Part Five

By: Syntia13

*Yaaaaaaaaaawn* *Snap* *Sniff* *Yawn*

All right, enough of this morning noises. Up, up, up, you lazy wolf!
Rust jumped briskly to his feet and terrorized. What's the time? Sheesh, he'd been recharging for over eight megas! And he's still a little dizzy!
He froze suddenly. Dizzy? And... yes, a bit languid as well. Grrr.
He reached to the sub-pocket.

Waspinator kicked the wall as he went through the corridors. He'd obeyed the orders, he was defending the base while Megatron and Scorponok were doing Primus-knows-what, he received severe damages, and what he got for all that as soon as he came out of a CR-tank? A lecture about being careless and incompetent!
"Megatron incompetent himself!" he muttered angrily. "Not Waspinator's fault rhino-bot mean shooter!" He opened the door to his room--

"Stay out," came a growl.

--walked in--

A shot singed a wall about four inches from his face.
--and staggered back with a startled yell.

"When I say 'stay out', I mean it," Rust growled from inside.
Waspinator caught his balance and clenched his hands into fists, glaring at the door, HIS door, slaggit, he had every right to go in there... Even in his room he couldn't have a moment's peace now!
"Why Rust shooting Waspinator?" he asked, a strange mix of anger and self pity in his voice.
"I feel like it."
Waspinator scowled under his helmet. Typical! Everyone felt like scrapping him!
After a while he registered that Rust's voice sounded strange. Harsh and...strained? He hesitated, curiosity fighting with caution in his circuits. Before he could decide whether he should risk going inside or not, Rust appeared in the doorway. He was breathing heavily.

"The room is all yours," he said mockingly with an inviting gesture. "Until I come back, that is." Waspinator eyed him suspiciously. "What Rust did?"
"None of your business, wasp," the wolf bot responded, whacking him upside the head. "See ya."
He walked away quickly, before any more questions could be asked. In their room, a small recycle unit was disintegrating an empty syringe.

___________________________________________________________________________

"I don't see why I hafta always be paired wit' ya, Scale-belly."

*Snarl* "Perhaps our leader realizes no one else have skills to compensate for your unlimited incompetence, fur-ball."
"Hey! Ya think yer so tough, huh? I could take ya down in ten nanos, lizard-breath!"
"Is that so? *snarl* Why don't you prove it, rodent?"
"I would, but I don't wanna get nearer to yer stinking hide dan I hafta!"
"Why don't you admit you're just afraid, mouse?"
"Da only thing I'm 'fraid of is yer breath, ya duplicitous Pred turncoat!"

That hit the nerve, and the raptor charged at the rat, knocking him to the ground. Fortunately, Rattrap's comlink beeped before things turned ugly.

BEEP **Dinobot, Rattrap, the enemy has entered the area. I hope you two can work together long enough to take them down.**

Rattrap got to his feet, glancing at his snarling adversary. "I can work together, Rhinox. Da Chopper-face is da one who 'ave troubles wit' comprehendin' da idea."
A desperate sigh came from his comlink. **Just try not to kill each other. That's the Predacons' job.**

"My point exactly!"
Dinobot started snarling a response, but Rhinox cut him off.
**The enemy is closing in on your position. Take care of them, NOW.** BEEP

The rat and the raptor stared at each other.
"Well? What our great strategist hafta say now?" Rattrap asked finally.
Dinobot snarled at the mockery in his voice, but it was not the time for further quarrels. "They have approached the area from grid Zion. *snarl* They will most probably hide near the clearing, where they can prepare an ambush as well as defend themselves if situation calls for it. *snarl* The strong energon field will prevent them from locating us by technological means, but the wind is to our disadvantage."
"Oh, I don't think so. We just hafta make sure dey feel yer stench, lizard-breath, an dey will flee."
"Hmm, I was rather worried that YOUR stench will give away our position."
"Bah! Yer just seekin' fer an excuse, cause ya 'ave no idea what to do!"
"I know perfectly well what to do, vermin! If--" He fell silent suddenly, and looked the rat up and down considerately. He meant to say that he'd be sure to win if he didn't have to work with an incompetent vermin, and stopped himself. The rat had proved at more that one occasion that he's not so inept as Dinobot had used to think. So...

"Well? What are ya starin' at?"
Raptor raised his head, until he was looking at something above their heads. Rattrap followed his gaze to the tangle of branches, so dense it was almost solid.
"Can you make your way to the clearing undetected, if I toss you up there, rodent?"
Rattrap smirked maliciously, when he realized what raptor was getting at.

"Bah! I can do a step dance up dere, Chopper-face, IF you can get me dere."
They both maximized, Dinobot clasped his hands together, and the next nano Rattrap was sent flying vertically to the nearest bough. He beastmoded in the air, got a hold on rough bark and scrambled to the top of the branch.
Dinobot snarled. Not bad, vermin. Rattrap glanced down with a smirk. Nice throw, Dino-butt.
"I will need about fifteen cycles to sneak up on them. *snarl* IF you reach them sooner, wait for my shot. You have no chance fighting them alone, Cheese-ball."
"Same goes to ya, Chopper-face."

Not far from two parting Maximals was a clearing. It was a small rocky area speckled with few boulders, which could provide cover for someone who might happen to need it. Two bots in beast modes laid low at its edge, scanning it suspiciously.
"It looks clear," one of them said. They both started as a pack of birds took off with loud screeching not far from them. "They must be somewhere there, but that energy field is messing up my tracker!"
The bigger one sniffed the air. "We don't need the tracker. At least as long as they are upwind from us." "What? OH!" The smaller bot sniffed as well. "You're right! That's--" "Shhh!" The bot that was obviously in the lead gestured to his companion, indicating that they should hide among the boulders. As they did that, the smaller bot sniffed again and a look of panic appeared on his face. The other smiled reassuringly and made a circling gesture. They are circling to creep up on us from behind.
They transformed and turned, scrutinizing the thicket to the sides and in the direction they came from. The leader hid behind the rock, and pointed a hiding place he chose for his companion.
They waited in tense silence.

After some time the smaller bot leaned to his leader. "Are you sure--Yip!" He yelp and ducked as a green laser singed the tip of his nose.
"Yes I am! Shoot them!"
They both opened fire in the direction the laser came from. A tall shape leaned from behind a tree, shot at them again, and leaned back.
"Come out here and fight!" smaller bot shouted, rolling to join his companion behind a boulder from where he had better chance to hit--

*BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM*

Two bots screamed more in shock than pain, as four shots from behind pushed them into a rock they were using as a cover. "What?! Where are they?!" The smaller one's optics were wide, his armed hand waved frantically in search for the enemy. The next shot knocked the weapon out of his hand, the next one hit him in the arm, the next one singed the fur on his chest... "All right, that's enough!" the bigger bot shouted, moving to shield his companion. "You have--"
With a swift rush a brown shape hit him from the side, pushing him back on the boulder. The sword swished through the air.

High up on the tree, Rattrap's gun moved lightning fast from the bot on the ground to Dinobot's head.

Optimus squinted at the frighteningly still sword's tip, glittering an inch away from his face. "--won," he finished weakly. Dinobot made a 'like I didn't know' grunt and backed away, sheathing the sword.

Rattrap lowered his gun. All right. But I'm STILL watching you.

He relaxed, as his mind left the dark alleys and came back to the pierced with sunrays jungle.

Primal couldn't stop a weary smile, as a laugh rang out somewhere high. "Just like shootin' protoforms inna pods, dontcha think, Dino-butt?" Dinobot snarled in agreement. "It was indeed too easy, rodent. What took you so long?" "I didn't 'ave a clear shot at pussy-cat till he went to Optimus, an I didn't want ta spoil da surprise."
Cheetor got up, rubbing the burn on his arm. If this was lowest power setting, then he was a space commando!
"That was totally unfair! You were supposed to stay together!"

Rattrap slid down the tree trunk. "Nah, kiddo, we were suppose ta WORK together. Dere were no rules 'bout splittin' up. " He grinned, delighted. "An now ya hafta do my monitor duty fer a week!" "No way! Optimus..." Optimus shook his head. "I'm sorry Cheetor, but you did make this bet, and they won. All's fair and square." "Awww..."

___________________________________________________________________________

His claw slipped on a platform's rudder, and the whole thing shook dangerously. Scorponok gasped and grabbed for the handle, regaining his balance with difficulty. He hated these unstable platforms, he hated these claws that made him twice as clumsy as he normally was, he hated being airborne, and most of all, he hated the lava pits below. Ever since they had crashed here, the list of his worst nightmares was enriched by an image of him falling into the lava and melting into a sorry puddle of liquid scientist.

Shaking his head, he steered the platform to the center of control room, where Megatron summoned them all. With a soft sigh of relief he stopped the craft in midair. Once again he-- With a rush of air and a clang of impacting metal, Terrorsaur's platform bumped into his, as the red bot zoomed past with a malicious snigger. Scorponok yelped, waved his arms, the platform jerked, he slipped, his widened visor caught the glimpse of a red glow below--

An arm shot from the side, grabbing the edge of the platform and stabilizing it. "Careful, sarge," Rust said absentmindedly, not even looking at him, let go of the metal and moved his own platform closer to Megatron.

Scorponok looked after him, blinking. Err, thanks?

***

It was called a Transmuter.

Looking at the diagrams Tarantulas was displaying on the screen, Waspinator made a face, safe in knowledge that no one will see it behind his helmet.
Megatron's forces building some freaky weapon to defeat Optimus's forces. It was so awfully familiar he wanted to scream. But if he did, if he told, 'no way, this will not work, and only cause us troubles, and send me to the CR-tank,' he would only get screamed at. And then blamed, when the catastrophe would occur. Then he thought that he'd probably get screamed at and blamed no matter what, so...

"Wazzpinator don't think it a good idea," he ventured.

Everyone turned to stare at him.
"You were not asked for an expertise, Waspinator, noo." Megatron said with unusual patience. "In fact, your presence here is superfluous. As I recall, you should be on monitor duty, yess."
Waspinator bowed his head and flew away from his platform, buzzing sulkily. When he was out of earshot, he started complaining to himself. "Megatron never listen to Waspinator, Megatron only screams and send Waspinator away, Waspinator sick of stupid Megatron..."

***

When the buzzing flyer disappeared, Megatron gestured for Tarantulas to continue. The spider complied, explaining the details of the device, listing the parts needed ('which our intrepid salvagers fortunately provided,' he added with a cackle), and ending the lecture with stating that building the thing will be only the start, because it will require some careful programming.
Megatron nodded. It was exactly what he'd expected, after all. "Well done, Tarantulas. Scorponok and Blackarachnia will work on the structure under your supervision. And you--" he added, glaring sternly at Rust, who was looking at the monitor with uncanny glint in his optics, "--are to keep away from the construction site."

"Awwww..."

***

After a lot of whining and begging and swearing that he will not destroy anything, promise, Rust was finally allowed to serve as a delivery bot for the project.
Terrorsaur, sitting in front of surveillance monitors, (it was his shift now) was quickly developing a nervous tick. The route from holds to the third level, where the machine was being build, went through the corridor the comm-room opened on to. And so Terrorsaur was forced to listen to
tatta tap, tatta tap of wolf's paws on the way to holds...

and

clang clang clang of bot's feet on his way back.

After hearing it for about twentieth time, Terrorsaur snapped.

"ARRRRGH! STOP THAT! Stop running, what are you so enthusiastic about, you stupid wolf, go find yourself another route, STOP RUNNING HERE!"

Rust tilted his head, watching enraged flyer with amusement. "OK." And he ran away.

With an irritated sigh Terrorsaur went back to the monitors. What a jerk, why he had to survive the crush, why he had to come back...
ZIOooommmm.....

Huh? He glared at the door suspiciously. What the Pit was that? After a while he shook his head and returned his attention to the screens.

ZIIOoooommmm....

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed something zooming past the door. He tried to ignore it. Some cycles of peace went by, and--

ZIOOMmmmm.....

Argh! What did he come up with now? Swearing under his breath, the flyer headed to the corridor.
"OUTTA MY WAY!"
"GAK!!!"

Megatron growled as a distant crash and clamor could be heard. He went to investigate, and found two bots, red and blue, both with impressive collections of dents, trying to untangle themselves, and screaming at the top of their voice boxes.
"You slaggin' ^&^^#%#%^%^$#%^% idiot, you have all your screws loose, *&%&&%%#$% corridors are to narrow to hover, you are %^$%#%^&#%*&%^#$%^^ and %^^%# nuts!"
"It was your own fault, who told you to come in here, I wouldn't ran you over if you kept your skid-plate where you were supposed to be, you had your job, you didn't have to interrupt mine!"

Megatron measured up their damages. He inspected twisted hovering platform, embedded in corridor's wall. He drew a conclusion. He lowered power setting of his laser and shot both bots to get their attention.
"To the CR-tanks, both of you. When you're repaired, Terrorsaur, you will return to your duties. You, Rust, will go on twelve mega-cycles' scouting patrol. And don't you DARE to come back earlier."
"Yes, Megatron." "Aye, sir." They said meekly, and limped away, exchanging muttered insults.

With a growl Megatron walked into the comm-room, to temporarily replace the red flyer on monitor duty. He really, really missed having regular soldiers under his command. If he went in for praying, he would now pray for Transmuter to work, so he could have at least one.

___________________________________________________________________________

By the time the winners and the losers returned to the Axalon, the winners managed to go through one major and two minor quarrels. Small ones were mainly name-calling, the big one was about which one of them contributed to their victory. Optimus rolled his optics despairingly. So much for creating the team spirit.
He had radioed Kittar and Tigatron, who were watching out for Predacons during their exercises, to let them know it was over. Tigatron said humorously that he is glad there were no casualties, while Kittar first words were 'Who won?' She seemed to be very pleased by the outcome.
***

Kittar smiled to herself, tossed aside dismantled spider flashlight and ran back to base. When she reached Axalon, a little out of breath, she sniffed at the ground around the lift, scowled, thought for a moment, then found herself a convenient boulder. She crouched behind it, in a seemingly relaxed pose of a cat waiting for something edible to be careless enough to come near. Few cycles went by, filled only with gusts of warm wind, and then her prey arrived. She followed it with her eyes through the plains and onto the lift. Two figures disappeared, then the lift went down again. Two remaining bots were looking at it, their backs turned to her. Kittar slowly emerged from behind the boulder, using the soft noise of lift's engine to muffle her already almost inaudible steps. Ever so slowly she approached her target, boring into its back with her gaze.
The lift thumped on the ground, and two bots stepped on it, oblivious to the menace prowling just few meters from them.
Kittar waited for the lift to move again before she pounced.

"I'm back. Missed me?"


Rhinox just shook his head sadly at the death threats coming from the lift shaft. There seemed to be no way to discourage Kittar from announcing her return to the least interested person. Between her and Dinobot, Rattrap had a very hard time indeed.

The lift brought on-board a living sculpture titled 'emotions'. Cheetor, standing tall, laughing his head off, Rattrap, flat on his front, furious, and Kittar, somewhere in the middle, both physically and mentally.
"Hi Rhinox! We'll need to work on the CR," she announced as soon as she saw him, immediately forgetting about everything else.
"I'm almost done with it," Rhinox replayed, glancing at the mentioned machine, the one that suffered gorilla's wrath not so long ago. Kittar scowled. "You may have repaired it, but I want to improve it. If it had mech-fluid analyzer, and artificial-stasis commencer, and a remote repair option, this whole mess would have never happen."
Rhinox smiled involuntarily. "You're rather demanding. It's hard to expect a Debius-202 on an exploration vessel."

She wrinkled. "Well, I'm on this vessel and I want a proper CR to work with. And Debius-202 is not so great as they say. A little upgraded Cons-16 is much better."
"Hmmm, either way, I'm not sure if we have components to--"
"We have. I've checked the cargo holds, and we can adapt some parts from other machines, like..." and here she went into extremely complicated technical details.

Cheetor looked down at Rattrap. "Do you have any idea what are they talking about?" "Sure I do. 'bout lots an lots of troubles. I'm not goin' into anythin she messes wit'. I'd rader die my own death, ya know what I'm sayin'?"

***

Rhinox dubiously inspected the system of tubes and syringes Kittar was installing. "Are you sure this will interact with the rest of the system?" "I know what I'm doing. I may not be a technician, but I know everythin' dere is to know 'bout CRs. "

"Fer da last time, Daggers, STOP TALKIN' LIKE ME!"
Kittar looked over her shoulder at Rattrap, staring at her from above the poker game, and stuck out her tongue at him. He picked at it at once. "Rhinox, just look at 'er, will ya? How can ya let somethin' so immature to mess wit' our 'life or death' machines?"
She made a face and returned to her work.

Rattrap returned to his game, bristled. Another nickname and another trait crossed out from the 'how to annoy the cat' list. He'd already tried the obvious, 'Fur-ball' and not so obvious 'Fangs' and 'Red-head', he picked at her grooming and sleeping habits (and, man, she could fall asleep in weirdest places!), and got absolutely no reaction. He was slowly running out of ideas.
But I will get you, cat, just you wait!

___________________________________________________________________________

A gray blur approached Predacon base at high speed, and didn't slow down one bit once inside.

"Outta my way, outta my way, outta my way!" The wolf stopped for a nano to scratch his side furiously, and resumed the wild canter towards cleaning facility. He skidded in a doorway, bumped off the frame and dived into the nearest full tub.
Scorponok, the only bot around, blinked few times, then approached bathroom's door cautiously. "Rust?" The ripples on the surface were only response. He stepped closer. "What's it all about?"
A wolf's muzzle resurfaced, taking in a deep breath. "I itch," it uttered before disappearing again. After a moment it reappeared. "Can you turn the temperature up please?" *gasp, gasp, splash* Scorponok shook his head and increased heater settings.

The heater was a modification he'd provided after discovering just how dirty this planet was. Normally, the tubs only had to deal with dust, oil, sooth, and, of course, liquid energon and mech fluids. Here - there seemed to be no limits to filth types. Tar, sap, juice, some decomposing things better left unknown, blood, volcanic ashes... Almost all of this washed out better in higher temperature, thus the heater. It meant of course that they no longer could breath with it, as it would overheat their circuits, but since their beast-modes needed steady income of oxygen anyway, no one was complaining. In fact, it seemed that Predacons were enjoying the novelty. They were spending much more time cleaning themselves than they used to.

The other little improvement was a small scanner, which allowed to identify type of dirt, and to adjust cleaning liquid's composition to the task.
Scorponok activated it now and peek curiously at the readings. His visor widened.

"What the Pit do you have on you?"

*splash, gasp* "I donno, but it itch" *gasp, gasp, splash*

Ahhhh, warm, mmmm, Oh, itch! Grrr!
Few bubbles rippled the liquid's surface, as Rust growled. Would his stupid skin stop with the itching already? It'd started a little while after he caught himself a lunch. He enjoyed the sensation at first, but after few mega-cycles it intensified to the point when it started driving him nuts. He'd scratched, bit, weltered, howled in frustration, and as soon as his patrol shift was over he speeded to the base with a single thing in mind. A BATH!
He poked his nose out again, inhaled, and dived.

Mmmm, warm, nice and warm... Oh, stupid itch!


It took a better part of mega-cycle to remove all annoying little creatures from his fur. His skin was still prickling a little, but in an enjoyable way. Yawning, he trotted to his room, very careful not to bump into Megatron on the way. You never know, he might want him to do something, and he was somewhat tired at the moment.
"Outta my way," he mumbled at his roommate's back. Waspinator turned to him with a gasp, dropping something.
Rust's optics registered falling, potentially noisy object, and his hand stretched out and caught it just above the ground, with no direct command from his processor. Old habits die hard...

Waspinator was silently wailing and cursing at the same time. He didn't know Rust was back already. Bah, he'd practically forgotten about him, he wouldn't have bring it here if he remembered... And now that pretty thing he'd managed to brought undamaged will be destroyed, and he will be laughed at yet again. He really couldn't decide which was worse.

Rust blinked at the thing he'd caught. It was a potted plant, with long, shiny leaves and few multi-colored flowers of interesting shapes. He turned it this way and that, trying to phantom why a Predacon would bother with it. Oh, wait, it's Waspinator we're talking about...
"Nice colors," he commented, putting the plant on a shelf. "Don't wake me unless it's Megatron or end of the world." He jumped up on his bunk, smirking at his own agility. Not every bot could perform a perfect diving jump into such narrow space. He yawned. "You know what, after consideration, don't bother with the end of the world."

Waspinator only buzzed. He looked at the flower, radiating with all its beauty, absolutely untouched. He looked at the blue bot, recharging already, one of his arms swinging loosely over his bed's edge. The very same bot who shot at him with no apparent reason this morning.
Carefully, Waspinator moved his newest treasure from shelf to the table, sat down and stared at it, resting chin on his hands. If someone asked him now what was he thinking, he'd probably close his inner turmoil and confusion in two simple words.

Rust weird.

___________________________________________________________________________

--You loose--
"What? Dat stinkin' piece of junk is cheatin'!"
"It's a computer, Rattrap. It cannot cheat."
"Yea, yea, unless someone put a worm in it..." Rattrap mumbled, glancing briefly at the green-orange bot hunched over the console. Then he did a double take and gawked.

"Rhinox, why exactly is she usin' ya as a cushion?"
"Because you wriggle too much," Kittar said, glancing at him sidelong from her place on Rhinox's shoulders.
"We're programming the CR," Rhinox rumbled. That is to say, Kittar was telling how she wanted the thing to work, and he was working on the codes. As for Kittar's current location... Well, she had just jumped on his shoulders the moment he sat down, and as far as he knew there was no way of persuading her to move when she wanted to stay where she was, so he didn't even try. Besides, he didn't mind.
Rattrap shook his head, disgusted, and turned back to his computer. He was fed up with poker at the moment, didn't feel like walking out, and, thanks to the won bet, he didn't have to stare at the surveillance monitors. Cheetor was doing it, almost falling over with dullness.
To be honest, Rattrap was bored too, but he had no intention of admitting it. He'd fought hard for this brief freedom, and he was mechy well going to enjoy it! He gave it some thought, and opened directory with other games. They were all horribly old and primitive, but he felt they had potential. The great fun was just a little upgrade away... Let's see, of whom he'd like to beat the slag out?

***

"Well, it's ready," green bot said, pushing the final 'enter'. "All yours," he said to Kittar, who momentarily jumped to CR, activated the new control panel and started doing calibrations, configurations, and, generally making a lot of fuss. At last she smiled and purred. "Perrrrfect. Thanks," she said, looking up at Rhinox. He smiled down at her. "Your welcome."
Kittar cast one final glance at the rebuilt CR, shut it down and lost interest.

"I'm going out," she announced.
Bent over his self-inflicted task, Rattrap sputtered.
"Good riddance. Any chances ya won't come back?"
The dignified *poof* was the only answer.
The lift was down, so she just jumped down the shaft. After few nanos there was a noise of mad scrambling, and she reappeared, all bristled.
"Well, ah, dat was quick!" Rattrap commented.

Kittar sent him a hurt look. "It's raining!" she said, as if it was a personal insult against her.
Rattrap raised his optic ridges. It wasn't like Kittar to let anything, especially something as insignificant as a mere rain, stop her from doing something she wanted to do. "So?" he asked.
"Everything is wet!"

He was looking at her with bewildered expression, apparently not comprehending this simple fact. Kittar twitched her tail uneasily. "It's WET!" She repeated. Still no reaction. "As in, soaked with water," She tried again. He still was looking at her strangely, and she felt at loss. She wanted him to understand, but she didn't understand WHAT he didn't understand. Neither medical knowledge nor beast instincts provided any clues, and since she had no other resources, she had to improvise. "It's raining. The water is falling down in little pieces." She wasn't doing a great work of it, was she. She shifted angrily. She hated it when she didn't know what to do! "If I go out, I'll get wet!" There was no way to put it simpler, if he didn't get it now, she would hit him!
The mischievous smirk spread out slowly on Rattraps face. "An ya don't like bein' wet, is dat it?"
"Yes!" Finally! Sheesh, as if it wasn't obvious!
"Dat's good ta know," he said neutrally, swiveling his chair back to his game. Kittar nodded to herself, satisfied, and went to Med-Bay. Behind her back, Rattrap punched the air triumphantly. YES!

___________________________________________________________________________

Waspinator had a problem. He'd got an order. A very simple one. Not even a real order. He was just told to do something. Something that was supposed to be easy, and it was easy, only figuring out how to do it without getting damaged was a problem.
Or maybe he was exaggerating. After all, he'd only received few punches so far. Making up his mind, wasp-bot spoke.
"Rust?"
No reaction.
"Rust," he ventured a little louder. Still no reaction. A little impatiently, he tugged at the blue arm hanging limply from the bed. "Rust!" In an instant the arm stopped being limp. The hand attached to it closed round his throat, and he was lifted off the floor.
Blue optics opened, and narrowed dangerously. "WHAT did I tell you?"
"Megatron call Rust," Waspinator said as quickly as he could.
"Oh." Rust dropped his roommate and checked the time. "I was only sleeping for two megas," he complained, sliding to the floor. "Does he think I'm a machine or something?"
"We all machines," Waspinator pointed out cautiously.
Wolf bot scowled. "That's not the point. If he doesn't let me recharge properly in near future, I will renegotiate the contract!"
Waspinator tilted his head, surprised. "Rust have contract?" "Well, no. But that's a minor detail. Don't pick on minor details, it ruins the fun." Yawning, Rust left the room

"Wanted to see me, sir?"
Megatron nodded. "Yes I did. The weather had changed, and Maximals most probably are hiding in their base, yess. I want you to use this opportunity to make yourself familiar with Axalon's surroundings." "Aye, sir," Rust mumbled, waving his hand vaguely. If you'd squinted and tilted your head, you'd see a kind of salute in there.
"I could use some recharging, you know," he added reproachfully. Megatron smiled with politeness that was only a step away from anger. "You can recharge after you come back."
"Aye sir," Rust repeated grudgingly and departed.

His bad mood and sleepiness dissolved the moment he stepped outside. It was RAINING! With a happy shout, the gray wolf darted forward.

___________________________________________________________________________

Hidden in a small coppice, Tigatron growled with content, listening to the rain drumming on leaves. He knew that other bots didn't much like to come out in the rain, quite understandable trait for robotic creatures, but he himself enjoyed it, in his own, quiet way. He laid down, squinting his eyes. He was technically on patrol, but in this weather there was no chance of meeting Predacons, so he let himself relax. His thoughts were shifting lazily.

The small, muddy pond near the Axalon will soon fill with clear, rainwater.
The wind was pushing the clouds toward his mountains, soon it will snow there.
What was Snow Stalker doing? When he'd decided that he should stay at least within the range of radio communication with Maximals, she followed him for some time, until they've reached the verge of plains. There they had parted, and he was wondering whether she came back to the high mountains, or did she stay on the lower slopes.
Was she safe?
He missed her, and the snow, and the frosty air.
The air now was nice; the rain gave it a rare freshness.
He could smell the scent of flowers coming from the small valley a little distance away. It was secluded little area, with its unique microclimate; he'd discovered it few solar-cycles ago, and now, closing his eyes, he could clearly see its multi-flowered magnificence.

And suddenly he felt a ping of anxiety. He shouldn't be able to smell it, it was way too far! And there was something else... His fur bristled slightly, when he tried to put his paw on it. It took him a while to realize what had startled him. A sound. It was so perfectly inscribed in the sound of pouring rain, that for a moment he thought it was his own imagination. But it was getting louder, as if the source of it was nearing...
Carefully, Tigatron got to his feet and moved to the edge of the thicket, so he could watch the surrounding plains without being seen. There was nothing there, but the sound. And then, something appeared from behind a small hill. An animal, about the size of Tigatron, but gray and canine.
A wolf, his datatrax provided. Tigatron's eyes narrowed suspiciously. As far as he knew, wolves were not a native species to this land. Was it truly a wolf, or a Cybertronian in beast mode? And if it was the latter, who was it? That new Predacon, Rust... or someone from the pod? Rhinox had told him three pods were still unaccounted for...
He crouched, watching the animal, and it was certainly worth watching. It was trotting when he first saw it, but now it was alternately running and jumping vertically, snapping at the raindrops. Then it spotted the puddles nearby and raced at them.
*SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH*
Tigatron started, as a loud laughter pierced through the hum of rain. So. Definitely a Cybertronian. And a young one. Then his eyes widened. The sound that had first alerted him, and, as he realized, was ringing in the air all along, spiked three times, reflecting almost perfectly the splashes. That was... strange. Then the sound ended abruptly.


Rust raced at the puddles and started jumping joyfully, landing in exact middle of each one of them. He laughed, and dragged the sounds of splashes in his melody. He loved composing rain, it was giving him the rhythm and was practically sucking the music out of everything. Everything was more intense in the rain, colors, smells, sounds, even the touch...
The strong smell tickled his nostrils, and he stopped his humming abruptly. His green eyes lit, as he crouched and started crawling to its source. When he decided he was close enough, he howled wildly and pounced.
The created stampede was a sight. The variety of species the flock consisted of was astounding, but no mater how much the separate animals differed form each other, they were all bonded by one cause. To. Run. Away. Fast.
Rust had no objections whatsoever.


Tigatron gasped in outrage as the wolf laughed again and plummeted in the crowd. It was his deepest believe that since transformers could live on energon, they shouldn't hunt, and more less to disturb the peace of natural life like that! He felt anger sparkling.


Rust was having the time of his life. All this rush, sounds, smells, movement, man, it was intoxicating. He was running along a particularly big antelope, with massive, heavy head and broad horns. He grinned mischievously, and jumped, flying above it and landing on the ground on its other side. Hey, that was great! He rushed forward, picking up the largest animals and using them as obstacles in his own version of cross-country race.


Tigatron was running on the verge of the grove, keeping up to the terrified animals. The suppressed anger was sending shivers down his body. Right now he was ready to tear the offender apart, (well, maybe not literally, but some serious mauling was sure to happen), and the only thing that stopped him was the fact that to do that he'd had to drag him from among already scared animals. That, and the memory of how Kittar, and, to less extent, he himself were when they first left their pods. That could be a similar case.
The thought calmed him down.


The wolf looked up in awe at the brown animal with yellow cobweb marks. Wow, tough chances of jumping over that. Well, when not going up--

He dashed under creatures belly, jumped over another animal, black and white this time, and scowled when he realized that this took him outside the flock. Oh, shoot...

He ran along, and was preparing himself to jump back in, when with a gust of wind there came another smell, and he halted so rapidly that his hind paws drew a semicircle in the dirt.
Wet fur, sharp predatory note, and a bitter hint of metal.
A Maxi?
Rust closed his eyes and sent his spark senses to scout. There, in the direction of small patch of jungle, was something like a faint glimmer, but it was too far, and he couldn't be sure if it wasn't his imagination. Well, there were ways to test it...

He turned slowly, until his side was fully exposed to the hypothetical enemy. He stayed like that for some time, but nothing happened. Rust mentally slapped his forehead. They don't know your beast mode, stupid!
He terrorized, and yes, the faint distant glimmer flashed at that in surprise. Hah! Gottcha!

With a silent laugh Rust spread out his arms and bent his head backwards, making his chestplate a perfect target. He waited, marveling at the raindrops whispering on his metal and the thrill running up and down his frame.
Will he, or will he not shoot me?


Tigatron watched the blue bot in amazement. He had no idea why would he behave like that, but one thing he knew for sure - whoever he was, right here, right now, he was not a treat, neither to him nor anyone else. The Cybertronian and the tiger in full agreement decided to leave him alone and back away. After few nanos he heard the other bot's laughter following him.


Rust felt the others spark leaving and laughed.
See ya next time, Maxi!
Well, enough playing, let's get back to the task...
___________________________________________________________________________

Cheetor was slowly sliding off his chair. It was so DULL! What was the point of monitor duty when it was pouring like this outside? He was at the verge of death by boredom, when the radio lived up.
**Tigatron to Maximal base**

"Hey there, Big Cat, how you're faring out there? Not drowned yet?"
Tigatron chuckled.

**It would take more than a simple rain to drawn that cat. Is Dinobot somewhere around?**
"Ah, no. Why?"
**I need to ask him something.**

"Oh, OK, wait a cycle, I'll call him."


Tigatron waited patiently, looking at the sky. The clouds were racing across it, taking the load of water to the distant mountains. Tigatron sighed. He'd have to ask Rhinox to work on some long-range comm...

A snarl in his comlink drew his attention.
**This is Dinobot. What is it, Tigatron?**
"The Predacon you've told us about, Rust... Is he a blue bot about our size?"
**Yes, he was about an inch higher than me. Why do you ask?**

"I saw him today from the distance. He has a gray wolf as a beast mode. I though you should know that."

Dinobot agreed it was a valuable piece of information, asked where exactly Rust was spotted, and closed the connection. ___________________________________________________________________________

The rain finally stopped, and Waspinator was sent out on patrol. He was buzzing happily, admiring the rainbow, sure that at least today he wouldn't end up in CR-tank.
Poor, poor Waspinator...


Rust had put the rainy mega-cycles to good use, and now he could draw a map including every stone, bush and ravine within two thousand meters from maximal base with his eyes closed. And a little less detailed map of whole terrain between two bases. He was going back, when he heard the characteristic buzzing, and went to investigate. He found Waspinator, hovering and munching on some fruit. The juice was dripping from it, straight into large muddy puddle beneath.
A mischievous grin appeared on wolf's face. That was an opportunity he just couldn't miss...
He crouched and crept to unsuspecting victim.
Drip step drip step drip JUMP!

Waspinator yelped, the puddle splashed, and Rust laughed. "Gottcha!" He stopped laughing after a while. Something was wrong. Wasp bot terrorized and scrambled out of the mud, but instead of shouting or at least complaining, he was shaking in silent sobs. Then he suddenly kicked at the mud, splashing him with it. "Stupid Rust!" There was despair in his voice, and something told Rust that the kid was crying under his helmet. "Now Waspinator have to WALK back to base!"
Huh?
Then he understood what the wasp was talking about. One of his delicate wings was broken in several places. It had to hurt, but, more importantly, it meant he was grounded. And wasps weren't designed for long walks.
Oh, #*$# !!!

Waspinator was staring at the bigger bot, wishing for him to melt down spontaneously, or get squashed under a mountain, or to drop into lava, or at least to take a serious beating. But he was bigger and stronger, and there was really nothing Waspinator could do. So he just turned and walked away. After few steps he opened his helmet to wipe away the tears.

"Hey, wait!" Rust ran after the small bot and grabbed his arm.
"Go away!" Waspinator shouted, shutting the helmed quickly, but not quickly enough. Rust caught a glimpse of his face. Yep, he was crying, all right. Slag it. "Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it."
"Rust leave Waspinator alone!" he pushed the blue bot away. He didn't need any stupid, false apologies! "Rust stupid, mean bulldozer!" He threw over his shoulder.
Rust growled. "Look, I'm SORRY! I'll give you a ride home, all right?"
"Not all right! Go jump into lava!"

Rust stopped and counted to ten, watching the back of retreating bot. NOW he was being proud and stubborn. Great timing, wasp! He breathed deeply, beastmoded and followed smaller bot in a distance, until he shuddered suddenly and beastmoded as well.

Rust quickened his pace and gained on him easily. "Come on, it will take you ages to reach the base."
"So Rust can be happy and go away!"
All right, that does it. He was angry and tired, and he was done with persuading. He simply charged at the wasp, jerking his head in a sweeping motion, sending a bundle of buzzing to the air and then moved under its falling form.
Waspinator landed on wolf's back, and this time, he didn't care about anything. He arched his body angrily--
Rust sensed his movement, and turned his neck to stare at the wasp with one threatening eye. "Sting me, and I'll bite your head off!"
Waspinator froze, then looked away and relaxed.
"That's better. Now hold on to the fur, we'll be going fast."

___________________________________________________________________________

Megatron was on his way to Scorponok's lab, when he heard the sound of claws scratching on the floor in attempt to stop its owner's progress through the corridor, and a following surprised yelp, and next moment something crashed at his feet. He suppressed the automatic urge to wipe the corridor out with a few well aimed shots and looked first down, at the maltreated wasp, scrambling to his feet, and then at the rather embarrassed wolf, sitting at the end of a braking trail.

"WHAT happened?"

Rust half opened his mouth in wolfish grin. "I've hunted a wasp!"
For half a nano, Megatron was looking like he was about to explode. Then he just growled to help Waspinator to the CR-tank, which Rust hastily performed, despise Waspinator's protests.


"Oh, stop your whining," Rust growled, dumping the wasp in CR. "I've just lost a bigger part of my pride, it hurts worse than a broken wing." He activated the machine and started to turn around to go away, when a shot from behind send him to the ground. With a startled growl he rolled, raising his blaster--

--and holstered it back almost immediately.
"I do not care whether it was a joke, an accident, or his own fault," Megatron growled, picking him up with his dino-hand. "I don't appreciate the way you're damaging my troops." He slammed Rust against the empty tank, eliciting a small yelp. "It had better not happen again." He tightened dino-jaws slightly. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Aye, sir," Rust managed to gasp through his squeezed throat.
"Good."
And Rust was thrown into CR. That was weird, he thought just before he went off-line.

***

The repairs didn't take long, as the damages weren't too serious. Waspinator was awake before the platform raised, and he didn't wait for it to move, he just jumped out and fluttered his wings, spraying the surroundings with opalescent liquid. He was really sick of waking up in the staff. He couldn't count all the times when that happened. Maybe he should start a diary. Maybe something titled "My CR and me". Stupid wolf. As if the Maximals weren't enough. Buzzing grudgingly, Waspinator flew to the door, when a liquid in another CR-tank surged, and its occupant somersaulted over its edge and landed on the floor, shakings himself off.

Waspinator felt his jaw dropping in surprise. "Why Rust in CR-tank too?" he asked before he could stop himself.

The blue bot grinned at him. "Walked on a door," he said with an arch wink. "Now excuse me, I STILL have some recharge to catch up to."
___________________________________________________________________________

The small muddy pond near the Axalon indeed filled with rainwater. Tigatron was paddling in it happily, only his neck visible above the water. Cheetor was considering joining the bigger cat, but he was concerned about the depths. He wasn't sure if his beast mode could swim.
Kittar was lying on the sand, exposing her belly to the sun, trying to ignore the unnerving watery noises. Optimus was reading, Rhinox was smelling flowers, Dinobot was complaining that it was a folly to leave the base unguarded and wasting time like that, Rattrap was commenting that Dino-butt can go back and guard the base, if he's so concerned, Dinobot was ignoring Rattrap... One very peaceful day, right? Right.

___________________________________________________________________________

Dry, repaired, warm, rested, happy and off-duty. Rust smiled to himself, stretching on his bunk. Then he rolled over the edge and landed neatly on his feet, grinning like a madbot. Was he good or what? Then his grin changed back to smile, and a very gentle one. He walked to the table and traced the vivid blue petals specked with yellow blotches. In answer to his touch, the flower released its pollen, and the spicy-sweet scent filled the air.
Mmmmm...
That's why he loved the organic life forms. They were soft, beautiful and full of surprises. Robotics could only look up to them.
After few cycles Rust with some effort erased the smile from his face and walked out into the bad guys' world.

On empty hold in third level Tarantulas watched Scorponok finishing the last weld and nodded to Megatron.

"It is essentially ready. Now I need to write a basic shell programming for it and calibrate it. Then, since we already have both Maximal and Predacon behav-prog chips, it should be able to turn a bot from Maximal to Predacon and back. But for the task you wish it to perform, I'll have to prepare specially modified chip." He cackled, thinking of possibilities the Transmuter opened for him. The ancient machinery, redesigned a little by him, properly used, would be a powerful weapon. Megatron didn't even realize how huge mistake he'd done, letting the spider to work on it unsupervised... But that was for later. Now he'd have to confirm if the thing worked the way it was supposed to, and the easiest way to do it was to follow Megatron's whims, as silly as they might be... His train of thoughts was brutally derailed by delighted exclamation.

"You've finished it!" Rust surveyed the machine with bright optics, and his hand moved almost by itself--

"DON'T TOUCH THAT!" quartet of voices bellowed.

"I won't break it," he assured them, but no one believed him for some reason.
"Go to beast mode, Rust," Megatron ordered curtly, and he obeyed with a scowl. Sheesh, one stupid black out and he was treated like some walking menace.

Tarantulas shook his head in mixed irritation and relief. He had no idea how exactly Rust had managed to fuse half of main power wiring, but the cause was immaterial. It was the result that worried him. Some of parts in transmuter were irreplaceable... He tore his gaze away from the wolf and turned back to Megatron. "About the programming - do you have any special demands?"

The purple bot glanced at the scientist. His cackle was getting at his nerves, and though the spider hadn't so far done anything to arouse his suspicions, the centuries of experience were telling him that he should be aware. But the main principle of being aware of someone was to never let him know you're being aware of him. So he smiled and responded in his most casual tone o voice. "If you could get rid of that annoying sense of honor..."
"I'm afraid that's impossible. That is a trained trait, and as such cannot be affected without altering other skills."
Megatron sighed inwardly. He didn't really count on it, but it would certainly make his life easier. "In that case, a simple obedience program would do, yess."
"The obedience programs are never simple, as you surely know, leader," Tarantulas retorted probingly, with a meaningful glance at the wolf, who was trotting around the Transmuter, bothering Scorponok with questions how exactly, but exactly, this thing work.

Megatron studiously looked away, not bothering to hide a smirk. He knew perfectly well what the spider was implying. Half the crew was suspecting that he'd somehow tampered with Rust's programming. He had no intention of confirming or denying that rumor.

Tarantulas was staring intently at Megatron's face, and was quite displeased when he couldn't read anything from it. Rust was still a mystery for him, and he hated mysteries. They were hard to control. He had a few theories, but he needed more data, and since he didn't get them from Megatron, why not try the weak spot?
He turned to the wolf with a mischievous smirk.
"You seem to be very enthusiastic about Transmuter, Rust. Maybe you could be our first test subject?"
The wolf perked his ears. "Sure!" He jerked his head to Megatron. "Can I?"

"No!"

"Awww..."
The disappointed grunt had no effect on Predacon leader's decision, but the triumphant glint in Tarantulas's visor had. "Not first, anyway, noo. We wouldn't want you to get your processor wiped, or have you stuck with improper programming, would we. You may try it after we know for sure it works."
The wolf brightened. "Cool!"

Tarantulas sniggered quietly.
Nice try, leader, but too late.
Now he knew for sure there was something wrong with Rust's programming. The question remained, what.

He was to wait for a long time before discovering this... and it was certainly NOT what he expected...

___________________________________________________________________________

Kittar rolled to her side, with a little noise of content. Then she raised her head and looked around sleepily. She smacked her lips few times. She decided that she was thirsty and considered whether getting up and going to the pond was worth the effort. She decided it was.

Black, beady eyes glinted roguishly at the sight of a red cat craning its neck to lap at the water without stepping in it. Their owner looked around to check if anyone was watching. No one was. A smile that could scare a mass murderer appeared.

The Maximals didn't see it happen, but they definitely HEARD it.
A very loud SPLASH
A very loud, outraged SCREAM

A very loud, triumphant LAUGHTER
A very loud, furious HISS
A very loud, desperate HEEEEEEELP!!!!!!

They all jumped to their feet, and witnessed quite unsettling sight.
The rat running as fast as his short paws could carry him, screaming for help at the top of his voice, with a dripping wet cat on his heals, screaming and hissing madly, slashing at him with murderous intentions.

Optimus was the first to go to the rescue, and he got a set of scratches all over his arms for his pains, and a ball of slashing madness went on with pursuit. Rhinox moved to block its way, and received few scratches on his back, as it jumped over him. Dinobot with an angry snarl jumped in front of it and hoisted it by the scurf of its neck, and it suddenly went limp. Amber eyes looked up at Dinobot, as if asking 'whaaat?'.

"What's WRONG with you, cat?" he asked angrily.

"I'm WET! He threw me in the water! I'm wet! I hate water! Water! Wet! Hate!"
Amazing, how much passion, outrage, disgust, and hurt complaint she managed to put in these three simple words. Dinobot dropped her with a contemptuous snarl, and she immediately started licking herself, trying to get rid of the despised substance.

Optimus sighed heavily, covering his face with hands.
I have the weirdest crew in the galaxy, and half of it is trying to scrap the other half. What by the Pit should I do?

No, he decided shaking his head. I will take care of this tomorrow. I don't know how to take care of this anyway.

Hidden under the broad leaves of a convenient plant, Rattrap peeked out carefully. Well, he'd got a reaction. Not exactly what he'd expected, but maybe it would teach the cat not to mess with this rat. He hissed, as all the scratches (and they were more like wounds, really) flared up. Oh well, he thought, nursing the particularly nagging one, the look at her face just before she hit the water was worth it.