“Sheesh,” Rattrap exclaimed when Hysteria stormed out of the Axalon.  “What’s gotten into her?”

“It couldn’t have been your incessant pestering.  Could it, pest?” said Dinobot.

Primal shook his head.

“Rattrap is right,” he said.  “Hysteria’s been acting highly irritable and aggressive lately.”

Dinobot shrugged.  “Company like you all tends to do that to the best of us.”

“That’s because irritable and aggressive is in your code, chopper face.”

“Dinobot,” Primal said, turning to the former predacon and tuning out the rat.  “You’re her closest companion.  Do you think you can get to the bottom of this?”

“He’ll get to the bottom of somethin’, alright,” Rattrap mumbled, prompting a low growl from Dinobot and a sigh from Primal.

“That’s enough, Rattrap.”

“What is there to get to the bottom of?” Dinobot said.  “The femme is being stubborn and insufferable.”

“Yeah?”  Rattrap chuckled.  “Maybe she’s been spending too much time around you.”

“She has done no such thing,” snarled Dinobot.  “I will not go seek out the femme.  If she wants to behave like a brat, she can continue to do so by herself.”

“Oh-ho, do I sense trouble in paradise?”

“That’s enough, you two.  Dinobot, please.  We don’t know if this behavior is due to some predacon tampering or not.  Please, for her sake, try to talk to her.  The last thing we need is her temper to flare up at the wrong time and get her in trouble.”

After a huff of exasperation,and no further persuading,  Dinobot transformed into his beast mode to exit the Axalon.  Truth was, not even he was spared from her outbursts recently.  In the past few solar cycles, she had become distant, and any attempt to approach her resulted in her snapping.  Dinobot had decided to give her some space, rather than challenge her, but of course, Primal could not leave well enough alone.

The raptor wandered away from base, not entirely certain of where to look, but heading in the direction of their favorite rendezvous point.  On the way, his olfactory sensors picked up a strange scent that stopped him in his tracks.  He had never picked up anything like it, yet somehow, it seemed familiar.  Though he felt drawn to investigate it, he reminded himself to stay on task.  He pressed onward, attempting to ignore it in favor of hunting down Hysteria, but it was strong, heady, and maddening.  It caused an influx of warmth that put his systems on the brink of overheating.  The femme could wait; he needed to track down the source.

Dinobot stalked closer, following the scent as it grew more prominent.  His internal systems were whirring in an attempt to cool his frame.  Warnings flashed on his HUD, but he disregarded each of them, until one in particular caught his attention.

“Warning:  Coupling protocol activated.”

“Coupling protocol?” he scoffed.  “Override.”

“Error:  Manual override failed.  Cannot end active process.”

“Override,” he said again.

“Error: Manual override failed.  Cannot end active process.”

He growled in frustration.  Coupling protocol?  He was forged for combat, not creation.  Why did he even have such a protocol?  What was that infernal scent anyway and why was it causing this to him?  Was it some treacherous Predacon tactic?  He knew Tarantulas was not above tampering with biological protocols, but this was a little too perverse, even for him.  Dinobot continued to ignore each warning until he reached the mouth of a cave.  His circuitry buzzed as the overwhelming need to interface overrode his logic circuits.  He hardly stepped inside of the cave before he heard a familiar voice.

“Get out of here, Dinobot.”

“Hysteria.”

The hyena was pacing back and forth with her optics trained on him.  Her fur stood on end, her head hung low, and her teeth were bared.  The scent was unbearable now, and it took all of Dinobot’s restraint to keep his distance from her.  In the staticky haze that was his current state, he managed to make sense of the situation.  She had become so distant and aggressive in an attempt to mask her coupling cycle.

Unlike him, Hysteria was not forged for combat.  He’d heard long ago that some of those not built for battle had programming that would activate periodically to prevent the extinction of their race.  She must have been one of them.  It seemed she’d neglected the protocol so long that her EM field had become strong enough to activate it in compatible Cybertronians in her radius.

“Go.  Away.”

“Don’t be foolish,” he said.  “What if a predacon were to find you in this state?  They would have little regard for your consent.”

A low growl left her.  She still paced defensively and kept her distance.

“If you permit me to… assist you,” he continued.  “Then this nonsense will be over and we can return to base with your pride intact.”

Hysteria scoffed.

“Do you have any idea what you’re getting yourself into?” she asked. 

“I do not wish to sire a sparkling, but if I must—”

Hysteria cut him off with a sharp laugh.

“Don’t worry, Romeo.  My chamber is plugged,” she said.  “But that just means if we were to begin, we would not be returning to base any time soon.  We’d have to wait out the duration of the cycle.”

Dinobot transformed out of beast mode and took a step closer.

“Very well.  If it is to assist you, my lady.”

Hysteria transformed as well, then closed the gap between them.  With another step, she backed Dinobot against the rocky wall of the cave.

“I don’t think I’ll be much of a lady during this.”