Special Delivery

 

“She’s taking her time,

Making up the reasons,

To justify all the hurt inside.

Guess she knows,

By the smiles and the look in their eyes,

Everyone’s got a theory bout the Bitter One.”

“Where’s that radio I asked for?” Leozack stalked along the edge of the Destron Space Fortress’ radio consoles, deep within the monstrous city.  Jaugar worked at the console, trying to pick it out.

  “Erm … Sir I can’t find it anywhere. Maybe it didn’t get through.”

  “Didn’t get through? How is that possible? If the Liege Maximo doesn’t get his precious figures on Destron reserves, he will go mad.  TELL me what happened to that radio broadcast, Jaugar.”  The Destron Second in Command was clearly on edge.

  Jaugar glanced downward slightly, turning.

  “I am sorry Sir, but it’s gone.  The transmission was intercepted. There’s nothing I can do.”  He waited for the terrible temper to emerge…

  Leozack felt fury creeping upon him, but he saw Jaugar’s apologetic face, and simmered gently instead. He nodded, a scowl evident on his face.

  “Very well. I will deal with this myself. Scan the zone for any possible interceptors.”  He flipped up his own radio and called into it.  “Hellbat, come in.”

  Jaugar scanned all the space surrounding the Destron’s territories, but nothing.  Just as he was about to stop, he saw a blip on the long-range radar systems and pointed to it.

  “Commander, look there! A Star Former is returning to base.  There is nothing else within Imperial space at this time that could have downloaded our transmission, Sir. Nothing else could even have been near enough.  It MUST have been that space fighter.”

  Leozack nodded, scowling at the blip. “I see, very well, scan and identify.”

As he spoke, Hellbat’s hissy voice came over the intercom, loudly.

  “What iss it, Leozack?”

  The teal and grey Destron tapped at the console in front of him, face concentrated.  “In a moment, I will be able to tell you…” He worked steadily, trying to triangulate it’s proportions and speed limits.  Finally Jaugar got a clear lock on its size and shape, and Leozack matched that to its speed and slowly smiled, evilly.

  “Well what do you know, Brother. It seems one of our close Imperial ‘friends’ has intercepted the Destron Resources code.  Hellbat?”

  “Yess? What iss my mission this time?”

Leozack smiled, gently pounding one fist into his other palm, several times.  His tone was slightly malevolent now.

  “Your mission? Search for that Star Former flyer … intercept … and bring her in, to me personally. Alive and well.” The Commander smiled, and flicked his hand to Hellbat in dismissal. “That will be all, Hellbat. Go.”

  The dark blue, sinister Destron nodded, and then cut off the transmission.  He stalked to the landing pads, and took the cargo hold elevator up to Landing Bay Alpha, which was restricted to Senior Officers only. 

 

 Leozack meanwhile, was standing in front of the shiny wall of the corridor, smiling to himself, glancing at his reflection.  He saw a smudge upon it, and scowled slightly, summoning one of his personal Thralls at once, one of the Captains of the Clones. 

  “You!  See this is cleaned. I expect to be able to see myself in it, clearly next time.”  The Captain bowed quickly, knowing Leozack’s sudden temper when he was displeased.  “Yes, Master Leozack.” He called over his platoon and made sure they cleaned the spot and all others.

  Leozack thought about his reflection, and it only made him laugh more.  Very soon, he was going to have some fun.

 

  The dark blue form of a Dassault jet, modified for space flight, tore through the cosmos steadily towards its target.  It wasn’t running yet.  Oh, the thrill of the chase!  Although Hellbat knew she could out run him if she really tried his advantage of surprise would leave her wanting for acceleration to get away.  Besides, in Imperial space she would not be expecting to be intercepted. 

  He swooped low, coming onto her radar gradually.

 

  At first the small dot on her radar was of no concern.  She wasn’t aware that she had picked up a secret Destron one off transmission – in fact she had picked it up all scrambled (Star Formers cannot decode Destron encryptions) and has assumed it was space junk, and deleted it.  As the dot grew larger and came closer to her, she began to get nervous.  What was this?

  Slowly, she began to re plot her course home, flying away from Hellbat. 

  He followed her, sinisterly staying just at a safe distance.  She began to panic, and triangulated his exact co ordinates and shape.  Her on board computer data searched for a match – and finally found it.

 Destron Beastforce Operative: Hellbat. 

Suspected Espionage Agent.

Imperial Status: Clean, set suspect. 

Component: Metal Bat, Koumoirbresto.  Call sign: Batblaster.  Component of Liokaiser, Destron Super Warrior.

Alternative Mode:  Space Able Dassault Jet, dark blue.

Rating: Dangerous.  AVOID.

 

  She gasped, in shock.  Hellbat was tailing her?  But why?  She attempted contact with him at once.

  “Hellbat – I know it is you. What are you doing? This is outer Star Former space.”

  No reply at all.  She was about to radio base for assistance, when she saw the blue jet encroach with a sudden burst of speed, catching up to her tail like crazy!  She tried to accelerate, but before she could do anything, the Destron was above her in space, and she saw him transform through her real view window.  His bone white face seemed to have a smirk on it, as he grabbed onto her tail wings and held onto her tightly, raising his hand up into the air, as he crouched on her form.

  “Brest OFF! Batblaster – gun mode!” With a flash of claws, the bat embossed chest plate on Hellbat flew upwards, and landed in his clawed grasp firmly … now in the form of a power Electro rifle. 

  With an evil chuckle, he levelled it at her vital engine region. He knew exactly where to shoot to kill, being of medical skill.

  The transmission came through to her, loud and clear:

  “Cease your pathetic running, female … and transform.  Surrender and I shall not harm you. I am merely a messenger.”

  Fear gripped at her circuits!  What on Cybertron’s moons did Hellbat want with her now?  However she was fully aware of what the consequences would be to disobey, so she numbly intoned back:

  “Very well …I, I’ll do as you say.”  With that, she slowed to a halt, and then transformed.

  Before she could reach for her gun, Hellbat took action and grabbed her right arm, swinging himself over her head and wrenching it down with force, bringing her back into a very painful arm lock.  She gave a cry of pain, and struggled.

  “Let me go! I am a fellow Imperial! You have no right – Thunderclash will see you and your team exterminated for this!” 

  Hellbat snickered, obviously not caring for her brave words. He placed the barrel to her head and laughed into her audio receptor. 

  “Well well, Resss-Cue! What a pleasant surprise, seeing you here.” The barrel jabbed her, gently. “SOMEONE wantsss a WORD with YOU.” He gave her a rough yank. “Come on – you are coming back to your rightful HOME, to answer for your crimesss, CLONE!”

  She panicked the memories of her time as a Destron Thrall coming back clear and strong. She squirmed.

  “NO!  Hellbat – let me go!  I won’t go back! I hate you – I hate all of you!”  Her fight was valiant, and in the end, Hellbat lost his temper.  With a hiss of frustration, he suddenly used his VTOL jets to blast himself back away from her red and white form.

 For a second, she thought he was retreating.  Then, she looked harder, and saw him take a pose, waving his arms beside him, building up a strange blue-white energy between his hands. 

  “Oh, Primus no!”  She tried to blast herself away from him…but as she did so, he released the full power upon her of his special attack.

  “Hellbat strikessss – hypnotic waaaaaave!”  Pulse after deafening and mind numbing pulse emitted from his chest and hands, a dashing red glow that totally filled Res-Cue’s vision and audio channels.  She gasped, clutching at her head and trying to stay awake.  She was strong, but then again – so was he.

  “Give in…give IN! You are miiiine!”  The Destron projected more force at her, his crimson optics darkening as he glowered, determined to see her fall.

  Res-Cue couldn’t take any more.  Her optics blackened slowly, and with a sigh, she collapsed in space and lay there, drifting. Fast asleep. 

 

 Back at the base, Leozack watched the monitors, expectantly.  Today had been unusually uneventful and the Second Commander was close to being bored.  Sending Hellbat to do anything was always a bit of a risk, as the dark blue Destron made no secret of the fact that he had his own, deeper, personal ‘agenda’.  But on many an occasion, Hellbat’s skills as an interceptor, spy and espionage agent outweighed his ‘odd attitude’.

  Finally, as the joors slipped by, Hellbat re entered Destron aerospace.  Watching on the monitors, Jaugar called Leozack to him.

  “Leozack, look! Hellbat returns.”

Leozack smirked slightly. “So I see. Bring the image up on screen 4 with magnification level 7.” As Jaugar did that, Leozack’s grin grew.  He saw that Hellbat was dragging the offending Star Former.  Mission complete.

 

  There was a loud, rather horrible scraping sound, as Hellbat came into land. He chose to transform into his jet mode at the last second, and land neatly in this fashion.  As his arms sunk into his sides in the transformation sequence, ResCue was sent reeling down from a nasty height, onto the cold steel floor of Landing Pad Delta. She landed front side downward, and scrapped along the metal floor panelling, still not awake yet.  Landing in a heap, she began to shiver and awaken, the effects slowly wearing down.

  Hellbat landed tidily at the end of the runway, using his VTOL jets.  Then he intoned a sinister:

  “Transss-FORM!” 

  The dark blue and white robotic form of Hellbat sprung into being once again. 

  No sooner had he transformed, than he was greeted on the pad by two figures.  One was a small Mech Thrall – a clone.  He bowed quickly and gave his message.

  “Sir, the head of Medical wishes to see you, you and this er….item, at once. She stipulated immediate response.”  It wasn’t hard for Hellbat to see what he meant by ‘stipulation’. There was a deep slash right across the Thrall’s forehead, made with some sort of medical claw.

  He hissed under his faceplate. There was little love lost between the head of MSE, Blackantra, and himself.

  “Very well, I will go.  What were her reasoningsss?” Hellbat stalked to ResCue and pulled her groggily to her feet, at once.  She groaned, optics still blackened.

  “Well Sir, she insisted that the Commander had ordered her to check this ‘item’.  After you had handled it, Sir.”  The Thrall was struggling to find the right ‘words’ for which he would not be shot.

  Hellbat hissed again. “I see, thiss is most interesting indeed. Go, I will take ResCue to her myself.”

  And he did.

 

  Blackantra liked to keep her quarters within the Medical Science and Engineering Station on the Space Fortress very dark, black and sinister.  But that was where her similarities with Hellbat ended.  Driven by forces unknown into acts that would make most Destrons turn their heads, she was one that liked her own company – that and the company of screaming captives and the dark.

  The door to the Med Labs made an odd rattle as Hellbat beat his fist upon it three times.  As he glanced around the doorframe, he noticed several odd markings and bosses, and began to feel a little more comfortable within the Gothic emblems.

  A few seconds later, the door opened with remarkable quickness for a slow, air powered door.  Hellbat waited, knowing it was unwise to stroll into Med Lab.  Sure enough, a black figure came out of the shadowy room, currently not in use other than to her, and stood before him in the doorway. 

  She was wearing her full, black, powered armouring.  Easily as tall as he was, about 22 feet.  Her optics were hidden from his sight, as they almost always were, by her black face mask, that acted like a visor to her.  Like the rest of her, it could melt in and out of subspace like water off a duck’s back, at will.  Hellbat couldn’t help himself but stare a bit – he secretly longed to have the secret to her uncanny Destron control of subspace.  Little did he know, it was not just her Destron abilities and training, but also something far worse….

  She raised her visor and beckoned to him with a smooth finger, smooth for now anyway.

  “Ahh, greetingss Comrade.  Come inside, I have some questionss to ask you … and this ‘guest’.  Plus, I have orders to examine her ass well.” With that she gave a thin smile, with a sideways glance at Hellbat that brought her the usual hiss from behind his faceplate.  He didn’t like what she was getting at.

  “Interesting that Leozack hass asked you to perform these taskss for him, isn’t it, Blackantra?  Don’t you think?”  Hellbat made an immediate emotional parry of his own, as he walked beside her into the dimly lit rooms, dragging the stumbling form of ResCue with him.

  For that, he received a stony glare from those crimson optics. 

  “It iss my job, Hellbat. I am head of MSE.”

  The Destron Mech pointed a clawed finger at her, “So you keep saying.  Iss that all though?”

  Blackantra stared down the finger, narrowing her optics to slits. 

  “Yess, it iss all, Hellbat.  He iss my Commander, and I am one of hiss operatives, as are you.  Now, let uss get on with thiss examination.”

  Hellbat glanced at her in some surprise. “Uss? We?”

  She nodded, “Why of course, Comrade. What did you think I meant before, humm?”  Turning the tables neatly on him again, she grinned and pointed a hand towards an exam table with restraints upon it.

  Hellbat overcame his dislike of her instantly at such an offer and nodded, dragging the groggy ResCue over to it at once. “Then why didn’t you just say so, female? I would have understood then.” He pulled on ResCue’s sensitive mane-like head crest edges, around her helmet.  “MOVE, Thrall!”

  “Uh…..let go of me, I don’t want you to examine me! Let GO!!”  ResCue started to kick and squirm. Blackantra caught her up around the underside of her chin and throat with a suddenly lethally clawed hand, the dagger tips pressing against her metal skin. 

  “Silence, clone!  Your Master wants you in good condition.  Now unless you want me to put you through incredible pain, and to aggravate your Master’s temper, I suggest that you willingly lie down.” 

  She blinked at that. Her Master?  But she didn’t have a Master as such. She was the leader of the Star Former team called the Rescueforce.  Four of them in all, in charge of clearing out and evacuating, saving and helping the injured or at risk, and also in charge of counter acting the enemy when he was attacking the innocent.

 She felt the dagger points pressing on her neck and realised she had little choice.  As an Ex Thrall, she knew the SJS Interrogation techniques well.  She knew what power Blackantra had over those given over to her, and Hellbat also.  So, with a slight gulp, she nodded and lay down on the exam table, shivering as the back of her ‘mane’ touched the cold surface. 

  “I – I don’t know why you brought me here. I haven’t done anything to the Destrons.  Thunderclash will be furious!  Please just let me go unharmed and we can prevent warfare.”  But she was shaking slightly, as the silver manacles snapped down, holding her lower legs, upper arms, wrists and neck in place.

  “You don’t know?”  Hellbat snickered at her.  “My dear ResCue … you are a spy.  We all know thiss.  You will confess to everything or we shall torture you!  You also are an escaped Thrall and we want you back.  Back to serve uss.”

  She gasped at him, optics widening in shock. “Me – a spy?  No! I am not a spy, I am on your side! We are all members of the same Empire – you have the wrong person!”

  “We NEVER get the wrong person, forgiven one.  Now ass I examine you for faults … I will ask you questionss. You shall answer me in full truth, iss that understood? Each time you lie to me, I shall make you suffer.” Blackantra glanced over to Hellbat and added, “and I will set him loose on you also. Now …”  She began seeing to one of her long, burning scrape wounds with a heated needle fingertip, “ … TELL me, what were you doing in our Sector, or close to it?”

 

  Leozack waited patiently for his Medic to finish her tasks.  Of course he was not aware that Hellbat was with her.  He was busy working on some of the cities’ expansion plans.  

  At last, the door of his Command Room hissed open, and there stood Blackantra, in full armour, with various metaphysical spikes and blades showing.  One hand holding up ResCue, who was blasted with cleaning liquids, still smelling of them, sparkling white and red.  However, she looked crushed, scared and her face had some small, neat cuts on it.  All her other wounds had been tended to though, and these were quite fresh.  Hellbat was standing beside Blackantra, smirking at Leozack from behind his faceplate. 

  The Commander raised a servo at Hellbat.

  “Why are you here?  I specified for Blackantra to bring her to me – alone and unaided.  Don’t you have work to do?”

  Hellbat nodded, still grinning. “Of course I do, Leozack.  But I thought I should report a complete mission successss. ResCue is ourss once more.  The Medic and I have had much fun speaking with her.”

  “You? Hellbat … go and get on with your tasks.  I will talk to you about this later.”  Leozack was scowling visibly.

  Hellbat bowed deeply from the waist, a smirk still evident.

  “Ass you wish, ‘Commander’.”  With that, he exited, a slight chuckle causing his shoulder armouring to move slightly.  Leozack saw this and scowled some more.  Then he beckoned to Blackantra with a finger.  “Bring her in here.”

  The black, female Destron nodded, and pulled her broken captive into the Commander’s room.  “GET.  I don’t have all day.”  She gave her a shove, causing her to stumble forward into the room.  Then, just to add insult to injury, she kicked into the backs of ResCue’s knees, forcing her to fall onto them, forward, into a small heap.

  Then, she glanced to Leozack.  “I have done ass you ordered, Commander.  I expect you wish me to leave you alone, to question thisss…captive?”

  The Teal Commander put down his optic servos to her at that. “I can hear your thinking.  Do not think that.  She used to be my Thrall, I will take care of her.  I have no desire for your … grotesque SJS thoughts, Blackantra. Now leave me in peace.”

  Blackantra made a small smile, unusually genuine, to him, in return, with a slight bow. 

  “Ass you wish, Commander. If you need anything, just call.”  She grinned and strutted out.  Leozack watched her, optic servos raised.  He hadn’t seen her like that in a while.  Anyway – attention elsewhere!

  He turned to ResCue.  She was beginning to get up off the floor slowly, wagging her head from side to side.  Leozack smiled, and strode over stopping next to her. 

  “Do you need a hand, ResCue?”

  She shook her head.

  “Do you like that name?”

  “Well I … I want to go home, Leozack.”

  “I gave it to you, you know.”

  She nodded, sniffing back her feelings of terror at this exact moment.  Slowly she got to her feet, finding her shoulder being pulled gently upward by Leozack.  Then she had to look him right in the face for the first time since she escaped that time a while ago – after she had been created along with the others, as a clone of Leozack, not only to serve his every need, but also to head up a SECOND Liokaiser super robot – in order to finish the Cybertrons once and for all.  The Destrons were a selfish race – they wanted to have the power to do what they felt was their true destiny.  But they did have honour.

  However, ResCue knew her place.  She was a Thrall.  And she belonged to Leozack.  Her instinct was over riding her. It was he who had given her life … or at least that was what she was taught to believe – and beliefs are strong when they are wrought within you Destron style.  So, looking at him was very hard for her.  She saw her Master – and she both feared and respected him.

  “Now, let’s see.”  Leozack spoke quietly, as though he didn’t want to blast her with his voice.  “It’s been a long time now since you were last here, ResCue.  You were easily the best Thrall I ever had.  Do you know who created you?”

  She sniffed, and shook her head, looking down.  His grip on her tightened slightly.

  “Do you know who?!”

  She began to get scared again and shake.  “Yes, yes! You gave me life and a right to live – I know this!  But I have my own life now!  I – I can’t go back to the way it was.”  She blurted out her thoughts swiftly.  “I’m not your second Liokaiser Commander Leozack, nor am I your slave.  I have my own life with the Star Formers now, as do Clamp, Lock Down and Vibration.  I don’t belong to you any longer!”  She finished, almost in oil tears, getting emotional about it.

  Leozack chuckled slightly, and placed a comforting arm around her. As he was vastly more strong and large body wise, she didn’t try to resist it, and besides, he did know how she liked to be comforted too.

  “Come now, ResCue.  I want to help you.  You were a good Thrall … I won’t treat you badly, you know that.  When did I ever beat you other than when you tried to run or were bad?”

  She shook her head cautiously.  “Why – never, Leozack.”

  He nodded, his teal helmet shining as the light refracted off its shapely surface, making his lion like features stand out.  ResCue saw them and gazed over his helmet in awe.  She always had had a ‘thing’ about that design, one that her own helmet was also loosely based upon, though her helmet, as a lioness has less detail to her head than a lion, was more bland and standard.  Leozack’s was undoubtedly extravagant.

  Being careful not to frighten her, Leozack encouraged her with a gentle tug of his arm that was already resting around her shoulders, to follow him over to a large real-view window in the wall of the chamber. 

  Outside lay the wonderful, undeniable magnificence of the Black Nebula, with all it’s stars shining out towards them, as though their birth was purely for this special moment thousands of miles away, within the Space Fortress.

  And it was a special moment.  At least that was how Leozack intended it to be.  He wanted a little time with his own creation – a Thrall built from his own design and made to be his loyal other-half and the pilot of a potential second ‘Liokaiser’ Project.

  The Destrons knew when they were onto a good thing, and Liokaiser was the reason they had taken so many worlds and won so many battles. 

  “So tell me ResCue … how have you been?  You look in good condition.  Is Thunderclash taking good care of you, as I did?”  Leozack spoke in a steady, gruff and yet even tone, indicating normality, not rage or any other high level emotion.  The Star Former picked up on this at once, able to read his actions rather well.  She relaxed somewhat and nodded.

  “Yes he has been, Leozack.  He treats me as an equal – not as a personal servant.  Better than … than you ever did.”   The hesitancy in her voice was well founded, as she knew that to anger Leozack was to embrace pain and sure suffering.

  Leozack stared at her oddly, thinking a thousand thoughts all to himself.  Inside his head, several conflicting images played over and over. One was ResCue as his – by force if necessary.  She belonged to him.  Two, ResCue as a willing subject of himself and three, ResCue, alone with her new friends, laughing and talking, and himself sitting alone on a cold, black rock, watching and knowing he had failed.

  Failure.  A word that left a bitter, bitter taste in Leozack’s mouth. To him, failure was totally unacceptable, in any field.  So he carefully took a long, drawn out breath, before answering her comment.

  “ResCue, I know that you have this, this new life so to speak.  With your friends, these Star Formers.  Our allies.”  He paused, making sure she was still listening to his words. She was, he thought, so he continued.  “But you do understand that you were created a Destron.  You serve US.  That is clear, is it not?”  He raised a questioning optic servo to her.

  ResCue blinked up at his pale grey face, seeing those firm and experienced face lines of hard steel staring right back at her.  Leozack’s crimson optics sparkled oddly, glimmering.  She swallowed.

  “Listen Leozack, I – I know that you are the one responsible for my very existence, and I know that I owe you everything.  You’ve taught me that and the ways of the Destrons ever since I was created.  But now I’ve found my own niche, with Clamp and the rest of them.  I don’t belong with you Leozack – I was created as a secondary product.  I’m not even worthy to fly in your squad – I’m just a rescue project.  I’m not a member of your Beastforce Elite.  I don’t have your character or charisma.”  She hung her head, self doubt creeping back to her through her thoughts.

  Leozack felt her pain through all his toughness.  It was too close to home for him to not realise her feelings.  He had enough trouble keeping Lord Deszaras happy without trying to dismiss those few he cared about.  He always tried exceptionally hard to show his brotherly gratitude towards his fellow Brestforcers, and the way he saw it – ResCue was a carbon copy of him, built to serve and protect him.  He frowned slightly.

  “Any Thrall caught speaking to their Master is such a fashion could be shot, or worse still, beaten THEN shot.  ResCue … take off your helmet. Now.”  His tone was firm and no-nonsense like, as usual. 

  Not sensing any of the true inner feelings that Leozack was having and only seeing the hard, outer shell, ResCue trembled slightly, glancing over the Commander’s form again.  Re up dating herself with his thick armouring and general all round toughness.  She could never hope to beat him, she knew.  So, acting automatically in obedience although she hated doing this, ResCue lifted her hands to the small fasten links on each side of her helmet plating, and snapped them downward, then lifted off the helmet slowly, revealing her true head shape underneath the lioness style covering.

  She tried to keep her head low, but it was no good.  Leozack saw this.

  “LOOK at me ResCue. I want to see your face.  Come on, don’t be afraid. LOOK at me.”  His tone was still one of authority and ResCue sensed no caring behind it at all yet.

  She slowly raised her optics to meet his, flicking them up and down again, not daring to look him in the optics for long.  Leozack smiled suddenly, betraying his usual demeanour.

  “Excellent ResCue.  Now give me your helmet.”

  The Star Former blinked in total confusion and panic.  “But…?  I – I need that!”

  Leozack put a heavy hand upon her shoulder, at least it seemed that way to her.  She shivered and nodded glumly, handing over the metal casing, her face and head totally exposed now.

  Leozack took it and turned it in his hands, admiring quietly to himself.

  “Hmmm, nice design.  I see my handiwork has prevailed the test of time.”  He turned and placed it on the side, then led her towards a low table, with what looked like a washing machine at one end of it.

  He instructed her, almost sternly.  “Lie down.”

  She blinked again, her fuel pump missing a few pumps in fright.  Leozack was capable of nasty things at times.  He waited and she didn’t move.

  “Well … Why do you hesitate?  Do as I command – lie down.”  He saw the fear in her optics and smiled fractionally at her, adding an almost sarcastic “IF you would be so kind.”

 Slowly, she moved away from him and to the tabletop.  Her fear was easy to see as she edged herself onto it stiffly, then lay flat, optics scanning the ceiling, wide and awaiting the inevitable.

  Leozack seemed relaxed however, like he knew something she didn’t.  Carefully, he slid the ‘washing machine’ shaped scanner over her face and head, rather like a cancer scanner for women. ResCue panicked and began to call out to him, as she now couldn’t move.

  “Leozack – please!  Whatever you want just – just take it and let me go, I don’t want to be harmed!” 

  The Beastforce Commander chuckled smoothly, and shook his head “I wouldn’t dream of hurting you ResCue.  This will be harmless and without pain.  Just lay back and pay attention to me.”  He stepped back again from her, taking the helmet she had given him in his hands.  Then he placed it in his right hand, and shut it.

  CRUNCH.  The helmet buckled under the Destron Sub Commander’s incredible hand strength.  His teal fingers closed over the white helmet and it began to deform.  ResCue cried out, trying to get away from the machine that was holding her down – and doing something odd to her face with a laser beam.

  “Nooooooooo!  Stop it, Leozack please stop it!  Don’t destroy me!  That’s part of me!”  She squirmed but couldn’t get free, despite her best efforts.

  Leozack just finished crushing her helmet, a smile on his face.  To her, that smile was a cruel, sadistic smirk and she cried out, almost in oil tears, shuddering.

  However, Leozack had a plan.  He dropped the crushed helmet into a cupboard beside him and locked it, taking out something odd.  It looked like another helmet, more along the lines of his own, shape wise, but coloured a pale red and slightly more feminine than his own teal one.  As he glanced towards her, his grin grew, to be almost comical.

  “You’re finished ResCue.  You may rise.”  The machine slid off of her, and she vaulted to her feet at once, a startled look on her countenance.

  Leozack held up a shiny piece of metal, with a smirk.  “You like?”

  She blinked, then blinked again! Her formerly pale red face was now a white colour – perhaps grey, in this lighting it was hard to tell. 

  “You – you’ve altered me.”  She looked up at him, scared.  “Am I not worthy to be with you or Beastforce any longer?  Is this your way of making me a slave … again?”  She began to sniff slightly.

  Leozack chuckled and slowly shook his teal head, offering her his hand.

  “Give me your hand, ResCue.  I have a gift to give you that might surprise.”

  She stared, having no choice but to trust him, it seemed.  She was helpless.  So, numbly nodding, she raised her right arm and placed her hand in his larger one. He closed his fingers around it and held her so she couldn’t get away.

  “Now do exactly as I tell you.  Kneel down.”  His tone was soft and yet, insistent.

  She opened her mouth slightly in a gasp.  “Leozack?  Why?  Please – can’t we talk about this?”  As far as she was concerned, he was going to hurt her – and badly.

  Leozack pointed to the floor, with a gruff look.  No reply.  ResCue drew in a breath and sighed, somehow gathering the courage to drop onto her knees in front of the one she was sure was going to harm her.  Unable to take her optics off him.

  Leozack took the thing in his hands and ordered her sternly;  “Look downward, not at me.”

  She nodded, surrendering any resistance at last, and lowered her head.  Awaiting whatever punishment or acts Leozack deemed appropriate for her ‘escape’ and ‘recapture’.

Suddenly she felt his fingertips take hold of her jaw line, or so she thought.  Suddenly a feeling of a helmet closing over her came on, and then a soft

cu-click.  She blinked, as Leozack fitted the snug new helmet onto her head, and she looked up, optics shining slightly with a glimmer of hope.

  “Leozack … what are you doing?” 

  The Beastforce Commander chuckled and pulled her to her feet, tipping up her chin to look at him.

  “ResCue – you are now officially my personal responsibility, property and an honorary Beastforce member, because you are under my protection.  Look at yourself, I think you’ll like the changes.”  He laughed to himself and then gave her the ‘mirror’.

  She looked at herself.  Sharp, well defined Beastforce style audios greeted her, and little lion like spikes.  Her face was now basically white and her helmet a pale red.  The exact reverse of before.  She blinked.

  “You … you upgraded me?  Me – a Star Former?”

  Leozack shook his head. “You were created a Destron, and deep down that’s what you’ll always be ResCue.  You know you’re my weakness, and I do enjoy spoiling you.  But I won’t hesitate to discipline you if I see you put out of line.”  He tried to look stern.

  Slowly, ResCue’s face broke into a small smile.  Suddenly she was on her feet, and threw her arms around him in a sudden affectionate hug.  Leozack jumped, not used to being shown any sort of gratitude.  Surrounded by male Transformers (Mechs) and asexual beings, females were something he wasn’t overly skilled at dealing with.

  “Urm … ResCue!  Unhand me at once.  This is an inappropriate contact arrangement.”  He tried to remain stern with her, though inside he secretly enjoyed the feeling of her clinging to him – sheer proof that what he’d done had pleased her.  As far as Leozack was concerned, if he could please her, that was success.  He smirked slightly as she leant back and smiled up, her optics soft and happy once again.

  “I’m so happy Leozack.  I thought I could never belong again.  Yes – I do like my friends back home with Thunderclash … but I know who created me and gave me life force.  I want to be near you so we can learn to get along more.  Is that such a crime?  Can’t I have both?”  She watched his face closely. 

  Leozack frowned as he thought.  She was asking to have access to the Destron Headquarters, and yet still go home and work alongside her ‘friends’, the thrice-cursed Star Formers.  Still, he thought, at least she wasn’t a Cybertron, that way he would have to kill her as the other Destrons would never allow any sort of relations between a Cybertron and himself – a Destron.  All he wanted was to see her correctly trained.  He was, after all – a perfectionist.

  So he nodded, sliding his arm around behind her and actually returning the hug, to show that he was prepared to make an effort to keep her comfortable at least. 

  “All right ResCue – you may work with the Star Formers.  But every five Terran days of time I expect you to report back to base, here that is.  I want to check your condition and make sure you’re being well looked after.  Then you can spend a day with me so I can teach you more and you can do your duties here.  After that, you may return home again.  Is that understood?”  He let her go and stood, waiting.

  ResCue smiled warmly at him, genuinely pleased, it seemed. 

  “Of course I understand – thank you Leozack.”  She recalled what she had learnt from various other organic races, as a female creation, programmed by Leozack and the Destrons to show ‘female tendencies’ in order to help them to relax.  She smiled up at the taller Destron warrior, and stood on tiptoes for a split second, planting a slight ‘kiss’ upon his steel cheek plate.  “I appreciate it.”

  Leozack blinked, stunned by that contact.  His teal helmet suddenly framed a slightly darker face – the colour changing slightly to demonstrate that he was feeling embarrassed. 

  “Ahem.  Very well ResCue – I think it was time you left.  I shall personally escort you to the exit landing bays, come on.”  Leozack strode towards the doorway, feeling very awkward all of a sudden.

  ResCue sprung however, catching him from behind and turning him round to face her, grinning at him.  Suddenly all the fear had left her, she knew when Leozack took care of someone – he meant it.

  “Awww, right now Commander?  Can’t I stay a bit more?  I only want to spend a bit of quality time with my Destron Ex-Masters.  Now they know I am your ‘property’ as it were, perhaps they won’t harm me.”  She looked pleading, suddenly wanting to spend more time with her old Comrades again.  “Please?  I promise to be good.”

  Leozack frowned and picked her up, off himself and placed her down onto her feet, folding his teal arms.

  “That wasn’t the correct way to address your Commander … but very well.  You may stay, for today only.”  He flinched, waiting for what was coming next.

  POUNCE!!!  She gave him another large hug.  He groaned slightly and held her for a moment, unsure of what to do now.  She answered for him and let go, hopping from foot to foot, excitedly.

  “Yay!  Aren’t you going to show me where everything is these days, Leozack? I’m out of touch you know.  I don’t want to go anywhere I’m not welcome.”

  Leozack sighed at her sudden enthusiasm, not sure himself how he truly felt about his female creation.  He certainly cared a lot about her well being and wanted her to prosper as a Destron, but she had chosen to flee from him and to become a Star Former.  Despite the doubt clouding his mind, he nodded to her and opened the door, waving his arm toward her.

  “Certainly, as Commander of Beastforce, I have some time on my hands.  After you, ResCue.”  He waited for her to exit.

  She smiled and nodded, walking out of the doorway.  As he followed behind her, a smile slowly spread across his facial features.  Finally his favourite ‘Thrall’ was back – and back to stay this time.

 

Inappropriate arrangement quote is Copyright Peter Morgan 1998

George Morgan --- TMUK