pacerpaw and Blaze exchanged glances.
"Well, I watched Lady Venom closely after she was taken into my care. Her wounds were bad. Then I noticed something... They were getting smaller. She was self-healing."
There was a stunned silence.
"Wow," Skyfire spoke aloud everyone's thoughts.
"That must come from her love of Rampage. Most of us have powers linked to the ones possessed by our favorite characters," Sharpshot said.
"Then why can't I self-heal?" Lady Scale asked. "TM2 Dinobot could."
"Because everyone seems to have one ability linked to the character. You've already taken one from TM2 Dinobot. His claws," Pacerpaw noted.
"Not to mention his monocle laser eye," Cheetra added.
"Hmm. I guess," Lady Scale sighed.
"Lady V didn't have any of Rampage's character traits at first. I think she's still developing them," Miss Special remarked.
"Do you think it has anything to do with that strange green amulet around her neck?" Starath wondered.
"It could do. To be on the safe side, I don't think she should part with it," Pacerpaw said quietly.
"Does Lady V know all this, Pacer?" Starath questioned.
"Yes, I discussed it with her earlier. She may be able to self heal, with or without the amulet I'm not sure, but she still tires. She took a heck of a beating. She needs the rest."
Nurann gazed down at her leg.
"Well, she has fully recovered. Why not take the amulet and put it around me? See if it heals my leg."
There was another thoughtful silence.
"That could work," Sapphire said with a shrug.
"We'd have to consult her first," Pacerpaw pointed out. "Anyone want to do the dirty work?"
"I'll do it," Nurann sighed. The others followed her as she hobbled over to Lady Venom with one crutch. Nurann insisted she only needed another day or two before she was active, but it was becoming obvious her leg wasn't healing as fast as she'd like it to.
She touched Lady Venom softly.
"LV?"
"Hmm?" the Canadian stirred. She rolled over with a yawn and blinked up sleepily at Nurann.
"Hey, sorry to wake you," Nurann whispered.
"No, it's ok. I've been sleeping way too much."
She frowned.
"Why is everyone staring at me?"
Nurann grinned. "Because we've been talking about you."
"Ohhh," Lady Venom said as she sat up and stretched. "Only good things, I hope."
"We were talking about your self-healing powers. And your amulet."
She frowned again and looked down at the green stone around her neck.
"My amulet? What about it?"
"We think it may be linked to your ability to heal. Nurann wants to try it on and see if it heals her leg," Pacerpaw explained.
"Yeah, we also want to know if you can self-heal without it, although we're not going to risk testing that out," Skyfire said.
Lady Venom nodded softly and gazed at Amber.
"Hey, Amber? Come over here, please," she asked suddenly.
"Why?" Amber asked suspiciously.
"I want to use one of your little knives."
"Again, why?"
The others watched the exchange between the two girls with interest. Pacerpaw already knew what it was about.
"Because I want to try something," Lady Venom persisted.
"Er, okay," Amber said and detached one of her tiny blades and handed it to Lady Venom. The young woman removed her amulet from her neck and placed it beside her.
"This is low risk, Skyfire. I want to know the answer to your question as much as you do," she said as she held out her arm and positioned the blade over it.
"Oi, Lady V, you don't have to do that," Wicked Woman protested.
"It's alright. I want to."
Sapphire looked away, queasy at the sight of blood, as Lady Venom drove the blade into her skin and drew a neat line into her flesh. Blood quickly seeped to the top and Lady Venom and the others watched intently.
Sure enough, although very slowly, the wound started to heal.
"Now let's try the amulet," she said and took it and put it around her neck. The wound started to close up twice as quickly.
She looked up at everyone. "There's your answer. It works like the two halves of Rampage's spark, almost. I can heal without it, but I'm stronger with it."
She gazed down at her arm and saw that a neat little scab had formed and was already starting to peal.
She took off her necklace and offered it to Nurannoniel.
"Here. See if it likes you too," she smiled.
Nurann took it and placed it on her sore leg. The deep teeth marks in her skin remained. She stared at it for a minute and was just about to give up when two of the marks shrank.
"It works!" she gasped. "Slowly, but it works!"
Lady Venom smiled.
"This will prove handy."
"Very," Pacerpaw admitted.
"But I think Blackarachnia needs it more desperately than you, at the moment, Nurann."
"Oh, sure," she said and handed it to the Swede.
"I reckon that you and Blackarachnia stay here with Varyn and use the amulet between you 'til you're healed. The rest of us are going to split up and form search parties for Sinead."
"Can I come with you? I'm feeling a lot better now," Lady Venom piped up.
"Sure," Miss Special said.
"Oh and, whose team are you in, Wicked Woman?"
"Your team. Team B. Blaze is in Team A."
"Perfect, because I want to talk to at least one of you to find out how you got here, and why it took so long!"
"I'll fill you in," Wicked Woman said, "since you missed the group discussion about it earlier."
"Looking forward to it," she said as she got to her feet.
Everyone started making their way to the exit of the sleeping hall but Pacerpaw remained to talk to Nurann for a while.
"Watch over Varyn, Nurann. I know she doesn't look physically damaged, but somehow I know she's not feeling well."
"Will do," Nurann replied with a yawn and a smile.
Pacerpaw nodded and walked out to join the others in forming search parties. After they left it became very quiet. While she tried to stay awake for as long as she could, Nurannoniel soon dozed off to sleep, exhausted from boredom. Blackarachnia slept peacefully beside her, unknowing that there was an amulet healing her wounds.
Get out of my head!!!
Varyn awoke with a start. She was sweating all over. A cold sweat. He throat was moist and she swallowed whilst trying to catch her breath. She spluttered and gurgled, rasped and coughed. Afraid she'd wake the others who were sleeping (only two, she noted, as most were out on a search and rescue mission for Sinead) she stumbled outside into the lonely, empty hallway at the gate. She hated this underground prison!!
Closing the steel door behind her, she pounded her fists against the wall and breathed heavily. What nightmares. What terrible, terrible nightmares!
Where was Sinead? Varyn was not a religious person, but she made a small request to any good power that existed that she would come home safely and alive. She hoped that Sinead wouldn't have to endure what she'd had to. Was still enduring....
Shivers. The memories came rushing back. It was in her nature not to tell people very personal problems. But this...it was as if some presence lingered on inside of her, preventing her from speaking of it. The presence of....
She had no name for the alien she had faced days ago. The alien that had paralyzed her and spoken to her until she was torn away by Sapphire. It had fixed her gaze onto It. She couldn't breath. All she could hear was the blood rushing in her ears. She never heard It speak, she had felt It. It ripped her apart, bared her own soul to herself; all its darkness, all its pain, all its mysteries. Plainly. The fact that she could see herself through Its eyes so completely had shocked her to the point she felt like imploding. It had revealed things in her that no person should have to see. Secrets of the inner being that every person has but never catches a glimpse of. On a platter, It had served it to her. And It had declared that It knew her, wholly, and It was coming for her from the inside out. She saw herself, in bits and pieces, on a silver table. She saw a rotten fruit placed among her, fermenting slowly, spreading a gross green fungi gradually but clearly. Then it was gone and all she knew was void.
How do you explain that experience to someone? Who in their right mind could understand what she'd been through? She was more than profoundly disturbed. She was naked. Completely naked, and she knew it. Inside her It was growing, a sense of doom, her own doom. But she'd wanted to prolong that self-determined end - she had wanted to be in control.
However, her power, her strength...it was unbelievable. She had never felt so consumed by it. It filled her, every inch. She could face anything! Look at it and destroy it with her bare hands. She could stand up to anything the Universe had to offer.
Anything, but herself.
"Jen?"
She turned to see the owner of the tentative voice. A young girl was looking at her, eyes still innocent. She was pretty, melancholic.
Varyn collapsed to the floor, sobbing slowly. The little girl put a hand on her shoulder.
"Jen what's wrong? Don't cry Jen. Don't cry..."
The touch was bitterly cold. Prickles went down Varyn's spine. Her entire body screamed no.
"Please don't cry. Things will get better."
She raised her head sharply and struck the girl in the stomach.
"Bitch!!"
The little girl faded away, her eyes dark red, bleeding crimson tears.
The girl was herself at five years of age.
She couldn't even remember what she'd looked or sounded like at that age.
"I guess it was buried deep in my mind, stored away in some distant folder in the filing system that is my brain," Varyn said calmly.
She lowered her head and let her tears dry on her face. Torture me, yes. Torture me with the one thing I can't deal with.
But I sure as hell will fight back.
Chapter 8
- Rescue
* * *
2 Hours Later
"It's so cold here," Lady Scale breathed.
"Cybertron doesn't get as much sun as Earth does, and they're further away from their sun too," Sapphire explained as she walked along side the Romanian.
"A cold sun," Hacker almost whispered. Sapphire turned and looked at her.
"You ok?"
Hacker nodded somberly. She'd been so exhausted after she awoke from her concussion, but she pretended like nothing was wrong. She had to do this - she couldn't go back to sleep knowing Sinead was out here somewhere. Alone under the pale sun of a foreign planet.
The threesome had been dispatched down a series of underground tunnels. The tunnel system was mostly destroyed, but there were some areas that the invaders had missed and were unaware of. They didn't go far, but they at least provided some cover for their perilous journey.
"You know what I feel like?" Lady Scale suddenly asked.
"What?" Sapphire said, trying to mask the weariness in her voice. She marveled over Lady Scale's seemingly endless energy and optimism.
"I feel like something warm to drink, being curled up in my soft bed back home and watching a video."
"Beast Wars?" Sapphire tried.
Lady Scale pulled a face. "No way! I think I've had enough transformers to last me a lifetime!"
Sapphire giggled and Hacker smiled. Lady Scale folded her arms and cocked an eyebrow.
"What about you, Sapphire?"
"I'd like to be sitting on a step of a cottage in the Drakensberg, with the spring sun on my face and the smell of the dried grass in my nose. I'd like to be staring placidly at the mist hanging around the mountains and listen to the calls of the birds."
"That sounds nice," Hacker said calmly.
Sapphire nodded. "I've been to quite a few countries in my time. They all have a certain feel to them, but Africa...it has a spirit like no other. It's the cradle of mankind, if you believe in the scientific route, and I'll never feel more at home than I do when I'm there."
Lady Scale was going to speak of Romania when she heard a rustle. Ahead of her, a few loose rocks tumbled and the downpour of dust was caught in the flashlight she was carrying. The tunnels were dark since the power fuses had been destroyed and they had to rely on meek little torch beams to see.
"Shhh!" she hushed everyone. They all stared at the spot where the rocks had come down. It was not a large disturbance, but noticeable enough to catch all three's attention. It stopped and an eerie, suspenseful silence followed.
Lady Scale held up her hand to tell the others not to follow and took a few tentative steps forward. Soon she was a foot away from the puddle of dust and small rocks that had fallen from a hole in the tunnel roof. Slowly she looked up.
"OH SHOOT!"
Lady Scale nearly tripped over herself as she ran back. The next thing she knew there was a huge tremor running through the ground and she was thrown off her feet.
Sapphire shrieked as a massive grey dog-like foot came down, only it had long sharp black claws. It started scratching furiously, widening the hole and causing numerous avalanches of cement and soil.
"Run!!! Run!!!" Lady Scale screamed
"Oh oh oh!" Sapphire panicked and grabbed Lady Scale by the arm, heaving her up. The two of them raced after Hacker. Behind them they could hear the dreadful noise of the roof caving in steadily. The thing was following them!
"What the heck is that thing?!" Hacker called to the others as they reached her side.
"Flip, I dunno! Looks like a...a scratcher!"
"A what?" Hacker yelled, her eyes wide with a anxious frown on her face.
"Never mind, I'll explain later!"
They reeled around a corner, ducking and diving over and under the fallen concrete pillars and pipes they'd so carefully crossed earlier. Sapphire kept bashing her shins and feet into them, cursing loudly in pain. She just couldn't seem to get away fast enough.
"We're nearing the tunnel entrance. We'll have to surface or we'll be at a dead end!" Hacker noted.
"Surface with that thing on our tail?!" Lady Scale exclaimed.
"Do you have a better idea?" Hacker retorted.
Suddenly they reached the dead end. Behind them, at a rapid rate, rocks were cascading down in slides and the great grey legs of the pursuing creature were moving toward them.
"Get on my back, Sapph, and I'll carry you, 'Scale. We'll have to fly out," Hacker instructed.
Neither of them argued, although Sapphire could imagine them being snapped up in the jaws of the creature, like a butterfly.
Hacker lifted up and flew through the hole in the ground. It had been concealed by litter and debris which she had to fly through. Bits of glass and metal punctured her skin and she winced, gritting her teeth. As she pulled up, she could see what it was that had been chasing them. It was much like a wolf, only it was about three times the size of an elephant. It had short tufts of fur growing in bunches down its otherwise sticky, tar-coloured body. It had pure white eyes with a small red pupil which grew in size as it saw them. Its legs were buried knee-deep in what was left of the tunnel. Two more were coming up behind it. It snapped its jaws and leapt into the air.
Hacker just avoided its bite although its massive left paw clipped her and sent her spinning sideways.
She managed to hang onto Lady Scale, but Sapphire was knocked off her back. Regaining her balance, Hacker swooped down to catch the falling girl. To her dismay, another great paw came from out of nowhere and whacked Sapphire like a fly into a building. Hacker was forced to fly higher as another of the clawed wolves lunged at her. When she was high enough and out of reach, she stared down in horror. Sapphire was lying, limp, on the floor at the foot of the building, a small puddle of blood gathering around her.
"Oh no, Sapphire..." she cried, tears streaming down her face. Lady Scale screamed furiously.
"Let me down!! Let me down!! I'll kill that thing, I'll kill it!"
Hacker knew that they didn't stand a chance against all three of them. She had to get away and call the others, if there was any hope left. To Lady Scale's indignant protests, she flew the two of them to a high building a considerable distance away from the terrorizing wolves.
Below, Sapphire twitched. She twitched in her legs and in her arms. She opened her eyes although all she could see was red. Slowly, she lifted her arm. It was weak, limp and paining. She dragged her hand across her face and wiped the blood away from her eyes. Staring up, she saw two enormous dog-like faces, red eyes staring down at her. Hot drool splattered in huge drops around her, foul steam rising up from the resulting puddles.
One of the creatures snorted and lowered its head towards her. She grimaced and cupped her hands together. Amazingly, she managed to send off a pulse. The pulse blew the eyes of the offending creature back into its head and its lips curled back. It squealed in agony as blood and white liquid poured from its eye sockets and blood dribbled out of its shredded gums. The other one backed away a little as the injured one spun around, snapping in pain and disorientation. It bit into the animal beside it, which retaliated with a cuff to its head. Suddenly the two of them rolled back and out of Sapphire's sight, snarling and fighting.
Sapphire groaned and tried to get up, but didn't have the energy to do so. Her body felt like a sack of broken bones. Everything ached. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Her chest felt crushed and the breath came short. She felt a hot blast of air ruffle her hair and condense on her cold face. The smell was repugnant. She opened her eyes to see another creature. The third.
It raised a paw and placed it on her chest surprisingly gently, although it still hurt a great deal. Its ears folded back and its tiny red pupil grew in size. White teeth glinted through its partially open mouth.
She stared at it, fear filling her entire body. She felt like throwing up. It raised its paw and three sharp black claws slid out for the kill. She braced herself. Then something strange happened. It yelped in confusion and cocked its head, sniffing, its eyes searching the area around her. It was as if it couldn't see her...
Sapphire tilted her head back and looked up. A figure was looking at her from through a window in the building behind her. The window opened slowly and an arm eased out of it, holding something long and metal. The arm tossed the thing and it flew through the air and crashed to the floor some meters away. Distracted by the noise, the creatures scrambled away from her and started snuffling at the object. Sapphire smiled and allowed her eyes to close again. She was fast slipping into a slumber, knowing only distantly that she may never awaken from it. Something touched her and she forced herself to stir. She looked up to see Sinead peering down at her, tears gathered in her eyes.
"Sinead..." Sapphire breathed.
"Shh shh," the other girl hushed her. She knelt beside her and stroked her cheek.
"Don't move. It's the worst thing you can do right now. You don't know what might be broken," she explained, her voice holding out against the sobs. She could see how ruined Sapphire's body was.
Sinead looked towards the creatures which had lost interest in the pipe she'd thrown and were slinking away into the shadows, retreating to some unknown lair.
A chill wind blew and the dull streets lay dormant on this side of town. The wolves were obviously just watchdogs in the aliens' backyard. There was nothing of importance here. Sinead had wandered towards the quieter areas of town where she figured she'd have more chance of survival until found. She was totally lost. She'd hoped someone would find her, but not at this price.
"Sinead!" a voice called from above. She turned and looked upwards to see Hacker flying down, Lady Scale on her back. The girl landed with ease on the ground beside her. She'd obviously perfected her flying since Sinead was gone.
"Oh my God..." Hacker whispered as she fell to her knees beside Sapphire.
"Sapphire?" she choked. "Can you hear me?
Sapphire nodded, although it seemed to take an enormous amount of effort.
"We have to get her back. Do you know the way home?" Sinead asked.
Hacker put her head in her hands, nodding slightly.
"How're we going to carry her? She's so delicate, and I can't carry all three of you."
"Then don't. Lady Scale and I will wait here. You fly her back holding her as straight as you possibly can, to prevent any spinal damage. When you get back you get help and come and collect us."
Hacker stared at Sinead. The young woman's face was bruised and scratched and her clothes were tattered and dirty. There were stains of blood on her leg and Hacker noted a nasty gash in her right calf.
"How'd you survive this long?" Hacker asked.
"Lying low," Sinead answered wearily.
"Let's not waste anymore time. We don't know how much longer Sapphire can last," Lady Scale urged.
"She's right. Get a move on, Hacker. You can come back for us. I know some hiding places we can stay in for the meantime."
Hacker, very gently, very carefully, lifted Sapphire so that she was lying on her back. Hacker's arms were stiff and even, to create a make-shift stretcher to support Sapphire's back. Her great wings spread out behind her and she lifted up.
"I'll be back," she called to the twosome on the ground. With that, she took off and headed hastily back to base.
Varyn hadn't wandered far from the base when she saw Hacker flying overhead. She waved and Hacker spotted her, although she didn't stop. There was a look of urgency on her face and something limp cradled in her arms that sent off alarm bells in Varyn's head. Something was wrong.
She threw down her cigarette and turned around, prepared to offer any help that she could. She'd needed to get out from that underground prison but now she was being called back by something. Yes, something was terribly, terribly wrong.
Hacker was dismayed to see that Pacerpaw was not back and that the only people there were Nurann and Blackarachnia, both who were asleep.
She placed Sapphire gently on the ground, on a soft mattress and made for Blackarachnia. The pretty girl stirred.
"Mmm... hey Hacker," she said with a smile as she sat up. The amulet slipped off her.
"What's this? Hey, my injuries are gone!" she exclaimed, looking herself over.
"It's a healing amulet. I need it for Sapphire."
"What's going on?" came the voice of a sleepy Nurann.
Nurann suddenly scrambled to her feet. "Oh no, I fell asleep!"
Hacker ignored her and rushed past her. Nurann and Blackarachnia followed her movement and saw who it was that demanded her attention so.
"Oh crap, what happened?" Blackarachnia gasped.
"Three giant wolves with extended claws is what happened," Hacker said somewhat irritably and placed the amulet on Sapphire's middle section.
A voice came echoing through the chamber from the far exit.
"You mean the same wolves that chased me all the way into base?" All three turned to see Varyn, panting, wide-eyes in the entrance.
"Guess the doggies followed you home, Hacker. Mind you, there were only two."
The colour drained from Hacker's cheeks almost immediately.
"Sinead, Lady Scale!" she cried woefully.
"You found her?" Nurann called.
Hacker nodded and ran over to Varyn.
"Look after Sapphire. Watch that the amulet stays with her.."
"Is Sapph hurt badly?" Varyn asked, her expression one of worry.
Hacker pressed in a code into a panel which unlocked the gates, that were double locked by Varyn in fear of the huge hounds outside.
"Yes...she's dying."
With that she darted down the corridor and disappeared out of sight. Varyn swallowed hard and walked calmly toward her friend. She knelt beside her, alongside Blackarachnia and Nurannoniel.
"Hey Sapph," she said softly. "Can you hear me?"
An oppressive silence followed.
Cheetra sped through the gloomy city streets. She avoided the patrols of Transformers, dodged out of sight from various aliens, cheated the search beams and leapt with superb agility over obstacles in her way. She had a message to deliver and it had to reach Nurann, fast.
Skyfire, Dannn and Miss Special had located a crumbled building with someone trapped underneath. The person was crying for their help. It was a series of muffled calls and they had tried as best as they could to blast away and remove the debris, but some of it was just too heavy. With some careful planning, Skyfire had located a spot that, if it received enough disturbance from beneath, would slide left and reveal the trapped person. What better way to start the slide than with a strategically placed mini earthquake? But they'd need Nurannoniel for that.
Cheetra had been assigned to move from search team to search team, delivering messages and positions thereby keeping everyone in contact. She'd had to bypass a few teams on her way to base. Who knew how long this person could last? She had to get the message back to base a.s.a.p!
Part of Cheetra's power was her incredible memory. She was gifted with speed and agility and an excellent memory so she could remember places and therefore be a quick and efficient messenger. She had studied a map of the entire city and memorized it within an hour. She knew where she was going. She was sprinting, savoring the sensation of speed without immediate exhaustion. Even though her mode was a cheetah, she could handle long distances very well. As she ran in the cover of the shadows, she heard a noise coming from above. She looked up to see Hacker descending down towards her hastily. She stopped and watched her land, curious as to why she was flying, so vulnerable to attack, and why she was going at such a pace.
Hacker was more out of breath than she was. "Cheetra!!" she panted.
"Yes, Yes?" she asked anxiously.
Hacker tried to swallow the air quickly so she could talk.
"Sapphire... injured. She needs the help of Pacer, as well as the amulet. Otherwise...she won't make it."
Cheetra nodded. "All right, Starath and Sharpshot are nearby. I'll ask Starath to collect Pacer. But after that I need to get back to base. Someone else is in trouble, and needs Nurann's help."
"Ok. Also, spread the message that I've found Sinead. I'm bringing her back now," Hacker breathed and took to the air again. Cheetra sped on, changing course for Starath and Sharpshot's team.
Miss Special pressed her ear to the ground. She could definitely feel small tremors. The calls persisted.
"The voice sounds female," she said as she got to her feet. "Or it could be a high-pitched male voice. It's hard to tell when someone's under a ton of concrete."
"I sure hope it's not Sinead," Dannn sighed.
"Yeah, this mission is getting steadily worse. Did anyone even check if the tower went down along with the other demolitions?" Skyfire queried.
"Cheetra did a check in some of the cooler zones. The tower has been destroyed. All the main targets have been damaged as well," Miss Special verified.
"Why did we need to do all that? I mean, I know it hinders the aliens a bit, but what good does it really do us, in the grand scheme of things?" Dannn asked.
Miss Special patted her hands together and removed some grit from under her fingernails.
"Planning for the future!" she said in a deep voice, then laughed.
"Megatron would not appreciate the mockery," Dannn said with a grin.
"Come on, Miss Special! Let us in on the plan," Skyfire begged.
She looked at him and her smile faded a little.
"It is really what I said. We disrupted some major transport and communications routes. This means that security and ammunition etcetera will take longer to reach the City Hall. That's our next and final target."
"Sounds big," Skyfire said quietly.
"It is. The Hall is heavily guarded but inside it is the core computer that has computerized access to all Cybertron's military and airbases. Basically, if we can gain control of the main console, we can fly a bomber jet on the other side of the planet. Almost all Cybertron's tanks and jets are unmanned. You can direct entire fleets of fighter ships to attack certain areas."
"Wow...but how can we do that? We don't know how to work all those things! And besides, there aren't enough of us to command all the military bases on the planet. Plus, we wouldn't be able to do it for long," Dannn noted.
Miss Special sat on a chunk of cement and nodded.
"That's true, but we're not planning on controlling all the bases. Just one. Cybertron's own forces have been attacking the perimeter defenses of the planet's most important military base, which is under alien control. If we can access the military equipment in there, we can turn it against the aliens from within. That'll make way for the Cybertronians to get in and gain control of their most important forces. That base too has a multi-control computer."
"But then can't the aliens stop us from what we're doing, if it essentially has links to the Main Console in the Hall?" Skyfire questioned.
"Technically, yes. Which is why we need the best brains of our team to wage a computer war against the aliens. Pacerpaw and Amber."
"And I'm guessing once they've infiltrated and are doing that, we have to hold off massive forces of alien attackers until they win that war," Dannn stated, folding his arms and flopping down wearily onto the floor.
Miss Special nodded.
"Yup. We're gonna have to help them get in, protect them while they're in, and help them get out. Then we destroy the main hall and the rest, thank goodness, is up to Cybertron. We would have won them a huge strategic advantage and frankly, if that's not enough, I'll make it my mission to murder Spencer and his Transforming friends."
Skyfire snorted a laugh. He could understand her frustration. The mission was close to being a suicide mission. As it was it had cost them dearly. They'd nearly lost a few members to death already, and there was still a question mark hanging over the situation of Sinead.
Miss Special sighed loudly. "What's taking Cheetra so long? She surely must have reached Nurann by now."
"Nurann has a sore leg, remember? It will take her a lot longer to get here than it would for Cheetra. She really needs a flyer. Why didn't you just send me?" Dannn asked.
"Because, Dannn, now that the aliens know we are here, the whole city is on high alert. They'll be scanning the skies for you. We're trying to avoid anyone flying at the moment."
"It seems so dumb to have these wings and not be able to use them," Skyfire moaned.
"I know, but you're a target in the air," Miss Special went on. "And we really can't afford any more casualties," she added softly.
Unfortunately for Hacker, Miss Special's foreboding had become a reality. She had a jet fighter on her trail. And it was gaining on her.
"Friggin aliens! Why won't you just leave us alone!" she snarled as she twisted in the air, soaring, ducking, diving and twisting to avoid the spray of laser bullets spitting out from the jet's weapons. A few days ago she had forgotten she even had wings and now she was testing them to their limits!
A stray bullet clipped her already damaged wing and she cursed loudly. A few more hits like that and she'd be a shot pigeon.
"How'm I gonna lose this thing?" she muttered as she raced between building, turning sharply and erratically to try and get out of range of the pursuing jet, but to no avail. She was still heading in the general direction of Sinead and Lady Scale.
Then things took a drastic turn. The jet fired two heat-seeking missiles. She heard the two loud bangs and looked over her shoulder to see the long, white missiles charging towards her. She knew instinctively what they were.
"Oh..." she wasted no time cursing and turned sharply around a building and came out the other side. She glanced over to see both missiles were following her still and had in fact grown closer...and were still getting nearer!
An idea struck her and she pressed on, flying as fast as she could, her huge wings gliding on the updraughts. Just a couple more corners...
Finally she came to the area where she had left Sinead and Lady Scale. As she'd feared, the missing wolf was there, scratching and snarling at the building she suspected her friends were hiding in. It was injured. Blood was pouring from its mouth and empty eye sockets. She pulled her gun from her side and shot a blast at it. It turned around with a thunderous snarl and bit blindly into the air. She headed straight towards it, praying her plan would work. Closer, closer she came to its red-stained jaws. And then, when she was nearly inside them, she cut sideways. A moment later the first missile pummeled into the head of the beast, having been attracted to its hot, steamy breath. The head exploded.
Hacker could feel a thick, warm liquid splash onto her legs. She grimaced.
"THAT'S gonna stain my robes..." she groaned. She glanced over her shoulder and quickly looked forward.
"Ugh..." she held back from retching. Not only was the sight behind her disgusting, but she still had one more missile on her tail. She was still flying at high speed and was circling the area when out from in front of her came the jet, spewing out more laser fire. She ducked the charge and clenched her teeth. Unintelligent missiles. Unmanned machines. She could pull this off.
She headed towards the jet, getting lower and lower to avoid its fire and then suddenly she screamed upwards, almost ramming into the belly of the jet, before pulling up at its rear. She felt the blast of heat from its roaring engines and shut her eyes. A second later the jet exploded.
Yep, unintelligent missiles. Both had fallen victim to the same stunt. She would have smiled, if it weren't for the burns she was suffering. Her skin felt as if it were on fire. She opened her eyes. It wasn't, but it was very red. She was glad she had Pacerpaw, and of course there was Lady Venom's healing amulet. Then again, she was already on a waiting list for that!
She breathed a long sigh of relief as she approached the building and saw Lady Scale and Sinead come to a window and wave at her. It was on the top floor, just out of reach of the now dead wolf...or whatever it was. They stepped aside and allowed her to glide in through the open window into an empty, dusty room. There she collapsed to the floor and just breathed. Beautiful, big gulps of air.
"Hacker, are you ok?" Sinead asked worriedly as she came to her side.
"You kicked butt out there!" Lady Scale exclaimed.
Hacker's eyes fluttered open and she gazed wearily up at Sinead.
"I'm ok...I just need...to breathe," she panted.
Sinead let her be for several minutes. Gradually, Hacker got to her feet, visually exhausted. Her face was bleak and pale, her skin red and burned, her legs stained with blood and her right wing damaged.
"Am I the only one around who isn't beaten up?" Lady Scale commented.
Sinead and Hacker smiled simultaneously.
"Probably, Lady Scale. You take better care of yourself, it seems!" Hacker chuckled. Sinead turned to her, her voice toned down. "Sapphire?"
"I left her at base with Lady Venom' amulet."
Sinead frowned. "What about it?"
"It heals. Slowly, yes, but it heals, Sinead. It's magic," she explained.
"Will it be enough to save her? She looked terrible."
Hacker shook her head. "I don't think so, so I delivered a message to Pacer to get back to base as soon as she could. Only Varyn, Nurann and BA were there, as everyone else is out looking for you."
"Great," Sinead mumbled, upset. "If it weren't for my clumsiness at getting caught, Sapphire would never have been hurt...and now Pacer's out looking for me, it could cost Sapphire's life!"
Hacker put a hand on the young woman's shoulder. "Don't be silly, Sinead. This is a war. These things happen. You can't blame yourself for the results. You're not psychic, you can't see into the future. It isn't your fault."
Sinead sighed and walked to the window. It was getting late. The sun was already setting and the shadows were growing tall.
"We'd better get back soon. Those explosions are bound to draw attention to this area now, and there are two more of those...things, on the loose. We need to get everyone back safely inside."
Hacker nodded.
"All right, I'll carry you Sinead. Lady Scale, hop on."
As she glided out of the window (which was naturally very large, as most Transformers were three times the size of humans) she descended until she was only six feet above the ground.
"I'm going to fly low. I learnt the hard way that high flying attracts some nasty attention."
The two passengers nodded and the three of them flew back to base in silence.
"Pacer! You're needed at base! Sapphire's hurt. Starath, fly her. Hmm... fly me too. No wait! That'll slow you down. I'll go on foot. Fly low! The aliens are scanning the skies for you!"
Cheetra seemed to do everything fast. Pacerpaw was about to ask what on Cybertron had happened when she felt herself being grabbed and lifted.
"Oooh! Starath! Give me some warning will yaaaaaa!"
Starath was already up in the air.
"Great! Guess that leaves me alone with her!" Sharpshot moaned and pointed to 'Blaze. 'Blaze shook her head and sighed. The two of them had been bantering since they were put in a team together. "I'll fly you back, just as soon as we find Sinead," she offered.
Cheetra waved the suggestion away. "That's not necessary. Hacker's found Sinead. I say you two spread the message to other teams that they can return home." She turned to Starath. "Off with you!" she said before breaking into a run.
Starath nodded and prepared to fly as fast as she could.
"Hold on tight! We've gotta race back and maneuver well," Starath called to Pacerpaw as she gathered speed. For a few moments she was flying only two feet above Cheetra, but then she overtook her. The last they heard from the cheetah girl was "Hurry!"
"Did you catch anything I didn't hear? Cheetra was speaking so fast," Pacerpaw yelled above the rush of the wind.
"Only that Sapphire's hurt. She needs your help," Starath answered.
"I gathered as much," Pacerpaw replied. She closed her eyes. She did not like the icy wind stinging and drying out her eyes. Never mind that it was freezing her to the bone!
The trip seemed to last an eternity, but in reality it took only eight minutes. She was actually dozing off when suddenly Starath jerked upwards and cursed loudly.
"What the slag is that!?"
Pacerpaw's eyes flung open and before her she saw a huge hulking beast, snuffling at the entrance to the tunnel that led to their base.
"Whoa... I dunno! But it definitely looks dangerous," Pacerpaw said softly.
Starath bit her lip. "But we need it to move! We have to get inside."
She pointed her arm and it glowed purple.
"You're actually gonna fire at that thing?" Pacerpaw exclaimed.
"Have you got a better idea?" Starath asked.
"Yes! Let's find something heavy and dis...tract....it--oh boy I think it's seen us!"
Starath's focus turned back to the beast, which was growling, its back arched and its teeth bared. She watched as long sharp claws slipped out like a cat's and the creature's strange eyes seemed to grow red.
"Ohhh! Fire! Fire!" Pacerpaw cried. Starath's arm sent out a purple pulse and the animal snorted as it stung into its nose. It hardly made a mark.
"A little help?" Starath yelled as she flew slowly up, trying to get out of its reach.
Pacerpaw was unhappy that she was being held by just one of Starath's arms and to use her machine gun right now seemed very risky. She sucked the air through her teeth as she loosened her left hand's grip and pulled her gun from out of the silver bag on her back.
"Machine guns have a back blast, and I can't fire with one arm!"
Starath dropped her. She screamed. Starath swooped under and caught her and flipped Pacerpaw onto her back.
"That better?" she cried as she raced up, as now the monster was charging at them.
Pacerpaw's hair was standing on end. "Starath, don't you ever do that to me again!"
With that, she opened fire. The two of them pummeled the animal with shots, even though they didn't seem to do more than annoy it in the extreme.
"We're gonna attract so much attention doing this, and the last thing we want is the aliens knowing where we're based," Pacerpaw moaned.
Suddenly, the animal shrieked, stumbled and keeled over. It lay still.
"What happened?" Starath asked, her voice sounding foreign in the sudden silence.
"I happened," came a familiar voice from near the animal. Lady Scale flickered into view.
"Lady Scale! You..." Pacerpaw spluttered.
"Ripped its throat open after I crawled stealthily along its underbelly, unseen because I was invisible, thanks to---"
"Sinead!" Starath squeaked.
Sinead emerged from the shadows. "You guessed right, Starath. We got here just moments before you did. Old Hacker here was gonna create the diversion, but it seems you did a pretty good job."
"Man am I glad to see you!" Starath exclaimed.
"And vice versa. But let's leave the talk for later. The other of those wolves is around here somewhere. It wandered off for a bit but it'll be back. We best get inside."
The group of them pushed the large tail off of the hatch leading into the tunnel and then they descended, relieved to be out of the cold.
Wicked Woman was walking alongside Lady Venom when 'Blaze appeared, flying low to the ground with an unhappy looking Sharpshot having a piggy-back ride on her back.
"Ahoy!" she called as she approached them. "Sinead's been located. You two aught to get back to base," she said, before turning a corner and disappearing down a street. A few seconds later there was a strange shrieking noise, a few blasts of weapon fire and a "Take that you dumb aliens!" before her voice drifted out of earshot.
"You know, for such a gentle seeming person, 'Blaze sure can hold her own in a tight spot," Lady Venom laughed.
Wicked Woman nodded vigorously. "I've seen her in training. She's got a really cool weapon. It has rapid fire on three different types of ammunition. The gun's state-of-the-art, developed just after you guys embarked on your mission. There's only one of them in existence at the moment."
"Wow," Lady Venom breathed. They two of them changed direction to head back to base. So far they'd kept a low enough profile to avoid enemy patrols, but they'd had a few close calls. For some reason the streets had become pretty deserted. Miss Special had suggested that they'd all been accumulating for an all-out assault on the remaining Cybertronian strongholds. Wicked Woman knew about the plan, and she knew that if the Transformers were to win this war, they'd have to get control of their military base soon.
Because they'd been worried about drawing attention to themselves, neither of them had spoken until now. Lady Venom decided it was quiet enough for her to have a conversation with her fellow Canadian.
"So, what's your story, Wicked? How'd you end up here and why so late?"
Wicked Woman sighed gently at the question.
"I was at home listening to music at night. The lights went out, I was hit on the head and I woke up in a laboratory with Spenzak staring at me, or rather smirking at me. He explained that he'd enhanced my body and I was to test it out. I underwent training for a few days in the same place you did, when 'Blaze joined me. I was a few days ahead of her in the training program, as they decided to use me as a guinea pig. They dropped me in an area where they knew small patrols of aliens in Transformer bodies tended to patrol. I fought them, all twelve of them."
"Twelve?!" Lady Venom exclaimed.
"Yeah, needless to say I was almost dead by the twelfth. It took me a few days to recover. Actually, more like a few weeks, since I needed to be retrained afterwards. I waited for 'Blaze to get up to scratch with her training and then we were sent in to rescue you when Spenzak noticed your mission was going awry. They have trackers installed in all of us, you know. He can monitor our movements on a special frequency none of the aliens seem to be able to reach."
"Ah ha. Well, I suppose I'm really in debt to you then. I never really got the opportunity of thanking you and 'Blaze properly."
"It's okay," Wicked Woman said with a soft smile.
"What's your power, then?" Lady Venom asked.
"I can slow things down. Not freeze them, just slow the molecules and such down for a few moments. I can also fly, and I have a nifty gun to go with the package."
"Awesome," Lady Venom said with an impressed nod.
"And I believe you have the ability to slash and heal yourself?"
Lady Venom laughed. "That sounded ambiguous, and yet true! I can slash others and myself, if I want to, although I'd prefer not to do the latter unless I'm seriously suicidal."
Wicked Woman's eyes grew wide. "You're not, are you?"
Lady Venom's laugh died down and she smiled lopsidedly, and gazed at the ground as she walked.
"No, not right now, anyway. To be honest, I've never felt so alive. I mean, don't get me wrong. I hate this mission because it is endangering the lives of all the people I care about, but the adrenaline, the fear, the survival instincts...it's quite something to experience."
Wicked Woman nodded. "It is indeed, although it's not something I'd like to do as a profession!"
"Oh yeah, that's understandable. I nearly died already."
"Lady V?"
"Yes?"
"There's a big scary wolf at the entrance to our base."
Lady Venom turned from Wicked Woman and looked ahead to see a very large, scary wolf snuffling at the entrance.
"I'm SO not in the mood for this. Freeze 'im," she said as she continued walking casually forward.
Wicked Woman shrugged.
"Seems like a viable option!"
They entered the tunnel unhindered.
Hacker, Lady Scale, Sinead, Starath, Nurann and Blackarachnia all watched as Pacerpaw put the syringe to Sapphire's skin and pushed the fluid into her vein. As soon as it was all in she quickly withdrew the needle and took a piece of cotton wool out from her medical box.
"Hold that on the puncture wound," she said to Blackarachnia and absently passed it to her. She held an instant x-ray tray over Sapphire's head.
"She's got a fracture to her skull, but her neck's in place. Ok Varyn, you can start bandaging her head."
Varyn tilted the girl's head up gently and dabbed at the head wound, before wrapping the bandaged around her head.
"You're gonna have to make eye and breathing holes for her nose after you're done," Pacerpaw informed her as she moved the x-ray tray scan along Sapphire's body. "Gee, she's got two broken vertebrae in her spine, and a broken arm. Oi, and her left leg's cracked too. Goodness, Sapph! Could you have hit the wall in a more awkward position?"
"Is Sapphire going to be paralyzed?" Nurannoniel asked.
"No, she's going to be in pain for a while, but not paralyzed. As long as she doesn't move, and that air valve in her lung doesn't stop its work, she'll be okay," Pacerpaw said as she finished scanning the girl's broken frame.
"That valve won't last forever, you're going to have to cut her open and patch up that lung," Varyn said as she finished the last strand of the bandages.
"That's right. But it'll give her a few hours. I'm going to let her rest and heal a bit with the amulet before I do any cutting."
Just then, Cheetra came scrambling into the base.
"Horrid nasty wolf-thing chased me all the way to the base!" she panted.
"We've seen it," Sinead muttered wearily.
Cheetra glanced over at Sapphire. "Is she going to be all right?"
"Yes," Pacerpaw responded as she sat down on a chair beside the only table in the base. Sapphire was lying atop the table, unconscious.
Cheetra nodded solemnly and then looked at Nurannoniel.
"I have to take you to Miss Special's position. There's a person trapped under some rubble that they need you to remove with your earthquake power."
Nurannoniel got to her feet. "Finally, I get to get out of here!"
The sound of the gate opening and closing and rushing footsteps drew her attention to the entrance of the sleeping hall.
Lady Venom and Wicked Woman stood there. Wicked Woman looked alarmed, Lady Venom irritated.
"Did you know there's a nasty hulking beast at the--"
"WE KNOW!" Sinead, Lady Scale and Hacker yelled in union. Lady Venom stared at them, aghast.
"Never mind, then," she said as she patted some dust off her arm and approached Sapphire.
"How's my amulet working?" she asked Pacerpaw as she looked over her stricken friend on the table.
"It's saved her life, that's for sure. But there's another life in danger now, and the person needs Nurann to save her. Which means you'll have to freeze that wolf thing again, Wicked."
"No problem. But I can't really freeze it, just slow it down. A lot. And that's not going to last long. We really need to deal with it," Wicked Woman insisted.
"We'll need some high-powered ammo for that," Hacker stated.
"Hmm... none of us have that. It's the alpha male, too, so it's a lot bigger than the other two. Lady Scale and I ruled out cutting its throat open. It has a large spiky collar around it, to make things just nifty for us," Sinead said as she rubbed at her head. She had a splitting headache.
"Can I have a painkiller for this headache, or are they in short supply?" she asked Pacerpaw. Pacerpaw handed one to her without an answer. The Swede was obviously exhausted.
"Amber would come in handy right about now. She’s still out with Kacheetah. She has high-explosives. Wicked freezes, erm, slows down, she plants a bomb and bye bye wolfie," Varyn said.
"Yeah, although it'd be best if we lure it away from directly over the base. We don't want rocks falling everywhere, especially when we've got injured people in here," Pacerpaw pointed out.
"Anyone up for being bait?" Varyn asked with a perky smile.
No one offered, so she made her way to the exit.
"Guess I'll have to do it myself. Come Wicked, I'm going to need you when Amber arrives, so I can explain to her what must be done without a wolf on my tail."
Wicked Woman followed without a word.
Miss Special felt like banging her head into a wall. It had been over an hour and there was still no sign of Nurannoniel.
"I swear, something must have happened to her. No way it would take this long," she moaned. She prodded at the rubble with a bit of wire.
"And the yelling and screaming of our buddy trapped inside has dwindled to a few sad calls. Which ISN'T a good sign."
Dannn and Skyfire looked up from their naughts-and-crosses game in the sand. "We can always make a little flight out..." Dannn enticed.
"I'm getting tempted to let you do so," Miss Special grumbled.
She looked up at the sky. "The sun's setting too. I sure don't want to be out here after dark."
"You could always make a fire," Dannn laughed.
"Oh, yeah, and attract every alien in the city like a stampede of rhinos!" She snorted, her hands flailing irritably in the air.
"Maybe we should just try clearing the rubble away again? Make some air holes," Skyfire suggested.
Miss Special kicked a small rock and regretted it afterwards. she blinked back her grimace of pain and sighed. "Be my guest."
Skyfire got up and surveyed the open stretch of lane, about fifty meters across, to the continuation of the city. The area they were in the center of was in fact a crater caused by a bomb. The rubble was what was left of the building that had once been here.
"Hey, I see someone coming," he said.
"I'm holding back jumping for joy until I see who it is," Miss Special said as she clambered up the bank to the edge of the crater. It was Cheetra and having a piggy-back ride with her was Nurannoniel.
"Told you her leg was still bad," Dannn remarked loudly. Miss Special sighed. They waited, some patiently, one impatiently, for the two of them to arrive.
"Sorry we took so long. We got held up," Cheetra said and glanced down with disgust at her boots. They were covered in red muck.
"Oh, gross... don't tell me what that's from," Miss Special said as she helped Nurann off Cheetra's back.
"Don't worry. You'll see its remains near the entrance to the base, courtesy of Amber."
Nurann hobbled over to where Dannn was pointing. "There. Send a charge there and it should move the rocks over," he told her.
She looked at him. "It won't be Sinead. Hacker found her. She's back at base."
Dannn, Skyfire and Miss Special exchanged glances.
"We've waited this long to find out who it is, we might as well see," Miss Special said with a shrug.
Miss Special and Cheetra stood back and Skyfire and Dannn moved to the right and hovered in the air.
Nurannoniel stared at the designated spot. "Here goes nothing!" She sent a charge tearing through the earth. Nervousness and fear of being injured further by her own earthquake gave her the incentive to levitate, thus preventing her from being thrown to her already unsteady feet. The rubble slid and cascaded down as expected, and once the dust had cleared, a small, female transformed was revealed. She was lying crumpled in the cement and metal debris.
All five of them remained where they were, uncertain of whether this Transformer was friend or foe. It was hard to tell with aliens inhabiting Transformer bodies most of the time.
The femme stirred and looked towards them.
"Who...who are you?" she asked, her voice a garbled mix of broken sound.
"We're your rescuers. Are you... a transformer? I mean, through and through?" Nurann asked.
She nodded weakly. "I am. Why...shouldn't I be?"
"What was the last thing you remember?" Skyfire asked.
Her optics flickered and little waves of blue energy flowed over her damaged body.
"There...there was a siren. A warning on the television. It was the invasion siren! I...I...hardly had time to react when there were bombs. The next thing I knew, I was under here, the remains of my home."
"She wouldn't have been found and infested by the aliens, then," Miss Special concluded.
"'Blaze brought with her a scanner Spenzak gave her to test for alien influences in the body. Brand new scan, apparently," Dannn noted.
"Yeah, but it would've come in handy a lot more if they'd developed it sooner. Oh well, let's get you back to our base. There's a CR chamber in there, to repair the more robotic among us."
"There are...more of you?" she asked as Skyfire helped the surprisingly small Transformer up.
"Quite a lot more, yes. Dannn, you're the strongest of us. Think you can carry her?" Miss Special asked.
He nodded and picked her up. She was heavy, despite her small frame, but he made no complaints.
"Finally, we can start getting back home," Skyfire said with an exhausted sigh.
"So what has happened?" Miss Special asked as they all started traveling forward.
"A hang of a lot, in the space of an hour and a half. Sinead was found, Sapphire nearly died and is still in bad condition, three giant wolf-things have been attacking us and are now destroyed....and, um, everyone except us is back at base," Nurannoniel explained.
"I'm assuming that's an abridged version," Miss Special said.
"Yeah. Full story when we get back, I promise," Nurannoniel said.
They walked home in the shadows and occupied themselves with their private thoughts as night set in.