Chronicles of the Doomcat

Epilogue: All in a Day's Work

By: Miss Special


 

It was dark, cramped, and she couldn't see. Dust still choked the air, rubble still shifted every few moments. She wasn't in much pain, but she was scared and very, very alone.

She should've listened to the warnings. The mines were a dangerous place. But everyone played there, pretending they were ore miners. And nothing like this had happened before. How was she supposed to know that the supports holding the tunnels up were rusted so badly that they could collapse at any moment?

It didn't matter anymore. She was going to die here. There was no way they could dig through this much rock in time to get her out alive.

Over the sound of her quiet sobbing, she could hear sand coming through the cracks between boulders. And then…

There was something in there with her. She sat still, held her breath. Maybe it wouldn't notice her.

Orange eyes glowed in the darkness. It was looking at her. She screamed. The eyes cringed at the sound and backed away slightly. They looked bewildered.

"Please do not do that again," the owner of the eyes politely asked. She shut her mouth.

"My name is Halifax."

"What are you?"

"I am the Doomhound."

"Are you going to eat me?"

The eyes blinked in surprise.

"I do not think you would taste very good. I have little taste for mech fluid and gears."

Halifax! You're supposed to comfort her!

"And how does one do that?" Halifax asked the voice that neither of them actually heard.

You are a dog! You are fluffy and pettable!

"I am the Doomhound, not a 'dog'. Very well. You are supposed to pet me, young one."

Halifax! You're not doing it right!

"Who is that?" the young bot asked.

I am the Doomcat. My name is Destroyer Angel. I'm working on getting you out of here and the Doomhound is supposed to be keeping you occupied.

There was a rumbling sound.

Arg, you're distracting me! Halifax, the sooner you do your job, the sooner it's over. Oops, that didn't come out right.

Halifax looked through the darkness at the little bot. He could still see the fear in her optics. He found her hand and shoved his nose under it, hoping she'd get the idea. She picked up her hand and scratched his ears.

There was another rumbling. She looked around, alarmed. Halifax remained calm. Cycles passed. The air seemed less suffocating. And then… light shined between boulders.

The boulders were tossed aside by an unseen force.

Everything's out of the way, the Doomcat reported.

The small bot now had a clear view of the Doomhound. She stared at him. Halifax fluffed his feathers and stared back, cocking his head to the side.

"Are you able to move?" he asked her. She nodded.

Transformers ran in, looking her over, surprised that she was only a little scratched. Halifax sniffed, irritated. As if the Doomcat wouldn't insure the well-bring of the one she was saving.

The rescue crew carried the bot out of the cave with Halifax right behind. The Doomhound went to his friends, who were gathered around Angel. Moving all that rubble wasn't too taxing on her abilities, but it had given her a nasty headache.

"Good job, Halifax," she told him, rubbing her head.

"Didn't I do a good job?" En asked.

"You're doing your job right now," Spirit reminded him. "You're protecting the Doomcat in her moment of weakness."

"The Doomcat is never weak," Halifax said.

"The Doomcat doesn't much want to protect herself at the moment," Destroyer Angel countered, flinching at all the noises.

"You go rest," Spirit ordered. "We'll take care of everything."

Angel nodded, instantly regretted it, and went into the Little Bomber.

 

It was pitch black. The sun had set and thick clouds obstructed the stars from shining. A cold wind blew.

The Doomcat sat out in all this, sitting on top of the Little Bomber, not really looking at anything in particular. She heard Spirit come and sit beside her.

"What in the name of Primus has brought you out here on a night like this?" Spirit asked.

"I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid of the dark. I'm not afraid of a storm," she said it as if it was something she just realized. "I have nothing to fear. I can take on anything and win. And that's not my ego talking. It's the truth."

"I know it is," Spirit said. "You are a completely functioning Doomcat."

"It's… weird. Angel was afraid of the dark. She was afraid of a lot of things. But I'm not."

"You're not Angel."

"…Do you miss her? Honestly?"

Spirit looked up at Angel, surprised at the question, and even more surprised that she didn't have a ready answer for it.

"I suppose… a little. But she's not dead, she's just…"

"Corrupted?"

"Now don't start that! Angel was destined to spend the rest of her very long life wandering around looking for the purpose she'd likely never find! You are an improvement on her. You've found your purpose."

Destroyer Angel smiled down at her small friend. "Not bad for someone who's not supposed to exist, huh?"

Spirit smiled back. "Come on inside. It's going to rain soon, and you may be able to brave the weather, but I for one don't like getting wet. And we have to save En from Halifax. They're playing poker and Halifax's taking En to the cleaners."

"Oh dear, we can't have that happening," Angel said sarcastically, standing and heading inside.

"I'm just afraid Halifax's ego is going to get as big as yours," Spirit said, following her friend.

"Thanks."

 

In the coming months, Spirit wrote a book about her adventures with Destroyer Angel, entitled, "So You Want to be a Doomcat". It topped the bestseller list for 21 weeks before it was dethroned by a book exposing the scandal that Derpolitzt and other corrupt scientists headed.

En also wrote a book. Called "Sparky the Sparkless Wonder", it told of Sparky, a Transformer without a spark, and his trip to the market. Publishers wouldn't touch it with a twenty-foot pole. Spirit said it was because the story lacked a central plot, but En said that that was what made the story revolutionary. His plan to start a plot-less book trend failed.

As for the Doombeasts, they were content with being part of the Doomcat Task Force, using their abilities to save lives instead of destroy things. It was a novelty to them, since they were designed for warfare. Destroyer Angel never did tell anyone about her short trip to the Matrix. She decided she'd let Optimus tell them.

Of course, trouble is always right behind the Doomcat. Nothing that she couldn't handle, of course. Just enough to keep things interesting, for the adventures of the Doomcat (and her friends) do not end here, just the Chronicles.

End Epilogue

End Chronicles of the Doomcat