He was bored. Bored, bored, bored. Ever since Megatron's defeat, Waspinator had been happy, but that was beginning to change. Once treated like a god by the pre-humans, they lost interest in him and moved on. And others thought he had a short attention span? No wonder humans were stupid.

Now he was alone. At least when Megatron was in command he had other Predacons with him, like it or not; and there were missions to take out. The only upside of all of this was there were no more Maximals, and when there were no Maximals, there were no guns. No guns meant not getting blown-up. He no longer had to watch his his back, but it was so . . . so . . . boring.

Well, he wasn't completely alone—to a point. He looked over where his former comrades Inferno and Quickstrike's parts laid. The pre-humans lost interest in them, too.

He flicked a beetle that crawled across his shoulder and watched it land near the remains. In its confusion it recovered and hastily crawled away into the grass. He kept his eyes fixed on the remains. For reasons unknown they became a sudden interest.

It was just an uncoordinated scatter of limbs and metal. Then again if done correctly they could take on the forms of the two Predacons they once were.

Then a thought crossed his mind: what harm what it do if he put them back together? He wouldn't be so lonely, even if they were Inferno the suck-up and Quickstrike the idiot. Maybe things were would be different now that Megatron was gone.

With his curious thoughts pulling on him, Waspinator walked to the scatter of parts and crouched down. He reached out and picked up the lower part of Quickstrike's leg. A hinge squeaked and it hung loosely. He then picked up nearly the entire length of a large cobra which was Quickstrike's tail.

"Waspinator is going to take a while," he said to himself.

It took nearly over two days but at least it kept him busy. It would have been easier and much faster if he had the privilege of the Predacon base and the CR chambers, but that was gone. He had to challenge himself and improvise the best he could.

He made one final adjustment, then stood up and looked at his handi-work. Inferno and Quickstrike lay on the ground, now complete. There was one thing left to do.

He stepped to Quickstrike's side and looked down. "Two-head. Two-head." There was no response. He tapped the side of his head with his foot and then after a few seconds the Fuzor jolted and his eyes glowed red again. He quickly sat up as if waking from a nightmare and babbled something incoherently.

Waspinator then walked to Inferno and tapped his foot against him, too. No response. "Ant-bot." Nothing. "Ant-bot. Wake up!"

He always wanted to do this.

He arched his foot back and gave a hard swing, and suddenly Inferno came to consciousness and grabbed for the in-coming foot in his hand. Waspinator was thrown.

Inferno snarled. "How dare you kick me?"

Quickstrike gathered himself and stood. "What in tarnation is goin' on?"

"Where is the royalty?" Inferno asked.

"Megatron is gone," Waspinator said, then stood.

"What?"

"Maximals captured Megatron and left for Cybertron. Leave Waspinator behind."

"Impossible!" Inferno snapped. "The royalty cannot be defeated. You lie, bug!"

"So ya mean it's over?" Quickstrike asked. "The Maximals won?"

"That's right."

"Dang it! Now I gots no one to shoot!"

"Two-Head can shoot himself in the foot if he wants," he muttered.

"Hey!"

"I will not be left behind with two traitors!" Inferno cried.

"Traitors?" Quickstrike said.

"Of course! You tried to kill the royalty." He then turned to Waspinator. "And you, bug—so you wish to abandon your Predacon right? For the royalty, you will burn!" He withdrew his large gun, aimed it in Waspinator's direction and released a fury of flames. Waspinator jumped back, managed to tangle his foot on a root, and fell backwards. He had all the luck, but at least he wasn't singed.

"You, too, traitor!" Inferno aimed and sent another fury of flames at Quickstrike. The Fuzor quickly dodged out of the way with a howl of surprise.

"This was a bad idea," Waspinator mumbled to himself, then stood while Inferno focused his attention on Quickstrike. He laughed while he fired again and again while Quickstrike avoided the flames.

"Get away from me ya psycho!" Quickstrike pointed his arm at him with its jaws wide open, ready to defend himself.

Waspinator took the opportunity to draw his own gun and quickly aimed it at Inferno. He fired, knocking the gun from his hand. Inferno snarled and looked his way. "Traitor!" He stomped over to his fallen gun.

"Not so fast!" Quickstrike cried and fired a green beam which hit Inferno's lower leg, making it buckle.

Waspinator watched.

"Waspinator is still Predacon, so . . . retreat!" He took flight but he didn't go far as Quickstrike chased after him.

Waspinator stopped. Well, at least he wasn't trying to kill him. Maybe the Fuzor would come in handy. Somehow. Two against one was better. He already paralyzed Inferno—for now.

He turned and grabbed Quickstrike by the shoulders before flying off. He had to fly fast and distance himself from Inferno.

"This was a bad idea," he said to himself again, then looked down on the Fuzor. "Two-Head not going to attack Waspinator too, is he?"

"I ain't got a reason."

"Good." He flew higher. "If ant-bot follows, Waspinator fly and two-head shoot."

"Sounds good to me!"

They were being followed; he knew it. They had to outrun Inferno until they came up with a plan of action. Traveling to the mountains was the best the could do for now. Perhaps they could ambush him.

They closed in on the mountain, Waspinator flying overhead in his beast form and Quickstrike crawling below. Both of them were on-guard and were cautious of anything that stood out from the norm and kept an ear out.

Then, something did stand out. There was a large gray object laying at the bottom of the mountain. Curious, he flew closer to it and once he was above it he saw it was a stasis pod.

He called to Quickstrike, "Waspinator found something!"

Quickstrike crawled to him in a quick pace. "Keep yer voice down."

"Look." He descend and as he did he shifted to his robot form and landed beside the stasis pod. It was silent and still. It was possible this one had passed Maximal and Predacon radars.

Upon closer inspection he saw why. There were dents on the side and the hatch was gaped open. He saw white fur between the gap but nothing was moving. It looked like it had scanned a lifeform but malfunctioned, trapping the being inside.

"Well lookie here," Quickstrike said. "Anythin' in there?"

"Yes, but it's trapped." When he leaned closer he saw a red Maximal symbol on it. He groaned in disappointment. "It's Maximal."

"Then open it up!"

Waspinator hesitated, then slipped his fingers between the gap and pulled upwards. It was jammed. He pulled on the hatch twice. Nothing.

"Stasis pod is jammed."

"Move out of the way, I'll fix it." Quickstrike raised up on two feet when he transformed into his robot mode and stepped closer. "Stand back." He extended his arm and released a discharge from his arm onto one of the hinges. The hatch popped wider but there was still no movement.

Waspinator then pressed a button on the console and after he did the pod hissed in response. They stepped back when the hatch finally began to open.

There was a moment of silence and stillness until the creature inside finally revealed itself. A white and black dog-like head rose up. A thick black-striped mane ran down to its shoulders. It blinked with a pair of bright yellow eyes before it leapt out of the pod. What it was was a mystery. The front part of the creature up to its shoulders looked to be a striped hyena, and the rest of it—Waspinator had to re-examine it. It was black with a long, slender tail. It was almost catlike but he couldn't be sure. When it turned its head to them it passed them an inquisitive look, lifting its pointed ears to attention. Waspinator realized its ears had a strange shape.

It had four ears, one fused behind the other. He then understood the strange creature.

"Maximal is Fuzor like Two-Head."

The black and white Fuzor tilted its head. "Who. . .who are you?"

Female Maximal.

"We're yer worst nightmare, that's who we are!" Quickstrike said and raised his arm to the strange hyena.

"Wait!" Waspinator put his hand over his arm and pushed it down.

"What are you doin'? She's a Maximal!"

"Waspinator sees that. But hyena-bot can be on our side. Hyena-bot can help destroy ant-bot."

Quickstrike tilted his head and stared at the other Fuzor in consideration.

Waspinator then turned to her. "Waspinator and Two-Head not shoot Maximal. What is Maximal's name?"

Her golden eyes darted, then said, "Talon."

Laughter suddenly came from above. "There you are, traitors!"

Waspinator quickly looked up to see Inferno approaching from above, armed and aiming at them.

Now wasn't a good time.

Inferno then noticed Talon. "Maximal! You shall burn!" He aimed down and fired on her. She saw it coming and dodged out of the way, leaving a scorch mark on the ground where she stood.

"Wait! Call him off!" she said.

"Waspinator can't. Ant-bot is crazy!"

Inferno fired again and she dodged out of the way. He fired over and over; she avoided each time.

"Hyena-bot," Waspinator said. "Transform."

She paused to look at him. "Transform?"

"Hyena-bot, say Maximize."

"Maximize?"

Talon was suddenly thrust onto two feet with segments of her beast form pulling back into a certain position. The head of her beast form pulled down to her chest while the rest folded behind her. The majority of her metal body was green with splotches of striped white here and there. Her joints were a fresh silver. A large metal ring was attached to both of her hips. Some sort of weapon, it seemed. She had that new transformer look, but that wasn't going to last if she didn't start fighting. If she died, they were next.

"Bring 'im down!" Quickstrike cried, and raised his arm skyward and fired a beam of bright green. Inferno noticed it at the corner of his eye and shifted to the side, avoiding it. Quickstrike fired again and Inferno maneuvered out of the way.

Waspinator watched a few seconds more before he took flight. He shouldered Inferno at full speed as he aimed down on the Fuzor below. The force knocked him back when they collided, but not far enough. Inferno regained himself in mid-air and turned his gun on him and fired. Waspinator maneuvered out of the way and then began to line himself up against his opponent.

Suddenly, something came out from the corner of his eye and hit his arm. He looked and saw one of the silver rings from Talon stuck in his arm. He glanced down on Talon who looked up in shock and confusion.

Movement turned his attention. A beam of green light launched from below struck Inferno's arm. He looked down where Quickstrike stood, aiming up and ready to fire again.

Waspinator backed away while he glanced down on Talon who was now holding a cylinder-shaped device over her shoulder, aiming it in Inferno's direction. She pulled the trigger and from the launcher a rocket shot out from it. It went past him—and Inferno.

"Hyena-bot is a lousy shot," he muttered.

Inferno laughed and began to move forward, focusing on Talon. Quickstrike took advantage of his distraction and began firing over and over. One hit his shoulder. Inferno then began maneuvering to avoid the fury of the rest. He kept firing until Inferno began to slowly retreat, figuring he was outnumbered. They all knew they had to avoid injury. If one of them was damaged, it might as well be the end. It was the reason why Inferno wasn't giving what he really had in him. Even against Quickstrike and Waspinator, Inferno was being careful. He had already taken hits from Quickstrike.

Inferno retreated. Waspinator remained in the air, waiting for him to reappear, but he didn't.

Below, Quickstrike laughed in victory.

"That was easy!" he said. "We got 'im!"

Waspinator slowly descended to the ground. "Ant-bot will be back. Ant-bot followed Waspinator and Two-head." He turned to Talon who still had that confused look on her face. Waspinator glowered and walked to her, pulling the chakram out of his arm as he did. He handed it to her, nearly shoving it against her chest. "Hyena-bot tried to kill Waspinator!"

"N-no. I missed." She jostled the bazooka in her hand. "I missed."

"Ya better start learnin' how to shoot if ya wanna live," Quickstrike said as he walked towards them.

She gathered the bazooka in her arms and stared at them through the dark pits of her eyes.

"If he's a Predacon then why is he after you?"

"Ant-bot thinks Waspinator and Two-head are traitors. Ant-bot can't take bad news."

"What bad news?"

"Predacon leader, Megatron, lost to Maximals. Two-head is traitor but not Waspinator."

"Ya did try t' quit," Quickstrike muttered beside him.

"So Two-head thinks Waspinator is traitor, too?"

"I don't care what ya did back there. At least ya didn't turn Maximal. Then I'll be shootin' ya!" He then slowly turned his head to Talon and glared at her. "But if I wanna shoot a Maxie there's one right here." He extended his arm at her.

Waspinator pulled the Fuzor's arm down. "Maximal can join our side. Three against one."

Quickstrike hummed in thought."Well, she's gotta learn how t' shoot. And 'course she's gotta turn Predacon. I ain't fightin' with no Maxie! Ya hear?" He turned and began to walk away.

Waspinator watched. "Where is Two-head going?"

"There's no use standin' 'round here," he said. "That bot'll come back. Best we keep movin'."

Waspinator stared at him. Well, maybe he was right. It was too risky standing in one place for very long.

Waspinator then looked behind himself, focusing on the stasis pod. It may not seem like anything of importance at the moment but perhaps it would. Putting an empty stasis pod to use again had been done before, well, almost. This time he wanted to see if it could truly be done.

With the Maximals gone, he couldn't help but think of Cybertron.

"Waspinator has an idea!" He flew to the pod, grabbed the edges and lifted it, forcing his thin wings to take him to the air with the extra weight. "Follow Waspinator!"