Terminx was typing away at the panel of the stasis pod. He excited,
because it was the first time Megatron had asked him to reprogram a pod.
He had all the schematics on it, so he was sure he'd have no problem.
Well, maybe there was on problem. The "assistant" Megatron had sent
with him: Inferno. He stood over Terminx, watching him with his usual
paranoid tone.
"You promised royalty you would make another soldier for the colony.
Now, where is it?!" he snapped.
Terminx gave an annoyed sigh. "Look, this is very delicate work.
It takes time. And the fact that this pod was damaged doesn't help.
Now, if you could keep your paranoid accusations down to a minimum and
go back to being the lookout-like you should-I'll be able
to finish quicker. Understand?"
Inferno merely blinked a few times.
"No, of course you don't," Terminx sighed. "How about if I explain
it like this. If you go back to searching for invaders, I'll be able
to get this soldier back to the colony faster."
"Oh, yes. I see," Inferno said, finally catching on. "You
continue to work on the pod, I shall watch for the Maximal invaders."
"Yes, you do that."
Terminx went back to working on the pod. After pressing a few
more buttons, the scanner extended and began to run its program.
"Searching for compatible life form," the computer stated.
"Not just yet," Terminx said, then pressed a button and halted the
program.
He then opened a side panel and replaced the Maximal chip with a Predacon
one. He discarded the chip, then pressed the button to resume the
program. After a moment of scanning, the probe returned to the pod
and it began to run the final sequence. The lid opened and a black
furred timber wolf stepped out and glared at them with green eyes.
Before the new Predacon could say anything, Inferno cut him off.
"You said you were making a Predacon!" he shouted at Terminx.
"I did. The beast mode must have already been selected before
I changed the chip, but I assure you he is a Predacon," Terminx explained.
"Yeah! Now, who are you guys?" the new Pred asked.
"Forgive me for not properly introducing ourselves. My name is
Terminx, and my fiery friend here is appropriately named Inferno.
Now, what might you name be?"
"It might be Primus, but it's not. It is Night
Stalker. And now that we all know each other, what do we do?"
"Find the other pod! As the royalty commanded!" Inferno said,
then powered up his thrusters and flew off.
"What's his problem?" Night Stalker asked.
"That is a more complex question than you know," Terminx answered.
"Now come on. We'd better catch up to him before he does something
stupid."
"Whatever you say."
With that, Terminx transformed into termite mode and he and Night Stalker
walked in the direction Inferno had flown off into, in search of the next
pod.
"Man, I can't believe this! I should be back at the Axalon getting some well deserved R&R, but oh nooo, I gotta be out here on a pod patrol," he whined.
"Would you rather the Preds get this pod?" Rhinox asked.
"I-I. Oh, I hate it when you make sense!"
Rhinox shook his head and continued to work on the pod. He keyed in the last few codes, then stepped back. The scanner extended and did a few passing sweeps, then retracted back into the pod. A series of beeping and humming noises followed, then the lid opened and a gray wolf stepped out. It blinked a few times, then looked at Rattrap and Rhinox.
"Who are you?" it asked.
"My name's Rhinox, and this is Rattrap," Rhinox said, gesturing to himself and Rattrap.
"My name's Wolfang. Please to meetcha."
"Eh, just what we need. Another mutt," Rattrap snorted.
"You gotta problem with that rat?" Wolfang asked in a threatening tone.
"Just ignore him," Rhinox advised. "Right now, we to find that other pod before the Preds do."
"Actually Big Green, I think we got bigger problem at the moment," Rattrap said, pointing to the sky.
"What?!"
Both Rhinox and Wolfang looked in the direction he was pointing and saw Inferno streaking towards them, laughing hysterically. He began to fire wildly, causing the three Maximals to scramble off in different directions. Rhinox and Rattrap quickly recovered and began to return fire. Wolfang lingered a bit, wondering what was going on. He heard Rhinox talk about Predacons, but the last he remembered the Maximals and Predacons he a truce. Oh well, no time to sort things out. There was a fight going on and that was something he never backed down from. He transformed and joined Rhinox and Rattrap in firing on Inferno. He took careful aim with his crossbow then fired and hit Inferno right in the head, causing him to plummet to the ground.
"Still got it," Wolfang remarked to himself.
"Eh, not bad for a new guy, but we still gotta deal with the other two Preds!" Rattrap shouted.
Wolfang and Rhinox spun around to see Terminx and another wolf, presumably a new Predacon, racing towards them. The three Maximals opened fire, causing Terminx and Night Stalker to jump right and left. Terminx took cover behind a rock and Night Stalker a tree. They transformed and began returning fire.
Both sides continued to fire at each other, but neither of them gaining any ground.
"This isn't working! We need to get in closer!" Rhinox ordered over the sound of gunfire.
"Right! I'll take the wolf!" Wolfang said.
He pulled out his shield form subspace and began running towards Night Stalker, blocking all the shots with his shield. He stuck his head out from behind it a bit, took careful aim, and blasted the ground below Night Stalker, causing him to fly back. Wolfang the lower his shield completely and began pounding shot after into Night Stalker. Night Stalker jumped up and avoided the first shot, but was nicked by most of the others. He jumped away from another shot and began to fire back. Wolfang blocked the blast with his shield again, then fired his crossbow again. This pattern continued, causing the two wolfs to be caught in a deadlock all their own.
"Well, that takes care of the new Pred. Now come on, we gotta
handle Terminx," Rhinox ordered Rattrap.
" 'We'?! Hey, you can go ahead Big Green. I've done my
share of fighting for today," Rattrap remarked. Rhinox just glared
at him. "I mean…uh…I'll, uh, stay behind and keep an eye on Inferno,
heh, heh."
"Better."
With that Rhinox began running towards the rock Terminx was hiding
behind, guns blazing. Terminx crouched down even farther behind the
rock as the saw the hail of bullets flying around him.
"This assignment is quickly becoming hazardous to my health," Terminx
said to himself.
He then stood halfway and fired at Rhinox. Unfortunately, most
of the shots missed and the ones that did hit didn't do much damage.
He ducked again as Rhinox began unleashing even more firepower.
Terminx pulled out a small recording device and said, "Note to self:
when I return to the Darkseid schedule an appointment in the training room
for target practice." He shuddered when he felt the rock behind him
being chipped by the bullets. "Make that if I return."
He put the recording device back into subspace and began thinking of a
way out of his situation. There must be some way out of this predicament.
What do I know about the Maximals that can help me? Aha.
He smiled as the plan formed in his head. It was risky, but what
else could he do? He threw away his gun, making sure it landed in
plain sight, and waited to hear the sound he knew he'd hear: silence.
He stood up with his hands above his head and walked out from behind the
rock.
"Freeze Pred," Rhinox said, aiming his guns at Terminx.
"Oh come now. You wouldn't shoot an unarmed man, would you?"
Terminx asked, knowing it was true.
Rhinox hesitated for a second, which was all the time Terminx needed.
A compartment opened up in his wrist and small gun popped up into his hand.
Rhinox aimed hie chain guns again, but Terminx was too fast. He fired
the gun and a dart shot out and hit Rhinox square in the chest. He
screamed as he felt all his systems locking up. Terminx smile at
his handiwork.
"You know, you Maximals are far too trusting," he said smugly.
"Hey! Watcha do to 'im ya wood chomper?!" Rattrap shouted.
"The same think I'm going to do to you."
"I don't think so!"
Terminx was about to fire another dart at Rattrap, but he was too quick
and shot the gun out of Terminx's hand. Terminx was surprised by
this but quickly recovered, then rolled back and grabbed his original gun.
As he was taking aim, Rattrap blasted that gun out of his hand as well.
Now he had but one regrettable option. He looked around for his teammates
and found Night Stalker still fighting with Wolfang.
"Night Stalker! I think it's time we made a hasty withdrawal!"
he shouted.
"You mean retreat?!" Night Stalker asked.
"In so many words."
"Well, you go right ahead. I still got a fight to finish!"
"Suit yourself."
That being said, Terminx transformed into beast mode and scurried back
to the Predacon base.
"Coward," Night Stalker muttered.
He then turned his attention to the battle at hand. He jumped
to the left to avoid yet another shot from his opponent. He fired
a few rounds, but they were blocked by Wolfang's shield.
Slag that stupid shield! Night Stalker cursed mentally.
If it weren't for that slagging thing I could have beaten this guy a
long time ago! At least I'd be able to see what he looks like.
I don't know why I want to, but there's something so…familiar about him.
Night Stalker shook his head clear of that thought, then fired at Wolfang
again, hoping luck was on his side. Unfortunately, it wasn't.
Wolfang block the shots, then fired at Night Stalker again. Fortunately,
luck was on Wolfang's side as the bolt detonated in front of Night Stalker,
sending him flying back. He landed on his back and dropped his gun.
He tried to get up, but was in too much pain. He could only watch
as his enemy prepared to fire on him. But enough, he didn't.
What the? Night Stalker thought.
Wolfang there in shock. This was the first time he'd gotten a
good look at his opponent. He was a little thinner than Wolfang,
and his beast mode head formed his upper torso instead of spitting in two
and becoming shoulder pads. For those, the two front wolf legs locked
onto his shoulders. His head was shaped similarly to Wolfang's except
that he didn't have the black visor he had(just to clarify, I'm using Wolfang's
robot head), and he had light green optics.
"Night Stalker," Wolfang whispered, still in disbelief. "Night
Stalker? Do you remember me? Wolfang?"
Wolfang? Yeah, yeah there was something familiar about that name.
But what was it? Night Stalker began sreaching his memory banks for
that name. When he found the answer, he was shocked. He was
about to play on his suspicions when Rattrap butted in.
"What are ya waitin' for?! Shoot 'im!" the Transmetal rat yelled
out to Wolfang.
When Wolfang didn't do anything Rattrap groaned, then aimed his own
gun.
"Fine! I'll do it!" he groaned.
"NO!" Wolfang yelled then tackled Rattrap.
Night Stalker took advantage of this distraction by transforming into
beast mode them ran in the direction Terminx had fled. Rattrap shook
his head then started to take aim at Night Stalker again, but Wolfang knocked
the gun out of his hand.
"I said NO!" Wolfang snapped.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't slag that stinkin' Pred!"
Rattrap demanded.
"Because…he's my brother."
He, Rhinox, Rattrap, and a few of the other Maximals were in the command room talking with the new Maximal Wolfang, who was seated at the main table.
"Look," Wolfang sighed, "we've been over this five times now! My brother is a Predacon!"
Wolfang sighed again, then slumped down into the seat. Since he arrived at the Axalon and informed Primal of his situation, all they did was talked about it over and over again! And frankly, he was getting pretty pissed! No amount of talk was going to change the simple fact that his brother was now a Predacon.
"I know this must tough on you," Optimus started again, "but that's no reason to take it out on us."
"Seems a pretty good reason to me," Wolfang growled.
"This is hopeless. Rhinox, do you have any idea how this might have happened?"
"Well, from what we know about Predacon reprogramming chips, they usually erase them memory banks of the protoform," Rhinox started. "My best guess is that somehow the chip didn't erase the memory banks, only hid them. When Wolfang here tried to remind Night Stalker about his past, the block must have been broken."
"Then why didn't he come back to us?"
"The Predacon programming is probably still effecting him."
"But WHY did they do it in the first place?!" Wolfang shouted, standing up and smashing his fist into the table. "I thought we had a peace treaty with them."
"We do," Optimus said. "Unfortunately there are some renegades like Megatron and his group who want to start the Great War again."
"And they're been stealing our protoforms since the war began," Rhinox added. "So far they're all been blanks."
"Well, this one wasn't!" Wolfang snarled. "I swear, I'm gonna take down every last Predacon for this."
Optimus sighed. "Look, I know you're upset, but a war is no place for a personal vendetta," he said. "Maybe you'll feel a little better after you had some rest. Silverbolt here will show to your quarters."
"Fine. Let's go."
Silverbolt nodded and walked over to Wolfang.
"This way my friend," he said, gesturing to the hallway that led to the personal quarters.
After they left, an odd silence settled over the Maximals present. They all felt pain and loss of their new comrade. Rattrap finally broke the silence.
"So, uh, do we do about 'im?" he asked.
"For now, nothing," Optimus sighed. "We just have that he finds some way to deal with this. You can all go to your quarters now. There's nothing more to talk about."
All the assembled Maximals got up and went to their quarters, some still talking about Wolfang and his situation. Optimus just stood there shaking his head.
This was just got a little more dangerous, he thought.
While he was looking around, he spotted a flash of gold. When he looked at it closer he spotted one of the most beautiful females he had ever seen.
"Who is that lovely creature?" he asked more to himself although Inferno still heard him.
"She is a traitoress. You'd do best to stay away from her," Inferno cautioned.
"Yeah? Well, maybe I can her around. Wait here for a second."
With that, Night Stalker walked over to the female with his warmest smile. It was a trick he developed back on Cybertron. First greet the female with a great smile, then compliment her on her looks, buy her a few drinks, then-when the time was right-take her to a near by apartment. Of course, getting a couple of drinks would probably be a problem on this planet, but he'd find a way around that.
"Well hello there," he greeted, still smiling. "My name's Night Stalker. I'm the new recruit around here."
"So what do you want? A medal?" Blackarachnia scoffed.
"Well, your named would be a nice start."
"Fine. If that's what it takes to get you off my back, it's Blackarachnia."
"Blackarachnia. Fitting name. Listen, how about after I get done meeting the bid boss, you take me on a tour of the base. Maybe show me where my quarters might be. Or maybe even yours?"
"Look Rover, I don't go for Maximals rejects. So why don't you just go chase your tail for awhile."
"Whoa! What's your problem?"
"Now that is a very good question!" a voice answered.
Both Night Stalker and Blackarachnia looked in the direction of where the voice came from, and saw Darkbird walking out from one of the hallways, as if emerging from the shadows themselves. He walked over to Night Stalker a bit with one of his usual demented grins.
"You see my friend," he began, "Blackarachnia over here doesn't go for us "Maximal reject" kinds. No, she's more into eight legged psychopaths."
"As opposed to the feathered kind."
"You wound me."
"Uh, yeah. Who are you?" Night Stalker asked.
"Oh, that's right, you're new here," Darkbird said. "My name is Darkbird, clone of the Maximal Blackbird, Predacon warrior extraordinaire, bane of Megatron's existence…"
"And certifiable lunatic!" Blackarachnia added.
"Ouch. Well then, on that note, I'll take my leave. But don't worry Blackarachnia, I'll see you later, even if you won't see me."
Darkbird walked back down the hallway he cam from, his laugh could still be heard after he was out of sight.
And I thought Inferno had a few screws loose, Night Stalker thought. Out loud he said, "Well, I gotta go meet this Megatron guy. I wish I could say it was nice to meet you, but if just wasn't."
"And I wish I could say I cared, but I don't. So I guess that makes us even," Blackarachnia responded.
Night Stalker growled a bit, then walked over to Inferno and told him to keep walking. After a little bit of arguing, they continued on their way to the control room.
Well, let's see here, Night Stalker thought. So far I've met a brainiac, two lunatics, and a very outspoken female. Can't wait to see what the rest of the crew is like.
"Well then, Night Stalker, I guess there's nothing more to do than welcome you to the Predacons," he said.
"Thank you sir," Night Stalker said. "I want you to know that, although, I look like a Maximal, I am a Predacon. There's one problem though."
"And that is?"
"My brother…he's a Maximal."
"A Maximal?"
"Yes. But don't worry, I'm a Predacon, I just thought it was something you should know. And to make sure that if we're on the same battlefield that you keep the rest of the Predacons away from him. If anyone's going to take out my bro, it's going to be me!"
"Hmm. Well, I know all about sibling rivalry. So, very well. If we see your brother on the battlefield I will allow only you to engage him."
"Thank you sir."
"Now that that's taken care of, you are dismissed. Inferno here will show you to your quarters."
"Yes sir."
With that, Inferno moved his hover platform near Night Stalker's and led him out of the room. As soon as they were out of the room, Megatron leaned back in his thrown and smiled. Why shouldn't he? He had a new soldier. Sure, he was related to a Maximal, but it appeared that he had no interest of returning to them, and he appeared loyal. Megatron had notice that he used the word sir three times without even a hint of sarcasm. So, even though the Maximals also gained a new warrior, toady had been a pretty good day.
"What? What is it?" he asked, still somewhat tired.
Blackarachnia simply pointed at what she saw. Tarantulas sat up a bit and focused on the spot, trying to what it was. Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw exactly what, or who, it was: Darkbird. He simply stood there in the corner of the room. When Tarantulas was about to say something, Darkbird stepped forward a bit and placed his finger over his mouth.
" 'No one must know I'm here'," he said calmly.
"WHAT THE SLAG ARE YOU DOING IN MY QUARTERS?!?!" Tarantulas bellowed.
"I have important business to discuss with you two."
"WHAT'S SO SLAGGING IMPORTANT THAT YOU HAD TO BREAK INTO MY QUARTERS IN THE MIDDLED OF THE SLAGGING NIGHT?!?!"
" 'Shut up'."
"Yeah Legs," Blackarachnia agreed, pulling the blankest up to cover herself. "Let's at least hear him out before we kill him."
Darkbird glared at her, then pulled two data disks out of his subspace pocket.
"On these disks are plans for two constructs that I want you two to build for me," he explained, then tossed the disks onto the bed.
"Why should we?" Blackarachnia asked.
Darkbird pulled a recording device out of subspace and stepped closer to the bed.
"Because then maybe I can help you with your little problem with Megatron," he said.
He placed the device on the bed then walked out of the room. When the door closed Tarantulas looked back at Blackarachnia.
"Why do we even put up with him?" he asked her.
"Because he's the only one who wants to overthrow Megatron as much as we do."
"I suppose you're right, but we could do that ourselves."
"Yeah, but in this line of business you need all the help you can get. Even if it is someone like Darkbird. I swear tough, there are times I'd just love to kill him. The problem is I don't know if he'd stay dead."
Tarantulas chuckled a bit. "Yes, he does have that annoying habit of coming back from the dead." He looked down and picked up the disks. "So then, I guess you want to take a look at these."
"I suppose. Tomorrow, though. Right now I just want to try to get back to sleep."
Tarantulas was about to do the same when he spotted the recording device. Out of curiosity he picked it up and pressed the play button. He was surprised when heard Megatron's voice.
~Personal log. Entry 010681. Today had been a very productive for me. A stasis pod was recovered, and the resulting warrior seems to be a very capable fighter and loyal. That is a trait that is never to be overlooked. The other bright note of the day is that Terminx is capable of reprogramming a stasis pod. Now that I have a loyal follower to do that, those spiders have now become expendable. Thus I'll be able to get rid of those two traitors once and for all. Of course, I'll have to do it in a way that won't cause suspicion, but I'm sure I'll think of something, yeess.~
Tarantulas shut off the recorder. He didn't need to her anything else. He wasn't sure which he was more shocked about. The fact that Megatron was seriously considering destroying him and Blackarachnia, or the fact that Darkbird had somehow gotten a hold of this information.
"Sounds like Megs is really going to try and scrap us this time," Blackarachnia said, interrupting his thoughts.
"I'm more concerned about the fact that Darkbird somehow got on of Megatron's personal logs. It would appear that he's more dangerous than we originally thought."
"Well then, we'll just have to be more careful than usual."
"I suppose so. But right now I'm going back to sleep."
Tarantulas grabbed the blanket and pulled it over him as he laid back down. Blackarachnia smiled at him, then did the same, trying to get back to sleep.
"That it, I'm outta here," he said to himself.
He got up then walked over to his crossbow and shield and put them into subspace. If he couldn't sleep, then he'd go out for a little jog to test out his beast mode. And tomorrow he'd talk to Tigatron and Airazor about this little…problem.
I mean, I can understand that they're in love, but this is ridiculous! he thought as he left hi quarters.
He got onto the lift without being detected. That was mainly do to the fact that Rattrap was on night duty and was asleep as usual. Wolfang didn't mind though, he wanted to be alone. As soon as the lift touched the ground, he transformed to wold mode and took off. As he ran, caught a glimpse of the moon.
Full moon. How appropriate, he thought.
When he was a few yards away from the base he stopped to catch his breath. As he did, he stared at the moon. For some reason it seemed to hold some kind of interest to him. He felt some urge deep inside him. He knew it was his beast instincts talking.
"Ah, what the heck," he said to himself.
He sat down on his haunches and let loose with a mighty howl. As odd as is sounded, howling really seemed to help him. He didn't know why, it just seemed to release all the built tension he felt. After about five minutes he stopped howling. Mainly because he needed to catch his breath again and because he felt his throat becoming sore. Still, howling seemed to help a lot. Now maybe he was ready to get on with his life.
Just as he was ready to turn and leave, he heard a voice say, "Nice night, ain't it bro?"
Wolfang froze. He knew all too well who that voice belonged to. He turned around slowly and saw Night Stalker standing on a small hill. He jumped off the hill and landed right in front of Wolfang.
"Didn't have night like these back on old Cybertron, did we?" Night Stalker asked with a slight smile on his canine face. He looked at Wolfang and saw the shocked look on his face. "That's right. I remember all about Cybertron. And ya know what? I wish I didn't! Because it reminds me of when I was a weak and pathetic Maximal!"
"Come on bro, this isn't you," Wolfang pleaded. "This is just the Pred programming talking. You can beat it! I know you can!"
"Who says I want to! I take this as a blessing! It finally let me become what I always was. I mean, come on bro, you know I was never the "fit in and place nice" type. You were always the good one. Sure you had a little mean streak, but was only when someone made you mad. Other than that, you were always the good student. Always doing good in school, while I always ran through the back alleys with "the wrong crowd". And whenever I was old enough I hopped from one bar to the next. Always getting in fights, and picking up any female that came along. So from now on, I'm a Predacon, you're a Maximal, and we're at war! The next time I see you, I'm gonna tear you apart."
"So that's the way it's going to then?"
"Yep!"
"Alright. Tell me, do you remember what happened to the guys I got into a fight with?"
"Yeah! Ya almost scrapped 'em!"
"Well guess what? You're that guy now."
"Good! Then it means you'll fight instead of whine! I can't wait! But I guess I'll have to, since I just decided to give you a warning for now. Well, scrap ya later!"
With that, Night Stalker suddenly turned and broke into a fierce run back to the Darkseid. Wolfang growled. So it was true. His brother was gone. All that was left was a Predacon who wanted him dead.
Well then fine! If that's the way it's going to be, then only one of us is gonna make it out of this war alive, he swore.
When he finally did get to where he it was, he saw that it was in fact a cave. He stepped inside and looked around.
"Hmm. Not to bad," he said to himself. "Actually, I kinda like it better than my quarters. I wonder if Megatron would let me some equipment in here. It could kinda be like a scouting outpost for me. Yep, I'm definitely gonna do that." He yawned. "Tomorrow. Right now, I'm gonna get some rest."
He laid down and rested his head on his front paws. Yeah he could get use to a place like this. He could get use to being Predacon too. Yep, he was going to enjoy his new life.
THE END
Author's note: The character Night Stalker actually belongs to
my friend Kim. I thank her for letting me use him.