pSo far, it had been a regular day at Pop Op's Saloon. Bots, Maximal and Predicon alike, were moping around drunk. Rhinox was playing the piano, while Mistress BA (Black Arachnia) did her thing up on stage to the usual crowd of grungy, dirty, scum of the Earth, drunken cowbot bums. That no gooder Tarantulas was playing poker, or more like cheating at poker, with some unlucky fools for their energon chips. Opop himself was serving up his usual round of drinks to waiting and overly eager costumers.
pJust when Opop thought that the rest of the day would be smooth, everyone in the his saloon got quiet, and were staring at the door. Popop looked up from the glass he was rubbing to see what was causing all this hush hush.
pAt first glance, it looked like a darken silhouette in the door. It moved through the swinging doors, and looked directly at Opop. Opop dropped the glass he was cleaning, creating a loud sound that made Mistress BA scream, and some of the bots draw their guns, thinking that a shot was fired. The mysterious figure regarded them silently. He then nodded at Popop, and sat down in a bar stool directly across him. At that moment, Rhinox started the music up again, and the bar return back to it's usual, if not so pleasant, self.
p"Depth Charge!!!" Exclaimed Popop. "Long time no see. What brings you to this town."
pDepth Charge squinted his eyes and replied in a silent deadly voice "X."
pPopop almost dropped another glass that was in his hand. "Why in tarnations would that foul cow licker Rampage be in this lil' ol' backwater town of mines."
p"Don't know. After I ambushed him back at Iacon City, he had disappeared. I didn't get any leads to where he was until I heard about the murders at another town near here."
p"Then why ain't you at that town?" Comment Popop with his arms crossed over his chest.
p"Loathing my company now, are you Popop?" Replied Depth Charge with a cocky grin (Use your imaginations), which is very out of character for him. Popop just scratched his head and shrugged. Depth Charge continued "The reason why I'm in the town, Popop, is because one of my sources spotted him here."
p"Is that so. Well I'll be darned. I guess I'll have ta warn all the town folk about Rampage being here."
pPopop looked at Rhinox, and made a hand signal to cut the music. Rhinox immediately stopped, making everyone hear Mistress BA sing out a loud out of tune note. She glared at Rhinox sharply. Rhinox merely shrugged a sorry, and looked back over to Popop.
p"Listen up everyone" yelled Popop, over the voices of the bar. "as you may have already figured, everyone's favorite bounty hunter here" Popop pointed to Depth Charge, who had his back to everyone, calmly sipping some energon beer, " is on the trail of his latest bounty. Unfortunately, that bounty happens to be that soul sucking Rampage."
pMistress BA Smirked "I've heard about this Rampage guy. Almost killed my friend's sister in Axalon town. He doesn't seem too scary. I mean anyone could easily kill my friend's sister, she's a total, cowardly sissy; and if he can't, then I have nothing to fear from him!"
pDepth Charge turned his head, and glared at Mistress BA (a little bit too long to be sensible if you ask me). "Do you have any idea what you just said!!"
p"Yea I know what I said, and that is, I'm not afraid of some over exaggerated, chump mech."
p"He's not over exaggerated! Rampage is the most dangerous bot on this side of the Mississippi, not to mention he has the highest bounty on his head. It's up to me to contain him and stop his rein of terror."
p"So. I don't care if he's the most dangerous bot on this side of whatever you just said, and even if he is, I don't see how a mech like you can stop him. I mean come on. You!?!" BA began to giggle making some of the other patrons of the saloon laugh with her. Depth Charge's face was literally glowing red with anger.
pBefore Depth Charge could yell his brains out at BA, Tarantulas got up and added his two cents. " Now now Mistress BA, maybe you should listen to MR. Charge here. He obviously seems to know what he's talking about, and looks fully capable of capturing this mech, contrary to what you think. We wouldn't want a pretty thing like you to end up hurt or even dead now would we." Tarantulas looked BA up and down a bit, and maybe a bit longer, before he got smacked upside his head by an enraged BA.
p"Take that ya scoundrel!!" She quickly left the bar, not caring one bit that there was a homicidal bot prowling around town.
pTarantulas sat down rubbing his head, mumbling something about mood swings, and how much he'd like to get his hands on her.
pDepth Charge watched her leave, and then stood up and shook his head.
p"Maybe you should follow her. Make sure she gets to her home all right" said Popop.
pDepth Charge shook his head once again. "I warned her. It'll be her fault if she gets killed by X. Sorry Popop." Depth Charge chugged down the rest of his energon beer, and left the bar.
pPopop felt a pain in his leg joint. His joints only ached if something bad was going to happen. Popop looked at his leg and frowned. Mistress BA better watch herself.
p * * *
p
p"Oooooooh what an awful day" thought BA to herself. "First someone throws up on me, and then everyone hears me sing out a bad note," she reminded herself to slap Rhinox a couple of times for that tomorrow, "and then that wanna be macho bounty hunter Depth Charge comes prancing in the bar spewing out tales about some crazy bot, just to get us rowled up. And Tarantulas. One of these days, I'm gonna ta rip him apart limb by limb. I only fear that he might actually enjoy it.
p"I CAN'T STAND THIS ANYMORE!!!!" she screamed out, getting some odd glances form people walking by. She ignored them, and continued walking.
p "I know exactly what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna walk to the bad part of town, and walk down the darkest, most perfect alley for hiding a bot with a bounty on it's head, and then I'll show everyone that this Rampage character is a hoax. I bet Depth Charge wouldn't like that." She smiled to herself. "And then after that, I'm gonna tear Tarantulas apart. He might like it, but at least he'll leave me alone for quite a while.
pMistress BA was so sure and confident of herself and her plans, that she didn't realize that she was walking right into a bot, until it was too late.
p"Are you okay madam?"
pBA looked up into the eyes of some strange mech. "Yea I'm okay, and watch where you're walking!!!!" she scowled.
p"I'm so sorry, I'll be more careful of where I'm going" said the stranger, knowing to himself that it really should be her doing all the apologizing.
p"You better be!!!" yelled BA. "Now help me up!!"
p"Certainly" he said. "I'll do anything for a lady."
pBA shook her head in disgust and brush him away from her. "This day keeps on getting worse and worse" she thought to herself.
p
pA while later, BA reached the badder parts of town. She'd only been here a couple of times, and she never liked them. At the corner of her eyes, she caught sight of Tarantula's Bordello. She had bad memories of that place. She walked on til she got to the perfect alley for anyone hiding from a bounty hunter to go into. Even the usual scum around here were afraid to go into it, so it probably meant that the crazy bot Depth Charge was talking about was in there. Excellent. She'll show them all. BA took a deep breath, and walked into the darkness, constantly reminding herself that she was doing a good thing.
p
pIt sat in a corner brooding to it's self waiting for night. It had been awhile since it had a tasty bot, and he found he had an opportunity now, seeing that some foolish fem had dare to enter his alley. He decided that he'll play with her mind a bit. Scare her, and then attack. They always taste best when they're afraid.
p
pMistress BA caught a glance of something shiny moving around in the darkness. She called out a hello, but was left unanswered. "Maybe it was nothing" she thought to herself. Just then she heard a loud thump beside her. She started to shake, but then corrected herself. "Mistress BA never lets a noise scare her" she said to herself. She continued walking. She soon reached the end of the alley, and concluded that no one was hiding here. "Depth Charge was wrong" she said out loud.
p"Ah contrare. Depth Charge was quite right."
pBA nearly jumped out of her skin (if she had skin) when a large mech jumped out of the darkness and lunged at her.
pHe picked her up with one of his claws and said in a menacing voice "Maybe you should have listened to him. Aw well, the better for me."
pBA screamed as loud as her voice box would let her, but it did no good, and only made the large mech grin cynically. Her head began to feel fuzzy, and she passed out. The last thing she remembered was Rampage's evil laugh.
p
p"Ooooooooo what happened?" BA opened her eyes and saw a strange face in front of her. It was kinda familiar. She shook her head, and her vision came into focus. She immediately knew who it was.
p"HEY!!! What are you doing here!!!!"
p"Don't yell mam, it'll only make your head hurt."
pBA nodded and repeated her question, only twice as loud.
p"Okay okay. I followed you........."
p"YOU FOLLOWED ME!!!!!!"
p"Please calm down miss, let me explain."
p"What type of perve are you!?!?! Following me and all!! Couldn't you tell I didn't want to be bother with... mmmfhhhh....... mmmfffhhhh......" The stranger put his hand over her mouth.
p"Now listen here miss. I only followed you because I noticed that you were heading to the bad part of town without an escort. Being the gentlebot that I am, I took it upon myself to follow you and make sure nothing happens to you. Sure enough, I see you walking into some alley, and I hear you scream your head off. Next thing I know, I see some mech trying to kill you. I managed to paralyze him long enough to get you out of there and into a safe place. I hope your not angry."
pBA looked around for the first time and noticed that she wasn't in the alley anymore, in fact, it looked like she was in this stranger's bedroom, ilying on his bed/I. She also noticed that she idoesn't have her dress on anymore/i. She bites his hand and slaps him on his face.
p"HOW DARE YOU, YOU FREAK!!!!! TAKE THIS!!!!" BA kicks the stranger in the place where is hurts, and prepared to cause more damage when the door opened, and someone walked into the room.
p"Looks like your awake. Sorry about the dress. It was ripped, and I could only fix it if it was off of you."
pBA looked at the person, noticing that it was a maid bot.
p"Sorry" she said to the stranger. "Oh yeah, thanks for rescuing me, though I could have easily taken care of that crazy mech myself."
pThe stranger nodded to himself, knowing this is the only thanks he'll get from her.
p"My name," he said "is Silverbolt. What is yours fair lady?"
pBA smirked. "Mistress Blackarachnia, but you can call me BA."
p"Nice to meet you BA." SIlverbolt grabbed her hand and tenderly kissed it. BA slapped him upside his head. SIlverbolt only smiled.
p
p * * *
p
pRampage woke up confused and disorientated. His first realization was that he wasn't in the alley anymore. He seemed to be in a metal cage with a tiny slit in it as his only means to the outside world. His second, was that someone with a strange voice was talking. He listened in.
p"Looky herezzzz boozz bot. Wazzspinatooor found strange, scary bot for you."
p"So you have Waspinator, so you have."
pRampage hears a noise, and suddenly light fills his cage, momentarily blinding him.
p"See bozzzz-bot."
p"Aaaaah. Very good Waspinator" Waspinator buzzes away happily. p"Hello Rampage."
pRampage opens his eyes a bit and looks at the figure in front of him. "Who... who are you?!?" Rampage opened his eyes wide in surprise. "Megatron!"
p"I see you reconize me."
p"How can I forget an evil psycho like you!" Rampage rams himself against the bars of the cage, but the bars won't budge. Megatron watched with an amused grin.
p"Now Rampage, who's really the psycho here. I can see you never really gotton over the lost of . . . *ahem* . . . a certain someone."
p"That's because you murdered her!!!!"
p"Oh come on Rampage, you've murder lots of people, that's why that bounty hunter is always on your tail. Now the past is the past. Things change. To show you how much I've changed, I'm going to offer you a job."
p"I don't want a stinkin' job, especially not under a bot like you!"
pI expected you to say that, unfortunately, no is not an option, nooooo."
pJust then something snapped around Rampage's neck. He tried to pull it off, but it shocked him. "What is this thing" he said panting.
p"It's just a safety measure to ensure that you work for me problem free. If you are bad, it will shock you; if you run away and decide not to come back, it will explode. Let me show you." Megatron closes his eyes, and suddenly pain began to course all over Rampage's body.
pRampage glared at Megatron in boiling rage. He screamed.
p"I have mental control of the collar. It's much better then a control panel. I'm going to enjoy having you working on my team Rampage, yeeesssss." [paste Tarantuals-type, mad scientist-like laugh here]
pRampage screamed even louder.
p
p * * *
p
pTigerhawk looked up at the sign. "Yep, this is Popop's Saloon" he thought to himself. "This is where they say Chain Gun hangs about." Finding Chain Gun would bring him one step closer to gaining vengeance against Quickstrike, or as everyone knows him, QuickDraw.
pTigerhawk closed his eyes and the death of his parents played it's self in his mind again.
pbi
p"Go on honey, run!"
p"But mommy I don't wanna. I wanna stay here with you and daddy."
p'You can't lil' hawk, daddy's gone, and I'm fading too."
p"Why?"
p"No time to explain. Just go. Please run away from here. Run as fast as your legs and your wings can carry you. I'll always love you. Now go!"
pTigerhawk looked at his mom, and then turned and ran. When he took a look back he saw Quickdraw shoot her over and over and over again. The image burned into his memory forever.
p/b/i
pTigerhawk opened his eyes. A single tear streaked down his cheek. He wiped it off, and then walked into the Saloon.
p
pRhinox looked up and saw someone coming into the bar. It was like seeing a ghost. "Tigertron?" he thought to himself. He mentioned for his back up player to play the piano for him while he went to see who this strange bot is.
pThe bot looked around a bit and said in his loudest voice, a voice that chilled Rhinox to the spark, "Does anyone here know where I can find Chain Gun?" pEveryone got silent.
pPopop looked at the youngster and replied "Yea, I know where you can find him." He pointed to Rhinox.
p"Thank you sir" said Tigerhawk walking through a sea of silent stares towards Rhinox.
pAfter a while things returned to normal in the bar, and no one paid anymore attention to Tigerhawk.
pTigerhawk sat down next to Rhinox and ask "So do you really know where Chain Gun is?"
pRhinox nodded his head and answered "Yea, your talking to him."
pTigerhawk's eyes brightened up. "Chain Gun, I need your help! I'm trying to take revenge on the gunslinger QuickDraw. You see, he murdered my parents, and I've been trying to kill him for as long as I could remember."
p"By the Matrix!" exclaimed Rhinox. "No wonder I recognized you! Your Tigertron and Airazor's kid! I thought you died with your parents."
p"No, my mom sacrificed her life to let me escape." Tigerhawk was silent for a while. He then said "You knew my parents?"
p"Yea I knew your parents. Me and your father use to be mercenary sharp shooters. Helping common folk by getting rid of outlaws and other such rift raft that destroyed peace. Of course your dad met your mom and they settled down and had you. As for me, I retired to play pianos at Saloons."
pTigertron could only stare wide eyed. The same bot that was known all around for his heroic deeds, was friends and partners with his father. The thought of his father made him sigh.
p"Listen kiddo" said Rhinox "I would really like to help you, but those days of fighting crime are over for me. I'm old, and not as good as I use to be. I'm sorry, but I can't help ya."
p"Please Chain Gun!"
p"Don't call me that. My name is Rhinox now."
pTigerhawk looked at him and shooked his head.
p"Your right Rhinox. You are old, old and cold and bitter. You won't even take vengeance on the guy who killed your former partner" Tigertron lowered his head. He then stood up and looked down at Rhinox. "You'll find me at the Inn if you change your mind. Though I doubt that." He briskly left the bar, feeling disappointment, and certain dread. Without Chain Gun, he was certain to die.
p
p * * *
p
p"MEGATRON!!!! Please, SPARE Meeeeeee!!!!"
p"Now now Terrorsaur. You should of thought of that before you cheated me and killed Scorponok."
p"But Megatron, it was an accident! A terrible accident!!"
p"Ah well. It's too bad I don't see it your way."
p"WHAT!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo.............."
pMegatron press a button, and Rampage's face is seen on the screen.
p"What do you want!" grumbled Rampage.
p"Why to make you feel more welcome here. Let's just say, I'm giving you a taste of all the fun things my outlaws do.
p"What are you getting at Megatron?"
p"Just wait and you'll see" Megatron presses another button, and the conversation ends.
p"Inferno!"
p"Yes my lady?"
p"IT'S SIR!!! YES SIR!!!!"
p"Sorry my . . . sir."
p"Better. Release Rampage."
p"Yes my lady!"
pMegatron puts his hand on his forehead. "One of these days.........."
p
pRampage's cage was filled with the blinding lightness once again. He blinked a couple of times til his eyes got accustom to the light. That's when he noticed the screaming.
p"MEGATRON!!!! PLEEEAAASSSSEEEEE!!!!!
pRampage suddenly realized what Megatron wanted him to do. He put on a wicked grin and crept out of his cell. Keeping to the shadows, he stealthily sneaked up on the screaming bot, who had not realized that his luck had just run out.
pRampage let out a blood curdling roar, and leapt upon him. He eagerly reached out his claws and began to slowly rip the bot's metal skin off, relishing every scream of pain the screamer let out.
pHe didn't know how long he'd been doing it, but eventually he ran out of skin to rip off. He decided to satisfy himself then and there. He got up off the still functioning bot, opened his claws, and snapped the mech in half. He reached into it's remains, took out it's spark and bit into it. The feeling was indescribable (well not really, if you ever had one of "those" *wink* *wink*). Rampage held onto the spark for as long as he could, but not long enough. It then extinguished, leaving Rampage barely satisfied and wanting for more.
p
p * * *
p
p"I am very happy to have met you Mistress BA."
p"Yea, I'm happy too Bowser."
pSIlverbolt puts on a sheepish grin, closes his eyes and leans forward a bit. BA looks at him, shakes her head and says, "Bye Bowser." She then turns around and goes into her house, slamming the door in his face.
pSilverbolt opens his eyes and frowns [paste sad puppy face here] feeling bad that she didn't pick up on what he wanted her to do. He was about to turn around and leave when the door to BA's place opened up. BA came out, grabbed him, and kissed him passionately. When she was finished she quickly retreated back into her home, and slammed the door in Silverbolt's face again. Silverbolt had his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth, with a dazed look in his eyes, and a smug grin on his face. He then turned around and left BA's place, heading off for destination: La La Land.
p
pSilverbolt was knocked out of his "pleasent" day dreams by a tap on the shoulder.
p"Oh Blackarachnia, my dearest, you've come back to me!"
p"Silverbolt, would you cut that out!"
pSilverbolt shook his head. The image of Blackarachnia turn into the image of Tigerhawk.
p"Tigerhawk! My friend. It is so good to see you!" Silverbolt slapped him kinda hard on his back causing Tigerhawk to stumble forward a bit.. "Why are you here?"
p"That was the same question I was going to ask you."
p"Well you first, since iI/i did ask the question first."
p"I'm here to kill QuickDraw."
p"Yes, yes that's good........ Wait a minute!!! What did you say!?!?!"
p"I said, I'm here to kill QuickDraw."
pSilverbolt's jaw went slack.
p"ARE YOU CRAZY!!"
p"Not exactly. I did plan to get some help, but Chain Gun... I mean Rhinox had other ideas. So now it's just me."
Silverbolt thought things over in his head for a while.
"My friend, I would like to help you kill QuickDraw. You cannot possibly hope to kill him by yourself.
"Silverbolt, you could get killed. Please, let me do this by myself, I have nothing to lose."
pSilverbolt shook his head refusing to give up.
p'No no no. You have much to lose. For one thing, your future. Who will carry on your family name if you are gone. Another thing, me. How do you think I will feel if I let you go out and just kill yourself. I will not allow it. Besides, why would you refuse my help, yet be willing to seek the help of a total stranger."
p"Silverbolt....."
p"Listen my friend. I will feel honored fighting at your side . . . if you will let me."
pTigerhawk looked at his friend. "Silverbolt looked sincere enough," he thought to himself. "And knowing Silverbolt, when he's sincere about something, "no" is not an answer." Tigerhawk chuckled out loud to himself.
p"All right Silverbolt, you can help me."
pSilverbolt smiled and said "About time you came to your senses."
pTigerhawk shrugged. " So Silverbolt, why are you here?"
pSIlverbolt clasped his hand on Tigerhawk's shoulder and proceeded to tell him about Blackarachnia, every now and then, getting short bursts of laughter from his friend.
p
p * * *
p
p"WHAT!?!?!?!"
p"Wazzpinatoor no lie. Wazzzzpinatoor did see tiger-bird-bot at PopOp's Saloon."
p"Interesting....... If Tigerhawk is in town, then that must mean ... that low life QuickDraw is in town also!" Megatron mused to himself. "WASPINATOR!"
p"Yezzzz Bozzz bot?"
p"Ask around, and find out where QuickDraw is hiding out. And another thing, find Dinobot, and bring him with you!"
p"Wazzzpinator will do."
pWaspinator leaves.
p"The turn of events lately have been interesting . . . very interesting indeed. . ."
p
p * * *
p
pTarantulas made his way to Mistress BA's house, whistling to himself. He had a bundle of flowers in one hand, and a package in the other (God only knows what he has in there).
p"I hope Blackarachnia will like these gifts I have for her," he thinks to himself. "Maybe I'll get lucky, and she'll kiss me. Maybe I'll get really lucky and she'll let me . . ." Tarantulas doesn't say the vulger word at the end of the sentence, and instead, laughs like a mad scientist for a while at the thought of that vulger thing; getting strange looks from people walking by. "Ah well."
pTarantulas spotted BA's door. He rushed over, laid his things on the doorstep, brushed himself off a bit, and knocked on the door.
p"I'M COMING!!!!" yelled BA's 24/7 irritated voice.
p"Oh goody," thought Tarantulas to himself. "I like it when she's rowdy. Heeheeheeee."
pTarantulas thoughts were cut off as he felt a hand go over his mouth and the cold metal of a gun touching his head.
p"Huh!?!" was all he managed to get out, before the guy with the gun spoke.
p"We're going on a little trip Tarantulas." He held up the butt of his gun, and hit it on the back on Tarantula's head, causing him to black out.
pJust as Tarantulas disappeared into the darkness of a nearby alley BA opened her door.
p"Hello! Anyone here! Sheesh! Can't a girl get any rest!" She looks down and sees the flowers and the package.
p"Oooooo flowers! These must be from Silverbolt." She picks them up. "I'll have to remind myself to give him a kiss for this." She turns around and goes back into her home, never expecting that the gifts were from Tarantulas.
P
pTarantulas woke up sitting in a chair, looking at the back of another chair. The same voice who held him at gun point earlier on spoke from that chair.
p"Your finally awake Tarantulas. Now we can get ta business."
p"Who are you!" Tarantulas demanded.
p"You won't forget your ol' friend QuickDraw would ya?"
pTarantulas nearly screamed. He had figured this was coming, ever since he over heard that Tigerhawk fellow talking to Rhinox about killing QuickDraw.
p"You!! What do you want from me!?!"
p"Why don't cha calm down Tarantulas. I just need to talk to you about something. If you say yes, then maybe I won't shoot you.
pTarantulas gulped.
pThe chair turned around to reveal a transmetal blue and yellow bot.
p"You look tense. Here have a drink."
pQuickDraw took out a glass and poured Tarantulas a drink. That's when Tarantulas realized where he was. He was in his own office!
p"What's the big idea QuickDraw! Holding me up at gun point, knocking me out, and then using my own facilities against me!!"
pQuickDraw laughed.
p"You know Tarantulas, your a funny character. You just don't seem to understand." In a blink of the eye, QuickDraw pulled out his weapon, and aimed it at Tarantulas's head.
p"Um ... now QuickDraw, why don't you put your weapon away, and then we can discuss things like gentlebots," Tarantulas says in a nervous voice.
p"Okay" Says QuickDraw, quickly flipping his gun back into it's holster. "Now what is it you'd like to discuss with me?"
p"Why are you here?"
p"I'm running from the law. The CCIA that is."
pTarantulas thought to himself for a while. What did this low life sharp shooter do to get the CCIA after him?
p"Why have you come to me?"
p"That's easy, you've got connections. Connections I need to get out of this country safely."
p"Oh, I see where your going. And what makes you think I'm going to help you."
p"This." QuickDraw quickly took out his gun and aim at Tarantulas again.
p"Oh, I see. . ."
pThe scheming gears in Tarantula's head began to move.
p"Okay QuickDraw, I'll help you."
pQuickDraw smiled. He wasn't the brightest of fellows, otherwise he would have known that Tarantulas had just caught him in one of his many, deadly webs of deceit.
pTarantulas could only shake is head. Barely keeping in the insane laughter that was ringing out in his head.
pJust when Opop thought that the rest of the day would be smooth, everyone in the his saloon got quiet, and were staring at the door. Popop looked up from the glass he was rubbing to see what was causing all this hush hush.
pAt first glance, it looked like a darken silhouette in the door. It moved through the swinging doors, and looked directly at Opop. Opop dropped the glass he was cleaning, creating a loud sound that made Mistress BA scream, and some of the bots draw their guns, thinking that a shot was fired. The mysterious figure regarded them silently. He then nodded at Popop, and sat down in a bar stool directly across him. At that moment, Rhinox started the music up again, and the bar return back to it's usual, if not so pleasant, self.
p"Depth Charge!!!" Exclaimed Popop. "Long time no see. What brings you to this town."
pDepth Charge squinted his eyes and replied in a silent deadly voice "X."
pPopop almost dropped another glass that was in his hand. "Why in tarnations would that foul cow licker Rampage be in this lil' ol' backwater town of mines."
p"Don't know. After I ambushed him back at Iacon City, he had disappeared. I didn't get any leads to where he was until I heard about the murders at another town near here."
p"Then why ain't you at that town?" Comment Popop with his arms crossed over his chest.
p"Loathing my company now, are you Popop?" Replied Depth Charge with a cocky grin (Use your imaginations), which is very out of character for him. Popop just scratched his head and shrugged. Depth Charge continued "The reason why I'm in the town, Popop, is because one of my sources spotted him here."
p"Is that so. Well I'll be darned. I guess I'll have ta warn all the town folk about Rampage being here."
pPopop looked at Rhinox, and made a hand signal to cut the music. Rhinox immediately stopped, making everyone hear Mistress BA sing out a loud out of tune note. She glared at Rhinox sharply. Rhinox merely shrugged a sorry, and looked back over to Popop.
p"Listen up everyone" yelled Popop, over the voices of the bar. "as you may have already figured, everyone's favorite bounty hunter here" Popop pointed to Depth Charge, who had his back to everyone, calmly sipping some energon beer, " is on the trail of his latest bounty. Unfortunately, that bounty happens to be that soul sucking Rampage."
pMistress BA Smirked "I've heard about this Rampage guy. Almost killed my friend's sister in Axalon town. He doesn't seem too scary. I mean anyone could easily kill my friend's sister, she's a total, cowardly sissy; and if he can't, then I have nothing to fear from him!"
pDepth Charge turned his head, and glared at Mistress BA (a little bit too long to be sensible if you ask me). "Do you have any idea what you just said!!"
p"Yea I know what I said, and that is, I'm not afraid of some over exaggerated, chump mech."
p"He's not over exaggerated! Rampage is the most dangerous bot on this side of the Mississippi, not to mention he has the highest bounty on his head. It's up to me to contain him and stop his rein of terror."
p"So. I don't care if he's the most dangerous bot on this side of whatever you just said, and even if he is, I don't see how a mech like you can stop him. I mean come on. You!?!" BA began to giggle making some of the other patrons of the saloon laugh with her. Depth Charge's face was literally glowing red with anger.
pBefore Depth Charge could yell his brains out at BA, Tarantulas got up and added his two cents. " Now now Mistress BA, maybe you should listen to MR. Charge here. He obviously seems to know what he's talking about, and looks fully capable of capturing this mech, contrary to what you think. We wouldn't want a pretty thing like you to end up hurt or even dead now would we." Tarantulas looked BA up and down a bit, and maybe a bit longer, before he got smacked upside his head by an enraged BA.
p"Take that ya scoundrel!!" She quickly left the bar, not caring one bit that there was a homicidal bot prowling around town.
pTarantulas sat down rubbing his head, mumbling something about mood swings, and how much he'd like to get his hands on her.
pDepth Charge watched her leave, and then stood up and shook his head.
p"Maybe you should follow her. Make sure she gets to her home all right" said Popop.
pDepth Charge shook his head once again. "I warned her. It'll be her fault if she gets killed by X. Sorry Popop." Depth Charge chugged down the rest of his energon beer, and left the bar.
pPopop felt a pain in his leg joint. His joints only ached if something bad was going to happen. Popop looked at his leg and frowned. Mistress BA better watch herself.
p * * *
p
p"Oooooooh what an awful day" thought BA to herself. "First someone throws up on me, and then everyone hears me sing out a bad note," she reminded herself to slap Rhinox a couple of times for that tomorrow, "and then that wanna be macho bounty hunter Depth Charge comes prancing in the bar spewing out tales about some crazy bot, just to get us rowled up. And Tarantulas. One of these days, I'm gonna ta rip him apart limb by limb. I only fear that he might actually enjoy it.
p"I CAN'T STAND THIS ANYMORE!!!!" she screamed out, getting some odd glances form people walking by. She ignored them, and continued walking.
p "I know exactly what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna walk to the bad part of town, and walk down the darkest, most perfect alley for hiding a bot with a bounty on it's head, and then I'll show everyone that this Rampage character is a hoax. I bet Depth Charge wouldn't like that." She smiled to herself. "And then after that, I'm gonna tear Tarantulas apart. He might like it, but at least he'll leave me alone for quite a while.
pMistress BA was so sure and confident of herself and her plans, that she didn't realize that she was walking right into a bot, until it was too late.
p"Are you okay madam?"
pBA looked up into the eyes of some strange mech. "Yea I'm okay, and watch where you're walking!!!!" she scowled.
p"I'm so sorry, I'll be more careful of where I'm going" said the stranger, knowing to himself that it really should be her doing all the apologizing.
p"You better be!!!" yelled BA. "Now help me up!!"
p"Certainly" he said. "I'll do anything for a lady."
pBA shook her head in disgust and brush him away from her. "This day keeps on getting worse and worse" she thought to herself.
p
pA while later, BA reached the badder parts of town. She'd only been here a couple of times, and she never liked them. At the corner of her eyes, she caught sight of Tarantula's Bordello. She had bad memories of that place. She walked on til she got to the perfect alley for anyone hiding from a bounty hunter to go into. Even the usual scum around here were afraid to go into it, so it probably meant that the crazy bot Depth Charge was talking about was in there. Excellent. She'll show them all. BA took a deep breath, and walked into the darkness, constantly reminding herself that she was doing a good thing.
p
pIt sat in a corner brooding to it's self waiting for night. It had been awhile since it had a tasty bot, and he found he had an opportunity now, seeing that some foolish fem had dare to enter his alley. He decided that he'll play with her mind a bit. Scare her, and then attack. They always taste best when they're afraid.
p
pMistress BA caught a glance of something shiny moving around in the darkness. She called out a hello, but was left unanswered. "Maybe it was nothing" she thought to herself. Just then she heard a loud thump beside her. She started to shake, but then corrected herself. "Mistress BA never lets a noise scare her" she said to herself. She continued walking. She soon reached the end of the alley, and concluded that no one was hiding here. "Depth Charge was wrong" she said out loud.
p"Ah contrare. Depth Charge was quite right."
pBA nearly jumped out of her skin (if she had skin) when a large mech jumped out of the darkness and lunged at her.
pHe picked her up with one of his claws and said in a menacing voice "Maybe you should have listened to him. Aw well, the better for me."
pBA screamed as loud as her voice box would let her, but it did no good, and only made the large mech grin cynically. Her head began to feel fuzzy, and she passed out. The last thing she remembered was Rampage's evil laugh.
p
p"Ooooooooo what happened?" BA opened her eyes and saw a strange face in front of her. It was kinda familiar. She shook her head, and her vision came into focus. She immediately knew who it was.
p"HEY!!! What are you doing here!!!!"
p"Don't yell mam, it'll only make your head hurt."
pBA nodded and repeated her question, only twice as loud.
p"Okay okay. I followed you........."
p"YOU FOLLOWED ME!!!!!!"
p"Please calm down miss, let me explain."
p"What type of perve are you!?!?! Following me and all!! Couldn't you tell I didn't want to be bother with... mmmfhhhh....... mmmfffhhhh......" The stranger put his hand over her mouth.
p"Now listen here miss. I only followed you because I noticed that you were heading to the bad part of town without an escort. Being the gentlebot that I am, I took it upon myself to follow you and make sure nothing happens to you. Sure enough, I see you walking into some alley, and I hear you scream your head off. Next thing I know, I see some mech trying to kill you. I managed to paralyze him long enough to get you out of there and into a safe place. I hope your not angry."
pBA looked around for the first time and noticed that she wasn't in the alley anymore, in fact, it looked like she was in this stranger's bedroom, ilying on his bed/I. She also noticed that she idoesn't have her dress on anymore/i. She bites his hand and slaps him on his face.
p"HOW DARE YOU, YOU FREAK!!!!! TAKE THIS!!!!" BA kicks the stranger in the place where is hurts, and prepared to cause more damage when the door opened, and someone walked into the room.
p"Looks like your awake. Sorry about the dress. It was ripped, and I could only fix it if it was off of you."
pBA looked at the person, noticing that it was a maid bot.
p"Sorry" she said to the stranger. "Oh yeah, thanks for rescuing me, though I could have easily taken care of that crazy mech myself."
pThe stranger nodded to himself, knowing this is the only thanks he'll get from her.
p"My name," he said "is Silverbolt. What is yours fair lady?"
pBA smirked. "Mistress Blackarachnia, but you can call me BA."
p"Nice to meet you BA." SIlverbolt grabbed her hand and tenderly kissed it. BA slapped him upside his head. SIlverbolt only smiled.
p
p * * *
p
pRampage woke up confused and disorientated. His first realization was that he wasn't in the alley anymore. He seemed to be in a metal cage with a tiny slit in it as his only means to the outside world. His second, was that someone with a strange voice was talking. He listened in.
p"Looky herezzzz boozz bot. Wazzspinatooor found strange, scary bot for you."
p"So you have Waspinator, so you have."
pRampage hears a noise, and suddenly light fills his cage, momentarily blinding him.
p"See bozzzz-bot."
p"Aaaaah. Very good Waspinator" Waspinator buzzes away happily. p"Hello Rampage."
pRampage opens his eyes a bit and looks at the figure in front of him. "Who... who are you?!?" Rampage opened his eyes wide in surprise. "Megatron!"
p"I see you reconize me."
p"How can I forget an evil psycho like you!" Rampage rams himself against the bars of the cage, but the bars won't budge. Megatron watched with an amused grin.
p"Now Rampage, who's really the psycho here. I can see you never really gotton over the lost of . . . *ahem* . . . a certain someone."
p"That's because you murdered her!!!!"
p"Oh come on Rampage, you've murder lots of people, that's why that bounty hunter is always on your tail. Now the past is the past. Things change. To show you how much I've changed, I'm going to offer you a job."
p"I don't want a stinkin' job, especially not under a bot like you!"
pI expected you to say that, unfortunately, no is not an option, nooooo."
pJust then something snapped around Rampage's neck. He tried to pull it off, but it shocked him. "What is this thing" he said panting.
p"It's just a safety measure to ensure that you work for me problem free. If you are bad, it will shock you; if you run away and decide not to come back, it will explode. Let me show you." Megatron closes his eyes, and suddenly pain began to course all over Rampage's body.
pRampage glared at Megatron in boiling rage. He screamed.
p"I have mental control of the collar. It's much better then a control panel. I'm going to enjoy having you working on my team Rampage, yeeesssss." [paste Tarantuals-type, mad scientist-like laugh here]
pRampage screamed even louder.
p
p * * *
p
pTigerhawk looked up at the sign. "Yep, this is Popop's Saloon" he thought to himself. "This is where they say Chain Gun hangs about." Finding Chain Gun would bring him one step closer to gaining vengeance against Quickstrike, or as everyone knows him, QuickDraw.
pTigerhawk closed his eyes and the death of his parents played it's self in his mind again.
pbi
p"Go on honey, run!"
p"But mommy I don't wanna. I wanna stay here with you and daddy."
p'You can't lil' hawk, daddy's gone, and I'm fading too."
p"Why?"
p"No time to explain. Just go. Please run away from here. Run as fast as your legs and your wings can carry you. I'll always love you. Now go!"
pTigerhawk looked at his mom, and then turned and ran. When he took a look back he saw Quickdraw shoot her over and over and over again. The image burned into his memory forever.
p/b/i
pTigerhawk opened his eyes. A single tear streaked down his cheek. He wiped it off, and then walked into the Saloon.
p
pRhinox looked up and saw someone coming into the bar. It was like seeing a ghost. "Tigertron?" he thought to himself. He mentioned for his back up player to play the piano for him while he went to see who this strange bot is.
pThe bot looked around a bit and said in his loudest voice, a voice that chilled Rhinox to the spark, "Does anyone here know where I can find Chain Gun?" pEveryone got silent.
pPopop looked at the youngster and replied "Yea, I know where you can find him." He pointed to Rhinox.
p"Thank you sir" said Tigerhawk walking through a sea of silent stares towards Rhinox.
pAfter a while things returned to normal in the bar, and no one paid anymore attention to Tigerhawk.
pTigerhawk sat down next to Rhinox and ask "So do you really know where Chain Gun is?"
pRhinox nodded his head and answered "Yea, your talking to him."
pTigerhawk's eyes brightened up. "Chain Gun, I need your help! I'm trying to take revenge on the gunslinger QuickDraw. You see, he murdered my parents, and I've been trying to kill him for as long as I could remember."
p"By the Matrix!" exclaimed Rhinox. "No wonder I recognized you! Your Tigertron and Airazor's kid! I thought you died with your parents."
p"No, my mom sacrificed her life to let me escape." Tigerhawk was silent for a while. He then said "You knew my parents?"
p"Yea I knew your parents. Me and your father use to be mercenary sharp shooters. Helping common folk by getting rid of outlaws and other such rift raft that destroyed peace. Of course your dad met your mom and they settled down and had you. As for me, I retired to play pianos at Saloons."
pTigertron could only stare wide eyed. The same bot that was known all around for his heroic deeds, was friends and partners with his father. The thought of his father made him sigh.
p"Listen kiddo" said Rhinox "I would really like to help you, but those days of fighting crime are over for me. I'm old, and not as good as I use to be. I'm sorry, but I can't help ya."
p"Please Chain Gun!"
p"Don't call me that. My name is Rhinox now."
pTigerhawk looked at him and shooked his head.
p"Your right Rhinox. You are old, old and cold and bitter. You won't even take vengeance on the guy who killed your former partner" Tigertron lowered his head. He then stood up and looked down at Rhinox. "You'll find me at the Inn if you change your mind. Though I doubt that." He briskly left the bar, feeling disappointment, and certain dread. Without Chain Gun, he was certain to die.
p
p * * *
p
p"MEGATRON!!!! Please, SPARE Meeeeeee!!!!"
p"Now now Terrorsaur. You should of thought of that before you cheated me and killed Scorponok."
p"But Megatron, it was an accident! A terrible accident!!"
p"Ah well. It's too bad I don't see it your way."
p"WHAT!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo.............."
pMegatron press a button, and Rampage's face is seen on the screen.
p"What do you want!" grumbled Rampage.
p"Why to make you feel more welcome here. Let's just say, I'm giving you a taste of all the fun things my outlaws do.
p"What are you getting at Megatron?"
p"Just wait and you'll see" Megatron presses another button, and the conversation ends.
p"Inferno!"
p"Yes my lady?"
p"IT'S SIR!!! YES SIR!!!!"
p"Sorry my . . . sir."
p"Better. Release Rampage."
p"Yes my lady!"
pMegatron puts his hand on his forehead. "One of these days.........."
p
pRampage's cage was filled with the blinding lightness once again. He blinked a couple of times til his eyes got accustom to the light. That's when he noticed the screaming.
p"MEGATRON!!!! PLEEEAAASSSSEEEEE!!!!!
pRampage suddenly realized what Megatron wanted him to do. He put on a wicked grin and crept out of his cell. Keeping to the shadows, he stealthily sneaked up on the screaming bot, who had not realized that his luck had just run out.
pRampage let out a blood curdling roar, and leapt upon him. He eagerly reached out his claws and began to slowly rip the bot's metal skin off, relishing every scream of pain the screamer let out.
pHe didn't know how long he'd been doing it, but eventually he ran out of skin to rip off. He decided to satisfy himself then and there. He got up off the still functioning bot, opened his claws, and snapped the mech in half. He reached into it's remains, took out it's spark and bit into it. The feeling was indescribable (well not really, if you ever had one of "those" *wink* *wink*). Rampage held onto the spark for as long as he could, but not long enough. It then extinguished, leaving Rampage barely satisfied and wanting for more.
p
p * * *
p
p"I am very happy to have met you Mistress BA."
p"Yea, I'm happy too Bowser."
pSIlverbolt puts on a sheepish grin, closes his eyes and leans forward a bit. BA looks at him, shakes her head and says, "Bye Bowser." She then turns around and goes into her house, slamming the door in his face.
pSilverbolt opens his eyes and frowns [paste sad puppy face here] feeling bad that she didn't pick up on what he wanted her to do. He was about to turn around and leave when the door to BA's place opened up. BA came out, grabbed him, and kissed him passionately. When she was finished she quickly retreated back into her home, and slammed the door in Silverbolt's face again. Silverbolt had his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth, with a dazed look in his eyes, and a smug grin on his face. He then turned around and left BA's place, heading off for destination: La La Land.
p
pSilverbolt was knocked out of his "pleasent" day dreams by a tap on the shoulder.
p"Oh Blackarachnia, my dearest, you've come back to me!"
p"Silverbolt, would you cut that out!"
pSilverbolt shook his head. The image of Blackarachnia turn into the image of Tigerhawk.
p"Tigerhawk! My friend. It is so good to see you!" Silverbolt slapped him kinda hard on his back causing Tigerhawk to stumble forward a bit.. "Why are you here?"
p"That was the same question I was going to ask you."
p"Well you first, since iI/i did ask the question first."
p"I'm here to kill QuickDraw."
p"Yes, yes that's good........ Wait a minute!!! What did you say!?!?!"
p"I said, I'm here to kill QuickDraw."
pSilverbolt's jaw went slack.
p"ARE YOU CRAZY!!"
p"Not exactly. I did plan to get some help, but Chain Gun... I mean Rhinox had other ideas. So now it's just me."
Silverbolt thought things over in his head for a while.
"My friend, I would like to help you kill QuickDraw. You cannot possibly hope to kill him by yourself.
"Silverbolt, you could get killed. Please, let me do this by myself, I have nothing to lose."
pSilverbolt shook his head refusing to give up.
p'No no no. You have much to lose. For one thing, your future. Who will carry on your family name if you are gone. Another thing, me. How do you think I will feel if I let you go out and just kill yourself. I will not allow it. Besides, why would you refuse my help, yet be willing to seek the help of a total stranger."
p"Silverbolt....."
p"Listen my friend. I will feel honored fighting at your side . . . if you will let me."
pTigerhawk looked at his friend. "Silverbolt looked sincere enough," he thought to himself. "And knowing Silverbolt, when he's sincere about something, "no" is not an answer." Tigerhawk chuckled out loud to himself.
p"All right Silverbolt, you can help me."
pSilverbolt smiled and said "About time you came to your senses."
pTigerhawk shrugged. " So Silverbolt, why are you here?"
pSIlverbolt clasped his hand on Tigerhawk's shoulder and proceeded to tell him about Blackarachnia, every now and then, getting short bursts of laughter from his friend.
p
p * * *
p
p"WHAT!?!?!?!"
p"Wazzpinatoor no lie. Wazzzzpinatoor did see tiger-bird-bot at PopOp's Saloon."
p"Interesting....... If Tigerhawk is in town, then that must mean ... that low life QuickDraw is in town also!" Megatron mused to himself. "WASPINATOR!"
p"Yezzzz Bozzz bot?"
p"Ask around, and find out where QuickDraw is hiding out. And another thing, find Dinobot, and bring him with you!"
p"Wazzzpinator will do."
pWaspinator leaves.
p"The turn of events lately have been interesting . . . very interesting indeed. . ."
p
p * * *
p
pTarantulas made his way to Mistress BA's house, whistling to himself. He had a bundle of flowers in one hand, and a package in the other (God only knows what he has in there).
p"I hope Blackarachnia will like these gifts I have for her," he thinks to himself. "Maybe I'll get lucky, and she'll kiss me. Maybe I'll get really lucky and she'll let me . . ." Tarantulas doesn't say the vulger word at the end of the sentence, and instead, laughs like a mad scientist for a while at the thought of that vulger thing; getting strange looks from people walking by. "Ah well."
pTarantulas spotted BA's door. He rushed over, laid his things on the doorstep, brushed himself off a bit, and knocked on the door.
p"I'M COMING!!!!" yelled BA's 24/7 irritated voice.
p"Oh goody," thought Tarantulas to himself. "I like it when she's rowdy. Heeheeheeee."
pTarantulas thoughts were cut off as he felt a hand go over his mouth and the cold metal of a gun touching his head.
p"Huh!?!" was all he managed to get out, before the guy with the gun spoke.
p"We're going on a little trip Tarantulas." He held up the butt of his gun, and hit it on the back on Tarantula's head, causing him to black out.
pJust as Tarantulas disappeared into the darkness of a nearby alley BA opened her door.
p"Hello! Anyone here! Sheesh! Can't a girl get any rest!" She looks down and sees the flowers and the package.
p"Oooooo flowers! These must be from Silverbolt." She picks them up. "I'll have to remind myself to give him a kiss for this." She turns around and goes back into her home, never expecting that the gifts were from Tarantulas.
P
pTarantulas woke up sitting in a chair, looking at the back of another chair. The same voice who held him at gun point earlier on spoke from that chair.
p"Your finally awake Tarantulas. Now we can get ta business."
p"Who are you!" Tarantulas demanded.
p"You won't forget your ol' friend QuickDraw would ya?"
pTarantulas nearly screamed. He had figured this was coming, ever since he over heard that Tigerhawk fellow talking to Rhinox about killing QuickDraw.
p"You!! What do you want from me!?!"
p"Why don't cha calm down Tarantulas. I just need to talk to you about something. If you say yes, then maybe I won't shoot you.
pTarantulas gulped.
pThe chair turned around to reveal a transmetal blue and yellow bot.
p"You look tense. Here have a drink."
pQuickDraw took out a glass and poured Tarantulas a drink. That's when Tarantulas realized where he was. He was in his own office!
p"What's the big idea QuickDraw! Holding me up at gun point, knocking me out, and then using my own facilities against me!!"
pQuickDraw laughed.
p"You know Tarantulas, your a funny character. You just don't seem to understand." In a blink of the eye, QuickDraw pulled out his weapon, and aimed it at Tarantulas's head.
p"Um ... now QuickDraw, why don't you put your weapon away, and then we can discuss things like gentlebots," Tarantulas says in a nervous voice.
p"Okay" Says QuickDraw, quickly flipping his gun back into it's holster. "Now what is it you'd like to discuss with me?"
p"Why are you here?"
p"I'm running from the law. The CCIA that is."
pTarantulas thought to himself for a while. What did this low life sharp shooter do to get the CCIA after him?
p"Why have you come to me?"
p"That's easy, you've got connections. Connections I need to get out of this country safely."
p"Oh, I see where your going. And what makes you think I'm going to help you."
p"This." QuickDraw quickly took out his gun and aim at Tarantulas again.
p"Oh, I see. . ."
pThe scheming gears in Tarantula's head began to move.
p"Okay QuickDraw, I'll help you."
pQuickDraw smiled. He wasn't the brightest of fellows, otherwise he would have known that Tarantulas had just caught him in one of his many, deadly webs of deceit.
pTarantulas could only shake is head. Barely keeping in the insane laughter that was ringing out in his head.