Raptron, Blackarachnia and Waspinator arrived back at the Predacon base.
After being scanned for bug devices, they walked tiredly onto the command
deck.
"Attack party reporting back, sir." stated Raptron at attention.
Megatron whirled his throne around to face them. "Uh, yesss. I have been monitoring your progress. You fought adequately."
Raptron chuckled. "Adequately? We kicked Maximal ass, my friend!" He pumped his fist in the air triumphantly.
"Yes, I'm sure." Megatron stood up to give more orders. "To the CR tanks with you! Scorpinok! Take a team to retrieve Terrorsaur."
Scorpinok began to leave and then stopped. "Couldn't we just leave him there?"
The thought brought a smile to Megatron's face. "As much as I would like to, his aerial recon skills are important. On the double, Scorpinok!"
Scorpinok saluted, bonking himself on the head with his claw. "Ow! Uh...yes Megatron!"
Raptron chuckled at the bumbling buffoon and then followed Blackarachnia and Waspinator to the CR tanks.
Blackarachnia slowed her pace to allow Waspinator to go ahead and for Raptron to walk beside her. "You fought well tonight, Tron."
Raptron smiled. "Thanks, you're quite the fighter yourself."
Blackarachnia shrugged her shoulders. "Well, nothing to brag about." Blackarachnia had always considered her combat skills far superior to any other, but seeing Raptron in action had brought modesty to her statement.
Raptron went to put his arm around the female Predacon, but halted himself when he thought better of it. "Now, don't you underestimate yourself. Your martial arts are incredible...and you're quite flexible."
"Excuse me?" asked Blackarachnia, not excessively offended by the comment, even though she acted it.
Raptron immediately began to backpedal in his comments. "I meant for all those moves you do. You know with all those flips and kicks and such." He realized Blackarachnia wasn't buying it. "Excuse me while I go hang myself." Raptron laughed when he realized Blackarachnia was too.
"I know that's what you meant, Tron. It was just fun leading you on like that." Blackarachnia laughed again and slapped Raptron on the back. "Come on, in this room here."
Waspinator had left the door open for the two. They entered and each went to a CR tank embedded into the floor area. Waspinator was already in one. Blackarachnia stepped wearily onto the platform and pressed the 'lower' button. The machine groaned as it slowly lowered the female spider into the tank.
"See you later, Tron." She winked at him and then disappeared into the depths.
Raptron sighed and stomped onto his platform. He hit the 'lower' button and as he lowered, he began to mutter to himself. "This looks like fun. Last thing I needed after a hard battle was to be drowned in this shi..." He went offline and became fully submerged.
-------------------------------------
Dinobot grunted as he set the unconscious Rattrap into the CR chamber as carefully as he could. Try as he might, the rodent still made a small crash as he hit the side of the chamber. Optimus had finished placing Cheetor in the other chamber and turned to Dinobot.
"You still can't think of who that new Predacon is?" the Maximal leader asked.
Dinobot snorted and shook his head. "Negative, I never heard his name. He reminds me of someone I knew in my youth."
Rhinox spoke up from his chair. "From back on Cybertron?"
Dinobot nodded. "Affirmative."
Optimus shook his head. "That's impossible, a created bot cannot become a protoform again."
"I said he reminded me of someone I knew, I realize it cannot be him."
The three's conversation was interrupted by Silverbolt's message on the comm. link.
"This is Silverbolt to Optimus. I have spotted a stasis pod entering the atmosphere...its going into Predacon territory."
Optimus stood up and sighed. "Slag, not another one. Silverbolt, can you give me a location?"
"Yes, indeed I can." There was a brief pause as Silverbolt calculated the exact trajectory. "It's heading for grid tau, it's a rocky terrain."
"Acknowledged Silverbolt. Proceed to pod's location and guard it for as long as you can. Axalon out!"
Optimus turned to Dinobot with a depressed expression on his face. "I don't know if we can get to this one in time. You'll have to go."
Dinobot groaned. "Oh, joy."
Optimus turned to the comm. link. "Airazor and Tigertron! You both get to grid tau as fast as you can! A pod has landed there, and we must get it before the Predacons do or we are severely short-handed."
Dinobot lowered the weapons rack and retrieved a rather large assault rifle plus some grenades and a few extra swords. "These should be adequate munitions for battling the Predacons."
Optimus put a hand on his shoulder. "Good luck, Dinobot."
Dinobot nodded in acknowledgment. "I think I shall need it." He walked out the access hatch. Optimus sighed as he watched the raptor run at full speed towards grid tau.
---------------------------------------
Megatron was fully reclined in his throne when the klaxon sirens went off. He sat up quickly and floated over to the nearest computer terminal. "Report!" he boomed.
The computer whirred to life. "Stasis pod achieving landfall. Expected landing site in grid tau."
Megatron cackled with excitement. "Yes! That is also close." He went to dispatch a team, but realized that Rampage was the only other bot on the bridge.
Waspinator, Raptron and Blackarachnia were in the CR tanks, and Scorpinok, Inferno, and Tarantulas were the team sent to retrieve Terrorsaur. Quickstrike was scouting too far from the crash site to be of any use.
Megatron barked at the computer. "Estimated time to full repair of Predacons in CR tanks?"
The computer beeped twice. "Estimated time: 15.7 cycles before all are fully restored."
"Who will be restored first?"
"Unit Raptron needs a further 2.3 cycles."
"As soon as that time passes, let me know."
"Acknowledged."
Megatron slammed his fist on the comm. button. "Scorpinok! Get to grid tau as fast as you can! A stasis pod crashed there, and the Maximals are almost there!"
Scorpinok grunted under the weight of Terrorsaur. "Yes, Megatron!" He dropped the part he was carrying and turned to the others. "You heard him, drop everything and follow me!"
Tarantulas chuckled and punted Terrorsaur's head as far as he could. He then transformed to motorcycle mode and sped by the sprinting Scorpinok. Inferno flew by overhead.
------------------------------------------
Silverbolt paced back and forth with one missile placed over his right shoulder. His senses were heightened in his agitated state, so he heard Tarantulas coming.
"Halt spider! Go no further!" Silverbolt warned even before Tarantulas entered the area.
Tarantulas revved his engine loudly as he came to a stop. He transformed and glared at Silverbolt. "Do not attempt to intimidate me, Maximal, or you'll regret it!"
Silverbolt grinned at the threat returned by Tarantulas. "What are you going to do, are you..."
Inferno screamed overhead and fired a blast that narrowly missed Silverbolt. Silverbolt looked up at the insect, and that gave enough time for Tarantulas to tackle him.
Silverbolt grunted in a vain attempt to overpower the evil spider. "Unhand me, Predacon!"
Tarantulas did not reply, he just cackled in his usual manner. He displayed the reason for his joy shortly after. His circular saw blade was fully revved and inching closer to the pinned Maximal fuzor. Silverbolt was pushing up on Tarantulas' arm, but he lacked the leverage needed to stop it.
Silverbolt struggled furiously as the spinning blade drew closer and closer. The saw was almost touching when he heard a wonderful sound.
"Airazor, maximize!" The hawk-bot screeched and fired a volley of wrist missiles that narrowly missed Tarantulas.
Tarantulas, since he was now outnumbered, put all of his weight on the blade that slashed Silverbolt's chest plate. The spider then jumped off the injured Maximal to open fire on Airazor with his machine guns. He had just achieved a positive lock on her when he was hit from behind by a quasar shot.
"Today just isn't your day, Predacon." remarked Tigertorn, reloading his quasar cannon.
"Nor yours! Scorpinok, terrorize!" He transformed quickly and fired dual missiles at Tigertron, who used his speed to dodge them.
Inferno giggled with delight as he watched the two battles being held. He waved his cannon around frantically as he attempted to acquire a target. Inferno never got a chance to fire.
Tigertron grabbed Scorpinok's arm, which held the dual mega-missile launcher. During the skirmish, it went off and hit the screaming Inferno, causing him to crash.
Scorpinok knocked Tigertron's arms away and with a head butt, stunned him. He then unleashed a six-punch combination that knocked the tiger out.
Just after Tigertron hit the ground, Dinobot entered the area.
"It appears the situation is worse than I anticipated. Dinobot, maximize!" He ran into the fray and engaged Scorpinok.
----------------------------------------
Megatron paced impatiently around the command deck. "I wish that computer would hurry up!"
As if reading his thoughts, a message came across the comm. "Unit Raptron's repair cycle is complete."
Megatron quickly activated the comm. system. "Raptron to the bridge! On the double!"
Megatron paced anxiously for another couple of minutes before Raptron ran onto the bridge.
He saluted. "Raptron reporting, sir."
"You will proceed immediately to grid tau to reinforce our troops there. Move!"
Raptron saluted again. "Yes sir!" He opened the roof hatch and engaged his jets in a ball of fire.
Megatron grinned as he watched Raptron disappear into the sky. "Yes, I do like the sound of that. Oh, yes indeed!"
--------------------------------------------
Dinobot blocked Scorpinok's right hook and countered with a series of quick jabs to the Predacon's jaw.
Scorpinok stumbled back a few steps. "You will not win traitor!"
Dinobot laughed and brought out his dual swords. "Oh, but I will."
Dinobot charged and, blocking another one of Scorpinok's attacks, slashed him across the abdomen causing an electrical surge to knock the Predacon offline. He kneeled down beside Silverbolt.
"Are you damaged severely?"
Silverbolt grunted as he sat up. "No, I will be all right. I won't be any help in a battle though."
Dinobot snapped to his feet as he heard jets coming from the direction of the Predacon base. He growled as the newest Predacon landed fifty feet from him.
Raptron chuckled. "So, come back for more eh?"
Dinobot roared and brought out both his swords. "We shall see Predacon, we shall see."
Raptron grinned and also brought out two swords. They both charged at each other and met in a tremendous explosion of sword attacks and parries. Raptron knocked Dinobot's arm up and then butt-ended him with the handle of his sword. Dinobot shook it off quickly and hit Raptron with a knee to the ribs, followed by a powerful sidekick to the face.
Raptron grunted as he got to his feet. "Impressive, Maximal. You are indeed a challenge for me."
Raptron edged closer to Dinobot and knocked one his swords away with a swift roundhouse kick. Dinobot roared and tackled Raptron, knocking both his swords away. Dinobot tossed his remaining sword aside to grapple with the Predacon. Raptron quickly got back to his feet and stood, glaring at Dinobot.
Dinobot sneered at the Predacon. "You fight well with blade, Predacon! Let's see just how good you are unarmed."
Dinobot roared and charged. Raptron quickly showed his fighting talent by using Dinobot's momentum to his advantage by flipping him to the earth. Dinobot bellowed and swiftly rolled out of the path of Raptron's stomping feet.
Raptron grinned as he watched Dinobot struggle to his feet. "Impressive, Maximal! You should join us, we would make quite a team!"
Dinobot growled. "I'll never join you as long as Megatron is in command!"
"Pity." Raptron charged full blast and Dinobot had to dive out of the way.
Dinobot tried to get up, but was pounced on by Raptron.
"That's one advantage I have over you, Maximal. Pure and incredible speed!" In his boasting, he did not see Dinobot's elbow come up and strike him in the face.
Raptron, stunned, let loose his advantage on the Maximal and allowed him to get to his feet. Dinobot quickly charged again, but Raptron saw him coming and flipped the Maximal over his back.
"Like I said, Maximal, speed." Just then, a flurry of mini-missiles slammed into Raptron's back. He turned and roared at the origin of the missiles. "Annoying bird! You shall feel my power!"
Raptron engaged his jets in a powerful ball of flame and took off after the speedy Airazor. He retrieved one of his missile launchers and fired a mega- missile at her every few seconds that she dodged with relative ease.
"You think that's speed?" Airazor jeered. "Watch this!"
Airazor went into a sharp left bank at full speed. She winced at the sheer force of such a maneuver and when she pulled out of it, she expected to see Raptron in front of her, but he was not there. To her amazement, the Predacon had executed the maneuver with the same efficiency as she did. She executed another sharp turn and this time she seemed to elude the Predacon. She stopped very quickly and looked around for Raptron. She did not see him coming from below. He shot up right in front of her, swiping with his sword as he passed.
Raptron grinned sadistically as he heard the piercing scream of Airazor as she plummeted the several hundred feet to the unyielding ground. He heard a faint roaring coming from below and looked to see Dinobot directly below him. "So, want more eh? Well, who am I to deny you another defeat!"
Raptron dove at full speed towards the ground, firing missiles and dodging laser fire as he went. When he came to about 50 feet, he began to level off. He flew straight at 8 feet and slammed into Dinobot going full throttle.
Dinobot roared as he flew back several feet and hit the ground.
Raptron landed on the ground and began stalking the Maximal raptor. "I had thought you would have been tougher of an opponent for me, Maximal! Now you will terminate!"
Dinobot struggled to his feet, but was knocked down again by a powerful kick to the chest. Dinobot again got to his feet, but this time he was tossed to the Earth. Dinobot growled as the heavy, thundering footsteps got steadily nearer. He looked around in a panic and spotted one of Raptron's swords near him. He grabbed it and was flipped over by Raptron.
"It's been fun, Maximal," Raptron raised the sword over his head, "but in the end I am the victor!" He went to swing the sword down, but Dinobot lunged upward with his own sword.
Dinobot twisted the electron saber and pulled down, creating a humongous gash in Raptron's chest. Dinobot chuckled as he watched Raptron slump to the ground. "Not so fast as we had thought." He threw the bloody sword down beside the stasis locked Predacon and walked over to the pod. He inspected all the switches, buttons, sliders and levers and scratched his head. "To the Inferno with this! It's like a slagging jigsaw puzzle."
Silverbolt finally grunted to his feet and limped beside Dinobot. "If I were in perfect condition, I could help you, but..."
Dinobot quickly interrupted him. "Dinobot to base. We have secured the pod... for now!"
Optimus' commanding voice came over the comm. "Dinobot! What is the situation there? Do you need assistance?"
Dinobot snorted. "Affirmative. Assistance is requested. Three Maximals down."
He caught sight of Airazor laying in a heap. Mech fluid was gushing from the large slash that ran across her falcon-head chest. Every so often a spark could be seen shooting from where her circuitry was damaged.
"Airazor is severely injured. I would suggest you bring Rhinox to help with the pod."
Optimus sighed. "We'll be right there, guard that pod! Optimus out!"
Dinobot went to beast mode. "Of course! Guard the pod! What else have I done lately?"
----------------------------------------------
Megatron paced anxiously in the command center aboard the Predacon ship.
The computer beeped. "Update of battle in grid tau." Megatron sprinted to the screen. "Unit Scorpinok, non-functional. Unit Inferno, non-functional. Unit Tarantulas, non-functional. Unit Raptron, non-functional."
Megatron slammed the console. "Blast! The pod!"
Megatron paced back and forth, trying to formulate a plan when Blackarachnia and Waspinator stepped onto the bridge.
Megatron ran up to them. "Well it's about slagging time! Go immediately to grid tau, a stasis pod has landed there and our first attempt to secure it failed. Move!"
Blackarachnia grinned. "Another pod? Excellent!"
Megatron glared at her. "Uh, yesss. Rampage! You will accompany them! Now move!"
Blackarachnia returned the evil look and slowly walked out of the Predacon base and began to run to the pod. Waspinator flew overhead in beast mode, and Rampage brought up the rear in his slow and powerful tank mode.
-----------------------------------------------
Dinobot paced uneasily. He was a warrior, yet he felt uncomfortable being so far in Predacon territory by himself. He inspected every little noise, but found nothing each time. He did a constant rotation of checking on all the bots, but they were still in stasis lock. He also checked the surrounding area, and paced back and forth in front of the pod. He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Optimus enter the area from a distance.
He was transporting Rhinox. Cheetor was flying beside. Optimus landed with a hard thud and transformed to robot mode.
Optimus saw Raptron lying on the ground. "It looks like you handled things quite nicely."
Dinobot snorted. "That is where you are incorrect, Optimus Primal. The battle was most difficult."
Rhinox pushed a few buttons on the pod. "Good, they didn't do anything to the pod. I can start now."
Optimus nodded. "Do it, and hurry!"
Suddenly, Dinobot quickly turned around and faced in the direction of the Predacon base. "Predacons!" he bellowed as a missile just missed him.
Blackarachnia wandered out from behind one of the boulders. "We Predacons claim this pod for our own!"
Dinobot roared. "Over my terminated body!"
Rampage blasted through another boulder. "That's precisely the idea, Maximal!"
Cheetor transformed to robot mode and fired three shots at Rampage. All three hit him in the chest plate, but he just shrugged them off and fired back at the Maximal cheetah, who barely dove out of the way.
Dinobot ducked a missile blast and turned to Optimus. "We must fight to the last! We cannot allow another pod to fall to the Predacons!"
Optimus nodded. "I'm well aware of that, Dinobot."
Optimus opened fire on Rampage as Dinobot surveyed the area for a prime target. He found one as Waspinator buzzed into the area from above.
Waspinator giggled. "Wazzpinator zeez traitor-bot! Wazzpinator will capture traitor-bot and Megatron will reward Wazzpinator, yezzz."
Waspinator transformed and quickly opened fire on Dinobot, who sidestepped all of them easily and then returned fire with his cybertronic beam. Waspinator, however was not so swift and the beam struck him dead on.
The sheer force of the impact sent Waspinator flying out of control into the next sector. "Wazzpinator hatez traitor-bot," he stated right before crash landing in some trees.
Blackarachnia charged at Cheetor full force and hit him with a flurry of martial arts punches which stunned Cheetor. Rampage took advantage of this and blasted Cheetor with his powerful cannon.
Blackarachnia charged and fired her machine guns at Dinobot, but was halted in her tracks. She caught a glimpse of Raptron lying there on the cold ground, bleeding. She glared at Dinobot. "What have you done to Tron!?"
Dinobot grinned and kicked dirt onto the nearby Raptron.
That was the wrong thing to do.
Blackarachnia roared and charged Dinobot. She fired three cyber venom darts in under a second that Dinobot was unable to dodge. He stumbled backwards, unable to do anything about Blackarachnia as he was paralyzed. Blackarachnia hit the Maximal raptor with a swift kick to the head that jarred the sword from Dinobot's hand. She grabbed it, and with all her might, swung the ferocious blade decapitating Dinobot.
Optimus gasped in amazement as he saw Dinobot crash harshly to the ground. He turned quickly to Rhinox. "Hurry up! We're almost out of time!"
Blackarachnia went to fire on Rhinox, but then holstered her weapon. "I will get you for this, Primal!" she warned. She amazingly hefted Raptron onto her shoulders and walked slowly off.
This left Rampage alone against Optimus and Rhinox. The Maximal commander opened fire and was soon joined by Rhinox using dual chain guns. Rampage was very strong, but not indestructible. He took too much damage and left the battle.
Optimus searched the area uneasily, but he found no more Predacons. He powered down his weaponry and walked over to see how Rhinox was doing.
"Status report!" the Maximal commander ordered.
Rhinox sighed in his usual pessimistic manner. "It's as ready as it'll ever be, but I don't know if it will work."
Optimus chuckled and slapped Rhinox on the back. "Don't worry, old friend. If you think it's ready, it'll work. You better start now, while you can."
Rhinox nodded slowly. "All right, here goes nothing!"
He pushed the execute button and at once the pod came to life.
The computer beeped and blipped. "Beginning scanning and replication." The scanning array circled around until it came to a cave in the rocks. "Suitable life form found, beginning replication."
Optimus and Rhinox had to cover their eyes to shield themselves from the blinding light that comes with a new protoform morphing into a transformer. It quickly faded away as the pod hatch blew open and a large creature leapt from the pod and took to the air.
The newest Maximal spread its wings full and revealed they were made of skin and not of feathers. It gave a high-pitched screech as it landed and hung upside down from a branch.
Rhinox seemed very interested in the new Maximal. He turned to Optimus. "It's a bat. That is very useful."
The new Maximal growled. "Of course I'm a bat!" he yelled in a screechy voice.
Optimus took a turn to study the Maximal as well. "Why is it advantageous Rhinox?"
The bat interrupted. "Allow me to field that question. Night Flyer, maximize!" The bat form disappeared very quickly and a large bot stood in its place. Night Flyer stood taller than Rhinox and was mainly dark gray and black. His eyes glowed a mysterious yellow and his large and awkward bat wings folded neatly behind his back.
"So tell me, Night Flyer," started Optimus, "Why is it advantageous?"
Night Flyer growled again. "Isn't it obvious? My beast form makes me the ultimate stealth scout! I have far better senses than anyone and anything. Also, my color makes me practically invisible in the night! That good enough reason?"
Optimus chuckled. "Prime. Welcome to the Maximals, Night Flyer! I am Optimus Primal, the commander. We have a base a couple of hundred klicks away. It's kind of battered right now, but its home."
Night Flyer yawned. "A base! Good. The sun is rising, and I need a good sleep."
Optimus scratched his head. "What do you mean... oh that's right! Bats are nocturnal."
Night Flyer nodded. "You got it, monkey man!" He took a look around the area and saw all of the fallen bots. "What in the Inferno went on here?"
Optimus chuckled. "We had to fight pretty hard to get you, Night Flyer. Speaking of which, we should carry our fellow Maximals back to base for repairs."
Night Flyer looked around and then glanced at Optimus. "Um... which ones are Maximal?"
Optimus sighed. "Well, let's see. Everyone except the spider and Inferno, that giant ant over there.
Night Flyer walked over to Dinobot. "I'll take this one, and that one over there," he said, pointing to Cheetor.
Optimus sighed. "Are you sure you can handle the..." he never bothered to finish his sentence as Night Flyer had already taken off with his cargo. "Prime."
Optimus helped Silverbolt to his feet and Rhinox picked up Tigertron. Silverbolt went to beast mode and shakily took off to begin his trek to the Axalon. Finally Optimus picked up Rhinox, Tigertron and Airazor and then took off himself towards the base.
--------------------------------------------------
Megatron sat in his throne when Blackarachnia walked into the command room, carrying Raptron. He leaped off and confronted her.
"What in the Inferno did you do!" he boomed.
Blackarachnia hissed at him. "Don't you dare blame this one on me, Megatron!! If anything, it was your poor planning that caused this!"
Before he could respond, Blackarachnia stormed off towards the CR tanks.
Megatron slammed the nearby computer console with his fist. "Treacherous spider!"
---------------------------------------------------
Night Flyer strolled onto the command deck of the Axalon and placed his cargo into the CR chambers. Rattrap confronted the new Maximal.
"And just who in the galaxy are you?" he asked in his usual manner.
"He," began Optimus as he stepped onto the bridge after depositing the other injured Maximals in the sickbay to await treatment, "is Night Flyer, the newest Maximal."
Night Flyer bent down to look Rattrap in the eyes. "And who are you, mouse?" he asked firmly.
Rattrap leaned against the computer console. "The name's Rattrap, and I'm a rat, not a mouse, capiche?"
Night Flyer growled. "You're a mouse if I say you're a mouse!"
Rattrap was quick to counter. "Oh yeah..."
Rhinox shook his head. "Uh-oh."
Rattrap continued. "Well, I can tell you where to go, Kite Flyer!"
Night Flyer went toe-to-toe with Rattrap and then chuckled and slapped him on the back. "I like you, mouse. You've got guts."
Rhinox and Optimus both gave a loud sigh of relief.
Just to be safe though, Optimus stepped in between the two rodents. "Well... I'll show you to your quarters, Night Flyer."
Night Flyer yawned again. "Good, and make it snappy, Optimus. I need a rest. See you around, mouse!" He walked off behind his commander's lead towards the living quarters.
"I'm a rat!!" Rattrap yelled after Night Flyer.
-----------------------------------------------
Blackarachnia sat against the wall in the CR tank room. She had put Raptron in for repairs and had fallen asleep waiting for him. She was wakened by the sound of mechanical moving parts. She quickly retrieved her missile launcher, but is was only the platform slowly lifting Raptron from the tank.
Raptron converted to beast mode and strolled casually over to her. "Blackarachnia! What are you..."
"Raptron! I'm so glad that you're," Blackarachnia swiftly became aware of her emotional display and ceased herself. "Err... that is, I am pleased to see you still functional. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm tired." She started towards the exit.
"Blackarachnia," Raptron said softly just before she walked out.
"Yes?" she said a little shakily, which surprised her.
"Thank you."
Blackarachnia looked back quickly and saw that Raptron was smiling at her. "Don't mention it, Tron." She let the door close behind her and walked slowly to her quarters.
Raptron sighed while he got ready to go to his own quarters, but he was stopped by Megatron's voice over the comm.
"Raptron!"
Raptron growled and responded a little sarcastically. "Yes, sir?"
Megatron paused. "You will go retrieve all of the fallen Predacons and bring them back here for repairs."
Raptron grumbled. "All of them!?"
Megatron cackled. "All of them!"
"But that could take me all day!"
Megatron laughed again. "Yes, I suppose it could. Well, since you are so concerned about time, you can take a field kit and repair all of them yourself. Megatron out!"
Raptron growled and slammed the bulkhead. "Slaggin' Megatron!"
-------------------------------------------------
Blackarachnia ambled down the dark and dank corridors of the Predacon base. She enjoyed this part of the base. None of the other Predacons, save Raptron now, ever went down to that area much. She could walk slowly, which gave her time to talk to herself.
"Keep your emotions in check, Blackarachnia!"
"Mustn't develop feelings for him, Blackarachnia!"
"Love is a weakness, Blackarachnia!"
She stopped outside her quarters.
"Who are you kidding, Blackarachnia?"
She smiled to herself and stepped into her room.
"Attack party reporting back, sir." stated Raptron at attention.
Megatron whirled his throne around to face them. "Uh, yesss. I have been monitoring your progress. You fought adequately."
Raptron chuckled. "Adequately? We kicked Maximal ass, my friend!" He pumped his fist in the air triumphantly.
"Yes, I'm sure." Megatron stood up to give more orders. "To the CR tanks with you! Scorpinok! Take a team to retrieve Terrorsaur."
Scorpinok began to leave and then stopped. "Couldn't we just leave him there?"
The thought brought a smile to Megatron's face. "As much as I would like to, his aerial recon skills are important. On the double, Scorpinok!"
Scorpinok saluted, bonking himself on the head with his claw. "Ow! Uh...yes Megatron!"
Raptron chuckled at the bumbling buffoon and then followed Blackarachnia and Waspinator to the CR tanks.
Blackarachnia slowed her pace to allow Waspinator to go ahead and for Raptron to walk beside her. "You fought well tonight, Tron."
Raptron smiled. "Thanks, you're quite the fighter yourself."
Blackarachnia shrugged her shoulders. "Well, nothing to brag about." Blackarachnia had always considered her combat skills far superior to any other, but seeing Raptron in action had brought modesty to her statement.
Raptron went to put his arm around the female Predacon, but halted himself when he thought better of it. "Now, don't you underestimate yourself. Your martial arts are incredible...and you're quite flexible."
"Excuse me?" asked Blackarachnia, not excessively offended by the comment, even though she acted it.
Raptron immediately began to backpedal in his comments. "I meant for all those moves you do. You know with all those flips and kicks and such." He realized Blackarachnia wasn't buying it. "Excuse me while I go hang myself." Raptron laughed when he realized Blackarachnia was too.
"I know that's what you meant, Tron. It was just fun leading you on like that." Blackarachnia laughed again and slapped Raptron on the back. "Come on, in this room here."
Waspinator had left the door open for the two. They entered and each went to a CR tank embedded into the floor area. Waspinator was already in one. Blackarachnia stepped wearily onto the platform and pressed the 'lower' button. The machine groaned as it slowly lowered the female spider into the tank.
"See you later, Tron." She winked at him and then disappeared into the depths.
Raptron sighed and stomped onto his platform. He hit the 'lower' button and as he lowered, he began to mutter to himself. "This looks like fun. Last thing I needed after a hard battle was to be drowned in this shi..." He went offline and became fully submerged.
-------------------------------------
Dinobot grunted as he set the unconscious Rattrap into the CR chamber as carefully as he could. Try as he might, the rodent still made a small crash as he hit the side of the chamber. Optimus had finished placing Cheetor in the other chamber and turned to Dinobot.
"You still can't think of who that new Predacon is?" the Maximal leader asked.
Dinobot snorted and shook his head. "Negative, I never heard his name. He reminds me of someone I knew in my youth."
Rhinox spoke up from his chair. "From back on Cybertron?"
Dinobot nodded. "Affirmative."
Optimus shook his head. "That's impossible, a created bot cannot become a protoform again."
"I said he reminded me of someone I knew, I realize it cannot be him."
The three's conversation was interrupted by Silverbolt's message on the comm. link.
"This is Silverbolt to Optimus. I have spotted a stasis pod entering the atmosphere...its going into Predacon territory."
Optimus stood up and sighed. "Slag, not another one. Silverbolt, can you give me a location?"
"Yes, indeed I can." There was a brief pause as Silverbolt calculated the exact trajectory. "It's heading for grid tau, it's a rocky terrain."
"Acknowledged Silverbolt. Proceed to pod's location and guard it for as long as you can. Axalon out!"
Optimus turned to Dinobot with a depressed expression on his face. "I don't know if we can get to this one in time. You'll have to go."
Dinobot groaned. "Oh, joy."
Optimus turned to the comm. link. "Airazor and Tigertron! You both get to grid tau as fast as you can! A pod has landed there, and we must get it before the Predacons do or we are severely short-handed."
Dinobot lowered the weapons rack and retrieved a rather large assault rifle plus some grenades and a few extra swords. "These should be adequate munitions for battling the Predacons."
Optimus put a hand on his shoulder. "Good luck, Dinobot."
Dinobot nodded in acknowledgment. "I think I shall need it." He walked out the access hatch. Optimus sighed as he watched the raptor run at full speed towards grid tau.
---------------------------------------
Megatron was fully reclined in his throne when the klaxon sirens went off. He sat up quickly and floated over to the nearest computer terminal. "Report!" he boomed.
The computer whirred to life. "Stasis pod achieving landfall. Expected landing site in grid tau."
Megatron cackled with excitement. "Yes! That is also close." He went to dispatch a team, but realized that Rampage was the only other bot on the bridge.
Waspinator, Raptron and Blackarachnia were in the CR tanks, and Scorpinok, Inferno, and Tarantulas were the team sent to retrieve Terrorsaur. Quickstrike was scouting too far from the crash site to be of any use.
Megatron barked at the computer. "Estimated time to full repair of Predacons in CR tanks?"
The computer beeped twice. "Estimated time: 15.7 cycles before all are fully restored."
"Who will be restored first?"
"Unit Raptron needs a further 2.3 cycles."
"As soon as that time passes, let me know."
"Acknowledged."
Megatron slammed his fist on the comm. button. "Scorpinok! Get to grid tau as fast as you can! A stasis pod crashed there, and the Maximals are almost there!"
Scorpinok grunted under the weight of Terrorsaur. "Yes, Megatron!" He dropped the part he was carrying and turned to the others. "You heard him, drop everything and follow me!"
Tarantulas chuckled and punted Terrorsaur's head as far as he could. He then transformed to motorcycle mode and sped by the sprinting Scorpinok. Inferno flew by overhead.
------------------------------------------
Silverbolt paced back and forth with one missile placed over his right shoulder. His senses were heightened in his agitated state, so he heard Tarantulas coming.
"Halt spider! Go no further!" Silverbolt warned even before Tarantulas entered the area.
Tarantulas revved his engine loudly as he came to a stop. He transformed and glared at Silverbolt. "Do not attempt to intimidate me, Maximal, or you'll regret it!"
Silverbolt grinned at the threat returned by Tarantulas. "What are you going to do, are you..."
Inferno screamed overhead and fired a blast that narrowly missed Silverbolt. Silverbolt looked up at the insect, and that gave enough time for Tarantulas to tackle him.
Silverbolt grunted in a vain attempt to overpower the evil spider. "Unhand me, Predacon!"
Tarantulas did not reply, he just cackled in his usual manner. He displayed the reason for his joy shortly after. His circular saw blade was fully revved and inching closer to the pinned Maximal fuzor. Silverbolt was pushing up on Tarantulas' arm, but he lacked the leverage needed to stop it.
Silverbolt struggled furiously as the spinning blade drew closer and closer. The saw was almost touching when he heard a wonderful sound.
"Airazor, maximize!" The hawk-bot screeched and fired a volley of wrist missiles that narrowly missed Tarantulas.
Tarantulas, since he was now outnumbered, put all of his weight on the blade that slashed Silverbolt's chest plate. The spider then jumped off the injured Maximal to open fire on Airazor with his machine guns. He had just achieved a positive lock on her when he was hit from behind by a quasar shot.
"Today just isn't your day, Predacon." remarked Tigertorn, reloading his quasar cannon.
"Nor yours! Scorpinok, terrorize!" He transformed quickly and fired dual missiles at Tigertron, who used his speed to dodge them.
Inferno giggled with delight as he watched the two battles being held. He waved his cannon around frantically as he attempted to acquire a target. Inferno never got a chance to fire.
Tigertron grabbed Scorpinok's arm, which held the dual mega-missile launcher. During the skirmish, it went off and hit the screaming Inferno, causing him to crash.
Scorpinok knocked Tigertron's arms away and with a head butt, stunned him. He then unleashed a six-punch combination that knocked the tiger out.
Just after Tigertron hit the ground, Dinobot entered the area.
"It appears the situation is worse than I anticipated. Dinobot, maximize!" He ran into the fray and engaged Scorpinok.
----------------------------------------
Megatron paced impatiently around the command deck. "I wish that computer would hurry up!"
As if reading his thoughts, a message came across the comm. "Unit Raptron's repair cycle is complete."
Megatron quickly activated the comm. system. "Raptron to the bridge! On the double!"
Megatron paced anxiously for another couple of minutes before Raptron ran onto the bridge.
He saluted. "Raptron reporting, sir."
"You will proceed immediately to grid tau to reinforce our troops there. Move!"
Raptron saluted again. "Yes sir!" He opened the roof hatch and engaged his jets in a ball of fire.
Megatron grinned as he watched Raptron disappear into the sky. "Yes, I do like the sound of that. Oh, yes indeed!"
--------------------------------------------
Dinobot blocked Scorpinok's right hook and countered with a series of quick jabs to the Predacon's jaw.
Scorpinok stumbled back a few steps. "You will not win traitor!"
Dinobot laughed and brought out his dual swords. "Oh, but I will."
Dinobot charged and, blocking another one of Scorpinok's attacks, slashed him across the abdomen causing an electrical surge to knock the Predacon offline. He kneeled down beside Silverbolt.
"Are you damaged severely?"
Silverbolt grunted as he sat up. "No, I will be all right. I won't be any help in a battle though."
Dinobot snapped to his feet as he heard jets coming from the direction of the Predacon base. He growled as the newest Predacon landed fifty feet from him.
Raptron chuckled. "So, come back for more eh?"
Dinobot roared and brought out both his swords. "We shall see Predacon, we shall see."
Raptron grinned and also brought out two swords. They both charged at each other and met in a tremendous explosion of sword attacks and parries. Raptron knocked Dinobot's arm up and then butt-ended him with the handle of his sword. Dinobot shook it off quickly and hit Raptron with a knee to the ribs, followed by a powerful sidekick to the face.
Raptron grunted as he got to his feet. "Impressive, Maximal. You are indeed a challenge for me."
Raptron edged closer to Dinobot and knocked one his swords away with a swift roundhouse kick. Dinobot roared and tackled Raptron, knocking both his swords away. Dinobot tossed his remaining sword aside to grapple with the Predacon. Raptron quickly got back to his feet and stood, glaring at Dinobot.
Dinobot sneered at the Predacon. "You fight well with blade, Predacon! Let's see just how good you are unarmed."
Dinobot roared and charged. Raptron quickly showed his fighting talent by using Dinobot's momentum to his advantage by flipping him to the earth. Dinobot bellowed and swiftly rolled out of the path of Raptron's stomping feet.
Raptron grinned as he watched Dinobot struggle to his feet. "Impressive, Maximal! You should join us, we would make quite a team!"
Dinobot growled. "I'll never join you as long as Megatron is in command!"
"Pity." Raptron charged full blast and Dinobot had to dive out of the way.
Dinobot tried to get up, but was pounced on by Raptron.
"That's one advantage I have over you, Maximal. Pure and incredible speed!" In his boasting, he did not see Dinobot's elbow come up and strike him in the face.
Raptron, stunned, let loose his advantage on the Maximal and allowed him to get to his feet. Dinobot quickly charged again, but Raptron saw him coming and flipped the Maximal over his back.
"Like I said, Maximal, speed." Just then, a flurry of mini-missiles slammed into Raptron's back. He turned and roared at the origin of the missiles. "Annoying bird! You shall feel my power!"
Raptron engaged his jets in a powerful ball of flame and took off after the speedy Airazor. He retrieved one of his missile launchers and fired a mega- missile at her every few seconds that she dodged with relative ease.
"You think that's speed?" Airazor jeered. "Watch this!"
Airazor went into a sharp left bank at full speed. She winced at the sheer force of such a maneuver and when she pulled out of it, she expected to see Raptron in front of her, but he was not there. To her amazement, the Predacon had executed the maneuver with the same efficiency as she did. She executed another sharp turn and this time she seemed to elude the Predacon. She stopped very quickly and looked around for Raptron. She did not see him coming from below. He shot up right in front of her, swiping with his sword as he passed.
Raptron grinned sadistically as he heard the piercing scream of Airazor as she plummeted the several hundred feet to the unyielding ground. He heard a faint roaring coming from below and looked to see Dinobot directly below him. "So, want more eh? Well, who am I to deny you another defeat!"
Raptron dove at full speed towards the ground, firing missiles and dodging laser fire as he went. When he came to about 50 feet, he began to level off. He flew straight at 8 feet and slammed into Dinobot going full throttle.
Dinobot roared as he flew back several feet and hit the ground.
Raptron landed on the ground and began stalking the Maximal raptor. "I had thought you would have been tougher of an opponent for me, Maximal! Now you will terminate!"
Dinobot struggled to his feet, but was knocked down again by a powerful kick to the chest. Dinobot again got to his feet, but this time he was tossed to the Earth. Dinobot growled as the heavy, thundering footsteps got steadily nearer. He looked around in a panic and spotted one of Raptron's swords near him. He grabbed it and was flipped over by Raptron.
"It's been fun, Maximal," Raptron raised the sword over his head, "but in the end I am the victor!" He went to swing the sword down, but Dinobot lunged upward with his own sword.
Dinobot twisted the electron saber and pulled down, creating a humongous gash in Raptron's chest. Dinobot chuckled as he watched Raptron slump to the ground. "Not so fast as we had thought." He threw the bloody sword down beside the stasis locked Predacon and walked over to the pod. He inspected all the switches, buttons, sliders and levers and scratched his head. "To the Inferno with this! It's like a slagging jigsaw puzzle."
Silverbolt finally grunted to his feet and limped beside Dinobot. "If I were in perfect condition, I could help you, but..."
Dinobot quickly interrupted him. "Dinobot to base. We have secured the pod... for now!"
Optimus' commanding voice came over the comm. "Dinobot! What is the situation there? Do you need assistance?"
Dinobot snorted. "Affirmative. Assistance is requested. Three Maximals down."
He caught sight of Airazor laying in a heap. Mech fluid was gushing from the large slash that ran across her falcon-head chest. Every so often a spark could be seen shooting from where her circuitry was damaged.
"Airazor is severely injured. I would suggest you bring Rhinox to help with the pod."
Optimus sighed. "We'll be right there, guard that pod! Optimus out!"
Dinobot went to beast mode. "Of course! Guard the pod! What else have I done lately?"
----------------------------------------------
Megatron paced anxiously in the command center aboard the Predacon ship.
The computer beeped. "Update of battle in grid tau." Megatron sprinted to the screen. "Unit Scorpinok, non-functional. Unit Inferno, non-functional. Unit Tarantulas, non-functional. Unit Raptron, non-functional."
Megatron slammed the console. "Blast! The pod!"
Megatron paced back and forth, trying to formulate a plan when Blackarachnia and Waspinator stepped onto the bridge.
Megatron ran up to them. "Well it's about slagging time! Go immediately to grid tau, a stasis pod has landed there and our first attempt to secure it failed. Move!"
Blackarachnia grinned. "Another pod? Excellent!"
Megatron glared at her. "Uh, yesss. Rampage! You will accompany them! Now move!"
Blackarachnia returned the evil look and slowly walked out of the Predacon base and began to run to the pod. Waspinator flew overhead in beast mode, and Rampage brought up the rear in his slow and powerful tank mode.
-----------------------------------------------
Dinobot paced uneasily. He was a warrior, yet he felt uncomfortable being so far in Predacon territory by himself. He inspected every little noise, but found nothing each time. He did a constant rotation of checking on all the bots, but they were still in stasis lock. He also checked the surrounding area, and paced back and forth in front of the pod. He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Optimus enter the area from a distance.
He was transporting Rhinox. Cheetor was flying beside. Optimus landed with a hard thud and transformed to robot mode.
Optimus saw Raptron lying on the ground. "It looks like you handled things quite nicely."
Dinobot snorted. "That is where you are incorrect, Optimus Primal. The battle was most difficult."
Rhinox pushed a few buttons on the pod. "Good, they didn't do anything to the pod. I can start now."
Optimus nodded. "Do it, and hurry!"
Suddenly, Dinobot quickly turned around and faced in the direction of the Predacon base. "Predacons!" he bellowed as a missile just missed him.
Blackarachnia wandered out from behind one of the boulders. "We Predacons claim this pod for our own!"
Dinobot roared. "Over my terminated body!"
Rampage blasted through another boulder. "That's precisely the idea, Maximal!"
Cheetor transformed to robot mode and fired three shots at Rampage. All three hit him in the chest plate, but he just shrugged them off and fired back at the Maximal cheetah, who barely dove out of the way.
Dinobot ducked a missile blast and turned to Optimus. "We must fight to the last! We cannot allow another pod to fall to the Predacons!"
Optimus nodded. "I'm well aware of that, Dinobot."
Optimus opened fire on Rampage as Dinobot surveyed the area for a prime target. He found one as Waspinator buzzed into the area from above.
Waspinator giggled. "Wazzpinator zeez traitor-bot! Wazzpinator will capture traitor-bot and Megatron will reward Wazzpinator, yezzz."
Waspinator transformed and quickly opened fire on Dinobot, who sidestepped all of them easily and then returned fire with his cybertronic beam. Waspinator, however was not so swift and the beam struck him dead on.
The sheer force of the impact sent Waspinator flying out of control into the next sector. "Wazzpinator hatez traitor-bot," he stated right before crash landing in some trees.
Blackarachnia charged at Cheetor full force and hit him with a flurry of martial arts punches which stunned Cheetor. Rampage took advantage of this and blasted Cheetor with his powerful cannon.
Blackarachnia charged and fired her machine guns at Dinobot, but was halted in her tracks. She caught a glimpse of Raptron lying there on the cold ground, bleeding. She glared at Dinobot. "What have you done to Tron!?"
Dinobot grinned and kicked dirt onto the nearby Raptron.
That was the wrong thing to do.
Blackarachnia roared and charged Dinobot. She fired three cyber venom darts in under a second that Dinobot was unable to dodge. He stumbled backwards, unable to do anything about Blackarachnia as he was paralyzed. Blackarachnia hit the Maximal raptor with a swift kick to the head that jarred the sword from Dinobot's hand. She grabbed it, and with all her might, swung the ferocious blade decapitating Dinobot.
Optimus gasped in amazement as he saw Dinobot crash harshly to the ground. He turned quickly to Rhinox. "Hurry up! We're almost out of time!"
Blackarachnia went to fire on Rhinox, but then holstered her weapon. "I will get you for this, Primal!" she warned. She amazingly hefted Raptron onto her shoulders and walked slowly off.
This left Rampage alone against Optimus and Rhinox. The Maximal commander opened fire and was soon joined by Rhinox using dual chain guns. Rampage was very strong, but not indestructible. He took too much damage and left the battle.
Optimus searched the area uneasily, but he found no more Predacons. He powered down his weaponry and walked over to see how Rhinox was doing.
"Status report!" the Maximal commander ordered.
Rhinox sighed in his usual pessimistic manner. "It's as ready as it'll ever be, but I don't know if it will work."
Optimus chuckled and slapped Rhinox on the back. "Don't worry, old friend. If you think it's ready, it'll work. You better start now, while you can."
Rhinox nodded slowly. "All right, here goes nothing!"
He pushed the execute button and at once the pod came to life.
The computer beeped and blipped. "Beginning scanning and replication." The scanning array circled around until it came to a cave in the rocks. "Suitable life form found, beginning replication."
Optimus and Rhinox had to cover their eyes to shield themselves from the blinding light that comes with a new protoform morphing into a transformer. It quickly faded away as the pod hatch blew open and a large creature leapt from the pod and took to the air.
The newest Maximal spread its wings full and revealed they were made of skin and not of feathers. It gave a high-pitched screech as it landed and hung upside down from a branch.
Rhinox seemed very interested in the new Maximal. He turned to Optimus. "It's a bat. That is very useful."
The new Maximal growled. "Of course I'm a bat!" he yelled in a screechy voice.
Optimus took a turn to study the Maximal as well. "Why is it advantageous Rhinox?"
The bat interrupted. "Allow me to field that question. Night Flyer, maximize!" The bat form disappeared very quickly and a large bot stood in its place. Night Flyer stood taller than Rhinox and was mainly dark gray and black. His eyes glowed a mysterious yellow and his large and awkward bat wings folded neatly behind his back.
"So tell me, Night Flyer," started Optimus, "Why is it advantageous?"
Night Flyer growled again. "Isn't it obvious? My beast form makes me the ultimate stealth scout! I have far better senses than anyone and anything. Also, my color makes me practically invisible in the night! That good enough reason?"
Optimus chuckled. "Prime. Welcome to the Maximals, Night Flyer! I am Optimus Primal, the commander. We have a base a couple of hundred klicks away. It's kind of battered right now, but its home."
Night Flyer yawned. "A base! Good. The sun is rising, and I need a good sleep."
Optimus scratched his head. "What do you mean... oh that's right! Bats are nocturnal."
Night Flyer nodded. "You got it, monkey man!" He took a look around the area and saw all of the fallen bots. "What in the Inferno went on here?"
Optimus chuckled. "We had to fight pretty hard to get you, Night Flyer. Speaking of which, we should carry our fellow Maximals back to base for repairs."
Night Flyer looked around and then glanced at Optimus. "Um... which ones are Maximal?"
Optimus sighed. "Well, let's see. Everyone except the spider and Inferno, that giant ant over there.
Night Flyer walked over to Dinobot. "I'll take this one, and that one over there," he said, pointing to Cheetor.
Optimus sighed. "Are you sure you can handle the..." he never bothered to finish his sentence as Night Flyer had already taken off with his cargo. "Prime."
Optimus helped Silverbolt to his feet and Rhinox picked up Tigertron. Silverbolt went to beast mode and shakily took off to begin his trek to the Axalon. Finally Optimus picked up Rhinox, Tigertron and Airazor and then took off himself towards the base.
--------------------------------------------------
Megatron sat in his throne when Blackarachnia walked into the command room, carrying Raptron. He leaped off and confronted her.
"What in the Inferno did you do!" he boomed.
Blackarachnia hissed at him. "Don't you dare blame this one on me, Megatron!! If anything, it was your poor planning that caused this!"
Before he could respond, Blackarachnia stormed off towards the CR tanks.
Megatron slammed the nearby computer console with his fist. "Treacherous spider!"
---------------------------------------------------
Night Flyer strolled onto the command deck of the Axalon and placed his cargo into the CR chambers. Rattrap confronted the new Maximal.
"And just who in the galaxy are you?" he asked in his usual manner.
"He," began Optimus as he stepped onto the bridge after depositing the other injured Maximals in the sickbay to await treatment, "is Night Flyer, the newest Maximal."
Night Flyer bent down to look Rattrap in the eyes. "And who are you, mouse?" he asked firmly.
Rattrap leaned against the computer console. "The name's Rattrap, and I'm a rat, not a mouse, capiche?"
Night Flyer growled. "You're a mouse if I say you're a mouse!"
Rattrap was quick to counter. "Oh yeah..."
Rhinox shook his head. "Uh-oh."
Rattrap continued. "Well, I can tell you where to go, Kite Flyer!"
Night Flyer went toe-to-toe with Rattrap and then chuckled and slapped him on the back. "I like you, mouse. You've got guts."
Rhinox and Optimus both gave a loud sigh of relief.
Just to be safe though, Optimus stepped in between the two rodents. "Well... I'll show you to your quarters, Night Flyer."
Night Flyer yawned again. "Good, and make it snappy, Optimus. I need a rest. See you around, mouse!" He walked off behind his commander's lead towards the living quarters.
"I'm a rat!!" Rattrap yelled after Night Flyer.
-----------------------------------------------
Blackarachnia sat against the wall in the CR tank room. She had put Raptron in for repairs and had fallen asleep waiting for him. She was wakened by the sound of mechanical moving parts. She quickly retrieved her missile launcher, but is was only the platform slowly lifting Raptron from the tank.
Raptron converted to beast mode and strolled casually over to her. "Blackarachnia! What are you..."
"Raptron! I'm so glad that you're," Blackarachnia swiftly became aware of her emotional display and ceased herself. "Err... that is, I am pleased to see you still functional. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm tired." She started towards the exit.
"Blackarachnia," Raptron said softly just before she walked out.
"Yes?" she said a little shakily, which surprised her.
"Thank you."
Blackarachnia looked back quickly and saw that Raptron was smiling at her. "Don't mention it, Tron." She let the door close behind her and walked slowly to her quarters.
Raptron sighed while he got ready to go to his own quarters, but he was stopped by Megatron's voice over the comm.
"Raptron!"
Raptron growled and responded a little sarcastically. "Yes, sir?"
Megatron paused. "You will go retrieve all of the fallen Predacons and bring them back here for repairs."
Raptron grumbled. "All of them!?"
Megatron cackled. "All of them!"
"But that could take me all day!"
Megatron laughed again. "Yes, I suppose it could. Well, since you are so concerned about time, you can take a field kit and repair all of them yourself. Megatron out!"
Raptron growled and slammed the bulkhead. "Slaggin' Megatron!"
-------------------------------------------------
Blackarachnia ambled down the dark and dank corridors of the Predacon base. She enjoyed this part of the base. None of the other Predacons, save Raptron now, ever went down to that area much. She could walk slowly, which gave her time to talk to herself.
"Keep your emotions in check, Blackarachnia!"
"Mustn't develop feelings for him, Blackarachnia!"
"Love is a weakness, Blackarachnia!"
She stopped outside her quarters.
"Who are you kidding, Blackarachnia?"
She smiled to herself and stepped into her room.