ii

Waspinator closed what little distance remained between us and pressed his mouth against mine. Hot energon boiled up under my mechanical skin on my face and I blushed just as my spark skipped at beat. All the while, Waspinator's wings went slightly more rigid. For a brief moment, the kiss had little movement. Just clicks after it started though, Waspinator melted right into me, the wasp gently leaning forward more and opening his front mandibles just slightly to run them over my perfectly formed lips. It felt very nice actually, but…

I could barely comprehend what was happening now. I couldn't believe Waspinator was actually kissing me! I mean, I always knew there was something up with the damn clutz - I knew that from the first moment I laid my optics on him and his on me - but I never thought it would lead to this. He was my friend - and probably the only one I'd ever had that meant this much to me - but I doubted that there could ever be anything romantic!

…That was my mistake, really. It was far too obvious that was what wanted to be broken when it came to our silence.

I shivered slightly and leaned back, uncharacteristically submissive towards my younger wingmate. I was embarrassed enough, even if no one was watching us - though I had a nagging feeling someone was, as silly as that sounds - and I couldn't help but to not kiss back at first. I kept my optics online ever so slightly as Waspinator kissed me. I was still incredibly nervous and continued to leave my optics online just ever so slightly as if the other Predacon would reject me at a moment's notice. Would he be upset if I was too afraid to kiss him back? Truth be told actually, this was my first kiss… at least, the first kiss I ever had where there was a sense of actual affection behind it. There had been other times on Cybertron where I had a few prostitutes that had kissed me, but this… this felt so much different. It was tense, true, but I felt glad he was kissing me. And this was still Waspinator I'm talking about.

But he was still so much better than I was. I wasn't kissing back, I realized, because I was afraid he was going to reject me for some reason. It sounds absurd, I can understand that much, but what was I in comparison to him? I wasn't worth scrap. I was never worth scrap.

Seemingly reading my mind, he seemed to realize how uneasy I was. Gingerly, Waspinator slowly moved his arm towards me. I wanted to flinch away, afraid what he was going to do and images of what happened to me during my early Cybertronian years being abused flashed through my head. I was tempted to reel away out of instinct alone but, for reasons beyond me, my body refused to listen to my screaming mental processes. To more or less of my surprise though, he let his hand trail down my right arm. He shifted it up, rubbing my compacted arm wing, and then back down again almost as if to coax me out of my overwrought state.

He traced his fingers over my arm's compacted arm wing and I shuddered, turning my optics offline entirely. Even though I was on the edge of the high cliff, I found that I trusted Waspinator enough to close my optics and get lost in whatever it was that we were doing. I trusted him. I never felt that way for any Cybertronian before. I kissed him back then. I wasn't entirely sure how to move my lips against his seeing how awkwardly shaped his mouth was, but I at least tried. For a first time effort too, I think I did a good job. I leaned forward, slightly more confident in myself, and parted my lips slightly wider. Waspinator stopped assaulting me with his mandibles and, for a brief second, I was afraid that I had done something wrong. He parted his jaw somewhat so I could get better access though, and I realized it was an invitation. With a brief amount of hesitation crossing my caution circuits, I trailed my lips over his mandibles and he started to move against me again. We took intakes through our olfactory sensors and tried to keep the moment dragged out as much as possible.

Waspinator broke off after sometime. I hadn't been keeping track of the time.

I kissed him back.

For a moment, I thought I was doing something wrong because he stopped his own movements, ceasing to assault me with his mandibles altogether. He didn't pull away however, so kept on and didn't back down in fear that everything would turn more awkward than it already was. I kissed him lightly and that was when Waspinator parted his split jaw further so that I could get better access. I hesitantly trailed my lips up and down the yellow and green plating - I wasn't really sure of what else to do, taking into consideration the mold of Waspinator's mouth - and then Waspinator's own movements resumed. We moved in sync, breathing only through our olfactory sensors and focusing on keeping up on our kiss. I felt we needed to address this… whatever it was we were doing, but I couldn't will myself away.

I really didn't want to stop - I was sure the same went on for Waspinator - but the fact remained that my partner finally pulled away.

He turned his head away and I immediately backed off, paranoid that I had done something wrong. The full scope of what we actually did - and the usual significance behind something like that - hit me full force and it took every ounce of my psyche from panicking. What had we been doing? More so, why had I enjoyed it? Waspinator's kept his optics offline for a few more clicks, but I was glad he did. That way he couldn't see the paranoia an anxiety flash across my expression. Waspinator must have sensed me watching him, because he reactivated his optics and met his lake azure optics with my own bloodied ones. The sun met the horizon while we were distracted and its crimson brilliance made the sky a deep orange scarlet mixed with purple. Waspinator must have felt the same anxiety I must have, because his face was flushed very lightly in the setting sun's luminescence. The glow of the sun couldn't hide it. It was a relief to me that he looked just as embarrassed about what we did - Primus, I actually kissed Waspinator - as I was. The poor guy looked like he almost couldn't find it in himself to speak. I don't think I could have even if you threatened my life. Finally, after the silence nearly consumed us, he spoke.

"Um… that wazz…" he trailed off, looking unsure as if how he wanted to finish. The confounded puzzlement in his own optics showed me that he was very unsure of himself. At least I wasn't the only one, it seemed.

I think I caught him by surprise as much as I did myself, because I suddenly found the urge to lean forward and kiss him again. It was impossible for me to tell whether or not I was imaging what was happening. I found it difficult to deceiver whether or not I was still asleep by the side of the lake and, for a moment, I was almost entirely positive I was. Almost. Feeling the heat of Waspinator's blush when I pecked him on the front of his mouth where his mandibles parted however, made my online sensors beep in the corner of my mind at what temperature his synthetic skin was at. Sensors didn't react to real time stimulus in dreams. I was very much awake, and this was all very much happening.

Waspinator didn't initially kiss back, and I immediately drew away. His optics were offline, dazed. He must have felt m gaze on him, because he onlined his optics once more and a distant look overcame his features. I was momentarily afraid that I upset him and overstepped our already overstepped boundaries, but then he kissed me again. He turned his head to the side to graze his mandibles against my cheek. I couldn't suppress the urge to shudder at feeling his cool emerald plating tickle lightly against my pale features. I forced myself to remain calm and still when he reached my audio.

"…Wazzpinator thinkzz he's in love with Terror-bot," he murmured lightly. He sounded dazed. I had to wonder whether or not he thought he was dreaming, too.

My fuel pump sputtered inside my chest when he spoke.

"…Really?" My voice was barely above a rasped whisper.

He felt for me, too? Just like I felt for him?

He must have felt self conscious, because he quickly continued on and was audibly trying to force his vocalizer not to stutter foolishly. His hands and wings visibly trembled when he spoke. "Wazzpinator thought about it a lot today and Wazzpinator can't get over Terror-bot. When Bird-bot hurt Terror-bot… when…" he trailed off, leaving the sentence unfinished. HE obviously didn't want to go on. Whatever did happen to me after Airrazor nearly scrapped me, it must have been bad. Either way, I was sure that it would be etched in his processors as a horrific nightmare. That was how disturbed he looked.

He backed away from my audio and I looked over towards him, looking directly into his face. It was very distinguishably twisted with worry and he unconsciously wrung his hands. To me, he looked so much younger than he actually was. The innocence and anxiety glowing within his optics were prominent, begging me for a response and at the same time dreading one. I couldn't blame him. I would have probably acted the same way had I revealed my own feelings for him first.

I smirked at him.

"…I guess the feeling's mutual," I said with as much as my usual character as I possibly could, given the circumstances. "I love you too, you dummy. Now we're even."

He perked up right away, wings going erect and eyes brightening. I had to stifle a laugh. To see him snap out of his anxious state so quickly made me momentarily muse whether or not he suffered mental whiplash from it. "Terror-bot meanzz it!" Every bit of peppiness and his usual character returned.

I smiled genuinely at him. That was something that, after I realized I did it, I wasn't even capable of. I wanted to say something back to him, but my voice caught in my throat.

His entire form was a bright emerald. As bright as an emerald angel's, maybe.

He leaned forward and kissed me lightly again with a slightly more playful vigor than before. I pulled back again and felt an abrupt mood swing after I kissed him. We locked gazes and we watched one another for sometime before he leaned forward and kissed me once more. Primus, I felt like I was walking on air every time the distance was closed between us. We ended up going back and forth that for another ten cycles.

We finally broke away after the sun completely set into the western horizon. We ended staying on the cliff edge for another megacycle or so watching the stars. I still couldn't help but notice the emerald hue of his armor even after the sun set, and when only the twin moons were left to illuminate its sheen. It was dark out when I abruptly realized we were going to be late for curfew. I mentioned it to him and Waspinator, startled, checked his own internal clock before voicing that he had come to the same conclusion as I had. We both stood to leave. I was a graceful figure compared to his clumsiness and I had to help him up Without even thinking, I reached a hand down to his much like the way I had after I retrieved him from the boulder Dinobot dropped on him. Had that really been several weeks ago? It felt like it was yesterday. However, it was when he stood that I noticed that he actually carried himself very well. I hadn't noticed that before. His back was straight and his stance solid. That was when I realized that I didn't let go of his hand even after he was back on his feet. My servo was still tightly clamped onto his. The gesture perhaps only lasted five clicks or so before I managed to pull away. I gave his fist a reassuring squeeze and he returned it. We didn't find ourselves in another kiss, although I pecked him on the side of his face just before we took off back for base.

We didn't make it back right on time. We were late by three cycles past our curfew. The both of us landed just outside the Darkside and attempted to sneak in, though my inability to get away with anything combined with Waspinator's bad luck rendered the attempt impossible.

I stood close to Waspinator when we walked in, the latter probably hoping that there wouldn't be a conflict. However, with Megatron, Scorponok, and I in the same room, it's usually unavoidable and more of a question as to when the arguments break loose. I was a bit of an instigator… this time around it took less than ten clicks. I took to a hover pad to report back in and, before Scorponok could jeer at my me - I saw his face twist upward with the intention to speak - I beat him to it. Out of the corner of my vision, I could see Waspinator's exasperated expression. What? It's not my fault Scorponok and Grape Face hate my circuits! Waspinator said nothing, but made up for his silence by keeping his own hover pad close to mine in case my heckle towards Megatron's second brought the tyrant's wrath on us… on me.

I appreciated Waspinator for that. Even when we weren't aiming our weapons and dive bombing Maximals, he still had my back.

Scorponok snapped back and Megatron had quickly intervened, growling at me to keep my beak shut. I obliged, but not without a quick snort and mumbling just beneath my breath how much of a glitch fragger he was. I maneuvered my pad towards the control room exit so Waspinator and I could get to our quarters. I was expecting Megatron to comment, perhaps even lash out at me for turning my back on him leader, but he didn't. That surprised me, but I shrugged it off without much of a second thought. Waspinator followed me and was right on my heels. By the time we were out of the room walking towards our quarters, Waspinator stopped me in the middle of the hallway and scolded me for baiting Megatron the way I had. His face was twisted with minor irritation, but there was a definite and undeniable look of worry in his optics. He wasn't very good at hiding his feelings. I merely smiled, feeling the teasing grin tug at the corners of my mouth.

"Concerned?"

"Yezz," he stated flatly in a buzz. His arms were crossed and his stance firm, but I could visibly tell that he was desperately trying not to melt under my touch when I reached a hand forward to cup the right side of my face. Had he always shuddered like during the times that I touched him before our encounter at Tanna? I wasn't sure, but I had a feeling he had, and that I was only just noticing it now. I must have been stupid not to see his affections before. My free hand found one of his and he looked about ready to loose himself when my digits stroked against the green back of his palm lovingly. Waspinator leaned forward and lightly kissed me fleetingly. I smirked, tapped the side of his face with an index finger, and then I squeezed his hand again like I had back at the mountain's ledge.

"So…" I trailed off and shrugged. "Maybe we can head back to Tanna tomorrow?"

He readily agreed. I kissed him and we parted ways to our own quarters. I had an odd amount of trouble getting to sleep that night.

Several days passed and our little game kept on. We would both finish with our duties around the Darkside as early as we could manage - Waspinator with slightly more vigor than before I noted, though I was sure it was because he wanted to spend more time with me - and we would head off directly to Tanna-16 to watch the sunsets. There was one day when we couldn't go out however but, either way, it was another breaking point in our relationship. Though the wall that kept our once restrained feelings apart had been broken down, there were still things that continuously popped up. Physical contact between us seemed to increase gradually until the point where we couldn't have a conversation without brushing up against one another or lightly touching the other's body. Even then, the contact was also becoming more intimate. Our hands would linger on one another's form longer and would even occasionally caress if we weren't paying attention to what our hands were doing. Breaking that point was what happened when it was raining out at Tanna-16 that day. Unable to go, we opted to remain at the base. Scorponok had needed help with repairing a blown fuse box in one of the hallways and Waspinator, feeling like he owed him for helping repair me in the canyon, volunteered to help. Despite the poor weather out at the mountain, I had tagged along because I still wanted be with him.

The fuse box sparked under Waspinator's ministrations, zapping his point tipped fingers and making him flinch away. He hissed a sharp buzz and narrowed his blue optics at the fried wires. "Urgh. Wazzpinator hates electrical work."

"You could've opted to not do this," I murmured. I was leaning against the wall, my arms crossed over my chest loosely, and I glanced down at him. I tapped my forearms in an unconscious looking gesture and the resonating pang reverberated off the walls. "I know you mentioned that you thought you owed Scorponok, but-"

"Nothing," the wasp razzed. "Wazzpinator probably owes Scorpion-bot more the way Wazzpinator feels about Terror-bot."

"I'm touched," I joked, but I hoped that Waspinator couldn't hear how my voice faltered indistinctly. Despite my usually overblown ego, I was still genuinely humbled that he cared about me that much.

We were silent. Though we usually weren't unspoken with one another anymore, this was a more casual quiet. Waspinator fiddled around with the wires more and he broke the silence just as casually as we had created it. "Terror-bot is afraid of heights. Why?"

How did he find out?

My mechanical brain tripped over itself, reeled in horror, and I snapped my head down to look at him. I felt that my mouth was agape and I wanted to say desperately that I wasn't afraid of heights, but I couldn't come up with anything plausible or convincing. How did he find out? Did I make it too obvious? We locked gazes for a moment before he broke our state and uncomfortably stared at his handiwork before him. "After Bird-bot shot Terror-bot, Terror-bot kept rambling and asking that Wazzpinator not drop him. Terror-bot seemed nervous on Tanna cliff, too."

Which made sense to me, if I was as delirious as I knew I was after Airrazor's treatment. I turned away, embarrassed over the fact that my emerald partner knew my phobia. We were silent again for sometime and I wanted to desperately break it. Waspinator kept working in silent, probably in silent agreement with me. When he nearly finished with his work, I slowly knelt beside him. He snapped his neck around to regard me and we made optic contact once more. My optics glowed in the darkness of the hall - the only thing lighting the hallway was from the single fluorescent light from up another hall - and I murmured. "Do… do you think I'm a fool for being afraid of something that stupid?"

He perked up, seemingly taken aback by what I said. "No! Wazzpinator was just confused why Terror-bot be afraid of heights!"

I stared at him a moment longer and, after a few clicks, I broke the contact feeling my insides twist. I turned around and slumped back against the wall, lazily bringing my right knee up and draping my arm over it. I sighed heavily and blinked, feeling my optics dull in the low light. The memories bothered me, but I needed to say something. "…I just have been. I didn't do much flying as a kid on Cybertron, so I just… I was just introduced to it too late."

Introduced to it too late because my mother hated me. My father had been a Seeker and, more or less, I ended up looking just like him being a Seeker myself. She hated my father for leaving her with spark and, with that, she found it in herself to hate me too. It was for that reason that Firehawk wouldn't even so much let me stretch my wings. Infant Seekers on Cybertron - both Decepticon and Predacon - were known for being midair daredevils and we would learn to fly very early on in our lives as sparklings. Being introduced to the air so early on in our lives, ironically, the only phobia we would usually have would be the fear of enclosed spaces and being grounded. Ninety something percent of all the Seekers ever created had claustrophobia and would drive themselves mad if we were denied the freedom to fly. The fact any Seeker would have a fear of heights was an alien concept.

I spoke again, clenching and unclenching my fists at random intervals. "I can't stand enclosed spaces either, but heights were a weird hang up I've had since… I don't know. Since forever I guess. My mother wouldn't let me fly around when I was old enough to and I tried to hover down the staircase when she wasn't home. I fell and just about nearly broke my arm. I was afraid of falling ever since. I… I hope that dignifies it," I said finally. My internals inwardly shuddered from the memory of falling down the staircase and looking up to see my arm twisted at an angle that should not have been possible. The fall probably should not have smashed it up so bad but… my mother had abused the same one earlier in the week. The joints inside the casing were strained enough as it was. It made breaking it so much easier than it should have been.

I didn't think that it would be dignified at all, but Waspinator only shrugged somewhat. "It was alwayzz dignified. Wazzpinator not blame Terror-bot," he answered back in a smooth razz. He wasn't a Seeker back on Cybertron - he was a Cybertronian helicopter - but he still got antsy when he couldn't fly. Most other fliers like him weren't nearly as bad of as us Seekers were, but he was still mildly claustrophobic. To an extent, I guess he could relate. Being as delicate as he could, he finished the rewiring and closed the metallic door to the fuse box.

I turned to look at Waspinator in surprise, letting my optics lock with his. "Really?"

He nodded eagerly. "Yeah. Wazzpinator has weird hang ups too, remember?"

I did remember. I felt my face turn humorously grim. "And I thought your shiny object fetish was bad. The sugarcane addiction is definitely worse."

My own reminder brought up images from events that I think we both preferred to not remember. When we had scanned our respectful beast-modes, many of us had picked up on the traits of the animals we used as our alternate forms. Whereas I had the strangest craving for sunbathing, fish, and small birds, Waspinator had beast-mode wrought addiction for sugary substances and anything that held a reflective glint. One warm day after the events that took place within Tanna-16, while Scorponok and Blackarachnia had tried to set up a jamming station just beyond our territory border with the Maximals, Waspinator and I had been standing guard to make sure the project was successful. It wasn't, unfortunately enough. Rattrap, Cheetor, Dinobot, and Tigertron had ambushed and engaged the two of us when we weren't expecting them. Outnumbered, we had no choice but to make a hasty retreat. I had given my emerald clad partner the order to do so, but then the poor idiot saw a glint of light reflect off an object Rattrap had tossed into the air… which was a grenade. Hopelessly engrossed by the sheen surface of the explosive, Waspinator had stared at it stupidly until gravity started to pull it back down. It exploded a click later. As a result, he was sent flying backwards before he crashed violently into the ground. I managed to retrieve him, though not without taking it upon myself to disclose that he had some seriously dangerous tendencies.

…Then there was the sugar binge incident. All he claimed to remember was wolfing down a few pounds of sugarcane and then waking up in his room with huge hangover. I had been waiting for him to wake up while I sat on the edge of his berth. Either way, I'm glad he can't recall anything else. Waspinator returned from that patrol and nearly leveled the entire base buzzing around like a lunatic. The only casualties were the consoles and a few of the light fixtures on the ceiling - the ones Waspinator kept ramming into - but I'm sure the rampage's memory gave even Tarantulas nightmares. Since then though, he had a noticeable addiction to sugar. Regardless to the fact Megatron had banned sugar from being even within a hundred meters of the Darkside - his apparent sugar hyped rampage had obviously humbled the grape face enough to the point where he didn't even want it near the base - I would occasionally slip him a gram or so once or twice a week. He praised me endlessly for it.

Waspinator buzzed, his antennas and his internals humming from the thought of the contraband Megatron had prohibited. "Don't remind Wazzpinator."

I laughed a dry cackle before I leaned towards my partner and smirked at him. Our optics met and I realized my smirk wasn't a smirk at all. The term 'smirk' doesn't feel right to me anyways. I think I was smiling. "I have to run another patrol in that area tomorrow. Until I can get some for you, I won't."

Pecking me on the front of his mandibles, I kissed him lightly before I pulled away and pressed my forehead against his. I'm not usually one for being overly affectionate to anyone, but that particular movement felt right for the moment. It was just the two of us. There was no one in the hallway to see our little display - to my knowledge, there were thankfully were no security cameras either - so Waspinator seemed to find it appropriate to lean forward and catch my lips with his own mouth. I grabbed one of his shoulders and lightly pushed him back, straining to get onto my knees so that I could properly face him. Successfully managing to pull it off, I kissed him with a fever that equally matched his I wrapped my arms around his neck and, just like the barrier that kept us silent and the second one that hid our affections for one another, a third was knocked down… the barrier regarding something more than our own personal space.

The kiss suddenly deepened, slowed without warning, and I abruptly reached up to grasp the sides of Waspinator's face with my trembling hands. My insides suddenly heated and I felt a hot blush burn my face. Waspinator reached up to grasp the back of my head and he held me there.

To my silent horror, my lower regions heated and I felt lube develop in my port. And we were in a hallway.

Waspinator was in agreement with me. He pulled away with a pan, barely finding it in his shaking voice to speak. "Not here, Terror-bot."

He was right. I mewled and pulled back. Waspinator's entire face was flushed - whether or not in embarrassment or aroused desire was beyond me - and his optics were somewhat glazed. I could imagine that my face looked very similar. I looked down at him trying to remember where we could go close by and I nodded shakily when I recalled somewhere. "Y-yeah. Follow me."

When Optimus Primal had accidentally become a berserker - courteous of another one of Scorponok's lovely and now increasingly frequent screw ups - he had ambushed Waspinator in the hallway by busting through a hollow passage in the wall. The wall hadn't been patched up for the sole purpose that we didn't have the supplies needed to repair it, but it had a secure, private chamber towards the right of the gaping hole that could just barely accommodate two Transformers. The entrance to the passage was conveniently no more than ten paces from where we were working and we quickly slipped in without being noticed.

It was the first time we had sex.

As soon as Waspinator walked ahead into the closed off section that would hopefully be out of sight of anyone if they walked past the hole in the wall, I was all over him. Before he could turn to face me, I launched himself for him and kissed desperately up his jaw and mandibles. My insides were up in flames and my spark burned. I raked my teeth down his throat - at the same time, Waspinator hastily reached down to try to get his port to click open - but he was moving too slowly. Not fast enough. The burning was too great for my lapsing mind to deal with and I turned Waspinator around roughly. He went down on all fours and managed to bump his head against the wall in the process. He razzed in pain while I tried to push past his beast-mode's thorax appendage. The damn thing was so difficult to work myself around that I couldn't help the curse that escaped me. It was soft, but pitched both from arousal and frustration. I managed to open his aft port with one hand while I worked my frontal dock open with the other. In an instant, our bodied were married together and a new burning surged up through my body.

I heard Waspinator grunt from the pain and I saw out of the corner of my blurred vision and he balled his fists. Embarrassment made my face burn hot and pain made my body ache. For our first time - admittedly - it wasn't all that pleasurable. Things were far too rushed and awkward for me to be any bit enjoyable and, the way my partner had grunted earlier, Waspinator seemed to be in a silent agreement. Our bodies moved in sync, back and forth, but our sparks didn't. After sometime, I bent over slightly to rest my upper torso on Waspinator's back while we moved.

Waspinator reached his hand behind himself and he grabbed my fist. My fingers almost immediately interlocked with his and, honestly, it was probably the only thing that felt right about what we were doing. He slammed his other fist onto the floor and ducked his head down to rest his forehead on the ground. I could tell he was in pain, but the thought was lost when the electrical current pulsing in my port started to loop up into the rest of my body. I groaned and my port surged with an overload. Waspinator moaned too, arching his back and buzzing, but I wasn't stupid enough to see that he never actually came. I had to commend him for faking it decently enough, though.

My overload dwindled after a moment and we were still. I slowly pulled away from him and I closed off his aft port with as gently as I could. I knew he was going to be sore, and I was already embarrassed enough as it was. Waspinator turned to look at me, sitting with his back against the side wall and drawing his knees up to his chest. His face wasn't flushed with embarrassment, but I knew damn well that mine was. I avoided his gaze and pretended to be interested in the scuffed, black floor underneath us. We were both silent for sometime before Waspinator finally decided to break it again. He razzed, voice quiet. "Terror-bot okay?"

I nodded absently. In truth, I wasn't. The whole experience was just weird, and I knew that I was definitely in for an awkward time trying to get recharge that night. "Yeah… You?"

He nodded, but averted his own gaze from trying to find mine. As I had pretended to be interested in the otherwise unentertaining splendor of the metallic floor, he pretended to take interest in the wall next to his head. His optics were acute, studying the dull black shadows his body cast. Discomfiture was making my spark pulse laps in its casing and that was when I decided to stand and leave. I got out of the small compartment as quickly as I could without making my movements seemed rushed. I couldn't believe that I allowed myself to drop that low. There wasn't anything even remotely dignifying about the situation I dragged him into - and I blamed myself for this mostly because I had been the one dominant - and I knew that I couldn't grace him with my presence without degrading him even further. I went straight to my room after ensuring that I was off duty and I threw myself into my berth, turning out all the lights and trying to force myself into recharge. Granted, it was far easier said than done, although I eventually drifted off into a light recharge.

Then someone was knocking at my door not ten cycles later.

Thankful for the interruption to my embraced thoughts, I was momentarily hoping that it was Scorponok. That way I could argue with him and further distract myself from thinking about Waspinator. I sat up slowly, taking my time, before getting up and walking across the room. Feeling my optics wanting to offline so I could further recharge, I rubbed at my face and leaned against the doorframe, unseeing who was in front of me. "What?"

There was no answer.

I ran my hand down my face and it was then that my optics were unhindered from seeing that it was Waspinator. I mentally reeled and froze, feeling my optics brighten upon realizing it was him. I dropped my hand away from my face and I immediately straightened out. Instead of the usually bright and cheerful mecha I had become accustomed to dealing with, I was met with a far more dejected looking one. His optics were slightly darker than usual and his shoulders, instead of being squared, were dropped with his wings falling in place concealed behind them instead of standing erect. The air that was looming over him worried me, and I reached out toward him with concern. "Waspinator? Slag, what-?"

He buzzed dejectedly. His shoulders shook, his wings went slightly rigid, and he razzed miserably. I could see moisture had built up in his optics. "Wazzpinator… sorry?"

He suddenly dropped my head so he was looking down at the floor. Whether or not it was because he was ashamed of looking at me was beyond my questioning. He started bawling before I could ask. It was the first time I had ever seen him break down since the start of the Beast Wars, and it was an unnerving sight to take hold of. To me, Waspinator always came across as being mentally stronger than I could have given him credit for. He was young, but he seemed to have a very good endurance in mentality when it came to stress. Not like me. I couldn't hope to deal with stress as well as he did. Seeing him turn his head down and cry for the first time since I met him was bothersome and somewhat disturbing. He buzzed dismally and balled his hands turned to fists in a vain, last ditch effort to maintain himself. I knew he was embarrassed to go and look weak in front of me, but I didn't care for that.

I took a step forward and, before I could actually assess what I was doing, I wrapped my arms around his narrow shoulders and pulled him tightly against him. With his view of the floor now obscured by the top of my chest when I brought our bodied together, he pressed my head against my shoulder to compensate. My grip was firm and I felt oddly at ease with having Waspinator in it. I kept shushing and pressing his body to my own, willing whatever it was that was ailing him to stop. I rocked with him on my heels and rubbed the back of his tense neck with the base of my right thumb. "Waspinator, what-?"

He sniveled and made a choking sound in the far back of his throat. I didn't think he originally had the capacity to respond with actual words - he seemed too choked up for that much, at least - but then his voice rose up. "Terror-bot left and Wazzpinator alone. Doezz Terror-bot not want Wazzpinator anymore?"

…Oh.

Immediately, I felt stupid and guilty all at once. Needless to say that "stupid" and "guilty" are not words that my over inflated sense of pride would usually allow myself to admit feeling, but I couldn't help it. How could I have not realized that Waspinator would get upset if I just upped and left without saying anything? The damn Pred was still practically a kid. How could he have understood that I only left because I didn't want to embarrass him more than I already had? I hugged him tighter. I was momentarily worried that I was actually holding him too tight, but Waspinator was voicing no complaint. For a split second, it occurred to me that there wasn't a single force in the universe who could have torn him out of my grip in that instant. It was a curious thought, though I didn't have the time to mull over it for any longer than I already had. I turned my head and pressed my crested forehead against his temple. The movement was moderately uncomfortable for my neck - the gears even creaked a little - but it wasn't unbearable. For Waspinator's sake, I would manage. "Geez, Waspinator I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to get this upset."

He hiccupped and managed to take a shuddering breath. "Terror-bot still want Wazzpinator?"

"Waspinator, yes," I replied, my tone exasperated. I kissed the side of his head lightly, letting my lips ghost over the armor there. "The reason I left has nothing to do with you. I just… I felt like I total fragger afterwards. Of all the places we had to do it, we had to interface inside the wall. You deserve better."

The words that came out of my own mouth caught me off guard, and I felt myself stop stroking the nape of my partner's neck. Waspinator must have been afraid that I was going to back away from him, because he reached up and gripped either side of my arms to keep our forms against one another. His voice was a questioning buzz of uncertainty. "Terror-bot means that?"

I nodded against him. "…C'mon. You wanna spend the night with me?"

I knew Waspinator wanted to say yes, but the poor mech's vocalizer still made him keep up with his sniveling. Regardless though, I lead him into my darkened quarters, only pulling away from him in order to close the door. I could hear the light clatter of his plating as he shuddered, undoubtedly still wishing to be put back into my embrace. Moonlight shone through the stretch of window that dominated the far back wall, illuminating the keypad in a pallid glow as I entered the code to close the door. It hissed shut and I turned to look at Waspinator. He had his back to me and was looking at the far back window. He looked like a statue and, momentarily, I was reminded about a painting that I had done in my past lifetime on Cybertron.

I forced that memory out of my mind. It was too painful to reminisce about.

I approached Waspinator and wrapped my arms around him, tenderly kissing the up side of his neck. Without a word, I silently pushed him along towards the berth and helped him get in. Though it was somewhat larger than the standard size recharge ports, the bed was still too small for two mechs to share it sprawled out. Waspinator had to lie on it facing the furthest from the wall so I would still have room. If he didn't lie on his side with his back facing the very edge, the wasp's wings and ungodly huge wasp abdomen would keep me from getting on the recharge plate at all.

I clambered on from the foot of the bed and sat up against the wall when I reached the headrest of the berth. I thrummed my fingers against my thighs and Waspinator silently sat up with me. We both stayed like that, side by side against the black metal, but then he made the motion to rest his head against my shoulder. I wrapped my left arm around his waist and kept him as close as possible. We stayed like that for a long time before I moved my right hand towards his own sitting tiredly against my upper leg.

I grasped it and, without hesitation, he held his back. He stroked the backside of my scarlet hand with his black colored thumb. We stayed like that for even longer.

Though the sky had been clear - the moonlight pouring in through the windows was an indication of this most definitely - I heard the too tall pitter patter of rain starting to fall against the Darkside. The rainstorm that had been at Tanna and the other northernmost Predacon sectors had finally moved south towards our base. I imagined what Tanna had to look underneath the shimmering moonlight and I was tempted to ask Waspinator that once the rain stopped if he wanted to go with me out there sometime at night. The idea would obviously never run by Grape Face but I was sure we could find a way to sneak out. Before I could break our silence though, the light from the window was slightly blotted out. Clouds had passed over it and, moments later, the heavy pounding of rain against the Darkside's deformed hull resonated. It was an oddly relaxing sound that made me silence my question and listen. Thunder rumbled in a non-menacing, faraway manner outside.

Something about the room changed. Namely Waspinator.

He razzed, his arousal coiling to a spring. I hadn't noticed his condition at all at first but, after a few cycles, I somehow managed to lance at him and see the discomfort on his face. Curious, I angled my head so he could allow myself to look down at him and the dulled shadows that caught on his features made him look far older than he really was. His optics were a dark royal blue in the dark, but his armor was still that ever shade of persistent emerald. I found it strange that I noticed the color before I realized what was happening to him. My scanners indicated that his body temperature had risen considerably and that his wings were twitching very slightly from discomfort.

He must have felt my gaze on him, because he glanced up towards me completely and our optics met. His ocean hued ones clashed with my red set and I knew instantly what it was his body was craving. Very carefully, I moved my hand away from his and ran it cautiously up the length of his thigh. He stifled a low groan but, nevertheless, I brought it up to his inner thigh and caressed the spot very hesitantly. Slowly, cautiously, my partner spread his legs slightly to allow me the room to do this. My confidence wavered. I knew what came next, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Not without his complete permission. Sometimes what the body wanted was never necessarily what the mind did. Waspinator voiced no complaint, so I pushed my luck not hearing an objection and I let my fingers trail over his codpiece. I had to sit up slightly so I could accomplish this and Waspinator moaned very lightly. His head lolled back so it bumped against the back wall. "Terror-bot…"

Reading hid body language as a sign for me to continue, I gently rubbed his crotch with my whole hand. My spark thrummed nervously, unsure whether or not I was doing all right, but Waspinator's reaction was an indication that he greatly liked it. His internal body temperature spiked and he angled his neck so he could meet my optics again with a hazy, pleasured look. I gently pushed down on his port cover and the retractable emerald seal hissed open. Heat radiated from between his legs and I could smell the unmistakable scent of hot copper that indicated his arousal. Though not completely at his most venerable - he would have had to expose his spark to be at that stage, and the thought made me reel apprehensively - his face flushed and he broke our optic contact. I buried his face in my shoulder with a buzzing whimper, nuzzling my neck as best he could.

I hesitated again. He mewled pathetically and, finding myself with nowhere else to go, I pressed myself onward. I dipped my trigger and middle digit into his port.

Waspinator's reaction was immediate. He resisted the urge to buck if the way his back groaned was any indication, but even he couldn't stop the initial jolt that made him jerk in place. Forcing himself not to arch into the touch, he gasped and groaned like he was dying as he buzzed wings when I wormed my fingers down against his super sensitive circuitry. Biting back a loud moan, he balled his hands into fists and pressed them against his thighs. Without much aim as to what I could do with him, I settled for thrusting in an out of Waspinator's body gently. Every now and again, I could try going in at a new angle and he squeaked in bliss whenever I did. The room was eerily silent despite his harshening air intakes and, briefly, it reminded me about the silence we had at the beginning of our partnership.

Then I stopped thrusting and I began stroking. Judging by Waspinator's reaction, his spark must have been doing flips in its casing.

I stopped my method and nearly pulled out when I used my thumb to trace around the outside of his interface dock. He gasped my nickname and groaned. I pushed my fingers back down inside him, but this time I experimented with stroking the cables rather than brushing up against them. It must have been a while new sensation, because his already quickly beating fuel pump audibly sputtered inside his chest. He buried his face in my neck further and moaned, continuing to resist arching his straining hips my hips into my hand. I kept my gaze on him, watching for any signs of discomfort. I was ready to completely pull the plug on the session if it looked like I was hurting him.

I continued to stroke the wiring before I let my thumb and two digits dip further down. They brushed up a cable thick enough for me to wrap all my fingers around it. He moaned brightly when I brushed up against it, spreading his legs further apart when I let my touch linger. Hook, line, and sinker. Sweet spot. His moan was suddenly lost when I started to pump the cable with my two fingers. I moved up and down against it, shifting my entire hand with the motion, and the friction was too much for him to handle. I could feel the electricity dancing in his port buildup with an oncoming overload.

For the first time under my ministrations, Waspinator overloaded. Oh gods… Waspinatorwas never considered the prettiest Predacon to grace our lovely mismatched crew on the Darkside, but his face…

He gasped meekly, letting his mandibles fall open and a hot blush clouded the coolant just beneath his synthetic flesh. Sparks zapped from between his legs and there was nothing he could do but moan and ride through it. Waspinator gave in finally, arched weakly, and I merely kept pleasing him off through all of it.

When his overload finally began to dwindle, I removed my fingers and rubbed his port to ease the seal back closed. Waspinator panted lightly, keeping his face buried in my throat and trying to regain what little composure he had left. I watched him for a moment before extending my hand - the one I used to please him - so it came up underneath his chin. Gently, I pulled away to get a look at him. He tried to keep his face downcast but I tilted his chin up so he was forced to look up at me. I needed to make sure he was all right. His optics onlined and he forced his lax mandibles closed. His expression was unreadable and his blue optics were hazy with exhaustion. I could imagine that my own were bright with concern. Very quietly, he mewled.

My voice was soft compared to the rain pounding outside. "Are you all right?"

He probably would have responded if he had the energy, but he did not. Just by taking a quick scan of his body, I could plainly see that he had barely enough energy reserves to nod, let alone voice a response. I bent my head forward slightly, hesitated for only the briefest of clicks, and then I closed the space between us to kiss him tenderly. The fingers on the hand that kept his head from falling forward from Waspinator's lack of strength stroked the underneath of his chin plating while my other arm, still wrapped around him, squeezed gently on his lower shoulder. He shivered as his post-bliss began to dwindle into exhaustion and recharge began to sweep him away into nothingness. Before he finally gave in and fell offline, I pulled away after and kissed the top of his forehead gently.

I don't remember falling offline, but I eventually fell asleep. There were still the chains that I had remembered previously, but this time they were considerably lighter and I was able to stand… at least, stand with a slight hunch. I dreamt that I saw two sparks floating together in the dark - one a gorgeous green, the other a raggedy red - before they fused together and turned a brilliant gold. The dream itself disturbed me greatly for several reasons. The most blunt of these reasons was that sparks fused together when Transformers bonded. Not that the thought of ever bonding with Terrorsaur scared me, absolutely not, but the rate at which our relationship was going did.

We had once been nothing more than partners in Megatron's scheme who were silent to one another with no sense of friendship between them. In a fluke, we became friends and, in another, we turned into something more than that. Remembering my dream made me wonder and fear what was next.

…Could he be a mate?

It was a strange, discerning thought that made me doubt my own sensibility. If it wasn't unnerving for me to even consider the thought, it was downright frightening. We hadn't even been properly dating - at least I didn't think so. Neither of us had referred to our relationship in that sense - and the thought of tying the knot with him frightened me. Unless it was meant to happen of course but, honestly, thought frightened me more. If there really was a higher power like Primus out there, did that mean that maybe the rate we were molding ourselves into one another's life was planned? I was deathly afraid to find out. I didn't like not being in control of my own fate.

The golden, pulsating sphere in front of me did not answer. It continued to glow and I was consumed by its light.

It was around that time when I woke up. The darkness lifted and my optics flickered online. The sound of the heavy rain outside the ship's exterior had faded into the soft thudding of a soft drizzle. It was still dark out but a quick time check on my behalf indicated that it was five or so hours before sunrise. I stirred, feeling the corner of my mouth with my returning awareness, and I brightened my visual sensors. My neck was sore after having my chin resting on my chest while I recharged, but my attention was drawn away from my own moderate discomfort to the mech beside me. I could already tell by Waspinator's light breathing that he was awake, and probably had been for a long time. I inclined my head to look at him and we stared at one another for a very long time. Another one of our unannounced staring contests. My eyes locked with his sky blue ones and I would have broken contact if Waspinator hadn't first. The emerald mech looked down, staring at the wall past my face, and I unconsciously reached a hand up to stroke his abs. I could tell something was bothering him. I hoped he couldn't tell something was bothering me as well. "You okay?"

"Wazzpinator just tired," he replied. He nuzzled the side of his emerald helm against my head and his left wing twitched unconsciously. We were quiet for a minute or two while we listened to the nearly undetectable rain before my partner spoke up once more. A deep, stirring conflict was dulling his usually vibrant blue hued optics. "Wazzpinator just has a lot to think about."

I couldn't find the words to adequately respond, but I kept my gaze on him for a long time. I didn't have to look into a mirror at my own optics to know that the doubt in my face was showing too.

It had been another week or so later - with no more attempts at proper sex or any alternatives due to our embarrassment on the subject - and we got even closer. We went out to Tanna nearly every day when we had the immediate chance and then we started to share quarters often, though we were in my more than his. In all seriousness, my quarters were far cleaner than his. In the few months that we were stranded on the alien planet, his room's floor had managed to accumulate a decent amount of random scrap that Waspinator incessantly collected. After we habitually returned from curfew, we would typically retire to my room. My berth couldn't accommodate two mechs unless they were on their sides - front to back - and unusually close. It honestly didn't matter to us. For the most part, I usually held him from behind when we slept… although, on rare occasions, he did the same to me.

My pterodactyl beast-mode's head was a hassle to get around, but Waspinator still managed to deal with it when he was the one who held me. I was taller than he was by a few inches, but my tendency to curls up into a ball made the literal size difference irrelevant. Then there were the much more frequent times where I would hold him. My arms would snake around his torso lovingly and I'd rest my head in the crook of his shoulder. My breath would condensate on the back of my neck in hot spurts that would slow as I gradually got closer to recharge. I could imagine that Waspinator would listen to me for a good portion of the night before he would finally fall offline himself. He would occasionally fall asleep before me during rare instances though, and it would leave me to think about what was happening to us while I was temporarily alone in the dark. I had to wonder whether or not he did the same for when I fell offline first. I didn't doubt it.

Unfortunately for the both of us, we never had had enough time to come up with an answer as to what we were going to do. One day, we were both nearly killed. It changed out lives forever.

Waspinator and I had been sent out on a recon mission to the north where the physical aspect of our pairing first began to come into play. The both of us didn't have very much to do other than freeze our tails off but finding Tigertron at least gave us something to do. The white tiger mech was at a radio tower he had set up to keep communications with the Maximals while so far away from the Axalon. For my partner and I, it felt only appropriate that we take him out. Waspinator and I swooped in for a kill and dodged the shots the older of the Maxi cats shot our way. Waspinator at least wasn't hit though, which seemed to put the poor bastard on edge. Usually when he wasn't shot down right off - from my observations as well as his own, from what it seemed - it usually meant the universe had something else far bigger in store. Regardless, my wingmate and I managed to knock the communications tower right on Tigertron's hide. The machine was destroyed, though Tigertron lived.

I dive bombed him, letting one of my shoulder cannons reveal themselves from my shoulders. I mentally sniggered in poorly restrained glee at the warhead that revealed itself painted like a sort of shark with hotrod flames, its angry printed eyes glared out at its intended Maximal target. If there was one thing that I prided in other than my own appearance, it was digital designing. Not to brag, but I think myself to be very good at it. I think Waspinator thought so too, judging by how he treated it when he first saw it. I was working on the printed warhead during one of the nights we had extra duties and weren't able to go out to Tanna. Waspinator had entered the code to my quarters - after I so gave it to the gracious wasp several nights prior - and he had seen me rewiring a missile to be a custom fit for my cannons.

I shrugged - trying not laugh - when he asked me if it was something that was going to explode in his face. "I don't even think it's going to work," I started nonchalantly. "I just wanted an excuse to design something."

"Digital art?" He razzed and sat down on the berth to watch me work. I sat hunched over my workbench while I wired the projectile in the light of my desk lamp. "Wazzpinator didn't know Terror-bot did that."

I shrugged again. "I went to school be a graphics designer back on Cybertron," I muttered. Memories - painful, none of them benevolent - tried to surface and I shoved them back down into the recesses of my processor. I finished up with the missile's essential parts and got to work with sealing on the already printed design. I had been working on the silly thing as a side project of mine when I wasn't with Waspinator or on duty, which I eventually printed out using the industrial synthetic composers in the tech room. It was completely unnecessary when it came to getting the weapon to work, but it was nice to have anyways. He spoke up again after sometime. If I was going to spend all the rest of my time making a custom warhead for my shoulder cannons, I was at least going to make it look aesthetical. "I couldn't come up with the money to support my education in college though, so I had to drop out. Piloting was my only choice for a career since most of the others had Predacon bans. I didn't need much training either, so it worked out okay."

"But Terror-bot wasn't happy with it," he mused. He crossed his legs and his transparent blue wings twitched out of reflex behind him.

I shrugged. "Dinobot found me through my flying career. He was the one that hired me to be part of Megatron's crew. I wouldn't have met you if I didn't take the job. You?"

"Hrm?"

"What about you? Did you have any plans before you got dragged into stealing the Darkside with me?"

Waspinator paused thoughtfully for a moment. At first I thought he wasn't going to answer, but then he responded. "Wazzpinator thought about being astronomer."

That alone was enough to make my mind reel. "Waspinator" and the name of any scientific study were words that I didn't think could be used in the same sentence before just then. I stopped in my work and looked over at him. I had already started to apply the print to the missile's sheen surface before I turned away. To Waspinator, I could imagine that my face was dark in front of the lamp I was using on my desk, and that my features were silhouetted in the artificial light. My voice, I could blatantly hear, was just as surprised as it was curious. "Astronomy? Really? How many stars are in the Quinesson cluster?"

He told me. For the record, it was a very big number.

I whistled, slapped a hand against my thigh, and flashed a wide grin in his direction. "Wow. You didn't even hesitate."

He shrugged, apathetic with himself. He was incredibly modest of his obvious talent. "Wazzpinator had that memorized since he was sparkling."

I shrugged back. "It's still impressive. What about on this planet? Do you recognize any constellations?"

He shook his head no.

"Aw well. It doesn't matter I guess," I said. I turned away to go back to work before I stopped myself. I inclined my head back towards him slightly, and I could imagine that my face was still blotted out from the light behind my head. "What stopped you from being an-"

I razzed and cut him off. "Same situation Terrorsaur got into."

This, of course, was seemingly the end of it. I had gone back to pasting the print on my rocket for awhile before I stopped to look over my work. I mentally saved an image of my creation to memory and, while I did this, Waspinator stood and strode up to me on an impulse that I was sure even he couldn't figure out. I looked up at him when I the gleam of his emerald hide shimmer in the bright light, contemplating his face, before he gingerly bent down and kissed me. Before I could figure out what we were doing, he was kissing down my chest and positioning himself over my codpiece. I dug my heels into the ground to keep my roller chair from moving when I bucked and my grip on the desk with my right hand was strong enough to cause mild indentations. My left hand switched back and forth from my armrest to the back of his head and my spark burned like a twirling newborn star.

Back at present though, the missile I had worked hard to make was fired and shot past my shoulder with increasing speed. I star pulled away at the last click, pivoting upwards and nearly shooting straight into my emerald angel when he passed to circle around the Maximal below us. Tigertron had to leap out of the way to avoid getting hit by the midair torpedo. The missile collided with the snow covered ground, but I was thoroughly looked disappointed when the warhead only sputtered meekly instead of exploding. I was a far better artist than an engineer apparently. That claim was even more evident when one fin on the missile's aft fell off the flank of the weapon.

Tigerton lifted his head and Waspinator suddenly put his stinger blaster on automatic, probably without even thinking.

He obviously aimed for Tigertron at first, seeing a chance to get him in his distraction, but then he must have seen the missile embedded in the snow and he aimed for that instead. One of his stingers collided with the rocket and it went off with a massive shuddering bang, exploding and sending Tigertron flying towards the edge of a cliff face. The ground suddenly started to fissure and fracture with loud groans and resonating cracks. I wasn't all too sure whether or not it was from the explosion or the earthquakes that frequently rocked the area, but Tigertron barely had enough time to get off the splintering face before it broke away. He got to his feet and staggered for the side of the cliff that was still stable and, as the piece that broke away fell, he leapt and grabbed the side of the cliff to keep from falling to his death. The attempt at self-preservation went in vain however. Tigertron lost his grip and fell straight through a dark cloud passing underneath the mountainside.

Waspinator had already flown around to get to my side - I flashed him a grin, congratulating him for his last cycle save - and the wasp whopped happily when Tigertron vanished from sight. The tiger's scream faded and he was gone. "Success! Maximal destroyed!"

I had suggested we retrieve his parts to prove to Megatron that we managed to kill Tigertron. Waspinator whopped again merrily in response, claiming he got dibs on his head. High off our victory, he buzzed past him and I called back to him. "Hey! It's mine, bug face!"

He razzed over his shoulder at me and transformed to his beast-mode. Diving after him, I followed suit by switching to my own beast-mode and we scanned the ground for the tiger. As fate had it, he was nowhere in sight. Aggravated, Waspinator irritatingly asked where the tiger's parts could have possibly been. He fell right in this area - I saw him fall myself - but none of his parts littered the ground. There wasn't even an indication that he had crashed.

Beside him, I looked upwards towards the dark cloud looming overhead. The mass itself was oddly suspicious with how the floating puff of moist, freezing air was far too low in altitude to be considered normal. It had a far lower altitude than the other clouds in the region I realized, and I quietly mused to myself out loud. "We saw him fall into that cloud…" I narrowed my optics and watched the deep gray mass a click longer before I flapped my wings hard and regained altitude, flying up towards the mass. Waspinator told me to wait up and he flew after me.

There was an ominous air around it. I didn't like it in the slightest, and neither did Waspinator. He voiced his opinions when we entered the dark form. The icy bitterness of frozen condensation that stung his wings made his voice tremble slightly. "Wazzpinator does not like this. Something wrong."

I said nothing. I felt the same way as Waspinator did, but couldn't respond to agree with him because there was a sudden brightness.

The misty fog parted and there was a massive floating island. Trees swayed in some sort of imaginary wind and a large tower sat in the dead center of the isle. A pristine lake that reminded me greatly of Tanna's sat in the vast island by the tall obelisk that rested within the center. Waspinator flew out ahead while I slowed behind him in awe. The last time we had ever had an encounter with the aliens involved the standing stones, but this was something new altogether. I had to presume this was the aliens' work anyways. An entire island ecosystem, hidden from outsiders' views, sitting within a massive dark cloud had to be the work of an outside force. There was no way in the Pitt the isle could have formed naturally.

I gasped. "Waspinator…"

He couldn't come up with anything to say in return. He flew upwards and ahead, cautious and awed at the same time by the stunning view, but then that view was compromised when a pulse blast suddenly shot out at him. It hit the giant wasp square in the shoulder and sent him flying backwards with a razzing screech. Regardless, I knew who it fired the shot before I could ever move into position to cover my partner. Waspinator shook the blow off and transformed, swooping in to attack Tigertron. With all due respect to Waspinator's retaliation, the striped cat ran and dove behind the nearest rock he could find. He had positioned himself at the furthermost edge of the floating isle closest to us and, despite the fact he had cover, he was still outnumbered two to one. My training kicked in and I swooped down, transforming into robot-mode, behind Waspinator. I fired his shoulder cannons, Tigertron fired, and Waspinator countered the cat to back me up. We went back and forth like this for no more then ten clicks before it all went to the Pitt.

Behind me, Waspinator abruptly stopped firing his gun. "Uh, Terror-bot?"

I stopped shooting as well and I inclined my head to look towards him. My wingmate was looking off in the distance, away from where our query was hiding away. Tigertron had stopped shooting from behind his cover two or so clicks earlier, leading me to believe his weapon was suffering through a quasar jam. Seeing Waspinator's lack of action and the time ticking away in our opportunity to finish him off, I was incredibly impatient. "We can't stop now! If we do, he might get another change to fight back!"

"Look!" Waspinator's voice was panicked, insisting shout. I did, and this time I could see what he was pointing at. There was a bright, orange gold glow emitting from the top of obelisk at the center of the island. I gasped lightly in surprise - if it was another alien artifact, it surely couldn't have been good news - and it shot out at us no more than a split click later.

A massive gold beam from the obelisk's pyramid top exploded outward straight toward us. It made a wailing, alien sound as it whooshed through the air straight at my partner and I. Off guard and taken aback by the beam zooming towards us, neither Waspinator nor I could bring ourselves to react in time to avoid it. The screaming of the beam spiked as it got closer and, nearly a whole click after it shot at us, I could see it was plainly headed for me. Fear lanced throughout my systems and adrenaline surged through all my limbs. My onboard self-preservation systems shrieked for me to move, but it was far too late to react.

The blast hit me square in the chest. Oh the agony.

My radio blew a fuse, my balance center was severely damaged, and the blast itself burned. All of my systems, aside from the ones that kept me alive, failed… Including, to my horror, my antigravity gear.I was knocked back, having completely lost my equilibrium from the force of the acidic blow, and I lost sight of Waspinator when I fell through the clouds. Horror erupted through my systems at the realization that I was freefalling. Falling. I desperately scrambled to try activating my antigravs and regain my balance, but the stubborn gravity thrusters were stalling from the shock of the beam. Icy fear, colder than any winter weather, gripped my internals in a terrible vice hold.

Over the roar of the freezing wind whipping past my audios, there was a loud hiss. It was from the weapon again, this time firing for Waspinator. Out of the corner of my vision as I fell, I saw a flash of gold through the clouds and heard another shriek. My emerald angel's scream was laced with pain when he was struck, unable to dodge the beam.

Primus fraggit.

His antigravs were weaker than mine. If anything, he used his wings for primary flight and his antigravs to merely stabilize. It worked the same way when he was a helicopter. He would use his rotors to fly less than his antigravs, in comparison to a seeker like myself who used antigravs as a primary and thrusters for secondary. The wings for my beast-mode felt like they were on fire from the blast - just as well, my antigravs still weren't working - so I knew damn well that there was no way that he would be able to fly. From the height we were falling, none of us would survive the crash. Not unless someone acted.

Out of the corner of my vision, against the dark sky, I saw a flash of green.

Artificial adrenaline surged through my body, making me desperately claw at my mental system commands to reboot my antigravity boosters. I was met with countless error reports, saying that I needed to reboot entirely in order to restart the primary master control. It was incredibly risky to do so. Sometimes, if one waits long enough, antigravs can sometimes restart on their own. If one were to reboot the system before that recovery status however, they might not reactivate at all. I had heard plenty of horror stories on what happened to several unfortunate Decepticon Seekers in the great war who found themselves caught in an unstoppable freefall to their deaths when they rebooted their antigravs and found that they suddenly wouldn't reactivate. Aside from dogfights, paranoia induced insanity from being grounded for too long, and suicides, it was the highest cause of death in fliers during the Decepticon rein.

Except I had no choice. Waspinator was counting on me, and I was not going to let him die. I rebooted the system.

At first, nothing happened. My sensors went dark and they did not reactivate. Before I could accept my fate, they suddenly flared to life… at least, they both did before shorting out again. The system hiccupped and then fully reinitialized itself, but this time only my right one activated. Despite being severally unbalanced and major handicapped, I swooped downward toward where I could see Waspinator falling.

Artificial adrenaline pulsed through my systems. My spark lightly flared inside my chest, and without thinking, I turned screamed out for him. "WASPINATOR!"

"TERRORSAUR!" The poor bastard obviously couldn't hope to tell up from down or left from right, but at least I was able to get ahead of him. I was faster at flying than he was at falling, and I caught up to him quickly while continuing to fly past him. I had to stop his fall and cushion it before the ground could. I swooped underneath him and extended my arms to catch him, but he was falling with such force that it was useless. Instead of me stopping his fall, he kept going down while also dragging me with him. Desperately scrambling to slow ourselves down, I strained my internal antigravity gear to their highest critical level. A warning popped up in the corner of my vision saying that I had strained it to a critical level - and that, consequently, it was going to short out again if I did not stop excreting pressure immediately - and I squawked in frustration.

Then I realized, for the first time since I had known him, he had called me by my actual name.

The ground zoomed closer and the both of us were helpless to avoid the crash that followed. The last thing I saw the snow before I blacked out. The darkness lingered only briefly thankfully.

I was shaken out of unconsciousness by a firm shove against my shoulder. "T-Terror-bot, please wake up…" My shoulder was briefly squeezed, but I was too out of my own loop to properly react. I wanted to sit up and respond to the muffled, faraway address, but I found it very difficult to move. It was still dark, but I could also see some muted light in my peripheral vision… that was when I realized I was face first in the snow. Cold wind was nipping at my back's exposed hide, but the heat from Waspinator was prominently beside me. Suddenly, before I could contemplate further, I was roughly shaken. "Terrorsaur!"

And there he had gone saying my full name again. I wouldn't have realized he had called me by his real name if his voice hadn't sounded so terrified, though.

I twitched, and I could feel Waspinator's hand resting on my back. Slowly, I tried to sit up. Pain, hot and pulsating, was driving itself into my body and making my pain management systems fritz from the strain. Quickly, Waspinator turned me over onto my side and I rolled the rest of the way onto my back. At first all I saw was white and I was worried that I had shattered my optical glass in the fall, but then I realized that I was just seeing the snow falling. I could feel the hot, merciless burns on my face and my stomach was so knotted that I wanted to puke. I coughed and sputtered, taking in a wheezed breath, and I broke off into a loud hacking fit. My chest rose and fell drastically from the effort and I suddenly realized that I was having an immense difficulty breathing. Waspinator took notice, because he moved forward and repositioned himself so he was on his knees before reaching underneath my back with one of his arms. With the rest of his strength, he sat me up and held me there so I could regulate my own intakes. He took his other arm and wrapped it around my shoulders, hugging me loosely to his own battered body. My breathing had gotten better a few cycles later, but the fact still remained that I felt horribly sick. I was shaky all over, almost like I was about to have a seizure, and I couldn't figure out why.

Then it finally dawned on me. We had been in the air before we… I…

I coughed and my voice trembled violently when I finally had enough breath to speak. "I fell…"

Waspinator either thought my shaking was from the cold or actually realized it was from terror, because he hugged me closer. His hold was gentle enough to show that he was trying not to put any more stress on my superstructure then there already. I was too shaken to care. He buzzed comfortingly to him. "Terror-bot is okay. Terror-bot is fine…" he said things like that to him for about half a cycle before I finally felt my nerves calm down. My breath still came out in wheezes and it would occasionally turn into a gasp - the inside of my chest felt heavy, which was enough of an indication to me that I had probably hurt my oxygen intake valves either when I was shot or when we crashed into the snow - but I did feel better… or at least as better as I could with my injuries. And the fact that I fell.

Then, at the same time while falling and living one of my worst nightmares, I had saved Waspinator. That took courage in itself I thought and, whilst I had owed him my life from the incident involving Airrazor, I had paid back my debt.

I strained to look at him, my voice still slightly shaken. "Are you okay?"

He nodded, shuddering a cold wind brushed over my his damaged chassis. Although he said he indicated he was all right, I didn't believe him. There was a burn across his chest that looked particularly painful - I could see several brightly colored wires sparking just beneath the surface of his synthetic flesh - and there were holes in his wings that had to have been agony in their own right. "Wazzpinator not be if Terrorsaur hadn't saved him."

For the third time, again, he had called me by his full name. I wasn't sure if he had noticed the occurrences before, but I felt the need to acknowledge it. I looked to him and blinked. That was when I noticed that his optics were cracked. Still, regardless, I could still make out the emerald in his burned hide. "You… You called me Terrorsaur."

He blinked, but the moisture that had built up in his eyes from the optical damage he sustained went nowhere. He nodded shakily when another cold gale caressed his body with a harsh hand. "Wazzpinator knows." At that, he tried to smirk at me as much as he could, though the fact his mandibles made the motion mostly impossible kept him from doing so. Instead, he let his voice take on a slightly more joking tone. "Maybe voice glitch going away?"

I thought damn well that wasn't the case and I was sure Waspinator knew the same thing. Before either of us could divulge further into those thoughts however, I shifted the wrong way slightly and arched in pain when it struck me. Something in my right leg shifted beneath the surface of the burned armor and made a loud pop when it dislocated itself. I had somehow shattered my knee in the fall when I finally hit the ground. I threw my head back, gnashing my dentals in a frantic scramble to mute my agony, and I stifled my near shriek into a high pitched whine. A click later, the all too recognizable blue electricity and paralyzing sensation from an energon surge danced around my body. I saw Waspinator had one another click after that as well. He set his mandibles to keep from crying out but, regardless, he couldn't stop the loud razz of pain that came from his straining vocalizer.

When the surge temporarily stopped, Waspinator was the first to find his voice and speak up. "We'zz has to get to Darkside to warn other Predacons. Megatron will want to know about cloud and flying island. If we'zz don't…" I did not want to voice the fact that, even though we survived the fall and initial attack from the obelisk, the reality that we could freeze to death was very real. A quick diagnostic proved this point. Warning lights flashed in the corner of my vision that my mech fluids were crystallizing rapidly. The fact we were in robot-mode on a rich in raw energon planet made things worse. Waspinator must have been in silent agreement with me. My partner looked me over and razzed again to get my full attention. "Convert to beast-mode so we'zz can fly back."

I whimpered. My head was still thrown back and I felt my jaw tremble slightly. The burns covering my body made my whole frame blaze in pain and I knew that either one of us turning to our respectful animal forms would be agonizing. It was absolutely Primus damn awful and I felt as though someone had dumped a few gallons of acid over my frame. Not strong enough to kill me, but strong enough to feel like it should have. "I can't move my leg…"

"Try," Waspinator begged, voice pleading.

I grit my teeth hard, gnashing them enough so that my jaw groaned from the stress, while I strained the best I could to get into a sitting position. My chest was dark with the third degree burns there - I had been hit directly in that spot head on - and I was momentarily thankful for having such tough armor plating. Being a leather saurian certainly had its quirks. I finally sat upright, attempting my best effort to ignore the cringe worthy pain pulsing in my frame, before my strength nearly gave. I started to fall back, but Waspinator I held his hand out behind me to keep me upright. I was grateful for my angel for that.

I squawked low - a long, rumbling sound - before hissing. "Terrorsaur, terror - ARGH!"

My body twisted around to form my beast-mode and I fell forwards, trembling in pain when he took on my alternate form. I couldn't even bring myself to voice my pain as it ripped up my abs and throbbed inside my chest before lashing back outwards into my limbs. Instantly, my wings felt as though they were on fire. I could feel that there were actually holes in them, and a quick glance at them out of the corner of my blurry vision confirmed my horrors. They were so badly scorched that they were scalded white in places. Some of the red leather skin missing towards the wingtips and it nearly made me panic. I took my resolve by the throat and resisted the urge to scream though. For Waspinator's sake.

I looked at him, eyes narrowed with pain, and made another low squawk that resonated from the deep back of my sore throat. "Your turn."

I couldn't blame him for looking skeptical. He seemed to physically, as well as mentally if judging by the harsh look that clenched his face was any indication, braced himself. "Wazzpinator terrorize!"

Gods, his injuries were still horrific to look at. He fell forwards into beast-mode and lost my footing, sprawling out against the snow in his battered alternate form. The first thing that caught my attention was the condition of his thorax. The color there had turned to a shade of sickly yellow putrid enough to make me cringe. Then the black strikes that used to be there were also completely burned off, replaced with dark ebony smudges. His face was burned black in places and giving me the impression that he might have been partially blind in his beast-mode's optics. I ducked down next to him and nudged the poor mech with my beak. "Waspinator? Waspy-"

"Wazzpinator fine," he managed to ground out. My partner inclined his neck to look up at me, but then he suddenly turned away. I knew he was trying to avoid looking at my injuries. I was doing the same to him. Instead, I glanced down at my wings again I saw that they were burned so badly that the flesh was crumbling away. The idea of "fourth degree burns" came to mind but I don't really think that its an official term. I wasn't just cooked, I was burned to a crisp. I would still be able to fly at least, but only just barely. The air that became superheated when the obelisk fired its beam at us had burned the color right out of my red hide and leaving holes. I still saw myself as being far better off than Waspinator was though.

I shoved my beak underneath his chest as gently as I could and tried to lift him up, straining to get him onto his six feet. "C'mon, we need to get back and run a round in the CR chambers. Can you fly?"

"Can Terror-bot?" I couldn't blame him for sounding as disbelieving as he did, although my own person was the least of my worries. Knowing the horrid shape his wings were in and knowing his antigravs was busted, I honestly doubted that the poor wasp could even manage to lift himself into the air. Through his aching and pain, I managed to weakly smirk at him. I didn't want him to worry about me in the same way I was to him.

We both had difficulty getting off the ground at first - Waspinator had stumbled when he tried to take off the first time - but we managed to get up into the freezing air not too long afterward. The wind bit at our hides like a merciless animal with no kindness towards the badly damaged, but we struggled onward regardless. Energon surges were no longer a major threat to our health but, because of the open circuit injuries my wingmate and I had, it was still possible for us to suffer from energon radiation even while we remained in beast-mode. That was something that worried me, but it turned out that exposure to energon was the least of our problems. The exhaustion that began to wear us down became an even more serious issue.

My flight capabilities had begun to severely lag - I had used up a huge portion of my energy saving Waspinator - and I eventually had immense difficulty staying in the air without dropping right out of the sky. No more than ten cycles since I had noticed my flight becoming poor, Waspinator's own started to get bad. I was worse off I suppose, seeing as very little remained of his wings, but I cared very little for my own condition. I was more concerned for Waspinator. On another note altogether however, neither of us could fly straight. I was too worn to even keep my equilibrium evened out, while Waspinator kept dropping altitude and speed, flying erratically because his wings and antigravs sputtered and nearly failed on several occasions.

Whereas it should have taken us thirty cycles to get back to base if we were undamaged, it took us two full, agonizingly long megacycles. Our flying was at its worst then and our energy levels were in the single digits. If he had arrived any later, one of us would have dropped right out of the sky. Chances were that neither of us could survive another crash landing.

I spoke up next to Waspinator, my voice uncontrollably slurred. "Finally. I… I feel like my energy center is going to crash."

"Hang in there," he urged with a voice that was equally strained. "We'zz almost back."

We were there two cycles later. The both of us glided into the Darkside's lower hanger and we both crashed into the ground as soon as we made contact with the floor. It was a minor crash, nothing compared to slamming into the ground when the island weapon's beam hit us so we lost our ability to maintain flight, but I thought I was going to drop into unconsciousness when I finally managed to stand. A great deal of nudging was needed on my part to get Waspinator moving again - he had rolled on his side and initially couldn't get up without my provoking - and it took another three cycles for us to limp into the blissfully warm control center.

When we entered, I could tell that Megatron was trying to hide a horrified expression. The way his face visibly knotted and the fashion his jaw was set gave this away easily. I knew that he had to have seen us approaching the base in our condition from the security cameras, but even I had to give him the benefit of the doubt now that he was seeing us in person. Our injuries looked far worse in the flesh than they did on a monitor screen, I guess.

Waspinator limped heavily in his beast-mode with all six legs while I staggered forward. When we managed to make it to stand before Megatron, a quick glance around the room revealed that only Scorponok and Blackarachnia were present. Tarantulas was nowhere in sight and the newest potential recruit, Inferno, was still running a round in the CR chamber. Before I could contemplate further, Megatron asked in a demanding tone if Tigertron had done this to us. The tyrant was aware that the Maximal was the only one in the far northern region but I didn't blame him for doubting a usually peaceful mech could inflict such horrendous damage.

Megatron seemed to be addressing me but, to keep me from being put underneath the spotlight in an already stressful situation, Waspinator intervened immediately. "No-no! Not just Tigertron!"

I cut in to back my emerald partner up, afraid to leave him alone underneath Megatron's aggravated attention. "I-It-It was um… A monument!"

Entirely instep and synchronized with me, Waspinator cut back in as well. He looked back up at Megatron and nodded his head quickly, his antennas bobbing with the movement. Doing that probably made his head spin, poor guy. "Yeah! Monument!"

Megatron demanded that we explain ourselves. His face was hard and his optics unwavering, but I was the one who jetted back in and took over. I was surprised by myself seeing how I usually hated being put on the spot around the tyrannosaur, but then there was the fact that Waspinator was exhausted and I didn't want to put him through more slag that necessary. If anyone was going to get scrapped for a failed mission, I was going to be absolutely sure that it was me and that no harm came to my partner. Waspinator seemed to appreciate the fact I took over on his behalf, so he contributed by nodding occasionally as I went into the long tirade on how we were gunned down by the obelisk onboard the flying island. Throughout my explanation though, I could feel fuzzy blackness invading the corners of my vision and my sense of already terrible coordination swaying. I couldn't tell if anyone noticed. I hope not. Then my energy completely hit rock bottom.

By the time I was finished my explanation, I was incredibly unsteady. As soon as I mentioned that Waspinator and I barely made it back, I had completely lost all his strength. I squawked feebly, felt my head roll his head back for a moment, and then I swayed just a little too far to his left. Waspinator broke my fall. Without the strength left to support me himself, he made a high pitched buzz and collapsed on his stomach.

Megatron had turned away to mull over the information given to him, but I found myself too distracted by exhaustion and my aching body care about what he was rambling on about to himself. I whimpered meekly and wheezed. "I can't move…"

Waspinator buzzed his wings in an obvious endeavor to console me. "Terror-bot be fine. Wazzpinator here, 'member?"

It worked tremendously. I squawked tiredly and allowed myself to go even laxer than before, undoubtedly nearly leading my emerald angel to believe that I had fallen into recharge. My harsh breathing must have indicated otherwise though, because he kept cooing back to me comfortingly.

Megatron abruptly turned back to us. I noticed first and I lifted my head off Waspinator so he could look at our tyrant leader. Waspinator razzed just barely, a sound that probably evaded everyone's audios but my own, and Grape Face told us to get to the CR chamber. The fragger's face was knotted again like he was trying to hide something, but I knew damn well that he was trying to conceal the surprise he felt while seeing my partner and I. It came to mind that the sight was probably very intimate looking the way Waspinator and I were making physical contact. Without another word, as soon as Megatron had finished speaking to us, I finally felt the last of my strength fade and I collapsed on Waspinator again.

Waspinator buzzed from surprise once more, but he managed to speak up quietly once the moment passed. "We'zz has to get into CR. Can Terror-bot still not move?"

My voice was a quiet wheeze. "I'll try."

While Megatron turned to Blackarachnia and Scorponok, all the while giving them orders to investigate the dark cloud that supposedly held our mysterious flying mountain, Waspy and I had picked ourselves up… as best as we could anyways, given our not so preferable predicament. We never went to robot-mode due to the obvious that it would have been excruciating to do so. The nearest CR wasn't that far away thankfully enough, but we had to fly to get onto the lift which, all things being considered, was near impossible with our energy charges being so low. Hauling ourselves up with some difficulty, I collapsed on the platform as soon as Waspinator and I were on it. My partner hit the switch with a burnt claw to lower us in and the lift groaned with the additional weight of two mechs instead of the standard one. Either way, the platform began to descend into the tank when my emerald angel finally sprawled out next to me. With an almost sort of instinct backing up my next movement, he wrapped a protective, twisted beast-mode leg around my shoulders while casting a burnt wing over me as well. I responded by turning my head and shoving my beak under his beast-mode's head. Pain throbbed through my burned hide, by my light mewl was more induced by comfort than by pain. It was very comforting to have Waspinator as close as he was.

In a matter of moments, we were in the healing solution of the tub. The sedatives immediately took over and my systems started to shut down for repairs. I was in deep recharge even before Waspinator was. Moments prior to my own systems going offline for repairs however, I managed to groggily glance down at his face. The liquid of the tank prevented me from seeing him all that clearly, but his features were relaxed so much so that it made invisible claws tear at my spark within its own casing. His injuries - even while already starting to heal - made him look horridly hideous. The fact his beast-mode was probably one of the least prettiest bodies in the Beast Wars beside my own alternate body didn't make his appearance any better.

Anyone could have looked at him and called him the most hideous thing in the universe, but I suddenly found I loved him so much more than I could handle. I abruptly realized didn't care what Megatron or anyone else thought.

I loved him.

…Oh fraggit, I loved him.

I was unconscious moments later, and I dreamt that Waspinator and I made love first on the mountain face of Tanna-16 and then inside of my quarters. The lighting in both places was a brilliant emerald and it accented his form perfectly. Being caught in the jade rays, I looked emerald too. He nuzzled and cooed to me in a reassuring, comforting rasp while he rocked against me. I cried out with every sway, begging him not to stop, but he never did. He called me by oddly fantastical pet nicknames every so often, referring to me as 'love' and breathing the word against my audios in hot breaths, but I didn't mind the addresses at all. In fact, I absolutely loved them. My pleas for him to continue gratifying me never fell on deaf audios and, the whole while, he held me in his arms. His grip never faltered and he never let go.

Just as the dream began to near its end, I felt my chest plate open and the glow of my red spark clashed with the green lighting. The combination of luminescence made the room turn a bright gold and Waspinator gazed down at my spark while continuing with his gentle ministrations. His face was flawless from my perspective - jaw set and with almost no sweat clinging to his features - while I was covered in condensation from both the session on Tanna and in his room. Out from the corner of my vision, I thought I saw a shroud of jet black feathers wrap around me. It's still strange to me, but I swear to this very day that he had a pair of angel's wings, in the place of his wasp ones, protruding from his back. In the integration of human and Cybertronian culture, the concept of angels had migrated over as well. Just like in one of the old paintings I had done back on Cybertron…

Waspinator might have been my emerald angel, but he was also my guardian angel too. One that I would never ever be willing to replace.

Wrapping his wings around me like a protective shell, he slipped his strong arms around my shoulders and hugged my lax body to his own. His eyes locked with mine and, keeping me in his embrace, I heard the hiss of mechanisms moving and I saw his chest plate parting out of the bottom corner of my bliss hazed vision. The dream ended before he could reveal his spark.

The dream ended too soon for my liking, but the thought of wanting the fantasy to continue disturbed just as much as it caught me off guard. Revealing one's spark to another was just as intimate as interfacing - possibly even more so - and Transformers usually only exposed sparks to each other when they were preparing to forge a bond. I briefly remembered the other dream I had - the one where I saw the green and red spark combine to make a single gold one - and the memory made my mechanical brain jolt in its casing.

…Were the dreams a prelude of what was to possibly come? I was too afraid to even try guessing the answer.

My systems whirred to life and, upon waking up completely, I was greeted by Waspinator's unconscious form still beside me. The tank had already risen out of the healing gelatinous substance of the CR, and Megatron saw me. He was still seated in his throne, and he gave the order for Waspinator and I to go back to the island. He had apparently already sent Scorponok and Blackarachnia to capture it for the use of the Predacons and wanted my partner and I to go assist them. I transformed before lightly nudging my partner awake with my fist. My emerald angel stirred and awoke. When he looked up at me, I smirked down at him. I could imagine that my optics were sparkling. "Hey, rise and shine Waspy! Megatron is sending us back to the island."

As soon as we were out of the restoration chamber, he ordered us to head back to the flying mass so we could back up Blackarachnia and Scorponok. We took off from the base while flying closer together than we normally did. I hadn't realized our close proximity it until we were nearly out of range of the Darkside, but Waspinator said nothing in regards to the closeness. Meanwhile, he razzed and looked over at me in an attempt to break the silence. "Could Terror-bot and Wazzpinator try not to get blown up this time?"

"I think that would be a good idea," I mused in an offhand tone. I scanned the air and ground below us when we gained higher altitude. "You all right?"

"Good as new," he brightly beamed. He buzzed and did a front flip in midair while we kept flying, but I was momentarily surprised when he didn't loose altitude or speed. He must have astounded himself tremendously as well, because his optics flashed with his own surprise. Immediately, I realized it had to have been my presence alone that kept himself from looking like a total fool. Even subconsciously. All the while, he was reaching up for my level so he could truly be beside me. This is why, ultimately, why I considered him to be my angel. That flame of determination within him was a true testament to how far he was willing to go to be with me, and I loved him for it… Primus, I loved him. I loved him more then anything and I knew I would do anything for him if he asked me to. What we had was good, true, but I wanted something more than that. I… I wanted…

With the sun shining down on our backs and the wind pushing us up higher into the air, I decided right then and there that I wanted him as a bondmate. Without preamble, without hesitation, without regret the more I pondered over my decision. Perhaps the dreams were a prelude, but then there was the chance that it was my fantasy and not his. There was a very real chance he didn't want me like that. The depressing thought made my spark pulsate painfully.

My computer abruptly beeped, breaking my thoughts. "Attention. Units Optimus Primal and Rattrap in sector. Proceed with extreme caution."

I heard the monotone femme and snapped back to reality from zooming out. I squawked and shifted to robot-mode. "If we fly higher, we can avoid them. I doubt they could possibly be headed were we are. There's no way Tigertron could contact the Maximals through that cloud cover."

Waspinator razzed. "Cloud cover?"

I looked over at him and raised an optical ridge. Did he not know what I was talking about? Judging by the confused look that had crossed his bug like features, I presumed that the answer was a definite yes. Shaking me head a few clicks after, I pivoted upwards and I heard Waspinator squeak when he suddenly found that he had transform and pivot with me in order to keep up. We dove upwards into the air and went about a hundred or so feet higher than the norm. It was colder up there, but it would be best if we wanted to avoid Optimus and Rattrap. Either way, I continued. "You know how our communication links won't work through high amounts of energon radiation? The high radiation acts like a thick barrier. The thicker the barrier, the less likely you can get a signal through it. It works the same way as heavy cloud cover or… I don't know. Maybe heavy rock or something. If you were in a cave deep enough, you might have a tough time trying to get a communiqué out."

"Like in rubble?" He asked outloud randomly. It seemed like a safe enough question to ask, namely because he probably knew there would be a chance he would get caught in one someday. As lucky as the poor guy was, his unfortunate skid plate was bound to probably end up being buried under rocks at some point or another. There was already the one occasion with him being pinned under that boulder, but I at least managed to luckily get him out without a problem. If he was caught in a landslide per say, I might not be able to help or even find his sorry aft. It was obviously discerning that he would possibly have problems trying to get help if he couldn't contact anyone via my radio.

That bothered me as much as it bothered him, if not more. I nodded, valiantly trying not to let my concern show through my otherwise calm bravado. "Like rubble."

The subject on rubble seemed to end there but, in reality, it was only going to be a matter of another megacycle or so before we would brush up with death again. This time the brush would be so much closer to deactivation, catching both my emerald angel and I pinned under twenty thousand tons of flying island debris.

I was musing again, only half aware that I was actually doing it. "…Optimus is flying in the same direction we are. He's not changing course."

"He knows about island?" Waspinator looked over at me with an expression that was confused and surprised. "How? If cloud cover would keep radio signals from going through, how could Optimus know?"

I abruptly looked over at Waspinator, optics ablaze. Waspinator must have read the look that flared in my optics, because my emerald angel snarled and his own ocean azure optics turned to a cool fire. In unison, we both hissed Airrazor's name like it was the most foul thing on the face of the universe.

"How did she know?" Waspinator said loudly in a razzing, exasperated tone.

"She probably saw us flying into the Darkside's perimeter," I responded, a good amount of hate literally dipping off my voice. I made a frustrated sound, a snarl caught halfway between a growl and a furious hiss. Oh, how I hated that femmebot. "She probably saw us coming from the north and known that Tigertron was there."

"And Bird-bot saw how hurt we wazz," he cut in. "Bird-bot know Tigertron not up for totally slagging botzz."

"So she reported back to the Axalon knowing something else got to us. Now Primal is going to investigate and the Maximals will find the flying island!" I cut back in with a hiss. I sneered and screwed my face angrily. "Dammit, I should've been able to detect her!"

"We wazz hurt," he tried to reason me him, trying to calm the anger I felt with myself. "Wazzpinator would've had better chance of picking her up on scanners anyways. Wazzpinator wasn't as bad off as Terror-bot! And even is we'zz did detect her, Wazzpinator and Terror-bot would be too hurt to stop her!"

I made a squawking caw. "It doesn't matter. We need to cut off Optimus and make sure he encounters some… Turbulence." I looked down towards the ground, scanning the earth below aimlessly. It as a threatening gesture towards Optimus on my part, but I could still feel myself from trembling in anger. I'm sure that it wasn't too obvious - you would have really had to scrutinize me greatly in order to see my miniscule shudders - but I'm sure that Waspinator noticed. I didn't think he could blame me though. I was still furious over the fact Airrazor had ratted us out concerning what we ran into, but I was even more furious that she was alive to begin with. She hurt Waspinator once. Screw her having hurt me. She laid her hands on Waspinator, and I was going to kill her for that.

Agony.

It surged from my spark into my limbs before looping back down into my spark again. My optics went wide and his hands instinctively flew up to grasp at and cover my chest. I hit the brakes on his anti-gravs and Waspinator zoomed past me unintentionally. Through my pain hazed vision, he slammed a mental foot down onto his own brakes and he skidded to a halt midair.

"Terror-bot!" He whipped around and flew over to me, stopping before just as he came up. My emerald angel hovered in front of me and his optics were bright with concern and definite fear. Fear for my wellbeing. That was another reason that he was my angel. He cared for me.

I was hunched over, optics squeezed shut, and my chest heaved with the great amount of effort I had to put in just to breathe. His teeth were gnashed hard enough that I could hear the metal of my jaw groaning under the stress. Just as easily as it began though, the sharp pain started to subside into something far more tolerable. My chest stopped automatically heaving with the effort of trying to take a breath and I blew out air through my nose loudly.

Waspinator went to prodding me verbally, still obviously taken aback by my sudden expression of pain. He was no doubt afraid to touch me in fear that whatever ailed me before would strike again. "Terror-bot? Terror-bot!"

I made a gasping noise. "I-I'm fine. I'm…" I sputtered and my chest heaved one more time as the pulsating pain, although receding, spiked one more time. I managed to turn back to reality a moment later when it settled into a dull ache. I opened my optics, brightened them, and then looked up at Waspinator with a look that felt far too hazy for my own liking. My breaths came out as heavy pants. "I'm… I'm fine."

He shook his head, not buying what I was saying to him. He was either very smart or very stubborn, and I knew that it was definitely more so the earlier than the latter. "Slag no. Wazzpinator take Terror-bot back to base. Something wrong-"

"I'm fine," I insisted, trying to sound reassuring. I don't think I pulled it off, since Waspinator looked far from convinced. I straightened out slightly and looked myself over in a vain attempt to seem casual. I couldn't look back up to regard him square in the eye when he I glanced back up, though. My surge bothered me because it only occurred after my thought of protecting Waspinator. "It just felt like a little spark surge. Nothing serious…"

In hindsight, a spark surge was similar to a human's minor heart attack. Whilst a spark could be put under more stress than an ordinary human heart, this meant minor 'heart attacks' were very much harmless to Transformers. Surges would happen only when energy inside the spark chamber is built up and has nowhere else to go, leading it to gradually build and erupt from the casing and lash a surge throughout the body. They were painful, true, but otherwise common with Transformers.

Except I was in much more pain than I should have normally been. While smaller spark surges were harmless, larger ones could be deemed life threatening. By the way mine had been as painful as it had, my surge had been larger than normal.

He pressed on. "Terror-bot-"

"Look, I said I'm okay," I managed to say much more reassuringly now. The way I emphasized on saying the words gave me the momentarily expression that I was maybe trying to convince myself that I was fine, but I didn't linger on the subject long enough to let even myself evaluate my way of saying it, let alone Waspinator. I looked up at my partner before looking back down at myself to evaluate his appearance… even though any damage sustained would have been internal. "See. No damage."

"Terror-bot sure?"

I gave him a playful slap over the head. Anyone else, had they been watching, would have deemed the gesture perhaps violent or ill minded. In truth, it was further from that than that from peace between the Maximals and us Predacons. The metal of my hand clanked against his helm and he razzed outloud, but it was a friendly gesture all the same. I felt my hand linger for a split click longer than it should have, leaving the contact intimate in both our eyes. I switched back into beast-mode. He followed suit when I spoke again. "Yeah. Positive. Now, c'mon! Let's go get us some Maxis!"

We weren't the ones who necessarily got them though. From my perspective at least, they got us. We engaged Optimus Primal with Rattrap riding him, I swooped in first from Optimus' right while my emerald angel continued to remain out of the Maximals' range of vision. I zoomed up into the air, preparing myself to seemingly go into a midair flip, and I switched to robot-mode and fired on the ape just a click later. Two shots pulsed from my shoulder cannons, but they missed Primal completely. As the Maximal leader attempted to fly away - noticeably further north - Waspinator came up behind him. He transformed quickly, doing a front flip of his own when he smoothly changed from beast to robot, and he quickly increased his speed to keep up with Optimus. Shooting with my sniper now instead of my shoulder weapons, I dove in and flanked my partner's left.

We stopped shooting for a moment when my weapon needed to recharge. Though Optimus knew we were still in pursuit, he stopped trying to evade us. Knowing Optimus was distracted, I gave up on my sniper and holstered it into my back subspace. My cannons withdrew from their holsters and I shot. My aim, as usual, was dead accurate.

Optimus fell and Rattrap lost his grip on his commander's back, plummeting straight at the ground. I went after him immediately while Waspinator continued to engage Optimus. I couldn't keep track of my partner during the time he left my side due to my occupation with the rat, but it didn't matter. I zoomed down after Rattrap as he fell - the whole way the rat was squealing about how he was going to die, which I found funny enough to laugh about - and he looked up when he heard my sniggering. His eyes bugged out of his small little beast-mode's skull and that was when I deactivated my antigravs and let myself freefall. I was feeling cheery enough to tease him about his situation, but then the damn rodent took advantage when he transformed and tried to shoot me in the face. I recoiled backward and, unsettled, transformed back into beast-mode… right before the Maximal landed on my back riding me. I would have thrown him off in a click, but the gun pointed at my temple was rather intimidating. Some ways away, I saw Optimus shoot down Waspinator. My spark hitched in its casing in worry, but I could see Waspinator regain his balance several hundred feet down. He was nothing more than a speck in my vision, but the emerald of his armor gleaming in the sunlight made him stand out. He was fine, thank Primus.

'And doing a lot better than me,' I thought to myself bitterly. I felt Rattrap tap the barrel of his handheld gun against my head and I did as I was told when he said for me to fly up to Primal. Except, on the way up, I realized something very important.

I willingly, and without panic, let myself freefall. With that thought, I also inexplicably realize something else. I wasn't afraid of heights anymore.

As it turned out, Airrazor had alerted Optimus and Rattrap to the existence of the flying island. Although, from what I heard, she had apparently been grounded and was trapped with Tigertron. I smiled at that prospect, hoping that maybe the beam that shot my partner and I would fry her too. Maybe it already had. Either way, as went, I could distinctly see the glimmer of emerald several thousand feet below and following. Though Waspinator was keeping his distance, this was probably to keep me out of harm's way and safe. Then if anything did happen, I knew that he would have my back to get me out of there if the situation arose. Upon entering the northern region, the mass of black looming clouds was passing in between two mountains. Optimus flew into it, Rattrap and I trailing behind after him, and I could see as Waspinator - continuing to keep his distance - followed suit. My nerves were wracked with nervousness - after all, the obelisk in the center of the island's plain had nearly killed me and my emerald angel - but the looming tower didn't fire at us when the fog finally parted. Waspinator continued to keep pace behind and I watched intently as Optimus began to descend down to the ground. I recognized Tigertron and Airrazor standing in wait immediately and a momentary burst of anger made me razz. Airrazor did look like she was hurt though, so it partially eased my aggravation.

The tree with that one low branch gave me the perfect moment to escape.

I swooped down underneath the branch and knocked Rattrap right off my back. I gave a cackling squawk in a victorious fashion and flew some ways away, not fearing whether or not he would shoot me. Granted that the Maximals were in a new territory that they knew nothing about, they would probably want to save all their ammo. I would have transformed and fired shots myself, but the fact I was greatly outnumbered made me consider otherwise. I flew a little ways away, touched down, and heard a familiar buzz rise over the light shuffle of the tree branches swaying in the slight breeze. There was the whir of a transformation sequence and a giant wasp landed in the center of the open wood.

Light from the strangely illuminated sky peeked through the trees and cast shadows over Waspinator when I turned to him. I sounded breathless and, true to word, I was exhausted after carrying Rattrap on my back. My beast-mode wasn't built to transport cargo on its back, regardless of how light the package. "Are you all right? What happened?"

"Wazzpinator got shot down. Wazzpinator had to follow behind. You?"

"I'd rather not even go there," I groaned. If taken hostage in my own element by a Primus damned land crawler wasn't bad enough, I had the al too tall aroma of garbage resonating off my hide. Damn rat infected me with his stench! Waspinator found the situation humorous though, and he giggled compulsively when I screwed my face from the smell I was having a severe time being comfortable with. I ignored him, trying to cover up my embarrassment with my usual prided bravado. "I smell like slag."

"Slag never smellzz that bad," he joked brightly. I cast him an irritated glare but, without much else to stop him, he burst out laughing. My partner fell onto his side, curling into a ball and rolling on his back while holding his sides with all six beast-mode legs. Son of a glitch.

I squawked, throwing my wings out in an exasperated gesture of frustration. "That's not funny! I was taken hostage!"

He probably didn't think the hostage part was funny either, so he stopped cackling and shook his head. "Now what? We'zz go find Spider-bot and Scorpion-bot?"

"Looks like it," I murmured quietly. I looked upwards trying to look past the trees at the purple pyramid top of the tower that had nearly killed us some few megacycles earlier. Waspinator followed my gaze and recognized the object of my attention. I spoke up again, my voice a low grumble. "That thing attacked us as soon as we came here the first time. Why doesn't it do anything now?"

"Maybe we'zz set it off last time," he offered. "Somehow anyways."

"I don't like it," I grumbled in a low voice. I spoke up louder a moment afterward. "All right, we'd better go look for the arachnids. Scorponok has his useless tendencies and Blackarachnia is a glitch, but they're smart enough to figure these things out on their own. They'll know something we don't about that thing. Hopefully speaking at least…"

We moved quickly, taking back off into the air and flying upward so we could attempt to see them. I squawked, pointing out two moving figures on the ground below the base of the tower, and a quick scan on Waspinator's part revealed that they had two Predacon energy signatures. We flew off in their general direction but, not even a moment after we started to go after them, I spoke up again.

"Hey, Waspy?"

"Hm?"

"When Rattrap was falling, I let myself freefall too. Did you see that?"

He probably hadn't, granted that he was probably more than busy dealing with Optimus Primal. It was made evident when he looked at me sharply enough to make the gears in his beck squealm and his optics were alit with a strong glow of surprise lighting them. He was regarding me with a highly astonished expression. "Terror-bot did what?"

"I let myself freefall," I said, this time louder and feeling more confident. I felt myself grin. "And, I mean, I didn't freak out over it. I don't know why, but it just didn't bother me. When you were falling earlier today, after I caught you, I didn't mind falling then either."

"Terror-bot looked all freaked out, though."

"Because I was," I admitted. "But it was over the fact I didn't mind falling. That's never happened to me before. I'm not afraid to do it right now either." With that, I suddenly dropped some altitude next to Waspinator. My emerald cohort razzed in surprise, looking like he was nearly ready to jump out of his own casing when I dropped, but then I regained my regular flight position beside him. Waspinator squeaked in surprise and I cackled in a victorious sort of manner. "See! I could do that all day and not be bothered by it!"

He smiled at me, or at least the best he could in beast-mode. "Great job Terror-bot."

I grinned back. "Couldn't do it without you, love."

Waspinator almost stuttered, but he kept his voice in check. "Eh?"

It was then that I realized exactly what I had said. I wouldn't have eve caught on that I referred to Waspinator as "love" if the subject for my affections didn't ask what I had said. I felt my expression drop blankly and my I sounded distant. "Huh?"

"What did Terror-bot say?"

My mind started to reel. Did I really just call him what I thought I did? Well, I certainly must have if Waspinator reacted. A moment after some mental deliberation with himself, he said he couldn't remember. It was a lie, and I knew that Waspinator knew it was a lie too.

Our radios blared to life. "The fliers will try to take our triumph for their own. They must be stopped. I will blow them from the sky!"

We came to a screeching halt just as we were in a hundred or so feet of the tower and fifty or so feet above its tipped point. Below, Blackarachnia stood with her gun aimed at us. Waspinator and I looked at one another, and then I felt a wave of fury lash out through my systems. Blackarachnia? Betray us? That boiled my circuits. How dare she! I stuttered, taken aback, and sneered viciously in my enragement. "Backstabbing bug! I'll vape you first! Terrorize!"

With a mighty caw, I swooped down fifty or so feet, putting myself in level with the mauve pyramid on top of the obelisk and twenty or so feet closer to it than before. I drew my pistol and fired once with a cackle, but Blackarachnia suddenly jumped out of the way. Scorponok was thrown aside from the explosion - Waspinator flew down to my level at this point to join me, though he didn't transform to draw his own weapon - and then I saw the top of the tower turn from its original shade of violet to a dark gold. A whirring, gradually building and erratic beeping sort of noise followed before the air was hissing again.

A beam shot out of the tower, and it was heading straight for Waspinator and I.

Immediately, I realized that I had been used. Blackarachnia and Scorponok were trying to get into the obelisk, but they discovered that our very own energy weapons were the culprit for setting off its destructive tendencies. They also knew having it fire before they could blast their way into the base would give them the chance to get in without being shot at themselves. If it went off before they blasted their way inside, the monument wouldn't have enough time to recharge before they used their own weapons to break in. Being as treacherous as she was, Blackarachnia decided to use my partner and I as bait for the alien construct.

I stared ahead in disbelief. Then I cranked my neck to look up at my green partner while he hovered beside me in beast-mode. He turned his own head to face me as well, his expression blank with horror.

I squeaked, feeling what little color their already was fleeing my face. "Oops."

The beam itself didn't actually hit us this time. It exploded between us instead. The pain wasn't thankfully that bad, but the initial jolt was enough to make the both of us yelp in moderate pain. The heat still caused out antigravs circuits to fry out however, and our equilibrium failed as we fell. Waspinator's shriek rose over the hissing and sharp booming retaliation of the beam. "Pterodactyl idiot!"

Luckily for us, the island's lake was positioned beneath where we were falling. I had only a moment to look down and see the crystal clear water rushing up to meet me before I slammed into it on my back. The wind was knocked out of me and I heard another crash of water a split second later, indicating Waspinator's own landing. The cool water sent a shock through my systems and I gasped, taking in water and choking from the lack of oxygen. It was moments like those that I wished that my beast-mode didn't make me for dependent on oxygen as it did. Bubbles and murky darkness shrouded my vision and I struggled to right myself and find the surface. Then I saw light. Desperately, I frantically kicked out with my legs and broke the surface. I gasped, splashing erratically, and focused on regaining my breath. The cool water at least made the light burning searing my side where I was closest to the beam ache all the less, and it gave me enough leverage to turn around in the water without too greatly disturbing my injuries.

My sight was met with nothing. I was alone.

Waspinator didn't surface with me.

I gasped and took air harshly, still trying to get my breath back, and I spun about in the water. Still, I couldn't see my partner anywhere. "Waspinator! Waspy!"

…Oh Primus.

Without even thinking, I took in as deep of a breath as I could and I dove under. The lake was deep and pitch black, but the sunlight glaring down through the surface gave me just enough light to make out the something glinting bright emerald sinking out of view. He must have hit the water and lost consciousness. I kicked my legs and moved my arms furiously trying to reach him. Without even thinking, I activated my antigravs in an attempt to increase my speed. They sizzled and a warning popped up in the corner of my vision saying that they were entirely busted. No doubt they had malfunctioned when I hit the water as hard as I did, knowing they had been fine at Tanna-16's lake. Thinking about Tanna, I forced my straining body deeper. Waspinator must have been further away than I initially thought, because the pressure started to press uncomfortably on my tactile sensors and it was getting colder. Waspinator, all the while, kept sinking. Primus, I knew he shouldn't have been sinking that fast. The first explanation that came to mind was that he had inhaled water into his body so that it was weighing him down. That couldn't have been safe. How mush of the depth's pressure could his beast-mode take before expiring, anyways? That thought scared me.

My chest started to burn from the lack of oxygen. If Waspinator hadn't meant as much to me as he had, I would have given up and returned to the surface. If Waspinator hadn't.

Pitt, I was not going to let Waspinator drown. Even if he went down, I sure as the inferno was going down with him.

This ended up not being the case, because I reached him almost without realizing. I would have swum right past him too, if the brilliance of his emerald armor didn't catch my eye and keep me from doing so. His beast-mode looked crumpled from hitting the water so hard, and I was afraid to initially touch him in the fear that he would fall apart. He didn't. I took him up into my arms swiftly and instantly started to swim back up as quickly as I could. My chest was on fire now and my spark was straining painfully. I kept holding my breath regardless of my stupid body's protests. Oxygen deprivation warnings flashed in my vision. I ignored them. All that mattered was the limp weight in my arms and how direly important it was that I get it to the surface. Screw my needs. Waspinator came first, no arguments of otherwise or questions asked.

I broke the surface.

I actually kept holding my breath for half a click, because it took me that long to remember for my vision to readjust to the lighting of the world above the water. My chest felt like it was going to explode. Water splashed around my face and I gasped very loudly. Air rushed through my intake valves and instant relief reached my systems… all of them, of course, except for my sense of severe worry. Waspinator was still lying limp in my arms and was, at that moment, nothing more than a glistening wet slab of deadweight. I almost ended up going back under the water again because of my impaired swimming capabilities - holding my unconscious partner had taken up the use of my arms - and I had to settle for furiously kicking at the freezing water to stay afloat. True to word, the water in the flying island lake was much colder than Tanna's. That much only reminded me about the treacherously dangerous situation my partner was in, and it only inspired my aching and tired legs to keep pumping through the water aggressively. I swam backwards, hoping that it was the closest direction to reach the shoreline.

The heel of my foot struck gravely sand and I immediately readjusted my footing to stand. I had misjudged the strength in my legs, because they gave out and I fell back into the water with Waspinator with me. Screeching angrily, I forced myself back up and made my tiring body stand. The water reached my waist. My fear for Waspinator's wellbeing had propelled me out from near the middle of the lake to the shoreline in under a minute, which was brilliant timing all by itself. Waspinator was even heavier now that the water wasn't affecting gravity's pull on him. He felt like he weighed the entire capacity of an entire crate's load of lead and then some. Straining, body protesting from soreness, I dragged Waspinator out of the water and then set him down onto his back. He didn't move. His chest wasn't rising or falling. He wasn't breathing.

Blind white panic surged through my systems. I collapsed onto my hands and knees beside him and didn't ask for a second opinion, regardless of the fact that there was no one around to get a second opinion from. I wasn't entirely fluent in the art of CPR, but I knew enough from hearing about it to know the basics. I braced my hands against his stomach so I wouldn't put too much unnecessary pressure on his chest and I pumped six times. Waspinator didn't stir. I tilted his head toward me, cupped his mandibles, and puffed air into his mouth. I thought I felt him move, but he was still entirely still when I pulled away again. I pumped his lower chest six more times. More air into his mouth. This time around, I felt water seeping around my hands where I had cupped his jaws. I immediately pulled away and pumped at his stomach again. He hacked up water. Without even thinking, I leaned forward and lightly slapped him on the face a few times to see if that would help. "Waspy? Waspinator! Waspinator, come on, snap out of it!"

I gave him another slap on the side of the face and he violently coughed hard from the access water in my systems. His voice was rough and scratchy, and its reminiscence to mine was undistinguishable. The optics of his beast-mode started to brighten. I rolled my partner onto his stomach - he was still limp and heavy, although noticeably not as much as he was before - and I thumped hard on his back trying to help clear his clogged airways. He coughed up much more water than before and took in gasping breaths. I kept rubbing his back and lighty pounding it. In the meantime, there was a harsh whirring sound and I looked up in surprise to meet it.

There was movement at the obelisk, and none too benevolently looking either. I watched, astonished and horrified, as the violet marble pyramid at the top of the tower started to get the orange energy built up inside it once more. I was momentarily terrified that it was going to fire in our direction to finish what it started, but then brilliant orange light shot out from it in all directions. The flat beam completely streamed over mine and Waspinator's heads in a nightmarish display of alien energies. The area was coated in orange light, somewhat similar to the sunsets Waspy and I would watch out at Tanna. There was nothing benevolent or peaceful about this light however, and that greatly worried me. The beams of light being shot out from the obelisk top started to arch upward.

Out of the corner of my vision, I could see Waspinator shakily try to turn his head to look up at me. His breathing seemed to have returned to normal. I stopped rubbing his back and I looked down to him. He blearily looked up at him and razzed. "Wazzpinator feels like he went through disk washing machine…"

Relief surged through my systems with the realization that he was all right, albeit I knew he wouldn't have the strength to fly us out of there. I checked the status of my automated repairs and, to my dismay, realized that my antigravs were slow in recovering. We were stuck. "Save it. We have bigger problems," I said grimly. "My gravs are busted and the self repair is taking forever. Then…" I looked up towards the beam being shot up from the tower.

That was when Waspinator finally started to pay attention to his surroundings, and I heard him audibly buzz nervously. The sky was aglow with a brilliant orange and the hissing of the tower resonated from overhead. I looked up and gaped in horror at the sight of the golden beam streaming above in a brilliant display. Light from the tower jetted out in all directions and aimed upwards slowly, moving to the epicenter of the sky just above the pyramid's point. The beams suddenly vanished and a single blast of white light shot up in a pulse. It disappeared in the island's misty shield and the clouds abruptly disintegrated. The inky blackness of the uncovered night that cast across the island made the alien device look menacing. It was silent for a few moments and everything was still.

I imagined that Waspinator would have asked me what the frag was happening, but that wouldn't have helped him much. Pitt, even I wasn't sure what was going on. Suddenly, the obelisk top hissed again, this time before going dim and shooting huge pulse blasts. The night was lit with lights of the explosions the blasts made they hit the ground.

…Slag.

Artificial adrenaline gushed through my coolant tubes and I was up on my feet in an instant. I didn't need to see the destructive blasts exploding when they hit the ground to know that it would generally be a very bad thing if Waspinator and I were struck. I grabbed my emerald angel by his scruff and gave him a good tug before letting go. "Get up and RUN!"

He was comprehensive enough after nearly drowning that didn't need to be told twice. Unfortunately, it never occurred to me that his systems would be too waterlogged for him to initiate his transformation from beast to robot-mode. Then, of course, was the fact that he still couldn't fly. Attempting to run in his beast-mode very much impossible due to the way his legs were positioned - his alternate form was more orientated for crawling rather than bolting - and I heard him cry out after I had already jogged a few feet from him. His voice was panic stricken. "Terror-bot!"

I heard him, realized my mistake, and turned around. Seeing him looking at me as horrified as he was, I cursed loudly at my own idiocy before the ground exploded just a few feet behind me. With a screech, I was flipped forward and I fell heavily onto my chest. The wind was knocked out of me and I heard Waspinator cry out for me when he saw me go down. I had enough sense to pull myself up either way though, and I scrambled to my feet and ran the rest of the distance back over to him. I fell to his knees and skidded a few inches, slipped my arms underneath his shaking body, and I grunted when forced my stupidly tired body to stand. I held him in his arms close to my chest and my grip never faltered. "Hold on!"

He did and I turned on my heel, running like a bat would fly out of the very bowels of the Pitt. The explosions behind us sent dirt and gravel flying up in every which direction and I narrowly made it a hundred or so meters from the obelisk before I, stupid me, tripped on the lone root of a bush. With a squawking scream, I fell and dropped him. He flew from my grip and I fell hard on my chest, pulling my caught foot at the same time. Something - a ball joint or a gear or something - snapped and started screaming with pain. I had to bite my lip almost hard enough to draw coolant to keep from crying out. Out of the corner of my vision - slightly blurred from the immense agony surging up my ankle and back into my damaged stabilizing servo - I saw Waspinator roll twice before stopping himself. At first I thought I knocked him unconscious, but he sat up a moment later and appeared to me to obviously be fine, if only shaken. Instantly Explosions were roaring around us. I immediately tried to stand in order to retrieve him, but my foot refused to cooperate and wouldn't let me apply pressure without singing in agony. Great. So not only could I and Waspinator not fly, but now I was incapable of getting us to safety on foot. The frustration was just as intense as the undying hatred at felt at myself for not watching my step. I tried to stand again, only the fumble and collapse with a squawk.

The pain was awful.

"Fraggit, my ankle! SLAGGIT!" Even trying to sit up was a burden, and I yelped with pain when I tried to. The havoc from the obelisk's assaults were everywhere, and the thought that the both of us - not just one or the other - would probably get ourselves killed was a frightening one. Somewhere behind me, there was the sound of metal scraping metal. After the incident, Waspinator told me that it was the sound of the tower rising on its pedestal to increase its height by double. He also told me that the area we were in was thankfully not nearly as dangerous in regards to where the blasts from the obelisk's beam weapon were striking, but that didn't matter to me. All that I cared about was that we were in harms way for as long as we were on that godforsaken tower, and I had to get us off… and then even that wasn't possible anymore. At least not with our combined injuries and handicaps sustained.

Wind, powerful, abruptly my flank. It affected Waspinator too, because he nearly bowled over onto his side from the forceful gale. The trees swayed with the movement and, with a start, I realized that the island was turning around and changing course. Where it was going however, I honestly didn't care.

Waspinator crawled over to me, twitching his antennas and looking down at my broken ankle with a great deal of concern reflecting in his compound eyes. "Terror-bot?"

"It's busted," I hissed through my teeth, failing miserably to try masking the fact I was in pain with my usual bravado. I continued to strain to get onto my aft and I could distinctly feel that my foot was twisted around at an angle that I knew should have otherwise been impossible. I didn't want to look at it. If I did, I probably would have gotten sick or had more of a panic attack than I was already straining not to have. What little control I had of my resolve however, I had little over my emotions. I took in a raggedly unsteady intake that was just as breathless as it was shaken. "Oh Primus, it… It's completely busted. I-I can't walk."

"Is okay. We… Wazzpinator and Terror-bot find some other way to get somewhere safe," he tried to comfort in an otherwise vain attempt to keep me from panicking. H was to late of course - I could already feel my spark pulsate quicker in terror and my breaths coming out in short, quick bursts - but I had to give my partner at least some credit. The pulse blasts stopped shooting at the area we were in directly, shooting overhead us and about fifty yards away. We were going to get hit if we stayed out in the open. "Its okay, Terror-"

There was an explosion somewhere behind us, louder and with a different noise than the blasts making the ground erupt around my partner and me. A loud hissing noise not like the sound of the hot beam hitting the air resonated from the obelisk. Waspinator looked past me and I cranked my head back to look at the tower as it was suddenly engulfed with bright yellow electricity not that much unlike the static that would dance around our own frames during energon surges. I saw the figures of the Maximals fleeing - Airrazor picked up Rattrap by his shoulders while the femme was in beast-mode just as Optimus made a grab for Tigertron - and then the wind changed again. This time stronger the gale was even stronger, and I initially didn't think that was possible.

I trembled. I had a very bad feeling about this. "Wha - ?"

I suddenly noticed the tower stopped shooting clicks before the wind changed and I felt the ground wobble underneath us. It was almost like an earthquake, but the ground still seemed undamaged aside from the smoldering craters that were cast across the landscape. That and the fact there were no tectonic plates anywhere underneath the island made earthquake theory obsolete right away, though the term still seemed to fit all the same. Waspinator was jerked to the side and he cried out, but I reached out and snatched his beast-mode's right front forearm before he could roll away. My other hand made a grab for the bush connected to the root that tripped me. At least the damn thing would be of some moderate use, after all. I held on tightly and we both cried out when the ground jerked up beneath us again.

"Waspinator, hang on!" I tightened my grip on his arm and he stared back up at me with horrified optics.

The ground stopped wavering, yeah, but then it started to tremble as though we were living through a seismic quake. A branch on the shrub I was gripping snapped and I had to madly scramble to grab another one. Abruptly, the ground began to tilt onto its side. I slipped down the ground because of this and I blindly tightened my grip on the bush tenfold. The shrub's branches held under my vice hold just barely - I heard the twigs snapping over the abrupt roar of rushing wind around us and, with horror, I felt air rush past my face at a rate of speed I was in no way comfortable with.

Waspinator must have felt the same thing, because he shrieked. "Island is falling!"

The incline of the ground changed again suddenly, pivoting to the left at an angle that made the both of us cry out, and more branches snapped under my already tight grip on the hedge plant. There was another sudden tremor - honestly, it felt like we hit a bump - that nearly caused Waspinator to let go of my forearm. While his grip was momentarily lessened, mine tightened to keep him from slipping away from me. He looked back to me with fear ridden optics and I felt my own flash both protectively and fearfully.

I wasn't going to let him go. He didn't let me go when he saved me from Airrazor and now it was my turn to hang onto him. It was almost as if the guardian angel role had been temporarily switched. For a fleeting moment, I was the angel. It felt weird, but I didn't have any longer to mull over it.

A loud groaning resonated from all around us and then the ground began to tilt dangerously. The bush I was hanging onto being unearthed - the roots were snapping and it was being torn from the ground - and I felt gravity start to pull back on us. I felt my face pale more so than it already was and Waspinator dared to look behind him at what I was seeing.

The ground was barely off angle from being completely vertical and I saw the ground below the island come into view. Air began to rush past my face in a powerful windstorm and the ground below started to rush up towards us. The rate of speed increased and the island was falling. The whoosh of air rushing past us turned into a loud, menacing roar that made my audios ring painfully and Waspinator screamed. I did to, but I kept my death hold on the small shrub for dear life. I wasn't afraid of falling in general anymore, but this was something new altogether. If we crashed, we would most definitely be killed.

"WASPINATOR! HANG-!"

The island crashed.