"So, according to our scan there are two new Maximals and one new Predacon?"
"Two new Predacons" Rhinox replied.
"Where are these new bots?" Optimus asked.
"They keep hanging around the base, usually the Predacons leave and it's the two new Maximals that hang around the base the most."
"And your sure Sentinel is fully operational? As in no bugs or viruses?" Optimus asked again.
"Nothing even remotely in that direction" said Rhinox.
"But...... do you think there are any pods that could have fallen without Sentinel's notice?" asked Optimus, still curious about this strange phenomenon.
Rhinox shook his head. "Not unless the pod had a cloaking device, and we were assured by Cybertron that there were none in this craft. And besides, how could two of the Maximals had been changed into Predacons? It just doesn't make sense."
"I'd better call a meeting" said Optimus worriedly. "Where is everyone?"
Rhinox checked his computer and then answered. "Dinobot is in his room, Silverbolt is in his, same thing with Jade. Satin and Rattrap are outside, doing a routine patrol. Nightshade is off in sector E-23. Malice is in sector O-12. And Cheetor is....."
"Right here, Big Bot" said Cheetor as he bounded in. Even now, Optimus still had to do a double take. Every body looked so different in their Transmetal forms. Well, I suppose I just as different to everyone else, the Transmetal gorilla thought. The silver and turquoise cat looked up at him. "What's this about callin' a meeting?"
"Sentinel has been monitoring some unknown Maximals and Predacons" Optimus replied.
"Well, let's not sit here, fellow beasts. Let's go out and find us some new Maximals." Cheetor was about to exit the base when Optimus dragged him back by the tail.
"It would be better if the whole group knew about this, then we can launch a few scouting parties to search for these new Maximals and Predacons" Optimus told Cheetor.
"Scouting parties? Excuse me Big Bot, but you got all the scouting abilities you'll ever need right here" Cheetor said with a flourish. And, to make his point perfectly clear, he made a quick flight around the base.
"Fast, good eyesight, cornering ability, c'mon Optimus, let me go, please?"
"Oh, what is that feline whining about now?" snarled Dinobot, who had just entered the room.
Cheetor stiffened. "Hey Dino-butt, this kitty doesn't whine, he roars" snarled Cheetor.
"Well, by all means, show me this wonderful, awe-inspiring noise, Cheetor" said Dinobot with mock sincerity.
Cheetor gulped in all of the surrounding air and....... a pitiful "meeeooowwrrr" was the sound that exited his throat.
Dinobot chuckled.
"Dinobot, can you get Silverbolt and Jade out of their rooms? I have a matter I would like to discuss with you all" said Optimus.
"Did the salmon population die down this time?" he heard Dinobot mutter under his breath as he walked towards Silverbolt's and Jade's quarters.
Rhinox was already at the computer talking to Rattrap and Satin on the intercom. "Rattrap, Satin, Nightshade and Malice will be on their way shortly" said Rhinox to Optimus.
"Good" said Optimus. "Then we can launch some scouting parties as soon as possible. The Predacons have no doubt picked up this signal too. We must reach these new Maximals, if there are any, before the Predacons can."
Dinobot, Silverbolt and Jade walked into the room.
Silverbolt looked at his leader with an I-am-yours-to-command-O-great-leader-whom-I-dearly- respect look, which sometimes pleased yet sometimes annoyed Optimus. Silverbolt was the ideal Maximal. Brave, chivalrous, kind, honorable. Silverbolt upheald all of his values to the major extreme. He seemed to have a timeless yet naive air around him. Silverbolt, someday all these values will put you in grave danger, thought Optimus.
Optimus gazed at Jade. The "dragon" as everyone had labeled him, was a very odd Maximal. Jade was very moody and could change moods as easily as a human could change clothes. Right now he was glaring at Optimus angrily for being ordered out of his room. His eyes were glowing red. In a few seconds though, as Optimus had thought he would, Jade started looking very apologetic and timid, with his eyes glowing a watery blue.
Two more figures entered the room through the base's elevator door. They were Malice and Nightshade. Malice looked at Optimus with a curious glance, asking him "why did you call us here?" even though he could not speak himself. He had been found in a badly damaged stasis pod, and his vocal chords had been almost beyond repair. Malice had lost his ability to speak, but he could make hyena noises, such as growls and high-pitched eerie laughs. The fact that he had been given a portable computer to write things down when he wanted to talk was of no use, for he hardly ever used it. He had a brown sloping body, speckled with uneven spots, and topped off with a short, tan mane.
"So why are we here?" asked Nightshade, her childish voice so sweet it could charm a cobra from it's lair. Nightshade had taken on the form of a black raptor with a yellow blaze that started right between her eyes that ended at the tail. Nightshade's claws were an ivory white. Her raptor body must belong to a young or baby raptor, because if you compared her to Dinobot, it was like comparing a kitten against a great dane. She came up to Dinobot's armpit if one ompared the size. Other than her size and her coloring, she was almost identical to Dinobot, except with one catch. Her eyes were situated in the front of her head, not at the side, like Dinobot's. Those eyes were very startling because they were a pure, crystaline sky blue. They seemed to hold you in a type of spell whenever you looked into them.
"I'll tell you in a minute" said Optimus as he turned to Rhinox. "Are Rattrap and Satin coming anywhere near the base?" he asked of Rhinox. He did not want those two galivanting around ‘till all hours.
"They're already within three microquads and should be here in a few seconds."
Just as Rhinox had predicted, in a few seconds did come Rattrap and Satin.
"Okay, so what's de big deal, Boss Monkey? Why'd yah ever so rudely order us to de base here?"
"And why are you so upset over being here, vermin?" snarled Dinobot. "Perhaps you would have liked to spend a bit more time alone in a dark forest with Satin by your side?"
Malice laughed one of his eerie laughs at this joke.
"I don't get it!" wailed Cheetor.
"Dinobot!" Nightshade reprimanded her friend.
"I must say, that is most unbecoming" said Silverbolt with a slight bit of disgust in his words.
"Oh, hitting below the belt aren't we Scale-Butt?" said Jade with a menacing tone to his voice.
Rattrap and Satin stared at Dinobot evilly. " Rattrap, Maximize" the Transmetal rat yelled and he went from robo-rat to rattish robot. "Satin, Maximize" yelled the female fox. The two Maximals took out their guns and aimed them at Dinobot, who had by then transformed. His eyes glowed green.
"Look people, as fun as this may be we don't have time for this now" ordered a peeved Optimus.
"Yes, especially now that one of the new Maximals inside this very base right now" said Rhinox.
"What?" shouted Optimus and the rest of the Maximals, Optimus out of surprise and the others because they didn't know what was going on.
"There are two new Maximals and two new Predacons, and since no stasis pods landed, we don't know where they're from and how they got here or anything like that. So now one of them is in this very base" explained Rhinox in an uncharacteristic, hurried manner.
Optimus looked at the computer. Sure enough, there was one more Maximal signature inside the base.
"We must go catch it" said Optimus, his mind reeling. "Okay, there aren't many places to hide in the base. Dinobot, Nightshade, Malice you take the hallway on the right. Cheetor, Rhinox, Jade and I will take the hallway on the left. Satin and Rattrap, go through the air ducts."
Everyone hastened to obey.
******************
Clunk, clunk, clunk. Phantom could here the sound of Rattrap walking through the air vents already. Rattrap's Transmetal form gave him away too well.
It's not much better than my Transmetal form, well beast form, anyway. How I wish I could have my old form back. That was a good form in which to chase the shadows. Now all I have is clank, clank, clank.
The bot listened some more. He could here the soft, click, click, click of Satin's claws against the metal of the air ducts. It's time for me to make my exit and report back to sister dear that the Maximals now know of our existence.
Phantom dashed through the ducts like lightning, wishing he didn't make a clanking noise every time his feet struck metal.
"Rattrap" called Cheetor's voice from below. The bot froze and glanced down. Through the semi-holed screen of the air vent he could see Optimus, Rhinox, Cheetor and Jade. They think I'm Rattrap, the unknown Maximal thought. Now it makes me glad that I studied everyone's voices.
Phantom held his breath and began to speak. "Y-yeah pussy cat?" It was a flawless imitation.
"Did you find anything?" asked Rhinox. The bot smiled and continued.
"Nothin' but a lotta dust bunnies, how ‘bout you guys?"
"What does it look like Rattrap? Of course we haven't found him yet" Cheetor replied. Phantom kept talking.
"Well, I'll keep goin'. See yous guys when we've got ourselves a new Maximal or one seriously annoyed rat. Optimus this is directed at you!"
"Don't worry Rattrap, I assure you this is not another wild goose......."
But the imposter didn't wait for Optimus to finish. He dashed away. He came back to the central control room. The bot quickly checked around. No one. Still, he'd better make sure.
"Infra-red" he whispered. The room around him suddenly turned red. All of the Maximals heat signatures were in different parts of the base.
Good, the Maximal thought. In one smooth, graceful movement the bot loosened the screen on the air ducts and jumped into the elevator door. The elevator went quickly down, but Phantom didn't wait for it to get to touch the ground. It was time to convert into vehicle mode.
He felt the soles of his metal feet split into five mini-jets per foot. He soared upwards and upwards until he had broken through the clouds and was out of sight range of the Maximals. He felt his feet jets lessen in their propulsive power until he hovered in one spot, neither going up nor down, nor forwards or backwards.
The bot sighed. The immediate danger was passed. He looked around him. It was a virtual cloud palace up where he was. There were white spires and whip-cream swirls as well as fat sheep- clouds. White mountains and feather-stuffed pillows passed lazily underneath him. The sun shone brightly above him, warming his Transmetal beast form.
I could stay here forever, he thought, but I must not. If they have not already, the Maximals will try another scan, and they will catch me here. Back to sister I go then.
Phantom felt the jets on his elbows and on his backwards bending knees push him forward. Passing the beautiful scenery below, the bot sailed back to his sister and their makeshift home.
******************
Malice lay lazily in the sun. Sure, he was supposed to be looking for those new Maximals and Predacons, but he had been doing that all afternoon. He deserved a break.
Malice looked around him. He was in a beautiful clearing, resting on a gray rock that was so flat it looked like an elephant had sat on it. It was not a tremendously hot day, the clouds were everywhere and the sky was sapphire blue.
The hyena yawned, showing a stout mouth filled with yellowed tinted fangs. He would have liked to be sent with Silverbolt or Rattrap. Those were the two Maximals he found the most amusing, Rattrap because of his pessimistic and complaining nature, and Silverbolt because of his annoying chivalry, honor and of course his naiveté around Predacons.
But, Silverbolt was with Jade and Optimus and Rattrap was with Satin for the second time that day. Malice chuckled. He could just imagine what those two were up to. Satin wasn't that bad looking. She was actually very good looking. There's an understatement the dog thought as he chuckled some more.
A sort of game had come up between Cheetor, himself and Rattrap. They were each trying to woo Satin and claim her as their own.
Cheetor was the least successful. The cat was infatuated with her, that made him do stupid things. He had been trying to get her to notice him with speed, cheap catch-phrases and impressive flying abilities. The vixen had not seemed very impressed by that, but she still flirted with him, just to keep the other two jealous. Malice chuckled, remembering the time that Cheetor had tried to take on Transmetal Tarantulus by himself with Satin looking on. The cat spent two days in the CR chamber. Still, the kitty hasn't given up, even though he knows he'll never make it with her. Besides, she's too old for him, they both know that.
Rattrap was doing a lot better than Cheetor. Rattrap and Satin seemed to have a very many things in common. They were both the Maximal's spies and thieves, they knew how to get around in dark places and out of corners very well. They constantly flirted. It was quite annoying, really.
He wasn't sure how he himself ranked on the scale. Everytime he had met Satin she seemed to be in awe of him. Maybe his keep silent and secretive approach was working.
But still I do have a lot of things about me to keep secret. Remember the when you're village was attacked by the Predacons..... seeing all your friends die at their cruel hands...... your lover Deathblow dead at your feet......the torture chambers.....
Malice heard a rustle in the forest behind him, disturbing his painful reveries. He sniffed the air. He smelt nothing.
It was probably a chipmunk Malice thought. Then he heard the rustle again, this time closer. The dog got up and peered into the dense, thick sewn forest. He couldn't even see a shadow moving.
Still, Malice decided to check it out. He exited the sunny glade which he had been occupying a few minutes before and headed deep into the wooded forest.
The coolness of the forest was a shocking chill to the sunny clearing Malice had just been in. Dead leaves crackled underneath his feet. The woods were suddenly eerie and dark, as if waiting for something. Some birds made a few scattered attempts to fend off the oppressiveness with their chirping, but it had little effect on the hyena.
Malice turned his scanners on infra-red. Even then he could see no form of bot life.
Just then he two sets of teeth sink into his hind leg. Malice yelped in pain and whirled around. He couldn't see anyone, but the pain was real enough. The dog transformed into robot mode. The two sets of teeth left his skin, still leaving four small painful gashes. He brandished his spiked club around, whirling it this way and that, yet hitting no one.
The Maximal heard a gun shot. Just then he saw a purple beam of energy fly at him and hit him directly in the chest. Malice tried to get up, but he was struck down by a raving plume of fire.
All of a sudden he saw Megatron, Quickstrike, Inferno and Blackarachnia. Each of them was wearing a strange kind of metal belt. The belt was steel and covered with strange markings. In the center of the belt was a circular place in which the Predacons had put some stable energon. Malice felt anger well up inside him, the deep, unconquerable rage that always came with the appearance of Predacons. He growled and tried to get himself on to his feet again, but
Megatron's tail cannon forced him down on the ground. Megatron spoke.
" Surprise surprise, isn't it, Malice? Doubtless you are wondering how we managed to do this. But we, of course, are not going to tell you. You are in fact lucky we are letting you live right now. I want you to deliver a message to Optimus. Take this disk with you, seeing as you cannot speak. Now go, dog."
Megatron yanked Malice off the ground, gave him the computer, turned him around, and kicked him in the direction he wanted him to get going. Malice, his mind still clouded with rage, started firing his gun at them. Megatron whispered something to Inferno, while nimbly dodging the shots.
"For the Royalty" cried Inferno as he charged at Malice and threw him against a tree. Inferno grabbed Malice's gun and threw it out of his reach. The Maximal struggled in vain.
"Now, now, don't make this hard on yourself" said Megatron.
"All we want is for you to go back to your base and give them the . If you have trouble comprehending that, well, we wouldn't want to have an assault on the Maximal base while the Maximals lie unprepared, now would we?"
Malice glared at Megatron and the rest of the Predacons with undisguised fury, but glumly transformed, putting the delicate disk into his trap-like mouth.
The hyena growled at them, then ran off towards the base, running with the sharp spurrings of an emotion he thought he had conquered long ago.
Fear.
***************
"Wow, Megatron, an interesting plan.....but of course I could have done better."
"Shut up, Demi-God."
"My dear Cloud Runner, you cannot shut me up. I am the All, the One. I am....."
"An annoying idiot. Look, I don't think we should be doing this. Spying, I mean. I feel so degraded."
"Well, your brother does it all the time. I don't see how two people as...bonded as you can have such atrociously different tastes. Now would you mind taking these shackles off me? I rather would like to stretch my wings a bit."
"No way! You're a Pred, for slag's sake. Unchain you and with your big mouth you'd go around blabbing our identities to the rest of the world."
"How about Guano, then? He's silent and sulky and...."
"A Predacon as well. Besides, he hates everyone. Once he figured out that he'd bring us humiliation and possible pain by saying who we really were, he'd do it in a sec. Chained you are and chained you stay."
"Do you hate both of us that much?!"
"I don't hate you two. I'm just quick to point out your faults."
"So, you are keeping me and Guano chained like this forever?"
"Hopefully. And don't think we can't do it. With these new Transmetal forms we can fly. And, the chains are solid steel...."
"Stolen from the Predacon base."
"Shut up. So anyway, if we keep you in poor physical condition, such as whip you and kick you around, then you won't be able to escape. So you see, my brother and I have gotten this figured out pretty well."
"What if we transform?"
"As I said before, in poor physical condition you will still be weak in robot mode."
"Well if I may quote Guano on this: I hate you."
"Ha, good."
"And, just out of curiosity, are you going to stop Megatron's evil scheme from unfolding?"
"We'll think about it."
"Okay, just wondering."
**************
Satin walked around the base. For some reason, she felt more comfortable outside than inside. Fresh air, trees and open spaces were so much more inviting then the metal, computers and chairs of the base.
It was good of Rattrap to let her go back to base early, though. Whoever those new Maximals were, they certainly were not looking for company. And, even with the very slick and charming Rattrap by her side, scouting still got pretty boring.
Just then she saw Malice rush in from the elevator door.
"Malice, what's wrong?" asked Satin. She had planned to flirt with him right now, by the Matrix she needed a break from the serious task of scouting. Even though Malice couldn't answer back, it was still an enjoyable sport. But the way Malice looked at her was so full of urgency and fear she decided not to.
Malice carried a curcular coputer disk in his mouth. The hyena transformed and put the disk from his mouth to his hands. The dog sat in one of the chairs that was connected to the computer and put the disk in the slot.
Satin stood over him, placing her hand on his shoulder. The screen whirled to life and some writing appeared on the screen. The topaz-eyed canine felt fear slide it's clawed fingers around her throat as she read what the message was. The message from Megatron was this.
Greetings Optimus Primal and all other Maximals who happen to be reading this right now,
The reason I went through all this trouble is to give you this little message. I have gained access to some new, and rather powerful, technology. It allows me and my troops to do a very large range of things, so many I will not even tell you now. But I can tell you that none of these things are very pleasant. We can strike any Maximal at anytime, anywhere. You can neither run nor hide. We will make your life a living Inferno. Beware of the final attack Optimus Primal, for it shall be your downfall. We will chase you down and hunt you like dogs until your deaths, which will not be swift. Have a nice day!
Yours Truly,
Megatron
"Well t-there could be a possibility he's lying" said Satin, after she got her voice back. Malice got out of the chair and grabbed her hands roughly. He pulled her closer.
She was staring straight into his red eyes. In them she could see fear and pain. Satin trembled visably with fear. She turned her head away to avoid looking at those blood-red optics.
Malice ran towards his room and came back with his personal computer. Typing rapidly, he then handed it to her when he was finished.
"You were not there. I felt bullets enter my body and I heard gun shots, but I saw no one. I couldn't even see them in infra red! As Megatron said, he can attack us at any time and any where. We won't be able to see or hear or smell him coming. We aren't even safe in the base."
Satin's hand trembled as she handed the computer back to Malice.
"Look, yes Megatron has this new technology, but he's just trying to get us to panic and do something stupid. And the bad thing is, it's working."
The hyena nodded a grim look on his face.
"Where's Optimus?" Satin asked suddenly. Malice shrugged his shoulders. The mute walked over to the computer again and motioned to the intercom.
"Good" Satin said. "Optimus come in" Satin spoke.
"Optimus here" came a voice at the end of the line.
The vixen quickly spoke."Optimus get back to base, get every one else back, too. Make sure no one is out alone. I'll try to contact Air Razor and Tigatron. Please, get here as fast as you can."
"Is something wrong?" Their leader asked.
"Yes, something is wrong" snapped Satin.
"What?"
"Optimus, let's just say that the next few days are gonna be worse than the Inferno."
*******************
The cave was large and big. Well, you couldn't really call it a cave, it was more like a series of caves connected by tunnels. It had many exits and entrances, not all of them known to the four that dwelled within. Stalagmites and stalactites jutting from the floors and ceiling like mismatched monster teeth. Cloud Runner was inside the biggest cave, which had been called the "Sitting Room." Cloud Runner paced back and forth, waiting for her brother to come back. She walked into a small tunnel to check on Guano and Demi-God, who were each in one slightly smaller room, called the "Predacon Chamber". All though the caves were dark, she could still see the outlines of their bodies. The two Predacons were sleeping like babies, chains bonding their legs and wings to their bodies.
Sleep..... ever since I got this form I almost haven't needed it. Although, sometimes I do, and those times I sleep longer than I normally would. Odd, the Maximal thought as she walked back to the Sitting Room and lay down on the cold, damp floor.
Cloud Runner's mind was busily pondering over whether to help the Maximals or not. She felt so wretched, lying here under the ground, while a crucial part of the Beast Wars was being enacted above.
But to actually fight by them.... no, I couldn't. She just couldn't show herself. But still, the Maximals did need some help.
"Sister" hissed a voice. Cloud Runner jumped up and turned around, startled. There, in front of her and half shrouded by shadow, was Phantom in his beast mode.
"W-what have you to report?" she asked of him, trying not to shiver with fright. Sometimes her brother could be a major annoyance. Other times he could just be plain spooky.
"It's quite interesting actually" her brother said with a smile. "I have this to report. You do remember the message that Megatron sent to the Maximals by hyena express, don't you?" She nodded. "Good" Phantom continued " in it Megatron said that he could do a wide range of things to the Maximals with his new technology. Hah" Phantom belted out a cruel laugh which chilled Cloud Runner to the bone. "All he can do is turn himself invincible, cloak himself from the Maximal sheilds and scanners, super charge his army, and everyone wearing a belt can regenerate, to a certain degree."
"Those are still pretty powerful things" said Cloud Runner, a little shocked that her brother was so happy over something so serious. Phantom made a gleeful laugh and summer-saulted out of the shadows towards her.
"Yes, but the good thing is this: all he needs to make them work are some belts with alien inscriptions and energon! Steal the belts and Megatron's wonderful plan is history!"
He began to prance back and forth, bobbing, weaving, and jumping, across the cave in an odd form of dancing.
"Stop, that" she snarled at him. This just made Phantom prance around even more, humming a tune that she had never heard before. He probably got it from the Predacon ship she thought. Honestly, I think he hangs out there more than the Predacons do!
Finally he stopped.
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