Last time, on Beast Wars…

…

Heart:

“You have selected a subject?” Alert asked.

A faint indication of a smile appeared on Stopper’s face.

“Pyre.”

…

Contention:

“Ice and Pyre. Who would of thought?” Ms. Scott asks. Well, it was more of a statement then a question.

Jungle was beginning to understand the nature of Jennifer’s kindness. Her and Pyre were one time lovers. Well perhaps, on and off again, lovers would be more accurate. The union between Ice and Pyre was obviously not sitting well with her and in Jungle she saw a potentially kindred spirit in that sense. Clutching his prize, Jungle decided it was to his benefit to play along.

“It’s a bet I would of lost, Scott,” is Jungle’s response.

…

You Can Go Home Again:

Jungle’s eyes widen at who he sees. There stands a battered but functional, Alert. Alert was bonded with wolf DNA and was an MSP agent; Stopper’s right hand man to be exact.

Giving into his damage, Alert collapses into Jungle’s arms.

“Dark Pyre,” Alert manages before stasis lock finds him…

…

Picture Perfect
Genesis of Extinction

…

“We need to go. Now,” commanded Jungle, otherwise known as the Dark Warrior.

Icerunner for her part responded with a look that could melt that which she was named. Her optics, burning of copper met Jungle’s pail blue ones. She held Alert, clutched in her arms. There were no words spoken between the two cats. There didn’t need to be as the situation was obvious; Alert was in no condition to be moved. Lacerations covered his frame. Smooth lacerations like those a surgeon would make. Whomever had done all that to Alert, knew what they were doing and obviously took their time in doing it. Obviously a point was out to be made.

Cyan spoke up, realizing as Jungle had that Alert’s presence came with a point. Whatever it was. Didn’t matter. Bottom line; they weren’t holding the cards. “We need to go, Icerunner.”

Ice looked to Alert. There was no love lost between them but she was at current playing the role of a medic.

But she did nod in agreement.

...

The apartment complex Ice inhabited was fortunately equipped with an escape tunnel. Not exactly standard but neither was the snow leopard. She was quite important to the Maximal Internal Security Division or MIS at one point - perhaps still was - thus the Agency had insisted on a few modifications prior to her moving in. This tunnel was one of them. When it came to the MIS, their name pretty much said it all.

Cyan had the point position, Icerunner held the rear. Jungle was converted into his panther beast form with Alert strapped to his back for as safe of keeping as possible. The group moved with as much stealth as possible given the situation.

The tunnel dumped them out a block away.

It was raining.

The rabbit peaked around the corner. This immediate area of Prime City was clear. She finally had a chance to ask what she'd been wondering since Alert stumbled in the door.

“Dark Pyre? Isn't that a bit redundant?” Neither Jungle nor Icerunner responded. Apparently neither was in a joking mood, and apparently Cyan would have to guess for now. Her guess was this was some particularly nasty alternate version. Pyre was the sort that attracted those.

“What now?” Cyan asked in defeat. The question was directed to no one in particular, but everyone was nevertheless waiting for an answer from Jungle. The cat wasn’t about to admit that he frankly didn’t know.

Make no mistake, he was scared. Alert wasn’t easy to get too. The wolf was Stopper’s right hand man. Who’s Stopper? Stopper is the head of the Maximal Secret Police or MSP. Essentially Alert was untouchable, yet here he was.

“Time’s wasting,” the Dark Warrior spoke up with, successfully masking his inner feelings or perhaps demons.

...

“No. No. No. Absolutely not, cat!” Blackarachnia exclaimed.

Jungle and co were presently at the home of Blackarachnia. The very same black widow who had fault in the Beast Wars on ancient Earth. Nearly two decades had past since those days. She was in her more eye pleasing original state. Jungle and co were at her home, but more specifically they were standing in her doorway. Blackarachnia’s mannerisms indicated her to be less then pleased at the sight of the group.

“How does Jungle know her?” Cyan whispered to Ice.
Ice merely shrugged in response.

Jungle, who was back in his robot form, forcibly grabbed the black widow spider by her shoulders and proceeded to kiss her. Blackarachnia let out a soft moan in reply.

“By all means, come in,” Blackarachnia stated, mood having changed.

...

Blackarachnia eyed Alert as he was set down into the cr-tank, but she was more concerned with the presence of Cyan, to whom she gave a series of nasty looks too. The rabbit looked back with a cheery, toothy smile.

“Can I help you?” Cyan finally asked.
“Nope,” The spider retorted, disgustedly.
Cyan giggled.

Jungle thought about explaining to Blackarchnia that Cyan, from a technical standpoint, was his daughter. But he decided to just let it be. It seemed just easier to him that way. Secretly Jungle enjoyed the thought of Blacharachnia being perhaps, jealous. Given the cat’s historic women troubles, it was somehow nice that a woman of the spider’s caliber would react such a way. Though arguably, his troubles stemmed from his choice in women.

“I trust you all will not be staying long,” Blackarachnia spoke up with.

“Hard to say,” Jungle responded.

The spider in turn shot him a glare. Patience was not something she stored in large quantities.

“Please.” Jungle wasn’t apologizing, he just wasn’t in the mood. The frustration to that effect had echoed in his tone. He was rattled. He had a right to be. But he felt more rattled then the situation warranted.

Blackarachnia shot the panther one final glare before stepping out of the room. Instantly Jungle felt relieved. Ice made her way over to him.

“Maybe we should go, Big Cat. We can find some place else.”
“There is no place else, Ice.”

The snow leopard starts to speak up but Jungle won’t let her.

“Alert was sent to us for a reason. A reason, Ice. They, whoever, knew were to find us. They knew. This is the one place we aren’t likely to be found. When Alert wakes up we’ll get the answers we’re owed. Till then…”

Ice nodded. What her mentor had said made sense. In all these years, Jungle hadn’t failed her. Now would be no different. Her thoughts drifted to her husband, to Pyre. Pyre should be back soon, back at the apartment that is, the apartment they had fled. She knew the dragon would be all right, but at the same time, she hoped he would be.

“As for you,” Jungle stated to Cyan. “You should get going.”

“What?” Cyan questioned.
“Our business has concluded.”

Those remarks from Jungle had more or less hit her from right field. Up to now, she had been too caught up in things to really stop and think. Now that she had a moment, the goings on here really didn’t seem to concern her. She herself has had no dealings with the MSP. At least the MSP of this universe, that is.

“Cyan,” Ice called out.
“Yes?”

“I’d like to hire you on to look after Alert. In my experience he is quite a handful when conscious.”

“Usual rates?” Cyan asked.
Ice nodded.

Jungle shot Ice a look that essentially read, ‘what the hell are you doing?’

Cyan put her attention back on Jungle. “It's cute when you're all protective.” The rabbit then focused onto Icerunner. “You got yourself a deal.”

A low growl was followed by Jungle exiting the room. Frankly Cyan was puzzled. Just prior, the cat had gone to all that trouble to bond with her. Now this. Jungle’s actions just now somehow angered her. It showed in her face. Why had Jungle wanted her to go? And why had Ice wanted her to stay? To hell with everyone, Cyan at last concluded. The money was something she could certainly use - the one certainty in all this madness.

...
... flash back...

We find the Dark Warrior laying on the floor in noticeable discomfort. The surrounding area is pitch black save four lights which shine onto him. Jungle seemed younger here, then now. Alert was present as well. He stood in his usual stiff manner and his face carried the typical blank look upon it.

Alert circled Jungle.

“Jax, how many lights do you see?” Alert asked. His voice was emotionless. His voice was cold. Jax is what Jungle was known as in those early days.

“Four,” Jungle replied.
“What?” Alert asked.
“Four.”
“I see five.”

With the push of a button, electricity surges across Jungle’s frame. We were obviously witnessing a portion of the training Jungle endured during his first years of service in the MSP. No one chooses to be an MSP agent. A certain number of protoforms are given to the MSP by the Maximal High Council or MHC. The protoform that Jungle came from happened to be one of those. Same of course goes for Alert.

“Let’s try this again,” Alert stated as he circled Jungle. “How many lights do you see?”

... end flash back...
...

Jungle at present was sharpening his knives, his current weapon of choice. They fit quite well into his life style. Though he did miss the arm swords his frame was at one time equipped with. Perhaps Ice could be commissioned for such a task. Speaking of…

“JJ,” stated Ice as she emerged into the room Jungle had found himself in. “Alert is waking.”

...

The fluid drained from the tank. The platform which Alert was rested rose. No visible sign of injuries covered his superstructure. He however didn’t move. Jungle, Cyan and Ice exchange quick glances. The repair cycle had been completed. Ice begins to make her way over to the wolf. Obviously something was wrong. Jungle however gestured for her to stay put.

A knife slid into Jungle’s hand.

In the same motion, the cat hurled it at the special spot between Alert’s legs.

The knife misses the mark however as Alert had back rolled to avoid it.

Possum.

Tri-mounted missile launchers flip out from their compartments in Alert’s back to assume their firing position on the wolf’s shoulders. Instinct. Pure instinct.

Jungle’s chest chain guns emerge.

Locked onto each other’s eyes, the pair stood momentarily deadlocked.

Cyan clears her throat.

Both Jungle and Alert eye the rabbit enough to see that she has her plasma rifle trained on Alert and her sub machine gun trained on Jungle.

“This is no time for boys to be boys,” commented Cyan.

Alert retracts his weaponry.
Jungle does the same.

Alert wasn’t in the least intimidated by Cyan or Jungle or Ice for that matter. In fact he was quite certain that he could handle them all. But, Cyan was right; this was no time.

“A situation has developed,” Alert spoke up with to break the silence. There was not a hint of feeling in those words or a hint of emotion on his face. If not for the fact the wolf was standing and talking, you’d scarcely know he was alive.

“How does it involve me?” Jungle shot back with.

“Don’t flatter yourself. It doesn’t. My being here has to do solely with her.” Alert motioned toward Ice.

“What?” Ice blurted in reaction. After all, what could Dark Pyre have solely to do with her?

Defensibly, Jungle put himself between Alert and Ice. Cyan for her part moved to stand adjacent to Alert. The MSP agent was now pretty well covered should the situation deteriorate. Cyan had dealt with Alert before, be it a different one. Again, that whole ‘other universe thing’.

“Allow me to elaborate,” stated Alert. “Given the success we had with extracting an alternate version of Jungle from another universe, we turned our attention toward Pyre. Unfortunately, the alternate we retrieved proved over time to be too powerful for our methods of control.”

“Dark Pyre,” the Dark Warrior spoke up with.

Alert nodded and continued. “In more recent events, Dark Pyre successfully commandeered the Cybertronian Alpha Space Station. We enlisted the aid of your Pyre to help us to recapture his counterpart. Unfortunately the mission operation failed. Your Pyre for his part was captured. Dark Pyre released me to find you. And so, here I am.”

“Here you are,” Jungle replied.
“Yes.”

“Why?” Cyan asked.
“What?” Alert retorted.
“Why are you here? Personal and up front aren't exactly your style.”
“Who are you anyway?”

“That’s not important.” Jungle spoke up with. “But the lady raises a valid point.”

During that exchange of words between those three, Ice was attempting to reach Pyre via their communication link... but she had no luck. Just static. That could mean any number of things but it certainly added credability to Alert's story.

Ice put in her two cents to the conversation. “Pyre needs our help. That’s what matters.” A lot of emotion was put behind those words. Ice had to restrain herself not to make a break for the first transport she could find. Pyre was her world and she knew he felt the same.

“I’d still like an answer,” we hear Cyan say. Cyan had the liberty of not being emotionally involved in all this, thus she was the most clear minded of the bunch.

“As would I,” Jungle added. “Not that I don’t agree with you Ice.”

Alert gave in. “Stopper is on the list of Dark Pyre’s captives.”

Jungle’s fists formed. He utterly despised Stopper. But at the same time, Stopper was very much a father figure in his life. In a very odd way, Stopper had always looked out for Jungle. He was aware of that. It just wasn’t enough to make up for all that had transpired in the life Jungle never choose.

“How will Ice be able to help things?” Cyan asked. She almost felt as if she was playing Jungle’s role for him in all this. Ever since the first mention of, ‘Dark Pyre,’ the cat hadn’t been himself. Ordinarily that wouldn’t be a bad thing in Cyan’s view. Ordinarily, that is.

“Dark Pyre agreed to release Stopper upon Icerunner’s arrival.”

Jungle attempted to deck Alert for his remark. Alert’s desire to use Ice as a pawn disgusted him. I say, Jungle attempted to deck Alert, for Alert tilts his head just enough to void the punch. Alert follows up with a jab to Jungle’s midsection which is landed.

Cyan clears her throat.
She had her guns back out.

“Didn’t we cover this already?” Cyan asked.

“JJ,” spoke Ice.

Jungle nodded at her and relaxed.

“Whatever it takes to help Pyre we’ll have to do it. I owe him that. You do too,” Ice further commented to the panther.

“I'll assume I'm in,” comments Cyan.

“No you’re not,” retorted Jungle.

“Yes she is,” The snow leopard commanded. “Now that, that’s settled, we need a plan.”

...
... flash back...

“Dark Pyre? I like that. Has a rather nice ring to it, I think,” we hear Dark Pyre state.

“Glad I could help. I guess you’ll be on your way then,” we hear Jungle retort.

The Dark Pyre smirks. “Hardly.”

The Darkest One was standing in Jungle’s quarters. Dark Pyre had not entered by the conventional sense. He merely appeared. Jungle had awoken to the dragon’s frame looming over him. They had met earlier in the day in battle. Dark Pyre’s interests had been in his counterpart. Everyone had thought Dark Pyre to be gone. Guess not.

“What do you want?” Jungle asked. It was to buy time to figure some sort of a strategy out. The cat had enough sense to know that a direct engagement would yield nothing other then pain – lots of it.

“I wish to explore the darkness kept within you.”
“What?” Jungle asked.
“You mask it well. Such control you have.”

Sweat rolled down Jungle’s face. He felt uncomfortable. He felt cold… so cold.

Looking around, Jungle finds himself to no longer be in his quarters. The surroundings had drastically changed. He was on the Carcanen home world. There was no mistaking it for Jungle as he had spent a bit of time there. This spot though. There was something about this particular spot.

Jungle sees himself bent down next to a river. A Carcanen in restraints was there. Carcanens are easily identifiable with their blue skin. Another Maximal was present as well. He was tall and slender, bonded with jackal DNA. Jungle recognized him as, ‘Byu’.

“No!” Jungle calls out as he runs over to his other self. He realized what was happening - something buried so deep he had nearly forgotten.

No one seemed to take notice of his shout however. The other Jungle rises, holding the lifeless body of a boy, a Carcanen boy, the cat had just drowned.

Jungle’s legs give out.

Dark Pyre is now present next to him.

“That wasn’t very Maximal of you,” the Darkest One states.

“His father was a member of a terrorist cell.”

“So you killed his son to get to him?” Dark Pyre asked.

“I was ordered, I-”

“You were ordered? That’s how you justify it?” Dark Pyre asked.

“I-”

Darkness surrounds the pair.

“How many innocent lives have you taken?” Dark Pyre asked.

“I-”

“How many atrocities have you committed?”

“How many have you?” Jungle lashed back with.

“My point. You cling to honor and virtue when you have none. I don’t. I can admit what I am and if feels so good. You are just too weak to do the same. You sicken me.”

Jungle finds himself to be back in his quarters. Nothing seemed disturbed. There was no Dark Pyre. Rising up out of bed, Jungle more fully examines the scene to make for certain the fact that he was alone.

He was.

Tears roll down upon his face as Dark Pyre’s words echo in his mind.

... end flash back...
...

“Jungle.”

“What?” The Dark Warrior responded as those memories are filed back a way. He looked in the direction the voice had come from. It was Cyan who had spoken. Quade - his brother - was present as well. Quade was piloting the craft the trio was in.

“We’re here,” Cyan answered.

Through the cockpit window, the Cybertronian Alpha Space Station could be seen. It was actually the third such station to carry the name. A large outer ring protected a smaller sphere. Tubes ran from the ring into the sphere. The sphere housed the station’s command and engineering facilities. The outer ring was for docking, living and recreation.

“What’s the status of Ice and Alert?” Jungle asked.

Inwardly Cyan sighed. Obviously the cat hadn’t been paying attention after all. She was actually starting to consider Jungle a liability. His overall lack of focus left her with doubts.

Quade spoke up.“They docked just a moment ago.”

“How’s the cloak holding up?” Jungle asked.

“It’s functioning normal. So far there’s no indication we’ve been detected,” Quade answered.

“So far,” Jungle mumbled.

“What?” Cyan asked.
“Nothing,” Jungle replied.

...

“We have a hard seal,” Cyan spoke up with.

The rabbit moved back down the hatch ladder to make room for Jungle. Jungle took her place. His task was to take care of the signal that would be sent to the station command center when the hatch opened. Out right disabling it was out of his league - same goes for most people - but he did know of a way to temporarily distort the signal. Temporarily being a couple seconds.

“Move it, Trix,” Jungle commanded.

The hatch to the station opened.

Jungle threw himself up into it.

Cyan followed suit. The closing hatch nearly nipped her toe.

Then they were gone, vanished from view. Jungle had converted to his panther beast form upon exiting the hatch. Cyan now laid across his back, literally hugging his body. The cat had extended his cloak field around her. They wouldn’t be seen. They wouldn’t be heard. For whatever good that would do - Jungle inwardly thought.

...

Courtesy of a hard shove, Ice enters the Promenade. It was several open stories high, lined with shops of every kind. All closed though as the station had been closed to the public for quite some time. The shove came from Alert. Ice let it go as he was playing his part and she was playing hers. He did seem to be enjoying his part more, however.

“I’ll never understand Jungle’s interest in you,” Alert spoke. The comment seemed a little out of place from Ice’s stand point. But whatever.

“That’s something best discussed with him,” Ice replied.

Alert shoved her again. That was beginning to grow old.

“I have nothing to discuss with him. Not anymore.”

The pair makes their way down onto the main floor. There Ice spots CaVin’s old place. Her mind recalled how some of her more interesting experiences during her days of assignment on the station occurred there.

“Alert.”

That voice. It sounded like Pyre only it didn’t. She’d heard it before. Turning, she finds its origination; Dark Pyre.

“You’ve done well,” the Darkest One continued with.

Alert nodded. “There is one thing you should know.”
“And that would be?” Dark Pyre asked.
“Her restraints aren’t locked.”

Momentarily, Ice is stunned.

The snow leopard tosses an ice bomb toward each foe then dashes to find cover. She hears the bombs go off behind her - they were designed to solidly freeze anything and everything in their radius - however Dark Pyre appears in front of her.

The next thing she is aware of is the fact that she is choking.

The Darkest One had her by the neck.

With his spare hand he injects something into her with a syringe. She starts to feel dizzy. She feels her frame go limp.

“Pyre,” she manages.

“Pyre,” the dragon says. “Your Pyre, is-”

...

“-not on the station,” we hear Cyan state.

Cyan and Jungle are hunched over a computer terminal in an obscure part of the station. Upon the realization of what was unfolding here, the Dark Warrior lets out a growl and punches into and through the wall. Cyan jumped back a bit. The violent outbursts the cat tended to have always unnerved her. Ticking time bombs always did.

...

Dark Pyre and Alert stand observing Ice who is behind energy bars. They were in the station’s security detention room.

“I would suggest you go after Jungle and Cyan. Then there’s General Quade. He’ll be back soon,” we hear Alert say.

“Consider it all taken care of,” the Darkest One retorts. “After all I have a vested interest in your safety, don’t I?”

“I hate rhetorical questions.”

...

“Calm down, you're being very un-Dude,” Cyan said. The reference was lost on the cat, but Jungle got the message. “This is a good thing. We know what the trap is, and knowing is half the battle.” The Dark Warrior looked away. Obviously he didn't agree. Either that or he didn't get the reference.

“I just don’t get it. What’s the big deal with the Darkamaniac?” Cyan asks.

Jungle’s eyes met hers. Though be it only briefly however, because he puts his back to her. Was it any of her business? Hard to say.

“He got in my head once, Cyan. He got in my head and never left. What he did still haunts me. It’s been years and it still haunts me. That’s why I didn’t want you here. I didn’t want him to have the opportunity to do the same to you.”

For a moment there is silence. Frankly Cyan didn’t know what to say or do after hearing all that. She found herself placing her hand on his shoulder.

“Unkie J-”

“He’s coming. Get to Ice. I’ll buy you as much time as I can.”

Cyan didn’t move.

“Go.”

She nodded.

...

Dark Pyre's red glowing eyes partially illuminated the surroundings as he moved. He was in one of the station’s lower passageways.

...

We find Alert to be walking through an ice cavern. Suddenly an ice wall forms, blocking his path. The wolf’s tri-mounted missile launchers flip out and fire. The wall shatters.

“Now you’re just getting pathetic, Icerunner. You do realize that your MIS data tracks are as good as mine, don’t you?”

Another ice wall forms in place of the one that was just destroyed. However, before Alert can repeat his previous action, he falls to the ground.

...

Cyan stands over Ice and Alert. There was a connection cord running from Alert, into Ice, which Cyan had just cut. No time for celebration as Alert decks the rabbit across her face. There was no way anyone could have recovered from something like that so quick, Cyan thinks, as she staggers to regain herself.

She hits the ground, barely avoiding Alert’s follow up missile strike. The missiles create a hole which Cyan sprints through, taking her back to the main Promenade.

...

Jungle meanwhile is on the ground. Dark Pyre had his foot firmly placed against the Dark Warrior’s head. One of the cat’s arms rested in an unnatural position. It was broken, obviously. One of the cat’s eyes was cracked and therefore non-functional. Any chance Jungle may have had, left him before the battle even started.

“Why?” Jungle blurts, voice riddled with discomfort.
“Elaborate,” Dark Pyre replied.
“MSP.”

“They extracted my spark.” As Dark Pyre replies, he sticks the cat with the same type of syringe he got Ice with prior. “Alert’s vital signs are being monitored. If-”

Jungle’s chest chain guns go off.

Quite simply, Dark Pyre was not expecting that. The Darkest One is hurled back. Hurled back before he is able to pump Jungle with a full dosage of the ‘medicine’. The cat gets to his feet, using the walls for support. However, he doesn’t exactly get very far as his limbs go limp.

Dark Pyre is back to his feet in time to see Jungle fall. It seems as if he had inspired a last ditch effort from Jungle, after all. That is something to which he takes momentarily delight - for lack of a better word - in. The wounds in his chest from Jungle’s attack had already begun to heal.

...

The open comm. link Jungle and Cyan had with one and other, had allowed the rabbit to hear Jungle and Dark Pyre’s conflict. But she had her own problems. Namely; Alert.

Alert caught her fist and squeezed. He caught her other one too. Cyan had shifted the style of engagement to a close quarter one to neutralize the wolf’s missile launchers. Unfortunately, things hadn’t much improved for her. Popping sounds emerged from her hands – damn he was strong. Cyan’s knee touches the ground, then her other.

Alert visibly winces.

Cyan had managed a head butt between his legs.

The pain forces him to toss her away so that he can mentally regroup.

“Clever girl.”

“I learned from the best,” Cyan retorted as she sprinted several feet back away from him.

“Jungle?” Alert assumed. “I trained Jungle.”

Cyan giggled. “I didn't say Jungle.” That particular move she'd learned sparring with her stepfather, in fact.

The ‘wince’ had been the closest thing to ‘feeling’ that Alert had shown this entire time. Cyan strafed and darted around him now, shooting off submachine gun rounds.

Alert had too much firepower at range and was too strong in melee. Fortunately for the swift and skilled in footwork there was a dead zone, outside arm's reach but inside his artillery's blast radius.

Hopefully.

The wolf shoots off a couple missiles. They go high - too high not to have missed on purpose. No time to try and decipher the intent, Cyan picks a direction and runs. A section from above collapses. Cyan is caught by it.

She picked wrong.

Alert rotated in time to spot Icerunner, who had emerged, weapon to bear, at point blank range courtesy of her camo-mode.

However Alert is able to knock her gun away in time to prevent injury.

Spotting her hand full of ice bombs, Alert lunches at her, successfully tackling the snow leopard. The bombs roll harmlessly away as they were not set. Ice still felt quite sluggish from whatever it was Dark Pyre had injected her with.

Dark Pyre stops a couple of the ice bombs from rolling with his foot. He then drops Jungle like a potato sack.

Dark Pyre arrived in time to see Alert land a solid punch to Ice’s face, successfully knocking the feline out.

Alert rises, stretching his body in such a way that his back cracks. He then cracks his knuckles and then his neck. He wouldn’t admit it but things had turned out harder then they should have been. Alert eyes Cyan who is still pinned under the rubble and then Jungle.

“He’s still alive I trust?”
Dark Pyre nodded.

Alert makes his way over to Jungle.

Not feeling needed, Dark Pyre vanished into the shadows.

Even accounting for the fact that cats had nine lives, Jungle was on borrowed time. It somehow seemed fitting to Alert that he should be the one. Alert lifted the cat up to finish it.

Cyan had begun to stir. However, sweat rolled down her face. She felt uncomfortable.

She felt cold... so cold.

“I wish to explore the darkness kept within you,” Dark Pyre states to her mind.

Alert felt a warm feeling running down his torso.

He looked down.

There he found a knife.

He’d been stabbed.

How?

Color returned to the Dark Warrior’s good optic.

Ice bombs in hand, Jungle shoved a couple into Alert’s mouth.

Frost encompassed Alert’s face and ice encompassed a good bit of his internal workings.

Dark Pyre appears.

The Darkest One pulls Alert into the shadows with him.

Together they disappear.

Coughing up fluid, Jungle’s eyes meet Cyan’s.

“Alert’s vital signs are being monitored. If-” Cyan states.
“Alert dies, they will terminate my spark,” Jungle replies.

“What?” Ice asks, as she rubs her head.

Jungle and Cyan just lay back down.

...

Epilogue 1:

...

Icerunner stepped into her apartment. It had been a very long day and thus she looked forward to nothing short of total relaxation. A large smile formed on her face. Turning, we see what she sees: Pyre. The ‘real’ Pyre, that is.

“Where have you been?” The dragon asks.

Without answering, she wraps her arms around him and proceeds to kiss him. Pyre shrugs, capping his wings around her as he holds her tight.

...

Epilogue 2:

...

Emerged in a web of shadows, Jungle stands perched on a rooftop, over looking Prime City. Jungle turns, spotting Cyan’s approach. Upon seeing him there, in the brooding fashion, she just shakes her head back and forth, silently mocking him.

In recognition of her arrival, Jungle gives her a nod.

Smirking, she nods back.

...
... flash back...

Cyan had begun to stir. However, sweat rolled down her face. She felt uncomfortable. She felt cold… so cold. 'I wish to explore the darkness kept within you,' Dark Pyre stated to her mind.

“It's pink and fuzzy and carries a chainsaw.”

'You think you have stronger defense mechanisms than he did, don't you?' She felt a clawed finger run across her face. She stayed still for just a moment, then snapped at it. She bit down on nothing. 'But that only piques my curiosity, my dear. Shall we begin?'

It was a lush jungle. Night time. A young fembot was running. Tiger beast mode, though she was in robot mode now. Black and orange color scheme, almost a photonegative of Cyan's own appearance. She was wounded, and stumbling, and being chased. Panic was setting in. Speed had been her main advantage. Now all she had was her gun - the reason she had run in the first place.

“Hey, neat trick. All my past life flashbacks are first person. Can we skip to the sex scene, though?" Cyan remarked.

It was hard to tell if the panther had pounced on her to knock her to the ground, or it jumped from the shadows when she started to fall, but in any case it had her convincingly pinned down.

“You can make me go back,” said the captured femme, “but you can't make me kill!”

The panther let up a little. “Perhaps not,” he admitted. The voice, if you hadn't already guessed, was Jungle's.

“But I will,” said another voice, emerging from the underbrush - Alert.

Whispering in such a way that only the panther could hear, the tiger femme pleads, “JJ, please. He'll own us both forever.”

... end flash back...
...

Jungle and Cyan overlooked the city together.

...

Epilogue 3:

...

Total darkness sounds us. A light appears, which shines down onto a cr-chamber. We hear the computer voice chime, “repair cycle completed.” The chamber door opens, revealing Alert.

...

..

.

Fin.

CREDITS

DISCLAIMER

Basically like this fic? Then read this one: Heart and this one: Contention.