Disclaimer: I don't own Beast Wars or the 2007 Transformers movie or the G1 cartoon. I own none of the characters, either, except for Amanda. My friend, Noelle (beautybedamned) owns Caitlin and Jin and Doozy, as well as the actual multiverse this fic is set in. And lastly, Dinobot's anthro design belongs to Uppertorso over on DeviantART

A Matter of Trust

He supposed it was the result of that blasted transwarp wave Rhinox warned them about. However, the scientist never did figure out just what the warp would do. They all assumed the worst and vainly hoped for the best, the way all descendants of the Autobots did, while Dinobot waited silently in his quarters for this wave of energy to wash over them. He remembered staring at the too-low ceiling of the Axalon, pacing the too-small confines of his room, running metallic claws over the skin of his deceased clone and just waiting. Waiting for whatever destiny had in store for him, for the Maximals, for the Predacons, and ultimately, the Beast Wars. He expected death and destruction, and a part of him wondered if taking his rotary blade and piercing his spark would be a more suitable end for a warrior such as himself.

But he never had the chance to give it a second thought. The ship had begun to tremble and every alarm system had started sounding, Sentinel repeatedly announcing unstable energies incoming quickly. He heard Cheetor asking in frantic panic what was happening, and Primal's reply was muffled by the vermin's declaration of inevitable doom. Then everything had gone silent and dark as he was forced into a deep recharge.

He never expected to wake near a human compound. Never expected to find a heart throbbing in place of his spark. Never expected blood to run in place of mech fluid... And he most certainly never expected a group of young humans to gather around him and subdue him in his state of incoherency. It was pure luck the first time he managed to rid himself of the young men by swinging at them with his tail. The second time he was not so lucky, being knocked to the ground again by a man he was certain he heard one of the females address as Magnus.

Being locked away inside of a cage far too frail to hold him gave him time to process the situation. It was rather obvious the wave had relocated him to another place on an earth more modern than the prehistoric world he had shamefully come to know so well. He assumed the other Maximals and Predacons shared his fate, though he didn't particularly care to worry about them at the given time. Wherever they were, they were not the ones trapped in a flimsy man-made cage in a subbasement of a base filled with humans – some of which shared the names of great Cybertronian warriors. The only logical reasoning he could come up was simple: this was the future of the primitive planet the Axalon and Darkside crashed on, but it wasn't far enough in the future for the Great Wars to have passed over completely. And he was alright with that, considering time travel wasn't exactly an uncommon thing where he was from.

The only thing he was not able to come to terms with so easily was the fact that he was no longer robotic. He had an organic body and he was sure the throb of his heart would drive him mad long before he was let out of his pathetic prison. He was now a strange creature; half man, half velociraptor, with blue skin meeting copper scales. The body itself was powerful, he knew that from the time he had spent in his beast form to avoid energon surges. But he wasn't pleased in the least, regardless. The body was vulnerable. This body could be broken and torn apart a lot easier than a body made of metal and circuits. This body could not repair itself over the course of a few mega-cycles. This body could die at any given moment.

And right when he began to feel the natural panic all things mortal felt upon realizing they could die or be killed, that was when she came down those stairs oh so slowly, her hand clenched tightly on the metal railing. She approached slowly, as though she were the predator and he were the prey – and he would let her think such, simply because it was amusing to watch a fragile little thing like her think she had power over him. He wondered if she knew how easy it would be for him to break out of the cage and just as easily break her little body. If she did, she never let on as she stood within arm's reach, assuming she was so safe beyond the bars that held him.

“My name's Amanda,” the girl said with her eyes wandering over his body. He thought he saw a hint of fascination, even adoration. Surely the little human didn't think this wretched form was appealing...

He decided to humor her. “Amanda,” he repeated, playing the odd human name around on his tongue, deciding it had an somewhat pleasant ring to it. “That is an... interesting name. Did you choose it yourself?”

For whatever reason, she giggled and smiled at him the way mothers smiled at children who didn't understand something rather simple. “No. My parents called me that. What's your name?”

He thought of asking if she could be called anything else, what would it be, but chose not to. And he almost told her his name, but she wasn't privileged enough to know such things. He wasn't one for small talk, especially with little human females he had just met mere minutes ago. Instead, he decided to play the helpless victim, lifting one hand to motion to the bars, fingertips touching cool steel.

“I do not understand the need for this,” he said, meeting her eyes with his. Which was a mistake, because the moment she spoke in response he knew she had seen through to his dangerous nature.

“You attacked two of my friends. It's a precaution. They're not sure what to make of you just yet.”

And it dawned on him that, even though she was staring certain death in the face, she didn't seem to mind. In fact, he smelt no fear from her at all.

“They?” He blinked in a curious manner. “So, you are unafraid?”

“More fascinated, I guess.” Her quiet voice rose a little, and he sensed her confidence rising just a little, mixing in with a strange sense of pride. “Fear isn't as healthy as most people like to think.”

“Ahhh...” He murmured, letting his eyes wander over her now. She was smaller in frame than the other humans he had laid eyes on, though he had a hunch she was close to the same age, give or take one or two years. She reminded him of a mouse, so small and timid and soft spoken... But before he could finish analyzing her completely, he noticed another female inching toward them, obviously more intent on reaching Amanda than himself. This one was brimming with fear and he decided to play upon it.

“Why hello, little one,” he said quietly, locking his eyes onto his new target.

“Caty,” Amanda grinned at the other girl, hardly surprised she had shown up. It really had been only a matter of time before someone came looking for her, to drag her away from his magnificent creature. Though, she was surprised it was Caitlin, not Prime or even Magnus. “Maybe you can help me,” she said, hopeful as she reached for Caitlin's hand, “he won't give me his name.”

He was hardly shocked to see the other girl shake her head and quite literally drag Amanda away, scolding her, telling her he was dangerous and he was not to be treated so kindly because he could not be trusted just yet.

The shock came later, when Amanda returned in the middle of the night and wandered through the darkness until her hands wrapped around the bars of the cage he resided in.

“Quite the disobedient little human, aren't you?” He smirked, reaching out to touch her fingers wrapped tightly around one bar. “Not only were you not allowed down here to begin with, but you return so shortly after you were specifically told not to.”

She returned the smirk, though he noticed hers lacked the hint of malice his had. And she didn't pull away when he touched her hand, not even when he dug his sharp nails into her knuckles tauntingly.

“Sam's not the best babysitter, neither is Mikaela, especially when they're more interested in each other,” she said, watching those nails on her knuckles, scratching at her skin and leaving little white marks soon to turn red.

“And the others?”

“They think I know better,” she chuckled and then regarded him seriously. “Which I do. That's why I'm down here.”

He left her hand burning and feeling cold at the same time as he stepped back in his cage, pulling his hand away from hers. She gathered from his silence that he wanted her to continue, so she did.

“I bet you could break out of his cage if you wanted to,” she said, running her hands up and down the bars, fingers folding at odd, graceful angles against the metal. “I saw what you did to Jin and Doozy. You're stronger than this,” she tapped on a bar to get her point across. “But,” she smiled at him and he felt the oddest sensation run down his spine, right down to the tip of his tail, “you haven't yet. So you can't be all that dangerous.”

He snarled in response, then rolled his tongue against his maw, creating sounds Amanda was certain she had heard once before from the raptors in Jurassic Park.

“Perhaps I'm waiting for the correct moment to strike.”

“I don't doubt it,” she said with that same smile. She shrugged and stepped back, then around the cage to sit beside it. “Until then, though, I hope you don't mind the company.”

And no more words were said, because he honestly had no idea what to think of this little human girl. She knew he was dangerous, she knew he was plotting a potential massacre, and yet here she was, insistent on staying with him. Soon enough her body was slumped over with her head titled back, resting against the cool wall behind her. He watched her sleeping, squatted to be face-to-face with her. It would have been so easy to reach out and pull her closer, spin her around and snap her pretty neck and make his escape then and there. But he didn't even so much as raise a hand to reach through the bars.

Those other humans and whoever those people were that had the names of those from the Great War may have thought him to be a dangerous, enigmatic creature but this girl... This girl was the enigma. This girl with the haunting hazel eyes and tiny, frail body was the one that needed to be watched and studied, since she seemed to see something in him the others didn't. Something even he didn't see in himself. So he would remain silent and imprisoned and hate every passing second of it, until he understood her and her strange fascination with him.

He trusted her less than he trusted Megatron.