Friday the 13th: Aftermath

by Odeena Sabnach

It was one of those rare moments when the house was quiet and everything was calm and peaceful. I had no idea what the guys were doing; I could hear low voices downstairs, so I was guessing they were playing cards or whatever. Right now, I didn't really care.

After the last day's events, I felt so tired... In fact, I felt completely drained. Even a good night sleep (and it actually had been good for once) couldn't fix it all up, and in my case, this was bad. Right now, I was lying on one of the beds in the room I shared with Rattrap and Dinobot (although I had no idea where they where). Ah... sweet life.

Anyway, the house had apparently been quiet for too long...

*Boom!*

Naturally. Something had to happen. I chuckled to myself as I heard footsteps going up the stairs, and someone knocked at my door.

"C'min."

The door cracked open, and Terrosaur's head poped inside. "Odeena? Umm... you awake?"

"Geez, I don't know, am I?" I replied in a mocking voice.

"Uhm... right. Just came to tell you, Optimus and the other maximals took off for the fair."

Someone poked him from behind, and he flared. "And... well, Rampage kinda blew Waspinator up. Nothing serios, though. He's in the CR--"

I sighed tiredly. "Terrosaur... I don't care, okay? Whatever it is, I wash my hands of the whole business."

Apparently he didn't expect me to say just that, because the only thing he could utter were a few err-s, umm-s and stuff like that. Finnaly, he regained his composure with one final err. "Anything you need?"

"No. Just go away..."

He made a face, then left. I hit the power button on the remote control of the TV.

"Okay, let's see now..." I mumbled to myself. "Crap, crap, crap... aah, there you have it! Shakira, live! Now that's what I'm talking about!"

I pumped up the volume. I could vaguely remember some of the Beast Warriors not liking Shakira, but then again, I liked it, and that was enough.

As I expected, there was an almost instant knock on my door.

"Go away!" I had to scream to cover up the music.

Instead of letting me be, whoever it was just knocked harder.

"Oh for cryin' out loud..."

The door opened, and Megatron stepped in, though it was more like someone invisible dragged him in.

"Oh, it's you." I turned down the volume a bit. "What do you want?"

Megs cleared his throat. "Well, the other Predacons and I were just wondering if you could, eh, turn down the volume? You know we're not exactly fond of Shakira and all, yeesss."

"I don't want to."

Megatron sighed deeply. "Are you mad at us?"

I recalled going through the same thing last night; the only difference was that he was speaking, and I had my headphones on. "Now why would I possibly be mad at you?" I asked, in the most innocent tone I was capable of.

He flinched. "Umm... why?"

"Yeah, why?"

Megatron raised an eyebrow. "You don't remember..."

"Well, my memory's a bit dusty at the moment. How about refreshing ir a little, eh?"

Okay, I'll admit it. It wasn't very nice of me putting Megatron through all that. In fact, it wasn't nice at all. But I had to let some steam out, and, since he was here...

"Well... err..."

*sigh* Here we go again...

"Try words and phrases", I offered sweetly.

"...right. Tarantulas, was... um..."

"Oooh, yeah, Tarantulas! Killing all those poor, cute and priceless-" I stressed the word 'priceless' "-things! How positively horrible! Which reminds me, how did you guys manage to pay for them? Did you rob a bank? Or did you just kill the owner?"

"We--"

"And then there was Dinobot. Really funny, I must say. Too bad he became his old self in the end, I liked him better with amnesia."

If Megatron was human, he would have sweated his brains out by now. Being a 'bot, he just seemed to get smaller and smaller by the minute.

"Let's see now, what alse happened? Hmm... I remember... fainting, yeah... couple of times, maybe. Or have I just dreamed it all?"

"Odeena..."

"And after such a prime day, what better thing to do could there be than talking to my sweet, beloved aunt on the phone while Dinobot and Rampage were singing so nicely?"

"I--"

"And now you come and ask me if I am mad at you? YES! Yes, I am mad at you, and I don't give a damn thing if you all just throw yourself into the Pacific ocean and rot there for the next two thousand years! Now get lost!"

"Odeena--"

"What?" I snapped impatiently.

Megatron cleared his throat. "On behalf of all Predacons, I wish to make--"

"--an appology? Forget it."

"But--"

"I don't want to hear anything."

Finally, Megatron sighed. "All right. I'm going. Be seeing you, yesss." With that, he turned and exited. I could have sworn I heard him sighing in relief. Who could blame him...

And now, back to the TV... yay!

~

It was later that day... and my stomach was starting to growl, which reminded me I hadn't eaten a thing in quite a while. Then again, I felt so comfy...

Another knock on the door. Great.

"Odeena? Can I come in?"

It was Black Arachnia. Well, at least she wouldn't make those cute eyes and beg for being forgiven. I hoped it, anyway.

"Are you alone?" I asked.

"Yup."

"Come in."

The she-spider walked in, one hand behing her back. I eyed her warily.

"You wouldn't happen to have a gun there now, would you?" I asked sweetly, tensing to run for it if she did.

Black Arachnia smiled. "Nothing of the sort. I just brought you some--" she brought her hand forward in a quick gesture "--brownies!"

I couldn't help chuckling. One, Black Arachnia was smiling. Two, she was actually being nice. Three, she was holding a tray full of brownies.

"May I?" I asked.

"Help yourself. The guys downstairs are munching on another plate."

I took one of the brownies and took a bite.

"This is really good!" I was talking with my mouth full, but I didn't care. "You made them?"

"Nope."

"Okay then-" I took another one "-Air Razor must've made them."

"Wrong again."

"Then... umm... gimmie a clue."

"Well, his name starts with T."

"Terrosaur?"

"Nope."

"Tigatron?"

I was already at the third brownie.

"Uh-uh."

"Then it couldn't be... Tarantulas?" She nodded, and I made a face. Still, they were so good...

"I don't know if you care, but he's been sulking all day."

"I don't-" I took yet another brownie "-aw, heck, poor guy."

"He was too shy to bring them himself", Black Arachnia went on. "So, he asked me to come instead. He's also sending his appologies and all."

Whoa. Now she was defending Tarantulas. This day was full of surprises indeed.

"Okay, I'll forget the whole thing. But-" I grinned maliciously "-under one condition."

"Name it."

"If you tell me what happened after I fainted. The whole story."

She nodded. "Deal."

I took another brownie as Black Arachnia started recollecting the previous day's events.

"Okay... so, you fainted, we were worried sick... I tried some CPR, then Terrosaur flew you back home. And then you woke up."

"And how'd you pay that guy at the shop?"

She smirked. "We didn't!" She chuckled at my puzzled look. "Rhinox made some quick clones of the things Tarantulas ate, and he delivered them back to the shop. Optimus talked so good the owner payed us in the end for helping him out."

"And where exactly did you get the genetic material and the equipment for doing just that?"

"Well... Rhinox kinda just had some gears with him. As for the genetic stuff, Tarantulas did... well, you don't want to know. Trust me, you really don't."

"...right." I could already picture some things in my mind, and it was entirely bad stuff. "And, that's that, huh."

"Yup."

"Okay. Tarantulas is forgotten... but I'm still mad at Rampage for taking such a tool on Dinobot."

"Actually..." she flinched, and I made a face. What other bad news was there?

"Nobody's seen Rampage since yesterday night. Waspinator says he followed him to the ocean."

I nodded slowly. "So, you're telling me there's a murderous, psycopath, immortal crab lurking into the Pacific Ocean just next to a metropolis", I said just as slow.

"Yup."

"Well. That's. Just. Prime."

Just then, there was a timid knock on the door.

"Who is it?" I shouted.

"Rampage", came the muffled answer. "Can I come in?"

"Talk about timing", Black Arachnia said, smirking. "This will give you two a chance to settle your problems. Well, be seing ya'!" With that, she opened the door and fled. Rampage stood in the doorframe, looking a bit... embarased? Something red glittered on his armour.

"C'min, and close the door", I said, motioning towards another bed. "Sit down."

Rampage didn't argue and sat down uneasily. I raised an eyebrow.

"Well?"

"Umm..." He frowned a bit, as if trying to remember something. After a moment he gave up. "I just wanted to give you something", he stated plainly, and a slight grin played across his features. Reaching for one of his subspace compartments, he pulled something out. I couldn't see what it was though.

"Guess what it is!" he teased me.

I chuckled. "Well, if it's not any bodypart or anything, I'm guessing a... CD?"

It was his turn to chuckle. "Yes and no. Yes, it is a bodypart, and no, it's not a CD."

I gasped a little. "A... bodypart, you say?"

With a sekf-proud smile, he opened his hand and showed me what he had: a necklace. As far as I could tell, it was made out of... teeth. Huge, sharp, triangular teeth. I was guessing they were shark teeth.

"How did you..."

All of the sudden, the splatters of blood in his armor - I had no doubt it was blood now - made sense.

"You mean, you, made this..."

"For you", he finished my sentence. "And now I offer it to you, along with my deepest appologies for the way I behaved yesterday." With a swift movement, he put the necklace around my neck. It was a bit heavy, but, glaring in a mirror, I found it looked really cool.

I glanced into his green optics. He was serious all right.

"In that case, appology accepted." I chuckled as a devious thought popped into my mind. "Not only that... but you'll get the couch for you only for the rest of the week."

'Couch arguments' were one thing that were driving me, and probably Optimus and Megatron, too, out of our minds. Every time there was something interesting on TV, the guys argued over who gets to stay on the couch, and when I say argue, I mean all the stuf that connects with it, from cursing and name-calling to exchanging punches and kicks.

Rampage's face fell. "Really? That's... great!" He grinned widely. "Hehee, tonight they're airing X-Men: The Movie on HBO..."

He stood up. "By the way, the ape asked me to ask you to come downstairs, he wanted to talk to you."

"No thanks, I'm not sleepy."

He glanced at me with a puzzled expression.

"Oh, c'mon! He probably wants to hold me an 'We'll-never-do-it-again' speech. I'm not in the mood."

"Well... come anyway. I shouldn't say this, but--" his voice was now barely above a whisper "--they have a surprise for you."

"What? The house looks like a WWII battlefield and they're really proud?"

"Uh... come on and check it anyway."

I sighed and stood up as well. "All right..." I said, shuttig down the TV with a sigh. "Lead the way."

~

I must say, I was expecting something bad. In the best case, something neutral. Maybe slightly better. With the Beast Warriors, 'surprise' could mean anything. Once, Inferno had 'surprised' Cheetor by shooting him into stasis lock.

But no matter what I thought, I was not expecting what I saw.

The entire house was absolutely and completely spotless. And I mean that. The living room, which had begun to resemble to a pigsty, was shining, the kitchen looked inviting and so on. Everyone - and I mean everyone! - had tidied their rooms, and - the thing I loved the most - I found a giant bouquet of all sorts of flowers on a table in the hall.

"Wow." That was all I could utter, but it was enough reason for the guys to put on the silliest collection of smiles I had ever seen. In turn, I smiled too, and that was the end of all the 'Friday 13' incident.

...Or so I thought. Not more than half an hour after, a very angry neighbor called. He was saying something about his garden being 'devastated' by some 'barbaric creatures' which resembled in a way to the Transformers I stayed with, and he asked me if I knew anything.

I glanced around before answering. The guys in the living room were watching Super Star Wars - again, Quickstrike and Cheetor were involved in some sort of a pillow fight, Megatron was cuddling his rubber ducky, and, Optimus was screaming something to cover the general noise.

"I'm sorry, I don't know anything", I answered, and then I hung up.