Chronicles of the Doomcat

Part Thirteen: The Matrix's Backdoor

Author's note: I was going to keep the OV theme going, but decided this title was more appropriate. Oh, and I'm kind of making up the whole "taking black holes apart" thing. It makes sense that if something so dense that it fell in on itself had some of its density taken away, it'd cease being a black hole.

It started immediately after she sent the signal. Her consciousness was shoved aside by a being, which set to assessing the situation without a word. She didn't bother resisting- the new presence was a Head, mentally far more powerful than she, and she knew this would happen. She accepted it and went to a far corner of her mind. Curling up in beast mode, she prepared to stay there for eternity.

The humans didn't let up on their assault even after they saw the Vok Head enter the Doomcat's body. They weren't going to give up just yet.

The Maximals, however, were. All there but a few- namely Ramses, Nightscream, and Entropy- had seen firsthand the power of the Vok, and knew the consequences of getting in their way. They would have to wait until the task was finished. However long that would take.

Halifax now understood Destroyer's reluctance to be alone. He was badly wounded, and his superiors were too busy with the Doomcat to take notice. He doubted the humans would show mercy, and he didn't think he could get close enough to the Transformers to try his luck with them.

He knew he was expendable. He was supposed to be ready to give his life at his superiors' whim. But he wasn't ready to go. Destroyer- Destroyer Angel, he reminded himself- was right when she said it didn't matter whether she was ready to die or not.

Destroyer Angel was very different from Destroyer. Destroyer would have accepted his message and dismissed him without further thought. She would have treated him like what he was, a messenger and nothing more. But Destroyer Angel had treated him like a living, sentient being, and he liked it. He was used to being used, and he didn't mind it, but it was very nice to be thought as something more than a messenger. Destroyer Angel hadn't even gotten angry when he'd interrupted her though she had every right to be.

The Doomhound leaned against a stone, wishing the end would come already so he could get this over with.

"Hey, who's that?" En asked, pointing a huge Dinofelis paw at a midnight blue form leaning against a stone formation.

"I dunno," Spirit, the only one who was listening to him, said. "The Doomhound, I guess."

"He looks like he's leaking."

"What?" Spirit jumped onto En's head to get a better look. "He does look like he's leaking."

"Think he's been hurt?"

"Probably. It's a wonder the humans haven't hurt themselves yet."

"We should help him," Entropy stated.

"We should, but I doubt if we can."

"It's easy! Watch!" Forgetting Spirit was sitting on his head, the Dinofelis ran full-tilt to the Doomhound. By sheer dumb luck, both he and Spirit made it without so much as a scratch.

Spirit was too busy thanking the Matrix for life to care about the Doomhound.

"Hiya, Doomhound! My name's En, and this is Spirit. What's your name?"

"Halifax," the Doomhound answered automatically. En remembered about Angel's programming and took advantage of it.

"What's your name?" he asked again. Halifax answered again.

"Entropy!" Spirit scolded. "Halifax, we're here to help."

Halifax looked away. "I am expendable. Do not waste your time on me."

Spirit smiled. "Maximals have soft spots for wastes of time." She looked at his wound and winced. "Unfortunately, I have no idea how to stop the leaking."

"Doomhounds were not designed to be repaired."

"We'll find a way." The little white cat ducked as a bullet whizzed by. "We'd better get out of here if we want to live to fix you, though. Climb onto En's back."

Repair complete. Commencing phase two.

Destroyer Angel looked up from her mental solitaire game. Solitaire was much less interesting when one knew which card was where.

Did that mean that she was fixed? Or did that just mean that she was operational to acceptable standards? Well, it didn't really matter. She wasn't going to find out. She had resigned herself to virtual oblivion, and there she'd stay.

The mind searched across the Sol system first. Its outermost planet had already crossed the event horizon, and it was only a matter of time before the black hole consumed it.

The mind reached out to the dense object, grabbed a small mass, and pulled it away from the black hole. Its density lessened, the black hole exploded, and the mind shielded the small planet from harm.

The mind then concentrated on the next closest black hole, beginning its work there.

As Destroyer Angel's third solitaire game ended, she decided to do something else. Something interesting. She stood up, leaving the cards where they were, and wandered.

She wandered here and there, not really knowing or caring which way she went. It didn't matter. Nothing really mattered anymore. It sounded depressing, but she was okay with it.

There was a light. It was bright, distant. It was also somewhere to go. Heading towards the light seemed like the thing to do.

Destroyer Angel squinted as the light got bigger and brighter. It enveloped her, and for an instant she thought she'd better turn back. Since she didn't have anything to lose, though, there was no point in turning back.

When the light became too bright, she shut her optics and walked blind.

She envisioned herself, the Doomcat, walking around with her optics shut. It was absurd. And silly. So she opened them again, and was surprised when a blinding light didn't greet her.

But she was more surprised by what did greet her.

The leaking had stopped. No one, not even Halifax, knew which method they tried had worked, or if it stopped by itself, but it had definitely stopped.

The shooting had also stopped. Not because the humans had run out of bullets or had given up. When they heard Destroyer Angel- they didn't really hear so much as know the words, "Repair complete. Commencing phase two,"- and the bullets disappeared.

"Destroyer Angel did not want them to interfere," Halifax calmly explained to the Maximals.

Spirit, who had become suspiciously quiet after Halifax's rescue, suddenly spoke up.

"Halifax, you can talk to the Vok, and they'll listen, right?"

"I am Vok," he corrected her, "and yes, they will listen."

"You could talk them into letting Angel go!"

"I could try, but there is little chance they will comply."

"You have to try!"

"Forgive my lack of understanding, but why do you want her back so badly?" Halifax asked honestly.

"Because she's my friend," Spirit answered vehemently, "and as such, I have to do everything under my power to help her."

"She did not seem to want help."

"Destroyer Angel doesn't know what's good for her. I do."

The Doomhound nodded. "I will do my best."

Destroyer Angel stared at the bots in front of her. And they stared back, equally dumbfounded.

They were on the plains, just outside of where the Axalon was during the Beast Wars. They had been relaxing calmly, enjoying the afterlife, for the most part.

The Doomcat was at a loss for words. She didn't even know what to think. The memories being recalled belonged to Angel, and her Destroyer half didn't know how to react.

"Angel?" one very familiar mech asked her.

"Optimus?" Rhinox and Dinobot stood beside him. Dinobot reached for his sword- Destroyer Angel had forgotten to disguise the metallic ring in her voice. He probably thought she was Vok. And he was half right.

Rhinox motioned for Dinobot to stand down. Fighting wouldn't do any good here.

"You're dead," Angel said. "You've rejoined the Matrix."

Optimus nodded. "We are. And so are you."

"No no no no no. I can't rejoin the Matrix. I'm me. My spark's corrupted. The Matrix won't recognize it."

"Maybe it hasn't," Rhinox offered. "How did you get here?"

"I followed the light. I was bored."

"I don't understand, Angel."

"Destroyer Angel," she corrected. "The Doomcat."

They didn't take that well. Especially Dinobot, who looked ready to attack.

"Oh, no, there I go," she muttered to herself. "Sorry, I do that a lot. Vok ego issues."

"Destroyer Angel," Dinobot snarled, "it would be best to explain your intentions while you still have the chance."

"My intentions?! My intentions were to spend the rest of my confused existence where I couldn't hurt anyone anymore, where people couldn't hunt me down like an animal or treat me like a mindless weapon! I know better than you do that I am most certainly not supposed to be here."

"Calm down, Destroyer Angel," Optimus said. "You should explain your situation to us before we make any judgment." He directed that last part at Dinobot, who got the message.

"Oh, wow, where do I begin? Slaggit, I hate telling this story. Can't we go over a more pleasant one? No? Fine, you'd better sit down. This'll take a while."

"We've got a while. We're not going anywhere."

"And so here I am."

"I can't help but feel I had some hand in this," Optimus said sadly.

"How so?" asked the Doomcat.

"If I had handled this differently in the beginning, none of this would've happened."

"What, not telling Angel about the Vok? No offense to Dinobot, but he wanted to terminate Angel before any sort of problem arose, and that's the only way this whole thing would've been prevented."

"Besides," she added after a moment, "I rather like being me, even though I'm defective."

"If that is what you want to call it," Dinobot said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You have matured far more than Angel could ever have. When I threatened you, you did not back down, as Angel would have."

"Why should I back down? You pose no threat to me. I'm the Doomcat."

"Angel also didn't have your sense of pride," Rhinox said, amused.

"Hey, I'm part Vok. I can't help it."

All were quiet for a moment.

"So," Angel said, transforming and settling down. "What do you do for entertainment around here?"

"That's it?" Optimus asked calmly. "You're accepting all this?"

"Yep." The Doomcat rested her head on her paws and closed her eyes.

There was a short silence.

"One would think that one such as yourself would resist such a fate," Dinobot said. "You have been defeated rather easily."

Destroyer Angel opened a yellow Doomcat eye and fixed it upon the Velociraptor, reminding all there that they were most certainly not dealing with the innocent Angel she used to be.

"I can't fight back," she stated. " I also have to say my name whenever someone asks, and I can't lead large groups, all thanks to the lovely programming my head's been filled with. There's a ton of things I can't do so the Vok don't lose control of me."

She then closed her eye again, signaling the end of the conversation.

The mind was finishing with the fourth black hole. This one was the most trouble. It had already consumed two planetoids, both of which were luckily uninhabited. There was a large of amount of debris, ships, and an outpost, however, that had already passed the event horizon, and they had to be wrestled out of the black hole's pull before it could be taken apart.

That task finally accomplished, the mind moved out towards the fifth and final black hole.

Time passed, or seemed to, and heavy footsteps approached.

"Ah, there you are, Primal."

Hmm, she must be dreaming. That voice sounded like Megatron.

"I've been looking for you for the past megacycle. I should've known you three would be here- oh, is this who I think it is? Yesssssss, another of your Maximals has bit the proverbial dust?"

"I'm surprised you're not roasting in the Pit, Megatron," Angel said coolly.

"Hmm, yes, well. What has brought you here, little Angel?"

Destroyer Angel chuckled darkly, amused by Megatron's mistake.

"Oh, what potential you missed out on during the Beast Wars. If only you had gained control of Angel, you would be ruling the universe instead of rotting in the afterlife."

"My, it seems as though the littlest Maximal has grown up."

"She didn't grow up." She sat up, fluffing up her feathers and puffing out her chest. "Permit me to introduce myself: I am Destroyer Angel, the Doomcat. I am, put simply, the most powerful thing you ever have and ever will lay eyes on. And you missed out."

"Destroyer Angel the Doomcat, yesssss. Am I correct in assuming this has something to do with the Vok?"

"You got it."

"What a pity." Megatron didn't appear to care much. "If you are as powerful as you boast, how come you are here?"

"Touché ." Her ears suddenly perked up, as if she had just realized something. "Are my eyes red?"

Rhinox shook his head. "Why do you ask?"

"I should be berserk right now. Part of my programming is to eliminate all enemies of the Vok- quick, ask me what my name is?"

"Why?" Optimus clearly didn't understand.

"Just do it!" she commanded.

"…What's your name?"

She didn't answer. No one knew what was going on.

"Do you know what this means?" Forgetting the fact that she was supposed to be intimidating right now, she transformed and began capering about, cartwheeling and jumping around like an excited five-year-old.

"Yes, she certainly strikes fear into my very spark," Megatron commented dryly.

"Free, free! No more Vok programming, no more dumb commands!"

"That means you can fight back against them," Optimus said lightly, though he knew the importance of his words. Destroyer Angel froze in a handstand and promptly fell on her face.

"Um… I don't know if I want to go back."

"So now you really are giving up." Optimus knew he was tempting fate, but there wasn't much an angry Doomcat could do to someone who was already dead.

Destroyer Angel looked at him menacingly, but calmed down and said, "I don't want to be dissected or involved in power struggles or chased all across the universe anymore. No one can get me here."

"If what you say is true," Dinobot said, "then no one other than the Vok could manipulate you unless you let them. If you have control of the power you speak of, you will be unstoppable."

"Destroyer Angel, if you are anything like your predecessor, you will be bored of this place within a day," Optimus told her. "There isn't anything much to do here other than sit and enjoy the scenery."

"But if I go, I can't come back. Once I die, there's no afterlife for me." Her voice softened. "I won't see you ever again."

"Ugh. Maximal sentiment," Megatron groaned.

"We're already dead, Angel. But your friends aren't. Do you expect them to live life without you?"

"They can."

"You're going to let them."

"Yes?"

"You don't sound very sure."

"Not anymore, thanks to you."

"Though you are part Vok, your body still belongs to yourself. You should not abandon it so readily." Dinobot appeared to be losing interest.

"But-"

"Oh, just go already!" Megatron snorted.

"Okay! Fine, I'll get going." The bright light started shining again. "But this really is that last time I'll be seeing you."

"Yes, yes, we know," Megatron replied testily. "You'll miss them, they'll miss you, neither will forget the other, et cetera. Please, just go already!"

"Why, Megatron! If I didn't know better, I'd think you didn't like saying goodbye."

"Nothing of the sort, Primal. All this sentiment makes me sick."

"Yeesh, I can take a hint." Destroyer Angel stepped into the light and looked back at everyone. "Goodbye. And thanks for everything." Optimus and Rhinox waved at her, and she waved back just before she turned and left.

Halifax had never been nervous before. It certainly was an uncomfortable feeling. He had been sitting in front of Destroyer Angel for the past five minutes, waiting for the right time. He would have to find the correct time to communicate with the Vok controlling the Doomcat, and now was not it.

Destroyer Angel walked blindly through the light before finally arriving at the main room in her head. The head was almost finished, and she could talk to it when the time arrived. For now, she would wait.

End Part 13.