The Dragon and the Cat

"Are you sure?" she asked. "You aren't mistaken?"

"I ran the test again to make certain" Rhinox told her. "There's no doubt about it"

Cheetor had a look of complete and utter shock on his face. "I'm going to be a father?" he asked. "But, but I'm too young...I just can't..." He broke off and sighed. BlackArachnia scowled.

"Well isn't that just peachy!" she snarled angrily. "There's no way I can go back to dear old Megsie and the others now! I'd be lucky if they used me for spare parts!"

"Well you can't stay here either!" Rattrap said rudely. "Da Axalon is not a shelter for homeless Preds!"

Cheetor turned on Rattrap angrily. "I don't believe you, Ratface! In case your sense of hearing deserted you, she is gonna have a kid; my kid! If we kick her out, she'd be fair game for the Predacons!"

"Megatron would gain an extra warrior and in the future when you meet your end by Cheetor's child the last thing running through your CPU will be 'Why didn't I let Spider-lady stay'." Dinobot added, smiling grimly at Rattrap.

Rattrap sniggered nervously. "Maybe ya otta stay" he said to BlackArachnia.

BlackArachnia noticed Elisa Diane looking closely at her. "What are you looking at, human?" she asked in an irritated tone of voice.

"You kind of remind me of someone" the young woman replied.

"Oh really" BlackArachnia said in a 'I really couldn't care less' voice.

"My aunt's half-sister Demonique"

"Do I look like a human to you?" BlackArachnia asked, annoyed.

"She's not human, she's a Maximal" Elisa Diane explained.

"That doesn't make any sense!" Rattrap said loudly.

"Shut up Rattrap!"

"She was born a gargoyle," Elisa Diane explained, ignoring Rattrap, "She was fatally injured in a terrorist attack on Cybertron. However, they managed to save her mind and a new Cybertronian body was constructed for her."

"So you're saying I could be her?" BlackArachnia asked incredulously, "This is too weird. Next thing you'll be telling me that fairies exist!"

"Actually..." Owen began.

"Don't tell me, you're really a fairy in disguise," Rattrap said sarcastically.

"I don't know how to tell you this..." Cheetor smirked. "Mr Burnett, maybe you'd better explain."

Owen grinned as his form was enveloped in a nimbus of light. When it dissipated a small humanoid with pointed ears and long white hair stood in his place. He was wearing a brightly coloured tunic and a mischievous grin. "Here's Puck!" he declared mirthfully.

Dinobot snarled and grabbed his sword. "What manner of creature are you?" he demanded, brandishing his blade threateningly at the Fay.

Puck floated out of Dinobot's reach. "My, my, aren't we in a grouchy mood!" he exclaimed in a taunting manner. The Maximals and BlackArachnia were staring at the sidhe in slack-jawed amazement, all except Cheetor and Elisa Diane, who knew his secret. BlackArachnia suddenly shook her head as blocked memories rose to the surface.

"Puck!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here? I hope you're not here to cause trouble."

"As charming as ever, Miss Demonique," Puck said politely. He grinned, "I see you still have your mother's temper."

"Would someone mind telling me what the slag is going on?" Dinobot yelled, growing angrier by the cycle, "What is that thing and..." Puck snapped his fingers and Dinobot was instantly transformed into an angrily bleating goat. Cheetor began laughing but all the other Maximals were struck dumb.

"Wat did ya do wit Chopperface?" Rattrap asked, "Where is he?"

The goat leaped onto the table and used it to launch itself at Puck. The Fay dodged sideways and the goat sailed past him on a direct course with a pile of neatly stacked barrels. Puck snapped his fingers a second time and Dinobot hit the barrels, sending them shooting in all directions. Dinobot picked himself up with a snarl and glared at Puck. Puck matched Dinobot's gaze with an icy glower of his own. "I do not take kindly to being called a thing. I am a Fay, remember that. Don't fuck with me again Fossil Features, I can fuck back."

"Excuse me" Rhinox asked. "But what exactly are you?"

"He's a Fay," Cheetor told him, "One of the three races of Earth. The first race are humans, the second race are Gargoyles and the third race are the Children of Titania, which is one of the names of Puck's race. They are omnipotent, kinda like the Q. Immortal and their only weakness is iron. Gargoyles are a cross between Fay and dragons."

"How d'ya know so much about them, kitty cat?" Rattrap asked, "I never heard about them."

"I lived on Jlanka before I joined the Axalon," Cheetor replied, "Many humans, gargoyles and Fay make their home there, as well as other species."

"Jlanka, hey wasn't dat de planet where dat Autobot femme was killed? Ya know, Hot Rod's mate?" Rattrap asked.

Cheetor looked like someone had ripped out his fuel pump and slowly squeezed the life out of it. Dinobot hissed. "I heard about that. Never did find who was responsible. Slicing a female's fuel line is dishonourable."

"Shut up! You bastards!" Cheetor screamed, leaping to his feet. He bolted out of the command room and ran in the direction of his quarters. Everyone stared at Rattrap and Dinobot in shock. Cheetor's anguished wails went unheard by the rest of the crew, but one didn't need to hear him to know what was going on in his heart. She entered Cheetor's quarters to find him sobbing uncontrollably on the floor. She knelt down beside him and took him in her arms. He clung to her like a lost child.

"Sshh, it's OK," she soothed him. "I'm here."

"I..I..thought it was o..over," Cheetor sobbed, "Why would I remember now?"

"It was that idiot Rattrap," Elisa Diane said, gently stroking Cheetor's head. She reached out for his mind with her own and caressed his fears, causing them to diminish. "I helped you through your trauma."

"And I thank you for it" Cheetor said, calming down a little.

She smiled tenderly at him. Although she looked only to have a few years on Cheetor, she was in fact almost two hundred and fifty years his senior, making her older than most of the Maximal crew with the exception of Tigatron, Rhinox and Rattrap. She had helped the young Maximal through the most difficult period in his short life. When she had first met him on Jlanka he had been a catonic wreck. She patted him on the shoulder. "Hey, you want to help 'Monique and me move into our quarters?"

Cheetor cracked a smile. "Sure"


Elisa Diane looked around her quarters in satisfaction. It was one of ten rooms specifically designed with organics in mind. On the desk she placed her beloved laptop which had belonged to her dear Uncle Lexington. BlackArachnia and Cheetor were helping her.

The intercom buzzed. "Who is it?" she called.

"Dinobot," the answer came. Cheetor barely suppressed a growl. Elisa Diane opened the door for Dinobot to enter. He stepped inside, frowning when he saw Cheetor and BlackArachnia. "I didn't expect you to have company."

"We are helping her to unpack," BlackArachnia said, her tone challenging.

Dinobot ignored her. His gaze fell on the stone face of an elderly male gargoyle. "Unusual piece," he commented.

Elisa Diane smiled. "That's Hudson, the elder of Goliath's clan, leader before him. One night whilst on patrol, Macbeth, the immortal once-thane of Scotland, ambushed the clan. He threw a powder on Hudson, but the clan managed to destroy him before daybreak. The clan turned to stone as was usual with the rising of the sun. When they awoke at sunset, they found a terrible thing. The powder caused Hudson to remain stone! Then Macbeth attacked again and succeeded in destroying the stone form of Hudson. Enraged Goliath tore into Macbeth, ripping out not flesh and blood, but wires and circuits. 'Twas not Macbeth at all, but a construct in his image! The clan mourned the loss of their friend, until he appeared beside them! It turned out David Xanatos, then enemy of the clan had stolen Hudson away while they slept and replaced him with a statue in order to use him in an experiment as part of his ceaseless quest for immortality. Hudson managed to outwit Xanatos and return to his clan. He deciced to keep the face of the shattered statue as a memento. The clan gave it as a parting gift when I left on the Axalon."

"An intriguing story," Dinobot said smiling at her. He turned to Cheetor. "Cheetor, the female murdered on Jlanka, she was your mother?" he asked.

"Yes, she was," Cheetor said sadly. "I have to go now." He left, followed by BlackArachnia.

Dinobot shook his head. "What kind of monster deprives a child of its parents?" he asked.

"The kind that no one should ever have to face," Elisa Diane said bitterly.

"What were your parents like?" Dinobot asked, interested in getting to know more about her.

"Well my mother's name was Angel. She was like me, only with black hair and brown eyes in place of red and green. Both my parents were half-breeds. Mother's parents were Goliath and Elisa Maza, a human police officer. My father's name was Jacob, his parents were Goliath second-in-command Brooklyn and a human woman named Kara. I got my hair from her."

"Are they on Jlanka?" Dinobot asked.

"No," Elisa Diane replied, a hint of sadness in her voice, "They died almost two hundred years ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's alright. They were old. It was their time. I still miss them sometimes, even after all this time. What about your parents?"

Dinobot stared out the window. "They were murdered in a terrorist attack when I was but a boy," he said. "It was so long ago, but it still pains me!"

"Forgive me," Elisa Diane asked, "I should not have intruded."

"You were not to know," Dinobot told her. She is so beautiful, he thought to himself. Even though he had know her for less than a day, he was feeling the beginnings of love for this remarkable femme, but she couldn't possibly feel the same.

"Tell me about our enemies, Dinobot," Elisa Diane said, smiling that heavenly smile of hers.