Bah. I don't really like this fanfic since there are only just itty bitty hints of slash, but this was the best I could come up with the scenario that Arcane-Angel proposed for me. 'Tis is part two of our wonderful three-shot trade. If you're not sure exactly what I'm talking about, read the first story I wrote. It's called "Claustrophobia." So, this story and the third, still unwritten one were actually due to be posted about a week ago, but family issues popped up and I was not able to get them up on the site in time. Most of it was bad, but the good news is that my father and his partner are getting married come June of next year. I call dibs on ring bearer, for the record. Transformers and Beast Wars is not mine. If it were, by any and all means, it would be a very scary place. The bad guys would always win. No lie.

A crosshair is a shape superimposed on an image that is used for precise alignment of a device, most notably that of a telescopic sight. Crosshairs are most commonly represented as intersecting lines... though many variations exist, including dots, posts, circles, scales, chevrons, or a combination of these. Most commonly associated with telescopic sights for aiming firearms...

~Wikipedia

Part two of a three-shot fanfiction trade with Arcane-Angel: Terrorsaur/Waspinator & Maximals

i

He had a Maximal in his crosshairs.

In the twilight from his place concealed high in the cliffs that were basked in the sun's setting luminescence, he kept his aim on the two white tigers sitting on the outcropping of rocks a hundred of so feet below. He could not actually tell which of the two feline beasts was truly Tigertron, but knew he at least had a Maximal in his gun's sights nonetheless.

Terrorsaur scoffed quietly from his place beside him. "They haven't been doing anything for the past megacycle. I'm bored."

Waspinator chewed on his glossa to keep himself from razzing in agitation. There was a much higher chance of the Predacon wasp being struck by lightning than the tigers below hearing him from so high up, but he was half positive that his horrid luck would come back to bite him on the skid plate if he tempted fate. He grumbled in a slightly exasperated tone. He had already dealt with Terrorsaur's claims of boredom multiple times that day while they were out there. "Megatron wantzz us to monitor activity. Terror-bot should not complain. Besides, he's not the one aiming sniper riffle."

Except that it looked nothing at all like a typical sniper riffle. It had the appearance far more akin to that of a turret that was not bolted into the ground. Scorponok had designed and built it himself with the thought of rapid fire and heavy artillery in mind. The ammunition took awhile for the mechanic scorpion to make however, so it was a weapon that was not used too frequently. Its original construction had been solely for mounting it on the ground on a high point to take out enemy beast warriors below, and for that reason it was currently in the possession of Terrorsaur and Waspinator for their scouting mission in Kalmar-22. It was an otherwise barren sector heavily blanketed in pine trees and prone to cooler weather where Tigertron was frequently spotted in the company of a wild, white tiger. It was not Maximal territory per say, but it was just on the outskirts and higher up in the tundra where the Autobot descendants were likely to claim as their own in the near future. There was not anything out there that would serve of any use per say, but they acquiring a sector as large as Kalamar would undoubtedly be bad for the Predacon cause.

More unfortunately still, the riffle was also heavier than an entire crate's worth of missiles. It had to be mounted on the ground in order to be efficiently used. Even if someone was strong enough to hold it up - like Waspinator, one of the physically stronger of the Predacons, who could only just barely hold the weapon upright - the recoil from firing it would knock the wielder off balance and render them otherwise useless for the rest of the battle's duration. That was why it was currently in Waspinator's hands and not Terrorsaur's. The wasp was at least able to hold the damned thing up from where he was laying on the round on his stomach overlooking the Maximal and his animal companion below. Terrorsaur had done something funky with his wrist when he first tried to take aim with the heavy weapon earlier in the day and his injury rendered him ineffective while he lay sprawled out beside Waspinator.

Just as unfortunately, this meant Terrorsaur's attention span, though usually stable, was undulated. The red plated mech looked sideways at Waspinator with an impatient look. His eyes glowed like a bright crimson inferno in the setting sun's glare. "Can't we just shoot them?"

"Scorpion-bot throw a fit," Waspinator answered cynically. "Shells take a long time to make, and Tiger-bot is pretty much worthless to Maximalzz in battle. Killing Tiger-bot be like wasting ammo. Megatron not like that."

Terrorsaur made an irritable squawk in the back of his throat. "Megatron doesn't like a lot of things." He made a discreet gesture pointing to himself with one of his ebony fingers aimed in the direction of his face. The wind purled past their heads and it inherently became very quiet. Terrorsaur resumed his aggravated staring down at the two tigers where they were lounging on the cliff overlooking the landscape below. Finally, after several more cycles of tense silence, Terrorsaur spoke up in a somewhat quieter tone of voice. "I'd kill to be in their position."

"Hm?" Waspinator turned his head.

"Tigertron and the other cat, I mean. Optimus lets them go on their way because Tigertron doesn't like to fight. Then you have Megatron who has us up here doing absolutely nothing, and its not like we can go off and do our own thing because I know he has one of Scorponok's cyberbees buzzing around here somewhere…" To verify this statement, he glanced nervously over his shoulder as if looking to see if he could spot the cyberbee in question. Waspinator instinctively attempted to follow his own gaze by glancing in the direction of Terrorsaur's gaze as well. He was met with only the canyon wall glowing in the sunset behind them. Either way, Terrorsaur shrugged the thought off and looked forward towards the two tigers laying on the cliff ledge below. He resumed in a much more hushed tone. "Ever think about what it'd be like on the Maximals' side?"

Waspinator could not take Terrorsaur seriously. The emerald and yellow plated Predacon mech turned back to looking through the crosshairs of his heavy sniper at the oblivious Maximal and his pet beast below. "Wazzpinator either blow up more or less often if Maximals decided they still liked shooting at him."

"I wouldn't look at it like that."

"Then what is Terror-bot saying?"

The other flier did not say anything for a long time. Worried, Waspinator looked sideways at him and caught sight of the other mech's face. Terrorsaur looked thoughtful and deeply involved with some sort of mental conflict, and he would have stayed that way if the wasp did not elbow him in the side to garner his attention. The pterodactyl looked up and met Waspinator's azure gaze with his own fiery one, but he glanced away and downcast away from the Maximals they were spying on a moment afterward. "I'm just saying that I think we should have a choice."

Waspinator still could not believe what he was hearing. "Terror-bot would overthrow Optimus Primal even if he decided to join Maximals."

"Who's to say that?" Terrorsaur was raising an optic ridge, but he still was not looking at him.

"Wazzpinator knows Terror-bot better than that," Waspinator said in a somewhat pessimistic tone.

At this, his wingmate only shrugged him off. He glanced at him fleetingly before looking away and downcast to the side once more. Then he turned his gaze to glare accusingly at the two white tigers completely oblivious to their presence. Below them, both big cats were lounging in apathetic states without conversation - it was not as if Tigertron could communicate with the other tiger anyways - but that was not as if it mattered. If anything, all they needed was the company of one another. After Waspinator made this observation, Terrorsaur was talking again. "In that case, then you know damn well that the only reason why I always try to overthrow Megatron is because I think I could be a better leader. He's a dictator, Waspy. You and I both know that. He'd much rather turn Cybertron over to himself instead of giving it back to the Predacons like he promised us when we first stole the Golden Disk from the Citadel Museum. Dinobot defected to the Maximals and they haven't killed him for being a Pred yet, so who's to say they won't do the same with me?"

Now Waspinator decided that it was time to take the other mech seriously. Waspinator had to suppress buzzing to ensure that the tigers wouldn't hear them. "Terror-bot can't be serious."

"Have I ever not been serious?" His voice had turned mocking.

That momentarily left Waspinator lost for words. He unconsciously lowered the sights of his weapon while he continued to regard Terrorsaur critically. The other mech's face was deadpan, and the shock that he was completely staid in the face told Waspinator exactly what he had feared since his partner had first started talking. Waspinator swallowed, but he found that his throat was too dry to do so. "Terror-bot-"

"I'm not thinking of doing it right away, of course," Terrorsaur said interrupting his younger wingmate. In the sun's setting glow and with his optic narrowed, the scarlet flier's optics looked like they were glowing a feral crimson hue. "I'd do it in my own time."

"Wazzpinator would have to come with you."

"I know."

Simply put, that was the end of it. Waspinator turned his head back to look at Tigertron and the feral white tiger - he suddenly remembered her name was Snowstalker, but that much information was of little importance - and he kept his aim trained on the two felines for awhile longer before slightly lowering his sights on them. He turned his head towards Terrorsaur laying beside him and, lightly, he leaned his face forward and he pecked the other mech on the side of the head. "Is Terrorzzaur sure he knows?"

Terrorsaur did not answer for a long time. Waspinator thought that maybe this was because he was ignoring him - Terrorsaur always had a tendency to do that whenever he was deep in thought, so Waspinator did not honestly mind - but then the other flier's crimson plated hand found its rightful place over his just as the sun's glow faded away. The first stars started to discretely appear in the sky and the highlighted form of the planet's two moons faded into muted existence. Waspinator looked to Terrorsaur in mild confusion but, when Terrorsaur said nothing more, Waspinator did not question it.

Waspinator completely lowered the sights of his weapon, and he no longer had a Maximal in his crosshairs.

Fin