Author's Notes: As you can probably already tell from the name of the title, the Predacon's name is Abominus. Now, there is an explanation for why I picked this cannon name for the Predacon in my story. The original Predaking was a combiner Decepticon from the G1 Transformers cannon before he became the Predaking from TF Prime. I chose Abominus as his contemporary because in G1 Abominus was the name of another Decepticon combiner that was formed out of beast frame mechs like Predaking was. Also, as an aside, I prefer TF Prime Predaking to G1 simply because he has so much character, but admittedly both versions look pretty cool. Anyway, thank you for reading, and I hope you'll favorite, follow, and review. Have a great week :)
Chapter 2
Abominus
Getting the Predacon into Hangar E was easier than the Autobots thought it would be. The reptilian giant followed Ultra Magnus around like a duckling that had imprinted on its mother. Yes, getting him inside was easy, but getting him to stay still was another thing altogether.
"So what are we gonna call him?" Miko asked excitedly once they were back inside with the creature, "Oh, I know! Sparky! Oh no wait! Dr. Claws! Do you like that name, boy?"
"Miko, if the Predacon is truly a sentient being like Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack claim then its name will already be logged into its processor," Ratchet explained while setting up his medical equipment, "Can you keep it settled down, Ultra Magnus? I need to run a few diagnostic scans on the beast and it won't stop fidgeting!"
"Why do you assume I will have any more success calming him than any of you?" Ultra Magnus asked in a feeble effort to not be saddled with the beast's care.
"Duh! Because he likes you!" Miko spoke up before Ratchet could, and Ratchet walked away with the nervous Predacon reluctantly following him, "I am so jealous of you right now, Magnus!" Miko gushed, "You get a pet dragon! How cool is that?"
"The Predacon is not a pet, soldier," Ultra Magnus pointed out, "As a newspark it has limited processing capability, but soon it will learn to transform and will then be able to comprehend its situation. We do not yet know, however, where instinct ends and intelligence begins. For all we know the Predacon could grow to be a savage and deadly threat to Team Prime."
"Um, Ultra Magnus...sir?" Jack added the sir when Ultra Magnus glared at him, "Do you think we should be calling him it? I mean, he's sentient, right? So maybe he wouldn't like being called an it. Just saying."
"You make a valid point, soldier," Ultra Magnus replied agreeably, "From now on we should speak of and to the Predacon as we would any other member of Team Prime."
"You wanna talk to him like everybody else?" Smokescreen asked as he approached the others from across the room, "But he's a sparkling, sir. He doesn't understand us yet."
"Not yet, but he will given time," Ultra Magnus insisted, "I refuse to talk down to one of our troops, even if he is a beast. I only hope the Predacon will indeed choose to stay with us, as we could use every advantage against the Decepticons we can get."
The Predacon, meanwhile, had found a spot near Ratchet's equipment and curled himself up like a cobra; his large helm poking out from his swirling body to observe everything Ratchet did. Ratchet ran several scans over the beast, and in turn the beast watched the lights of the scanner with fascination. At one point the Predacon tried batting at the green light with one of his front claws, and Ratchet almost found himself smiling at the oversized lizard-bot's antics.
When Ratchet took a sample of the Predacon's nearly indestructible armor, however, the Predacon howled in pain; an echoing noise that got everyone's attention.
"Hey Ratchet, stop hurting Dr. Claws!" Miko snapped at the old medic.
"His name isn't Dr. Claws!" Ratchet snapped back.
"Did the scan tell you what his name actually is then?" Arcee asked.
"Hm...According to this, his name is logged in as Abominus," Ratchet read off, "Gee, thanks a lot, Shockwave!" He added sarcastically.
"Abominus? That sounds kind of evil," Raf pointed out with trepidation.
"Like I said, the name was probably Shockwave's doing," Ratchet reiterated, "The poor brute came into this world as nothing but a weapon. Hopefully he can be more than that though."
"I must admit," Optimus Prime spoke up for the first time in several minutes, "That I am excited to learn more about our new houseguest. Predacons went extinct long before any live specimens could be studied. While fossil records have given us some information, there is still so much we do not know about our ancient predecessors. Until now we didn't even realize they were a sentient race. Abominus could teach us much about the social behavior and higher learning capabilities of Predacons. I only hope we will be able to provide a good living space for our new friend."
Abominus watched their exchange with a sort of lazy curiosity. He had finally settled down once Ratchet left him alone, and his pack leader didn't seem at all uncomfortable here, so it coudln't be too bad. He didn't know what they were talking about though. He only knew that his body still hurt, but his mind was not attacking him anymore. He found his other, his leader, and that was enough to tell him that soon the pain would be gone.
"By the Allspark!" Ratchet suddenly exclaimed as he read over the readings.
"What is it, Ratchet?" Optimus asked worriedly.
"According to Abominus' fuel gauge, he hasn't been given energon since he onlined!" Ratchet exclaimed in shock, "We have to get energon into his systems, now!"
"On it!" Smokescreen shouted even as he was running to the supply room.
Abominus perked up when he saw the blue and yellow other run away. Was he being chased? Was this other part of his pack? Should he attack the thing that scared his pack brother? Would his leader be happy or be offended by that? Not seeing the threat, Abominus decided he was tired and in pain so it was best to settle back down and rest.
A minute later Smokescreen returned with a cube of glowing blue energon.
"I hope this is big enough for him," Smokescreen commented as he got closer to the beast, "I just hope he drinks this instead of biting my head off."
Abominus began to sniff the air when something new made itself known to him. His tanks churned with anticipation, and he saw that the pack member was carrying fuel. He wanted to grab it all for himself, but his leader was watching, so it was best if he just sat back and observed.
Smokescreen looked up warily at the big long Predacon and set down the cube in front of his coiled body. The Predacon surprisingly waited for Smokescreen to back away before leaning over to inspect the cube. Ultra Magnus was impressed by the beast's level of self control.
The Predacon bent down, and everyone expected him to start drinking the nutritious liquid fuel, but instead the beast opened his mouth and swallowed the cube whole! They could both see and hear the loud crunching noises of the Predacon chewing on the glass that was once the cube, thin traces of blue running down his mouth, and Ultra Magnus facepalmed in a longsuffering fashion.
"No, no! The glass will get in your tank!" Ratchet yelled up at the beast as if he could understand him, and then turning to Ultra Magnus he said, "I think you're going to need to teach him how to eat properly."
"Noted," Ultra Magnus replied flatly.
As Ultra Magnus stared up at Abominus' huge jaw working its way around the shards of glass, he realized that he had unwittingly volunteered to become the legal guardian of a monster of Frankenstein-like proportions.
As it turned out, showing Abominus how to properly consume energon wasn't enough to deter his increasingly bizarre eating habits. Not only did Abominus eat the glass cubes that held the energon, but he would also eat random things like metal from around the base, asphalt, and even a helicopter! This last part concerned the team, because for all Abominus knew that helicopter could've been alive, but that didn't seem to bother the hungry Predacon.
Ultra Magnus wasn't exactly alone in tending to his new cyber dragon, but unfortunately for him help came in the form of Wheeljack, Bulkhead, and Miko. The Wreckers were very enthusiastic about having an ancient beast on the team as the latest 'Con crusher, but when it came to training Abominus they weren't exactly the best at it.
Surprisingly, the problem was that these three were spoiling the Predacon. Ultra Magnus tried to instill strict discipline in his training regimen, but at every turn he was thwarted by the Wreckers. Ultra Magnus insisted the Predacon stay inside, but Wheeljack took him out to fly around and goof on the human soldiers. Ultra Magnus insisted the Predacon not be fed unless he complied with orders, but Bulkhead and Miko kept sneaking him energon. Miko even gave him a boxy TV just to see if he'd eat it, which of course he did. Abominus seemed both willing and capable of eating anything that happened to be nearby, and Ultra Magnus suspected his early starvation had somehow caused this strange idiosyncrasy.
Getting their new savage sparkling to comply with orders was also a real crap shoot. Sometimes he obeyed them like a sweet little lamb, while other times he would defy the Autobots and throw what Ultra Magnus could only describe as temper tantrums. One time he nearly bit Bumblebee! The worst of it though, were the times when Abominus decided he wanted to run.
That morning Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack were washing Abominus with warm soapy water since he was too big to fit in the recently installed wash racks. Optimus Prime barely fit, and Abominus was actually bigger than Optimus when his entire mass was taken into consideration. Not that it mattered to Abomius, however, since he seemed to enjoy the attention he was getting from Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack. The Predacon rumbled in contentment and relaxed as he was scrubbed down, and Ultra Magnus allowed himself to feel satisfied that for once things were going well with his new charge.
Ratchet came into the main area holding a toolkit full of supplies for checking up on his newest patient, and Ultra Magnus went to talk to the old medic while Wheeljack continued to rinse Abominus down with warm water.
"How are his scans looking so far, Doctor?" Ultra Magnus asked when he got close enough to do so.
"Over the past couple weeks he seems to be recovering nicely from his malnutrition," Ratchet reported, "However, I noticed that his CNA configuration puts him at high risk for rust infection. I'm going to need to inoculate him for cosmic rust."
"Of course, Doctor," Ultra Magnus nodded seriously, "Now would probably be a good time since Abominus is preoccupied with his bath."
Ratchet and Ultra Magnus approached the resting giant, and his yellow optics looked lazily at his pack leader. His gaze shifted to a more focused one, however, once he saw the large needle the white and orange pack member was carrying that contained a mysterious silver fluid sloshing around inside. They were both getting closer to him, and they were talking quietly. Abominus tried to figure out what they were saying, but his grasp on language wasn't very strong yet. Something deep inside told him however that they were talking about him. Yes, that spike was meant for him.
Quick as a flash, Abominus slithered away from Wheeljack's sponge and the duo with the needle. Wheeljack stumbled forward in confusion, and it took the Autobots a second to realize Abominus was running toward the closed hangar door!
Abominus clawed at the thin metal with his claws, but rather than opening the door it just caused claw marks to form in the metal. He could see sunlight through the cracks his claws had created, and he knew he had to get out if he was going to escape the sharp pointy thing. He didn't know why he was being punished, but he wasn't going to let them get him!
Since claws didn't work, Abominus started ramming his helm against the door as hard as he could. After four rapid strikes, the door broke in the middle. Abominus started frantically clawing at the opening to make it big enough to slip through, but before he could get out he felt a prick against his side. He looked, and the white and orange pack member was retracting the spike, now empty of its fluid, and his pack leader was looking at him with a stern expression. Abominus' face fell, and he realized he had shamed his pack leader by acting cowardly.
"Rho eklisibid dibargaraxed, abonis," Abominus heard his pack leader say, "You frogort semi ne it ratact nino. Sas wawa so bad, was it?"
Abominus still didn't understand everything, but he got the impression that his pack leader wasn't angry with him. Rather, it seemed like he was both trying to instruct and comfort Abominus. The young Predacon bowed his helm submissively, and the pack leader stroked his muzzle with his good servo in a way that was both firm yet gentle. When the pack leader turned around Abominus looked back at the door, and the damage he had done to their den, and he knew with even greater certainty that he screwed up. He only hoped he would soon figure out exactly what his pack wanted from him, and why he couldn't yet transform like them.